Day 1
Hi everyone! ChickenWingz here, reporting from the sunny island of Singapore. Over the weekend, CharaExpo took place for the first time in Singapore at the Singapore Expo. The organisers of CharaExpo invited many well-known guests from the anime industry to attend this event, including artistes, illustrators, composers and scenario writers, many of whom are attending overseas events for the first time!
Of course, what interested me the most was the VisualArt’s/Key booth. Not only is this the first time that VisualArt’s/Key is coming to Singapore, they are sending Orito Shinji(composer and founding member of Key) and Kitazawa Ayaka(KSL Singer) over to host a special Key Live Stage! This is certainly a rare opportunity to meet them in person and also to get their autograph. 
On the first day of CharaExpo, I decided to head down to Singapore Expo hall 7 early with a friend to queue so that we can be one of the first to enter the hall and snatch up some exclusive merchandise. Since we were quite early (2.5 hours before the start of the event), we expected little to no queue at the event venue. Boy was I wrong! A queue of about a hundred people has already formed outside the hall gate at 7:30am. Makes me kind of regret not coming earlier… I went to buy breakfast for the both of us and we played our 3DS while waiting for the event to commence. By 9:45am, the place was starting to get really crowded and everyone was getting ready to rush into the hall.
At 10am, the first batch of attendees is let into the hall. Unfortunately, we were in the second batch. Once we were let into the hall, we immediately rushed to the VisualArt’s booth. A short queue of around 7 people has formed beside the booth. VisualArts staffs are busy serving the first customers at their booth and while queuing, I noticed someone familiar was at the booth as well.
Yes! There he was! The legendary composer of Key – Orito Shinji! The Key fans ahead of me in queue got their “circle of fifth” album signed by Orito, but I wanted something that I could display at home. So I took out a blank shikishi from my bag and asked for Orito’s autograph. Orito was kind enough to entertain my request. ^^
It says “Thank you, Singapore!” (シンガポールありがとう! Shingapooru Arigatou!), followed by his name (折戸 伸治) and… his mascot?
When it was my turn to buy, Itaru Hinoue’s artbook “White clover” was already sold out! (What?! I was among the first 10 in line! Doesn’t really bother me though, I already have the artbook) I ended up getting Na-Ga’s 竜胆～rindou～ artbook, a copy of the Planetarian English edition, a Kanade CharaExpo shirt, a copy of “circle of fifth”, the two tote bags and a Kud microfiber towel (mandatory waifu merchandise). Not to mention the Planetarian games that my friend and I bought were the last two copies available! Having merchandise sold out within 15mins, I suppose Key never expected the demand for their goods in Singapore to be this overwhelming and brought too little over. xD
When the crowd had died down (and almost everything sold out) in the afternoon, I decided to ask Orito for a picture. He was actually pretty eager to take the photo too and chose a nice backdrop for me. The VisualArt’s staffs also recognised the Key 15th Fes shirt I was wearing and pointed to it while smiling. (Thanks @Pepe for the shirt! :D)
After attending the Frontwing live stage, I left the event hall for home, hands full of Key goods!
Frontwing also organised some events at CharaExpo 2015. First was the Angelic Howl -jungle escape- event. Attendees are given a puzzle to solve by going around the event hall to look for clues. The reward for solving the puzzle was a Grisaia postcard and a chance to view a special footage of the game.
Frontwing also organised an autograph session for four illustrators that worked for them. They include Watanabe Akio (monogatari series, Grisaia series, Kaminomi anime), Fumio (Grisaia series), Nanaka Mai (Grisaia series, Pure Girl) and Kuuchuu Yousai(Makai Tenshi Djibril, Megachu!). For 10SGD, you get a shikishi of a printed illustration by the illustrator of your choice and you get to line up to get it signed. Only 100 shikishis are sold per illustrator. I got Watanabe Akio’s and Fumio’s shikishi. Also, for each shikishi you buy, you stand a chance to win a hand drawn shikishi drawn during the live drawing session by the respective illustrator. Unfortunately, I didn’t win any of them, but an acquaintance of mine was lucky enough to win the shikishi drawn by Kuuchuu Yousai-sensei.
