This is going to be a relatively short post because I spent most of my half day off at the wedding and with friends after that so I didn't really get started on my planned Japan Day 1 / Kalafina Museum / Kalafina After Eden Live Part 2 post till about 1 1/2 hours ago. Unfortunately, I'm very verbose and although I have written quite a bit already, it'll still take a little while more before I complete writing it and uploading the photos etc.
Meanwhile, I really want to make a little note in my blog about a purchase I didn't think I should make but ended up making in the end. After thinking about it for months, I finally decided to plunk some money down to buy myself a new pair of in-ear noise isolation headphones. The headphones of my choice is the Creative Aurvana In-Ear3. I used to own the first Aurvana which was a decent entry level in-ear earphones aimed at audiophiles. What I liked about the Aurvana line was that they have so far all been very balanced earphones. I prefer clarity and I don't like an over powering bass.
I, however, can be rather rough with my earphones and after I destroyed my first Aurvana, I decided to see if I could find a more sturdy earphone that gave me a similar performance. So I got one of the ceramic Nakamichi earphones which had a really study housing but the connections weren't quite as sturdy and the nozzle is rather large and the ear tips kept slipping off and before long I was trying to find replacement tips after losing all the ones that came with the earphones. After a while, I just got a little annoyed with it since it wasn't fitting in my ear properly so I wasn't getting enough noise isolation on it and because of that I was losing clarity too. And although these phones were the most expensive ones I had gotten to date, it didn't sound that much better than my first Aurvana to me, hence, it was back to the Auvana line again for me.
After reading many reviews, click me, me, me... and because I've had good experiences with most of the Creative products that I have purchased previously, I decided to go back to what I was familiar with especially since there was also a SGD20 holiday discount at the brick and mortar store in Marina Square.
After test driving the earphones with some Kalafina music (flac compression on a Creative Zen X-fi Style without any software/hardware enhancements), I decided to go for it. And I must say that after a day of using it, I am very pleased with my purchase. The A3s are my favourite in-ear headphones to date.... they really sound extremely good. Kajiura Yuki's music, FictionJunction, Kalafina, Utada Hikaru all sound wonderful to me. I can hear Keiko quite nicely even in a song like Stone Cold where she's mainly in harmony and it's harder to pick her voice out. And for some reason, symphonia sounds really good to me on this earphone, even without the more powerful bass some other earphones may give you, Keiko still comes across sounding quite powerful and the overall song sounds really epicly beautiful to me. That said, the bass isn't going to wow anyone who wants and likes lots of bass but since I prefer more balance and clarity, I'm not bothered about it at all. The noise isolation on the phones is quite exceptional and blocks out a lot of unwanted sound. And although it looks a little awkward it is actually very comfortable to wear. The design is also way better than the earlier Auvanas because I'm not really bothered by the sound of my own breathing and rustling of my clothes when I walk... of course it could also be possible that I'm so used to in-ears that I've learned to tune those sounds out. :)
I'm super happy with my present to myself. :) Now, I just have to make sure I take better care of it. :p
K... time for bed... I'll continue working on my Japan / Kalafina After Eden Special Live post in the next two days and will hopefully have that up by the end of the week before Christmas. My Christmas present to some of my friends. :)
Okay, that's it from me for now... good night everyone. :)
I decided to be crazy and asked Itsuko to get me a ticket to Kajiura Yuki LIVE Vol. 8 in March next year. :) I'm going to go to Japan again!!!! And this time... finally... I get to see Kajiura Yuki perform live. :) :)
My eyes are still bothering me. :( This past week and the weekend has been crazy busy and I'm so tired... so tired that I don't even have enough energy to study for my Japanese test tomorrow or do my homework. But Itsuko just confirmed that I got the ticket and I'm so happy!!!! :)
Now I have to do some serious saving... I might travel quite a bit in the next year depending on schedules etc. Am excited now!!!!!
I'm on half day on Monday. Going to attend a friend's wedding... if I'm not too tired and my eyes aren't killing me... I will try and write my Kalafina After Eden Special Live - afterthought Part 2 post. :)
Now... need to drop eyedrops and rest my eyes again....but I'm happy... Kajiura Yuki Live... being in Japan again... how could I not be happy? :)
This evening, while on my way home with my niece and my mum, we saw a gloriously bright, orange and large moon low in the horizon. Because we usually take the bus home, we've not been able to snap photos of moments like these on previous occasions. So we stopped for a bit to take advantage of the rare opportunity to snap a shot of the moon amongst the cranes.
What I wasn't prepared for and didn't know was that this picturesque scene was actually just a little appetizer for the main course tonight. Ignorant me had not been following the news and I had no idea that the last total lunar eclipse until 2014 would occur on the 10th Dec 2011 between approximately 10-11pm Singapore time. Luckily, my sister sent me a text message and although I did see the message a little too late, I was still able to go down and view what would be my very first lunar eclipse and it was fantastic!!
