Kanjani8 - Shizuoka, 27/7/07
Jul. 28th, 2007 05:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
diamondlifeWhat a portentuous date, all those sevens! (...Is portentuous even a word? If not, it is now. :3) Yes, yesterday I went from Tokyo to a little place called Aino in Shizuoka-ken, where the Ecopa Arena is,
First mistake: forgot to trade in rail pass voucher so forked out Y14000 for train tickets. -_-
Second "mistake": less a mistake, more just a worrying moment when the girl I was buying my ticket from wasn't there at the time we'd agreed. O.O Luckily she turned up about 20 minutes late! She was from Singapore so kind of blended in... unlike me, the only gaijin in the village. -_- People were looking, it does make you a little paranoid that someone's going to come up and escort you off the premises. XD
Third mistake: not eating anything except half a grapefruit all day, hence having to queue for literally an hour for a bottle of Sprite and some crisps so I didn't collapse on some poor little Japanese girl in the row in front. ^^'
Fourth mistake: letting them get my camera. (At least I remembered to get it back - they set up a big bring-and-buy sort of stand in the middle of the forecourt outside the venue! I was confused to say the least, lol, but camera and me were reunited and that's what counts. :3)
...But anyway, none of that matters, cos I was seeing Kanjani8, and that says it all!! It has to be said, my seat wasn't great - of course, I didn't expect to get as good as Niigata again, but this time I was pretty much in a corner, pretty near the back - the only screen I could see was through the back. >.<;; Still, it wasn't that far from one of the runways, as the venue wasn't enormous - nowhere was *that* far away. The girl I bought my ticket told me she'd sold the others to some Americans, but it turned out they were British, which was great! :D I love meeting other British fans, it's so rare, especially in JE fandom!
Before the con started, the music playing was Red Hot Chilli Peppers. (On the way out, it was Jack Johnson. XD Who likes him, boys? Not that he's not hip, cos he is, surprisingly so, but... a bit different! XD) Oh, and I saw 7 girls with orange uchiwas with stars on, like Dragonballs, which I thought was cute. ☆
The following is less a report, more just my impressions - I mean, everyone knows the songs and routines, everyone knows the 8Ranger story by now, so I'm just going to say what stood out to me.
Namely, Subaru. XD Haha, he actually didn't look that hot at all - his hair was like wet-look, which isn't nice on anyone, and he had it down so we could see the new length! Everyone else looked amazing - Ohkura was hot beyond belief, Maru looked really good (and his hair was all fluffy), and Yasu, of course, was utterly cute - his new haircut really suits him, looks less mullety. XD Ryo was looking good too, nice that black is back... Yoko and Hina looked as normal, but good-normal, lol. Subaru was the only one not looking his best, lol, but he sang so well it didn't matter at all!
I was very lucky, I got to see the other set of solos to the ones I saw in Niigata! They were all inch-perfect - Stereo was fantastic live, so much better than on the CD, somehow! They really should give Ohkura more singing to do, because he was perfect singing Mamoritai, so smooth! Hina seemed sliiiightly off all the way through Forward, lol, but I love that song and think it's underrated, so I really enjoyed it anyway.
But oh my lord. Ruwa. It was separate from the other solos, came further through the con, but honestly, I have never felt that way about live music before - I was watching the screen when he sings the improvised bits and I had to take a deep breath, it was so amazing and powerful! I'm trying to put this in actual words, but in my head I just want to keymash, I can't express in words how awesome it was! XD He sang fantastically throughout, it was so amazing and gratifying!
It's weird how songs I don't really listen to on record I find myself enjoying a lot more live - like Explosion, Eden, Kanashii Koi and Itsuka Mata. Eden was, again, perfect, but Itsuka Mata started a bit wobbly - Ryo messed it up a bit, then said something about it very cutely before he sang Heavenly Psycho for his singalong bit. :D It was so nice to hear that live, with 10,000 girls singing along! ☆
The MC didn't seem to have any racy stories this time, sadly - they talked about flying, which Ohkura hates (as seen in his Jweb - I was so proud I understood that much! XD). Of course, Yoko talked most of the time, but Ohkura did a fair bit. He may just achieve his ambition of becoming the 3rd least interesting member of K8!
