Filed under: Gundam, Gundam | Tags: Gundam, Gundam RX-78, Mobile Suit Gundam
Gundam (ガンダム, Gandamu?) is a metaseries of Japanese anime created by Sunrise studios that features giant robots (or “mecha”) called “Gundam”. The metaseries started in 7 April 1979 as a serial TV show called Mobile Suit Gundam. That first TV series has since spawned a franchise that has come to include works released in numerous media. Titles have appeared in the form of multiple television series and OVAs, movies, manga, novels and video games, among other modes. The story from the original 1979 series has been considerably extended with sequels, prequels, side stories and alternate timelines. As a result, the title “Gundam” has become a collective term for the seven distinct but related timelines that can be pieced together from the stories that appear in the Gundam franchise. Generally speaking, the timelines do not intersect, but they do contain a few common elements such as the titular war machines called Gundam. However, all Gundam timelines/worlds long after their own anime series will eventually intersect and combine back to one in the series Turn A Gundam.
The original timeline for the Gundam series was the Universal Century (UC) series, which included Mobile Suit Gundam (1979) and Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam (1985). Since the 1990s, alternative timelines have been produced and developed, including the Future Century, After Colony, After War, Correct Century, Cosmic Era and Anno Domini timelines.
As of January 21, 2008, the Gundam franchise is a 50 billion yen trademark. In the 2008 ranking of average sales figures for anime copies sold in Japan (1970-2008 total sales figures averaged by episode), Gundam series were in 4 of the top 5 places: Mobile Suit Gundam ranked second, with Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny third, Mobile Suit Gundam SEED fourth, and Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam fifth. Also, New Mobile Report Gundam Wing ranked 18th and Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ ranked 20th. Gunpla’s (Gundam Plastic model) holds 90% of the Japan character plastic model market.
Academic fields in Japan have also viewed the series as a good inspiration in research fields, with the Gundam academy (or officially International Gundam Society) being the first academic institution based on an animated TV series.
The anime TV series Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ or Mobile Suit Gundam Double Zeta (機動戦士ガンダムZZ, Kidō Senshi Gandamu Daburu Zēta?) aired on Japanese TV from 1986–1987, was the third Gundam series, and a direct follow up to Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam. Director Yoshiyuki Tomino returned to lead the series, and he assembled a new team consisting of character designer Hiroyuki Kitazume, who had been one of Zeta Gundam’s animation directors, and mechanical designers Makoto Kobayashi, Yutaka Izubuchi and Mika Akitaka. The series was later aired by the anime satellite television network, Animax, across Japan and later its respective networks worldwide, including Southeast Asia, Hong Kong, South Asia, and other regions, but is one of the few Gundam series which has never been brought to the United States.
Overview
Gundam ZZ was conceived of as a sequel to Zeta Gundam, featuring a mostly all-new cast. Tomino originally wanted to make Char the main character[citation needed] before receiving the “okay” on Char’s Counterattack. Its broadcast immediately followed that of Zeta Gundam and continues to follow a major plotline from Zeta involving Haman Karn, regent to Mineva Lao Zabi, and also continues to follow Captain Bright Noa and the ship, Argama, as well as introducing the new characters led by Judau Ashta.
This sequel to Zeta Gundam sometimes struck a much lighter, often comical, tone, in contrast to its predecessor’s brooding melodrama. For example, in the second episode, the protagonist Judau Ashta attempts to help Yazan Gable by throwing oranges at the Argama. This is contrasted in the same episode however when Yazan kills the technician Saegusa, and Judau then attempts to pilot the Zeta Gundam to go after Yazan but is incredibly poor at combat in his first battle. The whimsical first opening theme song Anime Ja Nai (lit. “It’s Not Anime”) set the tone for the first half of the series. The second half of the series sports a more somber opening theme song. Silent Voice.
The show scored high ratings with the younger, more casual audiences, and the show’s first opening theme Anime Ja Nai became extremely popular[citation needed] and is sometimes mentioned as one of the most memorable anime songs of all time.[who?] Although previously frowned upon by many fans of Zeta Gundam, with recent exposure through various media, Double Zeta has begun to receive better reception from the fan base than before.
