Note: These images were blatantly ripped from our friends over at Japanator.
If there was any single event that served as the catalyst for getting me to go to Anime Expo this year, the announcement of the May’n/Megumi Nakajima concert was it. Despite not being a hardcore fan of the Macross franchise, I really enjoyed Macross Frontier’s musical offerings. Though I have been critical of May’n’s delivery at times when I listened to the Macross Frontier soundtracks, I do know that she’s got a strong track record with live concerts, and so, was curious to find out just how good she is on a live stage. Megumi Nakajima is more of a question mark as far as live performances go, but I still held high hopes that she’d be able to deliver a memorable experience since I liked her songs the most between the two.
With those towering expectations to be had, I’m pleased to say that the concert turned out to be absolutely phenomenal. The singing was solid and engaging, yes, but there was one major surprise that really made my jaw drop. More after the jump!
The concert opened up with May’n, who sang “Welcome To My FanClub’s Night! (Sheryl On Stage)” accompanied by two dancers, and I immediately saw that her reputation for electrifying the audience with her live performances was fully deserved. Everything about her performance within the live concert setting felt more whole and complete, ranging from seeing her facial expressions to watching her movements on stage and having that blend in with the music. She definitely puts a lot of effort into engaging her audience, radiating passion and confidence in “Welcome To My FanClub’s Night!” and while her singing occasionally wasn’t on the mark, this was mostly confined to the beginning of the concert. As the concert progressed, she would become more comfortable with her voice, or perhaps she fully warmed up. Whatever it was, the songs she did later down the line matched closely to that of the songs on the Macross Frontier CDs.
“Northern Cross” ups the intensity further and May’n’s thrilling delivery sent chills down my spine, so involved was I in the entirety of the presentation that nothing short of an apocalypse could have diverted my attention. What this piece demonstrated is May’n’s ability to bring out her presence on the stage, where she completely dominates the scene with every little action she takes.
Between some of the songs, she’d try to talk to the audience in English and the audience appreciated those efforts even if her accent was as thick as molasses. Still, the value was in the performance, and with songs like “Universal Bunny,” “May’n Space,” where she got the audience to sing the refrain at the end, the emphatic “Kimi Shinitamou Koto Nakare” (from the Shangri-La anime!) and the ever popular “Diamond Crevasse,” there was much to cheer for. I especially enjoyed May’n’s seamless transitions to a different mood when the situation called for it, like in “Diamond Crevasse” where her voice took a nostalgic tone. That audience could see her expressions as she sang, which helped her convey those heartfelt connections all the more, resulting in a very moving rendition.
After “Infinity” and “Iteza Gogo Kuji Don’t be late,” it was time for “What ’bout my star?@Formo” and this time, May’n wouldn’t be alone. Megumi Nakajima came out on stage in a frilly dress that aimed to convey her character’s fun, upbeat manner and the two performed an enjoyable duet, after which May’n left Megumi Nakajima to sing “Anata no Oto.” Of the two singers, Megumi Nakajima was less experienced, and so, more prone to singing out of tune. It didn’t hurt her performance of “Anata no Oto,” which was really bouncy with the catchy “dokun dokun dokun” phrase that comes in during each line of the chorus, but it would become an issue later on.
Nakajima continues with “Ninjiin Loves you yeah!,” which turned out to be a fun affair and moreso when she added her own twist to the song by singing it in English the second time through, which got plaudits from the audience. “Watashi no Kare wa Pilot” came next, and that’s a song that hearkens back to the older Macross series. I do remember watching the episode where her character, Ranka Lee, sings that song in a competition, and I was always struck by Ranka’s expression as she sang because of how she plays up the cute factor. Nakajima’s performance was about as cute, and unlike other times where I’d be dumbfounded by watching an adult act in that manner, Nakajima managed to be endearing and charming. She does the cute thing really well, and it works!
The rest of the setlist before what I’ll refer to as the defining moment of the concert consisted of “Sunshine Girl,” followed by “Soudayo,” and the enjoyable “Jellyfish no Kokuhaku” from the Kobato anime, with its mellow, longing tones. “Seikan Hikou” came and went with Nakajima getting the audience to rally with a heartfelt “kira!,” but the biggest surprise came halfway through the song. Prior to the concert, I knew they’d have a secret guest come on stage. My bets had been on Mari Iijima who did both the singing and speaking voice for Lynn Minmay in The Super Dimension Fortress Macross, but I was completely wrong. The surprise guest was none other than composer Yoko Kanno!
