じ――ンಠ_ಠ。。。

There have been summaries/reviews of the concert and such elsewhere, but I’ll still post my thoughts on the DVD release, as well as the concert overall. Being bitter from the AX “concert”, this will probably be a terribly biased review. But this has been on the backburner for a while and it’s long overdue to be published, so I’ll just hurry up and submit it already. The screen shots were taken on a funky video player, so I apologize for the poor image quality.

Catalog No.: KABA-1609
# of discs: 2
Release Date: 2007/07/27
Price: ￥5800 (US$ 48.97/ ￥6090 Tax incl.)
Running Time: 250mins.
NTSC Format
Layers: single-sided/dual-layered
Aspect Ratio(s): 4:3 Standard
Region Code: 2
Encoding: MPEG-2
Subtitles: None
Audio Track : Dolby Digital

Menu Screen Shots:
Disc 1
Disc 2.1, 2.2

Extras (i.e. what hasn’t been ripped to torrents):
- Intermission dialogue (from seiyuu’s characters)
- “Episode Preview” reels
- Stairway to 20 Hirano Aya photobook CM [I saw a couple images that weren't in the book]

MCs: Shiraishi Minoru (Taniguchi), Matsumoto Megumi (Kunikida)

Cast: Hirano Aya (Suzumiya Haruhi), Tomokazu Sugita (Kyon), Goto Yuko (Asahina Mikuru), Chihara Minori (Nagato Yuki), Ono Daisuke (Koizumi Itsuki), Matsuoka Yuki (Tsuruya), Kuwatani Natsuko (Asakura Ryoko), Sayaka Aoki (Kyon no Imouto), Shiratori Yuri (Kimidori Emiri).

Special Guests: Ishihara Tatsuya (Director), Ikeda Shoko (Character Designer)

Starting with Shiraishi wawawa-ing up on stage, a little jazzing up by the MCs, and the show begins! The first half is the character discussion panel-type thing. They just play select clips that depict key parts of each character, then the director & chara. designer and seiyuu talk about the character along with their selected scenes. My favorite part has to be when they were seating the cast, each of the members had their character’s name on their respective chair. Matsuoka Yuki-chan decides to be a little silly and sit where her name was (Yuki). Then Minorin sits on Yuki. [ohohoho~<3] They also keep teasing Sugita as well, saying “don’t sleep!”, with Aaya picking at his wig. After the lengthy panel discussion, with some in-between comic relief with the MCs (talking about mosaic-ing Shiraishi’s bulging crotch and what have you), the main cast reenacts a skit of a “normal” day in the SOS-dan clubroom. Even if you don’t understand Japanese, seeing the voice actors reprising their characters live-action style is pretty awesome. Minorin even commented in her blog on how it was hard to be silent Yuki with the antics of Sugita and Daisuke. The most epic part was Shiraishi wawawa-ing in (again), as well as adding a “Nyoro~n! Sumokku Chiisu!“, not to mention all the other anime references (insert Hikaru no Go) and random, silly things going on. These guys really know their audience. I could dwell about this part a bit more, but not many people care about it and stuff, so I’ll just move on.

The second half is the actual concert. We start off Gotouza-sama clad in a maid dress “singing” the famed battle waitress theme, Koi no Mikuru Densetsu. I know she sang it crappie on purpose, but ha ha oh wow. It worked better here than at AX, that’s for sure. Then the serious singing starts with Aaya singing the anime opening theme, Bouken Deshou Deshou?, which is then shortly followed by Kaze Yomi Ribbon, the SOS-dan Radio Shibu theme. Her live performance is questionable, but it’s definately not bad. For some reason, she sounds like she’s attempting to sing deeper and deeper at every live; I liked it better when she sang it naturally like the studio recording. But apart from singing, she’s rather agile; a nice dancer. The choreography for Kaze Yomi Ribbon was pretty cute too, with the two BG dancers.

After Aaya chats a bit with the audience, the performance I’ve been waiting for all night begins. If you look closely, you can see violinists file on-stage during Aaya’s spiel. That can only mean one thing — everybody’s favorite humanoid interface seiyuu Minorin sings! She starts off a little shaky at the beginning of Yuki. Muon. Madobe Nite., but comes back strong right after the first verse. Her vocal poweress truly shows in SELECT?, which I have dubbed my favorite vocal performance of the night. If you have not seen Minorin live, then these two songs are truly a treat. Her live is definitely better than the studio recording, yet she seems to do it so effortlessly. I don’t know how you can watch this performance without becoming a Minorist afterwards. (biasbiasbais lol. But you gotta admit, she has the best singing voice out of all the girls.) Unfortunately, this is all she sings for the rest of the night, but I guess she didn’t have much other to sing than her character songs… She performs these at AX too (the highlight of that whole night), but with the lack of live violinists and the lagged karaoke track, it’s obvious which one was better. She comments during her short chat to have always dreamed of performing this live and is glad to have done so that day. We’re glad, too. :3

