A/N: For now I'm just gathering the various relevant posts I've made elsewhere onto this blog. Not that there are any more people paying attention to them here than at the sites they were posted at and but hey it's my blog alright? Now leave me to pretend someone cares.


That 'X' is a bit of misleading – it’s only the third time they’ve done this. I guess they thought it looked cooler than putting a good old-fashioned ’10.

Anyway, this was the first time I’d ever attended anything resembling an anime convention, and for Singapore (and probably the rest of Southeast Asia) AFA is the biggest anime-related event every year. The previous AFAs took place right during that crunch time just before my exams, which is why I've never been to one. Actually, it was the same situation this yea,r but I guess this time around I just couldn’t resist anymore.

So here’s my little (okay, it might turn out quite long) take on what went on. It’s nowhere near a complete coverage since I couldn’t be there for everything. Also, I am a crap photographer. People with an actual idea of how to take decent photographs will still cringe but I’ll try to only include the ones that weren’t total eyesores.

Also, when it came to cosplayers...I’m for the most part too shy to ask, so I generally only took photos when they were already posing for a bunch of other people. Didn’t really help the already doomed quality of my photos. Ah. You’ll see for yourselves. Moving on.


The festival actually started on Friday evening (Day 0) with the highlight being a concert by 16 members of AKB48 (I was going to say 'one-third of AKB48' but I then I realized don't know how many members they have anymore). That was something I really didn’t mind missing...

On Saturday morning, Day 1, I made my way alone to Suntec City Convention Hall 402. It was my first con ever – can you forgive my naiveté? But my decision to attend Day 1 was kind of spur-of-the-moment and I expected that since tickets were available online and from various dealers I expected that most people would have bough theirs earlier.

So wrong.



I got to the venue at about 10. 10 minutes after I joined the queue the line had snaked down the stairs to a lower level. Sca-ree. This might also sound noobish but by that point I was already quite amazed by the sheer number of people turning up. I probably shouldn’t have been. Anime fans are definitely not a rare breed in Singapore, and with other fans coming by from the neighbouring countries...

The venue was divided into two areas. There was the main ‘festival’ area, where the booths and exhibits were, along with a mini stage, and the ‘stage’ area, which was in another hall, where stuff like panels, movie screenings and performances took place. You could buy tickets just for festival access, but I went for stage excess as well – $7 more*, but hopefully worth it. It was about 11 when I finally got my tickets and took my steps into the festival area.

I’m glad I’m not claustrophobic.



One person I'd been looking forward to was seeing celebrity cosplayer KANAME☆ (who shall henceforth be referred to as Kaname as it is less of a pain to type out). I was a bit disappointed to realize that the meet-and-greet he was having at the mini-stage was ending. Well, at least there was still his panel the next day.


This was the closest I could get.


There was a screening for the Gundam 00 movie. I'd already caught it in October, and decided I didn't want to walk out of the theatre going "WTF!" a second time. Opted to wander around instead.


I'll admit that prior to seeing this I had never really been certain of what a Vocaloid was


There was also a karaoke booth for anime songs, which was interesting to watch. Particularly because the lyrics on the screen were in Japanese. Seeing how far people could get on memory alone before messing up made watching considerably more fun. There was also an anisong karaoke contest taking place at the main stage – I remember listening disbelievingly to one guy's rendition of only my railgun as I wandered around.


Looked kind of fun actually. Only my concern for the well-being of the attendees' ears stopped me from attempting a rendition of Zankoku no Tenshi no Thesis

Other stuff going on included a Super Street Fighter tournament, a trading card game tournament, a studio where you could dub your voice into some anime footage (cool!), a booth where you can make 3D footage of yourself and this exhibit:



Oh yeah I'd totally ride that


Not this though



There was also a school-themed maid cafe (wait, if they're dressed as schoolgirls, is it still a maid cafe?) and a butler cafe. The cafes themselves weren't much more than boarded-off areas with chairs and tables - not much in the way of ambience really. I was somewhat intrigued by the butler cafe concept. Okay, more like amused actually - I mean, seriously, butler profiles? They've really going all out on promoting the guys. I considered checking it out but the idea of going to one alone was too intimidating.

While I was in a queue, though, which was right behind the open area where the caterers wheeled in the food for the cafes and where the maids and butlers picked them up, I caught a glimpse of some of the butlers. They...actually looked better in person...specifically Akira and Jin and why do I know their names?

