Sunday, November 17, 2013

AFA'13 ; 3D>2D

Yes, 3D>2D. It's kinda weird for me to say that since AFA is after all... ANIME Festival Asia. However, I have come to realize that chasing 3D idols is much more fun and fulfilling than anime/cosplay. AFA'13 is probably the best AFA I have ever attended as well. Probably because it has been a long time since I've watched anime so none of the 2D things there actually attracted me. ^^'' So anyway, here's my AFA'13 experience! (it's gonna be a long post!)

Majority of pictures contributed by Orenjimasu, @sankareon.

-Pre-AFA-
Airport!

It was my first time welcoming my idols at the airport. Because... none of my idols actually came to Singapore before. :\ It was an awesome first time anyways! I was actually very nervous, because I had no idea how it would turn out and whether I would be able to pass my present to them. After passing my present, what am I supposed to do?! So many questions were running through my mind and I had many scenarios worked out in my mind LOL. I almost wanted to chicken out last minute as well. D: But the actual thing turned out even better than expected!

While waiting. Ben's face is so epic. XD Nyakiiii on the right. :3

Who was I waiting for? Pikarin, 217 and Miume. To be honest, at that time I was not much of a 217 fan. I didn't know much about her so I actually didn't prepare a present for her. So my eyes were scanning for a chibi cute girl and a white-haired girl. XD When they appeared... all the FEELS were so overwhelming. 

Passing miume her present was easier than expected. XD Only Ben and I prepared presents for her so there wasn't a crowd that surrounded her. Pikarin was held up for awhile with all the fans getting her sign. Pikarin was so friendly! She gave all her fans equal attention and even allowed 2-shots even though I think she didn't have make up on. It's nice how they didn't act like big-shot idols and interacted with their fans. ^_^

 Pikarin's Present. Chocolates from SOPHiSCA.
Miume's present. Traced out the chibi, pasted my message behind and laminated it. The one on the right is wings she can attach to her shoes!
That's my present on miume's luggage! XD She was taking this picture to upload on her twitter. Hehe~

While waiting for Pikarin to attend to her fans, some of us actually had the opportunity to talk to miume and 217. Sadly they didn't want to take pictures because miume didn't have any make up on. But she still looks fine to me, really! Miume you're awesomeeeee. So shy me was actually hiding behind the guys talking to them and suddenly 217 looks over and said that I'm cute. NIINA SAID I'M CUTE. -explodes- I didn't know how to react and basically just laughed the awkwardness away and shy-ed away.... :x

2-shot with Pikarin! She's the definition of 'kawaii'

Pikarin is really... small. ._. She's already wearing platforms in this picture and she's still so much shorter than me! XD Her skin is really nice too... Like baby skin, makes me wanna pinch them. :x While taking this picture I was actually very nervous LOL. I couldn't smile properly and my cheeks almost cramped. -____- I'm sorry for being so noob... I haven't taken a 2-shot with an idol for a long time... (the last time was probably in primary 5? LOL)

Group shot! (taken from 217's twitter, @disnyna)

I got to stand beside 217~ Kind of. XD Look at all the happy fanboys faces LOL. They also showed Pikarin a parody video of Toroamachu, which was really fun to watch hahaha. Here, watch the full video. :3

Happy Birthday Pikarin! XD

After lots of interaction time with them at the airport, they headed to the bus to go to their hotel. They started opening their presents in the bus and we were all spazzing. 217 had so much fun playing with her shark finger puppet that ben gave her. XD Super cute moment. When their bus left, 217 waved like some maniac... this forever high girl. Did I mention it was already midnight at that time and they just had a 6-hour flight? Lol~

When they left, they started tweeting/blogging soon after. Which made us spazz even more when we found pictures of our group photos and presents on their tweets/blogs. They really know how to make their fans happy. Kyaaa~!

