Randomness Thing

You’ll noticed that I’ve been missing for awhile, but now I’m back. Actually this is a very late post, since I have to attend other stuffs even after I came home from AFAID, so I’m sorry for the late post.

What is AFA?

AFA stands for Anime Festival Asia which is an anime convention with Special Guest Stars and Singers from Japan. The main difference from other cons that you hear is that AFA is held mainly in South East Asia.

It was first held in Singapore at 2008. AFA was organized by Sozo and Denstu. In this first AFA they’ve managed to invited Anisong Legend Ichirou Mizuki and May’n as singers for this anime convention. AFA also invites some prominent figures in the anime production industry and does Talkshows with them to get to know more about the industry itself.

AFA 2008 was a major success and this resulted in doing another AFA for 2009 – 2011. But in 2012 they tried something new, they actually made 3 different AFAs in one year, that is done in different countries in South East Asia which is AFA Malaysia and AFA Indonesia, and will be ended again in Singapore.

What is Featured in AFA?

There are many things featured in AFA, so I’ll try to explain it point-per-point:

I Love Anisong

This is probably the most sought out event in any AFA. “I love anisong” is basically a concert that consists of singers and bands who sings anime songs. Many famous singers and bands has been invited to AFA like Ichirou Mizuki, May’n, FLOW, Stereopony, Bless4 etc.

Regional Cosplay Championship
Like many other anime cons that you’ve all heard and attended, Cosplays is almost inseparable from anime cons. In this Championship the main difference is They do not allow any original cosplays, making people focus on the main factor of cosplay which is authenticity, that resulted in many high level cosplays.

Guest Star Talk shows
This is where many important people from the industry talks about their job, upcoming animes titles or just experience sharing from them. Some examples of guests that has been invited is, Danny Choo, KANAME. Akatsuki Tsukasa.

The Crowd and Atmosphere of AFA ID 2012
In the Exhibition Hall

My Experience in AFA ID 2012

My main reason that I went to AFA ID 2012 is to attend the “I Love Anisong”. The artist line-up for AFA ID was filled with many of my favorite singers. Day 1 was filled with Ichirou Mizuki, 7!!, Bless4 and LiSA, and Day 2 was filled SeaA, Angela, Stereopony and closed by KOTOKO. But before that I’ve experienced many other things from the Talkshows and the Exhibition Hall.

Try guessing where the line starts and the line ends…

In the Exhibition Hall is where you splurge all your money on Japanese Goods, most people instantly flocked to the Moe Moe Kyun Maid Cafe and the Atelier Royal Butler Cafe where people can experience the “real deal” Japanese maids and butlers. The line to get in was very long and it can take hours just to queue in line. Also in the Exhibition Hall there were “Creative Corners” where Local mangaka, illustrators and other aspiring people have chance to show off and sell their works.

Last but not least, it’s the “Akiba Town”, this is where most of the goodies are sold. Companies like Bandai, Good Smile, and Bushiroad sells most of their merchandies here.

Judges for the Cosplay Championship

The Main Stage

The Main Stage is where all the guest star do the Talkshows and Cosplay Championships are done. My most memorable talkshows when Danny Choo shared his experience and when KANAME shares his tips and tricks on how to Cosplay as a professional. Too bad Large Cameras were not allowed in the main stage, so the only thing I got is photos from my pocket camera. They also showed 2 Animes, One was the already airing “EUREKA 7 AO” the sequel for Eureka 7, they showed the 1st episode, After that is a sneak peek preview of upcoming Fall Season anime called “K”, from that preview I can say that it’s going to be an interesting anime.

I LOVE ANISONG CONCERT

For the Anisong coverage, since you’re not allowed to take pictures, I can’t really show anything but my enthusiasm and my 1 week soar throat. All I can do is just point to the artist and ask you readers to try and hear their songs. (Click the links to see the videos, and note that the list I provided is not all the songs that was sung at the concert)

1st Day

1. Ichirou Mizuki – Mazinger Z Theme, Great Mazinger Theme, The Hero
2. 7!! - Fallin Love, Lovers, Bye Bye
3. BLESS4 – Sousei no Aquarion, Kimi No Shinwa-Aquarion Dai Ni Shou, Gekkou Symphonia
4. LiSA – crossing field, Oath Sign, Crow Song

2nd Day

1. Sea A – Dream Shooter, Deli-Deli Delicious
2. Angela – Shangri-La, Aoi Haru, Zankoku na Tenshi no Teeze (yes they sung that as an encore song)
3. Stereopony – Namida no Mukou, Stand by Me, Tsukiakari no Michishirube
4. KOTOKO – Light My Fire, Face of Fact, Re-Sublimity

Hope you guys enjoyed my short coverage, sorry that I didn’t post many photos since I think it’s quality is bad, I’ll be back with my Game Nostalgia and VN highlights next week as in Tomorrow.