It's that time of the year again!! Foo~!
AFA2014 has been pretty amazing for me. It seems that every year it just gets better and better! Generally, it is much more spacious, though I felt that there is a lot of unused space. Like they could have made the indie section more spacious.
Met a couple of my FFXIV FC mates cosplaying SCH and WHM!! I didn't get to see their booth in the end due to time constraints on my part though, but still! Very very cool to see FFXIV in AFA! Play with us yo!
But of course, the kicker for me is the "I Love Anisong" concert. This was the first time I went for all 3 days VIP, due to the crazy line up. I mean, even if I don't listen to some of their songs, it is awesome to see them up close!
Friday started off well for me with Hocchan singing 3 meters away from me. It's funny cause it has been a teenage hope to see her in person since Love Hina days. And there she was, more than 12 years later, in front of me! Also, I think some people do not get her performance because her style is rather unique in the sense that she likes to setup up plays in her performance...like musicals. She isn't really the rock/pop kind of singer. If anyone seen her lives they would've known though.
Kitamura Eri was a blast for some, I can guess. There's a lot of Kitamura Eri fans, specially since she's kind of Visual Kei. I personally don't follow her songs as much as her career as a seiyuu, in which she is portrayed quite differently back then. Her performance is pretty good though! She did sing a couple of song I wanted her to sing (well, she was obviously going to sing them but STILL)..
To many, I think, that AFA2014 did not start until the final performance by angela. angela was amazingly....high that night? Atsuko cut her hair short and was rocking it out on stage while Katsu was doing flips with his guitar. Kicking off with "僕じゃない" made me tilt on so many levels, and ending it with their famous "Shangri-la" just made me look forward to the next day.
Saturday's kicked off amazingly with LiSA. LiSA is just so good live. I probably said this before because I'll say it again. If you are a LiSA fan and did not watch her live before, you as missing out a hell lot. She is absolutely charming, converting people like me who has never heard of her into a fan in 1 hour a couple of years back when she first came for Angel Beats. Of course, she sang "Rising Hope". For the record, I didn't like the song because it was in SAO because I was never a SAO fan to begin with. It's a pretty good song overall in my opinion.
Then im@s took the stage. What really surprised me was that the P's managed to get together and send each other the songs' call cards. The result was something that really felt like Japanese concerts. It's not exactly something I can describe but...basically it wasn't just mindless waving of lightsticks and random cheering. Everything was coherent; the waving of lightsticks, the shouts and cheers...it is a special experience and I wasn't ready to feel it again so soon after my minorin concert in Japan. And yay! I finally get to listen to Mingosu live with one of my favorite Idolmaster songs: 眠り姫！ Wow when the lights turned ghostly blue and the bells started ringing before the song, I had goosebumps ^_^
Dizzy with surprise, next up was yanaginagi. I kinda know of her because of supercell, and I know she has a pretty big fanbase. She doesn't disappoint, even though I don't know many of her songs. She has a rather soothing voice that is difficult to hate.
Then fripSide. After missing her 2 years ago, I am sure as hell not missing her this year. fripSide was fantastic this year, especially with Japanese fans cuing for the cheers. Nanjo-san was super cute when she was talking about durians! Satoshi-sensei was raging over losing money as Marina Bay Sands' casino lol! fripSide was an hour long high for me. EVERY song I know from her finally hear live! The best part was ending with "sister's noise"! Super drained after their performance..
Finally was Sunday. I took my JLPT3 in the afternoon and rushed down in the evening (god bless my Listening section T_T).
Sunday. Was. Epic. It's all FLOW's fault. I mean, why the hell would you want to put FLOW at the start of the performance?! It's like putting JAM Project. Nevertheless, FLOW came on stage first and literally sang every song you would know from them. Cha-la-Head-Cha-la, DAYS, COLORS, GO!...etc. If the concert ended there, I would have gladly gone home for I was satisfied and exhausted by the end of it.
But no, they were just the first of the five. Next up was GARNiDELiA and their upbeat songs. MARiA is a fantastic performance, showing that she can really dance and sing really well. It's evident that she has been doing this for a long time. Because I'm a Kill La Kill fan, I was looking forward to the last song she sang: 'ambiguous'. In a sense, it feels like a great way to end her performance and start Eir Aoi, who was up next.
Now, the last time Eir Aoi performed last year, she almost killed my ears thanks to the extra speakers and thanks to the said extra speakers being right on top of me. This year, there are no extra speakers and holy crap she is loud and powerful. Easily the most powerful and clearest singer in the entire line up. Her 'high' notes gave me chills every time. I already felt that listening to her on digital was awesome, but she somehow takes it to another level on her live...maybe I should travel to her solos? Hmm....
Shortly after, ROOT5 made their way to the stage. Okay here I'm going to rant. Even if you are not a ROOT5 fan like me, if you are sitting on the VIP sit, you should not sit down and play games/surf facebook dammit! Just enjoy the music at the very least and show the singers some respect! They don't travel all the way to see a bunch of people sit down during their performance. At least show some support. They even graced us with 「千本桜」 (in which everyone stood up and cheered...tsk)！
Finally the last performance was quite fittingly by May'n. She has been here every damn year since 'I Love Anisong' stage was nothing but a platform at some random side of the convention hall. It's amazing how far AFA has gone. May'n closed the event with a startling performance as usual, singing songs that she sang since the first AFA! It was truly...nostalgic and magical at the same time. *sigh*
It was a super tiring yet energizing weekend. I already can't wait for the next AFA!!