I managed to catch the eclipse just a little before the total eclipse and continued watching it till after the total eclipse till it became a partial eclipse again. It was very, very, very cool and I shot a few crappy shots with my, of course less than adequate, Samsung Galaxy S2 phone. :)
partial eclipse, after the full eclipse
partial eclipse, aft. the full eclipse 2
What was kind of nice about this event, aside from the fact that I was viewing an eclipse for the very first time, was that Manami in Japan and several other Singaporean and Malaysian friends where also viewing the eclipse at the same time. We were posting photos on FB and communicating with each other and really using social media as it was originally meant to be used. We were using FB to come together and share with each other, not try and tear anyone apart, create conflict or force opinions on one another. This shared experience was sort of moving for me and I enjoyed the fact that my friends, my family and I were able to enjoy a thing of beauty together tonight. :)
I think both my mum and I have yet to see a lunar eclipse till tonight. My dad, however, has seen it before when he was a child. He said that when he was a kid, during the moment when they were viewing the eclipse, he and his friends took out empty pails and started beating it to make noise. I asked him why and he told me that in the old days, when people didn't understand what an eclipse was, they thought that a creature was devouring the moon up and hence, they would make as much noise as possible to chase this creature away. Of course when he was a child, they didn't really believe that any more but they were kids and any excuse to have fun and make noise was more than welcomed. :)
Red Moon - full eclipse, v grainy,
4x digital zoom
What I did find a tiny bit sad though was that while were we were watching the eclipse and marvelling at this beautiful natural phenomenon, people at a wedding celebration nearby didn't really care at all. Seeing those these families and their children completely ignore the eclipse made me glad that before my little niece went home for the night, her parents and her took a little time out to view the eclipse and I was glad that I know that she would have viewed something uncommon and special at least once in her lifetime. :)
Lastly, before I go to bed... it would not do for a huge Kalafina / Kajiura Yuki fan not to mention RED MOON, both the album and the song since during a total lunar eclipse, the moon will take on a shade of red and just this alone should make any fan recall the song. :) Sadly, my photos aren't able to represent the colours and how magical the moon looked tonight, luckily, a simple search on google should pull out several spectacular photos of the eclipse tonight. :)
Alrighty, that's it for now... I leave you guys with this... a youtube clip of the Kalafina Red Moon song sung live (not uploaded by me)... not sure how long it'll last on youtube... but here you go... enjoy...
Time to go drop the last dose of eye-drops for the day and hit the bed. It's much better now... best I've felt it's been for a while so I'm somewhat relief and happy about it... but it's really late now and I don't want to push it.... good night and have a good weekend y'all. :)
I've been putting of posting this post for a while because of work and my continued slow recovery from my strange eye irritation problem. Unfortunately, in spite of my best efforts, I've still been unable to make a full recovery from this strange problem and tonight it's beginning to really annoy me again unfortunately, I'll have to make this post as quick as possible and may have to cut it short too. :( We'll see...
The Live on the 25th Nov was great... I really can't stress enough how much the four of us enjoyed it. Last year, I attended the Live with Danielle who ended up enjoying it so much, she asked if we could come back again this year and so we did. :) However, this year, Jessie also requested to come along. And as usual, like last year when Danielle had no clue who Kalafina was, I worried about if Jessie would enjoy the concert of a vocal unit she knew virtually nothing about. I was very happy that by the end of the Live, Jessie enjoyed it so much that if she had another opportunity to return for another Kalafina live, she would gladly do so again. :)
I'm convinced that there will be a dvd / blu-ray release. :) This was a multi-camera shoot. I don't know how many cameras there were. I spotted at least two, one stationary and one moving on a rig but it's very possible there was at least one more camera on one of the higher balconies. Anyway, I wasn't really paying attention to the cameras since really, if they were more interesting than the main act, then we have a really big problem. :) Kalafina was easily more interesting than the cameras, so no problems there. :) Also, the lighting design was more complex than I remember it to be at their previous lives, at least more so than I remembered it to be at the Lemon CC Hall last year and the Red Moon one on blu-ray and other bits and pieces from various sources. The stage was also nicer and there was a lot more choreography than before. And their costume changes were also nicer. At an early part of the Live, they ripped off their long skirts to reveal shorter skirts and for the encore, they didn't appear in their concert t-shirts but re-appeared in another long dress. Seems to me like they were going all out to make this possible release a nice one. I would of course definitely get it if it was released. :)
Okay... I think I'll have to cut it off for now... the eye irritation is making writing hard and I have to spend the whole day on the computer later today at work... I'm giving up for now. But I will post up all the photos I shot of the Kalafina Paper which I picked up at the Live. It has some nice photos and a good amount of text, all printed on nice enough paper. It's called a paper I think because the sheets are all loose and are not held together by staples or any kind of binding... kind of newspaper style.
Here you go... enjoy. :)
p.s. once again not proof reading for now... need sleep. Will fix any glaring errors another day. :) Night :)
Here's a photo of the Christmas tree outside of Raffles City, opposite Chimes. I had to go and pick up a present for the office Secret Santa game this year. I didn't have to do it last year because the office party took place when I was in Japan. :)
I think i managed to find a pretty decent gift of the guy i m suppose to give the gift to so am quite happy about it. I really don't much like gift giving that much because i really am a bad gift buyer and am only good at buying toys. :p
It's back to earth today as i got another shot to work on in the afternoon. My heart and mind is still in Japan though and the bee in my bonnet is still buzzing ferociously. I actually checked the cost of plane tickets to Japan and once again i am unlucky in the sense that the march concerts take place during the march school hols in Singapore which means i automatically don't qualify for the cheaper rates on virtually all the airlines except the ones i really dislike flying on. :( Discount rates for April aren't out yet but the concert in Osaka is on Easter Sunday which means a long weekend and potentially more expensive tickets.
I don't know if i should be crazy and go to Japan again in March or April but i will need to decide soon.... So tempting.... And i have done crazier things. :)
i think i will need to decide by this weekend. whatever i decide doesn't change the fact that I will have to do some serious saving in the coming months. I think it is almost a certainty that I will travel to Japan again next year and hopefully for another concert, be it FictionJunction or Kalafina, depending on schedules and all. I am addicted... ever since I saw them last year in the Kagayaku Live, the desire to see them live again grows with each live i attend.
Oh.... It is almost my stop. time to post this and get ready to get off this train. :)
I'm sick again... it's frustrating. In the last couple months, my overall health has taken a real beating and I've either been completely exhausted or ill half the time.
