Last weekend I attended Anime Festival Asia, or AFA, held in Singapore. Or as my friends call it, “nijikon event”, though the event is not just like that (nijikon – people who feel ’2D’ figures are more attractive than real-life people). It’s actually a lot of fun, and I think this year’s event is much more crowded than last year.

There are lots of cool cosplay, not to mention there’s also the regional cosplay championship – in which Indonesia won third place, whee That contest was intense, all the finalists did an awesome job! There are also many stores with variety of merchandise, and great concert as well. This is the second time I went to AFA.

Cosplay

Cosplays of popular characters such as Vocaloid, One Piece, and Naruto are to be expected, but there are some that caught me by surprise. The FFF from Baka to Test is one of the most memorable one for me. They carried signs with “Death to Akihisa” and “We want Hideyoshi” while walking in a group and carrying scythes. It’s a good way to cosplay without embarrassing yourself because you get to cover your face. The Death Note walking book from last year was nowhere to be seen though, that one is also epic.

Also, we had the Rage Comics faces like last year, aka the Trollfaces and friends. Oh, there was that Bug Catcher from Pokemon complete with a straw hat, white sleeveless shirt, shorts, Pokeball and a catching net. And there are also some crossdressers (both ways – girl as boy, boy as girl) around. Celebrity cosplayer Usagi and Kaname also attended the event, cosplaying as Nami and Sanji on the third day. I heard when Kaname threw his ‘cigarette’, the fangirls went crazy to pick it up… Creepy, yo :p

Maid Cafe

I feel the maid cafe’s uniform not really cute. The color is kind of pale, and the shocking pink ribbon doesn’t do it justice. But hey, who knows what the guys think? It’s really awkward when they go “moe moe power” on you when serving food though, not to mention it’s quite expensive. Yes, I do understand we’re paying for the ‘service’, not only food, but still…hahah.

Asked the maid to draw Kyuubey’s face on the omelette with the sauce, but she couldn’t do it. Instead she drew a cute bunny. And I thought Kyuubey’s face is much simpler? Lol. And no, I did not enter the butler cafe, so I can’t describe much.

Booths and Stores

One booth to highlight is the Nico Nico Douga booth, where the camera streams the video live online, and the screen shows the comments posted on that moment from NND users in Japan. The users went crazy for cute cosplayers, saying things such as “Please say ‘onii-chan’ (older brother) in a cute voice!” or “do the … dance!” or “Pedobear approves” or simply “marry me”. People who pass around may occasionally be called to face the camera, such as the Madoka cosplayer who walked by and got noticed immediately by fans.

I planned on buying Nendoroid figure, Snow Miku in particular, but after seeing the price I settled for the Madoka one, shown below:

Concert and Events

There are actually some interesting events going on in the Main Stage. For example, we had Culture Japan season two showcase, and despite not watching Culture Japan before, I find the sneak previews entertaining. The part when Danny Choo went around stabbing people with an invisible sword is very funny.

We also get to see the director of Madoka and Fate/Zero as well as the staff from Ano Hana. Unfortunately most of them do not speak English so we have to rely on translators. So as the audience I often feel left out as they chat happily in moonspeak language while I had no idea what’s going on until minutes later. I actually almost won the rock-scissor-paper battle to get the Ano Hana illustration book, but I lost during the last two rounds… argh.

And I had no idea when they say “Artiste appearance” it means they just “appear” on stage. No singing, no autograph time, just standing on stage waving and saying hi. Um, I expected too much ==” I got my way to shake hands with FLOW members though :p My friends won their autographs, while I’m supposed to get Ichiro Mizuki’s but I apparently forgot to take it. I’m sorry, Aniki…

Anyway, I attended only the second day’s I Love Anisong concert. My budget just won’t cut it for all the three days. One thing I noticed that glow sticks are serious business in this concert, lol :p

Sea A sang only three songs in the beginning, though the only one I enjoyed was the theme song for AFA, Dream Shooter. The Aniki fanboy behind me kept mumbling things like “Why bother asking us ‘do you like anime?’, obviously people who come here do… I want to see Aniki”, then stood up and sang proudly when Ichiro Mizuki appeared.

Being a girl and living in a generation where kids don’t watch Kamen Raider and such, I had no clue about Ichiro Mizuki’s songs. There was a slight error with the music causing awkward pauses in one song, but he sang through and all was well in the end. The only song I actually remember is the one called “Hero”, cause the reff part is quite catchy with the repetition of “herooo”.

Continued with LiSA, and I prefer her singing live over the recording, her voice sounded more powerful. She danced energetically on stage, and at one point she was seen crying for reasons I’m not sure of. Luckily she sang the songs that I actually know so I can join singing with the crowd too – Crow Song, Ichiban no Takaramono, Oath Sign, and ultimately My Soul, Your Beats.

And finally, we had FLOW. One of the members shouted words and the audience repeated them, but since they’re in Japanese, I’m not sure what he said. I do hear words like “Fujiyama” and “Tempura” though, haha. I’m also not really familiar with their songs, but I enjoyed their performance. One of the last songs was “GO”, that popular opening from Naruto, the “fighting dreamers” song. Overall, the concert was great.