My world was completely rocked. Of all the people to show up! Kanno playfully danced around a bit on stage as “Seikan Hikou” finished up before sitting down at the piano and began to play once Megumi Nakajima started “Aimo.” It segued rather nicely into “Voices” (Kanno added bird sounds to the mix), and that delighted the audience since it was a throwback to Kanno’s work for Macross Plus. Through it, you can feel the nostalgia running deep in Nakajima’s longing delivery and Kanno’s poignant piano playing. The poignancy continued and this time, Nakajima’s voice brimmed with reassurance and hope, with the result being a decent rendition of “Ao no Ether,” decent only because she was really shaky when she sang this song.
It should be noted that Nakajima’s voice had started breaking around “Jellyfish no Kokuhaku,” but I think she was starting to really wear out by this time since her ability to hold notes was much more diminished. Remember when I said something about her relative inexperience as a performer? This was reflected in her relatively low stamina and was something to keep in mind during the performance.
Anyhow, Kanno delighted the audience with some bird sounds once more before Nakajima launched into “Ai Oboete Imasuka.” Talk about nostalgia! Megumi Nakajima’s rendition kept the audience deeply engrossed, and she was soon joined by May’n. Together, they closed that song out with a lovely duet and started on a duet version of “Diamond Crevasse” which left me in awe at how well their voices intertwined in that heartfelt song. This contrasted greatly with “Lion” which had all the intensity of the original and grabbed your attention right off the bat. The concert then closed off with a rousing, energetic “Triangular,” and though there was no encore, I was very much satisfied by how it went.
Phenomenal would be the word that comes to mind after seeing this concert. After being resoundingly impressed by May’n’s sense of presence, enjoying Nakajima’s upbeat delivery and getting my mind blown by seeing Yoko Kanno live in concert, there’s really no other Anime Expo event that could have topped this experience. Given that this was the first event I attended at Anime Expo, my convention experience started off with a bang, and I enjoyed it very much!
Tags: Anime Expo 2010, Concert, Macross Frontier, May'n, Megumi Nakajima, Yoko Kanno
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Ha, see told you May’n was awesome live. I haven’t even seen her live just videos. 🙁
It’s too bad that Megumi’s voice started breaking about Jellyfish no Kokuhaku. I feel like that is the song that falls within her best and most natural range. Actually Oboete Imasuka is pretty close to being in her range as well except for the very end. Ao no Ether is a pretty difficult song to sing. I didn’t even really like Sakamoto Maaya’s version on Kazeyomi. To me it sounds like a song that would be really really easy to go flat on. Man sounded like a fun concert.
[…] those of you with a lot of time to spare, the full-length version of the concert report can be found at OSV. This report is for those who want a quick run-down of my […]
@Taka
At first, I was puzzled about why she got so many plaudits when she performed at Anime Festival Asia, but now, after seeing her in person, I can see why she has the reputation she does.
Nakajima’s faltering kinda sucked when it did since I was really looking forward to a mellow-y optimistic “Jellyfish” and even moreso on “Ao no Ether” and maybe they should have switched her in and out more to give her a break between songs. “Ao no Ether” does sound deceptively slow, but the movement into the upper registers is there to snag the unwary I guess?
Anyway, yeah, this concert was kind of a must-attend and I definitely enjoyed it.
Not having made it to AX (the full saga of which can be found HERE: http://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?showtopic=33373), I can’t comment on Megumi’s voice breaking in the second half of the show although I would like to note that the fact that she had a gig in Shibuya, got straight on a plane and pretty much went straight into the AX concert with no real time to rest might have had something to do with it.
Having probably seen both May’n and Megumi in concert more times than any other native English speaker on the face of the planet though, I find it funny how they get compared. One is a singer. The other is a seiyu. The difference? What you see with May’n is pretty much what you get. It’s her real personality and her awesome vocals. Nakajime on the otherhand is playing the role of an idol (Mamegu) who, depending on the performance, is also playing Ranka on top of that. She makes a lot of mistakes in her regular concerts because its expected, its cute, its what idols do. And the fans eat it up.
While I wouldnt disagree that May’n has some awesomely powerful vocal chords, from experience Megumi has a much broader range (which is why she normally covers the past Macross stuff from Macross to Macross Plus) and, more importantly, is really good at interacting with the audience. Of course, this is something you arent going to get at a concert outside of Japan though. Certainly you could argue that she should tailor her performance (and cut what I daresay were some of the mistakes she made on purpose at the beginning of the concert)to the audience she is performing for, but to that I’d reply that, since there is (legally & officially at least) no release of the albums in the US and therefore no market to speak of, that she isnt obligated to change her style to fit US tastes. I dont mean to come off as ranting here, but comparing a singer and a seiyu (even when the seiyu sings) strikes me as a little ridiculous. People don’t expect error free performances from seiyu here in Japan. Heck, have you ever seen Megumi Hayashibara perform live WITHOUT making mistakes? hehehe.
