MoonCat Karaoke of 2015

2015 was another good year for MoonCat Karaoke! We've had a bunch of new updates for our karaoke program, ECHO, and it's better than ever.

Some new first this time as well like J-popcon, GEEKcore and Aki-con and it's all been a lot of fun. And thank the gods this summer was cooler than last and that there was more than one karaoke room with Japanese songs at NärCon, Shorter waiting time for everyone!


Here are the most sung songs of 2015~


J-popcon 2015

1. Frozen - Let It Go
2. Mulan - I'll Make a Man Out of You
3. Pokemon - Pokemon Theme
4. Big Hero 6 - Immortals
Hercules - I Won't Say
Ouran High School Host Club op - Sakura Kiss
5. Anastasia - Once Upon a December
    Digimon Adventure op - Butter-Fly
    Gintama op 1 - Pray
    Hobbit, The - I See Fire
    Lion King, The - Be Prepared
    Lion King, The - I Just Can't Wait To Be King
Neon Genesis Evangelion op - Zankoku na Tenshi no Te-ze
Wicked - Popular Sat



KodachiCon 2015

1. Mulan - I'll Make a Man Out of You
2. Frozen - Let It Go
3. Full Moon wo Sagashite ed 3 - Eternal Snow
    Steven Universe - Stronger Than You
4. Pokemon - Pokemon Theme
5. Hobbit, The - I See Fire
Shingeki no Kyojin op - Guren no Yumiya
6. Aladdin - A Whole New World
    Fairy Tail op 15 - MASAYUME CHASING
    League of Legends - Warriors
    One Piece - Binks no Sake
Swan Princess, The - This is My Idea of Fun



NärCon 2015

1. Hunchback of Notre Dame - Hellfire
2. Aladdin - A Whole New World
3. Frozen - Let It Go
Mulan - I'll Make a Man Out of You
Tokyo Ghoul op - unravel
4. Wicked - Defying Gravity
5. Gugure! Kokkurisan! op - Welcome!! DISCO kemokemoke
    Soul Eater op 2 - Paper Moon
Steven Universe - Stronger Than You
6. Anastasia - Once Upon a December
    He-Man - What's Going On
    Hobbit, The - I See Fire
    JoJo's Bizarre Adventure op 2 - Bloody Stream
    JoJo's Bizzare Adventure op 1 - JoJo Sono Chi no Sadame
    My Little Pony FiM - This Day Aria
    Touhou Project - Bad Apple



GEEKcore 2015

1. Frozen - Let It Go
2. Mulan - I'll Make a Man Out of You
3. Steven Universe - Haven't You Noticed
4. Lion King, The - I Just Can't Wait To Be King
Nightmare Before Christmas - What's This
Pokemon - PokeRap
Steven Universe - Stronger Than You
5. Aladdin - A Whole New World
DNAngel op - Byakuya ~True Light~ Final Fantasy X-2 - 1000 Words Frozen - Do You Wanna Build A Snowman Hobbit, The - I See Fire League of Legends - Warriors Naruto Shippuuden op 03 - Blue Bird Naruto Shippuuden op 06 - Sign Over the Garden Wall - Over the Garden Wall Owari no Seraph op - XU Pokemon - Pokemon Theme



Aki-con 2015

1. Big Hero 6 - Immortals
Hobbit, The - I See Fire
2. Frozen - Do You Wanna Build A Snowman
Frozen - Let It Go
Rescue Rangers - Här kommer Piff och Puff
Shingeki no Kyojin op - Guren no Yumiya



Top 10 of 2015

1.  Frozen - Let It Go
2.  Mulan - I'll Make a Man Out of You
3.  Hobbit, The - I See Fire
4.  Aladdin - A Whole New World
     Steven Universe - Stronger Than You
5.  Hunchback of Notre Dame - Hellfire
6.  Pokemon - Pokemon Theme
7.  Shingeki no Kyojin op - Guren no Yumiya
8.  Big Hero 6 - Immortals
     Tokyo Ghoul op - unravel
9.  Neon Genesis Evangelion op - Zankoku na Tenshi no Te-ze
10 Lion King, The - I Just Can't Wait To Be King


The Queen of Disney is still on top. Will 2016 be the year of her dethroning? It's all up to you!


