#Kalafina ~ is this the end?

I just returned from Hong Kong and it reminded me that the last time I was in HK was in 2010.  I happened to see an MTR poster advertisement announcing Kalafina's impending live in HK and an idea took hold in my mind.  I could not return to HK so quickly because of school, it set me on a mad path to find a way to see them live and that was how I ended up in Tokyo in December and attended their Kagayaku Sora no Shijima ni wa live.

Eight years later, so much has changed.  I have had so much happening in my life in the 11-12 months that I hardly blogged at all, not even about the many changes that have happened to Kalafina and Kajiura Yuki.  The Kalafina that I love is no more.  Keiko is no longer with Space Craft Produce nor is she part of Kalafina anymore.  A little before Keiko left early this year, Kajiura Yuki also left Space Craft Produced and now, even Hikaru has left.

My new love. :)

Recently I just discovered the incomparable #SunLi #孙俪  Although she's already pretty famous internationally for her role in Empresses in the Palace aka Zhen Huan Zhuan (后宫·甄嬛传), I actually didn't know who she was.  I actually avoided this drama when it was super popular back in 2012 because I'm one of the only ones I know who did not really like TVB's War and Beauty (金枝慾孽).  I wasn't very interested in yet another drama about scheming women who had questionable motives at times.

So how I discovered Sun Li is a little more unusual than most people.  Lately, I took a much needed big break from work.  And during this break I happened to watch ep63 of this Mainland Chinese drama called Nothing Gold Can Stay (那年花开月正圆) on TV.

 
Strangely, I found the episode quite interesting and I wanted to find out more about the relationship between this melancholic tree climbing mother and her rebellious adopted child.  And because of this, I started watching 那年花开月正圆 from episode one on-wards and I really loved most of it.  And more importantly, that's how I found my latest obsession, Sun Li.  She was phenomenal in the drama and I fell in love with her.

As all my old buddies know, when I really like something, I can get a little obsessive.  Haha!!  I feel compelled to watch all that they have done or listen to all that they have composed.  That's how it was for Lau Ching Wan, Ada Choi and Kajiura Yuki.  I've watched some pretty blah stuff for Lau Ching Wan's and Ada Choi's sakes.  Luckily Kajiura Yuki's work is mostly good so I didn't have to suffer too badly. :P  I also did the same for Zhang Yimou, Wong Kar Wai and Johnnie To.  I have watched a ton of their work and actually liked or loved a lot of them.

#Kalafina ~ 9+one at Tokyo International Forum Hall A - bluray unboxing

Well, looks like I'll be getting pretty busy again.  So I think I should get this simple unboxing out of the way.  I had to wait a while to do this even though I was pretty excited about getting this on the day it was released in Japan. :)  However, I forgot that my TV is busted and I can't play the BD in my room.  So I had to wait till I had the opportunity to play it on the telly in the living room.

Ahhhhhhh... the first song is one of my favourite songs to hear at a live.  The first time I heard Samidare ga Sugita Koro ni live was at the 8th Anniversary Live at Tsutaya O-East.  I managed to get tickets for both days of the live and this song was really memorable.  I LOVED IT to bits.  Everyone was singing "la la la" with them in a small hall.  The atmosphere then was electric and really unforgettable for me.

#梶浦由記 #Kalafina Kubikiri Cycle: Aoiro Savant to Zaregotozukai Sound Collection announce

Also, I want to mention quite quickly a recently announced Kajiura Yuki release. Kajiura has been scoring the various episodes of this OVA for a few months now.  I think that the OVA has been fully released, hence the release of this Sound Collection.

I actually know very little about this anime but I did check out a bit of it when it was first release and rather enjoyed the bits of music I heard then.