Plot summary
As the continuation of Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam, this series once again follows the story of the Anti Earth Union Group (AEUG) battleship Argama after Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam’s final episode. To fight off the Axis Zeon, now called the Neo Zeon, Captain Bright Noa recruits a group of teenage junk collectors led by the loudmouthed but powerful Newtype Judau Ashta to pilot the Argama’s mobile suits. Now sporting a line up of the behemoth ZZ Gundam and the returning Zeta Gundam, Gundam Mk-II and the Hyaku Shiki, the group is nicknamed the Gundam Team. As such, this became the first of a number of Gundam series where a team of Gundam mobile suits fight alongside each other regularly. The climax takes place at Side 3 in the Battle of Axis.
Out of the major Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam characters, Captain Bright Noa and Axis leader Haman Karn are featured prominently in Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ; Hayato Kobayashi, Kamille Bidan, Fa Yuiry, Wong Lee, Yazan Gable, Mineva Lao Zabi, and the children Shinta and Qum are featured in various episodes as well; Sayla Mass, who had appeared in the first series but had no speaking role in Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam, also appeared in several episodes of Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ; Char Aznable’s planned appearance was canceled when Tomino was given the go-ahead to do the Mobile Suit Gundam: Char’s Counterattack movie. Yoshiyuki Tomino’s original plan for the show which involved Char’s return was never revealed though Glemy’s sudden change in motivation seems to give a hint that he fills in for him at the end, nor does Tomino himself remember it and aside from the openings, Amuro Ray does not make an appearance in the series either.
Filed under: Gallery, Gundam, Gundam SEED, Gundam SEED Destiny | Tags: Aegis Gundam, Gundam, Gundam SEED, Model Kit
So Gao is having sexy time, meanwhile let me fill you in abit with my leetness in terms of Maeking Gunpla! :3 Well its something to entertain you till Mr Gao gets back, so how should we do this? My gundam history? Not much I pretty much introduced Gunpla to Jeffo by forcing him to buy SD models (The only stuff i actually maek) Now the guy has like MGs and shit lyke that and is more of an “Ore wa gundamu” Then I am. So Enough Ranting, wut Mech are you building? Well… Aegis Gundamu! I am a big fan of transforming mechs, that isn’t macross. Most of my favourite gundam mechs are transformable (Aegis, Wing Gundam, Wing Zero (Anime), Kyrios, Zeta…). I liek the versatility and the complexity of these mechs… although little can be said about my Gunpla building skills.
So Aegis: Heres the specs, thanks to MAHQ~:
http://mahq.net/mecha/gundam/seed/gat-x303.htm
So yeah, I will be doing my process of the Aegis HG 1/144 scale on this blog :3. but yeah it wont look as awesome as that but i do wut i can.
Sooo heres teh box.
Yeah just one of the stockpiles Gao got for me when he went to Taiwan, i have 2 other emergency models should i need to blog about em one day lol. So without further ado i opened the box and obviously it came with the plastic bits in clear wrapping, The manual is pretty damn wikid… but being a HG not much detail is to expected, but the damn thing transforms! I DONT CARE! ;D.
I’m not one for detail but I saw the parts and i fainted, i looked at the manual and fainted, and Gao probably enjoying his week off is probably off giggling to himself, I knew this was great torment for me, anything that is more than 3 pages of instructions… this one has 4, in A4 sized paper made my life extremely disheartening. I am not a big fan of small parts and putting em together… yet alone have the tools for it.
Wait John your not a Gunpla master, you dont has the tools?! why are you making this are you trying to insult the gunpla people who actually BUILD this stuff?
Yes and…
Yes.
Sitting around a table and picking away at plastic filing them is ALOT of hassle, i have the deepest respects for those guys, and talking to Gao when he was in Taiwan telling me he has to spend half an hour on the guns for his MG Justice Gundam. FUUUUUUUUUUU- CANT HANDLE PRESSURE!!! I’d have slammed down my tools in rage and played abit of World of Warcraft or something.All that filing, puting on decals, etc etc etc. DOES NAWT HAS Tyme. 1/144 is all i will do. I cbf 1/100 yet even 1/60. SRSLY NO 1/60 that stuff will melt my brain like putting butter in a hot pan.
So without further ado i took apart the stuff and started building… omfg the body itself has 17 steps… WHY CANT IT BE SIMPLE! SD only had 20 steps (I had an SD Aegis) MUTHA PUCKIN PHAILLL D= RAAAAGE. I looked at step 1, it took me 5 minutes to locate all the parts. Not to mention the amount of pink in this model is bloody excruciating. Its like watching Ken bitch slapping barbie singing Hannah Montanah songs mixed with the screaming cries of a maniac girl who was abused by domestic violence. I wont go into the color black 
And yeah heres my tools LOL:
Budget, cheap probs the only expensive stuff is the markers… but that was given to me by Gao lol.
