COSPLAY MANIA 2025 + Shouta Aoi Interview

Cosplay Mania 2025 returned to the SMX Convention Center as a three-day celebration of pop culture—starting quietly, building momentum, and ending in full-blown spectacle. From a calm and spacious Day 1 shadowed by an incoming storm, to a bustling weekend packed with fans, creators, and unforgettable JAM Concert performances, the event unfolded with its own rhythm each day. Highlights ranged from unique stage activities and a redesigned convention layout, to rare media interactions with iconic artists Angela and Shouta Aoi, and a jam-packed finale capped by major guest reveals. Despite a few logistical hiccups, Cosplay Mania 2025 once again proved why it remains one of the most anticipated conventions of the year—an experience that grows louder, brighter, and more electric as each day passes.

Cosplay Mania Day 1:

What's up, mga Ka-Usapan! It's that of the year again and one of the biggest pop-culture events is happening again. Yes, we're talking about Cosplay Mania 2025, and it's once again going to be a 3-day event so we were in SMX Convention Center last October 3, 2025 for the very first day.

It was pretty quiet on the convention floor, due to it was still a Friday and there was an incoming storm. The halls of SMX were noticeable wide but you can tell there was still a crowd who came to Day 1. We got to roam around but first Usapang Cosplayed surveyed the EX Hall where most of the stage activities happened like the new burger eating contest sponsored by Minute Burger and some new stage games like Word Tour, a play on the Japanese shiritori.

As for the event itself, what was noticeable was the layout. This year, Cosplay Mania's main stage was situated between the Merchants and All-Star Alley, and the Fanfare area. So if you wanted to switch from browsing anime merch to checking out the different fanmade art, you needed to pass by the main stage.

Overall, it was a pretty quiet Day 1 for Cosplay Mania, topped off by an opportunity to watch Day 1's JAM Concert, featuring Octavio and Sangatsu no Phantasia. It was very energetic concert as Octavio and Sangatsu's fans really showed their enthusiasm cheering and singing/dancing along. This was just Day 1 and there are still 2 more to go.

Cosplay Mania Day 2:

Day 2 of Cosplay Mania was more hectic with more congoers due to it being the weekend. While hosts Caishi and Kaito were roaming the event floor, host Ricki had the opportunity to sit down in a zoom meeting with other Cosplay Mania media partners and interact with 2 of the event's most celebrated musical guests: Angela and Shouta Aoi.

Our first zoom meeting was with Angela, a duo consisting of Atsuko on vocals and Katsu on the guitar. We all had the opportunity to ask some questions about them. There were multiple but the summary of what we found out about Angela was given the chance they would want to try out musical styles from other countries and that if they were not musical artists, they'd probably work at Jollibee.

After our time with Angela, we actually had with us in the zoom meeting Shouta Aoi himself and all media partners too had a chance to him Aoi-san some questions. One of the the surprising things was to know he was actually insecure about his voice before but now is thankful for it since he got to meet and touch the lives of many people. He also said that one of his dream roles is to be a ninja, for one thing, and that he likes spicy foods. He also practices through humming and that he admits his working in different fields tend to influence each other. Questions from Usapang Cosplay and the Shouta Aoi Interview

Q: What character that you haven’t cosplayed yet do you want to do, and why?I want to cosplay the bird version of Howl from Howl’s Moving Castle. It’s a character I’ve always wanted to portray, and my dream is to someday create the entire costume by myself from start to finish.

Q: With so many possibilities, how do you choose what cosplay to do first?I usually choose the characters I love the most. When I first started, it was hard to find the right wigs or costumes, so I went with the character that was easiest to purchase among my favorites. That first cosplay remains a very happy memory for me.

Q: What has been your most challenging cosplay?My most challenging cosplay was a World of Warcraft character. I built the full costume from scratch in a workshop, and unfortunately, I developed allergies during the process. It was tough, but completing it gave me so much joy and satisfaction.

He also advises those who would want to try different fields like voice acting, singing, and stage acting to not be afraid of the challenge. He also hopes those of his fans who can go to Japan will support him in his upcoming Orchestral concert. He even mentioned if given the chance, he'd want to open a sweets cafe and would want to put his creativity into it. He also hopes many years from now he would be remembered for his creativity and talent.

Cosplay Mania Day 3:

This was the final day of the much celebrated Cosplay Mania, and it was simply a more jampacked day than any of the previous ones. There were definitely more congoers and cosplayers roaming around which made the halls a little more crowded. It was the same activities in the EX and SP Stage but of course the highlight of the day was when JAM Concert artists Angela and Shouta Aoi graced the main stage.

As with more final days of Cosplay.ph events, we eagerly awaited the guest reveal for the upcoming CosMeet 2025 which will take place in Okada Manila on October 25-26, and it was none other than famous South Korean cosplay Ing. After all the activities were done it was almost time for the JAM Concert, though this is were things became more hectic.

With the halls of the main stage closed to make way for the JAM Concert, congoers now needed to walked outside the halls to visit the Fanfare booths and vice versa for the merchants on the opposite sides. For those coming from the merchant halls and on their way to the JAM Concert, it became a sudden inconvenience that they needed to exit the entire building and wait outside to be let into the JAM Concert hall. Putting the Main Stage in the middle somehow became an inconvenience.

Overall though, Cosplay Mania was still enjoyable despite some of the inconvenience. Hopefully things will be better for the next Cosplay Mania.

This Article is under the publication of Usapang Cosplay 2025 Written by: Ricki Buzon. Photos by: Frncs Ikle, Sheartato.