Hello Project 2012 Summer 15th Anniversary ~Ktkr Fan no Matsuri~

At Nakano Sunplaza 8/12/2012

 

To be honest, I went into this concert with lower expectations than normal because I wasn't too impressed with the set list.  I mean take a look below:

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）

 .. 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.

Play: Stacys ~The Second Killing of Young Girls a Musical~

Boy, is that title hard to translate.  On Thursday I went to see the widely talked about Musume as zombies play.  Now, unlike many who were probably completely confused by the concept, I was actually familiar with the story. I had never watched the movie myself but I remembered hearing about a schoolgirl zombie b-horror movie several years ago and as soon as I read the title and the premise of the musical in my fanclub letter I knew that was what they were performing.  The only question in my mind was how: how on earth do you perform a play about zombies being chopped to bits on stage?  And with IDOLS!?

The Promotional Poster

Above you see the poster for this time's play.  Of course, as soon as this poster made it to the internet there were outcries of "Reina and Riho dominated again!" forgetting that Kuduu is also in this picture.  Yes, they are the main characters in the story, in fact each is a main character in a separate but interlocking sub-story.  Reina and Riho are good actresses, they work well as leads.  Kuduu does excellent as well.  

Don't let them being leads fool you, the other girls get the same if not more stage time, the stories simply do not focus on them.  But this story doesn't really focus on any of the girls.  The main character is actually the young man who from the beginning of the play where he encounters a weird request by Reina's character that throws his whole life for a loop.  Throughout the play we see him in the background though it is told from his point of view, first about the strange girl he met.  Then about a strange laboratory full of its own secrets.  And finally about a young detective girl and an encounter she has that will change the whole definition of what a Stacy is.

From here on I am going to discuss the story as I remember it.  I do hope the DVD is subbed by someone when it is released as it is excellent.

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Storyline 1 - "My meeting with a mysterious stranger" (that's what I'm calling it)

   So it starts out with a young man sitting gazing at nothing on a bench.  Along comes Reina's character to bug him.  Quickly she throws a weird request at him "Please accept the right to kill me for a second time"  Apparently this is something that many girls are doing these days.  That's right, because girls of the ages 14-16 (different from the novel which was 15-17) all become infected with a strange disease where they die and come back soon after as a Stacy, a being that only wishes to eat and convert the general public, or what we would generally call a zombie.

Reina is in the stage of this disease which is called "Near Happiness", wherein the girl frolics around always happy and laughing at anything.  This is the stage that happens shortly before she is about to die and become a Stacy, and it is at this point that many girls search out someone to kill them later on.  Reina's character unfortunately does not have any family to do the job for her as we learn her best friend became a Stacy and killed Reina's parents.  Reina was the one who had to chop her friends to bits with tools she found around the house.

Over the course of the day in the park, and after we see the Re-killing Forces (what the JSDF has become now that the job of military around the world is primarily to kill Stacys) wheeling off a cart of bodies, Reina and the young man have become close and he has accepted the job of killing her when she comes back to life.  It isn't until the very end of the play where we see the actual scene of him killing Reina in a very long and drawn out death-match.  Before that though we get the Coffee and Milk Dance, a strange dream that the young man often has where girls dance around balancing coffee in one hand and milk in the other.  Hey, no one ever said this kid was sane. (And yes, from what I have started reading of the novel, this is in the novel.)

Masaki demonstrates the ever-famous Coffee and Milk Dance

Storyline 2 - The Stacy Who Talks and the Imprisoned Girls

  Our second storyline takes place in an all girls school where the entire school population became Stacys simultaneously and the Re-killing Forces are now using it as a way to study the patterns of the Stacys.  We meet a very unique Force member who pretends to sing and dance with the Stacys before killing them off as if it is a game.  Except one of the Stacys seems to respond to him as he is about to kill her.  This is the one played by Riho.  She seems to be saying "Help me" which catches the man off guard because Stacys can't talk.  And the fact that Riho resembles his sister who had to kill when she turned.

As the rest of the force members come in ready to clean up the bodies they go to kill this last remaining one before being stopped by crazy man.  They won't believe him when he says she talked because that simply can't be, Stacys don't talk.  Stacys don't have emotions or react to anything, they simply search for meat.  Before they can override crazy man and kill Riho anyways they learn that in another part of the school a truly insane man (driven so by the job he has had to do all these years) has released the locks on all the rooms containing Stacys and the school is in complete chaos.  This storyline is never fully wrapped up, we simply see the Stacys and the Force members fighting and presume that most of the force members are killed.  At the end though all members do hear Riho's Stacy speak and are thrown into disbelief.  This news spreads as a rumor around the country.

Storyline 3 - Drew, the Stacy Hunter

At the opening of this third story we see a hilarious song and dance that is an advertisement for chainsaws that are "sure to get the re-killing done right", and a young girl named Drew.

The last story focuses on Drew, a character played by Kuduu.  She is 13 years old and 11 months, so just before the period where she may become a Stacy.  And she has some special powers that allow her to attack and kill Stacys without having an actual sharp weapon in her hand.

After the opening commercial scene we see her entering what is presented as an abandoned building and approaching a young man who is leading a Stacy (Ayumi) on a leash.  We learn that it is his girlfriend and he is not going to let her be killed.  He swears that she can control her urges and is still the same girl, though we see her straining at the end of her chain to try and kill the young man while his back is turned.

Drew sees this as well and explains to the man that she is simply doing her job, her job to kill Stacys with these mysterious powers she has.  When asked about her name she explains that her name is actually 公江（Kimie) but because of how the character looks she is always called Hamue and decided to rename herself after Drew Barrymore.

She is finally persuaded by the young man to help him hide his Stacy just as the Re-killing Forces arrive and misunderstand the situation.  They are being told to not take any chances and so end up killing Drew before she has become a Stacy (though we know at this point she is in the Near Happiness stage) .

The scene changes and we hear reports of how Stacys are now evolving and becoming stronger, especially those who show mysterious powers are coming back to life with those powers ten-fold.  So an order is given to kill girls before they become Stacys, as soon as they display the Near Happiness signs of laughter and frolicking.

And so the Force Members arrive at what is a hospice for girls about to become Stacys run by a kind but very stupid doctor.  He constantly gets punched and kicked by the Stacys around him, with the girls using the excuse that they are Near Happiness and cannot help themselves.

