Let’s begin with Nana’s duet first:

Vocal-wise, Nana suits this song the best, and I like how she blends in with Makkun very well. Pity the sound equipment and the level of the instrument players wasn’t there yet…

..but Makkun’s leather outfit + bodice was teh smexy. <3

====

Next up, is Minorin's.

The music suits Minorin’s singing style more than Makkun’s, but it was a wonderful duet anyway. Not to mention I am totally digging on Minorin’s outfit for Animelo 2008 =D~

====

I don’t have a video of May’n and Makkun singing Miracle Upper WL, but here’s the PV of the song

I was at this year’s Animelo, and the ladies performed this number on Day 1. The duet was perfect, I couldn’t have asked for more out of them. Not to mention May’n’s vocals improved by a notch, so it was even better. One of the songs I would buy Blu-Ray Animelo for.

====
We have the 3 fabulous ladies with their great duets with the legendary Makkun, but now for the ultimate in Anison….

…..I present to you the worst duet in Animelo History, proudly wrecked by Arika.


Enjoy. =D

And that’s the end of my savings. ;_;

And to think that I could use that money to get Minorin merchandise… Looks like I’ll have to scrap the thought of buying that Blu-Ray ;_;

I’m splurging on both shirts and the pamphlet. I utterly do not have any more funds to purchase more items. Perhaps I’ll get the towel as well if I have some spare change.

…In other news, apparently one can buy limited posters of Minorin’s Parade DVD and Tomorrow’s Chance CD single at her 2-day concert last weekend. In some sense, I was actually glad to be notified late for it; this way, I won’t have the desire to splurge on it.

One of the said posters.

One is a May’n fan from Japan (he came over to watch May’n at AFA08), the other’s another blogger going to Animelo as well.

(I went to the Daicon one instead for Minorin because it’s nearer, and I’m able to watch May’n perform LIVE at Animelo later next month anyway)

*ahem* In any case, the goods in the pictures below:

MAY’N SUMMER TOUR “LOVE & JOY” 2009

I’m planning to get only the white shirt. I’m really tight on budget in this upcoming trip to Japan. *dies*

MINORI CHIHARA SUMMER CAMP 2009

Almost the same for Minorin’s goods, I’m only getting the flag and the orange shirt. And what’s with the ‘minorin mochi’…. >_>;;;;

Regardless, that’s about all I’ll get.

Though the May’n posters and pamphlet is reallllly tempting…. x_____x

Doing up one of Minorin’s more recent blog translation posts here:

今年に入り、マネージャーさんが一人増えました
This year, I have one more manager
名前は“まりりん”
She’s called ‘Maririn’
今までは瀬野さん一人が飛び回る日々だったので、まりりんが来てくれたおかげで色々助けられています
Up till now, I have been only traveling with Seno-san, and I’m thankful for Maririn’s help in various aspects
まりりんは元気で、笑顔の似合うとっても可愛い女の子です
ちなみに大のボーダー好き
着ている洋服はいつもボーダーです！
Maririn’s a cheerful lady, with smiles that suit her cuteness
She likes her clothes with large stripes (TL note(EDIT): that’s what I think she’s referring to)
She’s always wearing striped one piece dresses!
だから今日は着なくなったボーダーのお洋服をプレゼントしました
非常に喜んでくれたので、大満足です
Therefore the present I have for her was a striped one piece dress
Seeing her beaming smile is a sense of achievement for me
これからもよろしくね、まりりん
Best regards, Maririn!

====

I have a friend who said this about Maririn after reading this article:
is it a pun or what
her name is maririn
and she likes striped onepiece -_-
cause striped dresses are considered marine style in japan
which is marin in katakana -_-

..so, cheeky Minorin? XD

====
And… here’s a May’n picture that I shouldn’t comment any further.

====

Well, all the best to May’n for her upcoming Live Tour, and Minorin for her upcoming “Summer Camp” LIVE!

