AnimeFest Concert Details
Jerry Hsu sent me an e-mail with a mini-report on Maaya's concert at AnimeFest this past Sunday. As I expected, the concert was very similar to one at Anime Expo in July. Maaya sang along to prerecorded background music while standing in front of projector screens that displayed video clips and equalizer effects. Jerry estimated there were about 2,000 people that attended the AnimeFest concert, whereas the AX one had an audience of about 5,000 (not surprising since AX is the biggest US anime convention). Another noteworthy difference between the concerts is in the playlists. Maaya performed mostly the same songs as she did at AX, but substituted Loop and Tune the Rainbow in place of Platinum and Pocket wo kara ni shite. Here's the entire song list from Maaya's AnimeFest concert (*not necessarily in exact order):

• Yakusoku wa iranai
• Mameshiba
• Kiseki no umi
• Yubiwa
• Gravity
• Loop
• Gift
• Kaze ga Fuku hi
• Tune the Rainbow (encore song)

If anyone has any info on Maaya's focus panel on the Monday following her concert, I appreciate any details via e-mail at jason@maayasakamotoNOSPAMnet (replace "NOSPAM" with a period / dot).

New Album Details - Yuunagi Loop
Right after I posted the results of the Hotchpotch contest, I noticed Victor Ent. updated Maaya's official site with info on her upcoming album. The first pressing will also come out in a limited edition that includes a cd-rom, however no further details on the cd-rom were posted. I've already spotted the album listed on CD Japan, so preorder away!

• Title: Yuunagi Loop
  (Limited Edition w/ cd-rom)
• Catalog #: VIZL-155
• Release Date: 10/26/05
• Price: ¥2,900

• Title: Yuunagi Loop
• Catalog #: VICL-61755
• Release Date: 10/26/05
• Price: ¥2,900

Hotchpotch Giveaway Contest Over
Well, the contest is over and we have a winner folks. Midori Kudo is the winner of a copy of the US release of Hotchpotch! I want to thank everyone that entered the contest. For those of you that didn't win, I hope you still buy a copy on-line or at a local store (even if you already have the import version). I look forward to running more contests such as this one in the future, but that depends on Hotchpotch selling well and Geneon bringing over more of Maaya's cds to the US.

New Album Release Date
Maaya mentions in the August message on her official website that her upcoming album has a release date of 10/26/05. I'm a bit surprised it's coming out in October even though she stated at her AX 2005 focus panel that she hoped it would come out by the end of the year. I expected a late November or December release timeframe. I guess I'm just used to the 2+ year waits in between her full length albums.

Hotchpotch Page Up & Giveaway Contest
The US release of Hotchpotch has been out for almost 2 weeks and I thought this would be a good opportunity to add a page for the cd (click here). I also included a comparison of the US and original Japanese releases. One tidbit that fans might find cool is a special message Maaya wrote for the US release. Here's what she wrote:

"I am very grateful for the opportunity to have this album released, so that people in the United States could listen to my music. "Hotchpotch" is an album collection consisting of singles and songs used for soundtracks released between 1996 (which is my debut year) and 1999. I hope you enjoy the various sides of me in this album. - Maaya"

Here's also a scan the cd insert booklet page with the messsage.

I'm also running a cd giveaway contest to help promote Geneon's release of Hotchpotch. Click here for details on how to enter.

Maaya Interview Transcript
and Anime Expo Panel Report
Some of you probably already noticed that the transcript for my AX interview with Maaya is now up on AnimeOnDVD.com. I typed it up over the past weekend along with a report of her focus panel. Here's a couple links:

• One-on-One Interview
• Focus Panel Report

There are a couple things I'll highlight from the interview. The first is that Maaya confirmed she is not working with Yoko Kanno on her upcoming album. Instead, the music for the album will be composed by various other people. Other web sites have mentioned this info, but I have no idea what their sources are (these sites are are in Japanese and I'm not fluent in the language). In any case, this doesn't rule out the possibility that Maaya and Kanno will work together again in the future (cross your fingers). Personally, I found the instrumentals on the Loop single somewhat disappointing.

Also worth noting is that Maaya doesn't perform any of the songs in Gundam SEED Destiny (I assume this include the Suits cds). When I asked her about the show, she simply replied that she only performs as a voice actress in the anime.

In regards to the focus panel, there are two moments at the event that I found great. The first is when the host, Crispin Freeman, mentioned the Cafe / Club Escaflowne extras on the anime dvds. Maaya blushed and was completely embarrassed, the moment was truly hilarious. I also found the ending of the panel very memorable. The last question from the audience was a request for Maaya to sing Loop. For 20 seconds, I thought I was in heaven.

