Fans of anime songs and online natives can look forward to a star-studded festival as Anime Festival Asia, the region’s most established experiential festival for Japanese Popular Culture, gave an update on its I LOVE Anisong concert artist line-up, with the additions of artistes who will mostly make their overseas debuts at the festival.
In addition, through a new collaboration with niconico, Japan’s largest video sharing website, Anime Festival Asia will set aside a dedicated space for the first niconico KUNIKAIGI to be held outside Japan.
An area of the festival grounds will be dedicated to Niconico’s off-line event, niconico KUNIKAIGI, as part of a collaboration between Anime Festival Asia and Niconico. With the concept of “Recreating Niconico In Real Life”, Niconico staged niconico CHOKAIGI 3 with great success, garnering roughly 125,000 attendees and 7.8 million online viewers. This experience will be replicated in niconico KUNIKAIGI as well!
Attendees will be able to participate in activities and online viewers worldwide can comment real-time, as the real and virtual worlds connect in KUNIKAIGI. Online niconico personalities will also be present in person to meet and interact with the fans. This is the first time the concept has been brought overseas.
Event Highlights
Song: Karaoke to anime songs!
Dance: Let’s dance to anime songs together! Let’s do ‘otagei’!
Anime: Experience a scene from famous anime?!
DJ: Enjoy anisong and VOCALOID mixes by the DJ!
Cosplay: Show your cosplay on stage!
Games: Face off with Japan’s Niconico users!
Appearances by:
ROOT FIVE
Comprising 5 members who rank among some of the top content makers in Niconico’s “Me Singing” category, ROOT FIVE is a group that has bridged the divide between the virtual and real worlds. The group has managed to break the top 10 Oricon Weekly rankings, and will sing anime FAIRY TAIL’s ending theme song, their second after the theme song for Saint Seiya Omega.
DJ CAESAR from TOKYO AKIHABARA
A DJ who cosplays while performing, DJ CAESAR is known for his fresh innovative mixes which incorporate anisong and vocaloid tracks. Popular with his youthful audience, DJ CAESAR also performed at the Japan Expo in France, which gathered over 260 thousand attendees. Being the only anisong DJ to break the 13 thousand mark for twitter followers, DJ CAESAR is an influencer whose name is known throughout the fandom.
Yuyoyuppe a.k.a. DJTEKINA//SOMETHING
Yuyoyuppe made his major debut with YAMAHA MUSIC COMMUNICATIONS. Currently the only overall sound producer for break-out idol group BABYMETAL, he has dabbled in many different fields, including being a DJ, collaborations with voice actor, being a vocalist in a hardcore emo band and making songs for idol groups, garnering him respect from all levels in the industry.
ARSMAGNA
As part of cosplay group Chronos Senior High School, ARSMAGNA is a 2.5D cosplay dance group. Made up of first to third year students from Chronos Senior High School and a plushie, the group is known as “5 guys and a plushie”.
.PCF
Having played on the biggest stage meant for 14,000 in France’s Japan Expo, .PCF is a party rock group that has propelled themselves to world stardom through their uploads on the Internet. With a myriad of talents in the group, .PCF has managed to showcase many different genres of entertainment, including dancing and DJing. . The group has ventured overseas, including countries such as France and Taiwan.
The full artiste line-up for the AFA 2014 I Love Anisong Mega Anime Music Festival is:
5 th December: angela, Eri Kitamura, DJ Kazu, Yui Horie
6 th December: fripSide, The IDOLM@STER, LiSA, yanaginagi
7 th December: Eir Aoi, FLOW, GARNiDELiA, May’n, ROOT FIVE
Early bird tickets for VIP 3-day packages, priced at S$398, are available from October 1, at 12pm, till October 11, 10am, online ticketing via a sub-site for the event, and at selected physical outlets.
AFA2014 will be held from 5 to 7 December 2014, at Suntec Singapore Convention and Exhibition Centre Level 4. For more information on the festival, members of the public can check out www.animefestival.asia and www.facebook.com/animefestivalasia