Category Archives: Seiyuu, Idol, Pop

July 22, 2026

Umamusume: THE STAGE, Coming to LA, A Survival Guide

By omo

I saw someone pass along a large google doc detailing all aspects about what happens when you go to an Uma concert in Japan as a “survival guide” for the Los Angeles leg of Uma 7th. I’m like, hold my beer.

First, here’s the official post on the LA stop. It has all the details for a reasonable person to make it to the show. I’m assuming you read it. Good.

I will assume you’re a shut-in who’s never been to a concert in the USA, or another country’s concert for that matter. You know how to get to LA Live (the entertainment complex where the Peacock Theater is located) by car and you can get there by car, have a credit card (AMEX), and have enough money to pay for everything like an average person and conduct yourself in society like an average person. And on that note, I’m not going to write for things that someone coming from out of town will need (like hotels and how to book a plane ticket or things like that), I assume if you’re doing that you are advanced enough to know “how to survive” a concert trip.

In this case, the first thing to decide is do you even want to go? Concerts are kind of involved. If you are not at a level to be able to be around a few thousand strangers cheering on some Japanese voice actors performing a stage event and sing Umamusume songs, you might want to watch the online stream instead. For that matter, anyone who doesn’t want to spend the money to travel (for me, two VIP tickets are still cheaper than my flight + hotel costs combined), staying home is perfectly nice and better than being goaded to go to the show. I will assure you while going in person can be a great experience, you can also have a great experience not going in person. I enjoyed many watch parties in my short stay on Earth thus far too. For that matter, it’s likely that at least one person who will be at the venue will go home with a bad time. It all comes down on how you execute. Can you execute? Are you confident? Maybe? The cheat code to this is to go with a friend or SO. It’s just like anime cons in that regard–more the merrier, and you can split some of the cognitive and monetary burdens, maybe.

Once you decide that you are going, great. See you there?

Ticketing

First, you want to get tickets. I’m going to assure you that for a majority of the attendees, being there is more important than having a good seat. To me, this kind of a concert in America is extremely special. Otaku content (not counting, say, Sailor Moon) with the full-blown, seiyuu idol treatment (17 is a lot for America!) is a first-in-history type of thing. Being a part of this odd otaku history to me is the main thing. So basic things first–create and an AXS account. Try to buy tickets on another show at the Peacock Theater (not to actually buy, but learn the process). You might have to disable VPN and AdBlock.

If you want to fight the ticket sales war, you need to have an AMEX to pay for the ticket on the July 23 presale at 10am Pacific time. It’s not certain if all seats will be available at the various presale rounds and how many you can buy per sale. If you aren’t sweaty about having the best seat, you should still be able to buy tickets during the other rounds of presales (promoter and venue both have rounds of presale on July 27, and July 28 is public sales start). I personally don’t think it will sell out quickly, and it might not even sell out completely, because they’re using most or all of the seats and it’s on a Thursday and Friday. I think it could still sell out, but unlikely right away.

In any event, deciding to go soon is a boon, so you can purchase tickets right away. So you do, just log in to AXS up to 30 minutes before ticket sales start, and it should put you in a queue for the tickets. Once you pop out of the queue (it’s your turn to buy the tickets), you can’t auto select seats, so manual pick the seats you want, then check out with your AMEX (assuming it’s during the AMEX presale round onward from July 23). You’ll need to do that for each of the two shows. And that’s it for tickets.

If you want to get sweaty, I won’t get into this, but there are definitely ways! Don’t resort to illegal means! But, if you failed to purchase tickets from AXS/Peacock directly, in the USA 3rd party ticket sellers are just as good. If you don’t need a VIP seat I would be okay scalping it from the usual large ticket reselling platforms like Seatgeek or Stubhub. For VIP tickets, it will depend on how they handle distributing the VIP bonus merch, but it might also work fine second-hand.

With tickets in hand, the rest of it is the “survival part” and I will sort it based on importance. Some of it, IMO, is super important, but not important in terms of, say, health or safety. So they’re in the “optional” or “semi-important” category. You get my gist?

