Animax Musix Fall 2011

Held on the 23rd of November 2011, Animax had their 6th Animax Musix concert at the Yokohama Arena. Featured artistes includes

• - May'n
• - KOTOKO
• - Nakagawa Shoko
• - Angela
• - GRANDRODEO
• - Kalafina
• - Kita Shuhei
• - Minori Chihara
• - Faylan
• - Kawano Marina
• - Himeka
• - The Sketchbook
• - RAMM featuring Ayami
• - SEA*A
• - Sasaki Sayaka

Animax Musix Official Site: http://musix.animax.co.jp/index.html

And guess what? I was given the great privilege to be there! All thanks to Animax and Last Exile: Fam, the silver wing!

We were put up at the Shin Yokohama Prince Hotel which is a 4 star hotel just a stone's throw away from the arena.

This is the view from our hotel room. Yes, we were that close haha. It was only 11:20 am but there were already a lot of concert attendees waiting to go in!

I'm not much of a concert person so my opinions might not be the most comprehensive. But the whole concert attending ettiquette and culture in Japan is so different from Singapore! Firstly, they come wayyyy early and they buy all the merchandise they can, regardless of the price! And we're talking about a face towel going for like 2500yen!

I guess because Japan is a relatively big country, going from one state to another is a time & money consuming activity. Thus making the whole experience more treasure worthy and worthy of spending to have a memory of it.

Speaking of mementos, check out the awesome photo book Animax gave us :D!

Here's a picture of my Animax Musix loot. Sadly, because we were such concert noobs and didn't understand much Japanese, we missed the chance to buy any merchandise =\ By the time we went out after the end of the concert, everything was already gone!

The plastic fan was a freebie while the 4 metallic ring thingy at the top were confetti that were blown down at the final stage. The thousands of metallic paper rings that glided down slowly was such a grand sight!

The vibe and excitement of the attendee was evident and contagious even at 11am. It was like a tiny matsuri with people queuing for merchandise and food xD

Check out the amount of people standing around xD The people at the far end are queuing for merchandise!

Lucky for us, we were allowed to skip the queue and went in straight with our Guest Pass. Then we did a short interview with Animax Japan. Hope I didn't say anything too stupid >o<

Sadly, as with all Japanese Concert etiquette, no photography was allowed so you guys will have to read words. The hall itself was huge and according to this page, there was 12,000 fans there that day! THE PASSION!!

Shokotan kick-started the concert with 3 solo songs and a lot of crowd interaction. I admit, I was never a fan. But after this experience, I concurred that this girl really has the voice and deserves her place. Not to mention she is super cute too >.<!

Because I have a goldfish memory and the lack of photography really takes the beef away so I'm going to jump to parts of the concert that left a deeper impression on me.

Angela were so cool! Zeph was especially excited to see Katsu san and loved his white costume to bits. Angela performed 2 solo songs with "Shangri-La" as the first. For the last song, they made all the fans dance with their towel and of course, everyone with a towel did. Then they announced that this was their last song which got whining replies from the crowd. But as it turns out, they trolled us! It was a 6 hour concert (OMG) and they came back on stage again! Collaborating with Minori Chihara and doing orchestra versions of their song.

Katsu-san was hilarious too! At the end of the concert, when everyone came on stage for the final thank you and photo taking. Atsuko somehow coerced him into doing something weird. Then he got pushed to the front most part of the stage alone and started getting the audience to do some sort of saluting hand action/signal  plus cheering thing xD And of course, the whole Arena did it. Wish I knew what he was saying T_T

When it ended, he frantically ran back to where Atsuko (Along with the other stars) were standing. But not before he went down on his knees and stuck his face to the floor in front of them xD Apologetic much XD?

We were seated at the first row of B1 and it was a really good spot because many of singers would come out from the left and walk directly IN FRONT of us to get to the stage! Angela, May’n, Minoru Chihara and Marina Kawano all walked this path

I wished I knew more anime songs though, many of the awesome anime song didn't register in my brain so i felt a little bored when songs I didn't know were sang.

A very interesting segment of the concert was the “Fans selection” where they got fans to submit request for songs and artiste they want to see perform. Some of the fans selection song includes 'Joint' from Shakugan no Shana, 'Butterfly' from Digimon, ‘Anata Dake Mitsumete’ru’ from Slam Dunk, 'Sobakasu' from Rurouni Kenshin, 'Purachina' from Cardcaptor Sakura and "Nowhere" from MADLAX . Mannny more were sung but I can't remember ToT

In all honesty, we were so blown away by all the artist! Hearing them live was so different OoO! I've always thought they sounded great on cds but hearing it life.. was so powerful! Everyone's voices came across so strongly (with the exception for ayami =x) and effortlessly.

We were so excited to see KOTOKO and Angela on the list. And when interviewed by Animax Japan, we individually mentioned that we want to hear Angela sing 'Shangri-La' and KOTOKO sing ' Light my Fire'.

