Anime Festival Asia 2009 expects to draw regional fans with top names from Japan confirmed.

Programme packed line-up targets anyone interested in Japanese Popular Culture by offering a wide showcase of the hottest trends from Japan.

(Singapore, October 7th, 2009) – The organisers of Anime Festival Asia 2009 (AFA09) have doubled the excitement level of AFA09 with the announcement of ‘first time out of Japan’ exclusive contents with the Hatsune Miku LIVE! Performance at AFA09’s “I Love Anisong” music concert on Saturday, 21st November, and a LIVE! K-ON Experience with guest appearances from the voice actresses of K-ON! on Sunday, 22nd November. Fans of Japanese popular culture from the region will be the first out of Japan to experience these live acts at AFA09.

“Anime Festival Asia is geared towards bringing together the community to celebrate all things they love, and to provide a platform for the regional and local anime generation to gain direct access to very exclusive content never before available in this part of the world. This is an exciting time for us; as we look to bring new dimensions to the festival this year!” said Shawn Chin, Executive Festival Director, Anime Festival Asia.

Virtual Idol Live Performance at AFA09 “I Love Anisong” Music Concerts

Virtual Idol Hatsune Miku will make her official stage debut outside of Japan, as part of AFA09’s “I Love Anisong” music concerts, where she will be performing live on stage. Created from Crypton Future Media’s voice synthesis software DTM (Desktop Music), Hatsune Miku utilises a speech synthesis system produced by Yamaha called VOCALOID2, which enables the user to create a song by utilizing sounds samples of various annunciations by a real human being. When combined with various available 3D rendering software, like Miku Miku Dance, Miku can then ‘perform’ on a virtual platform. Miku has become a big hit in Japan and around the world; she has even released albums of her covering popular songs and original ones composed by various underground artistes!

2009’s Hottest Japanese Anime Cast Appearance –K-ON! Girls ‘Live’ on Stage

K-ON! is perhaps the hottest anime out of Japan this year. The appearance of the voice cast will be a highly anticipated event at AFA09. The girls will be performing a live dubbing session of a scene from the anime itself. Fans of the show can get to know more about the series during a question and answer session after the dubbing session. Interested fans will have to submit the questions in advance via the AFA09 website.

Top Japanese Anime Studios at AFA09

AFA09 has confirmed that two major animation production companies will participate within the Industry Showcase in the main event hall. More Anime Studio participation will be announced at a later date.

Tatsunoko Productions is an animation production company founded in 1962, and known to create anime blockbusters such as Speed Racer, Gatchaman, and Macross. The animation company also co-produced the blockbuster anime, Neon Genesis Evangelion together with Gainax. In 2005 the company produced Karas, an anime that mirrors Tokusatsu as their 40th Anniversary work.

MADHOUSE Studio is a leading animation studio, founded in 1972. It has created and aided in the production of many well known titles, starting with TV anime series Ace o Nerae! in 1973, and including western favourites Ninja Scroll, Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust, Trigun and Di Gi Charat. Their most recent works are Chaos;Head, Deathnote, Needless, and the highly acclaimed movie production The Girl Who Leapt Through Time.

Japan’s leading manufacturer for anime and cosplay merchandise at AFA09

COSPA, Japan's leading manufacturer for anime, cosplay and gaming merchandise has confirmed that it will have a presence at AFA09. With a global fan base, COSPA will draw collectors from around the region who wish to purchase COSPA’s range of high quality designer apparel, lifestyle goods and accessories from popular titles such as Little Busters!, Neon Genesis Evangelion, D.C. II, Black★Rock Shooter, and K-On!. Promotions, goods and special merchandise that will be released at AFA09 will be announced at a later date in November via www.afa09.com

First Singapore Championship tournament for Weiβ Schwarz Grand Prix

Bushiroad, the leader in Japanese trading card games, will introduce its increasingly popular trading card game titles, spearheading with Weiβ Schwarz. This year, Singapore’s first Weiβ Schwarz Grand Prix will be held at AFA09 and the winner will represent Singapore at the World Grand Prix Championship, to be held in Japan in December! Seasoned players will be available, giving tutorials to any attendees who are interested to learn more about the game and providing personal guidance to aspiring players at the AFA09 Bushiroad booth.

“We are really excited to be partnering with Anime Festival Asia for its second event to introduce COSPA and Bushiroad to visitors,” said Sharon Lee, director of Genesis Frontier LLP. “As the official Southeast Asian agent for COSPA and the official partner for Bushiroad, we are proud to represent these two top leading brands from Japan at AFA09. The festival has positioned itself as the region’s most prominent event for the anime fan, or anyone just curious about Japanese popular culture. We are extremely excited to meet these fans who will be visiting AFA09 and we hope you will enjoy experiencing the excitement and joy COSPA and Bushiroad goods will bring,” added Sharon.

