Anime Festival Asia Singapore 2015 - Everybody DD Mode

Yeay, AFASG2015! By the time I write this article, events' been done and dusted. For year's edition, I've attended all 3 days. Also, as with last year and year before, gave the main anisong concert a miss. Will explain the reason why later on.

For the first time ever took leave for this event. Never thought I'd be doing this but ever since Morning Musume did a surprise video stream last year, I'm not going to take chances. Well Morning Musume did appear but its via a video message greeting which was presented by the renowned Takamasa Sakurai, an otaku and j-culture panel expert. That event itself was on a Saturday 9.30AM. Got first hand info from one of my dancing sensei's Reina07 around 2 weeks before AFA. She told me to wear any Hello! Project related shirt just to show the support which Singapore has. Well I obliged but only to change my "Tanaka Reina" shirt once the panel is over.

Reina-sama Reina-sama, Oshioki Kibonnu

The reason why I changed shirt was because of.... Niji No Conquistadors (or Nijicon for short). Yeap, THAT idol group from pixiv.

Nijicon on AFA Day 1

Thats my main purpose for AFASG2015. IDOLS! AFA has 2 idols group performing: Nijicon and Stand-Up! Hearts. Well it does portray me as a bonafide DD by changing shirts, but I need to show the idol who is there PHYSICALLY my upmost support :P

NIJICON: OUR RAINBOW TO DREAMS! AND TRIANGLES!

Niji No Conquistadors held their "Premium Live" on the mini stage. And since the mini-stage is located within the exhibition grounds, I just need to fork out $13 for entry. As opposed to the $158 (Exhibition + Main Stage + Anisong) package or the cheaper $23 (Exhibition + Main Stage) package. Since no idol groups are performing or appear on the main stage schedule, hey good enough for me. Saved up a lot too.

Nijicon during AFA TH. Before Nanami and Hiyori graduates

I've attended Nijicon events before. Once in AFA TH where the already graduated Hiyori and Nanami were part of the 5 that were invited. And also during their Uchouten Summer CD Release event in Akiba Sofmap and Tokyo Idol Festival. One word to describe them: Energetic. They're a youthful and cheery group, one cant stop being mesmerized by them. Same as Thailand, only 5 members out of the full group attended. They are Tsurumi Moe, Okumura Nonoka, Matoba Karin, Nemoto Nagi and Nagata Minari.

Nijicon members for AFA

Moe and Nonoka giving out cards

Alot of the regional and local wotas are anticipating their performance. Why? Because their songs are just so fun to wotagei to. For instance take a look at this video where they did Triangle Dreamer.

Since "fancams" of their performances were readily available, its makes learning the wota cheers easier. In fact, alot have learnt the 'Gachikoi', some sort of 'declaration of support' cheer usually done during a long pause in a song, by heart. It was fun to be there joining the wotas cheering. Best part of their live was when we brandish our "triangles" during Triangle Dreamer.

After their lives, they have a booth near AFA Shop. They giveaway CDs, do signs and you can even take photos with them. First person I queued up to is my favourite member: Nemoto Nagi aka Nemo-chan! She's still sweet as ever since the last I saw her!

Nemo-chan giving out cards

They were also doing stuffs at other places such as Nendoroid face painting and selling goods at AFA shop. And even karaoke. Sadly although they perform on all 3 days, I manage to only attend Fri and Sat Live due to Sun's commitment. But I did went to the airport and made my presence known. Very sweet of Nemo to remember my name. GAHHH FEELS!

Attentive Nemo-chan

Nijicon on Day 2

Nijicon manning AFA shop booth

STAND-UP HEARTS! YUYU REMEMBERS AND KARIN FISHING!

Happy fan with Stand-Up! Hearts

Another idol group attending was Stand-Up! Hearts. This group were invited as one of their members, Yuyu Arata, participated and won a competition organized by the CHEERZ app. Basically people just need to download the app and "CHEER" for their favourite idol. The ones with the most CHEER wins. Yuyu Arata was selected to represent Stand-Up! Hearts and she beaten the others from groups such as notall and Kamiyado to win the right to perform in Singapore.

Yuyu Arata beaten Reina Tasaki of notall to win right perform on AFA

I've met with Yuyu before during TIF. Then she was part of DEEPGIRL together with Suzukawa Mashilo. I was actually eagerly anticipating Mashilo to attend, however got to know that Mashilo has now crossed over to DEEPGIRL fulltime. Futhermore when Yuyu won, Mashilo has been nonchalant  on twitter and suspected she wont be coming over. Dang!

with Yuyu during TIF

Was pleasantly surprised that Yuyu actually remembered me! Whoa, that was unexpected. As she can converse in English, we had a nice chat. Thats the amazing thing about idols. Its quite a magical feeling that they can remember you out of the sea of wotas they meet each day.

Hey~~ We meet again!

So, its a Mashilo-less Stand-Up! Hearts line-up for all 3 days. Also, once AFA is over, they will undergo a name change and they'll be known as Iketeru Hearts. Their debut album is written by the legendary Tsunku of Morning Musume fame and it will be released next year February. The good thing about Stand-Up! Hearts is that you can see their members at the CHEERZ booth throughout the day. And they held mini-stage performances around late afternoon.

Stand-Up! Hearts

Obligatory group shot photo

Another member that caught my eye was Karin. I followed her twitter and I find her really really cute. And her fishing skill is top-notch. Just look at the photos of how comfortable she is among people. No wonder there lots of Karin oshi converts during AFA hehe.

Karin holding hands with fan

Karin Punch!

NO IDOLS NO LIFE NO GO, SIGNS of TIMES

And now for the reason why I gave anisong a miss. I found out that my tastes has diverge from anime to idoru. Not been keeping up with the latest anime thus I lost lot of ground in regards to anisongs. Furthermore, although AFA has stated its a REBOOT, which rightfully is since is a whole new line-up sans May'n, most of the artistes has performed here prior. i.e. Bless4 came down during Anime Matsuri, Back-On appeared during CharaExpo and Gundam Docks. This is not to say I'm strictly to Idoru. I like other genres especially J-Rock where I attended Larc En Ciel concert some years ago. Just that this group of anisong artistes doesnt suit my current tastes. Perhaps if they can summon Brilliant Green I might come

Furthermore, there's nothing much for me to look out too. As in, the booths dont interest me that much. If the idol concerts were not there, I wont be coming for this year's edition. However I believe AFA would have noticed the trend. Thats why there was the Nico Nico Kunikaigi last year (it was a rousing success!) and they included idols for this year too. Perhaps they want to make AFA inclusive for everybody. Well, it is called ANIME Festival Asia, thus more emphasis on anime but keep on having fresh and interesting content then I would consider coming over.

Verdict
To be brutally honest, theres nothing much apart from idorus that'll appease me. However the crowd attendance is still at the healthy level buying goods here and there. Although I got loads of photos, still no cheki to add to my collection.

Awesome Level:
★★★☆☆stars
Cheki's earned: 0

In Memory

Mr Takamasa Sakurai 1965 - 2015

Before this article was published, we received sad news. Mr Takamasa Sakurai passed away due to an unfortunate accident on the morning of Dec 4. Rest In Peace Mr Takamasa Sakurai, you've been missed dearly by everyone around.