Arashi: Scene~君と僕の見ている風景, 9/3/10 & 9/4/10 at Kokuritsu Kasumigaoka Kyougijou

[nyonyo]

OMFG DID KOKURITSU COME TOGETHER TONIGHT. I didn't even know it could come together the way it did just because the size and open venue makes it so hard for the audience to read each other the way you can in the Domes but tonight was so perfect and the only time at Kokuritsu where the call managed to synch. :)

BEST CON EVER.

How can one day make such a difference...?

I just kept babbling to my friend, "Thank you so so so much for finding a trade for tonight for us, this is the best memory I could have possibly had as my last night in Tokyo."

This is my last con for the foreseeable future and I'm really glad it was this one. :)

Copypasting in what I wrote up for last night, but the bulk of this will be tonight's report.


SETLIST

01.movin'on
02.揺らせ、今を
03.Troublemaker
04.Happiness
05.Attack it!
06.Everything
07.1992*4##111
08.Rock You
09.きっと大丈夫
10.ハダシの未来
11.a Day in Our Life
12.Summer Splash!
13.静かな夜に
14.迎えに行くよ
15.season
16.Hero
17.T.A.B.O.O
18.let me down
19.kagero
20.Oh Yeah!
21.Lucky Man
22.One Love

MC (23.ユカイツーカイ怪物くん)
イントロ・ドン

24.リフレイン
25.ギフト
26.マイガール
27.Come back to me
28.Magical Song
29.PIKA☆☆NCHI DOUBLE
30.Love So Sweet
31.言葉より大切なもの
32. Believe
33.サーカス
34.Re(mark)able
35.Monster
36.To be free
37. 空高く

ENCORE
38.Still...
39.ファイトソング
40.Beautiful days
41.サクラ咲ケ
42.感謝カンゲキ雨嵐

DOUBLE ENCORE
43.Løve Rainbow

9/3/10

I am wiiiiiped.

I'll probs do a real report all in one go tomorrow night because the angle tonight was so weird I kept having trouble concentrating (plus the sound quality was so beyond shit; there were massive complaints two weeks ago and they should be ashamed of themselves for having it still be so utterly fucked - Kokuritsu has never had GOOD sound quality, but this was beyond the pale). We were watching most of the show from the back/side; tomorrow we should be closer to the center and easier to tell what's going on.

+ ngl, I think this is the weakest setlist ever. The entire first half before the MC was flat. I'm really surprised they didn't change it because I don't think it works at all. The second half was good (and in particular the Re(mark)able bit was on an entirely different elevated level from the rest of the show) but Jun and Aiba deserve most of the credit. Carnival and A.RA.SHI were sorely missed, dumping both at once is harsh...

+ The sound came in "waves." I don't know if it was just my section's speaker that was utterly fucked, but the volume would go up and down like every other second like it was on a constant wave system. And it wasn't their VOICES (which the audience will make up for usually), it was EVERYTHING, which was very confusing. I felt like everyone around us kept staying quiet because if you didn't then you couldn't hear the music at all when it hit the "low" wave.

+ SOLO ROUNDUP:

Nino: this was my favorite song and it was so boring... lack of cute furi is inexcusable. The audience sang the "I love you" part which was sweet though. :)
Sho: I HAVEN'T LAUGHED THAT HARD IN A WHILE. OMG. The screens had two shirtless Shos facing each other and I kept hoping they would make out. SHO ON SHO ACTION.
Ohno: WAY better than the past two years. Not a fave overall but his dancing is so incredible even if this isn't quite up to the old standard.
Jun: I LOVE EVERYTHING THAT THIS SOLO CHOOSES TO BE. OMG YOU GUYS HIS OUTFIT.
Aiba: BEST COSTUME EVER!!! So groovy!

+ Arashi Showtime was really great, the MJ Walk remains amazing. :) Aiba joining in was awesome but also kind of just emphasized how freaking amazing Jun is on those wires. Aiba can flip around and everything just fine but Jun looks like he just BELONGS in the air.

+ Re(mark)able--->Monster really was absolutely godly. They lit the arena up red and the spots were casting the members' silhouettes against the stands and it was gorgeous. The green penlights in the arena against the red lighting was a STUNNING effect. Absolutely gorgeous, stunning, flawless, etc.

+ I think Aiba looked at me but if he did it was a glance, but I made eye contact with Sho. \o/ Speaking of, holy hell is he good-looking right now.

+ Couples' bracelet sighting lol. It disappeared for the encore though.

+ Aiba lost his voice pretty completely. :( By aisatsu it was basically gone.

+ CUTEST THING THAT HAS EVER EVER EVER HAPPENED EVER: one of the balloons got stuck underneath the corner of the moving stage. Jun noticed it through the floor, and he crawled to the edge of the stage and groped around underneath the stage to retrieve it. He got it, let it fly free, and then flopped on the stage flat on his back singing to the balloon as it flew off and waved goodbye to it. OMFG OMFG OMFG SO CUTE

+ Nino went second-to-last on aisatsu, Jun went last. They high-fived each other as they were switching places. ORZ

+ Apparently happened two weeks ago too, but Nino caught balloons when they were released. He was hugging them to his chest while singing his solo parts. He held onto them, and then he gave them to a staff member at the end who appeared to rush off backstage with them, lol?!

