Yesterday, I got an e-mail from CD Japan telling me that they had shipped my order, and that it would be arriving in 3-6 days. Okay, I could wait that long.
When I dragged myself home that same night after a long day of work, I found a package from CD Japan waiting for me on my desk.
That's crazy efficient. Well, its contents certainly cheered me up. My copy of Kalafina's Hikari Furu (plus bonus jacket) had arrived, two days before the official release date:
The CD. Limited Edition Type-B
Bonus jacket
But that wasn't it. There was another, pleasant surprise.
So pritteh. And HomuMado is ♥
The one with Homura x Madoka is on the other side of the bonus jacket. The Madokami image on the back CD cover is actually a sticker, it peels off just above where the tracklist is. Did not expect these, were they announced? In any case, they're pretty sweet additions.
Will review the stuff I was actually paying for (the music, I mean, and maybe the PV too) later. Excuse me while I go put Hikari Furu on an infinite loop,
Well, hello, it's been a while. I have my excuses (perfectly valid ones!) for being away, but I'm fairly sure that that's not what you came here to read.
And yeah, I promised a recap of Kalafina's moonfesta PV. It's been forever, but I'm not about to give up on it. Not just yet. But it'll probably take some more time before it's done.
In the meantime, let us all rejoice at the announcement of Kalafina's new single, Hikari Furu, which will be released on the 24th of October.
More Kalafina is always good news!
The title track for the single will be the theme song for the second Madoka Magica compilation film. The title of the movie, by the way, is Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie Part II: The Eternal Story, which is too long for me to attempt to fit gracefully into the previous sentence. Anyway, I'm very excited about all this, which should not surprise anyone who has been and is still reading this blog. I'm going to stop hazarding guesses as to many of you there are.
It's available for pre-order on Play-Asia as well. The site has not deigned to tell us which edition is which just yet but a comparison of the catalogue numbers suggests that it's Type-A, Type-B, Regular Edition and Anime Edition. But you don't have to take my word for it, we can wait till they provide more info.
I'm not usually interested in Anime editions but that bonus "special animation" (of the Madoka movie, I presume) sounds intriguing...
In other not-so-new news:
The Rurouni Kenshin live action movie (you know, the one I talked about once or twice or more), which opened in Japan on 25 August, has made a ton of money. It is also, according to the one in-depth review I found that was in English, quite awesome. The movie also been licensed for distribution in over 60 countries. Which is very nice and all, but is Singapore one of them? I think it's likely but they haven't confirmed it why can't they just tell which countries are among those 60+ countries the suspense is killing me here.
Oh, speaking of movies...
Hosoda Mamoru's Wolf Children opened in Singapore this Thursday. Catch it at Bugis+'s Filmgarde if you haven't already. I did, and I greatly enjoyed it. There are several reasons as to why I recommend it but not the least among them is aaaaah widdle wolf kiddies so cute! Okay, seriously, the story is heartwarming and the animation, for the most part, is gorgeous. I'll see if I have time for a proper review.
Just when I think I can't get any more excited, they give us more glimpses of awesomeness. Aoi Yuu~~ her portrayal of Megumi looks to exceed my already high expectations.
The plot seems to be largely an amalgam of the Jin-e and Kanryuu/Megumi arcs, with Kenshin and Kaoru's first meeting (with Jin-e in Hiruma Gohei's place?), Yahiko and Sano's introductions worked in...
I think I'm just going to quit worrying about the plot being too compressed, because it looks like everything else is going to be awesome. The actions scenes look very well done.
The characterisation is still what I'm most excited about, though. I was glad to see more of Sanosuke, Yahiko and Megumi:
Megumi, you fox...
I think I'd already expressed my satisfaction with the glimpse of Sato Takeru's portrayal of Kenshin.
This time, it's Takei Emi who's really charmed me. The forcefulness in that first confrontation with Kenshin, the earnestness in her expression and voice when trying to reassure Kenshin that it doesn't matter to her that he was a hitokiri...The woman is Kaoru.
She's just standing there, and yet she's somehow already exuding Kaoru-ness. It's awesome.
(Written in bits and pieces over several weeks, with less proofreading than should have been necessary. I hope it's still passably coherent...)
Ah, Kalafina. I can't remember being as enamoured with any other musical act since I quit idolising boybands as a teenager. And I'd never gone to another country (even if it was just neighbouring Malaysia) just to watch an artiste perform live.
Kalafina were certainly worth the journey.
I'd planned to reach Kuala Lumpur on the afternoon of the 8th of June. It turned out to be an even better idea than I'd have thought because AFA later announced that an open-door press preview would be happening that day. And of course, making an appearance was...
Real life has been really distracting lately, but I did manage to find some pockets of free time that I could have used for writing up a decent post.However, I ended up using that time to play with my two new acquisitions. *shrugs* It was fun. So instead of a post with some semblance of substance, here are a bunch of photos of the very poseable Figmas Mami and Kyoko:
Mami looks really awesome. And Kyoko! My favourite. She was a lot harder to set up than Mami, because her hair kept getting in the way when trying to attach her to the base...but it was worth it.
