C3AFA, also known as Anime Festival Asia (AFA), is a series of

anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...

conventions held in the

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

n region, with a core annual convention held in Singapore. The main convention is traditionally held over a weekend in late November to early December. It was held at the

Suntec Singapore International Convention and Exhibition Centre Suntec City is a major mixed-use development located in Marina Centre, a subzone of the Downtown Core in Singapore, which combines a shopping mall, office buildings, and a convention centre. Construction began on 18 January 1992 and was comple ...

from 2008 to 2011, but was moved to the Singapore Expo MAX Pavilion in 2012 due to renovation works at Suntec Convention Centre that year. The convention returned to Suntec Convention Centre in 2013 and is being held there till now. Satellite conventions were also held at the

Putra World Trade Centre World Trade Centre Kuala Lumpur, formerly known as Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC; ), is a convention and exhibition centre in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The venue is sprawled over 1.7 million square feet with 235,000 square feet of exhibition space ...

Kuala Lumpur Kuala Lumpur (KL), officially the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, is the capital city and a Federal Territories of Malaysia, federal territory of Malaysia. It is the largest city in the country, covering an area of with a census population ...

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

; at the

Jakarta International Expo Jakarta International Expo, or JIExpo, is a convention, exhibition and entertainment complex located at Pademangan in North Jakarta, Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania ...

Kemayoran Kemayoran is a district (''kecamatan'') of Central Jakarta, Jakarta in Indonesia. It was best known for the former Kemayoran Airport and it has been transforming as a new central business district. As of 2023, it consists of numerous four and fiv ...

Jakarta Jakarta (; , Betawi language, Betawi: ''Jakartè''), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta (; ''DKI Jakarta'') and formerly known as Batavia, Dutch East Indies, Batavia until 1949, is the capital and largest city of Indonesia and ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

; at the Royal Paragon Hall,

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estim ...

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

; and at the

Indonesia Convention Exhibition Indonesia Convention Exhibition (ICE) is a convention and exhibition centre located at BSD City, Pagedangan, Tangerang Regency, Banten, Indonesia. The convention and exhibition center was inaugurated on 4 August 2015. It is the biggest conventio ...

Tangerang Tangerang (Sundanese script, Sundanese: , ) is the List of regencies and cities of Indonesia, city with the largest population in the province of Banten, Indonesia. Located on the western border of Jakarta, it is the sixth largest city proper in ...

Greater Jakarta The Jakarta metropolitan area or Greater Jakarta, known locally as ''Jabodetabekpunjur'' (an acronym of Jakarta– Bogor– Depok– Tangerang– Bekasi further extended to include Puncak region of Bogor Regency and portions of Cianjur Regenc ...

. Alongside the main conventions, AFA also holds periodic business conferences focusing on the anime and manga industry. The first of these was the Animation Asia Conference, held in 2009. The attendees of AFA were 94,270 in 2016, 96,000 in 2017 and 105,000 in 2018. The total cumulative attendance from 2008 to 2018 is approximately 1,700,000. The continued organisation of AFA and its flagship Japanese music concert I Love Anisong is managed by SOZO Pte Ltd. In 2017, SOZO entered a partnership with Sotsu—organizer of C3 events in Japan, Hong Kong, and China, forming C3AFA. In 2018, SOZO and Eliphant—the organizer of GameStart, a gaming and sports event in Singapore, formed a strategic alliance to bring more contents into the region.

History

AFA History

2008

First held at Suntec Convention Hall, Singapore. Managed to invite

Kōji Morimoto is a Japanese anime director. Some of his works include being an animator in the '' Akira'' film; shorts in '' Robot Carnival'', '' Short Peace'', and '' The Animatrix''; and key animation in anime such as ''Kiki's Delivery Service'', '' City H ...

, Animation Director of Studio 4 °C and

Kunio Okawara is a mecha designer in the Japanese anime industry. He was born and currently lives in Inagi, Tokyo, where he works out of a studio in his home. He was one of the pioneering mecha designers in Japan and established the profession of 'mecha des ...

