I’ve read Stripey and Adun’s 2008 expenditure reports with great interest and have to say from the outset that I can hardly compare. Total spending was about SGD 1,250 and represented a significant fall from 2007’s total of SGD 3,800.

DVDs took up about SGD 650, or almost half of total spending. The bulk of this came from RightStuf purchases of Slayers Seasons 1-3, Martian Successor Nadesico, Evangelion Platinum Collection, Lunar Legend Tsukihime, Black Heaven and MariMite Season 1 (R1) box sets. I think I’ve been spoiled by RightStuf’s customer service so my purchase of the Evangelion 1.01 LE will be my first and last ever purchase from Play Asia. I did receive my LE DVD in the end but only after a delay of over two months and very poor communication from Play Asia. Currently, I see 122 results on Google for “Play Asia sucks” - here’s result 123. About 15% of this expenditure went to buying bootleg DVDs such as the R3 Gunbuster and Diebuster DVD set and really legit-looking Malaysian fakes of Genshikin 1+2 (but not inclusive of either the Kujiun or interim OVA trios). I bought legitimate R1 DVDs of anime series after downloading them via BitTorrent because I enjoyed them so much and wanted something that was better quality. Conversely I ended up downloading anime series after buying the pirated DVDs because I enjoyed them so much and wanted something that was better quality. But I didn’t feel the urge to buy legitimate R1 DVDs because I had already spent money on them…

Figures expenditure amounted to around SGD 300. The year’s acquisitions started off with a glorious gift of Alter Nadiefrom Stripey and another friend. I couldn’t resist Alter Nagato Yuki (Swimsuit) and Chara-Ani Misumaru Yurika was a surprising impulse buy. I plumped for Alter Shigure Asa even though I liked Kotobukiya Asa’s sculpt and colours. But I really hated the scene in the anime and eroge which the pose was based on. At least they didn’t include a toilet seat with the figure base! LOL Thanks to a great Amazon.jp bargain, I snagged GoodSmile Company’s Ryougi Shiki despite only boarding the Kara no Kyoukai bandwagon really slowpoke.jpg late. I also bought a GSC Hatsune Miku figure as part of the continuation of the <a href=”http://hont

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I was struck by the following line from the article ‘Polanski asks US court to dismiss 1977 charge of sex with a minor’ in The Guardian: ‘[The then-loli] publicly forgave the director in 1997.’

It got me thinking: How many harem animes actually ended with the harem lead chose and slept with the loli haremette? (It’s almost as rare as siscon anime where the Really Blood-Related brother and sister actually get together.) In the case of a strictly defined loli, consent is irrelevant in deciding GUILTY or NOT GUILTY!? While the loli may be able to forgive, it’s really out of her hands once this becomes an issue for the justice system and The Rules of Society. I suppose that’s when Not Actually Under-Age But Only Loli-Looking haremettes come into the picture as a sort of substitute.

In any case, perhaps the FBI should have been more proactive in trying to get their hands on Polanski. But, then again, they might have reckoned that lolicons are already well apprised of the concept of bait. Even hackers have caught on to the trick!

©2008 hontou ni sou omou?. All Rights Reserved.

From my AFA08 experience, it seems that Singaporean attendees didn’t just like to take pictures of cosplayers but with them too. I certainly don’t recall that being prevalent when I attended ComiKet 72. I also dug out an old photo album of my visit to Otakon 2000 to see if attendees of that Baltimore, MA convention also had a ‘with’ predilection; ended up scanning a few to share with my readers. In the ancient year of 2000, SNK/CAPCOM game charas were all the rage. The biggest anime were Ranma 1/2, Sailor Moon…

… Final Fantasy VII. There were soooooo many Riona cosplayers. Throughout my visit between 4-6 August 2000, I saw only one Tifa cosplayer. Bless her and long live the profession of bar wenches!!

Record of Lodoss War with very cute Shiris cosplayer. No Pirotess though. And, in the fine tradition of Sailor Bubba - don’t take cosplay too seriously, k? - the Subversive Sailor Scouts ran around creating general mayhem and fun. I imagine most of them are respectable family/salarymen. It’s not just Facebook that brings back the unwanted memories but animu blogs too!

Revolutionary Girl Utena was also really popular with the female demographic of the anime fan population. And, oh, it does seem that there was always a healthy proportion of female fans. At least in the US.

I wonder what these cosplayers would have thought of Slayers Revolution?

At C72, cosplay that revealed a lot of skin did exist but was a relatively low proportion. But girls, often young teenagers, at Otakon were prepared to flaunt their figures includng a creative take on Pikachu and the standard outfit for Urusei Yatsura’s Lum.

