Thanks to all the fans from Japan, Malaysia and Singapore for gattai-ing our powers together to make this event a memorable one, both for us and Minorin.

Before I start, I would first like to thank our dear fans from Japan.  For actually making those nice fan-made flags for everyone at the concert. To the joint effort of fans from Malaysia and Singapore for distributing the blue and red light-sticks. And of course, the sporting attitude by the other fans out there to join us in the light-stick calls throughout the whole concert.

I shall do a write-up of the songs that I liked from what Minorin sang today, while Julius will give his impressions of the concert and Minorin as a whole. But before we begin, we have a message for our Japanese friends:

お疲れ様、みんな！実里んのライブは最強！！！　DaiConに参加しているみなさんはありがとう！

Here’s the list of songs that were performed today:

1. Contact
2. Shinji no Tabi
3. Fragment – Shooting Star of the Origin
4. Yuki, Muon, Madoe ni te
5. Junpaku Sanctuary
6. Kimi ga Kureta Ano Hi
7. Aoi Kotou
8. Paradise Lost
9. Tomorrow’s Chance
10. Prism in the Name of Hope
11. everlasting…

Encore:

1. voyager train
2. Ameagari no Hana yo Sake
3. Contact 13

Contact & Shinji no Tabi

As expected for the opening song, everyone’s mood was built up slowly but strongly by Contact and when Shinji no Tabi kicked in, it was time to have fun. The fans around me, attending the concert for the first time and having no idea what a light-stick call was all about, soon go up to their feets, jumping, getting in sync with one another and singing along with Minorin. It’s still one of my favourite songs as I recall the first time when I came across the PV.

Fragment – Shooting Star of the Origin

I was very surprised to hear this song actually. It’s the OP from an old PS2 game titled 「水夏 A.S+」 or “Suika A.S+” during 2007. The origin of the game actually dates back to 2001, titled 「水夏」 or “Suika”.

Yuki, Muon, Madoe ni te

One of the more popular songs in terms of character album.  From her Nagato Yuki Character Album.  Snow, Silence, By the Window. Another of my favourite songs, and she did an awesome job. Why? Let’s just say, she replaced 「信じて」 (Shinjite) to 「大好き」 (Daisuki). =D

Junpaku Sanctuary

The only part of the concert wher e the white light-sticks came into play. The overall look of the crowd with their white light-sticks was  just beautiful. It’s something one has to be there to see it to fully appreciate it.

Kimi ga Kureta Ano Hi

The last song from the Contact album and it concluded very well before she started off when the remaining songs that are from the Parade album.

Paradise Lost

Of course, one of the more popular songs from the Parade album and it where the red light-sticks really came into play and it was terrific.

Tomorrow’s Chance

It’s actually her very first time performing live for this particular song and yes, those right there at Daicon 2009 was able to enjoy this performance of hers, with style~ The fan interaction with her and the fans was great.

Contact 13

The very last song that she sang for her encore and still one of my favourite song for an encore. =D

Overall the event was just terrific, with some slight problems with the sound system for the music and lighting. But that aside, Minorin’s performance was just perfect. Too perfect.

