Eventing in 2018 Part 5! Super Dimension Orchestra F

I honestly meant to tweet about this, but for some reason I never got around to it. In any case, this past September, I finally made it to a Frontier Concert. And Megumi was there! So yes, I’ve finally seen one of my Macross idols live!

But the real reason this concert made it onto my list this year is this: when the orchestra played the opening bars of this song, memories of one key scene came flooding back to me, and I found myself clutching my hands over my heart.

I must confess that this didn’t happen to me even at the Yuri!!! on ICE Concert. I suspect it’s partly because I’d been listening to that music almost nonstop. In this case, I haven’t actually listened to the Frontier orchestral pieces for years, and that’s why it was so overwhelming when it all came flooding back… It really was an unforgettable experience, one that I will remember for a long time to come.

Eventing in 2018 Part 4! Yuri!!! on MUSEUM

(In which I realise to my horror that I didn’t actually tweet much about this one!)

I guess it shouldn’t surprise anyone that YOI is the first series to repeat on this list. But to be honest, other than the first post, for which I wanted something pretty impactful, the other non-AOTY entries are all in chronological order! So since we’ve had a bit of a dearth in terms of YOI events in the second half of 2018, it’s time for Yuri!!! on MUSEUM!

Everyone probably knows that I went to the Tokyo one, if only because I’ve been living here all year. But…I actually made a trip to Osaka in January precisely BECAUSE I wanted to catch the museum there. At that point, IIRC, we didn’t even know that they’d be bringing it back to Tokyo, much less with all that additional content — I only wish we could have taken more photos there, but I guess they were trying to make sure that we’d want to get these!

Eventing in 2018 Part 3! Deltama+ Mission3.3

Can’t believe I almost forgot about this one! I’d planned to write about the third Walküre live, the huge one at Yokohama Arena on February 24 and 25. Which I must admit I only went to a live-viewing for, anyway, since tickets were pretty darned difficult to get. That would have been very cool, but still, as someone who got into Macross BECAUSE of the seiyuu, making it to this little event before making it to a concert is probably a bit more reflective of who I am!

Made it to my first #macross fan club event yesterday, which was a bit of a nostalgic trip down memory lane thanks to the presence of Kikuko Inoue, aka Frontier’s Grace o’Conner. pic.twitter.com/rRlCPcjIGF

— karice (@karice67) March 4, 2018

But the part that almost made me cry was when they had her talking about Grace’s best scene, asking Sheryl to let her hear her voice again in Wings of Farewell.

— karice (@karice67) March 4, 2018

Eventing in 2018 Part 2! Anime Japan

Aka the only way I could include my second favourite TV series and 2nd favourite film of the year in this list ^^;;

Looking through all those photos again today brings back a heck of a lot of memories. Back then, I certainly didn’t expect Banana Fish to consume my whole life over the last six months (NB: please give us this one as a framed print!), and I’m fairly certain I wasn’t really too fussed about Liz and the Bluebird either… How much things can change with a moment that strikes you through the heart!

Eventing in 2018 Part 1! Yuri!!! on CONCERT

Well, I’d debated about doing this for various reasons. But since 2018 was the first full year in my current stint in Japan, I realised that I could cover something that I’d never really done before: events!

And of course, being Christmas, I have to start with a celebration worthy of the birthday boy!

Yup, like thousands of other YOI fans in Japan, I made my way south on July 1st, for Yuri!!! on CONCERT Osaka. I still remember all the shocks from that weekend — Daisuke announcing that he was coming back, the craziness that was Alma Vivo performed live, realising that we weren’t getting a sequel but a prequel…

When they dropped that special teaser on us, and my friend and I were like “Cool! OMG So looking forward to this!” But walking out, we sensed that a lot of people around us seemed to be going “‘Adolescence’? What’s that?” And then we later learned that a lot of people overseas had been going “‘Roadshow’? What’s that???” (wwwww)

But my favourite moment from that day was most definitely this:

But the lighting…we were seated in pretty much the perfect spot to appreciate it — right in the centre about 20 rows from the stage…

I almost cried just gazing at the ceiling during Yuri on Ice…

— karice (@karice67) July 2, 2018

I honestly wish I could have taken a photo, but it doesn’t matter, for it’s been burned into my memory for all eternity.

p.s. Happy Birthday, Victor! I’m really looking forward to seeing you again this year!

