Animelo Summer Live 2017

UlasanAnime.com – Today is September 12, as I write this, and I have finally fully physically recovered from my Anisama trip. And that is not counting some lingering bronchitis-type symptoms that could take up to 2 months to clear up. Sup, I am getting old, is what.

To be fair, going to Japan for 3-4 days and concert it up in the humidity and heat does take a lot out of you. I think the kids who run and mosh with their crazy jumps at the outdoor stage are something. This is not an activity that I can recommend middle-aged Americans who are not in their best physical shapes to do; namely, try not to go all out at idols and spent 6 hours going out some more at various anison and seiyuu singers. Not even counting the in-between time, which invariably means you’ll be walking around a bit, even if lounging back.

That said, Anisama is the Comiket of Japanese eventing, and it’s worse in terms of stamina in a way. My conviction grows stronger now on my second trip that this is both a festival and a trial. This time around the lineup is way more powerful than last year, and they pulled some items off my bucket list, such as You & Me duet between Motsu and Yukarin, and seeing the SOS-dan get back together. I don’t even think I had that latter act on my list because I did not expected it to be possible.

There were many crazy things at this year’s Anisama besides those, and not even counting the outdoor stage. I think they toned down the outdoor stage a bit this year, last year was pretty crazy so they tried to make it so it’s less intense. I did participate part of day 1’s outdoor stage, mainly for the Run Girls, Run stage and part of the karaoke portion before that. It was fun, but the place was possibly the hottest place in Saitama, as I was burning up in the crowd. Thankfully we retreated with some WUGners after the short, mini-stage event, and sat down inside a sushi restaurant to recover fluids.

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— ??????????? (@animatetimes) August 26, 2017

Day 2 I slept in, so no outdoor stage. Day 3 I went to buppan, more or less successfully, but I ended up going to watch the Ilya movie at the movie theater across the station, and in the process missed most of the outdoor stage. I caught a glimpse of AOP while in line I guess.

Anyways, the okazu is delicious but entirely optional, should you choose to spend your youth doing something slightly less draining. I think doing the main course alone is a physically challenging ordeal that is not only well worth it, but adds to the experience. The drawback is just that you need to know your own pace and limits, and cut back where needed.

I guess I can walk the performer or set list. You can read it here (link probably will only live until next year’s site going up).

Day 1

I had godly seats. Third row, 6th from the catwalk on the left (A4). That made this day great but I wished I had this seat for day 2…

01 Hare Hare Yukai – OMG WHAT IS THIS I DON’T EVEN… I then realize it’s FRIGGIN GOTOU YUKO OMG OMG GOTOUZASAMA. I was excited enough about the performers, the song is almost like an afterthought if I didn’t furicope to it more or less the whole time.

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— ?????????? (@axlone_staff) August 26, 2017

I was hyped.

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02 Yokoso Japari Park e – They were dropping hints on this all weekend. I didn’t get hype about Kemono Friends, but it was nice to see it definitely left a mark at Anisama, quite visibly so. The preview clip they show before the concert is on YT. Seeing the seiyuu in person was nice but there were a ton of them. Highlights were hearing the ietaigas during the bridge, and Oshima singing that one line (a surprise collab by the way).

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— ??????????????? (@kemo_project) August 25, 2017

03, 04 ClariS – It was probably a bucket list item to see them perform Madoka OP, but this is the new ClariS, so I was not as excited. It was interesting to see that Clara definitely is different than the new girl just by the body language during the performance. Well, not much to say besides they are pretty okay live and I dig the songs.

05, 06 Pyxis – OH BOY. I like them, but not so much as musicians and more as idols and performers? I think FLAWLESS is really solid and I’d watch that again. Platina is a nice cover but it does little for me, LOL.

07 You & I – I dig Knights & Magic, and I dig Hasshi’s anison repertoire, so this was something I looked forward to this year. As usual Princess Ohashi is that HoriPro Bot I’ve learned to love because she is so cute!

08 Wagamama Mirror Heart – I didn’t watch Masamune-kun’s revenge beyond ep1 so I can’t into the song, even if it’s something I’ve heard now and then. Hasshi felt a lot more at home with this song.

09, 10 Machico – I sat with Garb all three days at Anisama, and as American(?) Machico TO he had some stake in this. Good thing I also love the two songs she did in this set, I mean who doesn’t love Konosuba…LOL. As usual she takes an aggressive outfit and wear it like Superman.

