alodia Gosiengfiao

ALODIA GOSIENGFIAO

Alodia Almira Arraiza Gosiengfiao (born March 9, 1988 in Quezon City, Philippines) is a Filipina cosplayer model, artist and host. She graduated in 2009 from Ateneo de Manila University with a BFA Information Design Degree. She has been called the "Cosplay Queen" of the Philippines and recognized for contributing toward raising the profile of cosplay. She started cosplaying in 2003 at the age of 15 by joining various competitions in Metro Manila. Her popularity began in 2003 when she won in an event called the C3 Convention in 2003 as Gun Mage Rikku of FFX-2. Since then, she cosplayed over 40 anime, video game and movie titles, appearing in various local and international conventions as a participant,performer, judge or as a guest. Her remarkable achievements in the cosplay community led her way to be recognized by various companies in the Philippines and hired her to endorse their products and services. She is one of the Ambassador and VJ For Animax-Asia known as the "Ani-mates", and the co-host of ABS-CBN's prank show called Laugh Out Loud. She also has been featured in various magazines, newspaper and TV shows locally and abroad. Gosiengfiao also appeared on the Philippine FHM 100 Sexiest Women poll, ranking #87 in 2009 and #76 in 2010. She was named by UNO Magazine as one of the Most Influential Women in the Philippines. In addition to her cosplay activities, for which she is most known, Gosiengfiao is also a blogger, performer, pianist, figure collector and BJD enthusiast.

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Alodia Gosiengfiao lives in Quezon City and is fond of art, fashion, video games, photography, collecting toys and figures, gadgets and playing the piano.Her name was taken by her mother in a name book, Alodia means "love" and Almira means "princess". She is of Filipino, Chinese and Spanish descent, her father is a Filipino-Chinese while her mother is Filipino-Spanish. Her parents are Mariglor and Ed Gosiengfiao and she has a younger sister, Ashley Gosiengfiao, who is a professional cosplayer and model as well. Gosiengfiao attended Assumption College (Makati) from pre-school to Grade 2; Miriam College from Grade 3 to 4th Yr High School and Ateneo de Manila University, where she graduated year 2009 with a BFA Information Design degree. As a High school student, she was a member of the Miriam College High School Pep squad. She also works on art commissions for international clients, illustrating both digital and traditional artworks.

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Gosiengfiao became involved in cosplay after contact with other anime and video game enthusiasts in an internet fan forum called Animé Club. Encouraged by her friends from the forum, she started cosplaying in 2003 at the age of 15, joining various competitions in Metro Manila.[7] Her first cosplayed character was a Priestess from Ragnarok Online at Ragnalaunch in Glorietta.[8] She began to attract attention when she won 3rd place in the 2003 C3 Convention as Gun Mage Rikku of Final Fantasy X-2. This led to her and her younger sister Ashley Gosiengfiao being featured on the cover of Issue 14 of Culture Crash Magazine, a Manga Magazine in the Philippines.[5] Since then, she cosplayed a series of characters from over 40 anime, movie and video game titles including Witchblade, G.I. Joe, K-On!, Paradise Kiss, Evangelion, Final Fantasy X-2. As a multi-awarded cosplayer, she is now being invited to appear at conventions or to judge competitions locally and abroad. She started judging at the age of 18.

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More than a week ago, on July 22-25, the largest comic book and popular arts convention in the world was held at the San Diego Convention Center. Commonly known as Comic-Con International or the San Diego Comic-Con, the convention showcases comic books, science fiction/fantasy and film/television, a larger range of pop culture elements, such as horror, anime, manga, animation, toys, collectible card games, video games, webcomics, and fantasy novels. Of the more than 130,000 people who attended the convention, one of those who dramatically stood out is Filipina Cosplay player Alodia Gosiengfiao, featured in the Philippine Daily Inquirer as the "Geek Goddess."Alodia, as always, was so outstanding that she was filmed by Morgan Spurlock of Supersize Me in a documentary to be aired around the world, and by the Animax Asia team (a cable network in southeast Asia) to be aired all over southeast Asia. Alodia, together with her sister Ashley, has a regular stint in Animax. The Philippine edition of FHM ranked her number 87 in its 2009 poll for 100 Sexiest Women in the World. Alodia has been named by UNO Magazine as one of the most influential women in the Philippines. Born Alodia Almira Arraiza Gosiengfiao on March 9, 1988, the 22 year-old cosplayer, artist, model, and figure collector from Quezon City, Philippines just graduated from the Ateneo de Manila University with a BFA Information Design degree. Cosplay is short for "costume roleplay" and is a type of performance art in which participants don costumes and accessories to represent a specific character or idea. Characters are often drawn from popular fiction in Japan. Favorite sources include manga, anime, tokusatsu, comic books, graphic novels, video games, hentai and fantasy movies.

