The Tokyo Kid @ SG
TK
The mini Anime Festival Asia
The organizers of Anime Festival Asia and Funan Digitalife Mall had came together to bring us Singapore's first ever Anime Matsuri. The mini AFA, as we termed it, have much to offer: A combined Maid-Butler cafe, Anime Merchandise, Vanguard competition and last but not least, cosplayers such as our favourite Kaname-san, Natumi from Taiwan, rising stars Angie and Ying Tze.
Held in Funan Digitalife Mall, there were many programme to be involved in, with the famous local Gundam cosplayer, Clive Lee teaching us how to make a Gundam costume, to WOW Japan screenings. Special appearance by Danny Choo of Culture Japan (digitally on the screen) and Show Ning DJ were also part of the 7-day festival.
The Tokyo Kid @ SG folks attended the Saturday session and were amazed by the variety of activities and cosers present during the Matsuri. Here is our coverage of the mini AFA!
Funan Anime Matsuri 2013
The prelude to the Event of the Year?
The first activity that we headed to was the stage. Clive was having his cosplay workshop at that time and as a Mecha fan, I was definitely interested in knowing how he made his Gundam costume. He teached the crowd on how he had constructed his helmet and boy, it was sure an impressive piece of art.
Our photographer was also busy at work as he went around taking photo of cosers. A remarkable number of coplayers was present during the event and he sure had improved on his skills of choosing the way on how to take each coser (be it angle, background wise). One of the most remarkable pieces he took was the one with Kaname-san. Good job!
There were some merchandise, Japanese shops in the event and Bon Japan was one of the booth we visited. In case you do not know, Bon Japan has now a permanent shop in Dhoby Ghaut Xchange, Bon Japan Station. Do go check it out one day. For Japanese fans, this is one shop you won't want to miss as Bon Japan brings in various goods and snacks directly from Japan. They will also be having their Theme Cafe on 13 July at *Scape Warehouse, with various characters such as Doraemon, Hello Kitty and One Piece. There will also be a maid-butler aspect to the cafe.
Our Cafe experience
We have a few cafe fans here at the Tokyo Kid @ SG and so, we went into the Atelier Royal x Moe Moe Kyun Combined cafe.
Being a smaller venue than Singapore Expo (for AFA 2012), the cafe venue has also being reduced and hence, be prepared for a longer waiting time. The fun factor, however, was still as good, as some of our members did interact enthuasiastic with the butlers and maids. They may not have their main dish menu during the event, offering different favours of bun and coffee, but the experience was no different from the AFA one, with the finale of each visit being a photo-taking session with your favourite maid or butler.
Overall, perhaps the only setback for the event was the small venue, limiting the number and size of the booths. However, it was indeed a mini-AFA experience for all of us, with great cosplayers, events and booths to mindle and take part in!
We were definitely all excited of what the organizers would in store for us in AFA 2013 since it was a huge success over at the Anime Matsuri here in Funan!
Check out our photo gallery coverage of the event too!