11, 12 TRUE – Both songs are really good, and I think she nailed them. I just don’t have anything for Butterfly Effector, but who doesn’t like Eupho?

13 DreamRiser – Combining Minami and True to tribute to Chochou is a little weird? Why don’t we just have Chochou at Anisama? It’s a great song though.

14 , 15 Minami – She did a long MC again, and her outfit this year is throttled back some. As usual her vocals are tops and I am watching Classroom of the Elite, so I came away with something. ZERO!! is a good song too, but I don’t hear it much to remember it well.

16 Kimi Janakya Dame Mitai – Oshima sings this one from way back. I didn’t watch Nozaki-kun so don’t remember this one, but my body does? The song comes on and I find myself knowing how the song goes? It’s a weird experience I guess. It’s catchy as hell and the call and response adds a layer to this song.

17 GO EXCEED!! – YES DIA NO ACE themes!! Every frigging time when TOM-H@CK performs I wanted this, and oddly enough I think this is just the second time I’ve heard one of these (Glory from Mimo was the first…). I enjoyed it a ton. Makes sense since Oshima did a solo, so Tom gets his turn. Even more so was when Pyxis showed up in Seido manager girls outfits and threw/batted signed balls at us. God-tier seat meant I even had shots at grabbing one. It’s weird, in that I never knew Pyxis in Seido outfits were something I was missing in my life until then.

Go EXCEED!!??????????????Pyxis?#anisama #OxT pic.twitter.com/LSYu7AtFXq

— ?????????????? (@Masayoshi_Oishi) August 26, 2017

18 Balalaika – OxT and Yukarin did a colab with this song. I don’t have the context. But my brain kind of melted at this. Was this a niconico meme thing? Was this just something from some anime I didn’t know about? I don’t know. Why OxT and Yukarin? Lots of questions and no answers. Fun, I guess.

19, 20, 21 Suzuki Konomi – Yeah she can close out the first half any time. This Game, Blow out, This game… well, that was a misdirection, which is something I experienced last year too for Koroazu… I think overall Konomin knows where she’s at and so does the rest of us. It’s nice to get the Chaos;Child OP, something I didn’t get before.

Before I forget, during intermission and before the show, they showed various ads on screen. What I found notable were the seiyuu radio programs doing clips, and these were specific for Anisama. A lot of the A&G ones for example. It was nice to see some familiar faces there! I guess most of them were also participating at Anisama…

22, 23 ROSELIA – I got a bit of head banging going but the music just doesn’t quite have enough lift? It’s like 90% gauge full before we get fever time, so to speak. The girls had forms of metal bands, but the music is kind of there? Not quite? It was good, and I would happily rep them, but they need to level up a bit. That’s not to say about the whole “woah Kudoharu is head banging to this” or “woah Endo is head banging to that” or “woah Megu you go girl” factors.

24, 25 Nishizawa Shiena – Lisa with a guitar? I am not very familiar with her, but I’ve seen her live last year and I didn’t quite get it besides that she has solid rock type music going for her. This year her sets are better than last, so I might look her up musically at least.

26 Sorairo Days – Shiena and Konomin WITH GUITARS wow this is guitar battle between top kek vocals. Seeing Konomin shred to Sorairo Days bridge was worth the price of admission alone. Possibly my favorite of the day.

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— ?????@?? (@Suzuki_Konomin) August 25, 2017

27, 28 – Hayami Saori’s special acoustic version of Installation was really good, except I still don’t think much of the song. Yumehate no Made was a little bit more to my liking. Still think she’s wasting her skills and talents on this.

29 Himitsu no tobira kara ai ni kite – This song is great. I remember hearing it at my first Yukarin live lol. Trying to remember the calls was an effort but I was just having a blast. The Oukokumins were out in force that day and the arena gained new energy levels that was missing so far in the second half.

30 You & Me – OK, so for people unaware, this was an Anisama special that people were looking for. Needless to say it’s on my bucket list, but also for a number of others. The day leading up to Anisama day 1 Motsu has been tweeting and posting to IG about his biking trip to Kyoto, so people thought he wasn’t going to make it to SSA on Friday. Well, you know how it went. When the music came on people were like ??!! and they didn’t waste any time sending him out there. The rest was just hype. If anything Motsu was relying on the crowd too much during his parts, LOL.