Crunchyroll wasted no time making a splash at their first San Diego Comic-Con since their merger with Funimation. Crunchyroll put on a two night free concert series, featuring Atarashii Gakko! on Friday night and Dragon Ball Z Concert Experience on Saturday night.
These concerts were held at the beautiful Rady Shell at Jacobs Park (behind the San Diego Convention center right on the water). I was only able to make night two for the Dragon Ball Z concert, but let’s run through it.
Fans were lined up early to enter the venue and even though the line looked intimidating, everyone was able to make it inside. The Rady Shell can sit up to 10,000 (depending on configuration) so there was plenty of space for con attendees to come and enjoy the show.
The night started off with a performance from Azuria Sky who treated the crowd to an hour long set which I really enjoyed. This gave me the first taste of what the sound quality was going to be like because honestly, with a cool looking venue I’d expect the sound quality to be excellent. I was not disappointed!
After Azuria Sky was finished, we were greeted with a message from Crunchyroll-Hime, official mascot for Crunchyroll and Virtual YouTuber.
It was then time for the main event in which the San Diego Symphony led by composer Nicholas Buc took the stage along with notable Japanese singer Hiroki Takahashi. The first song performed was “Makafushigi Adventure!” from the original Dragon Ball series which was originally sung by Takahashi himself in 1986. Next up was the fan favorite “Cha-La Head-Cha-La” from Dragon Ball Z which Takahashi performed live as well. After that we were off to the races. We were treated to every saga (Saiyan, Frieza, Cell, and Majin Buu) with accompanying scenes and pivotal musical moments from each.
I can’t speak for people who are casual Dragon Ball fans or even non-fans, but this portion of the concert was just pure bliss for me. Hearing those iconic tracks performed by the symphony in such an amazing venue right off the water could not have been any better, or a cooler way to end a day at San Diego Comic-Con.
The performance last nearly two hours which included bonus tracks from the original Dragon Ball series after we got through the entire Dragon Ball Z set. The San Diego Symphony did a stellar job of recreating each and every memorable track which got a raving ovation through out the night.
The show ended with Hiroki Takahashi giving us one last performance while a stream of fireworks lit up the bay. It was a memorable ending to a wonderful evening. Crunchyroll, the San Diego Symphony, and The Rady Shell put on a concert that will stay with me for some time and I am super grateful for the experience. If you missed out and feel like it’s something you need to experience, you have another opportunity to catch the show in January 2023 in Los Angeles.