It really sucks because it means it hasn't been easy to concentrate at work and it's even harder to do anything constructive outside of work. My Japanese homework has been the first to fall by the wayside... then blogging... even mobile blogging has been hard.
I was ill again before I left for Japan and just barely recovered, only to fall ill again on the second day I was in Japan and recovered enough to go to work on Thursday but ended the day feeling like complete crap and then finally saw the doctor again on Friday and took the day off from work. I think I will need to make some major changes in my lifestyle to try and make a more complete recovery so I guess late night blogging is probably a really bad idea for a while. :p
Anyway... above is a photo of almost all the gachapon toys I bought in Japan. Heh heh... Danielle, Jessie and I kind of went crazy and every time we saw a capsule toy machine we would want to just play it for fun. If we had time to go to Gachapon Kaikan, I think we would have ended up with even more gachapons. :) It was fun though and Danielle's luck at the gachapon machine is quite phenomenal... I ended up getting her to turn the knobs on more then one occasion. :)
I miss Japan... lots and lots actually. Each time I return, the desire to go back there just keeps building in me till it becomes impossible not to go again. Kajiura Yuki's latest Live is in Mar/Apr. There will be two nights in Shibuya, Tokyo and one night in Osaka. I'm toying with the idea of going to the one in Shibuya... but I'm not sure if I can still get tickets and if I do go... I will need to do some really serious saving up in the next two months. But it is FictionJunction and there are 3 guest stars of which two are Itoh Eri and Tomaru Hanae... it's extremely tempting. :) I have never seen FJ live which means I have yet to see Kajiura Yuki live and given that the biggest reasons for my Kalafina and FictionJuntion obsessions and the reasons for my 2 trips in 2 years to Tokyo is because of Kajiura Yuki's music... it almost seems sacrilegious not to at least go to one of the FJ Lives just to see her perform in person. :D
But we'll see... it generally fits better into my schedule to go later in the year, hence why most of my trips anywhere tend to take place later in the year... mostly from May onwards. I have to think about this really seriously.
Anyway... I need to get off the computer again... my eye infection came back with a vengeance on Thursday... which makes it 3 times in 4 weeks... it's made me extremely tired and made me feel dizzy and given me a slight headache for most of the day... hence, I can't stay online for too long lately. :(
I have tons I would like to say and lots of photos I would like to put up about my 3rd Japan trip, about the Kalafina Live etc etc... but it'll all have to wait... this old bag of bones needs to go drop some eye drops and maybe take a nap. :)
Here is my "tadaima" post, albeit, a little late. Usually, I post a shot taken from a moving taxi as I travel home from Changi Airport but I was really kind of tired early this morning and only took the photo but did not make the post.. :)
I just returned from my Japanese make-up class and am still feeling really sleepy and tired... so am thinking I'll have to postpone some of my planned posts till tomorrow after work or maybe Friday... we'll see.
I already miss Japan. I had another great trip full of new experiences and it was great to meet my Japanese friends again. This time, Itsuko went to Animate Shinjuku and attended the Kalafina After Eden Live with us and Manami accompanied us to the Ghibli museum. So, I spent a lot more time with both Itsuko and Manami then on previous visits and I'm very happy about it.
Aside from going to Animate for the first time, I also went to Nakano Broadway, ate at the ufotable Cafe in Nakano, the Good Smile Cafe in Akiba, went to Tsukiji Market for the first time, went to Ghibli Museum for the first time, ate wagyu in Japan for the first time, went to Asakusa for the first time, sat in an Airbus 380 for the first time... ... ... there are so many first times, it would be hard to summarize it here. I will need to write a fuller report of each day to talk about all the new experiences.
Now I need to go and work hard and save hard again because I really hope to return to Japan again at least once... maybe even twice, next year. I also would like to go to China too. If I make all the trips I would like to make, I'll have to spend even more judiciously next year. But all of it is, in my opinion, worth it because I have enjoyed all the trips I have made and all that I have experienced on these trips. :)
K... now I am off to rest and so some stuff on FB. Good night. :)
Hi hi.... This is for you YTSL. :) And no, i didn't go to sanrio land, although i don't mind going ij the future. I would like to see what it is like.
I did, however, go to the Sanrio shop in Ikebukuro. :)
I leave Japan today. :( Each time I come, the more I want to come back again. I had a super time again and ate a lot. Will come back and try and fill in the pieces when i am home. :)
Yesterday we went to asakusa, my first visit there even though i have been to Tokyo three times. :) It was another pretty eventful day as we also hit Akihabara, went to the awesome Good Smile Cafe, the Gundam Cafe and Shinjuku. I bought a lot of crap and ate even more than the day before. :) it was great.
Today we leave for home later in the day and i have to go pack my bag. I Will write more later. :)
This is a photo of one of my favourite breakfasts in Japan. Konbu onigiri and can coffee. :) we abandoned our plan to go to nokogiriyama today because, to tell u the truth, i have actually been ill since the day we visited ghibli museum. :( i had an eye infection in both eyes and i had to get eye drops at the drug store. But it is much better now although for safety's sake, we decided to keep our activities closer to our base as i have been getting tired easily on this trip. :(
But all is cool... Don't worry. :) i am much better and today we go to ueno, asakusa and akihabara. :)
Actually, the photo above is a photo of our combine haul from our a visit to a supermarket in mitaka, after our visit to the ghibli museum. All of today's photos are in my other phone which is charging right now.
Today we went to harajuku, takeshi dori (sp?), omotesando, nakano broadway and ate at the ufotable cafe. It was a pretty fun shopping day. :) lots of anime related stuff for the otaku in me. :) maybe I will take a photo of all the stuff I got today tomorrow morn. :)
Also, it is likely that we will not go to nokogiri yama as planned tomorrow... just too tired and lots of stuff that I think the other girls would rather do in tokyo.
