Anime Festival Asia 2009, Hari Raya Haji. I don't know how to start this. It's been a while I've not blog and I've been holding up from blogging cuz I totally have no mood. But I'm in the mood now and although my mom stopped me halfway to cut those sengkuangs, i'm oKay with it because I'm listening to T-ara's new album and managed to catch Invicible Youth this afternoon. I had a good sleep and I'm not feeling lethargic, like yesterday did.

First up, last weekend, on November 21st and November 22nd, the (AFA) Anime Festival Asia 2009. We're not expecting much but we had fun. It was tiring, standing most of the time but we had fun.

Last year was the debut of AFA, me and ushi were sick. We had fevers and flus. Coughings and I barely got my voice back too. But the coughing was bad. hani-senpai, whom had made plans with us, arrived 1st and had to wait for me for over an hour. I arrived later and ushi arrived much later. It was a plan gone wrong on the 1st year.

This year, I arrived 1st. Plans were made between me, ushi, jie and hani. Ushi had work, so will only able to come at 1500hrs, Hani had no reply and jie had some family business came up.

And so here goes... on de way in the bus, cousin Ari was with me as he's heading the same way to work. I arrived 1235hrs and unlike last year which there was no queue for the tickets, this year, the queue was SUPER long but it was moving rather fast. I was able only to get tickets for me and ushi. While queueing, i was suprised to see that the next hall has an IT fair going on. People coming out with AudioHouse paper bags, Intels, Fujitec balloons floating around, I was like, WTH!!!! anyway, after getting my tixs, I didn't know what to do. Wonder to wait for the others to come or should I go in first. ushi messaged me and told me to walk in first, so, i decided to go in. Without hesitations, I accepted the Bandai catalogue and smiled to myself as I look around. Talked to myself, don't know where to start 1st.

Left, right, back, front... I started with the right end lanes. Storm Lion and Production I.G.'s booths were up, promoting their upcoming joint-project, Titan Rain. Production I.G.'s also promoting Oblivion Island: Haruka and the Magic Mirror, starring Haruka Ayase and Miyuki Sawashiro. ~kyaa!!! it's in my MyAnimeList list, i am so going to watch it. Datte!!!!! Miyuki Sawashiro da yo ~!!!! Another booth is promoting Summer Wars, starring Yusuke Kamiji. That kid, he might as well just be a seiyuu.

A booth on Tatsunoko Productions, i think i stood in that booth the longest as I was reading the timeline on all the animes which were released by them. Few animes i was familiar with, 2 of them were Casshern and Yatterman.

Not much doujinshi corners, there were at the back corner. booths are as if hidden with super limited non-brutal BL mangas. =_=" Trading card games corners and booth. I just don't understand trading card games. Then there's the Afreko corner. You can choose wither Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood, K-ON!, or Inuyasha to do your own voice-dubbing. There's also a karaoke booth brought by Joysong, or was it Joysing???... well, many were crowding there to take turns to sing their favorite anisongs.

Looking at franchises, KKNM, takashimaya booths are all there for you to get your fav character t-shirts, wall scrolls, cushions, etc. I went in the takashimaya booth and I have to say, that's the most crowded booth ever. It's hard to go in. Girls were going gaga over the cushion covers, D.Gray-Man, Lucky Star, K-ON!, well... no GUNDAM or any other shounen genres characters but lots items were targetting the male otakus.

I continue walking around and there's the Moe Moe Kyun maid cafe. The queue was long and I was even thinking of going in alone. But thinking that I'm alone, i might look like some lonely-loser otaku... >_<"

Walked almost the whole hall and I thought I covered everything to check out, well, I was simply just looking around while waiting for the others, then i kinda felt that something was missing. Then I heard a loud roar and I looked up! There was this long line of black curtain and I saw a big screen at the other end... It's the stage!!! I totally forgot about it.

The Regional Cosplay Championship was going on and so I decided to go over and check it out. Since there're still LOTS of time while waiting for the others, I stayed at the competition, in time for the Singapore team to make their appearance. I stood there at the back and the Singapore team came out with their title, 00 Emotion. a small play by Setsuna F. Seiei in 00 and Marina Ismail singing! it was cringing but the the 00 costume was done well, that he was able to walk around, well not much, receives lots of applause and cheers from the crowds. I thought it was good too but i was cringing when Marina Ismail starts singing to her song as 00 fights. There's dialogue too but I was pactically covering my mouth with the Bandai catalogue as the last line from Setsuna was, "Ore wa GUNDAM!".... hahahahakz!!!!!

