#afasg15

[dheeshiireann-blog]

#lovelive #umisonoda #yumenotobira #afasg15 #lateups (at Suntec Singapore Convention & Exhibition Centre)

[skynohoshi]

P'sLIVE! AFA2015 Setlist

Cagayake! GIRLS / Taketatsu Ayana, MICHI & Endo Yurika TV anime “K-On!” opening theme

Cry for the Truth / MICHI TV anime “Rokka no Yuusha” opening theme

Secret Sky / MICHI TV anime “Rokka no Yuusha” ending theme

Hito ni Yasashiku - Hanamori Yumiri TV anime “Rolling☆Girls” opening theme

Sendan Life / Hanamori Yumiri Movie “Glass no Hana to Kowasu Sekai” song

blue moment [LIVE ARRANGE ver.] / Hanamori Yumiri & Uchida Maaya TV anime “Etotama” ending theme

Monochrome Overdrive / Endo Yurika TV anime “Z/X IGNITION” ending theme

Hajimari no Uta / Endo Yurika

Yuriyurarararayuruyuri Daijiken / Mikami Shiori TV anime “Yuru Yuri” opening theme

Majikaru Dai☆Dai☆Dai Bouken / Mikami Shiori & Mimori Suzuko TV animation “My Little Pony: Tomodachi wa Mahou” opening theme

Soushou Innocence / Uchida Maaya TV anime “Akuma no Riddle” opening theme

Sekai ga Katachinaku Shitemo / Uchida Maaya 11th track from PENKI, Maaya’s first album

Karappo Capsule / Uchida Maaya Web anime "Anime de Wakaru Shinryounaika" ending theme

Gimme! Revolution / Uchida Maaya TV anime “Ore, Twintail ni Narimasu.” opening theme

Hello, future contact! / Uchida Maaya 13th track from PENKI, Maaya’s first album

Sinfonia! Sinfonia!! / Taketatsu Ayana 3rd track from apple symphony, Ayana’s first album

Kajirikake no Ringo / Taketatsu Ayana TV anime "Denkigai no Honya-san" opening theme

Little*Lion*Heart / Taketatsu Ayana TV anime "Lance N' Masques" ending theme

CANDY LOVE / Taketatsu Ayana 2nd track from Onpu no Kuni no Alice, Ayana’s second single

Rice To Meat You / Taketatsu Ayana  2nd track from apple symphony, Ayana’s first album

Aitai yo... Aitai yo! / Mimori Suzuko 1st track from Aitai yo... Aitai yo!, Suzuko’s second single

Glory! / Mimori Suzuko TV anime "Diamond no Ace" 2nd ending theme

Seiippai, Tsutaetai! / Mimori Suzuko TV anime "Majimoji Rurumo" opening theme

Univer Page / Mimori Suzuko TV anime “Outbreak Company" opening theme

Light for Knight / Mimori Suzuko TV anime “Lance N' Masques" opening theme

Ashita e Narasu Refrain / All Theme song of P'sLIVE!

Clarification:

Point 8 - Hajimari no Uta I do not know anything about this song. When I search the name on Google, I have various results from different artistes/bands.

Fun fact:

Point 10 - Majikaru Dai☆Dai☆Dai Bouken Originally sang by Nanamori Chu☆Goraku Bu, which Mikashi is included, Mimorin collaborated with her. The song served as the opening theme song of the Japanese dub of “My Little Pony: Tomodachi no Mahou”. Mimorin dubbed the main character “Pinkie Pie”. A Pinkie Pie plushie can be seen on Mimorin’s costume when she performed the collaboration.

I don’t know why I released this setlist so late, but I assumed no one has posted the setlist yet.

[jexps]

[AFASG’15] [INTERVIEW] bless4: “Towards the 2nd decade, Back to Zero!”

Moving on from Nano, this week, we present to you the performers that are bless4!

Bless4 is a Japanese vocal and dance group consisting for siblings from the Kawamitsu family. Akashi, the oldest brother, is the only one to hail from Okinawa, while Kanasa, Akino and Aiki were born in the United States. They officially debuted with their first song, ‘Good Morning! Mr. Sunshine!’ in May 2003. In 2009, they released two songs for Disney’s anime Stitch – ‘Stitch is coming’ and ‘Hitori Ja Nai’, with the former being the ending theme song. In 2011, they released their 3rd album – six years after their previous – titled ‘Yumetsumugi’, which scored a respectable 3rd, on Billboard Japan.

Collaborating with bless4, Akino, who started a really successful solo career, released a theme song for Aquarion EVOL – ‘Kimi no Shinhwa – Aquarion Dai Ni Shou’ as well as an OP theme song for Amagi Brilliant Park – ‘Extra Magic Hour’ – with the singles claiming the #3 and the #20 spot on the Oricon chart, respectively.

bless4 enjoying Bak Ku Teh for dinner in Singapore. (Source)

To keep the ball rolling, as Akashi said, “Shall we start? Alright, let the games begin!”

