9/25/2010: Added January's Anime Japan Fes concert to the events list. Will be offline until early October--heading home to the U.S. for a bit!
9/05/2010: Got sidelined by some health issues and getting them taken care of. Back and feeling much better now! Time to catch up; am in the process of updating the events list.
5/01/2010: Added some news about the NHK's Anime Shudaika Daizenshuu concert (this year's lack of it for the first time since 2005, to be exact!), and updated the events list.
4/10/2010: Today's the 5th anniversary of Anison Central! I've updated the events list and added a news section.
3/29/2010: Updated the events list.
2/15/2010: Updated the events list.
1/31/2010: Been fightin' them winter blues all month. February's nearly here, though, so let's just pretend the New Year starts here, and I'll try to make it a better one than last! Updated the events list with the biggies coming up; individual performers' dates will be next.
12/15/2009: Updated the events list.
11/21/2009: Updated the events list.
10/18/2009: Updated the events list.
9/27/2009: Updated the events list.
8/25/2009: Going through a kinda rugged patch...updated the events list tonight, and aim to catch up on mail and "Somewhere It's Showa" this week.
8/18/2009: Wasn't able to get as much done during Obon break as I'd hoped, but survived Comiket, and was wowed once again by Anime Japan Fes' Super Hero Spirits and Super Anison Spirits concerts! Updated the events list tonight.
8/11/2009: Man, things have been shaking here--an earthquake Sunday night and another one this morning! Updated the events list tonight. Obon break starts tomorrow; with the day off work and time to chill out before Comiket and Anime Japan Fes start on Friday, hope to catch up on mail and "Somewhere It's Showa."
8/04/2009: Updated the events list--and be sure to check out the new 30th-anniversary Gundam concert on October 24; it's gonna be huge! Also of special note is the first entry for 2010; this concert has not yet been officially announced, but it's going to be another gotta-see!
7/28/2009: Mighty lucky to be online after a tornado--extremely rare in Japan; this might be the first one ever in the Kanto--hit town a half-mile from the house yesterday! 21 people injured, houses trashed, cars tossed around, metal phone poles bent in two...this house wasn't in its way, fortunately! Power was restored today, and although the phones are still out on most of this street, somehow this one came through all right--*whew*! Tonight I updated the event schedule.
7/21/2009: Updated the event schedule.
7/18/2009: Holy crapsticks, what a huge update this turned out to be--at the moment there are 56 listings on the event schedule, yowza! This year's string of national holidays forming a rare "Silver Week" in September is making for an especially cram-packed schedule...but I sure ain't complainin'!
7/10/2009: Man oh man, back at last! First up, just to get it the heck out from underfoot, is a page on my 2009 anison marathon (336 songs--that's one-third of one thousand!).
6/23/2009: What a month! Just popping on quickly here to let you know a mondo update is in the works. First, though, I need to finish up an exciting anison-related project with a crunchy deadline. Thanks so much for your patience!
5/23/2009: Updated the events list (tomorrow's MoJo and MIQ joint concert in Kawasaki has been postponed until later this summer, due to flu concerns).
5/17/2009: Back...updated the events list and online diary "Somewhere It's Showa."
4/24/2009: Just a quick note--will be offline from now until May 1; flying back to the U.S. tomorrow.
4/21/2009: Updated the events list. Now counting the hours 'til this Friday's big NHK anison concert!
4/15/2009: The details of July's Yoko Kanno & the Seatbelts concert were announced today, and are up now. Man oh man!!
4/14/2009: Updated the events list (Yoko Kanno & the Seatbelts in July!), and made five additions to the list of Useful Japanese Terms .
4/12/2009: The list of Useful Japanese Terms is now up with 35 entries, and is sure to grow. Updated the events list, and added something in case it might be helpful to know at a glance: the day of the week each event will be held on, in addition to the date.
4/10/2009: 'Nother update of the events list--May and June are really jumpin'! Hey, today is the fourth anniversary of Anison Central...thanks very much for reading, and helping make that milestone possible!
4/07/2009: Updated the events list.
3/31/2009: Updated the events list. Mannn, March was one mondo-busy month...hope there'll be a little more free time to come.
3/14/2009: Updated the events list.
3/10/2009: Oog, been one sick buckaroo...updated the events list.
2/26/2009: Updated the events list.
2/22/2009: They say good things come in threes...and bing-bang-boom, a trio of anison-related projects have come along! Will be busy a little longer, finishing the first two, but today I updated the events list.
