It’s finally here.

A few months ago, I spent 13 hours in an oversized aluminium alloy tube to get to Japan and back so that I could attend Maaya Sakamoto’s 15th anniversary concert at Budokan. A few days ago, the DVD and Blu-ray recordings arrived at my door step. A few hours ago, I finished encoding them into H264 MKV files and went out for ramen.

Packaging

The first press releases of the DVD and Blu-ray come with a special matt cardboard packaging and a ribbon. Future releases will only come with the plastic DVD case found inside the box. The Blu-ray box is white while the DVD box is black, but I suspect the actual plastic cases have the same cover design. (I don’t have a Blu-ray player, so I only opened the DVD version.)

DVD edition with red ribbon

The ribbon comes in either red, blue or gold colour at random. The gold version is supposedly a “rare” item, but I suspect it’s only there because they ran out of red and blue…

The special box has a cover fold that doubles up as a small photo booklet. It’s pretty decent considering that it’s a freebie for first press buyers.

The DVD casing is a regular plastic case. The front cover art is a photo of Maaya playing the guitar intro for “Get No Satisfaction!!” and the back is a song list.

There’s another smaller booklet of credits and a few photos in the DVD case itself.

The DVD edition comes in two discs. The first disc contains the main concert itself (2hr+) and the second disc contains the encore (40min) and two short specials (behind the scenes footages and Maaya practising the guitar).

Concert

The recording is pretty decent, although the Blu-ray version should be even better. I sat pretty far away from the stage during the concert, so it’s nice to finally get to see the performance close-up. But it does kind of miss out on the stage effects.

As I mentioned in my previous post, the most memorable moment for me was this part where all the lights were switched off, leaving a few spotlights trained on Maaya as she was slowly elevated by a mechanical platform in the centre of the stage. When she reached the chorus of Hikari Are (“Let there be light”), the lights came on. This effect is quite unnoticeable in the video because the camera auto compensates for the change in ambient brightness. Oh well. You win some, you lose some.

Her first costume was a “gift”

Guitarist Masato Ishinari

Vocalists Kazco and Mari Asai

Her second costume. She’s wearing the third one underneath

Yoko Kanno

Maaya performing with a guitar for the first time

Her third costume is…colourful

Hikari Are

If you squirm hard enough, you can see me. Or at least my seat section…

Composer Shoko Suzuki at the drums

Maaya’s fourth costume

I have that T-shirt :D

Maaya plays the piano for Everywhere

Maaya leads a sing-along POCKET wo Kara ni Shite

Refer to my post on the concert for more thoughts.

Watching through the DVDs, I’m actually quite surprised by how much I managed to cover in my last post by memory. I’m usually not very good at remembering details. The only thing that I didn’t catch was when Maaya missed a line of PLATINA.

I also love the MC sessions where Maaya talks about her personal take on life and how she expresses it through her songs. Not all singers can do it the way she does, full of sincerity and meaningful pauses.

Specials

The two omake footage on Disc 2 show the lead-up to the big day.

There’s a scene in the encore, where Shoko Suzuki presented Maaya with a surprise birthday cake and Maaya blew the candles while the audience sang Happy Birthday, that was cut from the main recording for some reason. The first omake footage contains a short portion of it starting at around 13:30.

Don’t know why they cut it from the main footage. Maybe they forgot to keep the cameras running… Oh well.

Oh noz, no one showed up

Yoko sending off Maaya

Group cheer before the show

The brithday cake’s hiding place under stage

Air guitar

Conclusion

It’s damn awesome, so please buy the DVD or Blu-ray if you can (or if not…). In the meantime, I am working on translating and subbing the entire thing. Will post it up somewhere When It’s Done™.

Maaya Sakamoto, the greatest singer/seiyuu in the history of the universe, held a live tour at the start of this year (2009) called “We Are Kazeyomi!” This was her first proper concert in the five years since she released her album Shounen Alice and her third since her debut as Hitomi in Visions of Escaflowne.

This is a story of what may be the greatest regret of my life. And oh yeah, the official concert DVD is out too.

I am a terrible fanboy. Terrible in the sense that if companies depended on fans like me to survive, they would probably be worse off than General Motors. I just can’t keep my attention focused on something long enough… Ooh Shiny.

It is therefore rather amazing that I have been a Maaya fanboy for the past six years, ever since I first listened to her performance in RahXephon. It’s probably not too far-fetched to say that during my rise from adolescence, my love for Maaya is the only constant in my life. Watching Maaya perform live is a dream that has always been at the back of my mind.