I think I will go to the mountain next year.
K... it 2am in tokyo .... time for me to sleep. :)
Today's breakfast is Yummy Japanese cup noodles.... I really love Japanese cup noodles. :) we were so tired yesterday.... I didn't have time to write more and i crashed out. :p yesterday we ate giga sushi... Wagyu beef .... Awesome donuts .... We laughed a lot, ate a lot, got lost, split up on the train... And Manami gave me fantastic early birthday present... And Itsuko gave me really a really awesome present too... One piece toy... Cool fridge magnet and a Japanese book .... I love all my presents and my friends. :) :)
Time to get ready.... We missed most of the morning sleeping in... :p so time to get going. :)
i am really tired now and it is time for bed..... But i just wanted to post this picture up first. :) Today was another day full of memories and new experiences .... I would love to write more.... But it must wait for now.... I did however want to say that i finally made it to ghibli museum on my 3rd trip to Japan.... and it was AWESOME!!!!!!!! :) K... time to sleep.... Maybe i can write more tomorrow. :)
We are still feeling high from the Kalafina Live last night. So we decided to take a photo of our combined haul plus the stuff i bought at the small Kalafina Museum exhibition at Animate Shinjuku. :)
We changed our plans this morning because we were simply too tired to make it to Asakusa this morning. Instead it is a leisurely breakfast from family mart and we will breakfast off to Ghibli Museum soon. :)
Oh my god!!!! just when you thought just how much better can Kalafina get... they pull out an amazing amazing amazing performance!!!!! This is better than the kagayaku live in the lemon cc hall last Dec. Even the atmosphere was better than the anisong live at afa two weeks ago. They did so many things new and different and it all worked.
They used in-ear monitors this time for this live and this enabled them to more and dance more on the stage. Keiko was the most lively as usual but both hikaru and wakana weren't far behind.
They had a arena area for the first time and their stage extended like a catwalk into the standing only crowd allowing them to interact better with their audience. It worked too... and them bringing their bayfm chit chat really worked too. I didn't understand most of it but i laughed at the bits i understood and others laughed a lot too. It was great fun. I think part of why they didn't seem as able to stir up the crowd as much in Singapore is i think because they were hampered by the language.
They really have come a long long way since last year. It is amazing how much they have grown as a live performing unit in just one year. So much more open, more passionate, more comfortable, more fun, and all this without sacrificing any of the singing. In fact, they sound even more amazing then before. The harmony and the singing at this live was awesome.... truly incredible.... mesmerizing beautiful... simply awesome!!!
Of course since it is a live, i can't say it is studio perfect but the little hiccups are nothing compared to the wonderful whole. This is without a doubt an amazing live and to me.... I feel i am so honoured and so fortunate to be able to be part of this moment... a moment where Kalafina shows us yet another massive jump in their abilities. And like a butterfly... another beautiful transformation.
After Eden, the album, allowed Kalafina to dance, to rock as well as to soar. This concert was a mish mash of music genres.... all beautifully performed.... showcasing the length and depth of their ability.
Masterfully done by Kalafina and Kajiura Yuki.... and fantastically accompanied by an awesome live band... the musicians did not put a single foot wrong.... beautiful. :)
If i sound like i am gushing.... It is because i am gushing.... All four of us were gushing after the Live about just how fantastic the Live was.
Okay.... I need to stop.... If not i would go on rambling about how high i feel right now. :)
Good thing for everyone is there were cameras shooting away today.... I smell a dvd/blu -ray release!!!!!! :)
okay.... When i return to Singapore i Will make corrections to the grammar, spelling and punctuation. it is hard for me to do it while i mobile blog.... Please forgive all the mistakes made. :) I Will also try and gather my thoughts and write a better post on the concert after i return to Singapore... try... :)
good night everyone.... I Will try and sleep.... If i can.... :p
After our trip to Tsukiji Fish Market, we made our way to daimon station and took a short walk to the Zozoji Shrine to take pictures and get a closer view of one of most iconic towers in Japan. When the Tokyo Sky Tree is ready at the Asakusa area, it would be way taller than the Tokyo Tower... I wonder if the tower will be eventually be replaced by the Sky Tree in films and series about Tokyo?
k... I gotta go.... Meeting Itsuko soon.... Continue later. :)
We went directly to tsukiji market from haneda airport to try and eat the omakase sushi breakfast at sushi dai. But we got majorly lost and the gps lead us all over the market ... Maybe even into the restricted areas :p ... In the end we managed to find sushi dai but we were there quite late, about 8am. A lady from sushi dai came out and told us that we would most likely have to wait for 3 hours to eat at the restaurant!!!! so after some deliberation... We decided to eat at the restaurant next door. I don't know which is more delicious but this place we went to was super so we were v happy. After a full breakfast .... It is Tokyo Tower next. :)
Have arrived safely at Haneda Airport. It's the first time I've been to this airport. The flight was pretty good and pleasant. Watched the latest Transformers movie which was not great and kinda confusing. It is really early in Tokyo now. Going to go soon. :) later :)
I'm now at Changi Airport T3 waiting for Jessie and dainelle to show up. We'll have a light dinner with erin then check in and be off on our way to tokyo, japan. :) As usual, I hope to mobile blog. I have planned this trip better than the previous ones. My previous job never allowed me the time to do any proper research and half the time i was just desperate to get away. This time, i had time to think, plan and research. So here's hoping that we all have a safe and great time in tokyo and greater tokyo. :)
Arrrrrgggghhhh.... it's so late again and I have to write this post quickly... no choice. But this time it is entirely my own lack of self-control. :p My mum was watching 大清风云 (daqing fengyun) a 2006 Mainland Chinese production on the rise of the Manchus and the establishment of the Qing Dynasty in China. Fascinating stuff and I was hooked and started watching several episodes with my mum. I really like history in general and China's history in particular, hence, why I am happy to go visit the Mainland even though I am terrified of getting food poisoning and the toilets sometimes leave much to be desired... but the scenery, the history, the larger then life historical figures, the legends, the stories etc etc keep drawing me back. And next year, I am hoping that Sunsetrose and I will be able to make a trip up to Xi-an to see the amazing Terracotta Warriors. I did go see some of the Terracotta Warriors collection in an exibition at the Asian Civilizations museum earlier a few months ago... but that is something for another post and one I really should write about someday. But I digress... :)
Back to Anime Festival Asia 2011... :) I wasn't able to go to the festival in the morning at all and so I got two of my friends to help me buy some stuff. One of my friends helped me to buy the Rock Your Soul t-shirt, the Kalafina AFA t-shirt and the Kalafina lanyard. The other friend helped me to buy the Cheerful Version Hatsune Miku nendoroid. I actually liked the Black Rock Shooter nendoroid more but that sold out by 10am and he couldn't get there in time, so I settled for my second choice.
