Anime Festival Asia an event focusing on Japanese animation and popular culture, ones again returns at 2009. AFA2008 was a highly successful event that attracted many people even from other countries. This year, AFA is going to be bigger and better than last year. The impact of AFA’s success in South East Asia will be reach far and wide.
For the first press conference and the bloggers conference of this year’s Anime Festival Asia. The event organizers released many details that would attract many to attend the event on the 21st and 22nd of November.
Not only that, they left hints for us to figure out. Like the Danny Choo’s ( Don’t say lazy ) video, that was shown on the first press conference.
And the videos in the AFA face book section, that grows with more contents up till the bloggers conference. It already had about 10.6k followers !
The first highlight which I want cover first is the ‘I Love Anime Song’
This time there will be 5 artist flying down to Singapore. Surprise, both Aniki and May’n will be back this time.
Following them will be :
Shoko Nakagawa the singer of the opening theme of Gurren Lagaan anime series. She is a multitalented artist, ranging from being an idol, voice actress, blogger. Fans know her as ShokoTan. Here is a video : Shokotan sings "hare-hare yukai"
Yoshiki Fukuyama a member of the JAM Project. He is the singing voice of Nekki Basara of Macross 7. There are rumors that May’n and Fukuyama will be performing on the same day….. hmmm. A video of 突撃ラブハート (Duet Ver.) Live
Virtual Idol “Hatsune Miku” is also to perform. I got a feeling that it would be like her performance in Animelo09. Crypton Future Media, the creator with SEGA’s PSP game ‘Hatsune Miku –Project DIVA-‘ , will be bringing Hatsune Miku to life in Singapore for her very first overseas appearance. Below is a PV of her singing 'nebula' a song which is my favoutite.
And wow! I almost jaw drop at the news of K-On! Seiyuu coming to AFA09. It will be The K-ON! Experience. This will defiantly attract many fans to attend. The seiyuu of K-ON! will make an appearance for the first time overseas at AFA09. The cast will be doing a live dubbing a scene from the animation, in addition to a Q&A session on the main stage, accessible to all attendees. K-On merchandise are going to be flying off the shelves !
Also a Maid Cafe being set up in the event itself. The girls who will be serving at the cafe during the event, have the looks, personality and enthusiasm. Having been to Pinafore Maid Café at Akihabara, I don’t expect the settings to be accurate but closed … I can vision the long queue for the cafe itself. One may wonder.. what’s important, the maids or the food…hee.
For events like AFA, cosplay also form part of its attractions. This year cosplay will have a bigger presents in the form of AFA Regional Cosplay Competition. It is to reach out and open to the cosplayers of South-East Asia countries. It also create a chance for Singapore cosplayers to compete and network with other countries cosplayers.
One of the judges of the competition will be Kaname a very popular professional cosplayer, from Japan). Entry submissions is to made via dannychoo.com, plus the deadline had been extended to 12th October 12pm Japan Time, due to good responses. Top prize will be a pair of return tickets to Tokyo!
For the Animation Studios, AFA09 has managed to bring in a few heavy weights this year. They will be having their own booths.
Tatsunoko Productions, the company that animated classics such as Macross and Gatchaman.
Madhouse. Their recent works include Death Note, Chaos;Head, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, and the upcoming Summer Wars.
Bandai will also make a big come back to AFA09 with its 30th Anniversary occasion. The main feature will be a time tunnel showcasing the 1st Gundam series to the latest. They will be showcasing their Chokogin and other models.
How I wish they could bring in the Gundam 00 1/60 model for display. There will be a Bandai World Wide Gunpla competition in conjunction with dannychoo. And Bandai Action Kits Universal Cup Competition 2009, which winners will then go on to compete with winners from other countries at the grand finals.
And yes specking of Danny Choo, he will be fly down to Singapore for the event. He is famous for his blog covers and dressing up as a Stormtropper dancing in down town Tokyo. I do enjoy his videos. He will be a key speaker at the AAC, as well as hosting certain items at the event itself. Here is a video of him as a stromtrooper.
Genesis Frontier and KKnM are introducing Bushiroad and COSPA into AFA09.
Local fans in Singapore can now easily get their COSPA stuff anytime by heading to KKnM. Rather than ordering online. Even better, AFA09 will host Singapore’s 1st ever Weiβ Schwarz Grand Prix.
Lastly I going to cover the Ticket Prizing. Unfortunately, the mere mention of the ticket pricing even before it was release, created quite a hoo haa in a certain forum. This will confirm the ticket prizing and some people’s mouth to be silenced.
The normal ticket prize will be S$15 for a day and S$25 for both days.
Student ticket prizing will be S$12 for a day and S$20 for both days
The concert ticket will be prize at S$108 for a day and S$188 for both days. It will also cover the entrance fee too.
There will be free entry for children under the age of 12 and for cosplayers who meet adequate standards for the event.
The ticket prize is defiantly more than last years. But I do feel that this years event content is worth the money. And the AFA organizers also do take into consideration to have discounts for students, as they are not working yet. Kudos to them!
Anime Festival Asia will be at Suntec Convention Hall 403-404, on the 21st(Sat) to 22nd(Sun) of Nov 2009.