Friday started off well for me with Hocchan singing 3 meters away from me. It's funny cause it has been a teenage hope to see her in person since Love Hina days. And there she was, more than 12 years later, in front of me! Also, I think some people do not get her performance because her style is rather unique in the sense that she likes to setup up plays in her performance...like musicals. She isn't really the rock/pop kind of singer. If anyone seen her lives they would've known though.
Kitamura Eri was a blast for some, I can guess. There's a lot of Kitamura Eri fans, specially since she's kind of Visual Kei. I personally don't follow her songs as much as her career as a seiyuu, in which she is portrayed quite differently back then. Her performance is pretty good though! She did sing a couple of song I wanted her to sing (well, she was obviously going to sing them but STILL)..
To many, I think, that AFA2014 did not start until the final performance by angela. angela was amazingly....high that night? Atsuko cut her hair short and was rocking it out on stage while Katsu was doing flips with his guitar. Kicking off with "僕じゃない" made me tilt on so many levels, and ending it with their famous "Shangri-la" just made me look forward to the next day.
Saturday's kicked off amazingly with LiSA. LiSA is just so good live. I probably said this before because I'll say it again. If you are a LiSA fan and did not watch her live before, you as missing out a hell lot. She is absolutely charming, converting people like me who has never heard of her into a fan in 1 hour a couple of years back when she first came for Angel Beats. Of course, she sang "Rising Hope". For the record, I didn't like the song because it was in SAO because I was never a SAO fan to begin with. It's a pretty good song overall in my opinion.
Then im@s took the stage. What really surprised me was that the P's managed to get together and send each other the songs' call cards. The result was something that really felt like Japanese concerts. It's not exactly something I can describe but...basically it wasn't just mindless waving of lightsticks and random cheering. Everything was coherent; the waving of lightsticks, the shouts and cheers...it is a special experience and I wasn't ready to feel it again so soon after my minorin concert in Japan. And yay! I finally get to listen to Mingosu live with one of my favorite Idolmaster songs: 眠り姫！ Wow when the lights turned ghostly blue and the bells started ringing before the song, I had goosebumps ^_^
Dizzy with surprise, next up was yanaginagi. I kinda know of her because of supercell, and I know she has a pretty big fanbase. She doesn't disappoint, even though I don't know many of her songs. She has a rather soothing voice that is difficult to hate.
Then fripSide. After missing her 2 years ago, I am sure as hell not missing her this year. fripSide was fantastic this year, especially with Japanese fans cuing for the cheers. Nanjo-san was super cute when she was talking about durians! Satoshi-sensei was raging over losing money as Marina Bay Sands' casino lol! fripSide was an hour long high for me. EVERY song I know from her finally hear live! The best part was ending with "sister's noise"! Super drained after their performance..
Finally was Sunday. I took my JLPT3 in the afternoon and rushed down in the evening (god bless my Listening section T_T).
Sunday. Was. Epic. It's all FLOW's fault. I mean, why the hell would you want to put FLOW at the start of the performance?! It's like putting JAM Project. Nevertheless, FLOW came on stage first and literally sang every song you would know from them. Cha-la-Head-Cha-la, DAYS, COLORS, GO!...etc. If the concert ended there, I would have gladly gone home for I was satisfied and exhausted by the end of it.
But no, they were just the first of the five. Next up was GARNiDELiA and their upbeat songs. MARiA is a fantastic performance, showing that she can really dance and sing really well. It's evident that she has been doing this for a long time. Because I'm a Kill La Kill fan, I was looking forward to the last song she sang: 'ambiguous'. In a sense, it feels like a great way to end her performance and start Eir Aoi, who was up next.
Now, the last time Eir Aoi performed last year, she almost killed my ears thanks to the extra speakers and thanks to the said extra speakers being right on top of me. This year, there are no extra speakers and holy crap she is loud and powerful. Easily the most powerful and clearest singer in the entire line up. Her 'high' notes gave me chills every time. I already felt that listening to her on digital was awesome, but she somehow takes it to another level on her live...maybe I should travel to her solos? Hmm....
Shortly after, ROOT5 made their way to the stage. Okay here I'm going to rant. Even if you are not a ROOT5 fan like me, if you are sitting on the VIP sit, you should not sit down and play games/surf facebook dammit! Just enjoy the music at the very least and show the singers some respect! They don't travel all the way to see a bunch of people sit down during their performance. At least show some support. They even graced us with 「千本桜」 (in which everyone stood up and cheered...tsk)！
Finally the last performance was quite fittingly by May'n. She has been here every damn year since 'I Love Anisong' stage was nothing but a platform at some random side of the convention hall. It's amazing how far AFA has gone. May'n closed the event with a startling performance as usual, singing songs that she sang since the first AFA! It was truly...nostalgic and magical at the same time. *sigh*
It was a super tiring yet energizing weekend. I already can't wait for the next AFA!!
