#Kalafina in Singapore 2017 - Anisong Fantasy Live

#Kalafina will be back in Singapore in March 2017!!!  Well, according to one of my friends who attended the I Love Anisong lives at Anime Festival Asia tonight, they just announced the lineup for the Anisong Fantasy lives.




The AFA FB page posted a tease about it on the 18th Nov but I paid very little attention to it.  To be honest, I've been pretty bored of the I Love Anisong lives and AFA in general because my taste is generally not very mainstream and I don't like idol style music very much.  And since it seemed like there was no signs of Kalafina returning to our sunny shores, I kind of stopped caring about AFA and their related events.

SOOOOOOOOOO..... when my friend texted me and said that they announced that Kalafina will return to SG for the Anisong Fantasy live....  I was SUPER HAPPY!!!!

Kalafina ~ Winter Acoustic "Kalafina with Strings" - unboxing / comments

#Kalafina 's Winter Acoustics "Kalafina with Strings" arrived in the mail today!!!!! :)  And it's LOVELY!!!!!  I know what I'll be looping on my player on my way to work tomorrow.

I can't even concentrate on writing this post because I keep stopping to really listen to the album as it plays.  Yup......  I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!! LOVE IT LOVE LOVE IT!!!!!

Hahahaha... this album really showcases their harmony and Kajiura Yuki's abilities at Chorus Arrangement.  A lot of it is VERY pretty and Kajiura Yuki knows just how to arrange it so that each song brings out the best of each of the vocalists in Kalafina.  In my opinion, if you love Kalafina's harmony, it's hard not to at the very least like this album.

First though, all the photos of the unboxing of this album.

Kalafina Arena LIVE 2016 ~ Keiko produced

Much as I wanted to, I was unable to go to Kalafina's Budokan lives this year.  BUT that doesn't mean that my love for their lives and their music has diminished.  :)  Since I could not go to the lives, I decided to show support by buying their concert merchandise. =D

I asked some friends for help and they helped me pick up a bunch of stuff. :)  THANK YOU!!!  I bought more than I usually would. :P

As they often do, they had the utahime produced again.  Hikaru's was a pretty useful looking pouch and Wakana's was a very cute neck pillow which sold out really fast.  I really did want to get one of the utahime produced but I didn't really have the budget for all three so I decided to get the cheapest of the three. :)

Well....in terms of the amount of yen it's the "cheapest" I guess.  But in terms of value for money.... let's just say that I am well aware that no concert merch is ever value for money. :)

Anyway... enough of that. :)  Photos first. :)

Kalafina ~ blaze - FULL MV on VEVO (amend)

OH!!! Joy joy joy!! The full MV for #Kalafina 's "blaze" can now be found on their official VEVO channel which means..... yup!! It's legally online and available for international fans.  We don't need to jump through hoops for this one. :)

Maybe they really have been listening to international fans voicing their hopes that they would make more promotional material available to us so we can help them spread the joy!! :D

So here I am helping them spread the joy.  Although, this isn't my favourite Kalafina song, it is still a nice song and it is their newest song and it showcases their harmony BEAUTIFULLY.  Please enjoy!! :)



Amend: Looks like I have to temper my joy a little.  Someone just left a comment saying that this video isn't available in the US. :(  I really think Japan needs to learn a little bit from the way the Koreans are marketing their music and dramas etc to the world.  :(

Kalafina - blaze (Arslan Senki S2 ED) - unboxing

Here it is, the unboxing of #Kalafina 's "blaze". :)

It's been a while since I've done one of these so I kept forgetting to shoot certain photos.  Ah well, this is a pretty simple release, so there's enough here to give you a very good idea of what all of it looks like. :)

First up, photos.

