Budokan DVD and Blu-ray - August 2010 (mini site open)

Latest news, upcoming events, general Maaya talk.
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Yyrkoon70
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Post by Yyrkoon70 »

I received it! I watched the first 7 songs, and I can say it's really worth it! I was somehow deceived by her singing performance at her last concert Kazeyomi, but I have nothing to say here, her voice is divine!
For now, I really liked Hemisphere, but everything is awesome! Next time, I'll attend her concert, even if that costs me a lot of money ;)
EDIT: The piano medley with YK is so great!!! Kiseki no Umi is also one of my favorite, but I almost love everything till now!
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Post by TomoyoHime »

Got mine last monday and next day went to see it. It really looks pretty this white paking but the ribbon for me is a waste, nothing special; the photobook is good but spected more.

I have seen the entire concert at once.

Can anyone kill the customes maker? ;-; With the first one seems like Maaya is afraid to rip it off coz she doesn't want to move; green sneakers don't match fridge white dresses and you could see parts of the rainbown skirt on the floor... what they did to her hair?
Not complains in the vocal part, Maaya were spectacular, somehow this time sound more like the cd recordings, and only fotgot a line from purachina; backing vocals were good, we needed them before, the drummer and guitarrits great as always —cougcougnotlikeMaayainGnScougcoug—, sometimes strings were too low —blame the console controler.
The video have serious problems, noisy problems, sometimes the image is clear but in the next take those awful points come to scene, too bad for a blu-ray quality. Old Maaya's dvds had same problem, compresing knowledge, cero, a nightmare.
Sorry guys, i need to complain.

I love her old songs and 0331mendley, Yoko have angel; maybe there are to many ballads but all those songs deserve its place. Lately, no wonder why, been in pop mood, so enjoy a lot Get No Satisfaction!, Private Sky, Magic Number and hikariare.
What else can I say? I'm glad Maaya sang in English, she's good, gravity is ❤. The last but no least, Hemisphere is god, we could listen it in constant repeat and not get bored, just one word, EPIC.
MC7 is boring, i almost fell asleep, literaly, we called it "chatting with a piano" :P
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deltafour
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Post by deltafour »

[quote="TomoyoHime"]Can anyone kill the [costume] maker?[/quote]

Hear, hear. I was about to rant on this, but you beat me to it. Seriously, is Maaya worried attendance will drop if she wears (gasp) normal clothes at her concerts? Like a dress or something simple? Hearing her poke fun at her own outfits made me wonder, "Well, if you're going to make fun of them, why are you wearing them in the first place?" I think one of the comments I saw on another board summed it up best: "Maaya's outfits were something an idol would wear." i.e., they were overly cutesy, ridiculous contraptions that stole attention from the wearer. She doesn't wear that sort of stuff at her fan club events, does she?

The one other thing I don't get is the audience. At times Maaya would go around that ledge behind the main stage and the spotlight would fall on the first row of the crowd. I think I can count on one hand the number of people I saw who actually looked like they were enjoying themselves. Everyone else had this really dead expression, and I couldn't understand why. For crying out loud, people, Maaya Sakamoto is standing FIVE FEET IN FRONT OF YOU. You're practically inhaling the words she's singing, and yet you look as though you're petrified. Zombified, even. Like you're terrified of how you'll look at 1080p. Why weren't there more people having fun? Must be a Japanese cultural thing.

[quote="TomoyoHime"]MC7 is boring, i almost fell asleep, literaly, we called it "chatting with a piano" :P [/quote]

Well, you don't expect her to sing for three hours straight, do you? :) I think the MCs are there more so she can catch her breath than anything else.
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deltafour
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Post by deltafour »

The "Gift" MCs, translated as promised:

http://sakamotomaaya.com/archive/gift

I had the odd thought this morning while reading through some commentary on Twitter that perhaps we have witnessed a peak in Maaya's career. (Not the peak, I hope, just a peak.) I'm not sure where Maaya's going to go from "everywhere", and it doesn't seem like Maaya herself knows either. She speaks of wanting to push her roots down further, but to me, "everywhere" comes across as though she's reached bedrock -- a place of stability, but also a sign that she has reached the end of that particular path.