Happy Second Anniversary!

Still on hiatus…but I did want to remind myself once again how much I love this show. So to celebrate its second anniversary, here’s some of what music producer Tominaga Keisuke said about the piece that defines the show:

When I first met with the director and Ms. Kubo to discuss what they wanted for this song, they told me that “In terms of the flow of the program, there is a mountain at the start, followed by a valley before another, large mountain at the last.” So that’s what the shape of the song is based on. Based on their portrait of Yūri’s character and the rough manga storyboard for the scene where he said “I have decided to call that emotion ‘love’,” Umebayashi and I started putting the song together, using the image of “the memories of one’s life flashing before one’s eyes, and the memories of all the kinds of ‘love’ within it.” What they said about the emotion that Yūri “decided to call ‘love’” seared into my mind: “It’s something that he still doesn’t understand, an incomplete, vague, grey entity.” That image of “grey love” has had a large influence on the musical motif of this song. That greyness implies that there’s “love, discord, happiness, pain…it’s a love that includes all of these feelings lumped together.” Because of that, I think that this song more easily connects with the memories, touch, seasons and feelings of love of the people who listen to it. And by-the-by, regarding the scene in episode 4 where Yūri listens to the song that his friend, the music college student, writes for him—that piece is the very first demo that we made. Although the progression in musical phrasing is far from complete, you can hear that the chord progression and rhythm were already in place by this point.

— from Pash! January 2017, reedited for the Go Yuri Go!!! Fanbook, p.13

I also want to talk about something the composer of this piece, Umebayashi Taro, touched on in the guidebook, about how the program that choreographer Kenji Miyamoto put together was something designed to reflect the skating that drew Victor to him, the way that Yuuri uses his body to bring the music to life on the ice. Over the past two years, I’ve heard Japanese figure skating commentators say similar things from time to time, mostly in relation to particular skaters. I do recommend keeping an ear out for this if you ever tune into Japanese coverage of figure skating competitions and ice shows!

 

Okada Mari and Anime ‘Writing’

Aka: a response to The Canipa Effect’s recent video on Okada Mari.

Less than a week ago, Canipa messaged me to ask if I’d be able to check a script he’d written “on Mari Okada/Anime Writing.” However, he recorded the script before he even sent it to me. As such, the largest changes that I recommended weren’t reflected in the finished video, and his line of argument is something that I do not agree with. I’d go so far as to say that it undermines the work I’ve been doing in the fandom. This post is my attempt to explain what my feedback was focused on, and thus, why I disagree with Canipa’s argument, and the related suggestion that “maybe we can introduce the idea of the showrunner, a screenwriter in charge of their own vision, into the anime industry.” It focuses on two issues—his definition of “showrunner” and how that is related to the “director,” and the question of how “authorship” is related to “writing.”

Remembering 2017: wrapping it all up

The good…

Well, that’s another year over! It’s certainly been one of the craziest I’ve ever experienced, even though I did not achieve as much as I would have liked, both in real life, and in relation to my contribution to the fandom. Unfortunately, these two issues are probably related, but more on that in a bit. First, I’d like to thank everyone who’s been my friend or otherwise just supported me, especially when I needed it most. Most of you know what I’m referring to, so I won’t rehash it, and I have to admit that there were times that I was frustrated that it took so long for some of you to react or respond.

But the reason I survived with my love for the show—and for anime in general—intact is due to those of you who generously lent me your time and your ears. I’ve always enjoyed writing for the opportunity to just share my love of the anime I watch and the manga I read; but this is the first time where I’ve really felt grateful for the connections I’ve gained as a result. Last year was difficult in ways I never expected, and I feel immensely privileged to be able to call many of you my friends.