Regular Edition

Kalafina ~ blaze (Arslan Senki S2 ED) - unboxing tease

YAY! #Kalafina 's blaze CDs and LP has reached me. :) :) :)

I've shot all the photos and aim to write my unboxing post tomorrow night, probably after 10pm Singapore time. :)

It's late now and I have a full day of work tomorrow which requires my full attention.  So I can't sleep too late.  So I'll just leave you with two teaser photos and also say that once again, I really like the b-side song. :)

Check in tomorrow... or rather later today... since it's already past 1:45am in Singapore. :P

Good night!! :)

Kalafina ~ blaze (Aslan Senki S2 ED) - jacket cover art

Oh silly me!! Of course the cover art for Kalafina's blaze has been released. It's in the artwork on their webpage. I wasn't thinking when I wrote up the previous post. :P I like the covers. They look cool!! :) Here you go....

Regular Edition

Kalafina ~ blaze (Arslan Senki S2 ED) - tokuten & other info

source

Kalafina has released information on the postcard tokutens that they will be giving out with pre-orders of "blaze" and they look very cool to me.  It's a similar image to the one for "One Light" but I'm not complaining because I like this new badass image more. :P

I like the one above the most.  That's the one from Animate. Generally speaking, I tend to like the Animate ones the most. :)

I wanted to link an embedded image from the LINE blog but their script is clashing with blogspot.  So I can't do that anymore.  So I guess I'll do it the old fashion way and grab the images from their blog and credit them with a link back.

Kalafina ~ far on the water SP FINAL - BD unboxing

This is just a really quick post.  I have shot some photos of the BD which I received from Fedex last night, so if you like to take a look, you are most welcome to. :)



This came with a poster tokuten from CDJapan, by the way, but I didn't shoot a photo of it this time because CDJapan really does a nice job packing them, I didn't really want to mess with it because the poster is going into storage for now.

Ieiri Leo ~ WE ~ new album announce & some random updates fr me

Ieiri Leo has just announced the release of her fourth album. :)  YAY!!
What makes me super happy is that the Limited Edition will contain 50mins worth of live footage from her Two Colors concert at Zepp Diver City in Feb this year.  And best part about this is that I was at that live!! :)



Actually, earlier on... about a week or so, Kalafina also announced the release of their new single "Blaze" which is the new theme song for the new season of Arslan Senki.  Yes, I didn't write about it on the blog. :(

Kalafina ~ far on the water SPECIAL FINAL DVD / BD ~ cover art released

OH!!!! The cover art for this was just released. :)  Yay! I have this on pre-order already of course. :P

[amend Jan 2022 - they removed the video, so I'm removing the link too] ;(

Yes, I know I haven't been blogging for a while. I am seriously busy right now. A lot happening in my personal life right now. I hope to get back soon. But it will probably not be in the next few days.

For those who want to pick this up from CDJapan, the place I usually get my stuff from.  Here is the direct product link:

Kalafina LIVE TOUR 2015-2016 "far on the water" Special Final @ Tokyo International Forum Hall A -- BD
Kalafina LIVE TOUR 2015-2016 "far on the water" Special Final @ Tokyo International Forum Hall A -- DVD

Okay, got to go.  Later. :)  And yes, I know I have comments I need to reply.  Will do that another day.

cheers

FictionJunction Club Live Best 20 2016 ~ goods unboxing

The FictionJunction Club Live was a live I would have loved to have gone to. Kajiura Yuki + FictionJunction vocalists + Kalafina + FBM all performing the Top 20 songs that were voted in by fans, sounds really awesome, yah? :)  Unfortunately, I cannot fly to Japan twice in a month. I can't afford that and I was already committed to going to my friend's wedding in Japan at the end of March.  Hence, best I could do was Yuki Kajiura Vol.13 in Osaka on the 27th March. And I am grateful that the gods of music at least made it possible for me to attend one live during my upcoming trip. :)

Kajiura Yuki ~ animate.tv interview about SAO's music

【ニュース】ライブはなによりの「ご褒美」──梶浦由記の思い描くアニメ『ソードアート・オンライン』音楽のセカイ #sao_anime https://t.co/okAxfz6BYU pic.twitter.com/Az0w0C4w3V

