Distant Worlds in Hong Kong 2013

Last Sunday I went to attend the premiere of Distant Worlds: music from Final Fantasy concert for Hong Kong.

Distant Worlds is a symphony music world tour featuring music from the main Final Fantasy series, where the majority of them are composed by Nobuo Uematsu, with the exception of the latest titles as he no longer works in Square-Enix (formerly Squaresoft). Final Fantasy's music is well known among video game fans, and I am glad to be able to attend it myself!


The concert was performed by City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong (CCOHK) and Die Konzertisten Chorale, with Arnie Roth as the conductor. The main composer for a majority of Final Fantasy series Nobuo Uematsu also made guest appearance, where he sat in one of the very front rows.

The picture above was taken just before the concert starts, with lights darkened prior to the conductor's entrance. A large screen is hanged above the orchestra, which plays clips or artwork slideshows when the music of the said Final Fantasy game is performed.


As for the list, I got a bit of help as I have difficulty remembering all the pieces and their orders. If I got any wrong please do let me know!

Prelude

Liberi Fatali (FFVIII)

Victory Fanfare

Opening - Bombing Mission (FFVII)

To Zanarkand (FFX)

Memoro de la Stono ~ Distant Worlds (FFXI)

Dear Friends (FFV)

Vamo' Alla Flamenco (FFIX)

Battle Theme Medley: Clash on the Big Bridge (FFV), Seymour Battle (FFX), & Those Who Fight (FFVII)

Chocobo Medley

Final Fantasy (FFI)

Don't Be Afraid (FFVIII)

Phantom Forest (FFVI)

Theme of Love (FFIV)

Dalmasca Estersand (FFXII)

You're not Alone (FFIX)

Blinded by Light (FFXIII)

Opera "Maria and Draco" (FFVI)

Terra's Theme (FFVI)

One-Winged Angel (FFVII)

The final song "One Winged Angel" was revealed via Nobuo Uematsu, who came up to the stage and sung the first few lines of the chorus. Nobuo didn't make any speeches in the concert, but listening him singing briefly was rather amusing.

Overall, the concert was of great pleasure to attend and to listen to. Staple pieces such as "To Zanarkand" and "Theme of Love" are there, which I very much looked forward to. There were more pieces from FFVI than I have expected - with 3 in total. "Maria and Draco" was performed with 3 singers and 1 more person as a narrator, making it the longest piece performed in the concert.

The lack of pieces from FFII and III is a bit of a pity, as there were medleys of them in the past concerts. Maybe next time I suppose?

The one problem I had was the choice of location. The concert was held in one of the exhibition halls with seats arranged in rather peculiar way, with a lot of empty spaces at the sides and even between blocks of seats. This is nothing compared to, say, the Royal Albert Hall in London where Distant Worlds was performed. The Cultural Centre in Tsim Sha Tsui would make a better choice for such a concert in my opinion.


Outside the concert area, a whiteboard was available for fans to write or draw for Nobuo Uematsu.


And another whiteboard was there for fans to draw their favourite characters to their pleasure.



There were also PS3s set up nearby with Final Fantasy X HD Remaster demo, as well as those for Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII demo. I had a quick go on Lightning Returns, where gameplay is still inherited from the previous FFXIII games, but seemingly even a little more fast-paced (and perhaps more button mashing). I got postcards as souvenirs from the staff for trying out the demo!


The conductor Annie Roth said that he "can't wait to come back to Hong Kong again", so this is definitely great news for Hong Kong! I do hope that they will change the location to somewhere more suitable for a symphony concert!
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Five Years of Daybreak

I've been blogging for 5 years? That's half a decade already! :o

To the new visitors, I welcome you and thank you for stopping by.

To the returning readers, I thank you for coming back to my humble blog.

In the recent months, I tend to get occupied with all sorts of things. As a result I don't as much time to myself as I would have wanted. This together with a mild fatigue both physically and mentally did drag me down a little. That feeling when you come back home from work, wanting to do your own stuff, but ended up too tired to do so... It can be quite a frustrating feeling, but this is what I am often facing at the moment. Wish I can have more of a break for myself!

While one year is a long period of time, at the same time it didn't feel that long ago I wrote an anniversary post. I know I've been saying that blogging can take up a lot of time for me, but I still want to do it. Why? I do like sharing things out, especially sharing things that I like, and get resonance with those who share similar thoughts, or to discuss about them. As I've said last year, social media does seem like an easier and handier alternative choices to blogging, and it's not surprising that some I know have moved on to them by now. I personally still stick with blogging is that you tend to be able to put much more content in one post, and that it's easier to track back for references. There can also be more value in each post IMHO.

I do talk a bit more of my 1/144 military collections recently. Is that interesting for you, or is it too niche and/or irrelevant to the other stuff I blog about?

And hopefully I will get to put more time back into Gunpla again. Got a lot of them to build after piling more of them over the years!