Interview sans Aiki

Q: What are the different challenges that bless4 have faced, especially when going for overseas tours, in recent years?

Kanasa: Time difference?

Akino: Like for Singapore, not really, it’s just one hour of difference but for the flight to the United States is a seven hour flight.

Kanasa: Sometimes you worry you would get sick because of the weather or if you needed energy, you wonder if you would get a lot of energy before the performances.

Akashi: The basic challenges, not really in Singapore – because we can speak English and we can understand everybody but depending on the country, sometimes if we could really communicate very well or understand what the audience wants. The main thing that we want to do is to have the audience enjoy our performance, that’s the main point why we are here, so we just hope that our performance would be enjoyable to the audience. So, sometime that takes some thinking.

Q: So your style is quite unique – sometimes its acapella, sometimes Akino sings while the rest dance. Can you tell me where you get the inspiration for Bless4’s performance style?

Akashi: Oh, we get that from you. (Kanasa and Akino laughs) No, no, no, really, from the audience definitely but, it also depends on the song and the way that it is made for. Sometimes we are supposed to harmonise during our performance but it is difficult to harmonise and dance at the same time so we try to make sure that we kind of just dance at the back. Basically like we mentioned before, hopefully we want to do something that the audience will enjoy and that we ourselves enjoy also. Because if we don’t enjoy it, we know that the audience won’t enjoy it too.

Kanasa: Also we’ve been doing taekwondo in the States, so that might make a difference in our dances. Paki Paki dance? Kind of like a sharp dance? People say you guys have a sharp taste of dance.

Akashi: So sharp that you will have to stay away because you will get cut.

Kanasa: So that might make a difference in a way that we used to do taekwondo.

Akino: Basically, we like to have the performance really well laid out, so when it is Bless4 or Akino from Bless4 or Akino with Bless4 or Aiki from/with Bless4, we think of that person’s character traits and the song in general and what kind of performance the audience would like as a whole. That influences how we think of when we should dance or harmonise or just go all out and sing.

Kanasa: We also like entertainment, so we think that singing, dancing and the things that we do, as an entertainment. Entertainment equals putting more different things, stuff people haven’t seen so that’s why we like to do – challenge new things.

Akashi: Basically what we want to do is that we always want to mix it up, we don’t want to just sing, just dance, and we want to make sure it is entertainment. And we can only dance right now when we are young. Well, I am not that young any more but we can only dance right now. The next five years is probably the limit that I could dance and, so after five years maybe we’ll just be singing. That’s why we want to dance and sing and do all we can right now!

Q: As siblings, how do you see yourselves as a family and professionally as a performing group together?

Kanasa: As siblings, we are a family, but in a way, I don’t feel like we are family, I feel like we are best friends. We can talk about anything – love life, relationships. We did this not just with the girls but with the guys included and with our mom and dad. Well sometimes, we don’t include them. So I feel that they’re family but best friends so we can talk about anything and we are really close in ways.

Akino: As professionals, sometimes it is difficult to work as a family because you get the sibling relationship instead of the professional relationship. So sometimes your emotions can go above your professional status. We’ll have to like cooldown or for a meeting that would take just five minutes, ends up taking one hour because our emotions were raised in front of us.

Akino: So sometimes it is difficult but since we are siblings and since we spend so much time together, when we think of an idea, we kind of have the same kind of ideas. And when we are on stage, we look at each other and we both know what we’re thinking, all four of us. So since we spend so much time together, it’s kind of like telepathy, kind of like psychic powers, some kind of connection. Not that much, but we do have some kind of connection.

Akashi: Basically, this is something we didn’t notice before but when we first debut, we believe we have different voices, but when we recorded a song, the engineer told us that our vibration waves are like the same. So that’s why the harmony mixes well. It’s kind of true when we fight, sometimes before a performance, even though the harmony might be on, it sounds funny or something sounds strange. If we don’t fight before a performance, everything kind of goes well, smoother. So if we don’t do a good job today, you know why. (Laughs)

Q: Bless4 was in Singapore in June to perform for the Funan Anime Matsuri, so due to the fans’ demand, you guys are here for AFA, so how do you feel about that and how did the June performance affect the way you guys came up with the performances tonight?

Kanasa: First of all, we are so grateful for everyone’s reaction. We love Singapore, so having everyone saying we want you to comeback like that was so cool. So thank you, everyone.

Akino: I think when we came and performed in June, people were like saying “AFA! AFA! AFA!”

Kanasa: We were like yeah! We want to come back.

Akashi: Just to be clear, we didn’t pay anybody to say that. They said it for themselves.

Kanasa: We were so happy, dreams came true and we’re able to be back. We are looking really forward to seeing them again and to be able to sing together, dance together and we are really grateful.

Akashi: About the set list this time, we tried to mix it up just a little bit and put in songs that we didn’t sing before but there are a lot of songs that we did sing before. However, we know that some of the songs they (the crowd) really enjoyed so we tried to keep those inside, tried to add in a little more but we don’t have that much time this time. But we try to put in a little bit of Aiki this time too, a video. So I hope everybody enjoys that.