8Ranger was very funny, actually, though I didn't understand large chunks of the ending. And there are some bits that were funny, but just... defy description, lol. In Niigata it was Yellow who was going out with the mannequin, but this time it was Blue, and he was so unbelievably heart-meltingly cute that if I was the mannequin I'd've dumped the other guy right away! XD At the beginning, Yellow and Red did the confessions. Yellow went on and on for ages, finally saying his dream was to marry you and have a family and etc, he was very cute. Red also went on for a while, really haltingly and unemotional sort of, like "I like you but if you don't like me then please don't worry, I'm sorry to have bothered you" type of thing, lol.
Red really didn't want to go after Blue when all the Rangers had separated. He took so long over it that when he'd finally gone, and Nasu went over to Green, Green jumped up from where he'd been leaning on the railing and said "I'm not asleep!" ♥
At the end of the skit, after they've disposed of the mannequin, Yellow hit Blue, but they had a nice cuddle and made friends again. Then Yellow hit Nasu, and Nasu hit him right back and knocked him over. XD Then Nasu had to apologise to everyone for smacking them, and he said thank you's to everyone, and then he and Black sang the start of Arigatou. There was loads of other stuff that happened at the end of 8Ranger, but because I didn't really understand what was being said I've forgotten a lot. I know when Blue finished making an emotional speech the others started laughing (because he'd used an incongruous Kansai word?). Lots of little stuff like that.
8Ranger was also the source of most of the gay in this show! Overall it wasn't very gay at all (maybe they're getting a bit sick of being together so much? XD Good luck for August, boys~!), but of course Red was glued to Orange for most of 8Ranger, and when they were all watching Blue do his confession, he sat Orange in his lap, then switched over so he was in Orange's lap. They were whispering cutely to each other. Then later, Red was hugging Yellow and Yellow was trying to get away, lol. When Black did his "confession" to Blue, he was right up in his face. Then!! When Red was singing the song to Blue to tell him how much everyone cares about him, he pecked him on the cheek twice. Well, I couldn't see if he actually connected, but he was certainly close enough and he did a very cute kissy sound. :D
The only other notable gay moments were, again, Subaru and Maru at the end of Sukiyanen Osaka, and then a very nice little moment during Futari no Namida Ame, where Subaru and Ryo pressed their shoulders up against each other, and Subaru ran his hand down Ryo's side. It was brief, but hot. :9 (...And I'm *almost* certain it was Ryo. XD The stage was a bit far away!)
The rock segment towards the end was, of course, my favourite bit! Ohkura did a bit of a drum solo and got us all clapping - he was really into it, it was cool! Then Maru came out and messed it up a bit. XD Then there was the pixie! They played for a bit and it was super cool, then everyone else gradually arrived and they did Do You Agree (fantastic as ever, with plenty of Subaru screaming and jumping up and down and FIRE - I could feel it even where I was!), then Goujou ni GO! That was really awesome to hear, cos I really like that song, and I think Subaru does too - he was doing an entertaining monkey dance down the front!
For the encore, they did Mugendai and ZOM, neither of which anyone really made much effort to sing, lol. They kept sort of realising "...Oh yeah, someone's meant to be doing something here..." and having a go, but they mainly just wandered around and waved. Yasu had a video camera! When he came down near us I waved as much as I could. :D He and Subaru passed each other down in front of where I was, and Subaru made a show of being all "Get that thing out of my face!". Maru was being so nice too! He came up the steps and was shaking hands and being lovely. ♥ Finally, when Yoko was thanking everyone at the end, he had a big piece of glitter stuck right between his eyebrows - everyone in the audience was giggling, I bet he wondered why.
Anything else... Hmm, the only other things I have noted down are that everyone did their spoken bits for Kanfuu Fighting in cute squeaky voices, though I'm not sure it was everyone, but defintely the first three and maybe others, I can't remember! Oh, then I got back to Tokyo after 11 and ate a pizza and drank some wine, and it only cost Y1500 and it was an AMAZING pizza. :9 Which is important! But I missed the last train to Asakusa and had to get a taxi from Ueno. I had some great opportunities to talk to people, but I was just *too* tired, I had to genuinely skip that time!
