I Vlog U Watch #7
Another vlog is up! This time, I try to keep the vlog flowing like a nice storyline. From me dyeing my hair to the events I went to within the week of turning my hair pink:
I do hope you guys like this kind of more organised vlogging manner. Oh and check out this anime picture of me I got from Manga de Japan booth at C3AFA.
It is so cute! Now I know this is what I look like if I'm a cartoon. I like how they even added my 2 tone hair in the cartoon! It is so precise. I do wonder how did they do it. All they did was take my front profile and side profile. Why did they even take my side profile. Hmmp...
Before I touch on more details of AFA, Here are the 3 activities that I touched on in the vlog before the big one (AFA is the big one!)
Where I turned my hair Ombre Pink
All that should be touched on, have been touched on. You can read the full process and review on JJ Hair Identity Salon here.
Philatelic Store @ GPO
This was such a fun media event. We get to see stamps, philatelic merchandises and make new friends (And show the world my pink hair). You can check out more about the Philatelic Store @ GPO here.
Himalaya Herbals Lip Balm DIY Sugar Scrub
I'm not sure if I'm scrubbing my lips or the floor. See the campaign that got me leaving sugar all over my floor here
🎥 See the results of the 'photoshoot' | Watch the video on how to DIY a lip scrub here.
Finally, we are going to touch on the main event of the post, C3AFASG!
C3AFA Singapore - Anime Festival Asia 2017
Yeah, I finally head to AFA again after 5 years. The last time I was at AFA it was in 2012 you can see my posts here: Part 1 | Part 2 . I don't remember much of it except that it was smaller than STGCC. Now, I am back. Unlike 5 years ago, I am more into the Japanese culture now than I was then. Thus, I was hyped to learn that I have not miss 2017 AFA's date 2 months ago, as written in my previous vlog post here. Therefore, I marked down the dates and await for the convention.
This year, AFA is bigger, better and filled with so many cosplayers, booths, creators and attendees! I was so lucky to be able to make it this year, I was so excited. Of course, I dragged The Boyfriend along with me since he have never been to such conventions. For a closeted Otaku like myself, this was such an abomination. How could someone not been to such convention before?! He simply have to go! Thus, we traveled far and wide, all the across Singapore to a piece of my heaven.
Various Booth
There were so many booths in the exhibition hall, there's even an area where creators can host their own booth too. It was exciting to see so man like-minded people gathered together.
Bandai Namco
The first booth we entered is Bandai Namco. There were various figurines on display and even the anime's costumes. It's always nice to see anime being incorporated in real life.
Various figurines
Next, we walked around and see various booths and other figurines and merchandises as well. Well making our way from one booth to another, we were surrounded by so many people. There were also plenty of photo taking booths, some lucky draw booths and other interesting booths as well.
Manga de Japan Games Booth
One of the most hands-on booth is Manga de Japan. There were a few stations there. One station offering VR baseball, one offering you to throw baseball in the holes, two photo taking booths and another lucky draw booth. All you had to do was to like their Facebook page, subscribe to their newsletter or more to participate and get a mini prize at each booth. It was so fun, not only because of the little presents we get at every station, but the interactive activities as well. Oh and one of the lucky draw present we got is the animated drawing of myself - as posted at the top of the page.
Ikemen Series
Ikemen Series is actually a game that features these handsome anime kings and knights. While I was there, there was an ongoing autograph session. They had free Ikemen Series paper bag too.
Black Butler
Next, we head to the Black Butler booth. Inspired by the popular anime, this booth is filled with various Black Butler objects and even standees of their main characters. There's even a Black Butler soft serve as well. However, since I am not a huge fan of Black Butler, I did not purchase that.
Mofy
This is one of the cutest booths I saw. That cute white rabbit sleeping on the pile of cotton is too kawaii!
Daifukukun
Next, I have never seen this character before. So when I see people in the booth skipping, I was confused. Upon much inspection, I think this is either a Mochi or a bun. I'm still not very sure.
Go Go Power Rangers
At the BHK World booth, there is this cute Domo gif photo booth. You can see my photo here. While waiting for my photos to print, I spotted this group of power rangers. It's so fun to see cosplayers around the convention. It's like you're in the zone where all these animes/ cartoons collide during their break time. The zone where time comes to a stop and everyone can finally take a break. I looking too deep into this.
Domo Capsule
At the other side of the Domo booth, there's this Domo capsule balloon. Basically you can write a message to your future self and drop it into this Domo. don't know if you will ever get that message but it seemed interesting enough. Initially I wanted to do this activity but the tables were full so we were asked to come back after a few minutes, then we forget about it.
Indoor Stage
The surrounding of the indoor stage was packed. By that I mean, Sardines. There is no way to go across but to go a huge round from. Even by going that way you have to wobble like a penguin. While wobbling back and forth from one side of the stage to another and then back again, I did notice the performances. I like how there are no breaks in between. They brought in amazing violin performances, Singapore comedian and many other performances. One performance that I can't get out of my mine is the Wotagei The Singapore Wotagei Community - read on to know what is Wotagei.
