On Saturday, at the Sydney Manga and Anime Show, there was a concert. It was pretty amazing. First though, I’m so happy that I managed to get stuff signed by both GARNiDELiA and (I’m super happy about this) yanaginagi (though it was just a signboard)!
The concert started off with a great set by kz (livetune), unsurprisingly featuring a lot of Hatsune Miku. kz was great at keeping the energy up, directing the crowd, and chucking glowsticks into the seats. He had a great surprise towards the end of his set, playing and mixing a few of his ClariS songs including the popular Oreimo theme. And he didn’t disappoint with the finale – Tell Your World, his most famous Vocaloid song. The whole set was really fun to jump and wave glowsticks to.
Next up was GARNiDELiA, who I mainly know because of their really great second OP for Kill la Kill and from watching a few Lisani shows. So while I’ll eventually get to watching Mahouka, I still really enjoyed their other songs because MARiA and Toku know how to put on a good show. They ended with ambiguous (the Kill la Kill OP), but I think the highlight was when they sung their own version of A Cruel Angel’s Thesis.
DJ Hello Kitty was up next, and I personally wasn’t into this set as much. Partly because it was a more traditional DJ mix of radio top 40 songs like Party Rock, and partly because I was getting pretty exhausted. I don’t think I was alone in this either, considering how many of us were sat down.
Finally, yanaginagi came on stage, and I wasn’t alone in being super excited for her. I think time considerations meant her set was a little shorter than I would’ve liked, she did get both of the Oregairu OP songs in, and they’re even better when she sings them in person. Unfortunately she didn’t sing Kimi no Shiranai Monogatari, which I would’ve loved to hear her sing in person. Still, glad she came to Australia (her first foreign event) and sang, I doubt I would have had any other opportunity to see her live.
Great night, would recommend it if Anisong returns next year. Hopefully they’ll get Kalafina or fripSide to come.
As for the rest of the show, it was most what I expected. I got to hear Danny Choo talk and show off his Smart Dolls, which remain out of my price range. I got some cool prints from the artists hall, including a great Journey (the game) print. And I saw a bunch of guys dressed up as muse from Love Live – which, by the way, is really popular as it turns out. I should watch it, but I feel like as an Idolm@ster fan it would be a challenge to my allegiance to Chihaya and Haruka. I also got a few Toaru Majutsu no Index 10th Anniversary goodies, including some prize figures of Biribiri and Orthinus, so I’m pretty happy (and poor).