The series revolves around high-school student, Clay Jensen (Dylan Minnette), and his friend Hannah Baker (Katherine Langford), a girl who takes her own life after suffering a series of demoralising circumstances brought on by certain individuals at her school.

The first season began when Clay Jensen returns home from school to find a mysterious box lying on his porch. Inside, he discovers seven double-sided cassette tapes recorded by Hannah Baker, his classmate and unrequited love, who tragically took her own life two weeks earlier. On the tapes, Hannah unfolds an emotional audio diary, detailing the 13 reasons why she decided to end her life. Her instructions are clear: each person who receives the package is one of the reasons why she killed herself.

Season 2 picks up in the aftermath of Hannah’s death and the start of the characters’ complicated journeys toward healing and recovery. Liberty High prepares to go on trial, but someone will stop at nothing to keep the truth surrounding Hannah’s death concealed. A series of ominous polaroids lead Clay and his classmates to uncover a sickening secret and a conspiracy to cover it up.

Established in 1999 as the biggest showcase of Asian cinema in Europe, the Udine Far East Film Festival has long drawn industry people and film fans to this smallish city in Italy’s Northeast.

Now celebrating its 20th anniversary, this year’s event closed last Sunday with the screening of a restored version of Johnny To’s 2004 movie “Throw Down”, with the director himself turning out for the closing ceremony before the announcement of the films that had won prizes. The Golden Mulberry audience award and the Black Mulberry Critic’s Choice award went to South Korean director Jang Joonhwan’s political drama, “1987: When The Day Comes”, while the White Mulberry award, which recognises first or second-time director, went to “Last Child” by filmmaker Shin Dong-Seok.

Three Thai films were screened at the festival, namely Sophon Sakdapisit’s horror “The Promise”, Nattawut Poonpiriya’s hit “Bad Genius” and “Sad Beauty”, the first feature film as solo director of Bongkod Bencharongkul. The well-known actress came with her husband, tycoon Boonchai, to present the film, which had its theatrical release in Thailand last February.

As an actress, Bongkod has starred in many successful films like “Bang Rajan” (2001), “Kunpan: Legend of the Warlord” (2002), “The Judgement” (2004), “Tom Yum Goong” (2005) and “Jan Dara: The Beginning” (2012), but her path as director has not been quite so rosy.

“It started when my mother asked me what I would do if my career as a film actress was over. She knew I didn’t want to sign a contract with a television channel to star in soaps, so I told her that I wanted to be a film director. I love writing stories, and I tried to direct short films with the help of Phi Pued (Tanit Jitnukul, director of “Bang Rajan”). And I fell in love with filmmaking,” Bongkod tells XP.

Those shorts included an episode for “Pai in Love” (2009) and “Plian” (Change), one of the 12 short films made for the Office of the Prime Minister to promote the so-called “Twelve Values”.

“I started to practise screenwriting by learning from the screenplays of the films I acted in,” she says.

Bongkod took her first steps into full-length features in 2013, co-directing “Angels” with Viroj Srisitsereeamorn.

“The idea for the film was kindled when a friend asked me to lend her money for an abortion. That led to my thinking about women and babies – that there must be some women who want to have a baby, but can’t, and what if a baby were raised by a transgender? I wanted to direct the film on my own, but the studio insisted I work with another director. It was a good decision to make this film as I learned a lot during the production and that was great experience for me.”

Like most other countries, Thailand has only a few female filmmakers and those it has such as Anocha Suwichakornpong, Pimpaka Towira and Ing K have to make their films independently, while on the mainstream side, there are no female filmmakers at all.

“I told the owner of a major film production company that I wanted to direct, but he told me I can’t be a director,” Bongkod says. “He said it would be too tiring, and it’s better for me just to be an actress. It was much the same reaction I’d experienced a long time ago when I said wanted to be a star and a neighbour said it was impossible. ”

“Sad Beauty” had been in the making for six years but didn’t come to fruition until last year as an independent film.

“At first my husband Boonchai didn’t want me to make it, but I felt that a film about women should be directed by a woman. I told him that if it wasn’t successful, I would make it my last film as director. I sent Boonchai, as the executive producer, the script but he wasn’t happy with it until I included the thriller part,” she explains.

