Part 1: http://melosnomichi.blogspot.com/2010/11/akb48-live-in-afa-x-singapore.html
Part 2: http://melosnomichi.blogspot.com/2010/11/akb48-live-in-afa-x-singapore_27.html
image credit to supermerlion
more after the jump
Post Concert
08:30PM: It's not over yet
I ended off in part 2 when the girls left the stage. The time was 8:30PM. The concert ran for 1 hour and 15 mins. At this point of time most of the people were still exhausted. Some people made a mad dash for the exit in hopes that there is a goods booth selling AKB48's Singles or photos. But to the disappointment of many, there wasn't any there.
After a short rest the bunch of us from SGP48 started discussing about our next plan of action. Because AKB48's Team K had a concert in Kieo University the day after the concert, this meant that their flight out of Singapore had to leave the same night as the concert. And since you had to be at the airport 2 hours before the scheduled departure time, we managed to narrow down the possible flights to 2.
| Flight No. | Departs | Terminal | Reach airport by |
| NH 6254 | 23:55PM | Terminal 3 | 9:55PM |
| NH 6254 | 00:55:AM | Terminal 2 | 10:55PM |
We all split ourselves into groups of 4 and took taxis to the airport. Some of us would go to Terminal 3 and the rest of us were to go to Terminal 2. My initial plan was not to go because I had to rush home, however the concert ended sooner than I expected and that meant that I still had extra time. The rest of SGP48 had left to the taxi stand already. I managed to get in touch with Kazuki and Shunichiro and we headed to the taxi stand....... only to find a ridiculously long queue. Luckily I knew of another taxi stand nearby which nobody uses and managed to get in a taxi within 3 mins. Off to Changi Airport Terminal 3!
In the taxi Kazuki and Shunichiro helped me to recall the events that happened during the concert. Big thanks to them. The trip was quite long and we talked about other stuffs about the concert, and also the major changes in our rankings. Both Kazuki and Shunichiro changed their Oshimen after the concert XD. I almost did too. Finally we reached Changi Airport T3. Most of those who went to the airport also went to T3 because its the first plane to depart.There were like 15 ~ 20 of us there.
09:15PM: Big mistake
We were still mingling around and I took out my laptop from my bag to check the flight schedules once more. WHILE MY LAPTOP WAS STILL OUT, there was a call from one of our guys at Terminal 2. The girls were there! I quickly closed my laptop screen and with my laptop in one hand, my board and a large bag in the other and my backpack on my back, all 20 of us started running towards the skytrain that connects T3 to T2. Bad news is, we were at the left corner of T3. And the skytrain was in the right corner. We literally ran to whole 700 meters of the T3 departure hall. It must be a crazy sight, 20 people dressed in pink shirts running across T3. AND I'M CARRYING MY LAPTOP IN MY HAND TOO. Good thing it didn't drop.
When we finally reached the skytrain we were in luck that it didn't depart yet. Otherwise we had to wait for 5 whole mins for the next train. Some of the faster runners have already made it in and held the door open for the slower ones (like me). With everyone inside, it was a 2 min journey to Terminal 2. That meant 2 mins of rest for us until we had to run another 300 - 500 meters. Finally I could put my laptop back in my bag.
2 mins later the skytrain arrived at Terminal 2 and as soon as the doors opened everyone ran out. Me and 2 other guys only managed to run about 100 meters before we were too exhausted and let those still with energy to run ahead. They dashed to the entry gates of the terminal. Me and the other 2 guys however decided to use the shorter route and bypass the check-in counters and wait for them directly at the passengers gates. Good thing we did that because while we were only 50 meters away from the gates we saw the girls coming out of the check-in counters.
Taken with Google Earth. Click for bigger size.