Thailand and Philippines came out later. Philippines came out cosplaying as the main characters of Witchblade. Sexy as they are, i thought they're quite good.

No DVD corner this time. The sole anime provider here totally got themselves in trouble last year that now they're mainly doing broadcasting licensing. Along the lanes in the fair, there're lane boards of Honey & Clover, FMA, Lucky Star, Monster, etc. Well, at least there's the manga corner by Chuang Yi. I regretted after that for not topping up my The Wallflowers manga. But there was one big spoiler for me to see. Naruto. It was not impossible for me to not see it!!! I don't read the manga but I'm watching the anime. Currently, Naruto Shippuuden. There are still more good stuffs coming out in the story so I'm seeing them in the manga but there, Chuang Yi put up one big poster of it with Naruto's new changed look! I just stare at it and I was like!!! damn!

It somehow got me to continue my Naruto Shippuuden after compiling over 10 episodes til the latest.

Almost 1600hrs, Jie on the way and we decided to grab something to eat. Decided on KFC as I have kept some old coupons. Looking forward to the Fish Zinger though, but the others want to eat chickens. Of course, well, you're in KFC, right. Jie arrives and we bought our food only to found that, they were out of chickens and have to wait 30-40 mins. I looked around and saw many were just eating cheese fries, coleslaws or the whip potato. Seriously! KFC RAN OUT OF CHICKENS! ... I got my fish zinger, while the others waited. For the chickens.

Went back to the fair and this time, I was guiding Jie. We walked around and stopped to look at the maid cafe, the queue still long as it was earlier. There was a bit crowd there, we peeped in there was Kaname☆, eating!!! He was cosplaying as Simon (Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann). It was a tribute to Shoko Nakagawa who is also there for the anisong concert. ushi had went off to Cotton On to get a pair of slippers as she was getting blisters from her new shoes. The camera was with her, so Jie passed me hers. I turned it on, I aimed

and shoot...... the screen died.

=_="

de camera died. batteries died.

Didn't know how long he was there but few minutes later, he got up, put on his coat and went off through the back door.

That was it. Seeing Kaname☆ the 2nd time on that day but the camera died.

Almost 1800hrs, people should have start queueing for the anisong concert. We 4 are the people who didn't get any tickets for the concert, so we're just standing at the back and enjoy the songs. We managed to find the right queue for us and got in the stage area. At the back, of course.

1st up that was was Shoko Nakagawa. Omg! She was cute. She sang all her songs for Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, her 1st single, snow tears and several other anime songs. After her, virtual idol, Hatsune Miku came on. The screen, of course. 1 song was nice but there was a lag in audio after almost the end. And like wth, she even got stage fireworks! Ichirou Mizuki came on last, but jie has already made a move for her other plan. Me, ushi and hani went off and walked around the halls again. Ushi wanted to get the UCC black coffee. I drank it too but she couldn't take the bitter taste that i ended up finishing it. Bought the UCC milk coffee Evangelion version but i didn't drink it. Ushi bought one too and drank it, to get rid if the bitter taste but this time, she got a super sweet taste.

Almost 2200hrs, we all departed and went home. It was tiring as we stood most of the time. I came back, ate dinner, showered and watched an anime... Naruto Shippuuden. thanks to that spoiler, i ended up watching it and this time i was even concentrated on it, despite ushi asking me what / why / how.

I even managed to ask her, what if Mamo or Miyu or any male seiyuus were to come and instead of doing a live-dubbing/talk event, but as singers, what would she do. Because if those seiyuus come as singers, it'll be the anisong concert and we would have to get separate tixs. So, if any male seiyuus come, me, jie, hani would be getting those tickets, so ushi would be alone at the back... her conclusion, if it's Mamo or Miyu, she would buy the separate tixs too. Hahakz! She's so cute. She knows who's Mamoru Miyano/Mamo, but if she hears Mikishin in other animes, she'll knw him as Lockon. if she hears Kamiyan, she know him as Tieria and Yocchin as Allelujah. Well, she's not an otaku, so can't blame her. As long she knows Mamo. AAAHAHAKZKZ!!! she's starting to know Miyu Irino, although he's the pathetic Saji Crossroad but he's also Kou Kitamura in Cross Game, which is engrossly watching currently.

