Here's the final part, touching on the cosplayers and a couple of the stage events.
There were many cosplayers at the event as you would expect. The best places to catch them were at the open area behind the food street and in the carpark outside the halls. Here are just a couple of them. Kicking things off are Akatsuki Tsukasa and Judy from Taiwan who you could catch at the Panasonic booth. Click on the images to enlarge.
I have more images in the gallery.
Now on to the stage events. The one event which I wanted to attend was the SPHERE Special Stage segment. SPHERE is a J-pop group comprising of four members. They are Haruka Tomatsu, Minako Kotobuki, Ayahi Takagaki and Aki Toyasaki. All of them are also voice actresses. My main purpose at this event was to catch Aki Toyasaki and Minako Kotobuki who voiced Yui and Mugi respectively from the K-On! anime. Some of you may know that K-On! was the one that piqued my interest in anime.
No photography or video recording was allowed for this segment unforutnately. Here's a brief summary of what went on. The group arrived in Singapore on Saturday. They spoke of their visit to the Merlion and Marina Bay Sands hotel. They also visited Lau Pa Sat (a food center) where they sampled local food like wanton mee, chicken rice and also durian. They didn't like the smell but tried it anyway. It was described as impactful. A Q&A session followed. Questions include which character that they have voiced do they releate to the most and which character do they have the most confidence in playing. They then did a "live" dubbing of two scenes from the anime Natsuiro Kiseki.
I thoroughly enjoyed the segment. A pity about the no photography bit.
I stayed on for the Danny Choo segement.
Here's a few points. Culture Japan season 3 has been delayed. Japan Mode, a new television show focusing on lifestyle topics will premiere on Star World in December. Mirai Millenium is being worked on. There are two new as yet unnamed characters.
Moekana, a set of cards to help people learn basic Japanese is supposed to be meant for foreigners but its proving popular among Japanese kids. A new set called Moekanji is being developed. The Mirai Suenaga Nendoroid will soon be released. Mirai dolls are also being developed. He's on the lookout for talent and he touched on the qualities he's looking for.
You can still catch Danny Choo on 17th November 2012 at the Jurong Regional Library 4pm-6pm where he'll be sharing his experience on learning Japanese.
Following that was the Regional Cosplay Championship. I don't have many photos of it I'm afraid. The team from Singapore won it, Indonesia second and Thailand third.
We were also treated to performances by Team Shikon from Japan and Lunar Asterisk from Indonesia.
Danny Choo and Kaname performed an impromptu Gangnam Style bit.
The segment ended with all the participants and judges posing on stage.
All the cosplay and stage images can be viewed here.
I enjoyed my visit to AFA12. There were lots of things to see and buy. The booths were colourful and well decorated. I love those giant posters. And the displays were well done too. Some of the best deals could be found at the Bandai booth. Prices were slashed late on Sunday, especially on roleplay swords and roleplay accessories.
I look forward to the event next year.
Thanks for viewing!
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