Anime Festival Asia 2009

Anime Festival Asia 2009, or AFA09 for short, was held over 2 days in Singapore at the Suntec Singapore International Convention and Exhibition Centre. The event is in its second year running and is meant as a celebration of Japanese pop culture. And I’m sure it has been a tiring two days for organizers, exhibitors and visitors alike… I know I am. I trekked the event for 2 days and the aftermath are sore legs and the following field report of my experience this year.

 

Chara Hobby 2009

Chara Hobby 2009, a hobby convention, kicks off today at the Makuhari Messe. The event is scheduled to run for two days till 30th August 2009 and mainly features exhibiton and sales of hobby collectibles, notably figures. With coverages of the event reported by various figures sites and blogs, it’s time to take a look at the exhibited figures.

All information and photo sources are from Hobby Stock Blog, Akiba Hobby and Moeyo.

Volks Summer Figures Exhibition

It’s summer time in Japan and with it comes their traditional summer vacation. With most figure companies taking a break this past week, it has been fairly quiet in terms of new figures announcements. But with holidays come the usual dose of events. Comiket is probably the most significant one but Akiba Hobby brings to us another event by Volks who are showcasing their latest and upcoming figures in the works.

There are some really interesting figure news, either PVC or resin, and I shall shamelessly share my thoughts on some of these figures, starting with the PVCs. ^^”

 

Wonder Festival 2009 [Summer] Coverage

Wonder Festival 2009 [Summer], or WonFes, is finally upon us. For the uninitiated, WonFes is an event organized by Kaiyodo that primarily showcase the latest figure sculptures. It is traditionally held twice a year during the Winter and Summer season. This year’s Summer edition is even more highly anticipated due to the cancellation of the Winter edition earlier this year. The event has also been shifted from the usual site at the Tokyo Big Sight to Makuhari Messe, which provides an even bigger arena for the showcase.

Tokyo International Anime Fair 2009

Tokyo International Anime Fair (TAF) 2009 opens today at Tokyo Big Sight. The exhibition is the world’s largest anime exhibition and is currently into its 8th year. It is a 4 days event, with the first two days being business days (open to business associates and media) and the weekends open to the public.

The exhibition is primarily an anime convention, so not a lot of figure companies took part in the exhibition. The major ones that did include the likes of Bandai, Good Smile Company, Max Factory, Wave and Yamato. I will primarily look at the figures exhibited (quite a few new works) plus a quick scan at the Tokyo Anime Awards that will be handed out at the exhibition.

Miyazawa Mokei Exhibition

The 24th Miyazawa Mokei Exhibition took place today, with many major figure makers taking part in the event, including the likes of Alter, Daiki Kougyou, Good Smile Company, Happinet, Kotobukiya, Max Factory, Megahouse, Wave, Yamato, etc. There were many figures (and mechas) on display, although not many new ones. Here’s a quick run through on the newer figures on display and those that tickle my fancy.

From Alter’s booth, here’s a look at the painted prototype figure of their new 1/8 scale Kaaya, who is on public display for the first time.

 

WonHobby 9.5 – Quick Look

Due to the crowd congestion issues at WonHobby 9, Good Smile Company and Max Factory has scheduled a sequel event, WonHobby 9.5, to make up for those that were unable to attend the original event. While WonHobby 9.5 is open to the public for 2 days starting from tomorrow, we take an early look at the event, thanks to Akiba Hobby, as it is open to the media and business associates today.

This will not be a full look at the event, but rather, I will focus on a quick look at the figures that were not allowed for photography at the original event.

Treasure Festa In Mukuhari

Treasure Festa, an event showcasing primarilly garage kits and PVC figures, as well as some dolls and cosplay took place in Mukuhari Messe yesterday. Exihibitors mainly include independent sculptors while figure companies such as Volks and Griffon Enterprises also took part.

Do note that this is a links post to other blogs / sites that did a coverage on the event.

WonHobby 9 – Full Look

Today mark the 2nd major figures event in a week at UDX  Akiba Square with Good Smile Company’s and Max Factory’s [ Wonderful Hobby Life For You ], a.k.a. WonHobby 9. The event is primarily organized to be a showcase for Good Smile’s Nendoroids and Max Factory’s figmas, although there were scale figures on display as well.

Quite a few coverage reports on the event were up pretty fast. Here’s a look through at the event.

Megahobby Expo 2009 Winter – Full Look

I was originally intending to do a full coverage look at the event tomorrow when it is officially opened to the public. But seeing that the event was already opened for media today and with numerous coverage reports of the event already up, I decided to just go ahead with the look at the event today, hence edit of my preview post. 

The main organizers for the event is Megahouse and the invited exhibitors list include Alter, Hobby Japan, Eye Up and Sol International. The most exciting aspect of this event is of course the figures on display, and I will look at the event maker by maker.