ANN’s protection of Anime Expo 2024 sponsored by Yen Press and Ize Press!
Hatsune Miku colourful stage! returned to Anime expo greater, higher and with idol aptitude. Final yr, Colourful stage organized panel in Petree Corridor with Nightcord voice actors Kanade Yoisaki and Mizuki Akiyama at 25:00 (Tomori Kusunoki And Hinata Satō). I attended this panel after I was at AX final yr, and I assumed it was good. There have been some enjoyable dialog matters with the voice actors, some readings, and just a little giveaway on the finish. This yr they’d one other panel, however this time it was held within the Foremost Occasion Corridor (which is far greater than Petree Corridor) and had Oh Furihata And Mayu Yoshioka (The voices of Airi Momoi and Haruka Kiritani from MORE MORE JUMP!) as visitors.
I need to say that I’m not solely a Colourful stage fan, however my favourite group from the sport is MORE MORE JUMP! So I used to be actually wanting ahead to this panel!
It began with Eugene (the product supervisor for the Japanese model of the sport) greeting the viewers and introducing the voice actors. Oh Furihata And Mayu Yoshioka‘s appearances had been greeted with cheers, applause, and waving penlights (sure, I introduced mine). They launched themselves and recited their character’s iconic traces from the sport.
And so the panel begins.
It began off with the same old conversations with the voice actors about their time in LA, studying out some messages and answering fan questions. Some attention-grabbing highlights embody Mayu mentioning that her father was the captain of their flight and that he wished her luck and them each speaking about how they relate rather a lot to their characters since they each have expertise as idols (Ai is a part of the Love life! group, Aqours; and Mayu was a part of the disbanded Get up women!)
The following phase was the Colourful stage group that exhibits the voice actors and viewers profiles that folks have submitted for the panel. In Colourful stageThere’s a characteristic within the recreation that permits you to create customized profiles utilizing artwork textual content, shapes, and artwork from the cardboard you get from the gacha. It is just like the customized emblem system from the Name of Obligation Black Ops collection. And similar to the Black operations emblems, it is all the time spectacular to see what gamers can do with their given instruments. My favorites had been the 2 profiles on the finish, the place every character was recreated utilizing solely instruments from the customized profile.
They then did an unique read-aloud with the voice actors about their two characters visiting LA. This was accompanied by artwork of Airi and Haruka standing in entrance of the Hollywood signal that was specifically created for this panel. When the characters requested the viewers the place they need to go for dinner, In-N-Out was the standout reply, the identical selection as final yr when the Nightcord members requested the place they need to go for dinner.
The following phase was (for my part) the very best a part of the panel. Earlier than the panel began, folks got glowsticks for the “Name and Response” phase. Impressed by the efficiency of idol songs, they’d the voice actors sing two of the MORE MORE JUMP! songs and had the viewers do the suitable cheers (with slides to assist them). As somebody who’s (very) accustomed to some of these performances, I used to be completely satisfied to know that this was why everybody was given glowsticks. I’ve all the time needed to cheer and wave my penlights at a MORE MORE JUMP! and I am so glad I not solely acquired to try this, but in addition witness one of many uncommon “reside” performances with the Colourful stage voice actors. They sang the classics “Newly Edge Idols” and “MORE! JUMP! MORE!” and when the music began taking part in, the vitality of the viewers went from 10 to 11. I do know this occasion was a reside stream, and I watched the RAG whereas it was nonetheless on-line, and it did not fairly seize the expertise of standing in a room stuffed with followers chanting “MOTTO!” “HAI! HAI! HAI!” “MORE! MORE! JUMP!” It was actually an unforgettable expertise.
I additionally need to praise Eugene and his hops in the course of the performances.
The phase after that was enjoyable. The voice actor took turns drawing MORE! MORE! JUMP! associated prompts (which they needed to do in seven seconds) whereas the opposite guessed what it was. They’d win a field of donuts if they might guess all of them accurately. There was a slight glitch initially when Mayu by accident seemed on the display earlier than Ai may draw the image, however that was made up for by Ai impressively drawing a penguin in seven seconds. There have been quite a lot of enjoyable moments on this phase, together with some cute drawings. One of many highlights was Mayu’s drawing of a “Meet-and-Greet” that seemed like a declaration of affection. By the best way, they did get the donuts.
The ultimate half was the signed shikishi giveaway, the place, similar to final yr, everybody would get a ticket and the voice actors would draw numbers to see who would win. Colourful stage-theme shikishi signed by the visitors. I do not assume the winners had been imagined to stroll as much as the stage after their numbers had been known as and decide up their signed shikishi instantly from the voice actors. Usually the winner would get their prize after the panel, however fortunately everybody was very respectful once they acquired their prize from the voice actors. Just a few occasions folks acquired emotional once they acquired their signed shikishi and stated one thing good to the voice actors. It turned out to be a enjoyable giveaway phase.
Then the panel began to wrap up and the voice actors began thanking everybody for coming and being followers of the franchise. They went up entrance to take an image with the viewers and simply as everybody was able to say goodbye, Eugene stunned everybody and requested “Why do not we finish the panel with yet another efficiency?” The voice actors grabbed their microphones and began taking part in MORE! JUMP! MORE! as an encore and all of us began cheering once more.
And with that it was over.
I actually loved this panel, extra so than final yr. Am I biased as a result of I believe something idol-related is sweet? Completely. However I appreciated how a lot they concerned the followers this time round: tagging their account names within the posts, exhibiting their profiles, and being okay with followers assembly the voice actors whereas they get their shikishi. That’s all the time been the very best half about Anime expo (no less than for me): seeing everybody right here get an opportunity to work together with one another. I already talked about that watching the performances and waving my penlights was an unforgettable expertise, however actually the one factor I’ll always remember from this panel is seeing the particular person with out a glowstick and giving them my different penlight so we may cheer on our idols collectively.