2/10/2009: Updated the Gone Too Soon page and online diary "Somewhere It's Showa" with news on the passing of "Orguss" opening and ending theme performer Casey Rankin.
2/08/2009: Back from two great ones in two days! Updated the events list.
2/05/2009: Updated the events list--next month maestro Masayuki Yamamoto will do anison concerts in three cities!
2/03/2009: Updated the events list and online diary "Somewhere It's Showa."
2/01/2009: Updated the events list.
1/23/2009: Added the details announced today for the April 9 Ichirou Mizuki Symphonic Concert 2009.
1/21/2009: Added my event report on "Anime Japan Fes 2009 "Fuyu No Jin" and updated the events list.
1/10/2009: The Guide to Anison Performers is underway! Listings are up now, with pages on individual performers (with bio, photo if possible, list of anime songs, and link to their official site if they have one) to be added gradually. Also added info on this year's Super Robot Spirits concerts, and updated online diary "Somewhere It's Showa."
1/06/2008: Updated online diary "Somewhere It's Showa."
1/05/2008: Updated online diary "Somewhere It's Showa."
1/01/2009: Akemashite omedetou!! Here's hoping we'll all have a fine 2009, and that the New Year will be as great as 2008 for anison concerts! Today I updated the events list, and hope to do more today after a nap...stayed up all night at Takayuki Miyauchi's Countdown event...
12/17/2008: Updated the events list.
12/10/2008: Reversed the order of the Event Reports list so that the most recent are at the top now. I've intended to post event reports first in online diary "Somewhere It's Showa" and then re-post them here on individual pages soon after...but it's been a while, oops! Today I posted event reports for Nov. 29-30's Super Sentai 'Spirits' III: The 20th Century Version and Super Sentai 'Spirits' III: The 21st Century Version.
12/09/2008: Updated the events list.
12/01/2008: What a weekend! Have updated the events list, and did a brief report on both days of Super Sentai Spirits III in online diary "Somewhere It's Showa."
11/29/2008: Updated online diary "Somewhere It's Showa."
11/24/2008: Updated the events list.
11/22/2008: Back after a quick trip! Updated the events list today.
11/17/2008: Updated the events list and wrote a quick event report on yesterday's Ureshikutte Gomen Nasai! Part 3, featuring MoJo and Takayuki Miyauchi, in online diary "Somewhere It's Showa."
11/12/2008: Updated the events list and online diary "Somewhere It's Showa."
11/09/2008: Added a slew of upcoming events, and updated online diary "Somewhere It's Showa."
11/07/2008: Updated online diary "Somewhere It's Showa."
11/05/2008: Updated online diary "Somewhere It's Showa."
11/03/2008: Updated the events list and online diary "Somewhere It's Showa."
10/30/2008: Catching up on some reports that have been cookin' a while! Today I updated online diary "Somewhere It's Showa" with an event report on June 29's "J9 Brothers! Nante Sugoi Honey-Honey Night!!" featuring Isao Taira and Yukio Yamagata.
10/28/2008: Yowwch--back online after an unexpected week away. Updated the events list and online diary "Somewhere It's Showa."
10/18/2008: Added Anime Japan Fes's January Sendai leg to the events list.
10/16/2008: Updated online diary "Somewhere It's Showa."
10/14/2008: Added January's Anime Japan Fes 2009 "Fuyu no Jin" concerts in Shibuya and Osaka (complete with a MAKE-UP reunion!) to the events list.
10/13/2008: Bwa-ha-ha, I have survived! Updated the events list.
10/06/2008: Back online from home at last! Today I updated the events list. Kind of image-challenged at the moment--lotsa photos on the camera, no graphics program on the computer just yet--but hope to have that ironed out soon. Coming off a crazy weekend--Takayuki Miyauchi's show at Shinjuku's Naked Loft last Friday (have a photo report in the works for that), Akira Kushida's third Soul Engine concert yesterday, and between them, a day-long anison karaoke party with fans who'd come from all over Japan for the two events, followed by a group trip to Shocker OH!NO's Secret Base for his Saturday-night talk show on the making of last month's Nakano Anime Bunkasai and Anison Power in Nakano concert. This coming weekend promises to be just as wild, with Friday's 10-hour "Anison 1,000-Song Medley: The Experience" overnighter, Saturday's MoJo Zone 9, and Sunday's MoJox2 Nodo Jiman 9. (Good thing the next day's a national holiday...Spend The Day Unconscious Day! [Well, okay, it's officially Sports Day--but with those first two letters being the same, they're awfully easy to mix up...])
