Category Archives: Conventions and Concerts

July 6, 2007

An Entertaining Uninstall Redux

By omo

Flowers for Ishikawa

Chiaki Ishikawa at AX explains a lot about Uninstall. And how Simoun’s production was full of girls.

Yea, some guy booted the audio from her show. To save you the trouble of having people yell into your ears by listening to that hour-long thing, here are some tidbits:

1. As an anisong singer (she explained what that was) she really got into it through Kajiura’s collab in Gundam Seed. Their partnership had a deep impact on her, it seems. She has been doing solo only a year or two.

2. Speaking of anisong singing, she wrote Uninstall in a way that people (in Japan) will recognize that it is an anisong. So, naturally, Ishikawa sang “a ni song, a ni song.” HAHAHAHA. You go girl. Only a song’s writer can mock the song’s fan the best? Oh, oops, I’m suppose to keep this secret! (Isn’t this on the internet already? But I bet not a recording of her singing just that…)

3. Which songs? Annaniisshodattanoni, Kimigaitamonogatari, Yasashiiyoake (she soloed), Uninstall, Utsukushiikerebasoredeii, Kimiwabokuniniteiru, and Obsession. Ugh @ Obsession. I hate this song. Well, I think she sang it better here than on the CD at the least…

4. She doesn’t do many lives at all. (Ugh)

5. I can use a picture of her costume? LOL.

Speaking of Uninstall, though, there’s also Ishikawa’s blog and it talks about that a bit (under 7/3). Among other things. For someone who saw the first Gundam series when she was little (I guess this is heading 6?), she’s a champ for toughing it out on this AX trip…and wow, that’d also make her someone who was inspired (well, maybe subconsciously) by it and ended up working on the franchise, even if probably unintentionally. It’s all up there.

6 comments | posted in Conventions and Concerts, Modern Visual Culture, Seiyuu, Idol, Pop, Simoun

July 2, 2007

AX2007: Manhandled?

By omo

Well, pissed off con goers are dime a dozen, at least that’s how I feel as a long-time con goer. This year’s AX, however, is a different story. I’ve not been, so I can’t say on my own, but I have all the hearsay in the world to back this up.

For one, Halko Momoi herself openly dissed AX. Com’on, guys, Momoi might be a little less diplomatic and forgiving than the typical Japanese guest, but she really loves her fans and whatever that pushed her this far can’t be just some trite little thing. ANN reported a bit on it, but you can get a bigger picture of what went on in the comments and especially as detailed here, by someone who was at the Momoi events.

Of course, the extra-hours wait in itself is not too, too unexpected; the multitude of concerts AX has this year invariably will mean one or more mismanagement and legions of pissed fans. The delayed concerts and the subsequent chain effect? One pissy performer can cause all these subsequent ills that would affect just the fans attending those shows (a large amount to say the least). But, well, AX forum itself is full of horrid stories: like 50 autographs for the SOS-dan girls? That bit of news made even 2ch.

I’ve seen my share of inept con managements. But I think what is unfathomable is pissing off fan favorites. People like the SOS-dan trio and Halko Momoi are really big (or will be) in the scene, and that kind of ill-will goes far to discredit not just AX’s management, but western fandom in general. Even if this was a once-in-a-lifetime screw-up.

To that end, it’s not so much a matter of “AX’s fault” or any kind of silly blame-game, but it screws with the prospect of other cons scoring these guests as visitors in the future. It creates the sort of damage that (perhaps) not even time and money can undo. Perhaps, as of this writing, it is already by-gone and water under the bridge. I suppose I can only plead humbly to the other con organizers to treat their shows not just “yet another con” but that for the special guests themselves, this is their livelihood; and the collective sacrifice of your typical major-con goers has to be respected. It’s ugly when the middleman screws it up, you know? Con managements do not have thankful jobs and they really get to deal with a lot of crap with very little glory. I’m sure there is more to the hearsay floating around out there that make all of the trash talk fit reasonably. But please, do something! D:

9 comments | posted in Conventions and Concerts, Modern Visual Culture, Seiyuu, Idol, Pop

June 30, 2007

Today: AnnouncementTorrent

By omo

This year is not too bad as far as US con news goes so far. Definitely an improvement from the last. I’m just going to highlight some of the ones I care about:

Emma being licensed is actually my biggest ZOMG. It’s a great little gem but it’s so far off the well-treaded path for anime, let alone anime in the US, that RightStuf might have some trouble finding good homes for their DVDs. But somehow it’s the sort of show that makes you think “hey, there must be some people out there who’d buy Victorian romance imported from Japan.” Especially in the US. Especially after you scrub-a-dub-dub and remove traces of “Maide In Japan” from it.

