#this post brought to you by FictionJunction

[mayuris-basement-dweller]

When you end the chapter you were stuck in.

[mistress-of-the-obvious]

Despite the need to have quick takes on subjects, sometimes if not often times, it’s better to let things settle wait for more information, and find out your opinions on things.  With this, I’m going to go back over the events with Spacecraft, Yuki Kajiura, and Kalafina.

On March 13th this year Spacecraft finally announced Kalafina’s dissolvent. @westkana pointed out to me that this was also the date that Spacecraft confirmed that Keiko was leaving. Here’s one of his sources: https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2018-03-13/singing-unit-kalafina-agency-confirms-1-member-will-leave/.128905

The owner of https://vk.com/club_kalafina, Webteste Doityourself (be sure to follow his site – he’s awesome) noted that Wakana’s pamphlet from last year was in the Kalafina area and not in her new one.

A few months later we started getting some songs released from Hikaru and Keiko is now back touring with FictionJunction.

All signs point to there being a non-compete clause in the contract regarding Kalafina that lasted exactly a year. During that year span from March 13, 2018 to 2019, all content was contractually Kalafina. That is why Wakana’s pamphlet last year is placed there. This was likely so that Spacecraft and Sony could better sell the 10th Anniversary movie, concert, as well as the Best Of set.

One thing I found absolutely fascinating were the tweets from Japanese Twitter. There was a lot of anger stating that Spacecraft had no right to announce such since Kalafina was Yuki Kajiura, Keiko, Wakana, and Hikaru and they did not announce such. It was one I could understand on an intellectual level, but not an emotional one.

Prominent voice actor Jouji Nakata was voiced his own displeasure by posting a photo of himself with Kalafina stating, “I hope my princesses will be back someday!” He also liked and retweeted a tweet by Kyorakuhigurasi, which went viral. As you can see, I provided both with a Google translation. It was tweet after tweet with the same sentiment. It’s rather uncommon to see so many Japanese people angry like that. This explains Yuki Kajiura, Keiko, and Hikaru’s joint statement. Which you can see here as a refresher: http://fictionjunction.com/kalafina20190314/#

Spacecraft owns the trademark so technically they’re right about Kalafina disbanding. Fans are also right about Kalafina not being a name, but the people who comprise it. Had Spacecraft been a US company it would have been phrased something like this, “We are saddened to announce Kalafina is no longer managed by us. Right now, each have their own personal projects. We support all involved in their endeavors now and in the future.” As for why Spacecraft didn’t? Seems pretty obvious that it’s because they’re bitter.

Trademark is also based on use/disuse unlike copyright. The phrasing of the announcement could be considered abandonment, which I find really interesting. Of course, I’m not a Japanese trademark lawyer and time is what typically shows abandonment. I’ll return to my thoughts on the trademark claim a bit later here.

A few months later we were greeted to The Weekly Bushun article. I’ve seen a couple of versions of the article. Interestingly, the online Weekly Bushun article left out a big detail that another versions got (which makes me think it’s an also a paper - it’s also possible I just missed it there). Here’s where I got the information: https://news.livedoor.com/article/detail/16444902/

For a recap, when the last president of Spacecraft retired and the new president took over, he brought in a female official from Takarazuka Revue. He wanted Kalafina to be managed more like a typical pop group diminishing Yuki Kajiura’s role. This happened in 2016.

Yuki Kajiura was by far the longest talent in Spacecraft going back to at least 1997. She was also their big money maker. I don’t know how far back in the company Mr. M, assumed to be Yasunori Mori, goes back. Just that he was a long time trusted manager.

I can confirm this part of the rumor. I’ve heard that the new president was a big fan of Takarazuka Revue and wanted to change the company to fit more in line with his interests much to the dismay of various talent for a few years now. I also heard about a mystery female executive taking over Yuki Kajiura’s role in the Arena Live tour.