This report doesn't feel like a report because I've tried to do it sort of thematically rather than sequentially, but I hope you enjoyed it anyway! :D Suffice it to say, I've been grinning like a maniac ever since, and I can't *wait* for next week at Tokyo Dome!!! :D :D :D
Haha, this has taken me like 2 hours. XD
First mistake: forgot to trade in rail pass voucher so forked out Y14000 for train tickets. -_-
Second "mistake": less a mistake, more just a worrying moment when the girl I was buying my ticket from wasn't there at the time we'd agreed. O.O Luckily she turned up about 20 minutes late! She was from Singapore so kind of blended in... unlike me, the only gaijin in the village. -_- People were looking, it does make you a little paranoid that someone's going to come up and escort you off the premises. XD
Third mistake: not eating anything except half a grapefruit all day, hence having to queue for literally an hour for a bottle of Sprite and some crisps so I didn't collapse on some poor little Japanese girl in the row in front. ^^'
Fourth mistake: letting them get my camera. (At least I remembered to get it back - they set up a big bring-and-buy sort of stand in the middle of the forecourt outside the venue! I was confused to say the least, lol, but camera and me were reunited and that's what counts. :3)
...But anyway, none of that matters, cos I was seeing Kanjani8, and that says it all!! It has to be said, my seat wasn't great - of course, I didn't expect to get as good as Niigata again, but this time I was pretty much in a corner, pretty near the back - the only screen I could see was through the back. >.<;; Still, it wasn't that far from one of the runways, as the venue wasn't enormous - nowhere was *that* far away. The girl I bought my ticket told me she'd sold the others to some Americans, but it turned out they were British, which was great! :D I love meeting other British fans, it's so rare, especially in JE fandom!
Before the con started, the music playing was Red Hot Chilli Peppers. (On the way out, it was Jack Johnson. XD Who likes him, boys? Not that he's not hip, cos he is, surprisingly so, but... a bit different! XD) Oh, and I saw 7 girls with orange uchiwas with stars on, like Dragonballs, which I thought was cute. ☆
The following is less a report, more just my impressions - I mean, everyone knows the songs and routines, everyone knows the 8Ranger story by now, so I'm just going to say what stood out to me.
Namely, Subaru. XD Haha, he actually didn't look that hot at all - his hair was like wet-look, which isn't nice on anyone, and he had it down so we could see the new length! Everyone else looked amazing - Ohkura was hot beyond belief, Maru looked really good (and his hair was all fluffy), and Yasu, of course, was utterly cute - his new haircut really suits him, looks less mullety. XD Ryo was looking good too, nice that black is back... Yoko and Hina looked as normal, but good-normal, lol. Subaru was the only one not looking his best, lol, but he sang so well it didn't matter at all!
I was very lucky, I got to see the other set of solos to the ones I saw in Niigata! They were all inch-perfect - Stereo was fantastic live, so much better than on the CD, somehow! They really should give Ohkura more singing to do, because he was perfect singing Mamoritai, so smooth! Hina seemed sliiiightly off all the way through Forward, lol, but I love that song and think it's underrated, so I really enjoyed it anyway.
But oh my lord. Ruwa. It was separate from the other solos, came further through the con, but honestly, I have never felt that way about live music before - I was watching the screen when he sings the improvised bits and I had to take a deep breath, it was so amazing and powerful! I'm trying to put this in actual words, but in my head I just want to keymash, I can't express in words how awesome it was! XD He sang fantastically throughout, it was so amazing and gratifying!
It's weird how songs I don't really listen to on record I find myself enjoying a lot more live - like Explosion, Eden, Kanashii Koi and Itsuka Mata. Eden was, again, perfect, but Itsuka Mata started a bit wobbly - Ryo messed it up a bit, then said something about it very cutely before he sang Heavenly Psycho for his singalong bit. :D It was so nice to hear that live, with 10,000 girls singing along! ☆
The MC didn't seem to have any racy stories this time, sadly - they talked about flying, which Ohkura hates (as seen in his Jweb - I was so proud I understood that much! XD). Of course, Yoko talked most of the time, but Ohkura did a fair bit. He may just achieve his ambition of becoming the 3rd least interesting member of K8!
