Category Archives: Japanese Music

Anime Los Angeles 2020 |Special Musical Guests

January 21, 2020Anime, Anime Concerts, Cons, Events, Japanese Music, LADYBABY, Photography, TKN Exclusive, Visual KeiALA 2020, Anime Los Angeles, Anime Los Angeles 2020, BRATS, Brats (Japanese band), FEMM, Ladybaby, LadyBeard, music, Rei Kuromiya, Rie KanekoKrystal Kitsune

Anime Los Angeles 2020 kicked off with the first-ever, U.S. performance of Japanese rock band, BRATS with an opening act by female rap duo, FEMM.

LuLa (FEMM) performing at Anime Los Angeles 2020

BRATS performing at Anime Los Angeles 2020, their first performance in the U.S.

BRATS is a Japanese all-female rock band formed in 2011 by sisters Rei and Aya Kuromiya. In 2018, they released their studio album, BRATS which included the theme songs from the anime series To Be Hero and the Japanese film Slavemen.

BRATS performed to an enthusiastic crowd, performing hit singles such as ‘Misery’, ‘Juuyon Sai Byou’, ‘Come to See You’ and their newest single ‘Excuser’, which was digitally released on day one of Anime Los Angeles 2020.

Rei Kuromiya performing at Anime Los Angeles 2020

Rei Kuromiya during LADYBABY concert in Los Angeles in 2015

Vocalist Rei Kuromiya, is also a former member of Kawaii Metal band, LADYBABY which was formed by Austrian Wearstler, Ladybeard and gravure idol Rie Kaneko.

In 2015, Rei performed collectively as LADYBABY at Los Angeles’s most popular anime shop, Anime Jungle. Rei left the band in November of 2017.

Prior to their U.S. debut, BRATS had their first live concert appearance outside of Japan at “Ambitious Girls Series 1” in Seoul, South Korea, alongside idol-metal group Broken By The Scream on January 20, 2019. Since then, they’ve been touring within Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan.

Vocals – Rei Kuromiya

Guitarist – Hinako

Bass – Aya Kuromiya

Special musical guest performances also included an opening act from Japanese electronic, rap duo, FEMM. The band consists of RiRi and LuLa and they described themselves as ‘live mannequins’, in fact, FEMM stands for, Far East Mention Mannequins.

JPOPSUMMIT15_KevinFrates-470 — FEMM at SOU SOU booth, J-POP SUMMIT 2015 | Photo Credit: **Hirominy**

In 2014, FEMM released their critically acclaimed, hit single “Fxxk Boyz Get Money”.

Later that year they released their debut studio album, Femm-Isation. Since then, FEMM has released several EPs and singles.

Their newest studio album, 80’s/90’s J-Pop Revival was released in 2017 in both audio CD and cassette. FEMM spends their time touring in Japan and overseas.

We anxiously anticipate Anime Los Angeles’ musical guests for 2021.

BRATS Anime Los Angeles 2020 performance gallery

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AniFest 2019

April 13, 2019Anime, Concerts, Cons, Cosplay, Events, Giveaways, Japanese Music, Los Angeles, PhotographyAniFest, anifest 2019, Anime, anime con, anime convention, Anime Festival, Astolfo, Chef Masaharu Morimoto, Cosplay, Cosplay Photography, Fate/Stay Night, Idols, Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto, Photography, Roli Angeles, Ruiriupanda, Sanyo Foods, Sapporo Ichiban, Stephanie Yanez, VampyBitMeKrystal Kitsune

The annual anime festival kicked off at the Cultural Arts Center in Torrance, California on Saturday, March 23rd, 2019

With the success of last year’s event, it’s no surprise that AniFest returned with a bang! With not only more attendees but also with more guests and performing acts!

Cosplay guests included D-Piddy, Ruiriupanda, VampyBitMe, Rinmieru, Paprika Mari and yours truly, to name a few.

Anifest had over 10+ performers including the Taiko Collegiate, Stephanie Yanez x Plasmic, Voia, Manatsu Project & Candy Bomber.

One of many performances were the Röli Angels, an idol group from Japan. They performed during Anifest’s very own, Arcane Maid Cafe.

The Roli Angeles performing the hit-song, A Cruel Angel’s Thesis:

During the festival, we stopped by Sanyo Foods’ Sapporo Ichiban booth, where representatives gave FREE ramen samples by Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto to all attendees.

~~Sapporo Ichiban will be uploading all the photos they took with cosplayers during AniFest, keep your eye out for their album here.~~ Sapporo Ichiban has now uploaded their AniFest photos, you can view them here. For deilcous ramen, visit their online store here.