(bless4 at Funan Anime Matsuri: Let's Have A PARTY♪)

Q: What can we expect from you guys in the future?

Akashi: We’ll be performing in space. (laughs) Not that far in the future, right? Basically right now, I don’t know if you know, we’re teaching classes, teaching students in Japan right now. We have students starting to perform as back dancers, back cores and they are getting really good. Very soon you will see bless4 plus a bunch of other people. We just performed at Animax last Saturday and we had 14 dancers behind us. So it’s not only just going to be the four of us. It is going to become a very big group and we hope to go all over the world. We’re kind of going to the Olympics that will be held in Tokyo. Hopefully not as bless4, but the students and us, all together try to go for big things and that’s what we are planning on right now. Space is after that! (More laughs)

Kanasa: Floating into space~

Q: What are the differences between Disney based songs and Anisong in general?

Akashi: That’s a good question; no one has ever asked us that before!

Kanasa: So we were talking about it in the bus as we were coming here, what I personally feel is Anisong tends to have a faster beats per minute (BPM) and higher melodies. As Akino said Disney songs are in English and Anisong are in Japanese. (Laughs) Disney songs also tend to be more lovey dovey, more warmth and more about love. Anisong are more passionate and they have strength, they have a lot of different kinds – from like passionate to cute, but in general they give you the power to move forward.

Akashi: Anime songs have kind of changed quite a lot recently. They used to be quite slower but now a lot of songs are around 170BPM. It’s basically the average of what they are going for right now, so they really want speed. The hype is that they want to use the main vocals at the highest BPM which is way fast and has a lot words in it. So anime songs have really changed in that aspect of it.

Akashi: Disney songs are more relaxed and laid back, easier to sing. It’s hard to compare to anime songs. Basically speed, hype and atmosphere are different. It’s whoever listens to whichever one likes whichever is better; it’s the taste of the listener.

Q: Do you mind sharing the story or motivations behind your upcoming single, ‘Golden Life’?

Kanasa: We recently recorded the song last week. We were really busy at that time and when I listened to the music, it was really good; this time, the music is an up tempo, around 170BPM. It’s really quite fast. I think this song will give a lot of people energy and happiness. We are looking forward in singing the song in the future.

Akashi: Too bad we are unable to sing the song at AFA this weekend, because we are not allowed to. It’s a secret. It’s basically a fast, energized song and so I think you will get a lot of energy from it. Hopefully everybody will like it, we liked it.

Kanasa: This songs has a lot of harmonies in it, we will be doing the photoshoot for it next week, so we are looking forward to that too.

Akashi: The song we just recorded recently is a different song, a song for something. That’s all I can say.

Q: If bless4 were to open a theme park, what will it be like – what kind of attractions, mascots, food will it feature, how will you managed it? If not, you could talk about what you liked in Amagi Brilliant Park and what kind of changes you might make to a park like that?

Akashi: First of all, about Amagi Brilliant Park, we really enjoyed the anime a lot; we were really looking forward to the next episode because in a way, we are doing the same type of thing. In a way, we are doing the same type of thing, it’s not really a theme park, but in terms of the business and meetings and everything. It’s kind of the similar to what we do, for example I say we do this and everybody is like not in agreement and then when I get mad, they get mad at me. So it’s the same thing that is happening. We hope that in the future, we will be able to open something like that in the future.

Akashi: What we have plans for is that we train our students to be good performers and good at public relations also; to greet customers and they are to be very energetic, very polite. This is our motto right now; “Being polite will change the world.” To greet people, to be polite would change the world. Some people think that you know it won’t change the world. But I believe that it could change the world. That’s the main image we hope for and aim for, and hopefully, through our performances, students, and everything that we do, it makes people feel good at the same time. Of course, it’s not just about the greeting and being nice, you have to be good at what you do: skills. It doesn’t have to be the best but have to be the best that you can do.

Kanasa: I think we like (to have) action-type stuff. Performance-wise, it has to have impact, it needs to have some scene where you want to cry, so we try to put all these stuff in the performances. Action, softness, that’s what we think when we think about a live. We try to put everything inside.

Akashi: Basically the six senses. Well not the sixth sense, but the 5 senses. The sixth sense is a little scary. (Laughs)

(AKINO with bless4「エクストラ・マジック・アワー」MV short ver.)

Q: What novelties do you see yourself and other Japanese or non-Japanese or mixed Japanese heritage medium acts possess?

Akashi: I think we have a pretty good mix of Japanese and non-Japanese mix. We are full Japanese but we have kind of live abroad too – in the States. What we hope for is that we want to go for originality.

Kanasa: We like diversity as well. That’s why we like traveling to many different countries. We like to learn the culture, the language. Like living in Japan and the United States, we take the best of both worlds because we know the best of both worlds, so we try to mix the two together. Traveling to different countries, and seeing the cultures and languages and the food… (laughs) We try to mix it in with all of our performances; we like to bring it all in and to consume what we can.

