After Eden Special Live 2011 BD/DVD

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Cerise said:
/will try to stop taking up so much posting space :blood: :imdead:
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As long as you're below the message length limit and are reasonably on-topic, take as many words as you want to say what you are feeling and want to say (-:.
 
But after discovering Yuki Kajiura, FictionJunction and Kalafina, I finally experienced what it meant to be ‘moved’ by music, what those artsy people meant when they said ‘aahhhh I feel the music’. And I believe it’s because of the way Yuki puts everything into composing her songs, and how she tries to make her vocalists understand and personally appreciate the songs, e.g. how Wakana said when Yuki told her the meaning of vanity’s lyrics, she felt like crying every time she sang the song. And because the girls themselves have such personal connections with their songs, they can pour that emotion through to the audience, and it’s as if they really want to share how they feel with the audience.
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I can't agree with you more. Before I found Kajiura-sensei's music, I'd occasionally stumble on a song or two that had something that would catch me and make me listen to it over and over again, but after a while I'd just drop it. Classical, pop, new age, whatever it was, it would end up growing stale after a while. But not so with Kajiura-sensei. I feel exactly the same way as you do when I listen to her songs.
 
Re:

Cerise said:
I think the reason why I can forgive Kalafina's faults so easily is just because of things like this - the emotion in their singing just shines through, and their performances it's clear to me how much they love singing and love the music they're making. Not only that, you can tell that they genuinely want to share these feelings with their fans and audience. So I find that Kalafina really do reach out to their listeners and they do get those feelings across and touch people with their music.

I know not everyone thinks this way but I personally never thought I could be so moved watching a live singing performance. But...I’m not a particularly artistic, creative or sensitive person (unlike those people who look at artworks, listen to music, watch a dance performance etc., get moved to tears, write pages of emotional critique saying things about ‘feeling raging inferno of existential angst from this magnificent masterpiece’ and ‘oh I feel like my heart moves to the drumbeat of this symphony blah blah etc.’) and I never used to really get ‘emotional’ about music; to me, it was just things like ‘oh this song is pretty’, ‘this song sounds nice and catchy’, ‘this song has a nice melody’, ‘this song is too loud and crashy’ etc. Even my old piano teacher mentioned I was kinda music ‘insensitive’ (could never put ‘emotion’ into my playing…or listening haha) But after discovering Yuki Kajiura, FictionJunction and Kalafina, I finally experienced what it meant to be ‘moved’ by music, what those artsy people meant when they said ‘aahhhh I feel the music’. And I believe it’s because of the way Yuki puts everything into composing her songs, and how she tries to make her vocalists understand and personally appreciate the songs, e.g. how Wakana said when Yuki told her the meaning of vanity’s lyrics, she felt like crying every time she sang the song. And because the girls themselves have such personal connections with their songs, they can pour that emotion through to the audience, and it’s as if they really want to share how they feel with the audience.

I know Kalafina aren’t the best, have lots of flaws, and make mistakes; there are probably many other singers and artists out there who are much more polished and perfect performing live. But I really can’t help but feel moved by their sincerity, and I think that’s important in a performance too, even if singing everything perfect without mistakes during live is undeniably amazing and awesome and what all singers should probably try to do. Because, as cliché as this sounds, part of the whole point of music is the expressing emotions to people, isn’t it? So even if Kalafina slips up on a few harmonies or wanders off-tune now and then, at least their performances and their singing are heartfelt. I think that’s really why I can still love them, including their live performances, regardless of their faults.

I don’t think they ‘fail’ that much anyway, usually they’re pretty decent, considering how it’s much more difficult to get all three singers in harmony with one another, especially compared to some singers who struggle singing in tune just by themselves, never mind in harmony with someone else.

Oops…sorry, before I even noticed it, I was ranting again… :desksweat: but I guess this is just a sort of justification of my viewpoint on them since Kalafina’s vocal quality has been under such scrutiny recently, what with the Wakana affair and the divided opinions on After Eden (which, btw, was far better than what my expectations had been).

Compared to Red Moon, it’d be hard actually for me to choose which one I like better because both have their better and worse points. Red Moon had better Wakana, who didn’t look like she was about to collapse and die on stage, but then Hikaru was so amazing in After Eden, I think having improved by truckloads since Red Moon. Likewise, Red Moon had probably slightly less ridiculous choreography (still pretty hilarious in some parts though) but in After Eden it was nice seeing the girls switch stage positions for a change, and despite the choreo (which had me roflmao-ing and going ‘OHMIGOD REALLLLYY????’ all over the place most of the time) each of the girls actually did have some really KYAA moments where they just happened to catch the perfect cool/epic pose/expression/movement.

Oh my god I did it again... Okay. I. Will. Stop. Ranting. Now.

Sorry. Everyone. :desksweat: :XD:

/will try to stop taking up so much posting space :blood: :imdead:
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+1

I pretty much agree with most of what you said. I have always considered music to be something that I hear. So how I used to listen to music was to put on my earphones and just listen. It never mattered to me who the singer/artist/composer was as long as the music is good. I could like singers and bands and not know what they look like, how many members they have, etc. and be totally fine with it. I never really saw what all that had to do with the music after all. Live performances were also something I didn't care for. I always preferred studio/CD versions anyway. But then I came across random videos of Yuki Kajiura's live by accident (Youtube's related videos feature) and one of the earliest videos I saw was Kaori's performance of Hanamori no Oka.

