Anime Festival Asia’08 (Day 2)

After being whipped asked by Akiko multiple times to finish writing about AFA I’ve finally got around to complete it. Finally indeed. Now I just need to finish my 14 shows, deal with my assignment, complete 2 presentations, juggle with a midterm paper and then finish the semester with a final paper. Sigh…and I haven’t even prepared for Christmas yet. (TT_TT)

Day 2 of AFA was remarkably better than the day before in terms of numbers of both guest and cosplayers. Maybe it was because the cosplay competition was held on day 2 or that May’N’s concert was gonna be held that evening. Well to me it didn’t matter though although I did regret not buying a certain hand figurine much earlier.

Cosplayers were everywhere to be seen not to mention the quality of most costumes were really really good. Its either some of them are ridiculously talented in making costumes or some of them are so bloody rich they could afford to import cosplay items and accessories such as Zero’s (of the Code Geass series) mask/helmet. Though I like to say the first but then again after having a close look at some of their costumes and props I do have to admit some of this Singaporean(?) cosplayers are really really loaded. Suddenly I now feel abit tad sad living in Malaysia.

I bet you 10 bucks its a guy in there.

As though it didn’t get any better I met some friends from MMU’s Emina Melaka such as Lisa, Loo Mun, Hsia Liang just to name a few. Haven’t seen them since GACC earlier this year. I so missed the time we started GACC together…that was such a blast.

Though I didn’t manage to catch Aniki’s mini concert on Day 1(heh…) I did however catch a glimpse of his special performance on day 2 although it was nearing the end.

Anyways, I saw the most perfect Ranka Lee cosplayer evar!!! She fits the character so perfectly I was literally stunned for a few seconds.

I have to admit that there were particularly a large number of Hatsune Miku cosplayers and also those from Vocaloid.

Wut? A manga kissa? In Singapore? No way….but seriously its not that surprising. I haven’t been to their actual shop but I figure it must feel like its our local (chinese translated) manga rental shops but with more zest and more equipment like massage chairs and Japanese books.

I have to admit. I had my ass handed back to me from playing Tekken 6 against Nikki but only because I had not played Tekken for a long time okay?!!! As expected, the graphics and gameplay was good. Its really amazing that they manage to bring in the arcade machine as its currently only available in Japan. This goes the same for the new Street Fighter game as well though I did not manage to give it a try.

Fancy meeting Reno there as well. I first meet him while I was judging the Animax cosplay competition a few months back but I didn’t get a chance to talk to him until now.

Finally, a complementary picture of my overlord and master Akiko.(unfanged version cause I promised that I won’t put it up)

Then last but not least, the time that everyone has been waiting for…MAY’N!!!!!!!!!!!!! The amazing thing about being in Singapore is that not only that they have a reliable transport system that comes on time but their event schedule too starts on the clock unlike their bigger neighbor up north(unfortunately…). All I can say about the concert was that the sound system sucked so much it did not give her voice the justice it deserved, the crowd was so big I had to view the concert from a balcony 150m++ away with a 75-300mm zoom lens in which not only hurts my eye while sniping taking pictures of May’N it was also the only means in which I could get a good view from up close in which you can see from the pictures below.

The crowd went wild just as she appeared on stage and as you can see from the pics some rich otakus fans were even seen waiving glow sticks.

This was seen during all of the six songs she performed. I think its from the Diamond VIP ticket holders. Dammit.

But at the end of the day, all they got was a pre-signed piece of autograph on a square card at the meet and greet session. Disappointing to say the least.

Her last song that she performed which was ‘Iteza Gogo Kuji Don’t be late’ was so bloody EPIC I actually shed tears. You can asked any of the Emina members that went. They can vouch for me. Remember on my earlier post that I will do a Kira post at every ACG event I attend this year? Well to no further a do. Here it is…

Yes…I do know that I look like I was going to consume her soul from this picture but you can blame Nikki for this using my Sony Alpha. Its ok Nikki I know Sony is not your thing I prefer Nikon myself if I got a choice.

Oh, by the way I didn’t actually cry while May’N was singing ‘Iteza Gogo Kuji Don’t be late’ taking the long range shots through the viewfinder just took a strain on my eyes and tears just flowed.