Akino: I think for Americans in the States and in Japan, the way you sing is different. In Japan, you sing more high but in the States, you sing more low and comfortable. So we try to mix it in our performances, we try to make the songs a little slow when bless4 makes songs but we also use the high voice too.

Q: What are your plans now that bless4 has entered its second decade?

Akashi: Like we said before, SPACE is one of them!

Kanasa: These ten years was a lot of fun. We had the concert, Akino did the fashion show. We had twenty models walking during the song in costumes that Akino made. This one was Akino with bless4 since it was the 10th anniversary.

Akino: This is what I want to do as well. I sing but I also make clothes. In the future, I want to have a fashion brand, where we sing, and we perform, and we dance and my clothes will be in the concert – it’ll be like a new fashion show type. That’s what I want to do, make something new.

Akashi: We want to do new entertainment like Akino said, models will be walking with her clothes, and we will be singing and dancing. It will be a big performance unlike those normal fashion shows you see. Because since we are dance-based, they are not just walking, they would have this routine, formations and everything. It’s pretty fun.

Akashi: With our classes and students, we really want to grow, we want to become huge. You know through teaching, we were able to grow quite a lot. We didn’t know a lot. We realised that we don’t do exactly what we tell our students, so it makes us drive harder to do what we say and say what you do. Our younger brother, Aiki – he went to America last year to volunteer for 2 years – will only be back next year August, and since he left, it has really been a growing process for us. He is the best dancer and he would make all the dances; he is a really great singer too and taking his parts and covering it for him, it was really hard to do. We are able to grow quite a lot and not depend on him, so when he is back, the four of us will be a lot stronger than we are before. We will be a new team, so for the next decade we hope to become a lot bigger and better, we want to go back to the foundations and from there, rebuild ourselves, to become new.

Kanasa: As you know Akino with bless4 is in its 10th anniversary while as bless4 is in its 12th anniversary, as you know the horoscope goes one round every 12 years, so this year’s theme is “Back to Zero”. The theme fits perfectly with Aiki being gone and we went back to zero and we are trying to start everything from one. It’s been a really hard yet cool experience.

Akashi: In Japan, we are trying to perform in less crowded places and maybe do street lives and stuff, to really start from zero, to do what we started out doing.

Q: What kind of anime would you like to perform an anime song for?

Akino: Dragon ball! I love Dragon ball. I would like to do the Kamehameha while we are like singing. That will be great.

Akashi: That’s definitely something we would want to do. There is also something we are creating; we hope someday it will become an anime. We are thinking of the story, something original. Hopefully in the future, we can create everything from zero, from scratch. Of course we weren’t be drawing it ourselves. We really want to do a project from ourselves also.

(bless4 KA-ME-HA-ME-HA-!)

Akino & Kanase loves their Chilli Crab! (Source)

Well, there you have it, folks! I hope you guys enjoyed the interview as much as we did! They were certainly really humorous and engaging. Let’s wish them the best of luck for their renewal and please, do continue to support bless4!

Their next single 'Golden Life' will be released on 27 January 2016.

Fun Facts

They were from taekwondo exhibition troupe, “Flying Dragons”. Both Akashi and Kanasa were Arizona State Taekwondo Champions at 14 and 12 years old, respectively.

Yumetsumugi is a self-produced album with each member working as staff to bring their music video and album to life.

They own their own company.

Links

Official Site

Official Youtube Channel

Official Twitter

[animetrashy]

AFA SG 2015 Day 1 Report – I LOVE ANISONG “REBOOT” concert

date of event: 27th November 2015

Reached at the main stage for the concert around 5pm ish and went straight to find my seat. In 2013, I went for the Valvrave Night AFA concert and got the P seat but for this concert, I managed to get the middle N seat - the view wasn’t bad at all! Of course, bless for my platform shoes!! 

Before the concert starts at 6pm, there were two opening acts by Usagi & AkatsukiRin who was awarded the Grand Prix prize for Asia Anisong-Singer Audition(AAA). Their performance was really good!

After their performances ended, the staff was setting up instruments and yes, BACK-ON was the first artist for the night! They totally rockin the stage with their music and honestly, when Chain was played - THE AMOUNT OF FEELS FOR AIR GEAR IS TOO MUCH TO HANDLE! 

Next, we have the ever hype ZAQ! With her songs known to be fast paced, the audiences were literally jumping in sync following to the beat of her songs. I totally had legs cramps only at artist #2 for the night >< I really enjoyed her Inside Identity due to CHU2KOI OH YESSSS! 

But all that jumping was definitely the beginning as bless4 was next and OMG IT WAS AWESOME TO THE POINT THAT AKASHI LOST HIS VOICE XD When they sang Sousei no Aquarion for their closing act, I was holding back my tears. I watched Aquarion ages ago and hearing live was like relieving back memories.

