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Animelo Summer Live is establishing itself to be the premiere anime event of the summer. With a star-studded line up of artists this has to be one of the largest collaborative efforts the industry puts together to make this event possible. Kudos has to go to 奥井雅美 Okui Masami who, I believe, is the real driving force behind the Animelo Summer event. Last year concert was a success claiming over 7500 in attendance. This year at 日本武道館 Nippon Budokan, reportedly 10,000 anime fans turned up to witness the spectacle and spectacular it was.

Waiting around in line is never really fun so here is a shot for the sake of atmosphere and let’s get to the main event.

The stage setup was impressive. Jammed into the north end of Budokan, an array of guitars, keyboards and no less than 4 drum sets littered the stage in a setup that was designed to maximise the amount of seating available as possible. We were up on the 2nd tier on the South West side with a fairly clear view of the centre stage. But damn, it would have been great to have arena tickets again.

The night kicked off at 17:00 with a dazzling opening light show as the artists entered the stage in spectacular pro-wrestling-style. The concert that followed would be filled with old favourites and new releases in what was to be a huge 39 song set list.

奥井雅美 and 栗林みな実 Kuribayashi Minami, started off in duet with 「Mask」 the 爆れつハンター Sorcerer Hunter ending theme. Kuribayashi Minami then continued on with her set of 「Rumbling Hearts」　（君が望む永遠 Game OP） and 「Crystal Energy」 from 舞-乙HiME. 石田耀子 Ishida Yoko followed with 「幸せの色」 （あぁっ女神さまっ それぞれの翼 OP） and 「紅の静寂」 the 2nd 灼眼のシャナ ending theme.

Girly screaming then erupted around the stadium as 高橋直純 Takahashi Naozumi made his entrance and performed his set of 「電光石火の恋」 from 遙かなる時空の中で３, a new release 「無敵なsmile」 the 無敵看板娘ED and 「OK!」. I have to say despite being obviously biased to the female sector of the vocal arts, TakaNao is undoubtly a good performer.

Up next was the first of only two medleys of the night. Performed by 米倉千尋 Yonekura Chihiro, Ishida Yoko, Kurabayashi Minami and 松本梨香 Matsumoto Rica, it was a nostalgic collection of 嵐の中で輝いて (機動戦士ガンダム第08MS小隊), 乙女のポリシー (美少女戦士セーラムーンＲ）, Shining☆Days (舞-HiME) and ポケモンマスター (ポケモン).

Special guests 平野綾 Hirano Aya, 茅原実里 Chihara Minori and 後藤邑子 Goto Yuko then burst on to stage dancing furiously to ハレ晴レユカイ Hare Hare Yukai. There was much cheering and excitement but I have to say the choreography was a little too energetic.

KENN with The NaB’s then followed with 「Wake Up Your Heart」 （遊戯王デュエルモンスターズGX） and savage genius with 「Forever…」 （エレメンタルジェレイドＯＰ） and 「祈りの詩」 （Simoun ＥＤ）.　嘉陽愛子 Kayo Aiko was next with 「愛してね♥もっと」 （天上天下ＥＤ and one of my favourites） and 「瞳の中の迷宮」 （ヤミと帽子と本の旅人ＯＰ）. Yonekura Chisa then performed 「WILL」 （仙界伝封神演義ＯＰ） and her new offering 「青空とキミへ」.

The second medley headed up by 影山ヒロノブ Kageyama Hironobu with 福山芳樹 Fukuyama Yoshiki, きただにひろし Kitadani Hiroshi and 遠藤正明 Endo Masaaki. 「CHA-LA HEAD-CHA-LA」 (Dragon Ball Z), 「PLANET DANCE」 (Macross 7), 「We Are!」 （One Piece） and 「勇者王ガオガイガー」 (you guessed it, Gaogaigar) and 「SOLDIER DREAM」 (Saint Seiya).

Kageyama then introduced for the first time live, Okui Masami and Yonekura Chihiro unit, r.o.r/s as they performed 「Candy Lie」. Okui Masami continued with her set, 「SECOND IMPACT」, 「WILD SPICE」 (無敵看板娘OP) and 「zero-G-」 from RAY THE ANIMATION. It was great to see Okui Masami perform. She looked good and sang brilliantly. Definitely a high point of the night.

三枝夕夏 in db, U-ka saegusa in db, followed with 「君と約束した優しいあの場所まで」 (名探偵コナン） and 「Everybody Jump」 (格闘美神　武龍). 愛内里菜 Aiuchi Rina joined her for their duet of 「100もの扉」 （名探偵コナン）. Aiuchi Rina then rounded of her set with 「GLORIOUS」 (Another Century’s Episode 2) and 「MIRACLE」 (メルヘヴン) before ALI PROJECT made their dramatic entrance. ALI PROJECT started off with 「聖少女領域」 (Rozen Maiden Traumend) and finished with their Oricon Top 10 hit 「亡國覚醒カタルシス」 (.hack//Roots) making a similarly spectacular exit.

JAM Project then came blasting on to stage with 「GONG」 (第3次スーパーロボット大戦α) followed by 「牙狼~SAVIOR IN THE DARK」 (牙狼） and 「SKILL」 (第2次スーパーロボット大戦α).

石川智晶 Ishikawa Chiaki then took the stage with 「美しければそれでいい」 （シムーンＯＰ）. And then in another highlight of the night, Chiaki performed, one of my favourites of See-Saw, 「あんなに一緒だったのに」 from 機動戦士Gundam Seed.

Finally, with the longest entrance of the night, the artist no doubt most of the audience tonight had come to see, with the loudest of cheers from the crowd, 水樹奈々 Mizuki Nana arrived. She swung straight into 「Super Generation」 and followed with 「Innocent Starter」 (魔法少女リリカルなのは）. The Basilisk ending 「ヒメムラサキ」 was next and the night would not be complete without 「ETERNAL BLAZE」 (魔法少女リリカルなのはA’s). Nana’s performance was flawless and there’s little doubt why she gets top billing.

As tradition now, the last song of the night is the Animelo theme song. And this year, it is 「OUTRIDE」. All the artists gathered on the stage for finale of the night. Everyone is encouraged to sing as the lyrics are displayed on the big screen. With much cheering and whooping and plenty of emotion in the room (Hirano Aya was moved to tears), the concert ended. Leaving us with the teaser, “See you again on DVD”, it was a good night to be an anime fan.

More images at Mizuki Nana’s blog and Chihara Minori’s blog and of course the official site.

This entry was posted by sent on Tuesday, July 11th, 2006 at 01:54 and is filed under イベント, 平野綾, 後藤邑子, 栗林みな実, 水樹奈々, 茅原実里, 高橋直純. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.