The crowd on the second day at the festival was crazy. It was so packed with people on the 4th floor there was barely any space to walk. It didn't help that there were a lot of cosplayers in the corridor outside the exhibition halls and lots of photographers snapping photos of them. I don't blame them though... the AFA is for otakus, cosplayers and all who love Japanese anime and pop-culture. The venue, on the other hand, maybe getting a little too small for AFA with each passing year.
I think a lot of people were there to try and get exclusives or to get their grubby hands on the merchandise first, in case anything ran out on the third day. Today maybe the 12th may be the second day of AFA but it was the first day that the festival, i.e. all the booths, was open. I know I was there for that reason and I'm sure I wasn't the only one.
AFA is nothing like the huge comicon in San Diego or like Comiket in Japan but it's still decently big as it took up 3 halls on the 4th floor of the convention centre. One of those halls was reserved for the stage where stage events and the anisong concerts would take place. The other two halls housed the merchandise booths, the theatre, the maid & butler cafes etc. We only had tickets to the concert on the 3rd day as I was only truly interested in seeing Kalafina and angela both of which, luckily for me, were due to appear on the same day.
The other reason why I was there was for the live dubbing session by Saitou Chiwa who is a well established seiyuu. I rushed to Suntec without having eaten lunch after my class so that I could catch Akemi Homura's seiyuu in action. It was really cool too and the live dubbing session was really fun to watch. I would like to zip through the videos so that I can write down the exact episode each scene was taken from but it's getting late so I think I'll do that another day.
She was joined on stage by Danny Choo who did the translation for her. Iwakami Atsuhiro, the producer for Fate/Zero and Mahou Shoujo Madoka also made a surprised appearance on stage. While on stage, he answered a few questions. One of them was about the recently announced Mahou Shoujo Madoka movies. He said that there will be three movies. The first two will be re-mixes of events from the series and the third movie will be new stuff, not seen in the series. Nothing really new there for people who already got their info from the Newtype magazine. Iwakami was also asked why they picked Saitou Chiwa to play Akemi Homura. Iwakami said that they had already worked with Saitou on Bakemonogatari and they felt that she was simply the natural choice for Akemi Homura, hence, there was no need to audition Saitou for the part.
Danny Choo also held a short Q&A session with Saitou. Some of the answers I already wrote about in one of the earlier posts on AFA. I just re-called that Saitou was also asked if she was "tsundere" like several of the characters she plays. Saitou replied that she was more "dere dere" then "tsun". When asked which of the many characters she had played was her favourite one, I think she said it was Natsumi from Keroro, a character she played for seven years. She also did an impromptu performance of one of the signature lines from the anime.
At one point in time, one of Kajiura Yuki's tunes from the OST suddenly started playing in the background which took both Danny Choo and Saitou by surprise. But Saitou recovered quickly, quipping that it was Kyubey, that Kyubey was somewhere in our presence and that knew some laughter from the audience. :)
After the live dubbing session, we decided not to stay for the screening of the latest episode of Gundam Unicorn mostly because two of us haven't watch the first three episodes yet. So we went to the festival grounds to take photos of the several of the figures that were displayed. I didn't take any of the cosplayers. I was too lazy to and I was more interested in the Mahou Shoujo Madoka nd Fate/Zero, Fate/Stay Night merchandise anyway.
In the end, I didn't really buy that much as I already own several of the figures and still have a few more on pre-order. And as the crowd both inside and outside the halls were a little too overwhelming for the crowd-adversed me, my friends and I decided to adjourn to a cafe for tea instead. I would anyway be back on Sunday for my autographs, the stage events and the concert. :)
I'm leaving you with some photos of the Kalafina t-shirt and lanyard. I must say that I really like it that Kalafina's name is printed with a colour gradient... my only wish was that it wasn't white. I really don't like white shirts that much.
Alrighty, it's now time for me to sleep. Will try and finish writing about the AFA before I leave for Japan on Thursday. Good night... will proof read tomorrow... need sleep first. :)
Hi hi... here is a a scanned jpg of the Kalafina Record LE cover. Someone nicknamed Madoka had asked if I would scan the cover and I agreed. So here it is... enjoy. =)
If I have time, I will try to write one more post on AFA11 tomorrow night... but for now, I need to try and get some of my Japanese homework done tonight.
Enjoy. :)
p.s. Oh btw... here is a link to an interview with Kalafina at the AFA11 this year. This is from Pop Culture Online.... click me. :)
p.p.s. Hmmmm... the interview is kind of generic... nothing really new for fans of Kalafina but... still it's something. :)
Lousy quality photo of the poster...
blame the iphone... :p
I'm sick again. :( On MC yet again. This is really not cool. I hate being sick and I'm going to Japan soon... :(
As I usually like to use a photo for every post, I decided to use this shot of my Kalafina autographed poster right after I got it autographed at the booth. :) I cropped it of course cuz... I don't like to put photos of myself online. :)
Would have liked to write more before the memories of AFA11 fade out of my very leaky memory but I am way too tired and ill to do too much.
