The galactic fairies Sheryl Nome and Ranka Lee sing off with “Lion”.

 

What would a Macross Frontier concert be without THE Macross song that has transcended time itself, “Ai Oboete Imasu ka?” (Do You Remember Love?) If there’s anything that blew my mind with the series that marked the 25th anniversary of the franchise, it was the inclusion of this song. Having seen the original series way back in the day, the song not only gives off a real sense of nostalgia but “completeness” as well. It’s hard to imagine anyone ever matching up to Iijima Mari‘s original Lynn Minmay, but Nakajima Megumi makes a good pitch for it as Ranka Lee. For the performance of this infamous song, May’n also helped sing backup.

In part 4, we also see the conclusion of the main portion of the concert, which reaches a climax with the awesome instrumental medley “Fold Out ~ Shinkuu he! Flying Guitar” before going all out in a flurry of songs “Nyan Nyan Service Medley” Budokan Special style. However, with no full performance of “Lion”, things seemed incomplete. This brings us to the beginning of the encore portion of the concert, which realistically could’ve been a standalone mini-concert on its own. Starting with an instrumental performance of “Private Army” featuring Kanno Youko on an accordion, we’re set up for the long-awaited live performance of Lion… and more!

…You know what to do. Videos after the jump!

Sheryl Nome rises high above the crowd and welcomes them to her fan club’s night.

 

In part 3, we’ll take a look at May’n’s return to the stage. After a costume change, she comes back in Sheryl Nome-like fashion with a dominating presence care of the big screen. While the crowd gets excited about her performance of “Welcome to My FanClub’s Night!”, it’s not until the start of “Northern Cross” did they get really fired up. For that performance, they even had the air blowers going to give May’n’s hair and fluffy clothes that extra angelic touch. Surprisingly, Megumi returns to the stage right after (costume change and all) in a never before seen Aimo acappella performance. May’n also adds in her Aimo acappella bit, before Megumi takes us into a full-blown Aimo O.C. It was amazing to see the captivated crowd of 14,000+ go completely silent for the acappella performances.

…More after the jump, including videos of course!

Ranka Lee starring Nakajima Megumi.

 

Part 2 of god knows how many I’ll need to cover this Galaxy Tour concert. Continuing from the two marathon-like performances in Part 1, Megumi takes the stage alone to perform six more songs. She did get a bit of a break in the middle with the character skit and “Chou Jikuu Hanten Nyan Nyan” CM commercial song I mentioned before, but her “singing endurance” is still pretty amazing. I couldn’t help but wonder why they decided to sit May’n for so long, but she did show up for the Ranka version of “Iteza Gogo Kyuuji Don’t be late” before taking over the stage for the next couple of songs. In any case, part 2 is all Ranka Lee. Enjoy~

…Lots of videos after the jump. Not recommended for computers with limited RAM!

Nakajima Megumi, Kanno Youko, and May’n serenading us with a piano version of Diamond Crevasse.

 

In pure anime-like fashion, the Macross Frontier colony landed in Budokan last November 5th, 2008. Almost a full year later, we finally get to see what what down there in our very own homes and almost a week ahead of its scheduled release! (DVD: 09-10-30, Blu-ray: 09-11-27.) Starring May’n as Sheryl Nome and Nakajima Megumi as Ranka Lee, this huge concert marks the long-awaited onstage duet I’ve been absolutely dying to see since Macross Frontier was still airing. With over FOUR hours of footage (150 min concert, 90 min specials), this gigantic two disc DVD release doesn’t disappoint. It wasn’t all about these two singing princesses though, as the concert featured the one and only Kanno Youko. In addition to conducting her beautifully arranged score, Youko was also center stage on the piano for a lot of the songs.

…Videos after the jump!