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"I started cosplaying at the age of 15 by joining competitions here in the Philippines and fortunately winning awards in those events. It all started with my deviantart page, wherein my first submissions were artworks related to anime and videogames, until I gradually added in some cosplay photos and photos I took of my figurine collection. When I turned 18, I’ve been getting invited as a guest judge to several cosplay competitions once in a while, which means I am prohibited from joining the competitions, right? But that doesn’t really stop me from cosplaying. Occassionally, my friends and I hold cosplay photoshoots. We invite photographers, spectators, fellow cosplayers and anyone who could lend a hand. We try to share the love of cosplaying not just during the shoots or events here in our community but also online, from posting artworks to posting out-takes and reporting about the happening." Alodia is also into collecting figures. She says, "I’ve been into it for 1 and half years now. Before collecting, I just used to browse through photos and reviews of figures online. After some time I finally received one as a gift and eventually they multiplied. After almost a year of collecting, I also delved into photography and started taking photos of my figure collection."

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• -Judge for Cyberzone Cosplay Tour 2; SM City Clark; December 12, 2009

• -Judge for Cyberzone Cosplay Tour 2; SM Southmall; December 6, 2009

• -Judge for Cyberzone Cosplay Tour 2; SM Cubao; November 29, 2009

• -Finalist Representing the Philippines for AFA Regional Cosplay Championships; Singapore; November 21-22. 2009

• -Judge for Cosplay Competition; Kyo Ritu; Ali Mall; October 17, 2009

• -Judge for Cosplay Competition; Otaku Taiiki; Megatrade Hall; August 23, 2009

• -Organizer & Host; Cosplay Fusion; Power Plant Mall, Rockwell; June 27, 2009

• -Awarding; Cyberzone Cosplay Tour; SM North Edsa; May 15, 2009

• -Judge for Cosplay Competition, Shizen Orchestra; SMX; April 25, 2009

• -"Alodia Fans Day" & Judge for Cosplay Competition; E-Games Domination 3; SMX; April 4, 2009

• -Promoted Zhu Xian Online as Bi Yao for the E-Games Launch; March 2009

• -Judge for Cosplay Competition, TAGCOM; Robinson’s Ermita; March 1 2009

• -Cosplay Competion Judge; 8th Philippine Toys and Hobbies Collection Convention; Megatrade Hall; June 20-21 2008

• -Judge for "Best Anime Total Look" Make-Up and Hair-styling Contest; Cosmetologie; The Arena, San Juan ; January 26, 2009

• -Promoted Shakugan No Shana for TV5; Ran Online Tournament & Collecticon; October 4 2008

• -Judge for Cosplay Competition, Animania; Robinson’s Galleria; September 13 2008

• -Judge for Cosplay/Harajuku Fashion Competition; JapFun: Selebrasyon at Eksplorasyon ng Wika at Kulturang Hapon; UP Diliman; July 31 2008

• -Cosplay Competion Host; 6th Philippine Toys and Hobbies Collection Convention; Megatrade Hall; June 16-17 2007

• -Judge for Cosplay Competition; Mangaholix Magamania Convention; Mall of Asia; May 19, 2007

• -Cosplay Catwalk Show Host; Christmas Gift Fair 2006 & Collectible Christmas Fair 2006; Megatrade Hall, Megamall; December 2006

• -Online Voting Winner; as Arua of Rose Online; National Cosplay Competition; Megatrade Hall, Megamall; July 31 2006

• -1st place Group Cosplay; as Alexiel of Angel Sanctuary; 5th Philippine Toys and Hobbies Collection Convention; Megatrade Hall; June 17-18 2006

• -Judge for Cosplay Competition; PUP Anime Guild Convention; March 18, 2006

• -1st place; as Creature Pink of Gunbound; Anime Explosion; Megatrade Hall; February 19-20, 2005

• -Most Innovative; as Creature Pink of Gunbound; Anime Explosion; Megatrade Hall; February 19-20, 2005

• -Best Props; as Creature Pink of Gunbound; Anime Explosion; Megatrade Hall; February 19-20, 2005