For those that missed the concert, AX Live had some clips of the concert. Specifically:
Part 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iof4JRim3Gg
Part 6: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfLrl8B6ONI
Enjoy… =)
@Tochiro
Keep in mind that this is a concert report, so I’m obliged to report all that I see and hear, mistakes and all :p
Regarding your story, all I can say is ouch, that’s a rather tough schedule all right and because that’s the case, I’m willing to be more forgiving of Nakajima’s performance on top of being lenient because of her status as a seiyuu rather than full-time singer.
Now bear in mind that I made no mention of what I expected out of the concert, so I’ll do so here: I expected May’n to do decently and Nakajima to falter somewhat because her primary job isn’t a singer, it’s doing voice acting work. So now that I’ve said that, I really liked what I heard.
Your description of May’n is pretty accurate and I’d say she embodies the character of Sheryl Nome, which, according to what she said during one of the press panels, matches her character really closely and she nailed the singing and dancing bits really well.
As for Nakajima, my criticisms come from a different approach. Before the concert, I was already somewhat mentally prepared for her making noticeable mistakes as she sang and for what it’s worth, she met my expectations in that you can hear them, but it did not negatively affect my perception of the concert overall (contrast that with Aya Hirano’s screeching a few years back and you’ll know what gets my goat).
Regarding the idol thing, you can probably guess that I don’t buy into that kind of persona-building. Maybe it’s a difference of cultures, but I don’t think mistakes are cute. I’ll cut singers some slack (up to a point) when their main job isn’t singing (so Nakajima would be a good example) and so, I was only slightly disappointed that her voice started faltering, but it was within the realm of expectations.
So yeah, really no idea what made you think I expected an error-free concert.
Chris,
Many thanks for the reply. fair enough then, it looks like you already took into account many factors that I feel that a lot of the reviews I’ve read of the performance have either neglected to mention or else just been oblivious to.
Having said that, might I suggest you include a few lines on your approach and or expectations when reviewing future events? This would make for a more fully fleshed out overall article imo.
While I naturally expect a concert report to be just that, your comments on Nakajima’s lack of experience and stamina echoed far less well informed reviews I’ve read elsewhere. If you had included a few lines on what you expected and where you were coming from in the article itself I would have been able to distinguish the criticisms in your review as being more constructive than they appeared at first glance.
As for not buying into the idol thing, well I’m not really sure as to whether you buying into it is really the point – its the way things are done here. (As was similarly noted in a recent review of the newest book by Brian Ashcraft of Kotaku fame: “The authors explain that it is easier for those doing the idolizing to develop an attachment to “a pure, awkward young woman” than to an accomplished performer. Thus even when they are professional, idols strive not to appear too professional, to give the impression that they ended up in the spotlight by accident.”). While approaching the review from a different angle to a Japanese fan is understandable, once again a few lines on where you were coming from would have been useful.
Just my 2 yen! Thanks again for the reply and keep up the great work!
@Tochiro
Yeah, there were quite a few implicit assumptions that I scattered here and there and I’ll be sure to state those more clearly the next time I have an opportunity to write one of these. Thanks for the feedback!
As for the reviews of the performance, there are three others that I know of that’s been written if you don’t count the one that’s written by that zzeroparticle fella, who in reality is me under a different name. Only one of them mentioned Nakajima’s slips, at least, to my knowledge, so I guess I’d better start digging around to see whether anyone else mentioned them…
Also, thanks for shedding more light into this whole idol business. From that description, I can see quite a gap in my thinking because it never would have occurred to me that idols intentionally sculpt their image in that manner. I’ve always favored competence and ability over all else, so I’ll admit it’s a little surprising to see the awkwardness bit play that prominent of a role.
[…] leads back to a major major gripe, one that’s started with a comment to my Anime Expo Macross Concert on OSV. Since I can’t link to the actual comment, I’ll write it out here, typos and all: […]
[…] Version at Anime Expo and that my job was mostly to babble about how much I enjoyed the (mostly) Macross Frontier Concert as well as the performance that MELL put forth. Lost in that shuffle was a panel that I attended […]
Top ,.. top top … post! Keep the good work on !