Animelo Summer Live 2007 Generation-A

Official Site: http://animelo.jp/generation-a/

The annual dream anison event is coming again in its 3rd consecutive year. Following its previous themes “The Bridge”, “OUTRIDE”, this time it’s “Generation-A”. It should be quite obvious what “A” stands for. Yes, it stands for anime, for anison. Interestingly, their explanation for the theme at the official site provides a name for the revived anison genre that has been overlooked all these years. They called it “A-POP”, a reference to the J-Pop genre. Haha, this is indeed interesting. Now they are going to define this genre they have always work along to promote, and I believe it will be a big success, and if any there’s any credits, it is to Okui Masami who had organised this Animelo event. Anime music has reached a new high!

At the 1st Animelo Summer Live event “The Bridge” (10 July 2005), it garnered a response of 7,500 people at the event. At the 2nd Animelo event “OUTRIDE” (8th July 2006) with the venue set at the prestigious Nippon Budokan, it garners an amazing amount of 10,000 people. An event like no others, the live performance features a huge collaboration of different anime song artists from different schools of music and join them together for a mind-blasting show forever engraved in the hearts of fans all around the world. (OUTRIDE was sold as a 2 separate DVDs, so even people outside Japan can watch it, due to the wonders of IT :p)

This year, the event is again to be held at Nippon Budokan, with the date set for 7th July 2007. (hehe, i like the date, feels like I hit the jackpot 777). Some regulars are back again, while there’s a new addition to the talented cast. The cast announced is still small, so expect more updates for this. There might even be special guests like last year.

In japanese character order according to the website:

ALI PROJECT

A gothic themed duo consisting of Takarano Arika (vocal, lyricist, seen in pic) and Katakura Mikiya (musician, composer) who have debuted since 1992 with “Koi seyo Otome”, releasing 3 albums and 4 singles. After which, they have been active in creating music for commercials, films and anime ever since, with their 1st anime theme song “Coppelia no Hitsugi” (NOIR 1st OP) released in 2001. From here on, their popularity has dramatically been on the rise. They started to compose the music soundtrack for anime ever since “Avenger” in 2003. They reached one of their peaks in 2004 when they release the theme song “Kinjirareta Asobi” for “Rozen Maiden”, giving them instant fame as the theme single stay on the Oricon chart for some time. In 2005, their theme song “Seishoujo Ryouiki” for “Rozen Maiden Traumend” became one of their best-selling singles, standing at 6th place in the Oricon chart. It seems that there’s no stopping their progress in the anison world, as they release theme songs for “.hack//roots”, “Rozen Maiden Overture” and “Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion”. ALI PROJECT also set up their own label company “Zazou Records” to take care of their own releases, thus showing their prominence. They first join the event last year in “OUTRIDE”.

Okui Masami

Having been the background chorus for many big name artistes, she debuted in 1993 with the song “Dare yori Zutto”. An exceptional artiste who is a pioneer in combining the rock and dance genres together with anison, who is a great vocalist and able to write and compose her own songs, and came out with many big hits which rightfully earned her the title of the “Goddess” of the anison world. She joined JAM Project in 2003, set up her own label company “evolution” in 2004 after being independent from King Records , and starts to organise events as a producer, create music for animes and nurture new singers ever since 2005. She’s also the main organiser for the Animelo Summer Live events. A truly multi-talented person who’s able to renew and lead the anison world into the future.

Kuribayashi Minami

As a singer cum songwriter, ever since her debut with the theme song “Precious Memories” for the PC game “Kimi ga Nozomu Eien”, she has been active in theme songs for many games and animes such as “MUV-LUV”, “Mai-Hime”, “Chrno Crusade”, and have also been a seiyuu for a few animes and games, most notably been Suzumiya Haruka in “Kimi ga Nozomu Eien”. She’s a regular for all Animelo events, and maintain a close relationship with Okui Masami and other anime artistes.

JAM Project

Let’s see… From bottom right, clockwise: Kageyama Hironobu, Endoh Masaaki, Kitadani Hiroshi, Okui Masami (middle), Matsumoto Rica and Fukuyama Yoshiki

JAM Project (JAPAN ANIMATIONSONG MAKERS) is a group created in 2000 to revive the true essense, the powerful and spirited singing thought to be forgotten in anison, and brought different prominent singers together to do that. Ever since, they have spanned 30 singles, all for the purpose of providing theme songs for animes, games and tokusatsu shows, with their most famous songs found in the “Super Robot Wars” series of games, and are still very active. A regular for all Animelo events.

