[Report] KANJANI8 EIGHT x EIGHTER TOUR 2011 - Nov. 23, 2011 Sapporo
Here is my quick report from the November 23rd, 2011 show in Sapporo for the EIGHT x EIGHTER Dome Tour 2011!!
WARNING: SPOILER ALERT!!
I went to Day One of the EIGHT x EIGHTER tour in Sapporo! It wasn’t as cold as I had expected up there, but there was snow left on the ground outside the Dome. This was my first time going to Sapporo Dome and my first impression was that the arena area was quite small compared to the Domes in Tokyo and Osaka. I’ve never been to Fukuoka and Nagoya Domes either, so I wonder what they’ll be like!
Since I have to wake up early tomorrow to go to Kochi for FiVe (this might be my last time I see them…!), I won’t write a long, detailed report but I’ll write down some notes from each song. I’ll also write whatever I remember from the MC.
Here goes!
2011.11.23 KANJANI8 - 5 DOME TOUR - EIGHT x EIGHTER
0-A. OPENING FILM - Director Nakamura from 8UPPERS directed this opening movie. He was standing right in front of me at the beginning of the show. I should have said Hi or something!! This opening movie was quite funny. It started off with Ohkura riding a motorcycle, and then this guy with his face covered with a helmet drove past him. They started racing. I knew the guy was Maru because the license plate on his bike was “0” while Ohkura’s was “8” haha. The guy in the helmet was going so fast but suddenly came to a stop and took off his helmet; it was Maru. He had stopped because there was a line of ants walking by and he didn’t want to run them over. Aww. But then, Hina riding his bicycle came by and totally ran over the poor ants, lol. I think next up was Ryo, who was carrying his surf board which had pictures of K8 on it. Then Hina jumped off his bicycle and pushed it away to park it at a bicycle stand. He started walking and then got hit by a taxi which Subaru was on. Hina died. But, Subaru held out a 10,000-yen bill in front of Hina’s face and then Hina came back to life, lol. He then stood up but was then hit by a car which Shota was driving. A black lady was sitting next to hip hop Shota and kissed his cheek (girlfriend?). Hina died again. Then, Yoko came and started doing CPR… their faces were so close, lol. They all started walking toward their “locker room” where they started getting dressed for their baseball game. Hina was lifting weight. Shota first had a helmet on but then changed to a cap. They all headed for the field…
0-B. INTRODUCTION - A female voice started introducing the guys. (I don’t really remember the order… sorry, it’s probably wrong!) 1: Ohkura Tadayoshi, drums, #8. 2: Murakami Shingo, keyboard, #$. 3: Maruyama Ryuhei, bass, #0. 4: Nishikido Ryo, guitar, #69. 5: Shibutani Subaru, vocal, #1/2 (or was it 1?). 6: Yasuda Shota, guitar, #83. 7. Yokoyama You, percussions, #45. They were all wearing a white, black striped jersey with their numbers on the back.
1. LIFE - Okay, I totally did not expect this to be the first song! Good choice though. This was the first of many band songs they did at the beginning.
2. UCHUU NI ITTA LION - OHHHH. They did this as a band! Awesome! After the concert I read the pamphlet and Ryo said that this was his favorite song and he wanted to do this as a band, so the guys figured out the tunes themselves. …Couldn’t they just ask for the music sheet? Haha.
3. ROLLING COASTER - Wow! Totally did not see this coming, either. They must really like this song!
4. TSUBUSA NI KOI - I wasn’t surprised that they did this song but I was surprised that they did it this early in the set list. From the start of the concert, there was a brass section, strings section and a band on the stage along with the guys.
(GREETINGS) - Hina said something like Hi and thanks for coming. He asked the stands, arena, guys, girls etc. if they were having fun. Only Hina spoke!
5. MONJAI BEAT - After Hina spoke, everyone was gathered around Yoko so I knew this was coming up next, haha. I think during this song, they started going around in the big moving carts (?) that go around the outside of the arena.
6. IT’S MY SOUL - I hadn’t listened to this in ages, but it’s funny how your body just remembers the dances, haha.
7. T.W.L - They were dancing on the back stage. Since I was in between the center stage and the back stage in the arena, I was watching their backs while they danced.
