Anime Festival Asia Day 1 (Photo Pimps)

Before I knew it, it’s been 4 days since the end of Anime Festival Asia; one of the most anticipated ACG Event of the year! unfortunately for me, my life persona had other responsibilities to see to that weekend and I was only able to attend the last few hours of AFA Day 1. In fact, I went only because I promised dinner with my foreign friends ^^;;

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The event this year finally changed it’s location (see me rant about how sardine packed it was last year xD) and shifted to the God forsaken place also named Singapore Expo. Alright, alright it’s not thatttt far off in terms of distance if we compare it to other countries. But by Singapore’s standard, Expo is pretty far. It’s like the last stop before the airport.

But despite it’s isolated location, the turnout was still humongous!

Since I only reached around 4pm, I only managed to capture a few Cosplayers. Took quite  awhile to edit the photos so I hope you guys liked it!

Many people were asking why didn’t I apply for a Media Pass for AFA. To answer the question, it is simply because I.don’t.have.time.to.cover.the.event. Since this blog is a one (wo)man show, if the reporter cannot physically be at the event, how do you expect her to write anything? Thus, I decided to cut myself some slack and not do anything for AFA.

Hopefully my schedule will permit me to join a Cosplay Event soon. After such a long event hiatus, I look forward to tanking out the events with my cosplay friends again. Go back to the traditional doings of a Cosplayer xD

And then I went into the event hall for a short twirl!

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Pikachu!

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Yes the crowd was pretty intense, even at 5pm=_=;;

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Muse is a Merchandise company from I believe, Taiwan. They had Natsume Yuujin Chou merchandise! But I didn’t really know what to get so I skipped the booth entirely. 

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And also because the queue to enter was such a downer=_=. Here’s a pic of the cashiers. happy customers, happy booth owners. 

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Naruto booth!

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Figurines from Wave Corporation.

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The Artist Booths arena! I heard their sales were good, especially those who were selling Sword Art Online Doujin products XD

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Shana !!! Regret not taking a photo with it =(

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Then I somehow followed Rochelle from Magnetic-Rose.net to the stage area and saw members of Flow on stage! I only realise who they were the last 5 seconds before they waved good bye =__=. 

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Akatsuki Tsukasa~!
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Reika Arikawa~

The other photos I took of the other guests who came up for a short interview session turned out like crap so here’s only two to show. Yeap, you might have noticed by now how the quality of the photos suddenly dipped. My Canon Ixus 1000HS went flat on me so i was reduced to my mere iPhone =(
Then we waited a longggg time for the RCC Singles Cosplay Competition to happen. And my photos turned out like this so after a while, I gave up=_=

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That’s the winner of the Singles Category btw. Yuu/JaroukaSama from the Philippines cosplaying as default Saber ^^! Her Saber armour was gorgeous >.<! Wish I could have the chance to molest see it up close =|

Since I can’t show you guys more photos of the event, I decided I’ll share some of my personal camwhores with my friends.
 IMG_3402With Sese and Drew from the Philippines! Sese was the Philippines representative from RCC 2010! Oh, if you couldn’t tell, they were cosplaying as trinity Blood. Mighty detailed costumes  ^_^.

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With Ariki from Philippines!
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unexpectedly found Shiroin from taiwan amongst the crowd! Dude didn’t tell us he was coming xD The lady is Nozomi from Shanghai! I love how the sun shone into my eyes, made the green contacts so vibrant! My face looks distorted though LOL

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With Naoki Drachen from Thailand! She was the Thailand RCC representative in 2010 (the year I represented singapore) and 2012! Her eyes are humongous! <3 p="p">

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With Zoey~! The Malaysian representative for RCC 2010! 

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With Zephyus! My RCC 2010 partner and fellow Singapore representative ^^. So much nostalgia~~

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Rochelle and homgisuddenlyforgothername from Philippines! I went Rochelle in Hong Kong for the Animax Hong Kong Halloween treats Party in 2010. Time really flies!

