Sunday 22 December 2013

C85: Second 桃箱 solo album 「ぴぃちぼっくす」


桃箱 teased up for what seemed to be years about her first solo album, but with the ちぃむdmp☆ alliance on seemingly on hold these days, she's definitely not holding back with her solo projects! A mere four months after releasing 「mofumofu」 in August 2013, momobako is back with her second solo album 「ぴぃちぼっくす」 featuring 11 new tracks and releasing on December 31st 2013. No voice drama or radio episodes this time, nothing but pure and unadulterated cute denpa songs.
Just hook it to my veins!

  1. 激アマ・わんでぃ・でーと!!
  2. 呪いのススメ
  3. 見習いサンタ、苦労す。
  4. だって僕は男の娘♪
  5. フル活用っアドバンテージ
  6. 白衣の天使があなたのお悩みにお答えします
  7. Meganegirl☆☆☆
  8. memories
  9. 先輩ア・ラ・モード
  10. Magical Cosmetic
  11. 画面からね出るなんて、無理っ!


Unsurprisingly, the usual suspects signed up as 桃箱's collaborators: we're talking Master かたほとり of course, but also ニゴロウ, やまみのり and muhmue. 塚越雄一朗(NanosizeMir) brings in yet another satisfyingly swanky contribution, but the real surprise here is 山下航生 dropping in for a rare collaboration outside of his busy doubleeleven UpperCut schedule. The guy even sneaked in some vocals! まろん is getting pretty friendly with the ポヤッチオ crew these days, his 桃箱×ななひら song "Ping Pong Girl's" even got a PV recently. He brings in a much-appreciated over-the-top hardcore edge that doesn't feel completely out of place.

All in all this is really a great followup to her debut album. I'd love to see a video for the first track, perhaps with a dance choreography or something equally memorable. Obviously we're all hoping for more ちぃむdmp☆ albums in the future, but this is definitely the next best thing so make sure you support 桃箱 on her new journey!

Monday 16 December 2013

C85: Eighth ポヤッチオ compilation album 「プチリズム∞」


The "little moe-denpa series that could" is back on December 31st 2013 with an amazing eighth volume 「プチリズム∞」 that brings in a few surprises! The big news is that miko (yes, that miko!) has a song for all you meat-lovers out there, courtesy of かたほとり who I'm sure is quite proud of this achievement. とろ美 is back for a second プチリズム appearance, this time backed by しの (and lyrics by ひなうさ!). Quite a few interesting songs and singer/composer combinations, hear for yourself!

  1. 不思議の国の3姉妹
  2. ひみつの放課後アイドル
  3. ドレミファソLOVEなきもち
  4. 素敵なはにぃ・たいむ!
  5. 私の料理で世界はきっと幸せになる
  6. ランナーズ・ハイ
  7. twinkle star
  8. カレーおいしいのうた
  9. TOKIMEKIおにく☆カルビレーション
  10. よふかしノエル
  11. Love,,,very important…
SHAKING PINK have the opening song, a mysterious-yet-splendid figment straight from the imagination of 塚越雄一朗 who has yet to disappoint me. ななひら teams up with y0c1e for another アイドル song, another sure-fire winner. ココ working with task is nothing new (I think!) but what's that, lyrics are from 久猫あむ? I love that girl! Another mindblowing combination is ぺこる&ココ with beatmario's ultra-hyperactive friend 狐夢想. I love that guy! Once again this is a must-buy ポヤッチオ album, get it from Master Katahotori at Comiket for a bonus tote bag.

Sunday 15 December 2013

C85: doubleeleven UpperCut 「CONCERTO!!-Do you like Upper Cut?? 5!!-」


Since their one-man live and best-of CD earlier this year, deUC have diligently pumped out enough songs for a fifth full album! 「CONCERTO!!-Do you like Upper Cut?? 5!!-」 releases on December 31st 2013 with nine new songs, including a special collaboration with 民安ともえ who's been real chummy with softhouse-seal's top musical contributors these days.

  1. Overture ~一歩踏み出せ!Dash&Run~
  2. Magic Augment ~Grow up for the future~
  3. Security con moto ~SeiCoM夏の治安維持キャンペーン~
  4. Sister Triad ~がんばれワタシの恋ゴコロ~
  5. サイミン・フリーケンシー ~あの娘にバレずにこそっとSo! New!~
  6. 夜桜神楽忍唄~ニホンノミナサンコンニチハ~
  7. Allegro!! Non-Limit!! ~オトウト激LOVE MAX%~
  8. S×Mかぷりちお!~ヤバすぎ世界 SpecialなHigh~(民安ともえ feat. deUC)
  9. finale -CONCERTO!! mix-


I think long-time fans know exactly what to expect from this album, but I'd still like to point out that I feel the quality of this album has increased over the previous releases! There's more variety, I really like the punk rock feel in "Magic Augment" with the silly bells and akari's over-the-top fast singing. "Allegro!! Non-Limit!!" has great high-tension moments and I really like to hear 山下航生 drop some vocals here and there, even if it's just for a はいはい or two!

In related news, deUC have a concert lined up next year so if you're in Shinjuku on April 19 2014, better look into scoring some tickets to P.C.M LIVE. As always, deUC-superfan ketsuage has a great crossfade video for the occasion. God, these softhouse games are just ridiculous!

Tuesday 19 November 2013

[LIVE A LIVE] 桃井はるこ, らめる, 桜川ひめこ, 森永まみ, でんぱーてぃ

桃井はるこ Friday Night Gig - TGIF-

My work schedule is pretty flexible, but not as much as it used to be, so I was pretty rushed to make it in time to see Momoi Haruko on a weeknight.... And to make things even worse, when I was partway there I realized... I had forgotten my TICKET!! I started to head back home, but I realized it was futile... As usual, I was pretty strapped for cash... So I had to give up on buying ANY goods and instead put that money towards buying a 2nd ticket... Good thing it wasn't sold out at least!

This time I was able to get a set list for once - here's my comments on MOST of the songs. Not all, cause this is already long enough!!

1.IVY〜アイビー〜
I managed to arrive at the doors just as this song started - perfect timing! One of Momoi's best songs in recent years, and as expected the audience was lit up in bright green.
2.ルミカ
Considering how much I enjoyed Kawaii Jenny, I was psyched to hear this song again.
3.さいごのろっく
Always a fun and wild song to hear live, and one of my favorites.
4.Live Alive
The audience still doesn't seem quite decided on what color to use for this song. At the Angya live, the official pen lights were yellow, so most fans assumed this would be a yellow song. However, during the MC at that live, Momoi had revealed the pen light color was a mistake and she hadn't actually wanted yellow...! Some people stuck with yellow, others with pink or other various colors. (Pink for me.) Also, the song title sure sounds familiar... Hmm... (Actually, I thought of the name for this column before this song came out.)
5.へんじがない、ただのしつれんのようだ。
6.カイト
Momoi first sang this song last year at her Angya live, and I really enjoyed it. Based on imagery from the title "kite", the crowd becomes full of blue lights representing the sky. (A few other colors here and there could probably be seen as flying kites!) This song has yet to be released on any CD, but Momoi hinted the song might be included in an upcoming album.
7.Friendship

Some neat TGIF themed flowers from fans

~Friday corner~
Momoi sat down and said she wasn't sure what the call the next part, because it wasn't quite acoustic and she didn't want the audience to be completely silent. She said she'd call it "Friday Corner" instead.