8. KAGAYAKERU BUTAI E - They started coming back to the main stage during this song. I don’t think the guys remembered this song well enough because I feel like there were many silent moments during the song, haha. Was it during this song?? The moving stage came by and we were really close to it and I saw Subaru being so mad at the staff because his ear-monitor was giving him trouble… I understand that it’s frustrating, but he didn’t have to act that pissed off. It ruined my happy mode a bit :-(
9. SCARECROW - All of a sudden, Ryo was at the center stage with his acoustic guitar. He was dressed like a farmer. The screen had an animation which showed an old guy doing… something, I forgot, lol.
10. PAN PANDA - Many animals came out and once the song started, Yoko and Maru came out hiding behind the big screen on each side wearing a panda head and paws. The song was very cute overall, as expected. I have a feeling some Yoko parts were lip synchs. Some juniors came running around with big balloons near our area, and they blew it up to drop confetti.
11. WATER DROP - After Yoko and Maru finished on the main stage, the other 5 came out on the center stage dressed in a suit. They had white gloves on and there was so much water during this song. The water shooting up at the main stage showed letters like “Kienai” that went along with the lyrics. Yoko and Maru joined from the second verse and they had more water shooting all over the place. It was pretty.
12. FIGHT FOR THE EIGHT - Ooooo! They were still in their suit and they used the big, wide screen to its full extent. The big screen was divided into 7 and each stood in front of their areas for the first part of the song. During the second half, there was a moment where they just stood on the stairs singing, which was kind of weird because this was more of a dance song… but then, they all gathered on the main stage and started dancing, while their suits lit up in different colors! This was quite cool.
13. 365 NICHI KAZOKU - They sat on chairs in one line across the stage as they sang this song. Shota was doing sign language the whole time while singing, too.
14. I TO U - I like this song a lot, but I don’t remember much from the live… I need to pay attention more next time! I think Shota came out with big, round leopard print framed glasses during this song. I was like “WTF??” at first but I got used to this soon enough, lol.
15. EIGHTOPOP!!!!!!! - YAY!!!!!!! Shota came out to the center stage so I knew this was coming. They were holding the megaphone penlights as they danced to this song. I think the streamers came out at the end of this song.
16. FLY HIGH - My seat in the arena was right by the moving stage, so when they came by, they were really close. I think it was during this song that I remember Hina coming by and jumping up and down (or maybe it was a later song?).
(MC) They started off talking about how they worked a lot this year. Hina mentioned Shota in “Akan Keisatsu.” All of them said how they were impressed and felt kind of weird that their fellow group member was in a show with Down Town on prime time TV. Shota said he still feels a bit nervous because the comedians are always different in each filming but that Hamada-san’s tsukkomis don’t hurt at all. He enjoys being hit <3.
Ryo did a few dramas as well. Once when Yoko was a guest in Ueto Aya’s drama, Yoko went to say Hi to Ryo in his dressing room. Later, when Yoko was waiting for his filming, the B-Taro kid in Ryo’s drama came up to him and said “You like Ueto Aya, don’t you!?” as Ueto Aya and other co-stars were entering the room, lol. He kept on saying that in a loud voice so it made things so awkward for Yoko. He said that he ended up not speaking to Ueto Aya at all. Ryo said “Are you serious?! All the work I’ve done trying to give you an ice breaker!”
The day before the concert, Shota, Maru, Ohkura and Ryo went to a place Shota always goes to in Hokkaido. Maru and Ohkura started listing all the things they had and how delicious they were. Ryo proudly said “I was able to eat salmon eggs!” Apparently, Ryo has started eating different kinds of fish. He didn’t try sea urchin this time though, because he didn’t want to hate it. He enjoyed the meal as well.
Yoko, Subaru and Maru went to a conbini. Since Maru and Subaru “forgot” their wallets, Yoko paid for their things as well. There was a campaign at the register where you could participate in a lottery if you paid over 1,050-yen. The total went over that, so Maru picked one from a box… he hit for “hada omoi (=cares for the skin),” which is a sanitary product for women, lol. Hina sang the melody of the commercial for the product. Maru said “It even had feathers” and Shota said “Wow, isn’t that rare or something!?” …no, lol. It was very awkward, so the girl at the register said “What do you want to do with it?” Maru replied, “Do you want it?” They said they should have the lottery box separated among “liquor,” “men” and “women.” Then, Shota said “Well, if they did that, I’d be so curious as to what is in the ‘women’ box!!”
