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[Kuudere]

This thread is for MusicFest guest requests! For general guest requests, please use this thread in order for those requests to reach the correct department.

I didn't see the thread yet, and I wanted to get it started early so staff has an idea on who people want to see before they begin the long process of getting a MusicFest act.

Remember: the sooner you request, the better chance you have of staff being able to fulfill that request! These acquisitions can take months of planning/talking, so request early!


For 2016, I'd like to see:

• The Pillows (forever first on my list). They perform the whole soundtrack for FLCL and are just a great group all around.
• ClariS. Featured in Madoka Magica, Nisekoi, OreImo, Nise/Tsukimonogatari.
• Tommy Heavenly6. Featured in Soul Eater, Paradise Kiss, Mobile Suit Gundam 00, Gintama, Bakuman, and Pokemon.
• Crystal Kay. Featured in Nodame Cantablie, Fullmetal Alchemist, and several J-dramas.
• Kalafina. Featured in Madoka Magica, Black Butler, and Fate/Zero.
• Etsuko Yakushimaru. Featured in Arakawa Under the Bridge, Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko, Space Dandy, Mawaru Penguindrum, Natsu no Arashi, Tatami Galaxy.
• Kana Nishino. Featured in Soul Eater, Naruto.
• Maaya Sakamoto. Featured in too many anime to name, but probably mostly famous for Wolf's Rain's Gravity.
• OreSkaBand. Featured in Bleach and Naruto.
• Supercell. Featured in the Monogatari series, Guilty Crown, Black Rock Shooter, Naruto, Magi.

And my #1 request:

• μ's. Featured in the Love Live franchise.
  
  • Probably a long shot, but I'd really, really like to see the girls of μ's (pronounced Muse) on stage. While expensive to get all 9 girls, the cost can be justified by their value as both extremely popular singers and seiyuu. Since the group was founded from the anime/game (Love Live), it has the industry tie-in to make them relevant for MusicFest. Other conventions are capitalizing on their popularity (AX is charging its attendees just to watch a recorded performance), so if Fanime ever wanted to charge a small fee to help cover the additional costs, I'm positive people would pay to see them. If all 9 aren't feasible, they do also sing in smaller, three-person groups (BiBi, lily white, and Printemps), though that won't have as much impact, obviously.

[Dracil]

μ's is gonna be ridiculously expensive and also a general logistics nightmare for staff because of so many of them.  Subunits are probably more viable.  It may also be easier and more efficient to do something like bringing fripSide over, as that means not only do you get fripSide for your musical guest, but you also get some of that LL interest via Nanjolno.  And Sat was cool when I met him as part of ALTIMA at Otakon last year.

Mimorin is also another good cheap candidate as she does solo works and is involved in a lot of anime titles in general.

Outside of the LL series, I'd really like to see Wake Up, Girls.  My understanding is they're pretty happy to go to cons that invite them over and I hear they were a blast at ACen previously.

(Consider this basically a request for fripSide, Mimorin, and WUG )

[Kuudere]

Oh, I know it would be incredibly hard to get them. But if they did manage to somehow make it happen (through corporate sponsorship/charging for tickets - both unlikely since that's not Fanime's style), it'd be a major home-run for them. Your suggestions are a nice compromise, though (but I might be biased because Yoshino Nanjou voices my favorite girl).

Thanks for adding your requests! It'd be awesome to make '16 the year of the idols.

[otakuya]

Back in 2007, there was Play! happening at the same time at the CPA during Fanime. I'd like there to have another video game concert, even if it's not Fanime's doing. Play!, Video Games Live, Pokemon Symphonic Evolutions, Legend of Zelda, or anything like that.