We're starting this year off with another (sort of) first, NärCon Vinter! Only a few days to go~

See you there!

MoonCat Karaoke of 2014

OK, so I'd say 2014 was a good year for MoonCat Karaoke :) The new program is working very well and it's looking great! It was also our first time at NärCon Summer and we were really glad to see all the karaoke enthusiasts who came to sing.

Now I'd like to present the most sung songs at the conventions (that I have neglected to report on... sorry!) that we attended during 2014.


KodachiCon 2014
(sung at least 7 times)
1. Frozen - Let It Go (all versions included)
2. Hobbit, The - I See Fire
3. Pokemon - Pokemon Theme
    Portal 2 - Want You Gone
Shingeki no Kyojin op - Guren no Yumiya
4. Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up
5. Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody
6. Bleach ed 01 - Life is Like a Boat [Rie Fu]
Lord of the Rings - They're Taking the Hobbits to Isengard
Mulan - I'll Make a Man Out of You
7. Aladdin - A Whole New World
Uta no Prince-sama ed - Maji Love 1000% [Starish]
8. Free! ed - SPLASH FREE [STYLE FIVE]
Vocaloid - Alice Human Sacrifice


NärCon 2014
(sung at least 6 times)
1. Frozen - Let It Go (all versions included)
2. Hobbit, The - I See Fire
3. Kuroshitsuji op - Monochrome no Kiss [SID]
Portal - Still Alive
4. Anastasia - Once Upon a December
5. Bleach ed 01 - Life is Like a Boat [Rie Fu]
Hercules - Go the Distance
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Stardust Crusaders op - STAND PROUD [Hashimoto Jin]


Genki 2014
(sung at least 5 times)
1. Frozen - Let It Go (all versions included)
2. Mulan - I'll Make a Man Out of You
3. Aladdin - A Whole New World
4. League of Legends - Get Jinxed
Little Mermaid, The - Part of Your World
Pokemon Theme (Danish) [Michael Elo]
5. Bleach ed - Life is Like a Boat [Rie Fu]
    Hercules - Go the Distance
    Hobbit, The - I See Fire [Ed Sheeran]


KodachiKun 2014
(sung at least 3 times)
1. Frozen - Let It Go (all versions included)
2. Hobbit, The - I See Fire [Ed Sheeran]
3. Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up


Well, we have a clear winner of our MCKaravision 2014, wouldn't you say?
We were still using soramimi at My:NärCon so I'm afraid we don't have any complete data from that weekend but I'm quite sure Let it Go was the undisputed ruler that time as well.


Top 10 of 2014
(all versions of the same song are counted as one)

1. Frozen - Let It Go
2. Hobbit, The - I See Fire [Ed Sheeran]
3. Aladdin - A Whole New World
4. Pokemon - Pokemon Theme
5. Mulan - I'll Make a Man Out of You
6. Bleach ed - Life is Like a Boat [Rie Fu]
7. Shingeki no Kyojin op - Guren no Yumiya [Linked Horizon]
8. Uta no Prince-sama ed - Maji Love 1000% [Starish]
9. Portal - Still Alive
    Portal 2 - Want You Gone
10. Anastasia - Once Upon a December
      Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up (Rickroll)



Half of 2015 has already gone by and we've safely concluded J-popcon and KodachiCon. Next up is NärCon!

We're working on incoming requests as well as the ones you wrote down at NärCon last year. (more than 300 new songs since last NärCon!) However there were quite a a lot so if you wrote a song last year and it still hasn't been timed, please do request it again here on the blog. Then we'll know that you still want it and it will be given high priority.

And don't forget to follow the rules.
Break a rule and priority will drop.


Reports on J-popcon and KodachiCon will hopefully be up in the near future. (I'll try, I promise!)

Kara on My Wayward Cats!

A new year, new conventions and more karaoke!

2015 is here and the conventions are already lining up.

February 20-22nd MoonCat Karaoke will be at J-popcon in Copenhagen for the first time! We hope to bring you some lively evening and nighttime karaoke so hurry up and make you're requests while we still have time to fill them.

Please remember to write what convention you want the songs for. It makes prioritizing a lot easier for us and the chance of you song getting added increases greatly!