— アニメイトTV公式 (@animate_tv) March 18, 2016

This interview popped up on twitter with amazingly good timing. LOL
It's been a pretty light end to the work day today and I've spent it mostly listening to Kajiura Yuki's music.  I think I am really working up quite a huge anticipation for the Yuki Kajiura vol.13 Sword Art Online live in Osaka next Sunday. :)  I really can't wait for it now.... I will still miss Keiko dearly.... but with less intensity than when I first read the news that she will have to give the Vol.13 lives a miss. :)

It's in Japanese of course.  And will take me a while to get through.  :P

cheers

Ieiri Leo ~ Bokutachi no Mirai - new single announce

Ieiri Leo (家入レオ) announced today that she'll be releasing another single in on 11th May.  :) Unlike most of her past announces, the cover art and a short version MV was not released with this announce.  They did release an image though, the one above and it seems to be quite different from her past image.  She's looking less rocker and more feminine.

flumpool ~ WHAT ABOUT EGGS - live in Singapore

flumpool returns to Singapore for a live!! YAY!!

[ BIG ANNOUNCEMENT ]FLUMPOOL RETURNS!!!After 2 years, flumpool is making their return to Southeast Asia for a special concert as part of their newest tour "WHAT ABOUT EGGS?"!Taking place at MILLIAN SINGAPORE, the concert promises to be one of the best, supported by MILLIAN's top-notch lighting and sound system.Don't miss this chance to catch flumpool in an intimate livehouse setting, right here in Southeast Asia!------flumpool tour 2016 「WHAT ABOUT EGGS?」 ～Singapore Special～Date:Saturday, 23 July 2016Time:Show starts 8.00 pm / Doors open 7.00 pmVenue:MILLIAN3 Sentosa Gateway #01-05 Singapore 098544(Located at St James Power Station. Use the link bridge on Level 2 of Vivocity.)Tickets:* Premium VIP*Price: $198/ticket(Limited number of tickets only!)Includes:- Exclusive Autographed poster- Receive poster personally from Members- Entry into VIP area for concert (right in front of the stage, with the best viewing position)* General Admission *Price: $68/ticketIncludes:- Entry into GA area for concert*Tickets on sale from 23 April 2016 at Peatix.More details will be announced at a later date.
Posted by Amuse Inc. Asia on Tuesday, 15 March 2016

It's likely that I will try and go for this live. :)  Okay, can't blog much now. Back to work. :)

Kalafina x Tanimura Shinji ~ Alcira no Hoshi - unboxing

アルシラの星 is Kalafina's newest song and is a collaboration with Tanimura Shinji ( 谷村新司) who is a veteran singer-songwriter.  They collaborated with spectacular success on an episode of Music Fair in 2015.  Well, at least I thought they sounded great together. :)

This is a very simple release.  There are two versions, the RE and the LE.  The RE just comes with one CD and the LE comes with a CD+DVD which contains the music video.

Ieiri Leo ~ Hello to the World - RE Edition (WANT TO SELL)

I have decided to sell the Regular Edition of 家入レオ"s "Hello to the World".  I wouldn't have minded keeping it usually but I'm going off for a visit to Japan soon and I've got more expenses coming up, so I have decided to try and save some more money for now, even though it's not that much.  Still every penny counts. :)

I'm keeping the LE (Type B) edition of course. :)  If you would like to see that unboxing and some of my thoughs on the single, CLICK ME.  The Regular Edition should be similar, just with different photos and minus the 2nd CD which means the jewel case will also be different.

Ieiri Leo ~ Hello to the World - LE (TypeB) unboxing

And finally, the unboxing for Ieiri Leo's (家入レオ) "Hello to the World". :)  I had hoped to get to this last night so that I could do the FictionJunction Club Live goods and maybe some ufotable related post today but that never happened.  I came back and crashed out after dinner so I think those will have to wait a bit.  First, I'll do Ieiri's CD first. :)

Ieiri Leo ~ Hello to the World - unboxing (preview)

My Ieiri Leo "Hello to the World" CDs actually arrived last Thursday and I meant to do the unboxing earlier except it was an exceptionally busy weekend of me.  So I thought I'll do them on Monday after work but I woke up on Monday with a temperature which refused to go back to normal for three and a half days.

