Animania: A Tribute to Comic Fiesta
Author’s Notes: I’ve included a subpage to this one (which you can find under the tabs on the bar above) stating some facts which would be useful to know before reading this chapter, as I understand that not everyone would watch the same anime/read the same mangas as I do and so certain references may be a little confusing.
Chapter 1
And So It Begins
“Recently, scientists have reported strange sightings of the Solar System, and have boldly predicted that our world will enter a new dimension sometime in the near future, crossing time and space.”
“However, these claims were perceived by many as mere hoaxes, as there have been no solid evidence on this matter until today. Most people now believe that all this fuss over nothing would relive the falsified incident two years ago regarding the Mayan’s prediction of the End of the World.”
Every year, the people of our nation come face-to-face with a mind-boggling, heart-racing, fangirl-squealing, wallet-flattening, camera-snapping, eye-gluing, sardine-like-crowd-squeezing sensation.
That’s right. I’m talking about Anifiesta, renowned as the largest ACG event in the history of large ACG events.
This year, Anifiesta returns bigger and better with the event located at the newly established 8-storey convention center with over 30 exhibition halls, 15 meeting rooms, 8 banquet halls and even an underground passage leading to a concert auditorium.
Excited? Well, we’re not even halfway there.
Our cosplay competitions return with opportunities for the loyal and diehard cosplay fanatics, so if you want to be crowned the King and Queen of Cosplay, fetch your multi-colored wigs and get into character!
Also, Anifiesta’s annual Game Quest is on a whole new level of intensity and fun! If you’re an avid detective (Conan), do participate in the quest! The grand prize is currently classified information, but will be revealed on the final day of the event. Be sure to keep track of the announcements from the Main Hall, where our Anifiesta emcees will be blowing the roof off the place (though not literally).
On a side note, we all know you’ve been fretting over that ‘natural phenomenon’ the world has been concerned about. Rest assured…entering a new dimension is better than the end of the world, right?
Come on, we all have that secret fetish for the interesting and unexplored. I’ll bet all of you are dying of curiosity to see what happens if we really do enter a new dimension. Wow, talk about “out of this world”.
To unveil the magic behind an otaku’s obsession, to see for yourself the vast horizons of the ACG world, to proudly announce to the world that you’re a full-fledged ACG fan, come join in the fun for three unforgettable days of Anifiesta 2014! See you in a week~
Note: The above article is solely of the author’s personal opinion and does not, in any way, represent the authorities of the actual Anifiesta event.
People pushed against each other in futile attempts to enter the hall – a plain and regular sight, for longtime supporters of Anifiesta. Things didn’t seem that pretty for the first-timers, though.
Deep in the halls, the congested human traffic had become quite an issue. Committees and volunteers were rushing to keep things in order, but none of them could contain their own excitements for the start of the final day of Anifiesta 2014 after two whole days of fun-filled ACG-ness either.
“Damn! This is all because that stupid columnist guy wrote that article about us.” groaned a volunteer in his mid-twenties as he shoved the raging crowd back in line. His comrade at the side, who was in the same motion as he was, gave a helpless sigh.
“Oh, well it’s alright.” a visitor approached the two. “At least we’re having fun, right?”
The two volunteers exchanged glances and smiled.
The crowd was completely unaffected by the loud anime music booming through the speakers. In fact, most of them were singing along to it. There were even those who could remember the lyrics of random songs without actually understanding them.
The visitors gathered round the booths, pondering over which set of cat-ears to purchase, watching the ongoing Vanguard battles, placing orders for art commissions, screening through doujins and spamming their camera and phone buttons for every single cosplayer they met.
Ah, the beauty of life as an ACG fan.
…
…
…
“Man, this is so annoying. There’re so many people.”
“Chill. Aren’t ACG events supposed to be like this? That’s the fun of it.”
“Urgh. This is pissing me off. There are no seats, we have a lack of oxygen and all these damn people are blocking the road. I just wish something more interesting would happen.”
3rd Day of Anifiesta ’14 – 11.30am
…
“Welcome, one and all to Ani–” Pause. “ –fiesta–” Pause. “–2014!” The emcee roared into the microphone, gaining a huge applause and cheer from the assembled crowd.
“And now we give you…” the other emcee strode onto the stage. “…the official launch of the final day of Anifiesta 2014!”
