Rather than just posture my embarrassing fantasy in the form of a guest request post on a certain forum, why not embarrass myself here instead. I have Google analytics! I know how many people read this blog. LOL.
Category Archives: Seiyuu, Idol, Pop
Las Vegas & Lantis Festival 2015
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????????????? pic.twitter.com/dLFFF5gT1c— ?????@???????? (@eriko_co_log) September 14, 2014
So this year is Lantis 15th Anniversary and in response they’re doing a series of festivals. These outdoor stages look like a page out of a typical Japanese music festival, gaudy metal frames hoist a platform above a grassy plane where fans stand or sit or jump under the sun (or rain as it has been a couple times). These 2-day festivals in Japan had pretty solid turnouts, and feature a long list of artists that kept the crowd going all day long. It’s not at the point where you have multiple stages (although I don’t see why not), but I think the idea can take a step that way shall they choose in the future.
What’s a little out of the box is that Lantis is also taking it overseas with stops in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Seoul, Singapore and Las Vegas. Las Vegas is a big deal because that location is so very different than the other ones. SG, TW, HK and Seoul are pretty solid places that has had big anison lives before. The USA in general, not so much, and definitely not Vegas. The best we’ve done here is a big con that drew a crowd, and that isn’t really going to work as a festival kind of way (other than the fact that cons are a type of festivals). I mean, to spell it out, the LV Lantis Fest will be two days and overlaps with Otakon Vegas (which I presumably is helping them out with the event in some way). Using a similar event as a measuring stick, if “Lantis Fest Protype” in the form of Otakon Music Fest was 3 guests (Jam Pro, Aso Natsuko and Faylan) does the West Coast discount really makes it a better show? How can you stretch it to two days? What kind of a line up can they offer? It doesn’t matter a whole lot who comes over, as much as how many. You can take a look at the four Lantis Fests in 2014 and get a feeling what lineup they can bring. It’s almost a list of who’s-who of anison in the last 10 years.
Not that it matters, I’m committed to going already. Time to promote some concert I don’t have a stake in except being an anison eventer in the USA. See you there?
Meanwhile I’ll keep the worrying details to myself, LOL.
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— ?? ??(?2016) (@Nitta_Emi) September 14, 2014
J-Music Canon
Japan Time’s article here, via the last bastion of non-anison that anison familiars can tap into.
Without a canon, Japanese pop won’t blast off
Really? I mean, really?
I think the point is well-made in the article, about there is not much of a canon visible outside of Japan. I don’t necessarily disagree with that exactly. It’s just that with or without canon, J-music can make way into the rest of the world given enough support. The problem is there isn’t much support in terms of music-as-is from the labels and even artists. It’s totally a galapagos syndrome thing. Japanese pop won’t blast off with or without canon because the industry just doesn’t really care about this side of the Pacific.
Canon is something fans and press and critics can debate with each other with. We’re just not at the point where fans can, partly because of the fragmented nature of J-music as a result of lacking that direct support over the years. So to me the complaint about context is a bit putting the cart in front of the horse.
That said, the use case we’re talking about–how does someone begin to explore Japanese music–is big enough of a problem, but organically I think most people would deal with it the same way as with any other scene. Start with the popular stuff, branch out and explore. Access (if you can get around the illegal stuff without issues) is better today than ever before. The notion that this day and age people read books and magazines to discover music is as ludicrous as ever, anyway, so I assume the average teen in the USA has as much problem finding “canon” in English-language scenes as a Japanese teen in Japan. Which is to say, I guess this is why idol music is really big there, huh.
Context, however, is something I really enjoy studying these days, and it’s the greatest enabler. So I can see how not having it is a big issue. But we all had to start fresh somewhere. J-pop is shallow enough and sufficiently per se enjoyable that as a sell to your average, newly cultured middle class of East Asia, it works. Anime is a common sell overseas, too, precisely because of context. So I don’t see canon as context as necessary at first. It’s just when you obtain it, the feels come. This is where I agree with the original article.
Do give j1’s list a read, it’s obviously as debatable as any other list but mine probably overlaps a good deal. [Mainly because mine is comparatively miniscule LOL.]
Perfectly 2.5D
When it comes to seiyuu idoling, I have become a shell of a man that I used to be. Partly because I’ve had enough exploding from the shelling of Japan’s next-generation seiyuu idols, each lobbing nutbladder bombs badder and deadlier than the next. Partly it’s also because my exposure to the fandom makes all of it a race condition, so to speak. Hype begets hype. If I was a jaded homebody sitting in front of a PC during some ungodly hour and trading judging phrases with other like-minded, I wouldn’t be in this shape. So I guess while going all out for the 2.5D is both fulfilling and thrilling and a total blast, it comes with that cost.
Otakon is on my radar, but I’d like to take a moment to enjoy the most softly-decorated itasha. And yes, I’m enjoying Hanayamata. WUG has made me soft against Kaya’s rather typical northern charms. And speaking of Otakon, Hayamin transcends her status as an anime otaku favorite and transforms into a, well, Cinderella Girl.
Wota Life, North America 2014 Version
As I try to get a grip on the AX wrap for the year I have to confront the reality that is in front of me. Truth is, if you told me 8 months ago that Yumi Hara, Altima, [TBD2], Angela, WUG, Marina Inoue, Saori Hayami, Ami Koshimizu, Ai Nonaka, KOTOKO, Elisa, Yui Ishikawa, Mai Goto, Ryouka Yuzuki, Halko Momoi, Babymetal are coming to the US and Canada, I would be like LOL you are drunk. It also didn’t help that I went to Japan in February and got entirely hosed into the Producerhood of Idolm@stery, so even people like Tsukigami Luna and Toshifumi Akai can generate big time feels for me. And I mean, who are they? Sushio was the sakkan for episode 17 (AKA Makoto episode) of Anim@s? The what?
The fact is this is just pain for the DD. A lot of these guys are great but are only going to attract people who are scenesters or just like a lot of things. The WUG-chans, for example, voiced just a handful of things among all of them. I-1 Club will win every time if they held those voting things at American cons, even if they too are more or less current-gen or upcoming voice acting talents. Yui Ishikawa marks a point where Titan really puncture the mainstream discourse, but besides that most anime con-goers don’t even know what else she has done. It’s standard fare for seiota. But then on the other hand  you have the Hayamins or Amisukes of the seiyuu world, the kind of guests that you only expect to see twice a year–between AX and Otakon, really–because there are so few anime cons that deal seiyuu to begin with, and there are so many seiyuu to choose from.
But this has been an abundantly blessed year for the North American idol/seiota/aniota complex. And I didn’t even list old timers like the Gundam dudes (Ikeda-san!) at Animazement or Morita at AX.
There’s value to be a DD, and there’s value to be someone who is more devoted to the causes of a few (or just one)–basically you can survive such a wonderful but harsh convention schedule. The value of doing all these things is that it’s incredibly fun, but I can understand why it’s sometimes good to hold back and just stew at home about not being able to go to these things.
That being said, who knows what remaining cons will bring over as guests? And I’m already looking at 2015 with a weary eye, partly with IM@S 10th on the horizon.
Wonder if there will be JP fans coming to chill out with Hayamin at Otakon? There was an Aoi Eir fan that came just for her, and sat right behind me. He went pretty nuts given the number of times he hit me LOL. Would be cool to do an offkai again!