After two visits to the doctor, one blood test and a ton of medication later, I think I'm finally on my way back to being healthy again.  It's not there yet.  This is one nasty virus.  BUT the good news is, it's NOT dengue!!!! :)  Yes, I think we all worried it was dengue because it's been a bit of a problem in Singapore for a while now.

FictionJunction Club Live Best 20 2016 ~ goods (preview)

I got lucky. I have friends who went to this live. So at least I got some goods even though this was a live that was impossible for me to go to. :(

Someday I hope to go to one of these Best 20 lives.  But this is only the second time they've done this. I have no idea when they'll do it again.  I hope I get lucky with my schedule in the future.

Unfortunately, I was already committed to go to Kalafina's "far on the water" SP Final lives in Jan and more importantly, I have a very good friend's wedding to attend on 1st April in Okinawa.  This meant that I could never afford the leave or the cost of another trip to Japan, no matter how short I try and make it. :'(  This also means that the Kalafina Spring Strings live are also out of my reach. :'(

FictionJunction Club Live 2016 ~ goods announce

Oh! Kajiura Yuki herself made the goods announce on twitter this morning. :)

Source

I am so loving the design right now. I like that bicycle motif that they used. Everything looks pretty to me. :)

Kalafina x Tanimura Shinji ~ Alcira no Hoshi (short version PV & cover art released)

Universal Music Japan has released a short version MV for the soon to be released Tanimura Shinji x Kalafina collaboration.  It's the same section of the song that they released for the preview earlier.  The videos are updated though and it's quite lovely. 

Well, it's not exactly an outstanding MV by any means, but I like it mostly because it shows Kalafina at work in the studio and recording together.  They seem happy and relaxed.  So it made me smile.

NOISEMAKER ~ A-Sketch Showcase- live in Singapore, Millian soft opening

Last night, I went with a couple of friends to the opening of a new live house + nightclub called Millian in Singapore.  We were there partly to check out the place and to check out this Japanese band called NOISEMAKER.

The band was brought in to perform at the soft opening of Millian.  And it was a free live so we thought, we'll check it out since we like Japanese music, we like lives and from what we could tell from the music videos on YouTube, they seem interesting.

Millian is located at St. James Power Station.  Now if, you have never been to St. James Power Station, it might be a little tricky finding the place.  We got a little lost, not terribly, but there's no signage once you get to the building, so instructions would be useful. So I'll give some simple instructions here, should any of you ever need to find Millian, you will be able to.

『Fate/Grand Order』×『空の境界』コラボCM

ufotable released a CM announcing the Fate/Grand Order x Kara no Kyoukai collaboration today.  Man!!! Shiki looks sooooooo badass in this video. :)

Fate/Grand is a mobile game which isn't available in the Android Play Store for Singapore.  Although there are ways and means to get it to work on an Android phone which isn't tied to the Japan Play Store, my mobile phone won't run it properly so I've never played it.  From what I can tell, it seems that Shiki will be available as one of the servants in the Assassin class.

Ieiri Leo ~ Obake no Namida - web only 30s trailer

This is kind of cool for Ieiri Leo fans. :)  If you do read the blog, you'll know that in an earlier post about my experience at Ieiri's Zepp DiverCity live in Tokyo, I also talked about her new song Obake no Namida.  At that point in time, I said that it would probably be hard for international fans to see the MV for that song because it's for NHK's Minna no Uta program and will screen on NHK.

Well, that hasn't changed.  BUT what they did release is a special web only 30sec video clip that previews the Obake no Namida song.




