Animelo Summer Live 2013 -FLAG NINE- The 3rd Day

So I ended up being a lot more late with this too than I planned... but that's nothing unusual. orz Finally though, pretty much exactly two months late here is my report on the 3rd day of Animelo 2013! I am also happy to announce that with this, I have taken care of all my backlog so I can start from a clean table whenever something pops up for me to report about now. x'D Sorry for taking so long once again!

Outside Saitama Super Arena
I didn't head to Saitama too early since I really had no interest in spending hours in a queue for these goods, but I did arrive early enough to buy some shirt before the concert began. Sadly the one I wanted was already sold out, but managed to get the right size of the basic light gray'ish blue Animelo shirt.

Took me a while to fathom that the 'SEND ALL MUSIC TO EARITH' on the back didn't contain a typo. xD

Also, since I hadn't really had time for lunch before heading over to Saitama, I decided to eat a couple of onigiri before heading inside SSA. I obviously should have thought harder about where I seated myself to eat them, as while I was readying to start my first onigiri, some girls right in front of me got interviewed.... and thus my first bite into my onigiri has been broadcast on Japanese TV. And thanks to @flying_mug for keeping a look out for it, he found the clip and I actually did even see the footage after it aired. Sort of hazukashii.... "orz

Inside Saitama Super Arena

My seat wasn't all that great, it was on the 4th floor, but at least I did have a good view of everything from up there (and at least I had a ticket and actually got to go, that was hard enough to achieve xD). I was surprised to see that most of the people in my vicinity were actually girls. First time this has happened in a concert I have gone to in Japan lol.

The concert

Before I start my report on the actual concert itself I would like to mention that this is not as detailed as what I write for Nana's concerts. I will only write about who or what song left an impression on me or if I have something else I particularly want to say about someone. So sorry in advance, but I will not be covering everyone who performed tonight... simply because I don't really have something to say about everyone. orz Well then... it was time for the lights to go off and firstly we get this:

And then it was time for the actual live to begin~~


SET LIST:
01. Orpheus ~ Scarlet Knight / Mamoru Miyano + Nana Mizuki 

02. Taiyou Iwaku Moeyo Chaos / Ushiro Karahai Yoritai G 

03. Koi wa Konton no Shimobenari / Ushiro Karahai Yoritai G

04. Rice-to-Meat You! / Ayana Taketasu 

05. Save The World / Iori Nomizu 

06. Black † White / Iori Nomizu 

07. Get Along / Iori Nomizu + Maon Kurosaki

08. §Rainbow / i☆Ris

09. Baby Sweet Berry Love ~ Raise / Yui Ogura

10. Wake Up! ~ Shiny Blue / YuiKaori

11. Shiroi Karasu / Kenichi Suzumura

12. Positive Man Taro / Kenichi Suzumura

13. Owaranai Melody o Utai Dashimashita. / Mikako Komatsu 

14. Geshi no Kajitsu / Mikako Komatsu 

15. Kagami no Dualism ~ 100% Cider Girl / Petit Milady

16. Topology / Kanako Ito 

17. Anata no Eranda Kono Toki o / Kanako Ito 

18. Utsukushiki Zankoku na Sekai / Yoko Hikasa 

19. JoJo ~Sono chi no Unmei~ / Hiroaki TOMMY Tominaga 

20. Bloody Stream / Coda 

21. Maji Love 2000% / ST☆RISH 

22. Maji Love 1000% -Rainbow Star Ver.- / ST☆RISH

23. Birth / Eri Kitamura

24. Sha-le-la / Eri Kitamura

25. Black Holy ~ Happy Girl / Eri Kitamura + Mikako Komatsu

26. UNDER/SHAFT / Maon Kurosaki

27. Kimi to Taiyou ga Shinda Hi / Maon Kurosaki

28. Akatsuki no Kuruma / Yuuka Nanri + Kanako Ito

29. Motherland / Yuuka Nanri

30. Bloody Holic / Yuuka Nanri

31. Kanon / Mamoru Miyano

32. Ultra Fly / Mamoru Miyano

33. Genesis Aria / Sphere

34. Pride on Everyday / Sphere

35. LET・ME・DO!! / Sphere

36. Meteor☆Impact / Yukari Tamura

37. W: Wonder Tale / Yukari Tamura

38. Fantastic Future / Yukari Tamura

39. Ai no Hoshi / Nana Mizuki

40. Brave Phoenix / Nana Mizuki

41. Vitalization / Nana Mizuki

42. Synchrogazer / Nana Mizuki

Encore:

43. The Galaxy Express 999 / Animelo 2013 artists

They really know how to play their cards right here in Japan to capture your interest completely at the start of the concert.. and tonight it was done by busting out Nana x Miyano Mamoru right at the start with no warning. I was expecting Nana to appear at the start due to that usually being the case in the previous Animelos she's been in before, but still it was an awesome feeling to be right.

