There is a scheduled livestream on NicoNico to first broadcast the bonus CD that comes with the Premium Edition of the NieR Orchestral Soundtrack followed by an hour and a half talk segment with Yoko Taro, Saito Yosuke, and Okabe Keiichi.
The 30 minute segment where they will stream the bonus disc is *not* free. You have to be a member of the Famitsu Channel (864 yen/month).
The talk show on both NicoNico Douga and YouTube is free to watch. They will discuss the process of recording the soundtrack (which just wrapped up on July 31st), let us hear a couple audio samples, plus relay some new information regarding the orchestral concert to be held on Monday, September 17 in Yokohama.
There will be appearances by:
Okabe Keiichi (Composer)
Saito Yosuke (Producer)
Yoko Taro (Director)
Yui (Voice Actor, Talent) – She previously cosplayed as 2B at the SQEX Cafe Livestream.
There will be an official livestream by Famitsu to celebrate the birthday of NieR Replicant/Gestalt’s titular character, Nier… as well as Yoko Taro himself.
Yoko has stated in past interviews that Nier sharing his own birthday was actually a mistake. He originally used his birthday as a place holder but forgot to change it later, and by then it was too late.
The livestream will be on Wednesday, June 6 from 8:00-10:00pm (Japan Standard Time). You can watch live via the following sites:
As a side note, there was an old issue of Famitsu magazine (No.1120 6/3 2010) in which the interviewer asked Yoko why he used two different birthday dates for Nier in Replicant and Gestalt. I was working on translating this entire article before the hard drive on my laptop died and I lost everything… But here’s a brief excerpt regarding this point:
ーOne of the differences between “Replicant” and “Gestalt” is Nier’s birthday on 6/6 in Replicant and 9/11 in Gestalt. What were you intending with this difference?
Yoko: The 9/11 date comes from the release date of the first Drakengard. Regarding the 6/6 date, however… That was entirely a goof in the character setting. (haha) I forgot to change the temporary place holder, and before I knew itー it had become reality. I saw some people online were speculating that it was meant to be a reference to the holiday “Brother’s Day” in Japan, so when I searched about it, I discovered there really was such a holiday on that day. So, please write that this was how the date became an official part of the setting. (haha)
Just for a little additional clarity on this, he used 6/6 as a place holder because that’s actually HIS birthday. He meant to change the date later, but obviously forgot and kept it that way in spite of it all. One of many Yokoisms. (haha)
Notable Happenings on June 6 (Japanese) Big Brother’s Day: Established by Kunio Hatada, a sister/brother researcher. Comparatively, March 6th is “Little Brother’s Day”, September 6th is “Little Sister’s Day”, and December 6th is “Big Sister’s Day”.
Last Saturday, May 19, Marina held a special live show held at 7th Floor in Shibuya to celebrate her 7th anniversary as a solo artist and birthday just a couple days later (May 21st)!
▲ Kawano Marina’s Debut Anniversary Solo Live – “Your Desired Farewell Grand Slam Hit”
First of all, I heard from Goto Takanori, the guitarist from the most recent YoRHa Ver.1.2 Musical who was also involved with the NieR:Automata and Drakengard 3 official soundtracks, that he would be performing at Marina’s live show along with Kawaji Emi (piano) and Shimada Hikari (violin). Since this was the first time that all three–or rather four, including Marina–of them would perform together since the YoRHa Musical, they were dubbed the “YoRHa Team”. Look how happy they are to be reunited!
This year marks Marina’s 7th year as a solo artist after “graduating” from DearStage, however, she is still connected to them to some degree. How much, I’m not exactly sure, but I did see Sekiya Makoto and Iwasaki Takuya there at the show. I didn’t get the chance to say hello to Iwasaki-san, but I spoke briefly with Sekiya-san, since he was a huge help when I was trying to publish my article on the YoRHa Ver.1.2 Musical. I think I may have also seen Takamori Shoji, as well. I think he was the man who I ran into when I prematurely went up to the 7th floor (read below for that anecdote).
Marina is currently contracted under the Sony Music Artists (SMA) label, which is an entertainment office and music publishing company under Sony Music Entertainment (SME).
At the Venue
I didn’t purchase a ticket until pretty late after they went on sale, but I was still able to get a pretty decent seat inside. The location was held at the 7th Floor, a small live house literally on the 7th floor of the O-WEST building in Shibuya. Both the O-WEST and O-EAST locations are famous/notorious for hosting some pretty hard-core musical acts, although they are also known to host more subdued acts like Marina’s. Simply, if you ever plan on coming around this area of town, be prepared to walk past multiple “love hotels”, smell the lingering aroma of puke in the heat, as well as seeing all shades of people, especially hard-rock and punk enthusiasts.
