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nodame89
Guest
There are dresses from FOW live (is it a postcard?). These white are really strange! I like a violet dress of Hikaru and a little Keiko's dress but Wakana's is too long
Kalafina LIVE TOUR 2015-2016 "far on the water"
- Thread starter Kugayama
- Start date
There are dresses from FOW live (is it a postcard?). These white are really strange! I like a violet dress of Hikaru and a little Keiko's dress but Wakana's is too long
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nodame89
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Smoshes
Guest
Maybe its the pictures being taken in bad angles, but, I hate Keiko's pink boots. I also hate Wakana's blue dress. No, i hate the concept of those coloured dresses in general. They look like they just came out of a power ranger shooting. No, just no.
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nodame89
Guest
I agree... The shoes are just bleeeh. It doen't fit to Kalafina. The black dresses are beautiful, white are strange and these colorful... - I like Hikaru's, a little Keiko's but the shape of Wakana's is weird
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elcazador
Guest
Not postcards，they are illegal shoot photos and will be sold online to who wana them.
In fact, from the time on Lisani Live-5 and Budokan stage, the girls' illegal shoot was usually appeared on yahoo.jp.
In fact, from the time on Lisani Live-5 and Budokan stage, the girls' illegal shoot was usually appeared on yahoo.jp.
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sprinterXkyrie
Guest
Those were bad angles, except for Keichan's smile :)
Tsss... they should stick with their monochromatic dresses.
Tsss... they should stick with their monochromatic dresses.
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Hatouchan
Guest
Sorry I'm later than usual lol. I wrote this on the plane ride back.
A quick spoiler warning. If you're going to attend any of the lives in the fotw tour in the future, this might be spoilery.
Kajiura was present on both days, as witnessed by a friend twice on each day. She sat near the sound control panel. From what Kajiura said on twitter, she seemed happy with their performance on both days.
Here's a report of sorts for both days, combined. I sat on the second floor on the first day, first floor on the second day. My seat for the second day was much better, more central too. For the first day, the volume on the second floor was surprisingly not too loud. It was actually rather easy on the ears and I didn't need to use my ear plugs at all. Wakana however, sounded too soft at times. It was obviously not her fault though, because she sounded awesome when she was actually audible, and it wasn't like she was struggling to get her notes out. It just sounded like her mic was a lot softer than the others. I found Hikaru in particular to be very loud at times. Wakana has been rather consistent recently imo. And of course she sounded great and a lot more audible on the second day.
The first thing I noticed, was how they hid the stage at the start. Usually, one would be able to see the stage, the instruments, etc. Instead, the curtains were drawn. They were obviously going to try something new. And as soon as it started, the curtains were pulled back to reveal... Clouds? Smoke? The girls stood at the top of the stage, as the clouds and smoke swirled around. From the first floor, it looked pretty surreal. At times, I could almost believe that the smoke was actually there. From the second floor though, I was not able to see the girls clearly. They went straight into koibito, no long intro or anything. No walking onto the stage as the intro played since the curtains were drawn. Koibito was really powerful though. The girls would stand at the top of the stage, doing some rather dramatic movements. As the song ended, the sheet in front of them, which the smokey imagery was projected on, lifted.
For the first set of dresses, the girls wore that silver on black that you can see in the pictures from the articles. Hikaru wore pants, surprisingly.
Also, the stage this time is very different from the usual kalafina or even YK live. I'm not sure if you can tell from the pictures but there's no back panel this time. It's just a huge white wall at the back. The stage they built consists solely of the black platforms in the shape of an upside down mickey mouse, with the biggest circle rising in steps. Instead of having an elaborate wall built to cover the back of the hall, it was left empty. They then projected various images across the entire back of the hall. It felt empty at times and I suspect that this is part of why I thought it lacked atmosphere as compared to before.
They then went straight to monochrome. The girls got the crowd to clap to the song. There was dancing involved. Lol. It seems the choreography is here to stay, for better or for worse. That part right before Wakana's chorus is definitely Hikaru and not Keiko.
Straight into Gogatsu no mahou after that, followed by the usual introduction. Fitting for a hall, they told the audience that they'll continue with a bunch of ballads.
Sorairo no isu. The initial synth harp (?) from the studio version was replaced by sakurada on the piano, while Korenaga played the acoustic guitar. The first half was purely just the piano and the guitar. In the second half, as the violin comes in, so does the bass and drums. While I much prefer the instruments in the studio version, the live arrangement didn't sound too bad and wasn't too far off from the original. It being the live version, the harmonies were much more audible and that's always awesome.
Lapis. I wouldn't say no to a Keiko heavy ballad. Keiko's part has been stuck in my head for a while now...
Kagayaku. If memory serves, the girls posed on the steps just before the song started, slowly moving as the intro started playing. On the second day though, I think Keiko sort of lost balance when she put one foot on the steps above and bent forward. She managed to maintain her balance with her hands on the steps, and improvised her pose from there.
