It’s April which means it’s almost Nico Nico Choukaigi!  What is Nico Nico Choukaigi? Think of it as Tokyo Game Show or Anime Contents Expo but all revolving around Nico Nico Douga meaning it’s also broadcasted on NND itself. If you’re interested in the event itself be sure to check out its official English page.

You might also be aware that the history of im@s is deeply rooted with Nico Nico Douga and vice-versa. So every year Choukaigi has held live im@s stages with the producers and seiyuu which are completely available to view online. If you’ve never tuned into Nico Nico Choukaigi before I greatly recommend trying it out as it’s a very fun experience. Since there can be so many things to watch it can also be a little overwhelming so here are a few tips.

Know Your Schedule

First of all get the weekend of the 25th and 26th off as Nico Choukaigi is an all day event. Secondly find out the programs that you are interested in by heading over to the booths page and finding programs that interest you. Yes, there are a lot and some you want to watch might not be broadcasted on stream but there are always plenty of awesome things that go on during Nico Choukaigi ranging from Nico Nico orchestras, to live wedding ceremonies, or to sumo wrestling. Since we’re talking about im@s though I will only be detailing the im@s related programs here.

For the main im@s stages, they will take place on the Chou-Anime channel and booth under the name Namassuka!? Smiling!

Namassuka!? Smiling!

Date: 4/25

11:00 Illustration Contest ~Let’s Judging~
(Numakura Manami, Ootsubo Yuka, Aoki Ruriko, Tadokoro Azusa, Fuji Yukiyo)
13:00 Idolm@ster Cinderella Girls ~Let’s Introduction to Cinderella G4U Pack~
(Ohashi Ayaka, Fukuhara Ayaka, Hara Sayuri, Aoki Ruriko)

15:00 CINDERELLA PARTY! VS MillionRADIO ~Let’s Derepa and Miriraji Showdown~
(Shimoda Asami, Hara Sayuri, Aoki Ruriko, Yamazaki Haruka, Asakura Momo)

16:30 Chou-Music Festival 2015 Live Viewing ~Let’s Cheering~ *No Broadcast
(Shimoda Asami, Ohashi Ayaka, Ootsubo Yuka, Yamazaki Haruka, Asakura Momo)

Date: 4/26

11:00 Producer Meeting ~Let’s Produce~
Akabane Kenji (BaneP), Takeuchi Shunsuke (TakeP), Sakagami Youzou (GamiP), Matsuzaki Rei, Watanabe Yui

12:30 Taiko no Tatsujin ~Let’s Perform & Real Condition~
Asakura Azumi, Hara Yumi, Miyake Marie, Oozora Naomi

14:00 NegiM@S Challenge ~Let’s Challenge Guinness World Records~
Nakamura Eriko, Matsuzaki Rei, Oozora Naomi, Watanabe Yui, Takeuchi Shunsuke

15:30 Idolm@ster 10th Anniversary Commemoration ~Let’s 10th Anniversary Talk~
Nakamura Eriko, Hara Yumi, Asakura Azumi, Sakagami Youzou, Ishihara Akihiro, Nakagawa Kouji

Chou-Music Festival

Access

Watching programs during Nico Choukaigi is just like watching any live broadcast on Nico Nico Douga. The only difference is there will be about 20-30 other broadcasts going on at the same time all at the event. To watch all you need to do is go to http://live.nicovideo.jp/ assuming you have a NND account. You will see a list of current broadcasts, click on any as they’ll all likely be related to Choukaigi. Once you’re in a broadcast underneath the player will be a list of other various programs you can quickly switch to by clicking. I recommend browsing around various channels in between breaks between programs, last year there was a channel dedicated to watching giant isopods swim around.

Premium

Nico Premium isn’t necessary to watch Choukaigi but can save you a few headaches in the long run, especially if there are any broadcasts you want to rewatch later. Since Nico Nico Douga can now be accessed and paid for with English services, I’m not going to write a guide on how to sign up for Premium although I do recommend doing so if you watch a lot of live Nico broadcasts.

https://secure.nicovideo.jp/secure/premium_detail/

Commenting

Face it, sometimes you wanna send www’s and 8888’s across the screen too. Although no one will really bat an eye if you comment during a nico stream in English, I don’t really recommend it unless the situation calls for it. Commenting is as simple as typing into the space underneath the video window and pressing enter. You can also change your text color and size with the options menu on to the left of the text box. In the meantime here’s Nico Comments 101:

www = lololol

88888 = clapping

キター！= kita! (it’s here!)

ノシ = waving hello/goodbye

みりっほー = Miriho (Million Live Radio catchphrase)

スマイリング！ = SMILING! (when they say Namassuka, you say SMILING!)

And here’s some pretty text things you might wanna send across the screen during the live:

↑‎↑‎↑‎↑‎↑‎↑‎↑‎↑‎↑‎↑‎ (during Ready or Star)

★⁂∺∻∹⋰⋰.　★⁂∺∻∹⋰⋰.　★⁂∺∻∹⋰⋰.　★⁂∺∻∹⋰⋰.

♥━━━‥・　♥━━━‥・　♥━━━‥・　♥━━━‥・

♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸♫ ♪♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸♫ ♪♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸♫ ♪♪♫•*¨*•.♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸♫ ♪

ヾ⌒シ　　ヾ⌒シ　　ヾ⌒シ　　ヾ⌒シ　　ヾ⌒シ　　ヾ⌒シ　　ヾ⌒シ

Illustration Contest

There’s only a few days until submissions are cut off but I thought I’d still point out every year they hold an illustration contest for im@s where the seiyuu themselves will judge their favorite submitted artworks. The deadline is on the 17th but you can view the contest and current submitted works here.