Because it's a time honored tradition in both Arashi and Arashi fandom to show love through abuse
OK, so it's not the 30th in Japan anymore, but still is here, so . . . a post for the birthday boy!
It's been Arashi fest lately at the Flange-Boy household, for a couple of reasons, namely that I am in the process of baiting a friend pretty seriously into the rainbow sparklies and that Jun's birthday was coming up and it seemed a good excuse to start posting again, since I've been so truant lately ^^;
(You know you've been away from LJ too long when friends start PMing you to make sure nothing bad happened to you. When this happens 3 times in a week . . . ^^;)
What with the baiting and vetting all sorts of possible subjects for picspammage on Jun's day, we've seen just about every flavor of Jun one could imagine: sexy, petulant, pitiful, wibbly, angry, scary, prim, OCD, goofy and giddy.
All of those options, and this is what I'm posting on.
Jun: Am I really wearing this in front of tens of thousands of people?
*whimpers*
The 2007 Time Kotoba no Chikara concert is well known for its ridiculous costumes of wtf-ery, and it's entirely possible that the complete cracktacularity of the ostrich and pheasant-topped Las Vegas band uniforms and the mindboggling effrontery of the sparkly seafoam prom dresses afflicted with several species of parasitic sea anemone might actually have robbed this costume of its hard-earned hilarity.
Once we remove it from that context, however, I feel we can finally give this costume its due . . .
. . . which is why we're grounding Jun forever.
Because, frankly, he deserves it.
Jun: I'm sorry, did you say something? I couldn't hear you over the loudness of my costume.
You need to think about what you've done, young man.
Jun: You mean the way I just pwned the entire audience? :DDD
That was not what I meant.
Jun: You. Pwned.
. . .
>_>
. . .
Damn.
There's a kind of mesmerizing logic to the ridiculousness of this outfit, as if someone took a Dr. Seuss book, preferably The Cat in the Hat, and Mardi Gras and threw them in a blender and out came an incredibly perky Matsumoto Jun in all his eye-smarting glory.
No seriously. Check out these links and tell me I'm wrong. Blender.
For some reason, there's actually a part of this costume that particularly offends my aesthetic, and it's the way the green sequins interrupt the horizontal purple line of the waistband.
DO NOT WANT
This leaves me with a bit of a conundrum: Should I be relieved that I still have some ability to be offended, suggesting that there's at least a tiny bit of fashion sense or discretion, or should I take my irritation with such a tiny infraction amongst the panoply of terribleness as the sign of some sort of compulsive neurosis on my part?
Who can say, really?
*Flist looks anywhere but at me*
OK, so just about everything having to do with this costume is just wrong.
For one thing, does anyone really think it's chilly enough in that arena to need a knit winter hat, complete with sequins and a chartreuse pom pom?
Also, one might think the point of wearing a tracksuit would be comfort, but I don't think that one is flying with anyone this time. Anyone who's worn anything with a large expanse of sequins knows that they are heavy. That outfit likely weighs at least 20 pounds *__*
It has too many colors (seafoam, fucshia, purple, silver, gold, chartreuse), and they don't all even live in adjacent color families, as evidenced by the jarring use of matte white sleeves (I can't believe I'm criticizing the one area of the costume that isn't encrusted with sequins >_<) and gold sequins on the back pockets of the pants and the side stripes of the jacket.
Does it help that the matte bits are bordered by sequined piping to make up for it? I DON'T KNOW.
Also, it's apparently too much to ask that the various purples in the outfit match. I have a hard time excusing that in what is obviously a completely custom outfit, even if it is meant to be seen from a distance--It's also meant to be seen on dvd and the big screen at the venue.
And can anyone tell me what the use is for the faux pockets on the jacket?
While we're on the subject of pockets, why are there gold pockets on Jun's ass?
The pants, tight as they are, and with the stripes, are already emphasizing Jun's complete lack of a rear quite well, and don't need the help. (Ok, that's probably not fair. Jun does have slightly more of an ass than Aiba. But that's like saying that getting run over by a tank hurts slightly more than getting squashed by a Hummer. Factually true, yet essentially meaningless.)
And the gold stripe on the jacket doesn't seem to coordinate with the vertical pant stripes, because the proportion of side stripes on the jacket totally clashes with the side stripes on the pants.
So many stripes DDD: Only Jun can get away with broad horizontal stripes on his legs. Honestly, he can't-- but not for the same reason as the rest of humanity.
Should I be happy that he thought to coordinate the pom pom to the laces and stripes on his custom sparkly shoes?
It takes a special kind of special to pay attention to that detail in the midst of the rest of that costume.
On the other hand, I'm pretty sure the shoes are blue, not purple, and if there's one thing this costume doesn't need, it's another random color.
Also, what the hell is that distracting small bit of fire engine red on the right side of the costume, right on the jacket's side seam, where an actually functional pocket would be?
*breathes slowly and counts to ten*
I must say, however, that I love that the solo's title is part of the jacket. It's like Jun's heartfelt promise to all of us that we will never see this costume ever again assuming that it isn't the new Tell Me What You Wanna Be . . ..
What's the name of the song again? I can't quite remember . . .
Now, can I let you in on a secret?
. . .
. . .
. . .
. . .
I love this costume&hearts
Actually, I love the entire performance, and not just for the acrobatics, the wirework, and the love letter to Michael Jackson
Though they deserve caps of their own
The juxtaposition of sheer dorky joy and technically impressive showmanship makes this solo for me, and the costume is part of a larger message that Jun has totally embraced his inner dork and dares us to love him anyway and to not take it all too seriously.
Also, this is just kind of cool.
I am constantly impressed by the core strength it must take to do this well.
For me, this costume, and the performance, are all about Jun coming full circle as a performer and as a person who has gotten a lot better at liking himself --enough to poke fun at himself and have a damn good time while doing it.
Pictured: a man having lots of fun
There was that awkward period after their debut when Jun had been labeled the Comedy Leader in Arashi, and it was something that didn't work with who he was or what he was able to do at the time, or even accept at the time, and it resulted in horrors like this, which I have commented on before *shudder*
And then there was a long period of SRS BSNS/badass (and fail!badassery) concert solo wear, and it kind of worked for a long time, but also seemed a bit off, since it ignored his fundamental dorkiness and even sweetness (which snuck out for La Familia, I know, but God I hate the shirt he wears in that performance. ugh).
Of course, If I'm going to try to chart the growth of Jun as a person through his concert wear, it might behoove me to point out how he sort of decided to forego clothes for the next tour's solo.
>_>
Read into that whatever you like ^^; But the Kokuritsu costumes after that were all about snazzy tasteful class (and sex), so . . . maybe he reset his fashion sense after Yabai?
I can see how this might be considered a wake up call.
Or perhaps a desperate cry for help.
Usually, I might feel slightly bad making fun of Jun's concert costume fail on his birthday, not that it would be the first time, but frankly, Jun's entire attitude in Yabai lets us know that the costume is ridiculous; he knows it; in fact, he was laughing about it the entire time he was setting it up and he's hoping we'll get the joke, too.
. . .
Or he was on a lot of drugs and having a really good time. That might explain why he keeps smelling his hands like that.
. . .
It might explain a lot of things, honestly.
In the end, though, I like the first option better.
Hey there, Flist! Long time, no see! How are you doing?
It's been Arashi fest lately at the Flange-Boy household, for a couple of reasons, namely that I am in the process of baiting a friend pretty seriously into the rainbow sparklies and that Jun's birthday was coming up and it seemed a good excuse to start posting again, since I've been so truant lately ^^;
(You know you've been away from LJ too long when friends start PMing you to make sure nothing bad happened to you. When this happens 3 times in a week . . . ^^;)
What with the baiting and vetting all sorts of possible subjects for picspammage on Jun's day, we've seen just about every flavor of Jun one could imagine: sexy, petulant, pitiful, wibbly, angry, scary, prim, OCD, goofy and giddy.
All of those options, and this is what I'm posting on.
Jun: Am I really wearing this in front of tens of thousands of people?
*whimpers*
The 2007 Time Kotoba no Chikara concert is well known for its ridiculous costumes of wtf-ery, and it's entirely possible that the complete cracktacularity of the ostrich and pheasant-topped Las Vegas band uniforms and the mindboggling effrontery of the sparkly seafoam prom dresses afflicted with several species of parasitic sea anemone might actually have robbed this costume of its hard-earned hilarity.
Once we remove it from that context, however, I feel we can finally give this costume its due . . .
. . . which is why we're grounding Jun forever.
Because, frankly, he deserves it.
Jun: I'm sorry, did you say something? I couldn't hear you over the loudness of my costume.
You need to think about what you've done, young man.
Jun: You mean the way I just pwned the entire audience? :DDD
That was not what I meant.
Jun: You. Pwned.
. . .
>_>
. . .
Damn.
There's a kind of mesmerizing logic to the ridiculousness of this outfit, as if someone took a Dr. Seuss book, preferably The Cat in the Hat, and Mardi Gras and threw them in a blender and out came an incredibly perky Matsumoto Jun in all his eye-smarting glory.
No seriously. Check out these links and tell me I'm wrong. Blender.
For some reason, there's actually a part of this costume that particularly offends my aesthetic, and it's the way the green sequins interrupt the horizontal purple line of the waistband.
DO NOT WANT
This leaves me with a bit of a conundrum: Should I be relieved that I still have some ability to be offended, suggesting that there's at least a tiny bit of fashion sense or discretion, or should I take my irritation with such a tiny infraction amongst the panoply of terribleness as the sign of some sort of compulsive neurosis on my part?
Who can say, really?
*Flist looks anywhere but at me*
OK, so just about everything having to do with this costume is just wrong.
For one thing, does anyone really think it's chilly enough in that arena to need a knit winter hat, complete with sequins and a chartreuse pom pom?
Also, one might think the point of wearing a tracksuit would be comfort, but I don't think that one is flying with anyone this time. Anyone who's worn anything with a large expanse of sequins knows that they are heavy. That outfit likely weighs at least 20 pounds *__*
It has too many colors (seafoam, fucshia, purple, silver, gold, chartreuse), and they don't all even live in adjacent color families, as evidenced by the jarring use of matte white sleeves (I can't believe I'm criticizing the one area of the costume that isn't encrusted with sequins >_<) and gold sequins on the back pockets of the pants and the side stripes of the jacket.
Does it help that the matte bits are bordered by sequined piping to make up for it? I DON'T KNOW.
Also, it's apparently too much to ask that the various purples in the outfit match. I have a hard time excusing that in what is obviously a completely custom outfit, even if it is meant to be seen from a distance--It's also meant to be seen on dvd and the big screen at the venue.
And can anyone tell me what the use is for the faux pockets on the jacket?
While we're on the subject of pockets, why are there gold pockets on Jun's ass?
The pants, tight as they are, and with the stripes, are already emphasizing Jun's complete lack of a rear quite well, and don't need the help. (Ok, that's probably not fair. Jun does have slightly more of an ass than Aiba. But that's like saying that getting run over by a tank hurts slightly more than getting squashed by a Hummer. Factually true, yet essentially meaningless.)
And the gold stripe on the jacket doesn't seem to coordinate with the vertical pant stripes, because the proportion of side stripes on the jacket totally clashes with the side stripes on the pants.
So many stripes DDD: Only Jun can get away with broad horizontal stripes on his legs. Honestly, he can't-- but not for the same reason as the rest of humanity.
Should I be happy that he thought to coordinate the pom pom to the laces and stripes on his custom sparkly shoes?
It takes a special kind of special to pay attention to that detail in the midst of the rest of that costume.
On the other hand, I'm pretty sure the shoes are blue, not purple, and if there's one thing this costume doesn't need, it's another random color.
Also, what the hell is that distracting small bit of fire engine red on the right side of the costume, right on the jacket's side seam, where an actually functional pocket would be?
*breathes slowly and counts to ten*
I must say, however, that I love that the solo's title is part of the jacket. It's like Jun's heartfelt promise to all of us that we will never see this costume ever again assuming that it isn't the new Tell Me What You Wanna Be . . ..
What's the name of the song again? I can't quite remember . . .
Now, can I let you in on a secret?
. . .
. . .
. . .
. . .
I love this costume&hearts
Actually, I love the entire performance, and not just for the acrobatics, the wirework, and the love letter to Michael Jackson
Though they deserve caps of their own
The juxtaposition of sheer dorky joy and technically impressive showmanship makes this solo for me, and the costume is part of a larger message that Jun has totally embraced his inner dork and dares us to love him anyway and to not take it all too seriously.
Also, this is just kind of cool.
I am constantly impressed by the core strength it must take to do this well.
For me, this costume, and the performance, are all about Jun coming full circle as a performer and as a person who has gotten a lot better at liking himself --enough to poke fun at himself and have a damn good time while doing it.
Pictured: a man having lots of fun
There was that awkward period after their debut when Jun had been labeled the Comedy Leader in Arashi, and it was something that didn't work with who he was or what he was able to do at the time, or even accept at the time, and it resulted in horrors like this, which I have commented on before *shudder*
And then there was a long period of SRS BSNS/badass (and fail!badassery) concert solo wear, and it kind of worked for a long time, but also seemed a bit off, since it ignored his fundamental dorkiness and even sweetness (which snuck out for La Familia, I know, but God I hate the shirt he wears in that performance. ugh).
Of course, If I'm going to try to chart the growth of Jun as a person through his concert wear, it might behoove me to point out how he sort of decided to forego clothes for the next tour's solo.
>_>
Read into that whatever you like ^^; But the Kokuritsu costumes after that were all about snazzy tasteful class (and sex), so . . . maybe he reset his fashion sense after Yabai?
I can see how this might be considered a wake up call.
Or perhaps a desperate cry for help.
Usually, I might feel slightly bad making fun of Jun's concert costume fail on his birthday, not that it would be the first time, but frankly, Jun's entire attitude in Yabai lets us know that the costume is ridiculous; he knows it; in fact, he was laughing about it the entire time he was setting it up and he's hoping we'll get the joke, too.
. . .
Or he was on a lot of drugs and having a really good time. That might explain why he keeps smelling his hands like that.
. . .
It might explain a lot of things, honestly.
In the end, though, I like the first option better.
Hey there, Flist! Long time, no see! How are you doing?