A lot is going on as Spring switches into Summer. A lot of events both local and abroad are happening and it’s hard to get everything lined up on the blog. I hope you are able to get all the info on your own the past month.

I’ll try to highlight all the notable items between now and IM@S 10th so you guys are on the same page as us. Can you believe we’re just 40 days away?

Speaking of which, we had a blast at Anime North with Asapon. Check out good o’ Exciel’s blog for some feels.

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Tickets: HPT, for the most part, got tickets for everyone we know that wanted to go. If you are still looking for tickets for yourself or your friends, your best bet is the public ticket sales that’s starting this week. Details here (JP). Note that you can also buy 1-day lawn seats (outfield), with some restrictions. Tickets will be on sale Friday 9PM Eastern time 6/12, via Loppi and E-Plus, which probably means you can pick them up via conbini pickup. No 2-day tickets will be sold via ippan.

First-timers. We noticed there are a number of first-time eventers, and even first-time-abroad types. First thing first: don’t worry. But we have a lot of posts that may help to address your concerns:

• Live basics – Definitely read this if you are going for the first time.
• IM@S live basics  – Read this too, if this is your first IM@S live
• Live etiquette – very important; it’s different in Japanese otaku events.
• Calls & lights – entirely optional (but nice to have a bit at least)
• Light colors, possible songs – Brush up your old 765 catalog if you are going to day 1!
• Tokyo mass transit guide
• 10th details – Performers, message from ishihara
• Some info on Seibu Prince Dome.

Flowers and other fun stuff. Like the Aisute event I posted earlier in February, we will be setting up some flower stands for IM@S 10th. The details of that will come soon, but most likely we’ll try to put it into a package where oversea fans can help in several ways all at once. Most likely what we’ll do is set up a donation process where you can also leave a message that will go into a booklet, and we’ll try to translate all your messages as well, and send the booklets to the cast and staff at 10th. People who donated over a certain amount can also get a physical copy. If everything goes well, we will also set up a Teespring to put money into the pot for paying the flower stand.

If you can draw for us, we’ll love to have your illustrations too, to send to 10th as part of the gifts, or in our booklet, or for the site. Just let us know on twitter or in the comments!

FAQ. I didn’t get to work on the FAQ, unfortunately. Now with the ticketing process largely done, and we’ve written some guides, I don’t think there’s a lot of questions left besides very specific items that aren’t yet announced, like the details on the on-site pre-sale (if any). I’ve written up a few items at the bottom of this post, so you can puruse them.

If you have more questions, ask away in the comments! Tweet at us (@HoukagoPTime)!

Event specifics

• Q1.1. When? Where? How long?
• Q1.2 How much does it cost to attend?
• Q1.3 What about Seibu Dome should I know?
• Q1.4 How do I get tickets?
• Q1.5 Which tickets are available? Which ones are the best?

Goods

• Q2.1. What goods would be sold at the event?
• Q2.2. When will goods be sold?
• Q2.3 When should I go line up for goods?

Prep

• Q3.1 What should I do to prepare for the live?
• Q3.2 What songs will they play?

Traveling and misc

• Q4.1 What is a good place to book a hotel?

Questions about the specifics of the event and ticketing

Q1.1. When? Where? How long?

If you have any questions about the event specifically, like where it is, when it starts, when doors open, and stuff like that, read this post for starters. We don’t know how long the event will run exactly, but these typically go for 4-5 hours after the start of the event. The event will run for about 5 hours, and will end by 9PM.

Q1.2 How much does it cost to attend?

Same link, please read it. Note that this is the face-value of the ticket price. In actuality it will cost a bit more to buy a ticket via one of the pre-general sale lottery since the various convenience stores charge a fee, unless you do a directly mailing (and that charges shipping). Obviously if you venture into the secondary market the prices there will vary. In the past good seats for an IM@S anniversary live can go up into the thousands (USD). It’s unknown territory as to how high (or low) will seats go in Seibu Dome, but at least we now know the CG Volume 1 lottery winners will have good seats if they are willing to give those up.

That is just the tickets. Please also consider your travel accommodations, fares (plane/train/automobile), and any merchandise you want to purchase. For some of us we should also include any after-party costs. All of us should also budget for a lot of fluids to bring to the show so we don’t die of dehydration or heat stroke.

Q1.3 What about Seibu Dome should I know?

This link is a start, but there’s also this (JP only). The most valuable thing to know from the Livehis site immediately is the various seating configurations for previous lives, to give you an idea as to which seating name conventions it will employ. Which leads to…

Q1.4 How do I get tickets?

With the web and CD lottery period over, regular sales of the tickets begin 6/13 10AM JST, or 6/12 9PM Eastern.  Based on past experiences, the tickets are not likely to sell out right at opening, but the better seats will sell out pretty fast. There are also lawn seats. Only 1-day tickets will be sold at general sales.