Why not take the time to learn a new dance while you wait for the con?

Anime Review 2014

2014 is over and 2015 is rushing in.

The new anime season has just started with the latest entry in the Monogatari series and the third season of the odd moe anime Milky Holmes. So before the new anime season really gets going I'd like to talk about some of The Good, The Bad and The Oddball animes of 2014.

And remember that these are my personal picks so feel free to disagree. We all have a different sense of humor and get annoyed by different things.

Winter

Must sees

Hoozuki no Reitetsu

I can't get enough of this. Hoozuki is just a delightfully sadistic Oni that works in Japanese hell. He will see to it that you get the most befitting punishment, be it by the Lake of Blood or by bunnies with wooden oars.

Noragami

Instant hit! Well written story and characters, cool action scenes, good comedy, the freakiest goldfish you'll ever see and an excellent opening by Hello Sleepwalkers.

Surprisingly entertaining and well made

Youkai Watch (only seen a little so far)

Now if you can't stand shows made for a younger audience you probably shouldn't watch this one. This was funny and higher quality than I though it would be and if we do get to see the original game in Europe I might actually buy it. This is sort of the new Pokémon in Japan and they are planning on bringing the franchise overseas.

Disturbing
Pupa

Monster sister sustains herself by eating the flesh of her immortal brother, complete with erotic moaning. Watch at own sanity risk.

Spring

Well worth a watch

Captain Earth (Not quite finished with it yet)

Watch: http://www.crunchyroll.com/captain-earth

For me this one feels like a combination of Gundam SeeD and Evangelion but with a really really positive main character. I think of Evangelion mainly because of the man with the Ikari-papa hair cut, I keep thinking of him as douche for that reason alone. But anyway, nice mechas with an interesting story and likable main characters. The self pronounced magical hacker girl is a favorite.

Soredemo Sekai wa Utsukushii

I found this interesting, charming and also a bit heart breaking at points. I just have to remind myself that the king is supposed to be older than he looks or else this gets weird and creepy.

Hitsugi no Chaika

Watch: http://www.crunchyroll.com/chaika-the-coffin-princess- season one and two

My expectations were really high since the Scrapped Princess team had come back together for this anime, a little too high I guess. It didn't quite live up to the hype but the story did start to get interesting and it's really well animated so in the end it became one of my favorites of the spring season. I haven't seen season two yet so I'm looking forward to that!

You're gonna have to put up with Chaika's way of speaking because she doesn't change.

Bad

Escha & Logy no Atelier: Tasogare no Sora no Renkinjutsushi

Just plain dull. I've only played through one Atelier game and I liked that one. At the same time I could imagine what an anime of an Atelier game would be like and it lived up to my expectations. It was utterly boring and flat.

Kamigami no Asobi ~Ludere deorum~

Reverse harem and a spectacularly bad one at that. The only "good" thing about this anime is the ridiculous transformation scene in the first episode. Aaaand the next time they show it the "special" part has been cut out - read: censored.

Gokukoku no Brynhildr

Well it's harem and there's not anything special about it. If you're looking for harem with a little bit of death and censored gore you can get that here.

Guilty Pleasure

Love Live! 2

Watch: http://www.crunchyroll.com/love-live-school-idol-project

Well what can I say? I'm a sucker for music themed anime. I highly recommend AKB0048 if you like anime like Love Live!

Summer

Must sees

Aldnoah.Zero

Fan of Fate/Zero, Madoka Magica, Phantom - The Animation or Psycho-Pass? Well Urobuchi Gen has had a big hand in these and Aldnoah.Zero is his latest with a second season starting January 10^th and a new anime, Gunslinger Stratos, coming in April.

Barakamon

Watch: http://www.crunchyroll.com/barakamon

Pure delight, heart worming and funny. A bit of slice of life, the search for yourself and inspiration with a good portion of comedy. It has the best Dragon Ball Z reference since Binbougami ga! (go watch it if you haven't already!)

I could not care less

Akame ga KILL!

Sorry, I just really can't. Tatsumi is probably the most harem main character I've ever seen without it officially being a harem-series, complete with twin tailed tsundere and an assortment of big boobs. And the animation only holds up for a few seconds of every action scene. Pretty good theme songs though.

