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Anime Festival Asia Announces Musical Guests for Thailand, Indonesia Events

Southeast Asian convention Anime Festival Asia announced its musical guest lineup for its Thailand and Indonesia conventions.

The musical acts for the Thailand convention include Aimer, Eir Aoi, GARNiDELiA, Lia, livetune+, Luna Haruna, May'n, and Suzuko Mimori.

The musical acts for the Indonesia convention include Aimer, bless4, Eir Aoi, Elisa, Lia, livetune+, Maaya Uchida, and nano.

AFA Thailand will take place on August 19-21 at the Siam Paragon - Royal Paragon Hall in Bangkok, a different venue from last year's Bangkok International Trade and Exhibition Centre. AFA Indonesia will take place on September 16-18 at the Jakarta International Expo.

Aimer debuted in 2011 as part of the Agehasprings group. They released a cover album titled Your Favorite Things in May 2011. She released her first single for Defstar Records, "Rokutousei no Yoru," in September 2011. The single's title song was featured as the ending theme song of the No. 6 television anime series. She has also performed theme songs for the Natsuyuki Rendezvous and Terror in Resonance television anime series. Additionally, the title song of her March 2013 "RE:I:AM" single was used as the ending theme for the sixth OVA episode of the Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn series. She performed the opening theme song "Brave Shine" for last year's Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works anime series' second season and most recently performed the ending theme song "ninelie" for the Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress anime alongside EGOIST vocalist chelly.

The bless4 music group, which includes singer AKINO, her brothers Akashi and Aiki, and her sister Kanasa, debuted with the single "Good Morning! Mr.Sunshine." Akino made her solo debut with the "Genesis of Aquarion" and "Go Tight" singles (Genesis of Aquarion opening themes), both composed by Yoko Kanno. She has since performed several songs for anime shows, including "A Chance to Shine" for Oban Star-Racers, "Extra Magic Hour" for Amagi Brilliant Park, and "Miiro" for Kantai Collection -Kan Colle-. AKINO released her Dicennia album in March 2015, and it was her first album in eight years. The title Dicennia — literally "decades" in Latin — symbolizes the 10th anniversary of her solo debut in 2005, and her aspirations for the next 10 years.

Eir Aoi launched her musical career in 2011. She released her first single, "Memoria," in October 2011, with the single's title song serving as the ending theme song to the Fate/Zero TV anime series. She has performed theme songs for such anime series as Kill la Kill, Sword Art Online, and the second season of Aldnoah Zero. She released her latest album, D'Azur, last June, which debuted at #3 on Oricon's weekly album chart for the June 22-28 week. She released her latest single, "Accentier," on March 2, with the single's title song serving as the theme song for the Digimon World -Next 0rder- PlayStation Vita game.

Elisa debuted in 2007 with "euphoric field," which was used as the opening theme song for the ef: a tale of memories anime series. She has since gone on to perform opening themes for Hayate the Combat Butler!! and The World God Only Knows, as well as ending themes for Nabari no Ou, Valvrave the Liberator, and A Certain Scientific Railgun. She also performed the ending theme song for The irregular at magic high school anime, and performed the theme song for the Expelled From Paradise anime film. She performed live in Malaysia, the New Jersey, Macau, Hong Kong, and Shanghai in 2015, and she released her sixth album, ANICHIRO, on March 23.

GARNiDELiA is comprised of Mai Mizuhashi (Maria) and Yoshinori Abe (Toku). The duo first worked together on "Color," the opening theme song of the Freezing anime, although they had not yet made the Garnidelia unit name at that point. The duo formally debuted in 2014 with their single "Ambiguous," which was used as the opening theme for the Kill la Kill anime. The group has since released seven singles, two albums, and two mini-albums, and has performed theme songs for such anime as The irregular at magic high school, Gundam: Reconguista in G, and Gunslinger Stratos: The Animation.

Lia launched her career as a singer and songwriter in 2000. She was a member of the I've Sound music production group from 2001-2003. She is notable for having performed theme songs for two Key visual novels: Air ("Tori no Uta"), and Tomoyo After: It's a Wonderful Life ("Light colors"), both written by Jun Maeda. She later performed "Tori no Uta" for Air's 2004 television anime adaptation. She also performed "My Soul, Your Beats," the opening theme from the 2010 Angel Beats! series, and most recently performed the opening theme "Bravely You" from the Charlotte anime series, which premiered on July 4. Maeda also wrote both songs and series. She will perform the upcoming planetarian: Hoshi no Hito anime's ending theme song "Hoshi no Fune." She released her "Bravely You/Yake Ochinai Tsubasa" single on last August, and it reached the #4 spot on the Oricon weekly single chart. She also performed the "Mado Kara Mieru" song alongside Aoi Tada and Kaori Omura on composer Christopher Tin's Grammy award-winning album Calling All Dawns.

