(UPDATED 03/09/2012)
Anime Festival Asia 2012 in Singapore! A press event was held on 1st Aug to announce some details about the November event. This year, AFA will be held from the 9th to 11th November at Singapore Expo since Suntec Convention Centre is undergoing renovations. Read more for details! (p.s. All text in red are simply speculation on my part, just to spice things up a little)
Experience Zones
As usual, there will be Akiba Town (an area selling anime-related merchandise), Moe Moe Kyun Maid Cafe, and Atelier Royale Butler Cafe. No news on any specific themes for the 2 cafes though. Replacing Cool Japan is Japan Future Entertainment, comprising of record labels such as AMUSE Inc, A-Sketch, HORIPRO Inc, and King Records. They will be bringing "content", which probably consists of CDs and maybe a music producer or 2. If we're lucky, so exclusive idol-related merchandise might be on sale at these booths. The AFA Regional Cosplay Championship is also back this year. An interesting addition to this years festivities is the Anime Karaoke MA'☆ (pronounced as 'Master') booth. They will be showcasing an iOS karaoke app for anime songs with both Japanese and phonetic English (romaji?) options. Check out the official website (http://www.karaoke-ma-star.com/) and try out the free iOS app. I'll be checking it out once my sister comes home with her iPhone later...
Guests
Danny Choo is back as the official host of AFA 2012. Producer Nakanishi Go (producer of Mardock Scramble) is also coming back, but this time to promote the upcoming anime 'K'. Legendary Director Watanabe Shinichiro (Cowboy Bebop, Macross Plus, Sakamichi no Apollon, Samurai Champloo) will be there! No info on what he will be doing there though, probably a Q&A session for Sakamichi no Apollon. Guest cosplayers for this year will be KANAME and Singi. Considering Madoka Magica will be featured, seiyuu such as Yuuki Aoi, or the writer Urobuchi Gen, or someone from the production committee might come. Unlikely to be Iwakami Atsuhiro though, or else they would have announced it by now. Since Sphere is here, they might cover the seiyuu afreko (after recording) quota. Sugita Tomokazu is one of the main seiyuu of 'K', so I'm hoping he becomes the first male seiyuu at AFA, but its unlikely as they are probably still busy with recording for that show.
Featured Anime
'K' and Madoka Magica have been confirmed to appear at AFA this year. For 'K', it is most likely a short Q&A session with producer Nakanishi Go and some short trailer. The anime will start airing in October, so I doubt we will have a seiyuu appearance or exclusive content/announcements except maybe an airing of the latest episode. No information on what Madoka-related content will be there, but I'm hoping and praying to Goddess Madoka that we will get a screening of the Madoka movie(s) (opening in Oct in Japan). Mardock Scramble 3 (release in Sep in Japan) might be screened here, judging from previous AFA. Also, since Sphere is here, Natsuiro Kiseki?
I LOVE ANISONG Concerts
The concerts just get better every year! This year's concert will feature FLOW (Anisong rock legends, songs from several anime including Naruto), fripSide (famous for A Certain Scientific Raingun OP), May'n (of Macross fame), Sea☆A (local idol group spawned from the Moe Moe Kyun Maid Cafe), Sphere (Elite seiyuu idol group consisting of Kotobuki Minato, Toyosaki Aki, Tomatsu Haruka, and Takagaki Ayahi!), and T.M. Revolution (Samurai X, Gundam, Soul Eater theme songs). I'm expecting at least 2 more artists, and maybe the return of Hatsune Miku. Sphere might have a solo 1 night concert though, judging from the popularity. angela might be back, since they sing the OP for the featured anime, 'K'.
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UPDATE (03/09/2012)
LiSA (Angel Beats), m.o.v.e (Initial D, Lucky Star), Minami Kuribayashi (Medaka Box), and BABYMETAL (this) added to the concert lineup!
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Pretty damn impressive line-up so far! This might push me to upgrade to a VIP concert attendee for Sphere + fripSide + T.M. Revolution concert. Keep a look out for more information (especially the featured seiyuu for the event) in the coming months.
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