1) Scissors helps in removal from the area
2) Nail clippers act the same way as your normal clippers just really hard to work with i got used to it, it also has places you can sand paper too ;3
3) Hair clip, same things as tweezers but yeah i could use toothpicks as well if they don’t run to well.
I shall be expecting epic Gao rage when he sees this.
So step 1:
Not much to do here just plugged it in and aparently this is the chest piece… I might skip a couple of steps and get to the main point.
blurry cant fix it meh, this is the GAT-X303 frame. The frame that holds the arms the Scyllah (Cant spell today) 550mm cannon, the transfomraiton modules etc etc etc. when fixed together it looks lyke this:
So the three dots presumably fits the arms the hip thrusters in the middle and the legs down teh bottom. thats actually upside down in the pic but oh wells you’ll get over it lol.
Next are the core torso parts that hold the thrusters:
theres two of em so when made its done like this: I had to cut the cannon and the chest connector out as well:
And when put together:
SO yeah, fun times.
SO i get two of those arm things done and it looks like this:
This was abotu 45 minutes work its quite flexible my arm parts and chest does not lock in so i need to review in with Gao to see wut is up with that when I show him next time.
Next is the skirt and backpack, i skipped those and go straight to what the final chest bit looks liek:
Alright enough of this model, it took me 2 hours jsut for the body And frankly about to get sick of it soon so i will continue this another day lol. Seriously couldnt taek it. I cant believe Jeffo can sit down and work on this for hours and hours and hours Ah well enough rants. I will have a second post today hopefully for my practice.
Earth Federation Forces “Project V” Operator:
Earth Federation Forces Known Pilots: Amuro Ray, Sayla Mass
Head Height: 18.0 meters
Max Weight: 60.0 meters
Power-plant: Minovsky Ultracompact Fusion Reactor Power Ouput: 1380 kW Armor: Luna titanium alloy on Semi-Monocoque frame
Combat Characteristics
The Gundam was incredibly advanced for its time. Built from lightweight Luna Titanium, its frame was both lighter than that of Zeon’s mass-produced Mobile Suits and much sturdier, able to shrug off a Zaku’s machine gun fire with little to no damage. Its offensive power was above and beyond that of the Zeon Zakus. The Gundam would engage in most battles with its Beam Rifle, making it the first Mobile Suit to have firepower equivalent to a battleship beam cannon. In addition, it made use of two beam sabers, a blade of extremely hot plasma which could cut through any metal with ease. Those beam sabers could be extended into a spear-like beam javelin, which could be used to stab into an enemy from a longer distance than the blade of the saber would allow.
The Gundam also used more conventional weaponry: it could be launched with a Hyper Bazooka, the Federation’s answer to the bazookas used by Zeon’s Zakus; in addition, its head was outfitted with a pair of small vulcan cannons, providing it with a last resort weapon as well as a way of attacking light-armored aircraft and vehicles without wasting ammo or energy from its more powerful armaments. It also made use of a very unconventional close-range weapon known as the Gundam Hammer — a large weapon similar to a morning star which could be swung at enemies to deal crushing damage. The Gundam Hammer was eventually upgraded for use in space and outfitted with a number of verniers on the ball, and renamed to be the Hyper Hammer. Lastly, it wielded a large shield which would offer it a defense against enemy attacks that not even its Luna Titanium body could withstand without damage. Gundam pilot Amuro Ray would make use of the shield as a decoy in many battles, taking advantage of its size to fool the enemy into thinking he was charging at them, then attacking the enemy through the shield.
The Gundam was equipped with a sophisticated Learning Computer which would collect pilot and enemy data during skirmishes and allow the Gundam to operate more effectively. The data from the computer was used by the Federation to improve the controls of the Gundam’s mass-produced form, the RGM-79 GM. In addition, it was upgraded by Federation technician Mosque Han shortly before the Battle of Solomon: to improve its reaction times, the joints of the Gundam were given a Magnetic Coating, based on the experimental procedure performed on the RX-78-3 Gundam G-3.
