#440 eightesto
No I'm not dead - and if you follow me on twitter you obviously know that. I still have 5 days left in Japan before I go back to my routine of work-home, home-work in Brazil. I haven't been having time to write about all the awesome experiences I've been having in Japan while on vacations, all the good things I've been doing, all the great people I've been meeting and all the pretty places I've been going to. But I'll get around to it eventually - I promise I'll do! I've started! Drafts exist!! XDD
But I really wanted to post about this here and since I started writing it before going to bed I thought I'd finish and post, but it took longer than expected. XD
Tokyo, Sunday, September 16th, 2012. I saw Kanjani8 live for the first time. It was one of the best days of my life.
I really really wish I had written a report earlier, but there are so many epic things happening and I’ve been meeting so many people and feeling so exhausted by the end of the day that I simply couldn’t bring myself to. But since tomorrow I’m seeing them again and I don’t want to mix things up, I should just write what I remember here - based on tweets, random flaily memories and other people’s posts. By the way, this week’s TV Guide has a detailed coverage of the concert I went to, with pictures and the full setlist. I’m happy to have such detailed stuff about the concert somewhere :D :D :D.
So the day started with me flailing all over the place and totally not able to control my feelings XD I woke up earlier than planned (was still a bit jetlagged) and wrote down a full list of goods. Then I painted my nails in shiny metallic blue but they looked kind of terrible - but no time to remove the polish and try to fix the disaster because otherwise I’d be late. XD So I got dressed in my red T-shirt (and blue nails… get the point? XD), put on some make-up to try to look at least a bit pretty (which was useless because it melted away and faded during the day), and went out to Shinjuku so I could take the train and go meet pashoshi at the Tobitakyu station.
I wasn’t sure what train to hop on, so I just did the most obvious thing ever, following the fangirls. It was around 9AM so I was really surprised to see them already out. One of my friends told me that basically, if you’re a Johnny’s fan you don’t really talk about it - except when it’s a concert day. And when the boys have a concert, believe me, it’s serious business!! The girls just dress up a lot! Some of them go to the venue super pretty, others wear con shirts or do cosplay - Eito Rangers, mainly - and others just wear clothes and accessories and everything based on their favorite member’s image color. When I reached the Tobitakyu station (the one closest to Ajinomoto Stadium), it was literally packed with fangirls, and the atmosphere was just amazing. Please notice this was the first time I ever went to a Johnny’s concert, so it was also the first time I ever saw that many fangirls together. And they all fangirl Eito!! *_* So it was really really nice. I wanted to ask random people for pictures but since that would sound a bit creepy I decided not to. But I did take a few paparazzi ones, and they’ll get posted… eventually. XD There was this girl waiting beside me and she was - no kidding - orange from head to toe. Her clothes, her backpack, her cell phone cover, her hair tie, everything. And there were 7-11 Hello Kitties everywhere, too. I also remember seeing lots of Ohkura fangirls (I do think he’s the most popular now, even more than Ryo), and I realized people DO bring suitcases with them to the concerts in order to get goods. >_>
Anyway. I got there actually a bit too early, so I just kept looking at the people and enjoying the atmosphere. I saw a few kodomo no eighter with their mama no eighter, and also quite a lot of otoko no eighter. I saw at least two wearing the “I heart curry” T-shirt Ohkura wore during the 47 tour, a few wearing the Eight x Eighter baseball T-shirt… and a few of them were with their girlfriends, but I saw quite a lot by themselves, too. Yay Eito, you’re popular among men!! \XD/ There was even a couple, both dressed as Orange Ranger. I was so amused by that. XD
Well, by the time pashoshi got there and we hugged I was almost imploding with emotions XD. We went to the stadium to take pictures of it and of the entrance sign and everything. We could hear them rehearsing - I actually only heard Ryo’s voice and they were singing Misetekure, and it obviously gave me feelings and I felt the goosebumps and I thought I’d just fall on the ground and stay there for a while lol. And then we went to the goods booths. It was the third day of selling in Tokyo, so there wasn’t any line and we covered that pretty quickly. Just watch me getting all confused with Japanese counting systems and raising my fingers up in the air to ask for quantities, and also calling the boys “Murakami-san”, “Shibutani-san” and even “Nishikido-san” (oh God why) because the girl didn’t know who I was talking about when I said “Hina”, “Subaru” and “Ryo”. >_>
I’d kill myself for not bringing a suitcase afterwards, since I had to carry 4 people’s goods for the whole day, but anyway. XD After going to a concert and facing everything that happens, I am now able to say that people are right when they charge twice the price for everything. It’s really annoying and a hassle. I did it because it was for friends and because I know how much of a pain it is to live outside Japan and have no means to get what you want - therefore I want to help as much as I can while I’m here - buy really, I don’t think I’ll ever do it again (assuming I’ll be coming to Japan once again in the distant future, that is). Just start selling goods online already, Johnny!! XD
The day was hot as hell, which only made things worse. I live in a tropical country but I can say that I’ve probably never felt such a horrid heat as I’m feeling here in Japan. It’s so humid sometimes it gets hard to breathe, and I actually had to buy a towel to put on my head / around my neck so I can dry all the sweat. D: At some point it started raining so we searched for shelter under… somewhere XD and sat down on these big plastic bags and kept talking and eating while we waited for yuumei_nata to arrive and praying for the rain to stop before the concert started. I really wouldn’t mind seeing Subaru singing all wet, far from that, but I was really worried about the goods. XDa So we just stayed there looking around and I noticed, among everything else, this girl holding a Maru uchiwa, and she had put glasses on him and it was written “Tanishi” above his head. They’re so adorable and creative, these Japanese fangirls. XD
yuumei_nata found us when the rain was almost over and we kept talking for a while before going back to the station to meet Paty (my Brazilian friend who lives in Japan) and the two girls who got our three extra tickets (since both pashoshi and melonpunch hit for the same concert. It’s thanks to Lindsey who kindly balloted for us that we got the awesome Arena B-15 seats and I’ll love her forever <3). It was also the first time I ever met airairo, nira_chan and anippan, and I was so happy and they’re all super nice and we took pictures together outside the crowded stadium and yes. <3 #feelings
So well it wasn’t even 4PM yet (the concert would start at 5PM) but we decided to get in because the girls wanted to go to the bathroom and were afraid of running out of time. The closer we got to the arena gate, the more we saw staffs around and the more we saw signs that said “NO PICTURES” (and they actually stated that in English, too, which surprised me. It’s like they don’t want dumb gaijin excuses, lol). We got in without any problems and I held the girls’ goods while they were in the bathroom line (laughed a lot because there were like 20 stalls for girls and 2 for boys, lololol).
When we entered the stadium we were like WOAH. It was my first time inside a stadium (even though I’m Brazilian I’ve never gone to a soccer match in my life, lol), so I was just overwhelmed at how big that place was. I’ve been told it fits the same as Tokyo Dome, so it’s not as big as Kokuritsu, but I’m really, really thankful for the seats we got. We weren’t sure where they were so we asked a staff-san and he directed us, and the more we walked the closer to the front stage we got. According to pashoshi’s post, we were on the 19th row from the front, on the right side of the stage (which is pretty close if you consider it’s a place that fits 55k people). I’d say we saw them from a distance of 20 meters? I remember how much we flailed and when P and I started talking about the staffs who were on the stage setting up the lights and the instruments and we were like “Wait, we can see their faces… does that mean we’ll be able to see their faces too?? OMGGGG” and stuff like that. XD We weren’t close enough to the outer walkway though, so it’s not like they had a chance to spot us in the crowd (even though P is taller than most Japanese girls and she’s blond so it would have helped a lot XD - I didn’t see any other foreigners around, really), and we couldn’t really see anything that happened far in the back stage or in the center stage (even on the tip of my toes, and I felt really bad doing so because I was already taller than most of the girls who were around XD), but they were right in front of us during most of the concert and for that I’m really thankful. Also, the concert happened around us and that was pretty overwhelming, though I didn’t know where to look at sometimes. XD I just chose to look at who happened to be closer to us, and if there wasn’t anyone I’d look at the screen. XD We also noticed the kind of VIP seats the press got, and although there weren’t many cameras around (which probably means this won’t ever be on DVD), I’m happy we at least got press coverage. XD
*EDIT 2012.10.12: I just stole the floor plan from the official website and made a schematic drawing showing our seats! XD
Anyway. When it was almost 5PM and the stadium got filled up with people, we started the “Eito! Eito! Eito!” chant and it felt awesome to finally be part of that, after watching concerts so many times on DVDs. The concert started with an intro video. The first thing we saw was a bug (IDK which!) and it went down the ground to hibernate, or something. And then they showed our seven boys in Osaka, 2004. They were inside a shop, I think, doing random things (all I remember is Ohkura aligning dominoes and Ryo kicking them and making everything fall, lololol), and there was this lady that was supposed to be the Osaka Obachan, who owned the place. XD They were all bored with life and she was like “Find something to do already”, lol. Then Maru (who was reading a magazine about the bug from the beginning) told them that it takes 8 years for it to wake up from hibernation, so maybe it would take them around that time, too. The TV was on, showing lots of past Eito stuff, and at some point Yoko suggested they should become super heroes, lol. But then the Obachan kicked them out and she looked at them going away in the sunset and that’s when she noticed they were each wearing their respective colors, and then the video cut to live backstage and when I realized our boys were there, right in front of us, wearing bright pink and yes, Subaru started singing freaking Osaka Romanesque and. And. FEELINGS.