We then return back to Aaya with one of Haruhi’s character songs, Parallel Days. This performance shows how much energy this stick-girl really has–and boy, can she work a crowd. She may not be on key all the time, but she definitely rallies up the audience well. Her top continually keeps slipping, however…

Gotouza-sama comes back on stage to sing one of Mikuru’s character songs, Mitsukete Happy Life. Her singing is ok, though it is a bit quiet at times. It’s cute how she keeps thanking the audience throughout the performance (how Mikuru-like~). She’s also in the same maid outfit again. Not much to comment on other than that. However, I kind of wish she gets to sing Toki no Puzzle; I like that song a lot better.

Then Mikuru’s Fang-tan friend, Tsuruya (Yuki) arrives, dressed in a cute yukata, singing Seishunii Janai Katsu. Yuki’s singing is pretty average as far as seiyuu go; you can tell she’s getting tired towards the end of the song. That doesn’t get the crowd down, though. After her song, she tells the audience that she’s only allowed to sing one song, so that is all from her tonight. She truly is quite a character, showing off her yukata.

Closely behind is Nagato’s backup-turned-enemy Ryouko (Nacchan). Blingin’ in a black dress, Nacchan is quite pretty. She looks like she lip syncs during the spoken word parts of her song COOL EDITION, but it’s nice to see it performed live (being one of my favorite chara-songs from the series). Her performance is ok, noting the fact she practiced Koyubi de Gyutsu! to an art prior to rehearsal, only to be told to sing COOL EDITION nearly last minute. Just like Yuki, she’s only allowed to sing one song, so after her little chat she exits the stage for the next performer.

If you aren’t tired of Aaya already, then you’re in luck, because she happens to perform once again. But this is no ordinary performance, this is the climax of the whole night; this is a LIVE rock band performance of ENOZ’s own God knows… and Lost my music! Being Haruhi, Aaya even puts the effort to practice the chords on the guitar and perform it on stage in addition to singing. If you haven’t guessed it already, this is the same performance that cameoed in episode 15 of Lucky Star (oh how I lol’d when it aired). The energy in this performance was on a different level. Many things about it are special — the camera lens are fixed to get a Black/White and Red hue, there are 3 other guys performing the songs with her (as well as her guitar back-up). I’d like to let the viewers know that she truly does play the guitar, it isn’t just for show. If it is, she wouldn’t look down at the guitar so much. She isn’t quite polished, but it’s the effort that counts. Her singing isn’t that bad either — it’s really hard to sing and play guitar at the same time. I’ll give her props for it. She even does an ENOZ-like introduction of the band members. Very nice.

Enough of the girls, you might be wondering about the guys (ok, maybe not). To fix that, we have the fabulous Daisuke come out, complete with white tux and a girl in each arm, singing Magarre Spectacle. Wow, the spittin’ image of Itsuki. It’s so hilarious to see him walk around so daintily and gay like Itsuki, but god, he’s so good at it. His singing ain’t bad, either. There’s tons of Fumoffu! goin’ on, as well, ww. He even magarre’s the spoon. Totally kimo-kakkoi, as he puts it.

Y’know, I wonder why they close up’d on these girls. Can’t be Konata and Kagamin in the crowd right?

With a little “encouragement” from Haruhi (whom also mentioned the ORICON charts ww) Kyon (Sugita) is kicked onto the stage to perform Kentai Life Returns! This is one of my favorite performances because of 1) Sugita’s wit 2) Aaya’s BG vocals + dancing with BG dancers. He even does a Fumoffu. God tier.

We close the solo performances with some comic relief from the men of Suzumiya Haruhi, the self-proclaimed Hentai trio. Shiraishi Haruhi’s entrance is brilliant. The act consists mostly of throwing puns at each other and rallying up the audiences. (Wow, there are that many girls in the concert?)

Cutting through the Hentai trio, we see the SOS-dan girls backstage preparing for their entry on the stage elevator via backstage night vision cam. As the elevator rises, the audience cheer at the sight of their silhouettes. The upbeat intro of Saikyo Pare Parade (net radio OP theme) starts, accompanied with flashing stage lights, and the girls break into dance. The choreography for this song has got to be my favorite out of all of the dances, even Harex2 Yukai. Lots of hip swinging here… those who are front and center probably get mad panty shots. (no, I did not bother to get any shots of those for you). I’m proud to say that after a few views, I got the dance down. If anyone is going to FanimeCon ‘08 and knows this dance, hit me up.