The Gundam makes use of the Core Block System implemented in the other V Project units. The torso of the Gundam is mostly hollow so that an FF-X7 Core Fighter may dock with it. This allows the pilot to jettison the legs and torso of the Gundam should the Gundam be too heavily damaged and gives the pilot a chance to escape from battle.
Filed under: Gallery, Games, SRW, SRWK | Tags: Games, Pictures, SRW, SRW K, Zoids Genesis
Filed under: Gallery, Games, SRW, SRWK | Tags: Games, Pictures, SRW, SRW K, Virtual-On Marz
Filed under: Gallery, Games, SRW, SRWK | Tags: Games, Pictures, Shin Jeeg, SRW, SRW K
Filed under: Event | Tags: AFA, afa 09, animax, Anime, anime festival, Anime Festival Asia, Anime Festival Asia 2009, anonymous, artwork, azusa, bandai, bokken, booth, cds, championships, comic feista, cospa, cosplay, danny choo, dolfie, domo, dubbing, eoy 2009, figma, figures, Gundam, joysound, k-on, kaname, karoke, katana, kknm, little busters, madhouse, mio, moe moe kyun, movie, mugi, nanoha, photoshop, poster, rei, reiko, replica, ritsu, saber, seiyu, singapore, stall, storm lion, stormtrooper, summer wars, suntec, sword, tactical weapons, takashimaya, tcg, tokyo figure, towel, wall scrol, warhammer, weapons, weiss schwarz, yui
Well, its been several days since the Anime Festival Asia 2009 has ended. Many people have posted their various experiences and encounters at the event. Now it’s my turn. What took me so long you say? Well I’ve had a few commitments impede my progress such as completely reworking the image hosting for the site. Instead of my blog using the standard image hosting that wordpress provides (which is slow, sluggish and inconvenient), I now use photobucket which makes uploading images and posting them on the site a lot easier as well as the images happen to load significantly faster. I also have been working on the site’s gallery and videos section which have been significantly updated with images from the AFA 2009 event, feel free to check them out. Now without any further delay I shall report my findings at this years Anime Festival Asia!
Early Arrival
For those that thought arriving early to avoid the hassle of the crowds was that simple, well you were wrong. The 4th level of the Suntec City building was full by 10am (which was the opening time). Thank god I had pre-ordered my tickets and didn’t have to stand in line for one as the queue for tickets was endless. Cosplayers could be seen standing around amongst the crowds.
The crowds on the second day were much lesser compared to the first day. Good thing for me, less people to accidentally bump into.
Danny Choo / Tokyo Figure Show
When the gates finally opened. I went straight to the Danny Choo/ Tokyo Figure Show booth, where I was surprised to find Danny Choo himself to be standing by himself (for the rest of the day people would be crowding around him). I managed to take a quick picture of him, swap name cards and shake his hand. That itself had already made my day. Later on in the day I managed to get him to sign my copy of The Otaku Encyclopedia by Patrick W. Galbraith. Another joyful moment.
The booth itself was amazing as it contained many discontinued figurines of all sorts which I never have been able to lay my hands on. This was a chance for me to see them up close. It also gave me a sneak preview of things to come such as the Black Rock Shooter figure that everyone has their eye on, plus the limited edition Mirai Figma which hopefully will be released soon. The ita-bike made by Kodomut was fantastic. I’ll only show a few pictures here as the rest can be viewed in the gallery.
Cosplay
For those of you who wondered the festival grounds might have noticed the various cosplayers showing off their costumes. I was able to take a few shots throughout the event. A few of my personal favourites are listed below. Once again there are many more pictures in the gallery.
Bandai / Gundam
For those take came, I doubt you would have missed the Bandai and Gundam exhibition that was close to the entrance. Some of them were seen earlier in the month at the BAKUC Exhibition in Orchard Road. Many of the ones seen earlier were placed on display here at the AFA. Looking them up close again allowed me to see the hard work and effort put into these masterpieces. Looking at them makes me feel like purchasing a gunpla kit and start building one. Perhaps I’ll leave that for another day.
Artwork
One of the exhibitions that I feel was underrated and less touched on was the artists corner where it displayed all the talented works of aspiring artists. Some artworks simply blew me away as the detail and colours were astounding. We truly have some talent people in Singapore. If only I could draw as half as good as them, I’d be happy already.