And here is where all three stories collide.  The boy and Ayumi Stacy arrive at the hospice, with the doctor being amused at what he sees as keeping a Stacy as a pet.  Then Drew arrives, though we know she has been killed, and yet is still able to talk to the soon-to-become Stacys about not giving up hope.  Ayumi speaks in front of everyone, including the forces that have arrived and they realize the rumors are true.  And the Near Happiness girls along with Drew agree to cover for the boy and Ayumi Stacy who seem to be able to form a bond and should go off and create a new life that is half-Stacy half-human.  Reina's Stacy has also been wandering even though she should have been dead and we are left at the end of the story seeing a new world of Stacys being reborn.

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At least that is all I remember.   Of course there are many more details that I don't know where to put in or just how accurate I can relate them to the story but the main thing I want to say is that this musical (yes it is indeed a full musical, with lots of very difficult to sing lyrics about killing and god being a fun-loving madman) is amazing!  It isn't an idol musical.  It is a well-produced and well-rehearsed production.

In many cases the girls are running around so quickly on stage that one mistake could make a few of them end up on a pile on the floor.  All of the girls did an excellent job and portrayed the emotionless Stacys quite well.

Riho, I must say, has gotten a lot of control over her voice recently.   A solo song her character had involved a lot of range and she was able to pull it off flawlessly.  I could say I want Kanon to be the main character, but just because she is my oshi that doesn't mean it is always what I want.  She did excellent in her role and danced fiercely (often on my side of the stage)

I can't wait for the DVD of this to come out.  I want to see it again so badly that if I didn't have work tomorrow night I would pay for the Ustream to see it again.  Anyone who can watch the Ustream should, it is well worth the price of paying for it.

I leave you with a shot from the press performance.

Morning Musume 2012 Spring Tour Ultra Smart

This is a place keeper until I get time to fully write out my experience from May 6th at Nakano Sunplaza.

Actually, think I am gonna go ahead and give up on this one.

The concert I attended is the same one released on the USB and I definitely recommend watching it.  There were a couple of songs I wasn't expecting, Goodbye Natsuo and Aki Urara, both of which were performed wonderfully.

Also, Aika really was doing her best from the Nakano concerts on to dance as much as possible, and she did really well.  She was still only in the songs she had been in up til now but she performed most of the dances, though modified, off on one side of the stage.  I did tear up a bit when she came out and was dancing, realizing that she is such a great performer but has made the hard decision to leave.

I look forward to seeing how the 10 members do at the summer concerts.

I will see the zombie novel-based play on Thursday and there will definitely be a write up of that, until then, here is a smiling picture of Zukki to make your day.

Smileage Mega Bank Vol.5 ~2nd Year Entry Special~

On May 12th I attended Smileage Mega Bank Volume 5 which was an early celebration of their 2 year anniversary (not counting their indies year and despite the fact that Smileage now is not the same Smileage as it was this same time last year).

Because I have work on Saturday I knwe I was going to be arriving to the venue with no time to spare, so as soon as my last class was finished I rushed out to jump on trains and hope there were no delays.  Well, even with no delays in my just under an hour of traveling, I entered into the venue  as the opening VTR was rolling.  Phew, I had made it.  With absolutely no glowsticks and exhausted from a long day at work I found my seat and collapsed in it to await the start of the event.


The only ever Smileage Fanclub Event I have attended was Megabank Volume 2 which took place about a month after their major debut, so I wasn't sure what to expect going into this one.  I just knew that in both the first and second they had done challenges which involved the audience and were a lot of fun, and that the fourth one was when they held Yuuka's graduation.


This one, turned out to be completely different.  Usually a FC event is a bunch of activities and talk with a mini concert at the end.  This time, the activities and songs were intermixed.  The theme was a school setting.  During Homeroom we learn that Take-chan's father is being transferred overseas so this will be her last day in the school.  Ayacho is the standoff classmate who doesn't really care about the others but even she gets up and gives Take-chan a present when the others do.  However, none of the presents are actually useful items, used scrunchies, something lying around the girl's room, etc.  


Homeroom finishes and if I remember they moved on to Social Studies next, asking them various questions related to different areas in Japan.  Was quite amusing to hear some of the answers.  I am no good at the geography of Japan myself though so I could sympathize.  They also did a "cooking" class where they used pots and pans to make music (think Stomp!) to the rhythm of the food they wanted to make.  It was really well rehearsed and fun to clap along to.  The third (though maybe not in that order) class... well I actually forgot which class they were mimicking, but I remember what happened hehe.  


Need to do these reports closer to the event date but the last two weeks have been crazy.


The third class involved them doing "3-sided box game".  Now, for those of you unfamiliar, this involves having the open side of the box facing the audience and the other three sides closed so that the participants have to put their arms in through holes in the sides or top and try to guess what the object is by feeling it.  This might seem simple and non-threatening, but I'm sure it's not when you are the one doing it.  And on top of that, the audience is supposed to act like the thing in the box is something gross/frightening no matter what it is.  


In this case, the object was cauliflower, cut in half, with one piece hanging and one laying on the bottom of the box.  After each girl had her turn of touching the object, including Kanana (who barely touched the object without freaking out and running across the stage then back to her seat) they took their guesses.  The closest guess was broccoli but that was not considered good enough.  The bravest of the six is Take-chan, she broke off a piece of the object to try and feel it better.  Kanyon was also feeling the object quite a bit, so her and Take were the ones who guessed broccoli.  I think they should have taken that as correct because I don't think broccoli and cauliflower feel all that different myself.  Ah well.


At the end of their three classes the final school bell rings and then Take-chan gets an email from her father.  Turns out she doesn't have to move after all!  So all the girls take back their gifts (except for Kanana who offers to let Take keep it, but Take doesn't want it) and return to their seats.


In between each class period they sang a different song, which I thought was a good way to mix the songs into the activities.  Songs included Chotto Matte Kudasai, Suki-chan (with extended cheering time for all six girls), Dot Bikini and two or 3 others that I am blanking out on.


At the end of the event they talked about how they felt (the one I went to was the last of all six time-slots).  One thing Ayacho said stood out to a lot of people and kind of hinted that she might not be completely happy with Smileage as it is.  She talked about how relieved she was there were no sudden VTRs to spoil the moment and how the Smileage she was standing there with was nothing like what she imagined it would be from one year before.  Nothing she said was really negative, but you could tell that there have been a lot of things going through her head this past year. 