Next up will be Julius, let us see what he has to say.

~~~~~

Julius_Firefocht
If the truth had to be told, I was never much of a Chihara Minori fan. Nana-chan’s songs dominated my playlists ever since I first heard Innocent Starter, JAM Project’s new songs tend to get stuck in my head and MP3 player for a while, and recently I found myself listening to K-On songs by Mio. Minorin’s songs would only appear on my speakers on random shuffling. For the longest time, I have thought of Minorin as “Nagato Yuki’s seiyuu” and nothing else, never giving myself a true chance to recognize Minorin’s musical talents.

Looking back, I believe I have made a bad mistake. Fast-forward back to the present…

My initial purpose for visiting Daicon was for the sake of being present at the first event where a seiyuu-singer visited the South-East Asia region, as well as listening to Minorin’s live performance for the first time. I have to admit that at times during the event, I would wonder if it was worth travelling to Malaysia for Minorin, especially since I considered myself a mere appreciator rather than a true fan. I am happy to report that my concerns were misplaced, as Minorin put up an absolutely brilliant performance that impressed me with her presence, charisma and beautiful singing voice. No longer is she “Nagato Yuki’s seiyuu”; now I know her as Chihara Minori, the seiyuu-singer who carved out her own musical career from the shadows of Suzumiya Haruhi.

At this point of time, I must make another admission. I only received a single night of crash course in Minorin’s songs from Bj0rn and Sentinel011 in our hotel room before attending the concert, which meant that I could only personally relate to “Yuki, Muon, Madoe ni te” since that was the only Yuki song that Minorin sang. I was basically going into the concert blind, so to say. And yet I too was swept up in the moment and waving my lightstick to her songs before I knew it. That is the mark of a great performer, the ability to carry a crowd and inspire a person into enjoying the music that he or she is singing or creating. Minorin certainly has that quality… something about her must be right for her Japanese fans to travel all the way to Malaysia just for her performance, yes?

To sum up this short write-up, I will simply state this. Once I get home, I will start putting more of Minorin’s songs into my playlists, load more of Minorin’s songs into my MP3 player, and watch more of her live performance DVDs. I will do these things, for I am no longer an appreciator, but a newly created fan. Minorin’s voice and music has made me so, but the final deciding factor has to be the “Daisuki” that she said at the end of  “Yuki, Muon, Madoe ni te”. I tell you, that single word uttered by her was no joke, as her fans would attest. Nor did I know it felt so satisfying to have Minami Chiaki call me a “baka-yarou”. XD

It’s a good thing, I suppose. Now I can get more enjoyment out of any duet that Nana and Minorin might have in the future.

This is Julius Firefocht, signing off.

~~~~~

And that’s about it for the coverage of Minorin’s concert. All that’s left now would be an image post compiling all the good pictures that we have taken. We will settle that once we get back to Singapore since we need to categorize and sort through the pictures. Please look forward to it!

Dear KKnM cosplayers posing with the Moe Moe Jyanken prize.

It’s more or less the same thing as the first day, but of course, we’re anticipating the concert performance by Chihara Minori. Oh yeah, we took part in KKnM’s Moe Moe Jyanken, with Julius making it into the finals. Sadly, he lost to a loli. XD Anyways, congrats to the person who won the Saber pillow cover. We might be able to get a video footage of it later on. Hopefully.

That aside, to be honest, what has to be covered has been covered in Day 1 already. But do look forward to the post on the concert later. =D

“Chihara…”
“Minori…”
“Chihara”
“Minori”
“CHIHARA”
“MINORI”
“MINORIN!”
“MINORIN!!!”
“M I N O R I N ! ! !”
And it all begins.

Minori Chihara, making her first appearance here in Malaysia, KL, Daicon 2009, Day 1. Walking down the isle towards the stage, the fans all stood up, and chanted her name until she reached the sofa.

Silence and then…

「。。。　今日は！　茅原実里です！」

Everyone went crazy and a short photo-taking session began. The Q&A happened right after that.

Q: What’s the best and worst thing about performing out of Japan?
A: The best thing about it is to be able to bring smiles to my fans out there and to bring then smiles. As for the bad thing, I guess it’s the lack of sleep that I get due to the tight schedules that I have.

Q: After this event, do you intend to come back to Malaysia again?
A: I would love to if there’s another event! It’s my first time here in Malaysia and I’ve tried the nice foods and had lots of fun while I’m here. I would even come back here for my own private holiday.

Q: What’s the hardest role for you up to date and would you care to tell us why?
A: It’s probably Nagato Yuki from Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu. It’s because I usually do roles of happy and out-going characters but as for Nagato Yuki, she’s a moodless character, which was something I rarely do and it was rather hard for me. And during that time, I’ll stay back after work just to practice even if the dialogues is only a few words. I’ll do my best and work hard!