, mechanical designer of

Gundam is a Japanese military science fiction media franchise. Created by Yoshiyuki Tomino and Sunrise (now Bandai Namco Filmworks), the franchise features giant robots, or mecha, with the name "Gundam". The franchise began on April 7, 1979, with ...

for the industry talk. Ichirou Mizuki and

May'n , better known by her stage name , is a Japanese singer from Nagoya. Aspiring to become a singer since childhood, she began her music activities in 2003 upon passing an audition held by talent agency Horipro International. She made her major de ...

(her first overseas concert) were also present at the event.

2009

Managed to invite Danny Choo and Kaname to the event. Created the maid cafe called "Moe Moe Kyun Maid Cafe." Notable singers were

Shoko Nakagawa is a Japanese tarento, media personality, singer, actress, Voice acting in Japan, voice actress, illustrator, YouTuber, and cosplayer. Also known by her nickname , she is best known as the presenter of ''Pokémon Sunday'', and as the performer o ...

who sang a duet with Ichrou Mizuki on Day 1 of the event and

Yoshiki Fukuyama is a Japanese musician, singer and songwriter. In the anime ''Macross 7 is an anime television series. It is a sequel to the show ''The Super Dimension Fortress Macross'' that takes place many years after the events of the first ...

who sang a duet with

on Day 2 of the event.

Hatsune Miku , officially code-named CV01, is a Vocaloid software voicebank developed by Crypton Future Media. Its official mascot is depicted as a sixteen-year-old girl with long, turquoise twintails. Miku's personification has been marketed as a virt ...

made her first "live" solo appearance overseas. Held the first ever "Regional Cosplay Championship" where cosplayers from Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and Philippines competed in teams of 2 against each other. Invited 4 ''

K-On! is a Japanese Yonkoma, four-panel manga series written and illustrated by Kakifly. It was serialized in Houbunsha's ''Manga Time Kirara'' magazine between the May 2007 and October 2010 issues, and also serialized in Houbunsha's ''Manga T ...

voice actors Voice acting is the art of Acting, performing a character or providing information to an audience with one's voice. Performers are often called voice actors/actresses in addition to other names. Examples of voice work include animation, animated, ...

to the event and performed a first-ever live dubbing of certain scenes.

2010

Held on 12–14 November. Aira and

Alodia Gosiengfiao Alodía Almira Gosiengfiao Quimbo (née Gosiengfiao; born March 9, 1988) is a Filipino cosplayer, model, TV presenter, singer, vlogger, actress and co-founder of Tier One Entertainment. She is also known as ''Senpai Alodia of the Philippines' ...

as well as Kaname were invited as cosplay judges. Voice actors

Kana Hanazawa is a Japanese actress and singer. A prolific voice performer in anime, she has amassed several film and television credits since her debut in 2003. She won the Seiyu Awards, Seiyu Award for Best Supporting Actress in 2015, and won the Newtype A ...

and

Milky Holmes is a media franchise owned by the Japanese entertainment company Bushiroad. The first release was an Internet radio drama, released in December 2009. An anime adaptation by J.C.Staff aired between October and December 2010, with a spe ...

were invited to the events. A butler cafe called "Atelier Royale" was featured. Invited singers included AKB48, Angela,

Ichirou Mizuki , better known by his stage name , was a Japanese singer, lyricist, composer, voice actor and actor best known for his work on theme songs for anime and tokusatsu. For over 50 years, he had recorded over 1,200 songs for Japanese film, televisio ...

JAM Project JAM Project ("JAM" standing for "Japan Animationsong Makers") are a Japanese Music in Japanese animation, anison band founded on July 19, 2000, by anison singer Ichirou Mizuki. The band is composed of many vocal artists well known in the anime mu ...

and

Scandal A scandal can be broadly defined as the strong social reactions of outrage, anger, or surprise, when accusations or rumours circulate or appear for some reason, regarding a person or persons who are perceived to have transgressed in some way a ...

. Movies '' Mobile Suit Gundam 00 the Movie: Awakening of the Trailblazer'' and ''

The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya is a 2010 Japanese animated drama film based on the fourth ''Haruhi Suzumiya'' light novel of the same name written by Nagaru Tanigawa. It was produced by Kyoto Animation, written by Fumihiko Shimo and directed by Tatsuya Ishihara and Yasuhiro ...

'' were screened before their DVD or Blu-ray releases.