I personally found myself favouring the Saber picture as my she is one of my favourite characters. The picture shows her elegance and beauty in her normal combat attire as well as capturing an emotionless face that could be hiding sorrow and sadness of her past. Another favourite from me would be the Naruto Hearts picture which is a cross series parody of the Naruto and Kingdom Hearts series. Interesting combination that could work in the future. I found it interesting to see artworks from the Warhammer 40,000 series on display, but to me I was glad to see other genres of works there. I personally used to collect, assemble and battle with the model figures a long time ago. Anyway the two pictures below used a different style of painting which successfully captured the chaotic nature of the Marines locked into battle with the xenos.
I found the last two pictures to be very creative and amusing. It seems we have some members of Anonymous lurking around heh. I wonder who drew that Harley Danny Choo picture? Nonetheless it was very amusing. Excellent work.
Assorted Booths:
Moe Moe Kyun Cafe
The day 1 queue was so long I couldn’t even find where the queue ended. It would have been nice if me and my mates had gone inside but once again the queues were too long and I figured it would have been expensive to purchase food inside. I had run out of money by the time the queues had shortened. The queues on the second day were significantly shorter as there was less people at the festival. From the outside it seemed like a good place and sit down though,
Kareshi Kanojyo no Mise (KKnM)
The KKnM stalls was one of the earlier booths I visited at day 1. I figured all the good stuff would be gone at the end of the day, I decided to have a peek to see what exclusives I could bag. With a touch of luck, I was about to bring home a Figma Saber Lily as well as a Good Smile Company 1/8 Saber. The stall was packed all the way from morning to late afternoon. All the good stuff was gone by afternoon. I had managed to catch a glimpse of a Figma Product 01 Konata in a Haruhi Cosplay (for $150) early morning, however I was beaten to it by someone else. Lucky guy, oh well easy come easy go.
There were other figurine stalls also like RoboRobo and La Tendo but were just as full. Each shop had their own different set prices plus exclusives. I saw a discontinued Fate from the Nanoha series going for $500 and above. Jeez I wonder who would buy that.
Tactical Weapons
A small front was setup for these guys. They had their weapons on display. Cool looking weapons, movable and life-like. Pistol chambers would move if fired, foldable handgrips and so on. Of course all their weapons were replicas. Lots of their advertisements were people in an army uniform carrying their weapons, many of them could be seen around the place.
Cospa
Yup, even Cospa is setting up shop in Singapore now. About 1 week before the AFA, they already had started up their website which can be found here. They had all sorts of anime t-shirts, towels, mugs and other accessories. They even had a Jan-Ken-Pon (scissors paper rock) competition give away. The finalist would play against Danny Choo. I was somewhere behind the crowd at that point of time. The lucky guy eventually won a Black Mirai T-shirt. Congrats!
Credit goes to Mike Abundo for the video.
Besides clothing, they had HUGE Litter Buster’s towels at a whopping $150. Tempting but insanely expensive even for me. Adorable designs though.
Did I mention they had a wall scroll for the upcoming Nanoha movie? Well if not here’s the poster for it.
Too bad I ran out of funds to purchase one. Oh well I can still pick one up at the store or hopefully Sunshine Plaza.
Summer Wars
An upcoming anime movie, Summer Wars, had their own booth. I decided to snoop around to see what I could found up this anime. Apparently it was created by Madhouse who also created Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo (The Girl Who Leapt Through Time) which is one of my favourite anime movies of all time. Much hype of this movie is to be expected as the studio itself has earned a name for themselves. through their previous masterpieces. As I saw the preview, the artwork and animation seems extremely details and beautiful (like its previous movie), I’ll definitely be watching this movie when it is released. Hopefully I will have time to do a review on the movie when it comes out later on in the year.
Collateral Damage Studios
Mainly the K-ON and Ayanami Rei artwork caught my eye as I walked past it. I few things I managed to spot was a familiar piece of artwork I saw on figure.fm about 1 week before the AFA. I asked if the artist was there, however he was busy looking around the place. Damn I wanted to ask him for his name card. I saw a massive Mio Akiyama wall scroll which I wouldn’t have mind getting, but once again I was out of funds. Their website can be found here.
