Runway Beat’s theme is centered on fashion design, but its story is much more.

In a regular high school class in Tokyo, Miki Tachibana, a popular teen fashion model gets all the limelight and fawning for her celebrity status and beautiful appearance. Along comes Beat, the new transfer student and a fashion design prodigy, who gives his geeky hikkomori classmate Wanda an impressive makeover that wows everyone into believing that they might actually be sufficiently talented and good-looking for a fashion show. In the process of designing clothes, preparing for the fashion show with his classmates and inspiring them to unleash their ‘potential’, Beat has his share of problems to deal with – imminent closure of the high school, an ailing childhood sweetheart, design theft by a leading fashion company no less, loss of trust and disappointment from his classmates, estrangement from his father, and the love confession of May, his faithful and supportive sidekick.

But eventually, everything works out and the class shines on the fashion stage. And boy, do they shine, literally. The fashion stage backdrop is multi-levelled with flashing neon lights, a work of art more impressive than professional runways. It was constructed by amateurs -  the students and their parents, and designed by the geeky Wanda, who’s actually an architect prodigy. The nerdiest girl in the class suddenly becomes the sexiest girl onstage. All the students have become stars of the show, just like Miki. Yes, there is certainly some amount of exaggeration, but the message is clear – Everyone has potential, quoting Beat, and we can unleash this potential if we believe in ourselves.

I really like the message of the movie. It portrays the spirit of EOY. EOY has always aimed to create a close-knit community where you can find friends and support to help each other and help each other realise our talents. All of us has potential, and we can make a difference to our lives and the people around us if we do what we like, and do it well, be it cosplay, singing, dancing, drawing… Never belittle yourself or think of yourself as a nobody. We are all capable of achieving great things, even if we are just being ourselves and having fun.

Another important point the film conveys is a parent’s love and support for their child, even if the child heads down unconventional paths. If you clash with your parents over your interests, remember that they always have your best interests in heart. Help them to understand you, instead of hating them for trying to ‘ruin’ your life, because that’s not what they are trying to do.

Runway Beat is an endearing and inspirational movie that you really ought to catch if you can. If anything, the eyecandy-filled cast and that amazing fashion show should keep your eyes glued to the screen.

Runway Beat opens island-wide in most theatres in Singapore on 23 February.

Runway Beat screens exclusively at Golden Village Vivocity. Apologies for the earlier mistake.

- Angie

Ah, such a genki poster with lots of pretty faces eh?

“Runway Beat” is adapted from a very popular teen novel in Japan. It is directed by Kentaro Otani, director of NANA in 2005, and stars Koji Seto, Nanami Sakuraba, Mirei Kiritani, IMALU and Kei Tanaka.

The free movie screening will be held on 21 February, 7pm at GV Vivocity (Subject to changes).

Winners will be selected via lucky draw, and participating is really easy!

First of all, ‘like’ EOY’s official Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/theeoy if you have not already done so.

Share this post to your facebook wall! See that Facebook symbol under “Share EOY” on the right? Just click on it when you’re logged in to your Facebook account, and it will be posted to your wall. (you will need the link to your wall post later on)

Fill up this incredibly simple form. (Please only submit it once)

And wait for lady luck to shine! We are looking for five winners, and each winner will win a pair of “Runway Beat” movie tickets. All winners will be contacted via email by 19^th February.

Good luck!

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More info about this movie:

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCFwm2L_CVM

Synopsis:

Fashion, Friendship, Romance. It’s All on the Runway.

You can change if you believe in yourself.

It was a life-altering encounter. High school sophomore, Mei Tsukamato (Nanami Sakuraba), on visiting her mother in the hospital meets two teens her same age, one a wheelchair-confined Kirara Miyamoto (Erina Mizuno) and another interesting young man. The very next day, he shows up in her class as a new transfer student by the name of Beat Mizorogi (Koji Seto), and nothing will ever be the same. When Beat witnesses the bullying of a computer nerd named Satoshi Inuda (Kei Tanaka), he invites himself along with Mei over to Satoshi’s house for a fashion makeover that turns him into “Wanda”, the newly-minted “coolest guy in school”.

When “Wanda” arrives at school the next day, the entire class is astounded and assumes a new attitude toward him, including Miki “Mikitty” who had treated him coldly, and Goda, his “extortionist”. Beat, hailing from a tailor’s family with an abiding love for fashion design, sets about transforming the school from the outside in. The excitement and creativity of Beat’s designs brings the class together and prompts them to launch a fashion show was a new tradition at their annual school festival. But the runway ahead is fraught with snags. First, the students find out that the school had been slated for closure at the end of the current school year. And then an incident involving the theft of Beat’s designs threatens to tear apart the hard-earned class camaraderie. Can they pull together to save their show and school? And what will Beat’s ultimate legacy and impact be on everyone’s lives?

We picked up Hitomi today and she is really looking forward to meet all of you in Singapore.

So how to get to EOY (The Republic Cultural Centre at Republic Polytechnic)?
Address – 9 Woodlands Ave 9, Singapore 738964 (Near Woodlands MRT/ Interchange)

By MRT
Alight at Woodlands Station, follow the map, 10mins walk.