That’s all for CharaExpo Day 1! Look out for my event report for CharaExpo Day 2, when the Live Stage would take place and Kitazawa Ayaka would be making an appearance! (Probably next week, as I’ll have to return to camp and serve the nation! Yay… ToT)
Hold on… what is Kud’s cape doing here??
Day 2
On the second day of CharaExpo, I went later since I have nothing else to buy and the only thing that interested me was the Key Live Stage which would only take place at 2:50pm. I reached earlier at 2:10pm, when the Nitroplus+ stage was still going on at the entertainment stage. Being the ‘kiasu’ person that I am, I waited for the stage to end and immediately went forward to grab a seat closer to the front to get a better view of the Live Stage. 
Since photography, videography and voice recording is prohibited during the live stage, I shall describe what happened by “memory”.
The only recording released by the CharaExpo official media is this video of Ayaka rehearsing for the Live Stage. The stage photos below are obtained from Ayaka’s blog.
At exactly 2:50pm, a very familiar melody started to play. I’m sure every fan of Little Busters! would recognize this song - its Kud’s theme song - “Exotic Toybox”! Of all the BGMs in the game, why would they play Kud’s theme song I wonder?
The emcee then entered the stage and invited Orito Shinji and Kitazawa Ayaka onto the stage. The audience cheered loudly when Orito stepped out. But when Ayaka appeared, the crowd totally went wild with excitement! That’s because she is wearing Kud’s costume!
シンガポールでのCHARA EXPOのステージでは、リトルバスターズ！のクドのマントと帽子で歌わせてもらいました～～！(*ﾟ∀ﾟ*)出てった瞬間、みんなすぐ分かってくれて、とても嬉しかったよ！！帽子落ちそうで危なかった～～。笑 pic.twitter.com/rrosmZ7Pod
— 北沢綾香 (@ayapi0421) June 21, 2015
The emcee then asked the two guests to introduce themselves.
[English Translation of Japanese speech by emcee]
[English spoken by guest]
O: “My name is Orito from Visual Art’s / Key, I was really looking forward to meeting you guys today!”
A: “Hello everyone! I am Ayaka Kitazawa! I am so happy to meet you!”
Ayaka sounded so cute trying to speak English to communicate with the audience! >w< She was also really happy to hear that everyone recognized her outfit!
O: “Visual Art’s / Key is a PC game company, the more popular titles include ‘Little Busters!’, ‘Angel Beats!’, and ‘Kanon’”
O: “We don’t really sell it outside of Japan, but you guys know of it”
I guess the internet is a really powerful tool :3
With the brief introduction, it is time for Ayaka to start her live performance! The crowd started getting hyped up.
A: “Do you enjoy? Are you ready? Please listen to my song!”
With that, Ayaka starts singing ‘Sunbright’ and the crowd started cheering with ‘Hai! Hai! Hai!’
“Arigatou gozaimasu! Thank you so much!”
“My next song is ‘Todoketai Melody’”
With the transition, Ayaka proceeded to sing ‘Todoketai Melody’.
After both songs ended, Ayaka gave an explanation of the two songs she just sang
A: “‘Sunbright’ is my first song with Visual Art’s when I joined three years ago. The song is very memorable for me as this is the first song that I performed at Yokohama Arena.”
If any of you guys remember, Visual Art’s organized a concert at Yokohama Arena as part of their 20th Anniversary. It is the one of the two KSL live that had a live BD released (under the label KSLV). Do watch it if you get the chance to 
A: “It is a song from ‘Rewrite’ and it is a character song for Lucia.”
A: “’Todoketai Melody’ is my latest song and it is going to be the opening song for the game ‘Harmonia’ and it is released as part of Key’s 15th anniversary this year!”
A: “I will be singing ‘Namida-iro no tsubasa’, ‘Soko ni, Kimi ga Iru Dake de’ and ‘Kimi to no Nakushi Mono’ next”
A: “’Namida-iro no tsubasa’ is a coupling song with ‘Kimi to no Nakushi Mono’ and a lot of fans really like these songs as they sound really pop and happy to listen to. Please cheer for me!”
