NKDS

The man himself.

Yes, we know it is a bit off to post our impression of Aniki’s concert 2 weeks after the event itself was over, but we had no choice. The blog was acting weird for a while after our name change, and we had to wait for things to become more stable before posting up any really important articles. And if this is not classified as “really important”, I do not know what is.

Before I continue, this is very much a sequel to our earlier post on Aniki’s arrival in Singapore. Also, I will only be covering the songs that I am familiar with. As much as I enjoyed every single song that Aniki sang in the concert, I had the most feelings and emotion for the old school Super Robot songs that I grew up with. So while the songs of Mask Rider and Captain Harlock are counted among Aniki’s most prominent works and extremely well performed, I am afraid I will not be able to do justice to them in this article.

Reiko-san, the emcee, worked up the atmosphere by asking us to chant “ANIKI! ANIKI! ANIKI!” to kick off the concert, something that we did enthusiastically. Truth be told, we would have done it even without her request, but that was beside the point. We were all impatient, but since I had waited almost my whole life to attend a Ichirou Mizuki live concert, I figured waiting a few more moments would not hurt. Then, it began!

The concert opened with a familiar and well-loved tune…the song that had heralded the creation of the world’s first Super Robot, Mazinger Z! That is right, the music right out of the early 70s, and the song that countless children worldwide had heard and sung along to while watching Mazinger Z defeat enemy mecha in the opening sequence, now being performed live by Aniki in Singapore as he strode onto the stage. His very being radiated the hot-blooded emotions that we keenly felt. Aniki easily dominated the immediate area around him with his sheer stage presence, and he knew it.

Needless to say, the whole group of us went wild. We sang at the top of our voices with him, determined not to disappoint. We knew that Aniki preferred audience participation in his songs, and we happily obliged. We screamed “Z!” at the top of our voices, pumping our clenched fists in the air, paying tribute to the man who spent his life contributing to the anime song industry out of sheer passion for the genre itself. Perhaps more importantly, we were saluting the man who made our childhood happier and more colourful than it would otherwise be. Such a thing had to be done right.

The mood was as ready as it could be, and we were pumped up and eager for more. Some of us were beginning to sweat. This was emotion in action, and we had barely started. Aniki himself was revved up, pleased and in top form.

The next song was “Ore wa Great Mazinger”, the opening song of Great Mazinger, the sequel to Mazinger Z. We roared with Aniki, “DASH! DASH!”, pointing our fingers in the air in the style of Great Mazinger’s signature move, the Thunder Break, mimicking Aniki’s own moves. The same occurred with the 3rd song, which was the Combattler V opening. We chanted “V! V!” and raised our hands in V signs. Both songs were sung by us with great gusto, especially since these were some of the easiest and best Aniki songs to sing.

In hindsight, our actions were strangely instinctive and synchonized. None of us had actually been to an Ichirou Mizuki live concert, yet we knew precisely what to do and how to behave. It was something indescribable, something that bonded fans of the hot-blooded Super Robot genre together, and had the power to make two total strangers behave as though they were the closest of friends during this short time. You simply had to be there to experience it for yourself. It was precisely this quality that made Aniki’s concert so different in atmosphere as compared to May’n’s concert.

Having sang three songs, Aniki then proceeded to do a bit of audience interaction, speaking of Combattler V’s five individual component parts. Then he mentioned the word three, and I knew what was coming up. My heart soared,  it was one of the songs that I had personally hoped to hear the moment I knew of Aniki’s planned performance in Singapore. Yes, it is the first opening song of Shin Getter Robo Armageddon: “Ima ga Sono Toki da”!

The mood of the concert subtly changed the moment the first tunes of the song played out over the speakers. All around me, backs became straighter, shoulders slumped from rest suddenly squared with newfound energy, eyes blazed with anticipation. This was a militaristic song, one that would not brook any weaknesses, a song that sang of defeating the enemy and fighting on even at terrible costs. And of course, there was….

“CHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANGEE! GEEEETTEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERRRR!”

Led by Aniki hmself, I swear I’ve never shouted louder or in a more hot-blooded manner. The fans around me must have done the same, for their shout were at least as loud and as passionate as mine. This was pure hot-blood in action, and by the gods, I was in good company.

Once again, tightly clenched fists were pumped into the air, and we participated in the song. ”Ima ga Sono Toki da” was a modern Super Robot war song created in 1998, one of the most emotional in recent years, and Anison sang it with effort and emotion visible on his face. Sweat was starting to appear on his face by this time, incredible since we were in an air-conditioned environment.