By BUS

Woodlands Interchange, bus numbers
168 169 178 187 856 858 900 901 903 911 912 913 925 926 960 961 962 964 925C 961
Woodlands Ave 9 169 911
Woodlands Ave 2 169 903 NR

By Car (Shortest Route)

PIE (Jurong) >> Exit onto BKE(Woodlands) (Exit 24)
BKE >> Exit onto SLE (Exit
SLE >> Exit via Woodlands Ave 2 (Exit 10)
Woodlands Ave 9 >> Turn right into Woodlands Ave 9 at the 4th junction (after you see Woodlands MRT on your left)
Woodlands Ave 9 >>Turn left into Republic Polytechnic (drop-off/ pick-up point & basement carpark)

===========================

Just a gentle reminder, EOY does not encourage camping and with the recent wet weather, it is advisable for all of cosplayers to enter EOY event venue. As this could be the last time we use Republic Polytechnic TRCC as EOY event venue, the more that we encourage you to purchase our door tickets and enjoy the celebration together.

There will be free usage of a dedicated baggage area for Cosplayer’s use and 1 Free drink (per ticket holder) for you to enjoy.  Not forgetting the chance to take photo with/of our Meido Ambassador, Cosplay Ambassador (Esther), Autograph session with Hitomi, buy exclusive merchandise and watch a 5 hours fully packed show.

“Only with your support can EOY continue to do better and have a chance to showcase local talents in a different light.

See you at EOY ~ <3 Vincent”

This year, we’ll be doing our 1st cosplay runway on stage at 2:45 pm, and this will be open to all cosplayers. As such, we would like to invite you to be part of the cosplay runway for a time of fun!

How to Participate

• 10:45 am – 12 pm: Register at the EOY booth (we’ll be near the booth near Hitomi’s merchandise); look for Jiemi & Ophelia from Daiyaku / EOY
• 1:00 pm – 1:45 pm: Selected cosplayers (we will try to put as many cosplayers as possible) will be notified and brought to our backstage area
• 2:00 pm: Cosplay runway briefing by Aeth, our runway director. She’s the one directing the cosplay and Lolita runway for EOY ’11.
• 2:45 pm: Actual EOY Cosplay Runway on stage!

Once again looking forward to all the spectacular cosplays~

They’ll greet you at the door, give sweets out and you may also request pictures of/with them.

Look out for Dion (left) and Aiko (right) welcoming you back to EOY!

Feel the Kyun~

Watch more of her videos below:

TEAM純情 – yahhoo

Hitomi (Maid from @home cafe) live at Siam Paragon1

Hitomi (Maid from @home cafe) live at Siam Paragon2

More of her in Meido costume performing

@Home Maid Cafe Video:

More information sites:

TEAM純情 公式サイト http://www.teamjj.com/

TEAM純情 公式ブログ http://ameblo.jp/teamjj/

@HomeWorld http://www.cafe-athome.com/maids/

This year, our special guest is Hitomi, from @home maid cafe. For those who don’t know, @home is probably the biggest maid cafe chain in the world, and they are based in Akihabara, Tokyo. Hitomi is the top maid in Tokyo, and is the number #1 most popular maid at @home. She also performs as Team Junjo, and besides Japan, she has also travelled overseas for performances.

@home occupies almost an entire building on Chou Dori Street, with another outlet just opposite the road. Chou Dori is the main street at Akihabara, where you find many otaku-ish shops. They are very well known, and they are listed on the train station map at Akihabara. If you pull out my otaku side, @home is my favourite maid cafe.

Coincidentally, Hitomi is a friend of Aikawa Kozue, our guest from DANCEROID last year.

In lieu of Hitomi’s arrival, we are having a meido theme for this year, and we have meido ambassadors to take care of you at our door, they will also be around our venue area and you can take pictures with them.

Anibee.tv is also doing their cosplay ambassador hunt at our event, and the selected individual will win $500 cash, with the chance to travel around to participate in events. They have also gifts for people who register at their booth; it’s completely free, so please do go to check out their booth.

As much as possible, we try to give EOY a casual atmosphere, so Hitomi will be appearing and interacting with VIP ticket holders during our lunch buffet reception. It’s halal, so that everyone can enjoy the event, without having to worry about lunch.

Oh, I nearly forgot to mention that we’ll be giving out free drinks to all ticket holders, whilst stocks last. They can be redeemed at the bar counter at level 1. Do also make yourself comfortable by storing your baggage at our baggage storage area, in the same areas as 2010.

EOY is also pretty well known for our stage productions, and we have a number of changes for our stage this year. There is a revised layout with a mini T-stage, which will make our performances (especially Lolita and Cosplay Runway) more interesting. We will also be flying curtains and backdrops this year too~

On top of that, we’re going for a more concert stage setting this year. Though we still have an emcee (a moe meido emcee!), there will be less talking and more performances, akin to attending a live.