After that, it was my goddess AIMER - the reason why I attended the concert. Her face wasn’t shown on the big screen at all and you could only see her silhouette. With the lights illuminating her back instead, she was literally like an angel. When she started to sing her first song, there was a technical difficulty and you could really hear her sounding nervous. BUT WHEN SHE SANG OMG HER VOICE WAS LEGIT AND IT WAS EARGAS. I started to tear (abit) during Last Stardust & Brave Shine ;AAAAA;

With all the emo feels in the concert hall, HoneyWorks - Sana & Gom came up next with their lively and youthful songs! They totally lighten up the atmosphere~ Plus, it was Gom’s birthday and the audiences sang Happy Birthday song to him. When CHiCO sang Ai no Scenario, my heart went doki doki thinking of Kaito <3 For HoneyWorks’s last song, they sang Kinyoubi no Ohayou and everyone was definitely in sync during the chants! 

When we all thought that their act was over, the trailer for HoneyWorks’s movie {  Zutto mae kara suki deshita -Kokuhaku Jikko Iinkai- } was shown to us! I’ve actually seen it over and over the night before but seeing it again makes me all kyuuu for it. (because of kamiyan & kaji’s voices)

Overall, the 4.5 hours concert WAS A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! I wouldn’t trade anything for that night. I’m still having my post concert withdrawal even after a week plus flew by. I’m hoping that KALAFINA will come by for AFA SG 2016 /prays/

Thanks for tuning in my report for AFASG15 Day 1! For those who are interested in the setlists for the artistes, please keep on reading! :) 

(image cr: ANIME FESTIVAL ASIA)

Setlists:

Opening Act - USAGI

Connect by ClariS ~ Puella Magi Madoka Magica Opening 1

Opening Act - AkatsukiRin

Hishoku no Sora by Kawada Mami ~ Shakugan no Shana Opening 1

BACK-ON

Cerulean ~ Gundam Build Fighters Try Opening 1

Strike Back ~ Fairy Tail (2014) Opening 2

Nibun no Ichi ~ Gundam Build Fighters Opening 1

INFINITY ~ Gundam Breaker OST

DTM

Butterfly ~ Shinjuku Swan Ending 1

Chain ~ Air Gear Opening 1

ZAQ

Katararezu Tomo ~ Concrete Revolution: Choujiin Gensou Opening 1

Gekiyouron ~ High School DxD New Opening 2

Overdriver ~ Rail Wars! Ending 1

Inside Identity ~ Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai! Ending 1

Seven Doors ~ Trinity Seven Opening 1

Sparkling Daydream ~ Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai! Opening 1

One Way Road!!

bless4

Extra Magic Hour ~ Amagi Brilliant Park Opening 1

Let’s have A PARTY  

Genesis of Aquarion

Go Tight! ~ Sousei no Aquarion Opening 2

Cha la head cha la (cover) ~ Dragon Ball Opening 1

Around and Around

Miiro ~ Kantai Collection Opening 1

Sousei no Aquarion ~ Sousei no Aquarion Opening 1

Aimer

StarRingChild ~ Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn Ending 7

broKen NIGHT ~ Fate/hollow ataraxia Opening 1

Anata ni Deawanakereba: Kasetsu Toka ~ Natsuyuki Rendezvous Ending 1

Last Stardust ~ Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works 2nd Season OST

Brave Shine ~ Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works 2nd Season Opening 1

RE:I AM ~ Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn Ending 6

Rokutousei no Yoru ~ No.6 Ending 1

HoneyWorks / CHiCO with HoneyWorks

Ima Suki ni Naru – Sana 

Kotoba no Iranai Yakusoku – Sana ~ Naruto Shippuden Ending 33

Kouhaku Renshuu – Sana

Yakimochi no Kotae – Sana

Suki Kirai – Gom and CHiCO

Ai no Scenario – CHiCO ~ Magic Kaito 1412 Opening 2

Sekai wa Koi ni Ochiteru – CHiCO ~ Ao Haru Ride Opening 1

Pride Kakumei – Chico ~ Gintama (2015) Opening 2

Kinyoubi no Ohayou – Sana, Gom & CHiCO

// setlists was written based on my memories & from friends who attended the concert.

[jexps]

A little sneak peek into the highlight video we’re making! Featuring Yuyu ( 新ユウユ ) from Iketeru Hearts!~ It so happens to be her birthday today too!

[jexps]

[AFASG’15] [Interview] Nano: “I hope to reach out and touch every soul in the world!”

Talented. Passionate. Enigmatic. Of course, we are talking about Nano!

Nano is a bilingual singer who started out an illustrious career by posting English covers of Japanese music on video sites such as Youtube and Nico Nico Douga. Having been born in the USA, Nano often westernized the covers without losing the original style. Nano is often portrayed with red mid-length hair and sometimes, a mask in the videos.

