Anime Fiesta Kuala Lumpur 2012

 
Right, so here's the awaited post on my trip to the so-called "largest anime event ever!"
Didn't take as much pictures as I did at last year's CF, but I managed to capture enough to make a post of it. Anyways, enjoy?


Well, first thing's first. I bought the tickets around February, thinking that this was another harmless ACG event and without delving deeper into facts. Then I got a huge blow up my face when I found out that it was said to be a fraud. Learned my lesson not to do things on impulse.

But! Since I've already bought the tickets, and that they have arrived a month later, I'd decided to go anyways with Fafrina and an aunt of mine. 

The superpass package.

I found out around the end of March that the designated location for the event - formerly the Kuala Lumpur Convention Center, the same location the last year's CF was held at - had changed to the 14th floor of Berjaya Times Square in the Manhattan Ballroom and the Bronx III.

And so, on Saturday, the 31st of March 2012, I went to KL with my mother and Fafrina. We'd meet with my aunt at the ballroom later. 

First we got lost, thinking that we had to ride the really long ride of the escalator, but it turns out that that escalator was headed to the theme park. Silly us.

We seriously considered ditching the event for the theme park.

Moving on... We finally got ourselves back onto the right track and headed off to our destination, the AFKL 2012.

A few short moments in the mini-line formed outside of the doors of the ballroom and we're in - me and Fafrina.

The said mini-line. Oh, and that blond-wigged girl is named Toby.

As soon as we got in, we briefly scanned the almost deserted area and darted straight to these:

What are these things called again? =3=

I like this the most.. and the Bakuman one. But mostly this one.

We studied each of the above for a while before evaluating the ballroom once more.

Bereft. Perhaps because we were very early, but bereft nonetheless.

The stage.

Unknown booths and in the back, some vocaloid things.

We then headed to the opposite corner of where we stood which was where the DVD and NEWS booth were.

Lots of awesome DVDs, but sadly, the amount of cash I have is close to none.

The NEWS booth was probably one of the three things that were kinda cool at the event. The other two being the Ao no Exorcist token machine (made up name), and the Buy 1 Free 1 DVDs. Heheh, you know how much of a scrooge I am. ( = 3 =)

Fafrina and her hand interrupting.

Oh, look, it's her hand again.

We linger around this area for a while as I took some shots of the booth since there was no cosplayers in sight, other than the few glimpses of the maids and butlers that were supposed to be at the maid and butler cafe. Well, that, and the fact that I was a bit too awkward that day to be asking the very rare cosplayers for a picture. Fafrina wasn't much help either. (  =_=)


Beside the NEWS booth was a poster booth that sold posters of anime girls. If I was a guy, I'd probably stay longer, but I'm a girl, and those posters don't interest me at all.

Then suddenly, a voice sounded out of no where, informing us about the panel meet with some voice actor that I didn't know at the time. The voice was very different from the Dj's voice, so I searched the room to find where it was coming from. 


There he was, with his entourage of maids, probably gathered from the maid cafe. Since he was moving a lot, I couldn't snap a nice shot. Behold, a blurry photo of the sight.

He moves as often as I capture bad shots. Yes, he moves that much.

A better picture, but he's still blurry. Why. ಠ _ ಠ

After about an hour since we've arrived, my aunt finally decided to join us. We stay at the DVD section until my aunt decided to see what the management had in plan. She managed to get us a time table from the crew.

One of the crew members told us that there was some activity planned going on in the room across the last door of the ballroom. So we went in.

Turns out, that it was Mr. Unknown Voice Actor. He says that he's the English dubber for Mikado. That rouses up my interest since I am a huge fan of Durarara. 

He really does moves a lot..

I learn that his name is Darrel J. Guilbeau.


Here are a couple of not very high-quality videos:

As you could see near the end of the second video, he said that anyone who asks a question could get a chance to win one of those DRRR post cards. I wanted them so badly, but didn't have the guts to ask anything. Frankly, I was just too starstruck, I guess.


I had no hope at winning one at all, until...
This guy named Imran asked a question and Darrel wanted to write his name down but probably was unsure of how to spell it. He asked Imran if he wanted to be his helper to which he replied no. Then he asked for volunteers.

With a shaky lift of my hand, BAM! I'm the helper, sitting on one of the two chairs up in front at the special table meant for Darrel and he alone. You bet I felt proud and superior. So there I was, feeling smug as hell, switching glances between him, the screen and the seated crowd in front of me.

View from where I was at. ( ≖ ω ≖ )

Them postcards!

Finally! He stopped moving!

 Here's a video I shot from my new seat:

I mainly like the above video because he has such a cute laugh at the beginning.

After some time, his talk had come to its end. He gave three post cards to three lucky audience and one for me. This was what made my day the most and in my opinion was the reason why I thought the event didn't suck as I'd expected it to be. 

There was a butler cosplayer in the crowd with blond hair and a vest and tie who Darrel joked could be Shizuo, but without the glasses. Took a shot, but he was kinda shy and didn't look into the camera. =_=

I got a last shot of Darrel before we bade our farewells.

Such a nice guy. =w=

We went inside for a while after that, and I bought a few things - emphasize on the few. I was contemplating with buying or not buying Honey and Clover when we saw him again and took a snapshot. 

If you think that made me feel stalker-ish, then you're right. But not as stalker-ish that I felt when I saw him again while we were having lunch. He was just washing his hands and face and didn't notice us, though.

So that was all there was on the first day. We went home at about 3, I think. I felt fairly pleased with the event, since I things that I didn't get in last year's CF. Didn't get the Honey and Clover DVDs, though. 


Oh, but did you really think that was the end of it? 


No, no, no.


That night, I watched a few video clips about Honey and Clover and regretted very, very much that I didn't buy it. So, I managed to convince my mother to let me briefly attend the second day of the event just so I could buy them. 



And so, I went. The second day had more people and cosplayers. Didn't get to take any pictures since I was devoid of a camera and phone. Managed to coax the crew to let me bring my baby sister in so that I won't have to go in alone. 


I saw a stein cosplayer, several Akatsuki charas from Naruto, Toby and the other girl who cosplayed charas from BRS, more butlers and maids and a few others that I vaguely remember. 


Bought the DVD, scanned the minor increase in crowd and left. 


I know nothing of the cancellation of activities since I was there for only a short amount of time. So there. A (kinda) complete post on my trip to AFKL 2012. 


I'm thinking that it was pretty good, compared to the disastrous event that I had in mind. I had fun... ish. Got to meet Darrel Guilbeau on the first day and got to watch several minutes of the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya's movie on the second. Bought two DVDs and got two more for free. And I even got myself something from the Ao no Exorcist token machine.

In short, it was okay.

[end]