BTW, Madoka... not fr Mahou Shoujo Madoka... :) ... I know I said I would scan the front cover of my copy of Kalafina Record Limited Edition... will do that soon... hopefully over the weekend, need to dig out my scanner etc ... and the medication is making me really drowsy... so it's back to bed for a while I think... later.... :)
Unfortunately, it'll have to be another quick post. Another late night at the studio and another very energy sapping day, hence, I only have enough energy to take photos of the stuff I got over the weekend at the Anime Festival Asia 2011 and to do a quick update.
I forgot to put the mug in.
Here's just an overview photo. I bought some of the items in this photo and some of the others were given to me as a surprise pressie from my boyfriend... thanks. =) As I am a t-shirt fiend, I bought/received the Rock Your Soul - Super Anisong Concert t-shirt, the Kalafina AFA11 t-shirt, a Mahou Shoujo Madoka t-shirt. :) I also got the Kalafina AFA11 lanyard, the Cheerful version Hatsune Miku nendoroid, a Mahou Shoujo Madoka - Madoka banpresto figure, a Kyubey sticker, a Akemi Homura phone accessory and an eco-bag that came free with every purchase of SGD50 and above at the Aniplex booth.
Here are some close-ups of the mug which I forgot to place in that picture above.
Actually, this mug is rather nice. It has all the magical girls from Mahou Shoujo Madoka, even Sakura Kyouko is included. I'm still undecided if I should bring it to the studio.
That's it for now... will, hopefully, post up more photos and maybe get to writing up more about the AFA tomorrow or friday night.
By the way, there is hope for fans in Europe. I just quickly zipped through
the Animyu! interview this morning and Kalafina said that they would
like to go to Europe and it seems that their next target area is
Europe. Awesome for you fans in Europe but not so awesome for me =( ...
Europe is way too expensive for me to travel to these days, Japan is the
best I can do. I haven't really read the interview thru' and thru'
yet, my Japanese isn't that strong but they definitely said Europe,
although I don't think they mentioned any cities yet... I'll have a look
later... have to start work now. :)
EDIT:
I changed the picture and read that little section where they talk about Europe. =) Yeah, I can confirm that they didn't mention anything concrete except that they are interested in going to Europe. The sub-heading for this section does say something like "the next goal is Europe" but that's about it. Still... I think there is some possibility that they will travel to Europe next year or perhaps the year after?
Well, that's it from me for now... no AFA write-ups etc. It's been two very long days at work and although AFA was fun... it was also very tiring and I'm really exhausted from not having enough rest. Going to sleep now... oyasumi. :)
If you've been following my blog, you may know that I mentioned that Kalafina did an interview for Animyu! magazine. I had been hesitating to get it because I wasn't sure if it was a blurp or a proper interview. What did change my mind was when oh-news said that this was a long interview.
I did order the magazine and it arrived today. Yay!!!! A small bright spark in my not fantastic day. =)
What I definitely did not expect was when they said long interview, they really meant LONG. This section on Kalafina is 14 pages long. Lots of photos and full colour. Granted, not all of it was text, some of it was almost full page photos but I don't think any fan who gets this magazine will complain too much about it.
If you guys want to purchase it, I got mine from CDJapan. The product link is here. There aren't many copies left so if you're interested, don't take too long.
Okay, that's it from me. I leave you with a few photos from the magazine and now I have to wash up and head to bed. Good night and hopefully I can get to more AFA11 and Kalafina posts tomorrow night. :)
And yes, it's a photo of light-sticks again. =)
No photography allowed. =(
EDIT: I've made some amendments to the original text. It was full of errors and has some missing bits and pieces. I think I was simply too tired and wrote it in too much of a rush. Hopefully this new edit will have none or very few mistakes. :)
Oh man, I'm still so high from the Anime Asia Festival 2011 - Rock Your Soul ~ Super Anisong Concert at the Suntec Convention Centre, Singapore. I know that I'm so high right now that I'm going to have a hard time sleeping even though I am so tired. :)
Since I won't be able to sleep, I will attempt to write up a detailed report about the concert tonight. This report will place particular emphasis on the the Kalafina section of the anisong concert. They are, after all, the primary reason why I was at the concert in the first place. The secondary reason was angela, but I think I would not have braved the crowds for just angela alone. Although, now that I've seen angela live for the first time, I might just brave the crowds the next time just for them alone. :)
Let's cut to the chase now. The night began well with Ito Kanoko and Shikura Chiyomaru. Admittedly, I've never heard of them before till AFA11 announced that they were one of the guest artiste at this year's concert. I've also not watched Stiens; Gate yet so I was not familiar with the songs they sang. All the songs they sang at the concert were from this anime and I thought they weren't bad. I rather liked them actually.
Next up was Milky Holmes. I don't know anything about these girls except that there are 4 of them in the promotional poster, however, only 3 of the girls showed up. I'm not sure what happened to the fourth girl. I'll admit right off the bat that I totally do not get this genre of music at all. They are very cute and I know several people really liked them but they are just not my cup of tea. They sang 2 songs. I'm not sure where the songs are from but I presume it's from the Tantei Opera Milky Holmes franchise.