Q: Which role do you think represents you the most?
A: Shirakawa Nanaka from D.C II! She’s lively, loves singing, hardest and is always being herself.

Q: Any role models that you look up to?
A: In the seiyuu aspect, it’ll be Hisakawa Aya. During my debut as Natsume Aya, she took good care of me and I really look up to her. She’s like an elder sister to me. In the singers aspect, it’s Yutaka Ozaki because he can express himself very well.

Q: What do you think about the food here?
A: I love the curry here. And sambal udang (sambal prawns)!

Q: How did you start off being a seiyuu?
A: I started off by enrolling in a music school, learning singing. During my time there, I got recommended to take up seiyuu roles due to my character and thus I went to a seiyuu school. After working hard, it paid off and I eventually debuted in Tenjou Tenge just like that! And it all began from there.

Q: What’s your most funny/interesting moments as a seiyuu?
A: During one of the recording session as Nagato Yuki with Tomokazu Sugita. We were doing our recording when suddenly, he added his own dialogue out of nowhere and from there, we just continued and had lots of fun as we played along with each other.

We all then had our autograph sessions. I had a nice time havin a short chat with her as she signed onto the Contact Silver Edition CD that I got (Love the addition of the hearts too! xD).  Hats off to one of the fans out there who bought her a Baju Kurung too. Perhaps we can see her blog about it.

After everyone was done getting the autographs, she said her final piece.

「マレーシアは最強！このバカ野郎！！！」

Finally got out of bed, having less had 6 hours of sleep after spending the whole night talking and have random discussions. What’s there in store for us at Daicon? We’re not sure, but at least we’ve met up with some people already.

Feel free to come up to us to say hi and chat with us too since I think that we’ll be loitering around the whole day today and probably helping out at some booth after we’re done exploring.

Hotspots that you might spot us? I guess it’s probably the KKnM and WS booth there. Julius might be at the tabletop game area too, being the taletop gamer that he is. I did bring a Fate/Stay Night starter deck to try out the game, so if you’re into WS too, do feel free to approach me. Besides that, I guess I’ll lurk around for Minorin.

We’re finally reached our destination and are now settling down in the room. Let’s see what our dear bloggers have to say.

bj0rN:

And we’re finally settled down at the hotel, making ourselves at home and slacking for the night while watching naked women on the cable TV here. To be honest, I’m very impressed with the hotel. It’s far beyond my expectations actually. I guess it’s crash course lessons for Julius later tonight on our dear Minorin conducted by sentinel011 and me. XD

Julius:

Yeah, I’m looking forward to the cramming session on Minorin’s songs. Anyways, Traders’ Hotel really is quite impressive, as expected of a 5-star hotel. The receptionist is very cute too! We were also wondering if we should try the spa facilities at the top floor of the hotel.

And yeah, Bj0rn was not joking about the naked women.

Friend of mine asked for some shouting space for his plan for Minorin’s concert coming up in less than three weeks.

Most of us I am sure are familiar with light stick calls, seen at anison concerts. If not, look up for mai moe moe waifu’s Eternal Blaze at Live Fighter Red Side on youtube. For Daicon, some guys are coming together to get lightsticks for the people in the AWSM section of the seating area. For those interested in chipping in for this plan, you can contact the chap at evenstar{underscore]280 [at}hotmail<dot>com. For those who really love her and want to show your support for her, please do contribute to this plan. Lightstick calls mean a lot to an artist.

Original blog post here.

Got this in the mail a few days back.

It’s the moment you Minorin fans have been waiting for! Online ticketing preorders for the AWSM(RM 250) and ELITE(RM 150) tickets are now open on http://www.daiconnews.com.

Just go to http://www.daiconnews.com/cm_ticketing.php, grab our Preorder Form and read the instructions there. Fill it up and send it back to us at ticketing@daiconnews.com and we will process your orders ASAP!

For further enquiries,please email info@daiconnews.com with your questions.