The mood that Aniki created must be contagious, because the second time he shouted  ”CHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANGEE! GEEEETTEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERRRR!”, quite a number of the audience behind the barricades in the normal area were screaming along in unison, even though in all honesty the majority probably did not know what Shin Getter Robo Armageddon was. This was it; this was the anison that Aniki had spoken of in action.

What made this feat so much more significant was the fact that the vast majority of the concert attendees had probably never heard the name of Ichirou Mizuki before, much less heard his songs. In the space of 20 minutes, Aniki had managed to reach out to an audience who, four songs ago, were standing around the barriers wondering why a bunch of people were in front of the stage screaming their hearts out to him. Now they knew. Aniki had made them understand.

This experience proved the theory of good music; barricades and physical distance will never stop a good singer and a good song from touching hearts, and not knowing the origins of a song will never prevent the audience from participating in a performance. In many ways, this was the defining moment of the concert. From then on, even though we were within the barrier and the rest of the audience were without, we were one.

Singers’ high.

After “Ima ga Sono Toki da”, songs such as the opening theme of Koutetsu Jeeg, Mask Rider and Captain Harlock were sung. While some members of our group in front were familiar with these songs and sang along, I personally refrained since I did not know the song lyrics. Instead, I contented myself with clapping in tune to the songs, along with the rest of the audience, who were warmed up by now. And so the concert flowed, song to song with us singing along where we could, only interrupted with the occasional audience interactions where Aniki would crack jokes or speak of some of his experiences. Aniki was sweating freely by now, he was so emotional that he looked teary-eyed at one point of time. It could just be sweat in his eyes, but if our response to his performance was good enough to make him so touched, then I am glad that our show of appreciation for him actually made an impact in his mind.

The concert reached another high point when Aniki stepped down from stage, getting close to his audience while continuing to sing without pause. We at the front greeted the great man enthusiastically, shaking his hand where we could. For a moment, I was worried that the audience behind the barricade would not be as warm to him, but my worry was misplaced.

What happened next would forever be seared within my mind. The audience, and the cosplayers amongst them, surged forward to welcome Aniki, holding outstretched hands for him to shake. I remember seeing young cosplayers, some cosplaying as Bleach characters, some cosplaying as Code Geass characters, fervour and joy written on their faces as Aniki shook their hands. It was symbolic in a sense, seeing the cosplayers eagerly welcoming the man who sang anime songs that were older than them. It was as if the anime characters physically embodied by the cosplayers were greeting and paying respects to an elder in the industry, and that thought alone made me pleased for reasons that I myself could not fathom to this day.

With that, the concert was close to an end, though after the concert came the encore session, in which Aniki sang a song close to his heart, the ”Z no Theme”, and then resung the opening song of Mazinger Z. As a special treat, Aniki requested that we sing the 2nd verse of the Mazinger Z opening song, since he saw that we were singing along with him when he first sang the song at the start of the concert. We tried our best, though luckily Aniki cut in at the exact moment we faltered, saving us from considerable embarassment. He looked appreciative though, we probably did fairly well for a country that did not study Japanese as a main language.

Somewhere near the end of the concert, Aniki also made a speech praising the efforts of the Quis band, before suggesting that if there was a chance, he might bring down his own band next year. There was a moment of silence, as if no one in our group could believe what we just heard, before the floor exploded with loud chants of “JAM PROJECT! JAM PROJECT! JAM PROJECT!”

Aniki at the post concert autograph session.

Aniki looked stunned for a moment, perhaps surprised that so many knew of JAM Project, before smiling and nodding. There we have it. The prospect of JAM Project coming to Singapore, led by Aniki. Better start saving up now, folks.

With that, Aniki thanked us one last time, and exited the stage, with us chanting “ANIKI! ANIKI! ANIKI!” all the way, until the emcee took over. It was at this point that I realized I was sweating; a look around me revealed that pretty much everyone I could see were sweating too. And the scary part was that I totally did not feel the sweat till now, so involved I was in the concert.

Looking back, it had been an incredible night, a magical night even. And like all good experiences, this one would stay in my memory for a long time, as long as possible. Even now, my mind still flashes with images from the concert from time to time, and pride fills my heart that Aniki had personally visited our small island with such a great performance for us.

Aniki on stage striking his signature “Z!” pose, dressed in his red trechcoat and his black shirt and pants.

The whole lot of us with our fists in the air, shouting in return.

The hall resonating with the voices of the entire audience, as Aniki made his round, shaking the outstretched hands while singing without missing a beat.

Yes, a night to remember indeed. Let us hope that Aniki does bring JAM Project to Singapore next year. Hope for it, folks, hope very hard for it.

This is Julius Firefocht, signing off!