Nano debuted in March 2012 with the album ‘Nanoir’. Continuing on the success of the first album, Nano began composing and recording original theme songs for various anime such as Aoki Haganeno Arpeggio, Btooom! and Mahou Sensou.

Earlier this year, Nano released another studio album, the 3rd one, ‘Rock On’, as well as the single ‘Bull’s Eye’ – the opening theme song for the currently airing anime series, Hidan no Aria AA.

(More official concert pictures like this at the ナノ page!)

Without further ado, let’s take a quick peek into the mysterious vocalist that is Nano!

Interview

Q: How was it like growing up in the United States, and how long did it take for you to get used to Japan?

Wow. It’s been a really long time since I started, sort of, dreaming about creating music in the industry while I was born and raised in the US. Ever since I was as little as I can remember, I had an interest in music, my parents listen to a lot of music, and so I have been interested in the music as far as back I can remember. I have never really dreamt of doing anything else as a different job, so yea, it’s been music for me the whole entire time.

You have been noted to insert western influences into your songs and covers, so given that, which western bands or artistes inspire you when you sing?

I get my inspiration from a lot of different genres of music. Right now I sing a lot of rock but I get my inspiration from classical, folk, rock, pop… anything that really just strikes my interests, so I wouldn’t really narrow it down to one group or band or genre. I listen to a lot of different stuff.

Q: You were born in America, New York City, so what makes you want to come back to Japan?

I have always felt that even though I was born and raised in America that my heart had, sort of, that Japanese aspect, and so I’ve always felt that I wanted to try a life in Japan as well as to know my roots, to know half of who I am. My identity has always been, not one or the other, but I wanted to experience both types of life.

Q: Was there any challenges adapting to life in Japan?

Lots of challenges. You know, America and Japan are so different in so many ways – not just the culture and language, the food is different, and people are different. Everything is so different. I feel that I have experienced the good side of both cultures and I don’t really feel any sort of hardships or regrets of any of the obstacles that I have faced.

Q: A lot of your songs have been used as tie-up tracks for video games. Are you a gamer, and if so, what kind of games do you play?

You know I’m so happy that a lot of my songs have been used for tie-ups and to be honest, I’m not a huge gamer.

But I started to try out a lot of games ever since I received the tie-ups. What really appeals to me about anime and games, is that it sort of helps us to escape everyday life and show us a lot of possibilities that we never really could imagine in real life, so just, you know, using our imagination to widen up our world, and so I really think that games and anime are an awesome way to expand the imagination.

Q: What is your impression of Singapore and how would you compare it to both America, the country which you were raised in, and Japan, the country you are currently residing in?

Yea, Singapore is, you know, I’ve only spent a night here so far, but it’s amazing because all the people have been so nice and I actually like the weather here, because it’s really cold in Japan right now, it’s really freezing, it’s about 8 degree Celsius. So when we stepped off the plane, it was like we were not here for work but for vacation or something and it was a really, really nice change. I can’t wait to try out different types of food – I don’t know what’s recommended – but I want to go with my band to explore the town. We had a little time to explore this morning and we went to see the Merlion. There were a lot of tourists there, (laughs) but it was nice seeing that and I hope to be able to come back here again soon.

Q: Your songs have been used as part of anime series before, so how does it feel like when you compose a song for an anime?

It’s always different preparing a song for a tie-up as compared to just a regular, original song for my own self because when I have to prepare a song for let’s say, a tie-up, it’s very important that it doesn’t ruin the world of the anime series or the game series and it becomes a song that represents the series in a way. But it’s more exciting for me in a way, because it gives me sort of ingredients to work on, to express my imagination. Different series all sort of give me different doors to open, different emotions to experience and so I’ve always feel so happy about being able to prepare a song for a tie-up series.

Q: How do you feel about having performed twice in SEA twice already (AFAID and AFASG) and do you have any plans for a concert in Indonesia?

You know it was only a couple of months (before) that I went to Indonesia, although I have America and Japan in my blood, I have never been to Asia before, so I was really excited and happy to be invited to both AFAID and AFASG this time.

Definitely, you know, Indonesia – the crowd was amazing, and my first impression was that I definitely wanted to go back to Indonesia again to perform, and hopefully, hopefully, maybe a solo concert someday. So yea, definitely, I loved it there.

Q: Among all the songs that you have made, wrote and sang, which song do you feel very personal to?

That’s such a hard question. You know every time we write a new song, it becomes my favourite. I don’t want to sound like a narcissist, but I love all my songs because each song represents something different and open new doors for me and I am really happy that I am able to collaborate with someone like, the creator who writes my songs – he’s amazing. So I’m just so happy to be able to collaborate with someone that understands me well and we are able to create something so full of love, emotion and power.

But off the top of my head, right now at the moment though of course, my newest song – – represents who I am now, and so that is definitely on the top of my list. And of course, was always a really deep song for me; it holds a lot of meaning. And then, another song – it was one of my first originals that I wrote – , is really meaningful for me, because it was the first original song that we put out into the world. It’s hard to narrow it down.

