As with anything BABYMETAL-related, it’s very hard to know what can happen, add in the pandemic which has quickly changed the way people live their lifes all over the world, and it’s pretty much impossible for even Koba himself to tell us what will happen. Let’s go through what we do know already.
This article contains both factual information as well as opinions of my own. Both are distinctly marked and separated into their own sections
Table of Contents
[Facts] Official Mentions & Announcements
The first BABYMETAL said anything about their 10th anniversary was over a year ago at Yokohama Arena for the first “BABYMETAL AWAKENS – THE SUN ALSO RISES” show. At the end of the show they played a video teaser in which they showed a number: “20201010”, which most people interpreted as October 10th, 2020. And right after they added the following:
Beginning in 2010, the odyssey
to the METAL GALAXY continues.
And after 10 years,
XX DAY will be approaching in 2020.
This got people very excited for the (then still too early to be thought of by many) upcoming 10th Anniversary. Most people (but not all) interpreted this as a date for a show which would take place in Japan. Many were so convinced of this that they booked flights and hotels to Japan (mostly Tokyo) even before BABYMETAL announced anything specific.
They showed that video at the end of the other shows in Japan that week, but never overseas. After that they mentioned the event in some interviews, but with no extra details, mostly expressing their feelings over reaching such a milestone.
That was until LEGEND – METAL GALAXY in January 2020. In which at the end they again showed a new video with further information. Full relevant text:
October 2020
It has been almost a decade since BABYMETAL descended upon this earth, METAL RESISTANCE has approached it’s finale, EPISODE X.
What will be the ultimate fate that awaits?
Only the FOX GOD knows.METAL RESISTANCE
EPISODE X
2020 1010All will be revealed on 4.1
– FOX DAY –
The key takeaways from that info were that the event would be in October, it would be part of EPISODE X, and it would be the last episode of METAL RESISTANCE. Likewise, they did not mention XX DAY specifically (but the rest of the info remained the same).
Sadly, that would be the last we heard of this specific “event” as come FOX DAY the pandemic was already in full force causing changes worldwide (as well as cancelling some tours BABYMETAL had themselves). It’s not surprising, but is disappointing, that they didn’t mention more specific information about the even that day. They did mention EPISODE X, and October 2020 again, as well as shared a new banner, but nothing outside of that.
Since then there hasn’t been a single new mention of XX DAY or EPISODE X, but that October 2020 banner has remained at the top of their website to this day.
With that said, after months of show cancelations and livestreams, we finally got some news from KOBAMETAL himself. In a new interview with Oricon, which he shared with the owner of a famous small venue in Tokyo, Rockmaykan, he gave his thoughts on the current situation and its toll on the music industry. He also gave us the first bit of news regarding a new event for the 10th Anniversary, which he called “Rockmaykan 10 days”.
Disappointingly, he said little else about the event. He mentioned that this is an opportunity to try new things, mostly in regards to having no-audience shows. He did seem to wonder himself if it was possible to fit in half as many fans, if charging double ticket prices could make it work. What is absolutely clear is this event would also be done to support the famous venue, in which BABYMETAL had their solo debut in 2012.
Then it’s mostly up to each persons own interpretation of what he was saying, which I will leave to the opinion section.
[Facts] What’s The Current Situation?
The original teaser for the anniversary said October 10th, and many believed it would be another Tokyo Dome show, given it’s the largest closed venue in Japan (BABYMETAL has yet to perform at an outside venue for a solo show). As some fans have noted, Love Live will be playing at Tokyo Dome on the weekend that many expected BABYMETAL to play.
Regardless of the venue, it’s not clear that that specific date will still be used, given that it wasn’t used again on the FOX DAY announcement or anything since.
As far as we know, the current form of this event is “Rockmaykan 10 Days”, and it will still probably be in October (again, given the banner is still up on their website), and at the very small Rockmaykan venue.
It’s clear from the interview that even Koba was still figuring out how this could all take place, but he is clearly not opposed to having the event without an audience (which one would assume means an online livestream).
Outside of those things, it’s hard to tell at this point, so I think we should move on to the opinion side of things.
[Opinion] When Even Is Their Anniversary? Will The Event Be Then?
Given the dates BABYMETAL themselves have given for the events, they interpret their Anniversary to be in October. They did have XX DAY on October 10th, but that could be just a better date for an event given that it will be a Saturday.
Until this year, at least, fans almost always took November 28th as the anniversary date. This is because that is the date they made their live debut to the world with Doki Doki Morning.
With that said, we do know of an earlier date, October 30th. That would be the known recording date of Doki Doki Morning.
Whether that’s the date BABYMETAL interprets as their “official start” or some previous date that same month, only they know. But in any case, it seems that’s the month they look to be their anniversary. We will see if fans change the celebrations to some new date that month
[Opinion] What Will The Event Be?
