SINGAPORE, Nov 27 — Following the bright pink hair of Anya Forger from Japanese manga series Spy x Family as she walked into the Suntec Singapore Convention and Exhibition Centre on Sunday (Nov 26), the familiarity of the real world melted away as I was greeted by a sea of anime characters in their elaborate costumes.

The Anime Festival Asia (AFA) is an annual affair for anime fans and cosplay enthusiasts that first started in 2008 and quickly became one of the largest events of the year.

The three-day ticketed event would typically showcase some of the popular anime titles alongside merchandise booths and creator booths for artists to sell their own art.

As someone who did not understand why there is such a draw to anime, I decided to attend this year’s AFA to experience the fandom and see what it is that attracts such a big crowd annually.

Expression through cosplay

Walking around the event space, it was easy to see just how much of a pull the whole event had on fans of anime.

The whole hustle and bustle of the convention was almost similar to that of an IT show, but in place of the computers were large posters of Japanese animated characters.

Most of those present were dressed up as their favourite anime characters.

Almost everywhere I turned, I would see cosplaying attendees get approached by other attendees for a photo or a casual chat and they would oblige without hesitation.

"I think the fact that everyone dresses up as the character they like and interprets the character differently is a significant thing about AFA,” said Mr Abhay Shenoy, who attended the event for the first time.

The 20-year-old student was there with his friend Russell James, 23, who has been to AFA twice and is cosplaying, for the first time, as his favourite character from Jujutsu Kaisen this year.

"AFA gives people the opportunity to express themselves in many ways — from dressing up to just communicating or meeting with people who have the same interests as you. I think that’s what gets people here together every year,” said Mr James.

What he said rang true as I spotted different variations of Luffy from One Piece, Santoru Gojo from Jujutsu Kaisen, and various characters from the popular mobile game Genshin Impact. Even though they were all wearing somewhat similar outfits, each person had a different take on the characters.

One attendee even had the thought to gender-bend the character, showcasing how the male character would look like as a female.

A 40-year-old finance executive who wants to be known only as Moh said that it was nice to see the amount of effort attendees put in to dress up.

"You can see those who are just beginning to cosplay and those who are really hardcore. We don’t see a lot of these in Singapore nowadays unless it is at events like these, which may be once every year, so it is a very nice vibe,” he said.

Otaku culture

Cosplaying aside, the AFA is a chance for fans to get their hands on some rare collectibles — from licenced merchandise to fan-created artwork.

"I would say under one roof, there are more figurines at AFA as you normally would only be able to find certain anime figurines and not the full collection,” said Mr Moh.

For 32-year-old housewife Ayu who attends AFA regularly, browsing the merchandise at AFA was her favourite part of the event.

"While some of the items may be expensive, it is fun to look at what they bring in, especially when some are limited and cannot be bought online,” said Ms Ayu.

This applies not just to figurines but items like keychains, button badges and even clothes.

There were booths offering something called "lucky bags” which were different anime-printed paper bags that contained various items.

There were even merchants selling Ichiban Kuji, a sure-win lottery that offered fixed prizes.

Accounts manager Brenda Ng, who was attending the event with her husband and daughter, attributed the draw to anime merchandise as part of "the otaku culture”, which refers to people who are deeply immersed in Japanese pop culture.

The 31-year-old said: "There are only a few shops that you can visit if you want to purchase merchandise in Singapore, so this is like the consolidation of it all.” — TODAY