They start the Mc with some talk about sorairo no isu on both days, about the importance of the words and about the acoustic guitar's sad melody. Keiko said that when she first heard the song, she felt that Wakana's voice was like that of a storyteller, singing a story to her. This made Wakana really happy and she asked the audience to listen to the words too. They then go on to talk about their summer. Having spent most of their summer recording the album in the basement, Keiko asked the two about what else they did for summer. Hikaru talked about the many shoujo manga she read over the summer. I can't remember the manga she mentioned on the first day, but she brought chihayafuru up on the second day. Wakana then told Hikaru that she was waiting for her to lend it to her. (Wakana, I think it's time you start buying your manga instead of mooching off Hikaru all the time lol). Wakana on the other hand, having not done much summer activities, bought a book on the summer activities she could do. Well, of all things in the book, she decided to pick up "how to tell horror stories like xxxx-san" (I can't remember who exactly). Apparently, Wakana likes to tell horror stories, but she doesn't like to be scared/frightened. The others point out the irony in that but Wakana defends herself saying that by being the storyteller, she would know the ending and wouldn't be scared. She then laments the fact that she might not be suited for the role. With the way she speaks, it tends to sound funny instead of scary. In fact, she herself would be close to laughing. She's been talking about this horror story telling technique over the summer but Keiko and Hikaru don't seem to be very interested. On the first day, she did do an example of how it should be done, and even did some sound effects.
Musunde hiraku. Surprisingly, the song that gets stuck in my head. It's been growing on me over the two days. And to think my initial impression of the song wasn't all that good because of its similarity to the misterioso gang. My favourite part has to be Keiko's "Kimi ha dare to deai? Boku ha dare wo omou?"
Misterioso. With Hikaru in much better shape than budokan, it was a lot more enjoyable.
'FBM's instrumental? Already? That was fast" were what came to mind on both days. The nightmare ballet instrument was pretty. It starts with Sakurada's piano, like many instrumentals. As a huge huge huge madoka fan, I got really excited when I realised from the piano solo that it was the nightmare ballet.It's a shame that Akagi Rie wasn't around. The song looped several times though, to buy the girls more time. I actually thought that they looped it too much. I mean... I love the song but if you loop it that many times... I think it was looped at least twice? The original song isn't that long and Kajiura didn't add anything special to it. Visuals wise though, they synchronised it pretty well to the song. The curtains then fell immediately on the last note, so it was sort of like a story coming to an end.
Into the water started playing and the curtains slowly lifted. The girls were already on stage. My eyesight being hilariously bad, I didn't notice on the first day until they started to move. In my defence, they were strewn on the steps, back facing the audience and their hands reaching out in front of them, flattening their bodies. The dresses they had on had a lot of fabric so it was spread out around them when they sat down. They sat in a triangle, with Hikaru on top, Wakana on the left and Keiko on the right. Despite the kajiurago vocals, they weren't singing. This song was all prerecorded. As the song went on, Hikaru started to rise and arced her back. The others soon followed after. There was some dancing using the extra fabric on their dresses involved.
My first impression when I saw their dresses was not a good one lol. They were oversized and they looked ridiculous in them. Thankfully though, their actual dresses were underneath. I can't remember whether it was before or after in every nothing, but they took it off one at a time after the light shone on them. However, to my dismay, the dresses underneath weren't much better. Orz
It doesn't look like there was any particular concept for their second set of dresses. If there was one, it was totally lost on me. They seem so random! Hikaru wore a purple one piece that looked like regular clothing that you would wear out on a normal day. Wakana's one was the most Kalafina-ish. Rather long, the way she likes it. Keiko's one was... Was... I'm not sure what the hell she was wearing. It's a pink dress... Or so I initially thought. On closer look, it's a pink top and skirt? The design and colour is uniform so it's a little misleading. Her belly is only so slightly exposed, but it was enough for you to see her beautiful abs. As I said before, that's the only good thing about it. There were some differences between the two days. The most obvious was the choice of footwear. On the first day, she wore long boots. Boots that covered almost all of her legs. If we were to speak in zettai ryouiki terms, the area is more or less gone because the boots were too high up. Worse still, the boots were silver. Shiny and gaudy. Urgh. What is that monstrosity that dares hide Keiko's legs from me. Thankfully, as ifshe knew what the fans wanted she realised that the boots were hideous, she opted to keep wearing the shoes from the first set of dresses on the second day. What was utterly hideous became somewhat acceptable. I can't quite put my finger on it but I think they did something to the dress as well. The material seemed a little different, like they had removed something, thankfully for the better. Edit: looking at the pictures now, that dark pink material was totally removed.
Satou started off Yami no Uta with some heavy drums. For this song, Keiko approached it a little differently. For the first two lines or so, she sang the last few words at a different timing, much later than you would expect, pausing for a bit before continuing. She also did a sexy walk down the steps but I digress. It's the first time I heard the song live I think? It's quite a pleasant surprise for me. As a lover of dark scary songs, this pleases me.
No jellyfish this time for believe. Lol. I don't dislike the song like many here do. Nothing much to say about it though.
Mc3... Into the water was the last song in the album to be recorded. It turned out a little differently than they had expected. Hikaru also talked about how, during recordings, she would wear clothes she thinks would fit the image she had of the song. Listening to Hikaru and now she picks her clothes to suit the song of the day, Keiko apologised for always going for her recording sessions in jerseys lol.
As Keiko moved towards Sakurada to introduce Hokage, talking about how the song was recorded, Hikaru would skip to his left and hold both her hands out towards Sakurada. She had a cute smile on all the way. As expected, Hokage is beautiful live. I'm the type that likes quiet songs that let their voices shine. I hope they sing this and sorairo no isu again during the Christmas live. It would be heavenly with a strings quartet.
There was a bit of hand choreography timed according to the intro of Usumurasaki. I loved this song live too.