Yoko complained that Maru and Subaru never said thank you for paying for their stuff at the conbini because they were too excited about hitting for something. Yoko said “I had to say thank you to them. They are not very ‘Yoko omoi (=cares about Yoko)’.” Hahaha, oh Yoko you just wanted to say that! Hina said “You had this well planned out!”
Yoko and Hina are in Hiru nandesu, and Shota, Ohkura and Maru sang the theme song for the show. Subaru said that Yoko sometimes says “I’m Yoru nandesu now!” Maru asked Yoko, “What-nandesu are you now?” Yoko said “I’m Yoru nandesu now! …Hey, you made me sound like I wasn’t funny!”
Recently, Subaru acts as if he is Yoko’s girlfriend. Subaru complains that Yoko is sometimes cold to him. He gets worried that maybe he had done something wrong. Yoko said that Subaru’s so girly. Subaru is annoyed that Yoko speaks to Maru kindly but not to him. Yoko said “Can you stop going around dropping hints to the magazine writers that you want to hang out with me?” Subaru said “There are things that you should and should not pick on! This is something you shouldn’t pick on!”
When Subaru and Yoko hang out, they don’t have much of a conversation. They don’t need any conversation; they are like an old, married couple. Once, Subaru sat next to Yoko while the two of them ate steak instead of sitting in front of him. Subaru said, “We were at the counter seat!” Yoko always drives and picks Subaru up at his house.
Yoko then said, “Yasu and Ohkura hang out all the time, too! I think they’re seriously dating.” Shota said “What you say!?” or something like that in English, lol. When Ohkura said that Shota is manly when they hang out, Maru interrupted to say “Hey! What do you mean, I don’t know that!” Yoko said “Maru! Why are you being jealous! Stop making things even more complicated!” Subaru said “No love relationships are allowed within the group!!”
Ohkura continued to say that Shota usually decides what to eat for them. He also drives the car and only with one hand. The seat is pulled back as well. Then the 3 Ossans started picking on him. Subaru was furious, saying “There’s no way your legs can reach the brakes! Are you stupid or what!?” Yoko said “You open your window like this (reaching high), right?” and Hina said “You climb the ladder when you get in the car, right?” and then Shota said “Hey! Am I micro or what!?” …there was a moment of silence where everyone tried to digest what he had just said and they all just started laughing hard. Micro-man! Oh the choices of words he makes…
Hina sometimes joins the Ohkura/Shota date. Hina and Ohkura sometimes hang out together, too. Their conversations usually don’t have any meanings. They usually say “tired, tired,” haha.
Ryo asks the guys to hang out with him too but most of the time he is rejected, lol. It’s because he usually asks them to go surfing first thing in the morning. Shota would have lame excuses such as “Sorry, I have to go drinking tonight…” Maru is the worst because he always refuses to go out. He would come up with excuses like “I have to go to my friend’s live today…” Ryo said he’s taken Ohkura and ‘Sho-chan’ (that’s what he calls Shota) out for surfing, but Maru hasn’t come. So, Ryo asked Maru to go to karaoke with him after the concert. Maru said “No.” He said he can’t go even though he has the day off the next day. He has to go to the gym. Hina said “You can change the time!” but Maru said “No, I can’t. I have a lesson with my trainer.”
Maru is bad but Yoko is pretty bad, too. Ryo said “Let’s go!” but Yoko said “No, I get burnt easily.” They weren’t talking about surfing anymore, so Ryo said “No! Let’s go to karaoke!” but Yoko refused.
Subaru never invites Yoko out. He said he’d rather be invited.
They then talked about how Hina’s going to have his 4th solo show next year and that Maru’s going to be in Wild 7 the movie and Strawberry Night the drama starting next year.
They then kind of hurried out to get ready for the next song. (Apparently, they spoke more than scheduled, haha surprise!)
17. DYE D? - None of them had left during the MC, so I knew it was going to be either the Junior segment or a group song… It was a group song AND it was my favorite in the album!! They had a whole music video for this!!! The basic story of the video was that this girl visited a mansion where Hina was there first to greet her out of the car. The guys came out one by one but turns out they were all vampires! Kyaaaa! They all had vampire teeth (I wonder if Hina’s teeth were natural, lol) and heavy eye makeup, especially Ryo and Ohkura. They looked scary. They were dancing on the stage so I had a hard time trying to decide whether to watch the video or the stage. Since I ended up watching the video more, I think next time I’ll try to watch the stage!
