The circus comes and goes, but the one held by AniManGaki will forever stay in our hearts. Held at the Mines International Exhibition & Convention Centre (MIECC) on the 31st August and 1st September, this event surely provided us the wonderful magic of circus fun for each and every attendee present.
We’ve compiled a few of our favourite highlights so you can catch up on what you may have missed at AniManGaki 2019 or even soak yourself in more of that post-event nostalgia.
Stage Events
Merdeka! As AniManGaki this year falls right on our beloved nation’s Independence Day, the crew and even the audience weren’t shy in showing our national pride first thing in the morning. Even certain bands joined in the spirit by including some patriotic songs into their setlist too!
AniManGaki Idol 2019: 1v1
Is it just me or did this year’s stage seem more nerve-wrecking than before? Having to stand on stage while awaiting the judges’ decision on who gets eliminated and who will remain on the stage, certainly gives both the audience and participants a whole bunch of anticipation and anxiousness. Through many rounds of either defending your winning title on stage or taking control of the stage, Kazuki Tai managed to secure his spot as the champion of AniManGaki’s 1v1 with Reina C. coming close behind at 1st Runner Up.
It was nice to see AniManGaki making an effort to connect with the crowd too as this year there was even a People’s Choice Award! The audience can vote via Facebook poll to see the participant (eliminated or not) that they fell in love with, get the acknowledgement they deserve too and Hayate Konno definitely felt it as she won the award!
AniManGaki Cosplay PvP
It’s the second year with the big screens – literally! The LED screen returns with more ways for each team to exploit to their advantage. This year – Team BOBA-NATION decided to have a more simplistic yet detailed approach for their video effect and let’s say with their well-rehearsed performance, they really put on a show! With their well-choreographed and in-sync movements, they mesmerized the crowd, astounding all of us.
The team brought out their best and they have gotten the best in return! A chance at Comic Fiesta’s prestigious invite only cosplay competition – Cosplay Invitational and also RM 2,500 worth of loot befitting of the champions.
Kei Takebuchi Concert Time!
Having no pictures and videos allowed at the concert might be a bummer for some but to me, it is a splendid idea. Simply because it allows the audience to focus on the performance rather than focusing on filming the performance, giving it this disturbance-free feeling for both the individual and the people surrounding them.
Kei’s voice really carried through the hall as she sang titles that transcend time from recent songs like One Ok Rock’s The Beginning and Goosehouse’s Hikaru Nara to oldies like Kiroro’s Mirai and Utada Hikaru’s First Love. But, the best song goes to her new single, In This Blanket, as she serenaded us with her melodious voice. Her single album were sold like hotcakes as soon as she finished her encore! If that is not clear-cut on how good she is, then I don’t know what is.
Off-Stage Activities
Panels
Panels are a great way to take a break from all the hustling and bustling of cosplayers, photographers and volunteers on the floor. The one we went to was Aqlif Putra’s Kursus Kejayaan E-gadis and it offered us a bundle of laughs. However, you may need to have a certain degree of understanding of the Malay language for some of his jokes to get to you. Nonetheless, Aqlif brought out the comedian inside him and ended the panel with a bang as he was escorted out by military cosplayers to prevent the rise of E-gadis. Kudos to Aqlif for preparing such a entertaining panel for us!
No Straight Roads
On the way heading to the stage, you might have seen a pop-up booth filled with big character cutouts, a drum set and an electric guitar. That was Metronomik’s upcoming game known as No Straight Roads! The booth offered attendees to try out the latest demo to have a rough feel of the gameplay while getting some official game merchandises as freebies. The demo featured one of their in-game boss, DJ Subatomic Supernova – a DJ that throws planets at you! The phototaking area looked busy too with fans awaiting their turn.
Talking about Malaysian spirit, this game was created exclusively by Malaysians led by Wan Hazmer himself. It has also been accredited by multiple awards internationally even before the game has been fully released! Be proud Malaysians!
AniManGaki Gaming Area
With the combined effort of ATO Online Store and Infinite Carnage, they pulled an amazing display of multiple types of games ranging from console games like Super Smash Bros Ultimate to arcade games like Dance Dance Revolution and Taiko. This year, they even had a gigantic screen for those interested in playing Just Dance. Each game required a certain fee to be paid but they were all very affordable for participants to put their game on!
Their Tekken and Smash Ultimate tournaments also drew in many fans around the area to witness the epic showdown together. The final battle was shown on the big screen too!
The Move From Sunway To MIECC
Is MIECC a good location? First, let’s talk about the pros of the venue. The venue offered a large space for both cosplayers, exhibitors and normal congoers to enjoy the free moving space. It also provided the much needed space for the doujin and cosplay booths to finally be separated! The widening of the aisles were also a good initiative as attendees can now browse through their favourite artist booths without being squeezed like cans of tunas! There was also a lot more space for cosplayers and photographers alike to hang around outside the convention centre making gatherings and such easier to be held.
Now, the downside is that the lighting inside the hall, mainly at the Cosplay Alley area, is quite bad, making photography both via mobile or camera to be of lesser quality. Mobile phone and data connection around the convention area was also quite bad at certain areas.
The other downside is that, it was too spacious. Don’t get me wrong, I really loved the space, but there were some sections of the hall that just felt too empty. The spacious area created this overall feeling that there were less crowd, generating lesser hype than I would usually feel at AniManGaki. The stage area took the biggest damage, whereby for some performances it just felt too roomy although the number of audience may be the same as it was back in Sunway.
Circus’ Next Appearance?
AniManGaki 2019 has officially tore down their tents for the year leaving us attendees with the need of coming back for more fun and games, laughter and joy, and a wondrous pack of jubilee the next round it comes. We applaud them for taking many initiatives and continuously evolving to a better version for us attendees. Will they stay? Will they move places? So many questions but I’m sure they’ll surprise us again once more!
We hope to see what other splendid ideas they have in store for us in the coming years ahead! Until then, tell us what was your favourite part of AniManGaki 2019, and what was your most memorable experience during this event? Let us know in the comments below!