[Sunara Ishi]

Copying my list from the guest thread:

Music guests:
Kalafina
Aimer
Superfly
Kanon Wakeshima
BoA
Aoi Eir
Elisa
Suara
ClariS

[Mr. Wendell]

BRADIO
Charisma.com
Silent Siren
Da-iCE
Shishido Kavka
Chotokkyu

[Dracil]

Copying my list from the guest thread:

Music guests:
Kalafina
Aimer
Superfly
Kanon Wakeshima
BoA
Aoi Eir
Elisa
Suara
ClariS

Psst, you can already see Eir Aoi this summer at Jpop summit.

[Meester E]

LadyBaby
BabyMetal
Aimer

[cesspooloflight]

Fear, and Loathing in Las Vegas
Man With A Mission
Bradio

[Angelx624]

Ok, here goes nothing............

SuG
World Order
Gackt
OldCodex
Goatbed
Junretsu
Kiryu
Kamijo
Ryosuke Miura(Hey, he's got songs out there so why not lololol <3 )
Nightmare
Joe Inoue
Piko
Saito Syuusuke(Maybe as an opening act? XD He has a few songs but not many... ;_; )

If I think of more I'll add them. =w=

[SHINE14]

Fear, and Loathing in Las Vegas
Man With A Mission
Bradio

I would love to see Bradio but I checked their website and they're going to be at an event the same time as Fanime I would also suggest Unison Square Garden but they'll be at the same event as Bradio haha. Oh well.

I had suggested a couple of people in the general guest suggestion thread but I'll repost them below along with a couple others.

- Uesaka Sumire. Seiyuu who has done OPs and EDs in addition to her career as a singer. Here is one of her singles: https://youtu.be/qSeqUmgjyAU (It starts off slow but doesn't stay that way for long haha)

- Ohashi Ayaka. Another seiyuu and singer who has done OPs and EDs. I posted the PV to one of her singles in the other thread so here is the PV for one of the Comet Lucifer EDs (she did 3 in total for the show): https://youtu.be/BWB2Twfml7I

- 7!!. I've been a long time fan and seeing them at Fanime in 2013 was amazing. They're great performers and I would love to see them again, especially if they perform their ED for Your Lie in April.

And speaking of Your Lie in April....

- goose house. Not sure how hard it would be to get them to come, but their opening for YLIA was easily one of the best OPs of that year. They also seem to have lots of energy and it would be great to see them perform.

[TheGuardians7]

I can dream right?

Asian Kung-Fu Generation
SID
LiSA
L'Arc-en-Ciel
BUMP OF CHICKEN
KANA-BOON
STEREO DIVE FOUNDATION
goose house
Sound Horizon (Linked Horizon)

As well as people like:

Uesaka Sumire
Ohashi Ayaka
Fukuhara Ayaka
Faylan

[Acid_Android]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions; please keep them coming! Just dropping a note to say that we do check the forums even though we may not comment often.

I'm also running a poll on our Twitter since someone brought up local bands, and I wanted to gauge how attendees feel. Do you want to see more local bands inspired by Japanese music (whether cover bands or folks creating their own), or would you rather we kept MusicFest strictly to overseas Japanese artists/bands?

Feel free to answer here or engage in dialogue on Twitter!

[Kuudere]

Do you want to see more local bands inspired by Japanese music (whether cover bands or folks creating their own), or would you rather we kept MusicFest strictly to overseas Japanese artists/bands?

Thank you for bringing the discussion here. I'm not very active at all on twitter so I'd probably never see the poll otherwise.

I might be in the minority, but I feel that it's very easy to see local bands outside of Fanime (some of them even perform during Fanime weekend in local venues). What makes MusicFest stand out is the fact that it brings overseas guests - guests that the majority of us would never get to see if it weren't for Fanime bringing them to us. It just wouldn't quite be the same having a focus on local bands. Maybe there could be a short opening act or something, but certainly not a main act.

MusicFest had a state-side guest (forgoing names, here) appear not that long ago, and it wasn't highly received by attendees. Perhaps things have changed since then, but I'd be worried about a repeat of that situation.

[Ecchi ja Nai]

Feel free to answer here or engage in dialogue on Twitter!

