Kajiura & Fictionjunction Guests @ AnimeCentral in Chicago (concert May 16, 2026)

george1234 said:
I think thats the first time ever she wears something that shows her tummy 😅 i think she lost weight from her health issue last year. i didnt recognise her at first.
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george1234 said:
I think thats the first time ever she wears something that shows her tummy 😅 i think she lost weight from her health issue last year. i didnt recognise her at first.
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I agree. She just looks so full of energy and not carrying herself like an 'older woman'. I love that! She looks good!
 
No band, only Yuki and the FJ women. Despite that, I thought the backing instrumentals were nice and powerful.

I hadn't seen that Yuki had posted the setlist via a Spotify playlist on the FictionJunction website. I was hoping for a few English/ Kajiuriago tracks but only got swordland as the opener. But despite that I highly enjoyed some old favorites like Honoh no Tobira, parallel hearts, and stone cold. I noticed that REMI's prerecorded vocals were included in swordland just like they did in the opening songs of volume 20.

The singers continue to amaze me at their power. They really belted the hell out of each song.

Yuki spoke a mixture of English and Japanese. She said it was her first time in Chicago. She said that she is working on several upcoming projects this year and into 2027 that she can't talk about yet. She said Yuriko will be featured in the new Madoka Magica movie soundtrack. They also said they hoped to be back soon. I recorded most of her speeches, not sure how well the audio turned out. They took a group photo with the audience behind them so I assume they'll post that on their X.

I didn't love how the conference made each event first-come first-serve. There were other people who'd flown in who felt anxious about being able to get in to the concert at all, although I think everyone who waited in line was able to get in (cause Im pretty sure there were some open seats on the edges), but they had this super stupid system that you had to buy a YK CD/BD over $50 to get a ticket to the meet-and-greet and when I finally got to the merchandise booth they said they sold out in 10 minutes

Phenomenal getting to witness their talents in person but wouldn't need to do it twice
 
arqnohikari said:
Setlist:
Swordland
Honoo no Tobira
Toki no Mukou, Maboroshi no Sora
Lighthouse
From the edge
Parallel hearts
Stone cold
Sokyu no Fanfare
Parade
Encore: ?
Might be missing one.
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Encore was Koi Kogare but otherwise the setlist is correct.



Yeah no FBM but everything sounded awesome!!!! All 4 singers were completely on their A game tonight. Given no Keiko or Emiko there was no alto singer, so in a few places they had Yuriko or Lino Leia cover those parts, which actually turned out better than you would expect. I definitely felt Kaori was the star of the show though. She had amazing stage presence and at the beginning of Koi Kogare she was singing LOOOOOWWW and sounded awesome. Also thought it was amazing hearing some songs they haven't done in the recorded YKLs like From the edge & Koi Kogare.


I agree with @TRal55 about the general admission included-with-your-badge system they had- I myself flew in from out-of-state and was also a bit worried about actually being able to get in. I ended up lining up at 1p (3p doors, 4p show) because of that plus the meet + greets having been completely sold out by the time I arrived. Some sort of different ticketed system and not tied to having bought merch would have worked better- I think it would have allowed more people to get merch (instead of just buying for the sake of the meet + greet)
 
Westkana said:
She had amazing stage presence and at the beginning of Koi Kogare she was singing LOOOOOWWW and sounded awesome. Also thought it was amazing hearing some songs they haven't done in the recorded YKLs like From the edge & Koi Kogare.
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I'm pretty curious to have opinions about Koi Kogare in a Fictionjunction way... It's really a Milet/Man with a mission song in my head, with a strong female voice from Milet. I'm sure it's was great with Kaori as lead voice but it seems a unexpected choice for a YK live. Great but unexpected.
 
TRal55 said:
She said that she is working on several upcoming projects this year and into 2027 that she can't talk about yet. She said Yuriko will be featured in the new Madoka Magica movie soundtrack.
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Yuriko gets her first feature in how long? Hoping for some powerful support vocals for her. 🚀🚀🚀
TRal55 said:
The singers continue to amaze me at their power. They really belted the hell out of each song.
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I am glad to hear that!
Westkana said:
All 4 singers were completely on their A game tonight.
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The gym helped with that! 💪
Westkana said:
Given no Keiko or Emiko there was no alto singer, so in a few places they had Yuriko or Lino Leia cover those parts, which actually turned out better than you would expect. I definitely felt Kaori was the star of the show though. She had amazing stage presence and at the beginning of Koi Kogare she was singing LOOOOOWWW and sounded awesome.
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Oh yeah! The flexibility of the range of the singers present is such a plus for them. I have to say, that in terms of versatility for vocal arranging, FictionJunction has the strongest roster of vocalists right now.
 
TRal55 said:
No band, only Yuki and the FJ women. Despite that, I thought the backing instrumentals were nice and powerful.
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Westkana said:
Yeah no FBM but everything sounded awesome!!!!
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That's the power of the backing tracks as a vital part of the atmosphere for Kajiura's performances. Attempting to do her music without supplying as much of the instrumentals as possible is difficult.
 
