Let's Pretend! Anime Expo 07

Waking up early? Check. Fully charged camera? Check. Bringing all your otaku friends along? Check. Bloated wallet to spend on anime expo stalls? Check. With all my special ultimate otaku must-haves ready, off I went to the Singapore Anime Expo 2007.

15 Dec was the all-important date. All local otakus (otherwise known as your typical Anime Fans) worth their salt had painstakingly marked this date down on their calendars and made sure they cancelled all other arrangements for this very date, when all their favorite anime characters literally came to life.

When we reached Expo MRT, all worries of getting lost were put to rest. It would have seemed to the public that there were an awful lot of strangely dressed people in the crowd. To us otakus, they were walking billboards to our destination! Like ducklings, we obediently followed the "strangely dressed" people and reached anime expo in one piece.

This was my first time at anime expo, and also my first direct contact with so many cosplayers. Frankly I was surprised at the large turnout. One of the amazing things about these events is that people don’t look at you twice when you are squealing like a rabid fan girl at the characters you recognize. Because everybody here is a fan and it's normal to act crazy over your favorite anime.

We paid an entrance fee of $12 for us to get in. It hurt a little, but $12 is nothing to an otaku, puh-lease, we are freaks who splurge half of our pocket money on manga, merchandise, figurines and anime DVDs on a regular basis. We got door gifts too, so it wasn’t that bad.

Anime Expo was a blast filled with hilarious performances, stalls selling original doujinshi, dolls and amazing artwork. The cosplayers were without a doubt, the main attraction. Their elaborate costumes, kick-ass weapons and in-character poses were fantastic. Cosplayers from a variety of shows like Bleach, Naruto, D.Gray-man, Shaman King, Final Fantasy, Gakuen Alice, Lucky Star, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai, Shinnigami no Ballad, Rozen Maiden, Prince of Tennis, Jigoku Shoujo, Shugo Chara –just to name a few. There were even non-anime cosplayers from Harry Potter, Transformers and Spongbob Squarepants!

The performances were breathtaking. Our favorite characters goofed around on stage, danced, and even sang! I enjoyed the parodies of the different anime the most. Imagine the Trinity Blood crew parodying Bleach, all raising their weapons with a deadpan face, pointing it straight and yelling, "Bankai!" Imagine the scary looking vampires from Trinity Blood parodying the cheesy opening scene of Ouran High Host Club, running forward one by one in overly dramatic motions to give a single rose to the main female character, with the equally cheesy theme of the latter playing in the background.

There were also a couple of bloopers here and there. A female cosplayer’s heavy headgear fell off in the midst of a supposedly tragic performance. But the audience just laughed it off and the rest of the performance went without a hitch.

As for the stalls, budding artists were selling their amazing fan art; stalls were also selling cosplay accessories, lolita dresses and even original games. What took my attention was the display of dolls. Forget Barbie. These dolls take the cake. Bishounen and bishoujo dolls in different clothing themes: traditional Japanese tea ceremony, gothic theme, Alice in the Wonderland theme, black and white theme. We were spoilt for choice!

At the end, it was a reluctant farewell to Anime Expo 07. See you guys next year!

MY ANIME EXPO 07 JOURNAL…

The door gifts: A copy of Fresh Mode magazine, a kawaii bookmark and an info booklet


Bleach: Ulquiorra-sama!!! Eh, wait. What happened to the skull that was supposed to cover the left side of the face? Was it torn off?


I felt sorry for the guy in red. He must be suffocating to death in this whole ensemble. But awesome costume! Almost like the character brought to real life!


Trinity Blood: Vampires come to life.


Sweet Lolita girls


Dolls of various themes


At the stalls


Gundam: Its very hot inside! Moving is extremely difficult! But it’s worth the effort! I look like the real thing!

Spongbob and sidekick: Patrick shrank in the wash!

By Chia Ling Xian