When I arrived, there were a ton of people waiting in line, many of which did not seem to be the folk that would be going to Marina’s show, so I was confused where the entrance to 7th Floor was. I asked a worker where I should go, and he told me to go up the elevator he directed me toward. I did so, but was greeted by another staff member who seemed very confused why I was there. Apparently, they weren’t letting people in yet. haha I explained to him what happened and he kindly asked another staff member there to help show me where the line was down below. Everyone was really kind and treated me like a normal individual and not a stupid gaijin, so for that I was very thankful.
Below are a couple photos that I took at the venue. The first photo is of the sign that was placed within the small elevator hall leading up to 7th Floor, then the view of the stage from my point of view, and a couple of the nice floral displays at the entrance/exit. The seating was free style, so I managed to find an available seat in the 3rd or 4th row on the far right.
There was one other available seat to my right that was later filled by a really nice lady who had come all the way from New Zealand to see the show. She wasn’t a foreigner, so she must have been a major hard-core Marina fan to come all that way!
When I went to the bar to pick up my one drink that is necessary in addition to the price of the concert ticket, Goto and Kawaji-san were both standing in the back, sort of hidden from the rest of the people in the hall. When Goto-san called out to me, though, I was surprised to see him there. He again thanked me for covering the YoRHa Musical Ver.1.2 and I turned that right around and thanked him again for providing many photos he personally took behind stage as well as a really nice comment to fans. It’s always a pleasure to talk with him even though I’m always overly shy. haha
Now, for anyone who may not be familiar with Kawano Marina, one of the first things you’ll learn about her is that she is a MASSIVE baseball fan, which is why the motif for this particular show was all baseball related. You can see in one of the photos above that there’s a typical baseball scoreboard placed in one of the floral arrangements… I believe it is meant to show the number of performances she has made under her name spelt with full kanji 河野万里奈 (万) as opposed to katakana 河野マリナ (マ). She did perform four shows in 2017 as 河野万里奈, so I assume that’s what the numbers mean.
Two songs from NieR:Automata were performed by the YoRHa Team at the show:
Voice of No Return / Guitar
Weight of the World (Japanese, Acoustic Ver.)
Set List
A Trace of Flowers (花痕)
Fading Daydream (消えるdaydream)
Morning Arch
Do!! Do!! Let me fun♪
Jersey Number 009 (背番号009)
Voice of No Return / Guitar (還ラナイ声 / ギター)
Weight of the World (壊レタ世界ノ歌)
Treasure (たからもの)
I Remember That Voice (その声を覚えてる)
New World (アラタなるセカイ)
Encore
Right-handed Throw to the Left (右利きの左投げ)
Morning Arch
There were two songs that the audience could participate singing and dancing. This was the card given to everyone that lists the specific lyrics for the audience:
▲ You can see me just a tiny bit in this photo near the 2nd window on the far right side of the room. lol
▲ Marina also appears to be a big Rilakkuma fan! xD
3 Major Revelations
There were three main announcements that Marina revealed to the audience:
Medical problems with her voice. – She stated that sometime around February this year (around the same time as the YoRHa Musical!) she was having trouble with her voice and was told that she had two options: Quit singing or get surgery. She was devastated at the news, but she also knew how much the ability to sing really meant to her, which lead to her second announcement…
She underwent surgery on her voice. – Sometime in March, she underwent surgery on her voice. Although the surgery was a success, she was unable to speak for quite some time thereafter. Which lead to her last announcement…
With the healing process complete after her surgery, this show was her first performance back as an artist. Not only that, but this was her first break as a Major artist. – Although she had worked under DearStage and others in the past, her comeback this time marked her break as a Major label artist. We ought to hear much more of her in the coming months and years!
Hearing Marina reveal this information was very emotional and I remembered hearing that she wasn’t feeling well during the YoRHa Musical regarding her “husky” voice, but actually seeing her get emotional recalling this obviously difficult time in her life really affected me. I know I got pretty teary-eyed. xD But I’m so happy that everything went well and that her career is only going up from here; so I’ll be anxiously awaiting to see what other awesome stuff she is able to do in the future!
