HALCALI LOL
I like Zaiya’s coffee, even if it’s nothing special. Not sure if I can say the same about gothloli.
Samurai Beat Radio is this…project in which they record Japanese artists for a radio program that is broadcasted in Japan, in the US. They’ve hosted TM Revolution last time a couple months ago and they just did a show with Halcali on this past Friday. Both of their shows are free, located at Kinokuniya midtown, NYC.
There’s precious little information about this project, who it is supported by, who funds it, and with which organization it belongs to, but whichever organization it is, it’s doing marketing a little awkardly.
But it’s Halcali. And they are a little lol. I think they’re not at ease in this particular setting but at the same time they’ve had a tough schedule flying all over the place and performing. I guess if I can make it to tomorrow’s show A-OK, I’ll make some notes about that here too.
And if you didn’t know, there was an autograph and photo session after the radio program was over. The host was Brian Nishii of Happyfunsmile.
Meanwhile I’ll put this picture I got with them alongside with the picture I got with Bonnie Pink. It’s like musician artists just have more fun when they’re not tied up in an anime-cross-promotional convention?
Only If Someone Reminded Me…
…when Macross Frontier OST was up for preorders on CDJ.
To be honest I think CD Japan did send me an email saying so, but their bi-weekly publication is a TL;DR list most of the time, and I usually see it first thing in the morning when I’m not quite fully awake. But alas, CD Japan is one of the most reliable online importer where you can distinguish a first-press and a non-first-press release on their order page, so it’s a safe place to shop if that is your thing. Thankfully I think I’m not losing out on anything important on this first-pressing now that it’s sold out. (Although if you do know an alternative…preferably one that can guarantee it is in stock…do tell.)
So here goes, yet another post full of referral links, of things I might or might not buy myself. Depends on how many conventions I go this year, I suppose, or if I am going to buy this. Or this.
Damn you StrikerS.
Anyways, instead let’s talk about anime I don’t hate. So by now I hope you have seen Kara no Kyoukai part 1. I should make a post on it but the short of it is that it was a slight disappointment. Still, the book is not closed on this ufotable beauty, with 6 more episodes to go. CD Japan knows this is a best seller so there’s a page dedicated to that.
What is annoying about Kara no Kyoukai is how the limited edition DVDs are the best/only way to get the soundtrack for the show. So Princess Tutu-ish :( But this is Kajiura and not some public domain nonsense. Sigh. In a remotely related note, at least as a Kanno fan, I could just line up for the OST from Genius Party and Genius Party Beyond, due out 7/2. The 2-CD set is, well, self-explanatory.
At Animazement last week I had to spend a lot of time with Alex, who is a frugal anime retail expert to say the least. What’s more, he’s been doing more importing lately and he pointed me to this thread at AoDVD forums about Amazon Japan not using the right tariff code. Doesn’t really affect me even when I do buy DVDs from them, but it’s probably a pinch if you import a lot.
We also talked about the new Utena CD box set. To be honest the only Utena CD I still need to buy is OST3, but that alone is probably not worth the whole box especially when I have about half of them already. For people getting into Utena for the first time, there are also other options like this best collection CD if hawt strings action or weirdass stage show music doesn’t do much. The best collection CD has all the important vocal songs, plus even the hawt Makkun track Rose & Release. The box comes out 7/23 so there’s some time to think about it, especially if you were longing for that stuff for years.
Speaking of old music, 6/25 marks the release of two cover albums. The third installment of Yoko Ishida’s Hyper Yocomix…Hyper Yocomix3 and Chihiro Yonekura’s all-time-best cover album Ever After both come out at the same time. Yonekura’s album has a listing with all the tracks, which include basically the usual King Records stuff that has been covered to death; nonetheless I think I will have to pick this one up just so I can feel that I have every damned cover of every Makkun song? The track list is as follows:
- Zankoku na Tenshi no Thesis (LOL Eva)
- Mizu no Hoshi e Ai wo Komete (Zeta Gundam)
- Give a reason (Slayers Next)
- Arashi no Naka de Kagayaite (Gundam 8th MS Team…wait a minute??? ugh self covers)
- Tenshi no Yubikiri (Karekano)
- Eien no Tobira (8th MS Team movie)
- Trust You forever (G Gundam)
- Yakusoku no Basho e (Kaleido Star)
- Tenshi no Kyuusoku (Yamamoto Yohko TV)
- YOU GET TO BURNING (Nadesico)
- FRIENDS (Senkaiden Houshin Engi/Soul Hunter)
Ishida’s new remix CD hasn’t posted a track listing yet, but it does have a year limit (2006-2007) so here goes hoping she sings some new tunes from newer shows (maybe some KOTOKO?). It also coincides her visit at Anime Expo this year, so you might be able to buy this CD there.
