AniManGaki 2016
Wednesday, September 7, 2016
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AniManGaki! It’s great to be back at the event for the second year in a row. I’ve been eager to see what else AniManGaki has to offer and excited to step foot onto Malaysia’s shores again!
Dropping by main stage for a while, I watched this year’s
guest TAMusic Feat. Akai Ryuusei have a mini interview up on stage. It's really
impressive that he’s a one man production studio, with some amazing
sound tracks to his name. He was a really expressive person and his large
gestures added to the humour on stage.
I wasn’t disappointed, needless to say it’s gotten bigger
and better. While last year’s theme featured ‘sports’, this year’s theme featured
‘Pixel/Bits’ harking back to the origins of modern games today. While I’m
personally not any sort of hardcore gamer (unless you count playing visual
novels…ah haha), I still had lots of fun and interesting experiences at this
year’s AniManGaki~
Feeling more at ease with the overall crowd this year than
the last, I feel like I really got into the vibe that I so loved last year.
While the first time was about trying to experience everything – like gorging
myself on a really nice burger. This time I wanted to savour the event spirit
and really try to experience the event. So here’s bringing you short snippets
of my time there.
Scrolling through their website, I saw that AniManGaki was
offering their annual themed activity in the form of a puzzle. While I’m not
one for puzzle games, what really caught my attention was the really cute (not
to mention exclusive) prize. The prize being a really cute Nanoblock Keichan! By
the way, Keichan is AniManGaki’s mascot. I had my eyes set on the nanoblock,
determined to join the god-mode challenge and get my hands on one.
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| Here's the nanoblock Keichan designed by Malaysian based nano brick master - Christopher Tan! |
Signing up for a time slot to play the game, I had some time
to kill, and saw that the booth next to the puzzle challenge was fairly
interesting. Edging over, I was invited to sit down and have my face drawn onto
one of those CCG (collectible card game) cards, while I couldn’t take the card
home, I could take as many pictures as I wanted! Haha~ And while the lovely
Xanseviera (artist name) was drawing, I chatted with her about anime
conventions in general. While she hopes that she can come for a convention in
Singapore someday (please do!), I shared with her about how I loved AniManGaki’s
family atmosphere as well as how well the doujin scene is supported here in
Malaysia. The doujin section of the hall is always flooded with never ending
streams of people, getting to some booths is really like war.
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| Tah-Dah~ People and lots of em' |
Anyway, with skill, precision and speed, this was the
result of the CCG drawing!
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| The lovely Xanseviera! |
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| Sailor Neko was born~! Obviously, someone likes Sailor moon~ |
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| The wall of cards! |
Finally, steeling myself to brave the crowd, I plunged into
the doujin section of things. I bought some really pretty artworks from some
really talented artists.
Here we have some art by Ellie. Totoro in the night sky. And
some really nice fantasy based art. I was drawn to the whimsical art style and
I have a weak spot for beautifully rendered buildings as well (occupational
hazard…).
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| The purple colour scheme is really on point! |
Another nice picture of interiors! The girl really reminds
me of myself and my room (a messy room haha!). Sorry I couldn’t get the artists
name, the crowd just swept me along. Sometimes I think artists could really
secretly be interior designers.
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| The cat is a real bonus nya~ |
Walking down another row, an artist with a psyduck hat
caught my eye. It was time for a commission again this year! I love getting
commissioned artworks, it’s always kinda special in a way. Anyway, introducing
Reiko!
I was on the lookout for a watercolour commission of sorts
since I love watercolour myself. I requested for a fantasy themed picture, and
a few hours later, and I had something really pretty! But of course, I was in
the hands of a professional so no doubt that it’ll look good right? Haha~ I
chatted for a while as well, and learned that she’s an art graduate and this
was her second time at AniManGaki too. But she goes to Comic Festia (another
Malaysia convention) as well~
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| The detailing on the dress was really something I'd actually wear~ |
Last stop at a doujin booth for me was at a T-shirt booth.
But I didn’t get a chance to get my hands on the shirt though…sadly. They were custom
shirts that only shipped within Malaysia unfortunately, so no shirt for me who
lives in Singapore, but I was treated with some really nice watercolour art
again! Of buildings, again! (Yay~)
The artist Chair, was there to share with me his works of landmarks
in Kluang. See his cute caricature of himself on his name card? He really did
look like that! Haha~ My favourite of the seven postcards was the one of the
railway station.
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| Hope to visit Kluang one day~ |
Here’s the rapid fire round that TAMusic answered recorded
for you~ You can download the clip here!
Most painful questions:
Idolm@ster or Love Life?
And
Asuka or Rei?
And
Asuka or Rei?
After that, it was a run back to the puzzle game station for
me! It was time to take up the challenge! /cue dramatic music…!
Actually, it wasn’t all that dramatic… long story short, I
fought a valiant battle but people were much faster than me in completing the
puzzle…and so I didn’t get my hands on Kei-chan…but here’s the picture of the
puzzle below! We were only given 20 minutes to complete the puzzle with only
one glance at the completed picture.
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| Must say the artist who did the artwork is really good though~! |
That brings me to the end of AniManGaki 2016. I had a great
time talking to various people in the convention and I trust that next year can
only be bigger and better.
With that I shall leave you with two things:
One. A real life walking pokestop! (Fun fact: Most people in Malaysia are team Instinct according to some people I spoke to~)
And two. This really cute Umaru art.
Written by Neko