09:30PM: Seeing the girls for the last time
The 3 of us ran towards them, but kept 5 meters of space between us and them. I held up my board and quickly located Amina, and started screaming her name with my still coarse voice and waved them goodbye. However I lost sight of her once the rest of the crowd came over from the other side of the check-in counters. I decided to give the other girls a chance again and shouted their names when they walked by. Then I spotted Haachan (again thanks to her short hair) and switched my board to the opposite side. I screamed "ADEJOU" a few more times and she replied "Adejou" back to me. I continued shouting the name of each girl who went past me while waving goodbye. Eventually all of them went through the passenger gates and we couldn't see them anymore. We gathered and took a picture for the Shiichan birthday project done by Blucherri and then we all headed off in different directions. That's the end of my AKB experience in Singapore.... for the time being.
Review
Ok with my experience done, now I start addressing the problems. Starting with the good things.
What else can I say? The concert was literally the best experience ever in my 17 years of life. All the screaming and jumping and lightstick waving and MIXing. I have my coarse voice and aching arms to prove it. I think I never lost my voice this badly before. Seeing the girls with my own eyes rather than watching them on my 52" LCD TV screen, the girls look so much prettier. Haachan and Micha stunned me with their gorgeousness. Harugon, Rabutan, Chiyuu and Amina were cute beyond words. Sayaka, Sae, Nacchi and Wasamin showed off their fierceness in Kimi wa Pegasus. And finally Komorin's slowness in thinking caused funny moments during the performance.
The members who wowed me the most in the concert were Haachan, Micha and Wasamin. Their dance movements were very sharp and precise, and their voices were amazing. With the exception of Haachan who is already in my top favorites list, Micha and Wasamin have moved from near the bottom of my ranking to near the top.
I'm happy that the lineup turned out this way, without most of the frontgirls. Sure some of them might not be as good as the frontgirls and make mistakes but then it also gives us the opportunity to learn about these less promoted girls. After all AKB48 is not only made up of the frontgirls. Some people keep on forgetting that there are more than 16 girls in AKB. There's 48 of them.
The only issues I had about the concert is that it was too short (but then aren't these things always), and the bass was way too loud. But I think the latter had something with me sitting right below one of the huge ass speakers.
But sadly not all was good.
AKB48 not in the original guest lineup of AFA X, and took them a month later to announce.
I'm not sure whats up with this, or why they choose to do this, because it caused a lot of inconvenience to everyone. Especially for those coming from overseas. Since AFA X is the most probable event to host the concert, most of them already secured their tickets. However when they found out AKB wasn't going to be part of it, they got confused and canceled their tickets. Only to find out a month later that they were going to perform at AFA X! Thing is, now the tickets cost twice the price. It could be that Cool Japan and AFA X handle things separately.
Ticket collection at HMV@313
There was no official organization of the queue until 10AM when some guards came out. No ropes or barriers whatsoever. Not even a sign showing where the queue starts. This created a problem because there are 2 entrances to 313. Luckily those who came early started organizing the queue themselves and rerouted the other people who queued at a different location. Also since there weren't any barriers or ropes, people could just freely enter the queue. While some people already planned for their friend in the queue to buy the tickets and were just sitting there to chat, some others used this opportunity to slip into the queue unnoticed.
Member list not available until late
As mentioned earlier, the member list was not out until a week before the concert. This created a lot of problems because for a large number of people. Since majority of the AKB48 fans here are casual fans, they only know the girls which are featured. That meant Acchan, Yuko, Mariko, Tomochin, Mayuyu, Takamina, Kojiharu, etc etc. If their not coming, there wasn't a point for them to go. So they decided to wait for the member list.....but that didn't come out until very late and caused last minute buying so they got back row tickets.
One possible reason I thought of for the lateness in the member lineup is that it could be a marketing strategy to sell more tickets and take advantage of the confusion. The other possible reason is that AKS (AKB48 management) could not finalize the schedules for the girls. After all it's not a simple process when there are like 12 different agencies handling the girls. Not to mention that they perform daily and appear regularly on TV.
