C3AFA Singapore 2018 Report

Last week I was in Singapore… and now I’m just sitting there, in front of my screen writing about it. So what good stories do I have to tell about it?

I HATE SINGAPORE WEATHER.

Slowly and calmly thinking about it AFA SG wasn’t something really special to me. It’s your typical convention bringing a small piece of Japan to you. Don’t get me wrong though, the content was there it’s just that not all of them was for me. Yet the trip itself was very enjoyable and I felt at home in this humid land, despite coming there for the first time. I enjoyed reuniting with familiar faces I met here and there, from various events or online. What I retain the most this time isn’t the event but my interactions with people.

29th Nov One day prior AFA: Landing in humid hell

The first thing I got to do after my 15 hours long flight is queuing. Once I passed uncle check at immigration I went to pick up my data sim and waited for my friend rfsubs who went all the way to the airport to pick me up. Somehow he found me without me giving any instruction to him. Was my bag that obvious? Then he showed me the way to Suntec giant mall where is located the Convention Centre hosting AFA. I think it’s the first time I have walk in such a big mall, this place is really crazy. I have explored maybe less than 10% of it during the week-end I spend there. Another friend, jobird whom I met during my Japan trip back in May, was waiting for me inside Tony Roma’s for dinner. rf leaved me there cuz he no money lah. So jojo introduced me to others eventers such as Tsukiyo and Zeroblade, I’m sorry I couldn’t remember everyone name but I’m sure I had the occasion to talk with some of them at ML 5th. I hesitated ordering ribs but I ended up taking a rare rib-eye steak, people including the waiter pointed out I eat my steak rare. Is that not common there? I was so done from my flight. I remember jojo asking 5 times if I needed UOs for the lives, I only understood when someone actually brought out a pack of UOs from his bag. Sorry jojo. After the meal I part my way with the group and headed to my hotel for the check-in. Thankfully it was only 5 minutes walk from Suntec, I was so tired. When I finally got into my room I threw everything on the floor and lied on my bed until I slept.

I wasn’t exaggerating when I said I felt at home

30th Nov AFA Day 1: Have you ever betrayed yourself? Erii-chan is such an angel.

I originally planned to sleep all the day until the live but instead I woke up around 5 am… because I was hungry. Turned out I also had to pick up my wristband and ticket for the day from a certain taco, so I prepared and went out. On the way I thought I’d stop at a 7-eleven to have breakfast but it was closed orz. Whatever, I headed for the convention center where I met the famous koemonogatari.wordpress.com and we queued togayther. It was there that I drunk milo for the first time. Until a certain someone asks me:
“You don’t have milo in France?” “What do you drink for breakfast?” …
As we discuss about all and nothing, fooling around the doors finally opened and everyone raced to AFA booth for the goods. I aimed for the Earphones shikishi you could get for buying 40$ worth of goods.

And that’s kinda it. There wasn’t much more that interested me. For day 1 I balloted Nishizawa Shiena autograph and won it but the session was at 3:20 pm. I was only curious about the Gundam (especially NT) panel that would conflict with it as it started at 3 pm. There was also Minyami meet&greet. I know her from various works (Hanayamata, Yuukyu no Euphoria, FGO radio shenanigans with Rieri). She’s really an adorable person but I don’t consider myself a fan of her, so I didn’t bought the m&g ticket. Also the time would conflict again. Why does it always happen, I swear kuso dd.  There was time to kill until the afternoon and jojo needed help at the booth. So I became an “exhibitor” for 4 hours. As I arrived at the booth Night was looking for me carrying a some lumicas (2 boxes and packets of blue, yellow, pink were for me rofl), nice timing I guess.

It was fun observing different profile of people passing by, though. To no surprise most of the people had no clue about the ML characters and the crossover arts, recognizing Saekano at best. There was a mix of people knowing about Rieri and the characters she voiced and people spotting particular character like Emilia or Takagi. Only a few knew TrySail? I don’t count people from TS discord or jojo acquaintances who came at the booth.

Then at around 3 pm I went to Shiena autograph session with Night as he balloted for her as well. It was so nice being able to talk to her with no rush, her manager was  surprised I came all the way from France. Also she was smol. So I told her I’ve been listening to her songs since Fubuki and I really love the power coming from her singing. In return she thank me for the support and told me to look forward to her performance.

After that, Night took me around Suntec to eat something before the live. Since I’m in Singapore I thought I’d like to try jifan and as I black holed the one I ordered I forgot to take a picture. I guess there are better ones than the one I had but I like comfort food and it was exactly the kind of dish I expected. And chill time before the live. For day 1 I sat with rf(istheman) on b8, not the best of b row but still second row I guess.

I♥anisong Day 1 lineup

Ayasa (not that Ayasa) – opening act
Nishizawa Shiena
YURiKA
Yamazaki Erii
Tielle&Gemie from SawanoHiroyuki[nZk]
Spyair

Ayasa opened the concert with only my railgun and Lion. Love me some violin to warm up! Her dress was quite stylish and pretty, she had great stage presence. Then Shiena came out and was rockin’ as always! I tried to not go too ham to save stock for TrySail the next day.
I think I only broke to Fubuki and The Asterisk War. I ended up bringing those with me at my hotel as I didn’t know where to throw it. The day after people just told me to dump it in any trash bin lol. I guess it’s hypocrite from me to worry about environment when I happily use them but still it doesn’t hurt to be responsible.