18. WANDER - Subaru was off tune at the beginning, Hina was Hina, so Maru’s voice sounded so comforting, haha. They were lined up across on the main stage as they sang. The lyrics came up on the screen along with the faces of the guys singing that part.
19. KYU JO SHOW!! - The juniors came out and the song started without the guys around, so I thought that maybe this was the juniors’ section. It wasn’t. The guys were getting ready to go on their big balloons that went around the entire Dome! There were 4 balloons in total: Maru and Ohkura (was it?), Ryo and Shota, Yoko and Hina (was it?), and Subaru was by himself.
20. ZUKKOKE OTOKOMICHI - They were still on the balloons. A couple of balloons (the Maru/Ohkura, Hina/Yoko ones) came right above our area. It was funny to see the staff pulling on the ropes to move the balloons around.
21. WONDERFUL WORLD! - They started getting off the balloons. I first noticed that Shota was gone so I assumed that their crazy song was up next. Ohkura left after his part was done and Hina was gone at some point, too. Ryo made the crowd sing the part where he and Shota usually harmonize.
22. YONA YONA YO NIGHT - Ahhh, crazy song… they came up from under the stage sitting. All three of them had wings on their backs. Either Hina or Ohkura had “Daru” and “sshu” written on the back and Shota had “bi”. This spells out to be “Darvish” (a famous pitcher of Nippon Ham, whose home field is Sapporo Dome). The song was crazy but seemed a bit disorganized, lol. I have no idea why they had wings on. I think many fans hadn’t listened to this song enough yet so hopefully this will be a lot better as the tour goes on.
23. A - At the end of the previous song, there was a big egg with “Su” written on it at the center of the stage. Shota went close to it to see what it was, and then it cracked. Little red devilish bird Subaru came out of it flapping his ‘wings’… what? LOL. He put the stuff that was left on the stage away as he waited for his microphone. I think he was supposed to have his microphone already but somehow missed it? He made the crowd sing the “Omedetou, Arigatou” part but I don’t think many people sang along… or at least not loud enough! The live band played behind him.
(Band) I was paying attention to Subaru so I didn’t notice Shota at center stage. He started playing his guitar. After a few seconds, Ryo came out on the main stage and started playing his guitar. Maru and Ohkura joined later for a little session.
24. MISETEKURE - Oh, wow! Didn’t expect this either. The fans were definitely more into these older songs than the new ones from the album!
25. DO YOU AGREE? - Shota and Yoko came by on the moving stage :-)
26. HI & HIGH - On the way back to the main stage, Ryo, Hina and Maru (I think) came by on the moving stage. Ryo was playing the guitar and had a stand mic in front of him. Maybe this was the song where Hina was bouncing up and down in front of us.
27. MY HOME - I called it!! I knew this would be the last song of the concert before the encores. The younger 4 played their instruments for this song as well as the band behind them.
ENCORE 1
1. MUGENDAI - I didn’t think much about what they would sing for the encore, so this came as a pleasant surprise.
2. MUSEKININ HERO - This is such a good concert song! I don’t remember whether it was this song or not, but during the encore, they went on the big moving carts again. Subaru and Shota were on the same cart, and at one point Subaru went up to Shota, put his arm around his waist, whispered something into his ear and they had a good laugh about it. I wonder what they were talking about!
3. FREEDOM RIRON - This smelled encore ever since the first time I heard it, so there was no big surprise here, haha.
ENCORE 2
1. HITOTSU NO UTA - By this time, there were many empty seats in the crowd because people needed to make their last plane home. No one around me had left, but I heard later that many people in other sections of the arena left their seats and pushed and shoved when Shota walked around the arena. I also saw Hina taking a guy’s glasses off, putting them on, talking to him a bit and then giving them back to him.
Overall, it was a fun concert, but something was missing. They didn’t have an Eight Ranger skit or a game part like the Wink Killer in 8UPPERS, so it wasn’t like a Kanjani8 concert… more like a concert that any other Johnny’s group could do. One of the great things about Kanjani8 is that they do crazy, fun things that make you want to go to their concerts over and over again. But this time, maybe because it was the Dome, but I felt like it was full of bits and pieces from other groups. Oh well. The Dome Tour is a great accomplishment for them, but I think I’d still prefer and enjoy their concerts at smaller venues where they could be all hyper and nuts.
