First off, I would like to apologise for today's post. I have been taking a sustential amount of photos for both cosfest AND STGCC earlier this year, but my photos for AFA 2011 were kind of pathetic, due to crazy crowds, lack of space and more troubling issues. So, I'm sorry if there arent much photos, but I'll make do with what I have. So yeah, lets get on with it, AFA 2011!
Entrance fee has increased once again, this year its $18 bucks for a ticket with stage access. Costly, but then again, it was a worth ticket, because the goods bought were just troll. I brought around $150 this year and spent about $100. Yeah, thats alot. Anyway, the queue was kind of pathetic for some reason, instead of the 2 hour queue I had to deal with last year this year I only had to queue for 10 mins, whats up with that?
Anyway, lets start off right away with some photos.
First thing's first, the in thing of this year's AFA is mahou shoujo madoka magica, which is kind of a weird choice. I understand black rock shooter's appeal last year, but not so much on magica. It was a huge main focus to this year's AFA and as someone who has never watched a SINGLE mahou shoujo anime (yes, flame me all you want), I'm pretty much left in the dust. I'm not too keen about picking this anime up, but we'll see. Anyway these are snippets of boards displayed throughout the place.
Ahh yes, this is something for all you yaoi fans. Black butler was kind of a focus this year as well, and as a guy, I find that disturbing XD. Still, I guess its for all the girl otakus out there, black butler is really quite the hit amongst the girls. All you yaoi fans will have a great reason to visit AFA this year, thats for sure.... especially if you like black butler.
Yep, its what you think it is. Ao no exorcist was put up as one of the main anime attractions this year but unfortunately, I couldn't find much ao no exorcist related merchandise! Quite puzzled on this one, I was sure that ao no exorcist was quite the hit too. Damn billboards are just for show.
Beelzebub, that much I know XD. Still, I didn't watch the anime, so I'm left in the blur in terms of merchandise. There were quite the amount of beelzebub stuff to be bought don't get me wrong, but I know nothing about it so theres nothing for me to comment about here. You beelzebub fans won't be left out, so don't go being disappointed just yet.
Look at them mahou shoujo madoka magica merchandise O.o. Im not mahou shoujo fan at all, so this stuff didn't interest me. Still, I saw a bunch of dudes going all mad over stuff like these, so I guess these are some pretty awesome stuff.
You jelly people? I friggin love index, so that naturally means I friggin love railgun. I am very very happy to see railgun merchandise here, in fact, everything I bought was literally index/railgun! Them railgun stuff can be pretty tempting, and I can say all of you index/railgun fans will have lots and lots of stuff to buy at AFA this year!
Oreimo is another one series that received a lot of love this year for AFA. Its good of course, I have yet to review oreimo on my blog but I can tell you, its one hell of a great show, and seeing the series get some much needed merchandise always makes me feel happy. Sadly though the good oreimo stuff can be a little bit pricy, and some of them are really stuff that I shouldnt be getting (body pillows/cups).
You see?!? Mahou shoujo madoka magica again! As mentioned earlier I know nothing about the series so no matter how appealing this figurines are I can't buy or comment shit about them. Seriously magica is getting the most love this time round.
Lots of weird stuff going around in this pic. These are toys that I have no intention of liking at all. Kamen rider aint for me, and I sure as nuts don't like naruto in the slightest bit. Just took this for the fun I guess, theeres lots of stuff here.
Uhh.....black swan and co? I have no idea what these are and I practically just took them for fun. Well At least some of these look pretty cool and shiny.
Power fking ranger megazods and mazinger Z robots. Not much comment here since I once again never did watch any of these classics.
No anime event is complete without everyone's favourite dual pigtailed vocaloid miku! This is quite the weird iteration of her, seeing her wearing all these weird armored/robotic looking stuff. More better miku stuff to come.
.........Moving on.
Sora no otoshimo and milky holmes. Nenoroids are pretty cool, that much I can say, and these four were definetely good looking.
More miku stuff, and these are the better ones. Miku is sexy but miku append is on an entire league on her own. These cost quite the bomb, but Im sure they will run out fast, them miku fans will go to whatever extent to get her.
An entire shot dedicated to one of my favourite female anime characters, saber! Saber got quite the love in this year's AFA, mostly due to the fact fate/zero aired not too long ago. Nice to see that, saber chan needs moar love!!
More girls from the fate series. Saber alter, rider and rin tohsaka. Im also a fan of rin tohsaka so it feels great to see a figma ver of her. Awesome stuff here, awesome stuff.
Big, bagbadass and sexier versions of saber and rin. Damnit, these 2 look amazing. Rin looks really really awesome here, not that saber dulls when compared to her but they really stepped the shit out of rin's model. These would cost a bomb for sure -.-.
Bad photography on my part. More saber figmas, basically. These 2 kinda pale out when compared to the previous pic, but meh, more saber is good.
Hohohohohohoho, I like what I see here. Maid costume saber and casual wear saber plus casual wear rin. Mother fking sexy. Sure it looks a little weird to see our favourite fate stay night characters in these clothing , but its still awesome.
I think theres a new anime by danny choo coming soon? Its called mirai something, and it looks promising. Anyway, this is a case of figma with various girls like haruhi, mugi, mio, madoka and more all with the mirai school unifrom. Not too bad if I would say so myself.
A car printed with the girl from that new mirai anime. And OMG IS THAT A BMW?!! You just dripped your entire BMW with an anime girl. Thats dedication right there dude, but if it were me, branding myself an otaku by pasting these huge stickers on my brand new BMW would be suicide, I would cry XD.
I think thats all for pics of figurines and other misc stuff, now time for something pretty cool.
Im not sure if many of you heard of chiwa saito. Well, thing is, like last year's kana hanazawa life dubbing session (which was awesome), this year had one too, and its of course, featuring chiwa saito. I only knew her for her voice of senjougahara hitagi (probably the best girl is bakemonogatari other than hachikuji), but today, she showed me more of her awesomeness.
Photography was prohibited so I couldnt take a snap, anyway chiwa saito did a live voice acting session, and she did it for her role as akemi homura in mahou shoujo madoka magica. I was turned off after hearing that she was going to do live voicing of a character in a mahou shoujo anime, but of course, she changed my mind. She did 3 live sessions of 3 scenes, the first scene was alright, nothing tense, just her being a little shy and concerned (her character in the anime, not her herself). The 2nd scene was badass, it really shows how she can mix around with her amazing and variable voice. 3rd was also good, but the 2nd one was the best. All in all, this session made me want to actually try watching madoka magica, but that will have to wait.
Of course, shoutouts to that vanguard producer, CA and milky holmes for appearing on stage, that was quite a fun thing to watch. Flow and ichirou mizuki too. It was flow's first time in singapore, and they are pretty awesome guys in person. Ichirou mizuki is still as "genki" as ever. Lol.
Now for the stuff you guys have been waiting for, cosplays! Enjoy!
K-on girls are always so obvious and they stand out the most. A team of 5 however is something quite rare. Mugi and azusa look good here.
AWESOME dante. This guy almost made it into my top 3 favourite cosplayers of the day. I would say a close 4th or 5th position. Not bad dante, not bad at all.
DON KANNONJI, UAHAHAHAHAHA! Nice to see a don kannonji cosplayer, its bloody ass rare, I think this guy is the 1st. Great cosplay here, he really potrays the image of don in my mind.
I am clueless on this one, but hey, at least she looks kinda cool. Not too bad of a cosplay in my honest opinion.
Naise, mafia rin and mafia len. Vocaloids are super common so I didnt take alot of them, on topic this is a pretty cool pair, one of the better cosplays todays.
Urk, I didnt know my photography skills sucked that bad. Anyway, no idea who this is, but girls with guns are always good. Not bad.
Once again, no idea who this is. Death note? Gosick? And I thought I watched alot of anime before I came to AFA this year -.-. But no doubt about it though, she DOES have good looks.
Miku and who? Either that or they are the girl pair from macross frontier...I DONT KNOW. I must suck really bad -.-. Both are alright in my opinion.
Ah, who's this again?....I must be mad taking pics of cosplayers which characters I don't freaking know. Anyway, she's got a bold look going on and her stare makes her look menacing, which obviously fits her role.
Yay finally some characters I know! These are the genocide guys form baka test, and they sure make themselves stand out. Awesome cosplay, and that death to akihsa picture just made thier cosplay all the more convincing. Definetely one of my favs today.
Rozen maiden is always good, and altough I missed the suiseiseki, I got these 3. Not bad...but it would have been better if I had taken suiseiseki.
Huh, I am clueless once again. Still, girls with guns are always good and this is no exception. Im starting to think she belongs to COD or something.
Rua and ruka from yugioh 5Ds. I actually didnt know who they were until I saw them duel disks. Good to see some love for 5Ds though, now if there was only a good aki cosplayer...
Hmmm....nope, I don't know this character. Still, costume is pretty good, she has a good stance, and she holds swords! This definetely gets a thumbs up from me.
I require more training in my knowledge of anime! Yet again another character I do not know. Seems ok....like the fans.
Now its time for my top 3 cosplayers of the day! Once again these are OPINION based.
Naise yuna here. Great costume, not too bad of a body, and that staff looks great. She definetely looks pretty awesome here, and she definetely earns one of my spaces for the top 3 cosplayers.
I dont know this dude, but he looks so badass. He has easily the best costume in the entire AFA area. Thick ass armor with good design and even a mouth that he can open and close at will. Combined with his 2 awesome swords he is just simply one of the best there is.
Tied with the dragon guy for my favourite cosplay. Misaka and kuroko are so damn rare I have never seen them in any of the previous anime related events at all. Finally in AFA I found them both and they definetely exceed my expectations. Great posing by both girls, especially the misaka cosplayer. A coin flip would have been way cooler though, just saying XD.
We are nearing the end of the post (AT FKING LAST). Once again I apologize for the lack of more cosplay photos, it was really squeezy just now, not much I could have done = =.
Whelp, thats it for now, AFA this year rocked just as much as last year did. I came in with high expectations this year, and you can bet those expectations were met very nicely. I was disappointed by STGCC, but AFA brought my faith in the industry back up. AFA 2011 in my opinion was a great success. Its going on until sunday, but due to school and many other complications, I cannot make it (sad face D:). I will be looking foward to AFA 2012!
This is The fool signing off! Peace out!
