AFA X Day 2 Report

Day 2! No seiyuus, but this time we have lots of cosplay, including the appearance of Kaname and Aira!


Spent most of my day in the main stage so I didn't manage to take a lot of the cosplay happening outside the hall (mostly on the 3rd floor of the convention centre). There were a bunch of competitions happening all at the same time (Bushiroad card game, SSF4, BlazeBlue).

Got to Suntec City by 8.30am, but whoa there was a super long queue already. From what I overheard, some of them were here since 7am! Alright, join the queue. 9am, the queue starts to move as the doors open and people start streaming in. Much more efficient today since everyone lined up and they had 8 ticket attendants (the day before they had 4) at the door. Once in, however, there was a long queue right in front of me. I decided to just join the queue and figure out what it was for later.

Turns out this was the queue to enter the main stage (for Haruhi movie screening!). I was kinda relieved, as not everyone joined this queue. There were probably about 300+ people in front of me when queuing outside the hall, but this queue for the main stage was only about 100 long. I think the stage hall seats about 400 in the front half, while the back half is a free standing area.

It was nearly half filled by the time I went in. The above photo actually depicts some people running in to get a seat.

Pretty soon the seats were all filled. The movie was supposed to start at 9.45am, but they decided to start at 9.40am as both the seats and standing space was getting filled to the brim. Everyone in the standing area were seated on the ground though, so I suspect there were at least 700 people watching this screening. You can read my review of the Haruhi movie here.

After a 2.5 hours movie, I had to use the washroom, so unfortunately I lost my seat. I came back to see the hall in a much worst state. All seats were filled (except for a few scattered single seats) and there were people standing along the aisle and at the very front of the stage.

Next up was the Regional Cosplay championship. Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore representatives competed for the grand prize; a pair of return tickets to Japan. First up was Malaysia with their Fair Tail cosplay.

Last year's Singapore champion is on the judging panel, along with Alodia, Kaname, Aira, and a representative from Canon (they were the prize sponsors).

Next was Thailand, with a cool Monster Hunter cosplay.

Team Philippines cosplayed as characters from Xenosaga, with clips of a scene from the game playing in the background.

I didn't catch what Team Singapore was cosplaying... I don't recognize the characters either.

Judge Kaname giving his 2 cents. Looking good in that Kaito/Black Rock Shooter cosplay!

Team Indonesia was epic with their live-action cosplay (characters from a live-action series, something like Power Rangers and Masked Rider). Kaname happens to love this show a lot and asked them to let him take a photo later backstage. They revealed that their costume weighs almost 15kg!

Clive and Alodia were on stage to entertain the audience while the judges decide on a winner.

Fan girls squealed as Kaname went on stage. lol

3rd prize went to Singapore

2nd prize to Indonesia

And first prize to Team Thailand. Congrats!

I apologize for not taking better photos of the cosplayers. Managed to squeeze in front a bit during the judging as many people were leaving already. At the end of it all, I was right at the front, against the barrier. While waiting for the next event to start, guess who I spotted? Danny Choo! He was in the media area, running around taking photos of the event on stage and talking to various people. No one from the audience seemed to know him though. Eventually he happened to look in my direction so I waved and shouted "Hey Danny! Can I take a photo with you?"

He saw that I was using the Lumix LX5 (he was using the LX3) and proceeded to ask me about it. Let him fiddle around with the camera a bit and told him about the new features it has compared to the LX3. Was too nervous and did not know what else to say, so he eventually returned my camera to me and waved "See you around!". Damn, should have asked him about his Culture Japan show.

The next event soon started: Kaname and Aira's panel. They talked about their cosplay experiences and various stuff. Kaname mentioned his feminine cosplay as Benten from Zone:00 to the screaming of many female fans.

Yup, that's Kaname. Aira mentioned her first cosplay was a character from a Boys Love manga. Loud screams from the girls again.

Kaname and Aira then showed us some poses which cosplayers should NOT follow.

Aira displays cuteness totally out of character for Black Rock Shooter. LOL!

The lucky people who won a chance to take a photo with both Kaname and Aira on stage.

Outside the hall there were a lot of cosplayers just wondering about and letting people photograph them. Was really crowded and hard to get a good angle =(

That's about it! Queued up at the Butler cafe but they closed before we could get in...

On my way out, I spotted some Ika Musume stuff at the artist alley section.

Apparently someone stole their Ika Musume hat. They want it back de geso~!