Anime Festival Asia is back for 2025, and here’s what to expect

It’s hard to believe that the year is coming to an end. However, as any seasoned convention-goer in Singapore knows, November is a month to get excited for, because it means Anime Festival Asia is right around the corner. The 2025 edition of Southeast Asia’s biggest otaku event will take place from 28-30 November, at the usual spot at Suntec Convention Center.

Just a month before the convention is slated to begin, the festival’s organisers shared some of the biggest events that visitors can expect, including activities on the exhibition floor and the Day Stage. So, as we wait for the end of November, here’s a preview of some of the things that you can look forward to.

Day Stage, Meet & Greets

The Day Stage is traditionally where panels and screenings of popular anime and upcoming shows are usually held, and this year’s no different. Most of the shows, especially on Saturday, will be talk shows or panels with voice actors or staff from featured anime. Events on this year’s Day Stage itinerary include:

28 Nov (Friday):

• Guest talk show for Bâan: The Boundary of Adulthood, a short anime film produced by the YouTuber Gigguk, who will be there to host the show.
• Behind-the-scenes look at Lord of Mysteries, an anime based on a Chinese mystery steampunk webnovel, featuring director Xiong Ke and screenwriter Liu Xing.
• Special screening of the upcoming fantasy anime Noble Reincarnation.
• Online appearances by Spy x Family voice actors Atsumi Tanezaki (Anya Forger), Kenichiro Matsuda (Bond Forger) and Emiri Kato (Becky Blackwell).

29 Nov (Saturday):

• An appearance by Akari Ito, voice of Shobijin from Chibi Godzilla Raids Again.
• Appearances by Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End voice actors Kana Ichinose (Fern) and Chiaki Kobayashi (Stark).
• Appearances from Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX voice actor Simba Tsuchiya (Shuji Ito) and insert song artist Nomelon Nolemon.
• Appearances by The Apothecary Diaries voice actresses Aoi Yuki (Maomao) and Asami Seto (Shisui/Loulan).
• Appearances by Kana Ichinose (Constance Grail) and Sayumi Suzushiro (Scarlett Castiel), voice actresses from The Holy Grail of Eris.

30 Nov (Sunday):

• An appearance by Fire Force voice actor Yusuke Kobayashi (Arthur Boyle) for the anime’s third season.
• An appearance by director Shoji Kawamori for Labyrinth, an upcoming original anime film.
• Special showcase and singing performance by VTubers Otsuka Ray and Reika-chan, a mother-daughter VTubing pair.
• Bilibili panel featuring fantasy anime The Beginning After the End, with Natsumi Fujiwara (voice of Arthur Leywin), Chiaki Omigawa (voice of Jasmine Flameswort) and special emcee Sally Amaki of 22/7.

The Day Stage isn’t the only way to see some of these guests, though, as there’ll also be meet & greets with Gigguk, Sally Amaki, Simba Tsuchiya, cosplayer Thames Malerose, and Kana Ichinose and Sayumi Suzuhiro.

AFA Game On

Beginning last year, AFA’s Game On is a section of the festival featuring booths for convention-goers to try out video games, both released and upcoming. As you might expect, you’ll find mostly Japanese-developed and published games here, with some being based on anime or adjacent to the style. Game On is also a place to experience TCGs, which have long had a presence on AFA’s show floor.

Bandai Namco Entertainment Asia is the main exhibitor bringing games to Game-On, with titles including Sword Art Online Fractured Daydream, Little Nightmares III, Digimon Story Time Stranger and Code Vein II. Upcoming games that will be showcased include Once Upon A Katamari, My Hero Academia: All’s Justice and Blood of Dawnwalker, all three coming out in 2026.

As for TCGs, you can expect to find Grand Archive, a relatively new player in the TCG scene that features anime-style artwork with “western game design.” For more traditional TCGs, games and TCG storefront Maxsoft is bringing Bandai Card Games to AFA, with Digimon Card Game, Gundam Card Game, One Piece Card Game and Union Arena TCG being featured. Of course, the perennial classic Yu-Gi-Oh! will also make an appearance, with activities including a demo for the Asian English Edition of the game and the opportunity to custom-make your own Yu-Gi-Oh! Token card.

Exhibition and Next Stage

But of course, it’d be worth it to mention what’s happening on the exhibition floor, as it’s the main pillar of any good AFA year. 

When you head down to the show floor later this November, you can find staples like the Kadokawa booth and MUSE booth, both hotspots to get merchandise for the latest anime titles, with the latter also offering the latest volume of the manhwa Nanhao Shangfeng. Other merch booths include Sunrise Pop, where you’ll find merchandise for some recent heavy-hitters like Dandadan, The Apothecary Diaries, Solo Leveling and The Fragrant Flower Blooms with Dignity, and the Medialink booth.

Toho Entertainment Asia is also bringing the Toho Animation Experience to AFA, which includes a booth with AFA-exclusive memorabilia and an interactive booth design. And despite being a J-culture focused festival, the recent Netflix hit Kpop Demon Hunters is also making an appearance, thanks to Universal Music Singapore. Here, you can find an exclusive photo booth, as well as merchandise such as a copy of the film’s soundtrack, and free NFC keychains and photocards (though the latter two will be dependent on the day’s stock).

And as usual, the Creators Hub and Cosplay Hub will be returning to the exhibition. The Creators Hub will feature over 150 international creators, most of them independent artists, while the Cosplay Hub will see the appearance of over 40 cosplayers, who’ll be showing off their self-produced merchandise and meeting with fans.

Finally, this year’s Akiba Stage, a mainstay of the exhibition, has been revamped into AFA Next Stage. The new stage will feature, among other things, the Cho-Bon Dance, a modern take on Japan’s traditional Bon Odori dance, a special live drawing session by illustrator LAM, who makes his return to AFA, an exclusive screening of an episode of Let This Grieving Soul Retire, and performances by artists from both Japan and the Southeast Asia region.

Ticketing

If you’re planning on heading down to AFA this year, you can save a spot now, because ticketing for this year’s AFA has already begun. There are three categories depending on access: Exhibition tickets grants access to the exhibition floor only, Exhibition + Stage lets you access the exhibition floor and Day Stage programs, while Concert tickets grants you access for both, plus the Concert Hall, with prices varying depending on whether you get CAT 1, 2 or 3 seats. If you’re curious about who’s gonna perform, you can check out our article about this year’s I Love Anisong concerts here.

There’s also an additional ticket type for Meet & Greets, which, importantly, do not grant access to the exhibition floor. Prices for these range from S$70 to S$100.

Speaking of which, early bird prices start at S$22 for an Exhibition-only 1-day ticket, which will step up to S$25 for advance sales closer to the date, and S$30 during the event days. You can find the full ticket prices on AFA’s website here, and when you’ve decided on the tiers, you can purchase the tickets at Ticketmaster here. For more information on AFA SG 2025, you can head to their official page here.