Romanesque is the song I adore the most and I never thought it would be the opening one (though that’s no surprise, after it was the most voted for the 8/8 event). I also thought I’d cry my eyes out during the whole thing, but surprisingly I didn’t (even though the video in the beginning had me almost in tears). I just smiled and felt my heart beating faster and sang along and did the hand moves with everyone, with my penlight on even though it wasn’t dark yet. The central part of the main stage went up while they were singing this so I could admire them in all their glory. XD
After that, everything is pretty much a blur. The setlist tells me they sang Musekinin Hero and later Zukkoke Otokomichi. I remember they went up the carts at some point and waved at the crowd when they passed by. The cart on the right side of the main stage (our side) had Sanbaka and the left one had the other four. It was awesome doing the hand moves and also singing the “Soiya Soiya Soiya Soiya” parts during Zukkoke. XD When they started TWL they were at the very back so we couldn’t see anything, but I do remember the whole freaking stadium waving their towels around. I did too!! :D By the way the carts were shaped as a big 8 and they had screens on both sides.
Then by the end of the song they were back to the main stage and did the introductions. I can’t really remember much but I remember Hina being Hina and asking for cheers from the arena, the stands, the otoko no eighter (and yes, there were a LOT of men, lol!!). I also remember Subaru being cute and saying something like “I wonder if those who are up there near the “other me” will be okay?” because there was a screen at the back of the stadium near the second floor seats, and when he pointed his face was on the screen. Lol Subaru, stop being cute. XD <3
After the introductions they started a band part which was really good. They sang LIFE, Ai Deshita, Heavenly Psycho (OH GOD!! /dies happily in a corner *_______*) and Tsubusa ni Koi. Subaru was using that microphone with the red cord and he had it wrapped around his neck and fingers and unf, that’s pretty much all I can remember aside from Ohkura’s little solo during Heavenly Psycho that always makes me go awww at him, lol. Also there might have been interactions between Yasu and Ryo and Maru was really hot playing his bass but jkashjgdak I can’t be coherent so I should stop here. XD Also I think Subaru had his guitar for LIFE but not for the other songs, so he could just hold the mic and sing with all his might and make me go jdkagsk at him. So yeah. Ah, forgot to mention they had a band on stage during the whole thing, they also had violins and everything, and NO JUNIORS AT ALL, which made me really pleased. XD
They went backstage for a quick change of clothes while a video played and we knew the Eito Rangers would be coming up next, because that familiar tune started playing (“200X, Eito City…”, you know the deal) and something à lá Star Wars showed up on the screen, and they started talking about what the Rangers have been doing since it’s been a while. I can’t remember much but now a Yasu with full make-up and long, blond wig came to my mind just now (which is kind of creepy, but hey, it’s Yasu); Subaru was working as a painter or something, but when they showed his sheet his drawing was crappy as always, and we were all surprised when we saw Ryo bungee-jumping backwards from the top of Macau Tower, again!! XD (he really went again, it was another video, lol!!)
So when the Eito Rangers Theme Song started playing we saw they were above the main screen - they had seven small platforms and then went down to the main stage while singing. I’m sure you must have seen it in the news shows already? XD It’s hard to explain. When they did the pose Subaru went to the middle as always but Yoko shoved him away and stayed there in the center and Subaru was obviously pissed and said something like “I don’t care about what happened on the movie!!”, lol.
I’m really happy I got to see the Rangers live, but I have to say it wasn’t the most awesome skit ever (it was in fact a bit boring). They basically went to a magic kingdom somewhere and they met Snow White (who was indeed a girl but she was wearing this big manga-like mask, or should I say, HEAD covering her own XD) and she bit the apple and fell asleep and they were such a failure while “rescuing” her (imagine the seven of them trying to carry a single girl from the middle stage to the main one, and failing XDDD that was pretty much about it). And then there were these wolves and they had to defeat them and find the prince (??) so he could kiss Snow White and bring her back to life. The “duels” were funny, because they showed their faces on the big screen, like “Green vs. Wolf!” or something, like a videogame XD and then they’d start fighting. I can’t really remember what happened but each duel was different. Ohkura had this gun with him and Yoko came to the rescue but he ended up shooting and hitting Ohkura instead of the wolf, lol!! Ryo’s turn had to do with swords and everything was obviously choreographed and when he swung the sword for the last time there was fire coming out of nowhere and since we were close we could actually FEEL the heat. Yasu’s was kind of a dance battle, Subaru had a Karaoke battle (just like they do on Shiwake) and DAMN YES, Subaru’s voice, raw, coming right into my ears, YES, and I have the feeling I knew that song from somewhere, but I can’t remember which one it was now. Okay. Maru’s battle was based on gags made on the spot (I wonder if he actually works on different ones for each concert XD), and he did three of them but I can only remember the Eiga Dorobo one (they showed it in one of the press coverage videos. Maru pretty much imitated perfectly the commercial that airs on the movies before a movie start, that says you shouldn’t film the screen because NO MORE EIGA DOROBO - movie’s thieves - and it was pretty amusing. XD).
I don’t really think there was a Hina segment because when we realized Hina was coming up from the same place the Rangers had before - except he wasn’t Hina, he wasn’t Nasu, but he was BABUN MAN XDDDD. He sang the Babun song and we replied SHINGO!! whenever we were supposed to, and his soap bubbles reached us and it was magicalllll not to say surreal, lol!! He was the prince of the country, and they were all like “You look so much like Nasu!”, and Babun was like “Oh who? No, no, no…” and suddenly there was this random Junior dressed as Nasu and Hina’s voice was playing in the background while he pretended he talked, and somehow the phrases always ended in “NASU RENJAAA!”, and he did the pose, hahahahaha hilarious!! XD Subaru asked him if he always kept the screen of his helmet down because he had never noticed that, but that was obviously because Subaru was being a brat and teasing him (he had the screen down so that his face was almost fully covered - they were wearing the fancy movie suits, if I didn’t mention that before) XD.
So cutting long story short, Babun was supposed to kiss Snow White to save her (there was something related with Nasu’s shiny fangs at some point, but I can’t remember what now), and there’s a clock ticking and he misses it on purpose so he fails, but then he resurrects her with his Babun Attack (which was pretty random) and everyone live happily ever after and I can’t remember how or when but Hina manages to go back to his Nasu suit to perform ER with the others. ER is not one of my favorites, but it was cool.
Then they all started putting their Ranger suits down and tying the arms around their waists (they were all wearing random shirts underneath them though - Ohkura’s was white and had a Rolling Stones tongue on it, but it was monochromatic, and Subaru’s was black with a sparkly “I heart NY” XD Also, Maru and a few others, I think, seemed to be having problems to tie their suits, they kept wanting to fall all the time). The next songs were also a blur of flail and feelings. They performed It’s My Soul (hand moves togetherrrr) and Cool Magic City, which was quite random, but okay, it was fun XD.