Remember 2017 part 12: Cheers to a year of Off-Meets!

(Or whatever these are called ^^)

Going by how I behave online, I’d guess that most of you would see me as a pretty private person. It’s true: I am part of a generation of people who remember what life was like before we all had handphones, before we all had the internet at our fingertips. I am also Asian, and we are generally known to be quite cautious and private, at least in my experience. Hence, ever since I’ve gotten online, I’ve been quite careful about not revealing too much about myself online—karice isn’t my real name (hence the non-capitalisation), and I will never upload a picture to this blog or Twitter showing my face.

And THAT would be why I need to take pictures of food; here was something THREE of us ordered for our first brekkie in Dallas!

Given this, I found myself reflecting with surprise on just how many online friends I met in real life for the first time this past year. It’s relatively few compared to some others of you, but to put the following numbers in perspective, prior to 2017, I’d only ever met up with two other online folks deliberately—Gubaba and Gwyn Campbell, both of Macross fandom fame. I’d also met John Samuel before, completely by chance, but on the whole, I kept my online and offline lives quite separate.

So what changes did this year bring? Well, I deliberately arranged to meet ten people—Jaqi, Nikola, Amelia and Katy at AnimeFest; Craig when I got back to Australia after that trip, and then Frog-kun, nat and Shina when I got to Japan in December. Most recently, I’ve gone skating with Tora, and let me just say that the nice, purple bruise I developed from falling just once left me with a whole lot of respect for skaters everywhere! It would also be remiss of me not to mention Haru, who put up with the three of us Aussie stooges—and especially me—at AnimeFest, and Deri, Kimmistry and MintyHoney, along with their friend Gynx, who spotted me and said “Hi!” in Dallas as well.

Thank you all for meeting up with me. I’m sorry if I disappointed any of you in some way (in fact, if there’s anything I’m certain I’ve done this year, it’s this), but thank you for putting up with the far from perfect person that I am. I look forward to hanging out with those of you in Tokyo again soonish (skating and Macross stuff FTW), and to hang out with the rest of you again some day! But until then, I’ll see you all online ^^

Remembering 2017 part 11: See You Next Level, Space Cowboy

credit: Madman Entertainment

For fans, it goes without saying that meeting our idols is one of our dreams. And it just so happened that, this year, I opted to go to two cons to meet a bevy of staff that I really look up to. I’ve already written about meeting anime screenwriter Sato Dai and Yamamoto Sayo, Kubo Mitsurō and Hiramatsu Tadashi at AnimeFest, so let me now briefly touch on the other wonderful creators I had the opportunity of meeting.

Director Watanabe Shin’ichirō, Aniplex President Iwakami Atsuhiro and voice actress Ueda Kana came to Madfest Melbourne in November. Most people should know of the marks that Watanabe and Ueda have left on the industry, so please allow me to highlight Iwakami, who is the producer largely responsible for bringing shows like Madoka Magica and the Monogatari and Fate series to our screens. He was also one of the schemers behind the previous series that I went completely nuts about, lighting the spark when he suggested to Aoki Ei and Urobuchi Gen that they get to the roots of the mecha genre. Aldnoah.Zero did not turn the fandom’s conception of the genre upside down the way that Madoka Magica did the magical girls one, but I can honestly say that I learned a lot about robot anime by following this one show, far more than all the Gundam and Macross series I’ve seen have ever taught me. So whilst this will probably leave some people gaping, Iwakami was definitely the guest that I was most excited to meet.

There isn’t much else I can say about both of these cons at this point, except “Thank you!” to AnimeFest and Madman Entertainment for inviting these wonderful guests this past year. I really do appreciate it!

NB: Just in case people get the wrong idea from the post title: no, Watanable is not involved in anything related to Yuri!!! on ICE, nor is there a sequel to Cowboy Bebop in the works…at least, not that I am aware. It was just fun to try combining those famous “See you Space Cowboy” and “See you Next Level” lines!