Maaya has been working on the same canvas for 15 years, but I think she has at last run out of paint. The exploratory, cautious colors of her early days and the bold, vibrant tones from the middle of her career have long since been exhausted, and I feel that with "Kazeyomi" and in particular the Budokan concert she used up the last of the colors on her palette, finishing with a bright streak of pink and blue. From here she can only go on the colors given to her by others, which may explain why she went back to Kanno for "utsukushii hito" and why her next release is nothing but covers.

I almost think the concert should have ended this way: MC8 should have been Maaya's retirement announcement. Not a permanent retirement, of course, but a temporary one. A sabbatical, if you will. She should take ten years away from her work as a singer, get married, have a child, become an expert at the piano (maybe get Shin Kono to teach her), and experience new challenges and new things in life. She'll find, in the stresses and joys of being married and having a child, new colors that she can use to paint new songs. And then, on March 31st, 2020, she can go back to the Budokan as the start of a world tour to show everyone the new inspiration she's found in the ten years prior.

As it is, I think over the next couple of years we'll see a Maaya in decline, at least until she regains her bearings and sets out on a new path. It's hard to keep going up after you've reached the top of one mountain, and I think Maaya's smart enough to have realized this already. Besides, a decline could be a good thing, as it tends to rid the fanbase of those who aren't "true" fans.
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Jérôme.
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Post by Jérôme. »

Thank you
:angel: Life is on Maayas, and the posts are hope and promise... :angel:
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Jérôme.
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Post by Jérôme. »

deltafour wrote:The "Gift" MCs, translated as promised:

http://sakamotomaaya.com/archive/gift
Well, after reading all, I'm surprised there is no translation of the part with the birthday cake... Isn't it on the vid ? Does this mean their is cut from the show in the video ? o.O I still didn't received my copy...
I had the odd thought this morning while reading through some commentary on Twitter that perhaps we have witnessed a peak in Maaya's career.........[snip]
Well I don't totally agree with you. For sure, Everywhere and the Budokan concert was a big step. But for me, it's more a confirmation that she found a new herself and she will keep on. There is still in path in front of her.

In my opinion, Loop was a poor album, where she was kind of lost without knowing what to do or where to go. Then with Kazeyomi she showed a new path, inherited from the old one without being exactly the same. Everywhere is still a step further, demonstring she is now able to compose by herself, even if this was just one song.

Speculation mode : We should not expect major released soon. What I imagine now is that she would continue on small projects like the DownTown cover because she is asked to. This would hide from public her latent work on a new, strong, album, with half the songs composed by herself, and which would be released in 2 or 3 years.
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deltafour
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Post by deltafour »

Jérôme. wrote:Well, after reading all, I'm surprised there is no translation of the part with the birthday cake... Isn't it on the vid ?
I was wondering about this as well. I haven't watched my Blu-ray yet (plan to do that this weekend), but it's not included in the DVD. There is a part in the middle where they fade to black for a brief instant -- right before MC3, I think. I don't know if that's when the cake appeared, but something got cut out there.
But for me, it's more a confirmation that she found a new herself and she will keep on. There is still in path in front of her. [...]
I agree that there is a path in front of her (probably many paths). What worries me is whether Maaya has the resolve to step out on any of them. Contentment with who and where she is now is fine, but it can lead to stagnation, which is poison to an artist's career. I think she needs a new set of challenges to give her that push she needs to continue to develop.

I like your speculation -- I would love to see Maaya involved in more than just the vocal and lyrical side of her music. She's spoken about admiring Shoko Suzuki (I think) for being able to pull off an entire concert with just a piano, so maybe Maaya has a vision of doing that in the future.
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Jérôme.
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Post by Jérôme. »

[quote="deltafour"][quote="Jérôme."]Well, after reading all, I'm surprised there is no translation of the part with the birthday cake... Isn't it on the vid ?[/quote]

I was wondering about this as well. I haven't watched my Blu-ray yet (plan to do that this weekend), but it's not included in the DVD. There is a part in the middle where they fade to black for a brief instant -- right before MC3, I think. I don't know if that's when the cake appeared, but something got cut out there.
[/quote]

The cake appeared with the Drum and Suzuki-san. She came on stage singing "Happy Birthday Maaya-san" and all Budokan sang along together. So it should be at end of Mic #6.

