I went to AC to hang out with friends, distribute goods, and go attend a con. It was a tad tough because I only landed back in the States the Monday before, so I had to quickly repack and unpack, maybe not in that order. Still, it was a fun time.
THE IDOLM@STER Million Live! 5th Live: Brand New Perform@nce!!!
The racetrack of my streaming thoughts run like a loop not unlike Microsoft Visual Studio’s logo, or is that just an Eternal Harmony I’m hearing? In an ever-lasting marketing machine designed to milk 10000s of people, parting humans from monetary possession, what counts for success and failure? Is there meaning in capitalism when Art Needs Heart Beats is literally the product sold to me, an intellectual? Maybe I should just watch how Theater Days is made, where the hot dog factory operate on Unity on Android (and iOS). At least it’s not Union. Or Onion.
Anime Central 2018: Wrap
Whoop I went to Chi-town and had some deep-dish pizza. There was also some fhana live I went to. Kevin also played a DJ set at the Saturday Night rave. In attendance of the con in general include other guests like Inoue Kikuko, Iso Mitsuo, Sonoda Kenichi, and other top kek animators and illustrators. It’s too good to not go.
Also, I wanted to check out probably the best con rave in America. Unfortunately CBP/immigration got a couple of the DJs flying in so no Kors K and Ryu. Instead we just went to go see Kevin throw down some anisong remixes.
Enjoying the Grancrest Wars
Oh, hey, finally that Sakugablog post on the Record of Grancrest Wars. I say finally, because this show has always been a wild ride on the animation front since its early days last season. The visuals are laden with artistry, if unpolished, and you wouldn’t think twice about it since the story runs on at a neck-breaking pace.
A hair of spoiler material ahead, but nothing that ought to matter.
THE IDOLM@STER M@STER SPARKLE Series Review
I’m writing hot takes for all the songs from THE IDOLM@STER (Million Live!) M@STER SPARKLE series! The 8-CD series ended last month when the 8th and final disc shipped. I bought all of them in some form or way, but what I can say is it’s nice to not have to tag the rips since Mora does that for you when you buy it there… I listened to them a lot over the past 8 months or so, via a variety of headphones, IEMs, speakers, car speakers, what have you. I’m writing this post while streaming hires flacs from my phone to my home theater system. Welcome to the 21st century I guess. It’s an incredibly easy way to control the music lol.
General takeaways:
Sparkle is the third solo go around for Million Live, not including the two new members. This time, the OG 13 idols are omitted. There are some themes as follows:
- More of the same. Some are better polished than before, YMMV.
- Musical ~DIVERSITY~ in that specific genres or themes are being aped for character reasons – Nao’s and Noriko’s are the obvious examples. But really, guys.
- Produced by Lantis artist:Â Some tracks are pretty much specific Lantis act’s thing. Aside from SasakiP of nano.RIPE, at least. Those who went to see Lisani this year would have an idea what I mean. But there’s also a very fhana track in there.
- Introductions – Being the first series for Theater Days, some songs do a more obvious job explaining the characters.
- Playing to live performances. Some songs feels like they can go straight to a live, plug-n-play. Star Trip in particular, when you consider the acoustic guitar part.
The CD series started back in August 23, 2017. We are about 4 months away from its anniversary. So the first couple discs already sound very nostalgic, where as the last couple are still too fresh. My mind is still working on them.
The covers reflects a seasonal or holiday theme correlated to the month of that CD’s release. Check out this youtuber lol. Meanwhile I linked to the CD sample playlist off Youtube in each of the sparkle titles for your easy access.