“The filming didn’t go smoothly either. I had to change the production team three times. After the problems with the first and second teams, I called Phi Khome [Kongkiat Khomesiri], who I’d known since ‘Bang Rajan’. He told me once that investors tend to be stingy and he had to write a script that would save them money! At first he told me this film was not his style.”

“Sad Beauty” is a road movie about two friends, Yo (Florence Faivre) a famous actress and fashion model who always has problems with the media, and Pim (Pakkawadee “Am” Pengsuwan) an ordinary woman who is dying of cancer. At some point, they commit a serious crime together and are forced to make a journey to solve the problem, which becomes the turning point in their friendship.

“I met Am when I went to the shrine of Mae Nak. For Florence, I thought of her when I was writing the screenplay. She has an aura and I knew that would help the film. She also understands this kind of role with love scenes and drugs.

While the film didn’t do particularly well at the Thai box office, its selection for the Udine Far East Festival raised Bongkod’s spirits.

“At first I thought it was over, then I received the good news from Udine,” she says. “I felt that we were not totally hopeless. There are still people who want to watch Thai films. If we make it through, eventually we’ll be happy.”

And make it through they did, with “Sad Beauty”, which screened on April 28, playing to a packed house and the appreciative audience applauding the director when the end credits rolled.

“I was so excited that I almost couldn’t speak”, says Bongkod of her first experience at a film festival as a director.

“The audience here are real film lovers, and Sabrina [Baracetti, the festival director] is a very nice person.”

“Sad Beauty” is now continuing its journey on the festival circuit, with a tentative screening scheduled for June.

The Embassy of Hungary is sponsoring and catering the event and Ambassador Peter Jakab will personally introduce the movie.

Directed by Gabor Herendi, the film is based on the famed racehorse Kincsem and has as its backdrop the Hungarian Revolution of the 1870s. It was the most expensive film made in the country, but recouped the costs many times over at the box office.

Kincsem (the name translates as “My Treasure”) was Hungary’s most famous thoroughbred racehorse, becoming a national icon. It won every one of its 54 races, a global record that still stands. Kincsem became known the world over as “the miracle horse”.

Many books have been written about the horse and it took Herendi seven years to complete his script. Within the thrilling portrayal of horse racing is a story of the stormy love between two rivals, woven into the political fabric of the country.

The riveting opening scene sees aristocratic horse trainer Sando Blaskovich shot dead by a former military comrade, Count Otto von Oettingen, after the revolution. Blaskovich’s young son Erno witnesses the murder and loses everything, including his palatial family home, to his father’s slayer.

Jumping ahead 20 years, Erno has become a dandy and womaniser frequenting posh brothels. He is happy-go-lucky despite being chronically short of money.

Erno’s life changes when he encounters Kara, Count Oettingen’s tough and spirited daughter, and Kincsem, a horse that refuses to be tamed. The movie depicts Erno’s mastery of the thoroughbred and success at making him a world champion, Erno’s love for Klara and the revenge he plots over his father’s death.

In the stirring final scene, Erno and Klara, faced with a life-threatening situation, have to make choices.

Admission is Bt20. Book in advance at https://goo.gl/forms/qBu5wxtZhn6up8F22.

Learn more at http://www.TKPark.or.th.

“The latest Marvel juggernaut… opened with $630M worldwide, making it the largest global weekend tally in the history of film, and this was done without China,” which has a later opening, industry tracker Exhibitor Relations said.

That topped “The Fate of the Furious,” the eighth installment of the high-octane action series starring Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson and Michelle Rodriguez that opened with more than $530 million globally in 2017.

“Infinity War,” which features more than two dozen superheroes fighting to save the universe, also broke the record for highest North American opening weekend, raking in $250 million at US and Canadian box offices.

That beat “The Force Awakens,” the seventh film in the long-running “Star Wars” space saga that made $248 million in its opening weekend in 2015.

Saving the universe

“Infinity War” is the 19th film in the so-called Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), combining a whopping nine franchises and a cast list that reads like a who’s who of Hollywood’s A-list.

Robert Downey Jr dons the red and gold metal suit once again as Iron Man; Benedict Cumberbatch is Doctor Strange; Scarlett Johansson is back as Black Widow; and Australia’s Chris Hemsworth is Thor.

Also back for more?

Black Panther — the Marvel breakout of the year after the standalone pic’s massive opening in February, Captain America, the Hulk, Spider-Man, Hawkeye, the Guardians of the Galaxy and their assorted allies.

