Sunday March 9, 2008
GACC 2008, bankai!
Story and photos by KUROGANE
There was barely any room to move, but not many were complaining because GACC 2008 was a blast.
Games Anime Comic Circle (GACC 2008)
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Euphemia from Code Geass. |
Venue: Exam Hall, Multimedia University, Malacca
Date: March 1 and 2
GACC’s third instalment lived up to its founding ideals: “An event for fans by fans”.
This year’s major attraction was undoubtedly the second seiyuu (voice actor) brought to Malaysia, Masakazu Morita, famous for his roles as Kurosaki Ichigo (Bleach) and Tidus (Final Fantasy X).
He made his appearance on the second day, walking down the red carpet nearly mobbed by excited fans. Then he was interviewed on stage by emcee Edo about his work, ideals and the challenges he face as a seiyuu, and later by five lucky fans that were chosen to ask their questions. (The lucky people also walked away with exclusive autographed Bleach merchandise.)
Then there was the autograph signing session for the 100 fans who managed to acquire the limited tickets given out for the session.
Morita-san was very accommodating and cheerfully obliged fans and the GACC committee members with multiple photo opportunities with him. Then he requested for group photos with cosplayers and other attendees, before departing and leaving us all with sweet memories.
Of course, there were many other events happening too:
Group cosplay competition
On the first day, five groups presented skits to win the judges’ hearts. The winner was the Emma Bollywood team with its Bollywood-inspired act.
Solo cosplay competition
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Count of Monte Cristo from Gankutsuou (cosplayer: Tan Chin Hun a.k.a. Jin, 27) graced GACC 2008. |
Twenty people participated in the competition which was held on the second day. The six finalists had to play a round of “Wheel of Torture”, where they were made to complete various absurd tasks.
Satan (real name: Wee Wen Wen, 20) won the first prize with his hilarious impersonation of Doldonii Dordonii Alessandro Del Socacchio from Bleach.
Second place: Looi Jia Horng, 19, cosplaying as Commando Chaos from the computer game S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Looi also won the fans’ favourite award, thanks to his amusing take on the Motteke! Sailor-fuku dance (from the anime Lucky Star) with Siraj Kumar, 19, who cosplayed Japanese TV personality Hard Gay.
Third place: Adele San Ee-Shan or deru, 22, cosplaying as Akira-sama from the anime Lucky Star.
For two days, in every corner of the exam hall, there was non-stop activity.
There were intermittent performances from this year’s increased number of student bands such as Hentai Sentai, PG165, C’est la Vie and Kawaii Sakura. Even the GACC committee got in the act by first staging a Street Fighter sketch and then performing the Motteke! Sailor-fuku dance. Special mention should be given to the Hard Gay cosplayer who literally stole the show on both days with his honest-to-goodness impression.
At a corner near the stage, participants battled each other in PS2 games like Tekken 5, Burnout, Pro Evolution Soccer and Melty Blood.
Towards the back of the hall, players quietly (relatively speaking) engaged in World of War Craft: The Card Game and Magic: The Gathering card game tournaments.
GACC 2008 was also a time for companies to show what they got. There were console demos of the Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360 and Sony’s PS3. Monthly gaming magazine GameAxis showcased a cool Mini Cooper decorated with decals from the upcoming computer game, Command and Conquer 3: Kane’s Wrath.
Local artist Benny Wong gave out autographs at his KomikFactory booth, as did artist Apoh from local comic magazine Gempak.
Fans shopped for merchandise at AnimeTech, GACT Vision and Teencom booths.
Of course, not all things were rosy. The limitations of the venue were felt by most visitors; the venue strained to accommodate numbers well beyond its maximum capacity, so there was barely any walking room. The emcees this year weren’t as engaging as last year’s, but they improved over the event. The event flow was also somewhat messy on the first day.
Still, overall, GACC 2008 has managed to top last year’s event, and host a seiyuu second year in a row since the event started in 2006.
“This year, GACC has more than 3,000 visitors, compared to over 2,000 from last year,” said GACC event director Thiah Shin Dee, 22.
“One of the major challenges we faced this year was to get sponsorship for bringing in a seiyuu. Luckily, we had a few sponsors who had faith in us, so we were able to move on with our major plans.
“Sadly, not all of the suggested plans could be implemented due to the lack of funds,” she lamented. (They had planned to have outdoor events such as “goldfish scooping” and game stalls.)
“Another challenge we faced was the venue; we could not get an extra side room because it was already taken up by another club,” she added.
GACC 2008’s biggest coup was, of course, the presence of Morita.
“The credit goes to Morita-san’s manager from his seiyuu agency. And it was sheer luck that we got Morita-san to come to Malaysia because of his hectic schedule,” said Thiah.
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