Crypton Future Media and Tokyo MX’s Hatsune Miku Magical Mirai Festival

The next big Hatsune Miku concert to be held in Japan will be a part of the Hatsune Miku Magical Mirai festival, organized by Crypton Future Media, the company that gave birth to Hatsune Miku, and Tokyo MX, a television company that had previously streamed some of Miku’s live performances. The festival will be held at Yokohama Arena on August 30, 2013, a day before the sixth anniversary of Hatsune Miku’s release. Magical Mirai will feature three main portions, each with a theme based on a segment of the name in Japanese. The first portion, corresponding to “maji” in the title, is an “earnest/legit” concert with two showings — one at 1:30 PM aimed at children under the age of 18 and one at 7:30 PM for everyone else, including the hardcore fans. The second portion, corresponding to “karu”, are expositions and workshops focusing on the creative “culture” aspect of Miku fandom. The last portion, corresponding to “mirai” (future), is an exhibition of various collaborations and sales of merchandise. Unlike previous festivals/concerts, this concert’s official webpage on Tokyo MX is available not only in Japanese, but also in English, simplified Chinese, traditional Chinese and Korean, including instructions on how to purchase tickets. The ticket preorder lottery for the main concert starts at 11:00 AM on June 16 and ends at 11:00 AM on July 9, with lottery results to be announced on July 17.

This concert, unlike the Mikupa series of concerts, will be primarily organized by Crypton Future Media and Tokyo MX, although MAGES. is listed as one of the numerous supporters of the concert. Also, unlike previous concerts, it will feature a special performance during the day aimed at children under the age of 18 (U-18), with discounted pricing. Attendees for that particular showing will have to be either under 18 or be accompanying someone under 18, e.g. as a legal guardian, with tickets purchased at the same time. Pricing for seating in both the center area (1st floor) and arena area (2nd floor) are the same at 3990 JPY. The U-18 concert is supposed to start seating at 12:30 PM, being its performance at 1:30 PM and end at 3:00 PM. The evening performance, on the other hand, appears to be aimed at the more hardcore fans, with a special “fever” seating area priced at 8800 JPY. Center and arena seating are also available at 6600 JPY and seating in the back of the 3rd floor in the stands comes at 5500 JPY. The evening concert is projected to start at 7:30 PM, with seating starting at 5:30 PM, and it is projected to be longer than the U-18 concert. Seating charts for both the U-18 concert and the evening concert are available on the official website. Currently, no live stream has been announced for the concert(s), but it is likely Tokyo MX will carry it in some fashion such as pay-per-view.

Ticket preorders through the official website will be taken between 11:00 AM on June 16 and 11:00 AM on July 9. An English website is also available for both information about the tickets and ordering them. Tickets can be bought using credit cards and need to be picked up at the venue itself. As with previous large-scale Miku concerts, ticketing is done by lottery. Interested concert-goers can enter the lottery anytime during the preorder period, and results will be announced on July 17 whether they managed to land the lottery, in which case they will be allowed to purchase the allocated tickets. Seating will be based on which section the ticket was bought, but will be randomized; there is no first-come first-served system for these preorder tickets. After the preorder period is over, general ticket sales will start on July 28 through the usual ticket agencies in Japan.

In addition to the concert, the other areas (“karu” and “mirai”) require a separate and much cheaper 500 JPY ticket. It was touted as “play for one whole day with just a single coin!” on the official website, since there are 500 JPY coins in Japan. The culture area (on the first floor in the Community Space) will have displays chronicling the path the Hatsune Miku had taken since her release almost six years ago. Also present will be a gallery featuring illustrations, music and videos made by countless creators. Lastly, workshops will let creators show people how to enjoy “creating” with activities aimed at the fans to activities involving the whole family. The future area (on the second floor in the Centennial Hall) will have limited edition Magical Mirai merchandise as well as descriptions of collaborations with various companies. The current list of exhibitors in this area include: Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) Inc. (VOCALOID albums), Sony Music Records Inc. (VOCALOID albums), Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (PlayStation consoles), SEGA Corporation (Project DIVA games), animate Group (animate shops), ASCII MEDIA WORKS Inc. (publishing firm with publications on Miku as well as concert support), COSPA inc. (cosplay outfits), Takara Tomy A.R.T.S (GraPhigs), TAITO Corporation (UFO catcher items), CROSS COMPANY INC. (earth music&ecology clothing label), Culture Convenience Club Co., Ltd. (TSUTAYA chain of stores), Daiichikosho Co., Ltd. (Big Echo karaoke, which featured special Miku rooms), FamilyMart Co., Ltd. (convenience store chain with various VOCALOID collaborations), Kadokawa Shoten Publishing Co., Ltd. (major publisher) / MAGES. Inc. (organizer of Mikupa, publishes some VOCALOID albums), VOLKS INC. (figures/dollfies), NII co,ltd. (cosplay accessories/wigs), HOBBY STOCK inc. (figure retailer), GOOD SMILE COMPANY, INC. (figures), UMAA Inc. (record label), FUJIMI (Snow Miku train, etc. vehicle model toys) and CELSYS, Inc. (illustration and animation software company)