The six members do seem to work well now though they still have a long way to go.  Kanyon seems to get along with the 2nd gen just fine, but she was the one who took the announcement the best from the beginning.  Ayacho is just getting there but I think she has finally really grasped what it means to be a leader and is doing her best to push Smileage higher.


With the announcement of the first Smileage Bus Tour, it seems like this is a step in the right direction.  ^^


I leave you with a cute picture of Kanyon I found online.  It's her card from the mobile card battle game.

Tsunku's movie - Atsuhime Number 1!

So haven't posted on here in a long time huh?  Well, that's because I haven't gone to ANY HP related events, too busy and no concerts in my area right now.  So sorry I have been absent from blogging for a while.

But that all changed today when I went to see the movie Tsunku was executive producer of, Atsuhime Number 1! Starring in the movie were Yossi, Rika, Yuko, Tokki, Tsunku himself, Dandy (the "gets" guy), among others.

Looking at this poster you probably think, I have no clue what this movie could be about.  So, here's the trailer.
Still no clue, well here's the basic plot:

The famous Atsu-princess is very reluctant to go off to Edo to be married to the Shogun so she tries continually to run away from Tae (her caretaker played by Yuko) and Mitsu (her guard ninja played by Tokki) and ends up on the edge of a field looking up at a meteor.  She wishes to be somewhere far away and her wish is granted as she ends up in the middle of Hakone in modern day Japan.  Picked up by an otaku artist and his girlfriend (who works as a hostess)  the three are taken to their apartment in downtown Tokyo and proceed to be surprised by everything around them.  Mitsu even throws a shuriken into the telephone as it rings.

Taken to the hostess' workplace out of curiosity at women working on their own Atsu is convinced to try out hostessing for one night.  Right away she crosses path with the current No.1 at the club Ami (played by Yossi) and the two are instant rivals, especially after Atsu and a customer have a near violent fight.

