In late March of 2011, Filipina cosplay goddess Alodia Gosiengfiao made a shocking announcement: she was quitting cosplay to become a full-time student. Unsurprisingly, her announcement threw the otaku community into a state of utter chaos.
Related Articles
Today, she actually became full-time student – a fictional one. Alodia cosplays the reality-warping schoolgirl Haruhi Suzumiya from the hit anime The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. Happy April Fools’ Day, everyone.
Endless Alodia
Not so coincidentally, anime cable network Animax Asia is airing the second season of Haruhi on April 6. This season features the legendary Endless Eight arc, which drove Haruhi fans completely nuts. It’s also no coincidence that Alodia’s “retirement” from cosplay was meant to drive her fans completely nuts: Alodia is a brand ambassador for Animax.
Haruhi fans won’t have a hard time seeing the similarities between Alodia and Haruhi. By doing what they enjoy, both young women turn their respective worlds upside-down. By doing what they enjoy, both young women generate massive explosions of data – Alodia on the Web, and Haruhi within the fabric of reality itself.
Social Alodia
By recognizing the parallels and making life imitate art, Animax successfully crafted a social media campaign that generated countless threads across Facebook, Twitter, and the blogosphere — all fueled by genuine and intense emotion. Congratulations to Animax on executing this incredibly clueful stroke of social media marketing genius.
Animax timed Alodia’s big reveal in time for April Fools’ Day, but they could have easily extended the prank all the way to to their Haruhi airdate on April 6. Having April Fools’ Day pass without Alodia returning to cosplay would have driven the fans really insane. With the endless amount of Endless Eight mashups on the Web, I could’ve easily dropped Haruhi references in my Alodia lamentations all week.
Related Posts:
- Alodia as Haruhi
- Alodia is One of the New Faces of Animax
- Animax Introduces Anime VJs
- Animax Feels the Alodia Effect
- Filipina Cosplayer Alodia Gosiengfiao Interviewed on Channel News Asia