Takashimaya Store
As expected, they had their own store which was fairly huge compared to the rest. They were selling all kinds of thing, dakimakuras/body pillows, pillow cases, mugs, bags, wall scrolls, pretty much anything with an anime design on it. The place was a bit price but I still managed to pick up a Shakugan no Shana wall scroll for a good $40. Not bad considering the size. The place was packed like a can of tuna from morning to god knows when. Regardless there were people inside throughout the whole day. Something that caught my eyes was the Domo kun plushies they had out front. I couldn’t resist to take a picture as well as giving it a great big hug. Oh just so you know the biggest size of Domo kun costed $300. Big Domo costs big bucks.
Storm Lion Booth
They were advertising for a new movie coming out soon. Didn’t have time to look around there though. I saw a fantastic artist who used photoshop and a drawing tablet to draw a masterpiece throughout the whole day. He just ignored everyone and kept drawing. Absolutely amazing.
Animax Live Dubbing
Near the back of the exhibition was the Animax area which were promoting special deals for Starhub Cable television. Not bad deals but the contract for cable television is too long since I’ll only be here for a few more months. What was unique about the place was the live recording studio they had at the back. You could input your own voice as one of the main characters in the anime of your choice. Quite embarrassing however humourous for those watching like me. I was too shy to give it a try for myself.
Cosplay Weapons Stall
A small stall was setup by a bunch of mainland Chinese guys which sold weapons (mainly swords) from various anime. What I spotted was Uchiha Sasuke’s sword, Saber Alter and normal Saber, some sort of Final Fantasy sword which I think sold out fast, wooden bokkens, various swords from Bleach and many other Katanas. Each were about $40 and were mainly made of wood. Not bad but I’d prefer to make my own. If I had to buy one it would probably be the normal Saber or Saber Alter sword. Quite tempting to buy one though.
Dolfies Stalls
I’m not a Dolfie person but when I came across the stall, I was shock to see how elegant and beautiful these things were when I saw them up close. They truly are a masterpiece. I didn’t bother asking for the price as I already knew it was out of my range. Extremely beautiful dolls.
Weiss Schwarz Booth
Had a quick peek into their booths. They had all kinds of starter decks to choose from. I would have picked up a Fate/Stay Night starter deck but they didn’t have it in stock. The Nanoha deck was also quite tempting. Hopefully when it is released in the retail shops, I’ll be able to pick one up. Seems easy enough to learn. Anyway there were people playing the card game throughout the whole day. There was even a competition from what I was told.
Region Cosplay Championships
Since it was my first time being apart of an audience for a cosplay competition I had assumed the crowds wouldn’t have been so big. I was completely wrong when I had to make my way through the amount of people gathering for the on stage event. Due to the large crowds, awkward position and constant obstruction of view by the media and AFA crew, I was unable to get decent shots the whole time.
Anyway the finalists and anime skit chosen were:
ST Revolutions (Singapore) – Unknown Anime
00 Emotions (Singapore) – Gundam 00
Sekai no Gumi (Malaysia) – Code Geass
Endless Illusion (Indonesia) – Lineage II
Houshin Enqi (Thailand) – Unknown Anime
Witchblade (Philippines) – Witchblade
The skits for each team can be seen below (credit goes to Hexlord for taking these wonderful videos and Zh3us for finding them for his blog!):
Each contestant won a participating prize as well as a big hug from Kaname who was cosplaying as Kamina from Gurren Lagenn. The hug between the Gundam and Kaname was priceless.
Personally, I thought 00 Emotions and Endless Illusions had the best costumes and assume they took the longest to create. The Gundam costume doesn’t need any words to describe their costume. One look will explain everything. The costumes made for the Lineage II skit was simply beautiful especially under the stage lights where the armour and weapons truly shine (literally) with brilliance.
With the skit and their performance Sekai no Gumi have points from me for almost complete originality St Revolutions did provide a very emotional scene with outstanding acting.
Nonetheless congrats to 00 Emotions and their Gundam 00 skit for an excellent performance as well as taking home the Grand Prize for Go Singapore!
Moe Moe Kyun Girls Karoke Performance
On the second day of the festival the Moe Moe Kyun girls did a karoke session. Enjoyable to watch. Video captured below is done by other than yours truly.