We have auditioned over 100 people, and have selected the best to perform for this year. Each year, we award stage time to talents within our community to perform on stage, and we hope to be able to give a beautiful stage for all the youths to perform on. The standards have continually gotten better over the years, and we’ve seen the most number of auditioning people this year. Be sure to catch them on stage between 1- 6pm!

Hitomi will be performing on stage at 2 pm and 5:30pm, and her autograph session is scheduled at 6:30pm at the foyer. To qualify for her autograph session, simply purchase any of her merchandise available on sale during EOY.

I will also be doing the closing around 5:15 pm and will be performing a simple piano piece. Like all the performers, we’re all practicing hard for our item. We are not professionals, but we will do our best to keep you entertained!

After that, we’ll also be having our 13th anniversary celebration on stage with a cake at 6 pm. It hasn’t been confirmed yet, but I will request Hitomi to see if she can (when she arrives) host the celebration for us, and we can all celebrate the end of year by having cake and taking pictures together on stage. Please join us for our celebration; I want to sing a birthday song with all you guys!

Lastly, on a closing note, though it hasn’t been confirmed yet, we will be shifting out of TRCC in 2012. We have shortlisted a few places, and we hope to move to a more accessible place for everyone. Vincent and myself also went to Japan earlier last month not just for play, but also to look for artistes to bring in for next year. We have also shortlisted a few potential artistes to bring in for 2012.

We have quite a few exciting changes for next year, but before that happens, I hope that you will take the time to come down with your friends to enjoy EOY 2011 at TRCC, probably for the last time. It is really a fantastic venue, so do experience it, before we move out to another venue next year.

At EOY, we aim to bring you a different experience. Just like @home maid cafe, we also hope to make you feel at home while you enjoy your day here.

To me, EOY is like family, and although it may sound a little weird, I sometimes see you all like my children. Playful you all may sometimes be, I really, really appreciate and love you guys. I have a lot of fun with you all.

Last year, I wrote an entry, promising that your welfare will always come first over monetary profits. I have not forgotten about it, and that, will never change.

Thank you for being part of this family. I’ll see you at EOY once again~

Love,
Tim
Producer, EOY

Cosplay at EOY this year and stand to win $500 cash, appear in exclusive press media, makeover and more!!

Are you a fan of Japanese animation, loves to take pictures, Facebooking & Blogging?
Then anibee wants YOU!

Anibee is looking for their very own anibee ambassador and you could just be the New Face of anibee!

Pre-requisites / Judging Criteria

• Aged 13 and above
• Non-camera shy with a pleasant, bubbly personality
• Able to communicate well
• Active in social media with a facebook and blog
• Passion for anime or Japanese lifestyle
• Interest in attending product/media launches & events

Simply pop by Anibee booth at EOY 2011 for a simple registration.

Date: 17-Dec-2011, Saturday
Time: 10am – 7pm
Venue: EOY @ The Republic Cultural Centre (Theatre)
Republic Polytechnic
9 Woodlands Ave 9

17th Dec 2011: Registration @ EOY (Republic Poly)
19th Dec 2011: Posting of shortlisted* participants on facebookhttp://www.facebook.com/anibee.tv
19th – 2nd Jan 2012: Voting period, participant with the most number of Votes (likes) win
3rd Jan 2012: Announcement of Winner

*Judges’ decision will be final

 That’s not all at Anibee booth in EOY. 
There is a Sure Win lucky dip for Free anibee member sign up at our booth *whilst stocks last*

Sign up as a free member over at our booth and be entitled to a sure-win lucky dip comprising of the following:

i. Exclusive Doraemon Mermaid wind-up toy (movie collector series)
ii. Doraemon Plush toy
iii. Anibee note pad
iv. Capsule toy / Gashapon collectibles
v. Dragon Crisis Goodie Bag
vi. COCO! Manga magazine
vii. Little souvenirs such as fans etc.

So don’t forget to drop by Anibee booth!!

For more information, feel free to email to anibee@immg.com.sg
Or visit www.anibee.tv today!

Also featuring her original art by Daiyaku

Background on Yume

Kyouyaku Yume does not have any recollection of her own identity and past, but strangely enough, she remembers of a promise she made with someone quite some time ago. The only clue she has was a note she found clutched in her hand when she was awakened.

The note speaks of a clue left by that ‘someone’.

“Within you are talents which you’ve yet to perceive.

Head North, and you’ll find clues leading to the discovery of yourself.”

And together with the note, she finds a turquoise pebble which is engraved with the numbers 1 and 2. With these to guide her, she slowly makes her way north on a journey of self-discovery.

Creators’ thoughts

Who am i? What is my purpose? Talent?…Do i possess any of it?

These are the things we sometimes tend to ask ourselves. In our search to define our identity, we meet many different people and events leading to the discovery of our personality, skills and talents. It is this unique journey which everyone of us is making, led us to the creation of Yume, a mysterious girl who is soon to join us on our life’s journey.

It is also at the EOY, where all walks of life with the same passion and interests congregate, serves as Yume’s first ‘checkpoint’ in her personal search of herself.

~The Daiyaku Team