DaiCon 2009

Went to the 2nd day of DaiCon yesterday. I’m in Malaysia for a few weeks but had no idea of the event at all. Stumbled upon their site a day before DaiCon and was pleasantly suprised.. Chihara Minori will be there!

Couldn’t make it to the first day because of personal commitments, but managed to drag two reluctant friends along for second day~ One of them is actually a student of MMU (where DaiCon is held) which was a great thing as I would have totally gotten lost trying to get there.

MMU is pretty much located in the middle of nowhere and it took about an hour drive to arrive. At the entrance to the grand hall, I was immediately approached by a hotlink staff asking about my current phone plan and why I should switch…. What are these guys doing here anyway?

Inside, there were various booths selling doujins and merchandises that didn’t really interest me. Two booths that really caught my attention were The Figure Mall’s impressive figure exhibition and the Macross booth.

Overall, it took me a grand total of 30 minutes to check out the entire convention and I’m suddenly left with nothing else to see or do. The only thing left was Chihara Minori’s concert which was 2 hours away. So the three of us decided we’d get something to eat. Had a bit of catching up to do anyway.

We first thought to try out the maid cafe there, but after taking a peek inside it told me a few things, it looked just like a normal cafeteria (with maids) and didn’t really give the feel of an actual maid cafe. Plus, there were tons of people queuing up. Their prices were definately a lot cheaper than an actual maid cafe though.

Drove to a nearby restaurant for lunch and chatted for about 2 hours before heading back. Back in the hall, I noticed a few Japanese people sitting around and looking bored. Was later told that they were from Minori’s fan club, Minori Smile Seasons (m.s.s) and came all they way from Japan to attend Minori’s concert!  Talk about dedication…

There was also some drama that occured during the Minori’s stage preparation. Lighting from the entire hall was suddenly cut and the vendors and people from doujinshi booth went raaaaging. I can’t help but feel that they got screwed over by the organizers of the event. I wonder if it got sorted out in the end.

The concert started around 3:30p.m and I had to watch it from afar seeing as my friends weren’t willing to pay for a concert of someone they don’t even know (infidels!). When Minorin went on stage, the crowd went wilddd. Here’s a list of the 10 songs she performed.

1. Contact~ Shijin no Tabi (詩人の旅）
2. Fragment~ Shooting Star of the Origin
3. Yuki, Muon, Madobe ni te (雪、無音、窓辺にて)
4. Junpaku Sanctuary (純白サンクチュアリィ)
5. Kimi ga kureta ano hi (君がくれたあの日)
6. Aoi Kotou (蒼い孤島)
7. Paradise Lost
8. Tomorrow’s Chance
9. Prism in the Name of Hope
10. everlasting…

I’ll have to admit though that I’m not too familiar with any of her songs. I’ve only heard a portion of the songs she sang a couple of times at most. In between songs, she took the opportunity to talk to the audience and began with introducing herself in Malay. “Apa khabar semua~ nama saya Chihara Minori desu!“, which translates to; “Hello everyone~ My name is Chihara Minori desu!”  XD

After the 10th song, Minorin left the stage and the concert was supposedly over. But the crowd unrelenting, started shouting アンコール！アンコール！ (Encore! Encore!) over and over again. After a while, Minorin came out sporting a Baju Kebaya which is a traditonal garment of the Malays. It looked amazing on her I must say.

She then went on the perform 3 more songs for the encore.

1. Voyager Train
2. Ameagari no Hana yo Sake (雨上がりの花よ咲け)
3. Contact 13

Even though I had to watch from afar and didn’t know many of her songs, I thought it was a pretty good concert overall. Didn’t expect too much from a university hall. I did however expect to be able to view the concert anywhere in the hall but instead there was a wall enclosing the concert area. Had to stand around the entrance of the hall to be able to get a limited view of the show.

This is my first ever convention in Malaysia so I’m unable to compare it to other cons they hold here and my previous con was Comiket 75, which is not something you can compare this to.

Also heard later that after the concert someone got up on stage and stole a bottle of mineral water that Minori was drinking from and….. drank from it. I don’t know bout you but I thought that was both sad and disgusting. That creeped me out a bit. I wonder how Minori would react if she heard of it.

Inviting Chihara Minori was definately a great feat but it felt like this whole “convention” was more like “Chihara Minori Event” and that the other booths were just there as decoration and to fund the show. Of course this is only my observation of day 2. Day 1 might have been totally different.

Here’s a translation by me of what Minorin had to say of her time in Malaysia on her blog.

“♡DaiCon 2009♡

I had a live concert today.

Due to everyone’s warm cheering and smiling faces, I was able to perform with happiness.

A really big thank you to those who came all the way here and to my fans who came all the way from Japan!!!

Yesterday, I received a Malaysian Kebaya outfit from one of the DaiCon staff members and for the encore performance, I stealthily put it on!

It looks very beautiful right? I’m glad it delighted everyone!!

I enjoyed myself yesterday and today because it felt as if I too became a student. (laughs)

I felt a very deep feeling of loneliness because I had to hurry back to Japan after the concert was over.

I want to stay here longer…

If there is a chance, I’d like to visit Malaysia again (if possible, for a live event).

To staff members of DaiCon 2009, I had fun preparing the stage with you all. Thank you for all your help and going as far as to give me chocolates everyday. ♡♡♡

I’m really happy to have been chosen to come this time.

I thank you from my heart. Let’s meet again!

Bye bye!!

Malaysia”

from: minorin

Looks like she had fun too. Shame she had to leave so early though. Her latest blog entry stated that she had to get straight back to work. Hope to see her perform live again~ Hopefully that time I’ll be able to watch her at a closer distance.

Finally, here are some random pics that I took. (Bad quality)

During the karaoke competition. Also the stage Minorin sang on.

The Macross booth.

The figure exhibition. LOTS of figures.

Is it a coincidence that figures of Kugimiya Rie’s roles are put together?

They had nendoroids too~

The only cosplay picture I took. Great looking Kuroshitsuji characters.

Basically the whole convention.

Spot the trooper.

The other half of the con. Notice the blue walls of hate. Never has a wall brought so much despair since the Berlin Wall.

The only picture I have of Minorin and also the barrier that separates us LOLOL

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