This afternoon I saw the Girls Be mini-concert in Ginza.  This was the
first time at a Girls Be event that they seiyuu sang some of their own
original songs.  Machirin sang "Tsubasa wo Kimi ni", the ending song of
the game Dark Cyber, and Houko sang "Watashi Rashiku", the ending theme of
Nadeshico.  The great thing about this was that I was standing in the very
center at the back of the event area (very small;  I was only about 20
feet away from the seiyuu), which was exactly where they stared when the
were singing!  (if I were conceited, I would say they were stareing at
me...^_^;)  There was also a lot of very nice talk.  Machirin's two anime
influences that lead her to become a seiyuu were "Gundam" and "Creamy
Mami"  (???)  Houko was as honest as ever, saying she hasn't gotten any
roles that she really likes, and she really hasn't realized her dreams yet
as a seiyuu.  She ripped on Machirin's boke a bit too.  Content-wise, it
was probably the best Girls Be event yet, and they announced yet another
one to take place on August 11th (a Monday, but I have that week off from
work.  ^_^)

Then this evening was the Sakurai Tomo 10th Anniversary concert.  Even
though this was free, they had a lot of room left over (it seemed like
they had space for about 10,000 people, and maybe a little more than half
that showed up altogehter), and anyone could get in.  Even though I didn't
have a ticket, I still ended up with slightly better seats than Hitoshi
(who did have one!)  It was a full two hour concert, complete with
appearances from Yuuseioujo and Nagasaki Moe, world premiering her new
single (I didn't say the show was perfect...)

What elevated this concert from good to highly memorable was the final
song of the encore, and the way she handled it.  "Ai Oboeteimasuka"  After
two hours of performing in the oppresive heat, she still pulled off an
excellent version of this song, never missing a high spot.  Iijima Mari
couldn't have done it better in her prime (or Iijima Ai, for that matter)
As the song ended, Tomo simply bowed, and walked off the stage.  No words
or anything.  It took about five seconds after the band stopped playing
for people to realize it was time to start clapping.  It was so great to
see this song that basically shaped the last five years of my life treated
with the reverent respect I feel it deserves...

And another Machirin event tomorrow morning.  The golden age of seiyuu
events is upon us!  (^_^)

Joe Petrow--joepet@server.berkeley.edu--http://server.berkeley.edu/~joepet
/------------\    Carry on, anata ni aenai ashita nante    /-------------\
|  Ma   rin  |        Nemuru koto sae kiga toukute         |  Toyoshima  |
|    chi     | Carry back, kioku no  zenbu wo hirogenagara |   Machiko   |
\------------/ Ichiban kagayaku takaramono da ne, anata ha \-------------/