2011

Confirmed date of the event: 11 to 13 November. Invited singers include Ichirou Mizuki,

Flow Flow may refer to: Science and technology * Fluid flow, the motion of a gas or liquid * Flow (geomorphology), a type of mass wasting or slope movement in geomorphology * Flow (mathematics), a group action of the real numbers on a set * Flow (psyc ...

Lisa Lisa or LISA may refer to: People People with the mononym * Lisa (Japanese musician, born 1974), stylized "LISA" * Lisa, stagename of Japanese singer Lisa Komine (born 1978) * Lisa (South Korean singer) (born 1980) * Lisa (Japanese musician, b ...

, and Sea*a on Day 2 of AFA. May'n, Angela,

Kalafina is a Japanese vocal group formed by composer Yuki Kajiura in 2007, mainly to perform theme songs for the anime ''The Garden of Sinners'', but later expanded to include many other theme songs for other anime shows and films including the '' Puel ...

Kanako Itō is a female Japanese singer from Utsunomiya, Tochigi, Japan. She has sung a large number of songs that have been used in a variety of video games, visual novels, and anime. Itō has sung songs for many visual novels, one song in particular bei ...

and Milky Holmes on Day 3. Hatsune Miku had her very own Live Party concert on Day 1 of the event, the first such concert to be featured in the region outside Japan.

Chiwa Saitō is a Japanese voice actress represented by I'm Enterprise. She is best known for her anime roles, which include Hitagi Senjougahara in ''Monogatari'', Homura Akemi in ''Puella Magi Madoka Magica'', Yona in ''Akatsuki no Yona'', Chloe von Eizenb ...

, Gō Nakanishi, Danny Choo, Kaname and Usagi are special guests for the event.

Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn is a novel series written by Harutoshi Fukui with character and mechanical designs provided by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko and Hajime Katoki, respectively. It is first serialized in Kadokawa Shoten's '' Gundam Ace'' magazine from February 2007 to ...

episode 4 will be shown on the same day as Japan.

2012

Separated into 3 events with the first event held at Malaysia in June, the second event held at Indonesia in September and the third event held at Singapore in November. Danny Choo hosted the three events. All 3 events also had a maid cafe and a butler cafe. The event in Malaysia was held at

, Kuala Lumpur from 9 to 10 June 2012. Invited singers for the Anisong concert in Malaysia include Kalafina,

Maon Kurosaki was a Japanese singer and songwriter. After being discovered while working as a performer in Akihabara, Tokyo, she signed to NBCUniversal Entertainment Japan and made her major debut in 2010, performing ending themes to the anime television ...

, and Aimi on Day 1, and Flow, Kotoko, and Sea*a on Day 2.

Mitsuhisa Ishikawa is a Japanese anime producer and planner, as well as the co-founder and current chairman of the anime studio Production I.G. Career Mitsuhisa Ishikawa was an executive at Bee Train from 1997 to 2006, Ishikawa acted as executive producer for th ...

and Tomohiko Ishii from

Production I.G is a Japanese animation studio. Headquartered in Musashino, Tokyo, Production I.G was founded on December 15, 1987, by producer Mitsuhisa Ishikawa and character designer Takayuki Goto as I.G Tatsunoko, a branch studio of the animation giant Ta ...

, Danny Choo, Kaname, and Tasha with Miyuko from Korea were special guests for the event. The second event was in Indonesia from 1 to 2 September 2012 and the venue was Jakarta International Expo. Invited singers for the Anisong concert in Indonesia include

bless4 bless4 is a Japanese vocal ensemble from the United States consisting of four siblings from the Kawamitsu family. Youngest sister Akino has her own solo musical career, and youngest brother Aiki has also released a solo single (with eldest bro ...

, 7!!, and

on Day 1, and Angela,

Stereopony was a Japanese pop rock band that formed in Okinawa, Japan, in 2007 and disbanded in 2012. The three-girl band consisted of Aimi Haraguni (lead vocals and guitar), Nohana Kitajima (bass guitar), and Shiho Yamanoha (drums). They were signed to the ...

, Kotoko, and Sea*a on Day 2. Singapore was the final event of 2012, held from 9 to 11 November 2012 with the venue as Singapore Expo. Fumiaki Nishihara, Go Nakanishi,

Kenji Kamiyama is a Japanese director and writer, best known for '' Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex''. Career After working as a background artist for productions such as '' Akira'' and ''Kiki's Delivery Service'', Kamiyama joined Production I.G, co ...

