Temporal Paralysis

So I guess every other freaking anime blogger that attended the presscon has blogged about this afternoon’s event that was held at Suntec City (wait, I thought it was supposedly held at iluma?). I do the readers here a favour: I will not rehash any more information than what these people had done already.

© Danny Choo. Also, you can spot who's who.

My intention is to bring my first impressions of the event, my feelings about it, and ultimately what I view about the entire thing altogether – I may even touch on the subculture in general –.

(General Warning: this post may, or may not, contain inflammatory content. Viewer discretion is advised… If I were you, get a thick skin and enter at your own risk. Details are after the jump. Also, if you’re particularly offended by my subsequent writings, I suggest you stop reading this, and move to other “self-affirming” websites.)

Now, partly, I am a bit muffled that people I know of, secured a presscon invitation beforehand. On hindsight, I’d let go of this stupid jealousy feeling because they’re unnecessary to my overall impressions of the event. The point is, I’m quite busy with work for the event, so in reality I’m just digressing here.

Now, the whole “there’s more coming up soon” sounds to me like tj_han’s problem with fitness gym memberships: to be honest, I believed the anisong artiste lineup is all there is to it, and expecting JAM Project and/or Maaya Sakamoto to come to this pithy people’s island republic is a public waste of time. That said, the lineup has brought on mixed reviews on both the Fukuyama and Shoko camps, partly because they see the other as “lesser equals.” (Obviously I would appreciate May’n's return to the event, and Aniki is always welcomed to Singapore, but all in all, these artistes are already good enough for Singapore. Seriously, don’t count your eggs before they hatch.) Apart from that, the seiyuu/singer/artiste lineup is expected to be the biggest draw for both casual anime fans and hardcore otaku.

The other attraction – the Regional Cosplay Championship – could be the greatest draw for any cosplayers in Southeast Asia. I suspect the Filipinos and the Thais will be the two countries lining up as a direct, head-on clash final because their cosplays are über-awesome compared to the majority “airport” Singaporeans. A certain top cosplayer will be lined up as a judge, so he expects great standards from the contestants – although I suspect Aniki will also participate in the panel judging, like what he did last year.

The “targetted” main attraction – the “Moe Moe Kyun~” Cosplay Maid Cafe – is supposedly going to tickle your inner pervert by roleplaying you as “a master” to the “maids” who will serve you with whatever that you’re ordering (it’s just a themed restaurant overlaced with cute). Judging from people’s experiences with the food served at such outlets in the Holy Akihabara See, I’m not one bit coy about this attraction. Ah, capitalism at its best. (You guys need to facepalm yourself for this.)

The supposed “industrial” conference – the Asia Animation Conference – will be reserved for businesses (Imaginary Friends Studio should prop up to mind) and other parties with vested interests in the animation industry to come and discuss. This is also a good place for “corporate-esque bloggers” to come and listen to Danny Choo – self-proclaimed millionaire living off his otaku life – and his great plans for getting rich quick.

The rest of the panels and attractions are nothing of importance to note.

Opinions

In my honest opinion, I’m not really sure whether to invest myself in this event, or I should just quit the anime scene altogether (as a drastic exaggerating last-resort measure).

As an amateur photographer, the draconian rules of photographing artistes during live performances is a put-off for me. Honestly speaking, I do not comprehend the minds of these otaku who are willing to drop hundreds of dollars and sweat and convenience to get a chance to see their favourite artiste who would eventually sign an autograph on a piece of white cardboard. Heck, even Nobuo Uematsu is willing to sign on anything the fans ask him to sign! And he’s supposed to be a great artiste! (Yeah, I did attend the Distant Worlds concert long time back.)

Nah, unless you have connections with the organizing committee and present yourself as a willing volunteer photographer – or trying stealth photography – I recommend you either bring your camera-enabled cellphone or portable digital camera, or don’t bring any at all. I’m of a proletariat mind, so fawning of idols puts them on a high pedestal of worship, which is bad (or rather, heresy, whichever religion you come from). I’d take an indie music event, thank you very much.

I’m not particularly angry or mad at any point of the presscon, but looking at a macro scale, I find my hobby increasingly becoming a commercial crapfest of dreg and pyramid schemes.

To put my words in a better analogy, the words “tourist trap” should help you out in describing the feeling I get from my anime hobby.

Anime Festival Asia 2009 looks like one big commercial behemoth aimed at parting its target audience with money. Having this foresight, means that I am pretty disturbed at the image. No longer is anime about a collective sharing of thoughts and ideas; it’s a consumerist culture where the consumer outside the talented circles (also known as doujin circles) are being constantly distracted to buy the latest figma/merchandise of their favourite anime character. It has become a wholly materialistic pursuit, one which I am disturbed, as if the consumer are willing to accept the pursuit of materialism.

(Yes, I understand the irony: anime subculture is always a pursuit of materialism: just look at the demand for loli dakimakuras!)

“On the flip side of things, you can get to meet old and new friends alike!” – this line can never get old, even for me, who once envision an optimistic viewpoint of the world. Indeed, it’s a good thing to see back old friends and make new ones. But I’m talking about Singapore: the one bloody country whose citizens readily gives up freedom for security! (If you ask me, co-opting the current dominant party into power since its independence is a pretty clear statement about Singaporeans in general.)

I will retort in advance that not all Singaporeans are louse, but in my general observation, most are.

And lastly, I am not a pretty big fan of Danny Choo. I appreciate his veracity for his passion for anime, and his desire to spread the love for anime to an eager audience. Yet, seemingly, to get into the best deals in the event (a.k.a. media passes, blogger passes, “special passes” etc.) means getting to acquaint oneself with the said man. It’s like he’d be the Übermensch for AFA 09. I can’t help it: the parent company of AFA ’09 originated from Japan, so I guess it’s their shot to get who’s who.

So for all that craptastic and pathetic excuse for a Devil’s advocate, will I still be attending this event?

The answer, coming up soon.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 1st, 2009 at 10:00 pm and is filed under Anime, Events, Miscellaneous. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.