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(很久沒寫中文文章)

不久之前King社的某高層曾說過要加強旗下的動畫和聲優音樂發展, 但是當全世界的音樂商都在頭痛CD銷量下滑的情況下, 為甚麼ACG界反而強調這一方面的發展呢? 當然和御宅族的忠誠習性有莫大關係, 近期ACG系的CD銷量直線上昇, 更有直逼主流音樂CD的銷量的趨勢. 成本遠比動畫製作甚至主流音樂低而利潤又高的動畫CD業在商人眼中當然不能夠放過. 而現在ACG界中的兩大頭音樂社King Records和Lantis雖然現在各有強項, 但很明顯它們想達到的目標卻是一樣的, 在說明這個目標是什麼前, 現在先說一說兩間公司的現狀吧.

首先說King, 為了方便把子公司Starchild也連在一起說吧. King現在可是很令他社羨慕的公司, 無他, 現在銷量最好的ACG歌手大多都是它旗下的藝人 - 堀江由衣, 水樹奈々, 還有最近正式歸屬的田村ゆかり, 三名都是現在僅有可以多憑自己名氣少靠tie-up作品品質而有資格入Oricon週間十大的聲優歌手. 雖然現況甚好但是對於King來說它的未來發展就沒有那麼樂觀, 原因就是King其他的ACG音樂商機卻是不太理想. 除了靠King本身有份投資的動畫作品而用自己旗下的聲優歌手作出tie-up的做法外, 很少會有作品會來跟King要用它旗下的歌手來負責音樂. 其次就是上述的三大天后的”嘗味期限”雖然還不能夠說近, 但是在King多番努力下現在還後接無人的情況下前景實在是大大的不太妙. 不能永遠只靠三位聲優歌手而且動畫音樂也沒甚麼看頭的King當然就想加強旗下的陣容了. 雖然嘴上這樣說但King的進展還是慢得可以(日本人特性?), 到最近都還沒有什麼實質的新動作. 除了還是玩那組聲優樂隊那老把戲試金石和開始大力推捧還甚有發展力的田村ゆかり外, 不久前竟然還要出到把老手林原大姐再請出來灌了大碟這一著. 長遠發展暫時並不樂觀.

另一方面Lantis可以說是正相反. 現在隨便看一套動畫都差不多可以看到Lantis是音樂方面的贊助, 而且它旗下還不缺乏一群雖然不能夠像三天后那樣輝煌但還有一定銷量保證的歌手例如JAM Project, CooRie, 粟林みな実等, 但對Lantis來說它發售的CD中銷量最好的往往是要靠超人氣作品帶動的. 只要拿涼宮與因這套作品紅得發紫的平野綾個人單曲”明日のプリズム”比較一下就知道, Lantis現在旗下的歌手在個人程度來說是大多都沒有足夠的號召力. 每次都要擔懮作品有沒有可能可以達到像涼宮或最近的らき☆すた那種驚人的人氣程度才有銷量保證的話對公司來說當然也不是辦法, 所以Lantis便積極地簽了一群聲優歌手來加強實力. 雖然手上已經有了平野綾這一未來大將, 但是其實現在的平野綾靠的還是演出作品的間接人氣. 平野綾雖然有一定的潛質, 而且Lantis很明顯是看到”God Knows…”等的表現和她的衣著性格而想將平野綾培養成一個靠搖滾歌的小rock后, 可是平野綾本身在音樂上的表現還沒有足夠的實力, 個人風格和演出經驗(特別是live)可以和King的三大天后周旋 - 歌唱力不及水樹奈々, 風格變化不及田村ゆかり, 暫時也沒有由衣的招牌糖衣歌. 加上沒有可能只靠一個人來支撐場面, 所以Lantis還簽下另一位同是涼宮出品的聲優歌手 - 茅原実里. 如果說平野綾是偏向堀江由衣那種賣特定音樂形像的聲優歌手, 那茅原実里就是走水樹奈々那樣的正統實力派. 只要一聽和看茅原実里最近的作品”君がくれたあの日”就已經一目了然公司要她走的方向了, 實在是有向水樹奈々的名曲”Eternal Blaze”作出宣戰的模樣. 加上茅原実里本身的音樂造詣不低, 還有不能小看的live實力(她今年可以出席Animelo已經是一個很好的證明, 不能唱live的人去Animelo簡直是自討苦吃), 她已經成為了Lantis主力力捧的另一對象. 最後擔當和田村ゆかり對台的好可能就是SOS團最後的團員 - 後藤邑子. 她的新作單曲已經宣佈會在八月發售.

為什麼King和Lantis都這麼積極地加強聲優和歌手的陣容呢? 答案就是想做到”一手包辦”這個目的. 要知道現今日本動畫界”製作委員會”制度是異常的複雜和麻煩, 但當音樂公司可以一手包辦主題曲和聲優唱的character song的製作的話, 一來可以減少委員的數目而不必把收入分薄, 而音樂公司自身在業界的地位和收入也相對地提高, 是一石二鳥的發展計劃. 所以兩公司才會有這樣的發展方針. 至於它們會不會成功, 我們便放長雙眼來看吧.