So what are men to cosplay if we’re not the bishounen typu? There’s also monsters, cabbits and Ikari Gendou.

Speaking of Mr White Gloves, the Evangelion wave had well and truly hit US shores by 2000. The very spirited Asuka cosplayer spent a good afternoon terrorising any Shinji cosplayer she managed to find. LOL And Rei clones were almost a match for the Riona army.

Ruri Hoshino was also a popular choice but it’s interesting to see how the appeal of Evangelion has been kept alive and even continues to grow while most people nowadays have never even heard of Martian Successor Nadesico…

More Old Skool for the road. Saber Marionette, El Hazard: The Wanderers, Vision of Escaflowne, Serial Experiments Lain. Actually I haven’t even seen Saber Marionette meself… (-_-);;

I was also surprised to discover that US anime fans were upset with censorship of their animu… I can’t remember which specific anime it was about. Kite? Some guy representing ‘U.S. Censor’ was ceremonially beaten, sliced up, shot etc etc. Until a staff member came up to the little demonstration and said: ‘As a member of Otakon Security, I have to… join in and do my duty!’ *rains mock kicks on the ‘U.S. Censor’* LOL

No one was arrested. Even though there was a Natsumi Tsujimoto cosplayer present at the con.

©2008 hontou ni sou omou?. All Rights Reserved.

Day Two purchase, again from Collateral Damage Studios, were a set of prints depicting Lutecia, Subaru, Teana, Erio and Caro, Vivio in child and adult forms which had run out by the time I got to their booth yesterday. Pity they didn’t do a set for the Yagami family though.

It’s hard to suppress the Eva fanboy in me despite the perpetual feeling of being milked and exploited. But Evangelion@School looks like it’s going to be hilarous. Plus we get three times the Rei goodness.

Haruhi seems to be a popular character but she’s difficult to carry off well since an ‘in-character’ cosplayer needs to be able to convey her arrogance and confidence too.

When I asked this girl for permission to take her photo, she asked if I knew she wasn’t cosplaying. I was going to launch into an explanation about how she did zettai ryouki very well but decided against it. Good that I refrained too. Because the moment I got my shot, others started to take pictures too. That kind of freaked her out and she made her escape.

In contrast, this pair of Ouran cosplayers were very hospitable indeed.

And these girls seemed to be having a blast.

Girls can look especially good when cosplaying guys. But, of course, they can look very good in female goth dress too. This outfit was spectacularly backless too…

This Yzak cosplayer was visibly taken aback by my very pink Lunamaria t-shirt. Come on, GSD isn’t *that* old a series, is it? There was a Lunamaria cosplayer yesterday too but I didn’t manage to get a shot of her. T_T

The Kagamine Len cosplayer was my favourite of the day.

Girls just wanna have fun. Really liked how this quartet was equally keen on getting photos of other cosplayers too.

Perfect prop for this Ranka cosplayer over at the Collateral Damage booth and posing with the artist too! Wonder how much it was eventually auctioned off for?

Autographed by May’N herself and, thus, Not For Sale. Missed the concert as I had to leave at about 330pm. Saw only about half of the Cosplay Mania skits too.

I didn’t think that the range, quantity and quality of stalls, merchandise, events, cosplay etc etc. was all that great. But, nonetheless, the event had a very positive feel about it. I think most event goers had fun and the event was actually novel enough and small enough to have a cosy sort of feel about it, something that’s impossible for the big Japanese and North American cons. Hope that AFA will go from strength to strength and looking forward to next year’s event.

©2008 hontou ni sou omou?. All Rights Reserved.

I was there. My only purchases - a set of Collateral Damage Studios works: three beautiful Nanoha prints (art by Xeph and Mycstea) and a hilarous Burning Arisa doujin (art by WaHa) for SGD 45.

Too tired to do a proper write-up. Just brief notes.

Venue wasn’t all that big. Lots of empty space fenced off too. But good deal of human traffic through the afternoon.

Anime

From the Xedo booth.

Cosplay

Ami-chan is Super Super Super Cute!!!

Despite having had my Lumix camera for years, I only learnt that I should adjust the white balance for taking photos under indoor fluoroscent lighting this afternoon. orz

Extremely genki Lime cosplayer. Top marks for her positive attitude and sunny disposition.

Quite a lot of the most interesting cosplay activity seemed to be taking place outside the event hall/rooms.

Figures

Is it me or does Saber look better from behind?

At 1/6, Ryoko was way too big for my collection and I’m not partial to reclining poses either. Pretty damned gorgeous nonetheless.

Art

LOLOLOL at Aika, Alice and Aria-shachou in the background. From my POV, the one offering the rose must, of course, be female. Ahaha~♥

Didn’t who the artist was. Might it be Impz??

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