No gift deposit point
AFA X did not provide a drop off point for gifts to AKB48 and fans who wanted to give them stuff were pissed. After spending lots of money on their gifts only to find out that there wasn't a way to pass it to the girls. For those who did manage to find a staff member to help pass the gifts to the girls, there was still the question of if the gifts would even reach them.
No merchendise booth
This one is just disappointing. Aren't these a staple for concerts? How come the I <3 Anisong concert has concert goods but the AKB48 "live" doesn't have any. I have no other comment for this.
Post AFA X AKB48 Member Ranking
| MELOS | KIEYUKU |
| 01. Sato Amina 02. Katayama Haruka 03. Kuramochi Asuka 04. Kashiwagi Yuki 05. Nakata Chisato 06. Maeda Ami 07. Fujie Reina 08. Kasai Tomomi 09. Iwasa Misaki 10. Oshima Yuko 11. Sato Sumire 12. Kikuchi Ayaka 13. Ishida Haruka 14.Takahashi Minami 15. Umeda Ayaka 16. Nonaka Misato 17. Sashihara Rino 18. Hirajima Natsumi 19. Maeda Atsuko 20. Shinoda Mariko 21. Komori Mika 22. Masuda Yuka 23. Sato Natsuki 24. Nakagawa Haruka 25. Nito Moeno 26. Suzuki Mariya 27. Miyazaki Miho 28. Ota Aika 29. Yonezawa Rumi 30. Itano Tomomi 31. Minegishi Minami 32. Uchida Mayumi 33. Kitahara Rie 34. Nakaya Sayaka 35. Matsubara Natsumi 36. Matsui Sakiko 37. Akimoto Sayaka 38. Yokoyama Yui 39. Miyazawa Sae 40. Kobayashi Kana 41. Chikano Rina 42. Watanabe Mayu 43. Oya Shizuka 44. Oku Manami 45. Tanabe Miku 46. Kojima Haruna 47. Nakatsuka Tomomi 48. Takajyo Aki | 01. Kitahara Rie 02. Sato Natsuki 03. Kojima Haruna 04. Takahashi Minami 05. Kikuchi Ayaka 06. Watanabe Mayu 07. Kasai Tomomi 08. Maeda Ami 09. Sato Sumire 10. Sashihara Rino 11. Oota Aika 12. Nakagawa Haruka 13. Matsubara Natsumi 14. Komori Mika 15. Oya Shizuka 16. Masuda Yuka 17. Katayama Haruka 18. Umeda Ayaka 19. Iwasa Misaki 20. Maeda Atsuko 21. Minegishi Minami 22. Suzuki Mariya 23. Fujie Reina 24. Ishida Haruka 25. Yonezawa Rumi 26. Miyazawa Sae 27. Matsui Sakiko 28. Nito Moeno 29. Yokoyama Yui 30. Sato Amina 31. Kuramochi Asuka 32. Akimoto Sayaka 33. Takajyo Aki 34. Hirajima Natsumi 35. Nakaya Sayaka 36. Shinoda Mariko 37. Kobayashi Kana 38. Tanabe Miku 39. Itano Tomomi 40. Kashiwagi Yuki 41. Oshima Yuko 42. Chikano Rina 43. Nakatsuka Tomomi 44. Nakata Chisato 45. Nonaka Misato 46. Uchida Mayumi 47. Oku Manami 48. Miyazaki Miho |
Now I'm off to prepare for the AKB48 events in STGCC. Yay for Mocchi coming!
Part 1: http://melosnomichi.blogspot.com/2010/11/akb48-live-in-afa-x-singapore.html
Part 2: http://melosnomichi.blogspot.com/2010/11/akb48-live-in-afa-x-singapore_27.html
Thanks for posting the reviews on the AFA AKB48 experience! I would have been there for sure if not for my overseas studies. Hopefully they'll be back again when i'm home. lol
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