I recently went for the AFA X press conference on the 13th September 2010, 10am. It was again a small conference, chaired by the same bunch of guys ( with the same cute MC <3). This is my side of the coin for the 2 hours that i sat through that day.
The press conference was chaired by:
- Anthony Kang – Chairman of Anime Festival Asia 2010 & President of Dentsu Singapore
- Akira Sakai – Deputy Chairman of Anime Festival Asia 2010 & Chief Marketing Officer of Dentsu Asia
- Gregory Ho – Vice President and General Manager of Annimax Asia (reigonal Media partner of Anime Festival Asia 2010)
- Shawn Chin – Festival Director of Anime Festival Asia 2010, and Executive Director of SOZO
Main highlights of the first part of the conference was the description of how AFA has grown to become a successful regional entertainment event, after 3 years. AFA continuously improves itself by the feedback of the customers and users, and the fans in the reigon. Without its fanbase, AFA could not had acheived what it has, and what it is now.
Personally i would think that much of this is due to the fact that japanese animation has become trully global, with fans and watchers of japanese animation, and to a smaller extent, the japanese culture, all over the world. It is really interesting to see every major country having at least one major cultural event that is dedicated to this little part of the jap culture. ( I think “little” is not the right word to use though)
With this in mind, this level of popularity would eventually lead to a growth in the market for such industries. In fact, for Singapore alone, the growth rate is roughly 5.1% per annum. Singapore, being largely the central SE Asian country , its the perfect place to promote this industry. If we look at the AFA event itself last year, it drew visitors from all over the region, signifying how popular this event has become in the region.
Back then, AFA was mainly focused on the anime aspect of the japanese culture and industry. However, it will have more emphasis on other lifestyle cultures, not just anime related. The scale and purpose of AFA has evolved, from a pure fanbase, to one that is a business opportunity. It have become relevent to everyone, not just the man on the street, but also to businesses looking to expand to this industry. AFAX is marketed as a experiential platform, people who goes it, will have maximum exposure to the japan culture, and also experience it. Its like bringing a part of Japan here, i guess.
There were also talks about AFA going regional. Akira said that AFA may have a satalite event hosted in the (very)near future, in regional countries. Im sure our friendly neighbours would be jumping for joy after hearing this.
Next on the press conference agenda was the COOL JAPAN thingie which i didnt really understand much, unfortunately. What i did catch, was that the aim of this was to create 20 biliion japanese content by the end of 2020, and Singapore will be an important place to host this COOL JAPAN.
I will write up more on this COOL JAPAN thing once i catch some balls of it.
We finally get near the offering of the AFA event itself.
For Animax this year, they will be having their dubbing studios again in the convention hall, and this time round, fans can get to try the role of seiyu and dub their favorite chars in K-ON season 2. i guess K-ON is pretty much everywhere now. Animax will also , starting this AFA X, provide live coverage to subscribers of their animax channel, of AFA X. So we can finally get to experience AFA in the comforts of our own homes eh? Perhaps our friends in other countries can feel it . Maybe.
Danny Choo will once again grace the event, and he will be giving a talk at the business conference that will be held the day before the AFA X event. Everyone loves his stormtrooper dance. ( i think )
Akiba Town will also be back selling exclusive merchandise, as well as Cospa, Bushiroad, and Bandai. Speaking of bandai, i heard there will be special Chogokin Mazinger Z version for sale during AFAX. Be sure to look out for it. Kadokawa is also setting up shop, along with a special Evangelion Store, exclusively selling Evangelion products. Regarding Akiba Town, there is also a Akiba mini stage; a plateform to showcase community activities and shows. Expect more things planned for this with time to come.
Everyone remember’s last year’s Maid Cafe right? Its back, and this time, its a School Day’s ver. No not the anime School Days. Its a special school uniform ver of the maid cafe. After going over last year’s great success of the maid cafe, this year’s maid cafe promises to provide even better… um.. service. Whats more, we now also have a Butler Cafe, called Atelier Royale, for all the gals out there.
We will also have performances on the main stage by seiyus, namely Milky Holmes, and (gasp!) Kana Hanazawa, seiyu for Mako Kuroi in BRS, Tenshi in Angel Beats, and Zange in Kannagi.
There is also a special anime screening session for soon-to-be-released-in-singapore Disaapeareance of Haruhi movie, and also the Gundam 00 movie, Awakening of the Trailblazer. Be sure to catch both!
They say its always good to have some friendly competition. We have just that in the form of Singapore and Malaysia WS Grand Prix Finals. Its the best children’s card game of the century yeah.
I Love Anisong this year is quite meh and HOLY SHIT at the same time. On day 1, we will see Ichirou Mizuki back again, along with ….dun dun dun…. JAM Project. Wow. My balls just exploded. This is a pretty GAR day.
Day 2 is May’n (meh), Angela, and (omg) SCANDAL. Don’t get me wrong, i do not hate May’n, its just that i think AFA X needs more new singers on stage. Sigh. But i guess most of the fanbase here wouldn’t mind seeing May’n back again.
Well, this pretty much wraps up the press conference. For ticketing prices, you can head on over to the new afa website here.
This is XkaOnslaught, signing off.
