Hyper Japan Christmas Market - Saturday PM

It was off to Tobacco Dock with Sam and Aaron for day one of Hyper Japan Christmas Market.

Much to their disgust we got their early but this was the queue in front of us, not very large:

There was nearly an hour to wait before they started letting us in and this was how the crowds had built up since we arrived:

I think I made the right decision to get there early! We headed straight to the Live Japan area to take in some of the entertainment.

First up were SHINOBI-TRY, a performance ninja group. This was an entertaining display of acrobatics, sword skills along with various other implements. Considering the limited height they were working with in the venue they pulled off some pretty amazing stuff.

Next up was the COSParade with special guests LADYBABY. I captured as many pictures of the cosplayers as I could although sadly didn't get all of them when they appeared individually.

After the main parade our cosplayers were joined by LADYBABY.

This was then followed by LADYBABY performing two songs. The venue was rammed and the crowd were as bonkers as the performance that we saw.

It was a very energetic performance but WAY too short. Just as well I'll be seeing them tomorrow as well for a longer set!

Highlight of the night for me were symphonic goth rockers LACROIX DESPHERES. I only decided to attend the Saturday of Hyper Japan when Lacroix Despheres were announced as playing and that was on the back of one Youtube video, they impressed me that much. They most certainly didn't disappoint. The songs were strong and the performance was sublime. 

The flag in the pics above was created and thrown on stage by these awesome fans:

After the show Sam and I went to the Lacroix Despheres Meet & Greet. CDs were bought and autographs and photos were had.

The final act of the night was IA. This was an odd one. The venue was rammed (even more so than when LADYBABY were on). The strange thing was that IA was a digital performer with vocaloid singing. Unfortunately everybody decided to stand which made viewing the digital screen very difficult. Unable to see and not really taken with the non-live performance we decided to bail out. I decided I would give IA another try first thing tomorrow. Here's an idea of exactly what could be seen:

It was a brilliant half day that we all enjoyed. I can't wait to get back there tomorrow and do it all over again!