seiyuu3

The difference between a good concert and a great concert is a number of factors.  The obvious ones would be the singer in question, the sound, the choice of music, costumes, while the less obvious would be things like the venue, the organisation and the crowd.  Chihara Minori’s birthday concert “Love Live 2006″ was, in all aspect, a great concert. 

Minorin’s live singing really was exceptional.  As sent has said in his post, her performance is nearly up there with Nana-chan and Yukarin, and she also seemed to do it with so little effort as well.  Being the only person on stage, with no band members nor dancers to rely on, Minorin manages to draw all my attention for the entire duration of the concert.  She taught us hand gestures, she led the calls and chantings, and she got all of us to sing with her for “La La La”, a song which she wrote all by herself.  There is no doubt she really enjoys it and this is reflected in the atmosphere of the concert.  One of the highlights of the concert was no doubt her solo performance of 「ハレ晴レユカイ」, where Minorin was singing as well as performing the complete version of the dance, and it was performed better than the same skit done at Animelo Summer with Hirano Aya and Goto Yuuko.  Also one of my favourite songs of hers ”Naked Heart” is perfect for the concert atmosphere and I really enjoyed listening to it in a live environment with an enthusiastic crowd.  Fans of Minorin were dedicated but not crazily overboard with their affection towards her, so even though the venue was small and packed, there wasn’t a moment where I felt unpleasant, and in the end it all adds to the overall atmosphere.

As for the announcement of her upcoming single, I guess I can say that my prayers had been answered.  Minorin really has a lot of potential and it would be sad to see her being sweeped aside because of all the focus on Hirano Aya in the media as of late.  Let’s hope that Minorin can make it big too as I would not hesitate to add her to my list of “must attend seiyuu concerts”.

You could say that my excitement for any particular seiyuu is pretty contained. It usually takes a live event, or in Aya’s case a semblance of a live event, to blow it wide open. Nana and Yukarin are both fantastic live performers and Yui is a special exception on my part. Which brings me to Minorin. While her CD makes for remarkably good listening that did not prepare me for what was in store today.

It’s been a while since seiyuu3 went to a live gig and maybe that added to the effect but it cannot be denied. Minorin is simply awesome, live.

Minorin’s Love Live 2006 birthday event was held at Ebisu Live Gate which can be only described as claustrophobic. 200 Minorin fans packed into this fire hazard making things very cozy. However, this did nothing to take away from the excellent performance witnessed tonight.

Minorin came out gunning with 「マリオネット」 and I was completely blown away in the first few seconds. Fans of hers would have known this for a while, but the album is not a fluke. She really is that good. Live. Her repetoire is still fairly limited so everything on the album was performed but there were still some songs that neither of us had heard before. Also some very welcome extras from Haruhiism like 「うぇるかむUNKNOWN」 and 「ハレ晴レユカイ」. Of course, she also performed her Nagato Yuki character songs 「雪、無音、窓辺にて。」 and 「SELECT?」 which were a total blast to hear live. And I just went nuts over 「魔女っ子メグちゃん」. As an encore, Minorin returned to the stage with her guitar Gou-kun and gave us an acoustic treat called 「La La La」 from her roadside performance days in Akiba. Yes, she can play the guitar too. Brilliant.

Minorin’s performance puts her at near Nana-level and if it weren’t for the big buzz around Aya we might all be talking about her instead. If there is one thing that is weak, it’s Minorin’s talk sections. They’re are a bit plain at the moment but that’s something she can work on.

After we had given her a birthday surprise by singing “Happy Birthday” (you should have seen her reaction) Minorin announced, somewhat tearily that she is releasing a new single on January 24, 2007. Called “Re-start” it looks like it’s going to be fairly trancey like some of her current fare. With Nana having sewn up the pop scene and branching out, and Aya bringing it rock-style, Minorin taking on trance should make it very interesting. It’s gonna be good all around.

Incidentally, maybe we’re getting better at noticing press but Minorin was certainly getting a lot of coverage for this event. Lookout for reports coming. And I’m sure houkoholic wants to say something on it too.

Awesome.

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.

Minorin is flavour of the month here at seiyuu3 and it comes to our delight to note that Chihara Minori will be holding a mini live and talk event in celebration of her birthday. Dubbed 「LOVE LIVE 2006～Minori Chihara Birthday～」 the event will be held at 「恵比寿LIVE GATE」 on November 18 which is Minorin’s actual birthday.

houkoholic has been encouraging me to listen to her album “HEROINE” for a while now and with good reason. There is a lot to like in there. 

Standing at nine tracks, one of which is a remix, it’s a fairly short album, however, a surprisingly good demonstration of her range and versatility. While her recent character songs as Nagato Yuki are noticeably improved, her performance in this album is by no means sub-standard. There’s a good mix of fast and slow tempo songs, some of which are very catchy like 「魔女っ子メグちゃん」 (it’s a cover) which has quickly become one of my favourites. This is definitely a recommended listen for those who want to get an idea of Minorin’s vocal range.

Capitalising on the massive Haruhiism earlier this year, Minorin has managed to ride that wave to new heights in her career. With her involvement in a project like 「らぶドル」 it’s clear where her management wants to take her.

We could be looking at one of the next big seiyuu idols.

