It’ll be screening from 11th March, at the Cathay Cineplex in Damansara (and if you don’t know where that is, perhaps “Cineleisure” or “the Curve” may ring a bell?).

Apart from thanking Cathay, we have to thank the local anime fan scene. If you did not know, Eva 2.0 might have never made it to screens here. However, with a petition run by local Anime Shrine, and with the collective efforts of all the fans, Cathay Cineplex agreed (and happily too) to bring in Eva 2.0 for everyone.

Admittedly and unfortunately, I was not able to be a part of that petition. Why? Simply because I was absent from the scene at the time, and by the time I checked back last year, everything was already over. I missed the whole petition, dammit. :\ Oh well.

Anyway, I am looking forward to the movie. To you fine gentlemen and ladies who helped bring this movie to us, I give you a heartfelt thanks, and a round of applause.

May’N will be making a special appearance at Anime Tech in Sunway Pyramid, at 4PM this Saturday. So if you’re too poor itching to see May’N but can’t gather the funds to purchase a ticket, this is your chance!

But that’s not all- if you have tickets to her concert, you have a chance to win some make-all-your-friends-jealous prizes! Though it’s up in the picture over there, I’ll just list them again over here:

1. May’N Autograph poster
2. Concert T-shirt
3. May’N CD
4. RM5 Discount on Concert T-shirt
5. Animetech RM5 Voucher
6. Concert Glow Stick

Pretty awesome eh? (Okay, well. I’m not too sure if the RM5 vouchers or the glowstick are that great prizes, but eh. Maybe they’ll be presented personally by May’N?)

Unfortunately for me, I’ve got some things going on on Saturday, and will probably not be able to make it.

Again, due to my bias, we start out this post with Tina. \o/

Day 2’s post will cover cosplayers, and cosplayers, and cosplayers. Enjoy!

Incredibly detailed Seth Nightlord cosplay. Not sure if it is accurate though

This hunter put on a show that was pillow-shredding!

... Literally, pillow-shredding.

In the solo category, the cosplayers couldn’t help but keep killing the MCs.

♥

Cosplayers 4 - Alfred 0

Garland's leg armor fell off

I certainly smiled :)

This, I couldn’t help but post. ^^; That Madarame cosplay is way too epic.

Glowing headphones! (ﾟ∀ﾟ ) Do want!

.. Gingerbread SM?

タコ！

Though it’s not my cup of tea, this was certainly commendable cosplay. Pocahontas is even barefoot.

The legend of CF09

The world needs more Kampfer cosplay

OEG, this is for you

I RAGE at the lack of Sengoku Nadeko cosplay.

What better way to start a post than with some C.C.?

For those of you who missed it, CF09 was on December 19-20 in the Sunway Convention Center.

This year was great, and because it didn’t clash with AFA, there were even more cosplayers than in 2008.

This year, the arrangement of all the event elements (such as: stage, sponsor booths, entrances, exits, etc.) was much better. The stage was centralized, and there was enough space between the booths to move around without bumping into others. One thing I really have to commend, is the choice of songs. I, personally, really enjoyed to song selection.

Oh, and this year I had Tee Juan help me out by being my photographer (well, kind of). As a result, I have much better photos this year. \o/

I do not quite know how he wants me to promote him, so for now, I’ll direct you to his blog and his flickr.

Anyway, moving on, let’s first take a look around the event hall.

Cute cosplaying Chocobos that I somehow missed

As was mentioned, there was an increase in cosplayers; there was also an increase of sponsor booths (and attendees too, for that matter). Oh, and speaking of sponsors, here’s a quick mention of them (in no particular order): Basheer Graphic Books, Gempak Starz, Limkokwing University, The One Academy, MSC Malaysia, The Anime Depot, sun comic, The Figure Mall, littleAKIBA, d_code, Hobby Legend, Neko Tales, Animasia Studio, Imaginary Friends Studios, Microsoft, Wacom, GrandTech, i1Play, e-factory, and Anime Tech.

There were a few other booths whose names didn’t appear in the sponsor list:

Kaku Labs Corp sold a variety of hats like the ones you see there. By the time I got to CF on day 2, they were either sold out, or they got too lazy to set up shop.

So, apart from the sponsor booths, what else was in the hall? Well, there was an art display right in the middle of the hall, and at the end of it, stood this:

As cool as this was, I'm sure nobody paid attention to that little note card at the bottom

Right next to the art gallery, was The Figure Mall’s display. And right next to that, was one table promoting OTACOOL.