For identify, Keiko brought out a mic stand lol. She tried to play around with it but I don't think she knows how to yet. Halfway through the song, she swapped placed with Hikaru. I don't remember seeing it but I was told that Hikaru had trouble putting her mic on the stand in her haste. I didn't like identify's chorus much but found it to be a lot easier to stomach live. It's a fun song live. The girls did some rather complicated hand movements during the chorus. It's quite fast so I think if their intention was for it to catch on, it'll take some time. I don't see it working well though.
Signal. I love this song. They stood in the centre, hands on each others shoulders just as they did at the budokan. Did I mention I love this song? I love every single part of it. Signal only featured a keyboard solo, nothing else. The others had their solo and name call in ongaku.
Then of course, we moved on to ongaku. No, it doesn't seem like the crowd has grown tired of it at all. Everyone stands when the song comes on. They have fun with it, clap immediately when they hear the drums at the start, know immediately that ongaku is here and cheer. I don't think I'll be satisfied if they ended the live without ongaku. On both days, during konno's violin solo, Keiko would stand beside Wakana on the left of the stage, her arms around Wakana in the manliest manner possible. Since Wakana's solo is after the violin solo, she would have to go up to the top of the stage, where she usually sings from. On he first day however, either Keiko didn't let her go or they were both distracted. Wakana sang her solo at the bottom, not far from where she and Keiko were standing. On the second day, Keiko reluctantly let her go, her arm stretched out and following after Wakana as she left her side to go up the stairs. Oh you. Such PDA. Ahem. Anyway, Wakana was awesome. Just like she was during signal. Keiko didn't pull some of her notes like she usually would. Not for her solo parts anyway. They did still pull the note when the three song together and they do their finger point outwards.
Keiko was audibly breathless after ongaku as she started the intro talk for the fbm. As Hikaru moved to introduce the members on the left, Keiko moved backwards and seemingly sat down on the stage. I thought that she was tired after ongaku but was told by someone closer to the stage that she actually tripped when she moved backwards into the steps which took up more of the stage than usual with its round shape. My friend said she heard a thump as Keiko landed on the steps, as well as Keiko's tiny yelp. I hope she didn't hurt herself if she did indeed trip. Wakana asked after her after while Hikaru continued to introduce the FBM, unaware of what had happened. She got up soon after as Wakana introduced the remaining members.
One light had Hikaru doing her usual finger point during "Boku ha, yukeru"
Keiko talked about how the first day marked the start of the tour while the second day in Tokyo marked the day they set off on their tour, first to Osaka then across the ocean to Hong Kong (Yay!). Keiko thanked the audience and like always, it sounded very sincere. The crowd responded in kind with huge applause. As usual, the applause didn't die down at all until Keiko actually stepped in to continue the MC. They bowed, thanking the crowd. She then dedicated the last song, far on the water, to the crowd, hoping that just as the lyrics in the song goes, that their music would continue on and on to reach everyone's hearts.
I have no complaints singing wise. What a few of my friends and I disliked was what they did to the flute. Since Akagi Rie wasn't around, instead of using a prerecorded flute, they got the electric guitar to replace it instead. Wat. Both the flute solos were really placed by the e. guitar. Why? It just doesn't suit the song =/ I hope that they will invite Akagi Rie for the special final.
Encore.
Ring your bell in the silence was used as the opening song. The instrumental part of the intro was slightly extended, not with a melody but just some sound effects. The vocals were there but they weren't sung live. The girls came on stage with giant flags, much like the flag you see all over the goods. Keiko took the centre, top platform. Wearing a gakuran like outer coat over her dress, Keiko waved her flag around a little while Hikaru and Wakana walked in slowly from the left and right respectively. They then set it down on the stage in a wide triangle. When ring your bell started playing, a huge field (like in the mv) with lots of flags, similar to the ones they brought in was displayed across the back wall. They then turned on the fans and sent the flags fluttering. I was a little bothered by the fact that two of the flags were blown from left to right while Wakana's flag was blown right to left. I know they have three separate fans but overall image wise, that's a weird wind they have there lol. They then proceeded to sing ring your bell immediately, followed by storia.
An oldie! When storia played, I thought that perhaps they would do a historia special and sing all the theme songs since this was a live named after one of the theme songs. Unfortunately, there was no symphonia or yume no daichi. The only shame was that I couldn't really hear Keiko in the back when she sang the alternate lyrics "kimi no.. naka no..." and all.