The key critical detail I didn’t notice on some other articles, which is in the Live Door version (doesn’t mean it wasn’t there, just that I didn’t see it) was the setting where the president yelled that Yasunori was a “spy” for Yuki Kajiura. The location was at Budokan at the Arena Live concert. He yelled this in front of his friends, family, and co-workers.

One of my favorite classes that I took in college way back in the early 2000s was Introduction To International Business. I love culture books that are often marketed to business people moving to nations long term and still buy them. One of the big things in business in Japan that is drilled: Do not scold, correct, or praise someone in public.

Japan is a culture based on harmony, so if I were a manager overseeing Japanese people if I noticed someone making a simple mistake and went over stating, “Oh you did this wrong. It needs to look like this. Simple mistake, it’s okay.” I disrupted harmony and gave that person a loss of face. Face can be summed up as something that can cause someone embarrassment, unwanted attention, or otherwise. It’s a little more complex than that, but it gives you an idea.

Another aspect of Japanese culture is sometimes referred to as “The Iron Rice Bowl.” This means it’s expected to promote within the company rather than bring in someone from outside. The idea is if you get into a company you should be promoted with good work until you retire. This decayed a bit after the great recession in the early 1990s, but it’s still there. So to bring in someone new at high level management is going to bring in a lot of discomfort, and the executive was going to face increased scrutiny. Some of this goes back into the concept of harmony. It certainly doesn’t help that based on the article, some thought she wasn’t qualified and she wasn’t able to handle her new position. This may also be why the current president got into his position. He may have simply had the most seniority.

While you do see the loud boss yelling in anime, anime is like comparing Hollywood to real life in the U.S. It’s not tolerated here in the U.S. and it’s not typical or accepted in Japan. One can only imagine what the president said to Yasunori or Yuki in private especially after this incident.

I was talking to someone else (not sure if they want to be revealed) about much of this stuff and we agreed that with all the activity with Kalafina’s Harmony fanclub with trips to Taiwan and the like, that Spacecraft and Hikaru, Keiko, and Wakana thought things would be able to continue somehow.

All signs point to negotiations about how the group would continue breaking down by late autumn. This can be found in the Question and Answers section in FictionJunction Club 35 (Winter 2017 – the content is typically done a few months in advance). I’m going on memory, but Keiko’s comment was something along the line of how their year went, “The first half of the year went well. I started learning Chinese. The second half went poorly. I hope next year will be better.” Hikaru stated “Road,” while Wakana said, “Smile.” I remember Wakana’s sounding particularly sad and upset. I looked for Putschki’s translation, but couldn’t find it. I know it’s there somewhere.

We know Keiko sent out her resignation to Spacecraft requesting her contract terminated a few months early in late December. A few days after this, the trademark claim was filed. I thought because Yuki Kajiura created Kalafina, that perhaps she was somehow giving her claim to Keiko otherwise the trademark would belong to Spacecraft.

When Keiko left, it was simply two paragraphs that were approved by Spacecraft online as apposed to Kaori Oda’s long blogpost and Hikaru’s long handwritten note. All signs point to a very hostile work environment for Keiko and anger on the part of certain people in Spacecraft.

While the trademark claim was ruled and given a sentence of her claim not being valid without additional documents, it was actually rescinded a few days before. Less than a month later Hikaru left Spacecraft. Seeing how close they are, I estimate that this was not a coincidence, though that is just an assumption on my part. I now suspect Keiko thought she had to file the trademark claim for her own protection and possibly that of Hikaru.

Now focusing on Wakana, had her contract been up to be signed again before those negotiations broke down, this would mean her contract ends in the first half of 2020. We know that Spacecraft typically has three year contracts because of Ryu Murasaki.

If the name sounds familiar it’s because she was added to Wakana’s tour last year. I state this because it was made to sound like it was solely Wakana at first, then marketed as double bill. When I saw her name pop up, I looked her up. She’s formerly of Takarazuka Revue and joined Spacecraft in 2016 when the takeover happened. I found on the Spacecraft store, after Kalafina, she had by far the most merchandise. From there I also found out that she was also on the World Heritage Tour.