Then they started the MC and I still have clear in my mind the image of the seven of them drenched in sweat and trying to fix their wet hair with their hands and they just started moving their heads so we could see drops of sweat falling and… yes. Life is good. XD Yasu was the one I kept looking at. He raised his shirt a few times to fan himself and we could see his abs and… yes. Life is good. XD The girls told me Ryo was being random and doing stuff during the MC but lol I didn’t really look at him, I was too busy with Yasu, so I can’t report on that, sorry. XDa I can remember Ohkura saying something like “ATSUI NAAAA~”, and everyone in the crowd was like “Yeees~” (by that time I was so sticky I could barely remember how being clean felt like… it was really a terribly hot day!! At least by the time the con started it wasn’t sunny anymore).
I didn’t really get the first part of the MC but all I knew is that at some point they were talking about fish? XD Anyway. The thing went on and somehow the topic became Chii-chan, Hina’s new cat. I haven’t watched the Chii-chan Janiben yet, so I’ll just assume the cat is a “he” for writing purposes, okay? XD So basically Yoko asked Hina what were the three cutest moments with Chii-chan so far. And then Hina started talking about the cat and as he talked he just started mimicking him and it was so cute, but in a disturbing way. XD So the 3rd cutest moment (DA-RAN~) was when Chii-chan arrived home in his box and walked around all cautiously for the first time. The 2nd cutest moment (DA-RAN~) was when he put the collar on Chii-chan and he tried to catch it with his paw, haha. And the 1st cutest moment was Chii-chan’s first shower. Hina started mimicking how they did it and then Yoko asked if he was wearing any clothes and Hina said “Yeah of course, I was wearing my underwear”, and then Yoko mentioned something about “Hina’s Chii-chan” and Hina was speechless for a while and Subaru said something I didn’t quite get because I was facepalming so hard at all the shit these guys talk about when there’s press around, lol, but I just read a translation and Subaru was like “You should put a bell on it, too”… seriously Sanbaka, what the fuck! XD Don’t do this to me!!
There was also this part during the MC in which the eighters from the left side of the stadium started talking really loud and we were like “WTF?” and the boys were “WTF?” too, and finally we understood they were saying “Hanabi”, because they could probably see fireworks outside the stadium somewhere. Subaru went like “WTF, YOU’RE IN A LIVE, LOOK AT US, WILL YOU?” XD I kind of wanted to be scolded by him too, but whatever. XD
The end of the MC was basically announcements. Ohkura told the crowd that 8EST can also be read as BEST and everyone was eeeeeh~ (which got me pretty confused because that was obvious since the beginning, at least for me), and they told us about the compilation album and the shiny 350 hours of Matsuri footage (we went SO CRAZY, lol) and the Sunshine Pair date and the new song with Yoko in the center and everything. They also announced Tokyo Dome cons in November and Kyocera Dome cons at the end of the year / beginning of January (and I was like FML I won’t be here anymore but whatever XD).
So when they went backstage to a change of clothes the big screens showed a bit of the Matsuri footage (it’s going to be EPIC, guys, I tell you!!). I can’t remember much because there were several flashes of parts of the games and everything, I think we’ll have all of them on the DVD? And then I also remember Ryo randomly going SHO-CHAAAAAN at Shota, hahahaha XD. There was also a short part of the Sunshine Pair date and DAMN I NEED THIS AND I NEED THIS NOW SO I CAN DIE HAPPILY IN A PUDDLE OF SPARKLES AND GAY RAINBOWS because seriously. Maru and Ryo smiling awkwardly at each other and holding hands as if saying “Shall we go?” or something, and then Ryo driving and Maru by his side in the car, I just can’t with these guys!! XD I’m so happy Maru’s in this, because he’s so shippable with everyone that in the end there’s no way it’s going to be awkward. XD Looking forward to it! Even though they split the extras in two versions to make me buy both T_____T.
The first song that came up after that was Kuruton (crouton? Those small toasts/crackers/whatever? WTF Yoko and his songs about food XD). They were wearing really strange/ugly capes and I can’t remember the dance and there was a lot of autotune (I’m sure everyone has heard the song by now, they played it on Recomen yesterday), but HEY! Yoko has to be able to sing the song, so his voice needs a bit of help. XD The screen showed what must be the PV. I like how it looks. They’re all wearing light brown / beige suits and black shorts, and long white socks, and I think they’re wearing hats too, and Subaru has glasses with circular frames on. He looks like a cute schoolboy. XD The background was pretty too but I can’t remember now how it looked like. But yes, overall, pretty!
They ended this performance in the center stage and next thing I knew the capes were gone and they were wearing black and gold outfits (they were sleeveless, I must say) and Brulée started. I was like OH MY GOOOOOD and I think that was when there were tiny flames everywhere but I’m not sure. Anyway I couldn’t see much because they were far from us. Then they performed Dye D and I was like OH MY GOOOOOD again, lol. There were those green lasers everywhere during the song and they ended it in the main stage (KURA’S WHISPEEEEER unf - sorry, stronger than me) and went backstage again.
Then everything went dark and the same video from before continued, except now it showed lots of goods from the past concerts inside the Obachan store. SO MANY FEELINGS, really!!
And next thing we knew… all seven were jumping up the stage using those platforms and they’re all wearing their “8” colored T-shirts from Excite!, except they’ve got a few sparkly thingies here and there now. And as soon as they appear, everyone goes crazy with the sound of “WAKE UP!”, at the beginning of 8 o’clock. They didn’t sing the whole song though because it was the beginning of a medley. Tabibito followed - I never thought they’d sing this one, but it also gave me lots of warm and fuzzy feelings. XD By this time they were all running everywhere and I lost them from view but then Ohkura came up in the main stage with this huge taiko drum and Naniwa Iroha Bushi started playing and I was like OMG is that Subaru singing enka?? Am I really listening to that?? Is it real?? LOL. And they were wearing their debut clothes and everything. ;__________; Osaka Rainy Blues followed (they wore the blue clothes from the single performances, too) and I was really hoping for Sukiyanen but it didn’t happen. Instead we followed directly to Osaka Obachan Rock, which Hina performed by himself wearing a hilarious Osaka Obachan outfit, complete with wig and apron (he even rode a bicycle at some point, lol!!). And then Hina continued playing the Obachan part, changing the channels on the TV (which was the big screen).
And then三兄弟 appeared on the screen and I was like OMGWTFNOWAYYYYYY dakjsjgfaskdg and Baru, Chipa and Yuu came to the main stage and they introduced themselves because it’s been a while and a few people might not even know them (which is probably true. I don’t think 3% of that stadium had seen Sankyoudai live before XD). They performed Purin, which was adorable, and I loved singing along at the parts where the crowd is supposed to. <3
Then Kiddo and Ohkura appeared at the back stage performing TORN and I was pretty much dead (where the hell did that one come frommmm), but it was a pity I couldn’t see much of it because they were faaaaar. D: But I looked at the screen and they showed parts of that PV I’ve only watched via fancam and they were wearing the 2008 outfits and I was grateful for that because they’re sexier than the 2009-2010 ones. XDa Ohkura in red satin, I like it. When it ended, Hina Obachan changed the channel again (he was just lying down at the right corner of the stage XD) and the screen showed 山田 and we were all like OMGGGG and they both came in with their sparkly golden suits and went like “Yamada deeeesu~ Yay Yay~” and everyone in the crowd did the Yay Yay together, it was so great XD. And they talked a bit about how they used to do manzai back then and how difficult it was and everything and then there was a pun with the word “aoppana” that I didn’t quite get, but what matters is that everyone went back to the stage and they performed their newest song… and it was quite amusing because we had Yamada, Torn, Subaru and Ryo dressed as Sankyoudai and Hina Obachan!! XDDDD My arms got even more sore after this song because of the hand moves, and I seriously started wondering how they manage to go through concert after concert… XD
So we finally got to the band part. I am tempted to write only YASU IS HOT WHILE PLAYING HIS GUITAR, PERIOD because that’s all I can remember. XD Subaru appeared at the center stage with his MISETEKUREEEEE~ which was awesome and there was fire too, and it was sooo cool. Then they performed Do You Agree? and they also did Eightopop!!!!!!! in band style, but I quite can’t remember how that went. Must have been because they were all over the place and I was trying to catch as many of them as I could, but I’m really happy Yasu stayed near us for most of the time <3. But we did clap a lot!
