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Eizosakuhinsyuu 2kanBy AKGFAN
Eizosakuhinsyuu 2kanRelease Date: 04/20/2005Price: 5,565 Yen My RatingPerformance - 10/10Video Quality - 9/10 Sound Quality - 8/10 Overall Score - 9/10! Some Notes on the DVDAlright, so I recieved my copy of Asian Kung-Fu Generation's second DVD today and was totally blown away. First, on the back of the DVD is this super kawaii bird that spells AKG hehe. So I go to open my package, and get totally surprised. This DVD is actually two DVDs! The first DVD shows a full concert that AKG performed on December 5, 2005. AKG played twenty two songs! Many of the songs played are favorites from Sol-Fa, Kimitsunagi Five M, and Houkai Amplifier. The second DVD contains clips from a concert at the Shelter club, behind the scenes action, and some outtakes from the music video Kimi to iu Hana. Let's first go into the first DVD :) DVD Part 1As I mentioned above, the first part of this DVD package is an entire concert that Asian Kung-Fu Generation performed for their No!Member November mini concert tour. Below is the list of songs that they played in order:
The DVD starts off with Shindoukaku which is a pretty wild song. What really catches your eye at the beginning though is how the camera is moving around. The camera moves around wildly in a similar fashion to how the music video Rewrite was taped. It gets some insane closeups of the bands, as well as their instruments. The picture moves in and out of focus creating an incredible effect that goes perfectly with Shindoukaku. As the band transitions to Rewrite, the camera slows down a bit and focuses more on solid still like shots of the band. At one point, the camera men panned out to show the audience. It was really amazing seeing how many people had attended this concert. There were three tiers to the concert hall, and it was packed. There had to be a couple thousand people there! At the end of AKGs third song, the band began to improv some music on the spot. All of the sudden, AKG broke from their improvisation and went straight into Flash Back! The camera began to move wildly again, and there was spectacular orchestrated lighting. It was awesome to say the least! Following tradition, AKG used Flash Back as an introduction to Mirai no Kakera, which is another amazing rock song. AKG continued to rock out with some more popular songs. By the time they got to track 9, My World, Kita was already drenched in sweat :) One great thing I noticed was that all of the songs from the album Sol-Fa sounded incredibly better live. I also caught Yamada doing some backup vocals with Kita on a few songs as well. Many of the middle tracks were slower songs, I think partially so the band could rest a bit. AKG began to pick up the pace again around track 15. By track 17 AKG was really rocking out on stage. There was one part of that song where Yamada did a solo on his bass. The camera zoomed in on his bass in three abrupt screencaps. It created an amazing effect. I was so happy that the camera men were taking time to really focus in on Yamada and Ijichi. In many of the previous videos that have been aired, the camera men tended to focus on the guitar players only. Another great moment was when Ijichi did an intro into Kimi to iu Hana. Ijichi began playing the main beat of the song for a good minute and the crowd just went wild! They started jumping up and down, and whistling at the band. Finally Gotoh gave a signal and the band started the song. This make the crowd even happier :) 
The absolute best and most special part of the first DVD was when they did the song Kaigan Doori. AKG was standing in front of a giant curtain during their entire concert. Before they played Kaigan Doori, Gotoh announced to the crowd that there was a surprise behind the curtains. He made a cue, and the curtains began to open up. There was a string orchestra of about twenty players behind the curtain! The band then started Kaigan Doori and was accompanied by this string orchestra! It was absolutely wild! The song sounded amazing with the extra accompianment. I was even beginning to get goosebumps because I was so excited and surprised :) That was an incredible treat to watch!DVD Part 2The second part of the DVD was quite different from the first. It began by first showing you more live clips of AKG playing at the Shelter on November 2, 2004. Shelter has a very different atmosphere from the first concert hall. Its incredibly small and much more personal. These clips were fairly nice, but not as incredible as the concert from part 1. The second half of this DVD is very entertaining to watch. This portion takes you behind the scenes to see AKG in their everyday life. It starts off with Gotoh driving a van around town to pick up the other band members. Once all of the members have been picked up, they begin talking. I got totally lost in translation, but at one point one of the members pointed to someone outside and everyone started laughing hysterically. It was so random, yet hilarious. Once the band arrived at their destination, they entered a building and hopped into a elevator. Two of the camera men also tagged along and shot some random shots of Kita's eye and a ear. Needless to say, this part of the DVD was like a home made movie. It gave it some spark and as you've read, some interesting shots :). After some more random clips, Gotoh returns to the original spot where they shot the music video Kimi to iu Hana. He talks about the song as well as Sol-Fa. Near the end of his interview, another live clip is played showing AKG playing Kimi to iu Hana. As the live clip plays, it is also intertwined with sections from the music video. Its really interesting and cool to watch. For those thinking about buying this DVD, I absolutely recommend it. It was incredible and a real treat for any AKG fan. I feel like I really got my money's worth from this DVD. The performances were spectacular, and the video quality is almost comparable to a movie's quality. The picture was clean, crisp and clear. What I especially loved was that there were 2 DVD's with 27 live clips of AKG! I found that to be incredibly generous for a live DVD. If you liked this review or want to know where to buy this great DVD, click on one of the links below. YesAsia is selling it for about $56, but I believe you get free shipping. CD Japan, on the other hand, is selling it for about $50, but you have to pay for shipping. Either store is very reliable and has gotten great reviews from customers. Please support this great DVD and buy it :) YesAsia CD Japan JMIgnited.com is not affiliated with the artists presented on this website or their representatives. All images are the property of their respective copyright owners. Images are displayed for educational and decorative purposes only under the "fair use" clause. |