Nice censor is nice. 笑

Here’s the gist of the things that were floating about in my mind, and also what I did in Daicon:

- Met up the following cosplayers from Malaysia (although some didn’t cosplay actually) : Masako, Bunny, Chocolime, Reins, Heal and more. Most of them were helping out at KKnM’s booth on both days. First time meeting up with Bunny, and I mistakenly took Chocolime for Mintos XD;;; -facepalm-
- Gave quite a few namecards to certain people, especially the Japanese MSS fans, and also exchanged mixi contacts, emails and whatnot with each other. It was good knowing them XD they were such a blast to be with.
- Good job to arkAile, Inaikken, and the rest who contributed to the lightsticks, while the MSS Japanese fans created a fan-made flag, together with instructions in Malay, English and Japanese! Very nicely planned, even though it was impromptu to co-inside with our side’s decision to supply as many lightsticks to the ticket holders.
- The cosplay competition felt more…. fulfilling? I guess this must be what most of my Singaporean cosplayer friends are talking about. It really did feel like 2003-2004 all over again.
- Spotted nice cosplays of Kuroshitsuji, K-on, Sailormoon, etc. The Dante cosplayer who signed up for the competition had very good stage presence during his own skit. XD

====

Some nagging problems that I realised at Daicon:

- As there was no mention of any barricades during the Q&A session or anything like that, from what I’ve heard from the friends who were outside of it, everyone were trying to take pictures of her from outside when she’s on the stage.
- They were testing the auditorium out on how the hall will look like during the concert during the concert preparation. From that point, I thought to myself: how are the booths going to sell their wares outside? There’s no other light source, as the auditorium is an enclosed area (well duh)

=====
In short, Daicon is an event coined together based on Singapore’s Anime Festival Asia’s concept, while being in Cosfest’s scale. Admittedly, there are certain hick-ups during all sorts of events, so I won’t elaborate much on that. The public will compare the event to Singapore’s Anime Festival Asia just because of the guest; in terms of content, I’d say it’s quite okay for a ‘fan-by-fan’ event.

I’ll give my own review of the concert later in the day or something. ._.

On a side note, if I have the time, I might just translate her blog entries from her malaysian trip.

And in a few moments (a few hours, rather), I’ll be heading to KLCC for DaiCon! I’ll be joining Bjorn and Julius from NK-DS to ‘cover’ the event, so to speak.

For me, I’m there for:
1) MINORIN!!!!
2) my malaysian cosplayer friends whom I’ve not seen for about a year O_O
3) disturbing the 3 female-clones-of-bloggers. (bonkurasuだから）

行ってきます！！

Work’s been quite busy for me. Here’s a quick update:

- Lia’s getting married. Wow. At her age, she should. Congratulations to her and her hubby, along with the kid in tow. =D

- Several people I know around the blogosphere are either planning to go or going to either Nana’s, Yoko Kanno’s, or both concerts. INSANE AMOUNT OF MOOLAS EXPECTED TO SPILL.

- I call dibs on blog + bonkurasu. Type out www.bonkurasu.com and it’ll redirect back here. =D (You girls know who you are.)

- Here’s some updates with regards to Daicon; I’m too lazy to eleborate on the entire thing, but it’s about the lighstick call routine for Minorin.

- *UPDATE* Picture of MG Exia Below:

Am I gonna buy it? No. But I’ll buy the decals that will be out this month.

MG Exia decals

Char’s Counterattack EFSF use

Char’s Counterattack Neo Zeon use

KKnM is currently selling tickets for Minorin’s Daicon LIVE concert. More details directly from Daicon’s site.

“Tickets available at KKNM!

Chihara Minori Live @ DaiCon’s ELITE Ticket is now available in Singapore via our partner Kareshi Kanojyo no Mise! Head over to KKnM’s shop to purchase the ticket directly and hassle free!”

*DROOL*

*EDIT*There’s an ultra large poster of Mizuki Nana and Suzumura Kenichi, and postcards of Haruka Tomatsu and Dekko and 2 other names I cannot recall for Seigura, and nothing special for Voice Newtype; though I hope that there will be some pull-out poster of Minorin XD~

Looks like it’s time to pre-order from the friendly local Kinokuniya again. x_x

This is yet another post of me contemplating if I should get Minorin’s CD single that’s about to release next week. It’s not like I know it only recently, more like I’m just lazy at posting it up as usual. Gunpla and work takes up most of my time nowadays.

With Minorin’s single releasing on June 3rd, I don’t have adequate funds to get it, since the DVD is within the same month as well on the 24th of June, AND I’m going to Daicon for Minorin as well.

And speaking about the DVD, wasn’t there supposed to be a Blu-Ray version? o_O?

Excuse me while I continue to ponder on it over a cup of water… I’ll probably need more than just -a- cup.

Another blog banner change. Wish I was there at the studio shoot =D

…And I just realised that Minorin’s blog changed her banner picture. I’m such a bad fan, I hardly read her blog nowadays OTL

….and another thing regarding the Minorin photobook: you need to be a fanclub member in order to get it. Looks like I need to source it from YAJ again… meh.

I RAEG!!!