“We are really excited to be partnering with Anime Festival Asia for its second event to introduce COSPA and Bushiroad to visitors,” said Sharon Lee, director of Genesis Frontier LLP. “As the official Southeast Asian agent for COSPA and the official partner for Bushiroad, we are proud to represent these two top leading brands from Japan at AFA09. The festival has positioned itself as the region’s most prominent event for the anime fan, or anyone just curious about Japanese popular culture. We are extremely excited to meet these fans who will be visiting AFA09 and we hope you will enjoy experiencing the excitement and joy COSPA and Bushiroad goods will bring,” added Sharon.

###

General Ticketing Information for AFA09

General Public Ticket
S$15 for 1 Day Ticket
S$25 for Weekend Pass

Student Concession:
S$12 for 1 Day Ticket
S$20 for Weekend Pass

Free Entry for Children aged 12 and below.

‘I LOVE ANISONG Concert Ticket Prices

Concert 2-Day Pass
(on sale from 19 Oct)
S$188 for 2 Day Pass

Concert 1-Day Pass
(on sale from 26 Oct)
S$108 for 2 Day Pass

All general tickets can be bought at the door or through online pre-registration for weekend passes only. Pre-registrants need not queue up on show days to collect their tickets! For the “I LOVE ANISONG’ Music Concerts, customers can purchase tickets from SISTIC counters or at www.sistic.com.sg for the two-day music event.

“I LOVE ANISONG’ Music Concerts
21st November - Ichirou Mizuki and Shoko Nakagawa. Special appearance by Hatsune Miku.

22nd November - Yoshiki Fukuyama and May’n

For more information on AFA09, please www.afa09.com.

- end -

About SOZO

SOZO represents a cutting edge entertainment and youth-marketing driven company. Made up of a diverse talented pool of industry professionals, SOZO is focused towards developing animation and entertainment content and service platforms geared at engaging young adults at both regional and global levels. SOZO’s main mission is focused on delivering highly entertaining pop culture experiences, contents and products that will constantly engage, thrill and excite this young and restless market.

About I-PROMO

I-PROMO is an Integrated Marketing Communications Agency specializing in innovative ways to effectively market brands. I-PROMO is a subsidiary of Kingsmen Creative Ltd and provides businesses with multi-dimensional marketing programmes. With turnkey services that include novel promotional tools, promotions strategy, design, fabrication, installation and creation of environmental graphics, I-PROMO helps clients to generate sales and also build brand image with signature and lifestyle events that appeal to targeted customers.

About Dentsu Singapore

A wholly owned subsidiary of Japan’s Dentsu Inc. and an ‘Asian-born’ agency, Dentsu Singapore is a fully integrated communications agency, providing total communications solutions to both regional and local clients. The Dentsu network dates back to 1901 and has at its disposal powerful network support and resources. According to Ad Age Global, it is now the world’s number one agency brand and the biggest among all major networks in Asia. Dentsu for many years has also ventured into many successful anime franchises and has a dedicated entertainment and contents division overseeing its operations.

About Bandai

Bandai is the third largest producer of toys in the world. Originally called "Bandai-ya", Bandai was founded by Mr Naoharu Yamashina in 1950. The origin of the word "bandai" comes from an old Chinese expression: "bandai fueki", meaning 'everlasting' or 'eternal'. Bandai’s founder, Mr. Yamashina, felt that these words expressed his wish that Bandai be a company which, in his words, "makes products that please people of all generations, irrespective of the times - a firm that will develop and grow forever and ever". Today, Bandai has gone on to become firmly established as Japan's leading general toy manufacturer, and the company continues to blaze new trials in various fields of entertainment.

About SANYO

SANYO Electric Co., Ltd. (SANYO) is a multi-billion-dollar global leader in providing solutions for the environment, energy and for lifestyle applications based on its Brand Vision ‘Think GAIA’. SANYO Energy (S) Corporation is a division of SANYO’s component group. SANYO Energy (S) Corp. is based in Singapore and markets high quality battery products in the regions of Asean, Indian Subcontinent, Middle East and Africa.

About Animax

Animax is the first pan-regional 24-hour cable and satellite TV channel dedicated to the fastest growing youth entertainment genre – Japanese anime. Watched by over 50 million viewers in 2007, Animax Asia is now seen in over 29 milllion homes and 20 countries across Asia. Wholly-owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, Animax Asia broadcasts six dedicated, highly customized services for Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, South Asia, Southeast Asia and the Philippines.

For media queries or request for images, please contact:

Florence Ang
Red Dawn Communications
Phone: (65) 6222 4704
Mobile: (65) 9691 1404
Email: florence@reddawnpr.com