Anyway, I guess this is what Day One of concert tours are normally like. I’m sure the songs from the new album will grow on everyone (a week is not enough to be prepared!) and they will improve as the tour goes on :-)
WARNING: SPOILER ALERT!!
I went to Day One of the EIGHT x EIGHTER tour in Sapporo! It wasn’t as cold as I had expected up there, but there was snow left on the ground outside the Dome. This was my first time going to Sapporo Dome and my first impression was that the arena area was quite small compared to the Domes in Tokyo and Osaka. I’ve never been to Fukuoka and Nagoya Domes either, so I wonder what they’ll be like!
Since I have to wake up early tomorrow to go to Kochi for FiVe (this might be my last time I see them…!), I won’t write a long, detailed report but I’ll write down some notes from each song. I’ll also write whatever I remember from the MC.
Here goes!
2011.11.23 KANJANI8 - 5 DOME TOUR - EIGHT x EIGHTER
0-A. OPENING FILM - Director Nakamura from 8UPPERS directed this opening movie. He was standing right in front of me at the beginning of the show. I should have said Hi or something!! This opening movie was quite funny. It started off with Ohkura riding a motorcycle, and then this guy with his face covered with a helmet drove past him. They started racing. I knew the guy was Maru because the license plate on his bike was “0” while Ohkura’s was “8” haha. The guy in the helmet was going so fast but suddenly came to a stop and took off his helmet; it was Maru. He had stopped because there was a line of ants walking by and he didn’t want to run them over. Aww. But then, Hina riding his bicycle came by and totally ran over the poor ants, lol. I think next up was Ryo, who was carrying his surf board which had pictures of K8 on it. Then Hina jumped off his bicycle and pushed it away to park it at a bicycle stand. He started walking and then got hit by a taxi which Subaru was on. Hina died. But, Subaru held out a 10,000-yen bill in front of Hina’s face and then Hina came back to life, lol. He then stood up but was then hit by a car which Shota was driving. A black lady was sitting next to hip hop Shota and kissed his cheek (girlfriend?). Hina died again. Then, Yoko came and started doing CPR… their faces were so close, lol. They all started walking toward their “locker room” where they started getting dressed for their baseball game. Hina was lifting weight. Shota first had a helmet on but then changed to a cap. They all headed for the field…
0-B. INTRODUCTION - A female voice started introducing the guys. (I don’t really remember the order… sorry, it’s probably wrong!) 1: Ohkura Tadayoshi, drums, #8. 2: Murakami Shingo, keyboard, #$. 3: Maruyama Ryuhei, bass, #0. 4: Nishikido Ryo, guitar, #69. 5: Shibutani Subaru, vocal, #1/2 (or was it 1?). 6: Yasuda Shota, guitar, #83. 7. Yokoyama You, percussions, #45. They were all wearing a white, black striped jersey with their numbers on the back.
1. LIFE - Okay, I totally did not expect this to be the first song! Good choice though. This was the first of many band songs they did at the beginning.
2. UCHUU NI ITTA LION - OHHHH. They did this as a band! Awesome! After the concert I read the pamphlet and Ryo said that this was his favorite song and he wanted to do this as a band, so the guys figured out the tunes themselves. …Couldn’t they just ask for the music sheet? Haha.
3. ROLLING COASTER - Wow! Totally did not see this coming, either. They must really like this song!
4. TSUBUSA NI KOI - I wasn’t surprised that they did this song but I was surprised that they did it this early in the set list. From the start of the concert, there was a brass section, strings section and a band on the stage along with the guys.
(GREETINGS) - Hina said something like Hi and thanks for coming. He asked the stands, arena, guys, girls etc. if they were having fun. Only Hina spoke!
5. MONJAI BEAT - After Hina spoke, everyone was gathered around Yoko so I knew this was coming up next, haha. I think during this song, they started going around in the big moving carts (?) that go around the outside of the arena.
6. IT’S MY SOUL - I hadn’t listened to this in ages, but it’s funny how your body just remembers the dances, haha.
7. T.W.L - They were dancing on the back stage. Since I was in between the center stage and the back stage in the arena, I was watching their backs while they danced.