Gurren Lagann being licensed is a nice treat. I like the show enough to watch it, but it suffers from the Eureka 7 problem in some ways. I wish it was shorter so at least I have no excuses about being able to afford it. Then again, technically I can still wait for a thin-pack from E7, and ADV is much better about releasing collections than most other studios. What’s wrong with Eureka 7? It’s too long, it’s not the sort of thing that you want to watch the whole thing twice (although some episodes definitely many many times over).

DMP is going to release Flamboyant. We know they’re bringing over a Megami compilation later this year, so this is more of the same, I guess (I hate Megami stuff with a passion, but it’s good to know). It’s interesting because I bought Flamboyant back when it was hot enough for a second run… Well, at least it’ll be cheap (and with more artwork!). Flamboyant, for the noob, is the first (and so far only?) art book by Hakua Ugetsu. Sure, it’s got the name Bakuhatsu Tenshi to taint, but the stuff inside is awesome.

Along with the re-announcement of Nanoha and Nanoha A’s, I think I might even buy the SRW OAVs when they come out. Probably pass on SRW TV though. These are all “maybe” but I think I like A’s enough to not pass.

Cosmode USA. Uuugh. In other words, a US cosplay magazine.

Last one for the day: Wings of Honneamise on DVD and HD-DVD is actually a big deal. The US is ahead over Japan on the HD home video effort. At this point in the game I don’t care if it’s Blu-Ray or HDDVD. I just want my anime on 1080! And this is a classic to own for this purpose.

2 comments | posted in Conventions and Concerts, Emma, English Language Modern Visual Fandom, Modern Visual Culture, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann

June 24, 2007

Eminent Apathy All Around

By omo

This CD kicks so much ass!

Otakon announces AAA – a teen pop/r&b group that actually kicks a lot of ass for the type of pop entertainment. They’re the headliner musical guest for the con this year.

Too bad nobody cares about them except a tiny group of neophyte weeaboo chasers and the teenage nation of Japan. Hopefully we get a lot of the former and latter (esp. girls) to … make up the people who will be at Otakon and don’t really give up their attention and time to attend their show. This group can dance, and they should put on a good show…

Well. that’s the pan part of the rant. But as much as I’m overwhelmed by apathy I want to just point out a few things. First of all, they’re still a pretty cool group. Even if the group is more marketing than substance, we’re in for a nice show if there’s enough of us who show up! I plan to go see them. Second, we should be nice to our guests. I know con time is somewhat precious, but hopefully we can get some quality entertainment without all the fanfare and long lines (lol I’m jinxing myself).

Then there is Eminence. I guess Otakon took a tip from last year’s coinciding gamer concert? Nonetheless I’m a little more than interested about them. Granted I never really caught on the orchestra-making-the-geek-buck wave of stuff the past few years, but hey, I played FF7 and a handful of fan games that other people like music from….. Well, definitely worth seeing if just for Free Bird.

And while I like his works, I’m not fan enough to own any of Hiroshi Sakimoto‘s CDs. Shame on me. But that’s one less line to worry about. He’ll be performing with Eminence, though, and that should rock the house in its own way.

(Heh, yea, it doesn’t hold a candle to AX’s guest list this year, but oh well.)

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

June 17, 2007

Korea Is So. Far. Away.

By omo

Old news alert. Ragnarok Online 2 Concert.

Yoko Kanno

You can get the full scoop here, but damn. Omo demands video bootlegs of this thing.

What gets me isn’t just Yoko Kanno. I’m a fanboy, sure, but look at the guest musicians going to Korea to play with her:

Origa, Mai Yamane, Maaya Sakamoto… Well, I hope these names are self-explanatory. Especially that last one. The concert is not going to cover just Kanno’s RO2’s stuff, but some of her newer works like GITS as well as her Bebop live things. I suppose Origa does have live experience already. Damn.

That’s not all: Tsuneo Imahori is going to be on the guitar. I’m not a big fan of Imahori, and it’s not his first time playing with Kanno, but he has a nice pile of his own compositions on my computer (Trigun, Gungrave), plus his own guitar playing. The same probably can be said of Shinozaki Masatsugu (Jin-Roh). They’re both, of course, former Seatbelts.

There’s a teaser video on youtube from the scoop link up top.

When I first heard this news in May I thought to myself “blah HATE RO and Korea is so. far. away.” But I should’ve known better that Kanno’s shows are FER REAL and not silly little gags you see at an anime con. And she does put on a show that’s worth flying to, if you love her music. But those who travels to Korea would know, summer flights from the US are high in demand and very expensive.

Well, gg Korea. I’ll QQ later.

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