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Author: EMiNACyber
Category: Event
AniManGaki (AMG) might be a niche back when it first started in 2009, but it has slowly coasting towards a better event that anyone would have a tale to tell when they return back to their homes. But like any other event out there, AMG had its ups and downs in the past, but let’s leave that in the past due to the fact that AMG 2014 was such an impressive improvement from its previous year.
First of all, we would like to congratulate the committees of AniManGaki, its volunteers and anyone who helped in bringing the event to life for reaching 11,500 visitors total for both days. It is a great number and all of us hope that it’ll soar to a greater number next year.
We arrived at the registration booth at 9.30 a.m. alongside the members who couldn’t contain their excitement for this year’s AMG. Since most of our members have bought the early bird tickets a week early from the event date, it’s a lot less troublesome as there was no need to queue the long line to enter the event hall.
The first thing that we saw when we entered under the cardboard Torii was the Touhou section. It goes without saying that Touhou is one of the elements that molded AMG. It has been with AMG since the beginning, and probably will remain with it into the future. There were stacks of merchandise and a screen showcasing the game with fluent commentary from the host, keeping us entertained as we moved towards another booth in the space outside the hall. Even though it still felt a bit bland and there was a lot of unused open space, there’s always a “room” for improvement.
Other than Touhou, most of the area outside the hall was filled with booths with things like trading card games such as Vanguard and Weiss Schwarz, where players can duel it out with each other or hang around at the store next to it to ponder on which merchandise they should buy. Next to the AMG Omatsuri area is a booth where they’re showcasing an the South-East Asian version of an online game called Phantasy Star Online 2 which only cost RM20.00 for a physical copy. It was a steal for those who haven’t gotten their copy yet.
Upon entering the event hall on the first day, we were impressed. This year, AMG has finally managed to acquire the entirety of the hall for its event and it was filled with assorted booths and items alike. There were collectibles and figures worth over thousands of ringgit lined up on a desk more than 20m in length. SWMFC (Star Wars Malaysia Fan Club) showcased some special artifacts from their ‘Peperangan Bintang‘ which tandems our cultural attribute of Shadow Puppets and Star Wars. The show has been around since 2012 and has been getting its share of fame globally and it’s worth checking out.
The highlight for the first day was surely Animenz. At 11.45 a.m. we had a grand music recital by him with his piano at the side of the event stage, which was an appetizer for what’s to come on the night of the first day, the Animenz LIVE. His sleek performance of when playing the piano mesmerized the whole hall and has became the center of attention. Also, don’t forget to click the link if you want the review of Animenz LIVE on the Day 1 night.
The AMG Idol for this year is participated by 12 people in the audition but only a few of them will remain for the finals on the second day. AMG Idol is basically a competition for those who can sing and sway the audience into sheer excitement on stage. The same goes for the Cosplay Competition where each group will perform a skit and make an endeavor to win the spotlight for the finals on the second day. While we love to expound some more information for the first day, we believe the results on the second day will be much more exciting.
The rest of the event was filled with more prize give-aways and lots if band and solo performances, though we did noticed that this year has much less bands that performed than the previous year. But then again, it wasn’t as deserted as if only with the backdrop was there.
En marche to the second day of the AMG, only half of our group members went as we did not allocate a bus for that day, but that didn’t impede our media representative from taking note of what’s going on the second day. Most of our members attended it by carpooling with the club committees.
With the left-over heat from the Animenz performance on the previous night, we were expecting that it won’t be that much to look forward to for on the second day, but there were still plethora of stuff that people would be enticed with. The AMG committees have cleverly arranged both days so that the fun will be much longer and there’s a solid reason for people to attend it. The highlight for the second day was stayxxxx due to her special appearance during the afternoon where she spent more 30 minutes on-stage with her assistant, Loki, which translated her statements. Although, the questions were pre-defined, it was a great interview session nonetheless, and we made it convenient for you to follow the whole interview by providing a transcript here.
The prize give away was great. The prizes wasn’t something that you can buy cheaply but rather something that’s rather expensive. The prize giving was dine by handing them out in orderly fashion to the swarm of people flocking in front of the stage. It is something that’s quite unheard of. Unlike some a certain other big ACG event we know, this is one of the great things that AMG has done for this year event.
The best thing about the second day isn’t all about stayxxxx unless you’re a huge fan of her, but rather the finals and results for both the Cosplay Competition and AMG Idol. The judges for the Cosplay Competition were Kazuko, Angie and stayxxxx. The groups that manage to wade through the preliminaries were PKCC, Kana, Samurai Unicorn and Shinpi-Monogatari. Each of them were tasked with a specific theme and which they had to perform on stage in order to win the competition.
The results for the Cosplay Competition are:
AniManGaki Idol’s results are:
With Alissa winning this year AMG Idol’s, each of the members of the triumvirate of the Harmonia group has won the competition at least once. It’s quite a feat to hold.
The second day AMG ended with a powerful banging arrangement of music by DJ Dave while the rest of the exhibitors and doujin booth owners packed everything up. It was a great way to keep us occupied for the last bit moments of the event. It was all fun and jumpy until the last moment where the PC was suddenly turned off and it ruined the whole exalted atmosphere. Good Caesar, that the DJ took over the last song with his own laptop and saved the session.