Dramatic music was cued, as the oversized screen wallpapered at the back of the stage showed footages of previous Anifiesta events.
The crimson headed girl struck her best pose to the camera, with one hand on her cat-ear hair band and the other playing with her cat-tail mischievously. After surpassing the horrendous stage of not being able to squint at blinding flashes, she nodded politely at the photographers and turned to enter Main Hall, where the ceremony took place.
“I should probably change to the Flame Empress armor now that Cat Suit Erza is done parading around.” she told herself. Reaching for her head, the girl stopped in her tracks, her hand feeling around her head blindly.
“…what happened to my band?”
Chills crept over her as she quickly felt for her tail, trying to remove it. “It…It won’t come off!”
To her horror, she twitched her cat-ears and lashed her tail. Panicking, she turned to all the cosplayers around her.
A cosplayer who was dressed as Roronoa Zoro from One Piece posed with his plastic katana out for the photographers.
“Try doing a cool slash down the floor.” suggested a photographer.
Doing as requested, the man prepared himself and lunged the katana down – only to be taken aback by the gust which followed the procedure and the thorough laceration down through the concrete floor.
“Whoa…” the photographers spammed their camera shots and repeatedly took photos of the stunning action.
“Him too?” The cat-girl muttered.
From the side, screams and shrills could be heard as cosplayers all around the halls found surreal happenings to their costumes and props. Without further hesitation, they rushed towards the Main Hall.
“With this, we now officially launch Ani–”
“Help, somebody!” A whole wave of cosplayers rushed into the Main Hall, gaining weird looks from the speculators surrounding the stage. The emcees exchanged glances with the other committee members at the side of the stage and back at the frantic visitors.
A short midget stormed up the stage in an angry manner and snatched the microphone from one of the astonished emcees.
“Um…how can we…”
“Look at me!” yelled the midget, motioning his hand up and down at his height.
“Uh…you’re a life-sized Edward Elric cosplayer? Yeah, that’s really nice, I’m sure you’d win the Cosplay Competition later, but–”
“No!” the boy shouted in exasperation. He pushed up his red sleeve, revealing a metallic right blade in place of his hand.
The hustling crowd fell silent. They too, were focused on the Fullmetal Alchemist character.
“I lost my hand!” he yelled. “I…I just wore this fake plastic glove over my hand which kind of looked like Ed’s automail and the next thing I knew, I had a real automail hand!”
Murmurs broke out across the hall.
“And…” the boy slapped his chest. “I’m flat-chested!”
“…and that’s a problem because…”
“I was crossdressing as Ed! I’m supposed to be a girl!”
“…wow.”
The committees were discussing among themselves at the outrageous claims.
“And it’s not just me,” said the cosplayer. “There are lots of cosplayers down there who can suddenly use real magic, perform tricks like their cosplayed characters and can’t take off their costumes.”
“Look, I don’t really follow. What do you mean?” asked the dumbfounded emcee, eyebrows furrowed.
Tired of explaining, ‘Ed’ marched over to the side of the stage, where a few goodie bags were placed. Grabbing one of them, he threw it up in the air, clasped his hands together and put both palms onto the bag. A blue bolt of electricity materialized before widened eyes, transforming the bag into a handful of colorful confetti raining down onto the alchemist.
“He just…”
“…performed alchemy…?”
People were too bewildered to even speak ill of the boy-girl’s intentions.
“There, you see?” said the cosplayer. “Something weird is definitely going on. Fake weapons becoming real, physical gender-bending, impossible tricks now feasible…what in the world is going on?”
The committees fell silent, in contrast to the noise the onlookers were beginning to make.
“Think about it, people!” exclaimed a young man of nineteen. “Isn’t this awesome? We aren’t just ‘cosplaying’ the characters now–we are the characters!”
Some exchanged glances unconvinced, but others chatted and nodded enthusiastically.
“He’s right. What’s so bad about this?”
“Yeah, I could get inside a girl’s head now.”
“Oh, you’re only lucky you decided to cross-dress today. What a perv.”
“Cool! I can perform jutsus now?”
“And my guns actually work?”
“Hey, I can move my wings!”
“Cool!”
“Hey, try out that Sawada Tsunayoshi’s X-Burner with your glove.”
“Omigosh, it really works!”