Ieiri fans should watch this. :)  Because the little girl in the video clip is Ieiri herself. It's edited from home videos of her when she was a child.  She was a very cute child.  Not that she's not cute now, just that she had really pinch-able cheeks as a kid.  I'm certainly not going to be trying to pinch her cheeks now. :)

My CDs of Hello to the World have shipped.  :)  I'm not sure when I'll get them.  I was kinda broke then, so I picked one of the cheaper methods of shipping.  So it'll be a while before the CDs reach me. If I'm lucky, it'll reach me by the end of next week.  If not, fingers crossed, it'll be here by the following week.  Can't wait. :)

Kyary Pamyu Pamyu ~ 5th Anniversary World Tour - Singapore

Maybe about 2 weeks ago, KPP said during an interview that Singapore will be one of the stops during her 5th Anniversary World Tour.  And now the details have been released.

Her live will be held on the 13th May (Friday) 8pm at the Esplanade Theatre.  Wow!! That's a nice location.  The ticket prices are also very decent and cheaper than her previous concerts in Singapore too.

CLICK ME to go to SISTIC booking page

She's coming as part of a larger festival called the Super Japan - Japanese Festival of Arts 2016. Here's the link to information on the rest of the acts in the festival.  CLICK ME.

I'm going to try and go with my friends. While I do listen to electronic music and bubblegum pop, they aren't not my favourite genre.  But I don't mind KPP.  Her lives are quite fun and I have several friends who like her so it's fun to go together. :)

NOISEMAKER ~ free concert in Singapore

[ MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT ]Exclusive VIP Event at MILLIANWe are inviting you, our fans,to the soft opening of MILLIAN,a...
Posted by Amuse Inc. Asia on Tuesday, 9 February 2016

Oh!!! I almost forgot to talk about this.

Japanese music fans in Singapore should really take note of this event.  Amuse is a Japanese entertainment company that manages various artistes.  They manage several artistes that have thrown lives in Singapore before and I quite like them because they are one of the few Japanese entertainment companies that actually seem interested in marketing to the South East Asian market.  THANK YOU!!!

Ieiri Leo & 家入レオ LIVE at Zepp 2016 ～two colours～ -- impressions of the live

source

It's no secret that I rather like Ieiri Leo.  Although I'm not as crazy about her as I am about Kajiura Yuki, FictionJunction or Kalafina, I still like her enough to buy her albums and singles.  Kajiura Yuki's mixed genre work and the lovely and complex harmonies brought to live by some quite capable vocalists will likely reign supreme in my heart for quite some time yet because it's an unusual mix and I like it largely because of that.

Now usually, I'm not a fan of the average Japanese female pop star because they tend to be pretty high pitch and some of them sound quite thin to me.  But some of the garage rock girl bands aren't too bad even if some of them can be a little too high pitch for me too.  I had a particular fondness for Stereopony but they broke up. :(  I used to be fonder of Scandal in their earlier days too because I felt they sounded edgier then, now they sound too J-Pop and a little higher pitch then I like.

So I eat the Kalafina Christmas cookie on the 3rd day of CNY

Hahaha.... that title for this blog post is the best that I can do. :P  I have no talent for writing titles.  It must be why I don't write for a living. :)

Well, so it's the third day of Chinese New Year or the Lunar New Year as it's known in some other parts of the world, and I will have to return to work today.  It has been a relatively long and very good break from work and I would be lying if I said that I can't wait to return.  Since the restructuring at work, I think none of us who remain really feel like going to work anymore.  The trip to see Kalafina four times live and Ieiri Leo live once in Japan couldn't have come at a better time.  I really needed to escape from reality and although this trip wasn't planned at a time when I felt like I needed to run away for a while, it was timed perfectly for it.

But it's the third day of CNY and most of us will return to work today because we only get two public holidays for CNY.  So no matter how much I would like to avoid the changes and the stark reality that many of those that I have worked side by side with for years are no longer there, I must go back to it and face it head-on because one cannot escape forever.