Maaya Concert at Anime Expo
Well I'm back from AX 2005 and had a lot of fun at the convention. My interview with Maaya was very short, but I felt it went well. I managed to keep calm and maintain my composure the whole time, even though the inner fanboy in me probably wanted to drop down to the ground and yell "I'm not worthy!"

Anyways, I wanted to thank everyone that e-mailed questions for Maaya. I plan to type up and post a transcript of my interview on AnimeOnDVD.com later this week. Maaya was quite gracious and allowed me to take a couple photos of her, which I will include with the interview transcript. I'll also be posting a report of her AX focus panel on AnimeOnDVD.com, so stay tuned.

In the meantime, I thought many of you would be interested in reading about Maaya's concert on Sunday, 7/3. To start off, here's the song list:

1. Yakusoku wa iranai
2. Platinum
3. Mameshiba
4. Kiseki no umi
5. Yubiwa
6. Gravity
7. Gift
8. Pocket wo kara ni shite
9. Kaze ga Fuku hi (encore song)

Her concert didn't have the high production values like some jpop stars have, but then again Maaya isn't a jpop idol. She was the only one on stage and sang to recorded background music. It would have been nice if there was a band or at least a couple instrumentalists (maybe someone on piano and another on guitar), but I still thoroughly enjoyed her performance. There were quite a number of flashing and rotating lights, which added ambience to the concert. There was also a projection screen behind Maaya which showed different visual effects and video clips.

During most of the songs, people in the audience clapped along with her singing. Maaya performed two songs at a time and would talk briefly in between pairs. She spoke in English almost the whole time even though it was difficult for her. Personally, I think she speaks English quite well for a Japan native. After singing the first two songs, Maaya said that she was very surprised that she has so many fans in the US. I have to admit, I was surprised too. Throughout the concert there was a lot of clapping, yelling and screaming. Many people (male and female) even shouted "I love you!" and "Will you marry me?", which made Maaya quite embarrassed and occasionally at a loss for words. I felt the exclamations of affection went slightly overboard, but I guess that shows there is a strong fanbase for her in the US.

At the end of the concert, Maaya bowed as everyone gave her a standing ovation. I hope she will come back to AX again and perform in concert. It was truly an amazing experience.

Just so all of you that couldn't make it to concert don't feel completely left out, I've scanned the program guide. There was also an envelope that each concert attendee received. The envelope contained a printed discography of her albums and note from her printed on opaque paper. The note was hard to scan, I'll try to take a photo of it later. Here are the goods:

• Program guide (front & back)
• Program guide (inside)
• Discography (front & back)
• Discography (inside)
• Note

Maaya Interview at Anime Expo
I'm fortunate to have the rare chance to interview Maaya Sakamoto at Anime Expo this year as a press representative of AnimeOnDVD.com. I would like to thank Chris B. of AOD and the folks at Geneon and BHI for this opportunity. After the convention is over, a transcript of the interview will be available on AnimeOnDVD.com. I will post an update on MS.net when the transcript is up.

If you have any suggestions for interview questions, you can e-mail them to me at jason@maayasakamotoNOSPAMnet (replace "NOSPAM" with a period / dot). Please note that I will have a very short time for the interview, so I will be quite selective in which questions I ask.

To help promote the US release of Hotch Potch, I've added a countdown to the top of the homepage. For those of you that like buying stuff on-line, please see this post for a listing of on-line stores that have the cd up for pre-order. People that prefer buying cds in retail stores, please refer to Geneon Music's website.

Loop Page Up & Escaflowne Movie R1 SE
I wanted to get a page up for Loop earlier, but I'm been busy with work and real life issues as usual. In any case, here's the Loop page with some sample mp3s.

Here's a piece of news that Escaflowne fans might be interested in. Bandai Entertainment is re-releasing the Escaflowne Movie: Special Edition under their new "Anime Legends" brand label. Basically it's just a series of older titles being released at lower prices. In the case of the Escaflowne Movie SE Anime Legends release, the price is an extremely low $20 SRP. That's basically the same price as the regular edition!! The SE is much nicer though, it comes with the movie soundtrack CD and a separate extras DVD. The movie OST is alone worth the $20 price of the Anime Legend release in my opinion. In fact, even the R2 Limited Edition is quite inferior compared to the R1 SE.