Ryo was the one who did the final speech and his voice was hesitant (P thinks he was about to cry, omg my heart ;_;). He did talk about 8 years back, when they couldn’t even fill up a 1000-people venue, and how grateful they are of being able to do something as big as this now, and yes, EMOTIONS OVERFLOWING and Tati wanting to cry again. The last song was BJ and I felt frustrated because I sang along but I couldn’t remember the name of the song!! XD But omgggg BJ ;______;. FEELINGS. There were a few fireworks that were really pretty (nothing compared to Arashi’s though, but hey, it’s Eito!! XD) and they bowed and disappeared. The video was back - this time, Osaka, 2012. The Obachan was now older, her hair whitening, and she was organizing their singles (or something like that??) in her K8 goods shop, lol. And then they all appear to make a visit and say hi. By this time I was almost crying AGAIN, because seriously, too many feelings. Then the camera went down into the ground and showed the bug waking up from its sleep, flying into the sky and marking an 8 shape in the air. END.
OH GOD. We all started calling for Eito, Eito, Eito! and they soon came back wearing the tour T-shirts (that were obviously sparkly, unlike ours - Yasu was wearing this cloth wrapped around his waist, it looked like a skirt but it wasn’t really, IDK what it was, oh Yasu <3) and the encores started with My Home, then they hopped onto the carts once more and went around to perform Kyuu*Jou*Show!! and Monjai Beat. I think this was when Maru and Yasu were near us and Maru was doing the :3b Tanishi pose (because there were lots of uchiwas asking him to! XD) and Yasu just went behind him and did the pose too! It was really cute!! At some point Yoko was also behind Maru doing the Paaaan~ with the audience before he did. XD Also, Kura is such an attention whore because he went down the corridors running and waving at people, and I heard (and saw afterwards on the news) that Yoko totally fell down at some point at the back stage, and I totally missed that (too flaily over Maru and Yasu, sorry XD). Also YES, I SAW SUBARU’S ARMPIT LIVE!! He really wanted to show it to me, lol. I think Yoko wanted to show his too, but was too embarrassed to do that in the end. XD Well they were going back to the main stage and Hina was like “Yasu, hayaku!”, because he was faaaar behind (too busy sending kisses to people, lol) so Yasu just ran with all his might and went past Maru and fell in the middle of the stage, just to be tsukkomied by Hina, of course. XD And then they asked us to hold hands and I held P’s hand and there was this Japanese girl sitting beside me and she was all like “Ah, sumimasen~” and bowing and everything and I was like lol okay it’s just my hand, you know XD. And Subaru was like “Hold your hands! Don’t be shy! People from the press too!!” XD and I looked and they were all “Whatever, not doing it anyway”, booo. XD And they of course they are Saikou de~ Whoooo~ Saikyou no~ Whoooo~ Kanjaniii~ EITOOOO~
;___________; (and I thought I was going to rip the Japanese’s girl arm off, because I was much taller than her, so I just raised my arm with all my strength and I felt hers couldn’t reach mine, lol).
We obviously didn’t give up and started calling for Eito! Eito! Eito! again and I felt my throat getting weak because we kept calling and they wouldn’t come again ;_; but when they came they came with MUGENDAI of all songs and it was just. The most special thing. Ever. Subaru went “YUUJOU!” and handed out the mic, and we completed with “Shinjitsu! Yume! Kibou! Shiawase! Egao! Yuuki! Tabidachi!”, and then I REALLY said goodbye to my voice XD. We did the “Mugendai” symbol in the air with hour penlights whenever they sang it, we did it with Ryo!! :D <3 After Mugendai they sang Hitotsu no Uta and it was so heartwarming. I remember Yasu smiling at us (not specifically at us, but at our block), like, smiling really big, and waving, and bowing, and by bowing I mean bowing REALLY low and staying like that for a while. Whenever they passed by we’d yell “ARIGATOOOOU!!” at them. Maru was jumping and waving his hands with us during the lalalalala~ parts, and Yasu changed his part a bit (instead of “Kimi to aruku, naite waratte” - “We’ll walk with you, we’ll cry, we’ll laugh” - he sang “Eighter to aruku, naite waratte” <3) and it was really cute.
When the song was about to end they all went back to the main stage again and bowed again and waved their last goodbyes and Ohkura said something like “Ajinomoto wa oishikatta!” (“Ajinomoto was tasty”, lol) and Yoko went like “OMAERA wa oishikatta” (“YOU were tasty”) and we all went WHOOOOO at him XDD. Maru did a last Paaan with us but Yoko cut him by Paaaan-ing before him, but Maru prepared another Paaaan and when we screamed he just sent us a kiss instead of Paaaan-ing. Oh Maru.
And then they were all gone and the lights were on and when I realized I was already back on my chair crying like a baby and after a while pashoshi just made me stand up and gave me a hug. XD It still feels too good to be real, and just by writing this here almost two weeks later the tears are coming back to my eyes again. At first I thought I’d keep crying during the whole concert but in the end they were all so much fun I simply couldn’t, even though finally being able to be part of it for real made me feel things that can’t be put into words. There were a few moments in which I almost cried, but I think that when it ended it finally sank in that it had happened and that they were awesome. That I saw them with my own eyes, and I could see their faces and I could see their smiles and I could see their eyes twinkling and I could see how much they love what they do. I am so, so happy I was able to experience this and I’d like to, once more, thank everyone that made this possible, from the bottom of my heart.
So we kept sitting down and I wondered why weren’t we leaving and the girls told me that after a concert ends they start calling the blocks that can leave, to avoid problems at the exit and also for the station not to get that crowded. We ended up leaving earlier anyway because P had to check-in at her hostel before 10:30PM so we talked to the staff-san and he let us go. XD There were LOTS of staffs along the corridors and they were all bowing and thanking us for coming. That’s something Japanese employees always do to their costumers when they’re leaving, but I wasn’t used to that by that time (it was like my 3rd day in Japan), and I’d never expect to see Johnny’s staffs doing that. Our way to the station was pretty terrible because everywhere was crowded, but I managed to get back to the hotel safely (not before saying goodbye to the girls in Shinjuku) and I flailed on twitter till I passed out around 3AM or something.
On the following day I managed to catch them on Zip in the morning before leaving to Keikarou (Aiba's mom's restaurant) with airairo. But that's something I'll talk about in another post! XD
Final considerations that didn’t fit anywhere:
Aaaand it’s been five hours since I started writing this thing and I guess I should stop here. It’s 3:30AM and I’m out of here in 5 hours heading to Nagai Stadium to see my second Kanjani8 concert - and last, at least for the next couple of years, since I’m not planning to travel to Japan again that soon. XD
Talk to you people as soon as I have the time to! XD
But I really wanted to post about this here and since I started writing it before going to bed I thought I'd finish and post, but it took longer than expected. XD
Tokyo, Sunday, September 16th, 2012. I saw Kanjani8 live for the first time. It was one of the best days of my life.
I really really wish I had written a report earlier, but there are so many epic things happening and I’ve been meeting so many people and feeling so exhausted by the end of the day that I simply couldn’t bring myself to. But since tomorrow I’m seeing them again and I don’t want to mix things up, I should just write what I remember here - based on tweets, random flaily memories and other people’s posts. By the way, this week’s TV Guide has a detailed coverage of the concert I went to, with pictures and the full setlist. I’m happy to have such detailed stuff about the concert somewhere :D :D :D.
So the day started with me flailing all over the place and totally not able to control my feelings XD I woke up earlier than planned (was still a bit jetlagged) and wrote down a full list of goods. Then I painted my nails in shiny metallic blue but they looked kind of terrible - but no time to remove the polish and try to fix the disaster because otherwise I’d be late. XD So I got dressed in my red T-shirt (and blue nails… get the point? XD), put on some make-up to try to look at least a bit pretty (which was useless because it melted away and faded during the day), and went out to Shinjuku so I could take the train and go meet pashoshi at the Tobitakyu station.