Going back to this I remember when Ryu Murasaki was added some of the responses were, “Oh, I guess they thought Wakana couldn’t handle the tour alone.” Again going back to the concepts of face and harmony, I wasn’t happy with the set up. It caused Wakana to look less capable and since Ryu was added later, gave her fans less time to buy tickets as well as create tension between Wakana’s fans that thought it would just be her.

Ryu left Spacecraft on May 31st, giving her resignation on April 20th this year. You can see the link here: https://hochi.news/articles/20190420-OHT1T50051.html

Exactly why, of course, we don’t know. While she came along with the female executive, she may have been uncomfortable with possible preferential treatment and the possible tense work environment.

From the time Hikaru quit, I went back from 2016 to then 2018 and found twelve talent left. During that time I could only find Ryu as joining. They do have a new boy band, TFG, so since then they have gotten more people. Still this will mean, from 2016, at least thirteen people have left at current date.

The one part of the article I have my doubts on is Keiko getting a massive ego. We know at a concert in the past she was visibly upset with the amount of attention she was getting over Wakana and Hikaru at an overseas convention. She has also stated in the 10th Anniversary movie that she grew as a person by learning to be attentive over Hikaru, and Wakana’s feelings as she was oblivious of that before. This of course, doesn’t mean she didn’t mess up at times since this was a growing skill for her.

Instead, I suspect any sort of conflict between the three had to do with the lack of direction and stress, as Yuki Kajiura and Yasunori Mori were restricted of their positions and left.  The high stress level could easily cause arguments that normally wouldn’t be there. If, for example, Wakana wanted to continue Kalafina while Keiko did not without Yuki, Wakana would be more sensitive to Keiko’s popularity. I need to note, I have no evidence or knowledge that Hikaru or Keiko have any conflict with Wakana and suspect it is an issue of contract issues, but I also have no evidence there isn’t a conflict either. I suspect that the informant meant things more like I state as the whole point of the article was to highlight the possibility of Kalafina reforming. If they hated each other, than one would think that would be the headline instead.

As to why Hikaru, Yuki, or anyone else hasn’t shown pictures or talked about Wakana much probably goes back to harmony again. If certain people within Spacecraft are angry at Yuki, Yasunori, and Keiko, I can imagine what the reaction would be if Hikaru posted a picture of her together with Wakana or if Yuriko Kaida tweeted something about her. Even if this wasn’t the case, showing such pictures and making comments alone can be seen as awkward.

Fast forward to now. There have been questions on Yasunori’s whereabouts since he left Spacecraft. I believe he may have helped with Yuri Matsuoka’s triple EP release .A, .B, and .C. Kaori provided backing vocals for some of the songs. Outside of that, I didn’t know where he was until recently.

Kugayama on the Canta Per Me Discord (which is where you can easily find me) was kind enough to buy me copies of Yuriko Kaida’s Porta and Jr.’s album along with the new pamphlet (he’s going back to Japan in a few days for the last two Tokyo dates – I’ve begged him for Yuriko’s new album and the photobook). While I was admiring Yuriko’s Porta CD, I looked at the back of the credits: Yasunori Mori (Highway Star). Kugayama had thought he retired.

I asked him about Highway Star since he mentioned it to me before and he said Yuki Kajiura’s FictionJunction Station seemed to be run on the same hardware. What I found was illuminating.

Highway Star delves into both PA Engineering and Artist Production. They manage Anisong artists as well as planning events and fanclubs. They are also invested in expanding to global markets (so anime conventions and potential concerts). You’ll see they have a lot of familiar names they’re managing: Jam Project, Masaaki Endou, GranRodeo, and Yorke from Old Codex.

Suddenly, a missing piece fit. When I was at Anime Expo last year, I noticed a lot of little things. Besides the fact that the FBM were May’n’s backing band, Ohira was the only manipulator for the entire concert, and the camera work for Yuki Kajiura was what I thought to be the best. Highway Star was likely the company providing the technical knowhow behind the scenes and some of the people likely worked with her in the past.