XX DAY
Many people still mention XX DAY and are wondering when and if we will get any more news at some point. They teased it for almost a full year, so I can understand why people feel this way, even I do as few things, if any, have been teased for this long by BABYMETAL.
With that said, it is my opinion that the lack of any mention of the event, let alone new information since January, means that this event as it was originally planned has been shelved. This has been clear for most fans following the situation, but I believe it’s not just a lack of audience, but that almost everything they had planned was scrapped. That isn’t to say some things will be used for whatever event they do do.
I had some hope that even without a mention on FOX DAY, they would still find a way to do it. That they didn’t announce a date since they weren’t sure they could keep to it. However, with the new announcement by KOBAMETAL, I wouldn’t be surprised if they never mention the term ever again, even in a retrospective interview.
Rockmaykan 10 Days
This is the latest info we have on the anniversary, courtesy of KOBAMETAL. Though he didn’t reveal almost any specifics, so it’s mostly speculation.
What the 10 days Koba mentioned mean specifically is hard to tell with the little information given to us by him. I could see them performing 10 shows at Rockmaykan to be livestreamed to fans for a fee. The 10 shows wouldn’t necessarily have to be over 10 consecutive days, they could have breaks in between, of course. It’s possible for all 10 shows to feature differing setlists, as BABYMETAL did sometimes in Japan with smaller shows in the summer. They could even switch songs to show the progress and changes through these 10 years the band has existed.
Setlist
With that said, there are many songs BABYMETAL has not played in the past year or 2. Specifically any Su solo’s or BLACK BABYMETAL songs have not been played at all. It would be curious to see if they don’t feature any of this for such an event. I believe they would play almost all the old songs, given the nature of an anniversary, and the fact they were clear this is the last chapter of the METAL RESISTANCE, it would be a nice closing to feature songs from the very start up till current ones, even if for a last time.
Distribution Model
In regards to the distribution model, given the current situation is very dynamic, I’d say at the moment BABYMETAL is leaning more on the side of no-audience at all, since they always seem to air on the safe side of things.
With that said, I have no doubts they are actively discussing and planning for the anniversary to be a livestream event with any allowed capacity at the shows. Since the capacity of the venue is small to begin with, and regulations would make it so the audience would have to be significantly smaller (or possibly non-existant), the tickets would surely be very very expensive. I wouldn’t be surprised if they did follow this route for tickets to be set at ¥44,444 ($420~ USD), or more.
As for the the livestream itself… Many fans don’t even think about the possibility of it being anything but a worldwide livestream. But as we know, BABYMETAL always takes the chance to surprise fans. Though I don’t believe this is what will happen, I could see them restricting the event to theaters in Japan using the Live Viewing platform, with a paid worldwide livestream being made available later, or even going straight into a digital release. But of course I think everyone hopes (and believes) this won’t be the case, and that they would livestream it worldwide. What is mostly clear is that if done that way, it would be for a fee, and as we know, BABYMETAL does not lean on the cheap side, so a ¥5000+ ($45~ USD) price tag could very well be the case.
Further Personal Opinions
With whatever XX DAY was supposed to be originally, I always imagined it as one big show showcasing the progress and history of BABYMETAL, featuring all the BABYMETAL songs. Probably not what it was originally planned as, but one can dream! Though, if this was the case I would be more than happy if they could hold onto this idea to be able to do it later so that it can be done “properly”, with an audience and all the bells and whistles, as such an anniversary deserves, even if done later on. Sadly BABYMETAL doesn’t tend to work that way, so I imagine anything not used for the event they are planning will be all but forgotten.
Regarding the venue, I think the best one for such an event would be Budokan, given that it’s both historical itself, but also to BABYMETAL, and that it’s the “perfect size” for most fans, not too big (like Tokyo Dome), but also not too small (like Rockmaykan). Which would give the best experience for as many fans as possible. But again, not likely gonna happen it appears by this point.
As for the seemingly current event (Rockmaykan 10 Days) I personally would really like to see the 10 shows with setlists (and maybe outfits!) representing each of the 10 EPISODE’s of BABYMETAL. Plus fitting in some older songs and outfits from before the EPISODE’s began around 2014.
This would be the case in my ideal world, but I am keeping my expectations down as I imagine it will (and was planned to be) very different to this. We all know that there is only one certainty with BABYMETAL, nothing is ever certain 🙂
For those that read up to this point (or even if you skipped a bit), thank you for reading! Feel free to share you opinion on these types of posts.
Also, be sure to share your opinions on what you think the shows will be, and what you would want them to be if it was your ideal world. You can leave them below, or comment on any of my social media posts.
4 Comments
frans@dot-on-planet.nl · August 11, 2020 at 8:03 PM
Maybe this is hard to digest….!
But Babymetal (Better: Team Babymetal) as of today 11aug2020, is gunning on the fame of jan2011-dec2017.
That’s it.