Their competition starts from that encounter and we see Atsu grow more and more accustomed to life in the modern age, so accustomed that when the customer she previously fought confesses his love to her she really wants to stay.  But along with learning a secret about Ami and why she needs to be No.1 so badly, she also overhears a conversation between the otaku and Tae about how drastically history may change if she doesn't go back.  And so she makes the difficult decision to go back, prompting a tearful goodbye scene when the man who loves her runs to where she is waiting for the meteor to pass by again so that Tae and her can go home.  (Mitsu has fallen in love with the janitor at the hostess club and decided to stay in the modern age.)

~~~~~

Overall I would say it is a comedy but it has some very touching moments to.  There is a great scene where Atsu finds out Ami's secret and has a heart-to-heart with her that really changes how she views the girl she has had such a fierce rivalry with.

Then, comedy-wise, there are many scenes with Tsunku (playing himself) in and out of the club where due to Mitsu's rashness he is put to sleep with drugs several times while trying to creep on the hostesses he is enamored with.

I definitely recommend this movie to anyone in Japan or anyone who can see the DVD when it is released.  Though I would suggest waiting for it to be subbed because the Japanese the three Edo-period ladies use is old-styled Japanese.  Great movie though ^^

9th Generation Fanclub Tour in Yamanashi 2011, November 5-6

Fall 2011 November 5-6: 9期　Bus Tour in Yamanashi

 

Above you can see my tour pass and the front of the pamphlet we were given at the start of the tour.  In fact we were given a whole pile of materials as you can see.  Among them, slips for voting for the best art project, a questionnaire sheet and a goods order form.

But I am getting ahead of myself.  Before boarding the bus, I took a picture of myself ready to have a fun weekend with the Kyukkies.

I look surprised for some odd reason, not sure exactly why. Well it was before 8 in the morning and I have very little skill with taking pictures of myself so I can use that as an excuse I guess.  By the time I arrived at the meeting area (about 15 minutes before the meet up time) there was already a large wota group ready and raring to go.  I enjoyed chatting with some of my friends from Hawaii and then we parted ways for the moment and got onto our designated buses.

For the duration of the tour, I was on Bus 2.  We had a very cute, very young bus guide who at first glance picked out Riho as her favorite.  As a demonstration of the kindness (not creepiness) of wotas, on Sunday it happened to be that bus guide's birthday, so on our way to events on the second day, the "captain" wota (seems to be known by most, I have never talked to him but have seen him around a lot) led us all in singing Happy Birthday.  It was really sweet and made me feel really connected to everyone around me.

Back to the bus.  Precisely at 8am we started on our way.  Highways were of course crowded because it was a weekend, so traffic was stop and go for a while, but eventually we got moving at a steady pace.  The first rest area we stopped at was too crowded to really get everything we needed done; along with toilet and buying lunch we were also told that 5-shots would be taken as soon as we got to Yamanashi so we needed to get ready for them there.  I opted to put contacts in at the rest stop then grab out makeup pouch from my luggage and do makeup on the bus.  It worked out well, mostly because I don't wear very much make up so "doing makeup" consists of nothing more than putting on concealer and eyeshadow.  For girls who do much more than that, well they wouldn't dare leave the house without make up on so it seemed like all the other girls on the tour were already dolled up when they got to the bus meet up at 7:30.  How they are able to get up and put make up on in the early morning is something I will never understand about most women here.  And I do mean most, I wish I saw more women without make up , since most of them probably look just as beautiful.  But I digress.

Since we had very little relax time at the first rest stop, we did end up stopping about 30 minutes later just after we had entered Yamanashi prefecture.

Saturday, November 5

Only 20 minutes later we were off the highway and headed to the location where the 5-shot was to be done, a nice Japanese style-inn.  Which coincidentally is also the lodging we stayed at.  I was nervous, but nowhere near as nervous as I was in Hawaii.  After the picture in Hawaii, and the 5-shot with Smileage, I was able to approach this picture calmly with a clear idea in my head of the pose I wanted to do.  Outside the room (and after a very cute and ditzy VTR shown on the bus) we were presented with a board showing each girl's suggested pose.  I am really  not sure what Fuku-chan was thinking with her Fuji-san pose, but I am sure some people did choose to use it.

 I decided to go with a pose of my own, which I described to the staff member as (one of the same young guys who was in Hawaii, we both recognized each other) "Holding your hands out as if you are accepting the fans' love"  3 out of 4 of the girls understood what I meant.  Riho looks like she is presenting a product.

They were so cute!  I mean I am a sucker for school uniforms, but I don't think anyone could pull it off better than these four.  Staff member who put up the suggestion for the tour to be like a middle-school field trip, I salute you ^^

After the 5-shot (we were given the picture on the bus ride back to Tokyo the next day) we were shipped off to do grape picking while the bus group from Nagoya took their turn at the 5-shot.  A good way to kill time without leaving us bored, but the girls weren't there at all so it was kinda pointless.  OK, the girls were there in spirit.  They were there in the sense that the artwork they made out of clay as their image of Yamanashi grapes was there.  I didn't get a picture of it myself, but there are pictures floating around.  Three of the pieces actually looked like real grapes, and one looked like a weird character styled grape, we think that one was Kanon.  The voting slips we were given were for voting for what we thought was the best piece.  Of course most people debated who made what and then tried to vote for their oshi, but I actually voted for the one I thought looked the best, though I am pretty sure the weird wtf-is-that character was my beloved Zukki's.  

Conveniently they finally uploaded the voting results, and here they are.

1位　D作品　譜久村 聖　　Mizuki　　　　　　
2位　A作品　鈴木 香音　Kanon
3位　B作品　鞘師 里保　Riho
4位　Ｃ作品　生田 衣梨奈 Erina

As we thought, the weird one was Zukki, it was cute, but I voted for what did turn out to be Mizuki's and the winner, D.  I liked the way she formed her grapes.  Riho's and Erina's kinda just looked like lumps, so I can see why it was between A and D.  

So yeah, the grape picking was really just to have us kill time, and yeah we had the clay artwork to look at, besides for eating slightly sour but yummy grapes (why the Japanese PEEL grapes I will never understand, I just eat them whole).  But yeah, it would have been nice to have been doing something slightly  more related to the girls we were there to see.  

After we finished picking our grapes, we were instructed to go into one of the other areas of the building to do one piece of calligraphy each.  You could do any single character that you liked, and although you might think people would only choose characters from the 9ki members' names, you would be wrong.

 

As for me, I choose a character dear to my heart (and one of the few I can write that doesn't look like it is written by a 5-year old.  Can read kanji just fine, cannot write them to save my life)

A tribute to my Junjun.  I was so happy to see her on the Chinese contest show ^^.

After everyone was finished at the grape-picking farm, we were bussed back to our hotel and allowed to check in.  My room was six girls.  We all started chatting right away, and one of the girls had brought a portable DVD player so we sat down and watched the Single V of the latest Musume single, complete with lots of "Kawaii"s just as you would expect from a bunch of girls.  We had about two hours to kill before dinner, so after watching that we all just kind of relaxed and showed off the items we had brought on the tour.  One girl (who I need to chase down at the Yomiuri Land Event) had even made clothes for a miniature bear to match Reina's concert outfit from Fantasy DX. 

 