That pretty much concludes my first airport experience. My next airport trip would probably in Dec, for Wata~ In which I think will be even more yabai, for several reasons which I will mention another time. XD

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-AFA Day 1-

Finally the actual day for AFA! I was scheduled to work at Wacom from 9am-3pm. I was initially scheduled for a full day but miume and 217 had a mini-stage scheduled at 4.30pm so I gave up my afternoon shift. Because miume/217>$$$. XD I had to wake up at 4.30am on that day just to get ready... because I wanted to curl my hair, put on perfect make up, just for miume/217. :x I purposely chose to wear my @home maid costume to get miume's attention too. LOL. I call this strategic planning. ;)

First time having a pass! Saved $10 hehe~

To be honest time went past quite quickly at the Wacom booth. Soon it was 3pm and I was let off work. Went to watch Prizmmy perform... in which I honestly wasn't particularly excited about since I don't know them lol. But turns out they were the ones who sang "Boy Meets Girl" and "EZ DO DANCE". Quite a pleasant surprise~

Soon enough, it was time to head to the mini-stage! Managed to get a pretty nice spot near the front. 217 and miume were the first to be introduced and they performed two dances! Didn't know what they would do for the mini-stage so having 2 dances were pretty awesome. ^_^ They danced "Romeo and Cinderella" first, followed by "Happy Synthesizer". Romeo and Cinderella really made the fans spazz cos it's such an awesome dance! To see them dance it live as compared to a screen is really different! You can feel their energy and see their facial expressions up-close. Guilty Hearts ftw!!

Miume's mistake during Happy Synthesizer was so cute! Niina's reaction also. XD

After their performance, they had a short introduction of themselves and other artistes were introduced as well. When their mini stage was over, we waited at the side of the stage for them to appear. As it was a Friday, there weren't many fans so we had a great opportunity to interact with them again. Met 217 first and she remembered me as the "cute girl" and proceeded to pat my head LOL. -blush- It was touching to have them remember you. :') Since I didn't have anymore gifts for them and nothing for them to sign on, I requested for a 2-shot instead. XD

217 is so pretty!!

She actually took my phone over and offered to help take this 2-shot. So nice right?! SHE TOUCHED MY PHONE. LOL -spazz- She actually said this pic was blur so she took another one... but the 2nd one turned out more blur than this. LOL cute. XD

When I walked over to miume, she recognized the @home outfit and was shocked/excited! Spazz moment again haha~ Requested for a 2-shot with her as well~

A bit too far from her, but better than nothing!

We walked around the convention a bit after that since there weren't much scheduled for the rest of the day. But throughout the day we kept bumping into miume and 217. I swear, we were not stalking them! We will somehow always end up behind them, which kinda seems like we were stalking them LOL. 

Since we kept bumping into them, I wanted to ask for their sign. But I didn't want them to just sign on any random piece of paper... so Leon actually suggested to let them sign on my front pink ribbon. Eventually I decided to let them sign on my back ribbon cos then it won't look funny in pictures as well hahaha.

 Happy Suzume is happy~
217's sign is so cute. XD

They actually tried to talk to me as well but my Japanese is too limited. ): I can understand but I have no idea how to reply. T_T Makes me motivated to start my Jap lessons again though. Ganbarimasu!

So yeah, we actually had to purposely walk in a different direction from them after awhile as we did not want to make it seem like we were stalking them. Haha~ The first day was already so happening and fulfilling. When I reached home I felt so drained already!

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-AFA Day 2-

The day of the actual Marble Wonderland! Reserved the whole day for them so I didn't have work. I overslept though... but managed to bake one batch of cookies for 217. At this point I have to admit 217 became my new oshi because of her awesome personality. She's the kind of girl that will make you laugh with her funny actions. Probably will embarrass you in public but it will just make you love her more. She gave me a "neechan" kind of feel... especially when she pat my head. ._. KYA. Niina I miss you. ):

Anyways... rushed down to suntec because they had another mini stage scheduled at 2.35pm. I reached there at probably 2.20pm-ish. Some of them managed to get the front row but I was too late so I was a few rows back. Nonetheless, still quite near the front. XD They performed the same dances again. Surprisingly the audience were less hyped up compared to Friday, but it was still awesome.