Before MC3, it's Kiseki no Umi, right ? I can't remember if there was a little break before the Mic, but I will try to remember it my own way tonight. ^^;

I wonder if there is not a cut in MC2 too, I think she spoke of presents she received ("puresento" is still an easy word to recognize even for me in japanese ;) ). But maybe this was actualy at begin of MC3, and that should explain the cut...
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Post by roxfan »

The cake thing is not shown in the main part (no idea why, they couldn't get a license to "Happy Birthday" or what?) but a part of the scene was shown in the making of documentary. I'm a bit disappointed they cut the part where Maaya was like "What is this? I told you no surprises!" :)
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Post by deltafour »

[quote="Jérôme."]The cake appeared with the Drum and Suzuki-san. She came on stage singing "Happy Birthday Maaya-san" and all Budokan sang along together. So it should be at end of Mic #6.[/quote]

Ah! That explains the fade transition in MC6. So yes, it's cut out, at least from the DVD. I remember watching it the first time and thinking it looked a little weird, since they had been using straight cuts to transition between cameras for practically the entire concert, but at that one place they used a fade.

When I watch the Blu-ray I'll check the MCs against my transcripts and see if there's anything unique to that version.
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Post by deltafour »

OK, after some more sleuthing (thanks Jérôme), it's clear that the DVD does NOT have every part of every MC. There are several minutes cut from MC3, a few minutes cut from MC6 (to include "Happy Birthday"), and a tiny bit cut from MC8. As for whether the Blu-ray has the same cuts, I don't know. (I hope not!) If I can transcribe from the Blu-ray I'll do that, otherwise I'll go with what I have and post updated transcripts next week.
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Post by jason »

[quote="deltafour"]OK, after some more sleuthing (thanks Jérôme), it's clear that the DVD does NOT have every part of every MC. There are several minutes cut from MC3, a few minutes cut from MC6 (to include "Happy Birthday"), and a tiny bit cut from MC8. As for whether the Blu-ray has the same cuts, I don't know. (I hope not!) If I can transcribe from the Blu-ray I'll do that, otherwise I'll go with what I have and post updated transcripts next week.[/quote]
There's no good reason for Victor Ent to cut stuff from the dvd but not the blu-ray. The same edits should be in both versions. I haven't watched my blu-ray 100%, but I didn't see any video of the birthday cake in the MCs. So I guess the cake is a lie. :cry:
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Jérôme.
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Post by Jérôme. »

[quote="roxfan"]The cake thing is not shown in the main part (no idea why, they couldn't get a license to "Happy Birthday" or what?) but a part of the scene was shown in the making of documentary. I'm a bit disappointed they cut the part where Maaya was like "What is this? I told you no surprises!" :) [/quote]

Maybe on the video it looks too over-acted (from far afar I already though it was.... like, how they would hide from her the elevator is being used again for the cake when she is backstage just before ?)

But I swear the cake was real and seemed Oishi ! XD
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Post by Jérôme. »

I finally received mine. I didn't watch the whole thing yet, but I have a strange feeling about this video in regard of me being there.

EDIT : [SNIP The part saying it was not so good]

It's a must have. But I'm still very glad I had been able to be there, because it was for me a different experience.

Last note for the bonus : They are great !!
I didn't get Maaya was practicing guitar only for some weeks before the show. She is so lovely trying her best to be prepared for the D date. Wow.
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jason
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Post by jason »

deltafour wrote:
But for me, it's more a confirmation that she found a new herself and she will keep on. There is still in path in front of her. [...]
I agree that there is a path in front of her (probably many paths). What worries me is whether Maaya has the resolve to step out on any of them. Contentment with who and where she is now is fine, but it can lead to stagnation, which is poison to an artist's career. I think she needs a new set of challenges to give her that push she needs to continue to develop.
Maaya has never been one to just stick to a single path though. She has always explored different paths in her career and sought new challenges. She does take breaks from time to time, but to suggest she should retire for a while and then come back after 10 years is an insult to her career. Most artists can't make a come back even after 5 years. I don't think I even agree that Maaya has hit a peak, or say that her career has been building to a peak.

She might take another break after this year, but I think we'll still see the usual slow, but steady work from her in the near future.
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