Or I think the bear was Reina.  Of the Kyukkies, Eripon is her favorite and I don't remember Eripon having a bow like that.  The bear was so adorable that it was an instant photo favorite.  Another one of my roommates was wearing Zukki's shiny green-trim outfit from the Fantasy DX which her mom had hand-sewn for her.  Makes me seriously want to learn to sew so I can make my own outfits whenever I feel like it.

Finally, at 4:50, we headed down to the dining hall, took our seats and dove into a delicious Japanese-styled feast.  There were so many different dishes, including yummy sashimi and flame-boiled rice with mushrooms, that at the end of the meal we were all full to bursting.  Unfortunately I forgot my camera when we went downstairs, because the meal really was that huge and gourmet, and even included a couple of slices of boar roast.  Yum, boar meat.

After a huge dinner, it was back upstairs to grab what we needed for the Mini-Live and Talk Event and then back on our buses.  Two of my roommates were on the same bus, so we all went together and settled in with our full stomachs to watch another random 9ki VTR for the hour-long bus ride to the venue.  The talk and Mini-Live were at a small concert hall in Yamanashi, and when I say small I mean it.  Even though I had pulled the 12th row (the entire hall maybe had 20) and was in the last row of the tour group, I still had a great view and with my pen-light in hand and my Fantasy DX t-shirt on I was ready to cheer.

The first half of the event was just the Kyukkies talking about a variety of subjects, including answering how an idol would respond in certain situations.  A comedian acted as the "Heaven's Voice" in order to make sure the girls didn't go too off topic.  It was amusing but a week later not that memorable because everyone was waiting for the live.

And the live did not disappoint.  It was short,　but full of high power songs that highlighted all of the girls strengths.  First was Go Girl, a trying song for even veteran members but all four were able to pull off the dance and song brilliantly.  A great high power number to start off the night.  Next was Mikan, another song that came out way before they joined but captures the spirit of their youth.

After the opening they moved into the solo corner (seems to be a trend that FC tours have solo corners) with Riho picking KoiING (because she didn't get to sing it during the summer), Fuku-chan picked Tokutouseki (a Gomaki song that while at first I couldn't place, by the chorus I was humming along to it.  A great song to highlight Fuku-chan's strong voice), Zukki (Yeah! Meccha Holiday. A perfect choice for Zukki.  Keeps with her fun-loving nature, as well as highlights her deeper-toned voice.  Plus she just exudes the young genki idol vibe) and finally Eripon with Koi no Boogie Train (a great song, though again a fast number which just like Hawaii Eripon had a little trouble keeping up with.  However, this time she didn't lose her breath at all and was able to perform the whole song and dance without missing a beat.  Still, Eripon... you don't need to push yourself, those are hard songs to sing solo).  

After the solos it was again back to high powered group numbers, starting with Ikimasshoi.  As one of my favorite Musume songs it was great to see performed, even if having only four members made it seem slightly lacking.  The girls are all high-energy though so were able to pull it off well.  Tired me out with how much I jumped and flailed with love during the verses.  And next came the song we had all been waiting for (when hearing they were going to perform a song by that legendary 4-person group, well what else do you think came to mind?) Melon Kinenbi's "This is Unmei"  Sure the girls are too young to understand the lyrics (just like Smileage) but still this is a song you cannot lose with.  It is high energy, the girls did the opening head turning completely in sync and the power and energy it unleashed upon the audience was unbelievable.  It.. it really made me miss Melon.  (Poor Sexy Saitou)  Still, I had been secretly hoping this was the song they were referring to and was not disappointed in the least.  If anything, the only strange part was not having the stage go red when they said "Is this hell?" like it does for any performance of this song in an actual fully-staged concert.  And once again I felt that This is Unmei is not a song you can listen to on CD after hearing it live several times.  It just isn't the same without the wota-calls.  And I was shouting just as loud as everyone else there.

Lastly they performed Maji Desu Ka, an expected choice to show off how much they have grown since it was first recorded several months ago.  They left the stage, and we all thought it was over, but then they showed the previews for the Sharehouse movie.  (Which no I didn't go see... it just really didn't seem that interesting, though after seeing a longer preview it does seem like something nice to sit at home on the couch and watch, just not something to pay to see in theaters.  Plus the 9kis only have a small part in it, and it has D-boys x_x)  And suddenly... the girls were back on stage doing a comedy skit with the title of... wait for it... Ramen Ranger!  And yes, three out of four of them were rangers, with Zukki playing the ramen customer who is angry and surprised at the ridiculous-ness she is subjected to.  Finally after a hilarious skit they did one more section where they had the girls do rock-paper-scissors with the audience, I lasted three times before having to sit down.  The last few people (as long as it was under 10) got bags that had the strange hippo drawings printed onto them (hippo drawings that were showcased during one of the many in-bus VTRs.

The Ramenja- segment reminded me that they also did two short comedy routines before the live began, split into pairs.  Both were very funny, with the one highlighting Fuku-chan's sheltered home life and acting as if she is a princess with several servants and it had everyone rolling with laughter.  Course her partner was Zukki, who of course is brilliant at tsukkomi.  Ikuta and Riho did a doctor's appointment setting where Eripon was the ditzy and overreacting doctor.  Very amusing, all four girls have gotten quite good at acting.  Another corner of the night was a gesture game corner, some of the questions were really hard and you felt bad for the girls getting them but ah well was amusing for the audience ^^  Tokyo Sky Tree included Eripon jumping higher and higher to show that it was taller than Tokyo Tower.

At the end of the night we were given out the cap and badges below.  And... I feel so bad.  I thought the lady who handed me the cap looked familiar... it was Inaba Atsuko!!! But... but then I saw on her twitter that she was on the 9ki tour and totally didn't realize it was her and wondered if she was ever going to appear and do anything and she didn't and... and I had my chance to say hi and I didn't.  Granted her appearing was the worst timing ever, coming off of the high of being sent off with a wave and a smile by the 9ki members in pajamas made it very hard to really focus on what was going on as I was handed the cap.  Gomen ne.... and I really liked T&C  Bomber too.  Maybe Atsuko just isn't recognizable without her afro ^^

Sunday, November 6

With breakfast starting at 6:45 and the bus leaving at 7:50, it was an early morning.  Felt even earlier for me because I had some weird stomach problem that made me have cold chills and keep waking up the night before.  Really sucked because the night before I had gone to the public bath in the hotel with two of my roommates and had such a good time chatting with them in the outdoor bath.  I rarely get to use public baths because I have a tattoo on my stomach, and as you might know, apparently everyone who has a tattoo is a Yakuza.  My roommates told me to try coming in anyways and when I looked after we got it, it seemed like the rules for the bath at this hotel didn't mention anything about tattoos, so I felt very lucky and relaxed.  And then my stomach bothered me.  I was probably over tired from a long, eventful day.  Ah well, a new day had begun.

 

 Breakfast was delicious, I really love Japanese-style dishes but they are too much work to make at home.  The only thing I didn't touch was the natto packet, I can eat it but I really don't like it enough to want to eat it.

After returning to our rooms and getting all of our belongings ready, we were back on the bus and headed off to what was called the Morning Event.  Well, it wasn't really an event.  It was more like we were lined up in the order we would be taking the group pictures in, put into a very tiny room, and then the girls were on a platform at the front of the room.  Except it was so crowded that anyone off to the side couldn't see at all, even after asking the staff to make people in the front sit down, and all it really was was morning greetings from the girls.  The school style greetings were nice, but it really wasn't a good event unless you were in the front and center I think.