8.夏だ!祭りだ!スク水だ!
What!?! Super rare song, and also super great song. She said some of the concert staff questioned her if the title was actually correct. It was lovely to hear in the acoustic style, though I still would like to hear the original someday too. Most people went with a blue light to match the swimwear choice.
9.Let me Love You
10.Chuo Line
Beautiful orange, beautiful song. One of my favorite ballads from Momoi.
11.Galge
One of Momoi's best denpa style songs took on a completely different mood when sung acoustic style... Yet somehow, it worked very well. The only downside was it was hard to time the calls, and the "tai tai tatai!" part was mostly omitted. This song marked the end of the acoustic corner.

12.恋のヒメヒメ☆ぺったんこ
Momoi's most recent denpa song had the audience going wild, including me. Apparently this song has a dance associated with it, but me (and apparently most of the crowd) weren't familiar with it. Unfortunately, this song is from the theatrical play version of Yowamushi Pedal, so now that the anime's out, most new fans won't be familiar with this song and only know the one used in the anime! (That one, sung by none other than Tamura Yukari, is good too.. But I prefer Momoi's.)

13.LoveLoveLoveのせいなのよ!
Are you serious?? Momoi kept on breaking out the ultimate songs for a denpa / moe song lover like me. The show this is from, Lovely Idol, recently started being available on Nico Nico Douga and I had just watched the first episode a few days before the live. Ok, I admit the show is terrible... But the song is great!

14.Party Love 〜おっきくなりたい〜
Cue the crowd going totally bonkers! As far as I know, this was the first time Momoi herself sang this famous song she wrote for the popular series RO-KYU-BU.

At this point, Momoi was getting hot and "cast off" her jacket, just like a mecha figure may "cast off" some parts. Leading into:
15.Machineイタッシャー!
Kinda underrated Akiba Ranger song in my opinion, so I was glad she sang it. I like the lyrics a lot.
16.アキバレンジャー シーズン痛!
17.がんばれ・・・それは、I Love You
18.天空のスプライト
One of my favorite "cool" songs from Momoi, I love to hear it live.
19.music as muse
20.夜明けのサンバ
Fun song which features the audience being lit up in a rare purple (with a flash of orange too!)
21.Hide and Seek
Another oldie but goodie with lots of good call and response from the audience.
22.LOVE.EXE
As always, everybody went crazy for LOVE.EXE, complete with the usual "merry go round" move of everybody circling around in the audience. Really fun and wild. Very unfortunately, at this point I had to LEAVE!! One of my friends wanted to be on YouTube's Dempagumi.inc special contest for the top foreign fan together, so I had to rush off to join him. Of course, that was still fun too! (Even if I didn't answer a single question!)

Reportedly, the encore was as follows:
en1.Invisible Things (New song. And I missed it! Arg!)
en2.WONDER MOMO-i

After the Dempagumi show ended, I rushed back even though Momoi's live had ended. Why? Cause the fans had organized an all night DJ event as an after party! The only rule was each DJ has to include at least 1 Momoi song in their set list. I missed the start of the event, but what I was there for was super fun. The venue was fairly small and probably didn't have enough seats considering most people were pretty tired after going crazy for Momoi, but somehow it all worked out. Most of the DJs included lots of Momoi songs, but there was good variety. Fellow doujin music blogger Clix was one of the DJs, and before the event I joked with him, trying to think of the most obscure Momoi songs I could, and said "You're gonna play that hand washing song, aren't you?" and much to my surprise, I was right! (I wonder if any of the earlier DJs played カエル☆ミラクル?)  Another highlight was one DJ who focused on playing classic anime songs. Since the audience was full of Momoists, of course they did otagei even to these old songs. Everyone went crazy especially when the My  Neighbor Totoro ending played, it was really fun and surreal. Finally, the last song came on: 始発に乗って, which is about catching the first train in the early AM (...to go to Comiket.) Pretty fitting as everyone was about to catch the first train to go home! Everyone got together and made a congo line, mimicking a train, but there was just way too many people... so two circles formed, one inside the other, each going in opposite directions... just like Tokyo's Yamanote Line. (I realize half our readers aren't gonna get that... but if you've been around Tokyo much, it's really funny!! Just take my word for it!)

I had been pretty unsure of what this live would be like considering Momoi hadn't come out with a new album since her previous solo concert, so what the heck would the set list be like? But in the end, I had nothing to worry about - this just meant she could sing lots of fan favorites and rare songs without having to squeeze in all the new songs too. Also, unlike her previous solo concert in Tokyo, this was a standing live, so the crowd was much more lively, and this time had better costumes too. Since I moved to Japan, I might have spread out my concert visits over a ton of different artists, but Momoi's lives are still always worth checking out.

Also, here's a report with some nice photos.


『Fantastic☆Link-ありがとうワンマンライブ-』- らめる

Earlier in the year, Rameru had participated in a contest called 天下一音楽会, where she competed for a chance to perform at Zepp Tokyo. While she didn't win, she put up a great fight and surely gained many new fans in the process, and held this live as thanks for all those who supported her: anyone who attended her lives for the contest was let in for free! And if you didn't attend any of them, it was still only 1000 yen, a great deal. Compared to her last solo live, the turn out seemed bigger, and the venue was also nicer.

Unfortunately, I waited WAY too long to write this report, and so my memory of the track list and other details are pretty hazy now... Though they were pretty hazy in the first place, cause honestly, I was just SO in the moment during this live - she is just tooooo cute!! I don't think any other live has put me so deeply into moe-mode. Rameru really has the full package - she's cute, funny, and talented at singing, lyrics, and drawing. She first appeared in a kimono and sang 白金ディスコ from the Bakemonogatari series. Love the original, and loved her version! She had several other costume changes, including a SUPER cute dress with a purin motif. Sadly, she forgot to take a photo of it, so for now only a drawing version exists.

My cruddy photo of the poster drawing of the purin dress

The guest was マエハラユミ, one of her fellow performers from the 天下一音楽会. Her musical style was quite different than what I'm used to - a fairly mellow singer-songwriter. But her musical style mixed well with Rameru's, and their collaboration was very enjoyable. It seems like Rameru must make friends wherever she goes regardless of musical style, since she also seemed to get along well with her neighbor at M3 who was a violin player.

Nicely decorated venue
Of course she sang all of the fan favorites, including my personal favorite, ふらいんぐらびっと!, where the audience bounces left and right along with her, and ジュラーフグラフ where everyone does arm movements to mimic a giraffe's neck. いつでも笑顔で大丈V and By.デタラメナセカイ were two other great crowd pleasing songs with their own fun movements. For the most part, the crowd didn't use glowsticks, but during the encore the crowd broke out in lovely yellow - though some laughs were also had because one of the posters on the stage fell down during the encore!