Hence, on the third day of CNY, I decided I needed to eat something sweet and something that would cheer me up.  Unlike Keiko, who only needs a cheery "good morning" to change her mood for the day, today requires much stronger medicine than that.  So with Kalafina's music playing in the background and steaming hot coffee in my cup, I eat their Christmas cookie on the 3rd day of CNY. :)

Kalafina VEVO channel on YouTube

Oh.... I wanted to write about this earlier but forgot.  A good friend and a fellow Kalafina fan informed me in Jan while I was in Japan that there have been some massive updates to Kalafina's VEVO channel on YouTube.  (Thanks for the tip, buddy. :) )

And just as I was about to go to bed, I got another notification in my email that even more video clips have been added on the 6th Feb. :)

source

It's all pretty cool for us international fans because VEVO should be legit and it's not IP locked to Japan. :)  THANK YOU!!!!!! It's a little late but it's a good start.  I hope this bodes well for the future. Please stop IP locking these to Japan, Kalafina has a pretty big following outside of Japan and IP locking 15-30 second CMs and short version PVs makes no sense to me.

Perfume, KPP, Ieiri Leo, angela, Suiyoubi no Campanella etc have quite a lot of material that isn't IP locked to Japan.  It's time that more and more Japanese music companies work out better licensing agreements that will allow promotional material to be accessible outside of Japan too.  These are promotional material, it's meant to promote the music, so use it to promote the music to the world too, not just Japan.

Now I can actually share their MVs on Facebook, twitter and even on this blog without worrying about copyright restrictions. :)

Please, please, please do not IP lock future CMs and MVs so that I can help you promote their music without breaking copyright restrictions. Thanks!!!!! :)

Okay... now I MUST sleep.  Good night!!!!

[WANT TO SELL] Kalafina LIVE TOUR 2014 at Tokyo Kokusai Forum Hall A LE CD

WANT TO SELL (edit 18th Feb)
1 Copy - SOLD (thank u!)
1 Copy - SOLD (thank u!)

I have two copies of this release that I wish to sell. They are sealed copies which I brought back from Japan.  I already own a copy and opened that one and did an unboxing of that release on the blog.  CLICK ME to look at the unboxing.

I picked these up at the concert venues themselves which means that I picked these up at 3400 yen which is inclusive of goods tax.  If you buy them from places like CDJapan etc and you're shipping them outside of Japan, you won't be charged the Japan sales tax, which will make this release 3148yen.

Using XE Calculator and the most current rate. 3400yen works out to be SGD41 rounded down and 3148yen is SGD38 rounded down.

Kajiura Yuki ~ Sword Art Online Music Collection - unboxing

AMEND: 18:30pm
Huh....after I posted this very long post which included a bit about me moping about Keiko not at vol.13....the FJC sent out an email and it seems Keiko is not well. She's suffering from mild bronchitis and will take some time off to concentrate on her treatment.  It seems though that it shouldn't affect her apperances at the Kalafina lives.  Just that, I think that's why she won't be at the Yuki Kajiura vol.13 lives.
Ah.... at least I understand why she won't be there now.  It doesn't make me less disappointed.  But I really rather she take time off to heal.  GET WELL SOON KEIKO!!!!!! お大事に!!!

-----------------------------------------------

As a big Kajiura Yuki fan and someone who's a bit of a completist, I just had to also pick up this OST boxset simply because the music is composed by Kajiura Yuki.  To be completely honest, SAO isn't my favourite anime.  Actually, to be brutally honest, I don't even like the anime at all. :(  I couldn't even finish the first season even though I was maybe only three episodes away from the end. I only enjoyed the first arc and thought the second arc was horrible and only endured as much as I could just for Kajiura sensei's music.  Then I gave up and never even attempted Season 2 or Extra Edition etc. :(

Kalafina 8th Anniversary Special products The Live Album "Kalafina LIVE TOUR 2014" at Tokyo Kokusai Forum Hall A ~ unboxing

Now that I'm back from Japan and seem to be recovering from the cold that I caught in Tokyo, I figured it's time I get around to doing the unboxing for this item. :) I don't think it'll be a very long post and will probably have more photos then text.... probably.... since I can be terribly verbose. :P

This was released on the 20th Jan and I picked up three copies in Japan because I was trying to get different tokutens.  So yes, I will be trying to sell two of the three copies but I'll write out those details in another post. :)

Anyway, without too much ado, let's have the photos. :)

