In collaboration with TIFF (Tokyo International Film Festival), Japan Anime Music Lab. presented a live music concert “JAPAN ANIME MUSIC SHOWCASE 2018” at the Roppongi Hills Arena in Tokyo on the 28th of October 2018. JAM Project, BACK-ON, KiRaRe and halca, some of the brightest stars and most promising newcomers from the anime music world, had come together to showcase the anisong culture to the fans and international professionals.
 

The evening began with BACK-ON, a group formed by TEEDA (MC) and KENJI03 (Vo/Gt,), childhood friends from Adachi ward in Tokyo. The musicians opened with the opening theme song to FAIRY TAIL, “STRIKE BACK”. TEEDA fueled the audiences and they got more excited. The song to GUNDAM BUILD FIGHTERS TRY,“CERULEAN” followed.
 

TEEDA then quickly introduced themselves and explained their next song; the opening song of GUNDAM BUILD FIGHTERS,“NIBUNNOICHI”.“This is a song that contains a message that we can overcome any difficulties if we are together.”KENJI03 then asked the audiences sing together, and the audience answered with their chorus.

KENJI03 mentioned he will sing a ballad song; the ending theme song to Eyeshield 21, Flower, with gratitude for the audiences and event staffs. Following two songs were from same video game series, theme song to Tales of the World Radiant Mythology 3, “With You”, andTales of the World Radiant Mythology 2,“Flyaway”.Unlike the previous song, these songs were more upbeat. It made the audience excited again and clap their hands. They then finished off their set with their major debut song, the opening theme song to Air Gear, “Chain”. KENJI03 said “Since I am going abroad with anisongs as a trigger, I am truly delighted to be able to play with the event like this”.



halca was then called on the stage. halca was the runner-up of the first “Utakatsu! Audition”, an audition specialized in vocaloid/anisong from. She made her major debut on May, 2018. “I just made a debut. I am very happy to be able to appear in this event.” she said.
 

Her first song for the night washer major debut song, the ending theme of Otaku ni Koi wa Muzukashii, “Kimi no Tonari”. To coincide with her album’s release on 3 days following the event, she also performed tracks of the new released album, “Uso ja nai yo”and“HORiZON”. During each song, the audiences made swings together and send cheers to her. “I believe that most of you are seeing me for the first time - thank you so much for your great reactions! I’m gonna try hard so that I can sing in more places!” she said, expressing her appreciation to the crowd. Her set finished with the ending theme ofAce Attorney Season 2, “Starting Blue” which is a title track of new album.

After the stage, she confessed that she was quite nervous, but thanks to the audiences, she enjoyed singing a lot. Also, she talked about how excited about her first ever scheduled concert abroad in November.



KiRaRe showed up on the stage next. KiRaRe is a group of six people who jumped out of the multimedia idol project "Re: Stage!" (*The project expands to novel, manga, mobile rhythm game and unit single). The group is formed by Mana Shikimiya (CV:Amane Makino), Sayu Tsukisaki (CV: Akari Kitō), Mizuha Ichikishima (CV: Masumi Tazawa), Kae Hiiragi (CV: Meemu Tachibana), Kasumi Honjō (CV: Yuka Iwahashi)and Mii Hasegawa (CV: Yuki Sorane).
 

Their first song on the night was “Sensei Sensation”.Several idol groups have been produced from the Re: stage, especially KiRaRe is incorporating formations into the dance. During their performance, multicolored glo-sticks were shook by the audiences with passions. "I am truly happy to sing at this event with great artists. Let's have more excitement from now on!" and then they started to singthe song,“Bouken Traveler”.

They mentioned about how beautiful the illumination of glo-sticks are, and gave self introduction later. During the self introduction, the crowd changed the colour of glo-sticks for each member's symbol colour. For the end of the set, they performed“367Days”.

After the stage, an anime series titled “Re:Stage! Dream Days♪” will premiere in 2019 was announced, and they said “dreams come true!”.  About the live concert abroad, they haven’t do yet, but they really have an interested in it, so they shouted “We wanna do the concert in abroad, please!” to the professionals.



JAM Project was the last act of the show. Powerful singers teamed up for the project that in order to regain the anisongs which are full of original powerful spirits in the animation that continues to progress. Currently, there are five regular members; Hironobu Kageyama, Masaaki Endoh, Hiroshi Kitadani, Masami Okui and Yoshiki Fukuyama.
 

They started their set withvideo gameSuper Robot Wars V theme song, "THE EXCEEDER". Full of the red stage lights and chemical lights bloomed. They brought huge energy to the stage from the first song, and the crowd went wild. The song to the opening theme of TV DramaYuusha Yoshihiko to Michibikareshi Shichinin, “The Brave”followed the song. Kageyama welcomed the audiences with saying “It’s been a while! We wanted to see you!”

At this time, they played not only their group songs, but also solo songs; the opening theme of ONE PIECE, “We Are!”by Hiroshi Kitadani, the theme song of Bakuryuu Sentai Abaranger, “Bakuryuu Sentai Abaranger”by Masaaki Endoh, the opening song of Shoujo Kakumei Utena, “Rondo-revolution”by Okui Masami, the opening song of Buso Renkin,“Makka na Chikai”by Yoshiki Fukuyama, and the first opening theme song of the anime series Dragon Ball Z, “CHA-LA HEAD-CHA-LA”by Hironobu Kageyama.

The oldest song of the bunch was CHA-LA HEAD-CHA-LA, which was released in 1989. So Kageyama asked how many audiences were born after the song was released, and then over the half of people raised their hand. Even though, the song had the crowd singing along loudly.

They announced that in January 2019, the concerts will be perform about a hundred songs in two days. They also talked about overseas activities, and listed the world tour of 2008 to the most memorable one. At that time, they made one song with the desire to connect the world with the Anisong culture. “Let’s sing acappella!”, and the song,"HERO"started. The slow ballad made the crowd calm.

Then the upbeat song came back to the stage; the opening of One Punch Man, "THE HERO!! Ikareru Kobushini Hiwo Tsukero". And the group wrapped up the night with video gameSuper Robot Wars αtheme song, “SKILL”, which is the most favourite song selected by fan voting. The song generated a large amount of energy in the venue, and that had the entire audience jumping and singing along. The night ended in an explosion of excitement.


-Setlist-

1. STRIKE BACK (BACK-ON)
2. CERULEAN (BACK-ON)
3. NIBUNNOICHI (BACK-ON)
4. Flower　(BACK-ON)
5. with you　(BACK-ON)
6. Flyaway　(BACK-ON)
7. Chain　(BACK-ON)

8. Kimi no Tonari　(halca)
9. Uso ja nai yo　(halca)
10. HORiZON　(halca)
11. Starting Blue　(halca)

12. Sensei Sensation　(KiRaRe)
13. Bouken Traveler　(KiRaRe)
14. 367Days　(KiRaRe)

15. THE EXCEEDER　(JAM Project)
16. The Brave　(JAM Project)
17. We Are!　(Hiroshi Kitadani)
18. Bakuryuu Sentai Abaranger　(Masaaki Endoh)
19. Rondo-revolution　(Masami Okui)
20. Makka na Chikai　(Yoshiki Fukuyama)
21. CHA-LA HEAD-CHA-LA　(Hironobu Kageyama)
22. HERO　(JAM Project)
23. THE HERO!! Ikareru Kobushini Hiwo Tsukero　(JAM Project)
24. SKILL　(JAM Project)
 

Written by Izumi Sakamoto