.. No comment.

The doujin booths were always packed with people.

The goods sold this year were great, though I noticed a large amount of Hetalia items. Is Hetalia that good?

Interesting sign at Jarhead Studios' booth. Makes me want to touch everything <3

Naturally, there were lots of stage events. Our hosts this year were Alfred and Zen. On day one, due to.. uh, certain circumstances, I missed the group cosplay competition, so I can only guess what the groups did from the photos oh wait, that’s what YouTube is for…

Looks like they had some Phoenix Wright going on

I'm not sure, but is smiling something you're supposed to do in a fight?

The judges

Well anyway, that’s enough from me. The following consists of cosplayers, and some other random stuff. Enjoy!

I lol'd.

???

Cosplayer Elimination Game

ゲロゲロゲロタマタマタマクルクルクルドロドロドロギロギロギロ

Vampire Knight cosplay with EFFORT! I am impressed

And that’s it for day 1. Stay tuned for day 2 coverage!

And now, for more details concerning this year’s event..

First off, CF has kindly provided a special offer to all of you coming from Penang or Singapore. You may get a discount on your one-way/return ticket by travelling with AEROLINE, CF’s “Official Express Bus”. For more details on that, please refer here.

Now, we’ve got some of the highlights of the event out, and let’s take a brief look at each.

Portfolio Review Pavillion
Last year’s portfolio review pavillion was a success, and as a result, this will now be a mainstay CF event! It’s a great chance for those looking to go into the creative industry, this is a great opportunity! Check out the list of organizations participating in this event here.

Industry Seminar
The Industry Seminar is a new event to CF. It will half a day long (on day 2), and will feature people from the creative industry coming to speak about their experiences and views. Entry is absolutely free, so no worries about that. Again, this will be a good chance to learn more for those looking to venture into the industry.

Live Art Demonstrations
Studios will be doing short workshops on what the industry is like. The workshops will include lectures, live-demos, art showcases, and even short classes.

Art Competition
Apart from art demonstrations, there’ll be an on-site art competition! Divided into groups of, “below 17″ and “17 and above”, this competition could make you an owner of a brand new Wacom tablet. For rules, regulations, and all that, visit this page.

One True Pairing Cosplay Competition
Lastly, we look to the cosplay division- this year, we’ll be having a new kind of competition, “One True Pairing”, or OTP for short. Basically, it’s a cosplay competition where the groups are pairings. One rule in this event caught my eye though..

3) No Yaoi/Yuri/Loli/Incest is allowed, …

orz

Anyway, that’s it for now. CF is less than a week away- are you prepared for it?

See you there!

Yeah, it’s that time of the year already! CF’09 is coming up guys, and here are the details for this year’s Fiesta:

Comic Fiesta 2009 (CF09)
Date : December 19-20, 2009
Day : Saturday & Sunday
Time : 10 AM ~ 7 PM
Venue : Sunway Convention Center
Entrance Fee : RM25 for 2 days via Pre-Order, RM15 for each day via Ticket Counter @ CF
Website : http://comicfiesta.org/

There’ll be tons of doujinshi booths (artist booths, if you will), and lots of cosplayers. To find out more about the entrance fee/ticketing system, refer to this page.

Thankfully it’s at Sunway Convention Center again this year. ^^;

BTW, CF staff have come up with this cool advert (which will be showing on Animax). Do take a look~

For some reason, I can’t stop replaying it to listen to the music!

I should probably refer to it as a competition though. ^^;

It’s a really simple competition- Create artwork of any character related to The Storm Warriors movie (and if you haven’t already, here’s the trailer). You may use any medium to create your artwork- just make sure your final submission is on an A3-size art block.

Simple enough, isn’t it? This competition, kindly brought to you by the collective efforts of TOA (The One Academy), Sin Chew Daily, and Golden Screen Cinemas, does not feature such “simple” prizes, however.

What I mean is, the prizes aren’t just simple cash prizes. Instead, amongst the two groups eligible for this competition, Secondary School Students may just win a scholarship! That sounds real awesome.

Those of you 18 and above (the second group eligible for competition)… well, no scholarship for you, but there are still some pretty cool stuffs for you to win under your category (for example, a Storm Warriors poster signed by Ma Wing Shing! [creator of the Storm Warriors Comics]).