8. KAGAYAKERU BUTAI E - They started coming back to the main stage during this song. I don’t think the guys remembered this song well enough because I feel like there were many silent moments during the song, haha. Was it during this song?? The moving stage came by and we were really close to it and I saw Subaru being so mad at the staff because his ear-monitor was giving him trouble… I understand that it’s frustrating, but he didn’t have to act that pissed off. It ruined my happy mode a bit :-(
9. SCARECROW - All of a sudden, Ryo was at the center stage with his acoustic guitar. He was dressed like a farmer. The screen had an animation which showed an old guy doing… something, I forgot, lol.
10. PAN PANDA - Many animals came out and once the song started, Yoko and Maru came out hiding behind the big screen on each side wearing a panda head and paws. The song was very cute overall, as expected. I have a feeling some Yoko parts were lip synchs. Some juniors came running around with big balloons near our area, and they blew it up to drop confetti.
11. WATER DROP - After Yoko and Maru finished on the main stage, the other 5 came out on the center stage dressed in a suit. They had white gloves on and there was so much water during this song. The water shooting up at the main stage showed letters like “Kienai” that went along with the lyrics. Yoko and Maru joined from the second verse and they had more water shooting all over the place. It was pretty.
12. FIGHT FOR THE EIGHT - Ooooo! They were still in their suit and they used the big, wide screen to its full extent. The big screen was divided into 7 and each stood in front of their areas for the first part of the song. During the second half, there was a moment where they just stood on the stairs singing, which was kind of weird because this was more of a dance song… but then, they all gathered on the main stage and started dancing, while their suits lit up in different colors! This was quite cool.
13. 365 NICHI KAZOKU - They sat on chairs in one line across the stage as they sang this song. Shota was doing sign language the whole time while singing, too.
14. I TO U - I like this song a lot, but I don’t remember much from the live… I need to pay attention more next time! I think Shota came out with big, round leopard print framed glasses during this song. I was like “WTF??” at first but I got used to this soon enough, lol.
15. EIGHTOPOP!!!!!!! - YAY!!!!!!! Shota came out to the center stage so I knew this was coming. They were holding the megaphone penlights as they danced to this song. I think the streamers came out at the end of this song.
16. FLY HIGH - My seat in the arena was right by the moving stage, so when they came by, they were really close. I think it was during this song that I remember Hina coming by and jumping up and down (or maybe it was a later song?).
(MC) They started off talking about how they worked a lot this year. Hina mentioned Shota in “Akan Keisatsu.” All of them said how they were impressed and felt kind of weird that their fellow group member was in a show with Down Town on prime time TV. Shota said he still feels a bit nervous because the comedians are always different in each filming but that Hamada-san’s tsukkomis don’t hurt at all. He enjoys being hit <3.
Ryo did a few dramas as well. Once when Yoko was a guest in Ueto Aya’s drama, Yoko went to say Hi to Ryo in his dressing room. Later, when Yoko was waiting for his filming, the B-Taro kid in Ryo’s drama came up to him and said “You like Ueto Aya, don’t you!?” as Ueto Aya and other co-stars were entering the room, lol. He kept on saying that in a loud voice so it made things so awkward for Yoko. He said that he ended up not speaking to Ueto Aya at all. Ryo said “Are you serious?! All the work I’ve done trying to give you an ice breaker!”
The day before the concert, Shota, Maru, Ohkura and Ryo went to a place Shota always goes to in Hokkaido. Maru and Ohkura started listing all the things they had and how delicious they were. Ryo proudly said “I was able to eat salmon eggs!” Apparently, Ryo has started eating different kinds of fish. He didn’t try sea urchin this time though, because he didn’t want to hate it. He enjoyed the meal as well.
Yoko, Subaru and Maru went to a conbini. Since Maru and Subaru “forgot” their wallets, Yoko paid for their things as well. There was a campaign at the register where you could participate in a lottery if you paid over 1,050-yen. The total went over that, so Maru picked one from a box… he hit for “hada omoi (=cares for the skin),” which is a sanitary product for women, lol. Hina sang the melody of the commercial for the product. Maru said “It even had feathers” and Shota said “Wow, isn’t that rare or something!?” …no, lol. It was very awkward, so the girl at the register said “What do you want to do with it?” Maru replied, “Do you want it?” They said they should have the lottery box separated among “liquor,” “men” and “women.” Then, Shota said “Well, if they did that, I’d be so curious as to what is in the ‘women’ box!!”
Yoko complained that Maru and Subaru never said thank you for paying for their stuff at the conbini because they were too excited about hitting for something. Yoko said “I had to say thank you to them. They are not very ‘Yoko omoi (=cares about Yoko)’.” Hahaha, oh Yoko you just wanted to say that! Hina said “You had this well planned out!”
