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C3 AFA Singapore to Host Voice Actresses Narumi Kaho, Hibiku Yamamura, Rika Abe

The Anime Festival Asia convention revealed on Thursday that it will have the Frame Arms Girl anime as a featured anime, and will feature voice actresses Narumi Kaho, Hibiku Yamamura, and Rika Abe as guests. In the anime, Kaho, Yamamura, and Abe voiced the characters Gourai, Architect, and Hresvelgr, respectively.

Kotobukiya's Frame Arms models are a line of plastic robot model kits designed by mechanical designer Takayuki Yanase (Mobile Suit Gundam 00, Muv-Luv Alternative: Total Eclipse). The new FRAMe Arms Girl line, introduced in 2015, introduces new designs by Humikane Shimada (Strike Witches, Girls und Panzer character designs), featuring robots from the original Frame Arms line portrayed as girls. The first model in the line, Gourai, is based on Yanase's robot design with the same name.

The anime's story begins when Ao opens a package that arrives at her doorstep. Inside the package is Gourai, a Frame Arms Girl: a small robot capable of independent movement. Gourai is a newly-developed prototype: a Frame Arms Girl equipped with an "Artificial Self," an advanced AI that gives her a personality. Ao is the only one that has activated her. Gourai begins to gather both battle data and emotions, starting a day-to-day life with Ao, who knows nothing about Frame Arms Girls.

The anime premiered on April 3. The official Facebook page of the Frame Arms Girl franchise streamed the anime with English subtitles for viewers in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam.

C3 AFA Singapore is one of five in content company Sotsu Co., Ltd. and Singaporean events and marketing agency Sozo Pte. Ltd.'s "C3 AFA" joint events that bring together their C3 and Anime Festival Asia events. Aside from Singapore, the events have also run in Thailand, Indonesia, and Japan, and will also have an event in Hong Kong in February 2018.

The convention will take place at the Suntec Singapore Exhibition & Convention Center on November 24-26. Other musical guests include ClariS, FLOW, fripSide, Luce Twinkle Wink☆, May'n, Shiena Nishizawa, Tomohisa Sakō, Konomi Suzuki, Moso Calibration, TRUE, Mashiro Ayano, Iris, Nano, and Nogizaka46. The event will screen an exhibition by musical group EGOIST. The event will also host voice actors Toshiyuki Toyonaga and Tetsuya Kakihara, as well as voice actress Kiyono Yasuno. The event will also hold a preview screening of the first episode of Kyoto Animation's upcoming Violet Evergarden television anime.