On that note, fans in America can get the new Animelo single autographed (crossing my fingers on this) at Otakon before Japanese fans splooge over the course of two days at Animelo 2008. It comes out 7/24. I will probably pick this up like how I picked up every one of those so far. Especially since this year’s ensemble cast for Animelo is just huge–it’ll make a great treat if they can all fit on the DVD that comes with the single.
Couple other random items… Back to Macross Frontier–the Blu-Ray release comes out the same date as the DVD release. The first disc is priced not outrageously but it only contains episode one, even if it does contain all three different versions of episode one. Maybe that is why it is ~1000 yen less than volumes 2 and onwards? It also comes with some kind of nonsensical first-press bonus loot related to Nyan Nyan. One should also note that all of Macross Frontier TV will be released in 9 DVD/BRD batches, with volume 2 on sale at late September and one release a month afterwards.
This winding blog post needs to end, so let’s finally talk about Mika Arisaka. She’s this Japanese R&B/gospel singer who did the songs for a couple anime, and they were all pretty remarkable. It seems that her latest solo CD is finally on the horizon. Doesn’t look like there’s much details yet, but I enjoyed her last one.
Lastly, if you feel compelled to use CD Japan to buy stuff (still, please shop around for the stuff you like), do take note that there’s some kind of discount campaign going on. They make enough money on margins as is, you ought to take advantage of them when you can.
Beyond Shinkai
So in a couple weeks, Makoto Shinkai will have his film and interview in London. Poor sods stranded over this side of the pond, like us, can probably take this opportunity and do something else while Shinkai moves on to a new chapter in life as an expat.
“2nd_Life (茗记)” is something that might be it. You can watch it on Youku, or watch it on Tudou. Chinese-based streaming video sites don’t work super great on my home connection, but they do work. YMMV.
This 6-or-so minutes long indie animation is produced by some PRC studio called L-Key. It’s in Chinese with Chinese and English subs. You can also find the soundtrack in mp3 as well as a WMV link (it didn’t work for me) for the video. Coming from a Shinkai fan’s perspective the similarity is clear, but there’s at least a modicum of originality in the expression that makes it credible, at least a little.
Big thanks to Iwa ni Hana for pointing this piece out.
Speaking of which, there’s this other piece on Iwa ni Hana about She and Her Cat which is just delightful. Can I go squeee now? You should go pay the blog a visit.
Animazement 2008 Gundam Panel
This panel was a bit of a washout. There was probably 50 people tops in the room. People didn’t really get into asking questions.
The panelists were (left to right) Kotono Mitsuishi, Keiko Han and Mitsuo Fukuda.
No lynch crowd!
With a straining voice, the MC introduced the panelists to us. We then watched a clip out of Gundam Seed Destiny. Man, that was actually kind of cool?
Animazement 2008 Voice Actress Panel
This panel was one of the first thing at the start of the convention Friday, 1pm. Looks like they’re going to do some live dubbing with audience participating!
A little tidbit about Animazement. Much like how the now-president of Gainax pulls for Fanime, Kamiya and Han work hard to get fellow voice actors to come to the con. Well, the results are pretty obvious. Or rather, voice actors know voice actors, after all?
The panel started with some technical difficulty. It seems they have a prepared DVD with menus and all, ready to show clips from various shows (mostly Sailor Moon) for all the guests at the con. But somehow they couldn’t get the sound to work. Funny enough few moments later they couldn’t mute the darn thing. We spent a good 10 minutes at the panel looking at the panelists being confused as to how to proceed. Anyways, it was all good. This particular panel was also extra 30-40 minutes longer with an attached autograph session at the end. So we spent roughly 15 minutes goofing around, 15 minutes dubbing, and 30 minutes Q&A.
