At Nakano Sunplaza 8/12/2012
01. Cho HAPPY SONG（All）
02. Maji desu ka ska! （All）
03. Suki yo junjou hankouki （スマイレージ）
04. Dot bikini （スマイレージ）
05.Song for the DATE（真野恵里菜）
06. Banzai！～Jinsei wa meccha wonderful～（真野恵里菜）
07. Aitai aitai aitai na （℃-ute）
08. Kimi chari （℃-ute）
09.cha cha SING（Berryz工房）
10.Loving you Two much（Berryz工房）
11.One・Two・Three（モーニング娘。）
12. Watashi ga ite kimi ga iru （モーニング娘。）
13. Watashi ga obasan ni nattemo （All）
14. Cabbage hakusho （Peaberry）
15. Koko kara hajimarun da！（吉川友）
16. Smile Blues （Kanyon, Meimei）
17. Watashi no jidai！（モーニング娘。Rokkies）
18.Medley: Koko ni iruze ~ Uchouten love ~ Genkimono de ikou ~ Special generation ~ Dance de Bacon! ~ Pyoko Pyoko Ultra ~ Sukichan ~ Sekai ichi Happy na onna no ko ~ Maji bomber ~ Bravo ~ Yo no naka barairo ~ Koko ni iruze
19. Chotto matte kudasai！（All）
02. Maji desu ka ska! （All）
03. Suki yo junjou hankouki （スマイレージ）
04. Dot bikini （スマイレージ）
05.Song for the DATE（真野恵里菜）
06. Banzai！～Jinsei wa meccha wonderful～（真野恵里菜）
07. Aitai aitai aitai na （℃-ute）
08. Kimi chari （℃-ute）
09.cha cha SING（Berryz工房）
10.Loving you Two much（Berryz工房）
11.One・Two・Three（モーニング娘。）
12. Watashi ga ite kimi ga iru （モーニング娘。）
13. Watashi ga obasan ni nattemo （All）
14. Cabbage hakusho （Peaberry）
15. Koko kara hajimarun da！（吉川友）
16. Smile Blues （Kanyon, Meimei）
17. Watashi no jidai！（モーニング娘。Rokkies）
18.Medley: Koko ni iruze ~ Uchouten love ~ Genkimono de ikou ~ Special generation ~ Dance de Bacon! ~ Pyoko Pyoko Ultra ~ Sukichan ~ Sekai ichi Happy na onna no ko ~ Maji bomber ~ Bravo ~ Yo no naka barairo ~ Koko ni iruze
19. Chotto matte kudasai！（All）
.. it's not a very interesting set list. Now, that doesn't mean it's a bad selection of songs, just quite lame for a Hello Project concert. Almost all of these songs can be seen at each group's solo concert. And that's not really what people are looking for when they go to the Winter/Summer concerts. Especially when it's something like the 15th anniversary year, you expect a bit more.
And to make me even less excited the other pattern of the concert, wkwk, had more of the shuffles we have come to expect at the group concerts. But we had 2nd row seats (actually 5th as Nakano often has row 0 movable seats set up) and were really looking forward to seeing the girls up close.
Before the concert Kikka was in the lobby doing handshakes, so I didn't miss the opportunity I was given and quickly went over to buy a CD. With my ticket in hand I went over to her. She seemed to finally be remembering me (I had just seen her at the Idol Festival on August 5, which will hopefully have a write up eventually, and she seemed confused when I said "Long time no see" at that point while she was selling goods at her table) and was really excited I was there. She opened the conversation right away saying "Are you French?" and when I said no she went into PR mode and said "That's too bad because Kikka is going to France and Belgium soon, ah but I'm also going to America" with all the country names said in Japanese but with as much of an English accent as she could muster. The girl is incredibly fun to talk to so I recommend anyone who isn't a fan to give her a chance. She was holding onto my hand really tightly so even though her staff wanted to tell me to move on they were letting her talk all she wanted. She said she was happy when I told her I was looking forward to seeing her again that day and in the fall and told me to remember to support her. No joke she said what would translate as "Don't forget to support me!"
Don't worry I won't Kikka. Gotta reserve her next single for all the events in October.