10/01/2008: Quick update of online diary "Somewhere It's Showa."
9/27/2008: Updated online diary "Somewhere It's Showa" with news from the Animx Grand Prix!
9/16/2008: My hard drive crashed, arrggh! Am currently only able to get online during lunch at work. Updated the events list today (and updated online diary "Somewhere It's Showa" last Friday). Looking forward to going to see the finals of Animax's second annual All-Japan Anime Song Grand Prix competition next Sunday--there'll be special performances by Ichirou "Aniki" Mizuki and Akira "Qu-cy" Kushida, too!
9/10/2008: Updated the events list and online diary "Somewhere It's Showa."
9/04/2008: Updated online diary "Somewhere It's Showa."
9/01/2008: Updated the events list and online diary "Somewhere It's Showa" with a report on August 17's AJF Super Anison Spirits!
8/27/2008: "Ohranger" theme song performer Kentarou Hayami is a new addition for November's Super Sentai Spirits III 2008: 20th Century concert!
8/26/2008: Updated the events list and added further ticket information on November's two Super Sentai Spirits III 2008 concerts.
8/23/2008: Updated online diary "Somewhere It's Showa" with a report on last Saturday's AJF Super Hero Spirits!
8/22/2008: Updated online diary "Somewhere It's Showa" with a bit of doofiness...
8/17/2008: Just got back from the big Anime Japan Fes and Comiket weekend...yesterday's Super Hero Spirits and tonight's Super Anison Spirits concerts were tremendous! (Super Anison Spirits was filmed with intent to be broadcast on TV at a later date...and I was one of the fans interviewed just before it, yikes!) Did a quick events-list update to add Takayuki Miyauchi's 30th-anniversary concert in October and November's two (!!) Super Sentai Spirits III concerts...more to come, after some sleep!
8/09/2008: Added five newly announced performers to the Anime Japan Fes concert listings, and updated online diary "Somewhere It's Showa."
8/04/2008: What a month! My brother came to visit, so I took a week off work so we could hang out; have gotten caught back up at work now, so time to catch up here! So far, have gotten the events list back up to date, and added the several recently announced additional performers to the Anime Japan Fes concerts. Also updated online diary "Somewhere It's Showa."
7/02/2008: Updated the release and events lists.
6/30/2008: Updated the events list (Hitomi Ashida has joined the lineup for August's Anison Joushibu Natsu Matsuri). Yesterday's J9 Brothers show was pure greatness--working on the report now!
6/24/2008: Updated online diary "Somewhere It's Showa."
6/22/2008: Updated the events lists.
6/15/2008: Made it to 302 songs in my 2008 anison marathon!
6/13/2008: Updated online diary "Somewhere It's Showa."
6/07/2008: Finally back online from home! Updated the listings for two of Anime Japan Fes 2008's concerts with the recently announced additions to their lineups of stars: Mitsuko Horie will be joined by Mami Ayukawa, Kumiko Oosugi, Mami Kingetsu, Hitomi Mieno, MIQ, YUKA, Chihiro Yonekura, and Salia in the Anison Joushibu Natsu Matsuri, while Super Hero Spirits Natsu No Jin has added Shin'ichi Ishihara and Tatsuya Maeda.
5/31/2008: Updated the events lists, and also online diary "Somewhere It's Showa" (the recently renamed "Toki O Koete")!
5/24/2008: Got knocked offline by a dead monitor! Back briefly to add some scoopage from today's MoJo Zone 7 live: Shocker OH!NO! announced a new event, Anison Power, that will feature a galaxy of top stars on September 27 in Nakano. He also mentioned that this November will see a third Super Sentai Spirits concert!
5/12/2008: Updated online diary "Toki O Koete."
5/04/2008: Slew of updates to the events list. Event reports to come!
4/22/2008: Updated online diary "Toki O Koete."
4/16/2008: Quick update of the events lists, and also updated online diary "Toki O Koete."
4/04/2008: Updated online diary "Toki O Koete."
3/28/2008: Updated online diary "Toki O Koete."
3/25/2008: Updated online diary "Toki O Koete."
3/23/2008: Updated the events lists, and also online diary "Toki O Koete"!
3/15/2008: Added quite a few upcoming events today--the season is heating up! (And a couple-minute piece on me aired today on TV Tokyo's "Hi! Hey! Say!" as part of an episode on foreigners in Japan! I was billed as an "anime song otaku" and was shown singing the last lines of "Mazinger Z" and "Combattler V no Theme.")