Some of us may remember that the already released track Kalafina track Marchen is actually one of the theme songs for this anime.  That song was released on the into the world / marchen double A-side release some time back. (for the unboxing post, CLICK ME)

#Kalafina - Hyakka Ryouran - unboxing + comments

Actually this single was released in August and I received it that very week itself.  Normally, I would not wait so long to unbox a Kalafina single.  I usually do it almost immediately but I am SUPER late this time.  :(

I was in the middle of a major crunch at work in August and was working very long hours including weekends for days on end.  In some ways, the work was exciting but in some ways it was exhausting both physically and emotionally so I think I still have mixed feelings about it right now. Haha! :)

Although crunch has ended a few weeks ago, it's taken me that long to recover.  Basically, I just didn't want to do ANYTHING at all and that included blogging.  Yes, even a much delayed Kalafina single couldn't move me.  Funnily enough, it wasn't music that made me finally move my butt to get back to blogging. :P It was actually Japanese dramas that did it.  I decided that I was just going to watch dramas and no tutorials because my brain just didn't want to work.  And one of the dramas I watched was Code Blue Season 3.  OMG!!! I forgot how much I liked Toda Erika till I watched her again in Code Blue.  I completely loved her performance and her character, Hiyama sensei.  That set me on another one of my obsessive quests and this time it was to watch everything she had ever done.  Well, for starters I re-watched SPEC, Liar Game and Shotenin Michiru no Mi no Uebanashi. And it filled me with a HUGE desire to write about them.  BUT BUT BUT, I can't because I need to do my Kalafina Hyakka Ryouran unboxing first. :P

#Kalafina ~ so I finally bought a turntable :)

The first vinyl record that I ever bought in my life was also Kalafina's first vinyl record release.  If I remember correctly, it should be ring your bell.  Since then, I have faithfully bought every vinyl release, including the far on the water album release on vinyl as well.  But I never had the means to play it.

So finally, I took the plunge and bought a turntable approximately two weeks ago.  It's an entry level player and according to the reviews, does a pretty good job for the price.  I can't afford to go into the high-end stuff. It would be pointless of me to do so as well since my amplifier is 20 years old and my speakers are also 20 year old bookshelf speakers.  The equipment is good enough of course but the contacts need cleaning and the RCA cables probably need to be replaced etc.  If I got a high-end player, I would need to buy new equipment as well.  I don't really need another expensive hobby and I really rather save the money for trips to Kalafina's and Kajiura Yuki's lives.

The player I got was the Audio Technica AT LP604d USB.  Here are some unboxing photos.

#Kalafina ~ into the world / メルヒェン - comments

This is a relatively long commentary about Kalafina's 20th single release and will include related thoughts.  It has taken a little longer than I had hoped but I think this release is worth taking the time to mull over and worth taking the time to write a lengthy post about. Yup!  I like it that much.

It's likely that I will start writing this post on Thursday night and end up only finishing and publishing on Friday or Saturday night or maybe even later then that, who knows?  But that's okay, I don't intend to win any prizes for speed. :)  What I hope to do, is to try and put my thoughts clearly into words and share my feelings about a single which I completely adore right now.  Now, let's get started! :).

#Kalafina ~ into the world / メルヒェン - unboxing

I'm listening to the single on loop as I write this unboxing post and I must say, I quite like this single. :)  It has many things that I like about Kalafina in the songs.  But first, let's do the unboxing and then I'll write a few of my thoughts  (postpone till another day) about the single. :)

#Kalafina with Strings ~ Christmas Premium LIVE TOUR 2016 - "Keiko produce" unboxing

While we wait for the release of Kalafina's 20th single into the world / Marchen, I thought I should try and get more of the unboxing posts done.  I have already taken photos of them, so I shouldn't waste the effort. :)  My shipment of all versions of the single is already "in shipping process" at CDJapan and I picked Fedex as usual.  So when that comes, I'll do that first before all other unboxings.

