Event Review: Emi Takei with RK cast in the Philippines

Now it's time for a loooong, overdue post. I attended the meet and greet of the cast of "Rurouni Kenshin" last August 6, 2014 held in SM Megamall in the Philippines. It was part of the red carpet movie premiere of the sequel, "Rurouni Kenshin: Kyoto Inferno". The cast included  Takeru Satoh (Kenshin), Emi Takei (Kaoru) and Munetaka Aoki (Sanosuke) plus director Keishi Otomo. After the meet and greet with the fans was the movie screening which was invitational only. Rurouni Kenshin is not a reverse harem and you may be wondering how it got into this blog. The reason I covered the event is because I get to see Emi Takei from jdrama, "Asuko March". I feel like there won't be any other opportunity for me to meet her in this lifetime. Of course, I'm also delighted to see the other stars of RK. I've seen the first part, bad sadly I have yet to see the next two parts. "Asuko March" is her first drama to which she headlined and then months after that I saw her in RK movie. 

I initially saw in news that the premiere was on August 7 and I know we'll be going on a roadtrip that day so going to the event is out of the picture. Then a day before that, I was just browsing on the net when I found out that they're actually having the premier on the day itself or in a couple of hours to be exact and it was nearer my place. Boom! I made a last-minute decision and raced to the mall with two boys in tow. We arrived an hour early but the barricades on the ground floor were already surrounded so we found a spot on the second floor instead.

I think we waited for two hours. It started an hour late at 4pm. There was a long list of reminders from SM Cinema which includes not to ask for autograph and to take pictures until they tell us so and yadda, yadda, yadda. But once the foursome stepped in to the mall, it was a pandemonium! Every time they take a step, they're signing autographs left and right. All of them are so accommodating to the screaming fans. I think the signing took 30 minutes or more. There was this girl who shouted to Emi Takei. Emi walked towards them and took the pen and paper and then walked to the director or the other guys (can't remember who it was now) for an autograph! I can't believe the audacity of the fans to make that request from her but it's much more unbelievable that she obliged. She's just so nice! She's really shy yet graceful and she's really pretty. She mentioned during the Q & A that this is her first premier outside Japan. Don't worry this is my first time to attend any premier event for the matter. Yes we're talking like equals here. (lol). Satoh is polite but reserved compared to Saito who's really funny, loud and who knows how to work the crowd. He made the crowd chant his name and oh yeah he was wearing slippers. Among the four, Satoh was the only who answered the Q & A in English sans the interpreter.

Before the cast arrived, the host was giving away premiere tickets to the people who can answer his questions. Too bad we're on the second floor. One of the questions was something like what was Saito's previous occupation and I confidently told my son: Shinsengumi. Thank you Hakuouki for enriching my Japan 101.

It's good that I was able to attend the meet and greet that day because Emi Takei had to leave early and wasn't part of the second event in the other mall. I think I've already prepared myself in attending events after Jenny Han's autograph signing. But turns out each event is indeed a new, learning experience. So as a reminder to myself again, I should really go early and situate myself on the front row of the barricades for better chances of getting an autograph. The middle part seems a good part. This is the second event I had this year and maybe the third time will be a charm and I'll finally get a signature! And for those on planning to attend events such as this, don't forget to bring lots of pens, papers and merchandise. And also things can get ugly with a lot of pushing from the crowd so be extra careful too! This time I brought a book with me so I kinda read every now and then but the anticipation was killing me so I can't really concentrate. But lesson learned, next time I'll be in jeans so I could sit on the floor. We stood for a very looong time.

I took a lot of crappy pictures and videos from the second floor and I'll save you from it. Haha. Go check out official pictures from SM Cinema. But we had a good view from the top and my sons appreciated the entire thing well except for the waiting part. The perks of an anime mom or that's what I keep telling myself.

I've actually passed on two events.  The first was CN Blue concert to which I'm not really a big fan of but still I would have seen Jung Yong-hwa of the kdrama, "You're Beautiful". There second was a book fair and autograph signing of a local reverse harem book but I haven't read the book yet. But hopefully there will be more reverse harem related events in the future. Okay guys, 'till my next event!