Important Items

  • Make sure you are physically capable to handle a concert. This means you’re not ill, and any physical disability can be accommodated with the venue (you can reach out to the venue in advance to make arrangements or ask questions about disability related accommodations). I expect the concert to run for about 2 hours. If none of those clears, maybe consider not coming and stay somewhere you’re comfortable. If you are going both days, you’re not going to sleep early after Thursday since it ends kind of late! Keep all of that in mind in terms of your physical condition please. And yeah, don’t come to the venue smelly, do your hygiene. Precious 女性声優 are going to look upon your countenance, so keep that in mind when you present yourself at the venue.
  • Make sure you read the rules and regulations for Peacock Theater and from Cygames about this show. If you need to bring any accommodations, make sure it is allowed into the venue, such as any medication or fluids. Peacock theater itself sells refreshment inside the venue. The bag policy is no bags larger than 14 x 14 x 6 inches, and no glass/aluminum bottles. No outside drink or food is allowed other than made exception by guest services (for ADA) and unopened plastic bottles of water 1L or smaller.
    • As of this writing Cygames has not posted anything about rules for this show, so stay tuned. If you are curious, in Japan, they don’t allow UOs nor UO cyclones, and overly bright penlights. Recording of any kind and photography are prohibited (except during that one segment on 5th Tour, LOL). I doubt the recording part will change, but some things may be relaxed for the USA.
  • I recommend parking at LA Live (the underground deck, which is Lot E or East Garage), if you need parking. You might need to get there early enough, since it can run out of space. It seems like a convenient, safe, and not that expensive of a deal (40 plus tax for all day)? If you want cheaper parking you can park further but I don’t recommend it. Note that I have not parked in any of the LA Live garages on my own, but I’ve gotten in and out of cars from all those garages before w.
  • If you plan to show up early at LA Live to hang out, like doing some of the “optional” things listed below, then make sure you bring enough hydration and get enough rest. If you didn’t sleep enough the day before, obviously that could impact your experience. It’s all understandable, having to break out of your daily routine to go se some Horse Girls in the flesh sure makes one excited and all. Still, the point here is make sure you are in good, nay, great condition! Not only will you have a much better time when you’re feeling well, you’re more likely to not screw up executing.
  • If you are driving from home, make sure you budget in traffic, but I probably don’t need to tell you that if you’re driving in LA normally. If you’re an out of towner counting on an uber on the other hand, definitely take traffic into account.
  • On another LA note, while DTLA in general is somewhat safe, especially the area that is LA Live, you need to be aware of your surrounding at all times outside the venue. Definitely be careful when walking alone after dark outside of LA Live (say if you’re taking the mass transit or parked farther away) and avoid leaving your belongings unattended.
  • Lastly, don’t forget to bring your ticket. You might also want to bring something to prove your age and ID (don’t drive without your license…), and some cashless payment method (Peacock is cashless). Most AMEX credit cards support chips or Apple/Google pay these days. I assume all concert merch sales sold by Peacock event handlers are also going to be cashless, but this was not always the case IIRC. All this basic stuff you can refer to not to a google doc or a blog post, but the literal guide on Peacock Theater’s site for visitors.