Their mission is to prevent the powerful purple alien Thanos (Josh Brolin) from destroying the universe.

“We took a picture of every single person whose character has been in the MCU. We hung it up on a wall all around us,” co-director Anthony Russo, who helms the film with his brother Joe, told reporters ahead of its release.

“We basically spent months and months and months talking about where we could go with each character, how we could draw them through the story,” he added.

“Every one of these characters… has been on a very specific journey through the MCU to arrive at this moment.”

This is the third “Avengers” film, before the final, untitled saga set for next year.

‘North Star’

An important source of inspiration is the Marvel canon — the storylines developed over decades in the original comic books.

“Infinity War” is drawn from the “Infinity Gauntlet” series of the early 1990s.

“It starts with those comics and us beginning to rip pages out or rip copies of pages out and put them on the walls and start to be inspired,” explains Kevin Feige, the president of Marvel Studios, which is owned by Disney.

“It’s a North Star for us as we lead these giant productions into reality.”

In the movie’s trailer, Gamora (Zoe Saldana) — Thanos’s daughter, of sorts — explains that the villain believes that if he annihilates half of the universe, he can save the other half.

He needs the so-called Infinity Stones to do it. So, the heroes need to keep him from getting them.

The film cost an eye-watering $300 million to make, according to Hollywood media.

“It was about the most fun creative exercise I think I’ve ever been through in my life,” said Anthony Russo. “We thought about everybody in the MCU.”

A total of 50 billion yuan ($7.9 billion) has been invested in building the studio complex in the eastern port city of Qingdao, according to the project’s initiator, Chinese conglomerate Dalian Wanda, which is owned by one of China’s richest men Wang Jianlin.

But the opening lacked the high-wattage star power that turned out for the project’s inauguration in 2013, when Hollywood A-listers Leonardo DiCaprio, John Travolta and Nicole Kidman showed up for a lavish event.

The waning celebrity interest comes as debt-laden Wanda has been forced to carry out a fire sale of its real estate holdings following an overseas spending spree over the last several years.

The size of 500 football fields, the 376-hectare “Qingdao Movie Metropolis” features 30 studios with “the highest international standards”, according to Wanda.

It has already hosted some high-profile productions, including “The Great Wall” starring Matt Damon, and “Pacific Rim: Uprising”.

The company plans to build ten more studios.

The vast complex includes a school, a hospital, luxury hotels and a yacht club inspired by one in Monaco.

The mini-city also features a giant shopping mall with restaurants, an ice skating rink, an amusement park and the biggest movie theatre in Asia.

“This is the largest investment the global film and television industry has ever seen,” the company said.

Wanda, whose interests range from real estate to entertainment, snatched up Legendary Entertainment — maker of “Jurassic World” and Christopher Nolan’s “Batman” trilogy — for $3.5 billion in 2016, as well as US-based cinema chain AMC Theatres.

In a bid to ease its debt problems, Wanda last year sold dozens of hotels and other projects to Sunac and real estate firm R&F Properties for around $10 billion.

Thirteen years after its creation, the wildly popular video-sharing platform is rolling out its first major original content series, “Cobra Kai” — a revival of the 1980s saga with a twist.

With the first 10-episode series going live online on May 2, Google-owned YouTube is also hoping to draw new customers to its $10-a-month streaming service, YouTube Red, which was launched in 2015.

YouTube Red is now available in five countries — the US, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico and South Korea.” — but YouTube says it will reach dozens more by year’s end.

The portal — which now has 1.5 billion users — is hoping its forays into original content will help change the company’s economic model, which until now has been largely based on ads and homegrown viral video stars.

To do that, and also counter the rise of Netflix and Amazon, the company have looked to a known quantity.

“The Karate Kid,” released in 1984, led to three sequels, and even a reboot in 2010 starring Will Smith’s son Jaden. Overall, the films have taken in more than $500 million at the box office worldwide.

The star of the first film, Ralph Macchio, and the creative team behind such unhinged, raunchy comedies as the “Harold and Kumar” films and “Blockers,” are on board for “Cobra Kai.”

The twist?

The series — still set in the Los Angeles suburbs — is a comedy, and it’s told not from the perspective of Daniel LaRusso (Macchio), the bullied teen hero who learns karate from a martial arts master, but that of his nemesis Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka).