This will be a relatively simple unboxing because it is kind of late and I worked pretty late today so am kinda tired.  Hence, I will attempt to be less verbose, hard though it may be for me. :P

#Kalafina with Strings ~ Christmas Premium LIVE TOUR 2016 - goods unboxing - pound cake & fork set

As promised, here is the first of a series of unboxing posts I hope to make before the release of the Kalafina "into the world / メルヒェン" single on the 4th April.  Because when that arrives, I hope to unbox that as soon as possible.

Actually, the "Kalafina with Strings ~ Christmas Premium LIVE TOUR" took place last year in December.  So you're probably wondering why it took me so long to do this.  Well, it's because I wasn't able to go for that series of lives too.  So I asked a friend who was going if she would do me a HUGE favour and help me buy some goods.  I only just managed to meet up with her recently and only just got my hands on the goods. YAY!!!! :)

#Kalafina #ufotable ~ Katsugeki / Touken Ranbu 『活撃 刀剣乱舞』剣戟アクション紹介映像

source

By now it's all over Twitter and Kalafina and Sony have also made their official announces. Kalafina will be singing the end theme song for Katsugeki / Touken Ranbu. I have three reasons to try this and it's very simple. 1) ufotable 2) Kalafina and 3) ufotable x Kalafina. LOL

Ever since Kara no Kyoukai, everytime ufotable and Kajiura Yuki and/or Kalafina are mentioned in the same sentence, I just get excited.  :P

The animated storyboards in the PV clip above look cool too and ufotable often has pretty nicely choreographed fight / action scenes. So I'm looking forward to that too.

AND thank you for not IP-locking this.  The previous two PVs for Katsugeki / Touken Ranbu were IP-locked to JP.  Please don't neglect your international fans Japan!! :)

#Kalafina ~ unboxing tease

Oh lookie! What do we have here?!? :)
Yup, I have decided to try and do a series of unboxing posts next, starting with this beautiful box that a fellow fan gave to me as a gift. Thank you SOOOOOOOO much!!! :)

I hope to do this either tonight or by tomorrow night. We'll see. :)

#Kalafina ~ meeting Kalafina in Singapore !!!

source: Kalafina LINE blog

(I'm in there but I'm not telling you which one. :P )

This has got to be one of the most memorable moments in my life. :)  It probably rivals the first time I met them at Anime Festival Asia in Singapore when they signed the poster in front of me.  And the time I met them at AFA Malaysia twice, once when they handed me the autographed poster and once when they signed the CD.

Maybe this moment even surpasses all those moments, hahaha!!!  Having a photo taken with Kalafina, a vocal unit that I've been a HUGE fan of since 2009, is like a dream come true for any fan.  I never expected that my impulsive decision to see them live in Japan in Dec 2010 would lead me down this path.  Hahaha.... I loved the "Kagayaku Sora no Shijima niwa" live at the then Lemon CC Hall.  I loved it so much that I became a confirmed fan and have not looked back since. :P

#Kalafina ~ Singapore fans

screen cap: Kalafina Arena Live 2017 BD
Soon fans in Singapore can see Kalafina live too!! :)

Hello! Kalafina fans from Singapore. Please do contact me if you can. :)

I was suppose to do this at the beginning of the week, Sunday night to be precise, but a lot of things conspired to make it hard for me to write a blog post about it.  I did write a tweet and FB about it though. :P

Well, the Anisong Fantasy Live is going to happen this Saturday and a couple of us are thinking of doing something.  So if you wish to get involved, you still can.  Please do contact me either on Twitter, on FB or comment below.

I will get back to you ASAP.

#Kalafina ~ Arena Live 2016 BD - unboxing

It's really been a while since I last blogged.  Been very busy and there were some issues in the office that I had to deal with which were a little emotionally draining.  Office politics really suck. :( But it's cool. I stood my ground and it's mostly resolved for now.   And to make things even better, Kalafina's latest BD release arrived at my doorstep today. :)

I know there are three copies in that photo above.  I could pretend that I am a crazy rabid fan but, hahahahaha, I'm not that crazy. :P  The other copies belong to two other friends.  We shared shipping on this so it'll save us some money. :)

#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