Afterwards, it was time for goods sales, with one of the goods being especially notable.. (to me, anyway...!) She had a set of pins which she asked friends to draw, including one by me!! I had done the drawing earlier as a gift for her, and she asked if she could put it on a button, and of course I said yes! It the first time I had one of my drawings on a pin... Pretty exciting to  have Rameru's pin be my first one!!

Sadly, I had to rush out pretty quickly to make it in time for...


Square Sounds 2013 

OK, not really a denpa event overall, so I'm gonna be super brief. I worked the goods table at this event, where chibi-tech's album also first went on sale (and I drew the cover!) Both days featured lots of awesome performers, but I'm gonna let a few videos / pics speak for the chaos. If you're interested, there's lots more footage out there on YouTube to check out!

Spoilers.. the mystery was chibi-tech.... And she was awesome.


A_Rival's CDs




Chibi's CD for sale!



桜川ひめこワンマンライブひめ革命

Sakuragawa Himeko has had a long career with plenty of twists and turns. I'm a relative late comer - I was always vaguely aware of her but I wasn't a fan in particular until I saw her live, which unfortunately was right before she went on a long hiatus. Now she's back, made her own production company known as "idolop!" and is being produced by galgame company Circus president Tororo Dancho. This was her 2nd solo live under his guidance, but I missed the first one due to being sick. I became a fan at apparently one of the rarest times to become one, so I didn't have any of her old CDs and only a couple of the new ones, but thankfully, Tororo produced a CD collecting all her most popular songs in short versions and distributed it for free so new fans could still be familiar with all of her songs, and old fans could catch up on the new stuff too. A brilliant idea! (Though I wish they also offered online listening of it.. but I guess you can't have everything.)

The live was quite glamorous, from the stage to the costumes. Himeme designed the costumes herself based on the theme of sweets, and they were super cute. I actually gave in and bought her photo book hoping to have pics of them, though sadly not all were featured in the book! But still a very cute book. The audience was structured somewhat unusually - in the front to the left was all girls. (I was shuffled to this area too.) In the front in the middle was all children - likely from when Himeme worked in childcare during her hiatus. To the right in the front were seats for the children's parents and other staff and friends. Then, behind those groups were the other fans. I honestly didn't want to be so far in the front, cause since I'm still a relatively new fan, I didn't know all of the calls well. It was hard for me to gauge the audience too well during the earlier parts of the live due to this, but it was funny to see the kids dancing around or being entranced by her performance.

Fan made call sheets and official sticker

The live featured narration during the costume changes in the form of a galge styled video of Himeme in search of a "moe cake" she had heard about. After trying lots of different places, she finally figured it out... Around this time, she warned the kids that they should go to their parents now cause everyone's gonna rush up to the stage now. The kids were confused but went aside. The video continued as she tried making her own moe cake, but still felt something was missing... then she realized it needed strawberries to make it perfect. Looking out onto the fans, she saw them all in bright red shirts - the live was the cake and the fans were all the red strawberries to make this the perfect moe cake... All we needed was some icing. Her warning to the kids was not unwarranted: for the next song she came out in a cute red dress and white apron, with icing bags on the sides of her head and icing drops on her shoulders, toting an oversized icing bag in her hand. A strange tension came over the audience... she couldn't... she wouldn't.... But yes, she did! As the song played, she squeezed the bag and coated the audience in some mysterious white icing-like foam!! It was super surreal, and super hilarious. Despite my position near the front, I actually didn't get close enough to get any squirted on me, but it was all over the floor so I picked up a dab and put it on my glowstick. Maybe she avoided the girls out of politeness. Anyway, when the next song came on, Himeme had trouble controlling her laughter while looking at the audience, some of whom had their entire heads coated. Another really fun and funny song is 「ワープ」, where instead of traditional kecha style otagei move where the audience waves their arms forward, Himeme calls out based on Son Goku's famous line from DBZ オラに力をわけてくれ!! as the audience raises their arms to lend power to her moe genki-dama.

My glowstick with the 'icing' on top!

The songs and costume changes continued, including the new rap-style song "moeのキューサイン" which was included on her new album - her first best of album which includes a whopping 16 songs. She actually messed up her MC and skipped a song, which was funny in it's own way as she crammed it in towards the end. Towards the end she also talked about how she was so glad to have Tororo Dancho as her producer now. She had explained before after her hiatus how she was scouted to be an idol and was doing what she was told more than actually expressing herself, which is what made her want to start her own production company and find her own way. She said now with Tororo's support and the freedom he gave her, she could do this live exactly how she wanted, and she was so happy to be able to finally do things her way.

During the encore, she came out in a sparkly fancified version of her outfit from her most famous song, アキバに行くのん!, which looked fabulous. Overall, the live was great fun, and I got to hear all my favorites of her songs, plus pick up on some new ones to like too. (By the way, my favorite is still definitely still めろんしちゃって☆, which she made along with Koike Masaya himself.) I quickly snatched up her best of CD along with the photobook as a set. To my surprise, she wasn't working the goods booth herself... But in fact was waiting by the exit, thanking each fan individually with a handshake, regardless of if they bought anything or not. Wow! You can tell she is really trying to get her name back out there, and I hope it goes well for her in the future.



森永まみ Mamipyon Planet 4 ~悪戯~

Morinaga Mami continued the annual tradition of holding a live for her birthday for the 4th time, this time with the live falling on the exact date of her birthday too! Before the concert began, tension was high as the fans lined up outside preparing their birthday surprises for Mamipyon. A few idols I had never seen before came out and started handing out flyers to everyone lined up, only to be told to leave by Mamipyon's manager. I had thought they were with the staff, but apparently they were just trying to target idol fans any way they could! Gotta admire their ambition!

Inside, the venue looked smaller than last time, though the crowd as actually probably larger.. Just that last year's venue was probably a bit over sized. This time was a nice snug fit with just the right amount of elbow room. I had a big surprise when I went in and looked at the goods table: the drawing I'd given to Mamipyon at her Himitsu Kichi event was hanging up on the goods table! Awesome!! Also, Rameru was in attendance and came up to me to say hi. So nice!!

The theme of this live was 悪戯, which means tricks or pranks... And this live was full of them! After her first song, Mamipyon announced she was going to sing a "super short" medley, and the intro for Tornado started playing. The crowd as in shock - how is she going to sing her most famous song so early? Mami saw everyone's expressions and called out "Hey, you can just cheer like normal!" and everyone got into the mood... Only to have the song stop immediately after the intro without Mamipyon singing a single word and going straight into the next intro. The whole crowd collapsed in disbelief and laughter as this continued through several intros. She did a great job of trolling the audience with this one.

