STGCC 2015 has come to an end. As we prepare for the next major fan convention in Singapore, the Anime Festival Asia (AFA), we had the chance to interview Anthony Kang, Founder and Festival Chairman of AFA, which will take place at Suntec Convention Centre from 27 to 29 November. This homegrown event has grown from strength to strength since it started in 2008. It grew from an attendance of 27,000 to 90,000 last year. It has since ventured into Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand. In fact, the Indonesian edition will be happening this month from 25 to 27 September.
We get from skinny from Anthony.
How has the anime market grown since you guys started in 2008?
The market has grown by leaps and bounds. In our first year in 2008, we had about close to 20,000 people attending the two-day festival. Last year we recorded close to 100,000 people over a 3-day festival. Our festival space has since doubled – in 2008, we occupied two halls in Suntec International Convention & Exhibition Centre. Last year, we occupied four halls.
In the ASEAN region, Indonesia has seen phenomenal growth; hence more and more Japanese content companies are focusing on that market.
Currently, how big is the pop culture market in Singapore in terms of monetary terms?
I’m afraid I would not be able to tell you about the size of the Singapore market in monetary terms as there are no official bodies in Singapore tracking that. I suspect the market has annual growth of at least about 15-20% year on year. This is derived by observing the increasing activities pertaining to J pop culture.
How do you decide who to invite as guests?
For festival content, we usually put our ears to the ground by getting feedback from anime enthusiasts, fans and otaku. We try to introduce new contents at each annual event as much as we can to give fans a greater perspective of the entire anime world.
AFA attracts attendees from Asia and Southeast Asia. AFA has gone to Malaysia (2012), Indonesia (2012-15) and Thailand (2015) - what prompted this move and any other Asian countries that you want to start an anime con?
The key reason why we do satellite AFA events in Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand is mainly because of fans’ demand and request. There are many fans is these countries who have heard about AFA but are unable to come to the annual Singapore festival for one reason or another. So we thought it would be good if we could bring a smaller scale event to their respective countries. So far, Indonesia has been the best market outside Singapore and it has the greatest growth potential. On demand and request, we recently staged the “I Love Anisong” concert in the annual anime event in Sydney, Australia, called SMASH. And we are now exploring staging AFA in Manila in 2016.
Has there been more competition since 2008? – STGCC in Singapore, and also in Jakarta (Popcon, Indonesia Comic Con), Malaysia (Comic Fiesta) and Bangkok? There are also various cosplay events in Singapore in recent years.
We do not see the aforementioned events as our direct competitors. In fact they are complementary to AFA. And it is also a good way for our fans to distinguish AFA from such events as then they can see the real uniqueness of AFA once they have visited the other events. Not to sound boastful, we think there’s no other event parallel to AFA in the market.
What role does AFA play in the development of the local anime/manga scene? How does it promote local animators, writers, artists, publishers, cosplayers?
At AFA each year we put aside space to accommodate local creators, be they animators, writers, artists, cosplayers, etc to promote local talent. In fact, quite a number of local talent have been spotted by either our content participants/exhibitors or visitors from Japan over the years and some of them are now gainfully employed by the J companies. Quite interestingly, we also have four of our maids in the Moe Moe Kyun maid café (in AFA) spotted by talent scouts in 2009 (I think) and brought to Japan for training as a new idol group called SEA-A.
Are there more people in Singapore watching anime, reading manga and cosplaying as a result of AFA?
Yes, I believe AFA has ignited and spurred the popularity of Japanese anime over the last 8 years. There’s increased anime content on both local free-to-air and cable TV stations, more toys and manga shops and even more cosplay events being held by the various cosplay groups. Perhaps there are not enough J pop culture events that anime cosplayers are even flocking to events like STGCC and the DBS River Regatta. And where else can you see a 68 year old aunty happily cosplaying popular anime characters?
It's a few more months before AFA 2015 in November at Suntec - how hectic has it been?
The pace of organizing the festival is the same as when we started the first event in 2008. Although it’s double in size now and in the number of content participants, the pace is more or less the same as over the years we have developed standard operating procedures in many aspects of the organizational functions. And we also employ more people now; especially one month prior when we take in freelance employees to prepare for the launch of the event.
What is the future of anime / manga in Singapore and in Asia?
AFA has helped to position Singapore as the regional hub for the anime industry and events in Southeast Asia. AFA is well-known among all the industry players including anime artistes in Japan - so much so that every year we have requests from new artistes to come and perform in our events. It is also an event recognized by the Ministry of Economy, Trade & Industry (METI) in Japan to help propel and grow the industry outside Japan. And we are pleased and honoured to play that part.
Further reflections from Anthony
I’m not too much into comics but I’m certainly glad to know that our artists have made inroad by winning awards overseas like the International Manga Award in Japan.
It’s a pity that the Singapore market is not big enough to encourage and support the comics market unlike the Indonesian market which has seen phenomenal growth over recent years.
Hence, the potential for our local creators is to look beyond our shores with storylines that are universal and appealing to the overseas audience. A good case is our locally produced animation movie, “Sing to the Dawn” which is based on a Singapore-centric storyline but failed to succeed beyond our shores.
It would be a waste if our local talents are not given opportunities to polish and shine their skills. One way is for them to go and explore in markets with huge potential for their skills; like in Indonesia. Also the local comics community need to band together to think of ways and strategies on how to help our locally produced comics succeed overseas.
Having been involved in the creative fields over the last three decades and in my current semi-retirement mode, I believe I could and I should help develop our young talents and the creative industry to put Singapore abreast and on top with the best in the world.
Hence, I'm still involved in the business and voluntary work related to such.
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