“Cobra Kai” creators Josh Heald, Jonathan Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg helped convince a hesitant Macchio, now 56, to get on board.

“They were so convincing, passionate, completely well versed into the narrative of where they wanted to go, respectful of the nostalgia, the legacy of what the film is,” Macchio said at a roundtable organized during the recent Tribeca Film Festival.

“It’s their ‘Star Wars’,” he added, referring to the series creators’ passion for the source material. “They know much more about the movie than I do, which is kind of freaky.”

Nostalgia card

“Cobra Kai” subverts the usual hero-villain set-up of many martial arts film by exploring the complexity of Johnny, who was somewhat misunderstood, and thus demonized.

Johnny, now in his 50s, has led a life full of ups and downs — mostly downs. Viewers can imagine that Daniel’s triumphant kick in the original film’s ultimate bout was the beginning of his woes.

Johnny is offered a chance to rebuild his life — and upset that of his old rival, now a successful car dealer.

Karate still takes center stage, along with a more general look at martial arts training and teenage relationships — all hallmarks of the original films. But the show has an off-kilter humor that stems from Heald, Hurwitz and Schlossberg.

With a cast of mainly young actors, YouTube hopes “Cobra Kai” can earn a following with a generation whose parents remember the first films, but often don’t understand what makes their own kids tick.

“There was something especially about bullying that looked very 2018 to us,” said Heald.

“We had to show restraint. We had to pull ourselves back and resist the will to just swim in a ‘Karate Kid’ fan bath.”

YouTube has already produced some series for YouTube Red, including a fresh take on the popular “Step Up” street dance films. The first episode of “Step Up: High Water,” put online in late January, has so far been seen 12 million times.

But those shows were squarely aimed at the under-25 crowd. With “Cobra Kai,” YouTube is hoping to also play the nostalgia card, and win over a much bigger audience.

Viewers can watch the TV premieres of top grossing box-office movies in 2017 including “Wonder Woman”, “Get Out”, “Kong: Skull Island”, “Despicable Me 3”, “The Mummy”, and the film adaptation of the popular TV series, “Baywatch”.

Sci-fi fans can enjoy the entire “Star Wars” movie franchise from “Episode I The Phantom Menace” to Episode VI – Return of the Jedi”, while Trekkies can catch “Star Trek Beyond”.

Whether you are a Marvel or DC comic fan, HBO has you covered with your favourite superhero movies like “Avengers: Age of Ultron”, “Ant-Man”, “Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice” and “Suicide Squad”.

More blockbuster hits on HBO and HBO GO via AIS Play and AIS Playbox during this period include “Transformers: The Last Knight”, “The Fate of the Furious”, “XXX: Return of Xander Cage” and “John Wick: Chapter 2”. Fans of animation movies will enjoy “The Lego Batman Move” and “The Secret Life of Pets”.

Brad Pitt’s production house Plan B and Annapurna Pictures have acquired the rights to make the film, The New York Times confirmed Thursday. The story was first reported by specialized Hollywood news outlet Deadline.

The film will chronicle the work of Times reporters Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey investigating Weinstein’s misconduct — stories that recently earned them a Pulitzer Prize, which they shared with Ronan Farrow of The New Yorker.

Producers are looking to Oscar-winning films “Spotlight” and “All the President’s Men” as their models for the movie, which will focus not on Weinstein’s litany of alleged misdeeds but on the journalists and the obstacles they faced while reporting.

Since the Times and New Yorker articles last October, more than 100 women have publicly accused Weinstein of misconduct ranging from sexual harassment to rape, sparking the #MeToo movement that has seen a string of influential men lose their jobs and reputation.

Weinstein’s marriage has ended; he has been under police investigation in London, Los Angeles and New York; he is facing a series of civil lawsuits; and his former production company has been forced to file for bankruptcy.

When the news first broke in the Times, Weinstein himself told The Hollywood Reporter: “The story sounds so good, I want to buy the movie rights.”

Representatives of Plan B and Annapurna did not immediately respond to AFP’s requests for comment.

Among Weinstein’s accusers is Gwyneth Paltrow. At the time she says the movie mogul harassed her, she was dating Pitt, who confronted Weinstein over the incident.

The frail, 80-year-old Cosby — once beloved as “America’s Dad” — risks spending the rest of his life behind bars when he is sentenced for drugging and molesting Andrea Constand at his Philadelphia mansion in January 2004.

