Anime Festival Asia ’11 Coverage – Part II

My body is ready! Is yours too?!

Ever since 2009, the concerts of AFA has been its main attraction, where fans get to see and experience their favourite ani-song artists perform live without having to go to Japan personally. This year boasts an impressive artist line-up (Kalafina, FLOW, LiSA), and let’s not forget about the stage showcases too (Chiwa Saito). I’ll be posting highlights in this coverage and as photography was prohibited during these showcases, I won’t be able to post as many pictures as I would’ve liked (sorry for that guys). Anyways, following is my account of Day 1.

First up is the showcase of Culture Japan and I’m sure mostly everyone has heard of it (if you  have not, shame on you).  Danny gave us an hour long digest version of season two with interesting bits and pieces spread out. He later came on stage to talk about his personal experience on producing a series as well.

 Irisviel can stare at me all day long

Next is the highly anticipated Fate/Zero segment with producer Atsuhiro Iwakami (Kara no Kyoukai, Madoka Magica) and performance of the opening theme song Oath Sign by LiSA. Though, you should give me props on finding this performance on NND.

Y U DO DIS?

You need a NND account to view this

Producer Atsuhiro Iwakami-san confirms that the team animating Fate/Zero is the same team responsible for the Kara no Kyoukai movies so rest assured everyone, it is in good hands! (If  7 episodes haven’t convinced you already.) He further clarified that the Blu-ray box set will include the entire first-cour so people who dislike collecting volumes should be happy about this news. He also stated that the major incentive for the free airing on Nico Nico Douga Channel is an attempt to prevent anime piracy and to make it more convenient for us fans to enjoy the series.  LiSA’s performance of Oath Sign was great as well (more on that in the concert).

 Time for the artist appearance!

Chiwa Saito graced the stage next, live dubbing 3 scenes from Madoka Magica, which was followed by a Q&A session. One of them asked whether is she a tsundere, to which she answered that, she’s more dere than tsun (xD). Producer Atsuhiro Iwakami reappeared again to give juicy details on the Madoka Magica movie: It will be a trilogy. First two movies will be rehashes of the series, while the third movie will have a completely new ending to the series.

 Here’s to make up for the lack of relevant pictures

Put your hands up!

The stage closed after showing Gundam UC 4 and after 2 hours of queuing and squeezing it’s finally time for the concert!

Sea*A:  Singaporean Idol Group kicks off the concert with their single “Dream Shooter”, not much I can say about the group.

Ichirou Mizuki: Then its ANIKI’s turn, starting off with a heartwarming message about the March 11^th Tohoku earthquake, followed by his latest song “Hero Spirit”. The rest of ANIKI’s songs consisted of countless medleys from classics and most from Kamen Rider/Super Robot Taisen series.

LiSA: Boy was she amazing! She started with a song from her new album (Letters to U) followed by another round of “Oath Sign”. It was fan-service galore once “Ichiban no Takaramono” came on (I think she cried the most this time out of all the times she sang this song). Then, lifting up the mood again with “Crow Song”, “Day Game” and then closing her performance with crowd chants of L.i.S.A.

FLOW: Literally stole the show for me. Their fan-service triumphed even that of LiSA’s with “1/3 Junjou no Kanjou”, “Sign”, “Fighting Dreamers”, “World’s End”, “COLORS” and more. The band member introduction was so spirited that it hyped everyone up despite the growing weariness of how late the concert dragged on. (They started at 10:40pm.) It was a phenomenal performance by the band.

I managed to ninja these when everyone was high

It was a night to remember and every artist gave a solid performance. Some were surprised at the fan reaction, most of them were ecstatic and overall, everyone enjoyed what they were doing. I daresay it was well worth it! Now, Day 2 stage events, concerts and the cosplay alley coverage next; so stay tuned!

About the Guest Writer: TKTakeru

I’m a Type-Moon and KEY works fan, known as an avid procrastinator and a self-proclaimed audiophile. Currently learning Japanese and has a love for horror mystery anime.

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