AIMI KAMI!

I was so tired last night at 9:30 that I just fell asleep instantly, and only today did I finally sit down to write about how much fun it was yesterday.

source: https://x.com/aimistaff/status/2048021157388185878/photo/1

Did you see those people holding rice stalks in the back? One of them is me.

The Beginning of Everything

Honestly, I didn’t even plan to go at first. When I saw everyone fighting for VIP tickets, I was like, “Why are Threads pushing this to me?” Later I found out she’s the voice of Toyama Kasumi, and then… and then I just skipped it. After all, I already bought tickets for Bang Dream for two days, so if I wasn’t specifically chasing voice actresses, I didn’t think I’d go buy tickets.

So what happened later?

After watching two days of Bang Dream, I’m still suffering from post-concert depression. The timing was perfect, so I went to chase the voice actress, and while I was at it, I listened to all kinds of original songs that AiMi herself put out. At first I felt like the style was wildly different—Kasumi’s so kira-kira and doki-doki, and then suddenly it’s low, heavy rock punk… I really wasn’t used to it. Oh well.

Who would’ve thought that after listening for two days, I’d be like, “This person is way too cool! I loved it.” Then I snapped back to reality, added fan community, and bought the ticket.

What Did I Prepare?

Compared to other long-time fans who have a whole set—doll, clothes, Happi, light sticks, towels, Ita-bag, everything—I can say I had nothing. I only had the outfit for poppin’ party dreams go on that I bought just last week, plus wristbands. And then I also had the two light sticks I bought earlier, and Hanami Saki-chan.

Huh? Hanami Saki?

Let me explain! AiMi voiced Julia from “The Idolm@ster: Million Live!” 13 years ago. So by that logic, she is basically a huge, huge, huge senior of Saki!

(Okay, the main reason is that I only have this doll outfit… (I’ll definitely buy more later if I get the chance.)

Speaking of Buying—What Did I Get at the Merch?

Actually, I didn’t buy that much.

A Bag With Personality

The reason I wanted to buy it is because it’s a limited item. Yes, I’m that shallow.

Seriously though, the main reason is that among the merch, besides common stuff like clothes, the only thing that’s relatively useful is this bag. Other items like badges, standees, towels, mini cards, and light sticks—yeah, towels and light sticks are useful, but I already have three light sticks, so I didn’t really want to buy another one. And for this kind of event, it’s not very convenient to use in other situations… As for towels, I personally don’t really use them, so I ended up buying this bag.

It’s basically a standard small bag: one big main compartment in the middle + one small compartment in the front, plus a way to show off different “iron training” (??), and that’s it. I don’t know when I’ll take it out and use it, but anyway, that Xiaomi bag is probably about time to retire. Maybe this one can become one of the next generation of small bags?

Mini Cards!

It’s just like, “Anyway, it’s NT$100 for one card, so just draw one.” So pretty… AiMi…

AiMi Rice! (?

AiMi rice! To be precise, it’s just a normal rice stalk decoration. Someone bought 150 of them, so I bought one as a keepsake. It’s a little sad though—too few people are holding them, so it’s not that impressive. I guess it’s like a… fan symbol?

Will we have to wait a long time?

Actually, no. This time’s merch sales method was: first you fill out your order, then the staff grab the items and pack them into bags, and checkout is done bag by bag. Overall it was pretty smooth. And the amount of merch was prepared in plenty—maybe even a bit too much, since they didn’t end up selling everything. Maybe it’ll show up at Animate later? That’s what I’m thinking.

How Was the Performance?

When we first entered… should I say it was the familiar feeling? Same kktix ticket number jumping, same line-up in order by number, same small crowd. But since this venue is only 700 people, it doesn’t take too long. Still, please don’t use this system again—either assign numbers by section in advance, or put up signs so we can line up ourselves faster…

After actually getting in, and also because the venue isn’t big, even from the back like me, AiMi herself was still clearly aware of everything. Thanks, Mom and Dad, for making me this tall 🙏

During the performance… okay, I forgot everything… I only know that in the middle we drank water together and did a cheers (I didn’t bring water, I cried…). And then ‘hao he’ (delicious) was mispronounced as ‘hao hei’ (so black). Chinese is really hard, it’s okay! There was also a fan Q&A where they asked where she wanted to go. It sounded like she originally said she wanted to go to a music instrument shop. Then when it came up that last time poppin’ party had been to the Dajia Riverside Park, she said she wanted to go see what it looks like without stage time, and even made Kasumi “manifest” for five seconds—so petting the fans like that was just too sweet 😭. And that’s when the cheering got the loudest. Of course you guys are all a bunch of Bang Dream fanatics! (It’s fine, I’m one too.)

In the end, she mentioned that on the 28th there will be a major announcement, and that next time it will definitely be in an even bigger venue. There will be a next time, right!

The Very Last Thing

The biggest regret of the whole event was that I became a fan too late. These songs weren’t even at the stage where they’d become memories yet. The whole thing was definitely super hype, but it just lacked that little bit of time to let memories build up. Hopefully next time I can go from a newbie to someone with a bit more experience!

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Translated by gpt-5.4-nano