Biggest disappointment

Sailor Moon Crystal

Watch the latest episode here: http://ch.nicovideo.jp/sailormoon_English
Not because of the art style or the bad quality of the animation. I don't mind the style, it has grown on me and they fix the animation for the BD release. What I can't stand is the bad pacing, unimaginative camera angles, unnecessary changes from the manga (which they were supposed to follow) and over all lack of animation. It's cheap, clumsy and awkward. It all just makes for bad storytelling. Sure it has its moments but they don't nearly make up for everything they're doing wrong.

Fall

Must sees

Akatsuki no Yona

Watch: http://www.crunchyroll.com/yona-of-the-dawn

Give this one a few episodes. It's a bit messy at first with a lot of forward and back flashes so you need to get past the introduction faze. The banter between the characters is wonderfully hilarious and I just love it. Well written characters, good story and well placed bits of comedy. Can't wait for next weeks episode!

Parasyte -the maxim- (Kiseijuu - Sei no Kakuritsu)

Watch: http://www.crunchyroll.com/parasyte-the-maxim-
To be honest I was a bit unsure of this one at first. But not because I thought it was bad but simply because I didn't see it as my cup of tea. However, as I continued watching I got really into it. The only thing I find strange is the ending. It seems so ill-fitting that it creeps me out. However, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas does an excellent job of setting the mood with the opening.

Yuuki Yuuna wa Yuusha de Aru

Watch: http://www.crunchyroll.com/yuki-yuna-is-a-hero
Magical Girl, a little bit of slice a life and bit of Madoka Magica. And the cation scenes look really good! Giant swords ftw!

Amagi Brilliant Park

Kyoto Animation does it again! I've come to trust KyoAni to only animate good stories and this one is no exception. Well told, well animated and a lot of fun. I really hope that they'll get to do a second season or I will have to go read the light novels.

Bad

Ore, Twintails ni Narimasu.

This one had potential to be funny, maybe even hilarious but it really wasn't. It was just awful and insulting. I guess it was supposed to be a parody but it still wasn't funny. I'm usually all for gender-bender but preferably not in combination with moe and ecchi.

Special mention

Gugure! Kokkuri-san
Watch: http://www.crunchyroll.com/gugure-kokkuri-san

If nothing else, watch the first episode. The whole series is funny even if the Inugami character is rather off-putting. But go watch the first episode, it is Inugami free! That and you have to see the opening.

Then there is still a lot of anime from 2014 I'd like to try out:

Buddy Complex, Gin no Saji Dai-2-ki, Inari, Konkon, Koi Iroha., Wizard Barristers
Ryuugajou Nanana no Maizoukin, Mushishi: Zoku-Shou, Sidonia no Kishi, No Game No Life
Survival Game Club!, Black Butler: Book of Circus, Zankyou no Terror
Shingeki no Bahamut, Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso, Magic Kaito 1412, Fate/stay night Unlimited Blade Works

Seen the new Sailor Moon Crystal yet?

The second episode came out this past Saturday and you can currently watch both episodes on NicoNico Douga for free. You don't even need to get an account.

Here:
http://ch.nicovideo.jp/sailormoon_English

The episodes are free for the first two weeks after airing so don't wait too long. The first episode is currently running on an extended free period.

The preview for Act 3 is looking nice :D I was afraid of unsightly CGI fire in Rei's transformation but from what I've seen I might actually like this transformation.


The PV with the full version of the opening theme MOON PRIDE by Momoiro Clover Z is out!
I contains a little bit of transformation spoilers for Mars, Jupiter and Venus and I guess a little bit of story if you don't know it already.


This song has really grown on me and I'm completely in love with this PV. I wish the anime held this level of animation :P There were some sloppy faces in episode 2... Anyway, really pretty!
Wonder if there'll be a MomoClo version PV too. I love this one but I still want to see what they would do. And I'm both hoping an dreading a live performance on Music Station. (In case you didn't know they are horrendous live) I didn't see them on the guest list for Friday but maybe next week? But we're getting BUMP OF CHICKEN with "ray" (ray feat. Hatsune Miku) though so I'm happy :)


See you at NärCon!

PS: Bring your 3DS! Especially if you have FF Theatrhythm <3 DS