MC time! Which means it was time for Hikaru's goods intro corner! On the first day, Hikaru introduced the pamphlet. The paper's quality! The poses! Photoshoot! FBM profiles! Hikaru's recreation of the various poses by Keiko and Wakana never fails to leave Keiko laughing and kind of embarrassed. On the second day, she talked about the various goods produced by the three of them. They started with Wakana's bags. Hikaru asked "Why did you decide to use sharks?" to which Wakana replied with a smile "Do you (really) want to know?" Hikaru! You should know better than to give Wakana a chance to talk about sharks! Thankfully, Wakana summarised it simply with her liking sharks. She then explained that this was the form of the shark that she liked. Wakana then also raved about the feel of the cloth "It's really really smooth," Wakana said with a gigantic smile, half laughing. When asked about the shoelaces, Keiko simply shook her head and let Hikaru speak in her stead. I've noticed that Keiko doesn't like to talk about the goods she produces. Hikaru first started by describing the laces in a rather physical way while Keiko looked on, with a gentle smile. As she was talking though, there was a rather soft knock on the mic. Hikaru then explained to the crowd that she got too excited, held her mic too close to her mouth and it hit her in the teeth, after which she quickly realised that nobody would have noticed if she hadn't explained it there and then. Oops lol. Hikaru then suggested that there could be some less conventional uses for the laces. This drew several hm?s from both the crowd and Keiko/Wakana. She first suggests that ladies use it to tie their makeup brushes. While others can use it as a cable tie. That way, others might notice "what's this written here...? Wait, aren't those shoelaces?" and well now you can explain that these are Kalafina laces and then introduce the group to them. Hikaru, the master of marketing Kalafina. Keiko was very tickled by her suggestions. Lastly, she talked about her wall pockets. Previously, she made a version that had 3 by 3 pockets but apparently that was kind of bulky to bring home. So she made it 2 by 4 (?) instead. The designs are chosen based on her image of the album. I think Kajiura likes the wall pockets too and is using it to store her gloves, saying that it's perfect since she can see the gloves through the transparent pockets, which allows her to choose them easily. Keiko and Wakana then bowed and thanked Hikaru.
To end the MC, Keiko said that the goods were actually made so that they would have something to keep in memory of having attended the live, and she wouldn't mind if the audience simply took a look and left empty handed. To end, Keiko explained once again that since the second day marked the day that they set off on their tour, that they would like to end it on a high note with an upbeat song. The crowd stood as HB started to play.
For the first day though, they ended with Kimi no gin no niwa. Hikaru totally disappeared during the "tojikometeita"...
I'm not sure if they used to do it before but ever since the budokan (?) the girls started to stay back after the FBMs leave to do another round of bowing and giving their thanks on each side of the stage. Mirai seems to have become the go to song that plays as they do so too. Like with everlasting song for YK lives, the crowd clapped along to the song.
Some random thoughts...
The bgm played before the live starts sounds pretty random. I think it's fine so long as it is Kajiura's piece? I remember hearing FJY before I entered the hall proper. Post live though, they used falling snow, first love, etc.
The last set of dresses were in white and gold. Keiko had a Gakuran-like coat of sorts on which she took off during the MC on the first day. On the second day, she only took it off when it was time to thank the audience, saying that it was really hot in it. There was nothing that can top Budokan's dresess yet.
Speaking of which, I went to the Kalafina museum at Akihabara where they displayed the blue dresses from blue day. It looks soooooooooooo good. I particularly liked Keiko's (that's not my bias speaking). Picture taking was unfortunately not allowed.
Konno Hitoshi won't be able to do all the lives in the tour. The pamphlet has someone else listed for certain dates.
Surprisingly, they've more or less gone back to basics with only the base members of FBM and chose not to invite any guest musicians. Not having Akagi Rie came as a huge surprise for me.
They're totally out for blood with their goods.
YK had quite a few lighting misses, to the point where they were distracting. It was also annoying times, shining in our faces. I never found Kalafina's lighting to be annoying or distracting. Kudos to the team handling the lights. They were attentive throughout, turning the lights off whenever the girls turned to go to have a sip of water. The overall lighting was not as impressive as budokan's, but that's because the budokan had a tall ceiling and lots of space to play around with.
I don't think HB will become a staple song like Ongaku. Not even signal can take that role it seems.
Monochrome, surprisingly, did not wow me as much as the other new songs did.
Hikaru got a little shouty at times. I'm not sure why she is singing like that now. She didn't used to...
Something felt lacking this time. I don't know why. Perhaps the atmosphere? Surprisingly, a friend of mine told me the same thing. That's not to say that I didn't enjoy myself. I did. Very much so and I look forward to Hong Kong next month. It just felt a little different.
A quick spoiler warning. If you're going to attend any of the lives in the fotw tour in the future, this might be spoilery.
Kajiura was present on both days, as witnessed by a friend twice on each day. She sat near the sound control panel. From what Kajiura said on twitter, she seemed happy with their performance on both days.
Here's a report of sorts for both days, combined. I sat on the second floor on the first day, first floor on the second day. My seat for the second day was much better, more central too. For the first day, the volume on the second floor was surprisingly not too loud. It was actually rather easy on the ears and I didn't need to use my ear plugs at all. Wakana however, sounded too soft at times. It was obviously not her fault though, because she sounded awesome when she was actually audible, and it wasn't like she was struggling to get her notes out. It just sounded like her mic was a lot softer than the others. I found Hikaru in particular to be very loud at times. Wakana has been rather consistent recently imo. And of course she sounded great and a lot more audible on the second day.
The first thing I noticed, was how they hid the stage at the start. Usually, one would be able to see the stage, the instruments, etc. Instead, the curtains were drawn. They were obviously going to try something new. And as soon as it started, the curtains were pulled back to reveal... Clouds? Smoke? The girls stood at the top of the stage, as the clouds and smoke swirled around. From the first floor, it looked pretty surreal. At times, I could almost believe that the smoke was actually there. From the second floor though, I was not able to see the girls clearly. They went straight into koibito, no long intro or anything. No walking onto the stage as the intro played since the curtains were drawn. Koibito was really powerful though. The girls would stand at the top of the stage, doing some rather dramatic movements. As the song ended, the sheet in front of them, which the smokey imagery was projected on, lifted.
