This is a bit old, but I'd almost forgotten that the means are available for me to create it, so I just have to get on it. At the end of October, I had sent (that is, cosplayed as) Ash to a faraway event in order to meet two friends whom I hadn't seen in some time, and only separately up to that point. I got into the singing competition - actually, it was one of a few, and the only one that took place that day - and it dealt with anime songs in general, thus the "Anisong" moniker. Naturally, "Mezase Pokémon Master" was the perfect fodder for it, more so because I practically hadn't prepared for it... which I would have done had I assured registration beforehand. It was practically the only option.
As always, the creation of this critique is made possible by a video recording, and that comes courtesy of my farther-away friend. It comes in surprisingly high resolution too, which is a big plus. While the recording is not intended to be production-quality - there are moments of focusing in and out, as well as darkness, it is still mostly suitable for making the critique; it may or may not be posted on YouTube eventually. As will be discussed shortly, however, it falls a bit short of expectations, leading it to have a transient quality.
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| The start of the performance. |
Now back to the competition. Structurally, it is rather similar to the Fun Karaoke Challenge from last year's CHoCoDays, where participants sing to a backing track and may be accompanied by a background video as they do so. It is this latter point that I didn't get to prepare due to not having ascertained registration, though the arrangement I used - the one from the fifth feature film or movie - could have posed its own challenges in preparation, moreover since I have Ash in his Journeys outfit. But then the outfit issue might not matter much anyhow, and other issues do, the background video being one of them.
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| The performance received attention. |
For a rather impromptu performance, at least considering preparations, it seems to have some pluses. I got the lyrics down pat, certainly thanks to previous performances and a little help from the audience - my dear beloved friends. I also moved around quite a bit on stage and even off of it to greet the judges and sing a little closer; having memorized the lyrics faithfully by now, I'm obviously a little more free in embellishing the performance in other aspects. Above all, I just got to have fun on stage as if nothing else mattered, and that seems to be something missing from other performances, including for but not necessarily of this song. It may be something I have to keep in mind for those other performances.
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| Performing closer to the judges. |
Minuses may be a little harder for me to pick out, although there is one I can state right away. This is actually a repeat performance of the song in front of a judge I know very well and consider friends (of friends). That last time occurred some four years ago and a critique is also present for it. While I'm not privy to any specific details regarding my performance, it can almost be assured that the judge has already formed opinions about me during that earlier performance, and this one only affirms them. Any other minuses may be of the usual ones that affect even other unrelated performances.
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| A celebratory finish. |
Comments were given at the end of my performance, but they weren't related to the performance itself. They were more like banter than critique, and they seemed to be directed at Pikachu more than my performance, specifically choosing the latter or the former. I know neither Ash nor I would choose one or the other, so we gave a "diplomatic" answer. While I'm sure that the results couldn't be affected even by this, to some extent the banter is a little discomforting as well to think about.
Overall, this still turned out to be a non-winning performance of a great song, even though I've "won" in a sense by having performed it live with bands. It might still take some time before I can attain something worthwhile by performing this song in a competition, even with everything going right, for which this one mostly did. Hopefully, they won't be impromptu like this one, but it's still good to know that it can be done as such with this song.
One year ago: Mixing In and Out of GBL
Two years ago: Getting in the Mood with Pikachu
Three years ago: Muscle Memory and Pokémon Games
Four years ago: Cosplay: Chibi Daisuki! Japan Fest 2019
Five years ago: A Pikachu Hand Puppet
Six years ago: I Claimed My Team
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