(Yes, I wrote this on the third person)
Red Mendoza is the Events Editor and Chief Correspondent of Anime Pilipinas, where he leads the organization’s coverage of special events, including Japanese anime and Pop-culture gatherings. He also writes op-ed pieces for the site.
He is also currently the health reporter for The Manila Times, the country’s oldest newspaper, since June 2020, in the middle of the country’s fight against the coronavirus pandemic, interviewing key health officials and stakeholders, such as experts and even ordinary people regarding their lives that had been upended by the pandemic.
Being a “late bloomer” into Japanese Anime, mostly by network loyalties, Red became accustomed only to anime programming when terrestrial network ABS-CBN aired Beyblade and InuYasha in 2002.
Since then, every anime show aired on ABS-CBN, he not only followed it, but watched it and made it his inspiration.
Reared into a Kapamilya-loving household, Red decided early on that his career would be in the media, deciding to be a reporter since the moment he was forced to attend a Campus Journalism workshop.
He competed (and lost) in the Quezon City Schools Press Conference, but it did not hamper his passion to write.
At college, his life for Anime and Journalism prospered, becoming a news reporter for the LPU Independent Sentinel and became one of the proponents of establishing an anime organization in the Intramuros-based university, eventually joining in the LPU Kyobun Kunshu Sei on the final years of his studies.
His first taste of an Anime Event was in 2006, when he first attended the Hero TV Summer Splash event at Splash Island in Laguna province, while he attended his first TOYCON in the same year.
Having attended events for more than 10 years, including in Subic for the WCS Philippines 2013 Preliminaries and the island-country of Singapore for Anime Festival Asia 2014, Red still pursues to cover anime events and get the latest interviews from organizers, guests and even the event attendees to bring context beyond what is being seen on the event floor.
He also anchors live on-the-floor anime event coverage via Facebook Live platform and is also a part of the APN Conversation podcast.
Red also delivers his media commentaries on his personal Facebook Page and on two sites, one is this site, the other one, well, will depend on his liking.
He is a die hard fan of Mobile Suit Gundam SEED, Captain Earth, Valvrave the Liberator, and Your Lie in April, but he believes that Aki Tomoya, the lead of Saekano, is his spirit animal, alongside Kira Yamato, Daichi Manatsu, Haruto Tokishima and Kousei Arima.
(Profile from Anime Pilipinas with additional edits to reflect current employment)