A Haruhi live event is scheduled for March 18th.

Chaos ensures. 

Ok first let’s get the ugly bits out of the way - the first episode of Lovely Idol is terrible.  In brief, Lovely Idol is apparently a long running franchise where they had various “generations” of idols, and the anime is going to focus on the newest groups - the third generation, detailing on how these young talents are going to make themselves worthy of the Lovely Idol name.  The alarms went off as soon as I noticed that they reused an entire 10 second of animation sequence in the opening animation, and here I thought that opening animations were supposed to make people want to watch the show.  Pulling a Gundam Seed Destiny on us in less than 90 seconds has to be a record.  The show itself is uninspiring and it screams of a low budget bishoujo anime trying to capitalise on the diehard fanbase, and I don’t even want to get into the obligatory little sister character who has too much affection towards her older brother. 

While the first episode was cringe-inducing except for the impressive acapella performance by the character (of whom I’ve forgotten the name) played by Nogawa Sakura 野川さくら, the remaining of the event was entirely entertaining.   Besides the aforementioned Nogawa Sakura, the other seiyuu guests consisted of Nakahara Mai 中原麻衣, Momoi Haruko　桃井はるこ, Goto Yuko　後藤邑子, Chihara Minori 茅原実里 and Sakai Kanako 酒井香奈子. 

During the two talk sessions, as Nogawa Sakura, Nakahara Mai and Momoi Haruko were no strangers to events, thus they were all capable of handling what were thrown at them.  Chihara Minori seems to be settling more comfortably now and was able to stir up the atmosphere and get some reactions from the audience.  She also make some fairly interesting and non-stock answers to questions.   

The surprise for the day definitely goes to Goto Yuko.  Her witty comments and numerous good comebacks on comments made by the MC shows an entirely different image to her many on-screen avatars. 

On the other hand, Sakai Kanako’s lack of experience and her young age really showed through.  Stumbling on a few conversation topics and made a real blunder when she failed to properly read one of the ward names in Tokyo during the prize draw.  

Besides the usual talks, there were also live performances.  Nogawa Sakura skillfully handles the opening theme song by herself, and the very idolish ending theme, complete with equally idol-style dance moves, were performed by the entire cast.  Chihara Minori’s gunshot hand gesture was particularly cute, overloading the many, and very loud, Minorin fans with her moe-ness.

* Warning - the following are purely personal opinions based on what I saw on the day, so take it with a big grain of salt.

While during the talks the cast themselves insisted in their bondings during the recordings and puts up as much of a joyful mood in the event as possible, at the end of the event sent pointed out that somehow they didn’t seem to fit together.  I made the observation that it was more like a 2:1:3 formation.  The 2 being Nogawa Sakura and Nakahara Mai, 1 being Momoi Haruko, and 3 being Goto Yuko, Chihara Minori and Sakai Kanako.  Momoi Haruko didn’t seem to fit in at all and she did not once chat with the other seiyuu on stage nor follow up on any conversations.  Nogawa Sakura and Nakahara Mai were quite comfortable following up to each other, most probably thanks to them having worked together before.  The remaining trio seems to have Minorin in the centre, with her having worked closely with Goto Yuko in Haruhi, and that she’s co-hosting a Lovely Idol radio program with Sakai Kanako.  On top of that, Sakai Kanako also co-host a radio program with Nogawa Sakura and they seem to have a kohai/sempai relationship going on there.  Remember that Kanako blunder I mentioned?  While everyone else gave Kanako a little teasing laughter for her lack of knowledge, Nogawa Sakura was the only one who had her face all straight disapproving.  Also I can’t help but think that Nogawa Sakura wasn’t particularly happy that day with Minorin’s fans making up the majority of the attendees and Minorin having the loudest cheers.  It’s probably just me imagining things, but it sure made good conversation topic on the way home.

In a 50/50 split on veterans (Nogawa Sakura, Nakahara Mai, Momoi Haruko) and up-rising stars (Goto Yuko, Chihara Minori, Sakai Kanako), watching them in this event it strikes me as almost ironic to have such a cast in a show where it’s about uprising idols wanting to walk out from the shadows of their predecessors in the idol industry, as the cast seems to be themselves a reflection of the story they’re playing.  If it’s up to me, I would just forgo the anime altogether and let the seiyuus themselves play it out. 

THAT, I would pay to watch.

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.

續上年初次舉行而大獲好評, 今年再一次由奧井雅美的帶領下集合了一群歌唱實力高超的動畫歌手和聲優歌手來舉行的第二次Animelo Summer 2006 -Outride- 終於於上星期六在日本武道館留下了歷史性的一頁. 在這一天, 一萬名的觀眾欣賞了這個長達四小時一共演釋了四十首歌的演唱會.

