My impressions of Kannagi Tenri's 3D Birthday LIVE "Update"

Preface

Normally I would probably attempt to write this up in Japanese, both because it's a great way for me to work on my Japanese skills as well as it'd be easier for Tenri in case she ever ended up reading it. But this time, not only are these thoughts a bit too complex for me to express with my weak Japanese skills but also I hope to write down all my feelings in a form as pure and unadulterated as possible. It will almost certainly be quite messy as I won't be formatting very much, and I apologize for any difficulties this may cause for any potential readers, but I hope that even just a single one of my thoughts or feelings are able to resonate with you.

My impressions of the show itself

It was a truly impressive show in every possible meaning, while I'm not particularly knowledgeable in the related fields, it truly blew my mind in every technical aspect to the show there was. Of course her singing and dancing were completely outstanding as always, and she did an amazing job trying to keep everyone as engaged as possible. But I was also incredibly awed by the phenomenal camera work, 3D tracking and the stage design as well. Her song selection also went a long way in keeping the show flowing in a way that kept our tension as high as possible in any given moment. I'm certain both her and her team spent a lot of agonizing effort into providing us the best experience they could possible deliver, and they managed to do so and more. The total content of the show was insane with 19 performances (17 songs and 2 dances) in a period of 2 hours and 17 minutes. With only 2 sections for breaks (one for announcements and one for watching some video messages she received from all her precious friends she's made as a VTuber), she really worked herself hard and managed to put up a fantastic performance until the very end despite how exhausting it must have been. It truly was a show that is unthinkable to see completely free for all to view, especially from a creator still so early in her career who hasn't fully established herself yet and could always use the extra funding that she would get from selling tickets. 

I found myself completely lost in my excitement all the way from start to finish and I really couldn't single out a specific performance as my favourite as they really all managed to strike me deep in my heart.

Her excitement while dancing is so infectious!

What this show meant to me personally

To me, Kannagi Tenri's "Update" was a show that represented all of the most powerful reasons I had decided to put so much effort into supporting the artist known as Kannagi Tenri. To be frank, in this era of the internet you can basically look anywhere and find incredibly hard working and skilled artists who really deserve far more support, love and success than they receive. This is one of the reasons I have always considered myself a DD (and still do), no matter where it is I look, I see people really giving it their all and it always gives me a strong desire to give them the love and support I believe they deserve.

The thing that made Kannagi Tenri really stand out from the rest for me and decide to give it my absolute all in my support for her is her earnestness. She is not only incredibly earnest is her feelings towards her craft as a singer, dancer and live performer, but she is also deeply sincere in her feelings towards her fans, friends, supporters and even all the people who have yet to discover her. I believe this is fully demonstrated in "Update" in levels we have never seen before. 

From the very moment she announced "Update" she has always been very explicit in her goals and feelings towards this event. She has stated on multiple occasions how she hoped for this show to give the experience of a live show performance to all of those who have been unable to experience her events in the past. This is not only representative of her sincerity towards her fans who may have financial/scheduling based struggles and are unable to attend her events due to that, but it's also representative of her deep love towards live performances that you can always feel coming out even in her normal live streams. She also hoped for "Update" to become a canvas with which she would be able to fill with all her gratitude towards all of the people who support her and I believe she fully managed to do so. 

Another aspect in which I believe her earnest feelings towards her activities as a VTuber as well as her fans in demonstrated in another powerful way that may come as unexpected. To give a bit of context, Kannagi Tenri is a VTuber who originally had very few friends and hoped to be able to create many many friends through her activities as a VTuber. Her powerful desire to make friends is not only reflected in the way she interacts with others, but also is reflected in both her community directly and also her hopes for them. For those who are unaware, during her first ever 3D solo LIVE event "Twin Triangle of Wish" a Christmas concert that occurred on the 23rd of December 2023, she released a very unique type of merch, with a very, very specific goal in mind. She created her own original set of trading cards using a large amount of different illustrations as well as commissioning artists to create some more and also making a couple herself. Her intentions behind this were very open from the very start, she decided to make these with the express intention for them to become an incentive for her fans to talk, interact with, and become closer to one another. She even went out of her way to designate a specific section in the venue and a time period for people go around trading cards with each other in order to build up their collection and encourage them interact with each other. The trading cards were huge hit with her fans they sold out quite quickly, when she eventually released the packs for sale online they sold out in a blazing 10 minutes. This time during "Update" one of her many announcements was that not only will she be bringing them back for her next event on the 23rd of February, "Date", a birthday party for Kannagi Tenri. She not only got more cards created in order to have something for those who already managed to collect some last time to enjoy, she also promised us she did her best to make sure that those of us who missed out will be able to get some this time (including selling them online again and hoping that the overseas fans will be able to get them as well). It's very clear to us that she has seen our feelings and also that she hopes to foster a very specific environment within her community that she believes will bring us together. I both hope that we as a community are able to respond to her desires in kind and also believe that we are on the right path to do so.