Tickets go on sale on October 14. Time to camp out at Lawsons.

I have to admit, I’ve been on a bit of a Minorin-fever lately, so when I caught news about this event on 茅原実里’s official homepage, I was hoping that I can still make the cutoff limit of the first 100 person to pre-order the　「Ｌｏｖｅｌｙ　Ｉｄｏｌ　Prologue DVD」 at とらのあな秋葉原本店, and both sent and I were lucky enough to make the cut.

To be honest, I have no idea about the show nor was I particularly interested in it, except for the fact that it stars a fairly impressive cast and that it’s got something to do with idols.  But to us seiyuu fans, these points are not important, so there I was, at an event related to a show which I had no idea of, just for the seiyuu. 

As the event begins, the MC of the event, also a producer from Avex, introduced Minorin, whom was wearing a black short-sleeve shirt with a white dress today (photos at her blog) which presented her in quite a different style compared to last week’s event, but no less attractive.  However that was not all, as there was a surprise today, 酒井香奈子 (Sakai Kanako), probably most known for her leading role in ＲＥＣ, joined as special guest for the event.  A pleasant surprise for the fans indeed. 

The event itself was pretty ordinary like most events of these types - which consists of talks about the show, and then the goods were handed out.  The present for today’s event was a らぶドル trading card signed by Minorin herself which she hands out to the attendee personally.  Besides the trading card, as a bonus, the people whom attended this event also has a chance to draw a ticket from a box for a chance to go to the らぶドル premiere event on the 24th September, and this was Sakai Kanako’s job for the day.  The flow was first draw ticket with Sakai Kanako, then receive trading card from Minorin, during which the attendee also has roughly a minute worth of time to talk with each seiyuu.  

For me personally, the highlights of these events are always when I meet the seiyuu face-to-face and the challenage of trying to say something meaningful to them.  Talking to Minorin was relatively easy as I already had something in mind when coming to this event - the signing event last week and her upcoming birthday event in November - talking to Sakai Kanako though was a different matter.  It was a good thing that I’ve seen REC hence I could strike up a compliment on her job in the show.  Nevertheless, I do feel sorry for Sakai Kanako when some people whom were obviously not interested in her and never expected her to appear would just stand there in silences waiting for their turn to talk to Minorin. 

Next up on the Minorin-event calender is らぶドル premiere event.  Apparently there would be a mini-live there so I’m looking forward to hear some live performances there.

*UPDATE* アキバBlog has a report on this event.  Visit for photo goodness.

A little late in posting, but here it is, the Chihara Minori signing event at Magmani Chiba.

It was a long trip for a short signing event, with the actual climax of the event only lasted about a minute or so, but as always, attending nicely organised events are fun and it was worth it.

I arrived at the store at about 3:15pm, and the staff directed the crowd to line-up outside the store at 3:30pm.  While in line, we were given pens and asked by the staff to write our name in hiragana on the back of our tickets, as Minorin will be signing our names on the board as well.  Seeing how that I’m not Japanese, and that foreigners always write their name in katakana, I wrote my name down in katakana first, and then in hiragana just for good measure.  Just a little before 4pm we were led to the back of the store to the small space where a simple rectangular table was setup with a big stack of signing boards.  They were playing the Nagato Yuki image songs in the background, and has a banner hanging from the ceiling.  There’s no mistake about this being a Minorin event.

When the clock stirked 4pm Minorin came out.  She was wearing a blue yukata, the same one which she wore for a shooting of a previous issue of Voice Newtype.  I always have a soft spot for yukata and kimono so I was doubly excited to see Minorin coming out wearing a yukata.  You can see some more pictures of Minorin in her yukata in her own blog entry here.  After some brief talk about her choice of wearing the yukata and thanking the organisers and the fans, the signing begins.

I was the 5th person to go get my sign board.  During the signing, the attendees were allowed to talk to Minorin (no handshakes though, boo!) for a good minute or so.  When it was my turn, sure enough, Minorin  was a little surprised when she read my name and said it would be better to write my name in katakana.  I didn’t push my foreigner angle in the conversation however, instead I told her that I bought her first album and asked whether she has any plans to release a second personal album, in which she replied that although she would like to, there are currently no definite plans for one.  She then handed me the sign board and that was basically the end of the event. 

Not a particularly fancy event, but it’s always a new experience to meet and talk to seiyuu in person. 

Although not getting nearly a quarter as much attention and promotion as Hirano Aya (平野綾) despite the popularity of Nagato Yuki, Chihara Minori (茅原実里) isn’t just going to sit there and not captialise on the current biggest anime craze that is Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu (涼宮ハルヒの憂鬱). So on the 2nd of September, Minorin is going to hold a signing event at Magmani’s Chiba store (マグマニ千葉店). The event is limited to the first 100 people whom had purchased more than 2000yen worth of Minorin-related goods such as CDs or anime DVDs.

Due to the Haruhi-influence, not so long ago I began back-tracking the works of Minorin - her first album “Heroine” and her blog book “minorythum”. Personally I do feel that she has potential, as both her writing and singing were of fairly good quality, morever, I do think that Minorin is quite moe, therefore I wasn’t going to pass on this event. Watch this space for a report next week.

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!