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CAF 2012, China’s biggest comic event, was recently held in Chengdu. The girl group “Panache!” played a huge role at the event, performing, attending cosplay photography meetups, holding meet and greets, participating in live events, and more. The members of Panache! are Enako, Akira Itsuki, and Kuroneko. Even on TokyoOtakuMode, many of our users have read articles about them. Panache! doesn’t just act as a group, each member is also busy with various solo activities, and the chance to see all three together is quite rare. We recently had the chance to interview the group, who is busy planning for their 2013 activities.
TOM: First of all, great job at CAF 2012. You all were so enthusiastic at the photography meetup, and you rocked the house for more than an hour with over 2000 excited fans at your live concert.
Panache!: Not only Chinese fans, but many overseas fans are very straightforward. At Japanese events, they tend to hold back, but even still, the fans in Asia have been great!
TOM: As a solo performer, Enako has attended events in China before, but never as Panache!. Were you nervous at all about this?
Panache!: Yeah, we were a bit uneasy about it. Everyone knows who Enako is, but we were worried that no one would know who Panache! is. But, it turned out to be a needless worry (laughs). Everyone liked us. Not even just on the stage, but also at the meet and greet events, everyone memorized Japanese and talked to us. We were really happy.
TOM: Okay then, rate your performance in Chengdu on a 100 point scale.
Enako: Hmm, Honestly, for my last solo in China I wasn’t used to performing overseas, so I would give myself a 60. However, this time I think I performed substantially better, so I would say 100.
Akira: Even though it wasn’t perfect, I would say around a 95...on second thought, I’ll go with 100. (laughs)
Kuroneko: I am a bit hard on myself, so 80. I was able to talk with many fans who spoke to me in Japanese and memorized it just to be able to do so. I don’t think I was able to give back as much as they gave to me. I felt that I didn’t prepare enough. For that, I deducted 20 points.