Kalafina / Kajiura Yuki ~ AJ Girls vol.1 / B-Pass Vol. 6 / Lisani vol. 21

I know that I said that my next post will be about the Daruma factory visit but it's been a very busy week and I've been putting in some OT which has left me too tired to do too much at night.

But meanwhile, I have been keeping track on what magazines, Kalafina and Kajiura Yuki will appear in and trying to decide if I should get them.

Yesterday, a friend sent me a link about AJ Girls vol.1.  I looked into that magazine when it was first announce but because I knew a TON of people will be included in this magazine and Kalafina is just one among the many, I didn't immediately order it.

In that video, they only show one photo of Kalafina but I must say, that's a very nice photo indeed.  Apparently, according to my friend, they are giving out prizes, so.... we wondered if that means it would be a decent feature.  There is no content page provided from the publishers so I think until people buy it and talk about it, we don't really know how many pages Kalafina will get.

I screen captured the photo of Kalafina from the YouTube video.  I won't bother to embed the video here since the rest of the names in the magazine doesn't interest me at all.  Here is the picture of Kalafina.

Nanri Yuuka ~ 3DS home theme / new album

There isn't much news on Kalafina now because I think both Keiko and Wakana are busy preparing for the Yuki Kajiura vol.12 lives in June.  Kajiura Yuki's been tweeting about the lives as well and I'm getting pretty excited about them.  No real juicy bits or anything, just that she'll be playing some Hanako to An tracks and that she'd written a song... although, I'm not sure if that song is for the vol.12 lives or something else.

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Anyway...meanwhile Nanri Yuuka has released a new album called one day.  As part of the promotions for this release, the marketing team behind Nanri Yuuka made a 3DS home theme available for purchase on the 3DS.

angela ~ Kishi Koshin Kyoku - (Knights of Sidonia theme songs) CD release

Continuing from my blog post below about angela's Soukyuu no Fafner releases, angela also has two more upcoming releases.

There is the Kishi Koshin Kyoku single release.  This will contain the two new theme songs from the Knights of Sidonia anime franchise.  angela also sang the first theme song, for Season 1 of the anime.  That was an awesome song.  For those of you who may not know the song Sidonia, you might want to check out the YouTube video of the short version of the PV below.



I have this single but haven't shot photos of it for the blog because my in autographed and it's a personalized autographed with my name too and I would still like to maintain a level of privacy online, so yeah... no photo of that autograph. :)  I got it last year at Anime Festival Asia 2014 in Singapore.  I bought two CDs so that I would be able to attend two autograph sessions with angela. :D

Anyway, back to Kishi Koshin Kyoku.

angela ~ Soukyuu no Fafner "exist" / "Complete Best Album" -- un-boxings

Finally, I have a little time to blog tonight. :)  I had to put in a little OT tonight but it wasn't too late and I'm not too tired, so I will write at least one post tonight. :)  This post will be picture heavy and hopefully text light. :)

FINALLY.... my un-boxing posts on two angela releases.  Both these releases aren't really that new any more.  They were both released on the 11th Febuary, but I didn't have time to do it then and I would like to do it because I like angela. :)

Yuki Kajiura Live vol.12 Pamphlet ~ questionnaire

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I've known about this for a little while now but have been too busy to write about it and kept putting it off.  However, the deadline for this questionnaire is really drawing near and so I think I should just quickly talk about it.  I think most Kajiura Yuki fans should know about it by now but just in case, I'll just go through it here.

Kajiura sensei is asking for fans who have attended her previous lives to answer two simple questions.  The answers to these two questions may be printed in the pamphlet that they will be producing for the Vol.12 lives.

Stefanie Sun Yanzi ~ "Radio" single - un-boxing

I was waiting for Niconico to begin streaming Fate/stay night [Unlimited Blade Works] last night because I wanted to participate in Fate/tweet night and listen to Kalafina's ring your bell (in the silence) as soon as possible.  So I stopped writing this post and switched to FSN last night and after watching the very engrossing EP15 and listening to Kalafina's song, I just had to write a post about it. :P

So now.... here it is finally, after sitting in draft waiting for me to complete it....My Stefanie Sun Yanzi Radio single un-boxing post. :)


One of the things I like about how they market Stefanie Sun is that a lot of her MVs, if not all of them, are not region locked unlike Kalafina's :'(

Kalafina ~ ring your bell (in the silence) -- nice!!! :)

I'm a ufotable fan and I actively take part in Fate/tweet night and have done so since S1 of FSN [UBW].  I actually pay for a premium Niconico account so that I can attempt to get as best a quality as possible even though I go through a free VPN which doesn't always give me the best result.  I do this because I like taking part in Fate/tweet night as the stream plays.

But tonight, aside from wanting to take part in Fate/tweet night, I was up this late because I was waiting to hear Kalafina's ring your bell (in the silence).  The first three episodes of S2 premièred in the cinema in Japan and in the US.  We never get that kind of special treatment in Singapore and I don't think we ever will.... SEA just doesn't seem to be that important a market to the Japanese it seems.  :'(

The Piano Guys live in Singapore 2015

Okay, I think I can keep this one relatively short because I don't have much to say except that I really enjoyed this live too.  I like The Piano Guys and also saw them live when they first came to Singapore... two years ago... I think. :)

We were more broke than previously so we agreed to get a cheaper ticket.  Two years ago, we were on the first floor and I think only one section behind the top tier?  Maybe... I no longer remember except that they were good seats.  This time we opted to get cheaper tickets but it turned out to be decent so it wasn't bad at all.

