About OLDCODEX Live Blu-ray “FIXED ENGINE" 2017 in BUDOKAN

OLDCODEX is a Japanese rock band that has been around for about eight years now. The two main people in the band are the lead vocalist, Ta_2, and Yorke, a secondary vocalist who does live graffiti art on the stage to accompany the music. OLDCODEX has been featured doing the opening and ending songs for many anime over the years, including Free!, God Eater, and Kuroko no Basket, helping to give them an international reputation and fans across the world.

The OLDCODEX Live Blu-ray “FIXED ENGINE" 2017 in BUDOKAN Blu-Ray features the final show from the FIXED ENGINE tour across Japan! The tour finale was massive with 26 songs played, and BUDOKAN is a gigantic venue completely full of fans! In addition to the entire concert, the Blu-Ray set also includes a second disc with behind the scenes footage from the rest of the tour!

On the Outside

At first glance, the box for the OLDCODEX Live Blu-ray “FIXED ENGINE" 2017 in BUDOKAN seems quite small, especially for a limited edition Blu-Ray set. And indeed, it’s only about 20cm x 14cm big, only a little bigger than an average novel. However, the cover art is immediately captivating and suits the band’s image well. It’s full of vibrant colours balanced with solid black in a seemingly random design, with white stencilled lettering at random reading “FIXED ENGINE.” Considering a huge part of what make OLDCODEX unique and special is Yorke’s graffiti-style artwork that he does on stage along with the music, it’s a suiting design reminiscent of his style!

Flipping the box over, there is a track list of all 26 songs that will be featured on the Blu-Ray, as well as the information that the second disc contains bonus material. That text is quite small though because there is a really cool art piece taking up most of the box! Continuing the colour scheme and style from the front cover, the background is mostly black with bold, vibrant rainbow colours serving up a stark contrast. Instead of just splattered at random, this time they are forming the shape of sets of gears and cogs that are all interlocked together. Since the tour is called FIXED ENGINE it only makes sense to have some mechanical-themed art! And of course, that white stencilling used for the letters is back too on some of the gears with the band name and tour name once again. The gears and cogs motif is used a lot on the FIXED ENGINE tour, so it’s great to see it with the bright colours often used in Yorke’s art right on the outside of the box.

On the Inside

The outside of the packaging is a slip-cover protective box to keep the actual contents safe, and inside there is a separate hard case containing the two Blu-Ray discs. This case uses the same stencilled block letters from the outside box, but is much easier to read the words “OLDCODEX Tour 2017 FIXED ENGINE.” It has less emphasis placed on the background and more on this text. Upon opening this case, you’re greeted with the two Blu-Ray discs in a dual-holder, one with the concert itself and another with the bonus material. Both continue the theme of the same large white lettering and chaotic background art. The other side of the case has a dramatic picture of Yorke and Ta_2 silhouetted on the stage, which definitely gets you pumped and ready to watch the concert!

A great feature that comes with the OLDCODEX Live Blu-ray “FIXED ENGINE" 2017 in BUDOKAN Blu-Ray is a small photobook that was also inside of the case. It’s not very big, but still has 22 pages of full-colour pictures! A few of them are Yorke’s graffiti art from the shows, usually reading the band’s name or the tour name. Some also feature the concert venues and crowd shots showcasing the high energy in the halls. Of course, most of the pictures are of the band members themselves though! About half are Ta_2 and half are Yorke, with some really awesome shots of them performing on the stage singing and painting. There are even a few bonus shots from behind the scenes of them as well! All of the pictures are printed on quality glossy paper, and while the book is just a paperback one without any text, it’s a cool item. We recommend having a look through it before popping the Blu-Ray in to get yourself hyped for the show!

Finally, there’s one last slip of paper on the inside. It has a black and white picture of Yorke and Ta_2 smiling together for the camera in the background, and all of OLDCODEX’s upcoming tour dates across Japan. If you’re a fan in Japan, it’s a great reference for their next shows for the remainder of 2017, along with info and prices for how to get tickets. The reverse of the paper also has two more tour dates for early 2018 in Japan, and another great picture of Yorke and Ta_2 together again!

Product Features

A great feature of the OLDCODEX Live Blu-ray “FIXED ENGINE" 2017 in BUDOKAN Blu-Ray is that it is suited for all regions! So even if you don’t live in Japan or have a Japanese Blu-Ray player, you can still order and enjoy it all the same. As long as you have a Blu-Ray player and not just DVD, it should work for you wherever you are. This means OLDCODEX fans around the world that couldn’t necessarily make it to the FIXED ENGINE tour can still enjoy it! It’s a nice little bonus for fans in Japan planning their next OLDCODEX show.

The Performance

Of course, because the OLDCODEX Live Blu-ray “FIXED ENGINE" 2017 in BUDOKAN is the final concert in the tour, you can expect it to be a massive show! Plus the BUDOKAN is a huge venue with lots of space for many fans, and the show looks completely sold out. There are OLDCODEX fans filming the pit as well as all the balconies, and they're all keeping the energy high. The concert starts out strong and hardly lets that energy die for the entire show, and that's saying something considering they perform 26 songs!! You can see the sweat running down Ta_2 and Yorke's faces, and you know they're performing their hearts out.

The blu ray is a great way to see the set-up of the stage and the atmosphere of the venue. The entire backdrop on the stage is the same motif of massive gears and cogs that match the design on the Blu-ray box (and you can see them being designed on the behind the scenes disc!). It opens with nothing but mysterious instrumentals and green laser lights flashing the tour and band name and letting the excitement build up. When the band finally appears on the stage, you can get excited at home along with all the fans that are actually there when the music becomes live and the stage lights up as the first song begins.

Most of OLDCODEX's songs are really upbeat, strong rock anthems and the blu ray captures them well. Even when it slows down for a few ballads, Yorke's dramatic painting keeps you captivated to the screen as you wait for what is sure to be an energetic recovery coming next. The ups and downs are well planned to give the crowd a break when they need it and then bring them right back into the fray.

The concert footage has plenty of focus on Ta_2 and Yorke of course, but also features the other members of the band that actually play the music. And of course, there are lots of sweeping crowd shots and wide angle shots to show the entire stage! With everything from the instruments being played to Yorke painting to Ta_2 singing and the fans rocking out along with him, it shows a wide variety of everything happening at the concert. Of course nothing can compare to being at a live show, but with 125 minutes’ worth of OLDCODEX music shot with good sound and picture quality, the blu ray is the next best thing. If you were there and want to relive the day or are just happy to be able to enjoy the show in blu ray form, the quality of filmography doesn't disappoint. It's the next best thing to feeling like you're there.