My thoughts about being a good vanilla Anisong DJ vs a normal one

Some of these may be intrinsic when you DJed a long time, but seldom people put it into words so this is my own words about what I aim for so the performance is a good one, as compared to an ordinary one.
In Japan, vanilla anikura is very saturated and there are many DJs who don't need to worry about how to be good. And this is my observation on what makes a fun DJ vs a comparatively normal set.

Song Selection

Part 1: Vibes

Have an idea in your head! People usually select songs based on what vibes they want to go for, so here's some examples
Vibes:
- Jumpy idol songs (Like Idolmaster, Love Live )
- Wotagei songs ( Only my railgun )
- Eurobeat ( Gamble Rumble, Night of Fire )
- Metal ( Any song that has strong metal vocals )
But those are some obvious ones. The unique thing about vanilla anisong that does not exist in other styles of music, is that anisong conveys imagery. When we listen to anisong by itself, we visualize something in our head. And that imagery goes beyond musical genres. So vibes are really anything you see in your head.

So you are likely to have some preference already. So you got to get some songs. Outside Japan, it's harder to get anime music so I understand, but buying your own music forces you to curate your library which also gives you a deeper connection to it leading to better playing. If you have a big library with no personal connections, it's hard to build a set that reflects you.

It is easy to pick songs according to BPM and end up having mismatched vibes across the set. The set still works, but it doesn't feel cohesive.
I try to pick songs with similar vibes, regardless of BPM.

Part 2: Energy level

Doing a high energy set is always a safe way to go, heck if you ain't doing that I'm not going to be satisfied.
But this is what happens when you have a lot of DJs who do not variate their energy level. Like jogging, you run of stamina eventually.
Have you ever listened to an hour of loud music nonstop? You will eventually stop paying attention and lose interest. Same thing in clubs.
So, you'll want to variate your energy level, even if you are doing a high energy set.
I think of this as a movie, like a movie you cannot have non-stop action scenes, you need a build-up, and you need a lull. It's a rollercoaster!
It is easy to make a set that feels flat, despite it being high energy level.
I plan a rollercoaster when I make my set. Have mid sections, then go high, and then suddenly have a drop back to a slow song, but pick it up again!
This refreshes the audiences' ears and makes it a more interesting set to listen.

Part 3: Requests

Something you will eventually learn, is that if you make a set full of specified songs, whether it's from you or from friends, the set will not feel natural and feels overtuned.
Funny thing is, the first time you make your set list, is likely to be the most natural one, anytime you further tune in trying to fit in a specified song, the more artifical it feels.
Finetuning your setlist too much results in it feeling unnatural.
This is why I don't build setlist, but when I build one, I try to arrange the songs by similar vibes. It takes a lot of experience to make a finetuned set sound natural. For beginner, try to minimize amount of requested songs from friends.

Part 4: Play for the audience

This goes a bit more beyond beginner, but ideally you should eventually realize what your audience wants. A completely unfamiliar crowd is very difficult to play to, but if you know some cosplayers, or you have friends who love certain idol groups, you know what they want, so you can pick the songs for them.
On the other hand, it is not good if the DJ ends up selecting songs that no one but only they knows. Have you ever seen a DJ play like they're in their own world and ignoring how unreceptive the audience is to it?
So ideally we don't want to be like that, we want to make sure our audience is having fun along of us. Having an idea of who is there is advantageous!

But say the situation is a complete unfamiliar crowd that you are trying to get exposed to anikura. Then ideally you stick to known familiars like evangelion, sailormoon, pokemon. But don't just play a flat set, use vibes and energy level to convey the fun aspect of anikura to them. If you know meme dances, maybe play some tiktok songs so people get the idea, ooh we can dance to this, this is so cool!

As a beginner it's fine to stick to your comfort zone, but eventually work towards becoming a DJ who's receptive to the floor.
I do not use a fixed setlist so I observe and see which kinds of songs have no reception so I change to different styles.

More vibes! (This is my personal list)
- Adventure (Digimon's Butterfly, Naruto's GO, many JUMP shows OP really)
- Girls Band ( K-On!, Bocchi, Haruhi God Knows.. )
- Retro ( 80's anime songs )
- Dark and loud ( Many Dungeon-based shows, and something like Attack on Titan)
- Dark fantastical ( Madoka's Magia, Kalafina and FictionJunction songs )
- Tokusatsu, Pretty Cure, Robot ( Even show genre's a vibe too! )
- Sunday Morning Kids ( Any show catered to a kid.. )
- Strong female vocals ( Songs from Mizuki Nana, Macross songs.. )
- Chill ( slow going ED songs )
- Spring ( Yurucamp, Yamanosusume.. )
- Summer ( Sports anime OP have a lot of summer vibes )
- Winter ( Snow Halation, Christmas songs, Love break songs, and also sorry Autumn's hard.. )
- Dempa moe songs ( So many of them across all BPM ranges, like Ika Musume, many character songs )
- Thief, pirate ( Lupin the third, but also many idol songs like Momoiro Clover, Kyun Vampire Girl)
- Carnival ( Ojamajo Doremi, Bararaika )

Transitions (Where to transit?)