• -3rd place; as Chii of Chobits; 3rd Philippine Toys and Hobbies Collection Convention; Megatrade Hall; June 26, 2004

• -Alberta Craftsmanship; as Isis; Ragnarok World Championships 2004; Folk arts Theater; June 20, 2004

• -3rd place; as Magic Gunner Rikku; Culture Crash Comics Convention; Megatrade Hall, December 13-14, 2003

• -People’ Choice; as Magic Gunner Rikku; Culture Crash Comics Convention; Megatrade Hall, December 13-14, 2003

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Cosplay in the Philippines in recent years has become second only to Japan, and Alodia Gosiengfiao, pictured here as Shana, is one of the top players.

Shakugan no Shana (灼眼のシャナ?, lit. Burning-Eyed Shana), also known simply as Shana, is a Japanese light novel series written by Yashichiro Takahashi, with illustrations by Noizi Ito. The series includes 25 novels released between November 2002 and October 2011 published by ASCII Media Works under their Dengeki Bunko imprint. The series centers around Yuji Sakai, an ordinary Japanese high school boy who inadvertently becomes involved in a perpetual war between forces of balance and imbalance in existence. In the process, he befriends the title character: a fighter for the balancing force, whom he takes to calling "Shana". The series incorporates science fiction, fantasy, and slice-of-life "school days" elements into its tale. A manga adaptation illustrated by Ayato Sasakura was serialized in ASCII Media Works' Dengeki Daioh between the April 2005 and October 2011 issues. A 24-episode anime series was adapted by J.C.Staff and it aired between October 2005 and March 2006. An original video animation (OVA) episode and animated film were also produced in December 2006 and April 2007, respectively. A second 24-episode anime series entitled Shakugan no Shana Second aired in Japan between October 2007 and March 2008. A four-episode OVA series entitled Shakugan no Shana S was released between October 2009 and September 2010. A third anime series, Shakugan no Shana Final, began airing in October 2011. A PlayStation 2 video game released in March 2006 followed and a second video game for the Nintendo DS was released in March 2007. Viz Media announced at Comic-Con 2006 that they have licensed the right to release the English translations of both the Shakugan no Shana light novels and the manga series. Additionally, Geneon Entertainment licensed the first anime TV series in North America[1] and the first DVD was released on September 5, 2006. After Geneon withdrew from the North American market, Funimation took up the distribution rights for the first season, and later licensed the second season, third season, film, and OVA series.

Yuji Sakai, a high school student, expected his very normal life to last forever. However, this expectation is quickly shattered one day while on his way home. The world suddenly freezes in time, leaving Yuji to watch in horror as blue flames engulf the people around him. Soon a monster resembling a large doll appears and begins sucking the flames into its mouth, until it notices Yuji. Surprised with Yuji's insusceptibility to the time-stop (fuzetsu), it jumps with glee. Just as the monster prepares to consume Yuji, a sword-wielding girl in black attire with flaming red eyes and hair appears, swiftly and confidently destroys the monster, before noticing Yuji moving freely. The girl calls herself a "Flame Haze" who hunts the "Denizens of the Crimson Realm" and the "Rinne" they send to do their bidding. When Yuji notices a blue flame in his chest, the Flame Haze tells him that the "real" Yuji died some time ago, and that he is a "Torch", a temporary replacement for erased humans. Torches take on the forms of those erased persons, but after a period of time, they will vanish from existence and the memories of the living. Unfazed by his apparent death, Yuji befriends the strange girl and names her "Shana" after her sword. The reason Yuji was able to move in the fuzetsu is that he is not a normal Torch, but instead a special kind called a "Mystes": he has a treasure inside him, known as a "Hougu", a device possessing special abilities of sorts, and an extremely powerful and valuable one at that. The hougu inside Yuji allows him to remain in existence rather than fading away like other torches. Shana resolves to protect Yuji from the Denizens, who would use the treasure to disrupt the balance of the world, and Yuji decides to join Shana in her fight. Shana's fight is actually a long-standing struggle between the Lords and Denizens of Guze. The Denizens steal Power of Existence, the energy that forms the basis of the world, from living people and utilize it for their own selfish ambitions. Some Lords inhabit humans creating Flame Hazes in an attempt to retain balance by hunting renegades from Guze. Flame Hazes create Torches in place of the consumed to save the world from the disruption of many existences being lost at once, allowing the Torches to gradually burn out over the course of time.