MC: Nothing for Jun's birthday, I guess he's partied out after three surprise parties.

+ Aiba had said "マックスです！！！” during his intro aisatsu. Nino asked if he meant his tension was to the max. Aiba said it was EVERYTHING to the max, and that in that moment he was AIBA MASAKI TO THE ABSOLUTE MAX.

+ Everyone was wearing t-shirts under their costume jackets except Sho, who was in a tank top. Nino asked why he was the only one different and why he was being such a show-off, and Sho said he'd asked himself but wardrobe had said THEY had been told Sho had to be in a tank top by someone, lol. Mysterious!

+ Sho said there are three different versions of One Love: the mike stand version, the headset version, and the 24 Hour Television version (?). Nino said the last didn't count because it was a one-time-thing. Sho said, "Fine, then the third is the people-are-dancing-around-us-for-some-reason version! But... (to the audience) ...which one are you guys concentrating on?? Which do you think is the real one to learn yourselves?" Jun said "the audience just copies whichever version we're doing at the time, don't they?"

+ Nino had gone to a konbini late the previous night. He was walking by two college-age girls who had their backs to him. Love Rainbow began playing in the store and one of the girls exclaimed, "Oh, it's the song from Junnosuke's drama!"

Nino sort of did an about-face. "I mean, a girl who knows about Junnosuke? My interest was piqued! So I turned around and started following after them."

"...you mean inside the store, right? Because otherwise that would be CREEPY."

"Yes, inside the store, because the alternative would be embarrassing." So Nino is being a creeper sneaking around the store eavesdropping on these two girls.

「潤之介のドラマ観てる？」
「うん、観てるよ。」
「最近の潤之介、いい顔してるね。」
「いい恋してるね、きっと！」

Jun like hit the floor looking all embarrassed and ADORABLE and Sho was like HOW OLD DID YOU SAY THESE GIRLS WERE AGAIN?! and Nino was like, probs in the 18-22 range, definitely younger than Jun (and yet talking about him like they're his mom or gossipy neighborhood ladies lmao).

+ Nino will be appearing in Natsuniji...? (There was like no crowd reaction, I haven't been keeping up at all, was this just announced so long ago it doesn't rate applause, or was it just them joking about it?) Jun asked if Nino would be playing a freeter for a drama hookup, or if he would be playing an actor visiting the company. Nino cackled, "If it's the latter, I can meet T-san...!"

(I know two weeks ago they said Natsuniji and Nino's drama were shooting side-by-side on location and Nino went to say hi to Jun and Jun told him he should greet Takeuchi-san while he was there, and Nino was like, "Already did!" and Jun was all pissy that she rated above him XXXXD)

+ On Mondays at nine Sho's in the dressing room for Zero, so he always has Natsuniji playing on the dressing room TV. At some point recently the only people who were in the dressing room were Sho and one of the stylists. The stylist saw what he was watching and said, "D: YOU WATCH THIS?!!" and Sho said yes. The stylist like FREAKED OUT going, "BUT IT IS A RENAI DRAMA????" and Sho said yeah, it was, and the stylist went, "YOU WATCH RENAI DRAMAS YOUR OWN MEMBERS ARE IN?!!" and Sho said yes.

"DON'T YOU GET EMBARRASSED?!?!" Sho said he didn't. "IS THIS REALLY NORMAL?!?!?!" Sho said yes, it was normal for everyone to watch each others' shows. The stylist was like, "BUT THEY ARE YOUR MEMBERS AND YOU'RE WATCHING THEM KISS SOMEONE!!!!!!! HOW CAN YOU BE OKAY WITH THIS!!!!!!"

Aiba said he was watching Natsuniji periodically when he got the chance. They asked Ohno what his thoughts were on the promo for next week's episode.

"Next week, that's the one where that thing happens, right!"
"...what thing?"
"...uh, you kiss or something? I don't know?"
"Leader... Have you watched a single episode of my drama?"
"(makes a silly face) Not a one!"

+ Sho said his movie would crank in soon. Nino asked what Kami no Karute's abbreviation was. "Kamikaru/comical?" Sho said, "I think this is one of those where you shouldn't abbreviate it at all..."

+ Nino was asked when his drama was premiering. He had no idea, and was told that was no good. He veered off to the side of the main stage, prancing around near the audience seats peering out into the crowd: "Lemme find someone who likes me and they can tell me when it's on!" The audience tried to yell the start date to him but he couldn't hear and finally gave up. XD

+ After Kaibutsu-kun they played a game where a tiny intro clip (like half a second) of a JE song was played and they competed to guess what the title was. Jun got the first one and started singing and doing the furi to it before saying the answer: "It's Kinki Kids' 'Distance'!! 懐かしいね〜" (lol, how does the furi never leave him...) Aiba was like, OMG I remember, wasn't that the one where for some unexplained reason the juniors had to dance backup shirtless?!

