Category Archives: Conventions and Concerts

January 14, 2015

Lantis Festival Las Vegas

By omo

Just organizing my thoughts here, since I am going! When JAM Project came to SoCal last time I almost splurged for it until common sense got a grip of me. I guess this time there are a host of other musicians to make the push, plus the offkai aspect with some Ps and other eventers that I know. It’s probably my one west coast trip in 2015 as well, since I’m not planning for AX or Sakuracon. That reminds me, at some point I ought to do a 2015 event plan post.

Where: Hard Rock Hotel in Vegas. It’s off the strip and about a 5 minute taxi ride from Planet Hollywood. PH is also hosting Otakon Vegas at the same weekend.

When: Friday and Saturday. There are some collaboration events with OV, starting with the OV opening ceremony on Friday morning. Attendees of OV who have Lantis Festival tickets can enter for a VIP event on Sunday late morning with Q&A, autograph, and photo OP with Yui from Das Feenreich and JAM Project. Yousei Teikoku’s frontwoman does all their PR stuff I guess.

The slightly irritating thing is Lantis Festival is doing their oversea stops using Facebook as the main info source. You can check out the page here. I believe all the VIP tickets are sold out, normal tickets are about 60 a pop after online fees. OV charges a weekend price of 55 online and 60 at door, and there’s daily badge at 40. Otakon general members can get the weekend badge at 39 if you buy it online. Along with this is also a special deal with the buffet pass at $37. VIP ticket at Lantis gives you a loot bag with a t-shirt, a towel, and something else? There’s a hi-five session too and early entry.

The key vitals is the guest list and I’m sure you already know, but I just want to highlight that Hatsune Miku will do a special appearance. That will be an interesting set list. The JAM members will perform as individuals across both days, Makkun/Fukuyama/Kageyama on Friday and Dani/Endo on Saturday. All the other performances are the same both days. Choucho, Faylan, Sayaka Sasaki, Yoko Ishida, Bamboo/Milktub, Yousei Teitoku and JAM Project will be the main set.

The OV collab VIP party requires you to bring your concert ticket(s) to Otakon Vegas’s info booth to sign up. They will lottery out pairs of tickets (25) after the cut off on Saturday 2pm local time, and contact the winners. I think you have to respond and confirm or they will start drawing out alternates. So make a friend!

What I’ll be doing at OV is mostly nothing. I think there is one panel that’s vaguely interesting and one panel I might attend because I know some people working there? Then there’s the Sushio live drawing as well as his autograph sessions, but I might only go on Sunday. I suppose the dealer room will always be something to check out, and we can see who from CR is there so we can harass them about, I don’t know, WUG movie #2. Or gdgd Fairies movie.

The rest of the time, there hopefully will be some nice eats. We weren’t baller enough to re-enact the photoshoot for Monday Night Fever but instead we’ll just wear our happis around Vegas or something. Oh, there’ll be some live viewing too, and if internet works out, Joysound on Playstation. So it’ll be a good time.

Monday Night Fever

This also means, if everything works out, I can live watch CG episode 2 with a bunch of Ps! That alone might be half the reason why I’ll be there.

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December 30, 2014

Year in Review 2014: Event Log

By omo

I only write about eventing because I do it, okay? It’s not because I have any special insight or anything, but it would be nice to put into words why I spend so much time and money doing it, and how that time and money is spent. So here are some events I attended in 2014. I think I’m done attending for the year…

Mocho Nansu Sora

In this style—

1. IM@S Butai Aisatsu @Saitama with Nu/Kido/Mikku/Yuiton/Zekki – I was less than a meter away from them at one point. The yojos impressed but the cosplaying kansaijin cutie impressed more. Also how many more Haruka/Miki/Producer shikishi am I going to get?

2. Yukari Tamura Fruits Furits Cherry SSA (Saturday) – Dodged snow in US to fly to Japan only to find more snow. My first Yukarin live was pretty much an eye-opening experience too, and it’s definitely not the ideal sort of live for newbies. I had a good time and I can see how much fun it could have been if I knew the songs a lot better (and the calls a lot better).