As the committees could see, they could no longer suppress the roaring excitement of the otakus.
“Contact President Nerd. We’ve got a problem,” whispered a lady to her assistant.
The Fullmetal Alchemist cosplayer stood frozen on stage, watching the scene unfold. Beams of light shone out of nowhere, fireballs were thrown carelessly, katanas were swung at strangers in a childish act to spar, presenting an ironic paradigm of auroras.
Eventually, a loud scream of horror was to thank for silencing the crowd. People turned to the source of the voice, where a group was encircling something.
A raven-haired girl with a ponytail tied to the side of her head watched quietly from the side. She knew better than to act impetuously.
Some committee members pushed their way into the crowd. When they finally reached the clearing, the surrounding onlookers turned and gave way, moving stiffly like clockwork dolls. Their faces pale as a sheet, as if they’ve seen a ghost.
Peering down into the center of the clearing, the committee members figured they might as well have.
A man lay writhing on the grey floor – movements close to a fish out of water – gasping for air. But what attracted the crowd was not the fact that he was sprawled on the floor.
It was the crimson blood cascading out of his abdomen in a grotesque manner, where a katana had pierced through.
“W-Wha…”
“Who did this…?”
A woman, presumably the one who screamed, flung her head sideways, her eyes searching. “Who did this!?” she yelled. “Who is the killer??”
Visitors near and far suddenly felt tingling goose bumps down their spines. Anybody could be the killer. It could be someone standing right next to them, and they could strike with another weapon before you know it.
Wary and horrified, the crowd dispersed in a chaotic and disorganized pattern, each running off to elevators and exits, staying out of each other’s way the best they could. Some ran over to the restrooms to throw up after witnessing the gory scene.
Among the hectic state, committee members were busy dialing numbers into their phones and hurling questions at each other. They tried to set everything in order, giving instructions to keep things under control – but not before sending the injured man off to receive medical treatment.
“But how are we going to do it?” asked one of the committee members. “We’ll have to remove the sword.”
They looked at one another, expressions solemn and still in shock.
“Well, someone’s gotta do it.”
“Wait, no!” A man rushed over to them. “You’ll kill him!”
“Do you know this person?”
“He’s my friend…” nodded the man, kneeling beside the injured victim. He then shouted, almost hysterically. “Come on, Randolph, speak to me!”
Randolph was gasping softly, his lips parting. “…I…”
“Wait, no, don’t talk. Don’t say anything. We’ll get you help.” The man looked at the committee members, seeking help.
They turned to each other, unsure of what they should be doing.
“Someone’s dying here! Do something!” the man screamed.
“Hey, how’s the 911 call?” Someone asked.
The person who had been trying to call looked up from her phone. “There’s no line here. I can’t contact anyone!”
“What? What do you mean, no line? It was fine just ten minutes ago.”
More and more attendees stopped by the injured man.
“How’s the situation?” One of them asked.
A committee member shook his head, trembling slightly. “I…We don’t know what to do…!”
“I don’t care what it is, just do something!!” The friend of Randolph’s roared in panicking fury. “No, no. Hang on!” He watched in horror as Randolph gave him one last smile before closing his eyes. His gasps for air came to a complete stop as his face grew paler than before.
The man gaped at the sight of his deceased friend with a scream hitched in his throat. His breathing grew intense as he slowly began to get a grip of the situation.
“He’s…dead?” One of the cosplayers who witnessed the scene whispered.
Another wave of screams were set off as some people scrambled away from the corpse. The group of committee members were backing away with trembling feet.
A new series of news set everyone off, announced by the people who returned after rushing out to the exits earlier.
“There’s a freaky barrier around this entire building. Our cosplay powers are useless against it – we’re trapped here!”
More people flung themselves at the exits in denial, wailing and crying their souls out.
And thus began the third day of Anifiesta 2014.
“Thirty-thousand people, eighteen thousand cosplayers, thirty-two halls to hide in and more than one killer to hide from.”
A/N: Thank you so much for reading! I had many doubts about this story so I would really appreciate some feedback 😀
P.S. The next chapter will be posted next Thursday. Meanwhile, have a happy week everyone! ^.^
UPDATE: The next few chapters are up! Click here for Chapter 2 🙂
~Living in my Fantasy Bubble~ 