They kept playing until Ohno came back and then he had to do it alone. The first half-second was impossible, I don't think anyone even got it when they gave him a whole second, then they gave him two seconds and EVERYONE IN THE ENTIRE STADIUM EXCEPT OHNO knew it was the intro to Firefly. The other four told him it was an Arashi song.

Ohno said, "It's an English title, maybe?" Everyone said it was. "! :DDDD Easy Crazy Break Down!" "NO!" Ohno was like, "THEN I DEMAND TO HEAR THE CHORUS!"

He said it repeatedly until they finally DID play him a line of the chorus and then he was like OH THAT ONE and he started singing, "雨はそう蛍のように．．．" and the audience was like YES HE WILL GET THIS ONE AFTER ALL!

But he said he still didn't know what it was, and Jun was like "蛍！！！！！！" and telling him his hint was WHAT IS HOTARU IN ENGLISH and Ohno had no idea and the audience started screaming it at him and he kept mishearing and throwing out gibberish English answers until Arashi was like IT'S FIREFLY, OKAY? FIREFLY!!!! and then they wheeled the game table away and everything went dead silent for a few seconds and someone went in a small voice, "...is the game over?"

Aiba said it was, and they were like, WELL. THAT WAS THE MOST PATHETIC RESOLUTION TO A GAME EVER.

+ They sang Refrain after MC, super awkward pick. I miss having Aiba amp up the crowd. :(

Aisatsu:

+ Sho first. He said he wanted Arashi to be the rainbow over all of our heads. That's "the view Arashi sees," he thinks. Sometimes life has hard things in it, sometimes there are storms that hit your life, but then you look up and even if it's hard to see sometimes, there's a rainbow overhead...

+ Ohno said he tries every time they do Kokuritsu to look carefully at all 70,000 faces. He says his facial recognition is pretty good so he remembers people who come to multiple shows even. "You may think we can't see you but I promise we can see you better than you think, so please don't forget to wear makeup!"

+ Aiba's voice was pretty much gone. Had to cover the mike to cough and clear his throat twice. Said he was still AIBA MASAKI TO THE MAX, and as his voice faltered the audience cheered super loud and he said, "I feel so alive! Here, right here, with you guys, I feel like we're all SO ALIVE!" It was longer than that a bit but I'm blanking, it was just really really cute ;w;

+ Nino came out and began speaking in Aiba's raspy voice. Picking up the "the view I see" theme, he said that Arashi had three regular programs now and it was thanks to all the fans. They have Arashi-chan, VS, and Shiyagare, and all of them are different. "There's a kind of Arashi you want to see when you turn on channel four. Another kind of Arashi you want to see on channel five. Another Arashi on channel eight. But the Arashi that Arashi wants to see themselves as...is the Arashi you see right here."

The crowd erupted into cheers and Nino said gleefully, "My aisatsu tonight is hella deep!!!" and exited to high-five Jun.

+ Jun: Arashi gets its energy from the fans and their smiles. They have a lot of work to do nowadays but he just has to come in to do a concert and see the smiles, and then he has what he needs to go on doing his best. "When I see you guys and your faces, you're what makes me think I gotta try harder the next day. And I can keep on thinking that way, how I want to try harder, until the next time I see your faces again."

9/4/10

EVERYTHING ABOUT LAST NIGHT I DIDN'T LIKE BASICALLY DIDN'T EXIST?

The sound was all better tonight and the audience was absolutely wild and fun and Arashi was clearly having the time of their lives and doing all kinds of goofy bits throughout the night. Sucks this wasn't the DVD instead. I had no problem with the setlist tonight now I was experiencing with a less sucky crowd that wasn't afraid to raise their voices, really liked it a lot.

I also think it's more fun to have some height at Kokuritsu to get into it. Last night we were in third row of the stands really close to the main stage (too close to see the screen), and not only was it hard to see anything going on in the concert, but you couldn't see the audience much either down that low. Tonight were in the third row of the top half and it was PERFECT. I could see the show way way way better but I could also see the crowd perfectly spread out in front of me, and that's really fun. :) I love that at Kokuritsu because it's bigger than even the Domes, so it's like this giant wall of penlights all moving around.

Before the con started, my friend said she had a dream about Shun the previous night. She asked me who else I liked besides Arashi and I said I liked Shun and Toma. We started chatting about Hanakimi, and right then...

Shun, Toma, Horikita Maki, and Ogu-san came in and the screaming from the audience was INSANE. My friend got them in her binoculars and said Shun was wearing red-framed eyeglasses. She lent me her binoculars but I couldn't see them at all… ;w;

After the con my friend was like, "I DREAMT ABOUT SHUN AND HE APPEARED!!! WE TALKED ABOUT TOMA AND HE APPEARED!!!! WE ARE SO PSYCHIC!!!!!"

The other days there were no commercials playing before the con, but they had them today! All the varieties, Ooku, GANTZ, Natsuniji, and Freeter, Ie wo Kau. The last was Nino being interviewed by a news camera on the street with the text on the screen reading, "Back then, I hadn't yet realized that now was the time I needed to try my hardest..."