Q: Can you share with us more of the new single – Bull’s Eye?

Bull’s eye? Definitely! It’s been actually a year and 3 months that I released a single, so it was really sort of exciting for me, it felt like we were doing something really new. Bull’s eye is both meaning and sound is a little different from my other songs. It’s really catchy and it has a lot of not just rock but catchy popness to it. Also, the tie up for an anime series, it’s kind of new for me too. We were really experimenting with the songs and we actually wrote 3 different types of song to present to the series and in the end, Bull’s Eye was chosen. So I was really happy about that though, because, to be honest, I sort of really like Bull’s Eye from the beginning. It’s definitely a lot of experience.

Q: Speaking of anime tie-ups recently, “Last Refrain” was played in the movie . Can you give us a bit more comments regarding the anime series and how has the anime helped you created the song for it?

And I noticed you are wearing the blue steel shirt. I like your shirt.

Yea you know, Aoki Hagane no Arpeggio is a really special series for me because I’ve been with the series for a couple of years now, and so I’ve feel like I have grown with the series as well and it started with Saviour of Song, and then there was Rock on, and Silver Sky and now Last Refrain. Each song, I think, sort of grew with the series and express different emotions that the series presents.

And with Last Refrain, when I wrote the lyrics of the song, I put myself in the shoes of the characters that are in the scene that it was playing with. I definitely got very, very emotional writing the lyrics. When it’s an opening song, it’s different when it’s an insert song, and this time it’s an insert song. It’s different because when it’s an insert song, it plays behind the scene, so it really represents the story and the emotions and the characters. When I imagine my fans seeing the movie, I hope that they feel the depths of the song.

Q: What motivates you to continue what you are doing right now – fans, passion or other factors?

Hands down what motivates me the most are my listeners, my fans. Without them, I probably won’t be doing music. I love music but I love my fans more than I love my music. It means everything that they listen to what I have to create and the messages that I hope to express. My favourite aspect of doing music is the concerts – the lives – because I get to share the moment with my fans. And it gives me so much power and inspiration to be able to see everyone rocking out to my songs. I am going to try really hard at today’s concert not to cry, because I get really emotional when I do my live.

Q: What are you looking forward for your future works and any plans for more overseas concert?

Definitely expanding my horizons. I hope to be able to travel to a lot of different countries and do a lot of different concerts with a lot of different fan. Each new fan for me is like a treasure. My biggest dream is able to expand my music world and to connect to as many people as I can.

Q: If I am not wrong you began performing overseas this year, right?

Actually my first time was in Germany a couple of years ago, but this year was definitely one of my biggest.

Q: So now that you have performed overseas a couple of times, is there anything about your overseas fans that you have noticed that is kind of different from your Japanese fans? Is there anything interesting that you have learnt about performing for your overseas fans?

Until I went overseas, I didn’t really realize how wide the world is, and how different every culture is, and how special every country is. And when I went to Germany and Taiwan and Indonesia and now Singapore, I noticed that each crowd is so different, in a good way. And that really pumps me up, that my concert, to be able to just create something and share a moment that is just one of a kind.

I think that all concerts are sort of, it’s not, you know we rehearsed and practiced, but concerts, the good thing about them, is that you don’t know what’s going to happen. You don’t know how the crowd is going to react each time. It’s really like experiments. Each time I go to a different country, it’s so exciting for me. I can’t even express in words right now how happy I am to be able to experience so much and receive so much support and love from my fans.

Q: So since you said that each country’s crowd is different, was there anything that stood out for you from your viewpoint at any particular country, like a specific example?

The reactions from the fans are always different. For example, in Japan, fans tend to be sort of shy, sometimes. But when I went to Germany, I could hear the voices from the crowd, from the entire concert, and that really was special for me too. Of course, shyness isn’t bad; I feel the love from that. But you know when everyone is singing along with me and screaming and it’s just exciting, a lot of adrenaline and power. Germany was really just an exciting, fired-up live. Then, when I went to Taiwan, it was also really exciting but different from Germany. I think Japan is one of the quieter countries, so I’m really expecting Singapore to be really fired up too.

Q: I’m sure many of us here would think of listening to some songs when we feel like happy or sad or have experienced certain moments in our lives. Having written and performed these songs before, have you ever felt like listening to any of your songs when you experience something in your everyday life? Any interesting examples you want to share?

Music is a worldwide thing and it’s one of the special tools in life that crosses borders and countries and nationalities. You don’t really have to understand what the lyrics are saying to experience the emotion that the song has. I think that everyone in this world, somewhere in their life, they have been touched, moved or helped by music. And that is why, I do music, because I hope to be able to reach out and touch even one soul in the world, I don’t really care what country they are from, it doesn’t matter to me, as long as they are touched by the song and perhaps, helped. So I’ve definitely been so helped by music in my past, and that’s why I feel that it’s my job to be able to return that now to the next generation of listeners. I just think music is so special it helps us all.