For the first set of dresses, the girls wore that silver on black that you can see in the pictures from the articles. Hikaru wore pants, surprisingly.
Also, the stage this time is very different from the usual kalafina or even YK live. I'm not sure if you can tell from the pictures but there's no back panel this time. It's just a huge white wall at the back. The stage they built consists solely of the black platforms in the shape of an upside down mickey mouse, with the biggest circle rising in steps. Instead of having an elaborate wall built to cover the back of the hall, it was left empty. They then projected various images across the entire back of the hall. It felt empty at times and I suspect that this is part of why I thought it lacked atmosphere as compared to before.
They then went straight to monochrome. The girls got the crowd to clap to the song. There was dancing involved. Lol. It seems the choreography is here to stay, for better or for worse. That part right before Wakana's chorus is definitely Hikaru and not Keiko.
Straight into Gogatsu no mahou after that, followed by the usual introduction. Fitting for a hall, they told the audience that they'll continue with a bunch of ballads.
Sorairo no isu. The initial synth harp (?) from the studio version was replaced by sakurada on the piano, while Korenaga played the acoustic guitar. The first half was purely just the piano and the guitar. In the second half, as the violin comes in, so does the bass and drums. While I much prefer the instruments in the studio version, the live arrangement didn't sound too bad and wasn't too far off from the original. It being the live version, the harmonies were much more audible and that's always awesome.
Lapis. I wouldn't say no to a Keiko heavy ballad. Keiko's part has been stuck in my head for a while now...
Kagayaku. If memory serves, the girls posed on the steps just before the song started, slowly moving as the intro started playing. On the second day though, I think Keiko sort of lost balance when she put one foot on the steps above and bent forward. She managed to maintain her balance with her hands on the steps, and improvised her pose from there.
They start the Mc with some talk about sorairo no isu on both days, about the importance of the words and about the acoustic guitar's sad melody. Keiko said that when she first heard the song, she felt that Wakana's voice was like that of a storyteller, singing a story to her. This made Wakana really happy and she asked the audience to listen to the words too. They then go on to talk about their summer. Having spent most of their summer recording the album in the basement, Keiko asked the two about what else they did for summer. Hikaru talked about the many shoujo manga she read over the summer. I can't remember the manga she mentioned on the first day, but she brought chihayafuru up on the second day. Wakana then told Hikaru that she was waiting for her to lend it to her. (Wakana, I think it's time you start buying your manga instead of mooching off Hikaru all the time lol). Wakana on the other hand, having not done much summer activities, bought a book on the summer activities she could do. Well, of all things in the book, she decided to pick up "how to tell horror stories like xxxx-san" (I can't remember who exactly). Apparently, Wakana likes to tell horror stories, but she doesn't like to be scared/frightened. The others point out the irony in that but Wakana defends herself saying that by being the storyteller, she would know the ending and wouldn't be scared. She then laments the fact that she might not be suited for the role. With the way she speaks, it tends to sound funny instead of scary. In fact, she herself would be close to laughing. She's been talking about this horror story telling technique over the summer but Keiko and Hikaru don't seem to be very interested. On the first day, she did do an example of how it should be done, and even did some sound effects.
Musunde hiraku. Surprisingly, the song that gets stuck in my head. It's been growing on me over the two days. And to think my initial impression of the song wasn't all that good because of its similarity to the misterioso gang. My favourite part has to be Keiko's "Kimi ha dare to deai? Boku ha dare wo omou?"
Misterioso. With Hikaru in much better shape than budokan, it was a lot more enjoyable.
'FBM's instrumental? Already? That was fast" were what came to mind on both days. The nightmare ballet instrument was pretty. It starts with Sakurada's piano, like many instrumentals. As a huge huge huge madoka fan, I got really excited when I realised from the piano solo that it was the nightmare ballet.It's a shame that Akagi Rie wasn't around. The song looped several times though, to buy the girls more time. I actually thought that they looped it too much. I mean... I love the song but if you loop it that many times... I think it was looped at least twice? The original song isn't that long and Kajiura didn't add anything special to it. Visuals wise though, they synchronised it pretty well to the song. The curtains then fell immediately on the last note, so it was sort of like a story coming to an end.
Into the water started playing and the curtains slowly lifted. The girls were already on stage. My eyesight being hilariously bad, I didn't notice on the first day until they started to move. In my defence, they were strewn on the steps, back facing the audience and their hands reaching out in front of them, flattening their bodies. The dresses they had on had a lot of fabric so it was spread out around them when they sat down. They sat in a triangle, with Hikaru on top, Wakana on the left and Keiko on the right. Despite the kajiurago vocals, they weren't singing. This song was all prerecorded. As the song went on, Hikaru started to rise and arced her back. The others soon followed after. There was some dancing using the extra fabric on their dresses involved.
