AFAMY 2012

Anime Festival Asia (AFA) came to Malaysia for the first time this year. As an international-level event, I had a lot of expectations for the event. There was gonna be the usual event hall, a stage hall and of course, the Anisong concert. AFA Malaysia was announced to be held at Putra World Trade Center on the 9th and 10th of June.

If I remember correctly, Weiss had requested me to join her Samurai X cosplay group as Seta Soujiro and so I agreed. In May, I had planned to stay a night in a hotel so it'll be easier for us to go to the event because tickets are only sold on the event day itself. Despite that, we had purchased Anisong tickets before, which comes with a hall and stage excess tickets.

Anisong was my very first concert and why did I suddenly want to go to a concert? Simple, the names in the list of Japanese artists coming to perform caught my interest. Kalafina, FLOW, Kotoko and Kurosaki Maon caught my attention. Other artists I've never heard of were Aimi and Sea☆A. The artists were split into two days, Anisong Day 1 were Kurosaki Maon, Kalafina and Aimi and Anisong Day 2 were FLOW, Kotoko and Sea☆A.

I was definitely looking forward to the event. I was finally gonna cosplay again!

Day 1

Let's skip the morning. By now if you read my blog you should know I got classes in the morning. Screw The One Academy.

My dad picked Emmanuel and I from college and we headed to PWTC. There was a horrendous jam so I we reached there later than planned. My mood was rock bottom but to look forward to cosplaying and seeing her kept my mood at bay.

When we reached PWTC, we first went to check into the hotel I booked, a recommendation from Weiss because it was near and cheaper than the other hotels around, Comfort Hotel. It was less impressive from how I imagined it but the room didn't look too bad. A month before I had asked some of my friends if they wanna stay in the hotel with me. I got Yati, Kin Yen and Ang Yu to join me. Then Weiss, who had too many people in her room tossed to me one of her friends and a Samurai X cosplay groupmate, Elie to our room.

After checking in, my dad dropped Emma and I at PWTC and our adventure begun (actually just mine because Emma went home to Yumi's). We met up with Yumi, who directed me to the event hall where Weiss was waiting for me. Along the way, I caught Kin Yen and Ang Yu and then finally we got to the event hall. Weiss was almost ready so I went ahead and got into my Takenaka Hanbei costume. Weiss and I had no plans for Saturday because Cheryl and the others were not coming on Saturday and so we decided to do a mini-Samurai Warriors cosplay before the big one on Sunday. While getting ready, Yati came to find us, with him came Kar Loke. He went back after meeting me because he has been there for half the day and wanted to go home already.

After we were done, Weiss took me around in the event hall. There were mostly booths selling anime goods. The moment we went in, Weiss's friend, Angie rushed to the booth were Danny Choo was at. Apparently we got in at a good time and she got to have both Danny and world famous, Jimmy Choo's pictures and autographs. Another famous booth I recognise was the Good Smile Company, they had some Figmas and Nendroids on display. At the back of the event hall were the Moe-Moe Kyun! Maid Cafe and the Atelier Royale Butler Cafe. As expected, there was a long queue going in. Weiss said she had to wait in line for three hours before she got in and the food were overpriced (as expected as well).

After making a few rounds and posing for pictures, Weiss and I went to get changed out and then we wanted to take our props back to the hotel so Kin Yen, Weiss and I headed to the hotel while Angie, Yati and Ang Yu waiting in line for the concert. When we got back, the line was gone as everyone went in already. It wasn't as crowded as I imaged it but we were too late and we had to be at the back. Somehow, Weiss manage to squeeze her way to the front of the free standing zone with Ang Yu and Angie, Yati was somewhere else. Because we bought free standing tickets, we were placed at the back but it wasn't too bad because it was still my first concert ever (if I don't take the Tokio Hotel concert into account because I didn't pay for it nor stood in the concert area). Kin Yen and I stood all the way at the back of the crowd.

First on the stage was some unknown local who sang some Japanese songs and greeted us 'ohaiyo' despite the fact that it was evening. Then came in the real thing, Kurosaki Maon walked in and sang two songs before greeting and talking to us. I don't listen to her songs but I know she debuted in High School of The Dead. After almost an hour on stage, singing about seven songs? I can't really recall. Near the end after one of Kurosaki Maon's debut songs, the crowd cheered 'encore' while she was still on stage. Hahaha.

After Kurosaki Maon was Aimi. After a song, she greeted us and invited a translator to aid her. Apparently this concert was Aimi's third time in Malaysia but it's the first time for her to be on a big stage. After another three songs, one of them being Hare Hare Yukai which made me jump up and down in excitement, singing along and doing some of the dance moves like a monkey (also chasing away someone who was standing next to us).

After Aimi left the stage and a short silence, the crowd started cheering for the group that I bet majority of the people there were waiting for. The name, Kalafina was chanted over and over intensely, and then the most epic opening started.

Magica, if you have heard the song, in live is ten times more epic than on my iPod. It was bloody shit-ass mother kicking awesome! It was the most epic opening I've heard, ever! (Because it's my first concert after all) Kalafina went on with Lacrimosa, sprinter, Kimi ga Hikari ni Kaete Yuku, destination unknown and To The Beginning. After Kalafina said their goodbyes and left the stage, the crowd cheered for an encore. We obviously want them to come back to the stage, they haven't sang Oblivious yet! The crowd kept cheering but then the thank you speech from the organizers came on, the cheering died down a little but some people kept on cheering for an encore. After the lights came on, people started leaving.

