Chiak–I mean, A Night In Fantasia 2009 concert report.

ANIF 2009 was my first orchestra experience (sorry for being a low-bred otagei maniac), and to my surprise the concert was split into 2 parts with 20 mins break in-between. Despite only 18 pieces were performed, the show lasted about 4 hours including the break, excluding the hour-long autograph event.

Part 1 had mostly continuous performances with very few MC. I actually missed the concert opening due to certain circumstances, but not much–when I got in, Hokoyama Wataru was in the middle of conducting only the 2nd piece: Laputa. It was the 1st part of the Ghibli set he led, followed by Totoro and Mononoke.

After a short MC with Chris Velasco who had to witness Total Recall on his first Aussie trip, Eminence began the game set, from Velasco’s Darksiders and God of War 2, to Soul Calibur IV that was originally recorded by Eminence.

I’m clueless with most game OST, so the following anime set rang more bells to me. Starting off with nostalgic Astro Boy to Haruhi to the long-awaited Kajiura’s Song of Storm and Fire of Tsubasa Chronicle, I felt more at home. ACE COMBAT V then closed Part 1.

Part 2 was reopened by Death Note with a bang. It’s the better half with all the good reasons I bothered flying from Melbourne: the guests.

Hokoyama Wataru was on stage again to mention the unforgettable average Aussie morning and his desire to touch a koala (don’t ask me), before conducting his award-winning AFRIKA. It was admittely really beautiful and mesmerising.

Mitsuda Yasunori, who looked really young and strangely reminded me of Sugitomo, expressed gratitude to be invited again, tho he could only stay for 24 hours lol. Chrono Cross was fans’ favourite as always.

Inon Zur and Aubrey Ashburn brought the yet-to-be-released Dragon Age: Origins, followed by Prince of Persia. God both games were awfully violent. I must complain that the videos on screen did lessen my enjoyment. I want my music without looking at blood splattering from anyone’s neck.

Next was the much-loved Shadow of the Colossus, with the great Ohtani Kou behind the piano and AIKA singing. Hanenone CD is one of my fave OST of all time, but Colossus was different. It was grand-scale, energetic, and the final blow gained AIKA lots of respect points.

During the MC, Ohtani was eccentric with his word choices (full of energy like sun what?). He said the piece was rearranged backwards from the whole OST, with the final part being totally new. On a side note, Ohtani and AIKA formed a pop/rock unit called “Hyper Little Toys”, don’t ask me.

Then finally: THE IDOLM@STER a.k.a CHIAKING JUICY POLY YEY~★

Looking gorgeous in her graceful evening gown, pic courtesy of Evan Stubbs / PALGN (more at TindrumFire Photography).

Purple dress was just fitting as it is Azusa’s chara-colour, tho I immediately thought of Purple Aice lol.

The MC was the liveliest, since Chiaking was nowhere near nervous and Shiina Go was just equally crazy. Chiaking introduced herself in English, only to be followed quickly with “Sorry, me no speak English”. She fluttered her long dress around.. then started calling the English-speaking audience in Japanese (一階は…？！二階は…？！) like it’s some random Aice5 concert. xD

Tonari Ni was originally a melodious piece with hefty instruments, so I don’t think the orchestra arrangement surprised most fans. The song just turned noticeably slower with more dramatic pitch. BUT, surprise came about 4 and half mins down… ENGLISH LYRICS that lasted over 1 minute til the song ended! It was a bit awkward at first, but I think she did a great job with the pronounciation. Chiaking seemed to really enjoy performing too, I saw her smiling and closing her eyes while singing.

Right after the loud applause and cheers died down, someone shouted “Chiaking SAIKOU!” loudly that got giggles from the audience. LOL I hope that otaku didn’t scare Chiaking too much. Latest blog post noted her safe return to Japan, and many thanks for Australia, so I guess it’s all good? lol.

California Doll? YOU MEAN SABRA? *runs*

Up next was a video from Steve Jablonsky, with apologies he couldn’t make it down here. Transformers fans must be crying. Gears of War 2 closed the concert.. but instead of leaving the stage, the performers put on black bandana and voila we got a Snake parade and an encore. Now, Metal Gear Solid was the perfect blow to end the show.

Selected tracks from ANIF 2009 will be out in a CD, unsurprisingly Tonari Ni will NOT be included. Yes Columbia did it again after removing IM@S from Animelo 2008. I preordered the CD anyway, cos the music was indeed worthy, but that little bonus DVD better has Chiaking!

Woot awsm autograph? As expected, she was really creeped out surprised with the Aice5 book and did laugh at it (while WTF-ing maybe), but hey she nicely added “Love Aice5″ for me. <3

…oh wait, last complaint before I go. Srsly people, MANNERS WHERE? During the sign-kai, the organisers told us to just get 1-2 signs cos the building haz curfew.. so I only asked for Chiaking, tho I brought CDs for Ohtani and Shiina. Then I realised most people got ALL guests to sign their ANIF poster (shows that they prob never heard of the guests before or just never bought any CD/game?).. kinda upset me, but was too tired to protest. The organisers should stricten up next time–I’m sure it’s not an oversea otaku thing since Daicon handled Minorin’s sign-kai rly well.

Regardless, ANIF was the best local experience I had, so I do look forward to ANIF 2010! I wish Shiina to return for say.. Aoi Tori? (AKA DRAG MINGOS DOWN PL0X)