Semi-Important Things

  • It helps a lot to know the songs at the show. It’s not important but it will immensely improve how much you get out of the show. By “know” I mean knowing how the song goes, the lyrics, and maybe even the song title? For bonus points you can know how the calls for the song goes (Umamusume build most calls into the recording itself), but you don’t need to do them. You can if you want to, but not doing calls means you can’t mess it up or tire out faster, and sometimes that’s preferred, YMMV.
    • Your best bet is look around online for a prediction setlist. The only two songs I’m counting on to happen is UMA IN AMERICA and Umapyoi Densetsu…or Umapyoi Legend if we get the English version. More likely I think we’ll just get the same classic hits they have always done, just taking the best old songs from 7th Ariake.
  • It helps to have something to cheer with. If you’ve never been to a concert before, having a pen light is a huge clutch. In 2026 you can buy one off Amazon, so I’m assuming you know where to go to get one. If you got one from another concert, hell, nobody says you can’t bring it to Umamusume. However, it would be great if you just got a generic, unbranded one or buy an Umamusume one for this concert. You should be able to buy one at the venue (queues and stock willing). If you want to get sweaty and mail order one from Japan, the official carrot blade seems to always be in stock (15 days lead time). You’ll need a proxy or something, just to be aware.
    • Yeah there are advanced strats like buying a tube cover. Check the official site for ones still left in stock. El, Cafe, Mambo, Kitachan and Nicene are still in stock, and this can change.
    • Cheering with just your hands is what I always recommend. You really do not need to bring anything, which is why this is “semi-important.” Some songs have clapping, others just need you to wave them in the air (in a way that is considerate to your neighbors).
    • Bring other cheering goods if you have them, and hopefully they’ll just sell it at the venue. Just be aware of Peacock Theater’s rule about banners if you’re rolling that route.
  • For the same reason why it’s good to go to the show with friends, socialize with other trainers at the venue. Maybe it’s the people in the seats near you or before the show. Obviously don’t get creepy about that but just be nice and helpful is always good.
  • Buying merch is semi-optional. Well okay it is entirely optional, but we want to support the concerts and this part of the Umamusume business. Unlike gacha or buying carots you actually get something in return. It is good culture. Just don’t get too sweaty and compromise your experience at the Umamusume concert over this!

Completely Optional Things (That May Be Important)

  • Cosplay is completely optional. The only thing I beg is for cosplayers to observe Time Place Occasion rules. Don’t go into the venue with a bulky cosplay and block the views of people behind your fake ears or something. It’s just inappropriate when you cross that line.
    • On that note, if you have a towel, a uchiwa, or something like that, please refrain from raising them over your head. Thanks, the person behind you says in advance.
  • Hanging out and socializing with friends before the show is completely optional. Half the time with these Peacock Theater otaku events I do hang out with people before the show, since I got nothing to do, as I’m across the country from home. The locals might still pull up 30 minutes before the show, park, and get inside 10 minutes before start time. LA is infamous for traffic, so take that into account if you’re not the one driving, too.
  • Flaunt your itabag/itashas/itachari/itawhatever. If you’re into them you know. If you’re not you can just ignore this. Just make sure you don’t get into trouble trying to secure it or bring it to the venue.
  • Flaunt your nuis or dolls or whatever.. If you’re into them you know. If you’re not you can just ignore this. Just make sure you don’t get into trouble trying to secure it or bring it to the venue.
  • Take photos with your stuffed animal/horse children at the venue and your seat and all that (rules permitting).
  • Write a letter to the cast member(s) of your choice. I don’t know if Cygames is going to arrange this but they might have some people on staff who cares about it enough to enable gift boxes at the venue. If not, write a letter to their agency or something and detail your concert experience.
  • Flower stands and backstage flowers. Flower stands is a Chinese/East Asian custom that Americans generally do not do, and are not familiar with outside of funerals and weddings. Having looked into this years ago it is a major pain in the butt to do at the Peacock Theater, given what you get out of it. More importantly, BNML and Cygames has to allow this in the first place, you can’t just unilaterally do it. Backstage gifts on the other hand might be easier to do at Peacock Theater. I still recommend against it because these are not something in your control unilaterally and could cause the recipients trouble, but you can try I suppose. Definitely in the bonus round category here, it is a super extra optional activity.
  • Learning calls is almost completely optional I would say, but it is. It’s definitely a tier lower than “learn the songs” at any rate. Because Umapyoi Densetsu exists and it’s the most Umamusume thing in the world, the only call that you should learn in advance is the “ore no aiba ga” call from that song. And even then it’s okay that if you don’t. More specifically, learning calls is something you do over time by going to concerts. You can read about it, sure, but until you’ve gone to one of these things you probably would have no real idea how it goes–and I’m not even sure 7th LA would count, since the calls are likely not at the same level as calls in Japan. But Uma fandom is a little less hardcore I would say, so I expect the excited Trainers in America (along with our Japanese Trainer friends flying to the States) will give the cast the same loud welcome during their performances. You earn lots of brownie points if you watch the live streams, follow the call guides, and learn it on your own (or with friends), but it’s literally just brownie points. More over, if you’re quick-witted you can probably do most of the calls just by following the audience and having some basic understanding of calls, while knowing all the songs.