The deadline for your submission is 11th December, 5 PM, but if you can get it in before 20th November, you could just win passes to, ‘Meet the Stars of The Storm Warriors’! I.E., you could win “I-haz-met-Storm-Warriors-hur-hur” bragging rights too!

Before you rush off to go and create that piece of art, make sure you read up on all the rules & regulations. It’s in the poster way up in this post (you’ll have to full view it). Once you’ve done that, scurry along and start working! Good luck!

… I hope someone creates artwork of 00:05-00:06…

Before I move on to one particular highlight, let’s take a short peek at what this event is all about…

Well, according to this page, 100% Gempak Starz is a biannual event. This year’s one will be held from the 21st til 23rd of November (That’s Saturday to Monday). It’ll be at the Concourse Area in Sungei Wang Plaza. If you want to get to Sungei Wang Plaza via public transport, but don’t know how, this helpful page from Sungei Wang Plaza says that you may, “… reach Sungei Wang Plaza by the STAR light rail service (LRT). The nearest station is the Jalan Hang Tuah and the Plaza Rakyat stations, which are about 15-minutes walk from this shopping paradise. A feeder bus service rotates between the different LRT stops every half an hour, which will bring you to Sungei Wang Plaza too.“

Highlights of this event include: autograph sessions, artwork display, launch of new graphic novels, and even some lucky draw prizes.

But what I want to highlight, is this one: 100% Gempak Starz - Cosplay Competition. There won’t be any admission fee for this, however, registration opens on the 21st, from 10AM~12PM. So if you’re planning to join this, make sure to set your alarm clock and get up early!

They’ve got some reeeeaaaally attractive prizes for the winners. It’s quite a bit of info, so instead, I’ll refer you to this image which outlines the prizes (thanks to CF for the image)

Hey, they’ve even got those cute Momiji dolls as prizes…

Sounds exciting, doesn’t it? Take note though, that though 100% Gempak Starz is running for three days, the cosplay competition will only be on one day (21st November, Saturday).

Not entirely sure if I’ll be free enough to go, but will try to make it for this event. See you guys there (hopefully)!!

In a few days, friendly neighbourhood Animax will be hosting at event down at Times Square.

Seems like they’ve got lots of activities planned- for one, being there means you could be one of the first few to watch “Inuyasha - The Final Act” outside of Japan (They’re actually going to be screening episode 1). Also, I hear something about a giant Inuyasha flash card display… will be screening at the event from 11AM~12PM (2 screenings)”]

A look at the schedule for this event shows more interesting things. Looks like there will be flash mobs of cheerleaders.. Makes me want to attend this event. ^^;

Another attractive point is a lucky draw prize of RM1,000- to qualify for this lucky draw, all you need to do is join in the giant flash card display I mentioned earlier on. Not too hard a task. If you’ve got a day to spend, why not?

Anyway, here are the details for this event:

If you’re going, I personally suggest staying from 11AM~3PM. That’s where all the exciting stuff is.

Well, that’s it folks. I may or may not see you there. Got some personal things to attend to. ^^;

-and that’s about my best shot of Minorin. If you’re here looking for photos of her, you’ve come to the wrong place.

Well anyway, let’s get straight to it.

The Q&A Session

At around 5PM, we were told we could move in and find our seats already. As I had mentioned in my DaiCon convention post, I thought the seats with the huge VIP stuck on to them were the seats for AWSM ticket holders, and so I begun my search for my seat in those rows. I quickly found out that this was not the case, and that my seat was really in the third row from the front. (°A°;;)

I moved to my seat, and noticed that e-jump was in the seat right beside me. I had a great time chatting with him and the folks around.

It was a while before the Q&A session actually started. If my memory serves me right, it was about 5:40/50+PM when Minorin finally walked in. Everyone was shouting, “MINORIN” at the top of their lungs, and pretty much going crazy. Before Minorin had arrived, we were told we were not allowed to go on-stage to take photos. As soon as Minorin made it to the center of the stage, chaos ensued, and everyone rushed up front, forming a mob of both official and non-official photographers. I joined in, but too late, as there was no good place to shoot from, and my height does not help.

I had originally planned to record the Q&A session with both my mp3 player and by taking down notes, but gave up on the first. I did do the latter, but only at about half-way through, since prior to that, I was busy enjoying Minorin’s voice and trying to take pictures of her (at which I failed miserably. I blame this on not thinking of bringing my tripod, and a crappy DSLR).