I Love Anisong Set List

magenta

SABLE

Nevereverland

No pain, No game

Now or Never

Be the one

Bull’s Eye

SAVIOR OF SONG

Rock on.

Interesting Trivia

Nano's was written for a friend's wedding. Nano wanted fans to think about the crossroads in our life when you're listening to it.

Nevereverland was written to give Nano's fans a motivation to forget all their future impossible. Nano was always discouraged during childhood. Despite being inspired to be a singer, Nano was often told to not live in a dream forever. Nano once lost confidence to become a singer but eventually made it all the way.

Nano prefers summer to winter.

It has been a really busy year for Nano, having performed multiple times in overseas concerts. I’m sure that those fans lucky enough to attend her concerts are still reeling in from the excitement of it all. Let’s cross our fingers and hope that she will perform a solo concert somewhere near us!

We hope that you have enjoyed getting to Nano a little better, and please continue to give Nano your support!

[skynohoshi]

seiyuu fan problems

[animetrashy]

AFA SG 2015 Day 1 Report – Exhibition & Main Stage

date of event: 27th November 2015

Finally, it’s the D-DAY! Since I’ve gotten my tickets online, I knew it didn’t have to camp outside and come earlier. I constantly kept myself updated with the tweets online regarding #AFASG15 and let me tell you that the queue in the morning wasn’t a joke! Good thing I bought the tickets online. That aside, I had a huge breakfast of mee instant and prayed that it will last long till the end of the day. Since Aimer’s autograph session started at 2pm, I left the house around 12pm giving me a bit more time to hang around. Reached the venue, you know you’re in the right place when you see lots and lots of cosplayers! 

(oh beware: long post waiting for you ahead & anisong concert will in the next upcoming blog post!)

I went straight away to the I Love Anisong ticket redemption counter and received my entrance gold wristband. I had some time to spare before the session so I walked around to buy some time. While walking, I saw that MUSE booth doesn’t have that much people in the line so I hopped on it. Nothing caught my eyes (well I lied – so many hot pillows that I want ;A;) except for the Nagi no Asukara mug for $24 which had Manaka and Hii-kun art on it. I was deciding if I should get it but in the end, I didn’t and now, slowly regretting it.

After my MUSE booth journey of not getting anything, I decided to make my way to the autograph booth since the staff requested us to come 30 mins before the session starts. When I arrived, I saw that the staff had already started giving out the Aimer autographed poster to the winners. I immediately went to the staff and gave my tickets to them. They passed me the Aimer poster and I was already over the moon~

As it was almost 2pm, I decided to make my way for the main stage to see the I Love Anisong Friday artistes appearances at 2:15pm. At 2pm, it was a performance segment that featured a group called themselves Real Akiba Boyz (RAB). Let me honest, I didn’t know who they are until I began to realise that they’re the dance group that covered anime songs on YouTube! Well, that afro hair guy gave it away.

They performed anisongs like Death Parade Opening, Gekkan Shoujo Opening, Kekkai Sensen Ending and obviously they ended off with Shingeki no Kyojin Opening. Their performance felt like a concert - audiences stood up and jumped to the beat! I guess I was lucky to see their segment since I had no intention of seeing them but hey, I’m so glad that I did! It made me all hype more for the concert in that evening.

At 2:15pm, Danny Choo finally presented the artistes for the Friday’s concert! BACK-ON, ZAQ, bless4 and HoneyWorks/CHiCO made their appearance. As expected, Aimer didn’t made any appearance at all.  Each artist take turns to introduce themselves. I was surprised on how fluent BACK-ON’s Teeda’s English was. I was kind of surprised when ZAQ made her appearance with long hair and then realised that she wore a wig for her famous short hair bob look. As for bless4, there were only three of them as the youngest – AIKI is currently doing voluntary work back in America. With their American English, it was really easy for them to communicate with the audiences. Finally, HoneyWorks made an appearance along with CHiCO and a guest singer, sana!

The event ended well and I left the main hall even though the cosplay event was coming up next. I made my way back to the exhibition hall and started my shopping journey. After walking around, I hopped into the Mighty Media booth and got myself Tohsaka Rin’s glasses cloth. Well, I couldn’t resist my waifu, you see.

Beside the Mighty Media was ODEX booth and the queue was really long. When I said that the queue was long, I wasn’t joking! It was three loop queue circling the booth!! I honestly was contemplating if I should queue for it but I knew they sold Tokyo Ravens merchandise. For the sake of Harutora, I suffered and queue for more than an hour. I’m not joking about this! I made sure that I purchase of lot of stuff in the booth so that my effort will not be wasted. Got myself some KimiUso, Kyoukai no Kanata, FSN items.

When done, I circle around other exhibitions booth and the creator booths but didn’t get myself anything else. Honestly, all I could think about at that point of time was the concert!! Around 5pm ish, I went to the main stage for the concert and save up my energy for the main event of the night!

// anisong concert report will be up soon! i will be adding the concert setlist as well! //