I'm actually glad this was posted here, as I was about to start a new thread.  I don't have a twitter account and it's not really worth creating one for the sake of responding to a poll.  First, a question: surely you're gauging the interest for MusicFest 2017, right?  I mean, the con is coming up, in the word of the housing registration post, "soon."  I just hope that this doesn't reflect any specific difficulties regarding this year's 'fest, as it's the concerts and swap meet that primarily keep me interested in Fanime these last few years.

To leave some more constructive comments here, I wouldn't mind seeing local bands appear at Fanime, but I'd rather they get a chance to perform on Stage Zero or at most as an opening act to a headliner from Japan.  They should at least cover popular Japanese songs or sing their own songs in Japanese.  And even then, I'd really hope there's some kind of vetting process used to see if a performer or group are actually capable of putting on a show.  There are plenty of talented musicians who like to play and sing around the con, and there's the usual karaoke scene, but I wouldn't necessarily want to go out of my way to catch them on stage.  I remember from a few years ago seeing Lemon Drop Kick at Fanime.  I had no clue who they were, but they put on a really awesome show.  They may be based in LA, but I'd still consider them a j-rock group and I'm really glad I got a chance to check them out.  They'd be my ideal example of someone "local" coming to perform.

As an even better alternative, I wouldn't mind checking out indie bands from Japan.  There's a certain sense of pride in knowing that it's the Bay Area where a band may have gotten their first taste of the international scene.  Or maybe not, but it's still a cool thought.  I recall reading through that thread detailing one longtime staffer's experiences, and seeing that we were this close to having Babymetal perform here.  You never know who the next big group is going to be or where they're going to come from.

If I was still restricted to the two choices in the poll, though, I think local bands are definitely a second in favor of bands that are actually from Japan, but they don't always have to be a huge marquee headliner.  If staff is able to snag a hugely popular group that performs all the hottest anime op's, well, that'd be dandy too.

[Acid_Android]

This isn't a reflection of how things are going for this year. This is merely to solicit feedback from attendees on what you want to see at future MusicFest events. I received some expressed interest in locals via email, but I wanted to determined whether or not that sentiment was shared on a larger scale among those who go to MusicFest every year.

We are known for bringing in mostly Japanese rock acts, but a lonnnngggg time ago, we used to incorporate way more local bands, and I wanted to verify if anyone actually missed seeing that. If a majority feel like it's something to go back to, then it's something we have to look at to keep our attendees happy.

[Angelx624]

I have to agree with Kuudere. While it'd be cool to see some local bands/artists as opening acts, you probably want to keep the main acts being ones from overseas, since a vast majority of the congoers are unable to see overseas performers elsewhere(unless they go to AX and see them there, but not everyone who goes to Fanime goes to AX, something to keep in mind).

[echoshadow]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions; please keep them coming! Just dropping a note to say that we do check the forums even though we may not comment often.

I'm also running a poll on our Twitter since someone brought up local bands, and I wanted to gauge how attendees feel. Do you want to see more local bands inspired by Japanese music (whether cover bands or folks creating their own), or would you rather we kept MusicFest strictly to overseas Japanese artists/bands?

Feel free to answer here or engage in dialogue on Twitter!

Thanks for posting this here too.

Well seeing as how things went last year with "Music Fest" I say add them.  The main band(s) should be an anime related Japanese band/group/what not, but opening bands or even adding a Friday show for main local bands would be awesome too. Then you'll truly be a music "fest"

[airanimechiic]

So I know the requests for these kind of people come in every year, but is it possible to get a current really big name guest? It doesn't have to be all of them~

-a Vocaloid? any Vocaloid?
-Dir En Grey
-Babymetal
-L'Arc-en-Ciel
-bring back Danceroid?
-BoA
-a kpop band that's promoted in japan?
-any one of the akb48 subunits...?
-ぷぷっぴ (BoopBoopBeDoop)?

[Freud]

Oldcodex
One ok Rock
Perfume!
Kyary