And then the con began...

01.movin'on
02.揺らせ、今を
03.Troublemaker

The screens turned on and flashed dramatic CGI animation of "scenery" like mountain views and flowers and dolphins leaping. Each "scenery" sequence would be shown and then the camera would pull out and it would be reflected in the eye of each member one by one, starting with Ohno down to Jun.

The band was playing orchestral intro music for this, and as the music swelled the main screen rolled back into two separate pieces. There was a massive waterfall setup behind it. A door opened up underneath the waterfall and through the water you could see Arashi, lined up with Jun in front.

movin' on began playing and they walked down the stage stairs, moving into group dancing on the main stage.

For the chorus, when it goes, "Just now we go!" there's that, "Yeah!" effect playing under the main track, which is the audience call response, and you hold your penlight hand in a fist above your head without moving it for a few beats each time.

Yurase, you wave back and forth on the "yurase, yurase, yurase..." By the end of that, they had all migrated down to the center stage in the arena. Then they formed a line to dance Troublemaker on the center stage. :)

04.Happiness
05.Attack it! (member intros)
06.Everything

I think they did Happiness spread out and then Attack it! was done on the large lifted platforms in the arena?

Intros: Jun did, "俺たち５人が７万人を幸せにしてやるよ！！” tonight this time *_* Nino kept telling the crowd they weren't loud enough and demanding louder screams. Aiba did his "saikou da ze~" again.

My friend and I went "!!!" at each other for 心盗んだ俺らは犯人 <3333 FAVORITE PART EVER <3333

The sun was starting to set for Everything and it looked really beautiful. :)

07.1992*4##111

Nino's costume is pretty outrageous. No cute furi for this, just clapping along slowly to the rhythm. All the juniors line up on the stage steps holding heart-shaped balloons, standing in a heart formation. The audience sings the "I love you" part, and there the juniors let the balloons fly free. It was still light enough you could see them flying off into the sky. It's adorable and this is still my fave solo on the album, but if they'd tried harder on the furi this would have been unstoppable... :(

08.Rock You
09.きっと大丈夫
10.ハダシの未来
11.a Day in Our Life
12.Summer Splash!

Moving stages for Rock You (love the rap / "clap your hands two times!" bit) and Kitto Daijoubu. Jun and Ohno were on our side for those, were dancing "Kitto Daijoubu" for most of the time they were by us.

I think the other three swung back around on the return trip for a Day in Our Life. I noticed they paid a lot of attention to the part of the audience sitting basically behind the stage as they rolled by. Sho doesn't usually do much specific fanservice but I saw him doing that double-peace-sign pose Kamiyama does for someone in that section. :)

Summer Splash! had the colored fountain show around the arena. Sho ran around the main stage at the start screaming, "SUMMER SUMMER SUMMER SUMMER SUMMER SUMMER SUMMER!" with airplane arms. The "OHHHH YEEEEAH!" bit is the audience part.

At the very end of the song, when it goes "OH YEAH!" over and over and over, for every "OH YEAH!" a water geyser-like explosion would go off in a different location of the arena to spray the audience.

13.静かな夜に

Watching the screen is no good, the camera isn't capturing this at all. Just watched him this time, even though he was far away. It's incredible. How can someone move like that?

14.迎えに行くよ
15.season
16.Hero

The weather had been perfect all night, but during Mukae ni Iku yo the wind started picking up and we got a gorgeous breeze. :) Thought it was lovely to hear "season" in this flawless weather since my main memory of season was last year's Kokuritsu final encore in the pouring rain...

17.T.A.B.O.O

Seriously, nothing but lulz. I think the audience is supposed to be responding somewhere, but I have no idea where. I was mostly just giggling to myself at the ridiculousness. I knew the long-standing tradition of laughing nonstop at Sho's solos wouldn't go broken for long, and this didn't disappoint. At the beginning it's all pre-recorded shots on the screen of him shirtless with closeups on his back and torso, with him breathing heavily. Yay for Arashi pornos.

During some point there are two identical pre-recorded Shos singing in synch on the screen and they move closer and closer together and both times I was like *_* MAKE OUT. HOT SHO-ON-SHO ACTION.

18.let me down
19.kagero
20.Oh Yeah!
21.Lucky Man
22.One Love

Nino and Jun were on the arena large platform on our side for "let me down." The other three were on the one on the other side. The verses were split into two sets of vocals for each group. When the other group was singing, they turned off the lights for the ones who weren't. Nino and Jun knelt down on the ground when it wasn't their turn, but Nino was dancing around all by himself in the dark while kneeling, and it looked like he was singing along with the other side. CUTE!

The band's version of Oh Yeah! was more orchestral than usual, and in particular the intro is really sweeping and epic. The audience completely went insane. This is one of my absolute fave songs and it was my last con here, I got kind of wibbly on "もう一度あの日に戻るとしても、おなじ路選ぶだろう..."