Sometimes a good new song like Arkadia but most not very interesting.
Like Majina, Kagerou, shine, Shanti etc.
You see Su is a good singer but we have lots of them.
People want Entertainment.
Yui and Moa were the entainment part !!!!!.
One could have run a vocal track and then Let those two do their thing.
Music was OK by the Kami-band, no doubt there.
Now entertainment is low: Moa with an Avenger just not good enough. Boring oldish black outfits too.
No running, jumping, interacting anymore.
Babymetal is 2011-2017. Simple really.
If they want to continue then revert of rename.
Otherwise: announcement on 10-10-2020: Call it quits.
And AmuseInc fronts them as exclusive.
So special in fact that in most Music shops outside Japan they are not even known. So no sales.
No CD
No DVD
No bluray
(all DeLoreans)
No merchandise
You have to Ask and they look them up, and only some minor stuff can be ordered.
Now with no shows, also low sales. Well done!
Good luck.
Yes, I still enjoy my Budokan 2014 DeLoreans.
From 2011-2017 era.
Anonymous · August 20, 2020 at 1:04 AM
Thanks for the writeup. I think the upcoming 10 shows will be a stream only event. The venue is small so it won’t be convenient for them to add multiple cameras and lighting arrangements with an audience. I also think this will not be a Japanese only event. Since most of their foreign fans are in US and EU (UK precisely) timing of this event is important if they want to utilize their overseas fanbase at the maximum.
Price tag is another important factor. Their previous YouTube streams saw an average worldwide audience of 40k. Out of this 40k how many of them are willing to pay $50 for a stream is the key question. The management must be already having the data pertaining to the demography of the audience and the number of possible paying customers from their online merchandise sales and donations. So far I see many Japanese bands from Band-Maid to Samurai Dism charging between $20 – $30 for their streams. Sakura Gakuin is charging $40 for their upcoming graduation stream. So the price should not be more than $50 if they want a repeat audience also, this should not be an one time only show. The international audience needs to have an archive facility to watch the shows later at a convenient time.
Also like you said every show must be different in terms of setlist or costume or theme to some extent to get repeat audience, Not many people would see the same 1 hr hour show ten times in a row.
Last but not least Yui was with the band from Oct 2010 to Oct 2017 who worked as hard as Su and Moa for the success of the band. This is something that cannot be ignored. I hope they acknowledge her in some way. Totally ignoring her for an anniversary event will not sit well with the nature of this event.
BABYMETAL News · August 20, 2020 at 3:00 AM
Thank you for your reply!!
What I found funny is that right after I posted this (after weeks of writing it slowly), BM shared their first official news about the anniversary (the book/magazine), lol! Though this is a different thing, of course.
I do agree with what you say as well. Charging too much will be difficult for most fans (plus also makes it more likely that bootleg streams will happen), and the timing is also important. Late Japanese time seems most likely so they can get almost everyone (except for the Pacific area).
As for the Yui thing, I also think that for an anniversary to be complete it would need to include her. However, from what I have seen, many fans are against the idea; both because they feel her chapter in the band is over, and because she shouldn’t be brought up so that it doesn’t rile up the people who still ask where she is under every official post. Though I do agree those people are annoying, I think that letting such people have so much control when they are a tiny minority seems foolish to me. Likewise, give that this is (or rather, should be) an event to celebrate BM’s 10 years, not including her seems out of place. But, then again, BM has taken many such decisions, so I wouldn’t doubt it could happen.
Anonymous · October 5, 2020 at 8:03 AM
Not quite sure why the chapter should be closed. They intentionally left her position open for two years. And it was apparently entirely due to her health issues that she quit/had to quit, not because there was some bad blood, or because she said, “Okay, I’m fed up with this shit, I’m leaving”, at least there’s no indication whatsoever that something like that played a role. Her letter of resignation was obviously drafted by someone in the management, and the bit about pursuing solo goals is just a commonly used phrase they added to give that piece of sad news a positive element. It was almost certainly not the reason why she quit/had to quit.
Another thing: I don’t really know how the situation in organized fan clubs is, with those die-hard fans, maybe the majority there actually see the “chapter as closed”. But there’s a lot more people who like BM and follow the band than there are organized fans, and since still the vast majority of material available about the band includes Yui and she’s definitely still part of the image of the band, it’s quite safe to say that A LOT of those would appreciate to see Yui active in BM in some capacity.
Only when Yui is back in business and active as voice actress, actor or in some other musical formation, and she kinda makes it clear herself that she doesn’t want to return to BM, or when the management actually designates a permanent replacement for her position as screamer/dancer, the chapter will really be closed.
As Yui’s departure was entirely caused by her health issues (at least that’s how I interprete the few bits of information we actually have), I guess it mostly depends on her current health status and fitness if she can participate in the anniversary events in some manner. And of course, someone from Amuse would have to ask her.