For YURiKA I regret not enjoying to the fullest because it was my first time hearing her songs, I also never watched any of the anime she sang for. But there was one song that immediately caught my attention. Singers and artists are really amazing, aren’t they? From the first beat to the lyrics, knowing nothing from her, I was just moved by her pure performance.

Mind Conductor

Even if the first step we take is small
It can surely lead to a new future

I’ll never stop believing
In this world, in my dreams

Also her interactions with the public were cute. Ah, fuck the YURiKA peer pressure I’m not falling though.

And then there’s Erii-chan *heavy breath* Sometimes I’m so done with myself, sigh. Erii must be the one I have the less exposure to from the Horipro girls, only knowing her as every♥ing with Ibu Ibu (Kido Ibuki). Since the two of them graduated I haven’t really check her solo career. I gotta admit I liked the range she displayed and Starlight is such a nice song. Yep, sometimes your mind just go 360° for no reason. Do I really need to mention she was cute and gave me diabetes.

Tielle&Gemie delivered as well. I was expecting Into the Sky from Gundam UC RE:0096 and I got it. So it’s all good w

At this point the crowd had as much presence as TrySail MC on day 2 but Spyair managed to breath in some fire. It was nice listening again to some songs I didn’t hear in a while like JUST ONE LIFE (Samurai Flamenco in which Erii-chan voiced her debut role, funny enough) or Samurai Heart (Gintama). Also SAKURA MITSUTSUKI and RAGE OF DUST, hell yeah.

Everyone was tired after all of this and it ended quite late, around 11 pm I think? So I just went back to my hotel and had some onigiri from 7-eleven for dinner.

As I packed my stuff for the next day I was missing pink UO as what I got from Night was red instead of pink. Also one of my blade wasn’t producing yellow anymore. I did buy pink UO but I forgot all the day to change the battery of the defective blade rofl.

1st Dec AFA Day 2: Erii-chan looks like Yurishii.

I woke around 8 am and waited for koemonogatari.wordpress.com (or Yunyun by now) to pick me up for a date . As we were going to meet with the infamous SG cartel he showed me a little bit around on our way to the shop where we had our breakfast. Turn out we would eat Prata, I heard it’s May’n favorite food from Singapore.

Best breakfast are spend with your friends “reading” photobook.

Thanks Sianz for bringing your Erii pb :^)

But more seriously guys, when I said I felt at home I was talking about moment like this one. I am happy to have come all this way to share something with my friends. Thank you miya, jojo, rf, toco, sianz, misty, iban, xrai, faust, pyrite, jack ano lurker, yukachinchin…
Prata might become my favorite food… after salted eggs fish skin.

After breakfast we all headed to Suntec. We arrived around 11 am I think, the queue for FGO panel was already quite stacked. I like Rieri a lot, as a seiyuu and as a person she has all my respect. She is definitively more than meets the eye. That’s why she is one of my favorite from the current generation. I also like her interactions with Minyami even though I know nothing about FGO. Yellow girl best girl. Heh, tbh I’ve never been a Type Moon fan. Well it’s more like I’ve never got the occasion to develop an interest in their universe, I guess. So I passed my turn. The other panels didn’t interest me either, except for SAO. I didn’t went because I was only interested in juicy kayanon x tsugutsugu x zakki stories than the series itself. Guess I should have come rofl. So I spent most of the day roaming. Since I had time I used it to fill MuRay questionnaire. Mainly dealing about the events I attended this year, my impressions and my expectations next year about TrySail  in my answer. Seems they still have plans for Sphere and I was surprised they were also advertising HoneyWorks, CHiCO and even halca. If they are considering foreign market I hope they got enough feedback.
Until then let me enjoy those nice 1px stickers.

As the concert time was near everyone started to gather. My mate for day 2 was the fucking taco. It was also the day of Earphones performance. My friend koemonogatari.wordpress.com spared a lot of efforts to make the Sankitousen Illumination project comes true. Seeing him and the others setting the UOs and cards on the chair, my body moved on its own. I reached out to him and grab one of his bags, naturally asking: “Do you need help?” For one second it felt a bit awkward on my side, I mean do you need to ask to help your friends? *laugh* At the sight of all these empty seats I just thought “I don’t want his DeDication go to waste”.

I♥anisong Day 2 lineup

Real Akiba Boyz – opening act
Mimori Suzuko
Earphones
Kishida Kyoudan&The Akeboshi Rockets
TrySail

RAB was so cringe I could have die of cringe right there but watching them was fun.