Yoko and Hina are in Hiru nandesu, and Shota, Ohkura and Maru sang the theme song for the show. Subaru said that Yoko sometimes says “I’m Yoru nandesu now!” Maru asked Yoko, “What-nandesu are you now?” Yoko said “I’m Yoru nandesu now! …Hey, you made me sound like I wasn’t funny!”
Recently, Subaru acts as if he is Yoko’s girlfriend. Subaru complains that Yoko is sometimes cold to him. He gets worried that maybe he had done something wrong. Yoko said that Subaru’s so girly. Subaru is annoyed that Yoko speaks to Maru kindly but not to him. Yoko said “Can you stop going around dropping hints to the magazine writers that you want to hang out with me?” Subaru said “There are things that you should and should not pick on! This is something you shouldn’t pick on!”
When Subaru and Yoko hang out, they don’t have much of a conversation. They don’t need any conversation; they are like an old, married couple. Once, Subaru sat next to Yoko while the two of them ate steak instead of sitting in front of him. Subaru said, “We were at the counter seat!” Yoko always drives and picks Subaru up at his house.
Yoko then said, “Yasu and Ohkura hang out all the time, too! I think they’re seriously dating.” Shota said “What you say!?” or something like that in English, lol. When Ohkura said that Shota is manly when they hang out, Maru interrupted to say “Hey! What do you mean, I don’t know that!” Yoko said “Maru! Why are you being jealous! Stop making things even more complicated!” Subaru said “No love relationships are allowed within the group!!”
Ohkura continued to say that Shota usually decides what to eat for them. He also drives the car and only with one hand. The seat is pulled back as well. Then the 3 Ossans started picking on him. Subaru was furious, saying “There’s no way your legs can reach the brakes! Are you stupid or what!?” Yoko said “You open your window like this (reaching high), right?” and Hina said “You climb the ladder when you get in the car, right?” and then Shota said “Hey! Am I micro or what!?” …there was a moment of silence where everyone tried to digest what he had just said and they all just started laughing hard. Micro-man! Oh the choices of words he makes…
Hina sometimes joins the Ohkura/Shota date. Hina and Ohkura sometimes hang out together, too. Their conversations usually don’t have any meanings. They usually say “tired, tired,” haha.
Ryo asks the guys to hang out with him too but most of the time he is rejected, lol. It’s because he usually asks them to go surfing first thing in the morning. Shota would have lame excuses such as “Sorry, I have to go drinking tonight…” Maru is the worst because he always refuses to go out. He would come up with excuses like “I have to go to my friend’s live today…” Ryo said he’s taken Ohkura and ‘Sho-chan’ (that’s what he calls Shota) out for surfing, but Maru hasn’t come. So, Ryo asked Maru to go to karaoke with him after the concert. Maru said “No.” He said he can’t go even though he has the day off the next day. He has to go to the gym. Hina said “You can change the time!” but Maru said “No, I can’t. I have a lesson with my trainer.”
Maru is bad but Yoko is pretty bad, too. Ryo said “Let’s go!” but Yoko said “No, I get burnt easily.” They weren’t talking about surfing anymore, so Ryo said “No! Let’s go to karaoke!” but Yoko refused.
Subaru never invites Yoko out. He said he’d rather be invited.
They then talked about how Hina’s going to have his 4th solo show next year and that Maru’s going to be in Wild 7 the movie and Strawberry Night the drama starting next year.
They then kind of hurried out to get ready for the next song. (Apparently, they spoke more than scheduled, haha surprise!)
17. DYE D? - None of them had left during the MC, so I knew it was going to be either the Junior segment or a group song… It was a group song AND it was my favorite in the album!! They had a whole music video for this!!! The basic story of the video was that this girl visited a mansion where Hina was there first to greet her out of the car. The guys came out one by one but turns out they were all vampires! Kyaaaa! They all had vampire teeth (I wonder if Hina’s teeth were natural, lol) and heavy eye makeup, especially Ryo and Ohkura. They looked scary. They were dancing on the stage so I had a hard time trying to decide whether to watch the video or the stage. Since I ended up watching the video more, I think next time I’ll try to watch the stage!
18. WANDER - Subaru was off tune at the beginning, Hina was Hina, so Maru’s voice sounded so comforting, haha. They were lined up across on the main stage as they sang. The lyrics came up on the screen along with the faces of the guys singing that part.