Then it was angela who were simply AWESOME!!! I really, really, really like angela's The End of the World from Uchuu no Stellvia and Asu e no Brilliant Road, the theme from that same anime, is my second favourite angela song after The End of the World. I was really looking forward to this section of the concert and they didn't disappoint. I really enjoyed it and the crowd really came to live with their rendition of Zankoku na Tenshi no Tears from Evangelion. It was really awesome. I don't remember how many songs they sang. I do remember that Shangri-la was one of them. They were also the only group to do an encore, coming back again to sing Asu e no Brilliant Road. When Atsuko announced that they were going to sing a song from their debut album, a song from Uchuu no Stellvia, the crowd screamed in excitement, Atsuko seemed genuinely touched because I think she didn't expect people in SEA to know this anime or songs from this anime since Uchuu no Stellvia is a 2003 anime. Atsuko also taught us a simple dance involving only hand actions. It was really fun and the crowd was really whipped up into a frenzy by their rendition of Asu e no Brilliant Road. angela, in my opinion, did the best when it came to really interacting with the audience. They are lots of fun to watch live and they were very relaxed and funny, getting the audience involved several times not just in the dance but also the cheer for the viewers watching the Nico Nico Douga live stream, as well as getting everyone to call them Atsuko Sensei and Katsu oniichan. I would totally spend good money to watch them live again. :)
Up next, it's the main act as far as I'm concern. =P It's Kalafina's turn!!!!!!! Oh, just an aside, there seemed to be lots and lots of Kalafina fans in the audience today because before the concert began, while eveyone was getting seated, the screen kept playing over and over either this clip below or another video clip that is similar to it:
And every time Kalafina's part came up, people would cheer. May'n also got cheers later when more of her fans filtered in. I don't know if it amused anyone else but it amused me.
Anyway, back to the concert. Kalafina began with Magia the end theme from Mahou Shoujo Madoka. No surprises there, I was completely expecting them to sing this song since Mahou Shoujo Madoka was one of the biggest anime hits this year. Admittedly, it was a little bit of a shaky start. Hikaru came across sounding a little off but I'm not sure how much of it is due to the horrible mixing for Magia. Hikaru's volume was definitely way too loud and as she already has a tendency to shout a little at the lives in certain songs, it sounded worse, in part, because it was way too loud and it drowned out Keiko who was doing the harmony for her. Wakana also had a little problem with the line that was always going to be hard for her as that particular forces her to go all the way down to her lowest end of her range. It's not terrible but I think for fans who are familiar with what she is capable of, it was certainly not the best delivery. Keiko's bridge, however, was beautifully sung and got her some well deserved cheers from the crowd.
Kalafina then went straight into their next song without a break. The next song was Oblivious and I could hear people sing along with the opening "oh oh-o-oh .... " till Wakana's verse came in. By this time, the mixer I think realised that Hikaru was way too loud in Magia and dipped her volume to better match Keiko and Wakana because she was harmonizing much better in this song. They really sang this song very well and the crowd was really into it as people were singing along to bits and pieces in particular the "oh oh-o-oh" parts.
After Oblivious, they broke for a short MC section when they greeted everyone with the usual "Hello Singapore!!!" and then they introduced themselves. Each introduction was greeted with frenzied cheering of course. I THINK Keiko yelled out "I miss you Singapore" before she introduced herself. That got her a huge cheer. In retrospect, I think people cheered, in part because any time anyone mentioned Singapore, it was always greeted with frenzied cheering and also in part, because she said it in such a cute fashion and a little bit unexpectedly too since I dont think people expected her to miss us just yet. =) Hikaru is, I believe, the designated representative for the group when they travel to a non-Japanese speaking country because after she introduced herself, she went on to say the usual pleasantries in English. It's still distinctly Japanese accented but it was really rather good for someone who's first language isn't English.
The next song was 輝く空の静寂には (Kagayaku Sora no Shijima Niwa). And once again... beautifully sang by all the girls. And once again people were attempting to sing along. Keiko was fantastic in this song, her solo kajiuran portion was awesome and beautifully and powerfully sung. I can't say if this song was perfectly sung but I will say, absolutely nothing about their performance made me go "huh?" Wakana and Hikaru were really, really awesome too in this song.
After which it was directly into the next song Lacrimosa, like Kagayaku, both were end theme songs from the Kuroshitsuji anime. Lacrimosa was season 1's end theme and Kagayaku was season 2's end theme. There is really not much to say about this performance except that it was amazing. The harmony was spot on. I've heard them sing it at other lives before and this performance is certain one of the best ever.
Now it's time for MC 2. Keiko was kind of cute in this section when she tried to translate her Japanese sentence into English. She said something like this was Kalafina's first time in Singapore in Japanese, then she attempted to translate it into English by saying something like "first time Shingapo-ru?". It was kind of cute the way she said it. :) She promptly apologized for her inability to speak in English which got her a ton of cheers of support. :)
Then Keiko proceeded to talk about eating chicken rice. I think the organizers must have taken all the artistes to eat chicken rice because practically everyone mentioned chicken rice, not just at this Live but also at some of the stage events I attended. It seems they all really liked it too, Kalafina included. :) Wakana talked about the black sweet sauce that comes as a condiment with chicken rice and she seemed to really like that. Then I think it was Hikaru who said something about them not having yet eaten Singapore sweets and asked the crowd to recommend some. And it was kind of funny here because I think people didn't know what to recommend since I think the understanding of what "sweets" are is somewhat different and I think folks were probably thinking... eh... white rabbit candy, tic-tac... and no one knew how to answer that question properly since there aren't any Singapore sweets/candy that come to mind easily, if at all. Then someone yelled out dessert I think because the question changed into dessert and not sweets and that really got the crowd going as everyone tried their best to recommend them something. However, all the girls could hear was a chorus of sound. I hear people yell out "chendol", "ice-kachang" etc. And it was kind of funny because the trio were really bewildered and Keiko jumped a few times and laughed before putting an end to it by sweetly saying what I think is almost certainly "後で教えて" which means "tell us later" in Japanese.