That performance blew me away. Absolutely took my breath away, and why? Because she wasn't just singing the song. She was expressing it with all of her being. Her gestures, her expressions, the emotions just flowed out from all of her. That was the point I think, that I realized that music wasn't just to be heard, but to be seen and felt. And this is exactly how I watch lives today. I see the song, and I feel it and as far as I'm concerned, the After Eden live was amazing, in every way.

I don't watch a live and expect technical flawlessness. If I wanted that I'd just pop in the CD and listen. What I do expect from lives is to hear, see and feel the song. Like you said, music/songs all aim to express/invoke a certain type of emotion. So even if there are vocal slips ups (which happens, we're all human), and they do weird movements on the stage (which are at least lol-worthy), if in the end I still feel the song, then wouldn't that mean they've succeeded?

So that's what I feel about this live. I couldn't be happier about its quality. Hikaru has improved leaps and bounds since Red Moon, Keiko is amazing as ever, and Wakana, to me anyway, was on a roll as well. I truly enjoyed this live, so it's all good :dote:
 
I don't watch a live and expect technical flawlessness. If I wanted that I'd just pop in the CD and listen. What I do expect from lives is to hear, see and feel the song. Like you said, music/songs all aim to express/invoke a certain type of emotion. So even if there are vocal slips ups (which happens, we're all human), and they do weird movements on the stage (which are at least lol-worthy), if in the end I still feel the song, then wouldn't that mean they've succeeded?
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YES. I totally agree with this and what Cerise wrote (thanks for taking the time to write all that, by the way. Really enjoyed reading it). Sure, accuracy is important in music but conveying the feeling is what's most important of all. If the musicians get that across, it doesn't need to be perfect.

There were moments in the AE show that weren't perfect. It could've been better in places, but then the songs would simply be the same as the studio versions! The important thing is the emotional impact and whether it moves you. Despite its flaws, it moved me. That's what matters.
 
I don't watch a live and expect technical flawlessness. If I wanted that I'd just pop in the CD and listen. What I do expect from lives is to hear, see and feel the song. Like you said, music/songs all aim to express/invoke a certain type of emotion. So even if there are vocal slips ups (which happens, we're all human), and they do weird movements on the stage (which are at least lol-worthy), if in the end I still feel the song, then wouldn't that mean they've succeeded?
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+1!!!
 
dont forget that its not fun if its 100% exactly as studio version :ayashii:
 
ah right, my own copy of After Eden DVD has arrived (along with DiVA's single which was released on the same day, haha)
:nophoto:
 
Definitely co-signing with everyone who has said that they love live performances because of what they convey even though they aren't technically perfect. That's also the reason why my favorite is Hikaru, she's so passionate in her singing that she can go overboard and end up shouting lol but it's great to feel how much the music moves her as well in every performance :sohappy:
 
Sorry but I'll just say it the way I see it:
Excuses FTW.
But I'll confess that maybe I should stop being so "realistic", forgot the right word
 
^ I understand where you're coming from, but I don't really see them as excuses myself. I'm not using an argument like what others have stated to "justify" Kalafina's mistakes...I've already accepted that they're not perfect and I just don't mind, period.

Still, I don't know how others see it. That's just my way of looking at things.
 
^Your case is different. Some people here do make excuses, and I'm not going to point my finger at them because I simply don't even care about this matter (Kalafina/FJ lives) anymore. There's no point, at least for me, in discussing them, so I'll just leave it as it is. I'll just content myself with either saying I like a performance or not.
 
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KP-X said:
^Your case is different. Some people here do make excuses, and I'm not going to point my finger at them because I simply don't even care about this matter (Kalafina/FJ lives) anymore. There's no point, at least for me, in discussing them, so I'll just leave it as it is. I'll just content myself with either saying I like a performance or not.
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Agreed, and that policy sounds good. I thought explaining why I disliked something was preferable to just saying so with no reasoning whatsoever, but nope.
 
I think having different opinions is what makes a forum interesting. If we all thought the same then it would lead to no discussion, it's always enlightening to read about other points of view regardless of whether you agree with them or not, in my humble opinion.

I, for one, admit that I'm a huge Kalafina fangirl, and I acknowledge their shortcomings completely, and notice them too, but I still really love them regardless. I can understand that other people feel differently, and am perfectly cool with that :sparkleguy:
 
I, for one, admit that I'm a huge Kalafina fangirl, and I acknowledge their shortcomings completely, and notice them too, but I still really love them regardless. I can understand that other people feel differently, and am perfectly cool with that :sparkleguy:
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+1!! ^^
 
if U guys dont agree with this certain group of ppl here, rather than making excuses, why dont U just kindly and respectfully leave them alone with their own beliefs and keep going with our beloved CPM fan-site forum and keep posting ? :ayashii:
 
I don't think it's helpful to dig your heels in and ignore any alternative viewpoint because you might be passing up an opportunity to learn something new. Still, nobody has a right to *tell* you what to think...your mind is your own.

I try to at the very least respect and understand why someone thinks a certain way, even if my opinion is the opposite! I often get the impression that some important point keeps going over my head though...I kinda suck at arguing about stuff. :confu:
 
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