Full performance!
Close-up for Romeo and Cinderella. All the feelz!!

[Warning: all text from here onwards as I ran out of pictures]

Since it was a Saturday, there were more fans and getting to them after their appearance at the mini stage was a little harder than the day before. But patience is key. LOL. I got my turn soon after and passed miume her cookies first. I gave miume the oatmeal cookies, which I now call miume cookies. HAHA. 217 had her niina cookies, which are the double chocolate cookies. She recognized me again even though I had lesser make up and a different outfit. She even tugged my dress and went "ah! Today's outfit~" When I passed her the cookies she asked me if I made them and another question which I couldn't understand... Sorry OTL. But I opened my arms and requested for a hug and she gave it to me~ Wheeeeeeeeeee~~ NEECHAN.

Successfully passed them the cookies and slowly made our way to the main stage so that we can get good seats. Ended up splitting up a bit, but kawaii naru-chan and I managed to get a nice spot in the front, although it was at the side. Marble Wonderland started off with hachiojp and his collab with miume and 217! It was nice seeing them dance on the big stage! Was pretty inspired by their dancing. Makes me want to keep improving myself!

There were several interesting stage activities. Pikarin appeared about 2 times as a model. It was pretty disappointing to know that Pikarin didn't have a chance to perform toroamachu... especially since some of us actually know part of the dance. :\ But nonetheless, Marble Wonderland was still entertaining. 

At the end of it, all the girls involved lined up on stage. Luckily for us, miume and 217 were standing on the far left, which were where naru-chan and I were at! So when they were about to walk off stage, we managed to catch their attention with our lightsticks (many thanks to Leon for lending them to us)!! They waved back to us... on the big stage! XD

Was hanging around the kawaii booth for awhile when suddenly miume and 217 appeared! This time they walked towards us and 217 went "We are leaving now..." with a sad face. D: Broke my kokoro. ): She patted my head again and said goodbye to the rest as well before heading off. T_T

Met up with Natsumi and decided to head to the airport to send them off. Bumped into Charmy on the way out and she gave us a lift to the airport! \o/ Lol reached the airport super early as a result. :x Settled dinner before camping. There were several others who were camping for Baby Metal as well... Was stalking twitter and realized miume/217 had an event at Osaka the next day, and miume tweeted she will be going to osaka straight from Singapore. That tweet caused quite a confusion as we didn't know which flight they were going to board. D: But well, the Osaka flight was scheduled quite late so we were just camping with the Baby Metal people first.

Turned out that the Marble Wonderland group reached the airport first and miume/217 were together with them~ Yay! XD It was sad saying goodbye to them... :\ Side-hugged niina... this time it was even tighter than the one at the mini stage. Our heads touched and all the feelz came back again. ): Hate it when that happens because suddenly all my Jap knowledge disappears and I forget what I want to tell them. However! I believe we will meet again! Nee-chan, I will see you next year!!

When they left, Leon teared up a little. LOL. I thought I would cry too but... -shrug- I just have this strong feeling we will see them again, so no need to cry! Hehe~

So yeah, that conclues my AFA'13 experience. Not going to write about Day 3 because it's just a full day of work, withdrawals and missing 217/miume/pikarin. ._. It was an awesome weekend and I can't believe it has only been a week that passed. Feels like a very long time since they have left. ): Okay shall not be emotional anymore... if you have read till here, good job! :P

Till next time~

4 comments:

  1. DAWWWWWWWW Leon teared up? XD

    Reading all 3 days' happenings put together into one post really makes it sound more awesome. ^^~ Hee

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    1. Yeah LOL. XD Haha a pity you could only come on sat. ): Hopefully next event won't crash with school!

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  2. Aiyo, *pats* sure got chance~ Maybe if you manage to go Japan this year can ask them out wor. Got Tim to help w language hoho xD
    Jiayou with Japanese lessons~ Need conversation partner I can chat with you~ =w=

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    1. Oops sorry just saw your comment! >< Hai~ Ganbarimasu!! Really hope to be able to speak Japanese soon!!

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