[Zyl] Anime Festival Asia 2011 Day 1 & 2 Impressions

I walked around the commercial booths, I had pasta and coffee at the Moe Moe Kyun meido cafe, I attended the Chiwa Saito and AnoHana panels and, of course, the I Love Anisong concerts. Let's start with quick impressions of the latter. All the concerts were well attended by paying ticketholders - unlike last year when a large amount of unsold tickets were given out at the last minute to fill the venue space (this is based on hearsay but I heard it from two unrelated parties and I regard both as reliable).

MikuPa had the best turnout, the Main Stage (Suntec Exhibition Hall 402) was full and even invited AFA guests and artistes who had not bought tickets had to stand on the far left side of the hall which had seats A-Z and 1-45 (1,170 total). Assuming half of the "VIP" tickets (reserved seating) concert-goers bought only MikuPa (I Love Anisong Day One Only) tickets at SGD 148 and the other half bought Three Day packages which would cost SGD 125 for the first day, then a guesstimate of revenue generated by Vocaloid fans would amount to SGD 159,705. Assuming an equal number of standing tickets at SGD 48 each (sub-total of SGD 56,160), Miku, Rin & Len and Ruka, as well as their live band raked in SGD 215,865 (USD 167,068). Not bad for 100 minutes' work. And also quite respectable when compared to how the concert revenues of nine acts SeaA, Aniki, LiSA, FLOW, Kanako Ito + Chiyomaru Shikura, Milky Holmes, angela, Kalafina, and May'N, (using similar assumptions except seating was reduced from A-S) amounted to SGD 35,055 per act. The equal weight assigned to all nine acts is grossly unfair as it was clear that some acts pulled in way more tickets than others but this calculation usefully dramatizes the pulling power of Hatsune Miku and her brethen.

[Zyl] Hatsune Miku Live Party in Singapore 2011

It's time to play the music / It's time to light the lights

[Zyl] Hatsune Miku Live In Sapporo 2011 Screening

 "So... we're here to watch other people watch Miku?" wisecracked someone in the audience as the screening of the pre-recorded MikuPa Sapporo Live this year began. Golden Village had billed this as "Hatsune Miku Live Party 2011" (see photo of billboard) and had distributed light sticks but, aside from us, there was nothing "live" about the event.

This did not stop the audience from enjoying themselves to the fullest. As the concert screening went on, more and more attendees started applauding after songs and appearances by their favourite Vocaloids, gasping with pleasure when recognizing the opening strains of a favourite song, going "Ooooh" and "Aaaaaah" at various costume changes and special effects, calling out "Miku saikou!" (I wanted to heckle back "She can't hear you!" but would have really screwed with my own mind too much) and, of course, waving light sticks in tandem with the Sapporo audience.

I thought it was well worth the time and money because of the big screen, sound system and, most importantly, the atmosphere generated by having over 120 Miku fans together in the same venue; my favourite performance was Megurine Luka's RIP=Release; somehow it felt grander, more melancholic in terms of her singing and the languid dancing than what I saw on the 39's Giving Day BD.