2016: My Top 5 Best Moments

Tomorrow, 2016 will end and a new year beckons. This year has no shortage of awesome memories. Amazingly, though there alot of heartbreaking ones, it kinda didnt have that big effect on me unlike last year. Here I am listing the best that 2016 has offered!

Anime Festival Asia 2016 - Ending 2016 With A Bang!

Here it is, Anime Festival Asia! An annual anime exhibition event held in Singapore, AFA now is in its 9th iteration. In years before, I used to attend this event mainly for the anime / manga content, pretty cosplay included. However, my interests waned and now jumped towards the idoru sub-culture. Unless AFA has something that pips my interest, I would give this event a miss.

AFA again pulled out all stops to bring in the best content for the masses. From seiyuus, producers and cosplayers to the massive showcase that is the "Anisong Concert", loads of notable people graced this event. AFA has been well-aware that to bring the crowd, they have to diversify. We do see non-anime content like Moshi Moshi Nippon and NHK booths. What does this translate to? It means 'idols' graced the stage once again!

STGCC - Soul of Akiba Re-ignites!

STGCC was recently held in Marina Bay Sands. Yes that busy bustling place where locals, tourists and 'Pokemon Go-ers' converge. For this edition, the venue was at the basement hall. Very convenient, just exiting the MRT will bring you straight to the convention area. If you a comic enthusiast or an action figure buff, this is the place to go. Notable guests to grace this event were Nick Spencer, dude responsible for the biggest twist in comics (read Captain America) and Emma Rios. Not limited to comics and toys, they invited established music producers such as Ryu☆ and Kors K, names synonymous with Konami's Bemani games. It was a good mix of both local and foreign talents.

Nijicon Live in Thailand 2016

Anime Festival Asia Thailand 2016 is here!

Its another visit to Thailand, Land of 1000 Smiles. And smiled we did because Niji No Conquistadors were one of the announced guests for Anime Festival Asia Thailand! Nijicon members attending this time were Okumura Nonota, Tsurumi Moe, Nakamura Akari, Yamato Ao and trainee member Yamasaki Nana.

TIF 2016 Day 2 & Day 3! - Summer Heat Toll LOL

Yet another TIF report. This time its mixing up both day 2 and day 3!

Day 2 - For the Sake of 'Resu'

Day 2 was quite uneventful. Mainly because I managed to see the groups I wanted on Day 1 and the summer heat has been unforgiving. Day 2 starts off with heading to the Buppan area.

Booth listing for the day~

Again bought some Stereo Japan goods. This time is the light up fan. Most of the time accompanied some of the Malaysian wotas around the buppan booth. Nijicon were at the sales booth for the Young Jump magazine. Overjoyed to see Nemo and she gamely handed over the Young Jump Book than the other members.

TIF 2016 Day 1 - Lets Gachikoi!

I had an exhilarating time during TIF2016. Not only its held on 3 days, there are a number of groups who will be debutting at this event for the first time!

Day 1

Off from Ariake to TIF!

As with last year, those overseas fans who applied free tickets via TGU will have to redemn their wristbands at the Smile Garden info area. Thankfully, my accomodation is within Odaiba, thus wont rush and jostle with other idol fans on the Yurikamome line from Shimbashi. My initial plan for Day 1 is to settle performances, then Day 2 will be settling the Buppans.

TIF 2016 Mini Survival Guide

Vienolossi at TIF2015, Photo from JPNews KR

Tokyo Idol Festival 2016 is just around the corner, idol fans all over Japan and even the world will converge to this major annual (some even say sacred) event. In just a week, Odaiba will be transformed into a massive idoru showcase with both mainstream and underground idols performing at different stages.

After reading fellow idoru comrade Henry's blogspot, I felt inspired to write up my own survival guide. Here are some of the pointers you can take note when attending TIF!

Take note all these pointers are taken from my own firsthand experience. Unless TIF adopts new rules, I think these will be adequate.

Maid Cafes In Taiwan

Standees outside a certain meido kissa!

