Thursday 11 September 2008

MOSAIC.WAV + UNDER17 recent events recap


Well I do apologize for the recent downtime, but I've finally settled in... with 2 Japanese and 2 British roommates to boot! The upside is that my translated articles will now have a bit more credibility, but on the other hand I'm going to develop one hell of a weird accent in no time...

First item on the ordre du jour is of course MOSAIC.WAV's recent animelo performance. In a not-so-shocking turn of events, MOSAIC.WAV helped UNDER17 reunite for one song, namely the ridiculously awesome 「天罰! エンジェルラビィ」 which is both one of the oldest and most popular tracks the former duo ever wrote. mi~ko helped momo-i on vocals while koike-aniki played guitar wearing his famous costume and kayamori-san provided background music. The fan reports I found seem to agree that this made for one of the top 3 events of the show. The rest of us won't know for sure until Animelo 2008 gets a DVD. I wouldn't be surprised if a couple of momoists died ecstatically on the spot... For a complete play-by-play commentary I recommend heading over to seiyuu3's Saturday and Sunday reports. Here is the "denpa block" which was carefully put together by the Animelo organizers.

13 Feel so Easy! / 桃井はるこ
14 LOVE.EXE / 桃井はるこ
15 天罰!エンジェルラビィ / UNDER17+MOSAIC.WAV
16 最強○×計画 / MOSAIC.WAV
17 ガチャガチャきゅっ~と・ふぃぎゅ@メイト / MOSAIC.WAV
18 「true my heart」~「Iris」~「ラブリー☆えんじぇる!!」(メドレー) / ave;new feat.佐倉紗織
19 魔理沙は大変なものを盗んでいきました / miko(IOSYS)

On her blog, mi~ko expressed profound joy at being able to sing alongside momo-i in front of over 20,000 screaming fans. She is honoured to have taken part in such a historical event and greatly respects UNDER17 and still can't believe that she saw Koike-aniki wearing his old stage clothes! Speaking of the big guy, he wrote that for him the event was a great way to meet all of his old friends like Lia, JAM Project, Angela and of course Haruko Momoi, whom he hasn't seen much since the duo's dissolution. He says the rehearsal felt particularly nostalgic, even though at first the pair was really distant. However in his opinion, the MOSAIC.WAV performance was by far the best of the weekend. I mean look at him! Doesn't he look more cheerful and happy than usual?

I previously reported on MOSAIC.WAV writing a new うじゅ image song, now it looks as though they will participate in some event at Toei's Uzusama Movieland, most likely a live performance. The date is October 18 and the official website has all the info you need. Though this hasn't been mentioned anywhere, chances are very good that a new CD might be released along with new songs, so I'll keep an eye out for you guys.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Any chance to see a come back from UNDER17?

Anonymous said...

If you're asking for facts, there is no answer.

If you're asking for my opinion: sit tight! First of all, maybe I didn't word it strongly enough in the article but Koike-aniki and Haruko-san were very distant during the rehearsal and didn't even talk much after the concert. He really thought that the UNDER17 song was nothing compared to the MOSAIC.WAV ones. That's from his blog.

Secondly, as awesome and groundbreaking as UNDER17 were... MOSAIC.WAV took this denpa shit to the next level and it's completely impossible to shake them off the throne at this point. Koike just went by the old motto if you can't beat them, join them, smart move. He had a grand vision for them and look where they are today. I called it multiple times but 2008 is MOSAIC.WAV's most significant year so far and 2009 will be nothing short of magnificent for them. There is absolutely no end in sight, they have never plateau-ed and show no sign of redundancy despite Kayamori-san's humble appraisal of his own skills (see interview)

Besides, ask any of the momoists and they will tell you that her solo career also propelled her to the next level. She has become nothing short of an idol and people revel in her presence wherever she goes. Even as a MOSAIC-superfan I recognize her status as the Queen of Akihabara and that will never falter in my opinion. But a return to UNDER17 would be a step backwards in the grand scheme of things. At the very least, they left us with three wonderful compilation albums that have aged gracefully.

Perhaps time will prove me wrong and this one-time reunion will actually evolve into something more but odds are it was just utter fanservice that benefited both parties involved, not that there's anything wrong with that!