Also, while in that same queue, Kaname happened to walk right past me. I was too surprised to even squee.

I'm forgetting something here...Oh yeah, the cosplay. Maybe it's because I've met seen very few cosplayers live and would therefore be more easily impressed, but I really thought the quality was generally pretty decent. Way too many Vocaloids though.

May'n Handshake and Autograph Session
Part of AFA X was a series of live concerts called . I'd bought a couple of tickets for Day 2 of the concerts, and each ticket qualified me for a ballot for handshake sessions one of the performers and an I Love Anisong poster autographed by said performer. And strictly no photography allowed, unfortunately, or I'd have some really awesome photos to show off.

Input ticket performers, list preferences, submit...and not get what I asked for. And that was how, at a little booth near the back of the festival area, I ended up shaking May'n's hand.

I'd never really been a fan of May'n, never really got into her music, so I wasn't as terribly thrilled about it as most of the other people in the queue seemed to be. When my turn came up the only thing I could think of to say was "Nice to meet you" as we shook hands.

And she replied with her own "Nice to meet you" and flashed me a dazzling smile.

Is this what the X-factor is? I wasn't even a fan, and I found myself a little starstruck. The woman just radiated star quality. I wonder if any fanboys found their knees giving way and had to be carried off.

May'n's posters had been pre-signed, and she handed one to me after the handshake. And that was it.

I...don't actually have the poster anymore. For a good reason. See, while lurking around AFA's Facebook page I found a guy who wanted May'n's autograph but didn't get what he wanted from the ballot. I contacted him, and set up a trade. He couldn't make it for the session (dude, you totally missed out!) so he had me grab the poster for him and then we met up afterwards to make the trade.

As to what I traded for...I'll show that off later.


Stage Area - Milky Holmes Seiyuu Appearance
See, the only reason I was there was because I thought the Ichirou Mizuki/JAM Project meet-and-greet session was starting. It turned out that everything had been delayed quite considerably, a little while after I sat down the Milky Holmes event was only just beginning. But I was tired, and too lazy to move so I ended up just sitting through the whole thing.

I've never watched Milky Holmes. I thought of it as little more than an excuse to put moe girls in cute detective costumes. The four seiyuu dressed up as their respective characters certainly didn't do much to change my impression, but I supposed their fans got a good show.

Tokyo Stormtrooper Danny Choo (who was not dressed as a stormtrooper) played emcee and interpreter, and the president of BushiRoad (sponsor) made an appearance, to talk about Milky Holmes and promote its PSP game. Danny Choo - well, I think if you don't know about him you probably don't care. The latter was middle-aged, dressed in a suit, and was actually kinda funny.

The seiyuu themselves talked a little about their characters, what they'd been doing in Singapore, and then danced and lip-synced (well I was pretty sure it was lip-syncing) to the opening songs of the anime and the PSP game.

I think that was about it.


Ichirou Mizuki and JAM Project Meet-and-Greet
At some point I'm probably going to regret not selling my every possession/my soul/my younger siblings so I could afford a ticket to see JAM Project live. For now I'm pretty certain that there was no way I could have gone. At least I caught a glimpse of them in person I guess.


A really lousy glimpse. I wish I was taller. And had been way closer.


It was pretty short. Appear, wave, talk a little bit and then bye-bye. Hironobu Kageyama did all of the talking for JAM Project, through interpreters, while the rest just stood around and waved. Yoshiki Fukuyama did a solo set here last here, and Kageyama said that they wanted to come over because Fukuyama said Singapore was full of "hot people". You sure he wasn't just talking about the weather?

Ichirou Mizuki though - that man is every bit as dramatic as his songs. He spoke mostly in barely comprehensible English, and every time he ended a sentence I expected a wall of flame to flare up behind him.

It was also mentioned that Mizuki and JAM Project would be performing together during their live concert that night. Oh man that would have been amazing.


I had to leave the festival after that, and missed the Kana Hanazawa appearance and live dubbing session. A real pity - I'm not familiar with her work but witnessing a seiyuu live dubbing would have been very cool.

I was going to talk about Day 2 too but then I got lazy. If you've gotten this far somehow you might as well stick around, because on Day 2, things more awesome than meeting May'n and seeing JAM Project happened.