Afterwards we were led in our lines to another room in the hotel we had been brought to and they proceeded to take the group pictures.  This time, 10 of us were sitting in front of the Kyukkies standing behind us.  And they were dressed in sports tracksuits, wearing different colors for their grade.  A cute idea, but kind of plain and unfitting for an idol to be wandering around in all day.

Photos finished, we headed out to the bus once again, this time for just a short trip to another location where we would be making the traditional miso soup that had been advertised in our pamphlets.  There were two groups, the noodles and the soup.  I was in the noodles group so I headed to the gymnasium and took a seat at my designated place.  This was to be my first time making pasta from scratch

I am wearing the apron and head cloth that were sold as goods the day before.  They actually ended up selling out of them quite quickly I heard.  Apparently the staff didn't take into account the fact that they announced on the website that the apron was a must have item during the tour and that that would mean that almost everyone would want to buy one.  As for the rest of my outfit, don't be fooled by the purple, I am a Zukki fan.  I just happened to have a purple sweater and dress, and my luggage is purple.  So everyone was teasing me about how my mind was telling me I am an Eripon fan, but no I swear Zukki is my oshi.

After a short wait, in came Zukki and Riho to make noodles with us.  Or rather, altogether we watched the workers from the hotel show us how to make the noodles (or rather everyone tried to look up towards the Year 1 pair instead of watch what was going on) and then Riho and Zukki stayed up on their platform at the front (I was the second row of mats back) and we all set to work on the noodles.  The one girl in our group didn't really help much, but the other four of us worked hard on the noodles, looking up at the girls when we traded off duties.  We figured that we had been told that the quickest ones to finish would be able to go over to where the soup was being made and see the girls more there.  So we put our hearts into finishing our noodles, and after stepping on them and endlessly rolling them out like was required, we were finished.  Usually during FC tours, the girls will come and walk around the room at events like this.  They will make comments and perhaps even directly help you out, yet this time they never left their platform.  It was really disappointing, but was a theme throughout the whole tour, that the staff apparently did not think the four Kyukkies were ready to interact with the fans on their own.  *Sigh*  The cutest point during Riho/Zukki  making noodles was when Zukki held Riho on her back and danced around on the dough, damn is that girl strong.

Noodles finished, we headed over to the cafeteria (or rather a tent set up as a cafeteria outside) and took our places at the designated table (half the group had been noodles, half soup) my table being 3 tables back from where the girls were cooking but at least in the center.  Unfortunately the front two tables kept standing up and getting in the way so it was at times hard to see Eripon and Fuku-chan continue to cut up vegetables.  I wonder if this was their second time, as all the fans had already finished making the soup, so it seems like if they were still working through cutting their first time, then they were really slow.  We learned something, do not let Eripon cook.  She is really not good at it.  After tasting and cooking for a while longer, all of our noodles had finally cooked through and the miso soup had been served up.  As if we were in a school, together we all said "Itadakimasu" and dove in.

 

Very good lunch, yet the girls left us too soon and we finished off on our own.   Afterward, there was a rush to the bathroom.  Before going, I stopped to snap a picture of the board the girls had drawn to announce that days event.

And once again a 30 minute or so bus ride, and one stop at an ice cave for 20 minutes to kill time, we were parked at a shopping center outside of the small hall the last event was to be held out.  The inside of the hall was set up just like a school auditorium, with various posters of rules and class schedules for the "School" we were at posted around the room.  Our pieces of calligraphy, as well as the girls' were also hung up.

The set up, the idea, everything about the posters was nice.  I was sleepy, so I took my seat quickly (third row, right) and struggled throughout the event not to fall asleep.  Why, you may ask.  Because I had almost no sleep the night before as mentioned.  But I was determined not to fall asleep.  It was really hard though, as to be honest, the event was quite disappointing.  Past Fan Meetings I have been to have always involved a lot more interaction (games and questions in Hawaii with Musume, a cooperative relay game with Smileage) and this one had well none.  Oh sure they started off with really cute and hilarious excuses as to why they were late to "school" and that had everyone laughing.  Then they had us do formal greetings, because Fuku-chan was the Class President.  Then the sports leader (eripon) led us in simple morning exercises that were amusing because Eripon didn't seem to be quite sure of what she was doing beforehand so there was a bit of confusing when she tried to get us to do this weird pose representing the 9ki mascot (see the pamphlet below) but she didn't really have a clear image in her mind of what she wanted to do.  That was funny.  Zukki had already fulfilled her role as Lunch Girl and Riho had already been cameraman when we were eating the soup.

After the opening talk though, I was really struggling to keep my eyes open.  So when they did the question box, I eagerly listened for my question to be asked, but it wasn't.  And then after that, to be honest I wonder if I did actually sleep for part of the event, because while I remember them talking a bit more, it seemed like it was suddenly over.  I feel really bad x_x  I didn't want to sleep, and I wouldn't have if I hadn't been sick and unable to sleep the night before.  But I also feel like just having to sit for the hour did me in.  If it had been more interactive, or active like the warmups, then it wouldn't have allowed me to sleep.  I am sad that I missed seeing all I could of my Zukki and hope that they didn't notice me nodding off x_x I would feel really bad if they did.  Apparently I wasn't the only one, as I overheard other guys talking after, saying they had nodded off a bit, but they were tired from staying up drinking all night, I wasn't!  My body just hated me x_x.

Ah well, nothing I could do.  After the meeting was the much awaited handshake.  They started from the back, so i was almost last and was getting more and more nervous by the second.  I knew what I wanted to say to Zukki and that's what counts.  This is how our conversation went,and since she was first in line I was able to say all I wanted to.

Z: Thank you very much.
A: It was a lot of fun!
Z: Thank you so much for coming again!  (could it be, she remembers me from Hawaii)
A: NO problem, the soup was good wasn't it?
Z: Yeah, it was so delicious.
A: Hope to see you again soon.
Z: I'll be waiting

and then I was asked to move on.  To Riho, I mentioned how amusing I had found their skit the night before and wished her good luck.  To Eripon I mentioned how much she had matured and congratulated her on doing so well on OhaStar, wishing her luck.  To Fuku-chan (who still has the grip of death though it has loosened a little) I told her to keep doing her best and that she was always so down to earth.  She seemed really happy to see me again and I once again commented that her singing was great and I hoped she would continue to do her best with the 10th gen.

And then it was over.  It was a relatively slow handshake, not to the level of Hawaii (where you ran out of things to say) but to the point where you could really make contact with the girls, and Zukki's smile is such an amazing thing that it made me forget at once how sleepy I had been only moments before and I left the hall on a high.