Opening for the afternoon concert was Naboutofu@Nana, who you might have heard of. She is a dancer from Niconico who is being produced by Tsunku. She is very bendy and quite a good dancer. Though she mentioned on twitter feeling down the other day when she heard people were coming to her events just to see her two gyaru back up dancers. She's really fun to watch and one of the few performers Michael and I have seen live that actually sing live even while wearing a headset microphone. For HP and many idols a headset is almost a sure giveaway that they are lipsyncing, which while rare for HP does happen in dance numbers unfortunately.
The concert opened strongly. I am a huge fan of Cho Happy Song and it was really powerful performed by all members. Though I have to admit I was a little disappointed to not be at the concert where I would have seen and performed Momochi Taisou. I think the main thing I can say about the opening numbers is that I LOVE their outfits. They are the usual bright colorful matching oufits we are used to seeing at the Winter/Summer concerts but this time the theme seemed to be fairy tale-ish and they all had trumpet props that had a CD or something stuck in the end so the light bounced off them when it shined. It meant the girls had to do simpler versions of the dances.
On the other hand, Majidesuka ska! was kind of strange performed by all. It was a song meant to showcase the 9th gen members and they kept all their lines but then having so many girls on stage seemed to be too much for the song. I don't know exactly now to describe what I felt but it just seemed strange so hopefully people can get a feeling of what I felt when they see it on DVD.
After a very brief introduction by Makoto and Aika the concert went into the showcase of each group. All songs were performed well and nice to see but as I said generic. Doesn't mean I wasn't oshi jumping and screaming names like crazy though. We had a great view and no time was wasted. Smileage's new single really grew on me as I saw it live. I did like it before but it was even catchier live and the girls seemed to hit even the difficult notes. Dot bikini was also fun because of the dance and the fact that they used the last few seconds of dance in the Hankouki music video to run off stage and rip clothes off so they were in the proper outfits. A pretty creative transition for HP.
Next was Mano and I must say she looks gorgeous with her ballroom gown and short hair. Listening and reading the lyrics for "Song for the Date" you start to realize they take on a new meaning now that we know she will be graduation Hello Project early next year. One of the lyrics goes something like "We know it has to send sometime but we'll always have memories of our special time" and now that lyric makes you really say Ohhh when you read it and remember Mano said something about her latest single having several messages for her fans. The other song I wasn't too familiar with though I think I saw a performance of it on one of her concert recordings.
Next was C-ute, and they seemed to have changed the outfits for their new single performance since the beginning of the tour. Maybe they saw some of the reactions to the outfits online, the new single outfits are rather boring and even more so when used for a live performance. The outfits they performed in at Nakano were very shiny and showed lots of stomach and leg, making both the boyfriend and I very happy with our up close view. Consequently though these outfits worked superbly for an upbeat dance number like Aitai Aitai Aitai Na, they didn't really fit Kimichari. Still it's a lovely ballad and was performed wonderfully.
Both of Berryz songs were something I was looking forward to and they didn't disappoint. Sure the dance for Cha Cha Sing is ridiculously simple but that just makes it easy for the audience to follow along and is one of the few dances I can learn just by watching. Loving you Too Much, it's the rap that caught my attention from the beginning. Captain rapping sounds beautiful and with her kneeling down in front of us while she did it it was simply gorgeous.
Finally it was Morning Musume's turn to shine. And shine they did. H!P seems to be taking a transition cue from AKB48, one of the few things they do flawlessly, and danced the end of Berryz' dance with them as they came onto stage and got into position for One-Two-Three. Although I have seen it performed several times now (mainly because we went to the release event twice) it hasn't gotten old. The girls' moves were flawless and Kanon has noticeably lost weight. Not in a strange way, but her face was slimmer than before and although she has always looked gorgeous I think she is starting to look more toned as she dances more frequently. The second song they performed is an older one but one that really suits the current line up of Musume. Upbeat and fun it really brings out the best in all the girls.
Watashi ga obaasan ni nattemo - an idol classic. And I know people wondered why it was included, well because it was the 25th anniversary of Moritaka Chisato's debut and she is also under Up Front International. It's a cute song that while not completely fitting with the image of idols nowadays is a song everyone can relate to with lyrics like "When I'm an older woman, you'll be an older man with a bit of a gut."