Liang Wenfu Concert in Singapore 10th April 2015

It's been kind of a tiring week for me.  Although it hasn't been terribly busy at work, I've been feeling kind of tired after I get home, hence the lack of blog posts.  But there are really a ton of things that I want to get through and most of them aren't related to Kajiura Yuki, FictionJunction and Kalafina. Yup, I do talk about other things aside from them. :P

I'll attempt to keep most of them as succinct as I possibly can since I didn't keep detailed notes or write down my thoughts about some of the events.  But as I have a tendency to be quite verbose, I will most likely fail.... but I'll still try. :P  I still want to write these posts because this blog serves as a little bit of a diary of events for me too and I would like to remember some of these events. :)

FictionJunction 2010-2013 The BEST of Yuki Kajiura LIVE 2 ~ tracklist released

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OHHHHHH.... the tracklist for Kajiura Yuki's soon to be released album has been released. :)  I don't think cover art has been released yet.

YEAH!!! I'm soooooo looking forward to this release.  Was chatting with someone about this tracklist and she said there's Kajifes stuff on this released.  I'm a happy camper now because I couldn't attend Kajifes, so this way I can listen to some of the tracks too.

I'm getting mine from CDJapan as usual.  At least I still am because I'm not sure if I'll change my mind and get it at the concert venue for Yuki Kajiura vol.12 live yet. :)

If you wish to get it from CDJapan, you can use this link, it'll take you to the direct product page.  CLICK ME.

Okay... I have to start work... lunch hour over!!

Eir Aoi one man live in Singapore !!

Ohhhhhhh... look what a friend alerted me to.... Eir Aoi posted this on her FB page.

Hey! My First World Tour is announced !!I’m excited for seeing you ♪Eir Aoi World Tour 2015 "ROCK THE WORLD!"★July...
Posted by Eir Aoi on Friday, 10 April 2015

She announced the schedule of her first world tour earlier today and there is a date set in Singapore in October.  She's not yet revealed the date of the live yet but I'm likely to go in support of Japanese music lives in Singapore IF it doesn't clash with Kalafina's lives in Tokyo in October.  I'm hoping to get tickets to Kalafina lives.  Wish me luck!!

Eir Aoi sings anisong and I desperately want Kalafina to come to Singapore one day for a one man live too.  So in support of anisong and also because I want to do something in my own small way to convince the Japanese companies that there is a market for Japanese lives and anisong lives in Singapore, I will go for Eir Aoi's live in SG. :)

Kajiura Yuki ~ AJ vol.5 long interview

I picked up this magazine sometime back because it said that there would be a long interview with Kajiura Yuki and it did not disappoint. :) This magazine's dimensions are maybe slightly bigger than A4 size and has nice quality paper. Kajiura Yuki gets 6 full pages.

The magazine includes interviews and articles about various celebrities in Asia not just in Japan. Hence the title of the magazine, AJ = Asia Japan, I think. Kinki Kids graces this cover and it has articles on Eikura Nana and directors like Zhang Yimou and Tsai Mingliang etc. It also includes articles on Korean directors and actors which I am not familiar with but I think are quite well known.

So to me, it is quite cool that Kajiura Yuki got a nice long feature in a magazine like this.

Kalafina official website renewed ~ ring your bell version

Kalafina's official website has renewed its landing page today.  We now have photos for "ring you bell" as well as the short preview version of the music video.  :)

This doesn't seem to be a big renewal actually because only the landing page has changed so far.  The artwork on the rest of the pages, like their official blog etc still sport artwork from the "believe" single.

Unfortunately, as always, it is IP locked to Japan only. :(  I really wish that whoever manages copyright for Kalafina will make these kinds of promo videos available to international fans.  I don't get why Japan is so ridiculously protective of CMs, PVs, short MVs etc.  These are promotional materials and aren't even full music videos.  How are you going to promote them internationally if those outside of Japan must jump through hoops just to watch a 15sec or 30sec promo video? 

Kalafina ~ Trickster Age Vol. 16 and Vol. 19

 
I actually got Trickster Age Vol.16 some time ago.  I think it was last year maybe but I haven't gotten around to reading it yet.  Too busy then and after that I started reading another article and um... I was also...  okay... I confess, I was a little obsess with Poke Toru and Yokai Watch for a bit so stopped reading the article for a while, which is probably why I am sooooo slow with it. :P

But enough of that :P  from a quick read of the beginning, it seems like the interview talks about the trio's voices, the up-coming Budokan lives (at time of print, the Budokan lives haven't happened yet) and the single "believe".