Japan Day 3 ~ Nagano - Jigokudani, Snow Monkeys (back track)

I originally started writing this post before the Kalafina "far on the water" and after the Kalafina "8th Anniversary" lives.  But I was travelling quite a bit and it was cold so I ended up sleeping more than writing. :P  I come from a tropical country, so although cold weather is nice, I'm not used to it being so cold all the time. :P

So now that I am at the airport and have some time, I thought I'll just try and finish this post in Narita and then maybe try and get to an Ieiri Leo live at Zepp DiverCity post after this when I return to Singapore. :)

--------------------------

After two very awesome Kalafina lives on Day 1 and 2 of my trip to Japan, it was time to do some sightseeing. I had about a week before the Kalafina "far on the water" SP Final lives at the end of January so I had options.  One of my friends, SY who loves travelling to Japan like me decided to join me for the week and so we headed off to Yudanaka, Nagano.

Kalafina ~ far on the water ~ SP Final lives in Tokyo Day 2 (31st Jan 2016)

Once again I'm still too high to sleep even though I am physically tired. Kalafina lives hold so much power over me. LOL

Today's live end the "far on the water" Japan lives.  Originally this weekend was suppose to mark the end of the "far on the water" tour, till they announced Mexico and also confirmed the Shanghai leg of this tour.  Sadly, for us in Singapore, we have to still wait for a time when Keiko makes good on her word at AFA 2011 that they will be back. :'(  I suppose they have a lot of concerns and places to visit which would make it hard to come back to Singapore.  So for now, I can do nothing but to hope and hope.  Maybe someday my dream of seeing them live in the Esplanade would come true.  I don't really think it would but one can always dream. :)

Kalafina ~ far on the water ~ SP Final lives in Tokyo Day 1

I was actually working on a post on my visit to Nagano (not Nagoya, I keep getting that wrong and will have to correct my post on Kalafina's 8th Anniversary live Day 2 later, sorry) but it was taking a while because I was too busy having fun, relaxing and sleeping. :P  That's what holidays are for, right?  Especially one which is a bit of escapism from reality. :D

I was seated far right, favouring Wakana, 1st Flr, Row 24 Seat 78.

But I am back in Tokyo and was back on Friday to attend the Kalafina "far on the water" tour end lives. :)  Yup, the Kalafina lives are the biggest reason why I chose to come to Japan in Jan and also the biggest reason why I extended my stay by a week so that I could accommodate the 8th Anniversary lives last Friday and Saturday.  Those were really awesome lives and I gushed about them endlessly for the entire weekend. :P

Kalafina ~ 8th Anniversary Live ~ Day 2

 Ahhhhh.... I wish I had time to write this post last night when I was still so high from the live.  I still have very happy memories of it but if I wrote this post last night it would have been full of gush-a-minute. :P

However, I had to meet my good friend Itsuko for dinner and after that return to my hotel and shower, pack my bags, clear the room a little etc because I was going to go to Nagoya the next day with SY, my good friend and someone I travel to Japan often with.

Kalafina ~ 8th Anniversary Live ~ Day 1

Yesterday was a crazy day for me.  Originally I had only decided to go to the live on the 23rd and was super happy when I won the ticket.  Then I decided that since I was flying in on the 22nd, maybe I should just try and go for the live on the 22nd too.  So when I managed to win a ticket during the 2nd lottery draw, I was both excited and worried.  I knew that getting into Tokyo from Narita would take some time and if there were too many delays, it might be quite stressful or I might even be late for the live.

In the end, the flight landed early and I managed to get to my hotel by about 4pm to pick up the tickets and to rest a tiny bit before I had to head out to take the Chuo line across town to get to Shibuya.  And I have to say Tsutaya O-East was pretty hard to find. I got really lost even with Google maps on navigation.  And even after I managed to find the place where all the live houses were, there were so many people around, I didn't see the sign for O-East and could only find O-West.  I must have walked past the entrance to O-East 5 times and asked 3 different people who kept sending me to the correct general area.... but WHERE IS O-EAST???  was the only thing that was echoing in my heart and I was starting to panic a little as 6pm approached.