Taiwan is an interesting place, mainly due to its abundance of Japanese culture. For example, walking the streets of Ximending is liken to walking on the streets of Nanba Osaka. Due to the country's close proximity to Japan (approximately 2 hours flight from Tokyo), Taiwan has good access to Japanese produce and merchandise. Furthermore loads of prominent Japanese stars have set foot here. Top acts, especially idols, would usually include Taiwan as one of their stops whenever they do a 'World Tour'. The availability of Japanese themed shops brimming full of Japanese themed stuff can be seen around. Most notably Maid Cafes!

Tokyo Girls Style One-Man Live & Idolidge @ Taiwan

It all started when Tokyo Girls Style announced that they will be having a one man live overseas tour. Only problem, the countries they're heading to are Hong Kong & Taiwan. The closest country TGS got invited for this year was Bangkok, which sadly I didnt go. After careful consideration, decided to head to Taiwan!

ANI1773 Event & J-Obsession: Lets Have a Natsuiro Party!

Its been 2 months this blog has seen activity. Fret not! I'm going to update a chuckload of articles, mostly on awesome events that happened during those 2 months. First up, will be a feature of the idoru cover group Natsuiro Party!

Natsuiro Party Debut! ANI1773 Dance Party

Photo from Natsuiro Party main FB

Natsuiro Party (or Natsupa for short) made its debut on this event, the ANI1773 Dance Party @ CJ Bar. Prior to the event, they been teasing with profiles of their group members. Their youtube was uploaded with random song covers. This group is made up of 5 amazing ladies. They are Hikarin, Miki, Michi, Kamiya and MoMo. They are represented by the colours Orange, Pink, Blue, Yellow and Red respectively. You can head over here to know more of their group >>> LINK.

My Current Favourite Idoru List

As April has no events (or rather events are not close in the vicinity), to keep my creative juices running, I decided to compile a list of my favourite idorus. These are some of my personal favourites and I recommend you checking them out.

*Noted, list will be perceived as biased because, hey its my favourite idorus*

1) Niji No Conquistadors

Without a doubt, this group under collaboration with creative portal 'pixiv' is one of the most unique and downright entertaining group I've met. After having 3 close encounters with them (and in different countries at that,) I dare say with good marketing, this group can go far. Their latest MV is the quirky named 'Alien Girl from New York'. Perhaps a visit to New York is next on their agenda?

SPW Wrestlingcity Asia! Singapore's Wrestling Finest!

Region's best wrestlers duke it out in matches held at SPW (Singapore Pro Wrestling) Wrestlingcity Asia held last Friday. Fans, no matter they're purists or casuals, were greeted with a wrestling extravaganza chucked in this little known corner of Toa Payoh. The atmosphere was lively and boy, it was entertaining!

Maidreamin Ekkamai: Thank You For The Memories

Maidreamin Thailand's Ekkamai branch announced that the lease for their site will end this 28th Feb. This annoucement was done days after my awesome experience at Japan Expo X Tokyo Crazy Kawaii.

ASCOT 2015 Live in Singapore

Various anisong artistes converge to this event called ASCOT. They previously had the event held in both Shanghai and Hong Kong. The line-up includes NoB, singer extraordinarie notable for the Saint Seiya opening song, YOFFY from the band Psyhic Lover, Takayoshi Tanimoto, masked idol group Kamen Joshi, all female rock group HiJK and singing powerhouse ELISA. For this Singapore leg, event held in Kallang Theatre.

Japan Expo X Tokyo Crazy Kawaii: Part 2 (Notall & Others)

Time to visit some social idols!

Social idols notall

Social idols? Yeap thats how Notall presented themselves as such. In the advent of social media where people love to post and upload photos online, this group capitalise on the trend by allowing fans to take photos and videos of their performances. Other usual idol groups rarely have such allowance. Just add in hashtags like #notall_photo or #notall_movie to twitter should you take photos and videos respectively. True to the 'social idol' tag, their songs and even costumes are a collaborative effort with fans.

Japan Expo X Tokyo Crazy Kawaii - Part 1 (Akishibu Project & FESTIVE)

Bangkok recently held a massive J-Culture event in Central World. The event is so massive that I have to cut my articles into 2 parts.

This event was supposed to be held last year August. However, 2 weeks prior to the event, Bangkok was hit by a horrific bomb blast which postphoned the event to another date. Perhaps in a show of support and solidarity, the line-up was increased for this event and we have no shortage of idol goodness.