Kalafina at AnimagiC 2012

Once a year, the doors of Beethovenhalle opens for the three-day event, AnimagiC, a very special convention in Bonn, Germany, that involves Japanese anime, manga, music and video games. Among others one of the biggest themes this year was the magical girl series, “Puella Magi Madoka Magica.” Fittingly, J-pop trio Kalafina was invited as musical guest of honour. On the evenings of July 27th and 28th, approximately 1960 people gathered in the big hall of Beethovenhalle, which was provided with seats, to see the ladies live in Germany—and in Europe for the first time.

The tension was tangible. From every side you could hear excited mumblings and laughter. A slight delay aroused even more impatience. As the moderator came out on stage at 21:00, he announced some brief house rules and stirred up the crowd for Kalafina, bringing out the first big cheer of the evening to fill the hall. Soon after, to open the live, an atmospheric intro played along with a big screen displaying the names and respective photos of the ladies. With a big round of applause, Wakana, Keiko and Hikaru captured the stage and started their set with Manten. This sensitive ballad with its rocky touch prepared the audience for the upcoming hour. But then Magia, the theme song of "Madoka Magica", was performed. Suddenly the walkways were filled with people and a rapt silence spread around—one that was held almost throughout the complete live—while Kalafina sang the lively theme and were supported by scenes of the anime series on the screen behind. The rousing applause afterwards was only interrupted by Kalafina's greeting in German, which was read off of a prepared sheet of paper. During their MC they interacted with the audience, thus, taking the hearts of the people by storm.

They continued with two "Kuroshitsuji" theme songs: the sad Kagayaku sora no shijima ni ha, which Kalafina performed with very strong emotions, especially Hikaru—you could see tears sparkling in her eyes—and the dramatic Lacrimosa. The cheer after the last notes of the song was wild. Moreover, once again Keiko took the signal and switched on-and-off between her native language and German for the MC. Keiko also announced the next song, Kimi ga hikari ni kaete yuku. Along the calm and melancholic ballad only a few moving lights and arms could be spotted, otherwise a rapt silence ruled the venue. The next song, oblivious, eventually freed some people from their rigidity and encouraged the courageous among them to clap with the beat. However, it wasn't until Kyrie and Ongaku that the audience seemed to really get fired up by the music; even Kalafina didn’t really start stirring up until Ongaku. You could say that shortly before the end, both parties eventually adapted to each other. Kalafina themselves were more relaxed, wandering around the stage, leaning against each other, stirring up the crowd and enjoying peoples’ reactions. So it was truly no wonder that they needed to catch a breath at the beginning of the next MC before they could thank the audience and get out their prepared notes again. It was especially within the next few minutes that one could see how sincere the members were communicating with the crowd. Their interaction with the audience was very charming, as they searched together for the right words to say in German. The following announcement of the last song, to the beginning, was taken with melancholy. For this last song the audience stood up from the chairs, clapped or rocked up and down, and pumped their fists into the air. Meanwhile Kalafina danced beautiful choreography on stage.

Now that the audience certainly longed for more, it wasn't really a surprise that they wouldn't let Wakana, Keiko and Hikaru go so easily. As the last notes of to the beginning ended, the crowd started to scream for an encore and more and more AnimagiC visitors joined in the chorus. The real big surprise was that the wish was granted. The three ladies of Kalafina returned to the stage, visibly deeply touched, and looked forward to performing sprinter. Wherever you looked you saw happy clapping and dancing people. To close the evening all three members bowed. Shortly afterwards the moderator came on stage again and asked the crowd to gather in the middle of the hall for two photos with Kalafina —one was taken by the Japanese press and the other one by a staff member of Kalafina's.

The second live, the day after, varied only through small but satisfying deviations. At this live started just in time at 20:45. This time, all who gathered were excited for the live from the very beginning, and you could see and hear this clearly. Already with the very first song, Manten, the audience was fully engaged, as well as Kalafina, on whom you could spot a smile more often than on the day before. For the MCs, several new German sentences were prepared and there was again a group photo at the end of the live. Only the title of the encore—which was granted faster—was different: namely Hikari no senritsu. The upcoming trend of clapping with the beat was blithely continued in the encore as well. You could really feel that Kalafina found their fans in Germany and enjoyed their time.

Cosplayers, metal fans, regular attendees of AnimagiC, as well as Keiko, Wakana and Hikaru needed some time to adjust to each other; this was very obvious, especially on the first day. But after the introduction was successfully completed, you were rewarded with heartfelt, varied and unforgettable lives. The graceful dancing moves, the fine emotions, the full music, the imposing singing voices of the three songstresses in combination with the movie scenes and light effects on the big screen, as well as the great acoustics within the big hall of Beethovenhalle, made both Kalafina lives a fantastic experience.


Set List July 27th, 2012:
Manten
Magia
-MC-
Kagayaku sora no shijima ni ha
Lacrimosa
-MC-
Kimi ga hikari ni kaete yuku
oblivious
Kyrie
Ongaku
-MC-
to the beginning

Encore:
sprinter

Set List July 28th, 2012:
Manten
Magia
-MC-
Kagayaku sora no shijima ni ha
Lacrimosa
-MC-
Kimi ga hikari ni kaete yuku
oblivious
Kyrie
Ongaku
-MC-
to the beginning

Encore:
Hikari no senritsu


JaME would like to thank Kalafina and the team of AnimagiC for making this live report possible.