Japan trip Jan/Feb 2016 ~ Day 1.2

I have arrived safely in Japan. :)
Waiting for the train from Narita. It's nice to be back in Japan. :)

Japan Trip Jan/Feb 2016 ~ Day 1.1

Waiting at Changi Airport now. Off to Japan for more Kalafina lives, one Ieiri Leo live and some sight seeing etc. :)

Kalafina x Tanimura Shinji ~ Alcira no Hoshi

I'm now waiting at Changi Airport for my flight later this morning and thought that I would catch up on a little blogging.  I managed to get a Priority Pass to some of the lounges at the airport and it's my first time in one.  It's pretty nice.  There's food and drinks and comfortable seats.  There are also tables and power points and free WiFi.  It makes blogging or doing some last minute work pretty easy.  Hence, I decided that since I decided to bring both my tablet and my Surface Pro 3, I might as well use them well. :)

I think it was maybe two days ago that Kalafina announced that they will be collaborating on a song with Tanimura Shinji.  The song is called Alcira no Hoshi (アルシラの星) and will be the theme song for the BS日テレ. This isn't the first time that Kalafina has collaborated with Tanimura Shinji.  They collaborated on an episode of the music program Music Fair previously and I thought that it was a pretty amazing collaboration then.

Kalafina ~ Christmas Premium Live with Strings 2015 ~ goods unboxing

I'm going to do a picture heavy unboxing post of all the goods that I asked a friend to help me pick up at the Kalafina with Strings Christmas Premium Live 2015.  Yay!!! Thank you friend!! :)

I really want to one day be able to go to either the strings or the acoustic lives but Christmas is a difficult time for me to go travelling because my family does celebrate Christmas and it's expensive.  Sadly, although they have announced a three city Spring tour titled “Kalafina with Strings” Spring Premium LIVE 2016, I still can't go because I'll be attending Kajiura Yuki's YK vol.13 and travelling in Japan just a two weeks before the first strings live in Hokkaido.  I won't be able to fly back to Japan again for that because the even the last live in the three city tour, Tokyo, is only 20 days after my scheduled return from that trip. :(  So sadly, no chance for me to hear their voices in their full glory.  My dream is that they will one day come to the Esplanade in Singapore and sing either the strings or the acoustic lives but I think that is near impossible.  So I just keep dreaming..... :P

Ah well.... back to my original intention... unboxing photos now... :D

First up, the T-shirt.

ufotable ~ Fate/stay night [Unlimited Blade Works] Background Art Book ~ unboxing

As promised to someone who left a message on the blog, I'll be doing this "unboxing" first. :)

This is the Fate/stay night [Unlimited Blade Works] Background Art Book which was a book I did not wait to order at all.  I actually rather like background art and I often like it more than the character design actually which is probably a little unusual.  Most anime fans probably prefer character design, even if they really liked background art, they still tend to prefer character design.

Not quite back, but working on it. :)

Hello!!! I hope that the new year began well for everyone. :)  Well, I'm not quite back yet since I'm not actually gonna do any of my planned posts etc. :)

Just thought I'll write a short one to slowly get back into the habit of posting again. :)

I'm not sure how much blogging I'll do this year.  I really do have other projects I would like to really get serious about, so I'm not sure how much time I'll have left for the blog.  But I am still deeply in love with Kajiura Yuki and Kalafina's music so I would still like to talk about their stuff as much as possible.  And I still love Ieiri Leo and Suiyoubi no Campenella and lives etc etc.  So I'm not ready to retire the blog just yet. :)  Also..... this is the blog's 10th Anniversary year.  Woohooo!!! Okay, not that it really means that much.  There were some years I I didn't write very much at all. :)

I've taken photos of the Ieiri Leo 20 ~ 4th live tour BD which I receive last Dec.  It's a pretty standard release, so I should be able to breeze through this one if I don't get distracted. :)

I have some loot from the Kalafina Christmas live that I would like to share.  :D