Peaberry's song while beautiful isn't very memorable to me as a ballad so I was waiting for Kikka to make her appearance. As usual she didn't disappoint with her powerful voice and piercing gaze throughout the whole song. A beautiful and lively perfomance.
Next we had our two pair songs. First up was Smile Blues. I don't think I'd ever given this song a proper listen as I was trying my hardest not to crack up while I listened to the lyrics and watched Kanyon and Meimei try to act sexy together while singing in a stylized Osaka Dialect. I think I need to go back and listen to this song more. Next was the Rokkies. Sayumi was actually mostly on pitch and it is a fun song that caught my attention more live than it did on CD. Still, I would much rather have seen the 9ki group do Aisaretainoni.
Lastly came the medley that was being talked about, 20 minutes of non-stop performance. Well, they said that but actually some of the members had breaks where they ran offstage to at least get half a minute before running back on. You almost wonder whether the running on and off stage is more tiring than just having all the girls dance the whole time. A great medley with more Berikyuu songs than anything else. Probably my only complaint about this year's Winter/Summer concerts is that there has been more emphasis on Berikyuu than anything else. I like them as well but with Morning Musume being the flagship group I would like to see more of their songs featured.
Probably the best part of this medley was Suki-chan with the as-planned member calls near the end. Ah, special generation is also a never-miss. Especially when you have 29 girls on stage performing it at once. And thinking that most of them didn't get taught the choreography 100 percent and were told to focus on it at home.
One thing I noticed this concert, Iikubo. A lot of people's complaints about her is that she is just a pretty face who can't sing or dance. Now, she was really rusty at dancing when she first joined but she has improved a lot and held her own throughout the whole medley. As for the singing part, I have never understood that complaint as she sounds just fine. I guess some people's standards are that if you aren't at Ai-chan level you can't sing.
Chotto matte kudasai, was just a really odd way to end the concert. I'm not really a fan of the song and to have it end a concert was really out of place. It's not really a group song and this concert proved that. Sure it was performed well and was fun but still not a good choice.
And to make me even less excited the other pattern of the concert, wkwk, had more of the shuffles we have come to expect at the group concerts. But we had 2nd row seats (actually 5th as Nakano often has row 0 movable seats set up) and were really looking forward to seeing the girls up close.
Before the concert Kikka was in the lobby doing handshakes, so I didn't miss the opportunity I was given and quickly went over to buy a CD. With my ticket in hand I went over to her. She seemed to finally be remembering me (I had just seen her at the Idol Festival on August 5, which will hopefully have a write up eventually, and she seemed confused when I said "Long time no see" at that point while she was selling goods at her table) and was really excited I was there. She opened the conversation right away saying "Are you French?" and when I said no she went into PR mode and said "That's too bad because Kikka is going to France and Belgium soon, ah but I'm also going to America" with all the country names said in Japanese but with as much of an English accent as she could muster. The girl is incredibly fun to talk to so I recommend anyone who isn't a fan to give her a chance. She was holding onto my hand really tightly so even though her staff wanted to tell me to move on they were letting her talk all she wanted. She said she was happy when I told her I was looking forward to seeing her again that day and in the fall and told me to remember to support her. No joke she said what would translate as "Don't forget to support me!"
Don't worry I won't Kikka. Gotta reserve her next single for all the events in October.
The concert opened strongly. I am a huge fan of Cho Happy Song and it was really powerful performed by all members. Though I have to admit I was a little disappointed to not be at the concert where I would have seen and performed Momochi Taisou. I think the main thing I can say about the opening numbers is that I LOVE their outfits. They are the usual bright colorful matching oufits we are used to seeing at the Winter/Summer concerts but this time the theme seemed to be fairy tale-ish and they all had trumpet props that had a CD or something stuck in the end so the light bounced off them when it shined. It meant the girls had to do simpler versions of the dances.
On the other hand, Majidesuka ska! was kind of strange performed by all. It was a song meant to showcase the 9th gen members and they kept all their lines but then having so many girls on stage seemed to be too much for the song. I don't know exactly now to describe what I felt but it just seemed strange so hopefully people can get a feeling of what I felt when they see it on DVD.