The overall story of the live was introduced with Mamipyon as a guide taking the fans on a trip to her home planet, Mamipyon Planet. However, Tarirariran aliens were running wild and playing tricks on everyone so she had to cancel the tour. But out of nowhere, "Mamissy" appeared and got rid of all the Tarirariran aliens. This is probably pretty confusing if you're not familiar with Funassy, the unofficial mascot of the city of Funabashi who has been getting crazy popular all over Japan lately. (I have to admit, I'm a fan too. He's really funny!) Funassy (who insists on using that rather unfortunate spelling of his name in English...) is famous for his weird voice and crazy jumping movements, walking the fine line between gross and cute. He claims to be a "pear fairy" and is well loved now despite creeping everyone out at first. Mamissy, on the other hand, claimed to be a "sexual harassment" fairy... and is basically Mamipyon in a Funassy costume that is a tight fitting yellow outfit with a blue shirt on top like Funassy's, and a stem on her head.... Somehow, she still looked really cute in this ridiculous outfit. Anyway, Mamipyon used this alter ego to show off her goofy side to the max, jumping and squealing  around like crazy, and also getting touchy feely with all the guests, most of whom didn't seem to actually mind that much and were just vaguely confused as Mamipyon reminded them they're supposed to be getting mad at her. Enough funny awkwardness to make Funassy proud, I think.

The first guests were fellow Marvel Yell girls Kotomyu and Manonya. Their alter egos for their unit seemed silly to me at first when I first saw them at a different live and they kept speaking in basically baby talk, but they're just so funny I ended up loving their shtick, which involves Manonya being mostly silent as Kotomyu tries in vain to get her to introduce herself properly. This time Manonya came out with a Santa hat on, and Kotomyu was admonishing her not only for the fact that this was Mamipyon's birthday and not Christmas, but also that she clearly bought the hat at the dollar store. Eventually Manonya lifted up the back of the hat revealing she had especially written "happy birthday" for the occasion which was a really funny twist. They also gave out candy, with Manonyan throwing super hard and pelting the audience. I didn't expect one since i was crouched down in the first row, but she actually bent down and handed one right to me. Kotomyu tried to do the same to a fan on the other side of the stage only to be snubbed by him! Really funny. After one song, Mamissy joined them and they sang together as TEAM雪月花.

The other guest idols were 七瀬由紀子 and Candy Go! Go!, all of whom were representing Shibuya, where the live was held. As a continuation of the prank theme, Mamipyon put cat ears on them all to transform them into Akiba-kei idols. Some of the girls in Candy Go! Go! resisted by wearing them sideways like a mohawk, hanging them off their belt, or sticking onto their waist.. But eventually all gave in... for a short time at least. Their lives were really high energy and enjoyable even though I wasn't familiar with their songs. They performed 3 songs each, with one song being a collaboration with Mamipyon... I'm sorry, I mean Mamissy.

Mamipyon's OTHER alter ego (wow, she has a lot doesn't she?), ポピーザPaフォーマー, came out and performed two of her crazy experimental songs. She wore her usual long light haired wig and a new bright pink outfit which was really cute. Afterwards she got a phone call from Mamissy, who apparently is her friend. After she found out all the tricks Mamissy was up to, she blasted her over the phone line and peace was restored to the live once again.


The real Mamipyon returned and treated us to her new song あめのよる while wearing a new punk-rock looking outfit. The song is also very cool and rock-ish, quite different from what she's sang before, but an interesting change of pace. After a few more songs, we got to watch her new PV for her song カレーライスは飲み物です which featured Mamipyon in an indian themed costume appearing to feed the other Marvel Yell girls curry when they are about to faint from hunger. She also had a cute yellow dress with a curry decoration on the waist. Fairly low production values as usual, but funny and cute as always, and the cameos of the other Marvel Yell girls were nice as well.

Next was the band portion, which took quite a while to set up due to some technical issues when the live was already running behind schedule. I wonder if they had to cut any songs from the set list? Anyway, it was great to see Mamipyon with a full band, and the band was very funny and played along when Mamipyon pranked them by making them wear bunny ears by tossing them off or reaching to take them off when she looked away. Although this live was mostly goofy, Mamipyon was still getting emotional during the MC bits during this part, but held back tears saying it wasn't time for that yet - but I could clearly see her shed some during the "last" song, ヒ☆カ☆リ, which had a new line added for the new version to be used in her first mini album:  映画でかかったやつ。 which means "the ones played during the movie." Why does it have this title? Because Mamipyon was an actress in the movie ゲバルト, based on the manga of the same name, and some of her songs were used in the movie. Unlike most of her CDs, this one is released from a record label and is even available online via amazon! It's really good, so pick it up... hint hint.



After she left the stage, Kotomyu and Manonyan returned with a birthday cake and the crowd began the encore cheer, in "Momoi style" where the crowd shouts "We wanna see Mamipyon again! Again! Again!" Mamipyon came out and was so happy to see the cake, and everyone sang happy birthday. Some fans had prepared party poppers to set off when she blew on the candles, but Kotomyu popped hers off too early and so the synchronization was a little off, but still a success! Then the fans gave her flowers, message books, and most surprisingly, a giant synthesizer! Mamipyon writes her own lyrics and sometimes composes too, but she said now she'll try to make her own arrangement too using the synthesizer. Personally, I can't wait to hear what she comes up with! Next came the real final song, which of course was Tornado. Somehow, I  never get tired of that song.

Overall, a really funny and fun live. If I had to be critical, I would say her previous one man live was better, simply cause it felt like she had more songs. I love the humor, don't get me wrong... But it could have used one or two more songs. Still, her previous solo live is probably one of my top 5 lives ever, so that's pretty hard to beat.


でんぱーてぃ

An unusual and small denpa song only all night DJ club event. When I say small, I mean the majority of the attendees were also the DJs! But, this was by design - more of a fun get together of a group of fans than a big event. Considering the DJs were a line up of hardcore denpa fans, the set lists contained tons of obscure songs, and there were lots of wild reactions from the crowd. By the way, I was a DJ at this event too! I've actually been doing DJ here and there lately, but unfortunately there are just not a lot of denpa song events, so most of them don't qualify for a report on this site. Anyway, it was quite fun, although once the event got rolling the venue staff seemed thoroughly weirded out, and were also really strict about the volume not getting too loud. It was nice that they offered food even for an all night event though.

DJ 小粋なねこさん has shared his mix from the event here if you're looking for a taste of what was played: https://soundcloud.com/neko3x7qzg2/1-mix


That about wraps it up for this time! I skipped so many details and didn't have any set listings except for Momoi's, yet it's still this long!

Saturday 9 November 2013

Seventh MOSAIC.WAV album 「Astronomical Φ AKIBA-POP!!」


Can you believe it's already been 10 fantastic years since み〜こ and 柏森進 got together as MOSAIC.WAV? Starting with their first single 「Magical Hacker☆くるくるリスク」 in 2004, the world-famous Akiba-pop legends have crafted hundreds of songs related to the otaku subculture and have proudly carried the denpa torch through thick and thin. They are now preparing to release their seventh full-length album 「Astronomical Φ AKIBA-POP!!」 on December 11th 2013.