I wasn’t sure what train to hop on, so I just did the most obvious thing ever, following the fangirls. It was around 9AM so I was really surprised to see them already out. One of my friends told me that basically, if you’re a Johnny’s fan you don’t really talk about it - except when it’s a concert day. And when the boys have a concert, believe me, it’s serious business!! The girls just dress up a lot! Some of them go to the venue super pretty, others wear con shirts or do cosplay - Eito Rangers, mainly - and others just wear clothes and accessories and everything based on their favorite member’s image color. When I reached the Tobitakyu station (the one closest to Ajinomoto Stadium), it was literally packed with fangirls, and the atmosphere was just amazing. Please notice this was the first time I ever went to a Johnny’s concert, so it was also the first time I ever saw that many fangirls together. And they all fangirl Eito!! *_* So it was really really nice. I wanted to ask random people for pictures but since that would sound a bit creepy I decided not to. But I did take a few paparazzi ones, and they’ll get posted… eventually. XD There was this girl waiting beside me and she was - no kidding - orange from head to toe. Her clothes, her backpack, her cell phone cover, her hair tie, everything. And there were 7-11 Hello Kitties everywhere, too. I also remember seeing lots of Ohkura fangirls (I do think he’s the most popular now, even more than Ryo), and I realized people DO bring suitcases with them to the concerts in order to get goods. >_>
Anyway. I got there actually a bit too early, so I just kept looking at the people and enjoying the atmosphere. I saw a few kodomo no eighter with their mama no eighter, and also quite a lot of otoko no eighter. I saw at least two wearing the “I heart curry” T-shirt Ohkura wore during the 47 tour, a few wearing the Eight x Eighter baseball T-shirt… and a few of them were with their girlfriends, but I saw quite a lot by themselves, too. Yay Eito, you’re popular among men!! \XD/ There was even a couple, both dressed as Orange Ranger. I was so amused by that. XD
Well, by the time pashoshi got there and we hugged I was almost imploding with emotions XD. We went to the stadium to take pictures of it and of the entrance sign and everything. We could hear them rehearsing - I actually only heard Ryo’s voice and they were singing Misetekure, and it obviously gave me feelings and I felt the goosebumps and I thought I’d just fall on the ground and stay there for a while lol. And then we went to the goods booths. It was the third day of selling in Tokyo, so there wasn’t any line and we covered that pretty quickly. Just watch me getting all confused with Japanese counting systems and raising my fingers up in the air to ask for quantities, and also calling the boys “Murakami-san”, “Shibutani-san” and even “Nishikido-san” (oh God why) because the girl didn’t know who I was talking about when I said “Hina”, “Subaru” and “Ryo”. >_>
I’d kill myself for not bringing a suitcase afterwards, since I had to carry 4 people’s goods for the whole day, but anyway. XD After going to a concert and facing everything that happens, I am now able to say that people are right when they charge twice the price for everything. It’s really annoying and a hassle. I did it because it was for friends and because I know how much of a pain it is to live outside Japan and have no means to get what you want - therefore I want to help as much as I can while I’m here - buy really, I don’t think I’ll ever do it again (assuming I’ll be coming to Japan once again in the distant future, that is). Just start selling goods online already, Johnny!! XD
The day was hot as hell, which only made things worse. I live in a tropical country but I can say that I’ve probably never felt such a horrid heat as I’m feeling here in Japan. It’s so humid sometimes it gets hard to breathe, and I actually had to buy a towel to put on my head / around my neck so I can dry all the sweat. D: At some point it started raining so we searched for shelter under… somewhere XD and sat down on these big plastic bags and kept talking and eating while we waited for yuumei_nata to arrive and praying for the rain to stop before the concert started. I really wouldn’t mind seeing Subaru singing all wet, far from that, but I was really worried about the goods. XDa So we just stayed there looking around and I noticed, among everything else, this girl holding a Maru uchiwa, and she had put glasses on him and it was written “Tanishi” above his head. They’re so adorable and creative, these Japanese fangirls. XD
yuumei_nata found us when the rain was almost over and we kept talking for a while before going back to the station to meet Paty (my Brazilian friend who lives in Japan) and the two girls who got our three extra tickets (since both pashoshi and melonpunch hit for the same concert. It’s thanks to Lindsey who kindly balloted for us that we got the awesome Arena B-15 seats and I’ll love her forever <3). It was also the first time I ever met airairo, nira_chan and anippan, and I was so happy and they’re all super nice and we took pictures together outside the crowded stadium and yes. <3 #feelings
So well it wasn’t even 4PM yet (the concert would start at 5PM) but we decided to get in because the girls wanted to go to the bathroom and were afraid of running out of time. The closer we got to the arena gate, the more we saw staffs around and the more we saw signs that said “NO PICTURES” (and they actually stated that in English, too, which surprised me. It’s like they don’t want dumb gaijin excuses, lol). We got in without any problems and I held the girls’ goods while they were in the bathroom line (laughed a lot because there were like 20 stalls for girls and 2 for boys, lololol).
When we entered the stadium we were like WOAH. It was my first time inside a stadium (even though I’m Brazilian I’ve never gone to a soccer match in my life, lol), so I was just overwhelmed at how big that place was. I’ve been told it fits the same as Tokyo Dome, so it’s not as big as Kokuritsu, but I’m really, really thankful for the seats we got. We weren’t sure where they were so we asked a staff-san and he directed us, and the more we walked the closer to the front stage we got. According to pashoshi’s post, we were on the 19th row from the front, on the right side of the stage (which is pretty close if you consider it’s a place that fits 55k people). I’d say we saw them from a distance of 20 meters? I remember how much we flailed and when P and I started talking about the staffs who were on the stage setting up the lights and the instruments and we were like “Wait, we can see their faces… does that mean we’ll be able to see their faces too?? OMGGGG” and stuff like that. XD We weren’t close enough to the outer walkway though, so it’s not like they had a chance to spot us in the crowd (even though P is taller than most Japanese girls and she’s blond so it would have helped a lot XD - I didn’t see any other foreigners around, really), and we couldn’t really see anything that happened far in the back stage or in the center stage (even on the tip of my toes, and I felt really bad doing so because I was already taller than most of the girls who were around XD), but they were right in front of us during most of the concert and for that I’m really thankful. Also, the concert happened around us and that was pretty overwhelming, though I didn’t know where to look at sometimes. XD I just chose to look at who happened to be closer to us, and if there wasn’t anyone I’d look at the screen. XD We also noticed the kind of VIP seats the press got, and although there weren’t many cameras around (which probably means this won’t ever be on DVD), I’m happy we at least got press coverage. XD
*EDIT 2012.10.12: I just stole the floor plan from the official website and made a schematic drawing showing our seats! XD
Anyway. When it was almost 5PM and the stadium got filled up with people, we started the “Eito! Eito! Eito!” chant and it felt awesome to finally be part of that, after watching concerts so many times on DVDs. The concert started with an intro video. The first thing we saw was a bug (IDK which!) and it went down the ground to hibernate, or something. And then they showed our seven boys in Osaka, 2004. They were inside a shop, I think, doing random things (all I remember is Ohkura aligning dominoes and Ryo kicking them and making everything fall, lololol), and there was this lady that was supposed to be the Osaka Obachan, who owned the place. XD They were all bored with life and she was like “Find something to do already”, lol. Then Maru (who was reading a magazine about the bug from the beginning) told them that it takes 8 years for it to wake up from hibernation, so maybe it would take them around that time, too. The TV was on, showing lots of past Eito stuff, and at some point Yoko suggested they should become super heroes, lol. But then the Obachan kicked them out and she looked at them going away in the sunset and that’s when she noticed they were each wearing their respective colors, and then the video cut to live backstage and when I realized our boys were there, right in front of us, wearing bright pink and yes, Subaru started singing freaking Osaka Romanesque and. And. FEELINGS.
Romanesque is the song I adore the most and I never thought it would be the opening one (though that’s no surprise, after it was the most voted for the 8/8 event). I also thought I’d cry my eyes out during the whole thing, but surprisingly I didn’t (even though the video in the beginning had me almost in tears). I just smiled and felt my heart beating faster and sang along and did the hand moves with everyone, with my penlight on even though it wasn’t dark yet. The central part of the main stage went up while they were singing this so I could admire them in all their glory. XD
After that, everything is pretty much a blur. The setlist tells me they sang Musekinin Hero and later Zukkoke Otokomichi. I remember they went up the carts at some point and waved at the crowd when they passed by. The cart on the right side of the main stage (our side) had Sanbaka and the left one had the other four. It was awesome doing the hand moves and also singing the “Soiya Soiya Soiya Soiya” parts during Zukkoke. XD When they started TWL they were at the very back so we couldn’t see anything, but I do remember the whole freaking stadium waving their towels around. I did too!! :D By the way the carts were shaped as a big 8 and they had screens on both sides.