Kannagi Tenri is truly a VTuber who lives and breathes her convictions and wears her heart on her sleeve. All of her strong feelings and desires both regarding her craft as a singer/dancer/live performer as well as those regarding her way of life and hopes for her future are always on full display in the way she goes about her activities as a VTuber. Not only in her words but particularly in her actions. It is this earnestness that truly reaches the depths of my heart and keeps me motivated not only to show her support in the form of my (albeit lacking) translations, but also all of my continued attempts to bring the community closer and closer together just as she has always talked about. Kannagi Tenri is an artist is fully deserving of all your support and I hope that you are all able to understand why I see things the way I do and also give her even just a tiny fraction of the support you can. I really do believe that all of this is perfectly reflected in "Update" and I hope that you can all see it a little bit too.

There's nothing cooler than someone who's not afraid to show their passion

Extra

I couldn't really figure out where to put these extra afterthoughts, so I'll just jam them down here.

A quick aside on the name of "Update", it also represents another form in which Tenri displays her earnestness towards her craft. While I do believe the word she chooses to express in Japanese does a bit of a better job explaining that (進化), it can't really be helped as she's not particularly an English speaker (we'd also miss out on her cute word play in "Update" for this show and "Date" for her upcoming one). It really shows how she never lets herself become complacent and is truly always doing her best to polish herself and become the best "Kannagi Tenri" she could hope to be. This theme was also in full display during the show and I hope that message was able to reach you as well.

As someone who discovered Tenri shortly before her debut, watching the ways in which she's grown has truly brought me great joy. She went from someone who had no confidence and was worried about whether she'd be able to make new friends or not, to someone receiving 21 heartfelt birthday celebration messages from all the friends she has made over her shorter than a year of activities. I do believe that they were sincere in their messages and that their love for Tenri is just as real as ours is as her community. There was something very sentimental about seeing all those people she's been able to grow closer to, both those from way back when she first started, to those she has met recently and also those she met early and has stayed in close contact with all the way up until now. 

As someone who has basically become a completely amateur and unqualified translator by accident, I hold quite a lot of complex feelings towards Tenri, particularly given that she was the one who initially motivated me into jumping headfirst into this position.  While I always feel quite lacking in my own abilities I felt it extra strong this time around and I do wish I was able to do a better job in conveying her (and all the guests in the video messages) thoughts and feelings to everyone. I really do hope that my own lack of skill doesn't colour anyone's impressions of Tenri even if I know that it is pretty much inevitable. With all that said, I don't have any intention whatsoever to give up, both Tenri and her community have been incredibly warm to me and the only way I can respond to that is by doing my best to polish my own abilities a little bit at a time. I'm sure I'll never reach a place in which I can truly look back and be completely satisfied with my own work as a translator, but just like Tenri strives to show everyone the beauty of live music, as a translator I will continue to strive to show everyone even just a fraction of the appeal of Tenri as well as my other oshis. If you ever have any feedback for me or you have some questions you'd like clarified, I hope you'll be willing to reach out to me, I will always be willing to listen to what you have to say or help you try to understand something that one of my oshis has said.

I can't imagine anyone read this far, but if you did I really appreciate it! I'd be very glad if even a little bit of my thoughts and feelings were able to reach you in the way that Tenri is always able to reach me. I hope that our efforts as a community are able to help spread the appeal of Tenri across the whole world and any and all help towards that goal would be greatly appreciated!