The stage of dreams, two light years to the center! Report on the first half of the second day of Anisama 2017

The world's largest anime song festival "Animelo Summer Live (Animelo Summer Live: also known as "Anisama") 2017 -THE CARD-" was held at Saitama Super Arena from August 25 to 27, 2017. This time, we will report on the first half of the second day of the event, focusing on the main points of interest.
⇒You can see the first half of the first day in this article.
⇒The second half of the first day can be found in this article.

The second day of Anisama started with "Boku wa boku de boku de arete", a collaboration between angela and fripSide. It was great to see the two competing personalities synchronize perfectly when atsuko and Nanjo Aino, who were standing back to back, sang "I can't help it, I can't help it. I think that having artists who embody Anisama perform at the beginning and end of the show played a key role in tightening up the entire show. The lineup for the second day was that varied and filled with colorful personalities.

It is standard practice for angela to say, "We are fripSide! but the one phrase of "sister's noise" sung by atsuko was so beautiful that I couldn't help but fall in love with it. The gap between the promised exchanges and their real ability as artists, the tension and relaxation, is what makes them so appealing. As the top performer, angela led the festival with "Exist" and "Zenryoku☆Summer! The "All-out☆Summer!" song "Ugh! Ha! The call-and-response of "Zenryoku☆Summer!" was at first normal, then they split the Saitama Super Arena into left and right to create a tempo of shouting, then doubled the speed to ......, and the audience was excited with the free ride.

The "KING OF PRISM by PrettyRhythm" performance was a surprise, as the main screen showed images of the characters, with the words (Na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na) below them. (Ganbare!) below the images of the characters on the main screen. (Ganbare!) were displayed below the character images on the main screen. This was a reproduction of the "cheering screenings" that have become an established part of the "Kimpuri" culture at theaters and on the live stage at the Saitama Super Arena. The cast leaped onto the stage and sang "Dramatic Love," as if the characters on the borderline between dimensions had appeared in reality. The impression was further enhanced by the appearance of Shota Aoi, who rushed on stage dressed as Rui Kisaragi herself.

DJ KOO of TRF made a surprise appearance on stage.
DJ COO, played by Shotaro Morikubo, has appeared in the "Pretty Rhythm" series, but I had no idea that he would bring the real thing (can I say that?) to the stage!
With DJ KOO watching from the glittering DJ booth and rapping as only the real thing can, the prism stars singing and dancing to "CRAZY GONNA CRAZY" and "EZ DO DANCE" were very chaotic. However, between the chaos and the fans who showed their unsparing love and screamed with delight at the stage, there was indeed a glimmer of prism. The production, based on the "Cheering Screening," summoned the unique movement of "Kimpuri" to the stage of Anisama in a package.

The starting point was the prism show, a unique evolution of ice skating, and "Prilys" and "You", the ED of "Yuri! on ICE" ED "You Only Live Once" with two spectacular skater-like dancers, Wataru Hatano's stage was a bit of a grin as he sang the song in a sequence.

The first half of the second day was strongly colored by an overly glamorous collaboration between a solo female voice actor artist and a top female unit in the anisong world with various roots. Nao Higashiyama stunned the crowd with her big announcement of her first live performance at the Nippon Budokan.

With a voice that is clear and beautiful, yet expressive, a gift she has been given, Higashiyama announced the release of her first album and that she would be performing her first live concert at the Nippon Budokan next February. The magnitude of the announcement made Ms. Higashiyama herself nervous, but it seemed as if she was trying to push herself by putting it into words.

Ai Nakajima, who had not performed at Anisama for four years, expressed her gratitude for the warm welcome she had received at Anisama after her return from a music hiatus, and performed "TRY UNITE! Ms. Nakajima said that "Interstellar Flight" is "one of my origins," and I strongly felt a "return to my origins" as the underlying theme from this Anisama. The invincible brilliance of charm and sparkle has not changed, and her singing voice has acquired a rich expressive power. Although the audience was not jumping, the rhythms that each body naturally ticked were shaking the seats in the stands in a slow undulation, a sensation unique to this song.

Suzuko Mimori's stage performance was most impressive with "Dokidoki Doki Doki Tokimekisu* (* is a heart mark). It is a song from her non-tie-in 3rd album "Toyful Basket". It is very interesting that this song was chosen as the "trump card" to express her own charm at Anisama, as she has many "anisongs" to her credit. The music video for this song has a somewhat inhuman feel to it with Mimori's mysterious hand actions, visual effects, and detailed editing, and I was surprised that she was able to express these nuances live on stage at Anisama. The stage left a strong impression, including the throwing kisses that accompanied the lyrics at key points.

The setlist was exquisite by i☆Ris and Luce Twinkle Wink☆ (Luce). i☆Ris sang "§Rainbow", the ending theme of "Pretty Rhythm Rainbow Live", a spin-off of "Kimpuri", and "Pripara", the opening theme of "Pripara" in the vein of "Pri Liz". They sang the opening theme "Shining Star", and Luce appeared between "Kinpuri" and i☆Ris.
Following Luce's first Anisama stage appearance, i☆Ris appeared in the same production as their first Anisama performance in 2013. They appeared in a grown-up appearance, a lineup that tells a story.
The highlight of i☆Ris' performance this time was "Ichizu". The first two songs condensed the charm of i☆Ris as a team, but "ICHIZU" exploded the individuality of each singer, such as the super vocal relay from Himika Akaneya to Yuki Wakai at the beginning of the song, Azuki Shibuya's melancholy voice, and Saki Yamakita's passion that you could not help but be captivated by her voice. The individuality of each explodes. The organic interplay of the five singers' voices with Ms. Wakai's overwhelmingly superb singing was especially wonderful.