, Shinichiro Watanabe and Hachioji-P were special guests for the event.

Daisuke Kishio is a Japanese voice actor, singer and narrator from Matsusaka, Mie. He changed his given name from 大輔 to だいすけ on June 1, 2007 with the pronunciation and romanization remaining the same. He joined Aoni Production on April 1, 2014. H ...

and

Sphere A sphere (from Ancient Greek, Greek , ) is a surface (mathematics), surface analogous to the circle, a curve. In solid geometry, a sphere is the Locus (mathematics), set of points that are all at the same distance from a given point in three ...

were the invited voice actors for the event. Kaname, Akatsuki Tsukasa, Judy, Hiko, Mikoto and Reika were the invited cosplayers while Clive and Richfield were the invited judges for the cosplay competition. Team Shikon from Japan and Lunar Asterisk from Indonesia presented a special cosplay performance during the event. Invited singers for the Anisong concert in Singapore include T.M.Revolution on Day 1,

Babymetal (stylized in all caps as BABYMETAL) is a Japanese kawaii metal band consisting of Suzuka Nakamoto as "Su-metal", Moa Kikuchi as "Moametal" and Momoko Okazaki as "Momometal". The band is produced by Kobametal from the Amuse Inc., Amuse talent a ...

, Flow,

fripSide fripSide is a Japanese pop music, pop and trance music, trance duo originally formed by composer Satoshi Yaginuma (Sat) and singer Nao in February 2002. History In a 2008 interview, Satoshi said that he was a fan of TM Network and its member Te ...

, Lisa and

Move Move or The Move may refer to: Brands and enterprises * Move (company), an American online real estate company * Move (electronics store), a defunct Australian electronics retailer * Daihatsu Move, a Japanese car * PlayStation Move, a motion ...

on Day 2, and May'n,

Minami Kuribayashi is a Japanese singer, songwriter, lyricist and former voice actress from Shizuoka Prefecture. From 2016 to 2019, she performed under the stage name Minami. Her involvement in the game and anime ''Kimi ga Nozomu Eien'', where she voiced the rol ...

, Sea*a and Sphere on Day 3. Road to Ninja: Naruto the Movie, Fairy Tail: The Phoenix Priestess and

Puella Magi Madoka Magica , also known simply as ''Madoka Magica'', is a Japanese anime television series created by Magica Quartet, and animated by Shaft. The story follows a group of middle school girls, led by protagonist Madoka Kaname, who make supernat ...

were movies screened at the event.

2013

Held in Jakarta, Indonesia and Singapore. Theme song Origami sung by Valerie Tang (former member of Sea*a).

2014

Held in Jakarta, Indonesia and Singapore. fripSide was in Singapore for a second time since their last appearance at AFA 2012. The largest ever held to date in Singapore Suntec City Convention Hall covering the entire 4th floor, new mascot Seika introduced. And for the first time, AFA has set aside a dedicated space for the first niconico KUNIKAIGI to be held outside Japan! Featuring popular niconico groups and artists like Amatsuki, Kashitaro Ito, Gero, ROOT FIVE, Hachioji P,

Yuyoyuppe , known professionally as , is a Japanese DJ, songwriter, producer, and singer, known for his Vocaloid music. Early life Takehiro Mamiya was born on September 25, 1989, when his parents were expecting a baby girl. He first learned to play the gu ...

, DJ CAESAR, Kozue Aikawa, Miume, ARS MAGNA, PCF and many more!. A total of 145,000 audience engaged .

2015

Held in Jakarta, Indonesia and Singapore. Held in Bangkok, Thailand for the first time. For the first time, I Love Anisong has collaborated with SMASH! Sydney Manga and Anime Show in Sydney, Australia to present a special one-night concert. This event will be held on 8 August 2015 at Rosehill Gardens. Invited guests are popular Japanese music artists Garnidelia, DJ Hello Kitty, kz (livetune) and yanaginagi.

2016

Held in Jakarta, Indonesia; Singapore; and Thailand.

