I really like Omatsuri Sawagi too. I imagine it looks really cool in 1080p

Oh good, I'm not alone in realizing that Shiina's vocals are very low in the mix on Ringo EXPO 08. It's a shame, really. And makes very little sense. Shiina is the star. It's why people are there. Why would you make her hard to hear? I'm assuming it likely wasn't like this for people at the show, though.

Not at all. Row 4, Kameda side of the stage and I heard everything just fine. I've said since release that the DVD mix was horrid. The home release seems to over-compensate for the orchestra's comparatively (slightly) lower volume. It was a pretty big venue for an orchestra and they had to compete with loud guitars and thunderous bass drums. Those drums, man... They've stayed with me over the years.

Out of all the live releases, I'd say the Dynamite Out DVD is the best representation of what Ringo sounds like live. Well from the 2004- 2012 period of her career.

The Dynamite Out! theater seemed to be the perfect size for recording. The sound had room to breathe but nothing fizzled out like in the mammoth space of Expo08.

Obviously I have no idea what Ringo sounds like live, but every other Blu-ray in this set (so far) besides Expo08 has delivered something closer to what I feel when I see other shows live.

I hope the release of the Chin Play Kou Play Blu-ray wasn't a sign that there was NO intention of releasing Dynamite Out! on BD, but it wouldn't surprise me.

I don't really know where to put this,

BUT i found this interesting.

http://www.lastfm.jp/bestof/2013/art.../Japan?from=20

Guess what Japan's most listened band was this year (on last.fm). TOKYO FUCKIN' JIHEN (and by a significant margin too). Shiina Ringo (solo) isn't even on the charts whatsoever (even though she was the one with all the new releases this year- though this could possibly be explained that the charts above go from November 1, 2012 to November 1, 2013 and the new Ringo releases all came out November 13... maybe). The hell. I guess their blend of pop is still highly desired, and thus a 10th anniversary reunion tour is seeming more and more likely to actually happen. I'm quite astonished by this to be honest. No way I'd think Jihen would place higher than Perfume, let alone place number 1. It also sheds quite a light on the difference in the west (well, EMF in particular) and Japanese fanbases methinks.

And yes. I know it's just last.fm and just one country and doesn't count for that much, but still... it's a suprise to me.

Given that Last.fm is a western invention which hasn't established itself enough for every Japanese person know/care about it (like YouTube has), and that most/all of the posts in the Tokyo Jihen shoutbox are from English speakers, I wouldn't say the scrobbling results are representative of what the average Japanese person was listening to in 2013. We don't know what percentage of the Last.fm users who contributed toward that record, were really Japanese. We just know that they're physically in Japan. The fact that they're familiar and comfortable with Last.fm, in my eyes would make the contributing users less likely to be Japanese.

Tokyo Jihen is essentially the most-scrobbled band among listeners (of unknown ethnicity) in Japan who have international taste. Most of the Top 20 results are western artists. The fact that Tokyo Jihen beat out other successful Japanese bands on a list of mostly-western artists, doesn't astonish me.

Which they are...

Pretty much every other country has Daft Punk as their number 1.

Another thing I find kinda surprising... there's no Kyary Pamyu Pamyu here either. I thought she was more popular than Perfume.

Show me a ranking where all the artists are Japanese, and most of the scrobbles/votes/support/whatever are from listeners predominantly interested in Japanese artists. If Tokyo Jihen manages to rank #1 with a premise like that, then I'd be astonished.

Ironclad proof of Jihen's awesomeness imo.

I didn't know last.fm took scrobbles from commercials.

(dats dat old Jihad)