Joysound Karoke Booth
Located near the Animax area, near the back of the hall was a karoke machine where people could chose and sing their favourite Japanese songs (not just anime openings and closings). Lots of people gathered waiting for others to try the machine. As for me, I’m generally a crap singer, plus I don’t know fluent Japanese. The more of a reason for me to completely avoid touching the microphone. Anyway a few people were courageous enough and delivered a wonderful performance whether their singing was good or bad. Either way I think they had fun, because I know I enjoyed watching them sing (or attempt to). A few of the singers can be viewed below, sorry for the crap sound quality.
K-ON Experience
Now here comes the highlight for the second day of the AFA. The K-ON stage live dubbing took place a few minutes after the karoke performance by the Moe Moe Kyun maids. I promised myself I’d get a seat just for this so I took the effort to come extra early. I managed to grab a seat near the front which I was content with. They decided to prohibit video and photography taking for the remaining of the onstage events so I was unable to take any photos or videos. I saw a few people get their gear confiscated eek.
For those who are unfamiliar with K-ON, you can find out all you need to know here.
Before the girls came onto the stage, Reiko (one of the MC’s) asked Danny Choo (being the other MC) was asked “What do you like about K-ON?”. He responded with pretty much what 99% of the audience was thinking which was “That they are beautiful little girls” or something along the lines of that. Majority of the people there had a chuckle including myself as we understood what he meant.
As the girls were introduced on stage, a familiar opening song and video played as they came out one by one. Right on cue as their individual characters were displayed on-screen they walked onto the stage. I think I partially lost my hearing due to the crowd cheering.The crowd roars as each of the seiyu’s come on to the stage. They introduce themselves to the audience in English (which wasn’t too shabby).It seems that Mio’s seiyu didn’t show which was a downer however it was still good that the rest had made it to the festival. From what I could recollect, the group of girls were a happy, energetic and lively bunch.
After introducing themselves they proceeded with the live dubbing. They did 3 scenes in total each one being as humorous and well performed as the previous.
Thanks to SP LifeArts for saving me the trouble of going through each episode to find the specific scenes as well as the accurate pictures for each scene.
1st Scene – Episode 9:
Azusa still being new to the club as well as the K-ON scene, comes back to the club house to find the rest of the girls slacking. Yui successfully tempts her weakness, which happens to be cake.
Caaakeee!
2nd Scene – Episode 11:
Yui’s guitar (Gitah as Yui has named it) is being sent for a maintenance at their local instrument store. What Yui doesn’t realize is that this is not free, however the shopkeeper see Mugi and weavers off the fee since her family owns the store.
Gitah is being sent for repairs
3rd Scene – Episode 13:
The 4 girls as seen walking home in the snow as they discuss where to hold their next club training session.
Overall, it was a wonderful performance I was amazed at how they recited their own lines with utmost precision and timing to the corresponding episode. They did it while enjoy themselves as well as pulling funny faces and poses. It was truly brilliant.
Their Question & Answer session followed shortly after where Danny Choo would pick questions (submitted by fans on the AFA website).
Once again I thank SP LifeArt & j1m0ne, as I couldn’t remember the exact questions and answers from the day itself.
Question 1: How similar are you to your character you voice in K-ON?
Aki Toyosaki (Yui): She is air-headed and prone to daydreaming
Satomi Satō (Ritsu): Before she became a seiyu she mention that she was a shy and quiet girl. When she took the role of Ritsu she became more lively and energetic due to her character’s personality. Similiar to Ritsu she encourages her fellow friends and teammate.
Minako Kotobuki (Mugi): She enjoys bringing gifts of sweet things like cake for her friends and teammate to eat.
Ayana Taketatsu (Azusa): She is not as serious as her character but she does enjoy eating sweet things. Thanks to her role, she now likes taiyaki.
Question 2: What are the challenges you face when voicing your character?
Aki Toyosaki (Yui): Since Yui has a high-pitched voice, she tries to prevent straining her voice.
Satomi Satō (Ritsu): Ritsu is known for a tomboyish nature, she triess to balance her voice in sounding like a boy as well as being harsh for certain scenes.
Minako Kotobuki (Mugi): Mugi has a natural slow and peaceful speaking voice so when voicing her, she has to slow down when talking.
Ayana Taketatsu (Azusa): She often scolds her seniors, however she herself is still a junior in school, so she has to balance between how harsh she sounds.
Question 3: What is your favourite line from K-ON?
Aki Toyosaki (Yui): “Un-tan Un-tan Un-tan”. Basically she made this sound.
Satomi Satō (Ritsu): “Ano toki no yakusoku wa… uso datta no ka!?” – That promise we made…. was it all a lie!?