Enako is a Japanese professional cosplayer, voice actress, and singer from Nagoya. Biography Enako started cosplaying in second year of middle school after she became interested in the animated series '' The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya'' and saw ...

as the first Japanese guest cosplayer at AFASG 2016. Iketeru Hearts formerly known as Stand Up! Hearts second appearance at AFA. Guest appearance of

Pikotaro , better known by his stage names and , is a Japanese comedian, television personality and entertainer. Kosaka insists that Pikotaro is another personality promoted by him, but they are considered the same person. He is currently signed with Av ...

to perform his viral song PPAP.

2017

In 2017, the event was scheduled to be held at the revamped Suntec Singapore Convention & Exhibition Centre. SOZO (Organisers of Anime Festival Asia) and Sotsu (Organisers of C3 Events) announced a partnership to host this year's AFA in Thailand, Indonesia, Tokyo, Singapore and Hong Kong(2018). The event will henceforth be under the brand new network event platform C3AFA that will cover key cities in the

APAC APAC or Apac may refer to: Places * Apac, a city in Uganda ** Apac District, the district of Uganda in which the city is located * Asia-Pacific, a country grouping and region in Asia and Oceania Arts, entertainment, and media * A-PAC, Austr ...

region.

2018

In 2018, SOZO retains the C3AFA branding for the year, only Indonesia and Singapore have been confirmed. AFA celebrated its 10th anniversary with a red carpet event in Singapore. 2018 also marks as the last AFA in Indonesia until 2024.

2019

In 2019, C3AFA2019 were held in Hong Kong, Tokyo and Singapore. A special collaboration stage was held on the final day of AFASG where May'n and Minori Chihara performed a cover version of "Don't say lazy" from the anime

K-on! is a Japanese Yonkoma, four-panel manga series written and illustrated by Kakifly. It was serialized in Houbunsha's ''Manga Time Kirara'' magazine between the May 2007 and October 2010 issues, and also serialized in Houbunsha's ''Manga T ...

and Ayaka Ōhashi and Azusa Tadokoro joining the aforementioned singers to perform a cover version of "Butterfly" from the anime

Digimon , short for "Digital Monsters" ( ''Dejitaru Monsutā''), is a Japanese media franchise, which encompasses virtual pet toys, anime, manga, video games, films, and a trading card game. The franchise focuses on the eponymous creatures who inhabit a ...

. Around 120,000 attended the event.

2020

In 2020, due to the ongoing

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

around the globe, AFA was held online for the very first time under the name ''AFA United'' by having an online concert streaming on 26 April 2020. Two more online events entitled ''AFA STATION 2020'' was stream on 5–6 September and ''AFA Singapore 2020 Online'' on 5–6 December 2020.

2021

In 2021, ''AFA STATION'' was rebranded as a monthly online event under the name ''AFA STATION TV'' starting 6 March 2021. No major event was held on this year.

2022

First AFA to be held as a physical event in 3 years after the 2020 and 2021 edition were held online due to

. Features first ''hololive Meet'' in AFA, the first ever night stage session dedicated to

VTuber A or is an online entertainer who uses a virtual Avatar (computing), avatar generated using computer graphics. Real-time motion capture software or technology are often—but not always—used to capture movement. The digital trend originated i ...

s. The Anisong concert was reduced from three night sessions in three days as in previous AFAs to only one night session in one day. A record attendance of 145,000 was seen for this edition.

2023

AFA celebrated their 15th Anniversary. Attendee numbers were at 130,000.

2024

AFA was held in Indonesia from 3 to 5 May while it is held in Singapore on 29, 30 November and 1 December.

Incidents

In 2013, a member of public called the police after encountering a cosplayer dressed up as Ryuko Matoi of

Kill la Kill is a Japanese anime television series created and produced by Trigger. The series follows vagrant schoolgirl Ryuko Matoi on her search for her father's killer, which brings her into violent conflict with Satsuki Kiryuin, the iron-willed st ...

, showing her cleavage. Police was called to the festival and the incident was resolved amicably without any arrest. In 2016, a vendor allegedly infringed copyrights of several artists by selling goods with their art cover on it without permission and approval from the original artist. The organizers promptly told the vendor to stop selling the affected goods on the following day.

References

External links

{{Commons category
Official website of Anime Festival Asia
Anime and manga conventions Anime conventions in Malaysia Anime conventions in Singapore Annual events in Indonesia Entertainment events in Indonesia Entertainment events in Thailand