AFAX

More than a year hiatus already huh... Reviving this blog to practise writing in japanese.

The once a year anime festival asia held in Singapore ended on 14/11. My original intention was to go on the 13th only as the main attraction for me was Kana Hanazawa dialogue session. However, as my friends decided to go down on 14th, I decided to join them, and boy am I glad I did. I manage to get my photo taken with the beautiful -aira-!

Anyway, I am getting way ahead of myself here.

Day 1:

The marketplace was kind of boring, as there was nothing I had in mind that I wanted to buy. Saw this "Mini Stage" thingy which was not mentioned in the brochure so I was intrigued by it. The very first event on that mini stage was a photo-taking session with cosplayer KANAME!! So I read through the events to be staged on that mini-stage and lo and behold, I see a photo-taking session with -aira-! That got me SO psyched.

Went to the main stage area for a bit to check out Danny Choo's presentation. He was an entertaining fella although it was kind of insulting when he mentioned over the PA system that should he speak with a British accent Singaporeans would not understand him. But I guess it was all in good humour.

Loot for the day was CHAOS Visual Arts cards from Bushiroad which I shared with my friend. I was just waiting for time to pass so I can see the sweet Kana Hanazawa. We went to the stage area after lunch to try to snag a front row seat but it was a futile effort. We did manage to get a rather decent position for the Milky Holmes showcase. Following which some people left their seats so we snuck forward and manage to get a seat in row D. I was seat D22.

And finally the highlight of the day, KANA HANAZAWA!!! The fans went WILD cheering for her. She looks rather plain, easily like any girl you see off the streets, but her voice is like an angel (well she voiced Angel in Angel Beats). First off was a Q&A session. I can't remember most of the questions but I distinctly remember the seiyuu she respects the most is *drum rolls* AYAKO KAWASUMI!!! She then did a live dubbing of the last scene in Angel Beats where Tachibana Kanade disappears after her confession to the protagonist (Sorry I cannot remember his name). She was simply amazing in this segment. Truly, a professional seiyuu.

For fans of Black Rock Shooter, the ANIME SERIES of Black Rock Shooter was announced and would start, I think, either Winter or Spring.

At the end of her segment, there was an autograph session. 5 LUCKY persons are chosen at random to receive her autograph. I missed my chance by 2 MISERABLE seats. She called D24 which was an EMPTY seat, however, someone who happened to place his bag on it ran up to the stage to claim the prize which rightfully does not belong to him.

With that Day 1 ended for me.

Day 2:

Arrived early in the day with my friends, Dexter, Ting Jun, and Wen Pu. As soon as the gate opens, we made our way to the mini stage area in hopes to be one of the first in line to get our photos taken with the lovely cosplayer -aira-. This was my most memorable event for AFAX Heheh.

Following which we walked around looking at the booths. TJ and Dex went around taking photos with cosplayers, WP looked at the katanas, and I was shopping for a nice pillow to bring home (settled with C.C.).

After lunch we fought our way through the throngs to get to the front, near the stage, for the Regional Cosplay Championships. For the first time, I manage to hear -aira-'s voice as she provided comments on the performance. While not as nice as Kana's voice, her voice is pretty cute too.

After the Cosplay championship, TJ and Dex left the stage area while I waited for the Aira & Kaname cosplay panel. Before that was a chance to see May'N in the flesh! I only found out about her recently when I researched on Macross Frontier and found out she provided the singing voice for Galactic Fairy Sheryl Nome.



Following that was Aira & Kaname panel. The first part was Q&A session. I didn't remember most of the questions asked, but 2 questions stood out to me. First was the same for both,

Choose :
a) Cosplay a good-looking character but you don't really like this character
b) Cosplay an ugly character but you really love this character.

Both Aira and Kaname picked B with roughly the same reasons. They will get tired of putting in effort getting the costume right for a character that they have no passion for.

2nd question was for Aira. Does she mind wearing very skimpy costumes that show off alot of skin.

Her answer was, quite unsurprisingl, No. She said as long as it's faithful to the character design she would follow through as changing it would mean she's no longer faithful to the character. She then asked what do Singaporeans think of wearing clothes that revealed lots of skin.

Hint : Guys LOVE it >.<

They were then asked to demonstrate good poses to hold when taking photographs. This was the cue to the crowd to start snapping away. I wasn't near the front so unfortunately I only managed to take photos of hands. Lots of them. I had to wait for everyone in front to get their fill before I can take photos of them. By then I did not have much time to focus and take the shot. I curse my height.

After showing what you SHOULD do in a pose, they were asked to show what you SHOULD NOT do in a pose. ie a bad pose. This segment was hilarious and the crowd was laughing at the ridiculous poses that the 2 cosplayers were doing. They were demonstrating common mistakes that amateur cosplayers make.

As the segment comes to a close, 2 lucky person was given the chance to pose with them and shake their hands.



She looks ALOT like Tifa from Advent Children doesn't she?

With that, the last day of AFAX ended for me. I felt this was a really interesting event and totally worth the $30 I shelled out for it. I am looking forward to AFA 2011 and hope to see distinguished seiyuus/guests attending. Hope it will once again be held in Singapore so it would be easier for me to attend.

Sorry, won't be posting in Japanese, feeling too lazy and this post is way too lengthy for my amateur Japanese skills.

Here's some photos of Aira taken from SGcafe blog as my camera is too fail.