I think I can only afford two Figmas for now...Fun with KyubeyMini Madokami wants a shot at him too"Want one?""Oh, don't mind if I do."
**UPDATE** The movie's official site now has links to trailers subtitled in English, French, Spanish and Chinese. I think the chances of this getting overseas releases not long after the Japanese premiere are looking good...
I've embedded the one with English subs. The video quality is a lot better than the previous video too:
A bit late, and this has been popping out all over the place but...Trailer starts at 0:45:
- I really wish they'd chosen a song other than 'Niji' for that first bit
- HE SAID ORO *squeals* Nice to see how true this Kenshin is to the manga, and seeing Sato portraying both Kenshin's badass side and rurouni side so well is just wonderful.
- Takei Emi looks pretty good in her role too. That scene where Kaoru confronts Kenshin? Totally pulling it off.
- First proper glimpse of Aoki Munetaka/Sanosuke and damn is he badass or is he badass? In terms of casting and characterisation this movie seems to be excelling.
- So much so that I'm not terribly bothered about the storyline. Jin-e, Saito, Kanryuu — based on the number of antagonists it looks like it's going to be severals arcs compressed into the movie. Is it just me, or does the guy in the Hitokiri Battousai poster look like Jin-e? That seems like a plausible way of combining Kenshin and Kaoru's first meeting with the Jin-e arc. And is that white-haired guy at about 1:28 — no way —
- It may be a little premature to judge, but it really does seem that even if the movie is departing somewhat from the original plot, it's staying true to the spirit of the manga and the characters. And that's what I was hoping for the most.
Oh, look, it seems that I am alive. My day job seems to have been dedicated to changing that lately. I've got a bit of a break now though.
If you're half as obsessed as I am about Kalafina you'll probably have heard that the ladies will be singing the second OP of Fate/Zero, titled to the beginning (links in the sidebar!). I'm waiting for Play-Asia to put it up for pre-order but I'm not sure they'll offer the postcard calendar bonus that CDJapan has. I WANT.
The DVD/Blu-ray that comes with limited editions will include the PV — words cannot express how much I am looking forward to making an irreverent recap of that.
Oh hey lookie sample!
It didn't really impress me at first; I thought it sounded too much like a FictionJunction song than a Kalafina song. But really, that's not a bad thing, is it? And they sound great anyway — I quite like how the main vocal switches more often during verses than usual. Again, not their usual style, and again, nothing wrong with that. It's a refreshing change from hearing just one of them singing lead for most of the song.
DVD and Blu-Ray of Kalafina's After Eden Special Live at Tokyo Dome City Hall, to be released on March 21. CDJapan's got them up for pre-order already (DVD and Blu-Ray). Canta-per-me.net's got the set list here and ADORE IS ON IT. I MUST HAVE THIS NOW.
Also, Kalafina's live performances for Animax Musix Studio Live and the Animax Musix 2011 concert have hit YouTube.
...Not their best performances, but still watchable. I thought Oblivious in the studio live was quite good, actually. That Sorairo Days performance, though, was doomed upon its conception. The song really doesn't suit them, and they really don't suit it. I'd normally find the idea of Kalafina doing something different refreshing but this is just too jarring. Seriously? Who came up with that? What a waste of an opportunity. There's a hundred other, better songs I'd love to have seen Kalafina cover...
That studio live was pretty easy on the eyes. Nice roving shots, and lots of gorgeous close-ups of Hikaru's super-fierce expressions, Wakana looking...like Wakana (well, she looks good), and Keiko...well, Keiko.
Super-fierce
Wakana.
And Keiko...well, Keiko
And some bonus Wakana!dansu
(This blog has 10,000 hits how the heck did that happen??)
(EDIT: Re-read, realized I wrote this half-asleep, tried to improve...I don't think it's much better though. Haha.)
Eh heh heh I sure took a while didn't I? It's been so long that some of the details are lost to me, but I still couldn't not write this up.
There were five performers at the third day of AFA 11's I Love Anisong concert: Kanako Itou with Chyomaru Shikura, the seiyuu unit Milky Holmes (from a show I've never watched), angela, Kalafina and May'n. And as you can see from the post title, there were only two acts I was familiar enough with to care about and report on, so I apologize if you were hoping for reports on the rest. Popcultureonline.net has a pretty good report and lots of awesome photos.
But if you still want to read mine...Let's start with how I got starstruck at Kalafina's autograph session.
I'm a fan of anime, manga, J-Rock and many other things that Japan has to offer. I'm based in Singapore. I really enjoy writing about my interests, but my day job has a way of interfering with my blogging.
I don't claim to be newsworthy or informative; I'm just here to comment on the stuff that interests me. If they happen to interest you as well, then you're in luck! I think.
This site has a sibling on Tumblr, where the posts are less structured, sillier, and feature too many .gif images of Kalafina.
Labels:
anime,
kalafina,
mahou shoujo madoka magica,
music
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