In our last, article, we covered the events of Akiba Base!! 2015 Bellesale Akihabara, the first of two events as part of Key 15th Fes. Today, we have Pepe here again to tell us his experiences with the first day of KSL Live World way to the Angel Beats! -1st-.
Hi everyone, Pepe here again! So, just to introduce the event, KSL Live World way to the Angel Beats! -1st- was a two day event held at Differ Ariake on April 11, 2015 from 7:00 pm - 10:00 pm, and on April 12, 2015 from 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm. I was really happy to be able to get a ticket for the first day! However, that’s all I could get, and that’s what I’ll be talking about today.
The place where dreams come true.
I arrived at the venue at around 3pm, and was expecting a line forming outside already. I guess I was simply too early (and too excited), and was greeted by other participants just sitting around. The sales booth, which was previously announced, was already open by then. They sold more-or-less the same items as was available in Akiba Base!!, but without the lines. I took a short video clip of myself at that time, and you can view it here:
As you can see, I was already geared up wearing one of the special Key 15th Fes. T-Shirts sold at the venue! One of the items, however, was a secret Key 15th Fes. Original T-Shirt “Setlist ver” which they weren’t allowed to sell yet; they would only start selling it once the concert was over.
The rest of my time was spent waiting for the gates to open. Thankfully, the forecasted rain didn’t come, and I could wait in line in relative peace. Sometime around 5:00 pm, a sudden guest appeared and started talking to the audience waiting in line. It was Takahiro Baba! President of VisualArt’s himself! He even took a picture of the audience waiting in line.
I should be in there… somewhere.
After he left, it was only a few minutes until we were let into the venue. As promised, they started letting in the audience at 6:00 pm. I was #1,301 in line, so it took about 30 minutes for me to get in. Upon entering, I was given a cloth sticker of the Afterlife Battlefront logo. Sweet! I got a pretty good place inside, though. Near the front, in the standing area. There was also a seated area way at the back for the audience that couldn’t handle the physical strain of standing for hours at a live event. Baba was at the back, too, and I could see some fans approaching and talking to him. It’s pretty interesting how open he is to discussion!
BGMs from the Angel Beats! anime were playing in the background while the audience was being brought in, and the stage being prepped for the event. Pictures and videos were not allowed inside the venue, however, so you’re going to have to forgive me for having the rest of the article be a big wall of text. Come 7:00 pm, the lights were dimmed, and the concert had started.
Inside the darkness of the concert hall, a voice was suddenly heard from the speakers. It was Yuri, leader of the Afterlife Battlefront, briefing the members, rather, the audience, about the operation to come. It seems the gist of it was that this concert was an operation and, we, as the audience, were all members of the Afterlife Battlefront. The voice told us to use the cloth sticker given earlier, so I proceeded to stick it on my shirt, proud of being inducted as a member.
I wasn’t quite sure if it was a live recording of Harumi Sakurai’s voice, but they made it seem like so. She was even saying that she couldn’t hear the audience’s response, forcing us to shout louder. Either way, it was a fun intro, and after that energetic briefing, a video, recapping events from the Angel Beats! anime, and comparing them to the new CGs in the upcoming game. A few CGs shown were those that were never revealed before, and I hope that Key reveals them soon enough. Shortly after the video, a curtain suddenly dropped and two silhouttes could be seen from behind it.
Out from the curtain emerged LiSA and marina, starting off the concert with a duet rendition of “Alchemy”. A solid choice from the Angel Beats! repertoire. They then proceeded to welcome the audience and start off the event. marina left shortly after, leaving the stage for LiSA to shine.
LiSA started reminiscing about her first involvement with the franchise 5 years ago, and how she was the singing voice of Yui-nyan (with matching Yui-nyan pose!). It didn’t take long for her to begin her set, starting off with “Shine Days”, followed by “23:50”, “Rain Song”, “Run With Wolves”, and finally ending with “Ichiban no Takaramono ~Yui final ver~”. LiSA is quite an energetic singer, and she enjoyed interacting with the audience quite a lot during her set. It was a bit funny during “Ichiban no Takaramono”, though. As those who may know, LiSA’s version of the song was an accompaniment to Yui’s scene in episode 10 of the series. However, while LiSA was performing that song, they were showing clips of the final scene from episode 13, and not episode 10. I honestly found it to be a bit of a disconnect, but still enjoyed it.
After LiSA left the stage, one very enthusiastic fan screamed “Kekkon shieru yo!” (Marry me!). That aside, that left the stage open for the next performer, Tada Aoi. She entered with none other than the ending of the Angel Beats! series, “Brave Song”. After her performance, she did a bit of MC-ing before showing everyone a VTR showing Jun Maeda making an important announcement. The announcement was, in fact, the reveal of the performers for the songs of the upcoming Charlotte anime! It was revealed live that Lia would be performing the opening song, Tada Aoi would be performing the ending song, and marina would be featured as the vocalist of the in-series band, ZHIEND. Of course, shortly after the concert ended, Charlotte’s official website was updated with said news.
Unfortunately, after just one performance, Tada Aoi left the stage and was followed by the next singer, the classic Key singer that everyone is familiar with, Lia. And what better way to open her set than with the newly released opening of Angel Beats! -1st beat-, “Heartily Song”!
Lia’s Light Color (pun intended) is a nice, blue color.
As with the other singers, Lia had her time to MC right after, and revealed that her next song would be an audience selection. The screen above showed the two choices: the classic Air opening, “Tori no Uta”, and the slightly more modern Tomoyo After opening, “Light Colors”. She asked the audience to cheer on which song they would like to see performed and, after explaining something about having practiced the song beforehand, Lia performed “Light Colors”. I was honestly happy because, as much as I love “Tori no Uta”, I love “Light Colors” so much more.