Jun and Nino got on the same truck for Lucky Man. Jun held onto Nino from behind and they did the "I'm the king of the world!" pose from Titanic as their truck went rushing through the arena!!! XXXXD

Everyone lined up in center stage for One Love with the usual furi.

MC: Jun commented right away, "The audience tonight is way more lively than always!!" and everyone cheered happily. :)

Aiba's nipples were showing through his shirt, which he announced loudly right off the bat. Sho started poking at his shirt and noticed Aiba's shirt was absolutely soaked with sweat. Jun told Aiba he should go change. Nino said he was going to catch a cold either way, and Aiba mock-chased him around the center stage. Ohno said, "Don't push yourself," and then Aiba said, "Okay!" and obediently quit his chase and jumped off the stage. Sho said Ohno was being such a dad there. :)

Then screams rippled around the arena. Jun was like, "Oh no you didn't..." and Aiba jumped back onstage wearing his costume jacket with no shirt.

Aiba said, "Let me do it, going shirtless with a jacket on is a *~dream~* of mine!" Nino said, "Congrats on a dream coming true."

Jun protested that Aiba should put on a tour shirt or something at least and Nino dug around somewhere and came up with one of the hooded towels, and he tucked the towel into Aiba's jacket to satisfy Jun, and Aiba posed like a model when he was done. XD

Aiba had talked the previous night about how since Sho was studying for his doctor role, he was meeting with a doctor for practice and he had a stethoscope stashed in his car from one of the meetings and Aiba had been messing around with it. Aiba said Sho had listened to his heart that day backstage with it, but at the end, Sho listened to both Aiba's nipples last. Nino asked, "You LISTENED to them?" Sho said he did. "...AND THEY TALKED TO YOU?" Sho said they had indeed. "What did they say?"

"One said, 'マックスです！' and the other one said '最高だぜ！'"

They started talking about how many guys there were that night and wanted them to yell. They got the guys to yell "ARASHI!" with Sho taking the lead with the se~no, and hoooooly shit the volume was INSANE. SO MANY. There were definitely a couple hundred there tonight. Then Jun said, "I want to hear the kids!! Have them yell 'Arachi'!" Sho put on his best kindergarten teacher voice and asked all the boys and girls in the audience to yell "Arachiiii!" He took a deep breath like he was gonna yell, and then whispered, "Se~no!" in a tiny voice really cutely. :) The kids yelled next and Jun and Sho were like "<333 THEY'RE SO CUTE <333"

Then Sho said, "Sorry to keep you waiting...next up, all the kittens in the audience," and the girls all screamed. Sho asked what the girls should scream, and Nino (who, if you remember, wanted everyone to scream "I love meat!" at Sapporo) said he wanted everyone to scream, "ONIGIRI!" There was a brief back-and-forth while everyone argued on which syllable to drag the scream out on and then Sho did his whispered "se~no!" again cutely for everyone to scream. :)

They began walking up the center hanamichi. Sho started to ask Jun about his drama, and while doing so, went to take a swig of water. But he mixed up his water bottle and microphone hands, and ended up eating microphone instead XD

Jun said three eps left, it ends at ten. Sho said, "That went fast, didn't it?" Jun said, "I've been taping since June so it feels like it wasn't fast at all." Sho said he was shocked at the previous episode and the kiss. Aiba asked, "Is it going any farther than kissing?" and then got sharply scolded and told the topic was highly inappropriate when they'd just heard so many kids in the audience yelling for them. XD Nino told him he was an idiot who should shut up, and everyone else told Nino he shouldn't be rude to Aiba when he was being told off for being inappropriate in the first place, and Aiba declared he was going to beat the crap out of Nino, which got him told off even more for being a bad example, and they started mock-pushing each other down the stage screaming over each other, until Aiba leaned in and smooched Nino (close but not on the mouth quite I think). Sho asked if they were ripping off that one variety group that was on Arashi-chan, the ones who have mock fights so they kiss and make up.

Then Sho said they had a special announcement for the day and they had a commercial they would be airing for us. They all walked offstage and the lights turned out, and it was a commercial for JAL, with "movin' on" playing, and showed the unveiling of an Arashi jet! Everyone started screaming, "I wanna ride on it!!"

Everyone except Ohno came back out. They started high-fiving each other and Jun yelled, "WE'RE GONNA BE LINED UP ON THE RUNWAY RIGHT NEXT TO THE PIKACHU ONE!!!"

Jun said, "I want to take a picture with that thing. Wouldn't it be awesome to take a photo from the outside, with me inside the plane peering out of the window right by where my picture is on the plane??!!!" Sho was cracking up and saying what a loser he was to want to do it that badly.

Everyone left and Kaibutsu-kun came out to sing his song. Aiba and Jun came out pretending like they were going to start singing again and started amping up the audience and then froze in mock surprise when they saw Kaibutsu-kun. Jun said, "In the end, you came all four days." Kaibutsu-kun said it was because humans were interesting and the concerts were fun. Jun asked excitedly if Kaibutsu-kun knew who Arashi were if he liked their concerts, and Kaibutsu-kun said no, but he was learning little by little on these four con visits. XD

THEN.

