AX 2008: Ishida shakes, Shokotan bakes

Idol singers? No, just cosplayers after Shotokan's concert. (Photo ©2008 by G.A. Carroll)

Leave it to J-pop and J-rock to inject a badly needed burst of enthusiasm into the 50,000-plus cosplaying attendees, grim-faced industry executives and whiny vendors who made their mark at Anime Expo 2008, July 3-6 at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

That includes three female vocalists – Yoko Ishida, Manami of the duo Jyukai, and Shokotan, a spicy combination singer, blogger and anime cosplay enhthusiast who made her US debut Saturday at the very pleasant and spacious Nokia Theater just a block or two away from the Convention Center in downtown L.A.

Yoko Ishida, right, does her Ayaya imitation Friday during AX 2008. (Photo ©2008 by G.A. Carroll)

Ishida and Manami also played the Nokia – and apparently for the first time in Anime Expo history, glowsticks made an appearance, involving roughly a dozen fans. It started small with Ishida’s show, bled into Manami’s set (she sang with guitarist Dewa as part of the “Jyukai” duet) in the Friday concert.

Fans without glowsticks caught on, and turned on the cell phones and digital cameras  using them like glowsticks. The lights swayed back and forth  like a sea of glowing wheat stalks, and Manami took advantage with staggeringly beautiful songs. It got crazy and, frankly, quite emotional as similarities to Hello! Project’s legendary arena shows, which feature thousands of such glowsticks, started to materialize in a big way. Eyes started to well up, even among the most hard-core anime cosplayers.

Dawn of the glowstick era in America during Ishida's AX 2008 concert. (Photo ©2008 by G.A. Carroll)

Coincidentally, there was a glowstick demonstration right after the Friday show and 700 people crammed into a room designed to hold 200, and the glowstick instructors had to spill out participants into the convention-center hallways.

Shokotan’s show on Saturday saw those glowstickers multiply by hundreds – and suddenly, at the matinee, the atmosphere was eerily transformed into something you would see at Yokohama Arena, Saitama Super Arena or Yoyogi Hippodrome in Japan.  – a thing of beauty. There wasn’t a dry eye in the place, even as Shokotan droned out plain-Jane anime themes and an occasional stomper.

Abe? No! Shokotan danced wearing cosplay outfits in the Saturday show. (Photo ©2008 by G.A. Carroll

Now, to look at and listen to Shokotan, one is immediately reminded of Abe Natsumi of Hello! Project, although Shokotan is not quite as adorable as is Abe. Likewise, Ishida’s signature “para-para” dance – in this case including a pair of backdancers – is almost exactly the kind of steps used by all of Hello! Project’s units, and to look at Ishida and her idol-likke gown you might as well be looking at Aya Matsuura (Ayaya, though, has a big edge in actual song quality, and solo ability).

Manami: Great voice but can't seem to sing and move at the same time. (Photo ©2008 by G.A. Carroll)

That leaves Manami, a difficult comparison to anyone Hello! Project has because she has a brilliant, electric voice that just grabs the audience – in much the same way as Goto Maki did in her prime with H!P and what she will likely do as a new Avex product.

One thing is certain – the music made the convention (other appearances by J-rock bands also jacked up the thousands in attendance) an utterly smashing success. Anime fans who didn’t care a lot for music got their ears opened, and J-pop and J-rock fans who care little about anime not only enjoyed the tunes, but the artwork and crazed cosplayers as well.

Stay tuned here for much more from AX 2008.

This is Rad signing off – for now.