NKDS

Proper screenshots on the way. Make do with these for now.

Dodgethis and me had initially wanted to do a single post containing both our articles, then we realized the whole post would become too long and unwieldy. So we opted for two separate posts instead. Dodgethis has covered the Blue Side in detail, and I will give my personal impressions of Live Fighter as a whole.

Live Fighter in a word? Beautiful.

This is a Nana concert as you have never seen before. The visual quality is so crisp and sharp that you can see details that you thought were impossible for video equipment to capture. Combine that with 5.1 surround sound, and DVDs are thus forever consigned to the dustbin of history. Personally, I think the record companies should release all future anison concert recordings in Blu-Ray. Its either that or really, they might as well not bother releasing the concerts at all.

That may sound extreme, but once you have watched and heard the Live Fighter Blu-Ray for yourself, you will never look back. Never.

So we have established that the visual and sound quality are top notch, but what about the concert itself?

To start with, the Cherry Boys performed equally well on both days, providing consistent musical quality for Nana to work on. They are good, no doubt about that. Good enough that Nana would probably never have to worry about having a good band backing her up. I was especially impressed with their performance for Orchestral Fantasia on both days. The saxophone work was truly something to behold. 

Nana herself looked absolutely gorgeous on both days of the concert. Watch out for the costumes she wore for Dancing in the velvet moon and Cosmic Love. They nearly sent me into 7th Heaven(heh). And her legs, oh sweet Feito, don’t get me started on her legs. I must commend Nana’s costume designer for successfully practicing the precise art of showing off Nana’s strengths while masterfully hiding her weaknesses. The end effect simply took my breath away, especially at certain camera angles. I swear the cameraman was trying to kill all male Nana fans by giving them heart attacks.

Not too long ago I would have been able to honestly say that I liked Nana only for her singing and her voice, but happily, I can no longer make the same claim now.

With the common factors between both days accounted for, I shall now divide the actual review into two parts, one for Blue Side and one for Red Side. Let us begin with the Blue Side, and rightfully so since it is the first day of the concert.

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Official Blue Side promo.

Blue Side

The first day seemed to focus more on Nana’s older songs, featuring works such as Power Gate, Super Generation and Sabaku no Umi. Truth be told, I have mixed feelings for Blue Side. To start with, it has Meikyuu Butterfly, one of the songs that made Blue Side worthwhile for me. You cannot know how I felt as I watched Nana sing Meikyuu Butterfly while she performed the same dance steps and poses that Hoshina Utau used in episode 13 of Shugo Chara.

In fact, an image of Utau superimposed itself over Nana for a single moment when the chorus started, and I simply went nuts, claiming I saw Utau on screen. I know it was my mind’s eye playing crazy tricks on me since Nana’s performance was that incredible, but I could not help it. Utau looked so real for that split second that it was not funny. Perhaps it had something to do with the crazy resolution(1920×1080) that we were viewing the concert at, but damn…

We repeated Meikyuu Butterfly for about five or six times after we finished Blue Side. It was that awesome.

The other songs that caught my attention are Sabaku no Umi, deep sea, Power Gate and Super Generation. Both Sabaku no Umi and deep sea were performed well enough to sound better than the CD itself, while Power Gate and Super Generation relied upon Nana’s sheer power and stamina to make an impression upon me. Of course, it definitely helped that those two remained some of Nana’s most well-known and well-loved songs. Personally, Blue Side’s version of deep sea is already set to replace my current MP3 version once I figure out a way to rip the audio.

The rest of the concert sounded good too, with Nana’s typical prowess at live events and improved dancing skills making Blue Side at least the equal of any previous performances. However, it must be said that Nana herself did not seem to have the enthusiasm to make some of the songs shine as brightly as they should. A good example would be her performance of Pray.

Pray is a powerful song, and the last time I saw Nana pull it off was in last year’s Live Formula DVD, where she practically floored me with her rendition of it. Unfortunately, the song did not sound as powerful as it should in Blue Side, without the level of conviction she is capable of mustering. I was told by Dodgethis that Nana’s performance of the same song in this year’s Animelo 08 sounded better than what she did for Live Fighter Blue Side, so I am not the only one who thinks this way.

There could be a reason for Nana’s slight lack of drive. As some of you might be aware, a terrorist threat was made against her and her fans, with the culprit threatening to repeat the Akiba knife/truck massacre at Live Fighter. That threat was made but a short period before the concert, predictably causing panic and a tightening of security around Nana herself. Of course, the culprit was swiftly arrested, but the incident shook Nana enough for her to talk about it during the encore’s MC session. I shall not spoil the MC session for you, but suffice to say that she was extremely emotional during her speech. Perhaps it was this mental baggage that weighed her down for the duration of the entire Blue Side concert, since her performance of New Sensation after the MC session was as good as it could be. To me, she certainly looked as if she had a great load taken off her mind.

Still, make no mistake. Blue Side is not sub-standard in any way. It was simply a little subdued compared to the usual Nana fare, with good reason. When considered as a concert by itself, Blue Side does have several of Nana’s older and more classic songs to offer, and is an interesting trip down memory lane for some of her older fans. Those songs, when combined with the memorable performance of Meikyuu Butterfly, were what made Blue Side stand out in my mind when compared to Nana’s past events.