  1. DA DA DA DANCING〜真夏のレターレインボー〜 (new song)
  2. さくら色マーマレード (リリカルDS OP)
  3. KissしてMe!Me! (きすみみ!! OP)
  4. パライソハレルヤスンバラリア (学恋2 OP)
  5. ちちんぷいぷいチチノタネ (Gカップ敏感聖徒会長 OP)
  6. 2.5次元の足音 (ぴあ雀 ED)
  7. ラビュー☆ラビュー! (new song)
  8. フォトンベルト観光ホテル (百合星人ナオコサン ED)
  9. シナモンティーをどうぞ〜Argo Navis〜 (new song)
  10. 幻覚ユーフォリア (new song)
  11. Two Ring (new song)
  12. Astronomical Φ AKIBA-POP!! (new song)
  13. ΑΦΡΟΔΙΤΗ〜Aphrodītē〜 (new song)

Of these thirteen tracks, 7 are brand new compositions. You might have heard the other 6 before... but maybe not! Some of them (such as 2.5次元の足音 and パライソハレルヤスンバラリア) are pretty damn rare, even for hardcore fans. The first song on this CD is also the first track on Heartsnative3, which gets released on the same date and will be covered in a future article. There aren't any samplers for the new songs yet, MOSAIC.WAV usually release short versions with singles but not albums. One thing for sure is that there is a traditional AKIBA-POP!! song and some fancy-pantsy titles in the superluminal/ecphoric vein. Hopefully we'll get a great new PV in the weeks leading up to the release date.

Those who purchase the limited edition will also receive an extra disc containing "Queen of MOSAIC.Girls", an 8 minute medley featuring all of their feminine character creations in a no-holds-barred fight to the death! Actually we don't know if kayapi is mixing up old songs or entirely new material, we'll keep that as a surprise. Finally, amazon mentions something about a limited edition box to hold both Heartsnative3 and Astronomical together, but it's not really clear how you actually sign up for one. In fact CDJapan mentions it as standard issue... we'll see. So, what are you waiting for? Preorder your copy now!

「Astronomical Φ AKIBA-POP!!」 limited edition
「Astronomical Φ AKIBA-POP!!」 regular edition

Tuesday 22 October 2013

M3-2013秋: おでんぱ☆スタジオ, PlasticGarden*, Plissh, ぷらいむまりぃ, りこ。, しなもんしゅがー, Zero-Shaft


Odenpa's back for their 9th single 「びっ栗☆秋味ふぇあ」, still sticking to their guns with their unique brand of original denpa sound. ベイビー・レモネード and ひろて~ are of course in charge of the music while the girls sing in their cutest voice about chestnuts, squirrels and gobbling up long mushrooms. Finally something the whole family can enjoy! 安倍ようこ reprises her role as マリアンヌ for the third time in a row, so there's definitely some solid chemistry with the rest of the crew. Two new tracks and a radio episode are included.

Doujincore Import Info (deadline Oct 24th 8AM PST)
Title:びっ栗☆秋味ふぇあ
Label:  おでんぱ☆スタジオ (A-15ab)
Price:500
Link:http://www.odenpa.jp/cd/opcd1014/




Here's an interesting openly-denpa compilation album from PlasticGarden* which matches all kinds of vocalists with top-of-the-line composers that you know and love. 塚越雄一朗 is everywhere these days, and I'm not complaining! He even provides some funky vocals here. The actual singers come from all walks of life, for example くろねこ is probably better known for her "death loli" persona. 小鳥遊まこ and 星名優子 also seem new to the genre (despite years of doujin activity) so I'm really glad to see new girls trying out this crazy denpa stuff. As for ほのか, you'll remember her for her mini-album 「HEROINES」 which I really hope gets a full-length sequel. Major kudos to らいね who not only sings on two tracks, but also wrote all lyrics and produced the album by herself! Those who enjoyed the Highend Color compilation should really be putting Parallel Honey on their shopping list, boths comps give me the same "alternative" feeling. Seven new tracks included.

Doujincore Import Info (deadline Oct 24th 8AM PST)
Title:Parallel Honey~キミに届ける恋のウタ!~
Label:  PlasticGarden* (P-02a)
Price:1000
Link:http://pgarden.futene.net/parallel/




We've been remiss in our Plissh coverage up until now, with the ゆるゆる unit already on to its 4th CD 「Pretty&Sugger」. Previous releases include the 2011 debut mini-album 「mocomoco」, then 「merry go round」 and finally 「Be Happy」 which came out a year ago. 日向ももこ and りこ。 provide vocals and most lyrics, while their staffer selection usually revolves around regulars such as 後方一気, しの and RitsMatt. It's good positive music to be sure, check it out if you need a bit of a kick in your life! Five new tracks included.

Doujincore Import Info (deadline Oct 24th 8AM PST)
Title:Pretty&Sugger
Label:  Zero-Shaft (A-02ab)
Price:500
Link:http://plissh.webcrow.jp/P&S/




A long time ago in a galaxy far far away... before 愛原圭織 joined forces with 桃箱 on a quest for sexy loli denpa: there was ぷらいむまりぃ. It was good... and it will continue to be good, for 愛原圭織 and 真野綾 have reunited after a hiatus of more than 3 years in order to release the fifth ぷらいむまりぃ mini-album 「おとめちっく×あわー」. Contrarily to ちぃむdmp☆, this is more on the sweet pop tip, with just a bit of rock and electro elements thrown in for good measure. If you're just catching up, you'll be happy to know that their three previous releases will all be sold at M3, they held up pretty well over the years too. It's nice to see that some composers such as やまみのり have stayed by their side since day one. Four new tracks included.

Doujincore Import Info (deadline Oct 24th 8AM PST)
Title:おとめちっく×あわー
Label:  ぷらいむまりぃ (O-02a)
Price:500
Link:http://aya.2-d.jp/pm_oxh/




Little りこ。 has worked so hard over the years and her efforts have finally paid off! She's about to take us on a cosmic trip to her private universe on 「星屑のポルテ」, her first full-vocal album. Now you've heard her endearing little voice on various Zero-Shaft albums and of course as one half of Plissh, but this is something a little more personal as she wrote most lyrics herself and planned the whole thing custom-made. There's a few slower tunes so if you're into tender ballads you'll be pleased, but there's more than enough snappier songs for the rest of us. Ten new tracks included.

Doujincore Import Info (deadline Oct 24th 8AM PST)
Title:星屑のポルテ
Label:  Zero-Shaft (A-02ab)
Price:1000
Link:http://witsofficial.webcrow.jp/porte/




Third single from "soft denpa" starlet しなもんしゅがー☆ 「Magical Pumpkin Night」. Just in time for a lovely and mysterious Halloween night! Three new tracks included.

Doujincore Import Info (deadline Oct 24th 8AM PST)
Title:Magical Pumpkin Night
Label:  しなもんしゅがー☆ (F-18b)
Price:300
Link:http://shinamonsugar.web.fc2.com/2013M3aki.html




日向ももこ and ななひら are the two latest stars in Zero-Shaft's "Princess Vocal Collection" series! 日向ももこ goes for a more laid-back approach while ななひら is spunky as ever with a banging 榊原ゆい cover. Four tracks per disc (one original, one drama, a cover and an instrumental).

