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AFA Singapore Hosts Comedians Tomonori Jinnai, Seiji Chihara, Tutorial

Anime Festival Asia announced last Friday and Saturday that it will host comedians Tomonori Jinnai and Seiji Chihara, and Tutorial, as well as producer Takamasa Sakurai. It also announced last Friday that it will host the group Everlast.

Tomonori Jinnai is a comedian and actor. He made a successful solo performance in South Korea in 2011, and launched his “Tomonori Jinnai World Live Tour 2014 Road to LAS VEGAS ~Dare mo Tatta koto no nai Butai he~” world tour in 2014. He has acted in live-action television dramas, such as Cinderella Date, and Natsu no Koi wa Nijiiro ni Kagayaku.

Seiji Chihara is a comedian and actor. He plays the role of the tsukkomi (straight man) in the Seiji Kyōdai comedy duo alongside his younger brother Seiji Junior (real name: Seiji Kōji). He has acted in live-action films, such as Kūchū Teien and Hana Yori mo Naho, as well as television dramas, such as Ohisama and ATARU.

Tutorial is a comedy duo consisting of Yoshimi Tokui and Mitsunori Fukuda. The group formed in 1998. They launched a live tour in 2012 and 2013 performing live in Japan and in multiple countries in Asia. They have appeared in films such as Tengoku wa Mada Tooku and Nichijō, and have appeared in the anime film Doraemon: Nobita no Uchū Kaitakushi, with Tokui playing Doubt, and Fukuda playing Uno.

Takamasa Sakurai is a producer, writer, journalist, and research professor at Digital Hollywood University. He has been involved in multiple events as a cultural spokesman, having traveled through 140 countries around the world. He has been called upon as an expert on committees by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and produced its "Kawaii Amabassador" project, which elected three girls to lecture on fashion and Japanese culture in events in 2009. He has written books such as Sekai Kawaii Kakumei (World Cute Revolution), Anime Bunka Gaiko (Anime Cultural Diplomacy). During the convention, Sakurai will discuss the idol phenomenon and the sudden rise of popularity of Japanese idols around the world.

Everlast is a musical group consisting of Nobuhiko Otsuru and Yukari Wakana, and are best known for singing the theme songs for the Force of Will trading card game, such as "Boundless Field," "Dive Into the Deep," and "Heroism." The pair will perform in the AFA mini-stage on all three days of the convention.

Anime Festival Asia Singapore will hold its event from Friday to Sunday. Anime Festival Asia began in Singapore in 2008, and has since held sister events in Indonesia and in Thailand.

The Anime Festival Asia convention held its Bangkok, Thailand event from April 30 to May 3, and held its event in Indonesia from September 25 to 27.