I humbly thank everyone for reading my blog all this time, as well as those I have met face to face. The comments, emails, and tweets, as well as the meet-ups are truly appreciated!
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6m tall Gundam & Zaku to appear in Times Square

From 26th July to 1st September a 6m tall RX-78-2 statue as well as an equally tall Char's Zaku II will make appearance outside Times Square in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong.

The 6m tall Gundam and Char's Zaku will be part of the "Gundam docks at Hong Kong" exhibition.



The "Gundam docks at Hong Kong" exhibition will also have video featuring on the big screen outside Times Square, as well as 1.8m tall green Zaku. Other features can be found on the lobby of the mall on the 1st floor as well.

Will definitely be looking forward to seeing this in person! It's always nice to have Gundam events happening locally in Hong Kong~ ^^

Source:
http://hk.gotrip.travel.yahoo.net/article/index.php?id=21786
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Gundam Build Fighters Announced

As mentioned last month, a new Gundam anime series was to be announced on 2nd July. The anime series is announced to be Gundam Build Fighters, which will be aired from October 2013 onwards.

Gundam Build Fighters is set in a world very similar to us, where Gundam models (aka Gunpla) are very popular, and a new boom of the hobby comes in the form of Gunpla Battle, where people can combat each other's Gunplas in a virtual environment with their own models, which are often customised.

There are those who mainly build Gunpla (Gunpla Builders), and those who fight with their Gunplas (Gunpla Fighters). There appears to be two protagonists who each reflect on their aspects of Gunpla Builder and Gunpla Fighter.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGA_xKm95zg

Some MS of which aren't available as models in the recent years are making appearance in the trailer, which includes Wing Gundam from Gundam Wing, Sumo from Turn A Gundam, Dijeh from Z Gundam, and Gedlav from Victory Gundam.


New Gunpla kits from the upcoming anime have also been announced, which are based on the existing kits released already, but with modifications. What are announced so far are HG 1/144 Build Strike Gundam Full Package, HG 1/144 Zaku Amazing, and HG 1/144 X Gundam "Maou" (literally translated as "Demon King").

Zaku "Amazing"? X Gundam "Demon King"? Strange names to use IMHO... ^^;


Optional parts will also be sold in the HG Build Custom Series. One can combine these booster parts with existing Gunpla to create his/her own customised Gunpla.

From a glance this looks like a reboot of the Gunpla Builders Beginning G OVA that was aired in 2010, which had similar concept but with a different set of characters. It can also be viewed as a "cunning ploy" for Bandai to market and sell more Gunpla, but if the anime is done well, even despite its apparent intention and that it may be children-oriented, Gundam Build Fighters may potentially be an interesting anime to watch with the creativity involved with the customisation of the models.


At the same time, HG All Gundam Project has been announced, where more Gundams and other MS from other Gundam series will be made into the same format as those of HGUC line. Wing Gundam, Double X, and Victory Gundam are the first 3 to be announced. It's been a while we get new HG kits from outside Universal Centuries; only a few from Gundam X and G Gundam have been made in the last few years, so this is good news even if one is not excited for the new anime series!

Official website:
http://gundam-bf.net
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Miho's Panzer IV in Battlefield 1942?

A silly little post
Miho's Panzer IV from manga and anime Girls and Panzer in Battlefield 1942?


This is a Panzer IV Ausf F2 in a Battlefield 1942 mod called Battlegroup42. I know someone who works on the mod (which is still active and in development after all these years!), and as a silly proposal asked him to do a quick change on the insignias of their old Panzer IV model to those from Girls und Panzer. This is the result, but please don't mind too much on the misplacement of the tracks; it's most likely a coding error.


In Girls and Panzer, the Panzer IV Ausf D (an early production variant) is the tank commanded by protagonist Miho Nishizumi for her school team. Originally equipped with the 75mm KwK 37 gun, her Panzer IV is later upgunned with the longer 75mm KwK 40 gun and now resembles the mid-war Ausf F2 variant. Towards the end of the anime it was also equipped with armouered skirts that makes the tank resemble the late war Ausf H type. This one is based on the F2 as seen midstory in the anime.


Girls und Panzer sure brought a wave of hype in the recent months. I watched it mostly for the WWII tanks. Personally I don't find the characters very memorable, nor is the plot particularly interesting (but that's not a main point in this anime), nevertheless the tank battles, while not understandably not realistic, are quite exciting to watch, and there are quite a lot of WWII references dotted here and there throughout the anime. Some are obvious and spoken out, others are pretty subtle and are only found by the enthusiasts.


That tank is just a rough placeholder based on the current old model; there is a better Panzer IV model that will be replace it in the next patch of mod. Will the tanks from Girls und Panzer make an appearance? Well, that is possible *if* we have enough people to show interest in it. ^^;

Battlefield 1942 is actually now free on Origin to celebrate its 10th anniversary. In case you're not interested in Battlefield 1942 but still interested in tanks, there is also the World of Tanks, of which there are fans who made Girls und Panzer tank skins for them as well as audio mods.

Pictures are from the Battlegroup42 mod
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