A Look Back at Marina’s Appearances in 2017
As a quick aside from the main topic, here’s a brief look at Marina’s 2017 Japan Tour!
▼ “We are MARINARS!!” 2017 Japan Tour
・2017/9/23 (Saturday) @Nagoya・アポロベース
・2017/10/14 (Saturday) @Osaka・あべのROCKTOWN
・2017/10/15 (Sunday) @Fukuoka・Gateʼs7
・2017/10/29 (Sunday) @Shibuya・shibuya duo MUSIC EXCHANGE
▼ Here is a really cute livestream that Marina hosted in March 2017 to discuss her 2017 Japan Tour. Special guest appearance by Okabe Keiichi (MONACA)!! Around 10 minutes in, Okabe gets a phone call from Saito Yosuke (Square Enix). You can also hear Yoko’s voice in the background at some point, and Saito actually asks him to give a comment about writing the Japanese lyrics of “Weight of the World”, but he’s clearly talking on speaker phone, so his voice is really garbled. Marina also performs the song “Stars and Flowers” from the anime “Yuki Yuna is a Hero”, the soundtrack of which was composed by MONACA. Around 42 minutes in, Marina performs a short version of the song “Weight of the World” with Okabe on the keyboard. Okabe states that he really can’t play the piano (he’s such a liar!!) and always has Hoashi perform in concerts, but just this once… He decided to perform a song for the fans. <3
▲ Here is a clip of Marina performing the Japanese version of “Weight of the World” at one of her solo shows as published by DearStage on August 1, 2017.
Upcoming Events
As confirmed by the AnimeNext Facebook account, Marina will be performing at AnimeNext in Atlantic City, NJ on Sunday, June 10th at 1:00PM in the Main Events area.
In the 14-page article on NieR:Automata in Famitsu magazine Issue No.1527, the development team (namely Yoko himself) dropped a massive hint about a bug that was never fixed in the final version of the game which allows you to zoom-out the camera while manipulating the directional pad and R3 buttons. By doing this, it will bug-out the camera and allow you to see outside the usual scope of what you would normally be able to see, revealing some rather “NieR-esque” things.
The news of the “last secret in NieR:Automata” has been reported on repeatedly, but I’ve noticed that some of the information has been garbled over time. To set the record straight, here is a direct translation that I made from the article:
ーIf there’s any subject on “NieR” that hasn’t been discussed yet, could you share that with us?
Taura: Without entering into the options menu, there’s a specific trick you can do to change the camera distance with the arrow keys while holding down the R3 button.
Yoko: But please use it with caution since it will cause the camera to bug-out and clip through the terrain. After some discussion, we decided to leave it in since it felt pretty “NieR-esque” anyway. They haven’t found “it” yet, have they?
Negishi: No, no one’s found “it” yet. I think it would absolutely be devastating if somebody discovered it, so we’re not going to reveal what it is.
Yoko: There were various circumstances with different specifications, so it’s still a bit unbalanced (in terms of the programming).
ーWhat!?
Yoko: I can’t really talk about it in detail since it’ll get me in trouble, but just imagine this as the last NieR:Automata secret.
According to this passage, it’s clear that they are speaking mostly from a programming aspect. When they essentially say that it would be “bad if this secret got out”, they’re commenting that it would be bad for Platinum Games and the programmers who were unable to discover the cause of the bug, were unable to fix it, and merely left it in the final product of the game without fixing the bug. That could very well tarnish their reputation as a company, which is why they would rather not discuss or even disclose the details of the bug.
However, unlike many reports and references by fans about this information, absolutely nothing was stated about the “fans not liking something” if they found the secret. I believe this stems from an inaccurate translation that was then spread by word of mouth, which eventually took on a whole new shape in the end. Hopefully the translation here will help clear the air and set the record straight about what they were really talking about.
And apparently this so-called “secret” has yet to be found! So, get out there and play around with the R3 camera bug… but be gentle to Platinum Games if you actually *do* find something incriminating.
It was just announced on Twitter that there will be a second Tsuki Oke fan concert event in 2019! The official title of the orchestral group is Mon Tränen PhilharmoNikeR, which is basically the Lunar Tear Orchestra. In Japanese, it is even further shortened to just 月オケ or Tsuki Oke.
Here’s the nitty-gritty details on the scheduled concert date and time:
The site has been redesigned and is currently sporting a really nice illustration that conjures memories of NieR:Automata. The recruiting process will be opened at some undisclosed later date, so stay tuned for that!