Although I’ve been to Japan numerous times, I never had the opportunity to attend her many performances. (Kazeyomi is technically her third live tour, but she does a lot of smaller promotional concerts and also voices Eponine in the Japanese production of Les Misérables.) This was because concert seasons tended to fall in the middle of my school terms. I accepted, rationally if not emotionally, the fact that in all likelihood I would never see my wish come true. Will I find the time to realize my dream, or will she retire from performing before that? I was not hopeful.

Kazeyomi gave me hope. At the end of 2008, I had just graduated from Singapore’s equivalent of high school and was planning a year-end trip to Japan with my classmates. Kazeyomi was to be held in late January. I applied for a ticket through the official Maaya fan club (I am probably its only Singaporean member?) and won the draw for the Nagoya stop. I had to pay upfront to secure my booking, but because I was then uncertain about my schedule in January, I decided to give it up. I thought I could purchase a ticket (preferably for Tokyo instead) later during the regular ticketing period, after I had confirmed my availability.

Long story slightly shortened, I ended up with nothing. By the time I realized that my schedule did in fact allow me to attend the concert, it was too late to get a ticket.

Looking back, it would’ve taken me a good amount of money and trouble (including staying in Tokyo for an additional two weeks) to make it all work, so the outcome was probably for the best, all things considered. But deep down in my heart, I knew that I would live to regret not giving in to my impulsive desires for that one time.

Of course, I preordered the official concert DVD which is in my hands now. (Can you expect anything less from a guy who owns every album and single released under Maaya’s name?) The DVD is great and all — in fact it is awesome and brings tears to my eyes — but it also serves as a sad reminder of what could have been.

During the concert, Maaya performed both her new works and old favourites, including Triangler, Ame ga Furu, Kiseki no Umi, Praline, Platina, tune the rainbow, and a rather awesome rendition of Poketto wo Kara ni Shite. Including the rather long encore, it was a total of two and a half hours of awesomeness.

There was plenty of concert theatrics, some of which I’m sure were pre-planned. (See: the encore.) Maaya’s performance was not perfect either — she even forgot one line of lyrics during Yubiwa! But no matter how I try to play it cynical cool, I know that this flawed and deeply human performance is exactly what I would like to have watched live. (And maybe it’s just the fanboy speaking, but I find that she performed much better for her older songs.)

Maaya’s emotional displays might very well have been staged, but ultimately it didn’t matter. The transient relation between a performer and her audience remains a fleeting illusion as it has always been. The audience’s reaction is the only meaningful outcome. I just wish I were part of it. (Also, the fanboy bias in me tells me that Maaya’s words were sincere. I want to believe!)

I still hope desperately to watch Maaya perform live at least once before either one of us dies. It is a tiny wish that rests in an inconspicuous corner of my mind, waiting for its moment to come — one which may never arrive. Then again, now that Obama is president, anything is possible.

Unfortunately, the signs are not looking favourable. TBS recently cancelled her weekly late-night radio talkshow Chizu to Tegami to Koi no Uta (which I miss terribly) and the official fan club stopped its online merchandise sales. Is Maaya getting ready to retire (or fade into talent management like many older seiyuu)? I hope I’m just being over-sensitive…

This is starting to feel like LiveJournal, so I shall stop. Oh yeah, the DVD is really great. You should get it if you love Maaya. *Pokes Omo*

“DM, why didn’t you cough up 7,000 yen + lodging to watch my concert?”

Why indeed… orz

P.S. Does worrying about my favourite singer retiring mean that I am getting old? :( I hope I don’t start to chase young whippersnappers off my imaginary lawn soon.

Haruhi season 2 is coming!

The latest issue of Newtype has the exclusive… It’s supposed to go onsale on the 10th but apparently the scans have been leaked… Not much details, though. Thanks to Kyon for informing me.

Oh great, another S$400 worth of DVDs coming my way soon. Hail Haruhi!

Luckily, a DHL delivery guy came with a package from Amazon and brightened up my miserable day!

Read on for more pictures taken in poor lighting.

Sadly, judging by the current price on Yahoo Auctions, I don’t think I will be able to ever get my hands on the limited edition Vol. 00. Gao…

HARUHIISM 4EVA!

The story takes place one year after the end of the TV series and Arika is now Mashiro’s full-fledged Meister Otome. The new OP song is “Believe ～eien no kizuna～” performed by Mika Kikuchi (Arika Yumemiya).

All I can say is: WTF happened to Minami!?

