Status Active Attendance 145,000 in 2014 | Inaugurated 2008 | |
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Venue Suntec Singapore International Convention and Exhibition Centre (2008–2011, 2013– )
Singapore Expo MAX Pavilion (2012) Location(s) Singapore (main convention) Country Singapore (main convention) | ||
Anime Festival Asia (AFA) is a series of anime conventions held in the Southeast Asian region, with a core annual convention held in Singapore. The main convention is traditionally held over a weekend in mid-November. It was held at the Suntec Singapore International Convention and Exhibition Centre in 2008–2011, but was moved to the Singapore Expo MAX Pavilion in 2012 due to renovation works at Suntec Convention Centre that year. Satellite conventions were also held in 2012 at the Putra World Trade Centre, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; and at the Jakarta International Expo, Kemayoran, Jakarta, Indonesia.
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Alongside the main conventions, AFA also holds periodic business conferences focusing on the anime and manga industry. The first of these was Animation Asia Conference, held in 2009.
AFA is notable for having one of the largest attendance figures for anime conventions outside Japan, with 82,000 attendees in 2011. Total attendance since 2008 as of 2014 is 678,000.
The continued organisation of AFA is managed by Sozo. in partnership with Zepp Entertainment & Dentsu.
2008
First held at Suntec Convention Hall, Singapore. Managed to invite Kōji Morimoto, Animation Director of Studio 4 °C and Kunio Okawara, mechanical designer of Gundam for the industry talk. Ichirou Mizuki and May'n (her first overseas concert) were also present at the event.
2009
Managed to invite Danny Choo and Kaname to the event.
Created the maid cafe called "Moe Moe Kyun Maid Cafe."
Notable singers were Shoko Nakagawa who sang a duet with Ichrou Mizuki on Day 1 of the event and Yoshiki Fukuyama who sang a duet with May'n on Day 2 of the event. Hatsune Miku made her first "live" solo appearance overseas.
Held the first ever "Regional Cosplay Championship" where cosplayers from Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and Philippines competed in teams of 2 against each other.
Invited 4 K-On! voice actors to the event and performed a first-ever live dubbing of certain scenes.
2010
Held on November 12–14.
Aira and Alodia Gosiengfiao as well as Kaname were invited as cosplay judges.
Voice actors Kana Hanazawa and Milky Holmes were invited to the events.
A butler cafe called "Atelier Royale" was featured.
Invited singers included AKB48, Angela, Ichirou Mizuki, JAM Project. May'n and Scandal.
Movies Mobile Suit Gundam 00 the Movie: Awakening of the Trailblazer and The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya were screened before their DVD or Blu-ray releases.
2011
Confirmed date of the event: November 11 to November 13.
Invited singers include Ichirou Mizuki, Flow, Lisa, and Sea*a on Day 2 of AFA. May'n, Angela, Kalafina, Kanako Itō and Milky Holmes on Day 3.
Hatsune Miku had her very own Live Party concert on Day 1 of the event, the first such concert to be featured in the region outside Japan.
Chiwa Saitō, Gō Nakanishi, Danny Choo, Kaname and Usagi are special guests for the event.
Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn episode 4 will be shown on the same day as Japan.
2012
Separated into 3 events with the first event held at Malaysia in June, the second event held at Indonesia in September and the third event held at Singapore in November.
Danny Choo hosted the three events.
All 3 events also had a maid cafe and a butler cafe.
The event in Malaysia was held at Putra World Trade Centre, Kuala Lumpur from 9 June to 10 June 2012.
Invited singers for the Anisong concert in Malaysia include Kalafina, Maon Kurosaki, and Aimi on Day 1, and Flow, Kotoko, and Sea*a on Day 2.
Mitsuhisa Ishikawa and Tomohiko Ishii from Production I.G, Danny Choo, Kaname, and Tasha with Miyuko from Korea were special guests for the event.
The second event was in Indonesia from 1 September to 2 September 2012 and the venue was Jakarta International Expo.
Invited singers for the Anisong concert in Indonesia include Ichirou Mizuki, bless4, 7!!, and Lisa on Day 1, and Angela, Stereopony, Kotoko, and Sea*a on Day 2.
Singapore was the final event of 2012, held from 9 November to 11 November 2012 with the venue as Singapore Expo.
Fumiaki Nishihara, Go Nakanishi, Kenji Kamiyama, Shinichiro Watanabe and Hachioji-P were special guests for the event.
Daisuke Kishio and Sphere were the invited voice actors for the event.
Kaname, Akatsuki Tsukasa, Judy, Hiko, Mikoto and Reika were the invited cosplayers while Clive and Richfield were the invited judges for the cosplay competition. Team Shikon from Japan and Lunar Asterisk from Indonesia presented a special cosplay performance during the event.
Invited singers for the Anisong concert in Singapore include T.M.Revolution on Day 1, Babymetal, Flow, fripSide, Lisa and Move on Day 2, and May'n, Minami Kuribayashi, Sea*a and Sphere on Day 3.
Road to Ninja: Naruto the Movie, Fairy Tail: The Phoenix Priestess and Puella Magi Madoka Magica were movies screened at the event.
2013
Held in Jakarta, Indonesia and Singapore. Theme song Origami sung by Valerie Tang (former member of Sea*a).
2014
Held in Jakarta, Indonesia and Singapore. fripSide was in Singapore for a second time since their last appearance at AFA 2012. The largest ever held to date in Singapore Suntec City Convention Hall covering the entire 4th floor, new mascot Seika introduced. And for the first time, AFA has set aside a dedicated space for the first niconico KUNIKAIGI to be held outside Japan! Featuring popular niconico groups and artists like Amatsuki, Kashitaro Ito, Gero, ROOT FIVE, Hachioji P, Yuyoyuppe, DJ CAESAR, Kozue Aikawa, Miume, ARS MAGNA, PCF and many more!. A total of 145,000 audience engaged .
2015
Held in Jakarta, Indonesia and Singapore. Held in Bangkok, Thailand for the first time.
For the first time, I Love Anisong has collaborated with SMASH! Sydney Manga and Anime Show in Sydney, Australia to present a special one-night concert. This event will be held on the 8th of August 2015 at Rosehill Gardens. Invited guests are popular Japanese music artists Garnidelia, DJ Hello Kitty, kz (livetune) and yanaginagi.
2016
Enako as the first Japanese guest cosplayer at AFASG 2016. Iketeru Hearts formerly known as Stand Up! Hearts second appearance at AFA. Guest appearance of Pikotaro to perform his viral song PPAP.
Controversies
An incident involving a cosplayer and a member of City Harvest Church happened during AFA 2013 in Singapore.
A vendor Xinbo Comic allegedly infringed copyrights of several artist by selling goods with their art cover on it without permission and approval from the original artist. The organizers promptly told the vendor to stop selling the affected goods on the following day.