Cosby sat emotionless in the packed courtroom in Norristown, just outside Philadelphia, as the verdict was read out to stifled sobs in the gallery. Cosby’s attorney immediately vowed to appeal.

T=It was a devastating downfall for the once towering figure in late 20th century American popular culture, the first black actor to grace primetime US television, who hit the big time after growing up as the son of a maid.

Now, he is a convicted sex offender staring prison in the face.

Cosby’s first trial ended last June with a hung jury, hopelessly deadlocked after 52 hours of deliberations.

But on Thursday, a new sequestered panel, which deliberated for more than 14 hours over two days, found him guilty on all three counts of aggravated indecent assault.

Constand, a 45-year-old Canadian former basketball player turned massage therapist, sat with supporters in court to hear the verdict.

Each count carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. Judge Steven O’Neill is expected to hand down a sentence in the next 60 to 90 days.

The pioneering African American actor and entertainer, adored by millions for his defining role on “The Cosby Show,” sat in silence as the jury announced the verdict that will change his life forever.

But after the panel was led out, the Emmy winner — dogged by allegations of similar assaults against 60 women — erupted in an expletive-laden tirade when prosecutors argued he was a flight risk.

Profanity from Cosby

“He doesn’t have a plane, you asshole!” yelled Cosby, referring to himself in the third person, to shocked gasps after the district attorney claimed he could flee anywhere in the world by private jet.

The verdict was a vindication for the prosecution, with the district attorney who presided over the conviction saying the real Cosby had been unmasked after he “spent decades preying on women.”

“He used his wealth, he used his network of supporters to help him conceal his crimes. Now we know today who was behind that act, who the real Bill Cosby was,” said the chief prosecutor, Kevin Steele, hoping the verdict would embolden other victims of sex crimes to come forward.

Other women who claimed to have been assaulted by the disgraced megastar were elated. One was so emotional, she broke down in sobs and had to be escorted out of the courtroom.

“We are so happy that finally we can say, women are believed, and not only on #MeToo, but in a court of law,” said Gloria Allred, the high-profile lawyer who represents 33 Cosby accusers.

“I feel like my faith in humanity is restored,” said Lili Bernard, the woman who had to be guided out of the courtroom.

The verdict ended a winning streak for Los Angeles lawyer Tom Mesereau, who leapt to fame for getting Michael Jackson acquitted of child molestation in 2005, but who ultimately failed to deliver for Cosby with a defense that hinged on his portrayal of Constand as a money-grabbing con artist.

“We are very, very disappointed,” he said, vowing to appeal. “We don’t think Mr. Cosby is guilty of anything and the fight is not over.”

A case with no physical evidence, the trial essentially boiled down to he-said, she-said, and what the jury thought of Constand’s credibility.

Experts had suggested that the #MeToo movement, which since last year has disgraced a litany of powerful men such as Harvey Weinstein and Kevin Spacey, could make jurors more inclined to believe female victims.

‘Could not fight him off’

Constand said she went to Cosby’s home to discuss her impending resignation as director of operations for women’s basketball at Temple University, where he was on the board of trustees.

The actor offered her three blue pills to “help take the edge off,” which she took believing they were a natural remedy. But within minutes, she lost consciousness.

When she came to, she said Cosby was penetrating her vagina with his fingers, groping her breasts and making her masturbate him.

“I was limp and I could not fight him off,” she said.

On Thursday, she beamed and hugged her attorney, but declined to speak to reporters.

When Constand first reported the assault, Montgomery County refused to press charges.

Prosecutors reopened the case in 2015, nearly a decade after she signed a $3.4 million settlement with Cosby in 2006, claiming that new evidence had come to light just as other accusers came forward.

Around 60 women, many of them onetime aspiring actresses and models, publicly branded him a calculating, serial predator who plied victims with sedatives and alcohol to bed them over four decades.

But Constand’s was the only case that happened recently enough to prosecute.

Crucial to the second trial was the judge’s decision to let five other accusers testify.

While it doesn’t get the same publicity as its fellow Japanese events in Tokyo and Osaka, the Okinawa International Movie Festival, now celebrating its tenth birthday, is an interesting cultural platform on the islands known as “the Hawaii of Japan”.