Doujincore Import Info (deadline Oct 24th 8AM PST)
Title:Princess Vocal Collection #6: 日向ももこ, #7: ななひら
Label:  Zero-Shaft (A-02ab)
Price:500 (each)
Link:http://zero-shaft.com/princess/

Monday 21 October 2013

M3-2013秋: ななひら&桃箱 mini-album 「もーっと☆ちっちゃいのっ!」


Just six months ago, Lady ななひら and her good friend 桃箱 teamed up for yet another side project, uniting their perpetualoli personalities and releasing the (now sold-out) mini-album 「ちっちゃいのっ!」. Nothing fancy here, just a good old mix of moe/denpa/drama tracks with the main selling point being the two girls' world-famous beautiful, cute and sexy voices! This second volume 「もーっと☆ちっちゃいのっ!」 starts with the same base recipe and improves upon it by giving us more of everything!

  1. かくれんぼごっこ(/ω\)
  2. Ping pong Girl's
  3. らびゅ!青春ロケット
  4. えんどれす☆冒険Day!
  5. ラブ♥ふぁくとりー
  6. ワンダフル オブ ザ・ワールド - ticktack -
  7. ある日のももなな (drama)
  8. ももななラジオ☆ (drama)
  9. ごろごろにゃんこ (drama)
  10. 3分間数えるだけ☆ (drama)



There's a pretty good selection of composers here, most of whom have contributed to ななひら or ちぃむdmp☆ albums in the past. Of course Master かたほとり will follow these girls to the depths of hell, he's always had appropriate tunes for them and this is no exception. ねぎとろ and ニゴロウ have also previously pitched in and they both provide sweet and entertaining tracks. 塚越雄一朗 (NanosizeMir) delivers yet another stunningly professional track full of unpredictable moments, I just can't wait to hear the full version!

The major surprise is CHEEBOW whom I've been following since his fantastic caramel paradox album, good to see him on board as he's a pretty good fit. まろん is the other odd man out, but he adheres to the theme just fine! His solo album 「Be Happy!」 reminds me of P*Light's style, but then again he also entirely composed the decidedly denpa 塩りんご single in December 2012, so keep an eye on this guy!

Doujincore Import Info (deadline Oct 24th 8AM PST)
Title:もーっと☆ちっちゃいのっ!
Label:  ポヤッチオ (A-13ab)
Price:1000
Link:http://confetto.chu.jp/chibi2/

Sunday 20 October 2013

M3-2013秋: ななひら best album「プチリズム7♭」


Lady ななひら actively started contributing to the doujin music scene sometime in 2008, which really isn't that long ago. Still, she's come a long way these past five years and it's absolutely not surprising that ポヤッチオ would already release a best-of album featuring 14 of her very best hits, especially from the プチリズム series. She's appeared on every single album, even the first one which had a bit of everything. This compilation does feature 3 new tracks, which bumps up the total to 17. Whether you're a new fan, or you supported her since day one, there's something for everyone on 「プチリズム7♭」!
  1. 恋に恋してメリーゴーランド
  2. sweet summer day
  3. かるあみるく☆せんせーしょん 7th mix
  4. 絶対的!夢はSUPERアイドル
  5. Love & KiSS
  6. Cookin'CookieS
  7. わがままな子は好きですか
  8. 爆発!ラブパニック
  9. きょう、あす、あさっぷ!
  10. A杯
  11. 萌えっと・めいど
  12. オムライスのうた
  13. ふっくらふわあまけーき
  14. 飛び出せ!Sweet Sweet Magic☆
  15. Right Now!
  16. 月夜とたいやきと池の鯉
  17. ナナプラス+
nana(sevencolors) opens this best-of with a brand new track, highly energetic with a slight hint of makina (or maybe I'm going crazy). Another "new" song would be 「かるあみるく☆せんせーしょん 7th mix」 which Master かたほとり actually composed back in 2009. This guy totally has a never-ending supply of vocaloid denpa songs just waiting to be remixed with real singers! The other new song would be 「わがままな子は好きですか」. Same story here, cute Rin song which came out in 2010 on VL-SCRAMBLE, yet another perfect track for Lady ななひら!

All of the other tracks have been discussed at some point or another in our previous プチリズム coverage, but I will say that I'm glad to see 「絶対的!夢はSUPERアイドル」 featured again, because that song is killer! Do note that this was originally a SHAKING PINK song, but she goes it alone on this one. Otherwise, this compilation makes me (sadly) realize that neither きくお nor さつきがてんこもり have written new ななひら songs in some time. What gives, guys?

Doujincore Import Info (deadline Oct 24th 8AM PST)
Title:プチリズム7♭
Label:  ポヤッチオ (A-13ab)
Price:1000
Link:http://www.orc2000.com/cd/petit7.html

Tuesday 17 September 2013

[LIVE A LIVE] Reports from Denkyun Nightmare, Morinaga Mami events, Xi-lium, Dempagumi Hibiya

Hey guys, Mandi again with some supposedly brief reports from my adventures at concerts in Japan.


☆電波はっ☆キュン ないとめあっ☆ (denkyun nightmare)
 (I know it says day dreaming, but trust me, this is from the nightmare event!)

Denkyun is one of my favorite, if not my favorite reoccurring event I've been to since I came to Japan. Usually, the event goes from around noon until evening, but this time was a little different. Starting in the nighttime, this Denkyun turned the "daydream" into a "nightmare" by going from late night to early morning. Also, while daytime Denkyun features live performances, this event focused solely on DJs.

DJ time table

Overall, it was a blast as expected. The crowd was a bit subdued at first, but quickly heated up and went wild like usual. Also, while there were no live performances, due to denpa fans and denpa creators overlapping somewhat, denkyun regulars could recognize a few familiar faces in the crowd.

The setlists were rather varied: some DJs focused more on anime songs than your usual Denkyun event. DJ Ryouta made his setlist up of almost entirely songs with explicit lyrics - a decision he said he regretted as soon as he saw how many girls showed up for the event. Otherwise it was the usual wonderful mix of anything and everything denpa, from doujin to erogame to idol to... anything! One really funny moment was when a really familiar intro to anyone who goes to anime song club events started to play.... ETERNAL BLAZE by Mizuki Nana?? A good song, but what's it doing HERE? The audience had a mix of excitement and confusion - but as soon as the intro ended, the set list cut right back to denpa songs. Everyone had a good laugh about how they had just been faked out by the DJ. I was also happily surprised by a cluster of Dempagumi songs, including Nemukyun's solo song  コズミックメロンソーダマジック.

My favorite staff member at Unique Laboratory Roppongi.

I did all I could to have as much fun as I could while also conserving my energy for the next day's event, which started in the afternoon and went until evening, pretty harsh after an all nighter! Once the event ended I headed back out into creepy Roppongi, where even at 6am the street is full of drunk party animals who didn't get their fill after a full night of partying. Wait a minute... Maybe in a way, I wasn't so out of place after all, huh?