DOKI DOKI TOKIDOKI TOKIMEKISU♡
Mimo with the Yuuki Yuna songs!
and
me: I will save every UO for TrySail and Sankitousen
mimo: Light for Knight
me: slap UO against the chair in front of me
I don’t follow her solo career that much nowadays but I guess it’s still my favorite song.
Also pls

I know everyone can’t wait to see TrySail. -Mimori Suzuko

I’ve always like this side of Mimo, she doesn’t give a fuck about speaking her mind.

Earphones was straight fun. It’s the kind of performance that makes you smile and laugh. You can joke on the similarities they share with TrySail but the two unit are like night and day. Each are really different kind of performer. I feel the emphasis for them is more on the seiyuu side than pure singing. And of course I’m glad for koemonogatari.wordpress.com that everyone played along and made the Sankitousen project a success. Isn’t it amazing? Each single light became the fuel of the fire that would reach the 3 of them. It was one small wish, one small dream that ignited everything.

Kishida and Ichigo fighting to get the crowd attention. Overall the best MCs of the two days with Spyair. I guess it shows how experienced they are. Let’s not even talk about TrySail MC :^) STB, Gate… Their performance was neat but not gonna lie I was indeed here for TrySail.

Speaking of it TS setlist wasn’t really outstanding. It only showcased a small part of their discography but I understand the choice behind it, so it was coherent. Nonetheless,  I’m obviously happy for their first overseas live and I had a blast. Also thank you again for swapping seat with us koemonogatari.wordpress.com and Sianz! and for the water too rofl. Even though some things went the wrong way, in many way.

1 Youthful Dreamer
2 Senpai.
3 whiz
4 Kakawari
5 Cobalt
6 High Free Spirits
7 Truth.
8 WANTED GIRL
9 adrenaline

After all is said and done (YEET) we went for Bak kut teh (pork bone soup) as the uchiage.

Was nice sharing a meal with everyone again. I was so dead, though. I went back to my room asap. I needed sleep.

2 Dec AFA Day 3: My brain can’t process anymore.

On the last day things happened and well, my brain couldn’t keep up. First, I woke around 10-11 am to pack up my luggage and proceeded to check out. That day I just wanted to see Kaede (Yuasa Kaede who I got to know from following Yurishii as the two of them are close friends) who happened to sing this year AFA SG theme song. Her stage was scheduled for 1:45 pm. As I arrived at Suntec around 12 pm I went to the 3rd floor to buy my wristband at the ticket counter. I didn’t really explore this floor the other days as my friends were already providing me the tickets. So I found out about about the small corner exposing the 10 years of AFA SG history and I recalled that Yurishii came in 2015.

 

But it doesn’t stop here.

(In between I roamed a little bit as I still had time and noticed some changes at MuRay booth)

 

They signed and wrote on their biography! And well these walls carried more words than their MCs of the previous night :^)

After that I joined Misty and Sianz at the akiba stage to get to the front for Kaede appearance. As I turn my head to look at the crowd around us I spotted a familiar face. It was a friend from yurika gumi I met during my previous trip back then in May. I waited for the stage to end to catch him up. Kaede has a nice singing voice and I know she is striving for the seiyuu path so I hope her career will become a successful one!

So afterwards I discussed a little bit with my friend until the start of the red carpet. He told me he came all the way from japan just to see Kaede, what a madman.

The red carpet didn’t interest me much because I was only obsessed with one thing before heading to the airport: trying SG KFC. Yes KFC. The folks here in France doesn’t joke with KFC. They wanted me to try it. I must admit… I think I tasted the KFC of the gods, ngl. KFC and salted eggs, combo made in heaven. The oyakodon of fried chicken.

 

…
That concludes my last meal in Singapore. It was also the last thing I did before heading to the airport. No day 3 live for me as I was flying back in the evening.

Make your dreams come true and grab your future with your own two hands!

We gotta do the things we’ve always wanted to do with this one life we have!
If it comes down to it, just get reckless and make things interesting!
You’re always doing such boring things; do I need to teach you a lesson?

Bust through society’s “common sense”,
And change the expression that’s always reflected in your mirror!
Now once you’ve flipped that switch, go get what you want!

“If you can’t find a hero, you just have to become one yourself”;
Those words gave meaning to my life.
(I’ll go beyond all obstacles!)

You’re the one who ultimately decides…
But you know, you’re not alone!
Following the words of a story, become a real hero right here and now!

Make your dreams come true and grab your future with your own two hands:
The life you lead is an original existence!
Level up and bust on out – views you’ve never seen before are waiting!
Head for your ultimate stage,
Drawn out by your shining, legendary vision!
[...]
Youthful Dreamer - Trysail

The world is really small, heh? This trip felt like a continuation of the one I did in May. Of course I met new people but this time it felt more like I was reuniting with friends than anything. Looking back into it, I came from really far? and I don’t mean the distance. It was only one choice at each given point of time and the sum of it lead me to now, to today. I think that even if I took a difference choice it doesn’t mean nothing would have happen, it would just have been a different outcome. I also think there’s no point thinking too much about a choice I didn’t make. I’m just blessed to have what I have right now. So thank you everyone, it was a fulfilling week-end! Let’s meet again! (There are plenty of events next year, haha)