| AX2001 Karaoke Contest - Semi-Finals |
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- As always, Luke is calm, cool and professional... aka SPIFFY.
- "Everybody got a button?"
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"Athena" (top) & "Naveed" (bottom)
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- The semi-finals began with an encore presentation of the group winners from last year, "Athena" (top) and "Naveed" (bottom), aka Silver Night...
- Their song? A reprise of their final performance: Lullaby - Yasashiku dakasete from Magic Knight Rayearth (ending theme).
- This year they really showed-off by bringing their own headsets so they weren't encumbered by wires... and "Naveed" really made use of it mingling with the crowd in the middle of their performance.
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| THE GROUPS! |
- Group Semi-finalist: Sandra and Justin
- Song Entry:
- Tooi kono machi de
Card Captor Sakura (Movie ED)
- Quote: "We were really nervous about making the semi-finals, but we were really happy we made it. Justin, who had 2 videos in the AMV contest was also nervous because the two competitions coincided. Lots of running. =) This was our first time performing together, and it's already been fun!"
- Duo: This is my favorite vocal track from this year's contest. After I've made the mp3 of this song, I don't even listen to the original rendition anymore :b You can get an audio file of this performance from the media page.
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Sandra (top) & Justin (bottom)
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Who's who?
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- Group Semi-finalist: Otaku in Crime
AKA: Trisha Hopkins & Allison Gibbons
- Song Entry:
- Mask
Bakuretsu Hunters (ED)
- Quote: "Lots of fun and anticipation! Loved it! It was such an awesome experience being able to meet so many people expressing their enthusiasm to anime in song!
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- Group Semi-finalist: Fushigi Yume
AKA: Megumi, Shampoo, Misao & Jo-chan
- Song Entry:
- Boku-tachi wa kore kara
Ranma Nibunnoichi (Doco Image Song)
- Quote: "We were so surprised we made it to semi-finals since this is our first year. We spent soo much time on our prelim song we didn't expect to go further, so we were totally unprepared for our routine during the semi-finals. But we had fun and look forward to next year! ^_^"
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Misao & Megumi
Shampoo & Jo-chan
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Yureki and...
her camera-shy partner :b
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- Group Semi-finalist: Duo & Yureki
- Song Entry:
- Around the World
Initial D (1st Stage OP)
- Quote: "Um... I didn't fill out my own lil forms during the contest and now I'm at a lost for words :b Let's see, I think I'll take this space for giving thanks to the karaoke staff, the karaoke judges (I found out at Ani-Magic that this semi-final song was a favorite of one of the judges, lucky me ^^), and all my online supporters especially Otaku Generation... without you guys I don't think we would've gotten the crowd response we did ^_^"
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- Group Semi-finalist: Kara-Ohki's
AKA: Serena El-Farra & Dan Schwartzler
- Song Entry:
- Heart & Soul
Macross 7 (Movie ED)
- Quote: "Macross 7 grew on both of us, so we had to make it to semi-finals to sing this song! And remember... props and a good time make the difference!"
- Duo: MUST get pics of both guitars....
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Serena as Mylene Jenius &
Dan as Nekki Basara
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It started like this...
and it ended like this...
the rest you just have to see
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- Group Semi-finalist: Otaku Generation
AKA: (from left to right, top pic) Van Nguyen, Yuhki Fukusumi, John Shin, Philip Kim, Roger Chuang
- Song Entry:
- Ai no tenshi
Perfect Blue (OP)
- Quote: "My body hurts..."
- Duo: Words and still pictures do no justice to any of Otaku Generation's performances. It's something that has to be experienced. Check out their own coverage at Otagen.com Needless to say I would NEVER listen to any songs that Otaku Generation/Goddess Girls has done ever quite the same way again...
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| THE INDIVIDUALS! |
- Semi-finalist: Sakura Shinguji
AKA: May Llaguno
- Song Entry:
- Sakura Saku
Love Hina (OP)
- Quote: "This was a tongue twister song for me, but I memorized it and I'm glad to sing it for the contest."
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- Semi-finalist: Stephanie Yanez
- Song Entry:
- Fly me to the Moon
Shin Seiki Evangelion (ED)
- Quote: "Singing is my life and so is karaoke!!!"