Before I leave you with our wonderful AniFest photo gallery below, I’d like to mention the winner of our AniFest ticket giveaway, Romy! Hope you enjoyed your time at AniFest! Missed out? There’s always next year, that’s right, AniFest returns for another fantastic year in 2020, See you there!

Photo Gallery

Special thank to:

Beari King, Drew and the rest of the AniFest team for making this festival extraordinary!

Let’s go to AniFest 2019!

March 6, 2019Anime, Anime Concerts, Art, Autographs, Concerts, Cosplay, Events, Giveaways, Japanese Music, Los Angeles, Manga, Movies, PhotographyAniFest, anifest 2019, Anime, anime con, anime convention, Anime Movie Premiere, anime movies, Anime Theme, キーング X KING, Cosplay, cosplayer, cosplayers, D-Piddy, Los Angeles, Stephanie Yanez, Torrance, Torrance California, Trinity Seven, Trinity Seven 2, Tune in Tokyo, VampyBitMeKrystal Kitsune

What is AniFest?

AniFest is a yearly anime convention and festival dedicated to celebrating the arts and culture of Japanese animation. Cosplayers, vendors, partners, sponsors, performers, and event producers all come together in one day to bring you the best that an anime convention has to offer, but without the high price!

Why Should I attend?

Aside from special guests appearances by VampyBitMe, D-Piddy, キーング X KING!, and yours truly, AniFest will also feature musical performances by Stephanie Yanez, Tune in Tokyo, Phoebe Chan & Arcane Maid Cafe Idols. There’ll be many anime and fashion vendors, entertainment and photo ops during the event! As an added bonus, AniFest will be in partnership with Avex Pictures of Japan to host the very first U.S. screening of Trinity Seven 2*!

There’ll plenty of activities to part take during this 8-hour event such as Anisong Dance Festival Event, AniFest Cosplay Showcase, Itasha Anime Car Showcase, Pine Wind Japanese Garden Experience & more. (See their official schedule here for more information). All this and more at AniFest! Held at the Torrence Cultural Arts Center in Torrence, CA on March 23rd 2019, in just 16 days!

More information on their official website!

‘I Want to go now!’

Tickets are now on sale so grab them before they’re gone!

…OR you can try your luck here! We are proud to announce that we are working alongside AniFest to bring you this special giveaway**, so enter for your chance to win a (1) ticket to AniFest 2019!

**DEADLINE: MARCH 20TH at 11:59PM [PST]**

*Sperate ticket required for this event

**Only one winner will be selected

Miku Expo 2018

July 10, 2018Anime, Anime Concerts, Concerts, Cosplay, Events, Japanese Music, Los Angeles, Photographyanime expo, anime expo 2018, AnimeExpo2018, AX 2018, Crypton Future Media, FYE, Hatsune Miku, MIKU, Miku Expo, Miku Expo 2018, Miku Hatsune, MikuEXpo2018Krystal Kitsune

MIKU EXPO RETURN TO LOS ANGELES!

Miku’s last LA appearance was during Miku Expo 2016, now she’s back again with Miku Expo 2018. This year’s theme: “Can’t Make A Song!!” by beat_shobon.

As you read this, Miku Expo is still on going with tours left in New York, NY & Mexico City alongside Miku’s first european concerts beginning on December 1st in Paris, France, followed by, Cologne, Germany & London, United Kingdom.

If you’re interested in attending any of these shows, click here for showtimes:
Miku Expo 2018 (USA&Mexico)/Miku Expo 2018(Europe)

Miku Expo 2018 (excluding San Jose/Austin) song list:

F.Y.E. Let’s Paint Miku Event

Following the concert in Los Angeles, electronics store. FYE (For Your Entertainment) in collaboration with Crypton Future Media INC organized an in-store event where Hatsune Miku fans were to purchase a blank Miku figurine and participated in various artistic activities such as, figure painting, coloring and Japanese traditional Chigiri-e (Art made with coloured paper that is torn to create images, and may resemble a water colour paintings.)

Once the figure was painted, it was then filmed for an upcoming video alongside the colouring sheets & Chigiri-e which were kept by Crypton Future Media INC for said upcoming video.

Here’s our Miku Expo 2018 video:

Author’s Note:

Thanks for reading my post, due to time restrictions, I couldn’t take as many photos as I wanted to before the concert began in LA. I do hope you enjoyed our video. Be on the lookout for our Anime Expo 2018 post, coming soon!

Ronin-Expo 2018

June 19, 2018Anime, Art, Cons, Cosplay, Events, Japanese Music, Japanese Stuff, Little Tokyo, Los Angeles, Manga, Photography, Voice ActorsAniFest, Cosplay, Little Tokyo, Los Angeles, Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid, My Hero Academia, ronin expo, Ronin expo 2018, Sword Art Online, Vocaloidsvincemage

Ronin-Expo was held on June 02 of 2018, at the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center in Little Tokyo, Los Angeles.