My first impression when I saw their dresses was not a good one lol. They were oversized and they looked ridiculous in them. Thankfully though, their actual dresses were underneath. I can't remember whether it was before or after in every nothing, but they took it off one at a time after the light shone on them. However, to my dismay, the dresses underneath weren't much better. Orz
It doesn't look like there was any particular concept for their second set of dresses. If there was one, it was totally lost on me. They seem so random! Hikaru wore a purple one piece that looked like regular clothing that you would wear out on a normal day. Wakana's one was the most Kalafina-ish. Rather long, the way she likes it. Keiko's one was... Was... I'm not sure what the hell she was wearing. It's a pink dress... Or so I initially thought. On closer look, it's a pink top and skirt? The design and colour is uniform so it's a little misleading. Her belly is only so slightly exposed, but it was enough for you to see her beautiful abs. As I said before, that's the only good thing about it. There were some differences between the two days. The most obvious was the choice of footwear. On the first day, she wore long boots. Boots that covered almost all of her legs. If we were to speak in zettai ryouiki terms, the area is more or less gone because the boots were too high up. Worse still, the boots were silver. Shiny and gaudy. Urgh. What is that monstrosity that dares hide Keiko's legs from me. Thankfully, as if
Satou started off Yami no Uta with some heavy drums. For this song, Keiko approached it a little differently. For the first two lines or so, she sang the last few words at a different timing, much later than you would expect, pausing for a bit before continuing. She also did a sexy walk down the steps but I digress. It's the first time I heard the song live I think? It's quite a pleasant surprise for me. As a lover of dark scary songs, this pleases me.
No jellyfish this time for believe. Lol. I don't dislike the song like many here do. Nothing much to say about it though.
Mc3... Into the water was the last song in the album to be recorded. It turned out a little differently than they had expected. Hikaru also talked about how, during recordings, she would wear clothes she thinks would fit the image she had of the song. Listening to Hikaru and now she picks her clothes to suit the song of the day, Keiko apologised for always going for her recording sessions in jerseys lol.
As Keiko moved towards Sakurada to introduce Hokage, talking about how the song was recorded, Hikaru would skip to his left and hold both her hands out towards Sakurada. She had a cute smile on all the way. As expected, Hokage is beautiful live. I'm the type that likes quiet songs that let their voices shine. I hope they sing this and sorairo no isu again during the Christmas live. It would be heavenly with a strings quartet.
There was a bit of hand choreography timed according to the intro of Usumurasaki. I loved this song live too.
For identify, Keiko brought out a mic stand lol. She tried to play around with it but I don't think she knows how to yet. Halfway through the song, she swapped placed with Hikaru. I don't remember seeing it but I was told that Hikaru had trouble putting her mic on the stand in her haste. I didn't like identify's chorus much but found it to be a lot easier to stomach live. It's a fun song live. The girls did some rather complicated hand movements during the chorus. It's quite fast so I think if their intention was for it to catch on, it'll take some time. I don't see it working well though.
Signal. I love this song. They stood in the centre, hands on each others shoulders just as they did at the budokan. Did I mention I love this song? I love every single part of it. Signal only featured a keyboard solo, nothing else. The others had their solo and name call in ongaku.
Then of course, we moved on to ongaku. No, it doesn't seem like the crowd has grown tired of it at all. Everyone stands when the song comes on. They have fun with it, clap immediately when they hear the drums at the start, know immediately that ongaku is here and cheer. I don't think I'll be satisfied if they ended the live without ongaku. On both days, during konno's violin solo, Keiko would stand beside Wakana on the left of the stage, her arms around Wakana in the manliest manner possible. Since Wakana's solo is after the violin solo, she would have to go up to the top of the stage, where she usually sings from. On he first day however, either Keiko didn't let her go or they were both distracted. Wakana sang her solo at the bottom, not far from where she and Keiko were standing. On the second day, Keiko reluctantly let her go, her arm stretched out and following after Wakana as she left her side to go up the stairs. Oh you. Such PDA. Ahem. Anyway, Wakana was awesome. Just like she was during signal. Keiko didn't pull some of her notes like she usually would. Not for her solo parts anyway. They did still pull the note when the three song together and they do their finger point outwards.
Keiko was audibly breathless after ongaku as she started the intro talk for the fbm. As Hikaru moved to introduce the members on the left, Keiko moved backwards and seemingly sat down on the stage. I thought that she was tired after ongaku but was told by someone closer to the stage that she actually tripped when she moved backwards into the steps which took up more of the stage than usual with its round shape. My friend said she heard a thump as Keiko landed on the steps, as well as Keiko's tiny yelp. I hope she didn't hurt herself if she did indeed trip. Wakana asked after her after while Hikaru continued to introduce the FBM, unaware of what had happened. She got up soon after as Wakana introduced the remaining members.
One light had Hikaru doing her usual finger point during "Boku ha, yukeru"
Keiko talked about how the first day marked the start of the tour while the second day in Tokyo marked the day they set off on their tour, first to Osaka then across the ocean to Hong Kong (Yay!). Keiko thanked the audience and like always, it sounded very sincere. The crowd responded in kind with huge applause. As usual, the applause didn't die down at all until Keiko actually stepped in to continue the MC. They bowed, thanking the crowd. She then dedicated the last song, far on the water, to the crowd, hoping that just as the lyrics in the song goes, that their music would continue on and on to reach everyone's hearts.
I have no complaints singing wise. What a few of my friends and I disliked was what they did to the flute. Since Akagi Rie wasn't around, instead of using a prerecorded flute, they got the electric guitar to replace it instead. Wat. Both the flute solos were really placed by the e. guitar. Why? It just doesn't suit the song =/ I hope that they will invite Akagi Rie for the special final.
Encore.