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With drew (philippines) and Chris from Malaysia! Chris was also the Malaysian representative for RCC 2010! yes, it was like a mega ‘Reunion’ dinner for us that evening xD Almost all the RCC 2010 representatives were there! In this picture we were waiting for Naoki and Richfield (Indonesia Representative 2010, Invited judge 2011 & 2012) . Unfortunately eventually Richfield couldn’t join us…

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Pretty lenneth who was cosplayng as a character from K that day. Sadly I missed the chance to take a photo of her in costume >-<;

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Me with my Rurouni Kenshin Fan!!! They were giving it out for free <3 !! My head is humongous=_=

No matter how many times I think about it, I still find it amazing what Cosplay has done for me. I might not have a glorious costume nor garner the attention of the shutters but I’m just happy to be able to  say hi and give hugs to so many faces in the event. I started the hobby simply because I loved Anime/Manga and thought it was cool. I didn’t expect to make so much dear and lasting friends.

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I’m also amazed by the amount of international friends I have made in the last few years. Separated by waters but bonded by passion, isn’t that poetically beautiful!

Alright, I’m going to end this highly disorganised entry abruptly because it’s 3:30 am and I'm dying to sleep. Before I go, I‘d like to encourage all cosplayers or to-be cosplayers to put in a bit more effort to make friends in the community. I don’t know why I’m suddenly talking about these but I guess I just feel dishearten by other cosplayers who comment and tell me how lonely they feel in this hobby.

I’m not exactly the right person to preach about relationships but I’ve found that the best way to gain friends is to become a worthwhile friend. It’s not about the glitz, it’s not about the popularity, it’s not even about the money. People appreciate people who are genuine, stay true to themselves and are interested in them. Some people try too hard to make friends with people who don’t share a common interest/topic and ends up failing and feeling bad about themselves. If you’re in that situation now, let me tell you, it happens to everyone. Unless you are a born socialiser, you’re not going to be good friends with everyone. Don’t snuff out your own voice to be accepted, those ‘friends’ you gain are probably not going to last. Be true to yourself and remember your rights to have an opinion.

Similarly, if you’re on the other end of the fence. Don’t be a stuck up! Even if you might not have much to say to the person who wants to befriend you, remember to at least respect their courage to approach you.

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Something must have triggered my long ramble but I cannot remember it now. Time for bed!!!

Comments

Ziwen said…
what you said at the last part is true. includes photogs too.

katz, kathy said…
"Separated by waters, but bonded by passion" ~ i love how you put it like that! <3

i'm also glad I was able to meet such a great friend like you. thank you so much for the company, the interview, the moments. i hope you got my dried mango gift! *hugs*

hope to see you again soon!! :)))
Kai Kuchiki said…
I agree with what you said on the last part..Nowadays, cosplaying is becoming mainstream here in the Philippines , and in my area, there are cosplay events monthly (almost), and I think majority of the people here now cosplay because of 'fame' ..I dunno, I don't want to argue with others but I believe that cosplaying should be done because of one's love for the manga/anime/game character and not because of 'fame' factor..

..and in the cosplay community, one must be sincere and open to meet new people, gain friends by being themselves.XD

..I hope to meet you Kaika-san!XD
Mao said…
Yeah, i remember when my friend approached you so that he could take your picture with me~ XD

Though I took up a lot of courage to just go there and go "Kaika~" hahahaha XD

Hope to see you again~~
Aqua said…
I would love to meet you in person Kaika-chan^^ I can't help but agree with your comment on friends :I for a good while I didn't have any one to cosplay with but I soon started to attend more events and talk with people and have made good friends with local cosplayers who are honest friends too^^ and to top it all off I also met my boyfriend through cosplay because we both liked FMA and he happened to be a Hughes cosplayer whilst I was doing my Rin Kagamine Default which was my first cosplay ever! I have since done many other cosplays and shoots through out this first year of cosplay and am now making my first cosplay of Asuna Yuuki from Sword Art Online.

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