Such ended Lia’s set, giving the stage to the next performer, Suzuyu. She introduced herself and MC-ed before performing, even saying how she has been a long-time fan of Angel Beats! and was watching the series as it was airing live in 2010. Naturally, she was happy to now be part of the series, and started her performance with her contribution to the series, “Subete no Owari no Hajimari”. After that, she performed her first foray into Key, the opening of Little Busters! ~Refrain~, “Boys be Smile”.
Pristine scene taken from the performance.
After her performance, she introduced the next singer, Kitazawa Ayaka. They both MC-ed onstage, and were discussing their own experience following the Angel Beats! series. They started asking each other which of the characters in the series are their favorites. Suzuyu replied, saying that TK is her favorite. Kitazawa Ayaka, on the other hand, chose Yurippe as her favorite. Good taste, if I may say so myself.
Kitazawa Ayaka started her set with her first Key song, the ending of Little Busters! ~Refrain~, “Kimi to Nakushimono”. She followed it up with a performance of “Todoketai Melody”, the opening song of Key’s upcoming game, Harmonia. Pretty good choice since nearly nobody had heard the song yet as it was only released to the public for sale earlier at Akiba Base!!.
After her set, a video started playing on-screen featuring scenes one of the main heroines of 1st Beat, Iwasawa Masami. I think we can figure out who would be performing next: none other than marina! She started her set off with “Hot Meal”, the marina version of LiSA’s “Thousand Enemies”, following it up with “My Song”, one of the most memorable songs attached to Iwasawa’s character.
She started her MC portion, also reminiscing about Angel Beats! 5 years ago, and began to introduce her next performance. She was saying it was something that was referenced in the manga, Angel Beats! Heaven’s Door, and it was also composed by Jun Maeda… At this point, everyone in the audience knew what was coming… And it did! marina began performing “Million Star”, a single to be released together with the first press limited edition version of Angel Beats! -1st beat-. At this point, nobody outside of Key had heard the song yet, and being able to hear the first public performance of the song was an experience unlike any other.
LiSA happened to take a shot of marina performing Million Star, and uploaded this image on Twitter.
After marina’s amazing performance, LiSA once again takes the stage with a second set. She starts out with “Day Game” and follows up with her final MC. She ends her set with “Highest Life”, encouraging the audience to sing-along during the final chorus. They even provided the lyrics on-screen as we were singing-along.
For the final performance of the night, marina joined LiSA onstage as they both performed “Crow Song”, the first Girls Dead Monster performed in the Angel Beats! anime. As they finished with their performance, blasts of confetti fell from the cieling. Confetti containing…. Meal Tickets!?
Looks like Operation Tornado was a success!
LiSA and marina said their ‘Thank you’s, left the stage, and the venue faded to black, signaling the end of the concert. But the fans weren’t satisfied, of course. Unanimous cheering of “Encore! Encore!” could be heard from the audience. After what seemed like an eternity of cheering, the band returned to the stage!
Suzuyu started off the encore, now wearing the official Key 15th Fes. T-Shirt, with her other contribution to Little Busters!, “Mezameta Asa ni wa Kimi ga Tonari ni”, which was used as the ending of the Little Busters! EX OVAs. Kitazawa Ayaka followed up the encore with “Bokura no Tabi”, a vocal arrange of one of Little Busters! BGMs, “Girls at 4:30 PM”. Next onstage was LiSA again with “Little Braver”, my personal favorite Girls Dead Monster track. Finally, Lia makes her appearance, wearing a totally different dress from earlier, and performs the ever-popular opening of the Angel Beats! anime, “My Soul, Your Beats”. I was wondering when this would make an appearance!
Lia speaks to the audience and thanks everyone for their enthusiasm during the concert. But of course, we can’t forget the participation of the rest of the band members! Lia proceeds to introduce them one-by-one: Kemukemu on Bass; Hachou on Guitar; Takuya of jAcKp☆TrASH on Rhythm Guitar; Moriyan on Keyboard; and Shou of jAcKp☆TrASH on Drums. The rest of the performers join Lia and the band onstage, each wearing their own Key 15th Fes. T-shirt, and Lia leaves the stage to get her own.
The rest of the performers talk to the audience, giving their heartfelt farewells. Lia returns on stage and they begin to prepare for the true final song of the event: a collaboration of “Subete no Owari no Hajimari” to be sung by all six of them.
To finish off the concert, the performers started throwing away some limited items to the audience. I couldn’t figure out if it was a shirt or a towel, since I wasn’t able to get any. What was interesting was that they even had a gun-shaped launcher, to propel those items to the audience seated way at the back.
As is traditional for many concerts here in Japan, the performers had a picture taken with the rest of the audience, before leaving the stage and ending the concert. Yuri’s voice once again played on the speakers, congratulating the members for a successful operation.
I should also be there…. somewhere.
As promised, outside the concert venue, the booth was still open and they started selling the Key 15th Fes. Original T-Shirt “Setlist ver” and I immediately lined up, hoping to snag myself one. Unfortunately, all the T-shirts sold out within about 15 minutes from me exiting the concert venue.
Pretty nice shirt, too.
All-in-all it was a terrific event, and I was really glad to be able to experience a concert like this. We aren’t getting KSL Live Worlds very regularly, so I was super lucky to be in the right place at the right time. When Key anounces their next KSL Live World, I’ll be sure to do all I can to try and catch it again.
Credits to @vavasyatyou, @Liabobo3, @sb_szy, and @LiSA_OLiVE on Twitter, 私的UrawaReds&SubCul Blog, and VisualArt’s Official Facebook Page for the additional images.