Right afterwards we have Welcome UNKNOWN (ED Single c/w song). I didn’t like this song that much until this performance for some reason. I guess it’s the cute little dance that got me. Yes, I also know how to do this one, too. Sue me. orz. The girls comment a bit after the two dances. You can see how tired they become, so it’s probably a good idea to have them lip sync these lass songs. Seeing them dance is good enough anyhow. But as time draws close, we come to the final song.

The moment everyone has been waiting for — this song needs no introduction — the full version of Hare Hare Yukai! Now that this has been released to the public, learning it would be so much easier. And I have to admit, out of all of the “live-action” performances of this dance, these girls did it the most naturally and charismatically. It wasn’t exactly as the animated version depicted, but animation is often stiff. I like that the movements were altered slightly to look more natural. I both loved and hated how nearly everyone in audience was up and dancing along.

Quickly, the girls file out for a bit. (If you haven’t seen many of these kinds of concerts, this is where the crowd shouts “EN-CO-RE”. It’s practically expected.) Then the lights come up again, as we see the three girls in concert t-shirts, with — gasp! — Daisuke and Sugita with them. That’s right, it’s the 5-person version! Although it’s only the TV size, it’s pretty awesome. Sugita even puts his own spin during a part of the dance. Always the joker, that guy.

We close the concert with a few words from each of the cast members. I’ll take this time talk about their performance today.

Megumi has great narration skills and Shiraishi knows how to deliver lulz. What else can I say? Hmmm, how about Megumi looks cool in that gothic aristocrat-like long coat, and Shiraishi looks sexy in tights? Ok, I’ll stop right there. Good job, hope they get character songs eventually (and Shiraishi’s Lucky Star album doesn’t count).

I don’t know why you’re here either, Yuri. She doesn’t even get to sing , and her character song is one of my favorites. Ah well, at least she gets paid.

The only thing scarier than a grown woman with a freakishly high-pitched voice is a tall woman with a freakishly high-pitched voice. If you look at one of the screen shots earlier on, you can see how tall she is (I think 2nd tallest to Sugita). Not to be mean or anything… It is nice to have her there. She shows us how to do the imouto giggle after all. Tee-hee. (^_^ )

Yes, we totally need another Haruhi concert, just so she can sing Koyubi. Amen, sister ;P Going on a tangent, she looks really pretty in that white blazer.

Aww, I wish I could see Yuki do the Harex2 dance. It was great to see her spunky performance today, though. The yukata is an exquisite touch.

Daisuke was just as clever as Sugita, switching between tsukkomi and boke. Not to mention he is the first one to learn the Harex2 dance (or so they said at the AX panel). Great singing, great dancing, great personality. He also smells nice, according to Sugita.

Ah, Minorin. Many an otaku convert to Minorism from this day forward. I love everything about her performance that day; singing, dancing, personality, wardrobe. Stunning. Minna mo Minorin daisuki desuyo~ :3

Gotouza-sama may not be the best singer, but she has one of the coolest personalities. It strikes me as funny whenever she would suddenly switch from high-pitched to low, or whenever she’d grunt like a thug. So awesome.

Can he really be this funny? It’s no wonder he’s casted as Kyon. Without him, Kyon, and debatabley this show, would not be what they are today. The ultimate Kyon.

Yes, Hirano became emotional. It’s almost heartbreaking when she starts crying after the last Harex2 dance performance. She’s done so much today and has gone through so many things with the series, so this is truly a meaningful performance for her. Haruhi is the character that launched her into seiyuu idoldom afterall. From her speech you can tell thankful she is towards the series and its fans. I’m glad for her that day and I wish for her to have many more memorable performances to come.

Finally, the show ends on a happy note, having the cast members Fumoffu autographed balls into the audience. I don’t know if any of them reach the 2nd tier, but the sight was truly magical. Silly Shiraishi and Daisuke and their attempted stage dives. I really liked this concert a lot; litterally have rewatched this tons of times. Probably the only beef I have with it is that not everyone who had songs got to sing. I also didn’t understand why they focused on the crowd so much — usually anime/seiyuu concerts sort of hide their audience (I mean, who wants to see a whole bunch of sweaty, geeky older guys right?). But at least we can see how diverse among the sexes this series is (quite a lot of girls in the audience, and some weren’t even otaku-looking). Overall, I would say this is one of my favorite anime concerts up to date.

This ends the 1st and most epic Haruhi concert evar (for now, at least).

Otsukaresamadeshita!

Aftermath Screen Shots: