2008/07/01 :: Happy *pnish* Birthday 7th
*pnish* celebrated their 7th birthday (or as Eiji put it--they're finally in elementary school!) yesterday, July 1st, in Shibuya O-East, Tokyo, Japan, with 1300 of their nearest and dearest friends, fans, and family members, and it was, quite honestly, the BEST SHOW I HAVE EVER BEEN TO.
HP7 was akin to seeing the best parts of every awesome *pnish* show since they started, every Box, every Panic _____, every On, and even Samurai Mode. Dancing, crack skits, talk segments, and no "real" guests but GUESTS JUST THE SAME. It was everything great and awesome about *pnish* crammed into a tiny live house and the temperature cranked up to 90 F XD;;;; BUT I STILL HAD AN AWESOME TIME.
The show was set to start at 7PM, so our group (consisting of rensahannou, hamikiya, lavenderlilly, and her sister + me) met up at Shibuya station around 5:30 and walked to the theater, where we met katsu. We'd meant to line up early for goods...and apparently so did the other 1000+ girls XD We wound up waiting in the mass of humanity (I have seriously never seen a less organized event, wow @___@) to be let in.
I'd gotten my ticket with Japanese friends and landed a decently low number (the 1300 people are let in in waves, A and B, with the lowest number going first--so A-1, A-2 ... A-700, A-701...B-1, B-2, etc) at A-198, and when I got into the room itself, I worked my way as far forward as I could and wound up near the left side, about three people back from the stage. Unfortunately, I'm about 5 feet tall, and everyone else...was taller. So I worked some weaving magic the whole show trying to see around the girls in front of me XD IT WAS WORTH IT, THOUGH. I also bought some goods before going in:
T-shirt, towel, badge, bag (not pictured: complimentary pic, wristband, and pamphlet, cause I was too lazy to take a pic 8D)
At first, as the room filled, it looked like there was no one on the second floor, and I wondered if anyone would be sitting up there--only to realize that was where all the kanakeisha were sitting! Kankeisha are literally "related people"--the friends and family of the performers, invited to see the show. Lucky them, they didn't have to stand down in the huge, sweltering crowd XD
There were two large screens on either side of the stage, but they actually weren't used all that often. We waited about 45 minutes after finally getting inside for the show to start...and once it did, I NEVER WANTED IT TO STOP XD
The lights went down, and a huge screen came down, with a light behind it casting a shadow on it. Each member struck a pose in front of the light, hidden by the screen, while their image flashed on the two huge screens on either side of the stage, and then the screen fell away, and the Samurai Mode opening theme music started up, with the guys doing the AWESOME opening dance--but in completely modern costumes that looked like a blend of their On5 opening and Secret Box costumes *_______*
Each dance really segued nicely into the next (sasuga Tuti!), and after this opening they came hard and fast:
1) Samurai Mode OP
2) On5 OP
3) On5 schoolgirl dance
4) ?? <--I wasn't sure where this was from! Ack!
5) One from the older Ons involving Daiki cartwheeling across Eiji's crotch XD
6) We Will Rock You
7) On4 Suit Dance (the sexy one with them in the colored suits + hats)
8) On6 tight black vest dance *____* <--I actually requested the On5 OP, so I was glad it got in, but THIS DANCE WAS SO HOT TOO. It was totally my second choice :x Tuti was dancing RIGHT in front of our section at this point, and sdiufhsiduhflsidfls holy faaaark was it hot.
After this workout, the guys took a chance to actually formally open the show XD They thanked everyone for coming, and introduced themselves--yes, we did get a nice, loud, "HI TUTI DESU~!"
Since it was their birthday, they decided to kick things off with a nice round of "Happy Birthday" and a little cake that we all helped blow out together <33333
They all then exited the stage, but after another few minutes, a familiar sound echoed over the speakers: a motorcycle engine revving, just like in the On5 opening dance *____* We all looked around, wondering if they were REALLY going to come out on those bikes again....when Tuti came out.............
...in a bathrobe, riding Moriyama-san-gou (Daiki's new little blue bike 8D).The whole crowd was in stitches, and Tuti calmly set up the bike, dismounted, and came to say hi to everyone. He gestured to the bike and went, "Do you all know this bike's name?" and everyone shouted back, "MORIYAMA-SAN-GOU!!" He nodded and kind of regarded the bike...then shook his head saying, "...I really don't get them sometimes..." <--"them" meaning Eiji and Daiki, if you missed the whole exchange XD
He continued, welcoming everyone to his lovely "home"--meaning Shibuya O-East XDDD He was planning on having a party here, inviting lots of old, unremarkable characters from past *pnish* shows. He wandered around the stage, thanking everyone for coming as well, and asked random audience members where they were from. The first girl he pointed to was from a part of Tokyo XD;;; (so she hadn't come very far at all) He then wandered towards my side, and pointed around in front of me, asking where they were from. The girl in front of me pointed to herself questioning if he meant her, and said Shizuoka (again, not too far from Tokyo). He nodded, then shifted his pointing just to behind her.
At me. He asked again where I'd come from........and if I'd been in my right mind and not, "OH MY GOD TUTI'S TALKING TO ME IN FRONT OF HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE. AGAIN." I might've said "September," but I just feebly blurted out "America" and this seemed to satisfy him XD Because then he went around talking about how amazing it was people came from Tokyo to Shizuoka to all the way from America to see the showhis party XDDDDD Me: "skdfhsidufhsidfsfs uhuhhhhhh........"
At this, he left the stage, and on wandered...................EIKO (On5, Eiji's schoolgirl character). And then, Nocchi (On5, Wasshi's schoolgirl character). Much slashiness was had on the part of the two, angst over whether or not Nocchi had a boyfriend, angst over Eiko possibly giving *pnish* Nocchi's stomach-warmer as a present, and Eiko ran off in a fit.
Unsure of what to make of this, Nocchi worried "she'd" ruined their relationship..............when on walked SAIGAAAAA s,ldufhsldiufhsliufs (Daiki's character from Samurai Mode *______*) As cool as ever, he supposed what was wrong with Nocchi right away (being "Saiga of the Foresight" and all :P), but scared her off showing off his flower-shooting gun XD;;;
While Saiga tried to get over scaring her off, someone else rolled onto the stage...or rather, drove? DORAEMON!TUTI 8DDDDDD A character we hadn't seen since the earlier Ons, Tuti was still SPOT ON as Dora XDDDDDD We even got a, "NYAA NO!" Saiga and Doraemon bantered back and forth a bit, with Tuti showing off some ballet moves as Dora for some strange reason I couldn't hear XD;;;
Saiga eventually left, only to be replaced by none other than ZANKIMARU! (Eiji's Monster Box character) Being Zankimaru (well, being an Eiji character period XD) he of course demanded attention. But when Doraemon didn't appear to know who he was, he launched into his spiel:
Zankimaru: "Well unplug your ears and listen closely--!"
Dora: "................I have no ears." *points to head as proof* "See? No ears."
Zankimaru: ".....well.......then.........FEEL THE ATMOSPHERE AROUND YOU AND PAY CLOSE ATTENTION!"
Doraemon eventually got tired and left, and on walked Haru (Wasshi's character from Secret Box) messing with his cellphone, which proceeded to give Zankimaru absolute fits. The two argue and Haru apologizes. They talk for a little bit (he doesn't know Zankimaru, of course), and asks Zankimaru to do something interesting--so he proceeds to sing XD
After this lovely rendering, yet another character came onto the stage--the great Amanai Rin (Daiki's character from Treasure/Wonder Box)!! ...who proceeded to sing as well (this time Makenaide! from Wonder Box)! Haru was having no more of these horrible songs, and so he then smacked him on the head with some slippers he had for some reason XD
At this, Zankimaru and Rin began to size each other up, each remarking how horribly un-cool the other's costume was. Rin asked who the hell this other guy was anyways, since he knew Haru already, and Zankimaru threw another fit that no one knew him. He and Rin then began to bicker back and forth about who was the more popular character until Haru, ever the calm mediator, decided they'd have a contest to see whom the AUDIENCE thought was the best. In the end, it wound up being Haru as the most popular (by way of getting the loudest applause), then Rin, then Zankimaru (I think this contest was rigged XDDDD).
Just then, the lights dimmed, and a voice said, "AREN'T YOU FORGETTING SOMEONE??" and out danced RA-RA-RA-RANDY in that AWESOMELY GAY entrance dance from Wonder Box!! The crowd went WILD XDDDD Personally, this was probably the one I was MOST happy about--because I'd been EXCEEDINGLY sad to see that Secret Box wasn't going to be another in the Treasure/Wonder series and thus I'd never get to see Randy on stage D:
Randy chided them all on forgetting him, introducing himself in classic Randy fashion XD He then pressed the others on which show he was from, trying to get them to say Wonder Box, but they just kept coming up with random things that were close to it--Zankimaru suggested Karaoke Box, while Rin suggested X-Box XDDDDD
They then realized that with this lineup, they had all the leads of the Box series plays present! Zankimaru for Monster Box, Rin for Treasure Box, Haru for Secret Box, and Randy for...well, Randy technically wasn't the lead for Wonder Box, they remembered. Rin (well, Daiki breaking character) stepped forward and looked around and said, "Actually the lead should be here I think...maybe up in the second floor seats?" and everyone immediately turned around to see one of the guests standing up and waving wildly--SANO MIZUKI!! Anikiiiii ;_;
Rin made the offhand comment that he'd upgraded his armor and goggles, and now they could sense busaiku-ness (I think we'd loosely translate this as FAIL XDDDDD it technically means "clumsiness, plainness"), and the others asked for a demonstration--so he turned them on, adjusted them, and set them to track the source of the most FAIL in their group...landing soundly on Randy 8DDDDDD (I disagree with this! XD)
Randy turned the talk now to why they were all gathered--a party celebrating *pnish*'s 7th birthday--and suggested putting together some kind of present for the group. He remarked that he'd recently been to see this show a couple of them were in, Sono Tettou ni Otoko-tachi wa Iru to Iu, and the others said they'd seen it as well, so Randy suggested they do their own version of the Comic Men's Show dance (a dance performed by the four main characters in Tettou). Of course Tuti and Wasshi, having been in the show themselves, performed it fine, but Daiki and Eiji kind of failed big time, and at the end of it, the lights went down and a spotlight came on Haru as he shouted, "Mieta!" ("I saw it!"--what his character would say in Secret Box after having a vision of the future). Having seen how badly them performing the CMS dance would turn out, he quickly convinced them all they should find another present.
SO! They decided instead to perform a Box Series Dance--a compilation of all the dances from the Box series shows!! Back to back they danced to the opening themes of Secret, Treasure/Wonder, and Monster Box! At one point while Zankimaru was dancing at the front of the stage, Rin ran up behind him, STUCK HIS HEAD BETWEEN ZANKIMARU'S LEGS, and TRIED to lift Zankimaru up on his shoulders using the strength from his armor....but kind of failed XD I think it was just an excuse for Daiki to stick his head between Eiji's legs personally
At this, they all left the stage, and after a moment Daiki and Wasshi came back on and started chatting. Daiki complained that his Rin armor was REALLY hard to dance in cause it was so heavy. They then talked about the dance itself; they'd actually wanted to do a Box dance since the last Happy Pani, to just combine them all that way, but they knew they were going to have Secret Box coming up in another few months, so they decided to put it off and do it for this year's HP7........but then Secret Box wound up not even HAVING a dance XD So it was not only unecessary that they put it off, they had to choreograph a whole section for the SB opening XDDDDD They then talked about Daiki's singing, and Daiki proudly announced he was getting better, because he was getting lessons from Eiji sk.diufchlsifhusidufhlsidfsfsd
Here, the side screens flickered on again, and Tuti's face filled them as he called out greetings to Wasshi and Daiki. They asked him where he was, because he was now changed into a bright yellow shirt and fuchsia pink newsboy cap. He announced that he was in a far-away place, and Daiki immediately suggested, "Russia?" No, Tuti responded, he was NOT IN RUSSIA, GEEZ. He was...
...UP ON THE SECOND FLOOR WITH ALL THE GUESTS. ABOUT TO INTERVIEW THEM YAAAAAY! The point of this section? For Tuti to go around and embarrass all their guests and get them to give birthday comments to *pnish* :DDDDDD Here are the guests in the order of interviewing:
--Taizou Shinya (Namikiyo in Samurai Mode)
--I Tegan (the Korean kid who was an extra in Samurai Mode, he asked if he could give his birthday comment in Korean, which he did. Then Tuti turned to the stage, where Eiji had joined Daiki and Wasshi had disappeared, and asked for an impromptu translation. Eiji said a bunch of crap that probably wasn't what the guy really said, but Tegan said it was right anyways XDDD)
--Besshi Keiichi and Kako Rion (Besshi you know, and Kako Rion was Gaku's character's brother in Secret Box)
[Here Wasshi joined Tuti on the second floor, and Eiji called Tuti's attention to the far right side, saying there were "Interesting People" over there--Nagayan, Gaku, and Mizuki]
--Oishi Kennichirou (the musical director for most of the shows)
--BBdan guys (extras from Samurai Mode)
--Iseki-kantoku aka Yotti (has directed pretty much every *pnish* show since On4 as well as working as a producer in BuriMyu, she's MY HERO. Also, she was drinking a can of beer when Tuti came around to her, and when asked if she was already drunk, she held it up and shouted, "THIS IS MY 3RD ONE TONIGHT!!" <--THIS)
--Katou Manabu aka GAKU (I DIED when Tuti finally came around to him. For everyone else, he'd asked them if they were having fun, and if they had any messages for *pnish*, but when he got to Gaku, he said, "Why the hell are you here?" XDDDD "We sent invitations to everyone else, but I distinctly remember NOT sending one to a Katou Manabu-kun, right?" Gaku wasn't about to be beaten, and responded, "I sensed that the other members really wanted me here, so I came!" to which Eiji on stage replied, "Well you can leave now," and Tuti finished with, "So, OTUKARESAMA DESHITA KATOU-SAN." <--DEAD 10,000 TIMES OVER.)
[THIS REPORT WILL NOW SEGUE INTO SHAMELESS TUTI/NAGAYAN FANGIRLING.]
I must point out that the whole time the camera was on Gaku, Nagayan--who'd kind of been hanging away from everyone before so as not to be in the shot--was bouncing around and weaving in and out behind Gaku, throwing peace signs at the camera the whole time. Unable, apparently, to resist this anymore, Tuti pushed Gaku away and made for Nagayan shouting for his attention over and over, "TAKASHI TAKASHI TAKASHI TAKASHI!!" Eiji had really meant for Gaku to be the last interviewee, but Tuti of course couldn't pass up THE BOYFRIEND.
Then--he GRABBED NAGAYAN BY THE WRIST and PULLED HIM TOWARDS HIM (since he'd kind of been off in the shadows) and WOULD NOT LET GO, turning the camera full on him XDDDDDD "IT'S NAGAYAMA TAKASHI-KUN~!!!" he introduced, and oh the SCREAMS FROM THE CROWD. Seriously, in that one moment it felt like the whole crowd, all 1300+ of us, were rooting for them to just kiss already.
Tuti finally let go of Nagayan's wrist, and Nagayan complained that he was really nervous, but Tuti just pressed, "So are you enjoying yourself today??" Nagayan responded, "I'm having a BLAST!" Tuti then regarded the crowd and commented, "Wow, everyone's looking up here at us rather than the monitors~" <--duh, boy. Everyone wants to see your ichaicha live rather than via a screen!!
Realizing all the attention was on him, Nagayan did what he does best and leaned over the railing and BLEW EVERYONE AWAY WITH AN ANNOUNCEMENT:
"I'M GONNA BE IN THE NEXT *PNISH* SHOW!!"
sdfsdfssd;fusdj;ofsjdfoisjoisjf;sdsf Was he serious? Was he kidding? Was it an announcement that he's going to have to take responsibility for later and GO THROUGH WITH?? I dunno, but all the guys were like, "...well now that you've said you HAVE to do it."
Tuti closed the interview segment with Nagayan by asking, "So, how's Moriyama-san in rehearsals?" (Eiji is currently rehearsing for his next play Every Little Thing co-starring Goumoto Naoya and Nagayan, among others), to which Nagayan replied, "He's, well...even though he's hardly ever in the rehearsal hall, he seems to be pulling his weight just fine!" XD
[/SHAMELESS TUTI/NAGAYAN FANGIRLING. WE APOLOGIZE FOR THE INCONVENIENCE]
Unable to resist ONE MORE INTERVIEW, Tuti weighed the pros and cons of going for the last one--and then it was mutually decided that so long as Mizuki's agency didn't find out (Mizuki's contracted with Johnny's Entertainment, and is strictly monitored for where he shows his face and what he talks about in interviews outside of Johnny's stuff) it was okay, so the last interview was with SANO DAIKI'S BROTHER, SANO MIZUKI!!
He gave a general congrats to the guys, saying how much fun he had during the show, and when pressed to offer some kind of advice to his little bro, all he had to say was, "...Hurry up and GET FAT!! You're making me look bad!!" XDDDDD Oh Twiggy, our Leader.
Here the members all gathered back on stage (each in awesomely neon outfits somewhat reflecting their colors, though everyone's had a bit of other colors in it too), and decided to talk about their "promises"--pacts they'd made at the previous HappyPani to complete within a year. Eiji went first, saying his had been to write more in his blog, which he'd done! Daiki apologized, saying he...didn't have any XD
Wasshi had resolved to be more limber, and tried to demonstrate his success by doing the splits on stage....only to be proven unable XD MORE FAIL!
And Tuti's promise? TO SWEAT LESS! Did he succeed? After taking off his hat and shaking his head and having drops of sweat fly off...it was a resounding NO XD (also, eew XD).
SO what about their resoluctions for the NEXT year? Well, Daiki asked to go first, because...he had a BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!
In January 2009, in Theater Sun Mall, Sano Daiki will be producing his OWN SHOW! Complete with a script written by himself (which seems to throw some doubt on whether or not he's been writing the scripts up until now, since he complained loudly that it's hard and right now really crappy XD) and the help of Kida Tsuyoshi, he invited everyone to come see it 8D *SO GOING* DAIKI-CHAAAAAAN~~~~ congrats! <33333 He also said he wanted to do more action scenes (usually the others have more action scenes than his character) and even suggested a Treasure Box saien!! <--VERY VERY YES PLEASE.
Eiji's resolution was to travel more--he suggested Fukuoka and Korea (I think this was a PERSONAL trip, and not places to go as *pnish*)
Wasshi wanted to do another TV show like NaiPani, saying he really had a good time and learned a lot, and got to see a new side to the others.
Tuti said he wanted to do more shows in big theaters like they did in Osaka (and of course everyone started shouting "AOYAMA AOYAMA!!" because it's *pnish*'s dream to one day perform in Aoyama :D)
Before they moved on to the next segment, Tuti commented about another promise Daiki had made the previous year--since Daiki had his hair bleached to a yellow/blond last year, he'd promised to dye it RED for this year...which while his hair was cut, it was definitely not red XD Daiki apologized for the "lie" XDDDDD
The next scene was more dancing, this time reaching even FURTHER back into the *pnish* vaults and pulling out this lineup:
1) Dragonball Z opening (everyone actually sang this song along with them dancing XD the audience too!)
2) The Okama Dance from On5!! (<--THIS. GOD I DIED. "Sore sore~ sore sore~!"
3) On6 dancing in the aisles song when Tuti and Eiji were in those hideous plumber outfits XD
4) HARU ICHIBAN <--slfiuhdiuhsldifhslduifs YESSSSS. "Mou sugu haaaaaru desu ne~" complete with girly dancing and lip-synching XDDD Also, it was at this that I realized Tuti had only a pink wristband on [/random TxN reference]
5) An On4 dance whose name I don't remember but involved them sitting on the edge of the stage XD
At the end of the dance segment, a bunch of balloons with the *pnish* logo on them came down, and the guys started tossing them into the crowd, letting a bunch of lucky girls go home with them. Naturally, a couple of them popped in the chaos, and the guys were all worried, "Are you okay?? You're not hurt are you??", particularly Daiki.
He then proceeded to relate the HARROWING TALE of his fear of balloons (shit you not)--and talked about how he was playing with Mizuki when he was little and Mizuki popped one right in his face, hence how grateful he was to Eiji in NaiPani when Eiji had to do the batsu game with the balloon popping right in his face. The others were a little skeptical, and actually asked Mizuki from up on the second floor if it was really true. Mizuki leaned over the railing and yelled out, "I don't remember that at all--I think he dreamed it all up!" to which Daiki threw a little fit saying it did SO happen XDDDDD
Then, the lights went down suddenly, and....ANOTHER ROUND OF HAPPY BIRTHDAY STARTED, this time one the guys DIDN'T know about XD One of the staff wheeled out this big cake in the shape of a 7, and once again we all helped blow it out. Daiki picked off one of the strawberries and made to feed it to Tuti, which would've been a little sexy if Tuti hadn't tried to BITE HIS FINGER OFF and get Tuti Cooties all over his fingers, which he then tried to wipe off on the girls on the front row XD It was hard for everyone to see the cake, because it was up on a stage and we were all kind of down below eye-level, so Tuti picked up the camera and showed it to everyone XD LIVE TUTI-CAMERA ACTION!! After this, they all gave their thoughts on how far *pnish* had come, and what they want to do in the future.
Eiji: Noted that *pnish* is now in the equivalent of elementary school (7 years old), so there's still a long road and lots to learn ahead of them. He's realizing how tired he is now, but it's still so much fun he wants to keep going, so please support them.
Tuti: Thanked everyone for coming, and said that *pnish* is primarily an entertainment group, and so their audience is important. He gets power from the audience's reaction and enjoyment of their performances, so please keep enjoying them. [Tuti/Naga Note: during all the other guys' speeches, Nagayan was sitting up on the second floor, watching them calmly, sitting back in his chair, but when it was Tuti's turn to talk, he leaned forward onto the rail, crossing his arms and resting his head on them, just staring down at Tuti *______*]
Wasshi: Thanked the audience, and noted like Eiji had that *pnish* was getting older, but he felt that also meant they were getting BETTER, and would continue to do so
Daiki: Daiki, being Daiki, started tearing up before it even got around to him, so while he wasn't crying he was definitely choked up, and his voice cracked a few times. He repeated how thankful he was to everyone (the staff, the audience, their friends and family, his fellow members), and said that they were going to keep going, keep getting better, and would be back for their 8th year and years after that as well.
For their last dance, Daiki turned to his fellow members to introduce it, trying to get them to twig to what they were going to do. "Now, when you think of *pnish*...what song do you think of?" he asked Tuti first, but Tuti just kind of smiled stupidly, obviously without a CLUE. He tried to get out of it, eventually gesturing to Eiji, who was behind Daiki, saying, "Oh, it looks like THAT PERSON probably knows!!" So Daiki turned to Eiji, hoping his fuku-Leader would be able to back him up, repeating the question. After much laboring, Eiji finally answered, "LUPIN THE 3RD!!"
Yup, their last dance was to be the dance they'd been doing since their very first show--since which the choreography hasn't really changed at all, nice! The guys had all come on wearing the new *pnish* shirts and their most recent jumpsuits (the black ones with their color billiard ball on the back), and so they zipped up to get ready to dance, and it was then that we saw they were all wearing *pnish* badges from various years. Tuti wore the one from this year....but right next to it he wore....."DECOSSAM! DECOSSAM!" <--what he yelled out loudly, pointing to it proudly and displaying it for the audience XDDDDDD
After this final dance, they left the stage, but were of course called back on for an encore, where they sang Makenaide! from Wonder Box again XD After this, they finally left the stage for good--because there was of course a HANDSHAKE afterwards (felt kinda bad for the guys XD they were gonna be standing and shaking hands for a loooooong time with the number of fans who came).
The uchiage (after-party) was held directly across the street (so about a distance of 20 feet away XD), and while we waited for demachi to bid the guys farewell one final time before we retired for the evening, we got to see all the guests who were going to join them. The following people entered the building:
--Taizou Shinya
--Besshi Keiichi
--Hasegawa Tetsurou (Tecchan)
--Juri
--Sano Mizuki
--*pnish*
--Moriyama-san-gou XDDDDDD <--when *pnish* FINALLY came down the stairs after a couple of hours, Daiki of course had to enter in style, and so he set up his bike and pedaled it the few feet across the street to the door of the elevator XDDDDD OH LEADER.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, was Happy *pnish* Birthday 7th! As a final little present, I've scanned two things:
Free photoset you got when you bought the kinen-set
Little fold-out pamphlet you got when you went in
Until next year...!