2/22/2008: My list of Top Ten Most Memorable Moments from anison concerts in 2007 is now up in online diary "Toki O Koete"!
2/17/2008: Added several upcoming events today, and a new entry in online diary "Toki O Koete". The last three weekends have been mind-blowing! Two weeks ago was Takayuki Miyauchi's fantastic birthday live, last weekend was a double dose of MoJo greatness...and today a TV Tokyo crew filmed a segment on me for music-variety program "Hi! Hey! Say!" Am still in shock...!
1/30/2008: Sorry so late, but--akemashite omedetou! Off to a slow start this year...not used to living in a house where you can see your breath inside in the winter! Came down with bronchitis that's been pretty tenacious, but am finally starting to shake it off. The temperature has been around 35 to 40 degrees Fahrenheit in my computer room, so have been spending most of the time under the kotatsu instead of getting much done online...Now that I'm feeling better, though, am rarin' to catch up! Added several upcoming events today.
12/08/2007: Have updated the upcoming A/V release list and added a page for A/V releases before 1997.
12/05/2007: The rest of my CD collection has just arrived, sent from the States--so was able to update the 1997 and 1999 A/V release pages! Also updated the lists of upcoming events.
11/27/2007: Added a slew of upcoming events today...and there's more to come! But first, I've gotta scram and figure out how to sign up for the AX-N channel--they're going to broadcast part of last August's Anime Japan Fes Super Anison Spirits concert on Saturday afternoon!
11/26/2007: Been an eventful last few months, but now I'm settled in a new house, and the company I work for has finally completed its move to the next prefecture north. Time to get caught up! Tonight I took down the outdated event info, and have just started adding upcoming events. More tomorrow!
6/15/2007: 202 anime songs in one go--it can be done! Put up the page for my 2007 anison marathon...gonna go catch up on sleep now...!
6/11/2007: Added the August 18 "Macross 25th Anniversary Commemoration Live -Minmay meets Fire Bomber-" concert to the list of upcoming events.
6/05/2007: Usual front page restored.
6/04/2007: Hoped to post two reports by tonight, but the news of Kentarou Haneda's passing has really taken the wind out of my sails. Changed the front page color in tribute. Things will return to normal tomorrow.
5/31/2007: Added more new events to the front page and updated "Toki O Koete." Working on a flock of reports now!
5/14/2007: Added more new events to the front page and updated "Toki O Koete."
5/04/2007: Added new events to the front page.
4/23/2007: Whew...still alive! Updated the list of upcoming events and releases. More to come!
3/29/2007: Yowza, things have been wild...! Updated the upcoming events list, and also made an entry over in my online diary about interviewing for VLOMIQ Tokyo and about something even more astonishing coming up!
3/16/2007: Added several upcoming events to the front page! Am about halfway home on a photo-feature on Akira Kushida and Takayuki Miyauchi's March 24 "Waratte Fukukin! Utatte Haikin" show; shouldn't take long to finish, but I need to survive this weekend first: Sunday is the first day of Akira Kushida's 15th Utau-zo (I signed up to do "Sono Na Wa Gaiking The Great"...what the heck was I thinking?!), and is also the day applicants will be interviewed for VLOMIQ Tokyo, a 10-week vocal course to be taught by MIQ...please wish me luck!
1/26/2007: Was excited to get a postcard today announcing a March anison concert by singer/songwriter Masayuki Yamamoto (featuring "20 songs and 1 guitar!"). Yamamoto-sensei is certainly one of Japan's national living musical treasures; he's written hundreds of anime songs (and countless other mainstream tunes), and was the recording artist too on a good many of his Time Bokan-series theme songs and insert songs. Accompanying himself on acoustic guitar, his performances are among the highlights of Super Anison Spirits concerts--and at last year's SAS summer editions in Tokyo and Osaka, and once again at the SAS concert this month, he performed a newly-written third verse for "Gyakuten Ippatsuman" in memory of seiyuu Kei Tomiyama and Hirotaka Suzuoki, who had worked with him on Ippatsuman and died far too young (Suzuoki passed away just days before the August Tokyo SAS concert). Well, this postcard announcing the March concert also has the great news that Yamamoto's new CD "Sainou No Rakuten" (coming out February 23 from Bellabeaux/Geneon, BBCA-3006) will include this special version of "Gyakuten Ippatsuman"! Life is good!
