Adorable, sweet and cute are what you think when you first see Kanon Wakeshima. Her dress is an exclusive design from Mana (Moi-même-Moitié). The floor length gown is blood red and it hugs her tiny waist before blossoming out like a rose around her. Sitting daintily atop her head is a matching hat with lace and a miniature red cello hiding amidst the netting and flowers.

Her debut U.S. concert at Otakon is short but meticulously choreographed, much like her image has been meticulously built by Mana and her record label. But however they try to funnel her talents into one avenue, the multifaceted core that is Kanon Wakeshima still finds a way of working itself into her music, her fashion and her art.

“I have been playing the cello since the age of three,” she says during one of the talk breaks during her concert. She clutches a sheaf of papers, English words for her to mime back to the audience, but you can feel the sincerity in her speech, her nervousness and her desire to perform well. (more…)