You¡¯d think nothing would be a surprise during a kabuki show starring a famous actor and a holographic pop star, but you¡¯d be mistaken.
Near the climax of ¡°Senbonzakura,¡± a play starring Shido Nakamura II and Vocaloid avatar Hatsune Miku, the former broke the fourth wall by asking viewers streaming the event to start leaving comments, to ¡°give him power.¡± A flood of text immediately washed over twin video boards set up inside an event hall at Makuhari Messe, sent from thousands watching at home.
It was a tidy metaphor for the event where ¡°Senbonzakura¡± debuted, the fifth annual Niconico Chokaigi, held on April 29 and 30 just outside of Tokyo. Despite the seemingly random selection of activities to watch ¡ª an idol-pop concert, traditional sword forging or dressing up in military fatigues all within one hall ¡ª it all came together as a celebration of the ethos of video-streaming website Niconico. Which, for the 2016 edition, meant more than 152,000 visitors to Makuhari Messe and over 5 million more tuning in online.
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