The next song was Sprinter. A song I really like but am never sure if they can pull off successfully live since originally this was written for 4 people. Keiko has the heaviest burden of the three in this song and much as I love Keiko, even I must admit that she sometimes finds it hard to pull it off flawlessly at the lives. This time though, she was great and she was, as far as I can tell, pretty awesome throughout the song. Good Job Keiko!!!! The harmony was once again amazing. They were ALL great in this song.
Then it was the surprise song of the evening. Ongaku!!!! I didn't expect that. I thought it would be more Kara no Kyoukai. I really like this song in the lives even when they don't sing it perfectly because it really gets you going and has a strong regular beat which people can shake their light sticks to easily. Everyone was really into the song and jumping up and down. I really think they sang this song pretty well because nothing bugged me but, to tell you the truth, I would not be able to tell you if they sang it perfectly because I was too busy jumping up and down, going "oy oy" with my light-stick and cheering. :) Wakana's solo though was pretty damn good and got her a ton of cheers at the end. Awesome song and awesomely sung by all the girls in Kalafina!!!!
Then it was another break for another MC where they thanked the audience and announced that the last song would be Hikari no Senritsu. Ongaku really got everyone high so it was a little sad to hear that Kalafina had reached the final song in their set. Perhaps sensing the disappointment that the set was too short for the fans, Hikaru said something in English I didn't quite understand but I think it meant coming back to Singapore and maybe she meant other parts of South East Asia too? Because she said something about returning to "all of here" or "all of there" or something and I didn't get it at all and neither did my friend. But it doesn't matter, the meaning is the same it means that they would like to return. YAY for us fans. :)
I must say that I really like Hikari no Senritsu. It was one of the songs which introduced Kalafina to me which in turn made me return to listening to and tracking down all of Kajiura Yuki's work and back to watching anime... but that is another story. :)
What I really want to say though is that I never understood previously why Hikari no Senritsu is the song Kalafina uses so often to close or be part of the set they sing at the Lives that aren't their own. But today I really understood why. Everyone around me was moving along with the rhythm and cheering and some tried to sing along... I tried to too. =P The harmonizing was spot on and they sang this song really, really, really beautifully which helped them leave the hall on a high. It was really beautifully performed and left everyone feeling super high and wishing there was more.
Loud cheers and applause from everyone. Kalafina then proceeded to exit the stage, saying their goodbyes and thank yous amidst lots of cheers. Then Keiko used a line she seems to really enjoy using lately. As she walked toward the backstage she called out, "I'll be back Singapore!!!!!!!" which got her tons of cheers. The crowd tried to call an encore but the MC for the Live put a quick stop to it by announcing that May'n's section of the concert would begin soon and I think people knew it would be fruitless to try harder for an encore. :(
This was a GREAT LIVE!!!!!! I think it really is one of the best Kalafina lives I've ever heard. Almost nothing went wrong except that the mix for Magia and that the bass was way too heavy throughout the Live, often threatening to drown out their vocals. Kalafina themselves though, were GREAT. They really sang awesomely well and I was really high.
The crowd was really great too. Everyone was really high and cheered practically every sentence they said which I think took the trio by surprised because I think initially, if I saw it correctly, they looked a little surprised when the crowd cheered every time they finished a sentence,.
I am now sooooo excited for the Live on the 25th. I can't wait to see them again. My friend who likes Kaori from FictionJunction best said that after the concert, he now likes Keiko second best. He likes the whole package it seems... not just that Keiko sings well but that she dances the most and seems the most lively of the 3. I, personally, really like Keiko at the Lives, she really seems, to me, to enjoy them the most. Hikaru and Wakana obviously enjoy them A LOT too but Keiko seems like she almost lives for the high of performing at a Live. It may not actually be so, I wouldn't know that, but it certainly does come across that way to me. Hence, that's why I like watching Keiko at the lives.
But to be fair, I really don't know how energetic Wakana was at this Live because, sadly, she was blocked from my view most of the time. =( I had a GREAT view of Keiko because my seat was right smack in the middle and there was almost always a parting of the heads in front of me, that I almost always had a clear view of Keiko. I had a clear view of Hikaru lots of times too but Wakana was often obsured by the taller people infront of me on my right. =( Luckily for me, Keiko is my favourite and it really was cool that when she pointed directly at the crowd in one of the songs, maybe Ongaku, it seemed like she was pointing directly at me... kind of cool. =)
Next up, May'n. Unfortunately for me, I was already extremely tired by now and May'n is okay but her music isn't really my cup of tea. I was also really starting to crash a bit by this time and I wasn't able to enjoy her portion of the concert as much as others.
And I suppose since I'm primarily a Kalafina fan, the night pretty much ended psychologically for me when Kalafina exited the stage. =P
K.. that's it... I originally wanted to write this tomorrow night as it's like 4+ AM now and I need to work tomorrow!!! But I really wanted to write it down while it's fresh in my mind so that I could recall as many details as possible. If I wait till tomorrow, I would have forgotten most of it. I also attended the AnoHana stage event in the afternoon and the only bit of info I managed to retain was that Okada Mari really liked chicken rice too. I had to throw out all that info to store the Kalafina info. =D
edit: 15th Nov. 2011 - I've gone through it once through to try and work out the grammatical errors etc. I'm sure it isn't perfect. But unfortunately, today was not the best of days at work and I only returned at 11pm or so and ate my dinner at about 1115pm so I'm really tired and I don't feel like going through it again for mistakes. =P Also, I would like to write up a short, non-related AFA before I sleep but I may not be able to manage it. If I can't write that short Kalafina related post, it'll have to wait till I write the other AFA related posts which I hope to write tomorrow or the day after.
