Riuva : Research Institute for Unicultural Visual Arts

As our fearless, macho Fuhrer TJ Han and my fellow colleague Kokanaden have vested interests in the recently-concluded NUS Anime Bazaar (being the incoming Marketing Head of the NUS Comics and Animation Society, and the former’s minion respectively), I became RIUVA’s representative for the event, since I’m supposed to be the unbiased view for RIUVA and all *coughyeahrightcough*.

In any case, I had exactly one tutorial for the day in any case, so seeing that I had most of the day free and that I had to be in NUS that day in any case, I opted to take up this job (goodness knows I haven’t exactly been a profilic asset for RIUVA ever since I joined the team). So with my trusty *cough* N70, I set out for the foyer of LT27 in the Science Faculty, which was where the NUS Anime Bazaar was being held for its third and last day, reaching it at around 1115hrs.

1115hrs

No reaction desu ne….

As an FASS student, I haven’t been around Science Faculty that much. Which pretty much accounts for my walking unknowingly right into the middle of the bazaar, looking for a sign that would point me to LT27, without knowing that I was already there, and that I had indeed reached the bazaar. I mean, seriously. I was still thinking that the stalls around me was some random other bazaar, probably a regular occurrence in NUS that I don’t know about, until Kokanaden walked up to me. There’s a problem there; visibility of identity, folks. The bazaar could have used a few large banners, proclaiming "YES THE ANIME BAZAAR IS HERE LOLOL", or something to that effect.

What’s this? A jewellery booth?

And the fact that there were stalls in the bazaar hawking wares that had nothing to do with anime or manga or related hobbies whatsoever, didn’t help. In any case, the bazaar looked downright deserted…but as was soon explained to me, the crowd usually did not come until noon for the past 2 days, so it was to be expected. But with few people around to get in my way, this was my opportunity to take pictures of the stalls, and in some cases, to conduct several short interviews (Kokanaden’s idea). Therefore, here’s a selection of booths;

XENOHOBBY WORKZ

Starscream alongside Cloud Strife?!

The SOS-dan besides Son Gokou?!

WWE besides the Simpsons?!
I’m in despair! This hodge-podge world has left me in despair!!!

First started in December 2006, Xenohobby was originally affiliated with Xenomorph, and is also currently affiliated with hobbyhype.com. According to the caretaker of the booth, Xenohobby specializes in bringing in figurines from Japan and America, and the caretaker also mentioned that Sunshine Plaza and China Square Central are the two places in Singapore to go to for figurines/toys/statues. In addition, he also mentions that there is a flea mart every Sunday in the latter location, so do be sure to check it out.

Xenohobby Workz
70 South Bridge Road #01-00 Prosperity Building, Singapore 058700. Opening hours:
Mon-Fri - 1pm to 8pm
Sat - 2pm to 7pm
Closed on Sundays

Intense Animation Studio

Watch where you’re putting that hand, buster. :p

Intense Animation Studios is an animation production studio and training facility, which offers part-time and full-time courses to students and adults alike. It offers several Diploma and Certificate courses, and offers school holiday programs as well as customized training according to individual needs. Whether you’re a student or an adult, serious in pursuing a career in animation and visual effects or desiring to upgrade one’s skills, Intense Animation Studios has something to offer.

Intense Animation Studio
9 Shenton Way #04-07
Singapore 068813
Tel: 65 - 6327 8525
Fax: 65 - 6327 4383
Email: info@intense-animation.com
Website: www.intense-animation.com

AZ Comics

Pretty nice selection going there, if I may say so myself.

Apparently, the English books are leftover stocks from when AZ Comics attempted a failed
venture in them. If you’re looking for a good deal, you know where to go.

With 5 stores around Singapore at last count, AZ Comics offers a wide selection of manga, imported directly from Taiwan. It also offers novels and VCDs/DVDs, as well as free-delivery island-wide as well as membership schemes. Do take advantage of their on-going promotion, which ends at 31 December 2007.

AZ Comics

To be completely honest, Kareshi Kanojyo no Mise should need no introduction; any self-respecting Singaporean anime fan would not dare to call himself as such, without having at least heard of KKnM. Having its humble beginnings sharing space with a maternity shop, KKnM was born when it joined the Anime House family in 2000, and has since moved to its new location at Sunshine Plaza. Specializing in merchandise brought directly from Japan, KKnM has also been actively supporting cosplay and club activities since 2000. Kokanaden reports that KKnM has had the best sales within the Bazaar, but this little shop can still use your support!

Kareshi Kanojyo no Mise
91 Bencoolen Street, Sunshine Plaza, #01-50
Opening Hours:
Mon: Closed
Tuesdays - Fridays: 2.30pm-7.00pm
Sat, Sun/Pub Holidays: 1.30pm - 7.30pm
Tel: 6338 0938

And this is just a selection of what was on offer at the NUS Anime Bazaar. Other interesting points include:

The ODEX Booth

This kind of explains why there’s been a shortage of eggs around the Clementi area lately…

The now-infamous logo of doom.

Joking aside, Kokanaden gave a most startling report on the ODEX booth; that business has actually been surprisingly good for ODEX merchandise in the bazaar. Perhaps the fact that the booth itself is nondescript, as well as the caretakers being club volunteers rather than ODEX employees, has helped; I wouldn’t like to think what would happen if they had been a little more brazen with their advertising in the bazaar. Perhaps my joke about eggs would not be a joke then…..I jest.

The Meido Cafe

No ""Okaerinasai mase, goshujin-sama!"? FAIL!!!

Joking aside, it’s kind of sad that the only "hosts" they had were also girls, but that’s kind of to be expected. In any case, the much-publicized "Host and Maid Cafe" turned out to be a pretty simple affair, with a menu that’s more snack bar than actual cafe. As such, the waffles were nothing to call home about, but the range of floral teas (picked from TeaPal in Raffles City Basement, as I learned later) were pretty good, enough for me to consider making a trip myself to TeaPal in the future. In any case, the highlight of a meido cafe is not the food, of course; as for the meidos, there weren’t that many of them around, but then again the small space of the actual cafe didn’t exactly warrant a greater need for more either. And it is, after all, an amateur effort; I could go on a flaming row of bashing if I want to, but that would just be grossly unfair of me.

They did have a good idea though, which is to do screenings within the cafe itself;

Unfortunately, it was a good idea marred by one fatal oversight…

…the fact that the images were hardly visible in the bright daylight of the morning. Too bad; the screenings should have been done in an LT or something, or at the very least, screens could have been set up.

Of course, the images were clearer later in the day;

for some reason, so it’s not all bad. And judging by the number of customers the cafe attracted by 1530hrs,

I’d say it’s a fairly commendable effort for a small outfit.

That was the NUS Anime Bazaar in a nutshell. In a short inteview with Qian How, the outgoing Marketing Head of the NUS Comics and Animation Society, he mentioned that as the motto of the Society is to promote anime and manga within NUS itself, therefore the target audience remains NUS students, and therefore the Society and its events would remain relatively small. He also mentions that while sales of mainstream products were fairly brisk, it seems that doujinshi has yet to catch on amongst Singaporeans. This being the second Anime Bazaar, he also mentioned that the Society hopes to make this an annual event, and that they hope to be able to book the Central Forum for next year’s Anime Bazaar.

Here’s looking at you then, TJ. The show next year is yours!

To wrap things up, I give you a snapshot of some of the local anime blogosphere personalities that graced the bazaar with their presence on the day;

That about wraps it up for this article. Ascaloth, out.

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