#KajiuraYuki #梶浦由記 ~ Sword Art Online Ordinal Scale OST - unboxing / comments

I'm going to do a quick unboxing and writeup of this album just to keep my momentum going.  It looks like I might be getting very busy again but I really don't want to disappear from my blog for so many weeks. So maybe quick unboxings will help me keep at it. :)

Hence, here we go.  Photos. :)

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.

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 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. :)

Looking forward to Jan/Feb 2016

So tired and frustrated at work today. And I really wanted to go home for dinner today and not have to eat the crappy dinner at the company again. Okay....maybe it isn't that crappy and it is free....but if I am eating that dinner...it means OT again. And I am really really really tired today. :( :( :(

I am really struggling to hold on to good thoughts right now. So am gonna try and think of Jan/ Feb 2016 because I am going back to Japan again! :)

Yay!!!! Happy thoughts happy thoughts!!! I have pretty much secured tickets to four lives in Jan / Feb. I will attend my first FictionJunction Club members only live on the 23rd Jan. That's the 8th Anniversary Kalafina live. My first Kalafina Anniversary live! Yeah!!

Japan Trip 2015 Oct ~ Day 2.1

Good morning from Tokyo, Japan!!! :)  I'm really not planning to do much during this trip.  My only plans were to attend Kalafina's far on the water lives, buy a skateboard, meet friends and eat, try and buy a Mario Kart DS cartridge and just rest.

I don't want this to be a stressful trip at all.  It's like my escape from reality trip that I made several years ago to Japan.  Watch a live, go to Disney Sea and do NOTHING was my plan then. LOL.

Japan Trip 2015 Oct ~ Day 1.2

I'm about to fall asleep in my hotel room now. :)

I was thinking I might tweet or mobile blog more today but I had some trouble getting a mobile SIM card and then had trouble getting it to work. By the time that was done it was time to meet my friend for dinner.

I ate at one of my favourite places to eat burgers in Tokyo, although I went for the steak today. :)

Japan Trip 2015 Oct ~ Day 1.1

I am waiting for my flight to Tokyo right now. So glad for a short break from work. :)

This time it's only going to be a short trip. It is pretty much just a concert run to catch the opening two lives for Kalafina's "far on the water" lives. :)

Okay....gonna chill for a bit...it is too early in the morning. :)

posted from Bloggeroid

Yuki Kajiura vol.12 Lives ~ Day 1 - 5

Ahhhhhh.... it is so nice to have a WiFi and a proper connection to the internet again.  Soon after the final Yuki Kajiura vol.12 live at the Tokyo International Forum on Sunday night, I had to dash off to meet some friends for dinner and then leave with two of my friends to Hokkaido where we travelled around for a bit.  My connection was pretty unstable then on the prepaid mobile data SIM that I was using and we didn't have any free WiFi at the places we were staying at till now.

It's been several days since that live and I am still incredible happy that I managed to attend all 6 lives.  I won't attempt to say much about the Japanese Sealed live on Day 5. I'm sure lots of people have talked about it already and I really can't say much except that despite some minor hiccups, it was once again a very amazing live for me.

Yuki Kajiura Live Vol.12 ~ Day 4 - Japanese Only Special - comments

The gods must really have been smiling on me when they allocated seats for the Vol.12 lives. :)  I managed to score 1st Floor, 2nd Row on the far right favouring Kaori and Keiko.  OMG, Keiko!! :P  My favourite vocalist in the YK family.  Actually, I like Kaori a lot too, she and Wakana take turns to be my 2nd favourite.  Although I have my favourites, I really do love all of them. I would not want any of the members to be different at all.

Part of this live's awesomeness for me was that they were really, really, really close.  I could see all their expressions.  The musicians, sadly though, were a little obscured from me at times because we were quite close and they were further back on stage.  And also, we were far-right, pretty much at the end of the row so it was hard to see Sato Kyoichi and Takashi “Jr” Tomoharu at times.  Luckily my soundtrack day, row 6 ticket was favouring them and Kajiura Yuki so I got a really clear look at them on Day 3.

Yuki Kajiura Live Vol.12 ~ Day 4 - Soundtrack SP - comments

Soundtrack SP was once again VERY awesome.  The special vocalist this time wasn't Itoh Eri but Kasahara Yuri.  So it did make things quite different but still really good.  It was nice to be able to see both Itoh Eri and Kasahara Yuri at the Vol.12 lives because originally I thought that I would not be able to see the both of them and that they would only appear at the Orchard lives in July.  So it made me happy that I did see both of them.

Seriously, I love Kajiura Yuki's music.  All of it was just spellbinding for me.  Loved it all on Day 3 and still loving it on Day 4.  The Hanako to An songs were really interesting because I have all the OSTs and so have heard all the songs before but the live version will always be different and with Kajiura Yuki, her live version is often better than her studio version.  No exception here.  The live versions are superb.  This is also the first time we have Nakajima Obawo on percussion and Nakahara Naomi on uilleann pipes too. These are new to Kajiura Yuki's lives and they really added to the live a lot.

Yuki Kajiura Live vol.12 ~ Day 3 - part 2

So far the vol.12 lives have been spectacular for me. Day 3's lives were no different.  I have never been to any of her soundtrack lives. I tried to get tickets for Day 2 and 3 for vol.9 but failed. So vol.12's Japanese Sealed and Soundtrack lives are new for me and they are all gold!!

I got back late after dinner and I am so tired so I have no intention of being detailed at all. I will just write a general impression thing which is likely to have spelling errors and grammar errors because I am tired. So please forgive those. (Actually, I ended up falling asleep while writing this post LOL. I won't write a lot I think because I don't think I have that much time.)

Yuki Kajiura vol.12 Live ~ Day 3 - part 1

I am chilling right now. I had a really busy day dashing around Tokyo accompanying a friend get stuff done.

I went to the goods counter again to pick up some stuff and get my day stamp. :)

Here are photos of the T-shirt and today's goods display. :)

Yuki Kajiura Live vol.12 ~ Day 2 - part 2

It was another awesome live from Kajiura Yuki. I loved it again. Seriously, in my opinion, the only way to truly appreciate her work is to hear it live. It always amazes me just how magical it all sounds.

The night opened with Sword Art Online songs which shouldn't be a surprise since Remi is one of the guest stars. I thought it was a nice and powerful opening.

Yuki Kajiura Live vol.12 ~ Day 2 - part 1

I bought my goods for today already. :) I didn't get much this time. Just a T-shirt and the blue umbrella. :)

I did take photos of the goods table for those who want to take a look.

I got the red shirt. :)

OK. That's it for now. I am going to go eat or something. :)

Yuki Kajiura Live vol.12 Day 1 part 2

That is a photo of photos of Kajiura Yuki from the pamphlet that I bought at the live. :)

I will keep this pretty short because I know that there are other people who can write and will probably write better about the live.