3. IM@S Butai Aisatsu @Wald9 with Azumin/Mocho/Nansu/Tenchan- Mocho was Mocho on first sight. I became smitten with Mocho on first sight. Tenchan was strikingly beautiful. Nansu was not much to look at (literally, I was a little far from the stage and she is small) but she delivered her speech with conviction. Azumin was already in senpai mode. Also a long story behind this butai aisatsu to share if you poke me in person.

4. KOTOKO Kuuchu Puzzle bonus Live – It was great finally hanging out with Momotato after his ordeal, and doubly mind-warping learning about KOTOKO’s Raleigh trip at the same time as this live. KOTOKO showed her guts while I tried to not trip on the uneven flooring I was standing on half the time.

5. M@STERS of IDOL WORLD – Changed my life perhaps for the better. Also went to my first JP-style offkai, let alone my first IM@S live and all that jazz. A lot of other firsts too. HPT was born.

6. Nonnonbiyori live recording – I didn’t know Rieshon and Ayaneru can be this restrained. Sasuga Asumiss. Koiwai is also a cute.

7. Sakuracon – ELISA is gracious and lovely. Ishikawa Yui is kind of cute but pretty fresh. Most memorable part was talking about IM@S with the Aniplex animators throughout the con. I’m glad Aniplex/A-1 is doing their anime now. It just can’t be anyone else.

8. Anime Boston – JAM Project was great. Live Mask was dream-come-true, bucket list stuff. Good to see Asa-nee and Minaguchi-san again. Had a nice chat with Dai Sato that I really should publish…

9. Anime Central – Meeting Myu and the WUGs was wonderful, besides that I froze up. WUGner dinner/offkai was totally set up off-the-cuff, but big shoutout to the JP crew for being so cool. I had a great time at dinner despite the language barrier. JTV was born. I later marathoned Knight of Sidonia because of Angela’s OP. Hello Mr. Yamamoto, Mr. Hiro.

10. Anime North (Haramii North) – Seiyuu-wise, Haramii is the best personality I’ve met, on par with Noto. Hanamaru Cluster are cool guys, sup Ninbin, Sky)ry. Mai Goto was a cute. Shibata-san was legendary.

11. Anime Next – Luna is a cute nerd. Haruhi pose works well even if it’s pointed the wrong way aaaah. Luna NA fanclub start unofficially ww. Koyama and Waka are awesome. I guess you can expect as much behind the two people who made Inferno Cop.

12. Anime Expo – Terrible con aside, Angela was great. Lunatic Joker is wonderful. Kill la Kill crew is top. Aniplex delivers again. So many good guests actually. Good times were had.

13. Otakon – Doing Cyber Cyber with ALTIMA. Ojou and Motsu are cool, Sats is affable. Their Warner manager asked about my Myu happi. I have no words again. Hayamin was lovely and earnest. I will cheer for her. Also so many Ps! So many livers! Hanging out with my OG crew feels like the world is all one.

14. AWA – Ardith is almost guest-class by herself. Loverin Tamurin is solid. Shonen Knife even better. MiQ is top tier. There were BBQ and watching WUGchans getting scared in a hotel room, and watching @Paranda_update repping Hibiki with a VocaloidP once the Nunu connection is shown. Vocaloid force is stronger than ever. Attended my second Nihongo de OK ever in the same year.

15-18. Idol attack NYC series: Miku, Babymetal, Morning Musume ’14, Perfume. Local crew. Local brew. Maspi burger. Will do it again every time, except hopefully be able to book Yakiniku West for once. East Coast represent.

In 2015 I already have the following prospective events:

  • 1/16-17 – Lantis Festival Las Vegas – All set
  • 3/1 – Idolmaster Station!!! Public recording/concert – Ticket secured, TBD if PTO/Flight doable
  • 3/8 – WUG Solo Live (Myu) – Ticket secured
  • 3/13 – Masami Okui birthday live – In process
  • 3/14 – TryAngle Harmony public recording #3 – round 1 lottery in a couple weeks
  • 3/15 – I’ve 15th Anniversary Live – Ippan in progress
  • 4/4-4/5 – IDOLM@STER Million Live 2nd – round 1 lottery in 3 weeks
  • 4/3-4/5 – Anime Boston – First guest announced, alternative to ML 2nd.
  • ??? – IDOLM@STER 10th Anniversary Live – Logo revealed today LOL.
  • June – Anime Next – Local con don’t hurt to go.
  • July – Otakon – Semi-local con don’t hurt to go (usually).

