Without all the added fandom stuff, Japan Super Live was a lot more laid back but probably just as hyped for me. I spent the day dying and running into WUGchans. It was kind of a nonsense day but I had Row A 300s seat to make up for it.
Overall the setlist falls into place as expected, already know what everyone was gonna play, just a matter of how many songs for who. That doesn’t stop the show from surprising us.
The show started again about 30-40 minutes after 8pm. The live band was a given but always welcomed. Konomin and Angela walks onto the stage in the dark but I was like WTF. The surprises are the collabs! (Setlist & photos copied from Resonance’s PR.)
Konomi Suzuki
Zankoku na Tenshi no These (Special Collaboration with angela)
This game
Blow out
Redo
This was pretty solid. I remembered how much I enjoy live Redo. The calls were mostly missing but this is not surprising because it’s not easy to switch gears in Konomin’s songs. People did rock out pretty well so I’d say it’s a success. She was also kind of nervous. She tried the English MC but I think the nerves got to her somewhat. Cycloning to Cruel Angel Thesis cracks me up, so please do (not) do it.
Mashiro Ayano
vanilla sky
NEWLOOK
ideal white
This was not as sexy of an act as I saw in Taiwan but she’s gotten possibly better. Definitely not the same as her last AX appearance. Overall Mashiron did fine, but the jury for me has long came home on this one.
GARNiDELiA
ambiguous
grilletto
SPEED STAR
Yakusoku -Promise code-
Sorairo Days (Special Collaboration with Mashiro Ayano)
They took a quick break after Mashiron and you see the synth kit. It has to be them. I cycloned to ambiguous, because I think I did the same last time & for Ash. While I’ve seen them a few times already I think they are a reliably consistent act. The dancing is a good contrast. Sorairo Days just makes me go “This is such Sony” which just reminds me “GDI why not bring Trysail pls.”
ALI PROJECT
Boukoku Kakusei Katharsis
Yukyou Seishunka
Seishoujo Ryouiki
Rara Eve Shinseiki
Joke aside I had fun with them. It is what it is, but the penlight joke in MC was pretty much spot on and well–AliPro being the hardest Anison act to use penlight (because you’re not suppose to). Somehow I thought they did better at Anime Boston. I’ll never go out of my way to see them but hearing a lot of classic songs that people know back from the days is good.
Minori Chihara
Paradise Lost
TERMINATED
Beyond the Boundary
Celestial Diva (Special Collaboration with ALI PROJECT)
Hare Hare Yukai
Freedom Dreamer
I got Celestial Diva over SELF PRODUCER, and I’m not even salty, because Arika and Minorin makes an interesting duet, and also this is the kind of collab I like where the songwriter sings with the singer. Broke URs for Paradise Lost. My first live Freedom Dreamer and it was great, despite being an old song. Furicope to Hare Hare Yukai was tons of fun, as I have also tons of aisle space.
angela
Boku wa Boku de Atte
Asu he no brilliant road
SIDONIA
KINGS
Shangri-La
I’m glad they did SIDONIA! It also killed my voice. Between them and Minorin I tapped out. The Manzai came out more for this show, probably because now they can easily make a Fripside joke. Hard to do that when they’re solo. They did slay the audience with them, which is a first in America. Props to Maria for the swift dogeza pose, Acchan had a huge lion head to deal with so she couldn’t get down as fast. Did I really maintain my streak of every US Angela show? Sure did. For this generation of live goers oversea I think Angela remains top kek senpai status. A Friend got called out to be Katsu’s wife and being Angela’s Lion Friend. Nice hosue tiger.
Oh, Atsuko a capella’d OneShang’s opening bar and it was good.
So, some general thoughts. I think with oversea performances, there is a concern as to how “localized” the acts need to be. In general the difficulties come in where the language is the main barrier, but I think a lot of what’s neat about anisong is that they overcome the language barrier. With wota culture taking shape more so in North America maybe some of the other cultural barriers are slowly becoming less problematic too. To me the issue is more about the performers–if they bring it straight on, I will appreciate it more. Best example of this is Angela, as 90% of their jokes probably will fall on to an unresponsive audience in a foreign language. The idea is to bring that 10% which works anyway, even if that means bringing also the 90% that might not work. I think they did that more or less at AWM 7/1 and a bit less in AWM 6/30.
Sure, it will be better with gloves off, but I think there is still plenty of room to navigate the oversea audience better, and I think we saw that a bit with AWM Â 7/1. The music is the main strength of anisong, but also the context, so I hope Japan’s producers can keep those two in might and localize as needed.
PS. Oh yeah VIP hi-5 event. Uh, it was interesting going through the motions with Arikasama’s team. I wore the Angela hat so I got some extra time with the two, “nice hat” “nice manzai.” The ushers were pretty pushy this time so it went by quick…
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