The year felt like it went by quickly. While we as a website didn't exist until October, a lot has happened that led up to the birth of Kanon Channel. I wanted to take a look back at the year and reflect on the major events from Kanon Wakeshima as well as Kanon Channel.
Unbalanced by us
One of our major contributors, Marking, started a fan-project to celebrate 10 years of Kanon Wakeshima's music career. Unbalanced by us would involve artists from all over the world to create illustrations showcasing songs and outfits spawning her music career. The project was announced in January and the project really kicked into gear on Kanon Wakeshima's birthday, June 28th.
Overall, we are very happy and thankful that so many people contributed to the project. It really shows that there is still a fanbase who care about and love Wakeshima and her music. I personally want to thank Marking and all the artists who made this project possible. What will happen in 2019 with the project? More will be revealed sometime next month.
THANATOS
In a surprising move, Kanon Wakeshima announced her release of a new doujin story. Titled THANATOS, it is the story of an angel who came to this world to protect her savior from a terrorist organization. Along with this also came two concept songs based on the doujin: "One last time" and "roses". Released on May 5th, this was only available at an event in Japan called COMITA124.
Once again, thanks to a dear friend from Japan, Marking got his hands on the doujin as well as a signed copy of a record of the two songs she made. He is very grateful for the chance to own a record that is signed by Kanon Wakeshima.
The rest of the world would get to listen to the two songs digitally on June 29th. Overseas fans who longed for new music would finally get their wish with these songs. The doujin also got a second print available to Japanese buyers at Melonbooks. Needless to say, the doujin is now sold out and out of print.
The 10th Anniversary Live
Kanon Wakeshima held her 10th anniversary live at Yokohama Landmark Hall on July 8th. Fans from all over posted pictures of the area and their goods from Kanon Wakeshima. Usually, pictures are not permitted for lives in Japan, but official photos of Kanon and her band were posted on social media. Overall, we are happy for her success and we hope to continue seeing her grow as a singer/songwriter.
Collaborations
This year Kanon Wakeshima focused on working with other musicians. When it comes to notable collaborations, the first was from an artist called "void". They made two songs for the Japan-only mobile game WAR OF BRAINS. She then made another new song, "REUNION", for the mobile game "Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Memoria Freese".
Next, she made another new song for the PS4/PSVita game Zanki Zero: Last Beginnings. Titled "NEW GAME+", this would be the first time that Kanon Wakeshima sang fully in English (a Japanese version also exists). She also worked with her long-time arranger Naoki Chiba to compose music for the anime series "As Miss Beelzebub Likes". Finally, she would work together with ASCA to create "Nisemono no Koi ni Sayonara".
While it may not have been an extremely eventful year in terms of new singles and albums, there was still a lot to look forward to if you followed Kanon Wakeshima. Our hope is to see her release a brand-new album or single for her 11th year.
Kanon Channel
October was a busy month of preparations and contacting various people to launch Kanon Channel. Marking and the owner of Cellolita Revolution have worked together to create a new global website. We felt that it was best to have a website whose goal is to bring the community together again. After 10 years, we want to let everyone know that the fans have never left and continue to support her.
Since October, we've provided three major translations and news updates for everyone. We've just opened up a news section for Spanish readers and hope to have one for French readers. Eventually, we will have the website become multi-lingual sometime in 2019. Anyone who wants to help contribute is welcome to contact us on Twitter or on our Discord server.
In addition, we've started a new YouTube channel showcasing videos relating to Kanon Wakeshima. The interviews from the Halloween Party Livestream is our most popular video with more being added as we get them. With these, we are also looking into having a team to provide subtitles for them, so please stay tuned for that.
2019 and beyond
As we mentioned from the start, our goal is to provide the community and those curious with a space to appreciate Kanon Wakeshima freely. We will continue to pursue this goal next year and many more to come. We will continue to provide timely news updates in all languages. Like you, we will also continue to support Kanon Wakeshima and her music and look forward to seeing what she'll have in store for us.
We will continue to provide major translations from our various helpers who are just as passionate about helping the overseas community. Please look forward to the next year; we hope to provide many of them. That goes for our YouTube channel as well. We're coming up with ideas on what material to provide for fans aside from official streams.
Overall, 2018 was a busy year for us, and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts. We're still a small website, but it's nice to see that even a fan site about Kanon Wakeshima can still impact people. Please continue to be patient with us as we will announce the new theme for 2019's "Unbalance by us". We hope you all enjoy the final product.
Finally, for the fans who want to contribute, we will be starting a fan-mail campaign. We want to send a package to Kanon Wakeshima containing fan letters from all over the world. More details will come next year as well. It will make for a wonderful birthday present for her.
See you in 2019!
