The Anime Festival Asia as it happened this recent weekend, November 21 and 22 held at Suntec Convention Center, Singapore. I don’t have much time, and doing a full-on report when I couldn’t get around everywhere in the event wouldn’t do much justice. So here’s a quick rundown of what happened at the event.

Highlights

Crowd

The crowd is definitely bigger this year. The line to the ticket booth didn’t let up until around 2 or 3 in the afternoon.

Lots more merchandise stalls this time around.

Selling areas have also been arranged better now, but still due to the volume of the crowd, most places are still hard to get through. Most especially the shop that sold custom prop swords from Bleach.

Maid Cafe

I could only take a picture of the shop sign, and take a peek of what’s happening inside, and saw that food served are actual food. There was a long line every time I pass by. And unconfirmed second-hand information says food is expensive.

Bandai area

We wanted to meet and greet Masked Rider Kabuto, but only saw the Gekirangers Rangers of Power Rangers Jungle Fury. We got nice Kamen Rider gashas off the machines though. The BAKUC (Bandai Action Kit Universal Cup) had a relatively not so impressive turn-out, but good nonetheless.

Stage Events

As the stage has been curtained away from immediate view, getting to it was a lot harder this time so we couldn’t see or get to the stage to see what was going on. We did catch the seiyuus of K-ON doing a sample dubbing on stage. We were too far back though to see anything clearly.

I Love Anisong Concert

As the stage has been closed off from public viewing, it was more advantageous for people who paid to get their money’s worth– nearer the stage and had seats. The crowd who opted not to pay additional for this was in the free standing area, relatively farther away from the stage than the seating crowd.

Shokotan performed familiar songs (mainly from Neon Genesis Evangelion and Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann).

Ichirou ‘Aniki’ Mizuki performed his classics with his usual ‘GAR’ presence.

Yoshiki Fukuyama belted out Macross 7 songs rockstar mode.

MAY’N’s stage performance was the best closing, with awesome back up dancers and choreography. She sang mostly new songs.

All performances were concert-worthy, making the crowd beat their light sticks in the air. May’n and Fukuyama’s duet was also awesome, singing acoustic version of Diamond Crevasse and rocking Dynamite.

The only let down was Miku Hatsune’s performance, as she only sang 3 songs that were all from the Project Diva game. And if you played the game… the game was better.

All in all, there is still more room for improvement, but this was definitely better with the organizers learning from last year’s event. Also, we got better merchandise deals too.

The Nintendo DSi has been released a few months back, but I haven’t had the urge to buy one since I already have a DS Lite, and there are no new games in the market that utilize the new features.

Until now.

Ghostwire is an augmented-reality game that let’s you hunt ghosts using your Nintendo DSi.

According to developer A Different Game,

Your portable device is used as a portal to the astral plane, and helps you find and collect ghosts that exist all around you. In your quest you use real tools, such as the built-in camera and microphone, as well as abstract ones like an “EMF tuner” for tracking down the ghosts.

Once you find the spirits, you document them and find out why they haunt our world. They also give you riddles to solve. Ultimately, you will help them find peace.

As far as I can see, this is just motion-tracking with a layer of ghost images for you to ‘interact’ with. But since it promises full-game immersion, it’s a good reason to buy the DSi soon. It reminds me of the game Fatal Frame, with the main difference of holding the ‘camera’ and hunt the ghosts yourself to zero in on that ‘fatal frame’ shot.

No announcements for the release date yet, but you can check out the official game trailer below:

Official Website: GhostwireGame.com

Anime Festival Asia 2009 launched their full and new website today, showcasing guests and new experience zones for this year.

Their main attraction this year is the I LOVE ANISONG concert which boasts of Shoko Nakagawa and Yoshiki Fukuyama, with returning talents Ichirou Mizuki and May’n.

They will also host a Maid Cafe, Moe Moe Kyun. And also the Regional Cosplay Championship.

They may as well have booths that will be selling figures same as last year’s. If last year’s event was any indication and they follow through improvements they can do, this event could really be better.

Some other information are still not available, but hopefully they will be updated soon. I just hope my budget permits me to go back. I enjoyed last year’s event very much.

Last year’s event attracted visitors from different parts of South East Asia.

Of all the blockbuster movies this year that was supposed to elicit fangasm from me this year, Star Trek was the only one who delivered through and through so far. An alternative story that didn’t veer off the original mythos of the series, but in itself was an original experience non-fans can truly enjoy.

You can now take home the experience once the DVD and Blu-Ray are released on November 17 this year. It will include behind-the-scenes specials, commentaries, and nine deleted scenes! As well a “Hologram” experience. You can check out what to look forward by watching the teaser below.

And as JJ Abrams said, “Nice flare!”

Here’s a camera recording of the teaser trailer for Iron Man 2 shown during the recent San Diego Comic Con. Watch it while it’s still up.

Superheroes having coffee in their suits is a plus in my fangirl book. Stark, still snarky as ever. And oh, watch until the end

During the Comic Con, Marvel Entertainment in partnership with Madhouse released teasers for anime series for the Japanese market. One of which is for Iron Man and it looks like it came out of the comic panels. There will also be one for Wolverine. The Anime Iron Man DVD will be released on 2010.
[More]

Don’t know what “moe” means? Ever wondered what WANFES actually is? And for the love of all things logical, what the context is behind the phrase “Nice boat!” Or you simply want to understand your friend, relative or significant other who have claimed themselves as an otaku? Or as one self-claimed otaku, you just want your own reference book as a collector’s item or just a great coffee table book.

The Otaku Encyclopedia promises to be a comprehensive record of all things related to the Japanese otaku culture. It features meaning to common and not-so-common expressions, events and moments, personalities in the community and industry, and even different conventions that celebrate it. Compiled and written by Patrick W. Galbraith, a journalist based in Tokyo who specializes in Japanese popular culture, it claims to be the book for essential A-Z facts every Japanese culture fan (or anyone curious) needs to know.

It has been released in Japan earlier this June of this year, and is slated for an international release by October 1, 2009.

Related links:
Official Website
Amazon

Pixar proves that they are not just a great animation studio, but also a bunch of great people.

They recently flew an employee to Huntington Beach California to grant a girl’s dying wish to be able to see ‘Up‘, their most recent movie. Colby Curtin, 10 years old, was suffering from a rare kind of cancer and could not watch the movie in theaters with her parents.

A concerned family friend made a cold-call at the Pixar studios, hoping to reach anyone who could help grant Colby’s wish. And grant it they did. They sent an employee with the movie in a DVD and gave the girl and her parents a private home viewing. The employee also gave her a few movie memorabilia and an adventure book.

Colby died, seven hours later. But it wasn’t in vain— she enjoyed her anticipated movie with her parents during her last few moments.

Via The OC Register.