8Ranger was very funny, actually, though I didn't understand large chunks of the ending. And there are some bits that were funny, but just... defy description, lol. In Niigata it was Yellow who was going out with the mannequin, but this time it was Blue, and he was so unbelievably heart-meltingly cute that if I was the mannequin I'd've dumped the other guy right away! XD At the beginning, Yellow and Red did the confessions. Yellow went on and on for ages, finally saying his dream was to marry you and have a family and etc, he was very cute. Red also went on for a while, really haltingly and unemotional sort of, like "I like you but if you don't like me then please don't worry, I'm sorry to have bothered you" type of thing, lol.
Red really didn't want to go after Blue when all the Rangers had separated. He took so long over it that when he'd finally gone, and Nasu went over to Green, Green jumped up from where he'd been leaning on the railing and said "I'm not asleep!" ♥
At the end of the skit, after they've disposed of the mannequin, Yellow hit Blue, but they had a nice cuddle and made friends again. Then Yellow hit Nasu, and Nasu hit him right back and knocked him over. XD Then Nasu had to apologise to everyone for smacking them, and he said thank you's to everyone, and then he and Black sang the start of Arigatou. There was loads of other stuff that happened at the end of 8Ranger, but because I didn't really understand what was being said I've forgotten a lot. I know when Blue finished making an emotional speech the others started laughing (because he'd used an incongruous Kansai word?). Lots of little stuff like that.
8Ranger was also the source of most of the gay in this show! Overall it wasn't very gay at all (maybe they're getting a bit sick of being together so much? XD Good luck for August, boys~!), but of course Red was glued to Orange for most of 8Ranger, and when they were all watching Blue do his confession, he sat Orange in his lap, then switched over so he was in Orange's lap. They were whispering cutely to each other. Then later, Red was hugging Yellow and Yellow was trying to get away, lol. When Black did his "confession" to Blue, he was right up in his face. Then!! When Red was singing the song to Blue to tell him how much everyone cares about him, he pecked him on the cheek twice. Well, I couldn't see if he actually connected, but he was certainly close enough and he did a very cute kissy sound. :D
The only other notable gay moments were, again, Subaru and Maru at the end of Sukiyanen Osaka, and then a very nice little moment during Futari no Namida Ame, where Subaru and Ryo pressed their shoulders up against each other, and Subaru ran his hand down Ryo's side. It was brief, but hot. :9 (...And I'm *almost* certain it was Ryo. XD The stage was a bit far away!)
The rock segment towards the end was, of course, my favourite bit! Ohkura did a bit of a drum solo and got us all clapping - he was really into it, it was cool! Then Maru came out and messed it up a bit. XD Then there was the pixie! They played for a bit and it was super cool, then everyone else gradually arrived and they did Do You Agree (fantastic as ever, with plenty of Subaru screaming and jumping up and down and FIRE - I could feel it even where I was!), then Goujou ni GO! That was really awesome to hear, cos I really like that song, and I think Subaru does too - he was doing an entertaining monkey dance down the front!
For the encore, they did Mugendai and ZOM, neither of which anyone really made much effort to sing, lol. They kept sort of realising "...Oh yeah, someone's meant to be doing something here..." and having a go, but they mainly just wandered around and waved. Yasu had a video camera! When he came down near us I waved as much as I could. :D He and Subaru passed each other down in front of where I was, and Subaru made a show of being all "Get that thing out of my face!". Maru was being so nice too! He came up the steps and was shaking hands and being lovely. ♥ Finally, when Yoko was thanking everyone at the end, he had a big piece of glitter stuck right between his eyebrows - everyone in the audience was giggling, I bet he wondered why.
Anything else... Hmm, the only other things I have noted down are that everyone did their spoken bits for Kanfuu Fighting in cute squeaky voices, though I'm not sure it was everyone, but defintely the first three and maybe others, I can't remember! Oh, then I got back to Tokyo after 11 and ate a pizza and drank some wine, and it only cost Y1500 and it was an AMAZING pizza. :9 Which is important! But I missed the last train to Asakusa and had to get a taxi from Ueno. I had some great opportunities to talk to people, but I was just *too* tired, I had to genuinely skip that time!
This report doesn't feel like a report because I've tried to do it sort of thematically rather than sequentially, but I hope you enjoyed it anyway! :D Suffice it to say, I've been grinning like a maniac ever since, and I can't *wait* for next week at Tokyo Dome!!! :D :D :D
Haha, this has taken me like 2 hours. XD