P.S. You can preorder the limited edition on Amazon JP for ï¿¥2,000 cheaper than the official retail.

However, because Media Factory is once again releasing the DVDs in sets of twos, the new 12-episode Kujian will come in only 3 DVD box sets, which means a total of just 3 episodes of Genshiken. (i.e. a complete reversal of the Genshiken DVD box sets)

This may or may not be a good thing. Here’s why…

The title of the first episode of the OVA is 「オタクが嫌いな荻上でãã€ or “The Ogiue who hates Otaku”. In the manga, Chika Ogiue was introduced near the end of the 4th volume. Genshiken has a total of 9 volumes, with the 9th and final volume coming out at the end of this year (楽しみ～). Going by the pace of the first TV series, covering the rest of Genshiken will require another 12-episode series (at the very least).

This looks quite impossible for a 3-episode OVA to accomplish. 90 minutes is just not enough to cover the remaining story, not unless the producers plan to totally butcher up the story and piss off the Chika fanboys out there. I don’t think they will do that — at least I hope not.

For those of you who do not follow the manga, here’s Chika:

Okay, she’s basically a fujoshi (aka Yaoi Fan Girl) who hates all otaku despite being one herself… She was kicked out by the Manga Society and forced into Genshiken. She spends her free time drawing yaoi doujinshi and hiding them from other people… Totally tsundere. She’s also, like, the best-est character in the second half of the series. :P

Anyway, as I was saying, I hope they are not planning to compress the rest of Genshiken into 3 measly 25-minute OVA episodes. And something tells me that they are not going to… (I call it my intuition but the doctor says it’s just a headache)

The original series took 12 episodes to cover almost 4 volumes. Assuming that they don’t plan to commit creative suicide, the upcoming 3 OVA episodes should only cover Vol.5, which begins with Chika’s introduction and ends off with Genshiken’s Comiket debut. Quite fitting for an OVA series I would say.

Now assuming my assumption is correct, that will leave us with the last 4 volumes, which will then make up another 12 episodes very nicely. Hmmm… do I smell Genshiken 2 coming our way next year?

I hope so. Haruhi-sama, please make it happen! :3

The limited edition is waaaay overpriced but I bought it anyway because I am a tool of the system. It comes with a DVD that contains promotional material for the new Negima! OVA.

After watching the DVD, I am happy to say that the new Negima! OVA is better than I expected. The character designs are surprisingly close to the original and the animation quality and detail are a few hundred times better than the horror that was the TV series. A few hundred being a modest estimate. The entire cast is retained as far as I can tell. The OVA also seems to contain a little more fanservice… Well, still far less than the manga.

One complaint: The OP “Yume Minna de” is not as catchy as “Happy Material”.

• Gedo Senki Insert Song – Teruu no Uta
• Da Capo II Vocal Album – Songs From D.C. II
• The Adventure Over Yui Horie (First Press)
• Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu DVD Vol.1 (Limited Edition)

Total cost: 18,062 yen

The sad thing is, the two DVDs are not mine. ＿|ï¿£|O I don’t have enough money to collect R2 DVDs…

Gedo Senki has been receiving bad reviews from Japanese fans who have seen it in theatres, but the insert song is so good that I bought the single anyway. Just listen to it:

[audio:teruu_no_uta.mp3]

This version comes from the movie OST. The version in the single is 4:49 long and has some bgm.

Anyway, Video Ezy has set up an online DVD retail service in Singapore. (About time…) Basically, just like Netflix, you sign up for an account with a flat monthly fee. Then you get to have any DVD in their catalogue mailed to you in a return-paid envelope. You can only have a certain number of DVDs on-hand at any time and each time you mail back one DVD, the next DVD on your list is delivered to your mailbox.

I signed up for one month to test the service. The movie library seems quite acceptable, although it lacks a lot of Japanese movie. The anime stuff also seems quite haphazardly chosen, but all the big-title movies are there (Akira, Ghost in the Shell, Appleseed and a lot of Ghibli stuff). However, it does have all but one of the twenty or so IMDb Top 250 titles I tried searching for. The one that it didn’t have was Pulp Fiction.

Since I watch most DVDs only once anyway, this could save me a lot of money and keep me occupied during the school holidays. The downside is that I don’t end up with a nice row of DVD casings to display on my bookshelf at the end of the day… XD

The website is somewhat buggy though, especially on Firefox but also on IE for certain things. Hopefully they do something about those bugs after receiving my complaint suggestion e-mail.