Back on the bus, we were all waiting with the windows open, knowing that there would be a sendoff.  However, after driving a minute we were told to close the windows because yes there would be a sendoff like there always was but it was a bit further on and the bus was wasting heat.  A ten minute drive later, we pulled into the parking lot of Fuji Q Highland (I want to ride the new coaster so bad!) and proceeded to do a slow drive past the girls, able to open the window and wave down at them (they were right next to the bus) then to drive past once again with the girls standing on the other side of the bus.  And then we were off, headed on back roads (the highways were backed up) on the road back to Tokyo.

Two days went by so fast.  And while there were a lot of disappointments, the girls themselves did not disappoint in the least.  They have really grown up, all four of them, in the past few months.  It is hard to picture those four standing on the stage nervously at Nakano in January as being the same girls.  They have both matured and filled out into four girls with differing personalities who are able to hold their own in conversation.  I am sure they will continue to grow and change as sempai to the 10th gen members.  And even if she may be a little chubby I want my Zukki to continue to eat her fill and enjoy what she loves.  (It certainly was amusing to see her gobble down more soup when they were told they had to move on to the next area to get ready for the last event.)

I leave you with photos of all the pictures of the hand written tour pamphlet we were given at the start of the tour.

Morning Musume Fall 2011 Ai Believe 9/29 at Budoukan

 On September 29, 2011, at Nippon Budoukan, a new era of Musume history began...
But first I must apologize for how ridiculously late this post is.  Had no time at all (or energy when I did have time) outside of work to work on this.  Luckily tomorrow is a National Holiday (Sports Day) so I have a bit of breathing time.

The picture you see above was the first indication that Musume performing at Budoukan was a big deal.  They haven't performed there in a few years, and since it was my first time to be there EVER I was happy and moved to see such a large banner outside.

I was also surprised at just what Budoukan looked like.  I mean I knew it was a traditional Judo arena often used for concerts now.  And I also knew as I got off the train that it was the next stop after the station which you can get off at to walk to the Imperial Gardens.  But I still was not expecting this...

or this...

 I was stunned by the absolute beauty of it.  As someone who dislikes doing touristy things I have never been to the Imperial Gardens, but now I am thinking I might need to head over there sometime just to relax in such a peaceful atmosphere.

   Today however, Budoukan was far from peaceful.  As soon as I crossed through the gates, I saw this...

... a scarily long goods line. Ah, well that was to be expected what with it being Ai's last two concerts and at Budoukan.  Still, goods had opened up over 2 hours prior to me getting there, you would expect them to die down sometime.
Since I actually didn't have goods as my main motive for going early, I continued on around  to the front of the venue where I found my friend, Ken.  Ken was one of the friends I made on the Hawaii tour so we had planned to meet up for lunch.  He's a huge Ai-chan fan and has been ever since her debut, so he swears that he will move away from Musume though still follow Ai.  But we all know how difficult it is to graduate from Musume once you have formed a connection.  I thought I could with JJ leaving but it just didn't happen.  We both laughed at the length of the line, looked at the Ladies' Only line and I said I would wait til later (bad idea btw) and headed off to a cafe by the station for lunch.
   Over lunch we talked a lot about the future of Musume, who we thought would get in, what Konkon and Makoto might do at the concert today, as well as just talking in general about what we had been doing since the tour.  I really find it amazing that I made such great friends in Hawaii, and look forward to seeing a couple more of the guys again when we all go on the 9th gen tour.  (Not Ken, the 9th gen haven't pulled him in yet.)
  After lunch, I figured, OK now I need to go wait in line for goods.  The Ladies' Only line should be quickest right?  Yeah... not.  Unfortunately I didn't realize just how slow it was moving (only 4 workers for a ton of girls at a very large venue)  until I had already been in line for 30 minutes and you figure at that point you might as well just wait it out.  And wait I did, for 3 hours...

The funny part is that I wasn't really waiting for myself, as lately I have become the type of wota who would rather go to more events instead of spend money on goods that I have too many of anyways, I had promised a friend to get goods.  Ah well, got out of the line eventually, was able to grab a copy of the Alo! Hello 5 photobook because one of the things my friend wanted was sold out and then headed back over with my friends.  We all just laughed because it was very obvious by that point that waiting in what looked to be the longer General line would have been a LOT shorter.  Ah well, now it was just off to the bathroom for me to throw on concert T-shirt and put in contacts.
   And then we all headed inside.  After looking up my seat online, I figured from the layouts I had found that I was probably second row (since I was 10 and most rows went to 8 on the patterns I found online), but I was wrong.  I was FRONT ROW!!! At　Budoukan!!!  And not only that, I was Off-center Right.  I actually did a little dance when I saw where I was before wandering back to chat with my friends more, with them jokingly asking to trade and me firmly replying no.  We all laughed at my luck, I had been getting pretty bad tickets for the past few events but now my time had come.  \A couple of minutes before start, I said goodbye and headed up to my spot.  One note here is that front row at Budoukan is actually more like 5-6th row at any concert hall distance-wise, except that you have no one in front of you so I could see everything and everyone on stage very clearly.

The Concert
    As anyone who has looked at the setlist (easily google findable) can see this was very much an Ai-centered concert tour.  She talked a lot on radio shows she went on about how much input she had; everything from set list decisions to costume decisions.  And from the first show's recording that I listened to, I was impressed.
   They started off with Mr. Moonlight.  Minus Yossi this song hasn't been done too often, but I figured they would still go with two male characters; perhaps Ai and Risa.  Instead, they chose to have it set up as a ballroom dance with only Ai as the sought after male lead.

Hot, that is really all you can say. I mean sure the all-white dresses are just a bit too frilly (at least when you are front row, they are SUPER frilly) but they look great in motion and all of the girls played up their roles of being in love with Prince Ai to the max. 
   After the opening VTR they came out and performed in the Kare to Issho Ni outfits.  One thing noticed is that they don't seem to perform in the Kono Chikyu outfits very often.  Maybe they are afraid of shiny bangles flying everywhere.  I dunno.  The two Double A songs go together really well so they are a great pair to see.  After that, arriving on stage to the sound of Kono Chikyuu (Tsunku version) in the backround, Tsunku announced the four winners.  I am sure everyone has seen them, but here is a picture of all four.  I love all of them and am sure they will do great.  If I had to pick a favorite I would pick Haruka just because she is so adorable and I love her husky voice.

It was hilarious watching Zukki during the announcement.  Her and the rest of the kyukkies were flipping out and jumping around like idiots when everyone was announced.  Zukki went especially crazy and started jumping around when Haruka was announced.  It was adorable.  Clearly the girls really had been watching Hello Pro Time and cheering on their favorites.  I have no problem with the girls' ages myself because it really does seem like an 11-12 year old now is so much different then ten years ago when I was that age.  My 10 year　old students are probably more mature than most 15-16 year olds when I was in high school.  But the ages did make for funny responses from the four older members on stage.  I mean 2 of the girls were born the year Love Machine came out.  Wow, just really shows Musume's history.