After we got out, people were queuing to get Kalafina's autographs on their After Eden albums. Kin Yen and Angie wanted one so they went ahead and bought an album each. I was tempted to do the same but I held back. I do regret doing so. Ang Yu, Weiss, Yati and I waited outside the queue so we can see Kalafina up close. It was awkward when they came out because we were sitting down on the floor without our shoes. The three members walked out and saw us when waving to the crowd of fans. Ang Yu who wasn't sitting down got to see them really up close because she stood by the fence. I should have not sat down, damn.


While Kin Yen and Angie went to get their autographs, Yati, Weiss and I headed back to the hotel. Weiss's room is directly above ours, earlier she dumped her stuff in my room so she came to our room to collect them and went back to hers. She later came back with Elie and she forgot to introduce us and left in a huff. Funny. We did a small introduction and then the awkward silence ensues. Yati and I did little chatter with each other. We waited for Kin Yen, Ang Yu and Angie to return so we can go have supper but it was taking a really long time. I got worried after some time and called Kin Yen but it didn't get through so I called Ang Yu instead. Turned out they got lost and I tried to get them back on the right track but they took three wrong turns before finally getting to the hotel, drenched because of the rain.


Kin Yen and Ang Yu decided not to have supper (because they had a meal before the concert) so only Yati, Angie, Weiss and I went down to the mamak just next to the hotel. After our meal, we went back up to the rooms.


After my bath, we all chilled around on the bed and played Monopoly Deal. Weiss and Angie came down to our room and we all went hyper while Kin Yen, Ang Yu, Yati and I played a sentence game where each of us has to say a set number of words every time we speak (did that make sense?). It was hilarious and all of us were going nuts.


Late in the morning at around 3am we decided it's lights out. Sunday's gonna be a busy day after all. I didn't see her at the event and I knew that she would not go for the second day. Sigh.


Day 2


I woke up half-awake with my face in the pillow I was sleeping on. My biological clock had woke me up before the alarm on my handphone rang. Before I could go back to sleep, the opening of Katayoku no Tori broke the silence in the hotel room and I got up to switch it off. Knowing that we should head out to get ready at PWTC, I quickly went to clean up.

When I was done, I woke Yati up and then Elie. Kin Yen and Ang Yu woke up. They had told me that they won't be going for the second day so they want to stay longer in the hotel room. Weiss soon came barging into our room and we quickly got our bags packed and ready. Goodbye hotel!

Weiss, Elie, Yati and I made our way to PWTC and we propped our stuff at the sitting area out at the PWTC main entrance. Weiss shooed Yati and I to get changed first. We were gonna do our Samurai X cosplay today. So Yati and I made our way to the toilet and I got changed into my Seta Soujiro costume, problem is, my hakama is too long and Weiss forgot to help me out last night (due to being hyper and all).

Yati and I made our way back to the chairs and Weiss and the others went to get changed and left Yati and I alone with some guy. I went to buy my hall pass and had some biscuits for breakfast. That guy soon left because of the awkward silence. While waiting for Weiss and the others, our group's Kenshin (later she introduced herself as Misao) came over to us. We did our introductions and continued to wait for Weiss and the others. It took them about an hour to get dressed and come back and then things became active again. Misao proceeded to help me out with my hakama.


While we were still getting dressed, putting on make up and stuff, the PWTC staff came and shooed us away from the lobby because some big shot was going to pass by or something like that but whatever. All of us made our way to the event hall and we were ready. I checked if I have all my things and shock! My handphone, it was not in my kimono (I slotted my stuff into my kimono). Yati and I rushed back to find my handphone and luck was on my side, I got Yati to call my phone and a guy answered. When we got back to the sitting area, it turns out the person who found my phone was one of our Samurai X group members, Rong Tau. We went back to the hall later but I left Yati to help Cheryl and the others, also finding Antho and Mei because they were lost. I left the Samurai Warriors group and went back to my Samurai X group and after everyone was ready, we started attending to the anticipating photographers.

After awhile, we had decided to grab lunch. Rong Tau and Wong Sifu wanted to go to McDonald's and asked us if we want too. Yati and I decided to go with them. We had to walk out of PWTC to the mall opposite, The Mall to get our lunch. McDonald's was crowded! Everyone from the mall and from the event were there for lunch. Rong Tau manage to get us a table shared with two cosplayers from Penang. After Yati and I finished our lunch, we excused ourselves first and headed back to the event hall. At the event hall, we moved into the hall together as the Samurai X group.


Around 4p.m. Weiss and I left the group to get changed into our Samurai Warriors cosplay. The rest of the day was slow moving. We went into the hall a couple of times together but we always get stopped for pictures. Around the time when we were about to stop, a Japanese cameraman requested us to speak for his video that will be presented in Japan. Around closing time, we started to get out of our costumes and packed our things up.


It was the end of AFA. Yay. I delayed. This post for two months. I don't even remember how I got home. Hahaha. The end.