The only time you can see Otaku exercising - Wotagei
Firstly, Wotagei is a dance. A dance that is only performed by Idol Otakus that are very into girl bands. It is apparently performed to cheer their idols on. As a closeted Otaku or should I say a not so otaku, Otaku, I was confused. I was also fascinated by the amount of Otakus waving their arms in a circular motion at the same time. It's one thing to see Otakus out of their house but it's another thing to see them actually exercising. Personally, I think the inventor thought Otakus sit in front of their computers too muchand thus they invented Wotagei - This is a joke, please do not take offend.
All in all I think Wotagei is a great dance. You should see how synchronize everyone is. It's impressive. I like how it help the Idol Otakus express themselves in this unique way. Just as how the people in the dinosaurs express themselves by wearing inflatable dinosaur suits and flare around.
Omurice & Fried Chicken with Love Sauce
Omurice, a trending Japanese food item all over the internet now. An item that is also retailed in AFA food hall. Since it was there and he was hungry so we decided to purchase it. While queuing for our omurice, I spotted the most interesting sign at another food stall - fried chicken with love sauce. What in the world is love sauce? The more I stared at the sign, the more I wonder. Soon, curiosity got the best of me and I squeezed through the crowd and got myself a portion.
As the Japanese owner thanked me for the purchase, I stared curiously at the pink sauce on the sticks of fried chicken and wonder. Not many food item can be used to dye other food pink. The most natural pink/red food dye is beetroot. Aside from that, I could not tell what the diced pieces above were - at least by sight.
It seems that sitting on the floor for a meal is a norms in this exhibition. Thus we found an area behind the stalls and settle on the floor for a meal too. We started with the Omurice. Topped with tomato sauce and dried basil, the Omurice's presentation looked perfect. For a hefty price of S$8, the portion was rather small - as big as one's palm. The omelette above was left in the pan for a little too long for although it does look slightly runny above, it does not taste runny. Whereas the bottom contained a cup of fried Japanese rice. There were no other ingredients mixed in the rice. Overall, I think the Omurice tasted more like omelet placed over plain fried Japanese rice.
Next, we tasted the fried chicken with love sauce. The million dollar question here is, What is the love sauce? As mentioned above, I believed one of the ingredients was beetroot. Not only because of the colour of the sauce, but the taste as well. It was sweet. It was interesting that they combined sweet and savory items together. Normally, that would not work but this time, I would said they complimented each other perfectly. Aside from that, I did find out what were the chunks in the sauce. It seems that they were caramelized onions. Those contributed to the sweetness as well.
In addition to that, the chicken were full of meat and warm as well. I like how the chickens were not overly coated with flour. All in all, I like the fried chicken with love sauce. S$4 for 2 sticks of fried chicken with sauce is still quite steep in normal circumstances. However, since this is retailed in a convention hall, I think the price fit the bill.
Suzuki Spring Blue Sky Ramune
Ramune is a popular carbonated soft drink from Japan. In fact, it's the first ever soft drink to be commercialized in Japan. What's unique about Ramune is, how it uses a marble to seal it's drinks. It is also in a codd-neck shape bottle that stops the marble from dropping to the bottom of the bottle. To open this, you use the device provided with the cap to push the marble down into the bottle. It was such a sight to see when the marble dropped into the carbonated water. That is the only reason why I bought it.
Oh and Ramune is called Ramune because it's Lemonade in Japanese. Ok, the shorter form of lemonade in Japanese. It is name after a lemonade for it is a lemonade. If Ramune is lemonade then what is Suzuki Spring Blue Sky? Well, I don't know for all in all when I tasted it, it tasted like a confusing carbonated mint medicine. However, that was all very subtle so the drink is still drinkable.
My AFA 2017 Loot
It was such a great day at C3AFA2017. AFA did evolve for the better since the last time I was there. Although I only bought 5 pieces of merchandise, I was still able to get so many freebies there! It was like as if Christmas came early for me. In conclusion, I don't know if I will be going to AFA again next year because I finally got what I have craved for all these years - my K-On!! stuff. Maybe I'll be back, in another 5 years.
What have I been doing when I'm not on IreviewUread
If you are not updated with my Instagram, you would have miss this important update where I was recently addicted to this mobile game. That fateful game is called, Animal Crossing Pocket Camp. I know, I know it's not as great as the original one but I have never played the original one before. Let's be real, nothing on mobile is ever better than the original DS/PSP/PS/XBox/Computer game that you bought from the stores. I mean look at The Sims. The Sims on computer vs Sims on mobile. The one on mobile is obviously fighting a losing battle - yes, I was very addicted to The Sims at many points of my life too. Ok, I get addicted to games easily be it on computer or mobile. As long as they are games - Ex-gamer problem.
The point is, I have somehow jumped to level 41 and I can't stop. I am even in the process of writing a fan fiction about them - will link it here when it's done - maybe after the fan fiction, my addiction will be cured. Maybe.