AFA SG 2013

Secret War Journal[10 November 2013][Long Post][Photo-Heavy]
A little background to get our readers to be on the same page as us. AFA is short for Anime Festival (ASIA). AFA is a series of conventions mainly held in Singapore designed to promote the Japanese culture. What sets it apart from other anime conventions is the scale of operations and the crowd it attracts. AFA is without a doubt, the anime convention that boast the highest number of people attending the convention. Personally, I feel that if you are ever invited to such activities, you should definitely go for the annual AFA.

Before AFA 2013, I think I had only attended AFA once (See my post here). This year, armed with a steady income, I was invited to attend AFA. This year, armed with a steady income, I was invited to attend AFA. Seizing upon the opportunity, I accepted the invitation. However, it should be noted that I did hesitate for a moment if I should purchase the tickets for the concert.

Jie Sheng was the first person to ask if I was interested in the early bird package. The early bird package consists of entrance pass for the full duration of the convention, stage pass and VIP seats for the I <3 Anisong concert. The early bird package is considered to be a good deal if you are planning to attend the convention for the full 3 days. As an added bonus, the package would include props that you might use during the concert, such as light sticks. The reason why I did not agree to get the package right away is due to the fact that I could not confirm if I was available on the 8th of November as it was a Friday. As I am now in the army, my schedule is not completely in my control. Thus, while I was sure I should be able to attend for the 9th November since it is a Saturday, I could not fully commit to the event. As a result, Jie Sheng bought the early bird package alone. (I feel bad but it could not be helped.)

The next group who asked was Johnston, Meldon, and Qi Xiang. They heard about the early bird package from me. With similar commitments, apart from Johnston, we all missed the early bird package. For Johnston, he had trouble attending the event as his examinations would be near the corners. Despite all this, we each tried several means and compromises to attend the event. For my side, I was constantly looking out for opportunities to apply for the period of the convention. Qi Xiang and Meldon each managed to make themselves available on the days to attend for the convention. Johnston, on the other hand, studied extra hard in advance to squeeze out a day to go for the event. As luck would have it, I was able to attend for the whole duration of the event.

If the above paragraph was any indication, we decided to only attend the convention for only one day, on the 9th. Instead of getting the early bird package, we are only buying the entrance and stage pass for a day. In addition, we are purchasing a Cat 3 ticket for the concert on that day. The rationale for compromising as such was because we felt that was not much of a point buying a 3-day entrance pass as the exhibition would largely be the same through the period.

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Suntec Convention Centre
The venue of the convention this year was at Suntec Convention Centre. The convention centre had been under renovation for some time. In fact, this year was the first time I went to the newly renovated place. I remembered feeling kinda lost, entering the place despite managing to reach the destination with the aid of signboards.

Accompanying us are my Junior College classmates, Timothy and Leon. They did not buy the concert tickets but they wanted to see what was the convention like. Despite buying the early bird package, Jie Sheng did not join us for the morning as he was exhausted from the concert the night before. Furthermore, he had already visited the exhibitions. Thus, he would only join us in the afternoon to prepare for tonight's concert.

In a twist of event, we realised that we only purchased the concert tickets online but did not buy the entrance pass tickets. Thinking back, since it was already day 2, maybe there was not much point in buying the entrance and stage pass. Now, why did I say that?

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Booths, booths, booths?!

View from the first floor. 
Need tickets to enter the exhibitors on the second floor. :)

The sight of queuing up for the entrance pass was truly a sight to behold. It has been some time since I saw such a long queue which twists and turns so numerous times, enough to fill a floor. While the scene was intimidating, the queue moves surprisingly fast. Within minutes, we are in the convention hall.

From Left: Johnston, Qi Xiang, Timothy, Leon

The queue is moving very fast! It is already clearing up!

Bandai Booth. You would find Gundam models here.

Shingeki no Kyojin fans would know what is this. Hahas.

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Gundam Models

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Pass the large Gundam models on display, you would be presented with a showcase of figurines from various animes.

Angel Beats!

Hatsune Miku & Vocaloids

Madoka

Accel World Universe

Fate Universe

Stein's Gate Universe

To aru Index

Code Geas

Others

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Past the figurines galore, there are also posters on display, some are for sale. Do note some are fan-made. 