Then by the end of the song they were back to the main stage and did the introductions. I can’t really remember much but I remember Hina being Hina and asking for cheers from the arena, the stands, the otoko no eighter (and yes, there were a LOT of men, lol!!). I also remember Subaru being cute and saying something like “I wonder if those who are up there near the “other me” will be okay?” because there was a screen at the back of the stadium near the second floor seats, and when he pointed his face was on the screen. Lol Subaru, stop being cute. XD <3
After the introductions they started a band part which was really good. They sang LIFE, Ai Deshita, Heavenly Psycho (OH GOD!! /dies happily in a corner *_______*) and Tsubusa ni Koi. Subaru was using that microphone with the red cord and he had it wrapped around his neck and fingers and unf, that’s pretty much all I can remember aside from Ohkura’s little solo during Heavenly Psycho that always makes me go awww at him, lol. Also there might have been interactions between Yasu and Ryo and Maru was really hot playing his bass but jkashjgdak I can’t be coherent so I should stop here. XD Also I think Subaru had his guitar for LIFE but not for the other songs, so he could just hold the mic and sing with all his might and make me go jdkagsk at him. So yeah. Ah, forgot to mention they had a band on stage during the whole thing, they also had violins and everything, and NO JUNIORS AT ALL, which made me really pleased. XD
They went backstage for a quick change of clothes while a video played and we knew the Eito Rangers would be coming up next, because that familiar tune started playing (“200X, Eito City…”, you know the deal) and something à lá Star Wars showed up on the screen, and they started talking about what the Rangers have been doing since it’s been a while. I can’t remember much but now a Yasu with full make-up and long, blond wig came to my mind just now (which is kind of creepy, but hey, it’s Yasu); Subaru was working as a painter or something, but when they showed his sheet his drawing was crappy as always, and we were all surprised when we saw Ryo bungee-jumping backwards from the top of Macau Tower, again!! XD (he really went again, it was another video, lol!!)
So when the Eito Rangers Theme Song started playing we saw they were above the main screen - they had seven small platforms and then went down to the main stage while singing. I’m sure you must have seen it in the news shows already? XD It’s hard to explain. When they did the pose Subaru went to the middle as always but Yoko shoved him away and stayed there in the center and Subaru was obviously pissed and said something like “I don’t care about what happened on the movie!!”, lol.
I’m really happy I got to see the Rangers live, but I have to say it wasn’t the most awesome skit ever (it was in fact a bit boring). They basically went to a magic kingdom somewhere and they met Snow White (who was indeed a girl but she was wearing this big manga-like mask, or should I say, HEAD covering her own XD) and she bit the apple and fell asleep and they were such a failure while “rescuing” her (imagine the seven of them trying to carry a single girl from the middle stage to the main one, and failing XDDD that was pretty much about it). And then there were these wolves and they had to defeat them and find the prince (??) so he could kiss Snow White and bring her back to life. The “duels” were funny, because they showed their faces on the big screen, like “Green vs. Wolf!” or something, like a videogame XD and then they’d start fighting. I can’t really remember what happened but each duel was different. Ohkura had this gun with him and Yoko came to the rescue but he ended up shooting and hitting Ohkura instead of the wolf, lol!! Ryo’s turn had to do with swords and everything was obviously choreographed and when he swung the sword for the last time there was fire coming out of nowhere and since we were close we could actually FEEL the heat. Yasu’s was kind of a dance battle, Subaru had a Karaoke battle (just like they do on Shiwake) and DAMN YES, Subaru’s voice, raw, coming right into my ears, YES, and I have the feeling I knew that song from somewhere, but I can’t remember which one it was now. Okay. Maru’s battle was based on gags made on the spot (I wonder if he actually works on different ones for each concert XD), and he did three of them but I can only remember the Eiga Dorobo one (they showed it in one of the press coverage videos. Maru pretty much imitated perfectly the commercial that airs on the movies before a movie start, that says you shouldn’t film the screen because NO MORE EIGA DOROBO - movie’s thieves - and it was pretty amusing. XD).
I don’t really think there was a Hina segment because when we realized Hina was coming up from the same place the Rangers had before - except he wasn’t Hina, he wasn’t Nasu, but he was BABUN MAN XDDDD. He sang the Babun song and we replied SHINGO!! whenever we were supposed to, and his soap bubbles reached us and it was magicalllll not to say surreal, lol!! He was the prince of the country, and they were all like “You look so much like Nasu!”, and Babun was like “Oh who? No, no, no…” and suddenly there was this random Junior dressed as Nasu and Hina’s voice was playing in the background while he pretended he talked, and somehow the phrases always ended in “NASU RENJAAA!”, and he did the pose, hahahahaha hilarious!! XD Subaru asked him if he always kept the screen of his helmet down because he had never noticed that, but that was obviously because Subaru was being a brat and teasing him (he had the screen down so that his face was almost fully covered - they were wearing the fancy movie suits, if I didn’t mention that before) XD.
So cutting long story short, Babun was supposed to kiss Snow White to save her (there was something related with Nasu’s shiny fangs at some point, but I can’t remember what now), and there’s a clock ticking and he misses it on purpose so he fails, but then he resurrects her with his Babun Attack (which was pretty random) and everyone live happily ever after and I can’t remember how or when but Hina manages to go back to his Nasu suit to perform ER with the others. ER is not one of my favorites, but it was cool.
Then they all started putting their Ranger suits down and tying the arms around their waists (they were all wearing random shirts underneath them though - Ohkura’s was white and had a Rolling Stones tongue on it, but it was monochromatic, and Subaru’s was black with a sparkly “I heart NY” XD Also, Maru and a few others, I think, seemed to be having problems to tie their suits, they kept wanting to fall all the time). The next songs were also a blur of flail and feelings. They performed It’s My Soul (hand moves togetherrrr) and Cool Magic City, which was quite random, but okay, it was fun XD.
Then they started the MC and I still have clear in my mind the image of the seven of them drenched in sweat and trying to fix their wet hair with their hands and they just started moving their heads so we could see drops of sweat falling and… yes. Life is good. XD Yasu was the one I kept looking at. He raised his shirt a few times to fan himself and we could see his abs and… yes. Life is good. XD The girls told me Ryo was being random and doing stuff during the MC but lol I didn’t really look at him, I was too busy with Yasu, so I can’t report on that, sorry. XDa I can remember Ohkura saying something like “ATSUI NAAAA~”, and everyone in the crowd was like “Yeees~” (by that time I was so sticky I could barely remember how being clean felt like… it was really a terribly hot day!! At least by the time the con started it wasn’t sunny anymore).
I didn’t really get the first part of the MC but all I knew is that at some point they were talking about fish? XD Anyway. The thing went on and somehow the topic became Chii-chan, Hina’s new cat. I haven’t watched the Chii-chan Janiben yet, so I’ll just assume the cat is a “he” for writing purposes, okay? XD So basically Yoko asked Hina what were the three cutest moments with Chii-chan so far. And then Hina started talking about the cat and as he talked he just started mimicking him and it was so cute, but in a disturbing way. XD So the 3rd cutest moment (DA-RAN~) was when Chii-chan arrived home in his box and walked around all cautiously for the first time. The 2nd cutest moment (DA-RAN~) was when he put the collar on Chii-chan and he tried to catch it with his paw, haha. And the 1st cutest moment was Chii-chan’s first shower. Hina started mimicking how they did it and then Yoko asked if he was wearing any clothes and Hina said “Yeah of course, I was wearing my underwear”, and then Yoko mentioned something about “Hina’s Chii-chan” and Hina was speechless for a while and Subaru said something I didn’t quite get because I was facepalming so hard at all the shit these guys talk about when there’s press around, lol, but I just read a translation and Subaru was like “You should put a bell on it, too”… seriously Sanbaka, what the fuck! XD Don’t do this to me!!
