I was so shocked when I logged into Blogsome and found out that it’ll be closing down by 7th December. Already thought this is coming, however I did not predict it’ll be this sudden. I already planned to start fresh when I go to university anyway, but I have not prepared anything now that I’ve been quite busy this month with yearbook, graduation, and vacation.

Thank you Blogsome for being a good host for all these years, and to all readers who keep coming to this blog despite my crappy writing plus lack of updates lately. It’s been a great experience, I had fun writing my experiences here and got to know some new friends - hope some of you feel the same too. I’ve been using this blog since 2008 (wow! I’m surprised too), so it’s kinda hard to let go the URL I’ve already remembered for so long. You may remove links to this blog since the URL won’t work by next month.

For now, you can go to my art blog here, where I mostly post artwork and photos.  

Thanks all, hope we can still keep in touch somehow Have a nice day!

Update: Well, I’m still here. Not sure what’s happening with Blogsome though, no new announcements or anything… Strange. But to avoid the risk, I’m preparing a new blog. Will announce the link here, check back soon

Last weekend I attended Anime Festival Asia, or AFA, held in Singapore. Or as my friends call it, "nijikon event", though the event is not just like that (nijikon - people who feel ‘2D’ figures are more attractive than real-life people). It’s actually a lot of fun, and I think this year’s event is much more crowded than last year.

There are lots of cool cosplay, not to mention there’s also the regional cosplay championship - in which Indonesia won third place, whee That contest was intense, all the finalists did an awesome job! There are also many stores with variety of merchandise, and great concert as well. This is the second time I went to AFA, the last one shortly described here.

Cosplay

Cosplays of popular characters such as Vocaloid, One Piece, and Naruto are to be expected, but there are some that caught me by surprise. The FFF from Baka to Test is one of the most memorable one for me. They carried signs with "Death to Akihisa" and "We want Hideyoshi" while walking in a group and carrying scythes. It’s a good way to cosplay without embarrassing yourself because you get to cover your face. The Death Note walking book from last year was nowhere to be seen though, that one is also epic.

Also, we had the Rage Comics faces like last year, aka the Trollfaces and friends. Oh, there was that Bug Catcher from Pokemon complete with a straw hat, white sleeveless shirt, shorts, Pokeball and a catching net. And there are also some crossdressers (both ways - girl as boy, boy as girl) around. Celebrity cosplayer Usagi and Kaname also attended the event, cosplaying as Nami and Sanji on the third day. I heard when Kaname threw his ‘cigarette’, the fangirls went crazy to pick it up… Creepy, yo :p

Maid Cafe

I feel the maid cafe’s uniform not really cute. The color is kind of pale, and the shocking pink ribbon doesn’t do it justice. But hey, who knows what the guys think? It’s really awkward when they go "moe moe power" on you when serving food though, not to mention it’s quite expensive. Yes, I do understand we’re paying for the ’service’, not only food, but still…hahah.

Asked the maid to draw Kyuubey’s face on the omelette with the sauce, but she couldn’t do it. Instead she drew a cute bunny. And I thought Kyuubey’s face is much simpler? Lol. And no, I did not enter the butler cafe, so I can’t describe much.

Booths and Stores

One booth to highlight is the Nico Nico Douga booth, where the camera streams the video live online, and the screen shows the comments posted on that moment from NND users in Japan. The users went crazy for cute cosplayers, saying things such as "Please say ‘onii-chan’ (older brother) in a cute voice!" or "do the … dance!" or "Pedobear approves" or simply "marry me". People who pass around may occasionally be called to face the camera, such as the Madoka cosplayer who walked by and got noticed immediately by fans.

I planned on buying Nendoroid figure, Snow Miku in particular, but after seeing the price I settled for the Madoka one, shown below:

Concert and Events

There are actually some interesting events going on in the Main Stage. For example, we had Culture Japan season two showcase, and despite not watching Culture Japan before, I find the sneak previews entertaining. The part when Danny Choo went around stabbing people with an invisible sword is very funny.

We also get to see the director of Madoka and Fate/Zero as well as the staff from Ano Hana. Unfortunately most of them do not speak English so we have to rely on translators. So as the audience I often feel left out as they chat happily in moonspeak language while I had no idea what’s going on until minutes later. I actually almost won the rock-scissor-paper battle to get the Ano Hana illustration book, but I lost during the last two rounds… argh.