The 2nd day. Everybody already planned to meet up at 1000hrs at the entrance of the hall but ended up, hani was too sleepy and will only come later and Jie was called back to church. Both planned to make it before the K-ON! event starts. me and ushi reached 5 mins before 1100hrs, in time for Kaname☆ Panel Session. He appeared as Cloud Strife and gave out talk on his cosplaying. He also had a presentation prepared. Showing his other cosplays photos. I fell in love with his cosplay look for a character from Zone-00.

Just listening to him talk almost got us sleepy. We avidly listening, especially the eye- make up part. Just hearing the proccess was tedious enough. But, what is BB Cream???

His talk done, he stride down the stage from left to right and do the Cloud Strife poses. He's off the stage, ushi went off to withdraw money and get coffee, while me stay there. We moved seats to the centre, 2nd row. while ushi was away, there was the karaoke/afreko session. maids from the maid cafe sang and danced and there were contests for the audiences too. while all that were happening, fanboys starts coming in and taking up spaces around me. still 30-40 mins away before the K-ON! seiyuus appear, fanboys have already took over the surroundings around me. ushi came back with a cup of coffee which freshens me up a bit. Jie and hani managed to come nick in time and managed to get a seat for them on de 1st rown, but separately away from each other. Hahakz!

1315hrs... K-ON!! seiyuus appears on stage. Aki Toyosaki (voicing Yui), Minako Kotobuki (voicing Tsumugi), Satomi Satou (voicing Ritsu) & Ayana Taketatsu (voicing Azunyan). Sadly for me and jie, there was no Yoko Hikasa (voicing Mio), she was our favorite character but seeing the crazy fanboys screaming and cheering super out loud as the seiyuus did their live-dubbing and talks was scary. It was great to see japanese seiyuus on our shore, it's the 1st time we are hoping for more.... Mamoru Miyano, maybe? ehekz! ;D.. well, i'm still hoping for Jun Fukuyama.

K-ON! event finished, we went off for breakfast-cum-late-lunch. This time, we ate in Long John Silvers and we had CHICKENS!

Went back to the halls and this time, ushi with hani, me with jie, we went off separate ways in pairs. Went to Chuang Yi corner again to look at mangas. Jie checked out for Naruto's latest volume as her friend had asked her for it but it's not out. Then there was a manga by Yuu Watase. Asked jie wat's it about, too lazy to read the summary, jie bought the 1st volume and she got a free gift. I opened up the free gift and it's a picnic mat. Ouran High School characters on it. Not bad for a free gift. It was worth it. 1 dollar off for the manga and a free gift.

There was the Bushiroad event going on. Seiyuus of the anime Weiss Survive came. There were lots of empty seats, only 30 mins though but there're still fanboys there for the female seiyuu. Not really familiar with them, but am familiar with the anime but i only watched 2 episodes of it. I just don't understand trading card games. The 2 seiyuus are also said to be radio djs for Hibiki Station.

Well, the male seiyuu was cute and ok looking. They did their live-dubbing and q & a talk. We even played jan ken pon. Eventhough I lost, i was glad i did. The winner receives a special edition of the cards. We were told then that the seiyuus will be at the this certain booth. Me pulled jie along and decided to go to that booth and waited but there was still no signs. we were even planning to show him my mobile phones wallpaper pix and ask if he knows him... [hehekz! Mamoru Miyano is on my mobile phone's wallpaper.]... we were creating our own scenes on how he would turn out if we ask him that.

Hahakz!

but if Mamo or Miyu to come, they have lost the title of "The 1st male seiyuu in Singapore". Hahakz!!

ushi and hani joined us and waited. hani bought herself a gunpla. her first one ever. with the help of ushi though.

Then suddenly there was a

table prepared and a line barricade set up. We thought it might those 2 seiyuus. ushi was alreadi feeling rather fed-up and wants to go off somewhere else but i insisted she stays. i told them that it might not be them but someone else, like Kaname☆, would appear. Still feeling fed-up, ushi stayed, hani sticks on and jie couldn't hold on goes off to the ladies. I tricked her in saying that he's here, she turns back but still no sign. She went off, only to expect a minue later... KANAME☆ appears!!!!