There was also this part during the MC in which the eighters from the left side of the stadium started talking really loud and we were like “WTF?” and the boys were “WTF?” too, and finally we understood they were saying “Hanabi”, because they could probably see fireworks outside the stadium somewhere. Subaru went like “WTF, YOU’RE IN A LIVE, LOOK AT US, WILL YOU?” XD I kind of wanted to be scolded by him too, but whatever. XD
The end of the MC was basically announcements. Ohkura told the crowd that 8EST can also be read as BEST and everyone was eeeeeh~ (which got me pretty confused because that was obvious since the beginning, at least for me), and they told us about the compilation album and the shiny 350 hours of Matsuri footage (we went SO CRAZY, lol) and the Sunshine Pair date and the new song with Yoko in the center and everything. They also announced Tokyo Dome cons in November and Kyocera Dome cons at the end of the year / beginning of January (and I was like FML I won’t be here anymore but whatever XD).
So when they went backstage to a change of clothes the big screens showed a bit of the Matsuri footage (it’s going to be EPIC, guys, I tell you!!). I can’t remember much because there were several flashes of parts of the games and everything, I think we’ll have all of them on the DVD? And then I also remember Ryo randomly going SHO-CHAAAAAN at Shota, hahahaha XD. There was also a short part of the Sunshine Pair date and DAMN I NEED THIS AND I NEED THIS NOW SO I CAN DIE HAPPILY IN A PUDDLE OF SPARKLES AND GAY RAINBOWS because seriously. Maru and Ryo smiling awkwardly at each other and holding hands as if saying “Shall we go?” or something, and then Ryo driving and Maru by his side in the car, I just can’t with these guys!! XD I’m so happy Maru’s in this, because he’s so shippable with everyone that in the end there’s no way it’s going to be awkward. XD Looking forward to it! Even though they split the extras in two versions to make me buy both T_____T.
The first song that came up after that was Kuruton (crouton? Those small toasts/crackers/whatever? WTF Yoko and his songs about food XD). They were wearing really strange/ugly capes and I can’t remember the dance and there was a lot of autotune (I’m sure everyone has heard the song by now, they played it on Recomen yesterday), but HEY! Yoko has to be able to sing the song, so his voice needs a bit of help. XD The screen showed what must be the PV. I like how it looks. They’re all wearing light brown / beige suits and black shorts, and long white socks, and I think they’re wearing hats too, and Subaru has glasses with circular frames on. He looks like a cute schoolboy. XD The background was pretty too but I can’t remember now how it looked like. But yes, overall, pretty!
They ended this performance in the center stage and next thing I knew the capes were gone and they were wearing black and gold outfits (they were sleeveless, I must say) and Brulée started. I was like OH MY GOOOOOD and I think that was when there were tiny flames everywhere but I’m not sure. Anyway I couldn’t see much because they were far from us. Then they performed Dye D and I was like OH MY GOOOOOD again, lol. There were those green lasers everywhere during the song and they ended it in the main stage (KURA’S WHISPEEEEER unf - sorry, stronger than me) and went backstage again.
Then everything went dark and the same video from before continued, except now it showed lots of goods from the past concerts inside the Obachan store. SO MANY FEELINGS, really!!
And next thing we knew… all seven were jumping up the stage using those platforms and they’re all wearing their “8” colored T-shirts from Excite!, except they’ve got a few sparkly thingies here and there now. And as soon as they appear, everyone goes crazy with the sound of “WAKE UP!”, at the beginning of 8 o’clock. They didn’t sing the whole song though because it was the beginning of a medley. Tabibito followed - I never thought they’d sing this one, but it also gave me lots of warm and fuzzy feelings. XD By this time they were all running everywhere and I lost them from view but then Ohkura came up in the main stage with this huge taiko drum and Naniwa Iroha Bushi started playing and I was like OMG is that Subaru singing enka?? Am I really listening to that?? Is it real?? LOL. And they were wearing their debut clothes and everything. ;__________; Osaka Rainy Blues followed (they wore the blue clothes from the single performances, too) and I was really hoping for Sukiyanen but it didn’t happen. Instead we followed directly to Osaka Obachan Rock, which Hina performed by himself wearing a hilarious Osaka Obachan outfit, complete with wig and apron (he even rode a bicycle at some point, lol!!). And then Hina continued playing the Obachan part, changing the channels on the TV (which was the big screen).
And then三兄弟 appeared on the screen and I was like OMGWTFNOWAYYYYYY dakjsjgfaskdg and Baru, Chipa and Yuu came to the main stage and they introduced themselves because it’s been a while and a few people might not even know them (which is probably true. I don’t think 3% of that stadium had seen Sankyoudai live before XD). They performed Purin, which was adorable, and I loved singing along at the parts where the crowd is supposed to. <3
Then Kiddo and Ohkura appeared at the back stage performing TORN and I was pretty much dead (where the hell did that one come frommmm), but it was a pity I couldn’t see much of it because they were faaaaar. D: But I looked at the screen and they showed parts of that PV I’ve only watched via fancam and they were wearing the 2008 outfits and I was grateful for that because they’re sexier than the 2009-2010 ones. XDa Ohkura in red satin, I like it. When it ended, Hina Obachan changed the channel again (he was just lying down at the right corner of the stage XD) and the screen showed 山田 and we were all like OMGGGG and they both came in with their sparkly golden suits and went like “Yamada deeeesu~ Yay Yay~” and everyone in the crowd did the Yay Yay together, it was so great XD. And they talked a bit about how they used to do manzai back then and how difficult it was and everything and then there was a pun with the word “aoppana” that I didn’t quite get, but what matters is that everyone went back to the stage and they performed their newest song… and it was quite amusing because we had Yamada, Torn, Subaru and Ryo dressed as Sankyoudai and Hina Obachan!! XDDDD My arms got even more sore after this song because of the hand moves, and I seriously started wondering how they manage to go through concert after concert… XD
So we finally got to the band part. I am tempted to write only YASU IS HOT WHILE PLAYING HIS GUITAR, PERIOD because that’s all I can remember. XD Subaru appeared at the center stage with his MISETEKUREEEEE~ which was awesome and there was fire too, and it was sooo cool. Then they performed Do You Agree? and they also did Eightopop!!!!!!! in band style, but I quite can’t remember how that went. Must have been because they were all over the place and I was trying to catch as many of them as I could, but I’m really happy Yasu stayed near us for most of the time <3. But we did clap a lot!
Ryo was the one who did the final speech and his voice was hesitant (P thinks he was about to cry, omg my heart ;_;). He did talk about 8 years back, when they couldn’t even fill up a 1000-people venue, and how grateful they are of being able to do something as big as this now, and yes, EMOTIONS OVERFLOWING and Tati wanting to cry again. The last song was BJ and I felt frustrated because I sang along but I couldn’t remember the name of the song!! XD But omgggg BJ ;______;. FEELINGS. There were a few fireworks that were really pretty (nothing compared to Arashi’s though, but hey, it’s Eito!! XD) and they bowed and disappeared. The video was back - this time, Osaka, 2012. The Obachan was now older, her hair whitening, and she was organizing their singles (or something like that??) in her K8 goods shop, lol. And then they all appear to make a visit and say hi. By this time I was almost crying AGAIN, because seriously, too many feelings. Then the camera went down into the ground and showed the bug waking up from its sleep, flying into the sky and marking an 8 shape in the air. END.