Ring your bell in the silence was used as the opening song. The instrumental part of the intro was slightly extended, not with a melody but just some sound effects. The vocals were there but they weren't sung live. The girls came on stage with giant flags, much like the flag you see all over the goods. Keiko took the centre, top platform. Wearing a gakuran like outer coat over her dress, Keiko waved her flag around a little while Hikaru and Wakana walked in slowly from the left and right respectively. They then set it down on the stage in a wide triangle. When ring your bell started playing, a huge field (like in the mv) with lots of flags, similar to the ones they brought in was displayed across the back wall. They then turned on the fans and sent the flags fluttering. I was a little bothered by the fact that two of the flags were blown from left to right while Wakana's flag was blown right to left. I know they have three separate fans but overall image wise, that's a weird wind they have there lol. They then proceeded to sing ring your bell immediately, followed by storia.
An oldie! When storia played, I thought that perhaps they would do a historia special and sing all the theme songs since this was a live named after one of the theme songs. Unfortunately, there was no symphonia or yume no daichi. The only shame was that I couldn't really hear Keiko in the back when she sang the alternate lyrics "kimi no.. naka no..." and all.
MC time! Which means it was time for Hikaru's goods intro corner! On the first day, Hikaru introduced the pamphlet. The paper's quality! The poses! Photoshoot! FBM profiles! Hikaru's recreation of the various poses by Keiko and Wakana never fails to leave Keiko laughing and kind of embarrassed. On the second day, she talked about the various goods produced by the three of them. They started with Wakana's bags. Hikaru asked "Why did you decide to use sharks?" to which Wakana replied with a smile "Do you (really) want to know?" Hikaru! You should know better than to give Wakana a chance to talk about sharks! Thankfully, Wakana summarised it simply with her liking sharks. She then explained that this was the form of the shark that she liked. Wakana then also raved about the feel of the cloth "It's really really smooth," Wakana said with a gigantic smile, half laughing. When asked about the shoelaces, Keiko simply shook her head and let Hikaru speak in her stead. I've noticed that Keiko doesn't like to talk about the goods she produces. Hikaru first started by describing the laces in a rather physical way while Keiko looked on, with a gentle smile. As she was talking though, there was a rather soft knock on the mic. Hikaru then explained to the crowd that she got too excited, held her mic too close to her mouth and it hit her in the teeth, after which she quickly realised that nobody would have noticed if she hadn't explained it there and then. Oops lol. Hikaru then suggested that there could be some less conventional uses for the laces. This drew several hm?s from both the crowd and Keiko/Wakana. She first suggests that ladies use it to tie their makeup brushes. While others can use it as a cable tie. That way, others might notice "what's this written here...? Wait, aren't those shoelaces?" and well now you can explain that these are Kalafina laces and then introduce the group to them. Hikaru, the master of marketing Kalafina. Keiko was very tickled by her suggestions. Lastly, she talked about her wall pockets. Previously, she made a version that had 3 by 3 pockets but apparently that was kind of bulky to bring home. So she made it 2 by 4 (?) instead. The designs are chosen based on her image of the album. I think Kajiura likes the wall pockets too and is using it to store her gloves, saying that it's perfect since she can see the gloves through the transparent pockets, which allows her to choose them easily. Keiko and Wakana then bowed and thanked Hikaru.
To end the MC, Keiko said that the goods were actually made so that they would have something to keep in memory of having attended the live, and she wouldn't mind if the audience simply took a look and left empty handed. To end, Keiko explained once again that since the second day marked the day that they set off on their tour, that they would like to end it on a high note with an upbeat song. The crowd stood as HB started to play.
For the first day though, they ended with Kimi no gin no niwa. Hikaru totally disappeared during the "tojikometeita"...
I'm not sure if they used to do it before but ever since the budokan (?) the girls started to stay back after the FBMs leave to do another round of bowing and giving their thanks on each side of the stage. Mirai seems to have become the go to song that plays as they do so too. Like with everlasting song for YK lives, the crowd clapped along to the song.
Some random thoughts...
The bgm played before the live starts sounds pretty random. I think it's fine so long as it is Kajiura's piece? I remember hearing FJY before I entered the hall proper. Post live though, they used falling snow, first love, etc.
The last set of dresses were in white and gold. Keiko had a Gakuran-like coat of sorts on which she took off during the MC on the first day. On the second day, she only took it off when it was time to thank the audience, saying that it was really hot in it. There was nothing that can top Budokan's dresess yet.
Speaking of which, I went to the Kalafina museum at Akihabara where they displayed the blue dresses from blue day. It looks soooooooooooo good. I particularly liked Keiko's (that's not my bias speaking). Picture taking was unfortunately not allowed.
Konno Hitoshi won't be able to do all the lives in the tour. The pamphlet has someone else listed for certain dates.
Surprisingly, they've more or less gone back to basics with only the base members of FBM and chose not to invite any guest musicians. Not having Akagi Rie came as a huge surprise for me.
They're totally out for blood with their goods.
YK had quite a few lighting misses, to the point where they were distracting. It was also annoying times, shining in our faces. I never found Kalafina's lighting to be annoying or distracting. Kudos to the team handling the lights. They were attentive throughout, turning the lights off whenever the girls turned to go to have a sip of water. The overall lighting was not as impressive as budokan's, but that's because the budokan had a tall ceiling and lots of space to play around with.
I don't think HB will become a staple song like Ongaku. Not even signal can take that role it seems.
Monochrome, surprisingly, did not wow me as much as the other new songs did.
Hikaru got a little shouty at times. I'm not sure why she is singing like that now. She didn't used to...