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- Semi-finalist: Nick Balleza
- Song Entry:
- Niji
Rurouni Kenshin (Movie OP)
- Quote: "Room is too cold!"
- Duo: Dang... I wish I could do this song like that... You can listen to him sing...
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- Semi-finalist: Alice Chiao
- Song Entry:
- Yubiwa
Tenkuu no Escaflowne (Movie ED)
- Quote: "Wow! Everyone really sang well and even though I was feeling really nervous, listening and watching their energized performances really positively affected me. Thanks! :)"
- Duo: Argh... two great vocals of songs in a row that I wish I could do... *evil green eye of envy* o_O!
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- Semi-finalist: Diana Tolin
- Diana, AX99 Karaoke Finalist, foregoes her performance of Driver's High from Great Teacher Onizuka because of a sore throat. But she is here to promise: "I'll be back next year so all of you get ready!" (insert crowd cheering)
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I'll be back...
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- Semi-finalist: Doraemon
AKA: Jaime Dixon
- Song Entry:
- 1/2
Rurouni Kenshin (2nd OP)
- Quote: "I'm totally nervous. Where the hell is my cat suit?" (see Prelims)"
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- Semi-finalist: Mandy Lee
- Song Entry:
- I Want Someone to Love
Sailormoon (Insert)
- I thought it was kinda funny that I had gotten this far! ^_^; I was sure that I didn't make it because of the prelims... I kinda blanked. I was really nervous too because there were so many people doing all kinds of different things... it just didn't seem like a real contest, but as the semis rolled around the next day, I checked the list, and to my surprise, I was up there! I had to hurry and get a song together to sing, so I chose something I knew all to well, "I Want Someone to Love."
Once my name was called, I got up there and suddenly I wasn't so nervous. I've done a lot of theatre and other music related things so my confidence just kinda kicked in. Everything was totally different! I had finally gotten to the point where I thought, "Hey? Who cares?!" So I totally had as much fun as possible!
The reason I chose the song I did was because a lot of people don't know Japanese. I'm currently learning, but I think the audience likes
to hear a song they can actually understand once in a while, and it does relieve a lot of pressure on the performer. Did I say Japanese is hard? ^_^
- Duo: Video for the first part of this performance (1:53) is available from the media page. If you want to see what it means to be relaxed during a performance... this is it ^_^
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The Winning Formula
Add one part singing ability...
... one part stage presence...
... and one part playing up to the judges :b
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Kawaii desho!
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- Semi-finalist: Sherry Weng
- Song Entry:
- Peony Pink
Clamp Gakuen Tanteidan (OP)
- See long long quote on finals page... yes she made it ^_^
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- Semi-finalist: Anrui Ukimi
AKA: Elizabeth Morgan
- Song Entry:
- Tsuki to taiyou no meguri
Lupin III (ED)
- Insert quotation here :b
- Duo: Everyone, this is Elizabeth... you might remember her dressed as Sanosuke when she and her friends went up to sing during intermission last year.
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This is a good example of the costume matching the song... I think she's dressed as Ushio from NeoRanga... ne?
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Is that the cat from Kiki's? =<O.O>=
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- Semi-finalist: Hope Sikora
- Song Entry:
- Small Two of Pieces
Xenogears (ED)
- Insert quotation here :b
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| The List... |
And the Finalists are... (in no particular order)
- Individuals:
- Sherry Weng
- Alice Chiao
- May Llaguno
- Mandy Lee
- Elizabeth Morgan
- Groups:
- Duo & Yureki (Yeah me :b)
- Serena & Dan aka Kara-Ohki's
- Otaku Generation
... followed by chantings of "o-ta-ku... o-ta-ku... o-ta-ku..." ^_^
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| A Shaft Moment |
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That's right...
it's time for the Shaft Corner...
- "I know you guys want me to do Shaft, but I'm pretty sure I removed it from the computer"
- Hong plays Shaft...
- "You right bastard Hong..."
- "I don't have the hat... just imagine me in the hat..."
- "So Sexy...." - the audience
- "I can't sing and I can't dance, that's why I'm the MC"
- "I want to have your kids..." - some really enthusiastic guy...
- "Room 1227" *crowd cheers*
- "SHAFT!"
- "I'm sorry, this is a G-rated show... except for those guys [Otaku Generation]"
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- It's now time for the finals!
Go on to the Finals...
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