livetune+ is the new incarnation of musician and Vocaloid composer Kz's livetune music group, with Anna Yano as vocalist. The group officially formed in November last year, though Yano had already been writing lyrics for some livetune songs before then. They have performed the song "Soft Touch," a theme song for a DVD of the Omochi Alien mascot character seen in Village Vanguard stores in Japan. Anna Yano performed the "Shape My Story" opening theme song for the Stella Women's Academy, High School Division Class C3 anime, as well as the opening theme song "All Over" for the Magica Wars anime. Kz produced both songs, and Yano performed the latter under the tentative group name of "LIVETUNE ADDING ANNA YANO," before the group's official formation. The original livetune performed theme songs for such anime as Oreimo, Digimon Xros Wars: Toki o Kakeru Shōnen Hunter-tachi, Devil Survivor 2 The Animation, and Hamatora.

Luna Haruna was a finalist in Animax's fourth Anisong Grand Prix in 2012, and made her debut performing the "Sora wa Takaku Kaze wa Utau" theme song for the Fate/Zero anime. Since then, she has released seven singles and two studio albums. The title song of her latest single, "Kimiiro Signal," served as the opening theme song for the Saekano: How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend anime. She has also performed theme songs for such anime as Sword Art Online, Monogatari Series Second Season, and Sword Art Online II. Most recently, she performed the "Ripple Effect" ending theme song for the High School Fleet television anime series. The single is slated for release on May 25.

Maaya Uchida debuted as a voice actress in 2010, and got her first major role as Mari in the Yuruyuri - Happy Go Lily television anime in 2011. She has performed roles in numerous anime series since then, including Sankarea: Undying Love (Rea), Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions! (Rikka Takanashi), Noragami (Hiyori), The IDOLM@STER Cinderella Girls (Ranko Kanzaki), and Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress (Ayame). She has performed theme songs for such anime as Ai Mai Mi, Gatchaman Crowds, Riddle Story of Devil, Robot Girls Z, Gonna be the Twin-Tail!!, and Cerberus. She released Penki, her first studio album, last December, and it ranked #6 on the Oricon weekly album charts in its first week.

May'n performed songs as the Macross Frontier anime's "Galactic Fairy" idol Sheryl Nome. Beyond her performances for Macross Frontier, May'n has performed theme songs for anime series including Accel World, Phi-Brain - Puzzle of God, Aria the Scarlet Ammo, Inari Kon Kon, and M3 - Sono Kuroki Hagane. She most recently performed the opening theme song for the last year's television anime series Aquarion Logos with composer Yoko Kanno. The anime's opening theme, "Yoake no Logos," is the title song of her 12th and latest single, which she released last December. She held her "May'n 10th Anniversary Special Concert at Budokan 'POWERS OF VOICE'" concert last August.

Nano was born in New York, and is a bilingual singer and musician. Nano has released seven singles and three albums since debuting in 2012. Nano's debut album, nanoir, ranked #10 on the Oricon weekly album charts. The singer's latest album, Rock On, ranked #6 on the Oricon weekly album charts in its first week in January 2015. Nano has performed theme songs for such anime as Phi-Brain - Puzzle of God: The Orpheus Order, Btooom!, Arpeggio of Blue Steel, Magical Warfare, M3 the dark metal, and Aria the Scarlet Ammo Double A. Nano performed live in Taiwan last month.

Suzuko Mimori debuted as a voice actress in 2010, and landed her first major role as Sherlock Shellingford in the Tantei Opera Milky Holmes anime series, a role that has seen her have a continuing relationship with the Bushiroad company, frequently appearing in the company's anime, radio shows, events, and even in the company's promos for its New Japan Pro Wrestling projects (one of Mimori's hobbies is watching pro-wrestling). She has since voiced roles in numerous shows, such as Yuruyuri - Happy Go Lily (Himawari), Kamisama Kiss (Nanami Momozono), Outbreak Company (Myucel Foaran), Fairy Tail (Hisui), Teekyū (Kanae Shinjō), and Digimon Adventure tri. (Sora Takenouchi). Perhaps most notably, she has performed as part of the Love Live! franchise's nine-girl idol group µ's, voicing the role of Umi Sonoda in the anime, and performing in live concerts with the idol unit.