 ☆森永まみ主宰LIVE【クラブトルネード】コラボSP★ ~サブカルとか好きだと友達できないです~

Thankfully I managed to catch some Zs in a manga cafe before heading over to this 2 part Morinaga Mami event. Part one focused on the concept of Mamipyon trying to increase her small number of friends by inviting other performers. The usual Marvel Yell girls were there, plus a handful of guests.

(Look at the sign, not my reflection!!)

The live started out with Mami and the Marvel Yell girls, then went into guest time. The guests each sang 2 songs, then for their last song Mamipyon came out and collaborated with them before asking them if they would be friends with her. If they said yes (which they all did of course) then a power up sound effect was played.

For the first guests, (I forget if it was Twinkle Beat Stars for Splash!) Mami collaborated not with a song, but a skit! Mami arrived for auditions for their group only to find out they weren't actually holding any. She played up the dorky fan act which was really funny. They showed kindness despite Mami's awkward antics and agreed to befriend her instead. Next up was, buttёrfly.ねっと.  Mami sang one song with them while wearing angel wings to go along with the group's butterfly wings. After that クレヨン日記 sang a fun j-rock/metal-ish track. During their collaboration, Mamipyon ran around strumming on a broom air guitar style... I think! Next, I felt kind of silly cause I had never realized でかシャツ喫茶's name meant "dekai (big) shirts", I had always thought it was French or some other language when I saw their name on event line ups... but in fact they perform wearing big dress shirts and ties, a very cute look in my opinion. Mamipyon joined them in a big grey shirt, though no tie. The last guest, 七瀬由紀子, was an excellent singer. Mami strummed on her broom guitar once again while accompanying her lovely singing.

After the guests were done, Mami performed her solo part. My memory has flown off somewhere as usual, and I can't remember the set list. All I can really remember is it was awesome!

Afterwards, it was time for goods / handshakes. I still didn't have Mamipyon's カレーライスは飲み物です CD, and they still didn't have any in stock... Curses! But I was able to give Mamipyon a drawing I did of  her, and she was happy, so I was too! I also picked up  クレヨン日記's CD out of curiosity, though it didn't have the song I was hoping for.

My fanart of Mamipyon


 ★森永まみ主宰オフ会的LIVEカフェ★ 『ひみつきち』~カラダ夏にして~

I learned my lesson and shot this one from an angle!

A couple hours later, it was time for the next Mamipyon event - that's right, it was a double header. This one was a very unusual event: half off-kai meeting, half cafe, half live. (Hey, that's too many halves for one event..) The usual standing area now had tables and chairs, and Mami and the other Marvel Yell girls donned cute maid uniforms. Each table had a menu with a list not food or drinks, but songs! You could request songs off this list, as well as order custom drinks based on each girl. Either one came with a 2 shot cheki photo. When a song was requested, the staff would start playing it without warning the singer that their song was coming. So, in the middle of serving, they had to listen to the song intros and dash to the stage when their song was playing. Very chaotic! I anticipated a spill or two since the fans would also suddenly dash up to cheer for each song - but I didn't expect it to happen on the very first song! Overall there were 2 or 3 spills I think.

Song menu... What would you request?

Another big draw of this event was you could eat curry made specially by Mamipyon herself. So, of course the event started out with her song about curry. I was pretty excited that she had 2 Momoi songs on the list: Ichigo Go! Go! and Kujibiki Unbalance. Apparently before she had many original songs, she would sing those songs frequently. I quickly requested Ichigo Go Go, which Marvel Yell's manager found surprising. Yeah, I guess that song does have suggestive lyrics, doesn't it? But come on, it's Momoi!! In perfect timing, someone else requested Kujibiki Unbalance right after me. (And yes, I realize the irony of me going to this event instead of Momoi's event going on at the same time, and yet requesting a Momoi song....!)

Mami's dry curry rice

Mami's curry had an unexpected twist: it was "dry curry", not your usual goopy curry rice. Her song is called "Curry rice is a drink" so it was funny that the dish didn't actually match the song. I had only eaten a tiny bit since the early morning, so this really hit the spot. Very yummy and nice meat mixed in too. I also tried out Mamipyon's drink "Red Bullma" (A pun off of Red Bull and Buruma gym shorts.) A nice sweet drink, not sure exactly what was in it, but anyway, it was good! There was a special rule that if you order a drink, you had to say the full name of it, which could be kind of embarrassing to say to Mamipyon "give me your red buruma!"

Red Buruma!

Midway through, Mamipyon, Soramame Kotomi  Nikaido Aya, and Sakurada Mano put on a skit which was an adaptation of Mamipyon's previous mahou shoujo tryout skit. It was funny with just Mami, but with all 4, it was somehow even better. Previously, Mamipyon was auditioning to be a mahou shoujo, with the interviewer just being her own voice played via recording. This time, Aya and Kotomyu were also trying out and Manonya was the interviewer. Mamipyon made lots of hilarious expressions and pulled off her goofy character perfectly. I love her obsession with Homura and her creepy laugh. Kotomyu's cute but also vain act was a great addition. Aya just has to act the same as usual and she's already funny. Manonya surprised me the most with her spot on glowering face when the other girls stepped out of line. Not just saying this because I'm a fan - really hilarious act.

Lovely stage as usual

The last request was reserved for Mami since it was her event - so a fan went with her curry song again to finish things up. Overall I prefer straight out lives to cafe/off-kai type events simply cause I never know what to say to people - I'm already awkward enough, even more so when I'm talking to idols or whatever, and in the end I'm a fan based on singing more than anything else. Still, the atmosphere was pretty casual and I was able to enjoy myself with some friends too, plus hear lots of great and rare songs, so overall, a great event!


☆Xi-lium vol.31

This anime song club event is a regular happening at Akihabara Club MOGRA. What drew my attention this time? ななひら's live performance, of course! The rest of the event is great of course - the main gimmick is up to 18kgs worth of free glowsticks are handed out to the audience. But considering this is Denpa no Sekai, let's focus on Nanahira's performance. She was on the mini-stage off to the side of the DJ booth with the fans extremely close to her on that tiny stage. She's so tiny, and she looks even tinier surrounded by so many fans. Her outfit was a cute pink dress and kitty tights. She had about 20 minutes of performing time, which she mostly filled with signing anime cover songs, considering it's an anime event. She sang one original song - Jump Over!生物種, which was definitely the hightlight for me. Unfortunately, all the songs were short versions so she could jam pack in as many as she could. Though she also said she planned on taking up 10 of the 20 minutes just by talking, but she forgot what to talk about! I'm so glad she's performing live more often. If she ever does a full fledged solo live, I'll flip out!!

After her live, the event continued, but I had to split a little early to head to a Dempagumi.inc fan party.


 ☆でんぱ組.inc 「夏のパッション!」~みんながいるし、仲間だもん!~

Hambearger steak at Shibuya Maidreamin Dempagumi.inc pre-party.

