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0ne point Zer0

The Fool shows a child or youth, while the Magician depicts an all powerful adept. Just as the Fool showed us the price of eternal innocence, so this Magician gives us the fearsomeness of taking on responsibility. If the Major Arcana represents the Fool’s journey, the Magician is the first thing the Fool encounters.

Come November, Singapore will be hosting Southeast Asia’s biggest anime convention, ANIME FESTIVAL ASIA! From 22 to 23 November at Suntec International Convention and Exhibition Centre, fans of anime and manga and character goods can immerse themselves in this microverse of  Japanese (*otaku*) pop-culture.

Anime Festival Asia (AFA) 2008

This event is organised by i-Promo in collaboration with Dentsu Singapore, supported by the Japan Creative Centre. Bandai Asia is the title sponsor for this inaugural event, with Animax as the official media partner. The mascot, AFA-chan, is designed by TEI of Furi Furi.

AFA 2008 is a festival targeted at both consumers and industry players. The organisers expect a turn out of 80,000 people from Singapore and around the region walking through Hall 403 & 404 (covering 5,000 sq metres of exhibition space) at Suntec. Visitors can get a day pass for S$5, and a two-day pass at S$8. Kids (6 years and below) get to enter for free.

Organisers

Anime Festival Asia will be positioned as a key regional event on the calendar, much like Japan’s Tokyo International Anime Fair and US’ Anime Expo – this Singapore-hosted festival is THE official business platform that industry players and fans from around the region and beyond must attend.

The organisers want to position Singapore as the hub to launch new shows and products in Southeast Asia. Although the MDA is not credited as one of the partners or supporter of this event, AFA fulfils the vision of Media 21 – MDA’s strategic thrusts to transform Singapore into a Global Media City.

 

AFA 2008 – The Six Experiential Zones

The convention is laid out into six experiential zones:  ANIME LIVE, ANIME BLOCKBUSTERS, PLANET MECH, MANGAKA, INDUSTRY and AKIBA TOWN.

The festival has confirmed participation from the razor-edged Studio 4°C. Director Koji Morimoto (森本晃司), founder of the studio and Marimi Sakurai (眞理美桜井) will speaking at Anime Live.

Studio 4°C Booth at Tokyo International Anime Fair 2008

The studio will be screening an excerpt from their new animated anthology – “Genius Party Beyond“. It’s amazing that the organisers managed to bring in this avant-garde studio that delivered several critical hits. (But I wonder if they would promote this cult-hit from award winning director Hiroshi Nagahama at AFA like they did at TAF 2008…)

You can expect alot of content from Bandai at AFA 08, since they are the main sponsor. Bandai will be launching the Sonny Angels gachapon series.

GACHA GACHA

Bandai will be featuring the line-up of kidult Gadget toys from Asovision – such as the “5 Sec Stadium” 「５秒スタジアム」, “Mugen Edamame” 「∞エダマメ」, “Mugen Puchi-Puchi” 「∞プチプチ」, Spacewarp, and Aqua Drop.

Mugen Edamame

For girls, there’s cooking toys such as “Konapun” 「こなぷん」, Cook Joy Series 「クックジョイシリーズ」, KINTo 「キント」& Unazukin 「うなずきん」from Rainbow Spice….as well as…Tamagotchi.

Tamagotchi Attack

Bandai will be screening the TV anime from Tamagotchi for the first time in Singapore (most probably the 12-episode “Saiko! Tamagotchi” 「さぁイコー! たまごっち」.

Of course, there will be the usual boys’ toys showcase such as Chogokin, Saint Seiya, SIC…and the newest release of stuff from the Power Rangers, Ben 10, Digimon and Keybots series.

What most (gun)otas will look forward to, will be “Planet Mech”. Essentially, this zone could well be “Gundam Expo”. So far, what’s promised is a ‘Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Destiny’ diorama display and a showcase of the latest ‘Mobile Suit Gundam OO’ goods. (I hope we get more of the latter…Seed Destiny was something that happened three years ago…that’s definitely not the latest anime content that Japan has to offer). There’s also going to be a BB Senshi Sangokuden 「BB戦士三国伝」product showcase too (will this be a repeat of what appeared at the Hong Kong Gundam Expo 2007 or this year’s Singapore Toy and Comic Convention?)

BAKUC

Tying in with Gundam Expo “Planet Mech”, Gunpla otas can look forward to the Singapore leg of BAKUC. Selected entries will get a chance to be sent to Hong Kong to take part in the finals, held in conjunction with the annual Gundam Expo.

For those of you who would want to break into the anime industry, there’s an opportunity for you to network with the business participants at the Industry zone. For those with artistic flair and would like to have their work reviewed by industry professionals, you can take part in the manga art competition “GRAPHITE 2008“. Organised by the NUS Anime Club, this event is held as part of the Mangaka zone experience.

The Emcee for the press conference directed a question at Anthony Kang, the Chairman of AFA08, what was the one thing that he wouldn’t want to miss at the festival. But if I’m asked that question, I hope this festival  will have something that I wouldn’t want to miss – booth babes like these that were at Tokyo Anime International Fair 2008:

Time Bokan’s Dorojyos

Fuji TV Anime Casino Bunnies

Meidos

Dejiko

Yoko x Yoko x Yoko

Soul Eaters

You still following…?

*ahem*

Together with the Singapore Toy and Comic Convention, Singapore has certainly become a more interesting place to be.

Apart from the booth babes, what I really wish is for more Japanese studios and content creators taking up a booth at this event. I have high hopes because of Dentsu’s involvement. Or at least, their Singapore subsidiary. 

Dentsu at Tokyo Anime International Fair 2008.

Back in Japan, advertising companies are one of the main stakeholders of the animation industry.

Dentsu is more than just an advertising titan – it’s a media conglomerate with vertically and horizontally integrated businesses in the keiretsu system. Dentsu contributes to the animation industry via its wholly owned subsidiary GENEON Entertainment. GENEON was formerly known as Pioneer Laserdisc Company that produced animation under the label of RONDO ROBE. In 2004, Dentsu acquired Pioneer LDC that was subsequently renamed as GENEON (GENerate EON). This placed Dentsu as the next biggest advertising firm to acquire a stake in the animation industry, together with ADK (Asatsu-DK) and Yomiko Advertising. Dentsu owns rights not just to anime titles, but also tokusatsu series too. 

So, given Dentsu’s high profile and anime assets – I hope there’ll be lots to see at AFA08.

And the organisers of AFA08 is taking a step in the right direction by getting fans involved as an early stage.

ENGAGING THE FANS

Red Dawn Communications (the PR agency attached to this show) pulled in local anime/otaku bloggers to publicise the event. I was one of the nodes they approached to get the message out to those on the otaku/anime blogging network (if you’re an otaku/animeblogger and have used a real email address when you left comments, that’s how I reached you.)

DarkMirage

Those spotted at the press conference: Soshi, DarkMirage, C.I., Tueac & CO2. Double was supposed to have been there but he had to do this:

Double in an apron

Double selling mooncakes

Double doubling up on the orders

Double had to sell these pretty Bakerzin snowskin mooncakes at Parco Bugis Junction. And he was packing my orders. Well, he gotta work in order to feed his otaku habits (the above pix of Double are meant for Kaori). It’s not like blogging ever pays much for anything, but sometimes you do get some special privileges such as access to events such as this press conference or other industry events.

This entry was posted on Friday, September 5th, 2008 at 3:22 am and is filed under Otaku Diary. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.