Ordre de Ciel: The Last Sunday Sessions!

Yes, yes, I know that was over a week ago but I seriously cannot keep up with these people! I mean, as I write this, over 300 photos from the ODC + J&AP: Ultimate Japanese Music Cosplay Party, still wait to be sorted and edited. I am running ragged but oh, I have never had so much fun on a regular basis and sod anyone who says otherwise! That party was the one that brought the Sunday Event circle to a close, since from coming Friday onwards, Ordre de Ciel will be entertaining us on Fridays, with the exception of one Saturday every month, so that anyone who could not attend for various, time-related reasons, will now have that opportunity. It was the second time I was given leave to play a full set with the Ordre de Ciel (well, there was another time I played around 8 songs but that was a last-minute wish, expressed to room302 and let us leave it aside as a selfish antic on my part) and it was also an event with many dedications to people we love and care about, but that all was covered in "Haru Toki no Koe", so I will leave the mush out of this post.

Artact, Kyoshiro, Usagi-chan & Kame.

Chasing Raven with a lens!

"Oni Feast dude! I rock!" (Larva)

Keru-chan: "Mr. room302, so... so nice to see you again...
You know, I was thinking..."

room302: "Yes, I think Speedgrapher is chasing
my wife around right now, so..."

Raven: "Um, honey? Right behind you?"

room302: "Uh-oh... Baguette!"

There was an added funny factor to that event, since room302 decided it should be a crazy, Spring night, with everyone playing their sets independently, whether they fit together or not (and in my case, whether the changes made any sense or not). Hence, Larva started out with his heavy, knuckles-bared set, "Oni Feast", full of fast, strong, game music, raising the adrenaline and temperature from the very beginning. When my time was nearing, he chose to close off with Final Fantasy, if I recall correctly, much to my horror, since my set began waaaaay lower and slower but, hey, room302 said it was anything goes, so I swallowed hard and stepped up with "Haru Toki no Koe". Now, that entailed...

01 - FMP Fumoffu - Sore Ga Ai Deshyou (TV OP).mp3

02 - Hunter x Hunter GI Final - Moshimo Kono Sekai de (OVA ED).mp3

03 - Samurai 7 - Unlimited (TV OP).mp3

04 - Hunter x Hunter - Ohayou (TV OP 1).mp3

05 - Shadow Skill - For My Pride (TV ED 1).mp3

06 - Loveless - Tsuki no Curse.mp3

07 - Tsubasa Chronicles - Break the Sword of Justice.mp3

08 - xxxHOLiC - 19sai (TV OP).mp3

09 - Kenku Zenrakei Suieibu Umishou - Dolphin Jet (TV OP).mp3

10 - Fullmetal Alchemist - Melissa (TV OP 1).mp3

11 - Vampire Knight - Futatsu no Kodou to Akai Tsumi (TV OP – TV Size).mp3

12 - Anima Mundi - Dark Alchemist.mp3

13 - DNAngel - True Light (TV OP).mp3

14 - H2O - Footprints in the Sand - Katayoku no Icarus (TV OP).mp3

15 - Slam Dunk - Zettai Ni Dare Mo (TV OP 3).mp3

16 - Nodame Cantabile - Konna ni Chikaku de (TV ED 1).mp3

17 - Shion no Ou - Lady Love (TV OP).mp3

18 - Onegai Twins - Second Flight (TV OP).mp3

19 - Gensomaden Saiyuki - For Real (TV OP 1 Extended).mp3

20 - Fullmetal Alchemist - Kesenai Tsumi (TV ED).mp3

21 - Initial D Special Stage - Night of Fire.mp3

22 - Shin Getter vs Neo Getter - Storm (OVA OP).mp3

23 - D-Gray Man - Innocent Sorrow (TV OP 1).mp3

Well... as you can see (at least, those among you knowledgeable in anime), there are QUITE a few lighthearted songs in there, many among them J-Pop (what I call, "cheerily predisposed") and the first one is by far the most dreamy and fuzzy so, expectedly, there was some befuddlement caused by the change in tone, in relation to Larva's set and a healthy amount of humor, as some the following pictures illustrate...