I was really psyched up about hearing KOTOKO. I've always liked her songs but her recent work for Shana Final's Op song made her my top artiste among the bunch. I was so afraid the song wasn't included but turns out, it was her final song and I can see why. The stage effect for this song was SO AWESOME!!!!! They created matching background screen animation and lightings and made the stage spit out FLAMES!!

Like. REAL. FIREEEEEE!!!!!!

OH MY GAWDDDDDD!!!! How cool is that?!!!! And I got another shot of orgasm when they played the Anime opening animation in the middle of the song. It was so cool T___T

I jumped like nobody’s business along with the entire arena (everyone's so high!) and waved my pathetically dying light stick frantically.

May'n being the main star came out for a single song somewhere in the middle and then came out again as the final singer,doing a medley of songs. Surprisingly, the only Macross Frontier song she sang was 'Universal Bunny'.

All in all, it was a wonderful 6 hours. (Yes, 6 hours O_O) We had thought it would be a crappy make shift concert but it surpassed our expectation and left us, along with the entire arena, feeling extremely excited. After the concert ended, many fans including ourselves, lingered around the entrance for merchandise (they disappeared almost immediately) and took pictures of the auction items the artistes donated for the Tohoku Pacific Quake victims.

If you’re interested to bid or take a look at the items auctioning, click here.

Animax has definitely organised an overwhelmingly successful music event exclusively for Anime fans. At the price of 8500 yen, the concert is a steal for so many artistes and full 6 hours of entertainment! Any Anime fans going to Japan next year, remember to keep a look out for Animax Musix !

And don’t feel left out (even though you really should =x) for missing this. Because Animax will be screening this concert in 3 parts coming next february on236 Ch! Hey, maybe you guys will spot me and my light stick xD !

I had so much fun that day and it’s all thanks to the awesome Animax for giving me the chance to be there!

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Video Games Award 2010 on Animax

The Spike Video Game Awards (VGA) is an award show hosted by Spike TV that recognizes the best computer and video games of the year. Beginning in 2003, the Spike TV Video Game Awards garnered much attention, since video game awards were not common prior to its introduction. The VGAs feature live music performances and appearances by popular performers in music, movies, and television. Additionally, preview trailers for upcoming games are highlighted. The show is produced by GameTrailers TV's Geoff Keighley. The event has been held at various locations in Los Angeles and Santa Monica, California as well as Las Vegas, Nevada.

The 2010 VGAs were the world's biggest global gaming event broadcasted in over 175 territories worldwide.

A week or so ago, I received an invitation from the ever gracious Animax, to a preview of the Video Games Award 2010. Now, personally I am not a gamer but I thought, oh well, I’ll try watching it anyway. And boy was I pleasantly surprised =)!

To give you guys a bit of prelude to the entry, in the coming Sunday 23rd January, Animax Asia will be airing the Video Game Award 2010 at 7:10pm on Skycable Ch46. And a selected group of fans/bloggers have been invited to preview it online.

 
When you see a host holding a chicken like this, you know you just gotta watch on 

The show this year was hosted by Neil Patrick Harris, an actor and voice talent. Other celebrities that appeared included names like cast members of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Danny Devito, Kaitlin Olson, Rob McElhenney, Academy Award Nominated Director Guillermo Del Toro, Halo: Reach star and VGA Nominee Nathan Fillion,  Thor: God of Thunder star Chris Hemsworth, Olivia Munn, AnnaLynne McCord, and Tony Hawk.

Also featured musical performances by winning violinist Diana Yukawa, My Chemical Romance and José González.

I swear I was sincerely afraid her dress would slip……………...and I would miss that epic moment =X

For a die-hard gamer, the highlight of the show would have to be the official announcement of numerous big game titles and new games previews. I’m not going to list them out and spoil the fun , though if you’re itching to know, you can try searching.  For the list of nominated game titles, pop over to Animax’s VGA microsite.

 

The highlight of the show for a non gamer like myself would have to be the awesome game trailers shown. Pop over to Animax’s Microsite to view the nominees trailers.

 

I would also have to admit that I am very impressed by the organiser’s dedication to details. And for producing a show that is interesting, even to a non gamer. The stage props, usage of LED lights and Augmented Reality was really quite a first for me! I felt like I was right in the game itself!

Like seriously, dude, check out the smokes and glistering gold buddha!

    

Check out the floating screens on the foregrounds! Those are augmented reality and will only appear to the home audience. Guess this is the only time we on the couch can shout “SUCKS TO BE JOO!!!!” at the live audiences xDD!

And with people like Dane Cook around, I guess you can expect a lot of crack xD

 

Probably the best part of the whole award was the exclusive animation  for the “Character of the Year”. If a non-gamer like myself find the Out-of-character (or maybe, more “out of situation”) footage funny, I’m sure the fans will be even more thrilled.

The show is also interesting for its random jokes, gamers are really quite crazy humorous you know =).

So remember to catch the SouthEast Asia broadcast of the Video Games Award 2010 on Animax, 23rd January, 7:10pm! Just remember, don’t watch it with minors, the show isn’t exactly safe for work/kids/family ^_^;;

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