Ronin_ALA+website.jpg

So what is Ronin-Expo, you may ask? Ronin-Expo is a celebration of Asian culture, this includes anime, video games, movies, & even a bit history of Japan itself. What makes this expo so interesting though, is the fact that it’s in the center of Little Tokyo district in the city of angels (Los Angeles). This makes it a diverse spot for Ronin Expo to be in, as attendees can further explore Little Tokyo by visiting the surrounding museums and local restaurants.

Here are some more pictures from the event including: cosplayers, event guests, attendees and staff members.

Felt like you missed out? Don’t worry, Ronin Expo will return spring 2019, so mark your calendars and take a trip to Little Tokyo, Los Angeles & make sure to stop by Ronin-Expo!

See you at the next Con/Expo!

AniFest 2018

May 1, 2018Anime, Anime Concerts, Autographs, Concerts, Cons, Cosplay, Events, Japanese Music, Los Angeles, PhotographyAniFest, Anime, anime con, anime convention, anime expo, TorranceKrystal Kitsune

Join us at the Torrance Cultural Arts Center this May 5th 2018 for the first ever Anifest!

AniFest is a brand new one-day Anime Festival where you can find all the great things of a convention but with a matsuri twist, right in Torrance California! Take a look around to see all the great things you can do, and for only $15! Get your ticket here: AniFest.org/tickets. See you there!

Miku Expo North America Timeline*

May 15, 2016Anime, Anime Concerts, Concerts, Cosplay, Events, Japanese Music, Los Angeles, Photography, TechnologyAnime, Cons, Hatsune Miku, Los Angeles, MIKU, Miku Expo 2014, Miku Expo 2016, Miku Hatsune, MikuExpo, Mikunopolis, music, Sega, VocaloidsKrystal Kitsune

*does not include ‘in-con’ concerts

From enjoying awesome, futuristic technology to making new friends, its needless to say that Miku Expo concerts bring people together in every way possible, Let’s sit back and go through the beautiful and fun memories MIKU EXPO has brought us since its debut in the states.

MIKUNOPOLIS in LOS ANGELES (2011)

This was Hatsune Miku’s debut in the states. Held during Anime Expo 2011, The concert was a huge hit among Miku fans and possibly the cheapest of them all, with only $15 per ticket! Featured singers were as follows: Hatsune Miku, Kagamine Rin, Kagamine Len & Megurine Luka. This was the first MikuExpo in the states to also be available on DVD, BluRay DVD & CD. At the time of this concert, Miku was partnered with Toyota and Anime Expo.

Miku Expo 2014 – Los Angeles & New York

Miku’s second concert in the states! The official expo theme was, “Sharing The World” a song by producer, BIGHEAD. Featured singers were as follows: Hatsune Miku, Kagamine Rin, Kagamine Len, Megurine Luka, KAITO & MEIKO. This MikuExpo also had 4 shows in New York with an exhibition showcased in both locations; Los Angeles and New York. The exhibition consisted of a Halloween Party, a night theater screening, showcased various Miku figures including the Nendoroid Hatsune Miku: Halloween Ver. and Artwork from different vocaliod artist. A Blu-ray disc of NY’s performance was released.

Miku Expo 2016

In her most recent concert Miku comes back with brand new songs! To promote the concert, a song contest was made in which “Ten Thousand Stars” produced by CircusP, was the winner. Featured singers were as follows: Hatsune Miku, Kagamine Rin, Kagamine Len, Megurine Luka, KAITO & MEIKO. This Miku Expo was much like Miku Expo 2014, which an exhibition was showcased. During Miku Expo 2016, multiple Miku themed events were held in different locations around the U.S. prior to the concert date; MIKU EXPO Digital Stars, a club event; MIKU short film festival; MIKU EXPO Tour Stickers (collected throughout the tour dates) & MIKU EXPO Let’s Draw, an art event.

Enjoy our Miku Expo 2016 Video:

KINGDOM HEARTS World Tour!

May 11, 2016Anime Concerts, Concerts, Japanese Music, Los Angeles, video gamesdisney, Final Fantasy, kingdom hearts, Kingdom hearts series, KINGDOM HEARTS World Tour, Los Angeles, video games, Yoko ShimomuraKrystal Kitsune

Originally announced on April 28th 2016, the KINGDOM HEARTS World Tour has been the best thing announced since KINGDOM HEARTS Unchained (North America) & Final Fantasy XV!