The last band of the first half, Sphere, has decided to take a break from their music career after the current tour and enter a period of recharging for their 10th anniversary. The four members dazzled the audience with their brilliance as they appeared on stage for "My Only Place. After "Super Noisy Nova" and "MOON SIGNAL," the last song was "HIGH POWERED. The four girls' overwhelming power and euphoria as they ran through the song showed us why they are called a super voice acting unit. During the final MC session, the girls spoke with a bit of a droll elementary school graduation message, expressing their deepest feelings when they said that they would never forget this view even during the recharging period.

This was Luce's first appearance at Anisama under the name "Luce Twinkle Wink☆. Although they are an idol group, they have been talking about their special passion for anime songs, saying that they want to sing anime songs and be a bridge between idols and anime songs. They are the kind of five who visited Saitama Super Arena in the memorial video for their recently held anniversary live and renewed their vow to go to Anisama someday.
One of the beginnings of this dream was Anisama in 2015. Luce is a member of the Tenchu Girls, a special unit for the TV anime "Black Bullet" productions, and is a back dancer for fripSide, who sings the theme song "black bullet".
When I heard that the girls who used to be back-up dancers were going to perform on stage at Anisama, which I had dreamed of, I was curious to see how much light the current Luce would be able to bring to Anisama and Saitama Super Arena, the venue.
When I saw Luce at a live house the other day, I was first surprised at the tremendous amount of athleticism and precision of their dance moves as they sang live, and then astonished at how they continued to perform at full power throughout the full live performance of their mostly up-tempo song structures. Can the light of these girls, who seem invincible in the microcosm of a live house, including the scorching hot audience controlled by idol grammar, illuminate Saitama Super Arena?

What came through clearly from the pea-sized Luce singing "go to Romance>>>>>" was the dynamism of their movements, in which they put all their energy into every choreography using their whole body, and the continuity of the five members' movements, which were connected in a nimble manner. Each movement was filled with the spirit of the five members as they carved something into the stage of their dreams. Even amidst the intensity and beauty of the movements, Megumi Nishikori, captured by the camera, did not lose her comical and cute facial expressions that match the lyrics of the song. The cuteness of the cat punch in the chorus of the new song "Fight on! The precision with which the members repeat the same half-large jumps and cat fist bumps (?) is amazing.
The song's catchphrase, "Shining Moments, Tokimeki wo Tokimeki ni! Luce's leader, Yukino Usami, only spoke briefly about their name and their longing for the stage of Anisama, except for their greeting as a unit, which included the catchphrase "Shining Moment Tokimeki ni Tokimeki! The point of the performance was to win, and the stage was vivid and graceful.

Luce, who had left her mark on the dream stage of Anisama, appeared as a dancer on the fripSide stage at the end of the second day of the event. The song was, of course, "black bullet," the song from the beginning two years ago. However, standing at the highest point of the center stage wearing their own costumes of the members' colors, they looked like equal performers to fripSide in the gap between their intense and very slow movements with full control over every part of their bodies.

The five stood on both wings of the stage as back-up dancers. The brightness of the girls, whose name means "luce" in Italian, seemed to have reached the galaxy of Anisama after two years of time. Standing on the finale stage as one of the performers, the five girls vowed to continue their efforts so that they can be on this stage again.
The dream stage is not the goal, but the beginning of a new story.

Interview and text by Kiri Nakazato

Apology] (Corrected on Aug. 29)
*When we first published this article, we wrote "Atsuko" for "atsuko" of angela, but the correct name was "atsuko". We apologize for the correction.

Animelo Summer Live 2017 -THE CARD
2017.08.26. Setlist for the first half of the 2nd day
M01:I am what I am / angela×fripSide
M02:Exist / Angela
M03:Zenryoku☆Summer!／Angela
M04: Dramatic LOVE / KING OF PRISM
M05:CRAZY GONNA CRAZY?EZ DO DANCE / KING OF PRISM feat.
M06:go to Romance>>>>>／Luce Twinkle Wink☆
M07:Fight on!
M08:§Rainbow／i☆Ris
M09:Shining Star／i☆Ris
M10:Ichizu／i☆Ris
M11:You Only Live Once / YURI! on ICE feat. w.hatano
M12:Heart Signal / Wataru Hatano
M13:Imakoko / Nao Higashiyama
M14:Tsuki ga kirei / Nao Higashiyama
M15:TRY UNITE! -extended version- / Ai Nakajima
M16:Interstellar Flight / Ai Nakajima
M17:DOKIDOKI TOKIDOKI TOKIDOKI TOKIMEKISU? / Suzuko Mimori
M18:Sakiwafu Hana / Suzuko Mimori
M19:My Only Place?
M20:MOON SIGNAL / Sphere
M21:HIGH POWERED / Sphere
(M42:black bullet / fripSide)

(C)Animelo Summer Live 2017/MAGES.
*All rights reserved.