Anime Festival Asia '08.

Together with Pingx2, Quiet Neighbour and my wife, we visited the Anime Festival Asia '08 last Saturday.

It was much smaller scale than I had expected. I imagined production houses launching new animations, cosplayers everywhere, mascots walking around the hall distributing pamphlets. But there were none of those. Ha. 'Cept for a few cosplayers. :p

The advertisements certainly made it sounded more exciting than the atmosphere at the exhibition hall. There wasn't much buzz or excitement. Where are all the otakus in Singapore???

Minus the wow-factor, there were still plenty of activities for the fans. There were the good old models kits on sale and on display. Fans were allowed to take photographs freely.

I suppose one of the highlights was this giant Gundam model...

I also spotted this one and only GITS model. Its Major Motoko Kusanagi in the Tachikoma...

There were these fantastic giant posters everywhere. Perfect for phototaking. Myself with the xxxHolic poster.

And the kawaii Mrs Lim in front of D. Gray Man poster.

A life-size Sheryl Nome from Macross Frontier,

There were also various arcade racing, model kit and artwork competitions. The Midori no Hibi was one of my favorite.

Besides the competitions, there was also a graffiti board for fans to display their talent.

I could recognise a few of them. Edward Elric from the Fullmetal Alchemist.

Itachi Uchiha from Naruto.

Many cosplayers were sporty enough to pose for the cameras. You have to give this guys credit for the guts and effort to cosplay. :)

I didn't manage to get the picture of the elusive Ichigo in hollow mask.

There was also a live performance by Quin Band which was surprisingly impressive.

One of the piece they performed was L'Arc en Ciel's Stay Away, which brought back plenty fond memories of Japanese Rock.

I guess Day-2 of the Festival would had been more exciting with May'n Concert and the Cosplay Competition. Hope to see grander display next year. Perhaps a life-size Gundam cockpit? Hee hee.