ANIME LIVES!! My adventures with Musical Kuroshitsuji and Hatsune Miku.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Academic Disclaimer: This blog is a class project for my Visual Anthropology class; as such it is for educational purposes only. All photos posted here were taken taken by myself unless otherwise noted. Rights regarding who owns Kuroshitsuji and Hatsune Miku are provided within the blog entry.

Japan's otaku-subculture can hardly be labeled "sub" anymore. In the case of my recent adventures to see the revival of Kuroshitsuji The Most Beautiful Death in the World musical (originally performed in 2010, which  I also went to see live), and Hatsune Miku in her debut opera THE END, beloved anime characters are taken from their fictitious virtual realms and catapulted into reality.

Kuroshitsuji The Most Beautiful Death in the
World 2013 Revival Poster at Asakusa
ACT Theatre

Based on Yana Toboso's (Square-Enix manga  and Aniplex anime) Kuroshitsuji, Kuroshitsuji Musical offers you the chance to follow your favorite characters (plus some new ones exclusive to the musical) in similar events offered by the manga or anime in live action. Many of the characters were originals from the very first and/or second Kuroshitsuji musicals, and the characters of Ciel and Sebastian are always played by recognisable celebrities. Sebastian Michaellis, for example has been played by popular R&B/Pop artist Matsushita Yuya during all three events. For those who cannot afford to see the event live, there are limited engagements of live viewings in special theatres in trendy parts of Japan.

Hatsune Miku posing in Luis Vuitton by Marc
Jacobs before the opening of her debuted
opera THE END.

Hatsune Miku of Vocaloid and Project Mirai (SEGA) has had many concerts (or raibu, "lives") for her otaku following but this two night engagement catered to a wider variety of individuals. Rather than singing her usual cheery songs in an environment where her fans could wave around glow sticks, THE END was staged in an auditorium of Shibuya's Bunkamura Theatre. In this case, Miku was performing in an opera in which there was digital furniture and surroundings and two other cast members accompanying her. Fans and those who were being introduced to Miku for the first time had the chance to get to know her more intimately than they would at one of her usual "live" engagements. The opera was centered around Miku's existential crisis after she learns that she may one day die. Considering that she isn't human, she never imagined death concerned her. The music was written and digitally produced on stage by Keiichiro Shibuya. Shibuya had just lost his wife when he wrote the opera and used Miku as an instrument to express his pain. Since the fear of death, if not fear than at least the perception and acknowledgement of death is one that we all share. In this way, even though Miku was clearly nothing more than a digital image projected onto the screen before the audience, there was no denying that she affected us in a very real way.

Ikebukuro's Animate provides paper for
fans to write birthday wishes for
their beloved anime and manga
characters.

Fans write birthday wishes for anime character
at Ikebukuro's Animate shop.