Well, here’s an abrupt ending, but I suddenly lost my train of thoughts when writing… I could not give an entire picture of AFA, but this is just what I have experienced. It’s good fun, hopefully I can still attend next year’s event and it’ll have more exciting events

“When she was just a girl
She expected the world
But it flew away from her reach
So she ran away in her sleep
And dreamed of paradise” 

Work in progress (hence the awkwardness of legs, arm, chest, etc.) but I’m not sure if I’m going to finish it, probably just fix things here and there :/ Made the sketch when listening to Astronaut by Simple Plan – the song is good, by the way, hehe I doodled so often that sometimes I forgot how to draw and color seriously… *smacks self*

Just one more exam to go for me Really can’t believe I’m getting so close to the end of high school. Time flies so fast, it all feels like a dream… It feels, like, really weird. Maybe you know what I mean…

Anyway, a few days ago I skimmed through my old work of pictures and stories. They suck, of course, but some have quite good ideas. One thing that struck my mind was “Wow, I used to be so productive!” and it made me feel embarrassed. During high school I spent more time going out with friends, reading, watching, and studying (y-yes, I do!), basically more to enjoying other people’s work rather than motivating myself to create. I miss writing (stories, not essays) and drawing (proper, completed stuff not doodles), so hopefully during the holiday I can pull up something nice. Hopefully. Hmm…

Testing out. They provide some peculiar brushes… *points to the cabbage thingy*

Also, I only had Photoshop, Flash, and other Adobe package for Windows while none for Mac – so I decided to install GIMP. I’m still not used to its user interface, with my hands automatically reaching for shortcuts I’m used to. Hopefully I can learn how to use it properly soon :>

Why never bother to try realism, they say? Well, I have learned it in a drawing course during elementary school, but I really struggled with it. Being such a lazy student, I eventually stopped practicing after the course ended and drew more of the usual style. I know, I know, bad habit… -_-” Probably this is also caused by the heavy influence from comics I read, inspiring me to draw like that.

For those who are curious, here are some samples below, proceed with caution:

Enough to scare myself after reading a horror manga (titled “Another”) lol. Don’t ask me why I do things this or that way… Still have a long way to go, the anatomy is still messy. Ugh, those noses, I’ve always hated drawing noses >_<

I have heard comments from people saying one can’t be called a “true artist” unless that person already masters realism, and comments saying that anime or manga are not to be treated as “real work of art”, or that photography is just “taking pictures” thus can not be considered equally artistic as paintings made from scratch.

On the other hand, I have problems understanding “modern art”. You know, the kind of pictures that look so simple and makes you wonder, “I think I can do that too…”, yet those pieces are praised greatly and sold expensively. It’s hard for me to get it. But since people perceive art differently, I think I’m not in the position to judge which one is “true art” or not.

How about you readers, what do you think about this?

However, it seems that nervousness and fear of failure just can’t beat students’ laziness from all these distractions online… Orz.

 Gasai Yuno from Mirai Nikki: probably the creepiest yandere I’ve ever seen… The pic is inspired by the opening’s style.

As I finish each exam, it makes me kind of sad because I won’t be having those classes anymore. Of course, this refers to “the time I had fun with friends in that class” rather than “what we actually studied in that course,” hehe.

Ika Musume is a very fun character to watch (and draw). Now that I mention it, she’s very smart at math too… waah D:

Here are two more Madoka Magica characters I drew yesterday actually, Sayaka and Homura, enjoy:

“I won’t depend on anyone anymore…”

“There’s no way I’d regret this.”

So this leaves Madoka and Kyoko, the two characters I very rarely ever draw. I don’t know why, even though the series already ended I still like drawing these characters and listening to the OSTs (Yuki Kajiura FTW!)

“I’m not scared of anything anymore…” (then suddenly, that scene.)

Yeah, I do realize that the pictures here are quite boring since they’re mostly the same style. I guess I’m one of those ‘artists’ who are heavily influenced and trapped by ‘anime/manga’ style, indeed. I’m slowly learning to adapt other styles too, but it’s hard since I’m busy lazy. Especially realism, I just suck at that, even though I know many people say it’s an essential thing to master. It’ll probably take years before I can draw a decent realistic drawing … Orz

So here is a funky cheerful dragon for you~ (kinda like Scrafty and Dragonite hybrid? Dunno, hurhur) Will probably post more during the following weeks, since I tend to doodle when I become stressed (and bored) with studying.

Anyway, this pic is actually used in my party invitation. It may not be as good as the designers’s stuff, but at least it’s mine. I spent this year’s birthday with great memories: a party where most of the friends and family came on time, sleepover with two of my best friends, a trip to the orphanage, Angry Birds plush war, surprises, and some special gifts. I’m really thankful to be blessed with great people around me.

I’m currently having one week of study break before the final exams. Hope I can score well… especially in mathematics and chemistry since I tend to struggle in those two subjects. And also, hopefully I can spend these last few months well with my high school friends and we can still keep in touch in the future.

Usagi Drop. This anime already made me teary just with a few episodes. I really felt for Rin – when she was outcasted during the funeral, her fears of death and abandonment, as well as her confusion about the roles of mother and father for her. The watercolor-soft style at the beginning of episodes suit the overall mood too, being all bubbly and heartwarming – oh, and the opening sequence is adorable.

The anime touches the subject of parenting and juggling between work and taking care of children, something that I think anime rarely talks about. I can’t help but to think about my brother when I saw the scene of Daikichi rushing from work to pick up Rin in the day care So far I’m glad how they portray Rin as a typical girl with Daikichi as the father figure, and not overly-moe child with pedo references here and there.

Besides this, I’m also watching Baka to Test season two and Tiger & Bunny. Don’t comment on how strange my choices in anime can be.

I can’t help myself from drawing Madoka Magica characters… their designs are just pretty~ especially after seeing the Figma figures that look so awesome. (Take a look at it here)

This is just a quick post before I drown myself in Business Studies articles trying to find case studies that I can actually use… and before I start getting all emo due to the chemistry exams this morning which I failed miserably.