The tickets will be sold via E-Plus and Loppi (Lawson). In both cases you can purchase them online and pay by credit card (sometimes), then pick them up at a convenient store later, or you can pay at a convenient store instead of using a credit card.

In the case general sales sell out (which would be a great thing!) your best bet is from the second-hand market and by asking around. There may be some extra tickets from oversea Producers as well.

Q1.5 Which tickets are available? Which ones are the best?

Seibu Dome will have seats in the stands, and seats on the field. The stage is always going to be in center field facing in towards home plate. The bleachers will be taken up by the backstage and equipment, so you can’t get tickets there, and depending on how upfield the stage is, part of the outfield seats will also be blocked out and made unavailable.

Unlike a normal baseball game, it’s assumed that tickets to IM@S 10th will be uniformly priced in terms of location and you probably will not be able to select a seat when you purchase your tickets, even during general sales period. (You can probably however see your seats before purchasing them during general sales). During pre-sales, you will have no idea where your seats may be even after you have successfully won and purchased a ticket. It’s generally assumed that earlier lotteries winners will have better seats than later lottery winners and general sales seats.

The short answer for best seats–for closeness is the A block arena seats, best seats for full view are seats behind home plate (high-numbered A sections, 101-106, 1-6).

Please see the various posts on ticketing and seating for details.

Also, there will be lawn seats this time, which are seats likely in the outfield area to the side. These seats will not have chairs (and you can’t bring chairs). You are also not allowed to stand in these seats. Maybe bring a blanket?

 

Questions about merch

Q2.1. What goods would be sold at the event?

The timing on goods announcement is usually a month or so before the event, so we got a few weeks left to go. The first round of goods were already pre-sold on Lalabits, which this year was particularly problemsome due to servers being overloaded.

The good news is that, in case you weren’t able to get all you wanted from Lalabits, is that all except the individual lights will be sold at the venue too. If prior experience hold, each day of sales will get its own stock, so if you missed out on something because it sold out, you can try again the next day.

The announced goods so far will definitely not be the only goods sold at 10th. CDs, Blu-rays, DVDs, and even more goods will be announced as time draws near, usually just a few weeks out. Often times you can even get tokutens for buying CDs and the like.

Q2.2. When will goods be sold?

This one is harder to guess, but for sure goods will be sold at the venue on the days of the event. Seibu Dome’s secondary field is often open for this purpose, and it makes a nice way to line up a bunch of people (under the sun/rain/etc). It’s safe to say that the usual goods queue rules are going to be in effect: no overnight queuing, etc. Not that necessarily means people would obey them.

It’s harder to guess if goods will be sold prior to the event. It typically happens for a big show like this, but it will depend on facility availability. Also as with prior shows recently, some event goods may be available for pre-order on Lalabit, and it’s almost guaranteed that leftover goods will be available on Lalabit as well.

Q2.3 When should I go line up for goods?

If you are even asking this question then you are ahead of the pack. If you want guarantee to get the stuff, the recommendation is to take the very first train of the day to get to the venue. Since Seibu Dome is in the suburbs, alternatives are more difficult for people traveling from afar (driving, taxi, bicycle, etc). It really depends on how dedicated you are. But generally for a big live, you are likely to get everything by doing first train as they’ll anticipate the stock.

Also remember you can pre-order from Lalabit (at least what is still in stock). For oversea buyers you could use a mail forwarding or proxy service and pay using your oversea credit card, although this may not guarantee you will receive the concert goods in time if you are traveling to Japan for the show.

Live prep

Q3.1 What should I do to prepare for the live?

This post is a good start. Then this one for the next level. Short of attending an actual Japanese event to get some practice in (IM@S or otherwise), watching the prior IM@S lives will give you some ideas how these events go.

ExcielP should also be running some streams on call training if you keep an eye on his twitter.

Q3.2 What songs will they play?

We have a post on this. That said, there’s no way we can know for sure right now.

Day 1 is confirmed to be 765 Songs only, going back from the Arcade era up to the latest MA3 releases. In fact MA3 songs are a sure bet. That said, all of the 765 history is fair game, and both day 1 and day 2 will have different songs.

In general, each of the performers will get a solo, but given the special format for Day 2, this might not be possible since there will be a lot of performers given the amount of time.

And given the special nature of IM@S 10th, special, unannounced guests are also very likely.

Traveling and the rest

Q4.1 What is a good place to book a hotel?

At this time, anywhere is good. Seibu Dome is west of Tokyo, about an hour plus from Akihabara. Areas near the Dome is probably already all booked up by travelers within and near Japan. Major transit points to the Dome from Tokyo are Shibuya and Ikebukuro, so those are probably your next best bets.

If you plan to do a lot of traveling to Seibu Dome then you will want to book closer to there. If you don’t, then it also doesn’t matter as much. Note that a lot of places close pretty early in Japan