Singapore Film Society’s (SFS) ANIMATION NATION 2009 is happening at the National Museum of Singapore from 14 Oct to 21 Oct. Every year, the SFS endeavours to show case animation that are equal to or top what were screened in previous festivals – animated films that push the limits of imagination and possibilities of animation.

Animation Nation 2009

Fans of anime can look forward to Production IG x Mamoru Oshii’s latest animated feature “Musashi: The Dream of the Last Samurai” 「宮本武蔵 ―双剣に馳せる夢―」. Fans of Studio 4 Deg’s Genius Party will be treated to “Genius Party Beyond“. Both parts of the classic anti-war story “Barefoot Gen” 「はだしのゲン」will be screened back to back.  Besides Japanese animation, fans of animation can also delight in the international selection of outstanding works, such as the haunting war dispatch “Waltz with Bashir” from Israel, the magical Celtic feature “The Secret of Kells” from Ireland, the adult-oriented stop-motion animation “Mary & Max” from Australia, and the kids-oriented Chinese animation “Pleasant Goat and Big Bad Wolf: The Super Adventure” 《喜羊羊与灰太狼之牛气冲天》are among those screening at the festival. Animation Nation will be holding workshops & seminars conducted by industry professionals.

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“It Takes A Wizard” is one of the must-have manga for your bookshelf. You won’t be able to find this title with any  of the Japanese publishers, because it’s an Ameri-manga (あまりマンガ?) from Seven Seas Entertainment. The publisher of original manga-style comics paired a German writer Thomas R Hart together with a Singaporean manga artist Sean Lam (林宝华) for this epic tome.

It Takes A Wizard – by Thomas R. Hart and Sean Lam

“It Takes A Wizard” unfolds in a post-apocalyptic New York City. Manhattan had become a rogue state, at war with the rest of USA. Everett Winterthorn, the sorcerer Midnight King, had made his base in NYC. He plans to conquer the world with his army of trolls, goblins, imps, ghoul and harpies.  Isaac Silverberg, Winterthorn’s former apprentice, could be the only hope.

This single-volume manga is 480-pages long, and is a hot-seller since it rolled off the press in July this year. The title flew off the shelves at the local Borders (sold out!), and Kinokuniya is still waiting for their stock. This is Sean’s maiden work and it certainly took more than magic for the Singaporean comics artist to complete this project.

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During the 80s till the early 90s, “Mobile Suit Gundam” and the U.C. sequels were never broadcasted on TV in Singapore or Malaysia . Yet, there had been strong local fan base. Most of the local Gundam fans here knew about the Japanese mecha-anime via print and the Bandai model kits.

Shield of the Earth Federation – signed by Amuro Ray (Tohru Furuya/古谷 徹)

Gundam made its first ‘official’ presence on local TV during the mid-90s, when ODEX brought in “Mobile Suit Gundam Wing”. That was probably the first time Gundam began winning over new fans (including girls) with the non-U.C. series. Since then, “Gundam Seed”, “Gundam Seed Destiny” and also “Gundam OO”  were shown on local TV (though usually a year after it was distributed freely as fansubs over the Internet). The Internet and the processes of globalisation fed the Gundam boom in Singapore. The pent-up demand for Gundam goods had stimulated brisk sales for small time retailers from the former Clark Quay toy-mart. Enterprising fans brought in tons of merchandise via parallel imports – expanding the variety of Gundam merchandise available here, over and above what the local official Bandai distributor could carry. This year, Bandai Asia finally put together a stand-alone Gundam festival – “Gundam Fiesta Singapore 2009“.

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Any of you guys going down to the Gundam Fiesta Singapore 2009 at Compass Point this weekend to check out the models?

Gundam Image Girls: Miyake and Sharon

I wonder what’s Sharon doing with that HEAT HAWK. I’m sure that’s not the proper way to use it.

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ONE MORE TIME!

If you haven’t heard/read about it – Anime Festival Asia is back again this year – with a much stronger line-up of acts and content. It’s happening from 21 to 22 Nov at Suntec International Convention and Exhibition Centre (Halls 403 and 404). The business-oriented Animation Asia Conference will be held on 20 Nov at the same venue.

For starters, there’s gonna be a meido cosplay cafe “Moe Moe Kyun~” for all of you (male) otakus (& DOMs)  out there:

萌萌きゅーん

And then the celebrity line-up…

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The past two weekends must have been a blast for geeks/otakus from Singapore and around the region. The fan-driven A.C.M.E (A Certain Magical Event) happened just last weekend while the Singapore Toys Games and Comics Convention (STGCC 09) took place the weekend just before last.

A.C.M.E.

STGCC is the second iteration of STCC, which had expanded in both space and content. Commercial exhibitors appeared to have taken a greater interest in this event, evident by the effort they took to do up their pavillions and the presence of more brands. While STGCC is modelled upon the San Diego Comics Convention, A.C.M.E is a macro-event inspired by Comiket. A.C.M.E is an expansion of KKnM’s Chara Fest. Besides retailing exclusive anime merchandise, A.C.M.E saw the return of doujinshi event watzART. A.C.M.E also brought together Gunpla retailer Hobby Art Gallery as well as Japanese trading card game retailer The Card Geeks.  What left the deepest impressions from both events, was the participation of local and regional creators – both the pros and the budding talents.

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《身骑白马》is currently my favourite Chinese song. This is an original song composed and performed by Million Stars 3 (超級星光大道3) winner Lala Shu (aka Xu Jiaying/徐佳莹)

身騎白馬 by 徐佳瑩 (Lala Shu)

I heard the song again on TV yesterday. What caught my ears was the melody and lyrics of the chorus. It was in Hokkien (or 台语 – as the Taiwanese call it) and had that poignant/romantic poetry of going the distance to reunite with a lost love:

‘我身骑白马  走三关

我改换素衣  回中原

放下西凉  没人管

我一心只想  王宝钏’

What got me interested was the character “Ong Poh Chuan” (王宝钏) – the person that the singer was longing for. Who’s he? Why would Lala go the distance on horseback across the desert to look for him? The only other song that had such poignance was Bobby Chen’s (陈升) “One Night In Beijing” 《北京一夜》, which blended Beijing opera into the composition.

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