Welp, maybe I’ll hit status even before 10th at this rate.

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Leave a comment | posted in Conventions and Concerts, Introspectives

December 14, 2014

Housekeeping, Expelled, Lantis Festival Vegas

By omo

I think I’m going to pre-order these three from CD Japan for early next year. So I’ll link them here for my own benefit (lol aff links):

  • WUG Best Collection – If we think of idols as a music industry thing, then I’m totally not a fan in the sense that I don’t buy the CD/BD stuff. Just merch. Kind of like how people feel about WUG regardless of the anime. Anyway, grab all/most of their songs here.
  • Haramii’s First Live BD – Mainly for the tokutens, but Haramii is lovely anyway.
  • IM@S CG St@rter Best – 14 existing chara songs on one disk, featuring the main 14 idols the anime will focus on.

And a few recent items:

I’ve been pretty delinquent with buying crap this year. More like, the crap I buy are not the usual stuff. They tend to be (equally) worthless things like doujinshi or happi from events I didn’t go to. What can I say besides they are swag? Like, they are swag, not that they are swag.

==

Angela rotated

I went to see Expelled from Paradise, the 3DCG movie directed by Seiji Mizushima and created/written by Urobuchi. The movie comes from Graphinica, which is probably best noted these days as a photography and CG studio for some Aniplex shows (they worked on both moviem@s and anim@s). This season they’re doing the CG for Your Lie in April. They’re also credited for the memorable transformation scene in Penguindrum.

What sticks out more to me is that Itano is the chief CG action guy. You won’t see it here but he has a team just on all the action CGs. And it really shows. Like, REALLY. If you’re a fan of Itano’s action choreo and designs, it’s a must watch because the movie follows a very predictable Hollywood-ish plot (ie., lots of opportunity for eye candy and action sequences), and the second half of the movie had a couple awesome, jawdropping cuts. At least for me anyways.

When I saw the credits at the end I was having a Shirobako moment.

On a less technical note, Mizushima’s movie unloads all his tricks. It’s bang-bang all the way, although towards the end I’m not sure if the film has laid it enough on in the first 90 minutes to get “corny” on us. It has all the tricks you would expect a Japanese mainstream movie, except the crafting feels still like an Urobochi film, which means basically it’s as subtle and as graceful as a raging bull.

The main character in the movie is a kinpatsu twintail teenage tsundere with large jugs, voiced by Kugyuu. OK, now point out the one thing in my previous sentence that don’t belong. That is basically the problem of Expelled from Paradise allegorically.

Oh, before I give the wrong idea, Expelled from Paradise is a Toei animation film, even if it’s still mostly Graphinica? It’s also not all 3DCG, there are some 2D animation (mainly faces). It tickles my funny bones a bit, like how Karen Senki sometimes is too cartoony for the feel of the show.

==

The PR engine in Lantis Fest Vegas is in full swing. I know because I’m getting PRs and Otakon is actually tweeting something about them. I also know because there’s a “rumors” channel I’m a part of and someone even got a part-time gig to canvas forums, SNS and sites with Lantis Fest Vegas stuff.

I also know because now I see those silly preview videos for Otakon Vegas/Lantis Fest. Com’on Otakon you can do better than this. Das Feenreich needs a bigger PR budget. It’s all but confirmed, but Sunday at Otakon Vegas there will be some panel or signing or whatever. We’ll see.

Sushio at the con, hopefully, means a jolly time.

1 comment | posted in Conventions and Concerts, Idolmaster, Rakuen Suihou, Seiyuu, Idol, Pop

November 18, 2014

Idol Invasion, NYC 2014

By omo

Airi Totoki

Five idol acts attended NYC in the span of about six weeks: Cheeky Parade, Morning Musume 14, Miku, Babymetal and now Perfume. That runs basically the whole gamut of today’s Japanese visible idol scene north of indie. And if some indie JP idols dropped by NYC during the last 6 weeks, I wouldn’t be surprised if I didn’t know them. I didn’t even make it to Cheeky Parade’s free show at BCGC because *effort*.