My approach to this is not so much, don’t do these, but trying to make it so that we strip out the extra stuff so we keep our eyes on the real prize. If you want to do the optional things, great, but do remember they are optional and shouldn’t ever cause problem for the more important, non-optional side! If your condition suffers because of these extra optional stuff, then it might not be worth it. Take care of yourself first.

(Minor update from 7/29/2026. Tickets are all on sale now, as with the JTB tour pack lottery which ends today. Day 1 still has tickets for sale directly from AXS, while day 2 seems to have sold out (for now). I also clarified some text and fixed some typos.)

Leave a comment | posted in Conventions and Concerts, Modern Visual Culture, Seiyuu, Idol, Pop, Umamusume: Pretty Derby

February 5, 2026

On the Nth Year When Our Hero Passed, YouTube Music Has Charts

By omo

Not so much a promise to come back from a long hiatus, but I have thoughts and I feel their need to be expressed. So something small.

Mrs. Green Apple did the opening song to the latest season of the Frieren TV anime. A relative new comer to some of us, that it rode the major label marketing machine until the depth of COVID pause, then came back with a vengence. Mrs. Green Apple is, in recent years, a frequent resident of the Japanese pop top ten, and even shows up when you triage it to United States only. So, I present to you this graph, hopefully you can infer all that the thoughts I had, had to say.

The line indicates total views on YouTube Music, grouped by their artist handle (so this includes music videos and YouTube Music. Content ID tags? IDK). The line going up? That’s Frieren! That is just Frieren.

The other thought I had was, now you know what a mainstream pop artist looks like on this set of filters, what about some others?

First, a steady barometer of weeb interest. Maybe she’s a tad old now? I feel you, Ms. Hatsune.

For never-dead internet trolls and warriors alike, the latest iteration looks like this:

and

I don’t know what to say. All I can is, why isn’t Bandai Namco Entertainment not releasing Gakumas for EN/global? The question and the answer are right next to each other.

A real Japanese pop star number look maybe closer to this:

It’s still hugely affected by what Americans see, which makes total sense, these are the US charts for Japanese artists, after all.

PS. I showed the artist Miku Hatsune, but not music with her persona embellished by producers using her voice. This is also the same reason why I can’t find good counts for character songs (eg., all of IDOLM@STER outside of Gakumas and maybe Valiv). Somehow they’re all tagged by character as the artist, so it takes manual aggregation to collect data on a brand level. Or in Miku’s case, she is more an instrument sometimes.

2 comments | posted in English Language Modern Visual Fandom, Modern Visual Culture, Seiyuu, Idol, Pop, Souzou no Frieren

June 1, 2025

Gakuen IDOLM@STER 1st Period Harmony Star Impressions

By omo

I attended the Gakumas 1st concerts this weekend. It’s called “1st Period” but it’s actually not the first concert for the media-mix mobile game franchise. It’s just the first show (or 4 shows, spanning 2 weekends) that features the full cast, after the roughly-dated anniversary of the game’s live service a year ago. Since the game (and really before the game was released, including all the lead-up marketing) became available it has done well in the rankings and players generally have good things to say about the latest entry in the IDOLM@STER series. A lot was on the shoulders of the staff and cast to make this hotly-anticipated show a success.