Dempagumi.inc's latest solo live couldn't have had a more dramatic build up. Weather reports had been building up lots of tension - a typhoon was brewing and set to hit the very day of their Tokyo live! To make things worse, this was an OUTDOOR live - rain would be bad enough, but a typhoon ran the risk of cancelling the entire event for safety. Many trains were cancelled preemptively as weather reports called for a 100% chance of storms and strong winds were brewing. The night before, Dempagumi's website announced they would update on the situation of the live at 9am. Personally, I know my local train line ALWAYS gets stopped when it's windy, so I headed out to Tokyo first thing in the morning before the winds got strong. From there, I hung out at a friend's and slept until the 9am announcement, which said basically the live was still set to go, and they would make another announcement at 12. Back to sleep until 12! Rain was falling and wind was blowing, although nothing extreme. At 12, the announcement was basically the same: we're still preparing for the live as usual, but it could be delayed or cancelled depending on how the weather goes. Twitter was also ablaze with talk of all the events going on during the typhoon - Tamura Yukari and Sphere had fans lining up outside for goods, "risking life and limb" for their idols. (Though the weather wasn't dangerous at that point, reports kept saying it would get dangerous later so everybody was getting a kick out of seeing the fans line up.) Of course, Sphere and Yukarin events were indoors at least...

Mirin birthday instructions that came bundled around a red glowstick


Eventually I headed over the the venue, where they were doing sound check. Being an outdoor stage, you could hear everything clearly when lining up. I happened to walk by where they were filming for Dempagumi's online show "Dempa no Kamigami" and watched for a bit, but I felt kinda stalker-ish so I didn't stick around too long. There were tons of fans decked out in fashionable gear and cosplay, with some distributing cards containing chant lyrics, others collecting birthday messages for Mirin, and of course, handing out red glowsticks for a birthday surprise for Mirin (again.) I wore my usual stuff: happi and blue t-shirt. Happi's seemed VERY rare at the event. Not sure how hard they are to come by, and if they are really that rare, or they just aren't fashionable enough for the average fan..!? Unfortunately, I was too poor to pick up any new goods.

When I finally lined up, a somewhat older couple was behind me in line. They seemed kind of perplexed - "What's 2.5D mean?" "You know, like an anime character. Like they want to look like anime which is 2D." "OH! I get it!!" Eventually the lady spoke to me and asked me a few questions about how long I knew Dempagumi and if I went to Dearstage, and of course where I was from. She was really nice. I tried to give them some UOs, but they already had a bag full of glowsticks. I get the feeling they might have been the parents of someone, but they said it was their first time seeing Dempagumi, so maybe not one of the member's parents.



The line got moving and I found my seat: fairly far back and to the left, but due to the stadium seating, MUCH easier to see than the past 2 solo lives I attended. When they were at Liquid Room, I literally couldn't see ANYTHING the first 2 songs. However, to me the seating was still more of a downer - having chairs and stadium style seating meant no going wild. No running side to side, rushing the stage, and all the other crazy antics we're used to at a Dempagumi live. Yeah I didn't get bruised and exhausted, but when it comes to Dempagumi, that's part of the fun!

Instruction card side 1


Before the live began, they showed some Dempa no Kamigami clips and stuff for their Shiromajo movie. The Kamigami clips irked me in one way - they are always really over-dramatic and tried to make it out like their first live was a sad failure just because it didn't sell out. Their first live was AWESOME and very emotional, and a great time was had by all. Just because it didn't sell out doesn't mean it wasn't successful - it was a huge step for them, and the lack of numbers was made up for by the enthusiasm of the fans that were present.

Instruction card side 2

Miraculously, the typhoon blew over without more than some early morning rain, leaving a beautiful sunset which turned to darkness perfectly timed for the start of the live. Things got started with W.W.D right off the bat. Thanks to the King Blade x10 2 I was able to program the colors in the right order for this song, and show my support for every member without scrambling. Throughout the rest of the live, I mostly stuck with Eitaso and Nemukyun's colors, changing now and then for solo parts or just based on my mood for the song. For W.W.D.II, I also cycled through the colors on the parts about them coming together as one. That's symbolic, man!! I used 2 of my UOs on ORANGE RIUM and one on Eitaso's solo part on Kira Kira Tune.


The total setlist was as follows:

 W.W.D
Sabotage
Future Diver
わっほい?お祭り.inc
君も絶対に降参しないで進まなくちゃ (妄想キャリブレーション doing back up dancing)
くちづけキボンヌ
ノットボッチ…夏
キラキラチューン
強い気持ち・強い愛
少女アンドロイドA
W.W.D Ⅱ

Encore
でんぱれーどJAPAN
ORANGE RIUM

Encore 2
でんでんぱっしょん


 It's pretty hard to go wrong with Dempagumi, so overall a good setlist. They should really sing Mirror Magic though... I guess they want to make it "special" by not singing it much anymore? I dunno. I have to admit the Osaka setlist looked a little more to my liking, especially with the special guests including Masaya Koike. Glad to see they haven't forgotten him. They also gave some of their best performances yet. Great singing, dancing, and expressions. The hanamichi / catwalk coming off of the stage, plus the big screen behind them made it easy to see them from anywhere. The fact that it was outdoors gave it a unique feel. It's somewhat different to see the glowsticks lighting up outdoors at night rather than in a dark room. By the way, many  more glowstick users now. Fans used to focus on furikopi - copying dance moves - and few had lights. Now it's more the opposite. I'd like to thank the Kingblade for this, making it super easy to have all the colors needed, even Nemu's pastel green. Though honestly lots of people had regular chemical lights too. I was super lucky to have a seat along an isle... More room to move around! Overall the live was pretty short on MCs, with Risa and Mirin doing most of the talking as usual. During costume changes they hyped up ShiroMajo with some clips from it. I'm pretty curious to see what the actual movie will be like beyond the lovely visuals. I really never would have guessed they'd star in a movie.


 On the last track, Mirin's birthday surprise went off without a hitch. At the "BIG BANG" part in Den Den Passion, everyone broke out their red glowsticks and shouted happy birthday to Mirin. The staff had apparently heard of the plan and made some last minute adjustments to help with this: they suddenly turned the screen red, and (it seemed to me anyway) that they extended the silent part of the song to give more time for people to shout their congratulations before cutting the music back on. Mirin was choked up as usual and the other members got a kick out of seeing her so surprised. Some of the fans even made giant ASCII art out of glowsticks on a grid to send extra birthday wishes which was neato. They chose green lights to stand out among the red, I guess!

Birthday wishes for Mirin, looked larger IRL! (Photo from Nemu's blog)

Their "big announcement" was an additional live next month to make it up to the people who couldn't come this time due to the typhoon. Hey, what about an album announcement already??? There's still no album with the new members, and plenty of songs not on any album yet. Afterwards I talked to a few fans, the guy next to me said he had seen me in Dearstage a few times. Also met with some of the fans from the pre-party, one guy said he remembered the way I changed colors on my glowstick at Zepp too, which I found funny.

Magical glowing garbage you can find after any good concert

Anyway, overall, another good step for Dempagumi in their never ending quest to take over, I mean, save the universe. It doesn't rank as one of my top favorites simply due to the seating, but still, definitely a good memory, and great performance!



That wraps things up for this installment! See ya next time!