Kageyama Hironobu – Once known as the “Prince” of the anison world, the current leader and founder of JAM Project is now one of the few who truly have an impact on the anison world, with his famous songs “CHA-LA HEAD-CHA-LA” for Dragon Ball Z and theme songs for Saint Seiya. One of the veteran legends to be remembered in anison history.

Matsumoto Rica – a multi-talent in singing, voice acting and acting, she’s most famous for singing the theme songs to “Pocket Monster” and providing the voice for Satoshi (Ash). One of the starting members for JAM.

Endoh Masaaki – A powerful vocalist who rocks the anison world with his hot-blooded theme songs for “Yuusha-oh Gaogaigar” and “Bakuryuu Sentai ABARANGER”. One of the starting members for JAM.

Kitadani Hiroshi – Joined JAM Project in 2002, and have been working hard to be an established singer ever since his hit song “WE ARE!”, a opening theme song for One Piece.

Okui Masami – I don’t need to say much here, isn’t it? :p She joined JAM Project in 2003.

Fukuyama Yoshiki – Famous for singing songs for “Macross 7″, and also as the vocalist and guitarist for the group “HUMMINGBIRD”. After they disbanded, he join JAM Project in 2003 and is still active in his solo activities. (He sang the opening theme song to “Busou Renkin” recently)

Takahashi Naozumi

err… Actually I have nothing really to say about him, since I do not know him well. He’s a regular for all Animelo events (which dumbstruck me), has debuted for 5 years, and have sang theme songs for animes like “Muteki Kanban Musume” and “Black Blood Brothers”.

Mizuki Nana

She, a seiyuu singer, is perhaps at the top of the anison and seiyuu world right now, with very good looks and a cute personality, able to voice-act well for a range of characters. but most importantly, she has exceptionally powerful yet gentle vocals, able to hit many of the keys, very high or low (for a female singer). Sakamoto Maaya is the only artiste I know of who’s able to go even higher than her and yet be all-rounded, this is very scary… Probably one of the few rare gems that comes by in the anison world, and most likely the one who’s able to push the anison world to yet another peak. Debuted in 2000, she’s able to write and compose songs (most of the lyrics of her songs are written by Mizuki herself). Active in events and radio shows, she’s one of the most popular anison artistes around. Hey, even I have become a fan of her recently (after watching the Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha series and getting hooked to her best song “ETERNAL BLAZE”)… She’s also a regular of all Animelo events, and the one most look forward to in the event.

Momoi Haruko

Yes, she’s the new face for this Animelo event. Doesn’t come as a surprise to me, since she has collaborated with Kageyama Hironobu on many occasions, and she’s a well-known personality in the anison world. In fact, I’m very happy to see her involved. A truly one-of-a-kind anison artiste, she impresses with her DARN unique cute voice, and she’s also multi-talented as in she’s a singer, songwriter, composer, seiyuu all in one. Most famous when she’s involved in the duo “UNDER17″ where she (vocal, lyrics and composition) and Koike Masaya (guitar, composition, arrangement) produce songs for several animes and h-games. Even after the break-up of the duo due to the style differences, she’s continuing with her solo career and have been active in many anime events and radio shows.

Ok, that’s all for the cast, but I’m expecting two regulars to return, namely Yonekura Chihiro & Ishida Yoko. Afterall they are two of my favourites, with Yonekura standing at 1st place and Ishida standing at around 5th place.

I’m very happy that ALI PROJECT is back. After all, their distinct style brought a whole new meaning to anison.

There are some artistes I hope who will join the event, but i will elaborate on that later on. Here’s my hopeful list:

Hayashibara Megumi, Sakamoto Maaya, FictionJunction Yuuka, Tanaka Rie, Chiba Saeko, angela, Horie Yui, Tamura Yukari, YUKI, KOTOKO, Misato Aki, RYTHEM, Kawada Mami, Takayama Minami(Formerly TWO-MIX)

Yah I know it’s a long list, but the list can be even longer. This list is only based on singers I’m familiar with. hehe

~ by rei_andrew29 on 30 March, 2007.