Now in its fourth year running, the event known as Anime Festival Asia (AFA) returned over the 11th - 13th November weekend to the delight of fans all over the region.
Boasting a bigger hall space than ever before and a visitor count of 85000, Kenneth Wong fills us in on the sights and sounds of AFA 2011.
Being an anime fan since the days where titles such as Slam Dunk, Flame of Recca, Macross and the original Gundam were broadcasted on TV, it was only natural that I had to check out this year's Anime Festival Asia. Together with my trusty Canon IXUS camera, I was all set to capture memories to keep and to share with my friends.
The first thing any visitor to this year's AFA would have seen upon arrival, was the sea of colours as cosplayers locally and from around the region were posing in their best costumes for huge crowds of photographers and passers-by.
There was also the Regional Cosplay Championship presented by Canon, which saw 5 regional teams from Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand showcase their performances on stage to thrill the huge crowd present. Each team definitely gave it their best shot with fantastic costumes, ingenious lit-up weapons and background props, which really brought their individual performances to life.
Unfortunately, there could only be one winner and that went to Zhel & AC from Team March Omega (Philippines) who took home the title with their cosplay from the Dissidia Final Fantasy game.
The event also saw established Japanese cosplayers KANAME☆ and USAGI plus seasoned cosplayer Richfield, on the judging panel, making it a real treat for cosplay fans present at this year's AFA.
Canon also had a special area set up to allow visitors to take photos in front of anime-themed backgrounds. Props such as wigs and even replica weapons were also available to help visitors get into the mood of the theme. Cosplayers or any visitors could pose in front of the backgrounds and get their photos taken, which were then printed out using PIXMA printers.
That's not all, because the Selphy girls were also roaming the grounds taking photos for people and printing it out for them using portable Selphy printers.
Stage activities showcased various types of events, which included a Photography Workshop talking about Toy Photography on both compact cameras and DSLRs, as well as the AKB48 Singapore Café girls performance. In fact two AKB48 members appeared on the Canon mini stage as well.
I love art and at such events I always squeeze out some extra time to visit the local artist booths. At AFA 2011, an entire area was set aside for local talents to showcase their works. Ranging from original creations to fan art of their favorite characters, these booths added our local identity to the whole event.
No Anime Festival Asia would be complete without anime-related merchandise and if you were there this year, you might have spent hours just looking through the different figurines, toys and apparels both on display and for purchase. From a whole booth dedicated to the ever-popular One Piece series to Bandai's booth where visitors had a chance to check out model kits from the latest Gundam Unicorn series. There were even booths selling tee shirts with popular anime characters on them.
Overall it was an event any anime fan would enjoy and the numbers of visitors do speak for themselves. Add high profile cosplayers gracing this year's Regional Cosplay Competition, a same day release of the highly anticipated Gundam Unicorn episode 4 plus many "A" list guest artistes and you have a winning formula.
I enjoyed myself at this year's AFA and I’m glad my trusty Canon IXUS got the shots I wanted so that I could share them with you.
Most of the time I left it in Aperture Priority mode because it really didn’t need much intervention from me. Personally I think that at such colourful events, you want to really enjoy the whole experience thing and not get too caught up in fiddling with your camera's setting and missing the moment.
I am already looking forward to the next event with my Canon IXUS camera.
Another IXUS Experience brought to you by the Canon IXUS Style Council