OH GOD. We all started calling for Eito, Eito, Eito! and they soon came back wearing the tour T-shirts (that were obviously sparkly, unlike ours - Yasu was wearing this cloth wrapped around his waist, it looked like a skirt but it wasn’t really, IDK what it was, oh Yasu <3) and the encores started with My Home, then they hopped onto the carts once more and went around to perform Kyuu*Jou*Show!! and Monjai Beat. I think this was when Maru and Yasu were near us and Maru was doing the :3b Tanishi pose (because there were lots of uchiwas asking him to! XD) and Yasu just went behind him and did the pose too! It was really cute!! At some point Yoko was also behind Maru doing the Paaaan~ with the audience before he did. XD Also, Kura is such an attention whore because he went down the corridors running and waving at people, and I heard (and saw afterwards on the news) that Yoko totally fell down at some point at the back stage, and I totally missed that (too flaily over Maru and Yasu, sorry XD). Also YES, I SAW SUBARU’S ARMPIT LIVE!! He really wanted to show it to me, lol. I think Yoko wanted to show his too, but was too embarrassed to do that in the end. XD Well they were going back to the main stage and Hina was like “Yasu, hayaku!”, because he was faaaar behind (too busy sending kisses to people, lol) so Yasu just ran with all his might and went past Maru and fell in the middle of the stage, just to be tsukkomied by Hina, of course. XD And then they asked us to hold hands and I held P’s hand and there was this Japanese girl sitting beside me and she was all like “Ah, sumimasen~” and bowing and everything and I was like lol okay it’s just my hand, you know XD. And Subaru was like “Hold your hands! Don’t be shy! People from the press too!!” XD and I looked and they were all “Whatever, not doing it anyway”, booo. XD And they of course they are Saikou de~ Whoooo~ Saikyou no~ Whoooo~ Kanjaniii~ EITOOOO~
;___________; (and I thought I was going to rip the Japanese’s girl arm off, because I was much taller than her, so I just raised my arm with all my strength and I felt hers couldn’t reach mine, lol).
We obviously didn’t give up and started calling for Eito! Eito! Eito! again and I felt my throat getting weak because we kept calling and they wouldn’t come again ;_; but when they came they came with MUGENDAI of all songs and it was just. The most special thing. Ever. Subaru went “YUUJOU!” and handed out the mic, and we completed with “Shinjitsu! Yume! Kibou! Shiawase! Egao! Yuuki! Tabidachi!”, and then I REALLY said goodbye to my voice XD. We did the “Mugendai” symbol in the air with hour penlights whenever they sang it, we did it with Ryo!! :D <3 After Mugendai they sang Hitotsu no Uta and it was so heartwarming. I remember Yasu smiling at us (not specifically at us, but at our block), like, smiling really big, and waving, and bowing, and by bowing I mean bowing REALLY low and staying like that for a while. Whenever they passed by we’d yell “ARIGATOOOOU!!” at them. Maru was jumping and waving his hands with us during the lalalalala~ parts, and Yasu changed his part a bit (instead of “Kimi to aruku, naite waratte” - “We’ll walk with you, we’ll cry, we’ll laugh” - he sang “Eighter to aruku, naite waratte” <3) and it was really cute.
When the song was about to end they all went back to the main stage again and bowed again and waved their last goodbyes and Ohkura said something like “Ajinomoto wa oishikatta!” (“Ajinomoto was tasty”, lol) and Yoko went like “OMAERA wa oishikatta” (“YOU were tasty”) and we all went WHOOOOO at him XDD. Maru did a last Paaan with us but Yoko cut him by Paaaan-ing before him, but Maru prepared another Paaaan and when we screamed he just sent us a kiss instead of Paaaan-ing. Oh Maru.
And then they were all gone and the lights were on and when I realized I was already back on my chair crying like a baby and after a while pashoshi just made me stand up and gave me a hug. XD It still feels too good to be real, and just by writing this here almost two weeks later the tears are coming back to my eyes again. At first I thought I’d keep crying during the whole concert but in the end they were all so much fun I simply couldn’t, even though finally being able to be part of it for real made me feel things that can’t be put into words. There were a few moments in which I almost cried, but I think that when it ended it finally sank in that it had happened and that they were awesome. That I saw them with my own eyes, and I could see their faces and I could see their smiles and I could see their eyes twinkling and I could see how much they love what they do. I am so, so happy I was able to experience this and I’d like to, once more, thank everyone that made this possible, from the bottom of my heart.
So we kept sitting down and I wondered why weren’t we leaving and the girls told me that after a concert ends they start calling the blocks that can leave, to avoid problems at the exit and also for the station not to get that crowded. We ended up leaving earlier anyway because P had to check-in at her hostel before 10:30PM so we talked to the staff-san and he let us go. XD There were LOTS of staffs along the corridors and they were all bowing and thanking us for coming. That’s something Japanese employees always do to their costumers when they’re leaving, but I wasn’t used to that by that time (it was like my 3rd day in Japan), and I’d never expect to see Johnny’s staffs doing that. Our way to the station was pretty terrible because everywhere was crowded, but I managed to get back to the hotel safely (not before saying goodbye to the girls in Shinjuku) and I flailed on twitter till I passed out around 3AM or something.
On the following day I managed to catch them on Zip in the morning before leaving to Keikarou (Aiba's mom's restaurant) with airairo. But that's something I'll talk about in another post! XD
Final considerations that didn’t fit anywhere:
- Concerts in Japan are definitely different from concerts in Brazil. In Brazil we go REALLY wild. It’s like, we scream so much we can’t hear what song is being performed, lol. Here in Japan, I couldn’t scream nor move half of what I wanted to, because no one else was doing it so it would just feel awkward. It’s like everyone has their penlight and they stay in their 50cm² space moving their hands accordingly to the music. I was holding myself afraid to hit the girl beside me with my penlight. It also breaks my heard when they ask the crowd to continue the song and everyone just stays quiet. During Hitotsu no Uta I was screaming my lungs out but just around 60% of the stadium was singing the lalalalala part, the rest was mute. I was like WTF? D: It also pisses me off when I watch DVDs and I see dead people in the audience, not moving nor anything. PLEASE GO BACK HOME AND GIVE YOUR TICKET TO SOMEONE WHO REALLY WANTS TO ENJOY THE CONCERT? Thank you. I know that sounds mean and that Japanese concerts have probably always been like this and will probably forever be, but I can’t help but writing about this.
- Eito didn’t give us any streamers nor signed frisbees nor T-shirts, but we did get soap bubbles, water, fire, and strange stains on our skin because of the fireworks. XD
- Subaru’s voice. Period. He cares about his music and that’s what he does. He did give us lots of peace signs when he was in Baru’s Sankyoudai clothes, and he was pretty hyper during the first encores, yes, but he rarely interacted with people. I think that’s just how he is and I respect that. At least he wasn’t in one of his moody days (Ryo wasn’t either, thank God!), so he was pretty happy and talkative. I love this little old man <3.
- Yasu is a pocketful of sunshine, seriously. He’s the one I remember the most because he stayed near us a lot and he was just so adorable and he was always smiling. And at the same time he’s so sexy, unf, I can’t with him!! Him playing the guitar… sweat all over his face, his skin glistening because of it, his hair damp against his forehead… nnnnngh. Also, his bow T_T.
- Maru. Where do I start? He just doesn’t stop! You look at him and he’s jumping, waving, smiling. We did the Paaaan~ with him lots of times, and it was really great. Maru <333 I really wish I could have seen more of his bass playing, but he always stays far to the left on the stage, so. :/
- I hate to admit this, but yes, Ryo is hot. XDa He is awfully skinny though. But he was super tanned so that’s a plus, I think. He looked really good, and he also smiled (that smile full of teeth of his) and waved at us quite a lot.
- I can’t remember much of Yoko, Hina and Kura. Both Yoko and Hina spent a few moments with us (not together though), but they didn’t really do anything special that I particularly remember. I remember seeing Hina sending kisses to people though... and re-reading what I wrote about the MC it was pretty much only YokoHina talking, and that’s what they’re there for, so yay. XD And Kura is a diva and an attention whore, that’s pretty much about it. XD He’s all like “Look at me! I’m an idol! I’m pretty!!”, and he waves and he smiles and he throws himself into the crowd and everything. He’s not any different of what I expected him to be. XD And yes, he IS quite tall. And he’s gorgeous. Not that no one knew it already, but anyway.
- I'm really happy they performed some of my favorite songs and quite a lot among the ones I really, really wanted to see live. In one of my talks with airairo she told me that it was a perfect first concert for me. All their famous songs, all their memorable moments, everything. I'm so happy. :)
Aaaand it’s been five hours since I started writing this thing and I guess I should stop here. It’s 3:30AM and I’m out of here in 5 hours heading to Nagai Stadium to see my second Kanjani8 concert - and last, at least for the next couple of years, since I’m not planning to travel to Japan again that soon. XD
Talk to you people as soon as I have the time to! XD