Asaban Night review

Taylor’s Asaban Festival (previously Taylor’s Anime festival) was held recently at their Subang campus at SS15 by Taylor’s Anime Society. Compared to previous years, the event had 2 parts. A day event which was held in the indoor hall and a night event which was held outdoors at the carpark area.

Full review after the jump.

A(sa)-side

I took the liberty to sneak in at the end of the day event since I had no intention to pay for another ACG event not to mentioned it wasn’t worth going in after reaching at 4.30 in the bloody hot afternoon. From what I can tell and also from listening to opinions of quite a number of con goers all I can say is that it was done better than last year but not to the extend of it being completely different. It had a problem what one con goer said as ‘the Daicon syndrome’ in which the seating in front of the stage was hardly occupied when the competition was going on.

For me, I feel the arrangement of the booths and such can be arranged much better. Even though the day event was somewhat over I had to maneuver myself from one point to another between masses of tables and chairs. As usual, The Figure Mall who was present had the largest booth at the event displaying their numerous figurines. Other than the standard ACG stuff like Doujin Booths and Figurines they also had a section for cosplay photography which I greatly approve of and also a Cosplay Cafe. Although I have to admit that the cosplay photography corner was a great idea the theme, props and backdrop for certain cosplayers is just out of place. No comments for the cosplay cafe since it was already closed by the time I was there. From what I’ve heard it was so-so.

The bands who performed like Zeolite were a great addition to liven up the mood and is definitely a plus point. The air-conditioning to me was good but I can’t say the same for the sound system though. Didn’t take any pictures from the inside. Was too tired and lazy to.

B(an)-side

The night event. Oh, the night event. This was my only intention of initially showing up for TAF. With the TAF PR guy promising a spectacular event I just had to give it the benefit of the doubt. It was actually quite fun. The whole mini bon odori dance around the stage, band performances, and a stall with authentic Japanese food for sale was top points for me. Sadly, the lack of omatsuri games, stalls, and bad sound system was a minus.

HOWEVER, (yes, its in caps on purpose) for visitors to buy a RM20 coupon to purchase food and stuff from the stalls is just too much and I mean in both a figurative and literal way. Not to mentioned that not informing visitors about the coupon price earlier really pissed me off as I did not bring enough for it. Its just too pricey.

The kimono wearing slot was interesting and the mini Bon Odori was really fun. Too bad there wasn’t enough people to complete the circle around the stage though.

Small goldfishes are small...

Conclusion

I do not know the name of this band. OTL

Pros: Band performance, mini bon odori, good air conditioning, some Japanese food albeit limited, good sound system at night.

Cons: walking 3 floors up to the hall, messy hall arrangement, lack of stalls and games at night, wtf expensive coupons, NO MORE DANGOS!!!, not really good sound system in the hall, lack of signage to toilet.

Overall, other than the usual ACG convention problems it was done rather well with both ups and downs although with major improvements from last year. Hopefully, next year would be much much better.

Me and ma girls yo!!! XD