Anime Festival Asia was held for the very first time from the 22nd to the 23rd of November 2008, at Singapore’s Suntec City Convention Centre. The event was organized with the assistance of the local JAPAN FOUNDATION and EMBASSY OF JAPAN, and funded by DENTSU and BANDAI. This massive international convention con spanned event halls and featured industry exhibitions, merchandise retailers, gaming and cosplay competitions and special musical performances.

The highlights of the event — which drew crowds of attendees from as far away as Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, and Manila, were the special performances by Mizuki Ichiro, the King of Super Robot Anime Songs, and MAY’N, the phenomenal singing voice behind Macross Frontier’s Sheryl Nome. Special passes were sold for these performances, which not only gave prime seating to ticket holders, but also limited-edition signature boards from either Aniki or MAY’N.

What would a con be without cosplay?! Scores of cosplayers showed up for the convention, either as participants in the Group Cosplay Competition, or simply to hang out and be photographed. Standouts of the crowd were the main characters from the season’s smash hit Macross Frontier, as well as the nearly complete line-up of Vocaloids from Crypton Future Media’s uber-popular voice generation software Vocaloid2.

This convention had a sizeable Philippine contingent, composed of members of Ongaku Society, UP Tomo-Kai, and OTAKAI. We all had a great time, and we’re all looking forward to flying back to Singapore for AFA 2009.