Monthly Archives: September 2016

September 2, 2016

Substitution Blues

By omo

I just want to vent a little. Chalk it up to the jetlag.

Happy Birthday Fuuka!

So the news today, at least the good bit, is that anison singer Faylan has resumed activities. If you’ll recall she took a long break to recover from some persistent illness, ones that reminds me of the condition that eventually took Matsuki Miyu’s life. I don’t know exactly what Faylan has, so this is all baseless conjecture, but as a fan we don’t have the info so it’s going to be natural to worry and think too much.

This naturally hits me a little harder consider what happened to Taneda Risa, who announced yesterday that she is suspending all her professional work in order to fully recover from an unnamed medical condition. It seems that she has been undergoing treatment for it for some time but it showed no improvement, and thus the hiatus. It hits doubly home because she is part of Million Live, which just announced the removal of her character’s role in the upcoming drama CD and anniversary live next March. That’s a long time away. But of course, as with these things, you can’t put someone’s name on something that they may or may not be able to make, so a substitution is necessary. The rumor mill says that Tanechan is dealing with some job-related issue (see: voice-impacting). It’s hard to hear, since she is one of the leading seiyuu of this generation.

I can only wish her the fastest full recovery.

On that note I also wish Aoi Eir also a fastest full recovery. I can’t make a Faylan substitution joke if Eir is out due to health reasons!

Lastly, earlier today Sakurai Tomo has announced her retirement. This is not great news but it is a note worthy of celebration, as she has defined an era of seiyuu idol/singer-ness. Her retiring makes a good milestone, an end of an era so to speak. Nothing wrong with it and I wish her the best in the next chapter of her life.

 

Leave a comment | posted in Seiyuu, Idol, Pop

September 1, 2016

Animelo Summer Live 2016

By omo

Otsukaresama!

I’m back to the States after attending Anisama 2016! The 3-day festival/concert at the Saitama Super Arena was a blast and frankly a pretty heavy-duty experience on both mind and body. I made it even worse by adding a side trip to Chara-hobby Expo Tokyo, now rebranded as C3 Tokyo, before the live on day 3, as there was a Million Live stage event there in the morning. What turned out was even worse because of stuff unexpected. At least now I can cross out going go Mogra on my bucket list.

I have been following Anisama since the beginning. Now that I have visited for the first time I can say it’s basically the anison wota equivalent to comiket, as far as a collective, cultural experience goes. The outdoor stage that was added some years back made it even more so a celebration of young people going nuts during the Japanese summer break, with these somewhat 2.5D idol up-and-coming acts. The main shows themselves are 5+ hours long, with a smattering of old and new performers. Some acts are one-shot things (B.B. Queens??), some are super mainstream (like Tamaki Nami this year), some have been here since the start (Minami, Angela), and some came on a time machine (Ayukawa Maya, Matsumoto Ricca). There are the usual gearing-up promo acts like TrySail and AOP, but also someone who’s never publicly performed as a solo artist until now (Numakura Manami). If anything, it’s hard to complain about Anisama 2016’s diversity, at least on paper.

Anisama is different than the other festival-style lives I’ve been to. The energy and expectation are through the roof. Many of the attendees there are yakkai as F. Most are pretty normal. Some people sat down more than they stood up. Granted I’ve yet to attend Animax Musix or Lisani, where in recent years they’ve been upping their games, especially in the collaborations, but Anisama as a whole feels just that much more epic compared to the ones I’ve been to thus far (P’s Live 02, Nendo 10th). Three hot summer nights are a long time and a lot of cheering for anybody.

This year, thanks to typhoon Lionrock, we enjoyed mild, if slightly damp, weather for days 2 and 3. It rained on and off in Saitama but the Tokyo region was cool, compared to day 1, when heat and humidity were at their usual form. Standing in the sun was not recommended. This was also my third time going to Japan during summer, and I like it as much as getting a punch to the gut. Only for you (and IM@S and Yoko Kanno), Anisama!

A lot of that is what’s special about Anisama, I think. The crowds and the energy and passion is much stronger, better. Maybe yeah, there are those people who whip out their custom umaibou penlights during Calorie Queen, or those digging into their gyudons during Rice to Meat You. How can you blame them I mean that’s awesome I would too?

I mean look at this (outdoor stage):

Continue reading

4 comments | posted in Conventions and Concerts