Also, I really shouldn't be surprised anymore at how well Nana can sing other people's songs, but still it was amazing to hear her sing Mamoru's Orpheus with him. Even SCARLET KNIGHT worked much better as a duet than I expected, I definitely wasn't giving Mamoru enough credit. Of course it wasn't at the same level as EtaBure with Masaaki Endoh, but how could anything be really? xD But really, such an epic start to the whole night, it left me brimming with energy and excitement, because these two had come, been amazing, and left so suddenly.

Miyano Mamoru x Mizuki Nana

Sadly my excitement started waning fast right after, because quite many of the artists that came next didn't really leave any kind of impression on me. I humbly apologize to their fanbases, I am utterly ignorant of these singers and they all sounded so similar to me. orz Hontou ni moushiwake gozaimasen.

Taketasu Ayana's Rice-to-Meat You! caught my attention though, just because the subject matter of the song was so weird and because everyone happily singing about how we love all kinds of meat was a pretty funny experience to take part in.

Taketasu Ayana

Nomizu Iori on the other hand was fun to watch, since she came on stage to sing Save The World on one of those lean-forward-to-move cart thingies. I have to say I was paying more attention to her maneuvering that to and on the small middle stage rather than focusing much on the song though.

Nomizu Iori

I made amends though when it was time for her duet of Get Along with Kurosaki Maon, that was very nicely sung from the both of them.  

Kurosaki Maon x Nomizu Iori

The next to catch my interest was Suzumura Kenichi, since he was the first male since Miyano Mamoru to make an appearance tonight and nowhere near as young as all the little ladies we had gotten so far. He was even cracking funny jokes about how an oji-san like him is taking the stage after such young girls and apologized for looking futsuu and not wearing any fuwa fuwa outfit. His songs Shiroi Karasu and Positive Man Taro were like a breath of fresh air after so many songs that were very similar in style. He was able to restore my focus lol.

Suzumura Kenichi

Next up was Komatsu Mikako and I quite liked Owaranai Melody o Utai Dashimashita. Somehow I didn't even recognize Geshi no Kajitsu, even though I had watched K and that was the OP song for it, whoops... makes me wonder if I ever actually watched the OP even once while watching the series. Also, I found her outfit a little peculiar. :3

Komatsu Mikako

Ito Kanako was the one I enjoyed greatly next. She has such a distinct style of her own, in her singing and even in her clothes. Anata no Eranda Kono Toki o stood out for me from the two songs she sang now, such a pleasure to listen to. Maybe I should listen to her stuff more... I kinda think so.

Ito Kanako

It came as a surprise to me that it is Hikasa Yoko who sings the Shingeki no Kyojin ED song Utsukushiki Zankoku na Sekai. The thought hadn't crossed my mind since she is not in the anime itself as a seiyuu of any character. Such a beautiful song. And it also brought back memories from LIVE CIRCUS and made me hope that we would see the amazing Nana x Yoko duet tonight as well since they are both here.

Hikasa Yoko

Holy shit..... the next performance so incredible. TOMMY and a full choir singing JoJo ~Sono chi no Unmei~. Just writing about it now and remembering it is making shivers run down my back like whenever the choir would whisper "JoJo". So epic. So amazing. I really wasn't expecting such a wow performance tonight.

TOMMY

Having this followed by Coda's Bloody Stream was so gooood. While TOMMY had a choir, Coda came equipped with a group of dancers dressed to fit with the vampire theme of JoJo. This was not quite as incredible as what TOMMY gave us, but it was the very best follow up to it as any song could possibly be.

Didn't find a pic of Coda, sorry orz

At this point we had a little intermission. Kinda made me wonder why, I mean it was not like the artists needed to catch their breath or anything since they were changing all the time. Nor were there any amazing props to prepare. And honestly I am sure every otaku (aka everyone) in the audience is used to 4 hour'ish concerts in one go. xD Anyway...