Held every April on Japan’s southernmost island, it’s organised by Yoshimoto Kogyo, a Japanese entertainment conglomerate that specialises in comedian acts and focuses on “feel-good” films and comedies as well as mainstream movies from around the world plus those produced or filmed on the island. The festival is supported by the United Nations to help spread the messages of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that aim to improve the quality of life of everyone on Planet Earth.

And it’s not just about the movies – since 2015, the festival has also been a platform for comedians, singers, and shows from Japan and Asia.

The latest edition, which kicked on April 19 and wrapped last Sunday, saw “In Pursuit of the General”, the 3D Chinese opera film from Beijing opera win the Audience Award for foreign films, while “Reon”, a comedy about an unlucky office temp and a womanising CEO who end up swapping bodies after a traffic accident, pick up the Audience Award for Japanese films.

“The festival has gone on for 10 years, but I hope it will continue for 100 years,” said Hiroshi Osaki, chairman and chief executive of Yoshimoto Kogyo, which founded the event.

“I hope that in the next century, a new entertainment industry from Okinawa will go out into the world.”

The festival has from the very beginning presented films made in Okinawa, which are very different from the usual Japanese films, and recently Yoshimoto Kogyo expanded its presence in Okinawa by opening the Laugh & Peace Entertainment School on the island. The new facility will teach performance arts and creative arts to anyone who is interested. The school is open to international students who’d like to how to be a performer or a manga artist, for example.

Among the Also screened at the festival was Hiroshi Abe’s latest film “Nomitori Samurai”, directed by Yasuo Tsuruhashi, with the actor coming to Okinawa to walk the red carpet and present his film. Toshio Lee’s drama “When I get home, My wife always pretends to be dead” also had its world premiere and is expected to come to Thailand later this year.

Toshiyuki Teruya’s “Born Bone Boon”, which was made in Okinawa and focuses on the bone washing ceremony unique to Aguni Island, also premiered as did “Jimami-Tofu”, a Singapor ean production entirely shot in the Okinawa Islands about a Singaporean chef in Tokyo who discovers the art of traditional Okinawan food.

The Thai animation “The Legend of Muay Thai: 9 Satra” was originally scheduled for screening but its participation as well as that of its team members was cancelled shortly before the festival. Though no other Thai films were shown, Thailand’s Culture Minister and the Tourism Authority of Thailand brought along traditional Thai puppet troupe Joe Louis Theatre and Sweat 16, the Thai idol group, who are co-produced by Yoshimoto Thailand and LOVEiS.

“This is our first time performing in Japan”, said a member of Sweat 16, who arrived in Okinawa in time to walk the red carpet and perform.

“Okinawa is famous for the colour of the sea and even from the plane, I could see the emerald green of the ocean. It’s so beautiful,” commented an excited Suthasinee “Frame” Aemthong, obviously thrilled to be Okinawa.

“The difference between our show in Thailand and in Japan is communication,” added Warinda “Ant” Nernpermpisut, the group’s captain, “We needed to rehearse much more and work really hard before coming here to perform.

“Our songs are based on the original Japanese melody but the lyrics are adapted so we can sing them in Thai. Here we had to sing in Japanese. And that meant we had to learn Japanese.”

Some members of the group – Pim Khajonvekin for one – is already a Japanese speaker, so she could help other members of the group in practising Japanese for their show in Okinawa.

“I studied Japanese and I am happy that I can use my knowledge to help the group. It was very important that we sang the Japanese lyrics with the correct pronunciation. The lyrics are already difficult but the pronunciation is even more difficult,” Pim explained.

“The audience is so large here,” added Chadatan “‘Mahnmook” Dankul, referring to the performances, which took place on three stages across Naha city, last Friday in front of capacity crowds.

“We are so excited to perform on the same stage as idols from Japan and many other countries. We were a little bit worried how the show would turn out, but after we arrived here and saw the stage, the Japanese audience, and our Thai fans who flew to Okinawa to support us, we knew we had to do our best. Everything must be perfect.

We saw the shows by other groups and they were really great. They reminded us that we still need to improve and practise a lot to be at the same level as them.”

Sharing the stage was the Japanese icon group NMB48, the sister group of AKB48 and all the Thai girls were impressed with their professionalism.

“We want to perform and communicate with the audience as well as they did. Their shows made us realise that we need to work harder.”

“The audience here is so lovely and they really gave us support. Before we came here, we were not sure if we could communicate well enough with the audience, but we are very proud of the result. Our mission here is complete,” Ant added.