The anticipation over Anime Festival Asia (AFA) 2014 is starting to get up a notch as the organizers of the event has announced the first batch of guests to perform in the I LOVE ANISONG Concert Festival.
The announcement was made during a live stream on AFA’s YouTube page and as well as their official website, which went online on Friday, September 19.
The first batch of musical guests to perform on the event slated for December 05-07 are FLOW, Eir Aoi, GARNiDELiA, May’n, LiSA, DJ Kazu, yanaginagi and fripSide. Aoi, DJ Kazu and GARNiDELiA also performed in the recently-concluded Indonesian leg of AFA 2014 last August.
FLOW is a Japanese band composed of siblings Koshi (Vocals) & Takeshi “Take” (Guitar) Asagawa, drummer Hiroshi Iwasaki, bassist Yasutaro Goto, and vocalist Keigo Hayashi.
They have been in the Japanese music since 1998 and has released nine (9) albums and countless singles as well. They were also commissioned to do the opening and ending theme songs for different anime titles, such as Naruto, Eureka Seven, and Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion, as well as their rendition of the song “Cha La, Head Cha La!” for the Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods movie
This year will be their fourth appearance at AFA and the third one in Singapore, after performing in 2011 and 2012.
This will be Eir Aoi’s third AFA appearance and her second for the Singapore event. She has been performing since 2011 and has produced countless singles. Her debut single, “Memoria”, was used as the Ending theme song of the anime Fate/Zero, while one of her singles, “Innocence”, was used as the Second Opening Theme song for Sword Art Online’s First season.
Her first album, titled “Blau”, which was released in 2013, became No. 4 in the Oricon charts.
GARNiDELiA will be performing for the second time for Anime Festival Asia, and this will be their first performance in the Singapore Leg. A musical duo composed of vocalist MARiA and composer/keyboardist toku.
They were tapped to do the Opening theme song of Kill la Kill, titled “Ambiguous”, and MARiA also performed the opening of the anime Mekaku city Actors, entitled “Daze”
LiSA, born as Risa Oribe, is a Japanese pop artist which was known for her breakout performance in the 2010 anime Angel Beats! as the vocalist of Girls Dead Monster!. The Name LiSA stands for Love is Same All.
She made her debut in 2011 with a mini-album named Letters to U. She was tapped to do the first opening theme song of the anime Fate/Zero, titled “Oath Sign”.
In 2012, she sung the first opening theme song of the hit anime series Sword Art Online, titled “Crossing Field”, and her latest single, “Rising Hope”, was used as the opening theme song for the anime Mahouka Koko no Rettousei (The Irregular at Magic High School). She has been invited in AFA’s Singapore leg in 2011 and 2012.
A Fixture in Anime Festival Asia’s I Love Anisong concerts, May’n has been performing since 2008, where she provided the singing voice of Sheryl Nome, the Diva of the Galaxy, in the popular anime series Macross Frontier. She also sung the theme song of the anime Accel World, titled “Chase the world”.
She has four albums, two extended play discs and ten singles to her credit. She also represented Japan in the 2013 Asia-Pacific Broadcast Union Television Song Festival held in Hanoi, Vietnam.
She was scheduled to perform in ANIMAX Carnival Philippines 2013 originally held for December, before it was cancelled due to the effects of Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan)
fripSide is a Japanese trance and pop unit, formed by Satoshi “sat” Yaginuma in 2002. In 2009, voice actress Yoshino Nanjo joined the group. replacing original singer nao.
Their electrifying beats and pulsating music has captivated audiences in Japan and elsewhere. They were commissioned to do the opening theme of the anime To Aru Kagaku no Railgun, titled “Only my Railgun”. They also provided the opening theme for it’s sequel, To Aru Kagaku no Railgun S, titled “sister’s noise”
Since 2002, fripSide has released 10 Albums, countless singles and six special releases. They first performed in Anime Festival Asia 2012.
Nagi Yanagi, or yanaginagi, has been performing cover songs online since 2005, but it was only in 2007 when she was discovered by Supercell’s songwriter Ryo through her video uploads in Nico Nico Douga. She was offered to be the guest vocalist of the band under the name “nagi” in 2009. While still under Supercell, they released two singles and released an album with them.
After leaving the band, she started a major solo careeer in 2012, which flourished with eight singles and one album, titled “Euaru”. Her songs have been used in different anime titles as well, such as Amnesia, My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU, and, much more recently, Black Bullet.
DJ Kazu is an acclaimed J-Pop and Anisong DJ which made waves across the world with his mixes and beats of different anime music. He has performed in different animation festivals in Europe, Asia and Japan.
He will release his third CD Mix, “J-Anisong Kamikyoku Matsuri~Paradise~”, in October.
The organizers of the event also released the ticketing details for the I LOVE ANISONG event, which includes details for V.I.P., Standard and Basic ticket holders. An early bird ticket price has also been announced, which will run from Wednesday, October 01, to Sunday, October 11.
Details for Exhibition with Stage tickets & Exhibition-only tickets will be announced on a later date.
For more details on the ticketing, please visit animefestival.asia/afa2014/ticketing.
Anime Festival Asia 2014 will be held at the Suntec Singapore Convention and Exhibition Center from December 05-07, 2014 and it is organized by Sozo Pte. Ltd., Zapp Live and Dentsu.
For more information regarding the upcoming event, please log on to animefestival.asia/afa2014 or visit their Facebook and Twitter pages.