There was a set of tours where 3 cast members form a team and tour Japan’s 3 largest cities (Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya), each team doing 3 stops within a month, in almost back-to-back months. One of the stops was postponed by a typhoon, while the last set of 3 had a gap until February of this year. The appropriately called “Hajime” Tour needs to be mentioned because this is the cast’s actual first live stage experience, except one member. The tour definitely gave the stage experience to many of the newbies in the Gakumas cast, and more importantly it gave the fans a glimpse of what fresh grasshoppers were like close to a year ago.

The importance (or however little it is) put on seeing the growth of the idols is a core tenant in the design of the game, which various interviews have listed. This is just another aspect I suppose, but I appreciate how they made the live performance aspect parallel to its digital version. Or rather, I appreciate them knowing what it ought to be like on the receiving end.

As a Million P for many years, it feels tortured, it basically feels the opposite of it–things we would love and be hyped about often don’t happen when they ought to, or happens at all. Some things are delayed by over 10 years. Maybe delay is the wrong word, but at some point it just became sort of this deep barrel or well where we are glad to have anything being pulled out of, even though we know the contents can make for something much more.

Anyways, for a good example, when Our Chant dropped on Day Two of Harmony Star, we know (since the SSR) there would be a flag just like how Chiisana Yabou, Wonder Scale and Clumsy Trick all had their props. So Gakumas surprised and delighted us by adding Saki to the picture when she walks in with the flag. In fact, after seeing the Hajime Tour version of Wonder Scale and Chiisana Yabou we already think there would be props, just like how the game versions did. For even more foreshadowing, Harmony Star featured a duet (or trio in one case) of cast members joining in another idol’s solo song (and for this weekend it was limited to the B-side solos) so by the point on the second day when Our Chant happened, it felt like a perfect match when you stick the right jigsaw puzzle piece in the right slot.

For details, here are the links to the official site posts for the show, for posterity, and the usual imas-db links. Onward with the rest.

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Leave a comment | posted in Conventions and Concerts, Idolmaster, Modern Visual Culture, Seiyuu, Idol, Pop

May 21, 2024

Anime Central 2024: Wrap

By omo

Acen 2024 came and went. It was a lot of fun and I’m home now enjoying that post-con glow. Just want to jot down all the key take-aways before I have to deal with the dozens of to-dos for next week’s con trip to Animazement.

For one, a big 30,000-ft view topic is that we are so back. I will need to bring back the blog post sticky of my events for 2024. Granted I still did a lot in 2023 that probably warranted it, but I am enjoying cons with other friends who also go to cons now that it just feels more right than last year to do it. I went to Acen 2022, 2023 and 2024 since the pandemic and it’s a good slice of what happened for the US con scene for each of those years.

Second, of course, it’s HiroMaya. Hiromi Hirata plays Makoto and I have been a MakotoP for ages now. That said, in a way I think it doesn’t excite me as much as seeing Mayako Nigo because to me Nigo is one of the cast members that makes 765Pro Allstars special, especially when you compare it with other similar groups. Either way, the two young moms felt quite at home on their new-ish radio show (about a year old now?) and they brought some of that healing atmosphere to Acen. The discussion and the manzai-but-not chemistry between the two is just wonderfully charming to me. Various Ps got their long-wish goods signed and dreams came true. I brought a life-size cardboard cutout of Makoto, and with the major help of friends able to bring it to Chicago and got one signed. I saw 2 other POPs there as well which is great. (BTW, Q&A panel notes here.)

Knowing a bunch of other Ps in the US meant I also saw a lot of them at Acen, which is always a good time to catch up since I haven’t seen many in a long time. It’s also fun to see those people see each after, after so long. We were able to do a big group dinner at Fogo de Chao (mainly because they can host large groups easily), and that was a blast (of meat eating). Three JP Ps also came to visit and it was their first time at a churrasco steakhouse. They are fellow P-friends from abroad that I’ve met several times already and they got the local greeting (even if most of us weren’t from the area).