According to the announcement, The concert is split into two parts. Beginning in August 11th 2016, with KINGDOM HEARTS -First Breath (Brass concert), which is an exclusive concert in Japan ONLY. The second part, KINGDOM HEARTS Orchestra -World Tour (Orchestra concert) will begin in Japan on, March 10, 2017.

Fans can purchase the presale tickets to KINGDOM HEARTS Orchestra -World Tour via Wildfaery or wait until all tickets go on sale starting May 14, 2016. Please note that only 150 VIP tickets available at each World Tour concert for $189 and will include a meet and greet with Yoko Shimomura.

Check below for a list of the current pricing for each World Tour concert:

Concert Location + Date	Pricing
March 10, 2017 Tokyo International Forum Hall A (Japan)	TBD
March 18-19 2017 Salle Pleyel (France)	VIP – $189 Gold – $133 Category 1 – $77 Category 2 – $49
March 24-25 2017 Central Hall Westminster (United Kingdom)	VIP – $184 Gold – $128 Category 1 – $78 Category 2 – $56
May 6-7 2017 Esplanade Concert Hall (Singapore)	VIP – $190 Gold – $139 Category 1 – $78
May 28 2017 Mercedes Benz Arena (China)	TBD
June 10/14 2017 Dolby Theatre (Los Angeles, CA, USA)	TBD
June 24, 2017 United Palace Theatre (New York City, NY, USA)	VIP – $189 Gold – $134 Category 1 – $109 Category 2 – $79 Category 3 – $59

(Source: KHInsider)

For more information visit the KHInsider.com

FLCL gets 2 more seasons!

April 10, 2016Anime, Japanese MusicAnime, FLCL, Fooly Cooly, The Pillowslilyhikaru

Most famous anime FLCL – Otherwise known as Fooly Cooly – will be getting 2 more seasons according to Cartoon Network’s parent company, Turner. They announced it on their official website on March 25, 2016. Both seasons will consist of 6 episodes each and will be produced by Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim alongside, Japanese animation Production, I.G Studio. FLCL creator, Tsurumaki Kazuya, is said to return to the series as well. The seasons are set to air on Cartoon Network’s block, Toonami.

Back in the early 2000s FLCL was considered a minor success. With its surreal “coming of age” story which follows the life of a young school-boy, Nandaba Naota, for the first six episodes. One day as he’s walking and gets hit with a bass guitar from a girl (Haruhara Haruko) and ends up with a very noticeable bump on his head from the incident. This event triggers multiple battles between entities known as Medical Mechanica and Fraternity in the city of Mabase, Japan.

The new seasons will take place years after the adventures of Naota and Haruko. According to Turner the new seasons will now follow a teenage girl by the name of “Hidomi” . She believes there is nothing special to expect from her ordinary life. Until, she gets a new teacher by the name of Haruko. Soon after this event, Medichal Mechanica attacks the town. Only Haruko can truly help save everyone from the attacking entity but not without the secret within Hidomi that only Haruko can unlock.

Ever since the announcement everybody has been questioning who will do the music for the new series? Band, The Pillows, were responsible for the soundtrack for FLCL. Fans of the series felt the music it gave the anime its own unique atmosphere. Their two songs, “Ride on SHOOTING STAR” and “Little BUSTERS” impacted the anime on a whole new level bringing life into the anime which we all love. The mystery remains, Who will compose the music for the new seasons…

The new season will drop in late 2017 or early 2018 according to the Official Turner website.

SNOWMIKU 2016 x LOVE LIVE!

January 19, 2016Anime, Japanese Music, Japanese Stuff, video gamesAnime, Love Live!, Miku Hatsune, MikuExpo, SNOWMIKU 2016Krystal Kitsune

Its OFFICIAL, Love Live and Miku fan can rejoice in happiness as they are to collaborate together on tour during the 67th Sapporo Snow Festival in Japan!

A snow sculpture of μ’s will be displayed at the Sapporo Snow Festival, in honor, μ’s is joining Miku. There are no further details on the collaboration itself, but as time goes on, we will keep you updated.

In honor of SNOWMIKU 2016, different Miku themed food items will are available to purchase, such as:

Mushroom of milk stew Danish (Google translate Error?)

Japanese cafe, MIRAI.ST cafe is also collaborating with Miku to make the official Snow Miku Menu, along side another karaoke joint, Which will serve the following:

Snow Miku X MIRAI.ST cafe Menu

There’s also an Android / iOS-friendly game app called, “Butsukaran’na SNOW MIKU 2016 Edition” which will be released on, January 20th 2016. According to the site’s description of the game “[Miku will] run through a variety of courses [while] snow Miku is riding on snowboard.” You can check out the game here

Other Snow Miku 2016 items can be found here

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