Minako Kotobuki (Mugi): “Mo-ichido Moe” seen here in the first few seconds. Amusing video.
Ayana Taketatsu (Azusa): “Nya” (Meow) When she puts on the Nekomimi cat ears seen here.
Question 4: What are the similarities of your own schooling life to your characters school life in K-ON?
Aki Toyosaki (Yui): Her clubs during her school days involved gathering and having fun rather than training or normal activities itself.
Satomi Satō (Ritsu): She had a childhood friend, also if her friend befriended someone else or gave her less attention she would become jealous.
Minako Kotobuki (Mugi): If one of her friend in her group are sick, she is the one saying this can or cannot be done with that person.
Ayana Taketatsu (Azusa): She was a member of the ‘going home’ club during her school life, similar to K-ON as the group of girls walk home together.
Question 5: If you were not a seiyu (voice actress), what would you be?
Aki Toyosaki (Yui): Someone who uses their voice like a singer.
Satomi Satō (Ritsu): Yet again, someone who uses their voice, a storyteller at the library or pet shop owner or childcare worker. She would probably keep changing jobs.
Minako Kotobuki (Mugi): Her dream was to use her voice and become a seiyu, but if she didn’t it would have been something creative like a stylist or make-up artist.
Ayana Taketatsu (Azusa): Someone that catches the bad guys, like a detective. Something like Detective Conan as she read the manga.
It was shortly after they announced that 4 lucky people would be walking away with signed boards of each of the seiyu’s autographs. 4 seats were called out. I-28, H-16, M-35, A-18 however no one was sitting there so C-31 was called again. When ‘H’ in H-16 was called I think I felt my heart stop beating for a few seconds. Sadly it was seat 16 in my row as I was sitting in seat 20. Close but no cigar.
After the Q & A, which proved to be very amusing as well as insightful, it ended off well with the seiyu’s saying their final words as they were all happy to be in Singapore and will be looking forward to coming back. They said their goodbyes and waved to the audience as they left the stage. Overall I found it to be very entertaining as I was very lucky to be there. I shall cherish this moment for the rest of my life.
I wish I knew Japanese so I could have done a better job of translation. I hopefully learn Japanese in the future.
Kaname Cosplay Panel Session – The Basics of Cosplay
The panel session was split into several parts consisting of introduction, character selection, costume selection, sewing and posing. He mainly gave his own tips and know-how on the topics at hand. His own personal life was included in some of the discussion, stuff like what he does when he is not cosplaying, what he does in his spare time, when did he start cosplaying and so on.
Conclusion
Overall, I had a fantastic time I had really enjoyed myself and di majority of the things I had wanted to do. There’s really much else to say other than I’ll be looking forward to next years Anime Festival Asia. There are still similar events remaining this year such as the Comic Fiesta in Sunway Pyramid, Malaysia (on the 19 to 20 December) as well as the End of Year 2009 (on the 26th December).
Now without further a due, I shall depart with none other than Danny Choo and his Tokyo Stormtrooper dance in Singapore to conclude this report. Enjoy.
Source:http://unlimitedotakuworks.wordpress.com/2009/11/28/late-anime-festival-asia-2009-report/
Filed under: Event | Tags: AFA, AFA 2009, Anime Festival Asia 2009, Events
Well here is all the loot I acquired from the Anime Festival Asia 2009. The list ranges from figmas, to regular figurines, name cards and assorted brochures. Since the figma Saber Lily was the last one in stock, it was missing the PSP game (which I already have). I got the figma cheaper so I was happy with that.
I’m very happy with the Shana wall scroll. My walls don’t look so plain now. Hopefully I’ll be able to get more in the near future.
As you can see, there is a huge pile of paper type goods. I’m sure most of you who went to the festival managed to pick up the same stuff as I did.
Had a fun photo session with a simple floor base and themed backdrop for a good hour or so. Very exciting. The detail and craftsmanship of both figures is astounding.
Nendoroid Saber Lily decides to interrupt and join in on the photo session.
I was happy with my loot that I bagged. Especially the 2 Saber figures. That will save me the trouble of searching Ebay and on delivery costs.
Source: http://unlimitedotakuworks.wordpress.com/2009/11/28/anime-festival-asia-2009-items-acquired/
SRW and Gundam HOTNEWS 