Notice that those posters on display on the wall are meant to be free gifts for buying from the booths.
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One thing that was worth mentioning would be the long queues at certain booths, notably those selling anime merchandise. At those booths, it is not uncommon to see a queue snaking around the booth. To combat the crowd, these booths are designed such that they have only one entrance and one exit. In this way, the shopkeepers are able to control the number of people entering their booths. By controlling the inflow of the customers, it helps to prevent the customers who are inside the booth from feeling being squeezed by the crowd. This helps to improve the shopping experience of the customers.

Entering the booths, we quickly realised that most of the goods in demand were already sold out. Apparently, it is common for the merchandise to be out of stock within hours of opening on the first day of the convention. Bear in mind that we attended the convention on the second day. Yet, the queue is still considerably long, as the shoppers want to grab whatever is left. Not wanting to hinder them, we simply browsed through and continued exploring the rest of the exhibition hall.

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Stage Performances

The second aspect of the convention would be the performances at the main stage. These performances are showcased at a stipulated timing and require a stage pass to enter. After visiting some of the main stage events, I would say that unless you understand spoken Japanese, I would not recommend you to buy the stage pass. Yes, there is a translator on-site who will help to translate what was spoken to English. However, in doing so, it disrupts the flow of the dialogue and much of the essence of the discussion is lost in the process. While there are song performances, interviews are more common at the main stage. Thus, if you are coming to listen to songs or band performances, you should save the money and buy yourself a concert ticket instead. (It is more worth it, trust me.)

Below is a song performed by Azusa TADOKORO, enjoy. :)

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Mini Stage
These performances are not performed at the main stage. Rather, they can be found at the booths. They have a timetable too though you would have to go to their booths to find out.


This was the theme song of the AFA this year, Origami. The singer is Valerie who is a Singaporean. She was scouted in 2010 at the AFA's maid cafe. She was a member of the now-defunct anisong idol group, Sea*A. After the disbanding of Sea*A, Valerie continues as a solo act, as part of the Asian Pop Collective, based in Singapore. Currently, she is a regular emcee for AFA's official youtube channel, "WOW JAPAN".

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Cosplay Fest

Of course, we should not forget another attraction of the convention - Cosplays! Not an advertised feature in the convention itself, in that the organisers do not hire cosplayers. (I hope? They do invite famous cosplayers to grace the event though.) Somehow, everyone just took the opportunity to cosplay for the convention and it has been the tradition since. The good thing about is that you do not need to own an entrance pass to have access to the cosplayers. (Save the renowned guest cosplayers, of course.) Most of the cosplayers can be found along the hallways, outside the exhibition halls.

 

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I <3 Anisong

Night soon befall upon us. As this was the first time we were attending the concert, we were caught off guard by how early the others went to gather at the main stage entrance. We were alerted by Jie Sheng who asked if we were at the gathering area. Alarmed, we rushed for dinner and bolted for the concert hall entrance. Fortunately, it all went well as we managed to secure the front rows for Cat 3.

So many people, so early.

While I was worried that being at the furthest position, (being Cat 3) would affect the concert experience, my fears were quickly dispelled when the concert started. Though I was unable to look at the singers up close (privilege of Cat 1), the screens did help to give us a clear yet close view of the stage. One benefit of being at the front row of Cat 3 was that we can look over the crows and be able to view the stage. I am not sure how is it like at other areas where everyone is standing up too, obscuring your with human heads at every side.

Singers for Saturday Concert:

1. Eir Aoi
2. LiSA
3. Milky Holmes (Suzuko Mimori, Sora Tokui, Mikoi Sasaki and Izumi Kitta,)
4. May'n

The singers were all great but if I had to choose. I would say I enjoyed LiSA's performances the most. Her segment was the most engaging and interactive. She came up with a simple dance gesture for us to follow along as she sings. I found that very interesting and I had a lot of fun during her segment.

Being in a Japanese concert for the first time, I really could feel the energy from their fans from Cat 1 and 2. All their cheers and waving of the light sticks to the rhythm was really energising. So this is what a concert feels like, hahas.

After the concert, we were exhausted but we really enjoyed ourselves. In fact, we are tempted to attend next year's concert. :P 

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tl;dr: AFA 13, booths were average, concert is to die for.