If you check their corporate site, you’ll see Yasunori Mori listed as an Executive Officer. The company was created back in 2009 and just recently announced a new business partner artist earlier this year: Yuki Kajiura. They also have ties to BandaiNamco.

You can see the links here: https://highwaystar.co.jp/about.html https://highwaystar.co.jp/ap.html https://highwaystar.co.jp/img/oshirase190304.jpg

I wouldn’t be surprised if either Hikaru or Keiko end up being managed by Highway Star for their solo careers.

So there’s my recap, with new information, and some idle speculation. We’ll never really know the truth, but the shadow of it still looms. I’m interested in all your thoughts.

[animetrashy]

Anisong Fantasy Live in SG Vol 1 Report - Beyond Phenomenal Concert!

(image cr: AFA)

!!STATUS: STILL NOT OVER THIS CONCERT!!

It’s been two days since the concert ended and I’m still having post concert depression. So last Saturday, I attended Anisong Fantasy Live Vol 1 in Singapore which featured stunning lineup of GARNiDELiA, ELISA, Takigawa Alisa, Luna Haruna, Kalafina & Aimer. Since the lineup featured anisong artists, I’m quite familiar with all of them and their songs~ Also, I’ve been always a fan of Kalafina hence, it was like a dream came true when I saw them TT_TT 

date of event: 18th March 2017

PRE ANISONG CONCERT REPORT

The whole morning of 18th March, I couldn’t focus on doing anything at all. At 4pm, I left the house and head down to the venue earlier to get some merchandise and meet up with my friends. These friends are actually Kalafina & Fictionjunction fans that I managed to contact over the net. Also if you are a fan of Kalafina/FictionJunction based in Singapore, please don’t be shy and join the group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/1936347716651751

Arrived at the venue, I went straight to the merchandise section and bought - Kalafina LIVE THE BEST 2015 “Red Day” & “Blue Day” Tote Bag & “Kalafina with Strings” Christmas Premium LIVE TOUR 2016 Plastic Folder. I wanted to get more items from the other artists but most of them are sold out ><

After that, I went ahead to meet up with my friends. Despite my first time meeting with everyone, we all managed to warm up with each other through our common interest of Kalafina. We also had a huge banner to write our messages. It was really a great sight to see that there are alot of Kalafina fans in Singapore! After everyone wrote their messages, we placed the banner at the gifts area and hoping that it will reach Kalafina safe and sound.

AS I’M WRITING THIS POST, I GOT AN UPDATE FROM KALAFINA LINE BLOG THAT THEY RECEIVED THE BANNER ;AAAA; THANK YOU KALAFINA FOR ADORING YOUR FANS.

(image cr: Kalafina Line Blog)

!!Be prepared for ride of emotional feels, fangirling moment & long report!!

ANISONG CONCERT REPORT

At 6:50pm, I went to the hall to find my seat and honestly at that point of time, I couldn’t contain my excitement. I was seated at the extreme left of the front row A. I had an amazing view as there wasn’t any heads to block my view and a direct view on the singers! BLESS THE VIEW AND ALL THAT WAITING FOR CONCERT TICKET DURING AFA DAY 2!

In the opening, there was a special footage of ClariS concert performance. I’m guessing that they will be one of the guest for Anisong Fantasy Live Volume 2, who knows?

GARNiDELiA

The concert kicked off with GARNiDELiA as the opening act and they really geared up the audience! With MARiA’s powerful vocals and the band’s energetic performance, I was already in the trance! Able to see MARiA so close was an experience and she’s extremely pretty with her stage outfit. Gokuraku Jodo is my current favourite song from GARNiDELiA and the band delivered it really well. Props to MARiA for singing and dancing to Gokuraku Jodo!

Here are the setlist for GARNiDELiA

ambiguous- Kill la Kill Opening 2

Blazing - Gundam: G Reconguista Opening 1

Yakusoku -promise Code- - Qualidea Code Ending 2

Gokuraku Jodo

ELISA

The last time I watched ELISA live was back in 2013 during AFA Valrave Night concert and being able to hear her live again was amazing. Her live vocals were simply beautiful from her performance of ex: tella to REALISM, despite having technical issue with the sound at first. Also, her English interaction to the audience were adorable!