19. KYU JO SHOW!! - The juniors came out and the song started without the guys around, so I thought that maybe this was the juniors’ section. It wasn’t. The guys were getting ready to go on their big balloons that went around the entire Dome! There were 4 balloons in total: Maru and Ohkura (was it?), Ryo and Shota, Yoko and Hina (was it?), and Subaru was by himself.
20. ZUKKOKE OTOKOMICHI - They were still on the balloons. A couple of balloons (the Maru/Ohkura, Hina/Yoko ones) came right above our area. It was funny to see the staff pulling on the ropes to move the balloons around.
21. WONDERFUL WORLD! - They started getting off the balloons. I first noticed that Shota was gone so I assumed that their crazy song was up next. Ohkura left after his part was done and Hina was gone at some point, too. Ryo made the crowd sing the part where he and Shota usually harmonize.
22. YONA YONA YO NIGHT - Ahhh, crazy song… they came up from under the stage sitting. All three of them had wings on their backs. Either Hina or Ohkura had “Daru” and “sshu” written on the back and Shota had “bi”. This spells out to be “Darvish” (a famous pitcher of Nippon Ham, whose home field is Sapporo Dome). The song was crazy but seemed a bit disorganized, lol. I have no idea why they had wings on. I think many fans hadn’t listened to this song enough yet so hopefully this will be a lot better as the tour goes on.
23. A - At the end of the previous song, there was a big egg with “Su” written on it at the center of the stage. Shota went close to it to see what it was, and then it cracked. Little red devilish bird Subaru came out of it flapping his ‘wings’… what? LOL. He put the stuff that was left on the stage away as he waited for his microphone. I think he was supposed to have his microphone already but somehow missed it? He made the crowd sing the “Omedetou, Arigatou” part but I don’t think many people sang along… or at least not loud enough! The live band played behind him.
(Band) I was paying attention to Subaru so I didn’t notice Shota at center stage. He started playing his guitar. After a few seconds, Ryo came out on the main stage and started playing his guitar. Maru and Ohkura joined later for a little session.
24. MISETEKURE - Oh, wow! Didn’t expect this either. The fans were definitely more into these older songs than the new ones from the album!
25. DO YOU AGREE? - Shota and Yoko came by on the moving stage :-)
26. HI & HIGH - On the way back to the main stage, Ryo, Hina and Maru (I think) came by on the moving stage. Ryo was playing the guitar and had a stand mic in front of him. Maybe this was the song where Hina was bouncing up and down in front of us.
27. MY HOME - I called it!! I knew this would be the last song of the concert before the encores. The younger 4 played their instruments for this song as well as the band behind them.
ENCORE 1
1. MUGENDAI - I didn’t think much about what they would sing for the encore, so this came as a pleasant surprise.
2. MUSEKININ HERO - This is such a good concert song! I don’t remember whether it was this song or not, but during the encore, they went on the big moving carts again. Subaru and Shota were on the same cart, and at one point Subaru went up to Shota, put his arm around his waist, whispered something into his ear and they had a good laugh about it. I wonder what they were talking about!
3. FREEDOM RIRON - This smelled encore ever since the first time I heard it, so there was no big surprise here, haha.
ENCORE 2
1. HITOTSU NO UTA - By this time, there were many empty seats in the crowd because people needed to make their last plane home. No one around me had left, but I heard later that many people in other sections of the arena left their seats and pushed and shoved when Shota walked around the arena. I also saw Hina taking a guy’s glasses off, putting them on, talking to him a bit and then giving them back to him.
Overall, it was a fun concert, but something was missing. They didn’t have an Eight Ranger skit or a game part like the Wink Killer in 8UPPERS, so it wasn’t like a Kanjani8 concert… more like a concert that any other Johnny’s group could do. One of the great things about Kanjani8 is that they do crazy, fun things that make you want to go to their concerts over and over again. But this time, maybe because it was the Dome, but I felt like it was full of bits and pieces from other groups. Oh well. The Dome Tour is a great accomplishment for them, but I think I’d still prefer and enjoy their concerts at smaller venues where they could be all hyper and nuts.
Anyway, I guess this is what Day One of concert tours are normally like. I’m sure the songs from the new album will grow on everyone (a week is not enough to be prepared!) and they will improve as the tour goes on :-)