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Official Red Side promo.

Red Side

The second day has Nana at her finest, in tip-top condition with no holds barred and out to give the best performance she could. She was positively radiant and exuding energy throughout the entire concert, very different from the more sombre mood of Blue Side. This is the Nana we know and love, with an additional helping of spice and nice red-hued effects.

Let us begin with her dancing. Nana’s dance steps in Blue Side were already superior to those that she exhibited in Live Formula, yet her moves in Red Side were actually better than those that she demostrated in Blue Side. Yes, you read that right and I kid you not. Red Side has Nana dancing her best in any of the concerts that I have seen so far. I could scarcely convince myself until I saw her opening dance movements in Red Side’s Dancing in the velvet moon. That was the moment I became certain that my judgement was not being clouded by hope.

How she improved in the space of a single day, I have no idea. What I can confirm is that her dance steps and movements in Red Side were surer, more confident, and had more class than anything I have seen from her. I must say if this is the fruit of her labour, then all the time she spent learning the dance steps to her songs has paid off handsomely indeed. 

Next up would be Nana’s singing voice. Gone was the slight hesitance that plagued some of the songs in Blue Side; Nana was back for round 2 and practically blazing with passion. Nearly every single song in Red Side was performed flawlessly, perfectly and with certainty, from the first song to the very last. Of particular note are Dancing in the velvet moon, Faith, Hime Murasaki, You have a dream, Akai Sweet Pea, Massive Wonders, Brave Phoenix, What Cheer? and Eternal Blaze. These are merely my personal preferences though, because I can assure you that every song in Red Side was performed to the highest standards, with the song selection having something to offer everyone.  

That said, several songs still deserve a special mention. Hime Murasaki for starters… Nana gave me goosebumps when I heard her sing it in Red Side. It was so good that I believe it was the best live version of the song to date, beating out even the version that she sang for one of the past Animelo Lives and certainly sounding more impressive than the original CD version. Brave Phoenix was not far behind, since it was the first time in a long while that Nana sang it live. When she belted out the song, she sang it with an aggressive touch that I really appreciated, causing me to unconsciously sing along with her. Dancing in the velvet moon was another must-see, with Nana pulling off impressive dance moves while singing without missing a single beat. Trust me, you have never seen her like this in any of her previous concerts. Truly an eye-opener even for older fans.

Even the special effects looked most impressive and spectacular. Flame effects were liberally used throughout the concert, which when combined with the red lighting, lent a fiery atmosphere to the performances. Blue Side was sedate compared to this; if Blue Side was the voice of measured reason, then Red Side was the voice of unbridled passion. The audience probably felt the same way. I thought they sounded more hyper in Red Side as compared to Blue Side.  

With the success of Live Fighter and Red Side in particular, I can safely say that the days of Nana being a “mere” singer-seiyuu is over. She has now become a full-spectrum live event performer capable of singing and dancing with equal proficiency, to present the best performance that an audience could possibly receive. While such an improvement can be considered a standard evolution of a singer’s repertoire of skills, Nana is special because not only is she a singer, she is a successful seiyuu. All hail Nana.
    
So, my conclusion of Live Fighter. If you can, get the Blu-ray version. Not only does it come with both Blue Side and Red Side, it looks and sounds so good that you will be blown away when you experience it for yourself. If you have to get the DVD version, please by all means get both. However, if you have enough resources for a single day of the concert, I cannot in good conscience recommend Blue Side over Red Side. Blue Side may be good, but Red Side… well, it can best be described as epic. In fact, Red Side is perhaps the best and the most well-rounded Nana live concert ever, beating out even Live Formula and any Animelo performances released on DVD to date.

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Let me end the review with some thoughts about Nana-chan. When I first watched Nana in one of her earlier live performances, she was singing Innocent Starter and I was already a fan of the Nanoha series. I remember her then, she had powerful vocals and excellent live singing skills for a seiyuu, but she was largely static on the stage, impressing with her voice rather than any complicated dance steps or stage set-ups. Her looks then, while far from unpleasant, was plain at worst and cute at best.

Fast forward to the present, and I could not help but feel a sense of awe as I gazed upon her on stage, watching her sing with an even greater ability than before, and moving with a grace and confidence that I could never envision her having when I first saw her. Her looks has improved in step with her live skills; a beautiful lady now stood on the stage, instantly reminding me of how caterpillars changed into colourful butterflies. That was perhaps appropriate, considering that the thought struck me while I was watching Blue Side’s Meikyuu Butterfly.

I will continue to support Nana Mizuki. Not just because of her role as the voice of my favourite anime character ever, nor just because she sings and performs well enough to rival just about any mainstream J-pop singer. I will continue to support her because of her drive to improve and evolve, to push herself to a higher level instead of giving in to the temptation of stagnation. That is a quality worth emulating, and makes Nana into an idol worthy of respect not just because of her looks or her abilities, but because of her constant efforts to better herself. In view of what she has achieved in Live Fighter as a whole, I eagerly await what she has planned for next January’s Live Fever. It is just too bad that we have to twiddle our thumbs till the Blu-Ray release, though I have faith that it will be worth it.

This is Julius Firefocht, signing off.

Edit: My thanks to Inakiken and Houkoholic for pointing out a couple of inaccuracies. My memory must be getting fuzzled these days.