THEN.

THEN.

YUUJI WALKED OUT

AND SHO WAS BEHIND HIM AS TAKA, LOOKING LIKE HE WOULD RATHER BE ANYWHERE ELSE IN THE ENTIRE WORLD AT THAT MOMENT

YUUJI: "HELLO KOKURITSU! WHENEVER WE COME, THE OLD MAN AT THE JIMUSHO GETS MEGA PISSED AT US. I'M PRETTY SURE WE'RE GONNA GET BUSTED BIG TIME TOMORROW!!!"

AND EVERYONE WAS LOSING THEIR SHIT AND SCREAMING BECAUSE WE COULDN'T BELIEVE THEY WERE DOING IT AT FREAKING KOKURITSU SINCE IT WAS A FREAKING MIRACLE THEY WERE ALLOWED TO DO IT THROUGH THE WHOLE FIRST DOME TOUR AFTER THEY WERE EXPLICITLY BANNED FROM DOING IT AT THE EARLIEST DOME SHOWS (THEY PROBABLY WILL GET TOTALLY BUSTED TOMORROW LOL) AND ON TOP OF THAT SHO IS THERE, FUTILELY BATTING THE GIANT FEATHER OUT OF HIS EYELINE, LOOKING LIKE HE WISHES A HOLE WOULD OPEN UP AND SWALLOW HIM OFF THE STAGE

"...YUUJI? HAS TAKA CHANGED?"

"TAKA? NOPE. THAT'S HIM. SUNGLASSES AND AN 'S' ON THE SHIRT! THAT'S DEFINITELY HIM! SAY HI, TAKA!"

"… (in his totally normal voice) …hi everybody."

Yuuji said they were Imiya SK tonight. (井宮SK)

Then Yuuji sneaked off the stage while Sho's back was turned. Jun was like, "What are you even DOING here?" and Sho was like, "I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW THE ANSWER TO THAT MYSELF, IF YOU FIND OUT THEN LET ME KNOW!!" He looked back and realized he got ditched and was like, oh crap. XD

Jun was like, "Well, are you guys going to do anything? The cannon thing?" Aiba claimed he'd actually seen the cannon stashed somewhere with the tour equipment so they could probably haul it out if it was needed.

Sho said no, they weren't doing the cannon. Jun asked, "Well, do you guys even HAVE anything else you could do?"

At that point a really loud collection of screams went up from the back of the arena audience, with everyone shrieking, "FIIIIIINAAAAAL LOOOOOOOVE!" like their lives depended on it. lmao Arashi fans are the best.

Nino then trotted back out in his tour costume. "Hey! While I was getting changed I saw that other guy in blue running the other way, and he told me to tell everyone that Taka is going to regale us all with a backflip!"

Sho was just like I WANT TO DIE RIGHT HERE. "NO NO NO NO NO."

"NO, THE OTHER GUY WAS VERY SPECIFIC, HE SAID IF ALL OF US HELP YOU, YOU CAN DEFINITELY DO ONE!"

Sho was like, "いやいやいやリアルにごめんね！！！リアルにごめんね！！！！ We're outta time, I have to go!" He fled offstage and then paused at the curtains and went, "I have just two things I want to say. One is: I've learned that this job can be really difficult some days. Two is: (in the silly Taka voice) Everyone, thank youuuu!"

Jun had parked himself on a bottom step and was eating a banana that had appeared from out of nowhere, lol. Aiba said, "I've never seen anyone eat a banana onstage." Jun shrugged and just kept on eating.

They hauled out the button table to play the Johnny's guess-that-tune game again while waiting for the costume changes. The first one was a TOKIO song, I think Nino got it. The second one was Kinki and of course Jun got that one. The last was an Arashi song and both Aiba and Jun rushed the table but Aiba didn't know it after all. Jun said, "It's Arashi, from the Here We Go! album, Kimi ga Inai Kara." The staff rushed the table off and they were like, "Over already?!" Sho said it couldn't be helped because the MC had so many special guests that day there was no time. :)

24.リフレイン
25.ギフト
26.マイガール

I didn't like Refrain at all last night but loved tonight. They lined up on the stage and a nighttime cityscape backdrop was on the screen in back of them, which blended in with the Kokuritsu city view.

27.Come back to me
28.Magical Song

Major highlights of the con. Jun's solo is styled as a Mario game, and his costume looks like a video game character, neon blue and green tight plastic suit. The video game plays on the screen (the first level is titled...something with MJ in it...) and Jun does wire work to jump and dodge the obstacles like asteroids and stuff. The level up is achieved with capturing a giant pink icon of Nino's face.

At the end there's a big treasure chest and then it explodes and says LEVEL CLEARED. NEXT LEVEL: COME BACK TO ME.

Jun is lowered in the dark and gets off his wires while the intro plays, and then he put on sunglasses. The big screens showed him dancing but with this funky space-agey blur effect going on.