ELISA: Are you ready for.

Audience: /silent, waiting for her to complete the sentence/

ELISA: Are you ready for… Are you ready for…

Audience: /knowing that ELISA was stuck with her ENGLISH & cheered!/

ELISA: /laughs & looked at the band members/

Here are the setlist for ELISA

ex:tella- Fate/EXTELLA Opening 1

Real Force - To Aru Kagaku no Railgun Ending 2

REALISM - Kakumei Valvrave Ending 2

Takigawa Alisa

Beautiful voice + playing guitar = WIN! Alisa’s performance was simply beautiful as well. Alisa definitely have the next-door-girl and carefree vibe~ Hearing her songs live brings back the Nanatsu no Taizai feels!! NOW I DEMAND A PROPER THIRD SEASON PLS!!

Here are the setlist Takigawa Alisa

Season - Nanatsu no Taizai Ending 2

Irosenai Hitomi - Nanatsu no Taizai: Seisen no Shirushi Ending 1

Sayonara no Yukue - Owarimonogatari Ending 1

Luna Haruna

When Luna Haruna appeared on stage, she brought a fun vibe alongside with her! She was totally adorable with her stage outfit! She had this very lovely and bubbly personality as seen during the interaction with audience. Though I wished that she sang her debut song, Sora wa Takaku Kaze wa Utau from Fate/Zero ending. Also, she sang one of my favourite song, Startear and it was a stellar performance with strong vocals.

Here are the setlist for Luna Haruna

Overfly - Sword Art Online Ending 2

Ai Wo Utae - Monogatari Series 2nd Season Ending 1

Startear - Sword Art Online II Ending 2

Kimiiro Signal - Saekano Opening 1

SPECIAL COLLABORATION STAGE 1 - Takigawa Alisa X ELISA X Luna Haruna X GARNiDELiA

Who knew that we could see such collaboration happened? The first collaboration featured Takigawa Alisa X ELISA and the second collaboration featured Luna Haruna x GARNiDELiA. I personally think that Alisa X ELISA voices doesn’t really suit each other for duet but nevertheless it was a good performance. Haruna x GARNiDELiA performance was really upbeat and their voices had good chemistry. The last song for the collaboration stage 1 featured Alisa X ELISA X Haruna X MARiA and overall it was an energetic all-girl performance!!

Here are the setlist for SPECIAL COLLABORATION STAGE 1

Departures ~Anata ni Okuru Ai no Uta~ (Takigawa Alisa X ELISA) - Guilty Crown Ending 1 (EGOIST)

INNOCENCE (Luna Haruna x GARNiDELiA) - Sword Art Online Opening 2 (Eir Aoi)

Sorairo Days (Takigawa Alisa X ELISA X Luna Haruna X MARiA) - Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann OST (Shoko Nakagawa)

Aimer

AIMER’S PERFORMANCE AND VOCALS WAS SO SURREAL!!! ISTG I NEARLY TEARED HEARING HER PERFORMANCE AND IT WAS SIMPLY BEAUTIFUL. Throughout her performance, she was only accompanied by a piano and I was definitely in awe ;A; This was my 2nd time hearing Aimer live and she sounded less nervous/shaky compared to her 1st live in SG during AFA2015. As always, her English was fluent and she mentioned about loving Singapore’s night scenery.

Aimer: I want my songs to inspire you in the future.

Overall, her performance was just pure eargasm!! I honestly don’t mind if she come to Singapore for her own concert and I know I will definitely attend!!