Here are the photos for Trickster Age vol.16

Kajiura Yuki / Kalafina ~ B-Pass All Area Vol.1

 

This is actually a really good magazine to get for Kajiura Yuki and Kalafina fans.  This magazine features both Kajura Yuki and Kalafina and there are a ton of pages too. :)

Kalafina get 16 pages of awesome goodness.  Lots of coloured photographs and an interview too. This feature centres around their first Budokan lives, titled Kalafina LIVE THE BEST 2015 “Red Day” & “Blue Day".

The writer first gives a review of "Red Day" and then of "Blue Day" before giving us the interview with the girls two days after the lives.

First, photos of most of the pages that feature Kalafina because I missed out one two-page spread while shooting it and am too lazy to go back to do it. :P

Kalafina ~ Lisani! Vol. 18

I'm going to do a series of quick post that just posts up photos of pages from several magazines that Kajiura Yuki and Kalafina has appeared in.

But first let me say a few things, I don't have easy access to a scanner and even if I did, I don't like scanning magazines and books as it means that I have to flatten the books and magazines somewhat to get a good scan which kind of mucks up the binding.  I don't like mucking up the binding.

Also, I do encourage buying if one can afford it.  So these un-boxing posts are meant to just show you what you get if you purchase the item too.  So if you can afford it and if you can read Japanese then please do consider picking these up.  I will provide my usual links to CDJapan or another location if CDJapan doesn't carry it but there are several online shops that do sell these magazines so if you don't want to get them from CDJapan, check out the other online shops too.

Kalafina ~ Bessatsu Kadokawa Kalafina w/Space Craft tokuten

This really awesome magazine that features Kalafina has been out for some time.  It was actually available at the Budokan already but I didn't buy it then because I had pre-ordered it from two sources.  I ordered one from Kadokawa itself and one from the Space Craft Online store itself because I wanted the tokutens that came with them.

One of my friends surprised it by mailing it to me so that I didn't have to wait so I now have the pre-order from Space Craft with me.  I think I got this about two weeks ago?  I can't remember, but I was too busy to deal and I knew that photos of this and some translations have been floating around on the internet so I didn't feel the urgency to do it. :P  My other copy with the Kadokawa tokuten is still in Japan. I actually have a photo of the tokuten already, my other friend shot a photo of it. I'll try and remember to add it into this post later. I've amended the post to inlcude the photo of the Kadokawa tokuten. :)

AAA Asia Tour 2015 - Attack All Around - in Singapore ~ my experience :)

Wow!!!!!!! This was a really fun live.  I was really jumping and dancing a lot.  I didn't expect it to be so fun, to be honest.  I like AAA which is why when I heard that they were coming to Singapore, I was very excited and decided that I would go for the live.  I wanted VIP tickets but the friends I was with wanted to get Standard tix so that is what I got in the end.

Fate/stay night [Unlimited Blade Works] PV previews Kalafina's "ring your bell"

I'm awfully busy today but thought I'll pop in just to share with you guys the latest PV that ufotable has released for FSN.

Aside from the fact that I love ufotable's work and think this PV just makes the new season look so exciting, this PV also previews Kalafina's soon to be released ending theme for S2 of this anime.

Lantis Festival ~ Singapore 2015

I actually wanted to write a short post about the Lantis Festival live that I went to on 28th March, last Saturday.  But it was still within the seven days of mourning for Mr. Lee Kuan Yew and I wanted the blog to observe those seven days of mourning too.  I originally wanted to write an entire post on Sunday night, after his funeral procession but I spent most of the night watching and reading all the eulogies and different personal stories about him that I gave up on that idea.  Anyway, a lot of people wrote really good eulogies and tributes and I could not possibly write anything better so I decided just to read.

I want to say from the outset that it was very kind and sensitive of Lantis to also observe one minute of silence for Mr. Lee Yuan Yew right before they began the concert on Saturday night.  I don't know about the others in that hall but I thought it was very nice of them to do that.

Kalafina LIVE THE BEST 2015 “Red Day” & “Blue Day” ~ postcards (better photographs)

Okay... I re-shot these.  I hope that they are better photographs than the ones in the earlier post.

Am doing this for someone who left me a message on the blog.  He/She needed a better photo of Hikaru for drawing reference.

Since I re-shot Hikaru's photo, I thought I'll just to Keiko's and Wakana's solo photos again in better lighting conditions for whoever may like better photos. :P

So here you go... hope this helps you aki.   Sorry... I don't have a scanner that's within easy access at the moment... photos are the best I can do for now.  I tried to shoot an even closer shot of Hikaru's face for you too.  BTW, you should download these photos because they are uploaded at the best resolution my phone camera can do.  :)

Kalafina ~ ring your bell - tokuten information

Kalafina has released the information on the tokutens they'll be giving out with the first press release for their upcoming single "ring your bell".  As usual, it's postcards. :)  Finally... I have time to write about them... ultra busy today. :)

Okay... here goes, I'll be quick. :)  Everyone will get two postcards with each purchase.  First let me go through the various shops.

Animate

Want to Sell: AAA Live in Singapore tickets

Update: Thank you.  SOLD! :)

Hi guys, due to some unforeseen circumstances I have ended up with 2 spare tickets for the AAA Live in Singapore on the 4th April, this Saturday.