At the end he took off his sunglasses, walked up the stairs, and posed really overdramatically until the lights faded out. XD

Aiba was on the back stage. He comes out wearing sunglasses with a ticker screen built into the lenses, which said "Magical Song" on the ticker. The beat for this is incredible and the audience just went wild. Aiba and the juniors had lights built into their costumes and then they turned out all the lights and you just saw these neon silhouettes moving in the darkness. :) WAY COOL.

29.PIKA☆☆NCHI DOUBLE
30.Love So Sweet
31.言葉より大切なもの
32. Believe

Call and response incredible for all of the above. Best audience ever at Kokuritsu, I didn't know you could make a place that big come together so well. :) It's usually really hard because the open air makes it hard to hear the audience.

Believe also sounds reaaaally good with the band's rendition.

33.サーカス
34.Re(mark)able
35.Monster

Sho said in English while Japanese subtitles played on the screen, "Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, we have an amazing performance for you tonight. Let us take you to a world of wonder. Are you ready?"

This creepy clown popped up and cackled, "Let's put on a show-show-show-show-show!" with an echo effect.

The screen lit up, and Jun floated on wires in front of it again, wearing a sequinned purple jacket with green pants. He started doing the MJ Walk. After a bit, Aiba floated up wearing a green jacket and purple pants that matched Jun's. They met in the middle and then Jun was above him grabbing onto Aiba's hands, and Aiba walked on air, creating an effect that Aiba was walking carrying Jun on his hands like an acrobat. Then they flipped around until their feet touched each others', so Jun was standing on an upside-down Aiba. They pushed off each others' feet and Jun flipped around a bunch more. Aiba was lowered upside-down rather unceremoniously, Jun looked way cooler. XD

Then Circus started playing. The juniors had giant juggling balls they were using to dance with and someone was playing these "water drums" that sent out water splashes when you beat them with the drumstick.

Aiba and Jun reappeared during Circus after costume change, and then everyone gathered at the center of the main stage.

A remix of Re(mark)able played. No actual singing, it was all recorded remixy stuff, like the beginning intro and "Arashi's fight owaranai!" All five members lined up single file and made their way down the center catwalk in a line. The music would sort of stop and start and the lights would come up and down accordingly in new colors. Then Re(mark)able really kicked in instrumentally and all five lined up kneeling and did the same choreography they did for it during AAA in the line formation. Behind them the juniors had glow-in-the-dark cloth they were using to do similar choreography and it looked really amazing on the screen when captured from straight ahead.

The dancing for all of this was incredibly intense and gorgeous and this entire sequence was on a totally different level from the rest of the show. Well, much like Re(mark)able--->truth the first year in terms of the dramatic quality, but done in a totally different way. :)

The screen image turned into a ticking clock that began chiming and Re(mark)able transitioned into Monster as the members got to the center stage to dance it. Red lighting on the green penlights, still so amazing. At the end they sent up huge fireworks from the main stage.

(挨拶）

The running theme for final aisatsu was the sixth member of Arashi.

Almost everyone high-fived when changing places tonight. Jun and Nino did that thing where you just sort of grip the other person's fingers and then let go?

Sho: "I put it in the rap for 'movin' on,' but… 'It's you and me.' You and me. 'Yes, this is us.' The 'us' is how we make Arashi together. When you're having a hard time in our life, then just look up. There'll be a five-colored rainbow looking down on you to help you out. That's what we want to be for you.

Ohno: "Today's Kokuritsu matsuri was so much fun. I looked at your faces very closely again. I think all of you are members of Arashi with us. Like one big family. Let's keep going on together as a family from now on."

Aiba: "I thought yesterday…ah, crap, not yesterday, last year? Well, I thought last year that the tenth anniversary was going to be as fun as it could possibly get and that would be our peak. And yet, the eleventh year has been way, way more fun than last. I love you all so much. I've realized this is really a journey that never ends. So all of you guys, as fellow members of Arashi, let's hang together and tough it out in the geinoukai!"

Nino: "Apparently all of you are Arashi, so I have a request. Starting tomorrow, please begin learning the choreography to every song of ours. Then we can trade Aiba-san for one of you guys and get someone who doesn't mess up all the time!"

Aiba turned around and told off Nino and there was a minor scuffle with Aiba protesting that Arashi doesn't work that way with a functioning graduation system (a la Hello!Project).

Nino went on and got serious. "I said it yesterday too, but… There are lots of places you can see Arashi. But the Arashi that Arashi wants to see, you can only see right here.

"These concerts… Generally, we make the concerts thinking of the things we want to see. Like the fireworks. Or Sho-chan dressed up as Taka. Well, that's just me talking about the things I wanted to see personally, but… (laugh)

"In life you're going to have a tough time, sometimes. But when things are going badly, just come here to us with all your bad things saved up inside. We'll meet up here and sing and work up a sweat. And then you can just take out all of the bad things troubling you and leave them behind when you go home."

Jun: "Today was so much fun. Thank you. 'The Scenery You and I See.' What kind of scenery did you see today, I wonder? But the scenery I got to see tonight was your smiling faces. And your smiles were so beautiful, and made me want to try harder tomorrow. I'd be happy if some of you felt the same way. We want to keep on doing concerts exactly like this one, the five of us together forever. So come on and join us again, thinking of yourselves as our fellow members of Arashi."