And I think this is important. Japanese idols, the post 1999 kind of thing, is a maligned if entirely foreign creature. It’s too easy to liken them to boy or girl groups, because that’s what they are. But that entirely misses what makes idols the engines of Japan’s entertainment industry today. Too many geeks and nerds and “otaku” (US ver.) turn their noses to them. I’m not sure why there’s so much resistance for Americans against Japanese idols, but that’s how it feels.

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8 comments | posted in Conventions and Concerts, Seiyuu, Idol, Pop

November 11, 2014

Autumnal Miscellany, Unconfirmed Hearsay for Lantis Fest Vegas

By omo

You would think for the month that I stop going to cons I would blog more. Nope. Forcing myself through the trials of conventioneering pushes thoughts through the grey matter in the forms of traveling stimuli, from the basics like flying through the sky or walking in a sea of cosplayer, to meeting new people with new ideas, it all adds up to the basic substance that drives my fan-like behavior. This relaxing Autumn air, on the other hand, keeps me contemplative and chill.

If it was a normal Autumn, being contemplative is all good for blogging too, as I consider just the simple stuff we watch: the life-likeness of Shirobako, the tricks up the sleeves of Sora no Method, why I don’t enjoy Parasyte, is Gundam Build Fighters Try still as magical, why is FUNi’s streaming business still a pain to my interests, what not. All stuff I can talk about. Except I have no energy or time to. I don’t even know if I can revisit my M@STERS of IDOL WORLD write-up now that I am giving the Blu-rays their third time around.

I still want to write that Eventer Manifesto thing about 2.5D emergence. Maybe I can do it as an Otakon Vegas panel.

Sphere

Over the weekend I heard from Nekocon about Puchim@s getting a North American release with DVD+subs only. That’s cool. It’s puchimas so you aren’t really getting THAT much more with a Blu-ray. I ought to be importing it anyway. Since FUNi has posted about this, we have confirmation. What tickles the mind is their eventual treatment and localization of Ping Pong. How do you localize that? It feels like opening the Ark or scratching your fingernails on a blackboard, trying to change Japanese into English, you hear that, Mister Fukunaga? Isn’t it some allegory to American, white-washing cultural imperialism? Or a sad reflection to the American consumer culture? This is not some General Tso’s chicken at work here.

Similarly, I heard that Lantis Matsuri Las Vegas will finally start something maybe this week. There will be a VIP tier. The shows may be 3 hours or so long each day, featuring 7 different artists. I wasn’t at the con so all of this is hearsay. Otakon Music Fest was 3 different artists and ran for about 3 hours as well, so I really wonder about this. More on that note: there will be collaborative events between Otakon Vegas and Lantis Matsuri, that much we have indirect confirmation via the Otakon forums. What we now know (by hearsay) is that some artists will stick around on Sunday and have some event at the con. There won’t be autograph sessions as far as I hear, but panels probably. I was actually quoted a flight time: if it’s after 5:30pm on Sunday, you are OK. Vegas airport is quite close to the main strip, so that is believable.

I can also foresee the incoming gnashing of teeth regarding Lantis Fest promo. I mean, seriously, they have to do a better job. For example it’s roughly 2 months away until the festival, and we only have unofficial confirmation of 3 of the 7 guests. One is the same Nekocon guest, Sayaka Sasaki, who leaked her own attendance at Vegas (unofficial official announcement?). The other two are (un)confirmed via the ANN Lantis Fest Kanto interviews. Common sense would also indicate Jam Project’s presence. But if they don’t tell us who the heavy hitters are by the time VIP tickets go on sale, there will be people straddling that line, because Lantis carries some big time guests where a number of people would drop everything for. Com’on u’s! Com’on StylipS! Com’on IM@S ML! A Sphere Is Fine Too! Among others.

I’m going to chalk up the delay on Lantis Fest Tohoku that’s coming up this weekend. I suspect after that wraps up, we’ll get some info pronto.

3 comments | posted in Conventions and Concerts, Modern Visual Culture