And I had no idea when they say "Artiste appearance" it means they just "appear" on stage. No singing, no autograph time, just standing on stage waving and saying hi. Um, I expected too much ==" I got my way to shake hands with FLOW members though :p My friends won their autographs, while I’m supposed to get Ichiro Mizuki’s but I apparently forgot to take it. I’m sorry, Aniki…

Anyway, I attended only the second day’s I Love Anisong concert. My budget just won’t cut it for all the three days. One thing I noticed that glow sticks are serious business in this concert, lol :p

Sea A sang only three songs in the beginning, though the only one I enjoyed was the theme song for AFA, Dream Shooter. The Aniki fanboy behind me kept mumbling things like "Why bother asking us ‘do you like anime?’, obviously people who come here do… I want to see Aniki", then stood up and sang proudly when Ichiro Mizuki appeared.

Being a girl and living in a generation where kids don’t watch Kamen Raider and such, I had no clue about Ichiro Mizuki’s songs. There was a slight error with the music causing awkward pauses in one song, but he sang through and all was well in the end. The only song I actually remember is the one called "Hero", cause the reff part is quite catchy with the repetition of "herooo".

Continued with LiSA, and I prefer her singing live over the recording, her voice sounded more powerful. She danced energetically on stage, and at one point she was seen crying for reasons I’m not sure of. Luckily she sang the songs that I actually know so I can join singing with the crowd too - Crow Song, Ichiban no Takaramono, Oath Sign, and ultimately My Soul, Your Beats.

And finally, we had FLOW. One of the members shouted words and the audience repeated them, but since they’re in Japanese, I’m not sure what he said. I do hear words like "Fujiyama" and "Tempura" though, haha. I’m also not really familiar with their songs, but I enjoyed their performance. One of the last songs was "GO", that popular opening from Naruto, the "fighting dreamers" song. Overall, the concert was great.

Well, here’s an abrupt ending, but I suddenly lost my train of thoughts when writing… I could not give an entire picture of AFA, but this is just what I have experienced. It’s good fun, hopefully I can still attend next year’s event and it’ll have more exciting events

*Ada suara kambing mengembik*
A: "Eh suara sapinya lucu yah, hehe…"

*A lagi bertamu ke rumah B lalu dikasih gelas isi gula*
A: Eh, gelas minum gw cuma dikasih gula doang nih?
B: Lah, memang masih perlu apa lagi?
A: …Ha?

C: Lu mau berangkat dari rumah jam berapa?
D: Jam lima.
C: Kalo gw dateng ke rumah lu setelah jam lima gimana? 

Kakak: Lu harusnya kurusin badan tau! Liat tuh, lemak semua…
Adik: Lemak itu pemberian Tuhan, harus disyukuri bukannya dibuang-buang!

*Seorang sales sedang mempromosikan jus buah dalam botol berbentuk beruang*
Anak: Mama, itu isinya kencingnya beruang ya?
*Sales mengeluarkan botol obat dengan tulisan mandarin*
Anak: Huruf yang itu artinya apa?
Ibu: Oh, yang itu artinya kuda…
Anak: Berarti yang ini isinya kotoran kuda?

*Di TV ada video Super Junior lagi nyanyi Mr. Simple sambil nari-nari*
Nenek: Tuh lihat, ini namanya senam aerobik Korea… Ikutin, biar sehat kamu!

*Kereta melewati pantai, ada dua bule melambai-lambai*
A: Wih, ramah ya mereka, pake ngelambai-lambai ke kita segala… *bales melambaikan tangan*
*Kereta pun berlalu melewati mereka*
B: Eh gue baru kepikiran, itu kan mereka cuma berdua di pantai segitu gede. Apa jangan-jangan sebenernya… mereka lagi berusaha minta tolong ke kita, bukannya mau nyapa?
A: …Bener juga! Jangan-jangan mereka terdampar.

Adek ngeliatin kakak sepupunya lagi pake kertas minyak:
"Gila, muka lu dipakein kertas minyak gak abis-abis minyaknya! Jadi Pertamina aja lu lama-lama…"

Karangan seorang teman untuk tugas:
"Wisata jelajah desa juga bisa diisi kegiatan yang menantang dan seru, seperti menjelajahi hutan di mana peserta bisa bertemu berbagai binatang seperti musang, harimau, dan serigala…"

A: "Ih serem… Kenapa sih orang pada sering bunuh dirinya di mall-mall?" 

B: "Kalo di Monas, harus bayar masuk dulu buat ke atas…"