On another interesting note, Artact was her

UN-usual cute self that day, practically oozing
girliness (no, I do not mean femininity
- she is always feminine - I mean GIRLY-ness!)

Case in point, during
"Moshimo Kono Sekai de" and "Unlimited"...

A brief reprieve during "For My Pride".

Right back at you, you horrible #@&!!.

*sigh* I just HAD to put on "Dolphin Jet"...

..."Melissa"...

...and "Katayoku no Icarus", didn't I?

Evil Lolita seemed to like, probably the only Japanese
R&B song I have found in anime, "Konna ni Chikaku de"...

...as well as the darker "Lady Love" (hmm, good timing)!

*sigh* Here we go again - "Second Flight".

room302 rocking... "For Real"...

...and pigtailed Artact
during "Kesenai Tsumi"!

Well, I can forgive anything
for a look like this...

I believe that would be during "Storm". Old

anime songs, especially those from mecha
shows tend to have a weird effect on people...

Well, at least everyone seemed to be having fun, so I really have no regrets about that wacky set AND everyone had been forewarned! However, the real, quality music fun started when room302 climbed up on the decks, with his "Bankai Hour", which included, among many gems, "I.V.", "Super Love", his very own, "Bankai" remix of "Ichirin no Hana", "The Phantom of the Opera" played solely on a bass by Heath and much, much more besides! It seems his music induced some peculiar behaviors...

Sweet Artact...

...going berserk on KrizD...

...and suddenly receiving a double counter-attack
from him and Raven!

Peaceful Yu-kun and Keru-chan.

My Fair Ladies but...

...suddenly...

...Yu-kun becomes possessed by Hide!

Evil Lolita is already evil,
so, not much change there.

Yu-kun keeps getting Hide-fied...

...while Keru-chan remains
strangely immune.

Kame-chan goes through several
transformations, from cute...

...to sly...

...to haughty-cool (with Kyoshiro)...

...and back to... ummm, OK, this must
be an entirely new psychological condition.

From rejective and sleepy
(Hope and Darkside_Blues)...

...to genial and smiling (no, he is not
holding her down, just your idea).

"Exhibit A" (your guess is as good as mine...).

Right after room302, a "Fighting Dreamers"
interlude by Larva, sets a completely new mood...

...with a dash of X for spice!

THAT much beer immunizes you
against any and all mind-control...

...for the most part. Although
Artact is a regular beer-guzzler,
she could not resist can-canning
with Evil Lolita.

Artact & KrizD: Aww, so cute...

Girls, when you smile that way you seriously
scare the beJesus out of me (Raven & Bunnydragon).

Will you PLEASE stop
taking pictures of me?

"Oh, mister photographer...!"

"Um, yes...?"

"What? Oh, nothing, nothing at all..."

"OK, seriously, what do you think of

my bodice?"

"Aside from being pretty stylish,
um, how do you breathe?'"

"Oh, I don't really need to!"

(Our lovely Christina - and isn't she
much more pretty without the make-up?)

Larva and his ladies...

Myself and Larva's ladies (oopsie)...

I wonder what thoughts hide
behind those eyes, dear Countess.

"Ha! wouldnt' YOU like to know?"

The scion of Clan Skauk doing what
he really excels at: headbanging! The reason...

...KrizD on the decks with
"Brutal! Filth!" Rock away man!

Yeeeehaaaw!

"Ha! Two can play at that game!"

One for the family album: love you guys!

Larva: solo air guitar!

...and the party went on and on until 04:00 in the morning, the revelers all but trashed and the promise of the following week's joint party with Somnium in Tenebris and Mona Risa, already rocking away at the keyboards, guitars and drums of our minds. Now THIS is what I call J-fun from J-fans. See you again on Friday with the report on the Ordre de Ciel + Japan & Anime Party: The Ultimate Japanese Music Cosplay Party, as well as...

Signing off,

Speedgrapher