Next was Mano and I must say she looks gorgeous with her ballroom gown and short hair. Listening and reading the lyrics for "Song for the Date" you start to realize they take on a new meaning now that we know she will be graduation Hello Project early next year. One of the lyrics goes something like "We know it has to send sometime but we'll always have memories of our special time" and now that lyric makes you really say Ohhh when you read it and remember Mano said something about her latest single having several messages for her fans. The other song I wasn't too familiar with though I think I saw a performance of it on one of her concert recordings.
Next was C-ute, and they seemed to have changed the outfits for their new single performance since the beginning of the tour. Maybe they saw some of the reactions to the outfits online, the new single outfits are rather boring and even more so when used for a live performance. The outfits they performed in at Nakano were very shiny and showed lots of stomach and leg, making both the boyfriend and I very happy with our up close view. Consequently though these outfits worked superbly for an upbeat dance number like Aitai Aitai Aitai Na, they didn't really fit Kimichari. Still it's a lovely ballad and was performed wonderfully.
Both of Berryz songs were something I was looking forward to and they didn't disappoint. Sure the dance for Cha Cha Sing is ridiculously simple but that just makes it easy for the audience to follow along and is one of the few dances I can learn just by watching. Loving you Too Much, it's the rap that caught my attention from the beginning. Captain rapping sounds beautiful and with her kneeling down in front of us while she did it it was simply gorgeous.
Finally it was Morning Musume's turn to shine. And shine they did. H!P seems to be taking a transition cue from AKB48, one of the few things they do flawlessly, and danced the end of Berryz' dance with them as they came onto stage and got into position for One-Two-Three. Although I have seen it performed several times now (mainly because we went to the release event twice) it hasn't gotten old. The girls' moves were flawless and Kanon has noticeably lost weight. Not in a strange way, but her face was slimmer than before and although she has always looked gorgeous I think she is starting to look more toned as she dances more frequently. The second song they performed is an older one but one that really suits the current line up of Musume. Upbeat and fun it really brings out the best in all the girls.
Watashi ga obaasan ni nattemo - an idol classic. And I know people wondered why it was included, well because it was the 25th anniversary of Moritaka Chisato's debut and she is also under Up Front International. It's a cute song that while not completely fitting with the image of idols nowadays is a song everyone can relate to with lyrics like "When I'm an older woman, you'll be an older man with a bit of a gut."
Peaberry's song while beautiful isn't very memorable to me as a ballad so I was waiting for Kikka to make her appearance. As usual she didn't disappoint with her powerful voice and piercing gaze throughout the whole song. A beautiful and lively perfomance.
Lastly came the medley that was being talked about, 20 minutes of non-stop performance. Well, they said that but actually some of the members had breaks where they ran offstage to at least get half a minute before running back on. You almost wonder whether the running on and off stage is more tiring than just having all the girls dance the whole time. A great medley with more Berikyuu songs than anything else. Probably my only complaint about this year's Winter/Summer concerts is that there has been more emphasis on Berikyuu than anything else. I like them as well but with Morning Musume being the flagship group I would like to see more of their songs featured.
Probably the best part of this medley was Suki-chan with the as-planned member calls near the end. Ah, special generation is also a never-miss. Especially when you have 29 girls on stage performing it at once. And thinking that most of them didn't get taught the choreography 100 percent and were told to focus on it at home.
One thing I noticed this concert, Iikubo. A lot of people's complaints about her is that she is just a pretty face who can't sing or dance. Now, she was really rusty at dancing when she first joined but she has improved a lot and held her own throughout the whole medley. As for the singing part, I have never understood that complaint as she sounds just fine. I guess some people's standards are that if you aren't at Ai-chan level you can't sing.
Chotto matte kudasai, was just a really odd way to end the concert. I'm not really a fan of the song and to have it end a concert was really out of place. It's not really a group song and this concert proved that. Sure it was performed well and was fun but still not a good choice.
Another fun moment from the concert included Makoto and Aika. The Hello Project poems. They were all good and made the audience laugh but the best had to be a guy who mentioned throwing out his hips always copying the Smileage Dot Bikini dance. So of course the audience started chanting for Aika to do the dance, which she did. Then we all started chanting for Makoto to do it. He resisted at first but eventually gave in though he really half-assed it. Still was pretty funny.
And that's all for now. Once again I have written an essay. I will try to get around to a write up of the Tokyo Idol Festival and Musume Release Event with TIF taking priority.
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