So now you have a list of songs you want to play, how do you transition so that you are more than a human iPod player. (which we are frequently accused of!)
The post would only focus on the philosophy of transitions and not the specific techniques, which are more of a DJ technique.
While the most famous aspect of a DJ controller is the crossfader, and many DJs do use it, it is not my preference and I instead adjust the two upfader volume controls and EQ knobs instead which I'll explain why later.

What do I aim for when transitioning?

Many DJs have different aims but this is my personal ideal transition.

I aim to achieve the "oh? Is that what I think it is? Oh shit it is! It's coming! Ahhhhhhhhh!!" excitement.

If you have watched plenty of anikura videos, you see how otakus get excited when they get a clear sign of the next song that's coming. So there are many ways where you can fail to achieve this factor.

1.Overly smooth transition

You have two songs and transit them in a very smooooth manner using the crossfader, maybe even across 32 counts. It is so seamless even the audience did not realize it. Maybe that can be cool, but if you keep doing that, you will not get such excitements and screams from otakus.

2.Starting way too early into the song

Some songs have long intros and they are not where the song usually starts at, so by the time you reach the core part the otakus have already lost their excitement.

3.Skipped the hook

This is the most important one. You tried to make your transition so tight you cut out the HOOK that makes otakus excited.
For example, the opening riff in Only My Railgun, opening riff in Butterfly before the main guitar intro, opening shout in Attack on Titan.
If a song skipped that identifiable hook, you will not get such a visceral reaction.

So all of these are flawless transitions, except they are not impactful. And this is another unique aspect of vanilla anisong DJing, you don't really want a smooth transition, you want an impactful one that hits otakus right in the feels.
So here's my philosophy for transitions.

1.Cue the song from where the hook is
For every song, try to identify where the song will likely be the most recognizable, even if they are unfamiliar audiences.

2.MAKE SURE the audience hears the hook
The problem is, even if you start playing from the hook, you are likely slowly transitioning and hook is out of audible range, hence it might as not be played. This is why I don't use crossfader and instead adjust the two volumes individually, so I can make sure the hook can be heard the moment I press play.

3.Enter into the song quickly
Once you transition, you should ideally do it quick because a slow transition is really not impactful despite being seamless.

Some transition techniques that I use

1.Use the two upfaders
Don't use crossfader and use the two upfaders instead. This is so you are not forced to cut out one song while entering another song. Instead you can overlay two songs together and sometimes that's cool!

2.High/low pass filter out
Highpass filter is a very easy way to do a quick cut of the song and bring in the next song quick. However doing it too frequently makes it very obvious so make it as one part of your technique.

3.Adjust the EQ
Vanilla anisongs frequently do not blend well with each other and I try to play with the EQ to match their sound. Tuning out the bass is a common one, but I play with all 3 knobs to achieve different ones. Sometimes I tune out the high and low to leave the vocals for example.

So with upfaders, the high/low pass faders, and the EQ knobs give you a lot of ways to play with the transition more than just simply crossfading out! I frequently picture in my head what is the coolest thing I can do to mix these two songs. Is a quick cut-in better than a smooth transition? Can the two songs overlay each other perfectly? There's so many things you could do!

With these techniques, you can achieve the "oh? Is that what I think it is? Oh shit it is! It's coming! Ahhhhhhhhh!!" reactions that you frequently see in anikura videos! And you definitely won't see an iPod doing that anytime.

So these are the factors that I think seperate an ordinary vanilla anisong DJ from an interesting one, someone who watches out for the audience, try to get a reaction out of them, and actively keeps the set fresh and easy to listen to.
Besides these, there are many other factors. Where you are playing means you want to tune your vibes, whether you can play impromptu instead of a set list, trying to match with the previous or next DJ.
Many talents in Japan also has DJ as a subskill along with their main profession, like being a dancer, singer, cosplayer, voice actress etc. So they get to do unique things like just playing their own songs. While still placating the audience, find room where you can be yourself too!

Notice that these aspects are things that do not normally exist in other genres of DJing, because most of the time the musical genre is fixed, so all a DJ has to do is transit in and out at appropriate timings. But vanilla anisong has no fixed music genre, and all kinds of moods, and really different aims so that is what I seek to put into words and why other genre DJs find it so hard to get into vanilla anisongs. Why does the transition have no impact or feels like you playing an iPod. And even if you play remix tracks, how do you utilize vanilla anisongs to it's full potential.

So have fun!