After the intermission, we get ST☆RISH and every girl in the audience goes wild. I mean, so far it has been guys exhibiting crazy fan behavior when their favorite girlies have taken the stage, but now it was a full-out attack of ALL the girls present... except me. I didn't even know who ST☆RISH was before tonight and they didn't particularly excite me. Nor did their songs. Makes me feel there is something wrong with me as a girl... Am I a girl? Damn all these doubts! xD

ST☆RISH

Next came Kitamura Eri, and I quite enjoyed her songs, especially Birth. The duet songs with Komatsu Mikako were quite nice too though they didn't leave a lasting impression on me. 

Kitamura Eri

Afterwards we get more of Kurosaki Maon. It is really feeling like they had placed most of the female artists with distinct own styles after the intermission. I have to say I was much more into everything now than I was for the first half. I really liked listening to both of Maon's songs, UNDER/SHAFT and Kimi to Taiyou ga Shinda Hi, they had a lot of spunk and power. If I remember correctly, Maon was saying in her MC that she was really excited and nervous to be performing here today because it was not that long ago when she had been in the audience of Animelo, like the rest of us, listening to the artists she respected perform.

Kurosaki Maon

Then.... Akatsuki no Kuruma! This song, and it being a duet between Nanri Yuuka and Ito Kanako, was simply stunning and so damn beautiful. One of the very best parts of tonight for me for sure. I had to spend the whole song wondering though why it was so familiar to me. I don't understand why. It is from the special of Gundam SEED but I have only watched the series so far so I shouldn't have heard it. Maybe when I've been in the Gundam Cafe they've played it? I don't know. I think this is going to haunt me forever... anyway, the rest of Yuuka's songs were really pretty too.

Ito Kanako x Nanri Yuuka

Afterwards it is time for Miyano Mamoru to take the stage for the third time tonight (he was part of ST☆RISH too), but alone for the first time. His songs Kanon and Ultra Fly were quite fun to listen to and I have to admit that this guy really is comfortable on stage and has quite a decent presence. 

Miyano Mamoru

Next up, was Sphere. I was expecting something quite amazing due to the masses of Sphere fans that I had seen today and was surprised I actually knew the first song, Genesis Aria, as it was the OP of Arata Kangatari. I obviously need to pay more attention with OPs and EDs... but at least I recognized this one unlike the K OP! The other two songs weren't as exciting or memorable as I had expected.

Sphere

Time for Tamura Yukari! I can't believe she started with her Stardust Witch Meruru song Meteor☆Impact! So awesome that she would sing that funny little song from OreImo, never even thought I would be hearing it live. xD Her other two songs were very Yukarinppoi as was to be expected. Man, it always is so fun watching her perform live even if I don't really know her songs very well! Also, very cute outfit tonight~! Such a short skirt lol.

Tamura Yukari

Then it was finally the moment I had mainly come here for~ Mizuki Nana time! She should have warned me somehow though that she was busting out the big emotional guns right away by starting with Ai no Hoshi and thus my heart wasn't very prepared and it really made me kinda sad to be here listening to it alone. orz Very beautiful though, just like it had been in LIVE CIRCUS at Seibu Dome. 

Mizuki Nana

Nana pulling out BRAVE PHOENIX next took me by surprise, it definitely wasn't one of the songs I had thought would pop up tonight. Very nice though, as I do love hearing this song live. So beautiful and powerful at the same time. A very good follow up to Ai no Hoshi too. After, we get Vitalization as was to be expected, and I could really admit to myself by now that I do love this song very much. So epic live too~ Ahh. I hope it won't be too long till I get footage of it from here or LIVE CIRCUS so I can keep listening to it. Lastly, Nana graces us with Synchrogazer! I somehow get incredibly happy whenever she pulls out this song. There is just something so nice and magical about hearing it live and getting to sing it with Nana. Such a good end to the night. I am very happy.

Nana is happy like me too, yay~

Lastly, we get all of tonight's performers on stage to sing the Animelo theme song of this year, The Galaxy Express 999. I was happy to see Nana wearing the same Animelo shirt I had bought today as well, especially since it wasn't the one I had originally wanted to buy... but now it seems meant to be. xD To my joy we have Nana in charge of the MCing for this last part (I think she hasn't done it before if I remember correctly), so that meant some more Nana time for me to enjoy. The song was pretty nice, but I have liked some of the previous Animelo theme songs much more. After all the artists have had their chance to say their thank yous and whatever else, it is time to go home.

Everyone

And thus, ends Animelo of 2013. I am glad I went. Sadly no Fushichou no Flamme from Nana and Yoko though. orz I will leave you with a couple of Nana backstage pictures.

Miyano Mamoru x Nana

i☆Ris x Nana