“Please listen to my song! ‘Namida-iro no tsubasa’ Sing with me Singapore!!! Hai! Hai! Hai!”
With Ayaka leading the cheer, the crowd went wild with excitement and cheered ever more loudly!
“Next song is my favourite song - Soko ni, Kimi ga Iru Dake de”
Soko ni, Kimi ga Iru Dake de is actually a BGM from the Little Busters! Refrain anime. She sang the vocal version from the album 水月陵 25周年記念アルバム「FLOWiNG AROUND」
“The lyrics are about how Riki felt towards Rin in ‘Little Busters!’ It’s really sweet!”
“This is my last song, Thank you Singapore!”
“Singapore, thank you so much!”
That concludes Ayaka’s Live Stage, and on to the Q&A session!
Q&A
Q: When you make music, what do you pay attention to the most?
Orito: I pay attention to the melody the most. I am always thinking about the melody line where all the customers will feel most excited over.
Q: Is there any particular music genre that you prefer?
Orito: I am good at making dance music like ‘Kimi to no Nakushi Mono’. I am not very good with making music that includes violin. Different violin players play differently, so it is hard for me to make music with violin.
Q: What parts of your song do you like the most?
The question was directed at Ayaka but Ayaka wanted Orito to answer it, haha.
Orito: I like how she sounds natural, when I hear her voice, it makes me feel like I am getting healed.
Q: Do you have something that you are really into these days?
Ayaka: I am really into this iPhone game called Neko Atsume. I really like cats. I also like going to Onsens to detox.
Orito: I am suddenly into this weird energy drink that I just found in Singapore, it has a black can, but I can’t remember the name.
The emcee then announced it was almost time for the Live stage to end. With the audience going “ehhhh…!!”, Orito and Ayaka wrapped up everything with a short conclusion.
O: “It has been a short time but I enjoyed my time with everyone. Thank you very much! I would love to come back again next year! I would be Dj-ing at Ani-crush at around 12 midnight tonight at Club Kyo! Please do come!”
A: “I was really nervous at first but since you guys were so lively I ended up really having fun singing!”
At the end of the Live Stage, it was announced that by buying Ayaka’s album ‘nature couleur’, you can get her autograph on the album!
Upon hearing that, we fans immediately rushed out to form a line at the Visual Art’s booth. I bought a copy of ‘nature couleur’, got it signed by Ayaka, and even got to shake her hand >< It was certainly a rare and memorable experience and I will treasure it dearly.
While I was taking photos of Ayaka, some other photographers asked Orito if we could get Ayaka to pose in cosplay so that we can take better photos of her. Orito kind of misunderstood our request and it ended up becoming a phototaking session with Ayaka! Fans lined up to take turns taking photos with Ayaka. I was really lucky to be able to get this shot!
When it was my turn to take a photo, Ayaka saw me wearing my Kud shirt and pointed to Kud and said “kawaii”. I think Ayaka is also very “kawaii” in Kud cosplay ^^
At the end of the event this was what was sold out at the Visual Art’s booth. (which was almost everything)
After the event, Orito tweeted a picture of the ‘weird energy drink’ that he likes so much. It’s actually the ok.- energy drink. Now you know what gift to give to Orito when you attend a Key event
イベントのトークコーナーの時に話してた怪しいエナジードリンクがこれ。ok.−エナジードリンク…。 http://t.co/UxGFdlGzg1
— オリトシンジ (@Unisonlabel) June 21, 2015
Ayaka also blogged about her experience at CharaExpo and in Singapore. Check it out here, and here, and here, and here!
Guess this would be the closest I can get to a KSL Live outside of Japan. Despite lasting only 30 minutes, this live stage got me so excited and pumped up for the next KSL Live event! I really would like to attend a KSL Live event in Japan in the near future!
In a way, these overseas events have things in store that you just don’t get to see even in Japan.
I won’t spoil it for anyone else then~ Wafuu~