   In the concert they performed several of the new album songs, varying day to day.  The ones I saw were "My Way Joshikou Hanamichi", a great upbeat and powerful song that really gets the crowd going.  I love the rhythm and the girls seem to have a great time performing it.  "Kono ai wo kasanete" a great ballad for two of the strongest singers, though Gaki's voice is actually quite unique and not perfect like people presume, it does match her singing style and fits this moving ballad.  "Give me Love" I like this song because it is somewhere in the middle between being a slow song and an upbeat pop song.  A good filler for concerts though it really needs to be matched to the songs around it to sound best.  "Jounetsu no Kiss wo hitotsu" a great R&B number in my mind.  AixGakixReina may be overused in this concert but they are definitely good at what they do.  Oh wait, checking now it seems this is not a new song but was on Platinum 9 Disco, did sound familiar.  Oh well, love the name and sounded great.
   "OK Yeah!" another great album song that provides a high tension and fun feeling.  And I love the parapara frogger sounding background music.  "Suki da na kimi ga" I never would have thought to pair Sayumi and Mizuki but they actually work really well together."  I don't think "Silver no udedoke" was performed, well actually I do as I remember hearing it but it doesn't seem to be on the set list for the time I went so maybe I am just imagining it x_x  Not sure.  I know I at least heard a radio rip and enjoyed it.
   The other songs performed, such as Songs and Take Off is Now ~ Breakin Out and Bravo, were again numbers that I am sure Ai picked to allow the current Musume a chance to show off how powerful they are.  All the dances looked well, though of course there were times when you noticed one girl being a little off from the others.  But overall there was no time to not enjoy the concert (especially being front row) and it was over almost as soon as it began. 
   Two highlights: the reunion of the 5th gen and the last MC.  Everyone was looking forward to seeing Konkon and Makoto and we weren't disappointed.  Between Ai teasing Konkon for talking "too much like an announcer" and Makoto stumbling over her Japanese just like she always has, it felt as if the four had never been separated.  And though they originally sat down for Suki na Sempai, in the end they stood up and hummed along with Ai and Gaki during the last chorus. 
   As for the last MC, the reason I picked it because it was very obvious they were getting dangerously close to 9pm.  Why is that such a big deal you ask?  Because anyone under 18 MUST be finished working by 9pm, which in an idol's case means they must at least be off stage.  They got away with it last year at JunLinEri grad with Aika (it was almost 10 when they finished) because she was 17 (though Tsunku and staff probably did get a talking to) but with an 11 year old as the youngest member on stage (the 10th gen joined Musume on stage for the last MC and they performed Tomo together) they couldn't let it hit 9.  So instead of the normal paced thanking the audience, commenting on the day, etc.  It was super high speed, must get everything out as quickly as possible last message.  And it was very obvious they were being told to do so in their earpieces because a couple of the new members slowed down a bit but then sped up halfway through.  They ended up finishing Tomo and leaving the stage at about 8:57, so yep they cut it really close. 
   I like how Tsunku does things now, not letting the current members know who or how many winners there are until they come on stage.  That sort of surprise makes for really good reactions, always good for the audience.

In closing, Ai may be gone, but Musume will live on.  Every day they grow and change and I will keep following them until the end.

Although there may be a post beforehand, my next definite report will be on the 9th Gen Bus Tour coming up the first weekend of November.  So, now I leave you with a picture of all of Musume backstage after the show, including the new members.

Smileage Concert Tour 2011 Fall ~Gyakushuu no Cho Miniskirt~ Shibuya 9/18

So today was the day that I would get to see just what the new Smileage was turning out to be.  With tickets in hand, boyfriend and I set out in the morning at 9am in order to get a chance to meet the new members.  When we arrived at about 9:45 there was quite a line waiting to handshakes with the new members.  

 

Well, no rush so we got our tickets out, ready to be stamped upon entry (as well as the back of our hands) to show that you had already participated in the handshake.  The handshake was surprisingly slow, too slow almost.  We came into it expecting it to be the usual release event style of light-speed line movement but when we actually got up to them, it was so slow that you ran out of things to say.  All four of the girls are adorable and very polite.  To Rinapu and Kanana I just said to do their bests today, added a bit more about how I was looking forward to it to Akari and then the kicker came when I made Meimi squeal.  How, you may ask?  I told her I had gone to the Shugo Chara musical.  She seemed really pleased at that, and I must say as much as Kanon keeps telling people to not Oshihen (change favorites) it is hard not to with how adorable and sweet Meimi is. But don't worry Kanon you are my number one in Smileage.  The new members made a great first impression and left me feeling happy and giddy as we headed to a coffee shop for breakfast.

The Concert

The set list can easily be found online so I won't post that here, but will post my overall thoughts.  

First off, this is probably the best Hello!Project concert I have been to in a long time, and that's saying a lot since my Number 1 group is Morning Musume.  After the fail that was the last Buono concert due to completely inept sound guys, well it was refreshing to go to a hall concert.  And to top it off CC Lemon has to be one of the most well-ventilated halls I have been to, you barely sweated even dancing throughout the whole concert.  Although the music was a bit too loud for the first and last songs, the rest of the time the balance was perfect and besides Dawa's mic cutting out for one phrase, none of the girls missed any lines.

Things that made this concert great: 

• The setlist: a great mix of all the Smileage singles and most (if not all) album songs.  Since they did most songs, you can't say it was the songs they picked that made it great, rather it was the order.  Started with Tachiagirl - Otona ni Naru, a great mix of the new and the older to kick the fans into full drive.  Then after introductions they went into sets of two songs each featuring the 3 main members and 1 sub member.  Then a perfect set of songs by the sub-members only: Ama no Jaku and Yume Miru 15 to represent Smileage's beginnings.  Then another set of main + sub member.  Finished off with two songs with all members, then the encore of the coupling to Tachiagirl (love it, perfect for all the fall festivals, and so pervy to think of a Smileage Rice Bowl Meal) and finally Suki-chan.  Just... you couldn't ask for a more perfect arrangement.

• As I mentioned previously, the arrangement of members.  The 3 +1 format worked well at showing off each sub-member without overshadowing the main members.  Also, as one sub member left from one side of the stage, the next member came on from the opposite side.  If I can say one thing about AKB that I like, it was that they always have smooth song transitions and I am glad to see it used in a HaroPro concert. 

• The surprise announcement made in a letter written by Tsunku and read by Goro (that guy who has narrated at several of Smileage's events)  that the sub-members would indeed be put through the same trial as the main members of having to gather smiles.  Except, there is one major catch.  People do not merely submit the smiles.  No no.  The sub-members have to take pictures of people, with the random person's cell phone, and then get said random-person to upload that picture to his/her blog or twitter and post that they have done to using the Smileage twitter tag.  So these girls have to summon all their courage and approach strangers on the street with what will probably sound like the sketchiest scheme ever.  And this will be a major factor in Tsunku's decision of who if any become full members (TBA at October 16 release event).  Boyfriend and I plan to lurk around Shibuya to see if they area actually taking advantage of the holiday tomorrow (the 19th) in the most obvious area.

What can I say, it was just a great concert and makes me confident in all of the sub-members.  Each girl has great personality, and while Meimi is the obvious fit for Smileage's image, the other three also have something important to offer.  All 7 girls seemed to interact well, and yes I know of course they will they are performing, you could see genuine chemistry forming through their interactions.  I am hoping I can make it into the release event and see history in the making.

And I leave you with a picture of my goods, didn't buy much as I am saving for the 9th gen FC tour in 2 months time.