Acen’s other seiyuu guests are also impressive. Tomo Sakurai is kind of rebooting her seiyuu-idol career after being invited to the con. She’s even doing some other event later this week? It’s nice to finally meet this showa-era seiyuu idol who voiced most notably, Mylene of Macross 7. I went to one of her panels and she did a karaoke performance to Friends. That was a surprise. (As an aside, Dan, who was interpreting for Tomo, also ran a booth at the artist alley which I failed to drop by because I only found out later.) I got my Shayla-Shayla fix when she signed my El-Hazard DVDs.

The most impressive seiyuu on the list was Sora Tokui, who hopefully helped all of us get the “nico nico nii” thing out of the collective attendee’s systems. The love for her was bountiful, from flower stands (the Midwestern Liver/idol group folks knew better so everyone got a stand, leaving no seiyuu behind) to a big banner. The people were out in force here. Meltdowns and other stuff that comes with the territory, stories about getting into and out of the scene thanks to the OG Love Live school idol herself.

Which leads to the last but hardly the least seiyuu guest, Sally Amaki. This present-day idol seiyuu’s story is well-rehearsed via her popular Trash Taste interview, but Sally is more than the sum of her parts. Or the number of RTs for her various tweets. It’s just like the other dreams-come-true stories in a way, but this time our 21st century Japanese idol in her prime is also a socal shitlord turned josei seiyuu, which is a word spaghetti that means also more than the sum of their collective meanings.

I got lucky and was able to attend her “autograph session” substitute given that she doesn’t do that kind of event anymore, but the meet & greet event was just so, so good. I hope other anime cons in America can replicate this whole thing Acen has made with SME and 22/7’s management to make Sally available, because she is the bringer of a busload of hilarious idol fun.

In some ways the four seiyuu guests at Acen this year paints sort of a past-present-future look at how things are in the seiyuu idol side of the biz. That sums up how powerful the draw this year was for me personally.

The nuts and bolts of the con this year are pretty similar to the past few years, although we are ever inching closer to 2019 Acen again. What’s different is Win Morisaki, who is mostly a Toku music guest, and Lotus Juice, who’s here to suffer the Knicks getting knocked off of the playoffs. It’s a bit too bad that I barely got any time to watch their stuff due to event conflicts, but these bros don’t bring down the house by themselves. Acen needed to give them a bit more help, for no fault of their own.

Industry/production side, the one that caught my eyes the most was PILI, or the Taiwanese production group that made the Thunderbolt Fantasy puppet show. Some of their puppeteers came, and they messed around with the doll with the fans. I couldn’t find time to see the Colorido guests doing their premiere or the Kinema Citrus guests, but I did pick up the Colorido shirt from their new Netflix movie.

I couldn’t get any tasting for the Saburomaru whisky tasting because Acen booth’s lines were super long and they couldn’t process transactions fast enough, so I came back when everything was sold out to pick up the shirt and the Sally cheki thing. On that note, the biggest public enemy at Acen this year had to be the security theater. It was not very well organized and during peak morning hours people had to wait quite a while, up over 30 minutes? There were 6-7 scanners at the main con entrance and one at the hotel overpass. I’m not sure if there’s one also over the Embassy Suites side though. Anyways, for the most part it wasn’t an issue for me, but I did hear some problems over internet chatter and others I talked to, while most didn’t have much of an issue.

The autograph situation was somewhat better for me this year than the last, and some people really got it figured out. Turns out to get all the sessions you wanted you will need to create new accounts as sessions conflicted with each other. On the flip side it sucked if you didn’t get any, and some folks I know basically struck out. The system is merciless and not well-documented beyond this tweet, I think. One of the JP Ps was able to get FOUR sessions across all 3 days right away and none of the Sally oshis who flew here got hers. It’s rough. Our GR dude Sujay even translated the procedure into Japanese with pics for the 22/7 fanbase…I wish the non-Japanese even got that lol. I mean, I suppose it only tells you to install Guidebook and sign up for an account, which gets you just half way there.