Something felt lacking this time. I don't know why. Perhaps the atmosphere? Surprisingly, a friend of mine told me the same thing. That's not to say that I didn't enjoy myself. I did. Very much so and I look forward to Hong Kong next month. It just felt a little different.
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Seasonreaper
Guest
Interesting read, although I skimmed through it as to not fully spoil myself. Was mostly interest in hearing how the girls sounded and from what you wrote they seemed in good form, which is promising.
They had the Blue day dresses in Akiba? Damn, the Osaka one is a different type to the Akiba one so they'll probably have something different, maybe Red? I like the Red dresses but the Blue ones are one of my favourites, like top 5 level.
What else did they even have at the museum? I know they're selling some stuff and have dresses but that's the extent of my knowledge.
They had the Blue day dresses in Akiba? Damn, the Osaka one is a different type to the Akiba one so they'll probably have something different, maybe Red? I like the Red dresses but the Blue ones are one of my favourites, like top 5 level.
What else did they even have at the museum? I know they're selling some stuff and have dresses but that's the extent of my knowledge.
Hime_Wakana
I have reached Yuki nirvana
This report is so so precious!! Thank you Hatouchan!! 
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Hatouchan
Guest
Yup. They sang well. I think Hikaru sounded a bit strained singing the high notes maybe during one song but it wasn't bad enough to bother me like at budokan.
The museum has one set of dresses, some goods and some pictures of the budokan live. It's just a small corner. I'm not sure if it'll be the same at the other stores since I've only visited the one at akiba. Btw, they started selling the fotw pamphlet, vocal score, post cards and B4 posters at animate on the second day before the live. There's no guarantee that they'll do the same but keep it in mind if you wanna save something to buy there for the postcards (spending 2,000 yen gives you one postcard, vocal score comes with a bonus one on purchase).
Spirica Rose
Parallel Heart
The vocal score is available on Spacecraft's store.
http://www.e-fanclub.com/spacecraft/webshop/page.asp?bunrui1=10&Shocd=SC-KL308
Kinda tempted to get it via proxy.
http://www.e-fanclub.com/spacecraft/webshop/page.asp?bunrui1=10&Shocd=SC-KL308
Kinda tempted to get it via proxy.
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Seasonreaper
Guest
Hmm, interesting. Good to hear Hikaru's back as her usual self though, I've been worrying about her since Budokan.
I might pick up the pamphlet/postcards/posters there to get the bonus postcards then, since I intend to pick up a bunch of stuff at the live as well. Would make it easier to carry if I didn't have it all at once and it'd give me something to buy, since I already own all the other pamphlets and CDs besides a handful of singles and the BEST albums. The live itself is the last thing we'll be doing before we leave the country anyway as our flight out is at 9 the next morning.
The Akiba one is shutting down/has already shut down right? I won't get into Tokyo until the 19th and I'm sure it'll be gone by then.
I'm not sure what I'd get out of the vocal score but it would be kinda cool to have. Might get it, might not.
I might pick up the pamphlet/postcards/posters there to get the bonus postcards then, since I intend to pick up a bunch of stuff at the live as well. Would make it easier to carry if I didn't have it all at once and it'd give me something to buy, since I already own all the other pamphlets and CDs besides a handful of singles and the BEST albums. The live itself is the last thing we'll be doing before we leave the country anyway as our flight out is at 9 the next morning.
The Akiba one is shutting down/has already shut down right? I won't get into Tokyo until the 19th and I'm sure it'll be gone by then.
I'm not sure what I'd get out of the vocal score but it would be kinda cool to have. Might get it, might not.
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Hatouchan
Guest
Yup. I think it's already gone. They have some of the older stuff too, various postcards, posters, budokan tote bag, budokan mugs, Christmas live special box, budokan photo book, some older pamphlets. The postcard that came with the vocal score pushed a few people over the edge.
Enjoy the live!
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sprinterXkyrie
Guest
Thanks for the detailed report, Hatou!
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nodame89
Guest
Beautiful drawing from twitter by imoji3!
george1234
Moderator
^ hikaru looks badass, keiko seducive, wakana looks like she's about to cry from something she really liked
very nice indeed!
very nice indeed!
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nodame89
Guest
imoji-san has a great talent! I hope that she makes more drawings from FOW live
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nodame89
Guest
I like violet dress of Hikaru. And these white isn't so bad
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Kirito
Guest
Not a big fan of the dresses. At all. I almost hate them because they look so gaudy. Only the first set of dresses (the black and white ones) look good (Hikaru's pants ftw), except for the length on Wakana's dress. The other dresses are just wtf, especially the second set with the bright colors.
And I was expecting their FotW dresses for the encore. These ones are barely okay, but they're unflattering on the girls' figures.
Really hope that they do not wear these dresses if they film a BD of the concert. I was expecting more considering how beautiful their Budokan and 2014 tour dresses were. I almost wish we could get the girls to reuse their 2014 tour dresses instead because those were GORGEOUS.
See, these were so much better compared to the monstrosities above.
And I was expecting their FotW dresses for the encore. These ones are barely okay, but they're unflattering on the girls' figures.
Really hope that they do not wear these dresses if they film a BD of the concert. I was expecting more considering how beautiful their Budokan and 2014 tour dresses were. I almost wish we could get the girls to reuse their 2014 tour dresses instead because those were GORGEOUS.
See, these were so much better compared to the monstrosities above.
george1234
Moderator
^ well just remember that its the girls that choose the dresses every time