Before I share my record of the Q&A session, I must complain- the VIP seats were never filled, leaving us just that much further from Minorin. But worse than that, some of the official photographers (and bloggers?) took the liberty of filling those seats themselves. As one who paid for front row seats, I just felt that this was unfair. As you can see in the photo above, a photographer/blogger/NINGEN obstructs the view. Yes, I am butthurt. (ò_ó )

Let’s get on to the Q&A panel record (Note: The following are rough quotations and translations):

Q: Among all the characters you have played, which character’s personality matches yours the most?

A: Mmm.. I’d have to say Shirakawa Nanaka from Da Capo. (Minorin then goes on to detail how their personality matches, but I can neither remember, nor did I note it down)

Q: Do you have any role models?

A: As a voice actor, Hisakawa Aya. I first met her during my debut as Natsume Aya in Tenjou Tenge. She took good care of me, and was like an elder sister to me. As a singer, Yutaka Ozaki, because he really knows how to express himself through his music and singing.

Q: What do you think about the food here? (And later,) I heard you ate prawns?

A: I enjoy the curry. Ah, yes! I love the “sambal udan(g)”.

Q: How did you start your career as a voice actor?

A: I actually began by attending a music school, learning about singing. Through my time there, some of the staff took notice of my voice and personality, and suggested that I try out as a voice actor. I did so, and after some hard work, I made my debut in Tenjou Tenge.

Q: Could you share with us funny or interesting experiences as a voice actor or singer?

A: Hmm.. Ah, there was this one time when I was playing the role of Nagato Yuki. Kyon (that’s how I remember her referring to Tomokazu Sugita) was supposed to read from the script, but suddenly began to ad lib instead. I thought that was really amazing.

For a more complete (and perhaps, more accurate) record of the Q&A session, you can visit bj0rn’s blog, or Quazacolt’s blog.

Somewhere in between those final questions (I do not remember when exactly), after the Q&A session was opened to the audience, the following exchange took place:

*Minorin chooses a guy with Chiaki headgear to ask a question*

Chiaki guy: (Softly and unclearly, he says) Are you married?

Translator: He says, “Please marry me”

Minorin: EH?! *hides her face for a while, presumably giggling* What do you like about me? ^^;

Chiaki guy: (Again, very softly and unclearly) Nothing really.. (I heard him say, “ベつニ..”)

Translator: You have to speak louder, we can’t hear you.

Chiaki guy: *thinks a while* Your voice.

Minorin: Thank you. But I’m not thinking about getting married yet, and would like to focus on my career.

By the end of it, I was щ(°A°;;щ)

What a waste of a question.

After the Q&A session finished, the autograph session began. This went along for quite a while, which left me rather upset since I had to rush off to another event elsewhere. Oh well. The length of the autograph session could not be helped.

At about 7:20PM, the autograph session finally came to a close, and Minorin gave her closing words. I did not note down what she said, but her last line was most memorable..

“マレーシアは最強だ！このバカ野郎！！”

The Concert

On day 2, I decided to arrive at DaiCon just before the concert, since there is nothing to do at the place anyway. Turned out to be a wise choice, as when I got there, all the lights were off, and lots of the sponsors were packing up. I’ll not go into detail about that though.

At about  3:10PM, we were allowed to enter to find our seats. To my delight, there were some goodies on the AWSM and some ELITE seats.

Left to right: Red light stick, Minorin flag, blue light stick, a notice from MSS, some Animax advertisement nobody really cares about.

The light sticks were kindly provided by some Malaysian and Singaporean fans (thanks guys), you can read more about their project (in its early stages) here. The flag and notice are from Minorin Smile Seasons (Minorin fanclub from Japan).

Aside from the goods, I was also pleased to find that the VIP seats were now reduced to one row, meaning I was now in the second row from the front. \o/

Soon enough the concert began, and the rest is a memory too good to share with mere words. It was.. phenomenal, to say the least. Indeed, as great as an experience as it was, there is not much for me to say.

I had kind of hoped to see 6 violinists in the background during the concert though. (´·ω·` )

As usual, no photography was allowed during the concert. Not like I would’ve gotten any decent pictures anyway. (´-ω-`;; )

Well, that pretty much sums up my concert experience. I left shortly after the concert ended, and that was it.

Now, curse my bad taste if you will, but I’d love to see school food punishment next year. (òωó )