雖然說我個人最在意的當然是奈奈, 但不代表我不喜歡其他的歌手. 有出席去年的Animelo的我知道有JAM Project出場就已經是一個保證, 其次還有栗林みな実和石田燿子, 甚至雖然我對男聲優沒太大興趣但又無可否認是相當出色的聲優歌手高橋直純等的演出者在同一個演唱會中出現, 這個演唱會簡直可以說是超值. 加上今年還有在最後才發表的特別家賓 - 平野綾, 茅原実里, 後藤邑子所組成的S.O.S.團, 未看也知道熱鬧非常 - 而我的期望也沒有落空.

今年最滿意的改變首先要選栗林みな実的選曲. 去年因為選了的歌比較小眾, 很多人聽著都燃燒不起來令氣氛大打折扣. 但今年終於都選了首本名曲”Rumbling Hearts”和舞乙:HiMe的兩首OP這些熱門曲, 實在是很明智的選擇.

其次, 奈奈今年也被看重, 再一次被編排到最後才演出, 而且還是唯一一位表演多達四首歌的出演者. 一共唱了”Super Generation”, “innocent starter”, “ヒメムラサキ”和”Eternal Blaze”的奈奈不負眾望最後把氣氛推上最高潮, 足夠證明奈奈的人氣和實力.

最後, 最具話題性的S.O.S.團當然也是仍合眾fans的期望表演了”ハレ晴レユカイ”和其全程的舞步. 對S.O.S團這個表演環節唯一有不滿的是全程舞步動作過於花巧和大, 有幾個地方和歌不太合得來. 還有可能動作太大的關係, S.O.S.團的表演不是現場唱而是播碟的, 不過看在她們最後才趕緊地被邀請和據她們自己說根本連一起採排的時間都沒有的份上就原諒她們吧. 反正也真的看得很開心. (笑)

最後, 奈奈, 茅原実里和後藤邑子都有在她們的個人blog上談這個演唱會.

水樹奈奈的blog 奈奈的衣裝很美 *o*

茅原実里的blog 有說到她自己和平野綾都哭了 (平野綾哭我有看到) [小聲: 最近覺得茅原実里也很萌 (逃)]

後藤邑子的blog 寫的都是比較輕鬆有趣的感想 (被人懷疑會跳不動 XD)

And it will be out on DVD!

平野綾 Hirano Aya, has been impressing me in all sorts of ways since the beginning of the phenomenon that is 涼宮ハルヒの憂鬱, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. However, it wasn’t until after watching Episode 12 that I was really blown away by her vocal ability. The short is, Hirano Aya rocks!

A feature of Episode 12 is a short live session during a school festival where Haruhi and Yuki fill in for two injured band members for ENOZ (a parody of ZONE). This short encapsulated section was a great way to slip in two insert songs which will no doubt become hits for Hirano Aya. The band plays two songs with Haruhi on vocal and Yuki on lead guitar. The first song 「God knows…」 is an instant hit. Aya’s vocal talent is just perfect for this brand of J-rock. This fact is further exemplified in the second song 「Lost my music」.

To top it off, the animation and synchronisation in this scene is second to none. This is Kyoto Animation at it’s best rivalling their own high quality 30 frame-per-second ending animation of Hare Hare Yukai.

With the news that Aya along with Goto Yuko and Chihara Minori appearing at Animelo, I can only get excited with the hope that I’ll be able to hear Aya perform those two songs live as well as, of course, 「ハレ晴レユカイ」. In the meantime, I’ll have to be content with the CD 「涼宮ハルヒの詰合」 「Suzumiya Haruhi no Tsumeawase」which is out as of today, June 21. As a bonus you also get 「恋のミクル伝説」 「Koi no Mikuru Densetsu」by Goto Yuko. Get!

A surprise announcement was made on the official hompage yesterday that Hirano Aya, Chihara Minori and Goto Yuko will be attending this year’s Animelo Summer 2006.  Chihara Minori also blogged about this in her official homepage and blog “minorhythm“.  Of course they will be performing nothing else but the ending theme song 「ハレ晴レユカイ」 (Hare Hare Yukai), and they’ll be singing’n dancing to this amazingly catchy tune, live.   

Words cannot describe my excitment to hear this piece of news.  3 weeks to the concert and counting!

(this must be a week of Oricon ranking posts XD)

So what happens when a bunch of otakus decides to influence the Oricon charts? Well you get something like this:

A bunch of loyal followers of Haruhiism decides to get together and flex their muscles to show how much influence they can make. Via simple actions such as constructing a webpage (sadly the webpage has now been taken down) and posting on the infamous Japanese BBS 2ch, they managed to spike the sales of the Haruhi ED theme single “ハレ晴レユカイ” (Hare Hare Yukai) - performed by seiyuu Hirano Aya, Chihara Minori and Goto Yuko - to an astonishing 34,881 copies in a week and ranked it into 5th place on the singles weekly chart. Taking into consideration such as older weekly sales numbers and that the fact on the same week you have mainstream big artists Orange Range releasing their new single, it would not be too much of a stretch to say that this kind of sales number would have placed this single it on the top 3 if it was released on any other slower week.

The power of the otaku is not to be under-estimated.