36.To be free
37. 空高く

Both were done on lifted platforms colored with each members' color in twinkle lights.

Sora Takaku: Balloons released right away. Nino has caught all the yellow balloons he could carry and gave them to the staff to take backstage again. The one-two-three-four-five parts are fun. I love Sho's rap for this a lot too with the "iroaseta kotoba, oto, chikai, mata kimi to no mirai mitai". :)

ENCORE
38.still...
39.ファイトソング
40.Beautiful days

Jun came out first, everyone in their tour shirts. He did double-peace signs at the audience.

"still..." is still one of my absolute favorites. Cried.

これは別れではない　
出逢いたちとのまた新たな始まり
ただ　僕はなおあなたに逢いたい
まだ…
いつか笑ってまた再会
そう絶対

Fight Song's volume was off the charts. Members totally ditched the lyrics at some point and just started saying stuff like they loved the audience, they got to Ohno and he had no idea what to adlib so he just mumbled unintelligibly. XD

Beautiful days: I started crying so hard at this point with the *~this is my last concert~* feelings. I think this is going to be what I always remember this song for.

楽しくても　苦しくても
もう僕らは会えない　どんなに願ってても

空に輝くよキラリ　星がじわり　にじんでくよ
帰り道ナミダが止まらない　僕はずっと
空に想い出がぽろり　涙ほろり　こぼれてくよ
悲しいほどキレイだね

空に向かって歌うよ　そう歌うよ　声のかぎり
不思議だね一人じゃないんだ　僕はずっと
いつまでも忘れないよ　忘れないよ　君といつか
空に描いた未来

Tonight they did extra fireworks on the opposite side of the stage outside the stadium. For Nino's final solo part, he sang, "Hanabi ga kirei da ne!" instead of "kanashii hodo kirei da ne."

41.サクラ咲ケ
42.感謝カンゲキ雨嵐

Audience EXPLODED for both. :) Especially on the "ARASHI!!!!" response.

DOUBLE ENCORE
43.Løve Rainbow

Final encore aisatsu: they did that thing again like at Sapporo last tour where they lined up to talk about how much fun they had but each one was called on by name. Sho did all the calling this time, like, "Satoshi, what did you think? Kazunari, did you have fun? What did you think, Masaki? Jun, I'll give it back to you now..."

I was actually really surprised they didn't do a triple 'cause the call was pretty incredible.

Love Rainbow is a fantastic closer, though! I've had it stuck in my head since leaving. :) *~Eien wo sagashi ni ikou, nante iwanai~* Before they sang it, the night before Jun had said, "Last we're going to do THIS!" and turned around and he had a sequinned rainbow on the back of his tour shirt. Tonight he grabbed Ohno and said the same thing but was poking at the smaller rainbow on the tour shirt print and Ohno was cracking up, but it wasn't as easy to understand so Jun turned around and showed off his own shirt again. XD

Misc stuff / I don't remember where it goes:

+ during one song, all five were lined up in the middle of the stage while Ohno was singing solo in the middle. The other four started dancing around in rhythm and then started basically all trying to body-slam Ohno in rhythm to the music while he was still singing his solo and trying not to crack up.

+ I don't remember what song, but during one of Nino's solo parts he did little pointing motions with his fingers sort of like the sexy solo intro of Cry for you. :D

+ Aiba screwed up and sang where he shouldn't at some point when he and Nino were going by us on the moving stages. Nino grabbed a towel and started chasing Aiba around the stage and trying to snap him with the towel on the butt. XD

+ Jun and Ohno member-ai at its max!!!!! Last night Ohno smooched Jun but I don't remember what song, and Jun dramatically fell down on the stage like he'd had his breath taken away. Tonight Jun touched his lips afterwards.

+ During "still..." (I think? not sure) Jun grabbed Ohno's hand as they were walking down the main stage and they held hands the whole way, soooooooooooo cute!!!! It looked so natural and adorable and my friend wrote in her report that they looked just like a real couple, which exactly expresses how sweet and not-forced it looked. SO CUTE.

And later when they exited Jun put his arm over Ohno's shoulders as they walked out and Ohno followed suit. :)

+ Sho, Nino, and Aiba stayed in a group for most of the encore off to the side on the main stage. There were two separate bits where they lined up together and started improv dancing together in a line and striking these silly poses and it was ALL SO CUTE, seeing them having fun and goofing off so much was adorable :)

+ The DVD taped last night, disappointing, tonight had all the juicy member-ai stuff I would have wanted to see more closely... ;w; TV cameras were there tonight, so look for WS coverage tomorrow morning!

We got out of the stadium super fast. My friend and I were on opposite directions of the Chuo and she stayed behind on the form once I got on and we waved to each other as the train pulled away. :)

And so ends my three-year journey. :) What a perfect final night. Thanks to all of you guys who've been commenting on my reports along the way! It's been fun!