Was interested who would do the final chant in from the edge now that Keiko's not there.
Joelle
did a good job in her own style, though I was hoping for Yuki herself to pick up the mic for that one.
 
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M1.swordland - Some initial nerves with the extended instrumental sections with the full lights being on them even when they weren't singing.
M2.焔の扉(Honoo no Tobira) - Joelle has solidified her own approach to the song in terms of expressiveness but she was totally on point. A solid lead. Last chance to sing Yuuka's songs before she returns to claim them ALL! 😂
M3.時の向こう、幻の空(Toki no Mukou, Maboroshi no Sora) - Really nice performance.
-MC-
M4.lighthouse - It was a'ight.
M5.from the edge - A bold choice to have Kaori be "LiSA" but it totally worked, in a warm way (I mean vocally). Loved the variation of Joelle's chest-y version of the original Chiaki vocalization at the end.
M6.Parallel Hearts - Energetic performance.
M7.stone cold - A more extensive use of Kajiura's sharp low voice for the verses, since there was no second low voice (Keiko/Emiko) to double with her.
-MC-
M8.蒼穹のファンファーレ(Soukyuu no Fanfare) - A solid performance though missing with one vocalist.
M9.Parade - A section of the low notes were completely missing from the vocals. I think they were just too low for LINO LEIA.
EC.コイコガレ(Koikogare) - A surprise since I've never heard it performed live before. Cool song and they totally had fun with it.

Comments on their vocals:
  • What I love about this is they once again proved their live vocals again outside of Asia, where there could be no suggestion of editing, etc.
  • If Keiko was the MVP in terms of leading several songs, then I feel Joelle was the second runner up together with Yuriko. Solid leads from Joelle, and Yuriko's indispensability was fully on display. LINO LEIA was good as well. She keeps leveling up so I feel she'll keep improving.
  • I would say, though, that EMIKO's bouncing energy was probably missed a bit, in my opinion - just that extra level of hype - but the ladies did very well.
 
Kagone said:
Was interested who would do the final chant in from the edge now that Keiko's not there.
Joelle
did a good job in her own style, though I was hoping for Yuki herself to pick up the mic for that one.
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I actually enjoyed the way Joelle did it, using her deep chest and vibrato at the end.

Different from Keiko's more nasal/dramatic versions, which were performed several times.

Chiaki's original is still the perfect, in-show-context version.
 
CloisteredFlame said:
M9.Parade - A section of the low notes were completely missing from the vocals. I think they were just too low for LINO LEIA.
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Yeah, I noticed that too during the performance. I had expected Kaori to take them but they just left them out for whatever reason. Odd arrangement decision imo since I feel like Kajiura almost never cuts main parts unless absolutely necessary

CloisteredFlame said:
LINO LEIA was good as well. She keeps leveling up so I feel she'll keep improving.
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I completely agree. When it was announced she was gonna be on this show I was a little iffy since she's been a bit inconsistent but she ended up being great


I do wish Emiko was there so they could've had a proper alto filling out the lower register, but it ended up still sounding fine without
 
I can't believe I just witnessed a Kajiura/FictionJunction concert!!! What is my life?

Swordland: of course. They had to, right? But it was awesome! I was so impressed with everyone's vocals here.

Honoh no Tobira: I can't believe they played my fav FJY song!!! Joelle led which was the perfect choice. I mean they all chimed in at times. You can really hear the piano.

Toki no Mukou ni Maborashi no Sora: not an anime song, but still. Love. They all did great.

Lighthouse: eeeee! I was so excited when she announced this. I was thinking to myself the night before that it'd be cool even though it's from a game. Lino was amazing! Her voice carried through the whole place, which wasn't all that big. Heh

From the edge: I was so impressed with Kaori here. Her vocals on it were so amazing! Everyone did a great job. I like that they had the English words on the screens.

Parallel Hearts: I know others have said this was a Wakana song, but everyone was great! Joelle especially.

Stone cold: ahhh! Again it was vibrating. Everyone was rocking out. I wish I could have gotten a light wand. (I couldn't find the merch booth.) Yuriko goes by Kajiura and Lino and Joelle and Kaori sing together. I think this was the loudest the audience was.

Soukyuu no fanfare: I've come to like this song more through lives. This was no exception. The whole room seemed to vibrate!

Parade: I'm soooo glad I got to see this live! Lino did well on the lower parts actually. I teared up several times.

Encore: Koi Kagare: I loved Kaori here. She seemed so powerful through the whole thing. Everyone did. It is a looong song so it's no wonder if someone got winded. But they didn't seem to.

I was surprised someone got video of all of it. They were cracking down on phones. If it even came out they were on top of you. I didn't try even. I am so thankful they came somewhere where I didn't have to travel very far for. I still want to see the whole band with them and other guests of course. But I'm so happy. The recording doesn't compare to being there.
 
I think they all did the chant. From the edge and Koi are not favs, but Kaori really sold them for me. But the chorus of the 2nd song really was great! I even heard LiSA at times, even though she wasn't singing.
 
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