1/24/2007: Lots of upcoming events added to the front page today. Also today, the "Super Sentai 'Spirits' 2006 Live" DVD set came out, and bless Columbia's heart (they were taking advance orders in the lobby immediately after the concert), they sent it so it got here the same day it came out. Am so glad this great concert was preserved on DVD! I was curious to see what would happen in the song where a performer had missed the first line of its second verse; Shocker OH!NO! had mentioned in December that the line would be re-recorded and inserted--and mannn, what a seamless edit! I don't think anyone who wasn't there will be able to spot where it happened! On a personal note, I didn't expect to be visible on the DVD--was in the 7th row but at far right when facing the stage, usually out of range of the cameras--but suddenly, there was a full-on shot of my section of the crowd, all of us singing along on the last chorus of "Taiyou Sentai Sunvulcan"! Heeheeheeheehee, I'm still grinning with glee!
1/21/2007: Hope the New Year's going well for you! Mine got off to a rocky start when I got back to Japan after being away two weeks with my family for the holidays: I turned on the computer, and the monitor promptly died! Had to wait 'til payday to be able to do anything about it, but am back online at last now. Quickie update: added Super Robot Spirits 2007 info (having Mari Iijima and Yuuko Miyamura there is as close as you can get to having Minmay of Macross singing and Asuka of Evangelion emceeing!) to the front page's Upcoming Live Events section, and added the "Super Hero Spirits Tour Live" CD to the Releases in 2000 page. Way more to come!
12/04/2006: Back now from a whirlwind anison weekend: Saturday in Osaka for "Ureshikutte Gomen Nasai!" (first row, and Miyauchi-san let me sing the "Tai~mu Ren~ja~" last phrase in "1000 Nen Senshi"!!), and Sunday in Tokyo to join the gallery crowd at Shocker OH!NO!'s live radio interview with MoJo. It was a great chance to shoot a well-lit photo of MoJo-san, which I hope to post shortly here with his bio page in the Anison Armory section. Today, updated the performer list for January's Anime Japan Fes concert (at Super Sentai Spirits, Ken Narita [Denjiman] watched from the balcony but Shocker got him to promise to perform in the future...and the future is getting here fast, with Narita just announced for the Anime Japan Fes lineup!). Back to work now on event reports!
11/20/2006: Yesterday's Super Sentai Spirits II concert was recorded for a two-DVD release by Columbia in January--and what a high-energy showcase it was! Have put up a preliminary report page with its set list, linked from the front page; report to come!
11/15/2006: Added "Gaoranger Hoero!!" and "Gosei Sentai Dairanger" to the Accurate Anison Lyrics section (yep, getting ready for this weekend's big Super Sentai Spirits concert!).
11/14/2006: Added "Himitsu Sentai Goranger," "Choujin Sentai Jetman" and "Kokoro Wa Tamago" to the Accurate Anison Lyrics section.
10/27/2006: New keyboard! Updated the front page's event list, and added "Kyouryuu Sentai Juranger," "JAKQ Dengekitai" and "Susume! Goranger" to the Accurate Anison Lyrics section.
10/08/2006: Arrgh, the m, j and u keys have died on my keyboard so have to paste those letters in, and it's making me nuts...Anyway! Added info on Masayuki Yamamoto's tour about to start, JAM Project's 2007 tour, the upcoming sentai festival concerts at PAL2 amusement park, and additional performers for Anime Fes Japan Fuyu No Jin.
10/04/2006: The end may finally be in sight for this stretch of extra-long workdays, knock wood! The last three months of weekdays have been a blur of work and sleep...but mannn, have the weekends' anison events kept me going! Have been scribbling down notes throughout for when those glorious days of normal (?) life finally get here and I can catch up on event reports (although I forgot to bring along a pen for last Saturday's Hero Monogatari 2 concert, arrghh...maybe had better do that one first before my feeble noggin fuzzes out. ;^) Although will never forget MoJo offering me the mike to sing the "Dai dai dai dai da daiya" bridge in "Dai Sentai Goggle V" there, hee!)...hoping hard those days will be here soon! In the meantime, added info on the upcoming Anime Fes Japan Fuyu No Jin and Ureshikutte Gomen Nasai in Osaka concerts to the front page.
8/15/2006: The Anison Carnival in Ueno, AJF Super Hero Spirits and AJF Super Anison Spirits were three super concerts! Just got back, and have updated the list of upcoming concerts and added "Dengeki Sentai Changeman" and "Dear Friend" to the