Here are the setlist for Aimer

Brave Shine - Fate/Stay Night Unlimited Blade Works 2nd Season Opening 1

LAST STARDUST - Fate/Stay Night Unlimited Blade Works OST

StarRingChild - Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn Ending 7

Akane Sasu - Natsume Yuujinchou Go Ending 1

ninelie - Koutetsujou no Kabaneri Ending 1

Kalafina

THIS IS THE PART WHERE I HAD MY EYES BURSTING WITH TEARS! When the music started playing, my heart was literally beating in excitement. I was holding Kalafina LIVE THE BEST 2015 “Blue Day” Towel in that hopes that the members will take notice of it. AND THEY DID! During the encore, Keiko was saying about how she saw some fans holding Kalafina concert towel and she felt grateful towards the fans!

For the 1st song - Magia, Kalafina wore beautiful kimono-like robe and they revealed their 2nd outfit during One Light. Hikaru and Wakana were mostly at my left side of the stage. I WAS FREAKING OUT THAT HIKARU MET MY EYES DURING THE ONE LIGHT PERFORMANCE, SAW MY KALAFINA TOWEL AND SMILED!!

Kalafina closed their segment by singing Sprinter and I WAS CRYING INSIDE BECAUSE OF KARA NO KYOUKAI FEELS! I sang my heart out, following to the lyrics of the song ;AAA; KALAFINA’s performance was truly mesmerizing and given the chance to watch it live was a dream come true!!

Here are the setlist for Kalafina

Magia - Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica Ending 1

One Light - Arslan Senki (TV) Ending 2

Kimi no Gin no Niwa - Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica Movie 3 Ending 1

ring your bell - Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works 2nd Season Ending 1

Sprinter (Band Version) - Kara no Kyoukai 5: Mujun Rasen Ending 1

SPECIAL COLLABORATION STAGE 2 - Kalafina X Aimer

THIS COLLABORATION WAS SIMPLY BEYOND WORDS!! I can’t describe that feeling when Kalafina and Aimer were singing each other song. Seeing them both on the same stage was honestly remarkable. IT WAS EXTRA MAGICAL AND THAT MOMENT IS SO PRECIOUS!!! I honestly can’t describe how beautiful their vocals blended together ;A; Aimer started singing Believe’s first verse and when Kalafina started to harmonise, I had goosebumps!!

Their interaction with the audience was fun as well! As Aimer came for Singapore for 3 times and Kalafina only came for 2 times, Kalafina asked Aimer for any recommendation spots.

Kalafina: Do you have recommendation spots?

Aimer: Last time I came here (speaking in Japanese)

Keiko: /trying to translate Aimer’s speech through actions/ WWWW

Aimer: I went to Botanic Garden. It’s a flower garden and it was really wild.

Kalafina: Wah, we want to go!

After the interaction, Kalafina mentioned that since Aimer sang their song so its Kalafina’s turn to sing Aimer’s song. IT WAS ANOTHER MASTERPIECE :’)))

Here are the setlist for Kalafina X Aimer

believe (acoustic version) - Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works 2nd Season Ending 2) (Kalafina)

Anata ni Deawanakereba ~Kasetsu Touka~ - Natsuyuki Rendezvous Ending 1 (Aimer)

Kalafina x Aimer was honestly the perfect way to ended off Anisong Fantasy Live. IT WAS WORTH EVERY PENNY FOR THIS CONCERT!!

POST ANISONG CONCERT REPORT

I was still feeling surreal after the concert ended. Some of the audience were waiting for group photo with the anisong artists and I didn’t, since my seat wasn’t picked during the lucky draw ;A; But Kalafina and Aimer weren’t part of the group photo so I don’t feel too sad about it. 

Anyways, this concert will forever etched in my memory. Also, VIP ticket holders were given an autographed printed poster and I shall treasure that. Below are my loots:

ALL IN ALL, ITS BEEN AN AMAZING EXPERIENCE ATTENDING THIS CONCERT. THANK YOU SOZO AND SONY MUSIC FOR MAKING THIS HAPPENED. THANK TO ALL THE ARTISTS AND BAND MEMBERS AS WELL!!~~ 

(image cr: Kalafina Line Blog)

SEE YOU GUYS IN THE NEXT BLOG POST!

PS: ALL I NEED IS A ONE-MAN KALAFINA TOUR CONCERT IN SINGAPORE!!