The setup from last year mostly translated to this year, with most folks hanging out by the back tables at the street level of the Hyatt and the lineup going around it. It was chill and a good time to trade P cards? It was old timers reunion and good time to meet new people.

I personally was able to get both Hiromaya sessions (they were together) after coming off the waitlist, a Tomo Sakurai session, a PILI session, and one with Soramaru on Sunday. All of this is punctuated by that aforementioned lucky Sally M&G pickup. Man that was a great session. Normally this level of programming is reserved for the rare “VIP” panels that you pay $$$ for, but because Sally can’t do the normal signkai stuff, she gets to hang out with 60 of us for about an hour and a half as a compromise. It was so wonderful and it was as if her dreams are coming true and we’re all in it, and I guess we were?

One more thing to add: fan projects. It seems the con is finally set up for flower stands, so if you want to make Acen smell better, that’s one way…I jest. Hopefully we will get some kind of written method to hook those up. This year everyone got flowerstands as mentioned. Soramaru also got a banner and some other stuff. I made two business card binders with message boards from people in line as usual.

I’ll end with this. If you want to see your favorite imas or LL seiyuu (or Sally) come back, request it in the feedback form.

PS. Fooding at Chicago was so good this time, but also in general. I stayed for almost a week on this trip so I got some decent options, basically ate pizza everyday but Sunday and Monday (when I landed at 10pm). Pizza (deep, normal and tavern style), italian beef, the Chicago dog, cake shake, and others were consumed. One night I was theorygaming Vancouver vs Edmonton with friends at “the” Uno Pizzaria bar and that was an one of a kind experience. One of the JP Ps also brought me a visiting gift, his favorite butter “sando” from Hokkaido, and it was heavenly too. At the con I ate out with friends and hit up Gibson’s and the aforementioned Fogo also, which both hit the spot after long, long days at the con.

PPS. I didn’t forget Kawaiikon! But Raleigh awaits…

Leave a comment | posted in Conventions and Concerts, Seiyuu, Idol, Pop

February 29, 2024

Million Live 10th Tour Act-4 Recap

By omo

The feeling seeing Machico randomly confessing to Ueshama. The chill of the Tokyo Bay wind hitting your face as you’re teeing up GenP for a friend behind you doing English. The exhilaration of hearing Todakun telling us to “get down.” Nansu wiggling her butt because of the button tail on her outfit. Mocho and Koroazu crying. And countless other moments this past weekend. This is the “hyakuman power” that was sleeping under the sheets with a JUNGO face printed on it, and woke up for a weekend. This is Million Live.

The story of Million Live isn’t just that they are the sub-brand of IDOLM@STER that carries the torch of 765PRO ALLSTARS, but that it is a refreshing of the IDOLM@STER franchise with some of the top seiyuu performers of that generation. That generation is now 11+ years into its existence. Everyone has been through a lot. If I had time maybe I can dig into each one of them, including the two new ones that joined the team half way. Long story short, their success as individuals, or lack there of, speaks volumes to the “refresh rate” or how hard it is to make it as a seiyuu idol in this day and age.

The result of 10 years of hard work is this extremely emotional but also extremely fun, awesome, and fulfilling two-day concert. Unlike what happened during 4th Live, which is the accumulation of promises and wishes, Act-4 of 10th Tour is the result after fulfilling those things. Or at least partly.

  • We now have an anime
  • We have had more concerts where 765AS sang with the Million (Hotchpotch…and Hotchpotch 2 on the horizon)

I literally left 4th with big-time brain fog, but I left act4 with clarity of mind and purpose. So much have changed. Kokkochan’s chant to summon Hoshii Miki may have summoned something else, perhaps more delicious. Anyways, Act-4 was the true real Million Live anniversary decennial! Or rather, Acts 1-4 all together? But this was the one.

I have more thoughts than time to write them down cohesively, so this is more a recap than a review post… I think Kasshi did a great job with GenP on the second day so please watch that, and day1’s recap.

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1 comment | posted in Idolmaster, Seiyuu, Idol, Pop