For those that don't know, on May 5th (JST) there will be a set of live concerts in Japan centered around Nier. You know the music, you love the music, and I bet you want to hear it being played live (even if you can't be there in-person). But you probably never purchased a live-stream through Nico Nico Douga, or maybe you don't even have an account there to begin with. It's okay, don't worry, I'm here to help you out!
Date: (All times are in JST)
May 5th (11:30AM Doors Open, 12:00PM Concert Start)
Event Page: http://live.nicovideo.jp/watch/lv295057902
May 5th (15:30PM Doors Open, 16:00PM Concert Start)
Event Page: http://live.nicovideo.jp/watch/lv295058035
Price:
2,000 Yen for the afternoon/evening showings.
3,000 Yen for both showings.
*Important*
Credit cards are the only method of payment available to people outside of Japan.
Introduction:
Now that we have the formalities out of the way, you need to create a Nico Nico Douga account. Feel free to skip this section if you already have one. For those that don't, it's really easy. It doesn't have to be a Premium account or anything, a free one will suffice. Simply go to http://www.nicovideo.jp/, click that nice-looking yellow button in the upper left of the page, and follow the directions. Congratulations, you are now a Nico Nico Douga member!
Nico Nico Douga Points:
The next thing you'll need to do is load up your account with enough Nico Nico Douga Points to purchase the Nier Music Concert tickets. Go to the URL listed below.
https://point.nicovideo.jp/index/purchase/
They have amounts in many denominations, so you can choose whichever it is that you require, either 2,000 for the afternoon or evening concert, or 3,000 for the bundle. Look at the top of this post for the concert information to confirm which time would work best for you. Once you've decided, click on the button that signifies the amount you require and it'll take you to the payment page.
Scroll down the page until you see the "JCB/MasterCard/VISA" payment option. Select that, and it'll take you to another page. Enter your credit card information and all that, confirm (click
Ticket Purchase:
Now that your account is loaded with some amazing Nico Nico Douga Points, it's time to purchase that NieR Music Concert ticket! Go to the URL below to do exactly that.
https://secure.live.nicovideo.jp/event/nier0505
This is the main page for the event. We don't know yet whether the track-list will differ between the two showings or not, or what exclusive content (if any) there will be for each. Chances are they will (mostly) be the same (aside from there being a slight difference in the special guest showings), so choose whichever time works best for you. Once again, keep in mind that these afternoon/evening showings are based in JST, so do a little time conversion on your end to make sure the time is appropriate.
Once you've decided, click the link next to the ticket you want. It'll take you to another page with more information on the event (start date/time, etc.). Scroll further down the page and you'll see a red button. It's pretty self-explanatory, but I'll attach a picture just to be sure you know what I'm talking about.
Since you credited your account earlier with points specifically for this purchase, you can go ahead and complete the transaction! In the prompt box, click the red button again to confirm.
TICKETS PURCHASED!
To watch the stream after purchasing the tickets:
Now that you have everything completed, you just have to wait for the event to start! To view your purchased tickets, head to your "My Nico" page, located here:
http://live.nicovideo.jp/my
From there, just scroll down a bit and you can see all of your purchased live-stream tickets, such as the NieR Music Concert one you just bought. When the event starts (or close to it), click on the ticket shown in your My Page, and choose "Event Overview". It'll take you to the event page that will showcase the stream when it starts. Alternatively, you can use the URL's I listed above in the "Date" section to go directly to each event page. As I mentioned before, the doors for the stream open 30 minutes prior to each concert, so it gives you more than enough time for you to get comfortable before the magic happens.
Conclusion:
Anyway, I hope the above guide was helpful to a few people. I know purchasing tickets through a Japanese service such as Nico Nico Douga seems daunting, but it's really not. All you really need is a credit card and you're good to go. They make the process pretty painless, once you know the steps you need to follow.
As for me, I couldn't resist and purchased the afternoon/evening bundle, so I can watch the both concerts. I figured it was only another 1,000 yen, so the value was there. Plus it'll be interesting to see if there are any differences between the two, both in song selection as well as guest appearances. There probably won't be a lot of deviations between the two, but NeiR is special to me, so it's worth seeing the concert live (albeit through a live-stream) twice. If you can't afford both, I'd definitely recommend at least purchasing one of the streams (afternoon or evening, either works!), especially if you're a fan of NieR's music as much as I am.
I should mention, 30 minutes after the stream ends, you'll have a period of time in which you can "Time-Shift" the concert and watch it as many times as you want. It's usually valid for a few weeks or so before it expires, so even if you can't catch everything live (or watch the whole thing in one sitting) you can always go back and watch it later (at least for as long as the Time-Shift is available).
Glory to mankind.
