[Report] Tour 2007 - Kagoshima (9/16 14:00 & 17:30)

[paaaaan]

TOUR 2007 KAGOSHIMA (September 16th, 14:00 & 17:30)

Who would have thought that out of the 47 prefectures I would be going to a concert in Kagoshima!? The southern-most prefecture in Kyushu! I mean, if I were to go to any prefecture in Kyushu, it could have been Fukuoka, where I was actually born and where all my relatives are (and where K8 decided to celebrate Shota’s Birthday!!); or Oita, where my mom’s side’s grandparents live. Any other prefecture would have made more sense than Kagoshima, haha. Oh well.




It was only a 50-minute plane ride from Kobe. How convenient! On the plane were basically old people or kids and their parents. I think I was the only one in my age group, haha. Despite the typhoon, my plane was on time but my friend who was coming from Haneda (Tokyo) had to stay in the air for a while because of bad weather.

We took a bus from the airport to go to Kagoshima City and then left our suitcases at the hotel. The hotel I had found was in a very convenient area, so we didn’t have to walk a whole lot like we did in Hokkaido. Since we got there on the 15th, we used the whole day for sight-seeing. Yes, we actually got to sight-see! We had lunch at a very nice Kagoshima-food restaurant, and I had Kurobuta (Black Pig) Miso Lunch set. It was FABULOUS.




We went to the Kagoshima Aquarium and then took the ferry to Sakurajima (with the volcano). We tried walking around Sakurajima but it started raining so bad and we totally got soaked. My jeans got ridiculously wet. We went to a chicken place for dinner and I had Jidori Shabu-shabu which was also amazing. Yum.


 
 



 



 


We took a bus to get to the venue on the morning of the 16th. The moment we got off the bus, I saw the three tour trucks so I took a picture of it, just because. Haha. We were walking through the parking lot where we saw a few vans coming in with their windows covered in curtains. The vans had either the Juniors or the boys themselves, but we didn’t really run toward it, haha. We heard fangirls screaming, though.




The goods line was horrible. It was long, and despite lining up at 10:30, we had to get out of the line at 13:45 because the show was at 14:00. It was rainy, windy, and we were outside. Haha, it was horrible. I lent my umbrella to three girls that were lined up behind us, wearing nice blue/orange/green dresses but didn’t bring an umbrella. They were from Kumamoto and said they were going to Fukuoka the next day as well. Apparently it takes 40 minutes from Kumamoto to Kagoshima on the bullet train; it feels weird because it only took me 50 minutes from Kobe (on the plane, of course).


 


Anyway, on to the actual shows. This was my first (and only) Hall concert of the tour. For the first show I was sitting on the second floor and in the second show I had an aisle seat on the first floor.

Note: Show 1 = 9/16 14:00, Show 2 = 9/16 17:30

Opening - They have different costumes from the Arenas and for Hall shows, they wear a long, red jacket instead of the white one. I think the words on the jackets are the same, but I didn’t really have the luxury to pay attention to what they were wearing, haha. In the first show I couldn’t even see anything except for Yoko, Shota and Hina coming out from one door. In the second show though, I was able to see them and how I wished Shota was a bit taller… I couldn’t see him as he walked toward the center because of the three rows of people standing in front of me! Haha.

By the way, Maru had this weird red mask on his face from the beginning all the way up to the Eight Ranger theme song in the first show. He even had it on during the “kakkoii” song (Explosion) and “quiet” song (Eden)! That kid was on total crack throughout the day, haha.

Zukkoke Otokomichi - The colors of the costumes for ZOM were a bit different, too. It was more purple-ish. Ohkura was rotating his hips as he forced Shota’s face into his crotch, and Subaru held Shota’s head from the back and thrusted into his wide-opened mouth. You know, as usual (I love how this is considered “usual” nowadays). For the first show, they didn’t do the introduction but in the second show, they did the intro for the first time in a while. Only Yoko said “deshita,” which is past tense for “I am.” I forgot which show it was, but Hina was facing the other way when they get in one line and hold the person in front’s shoulder, and he kicked Ohkura in the shin. It looked pretty painful, haha. Hina couldn’t stop laughing after that (evil!).

Kanfuu Fighting - In show 2, Subaru’s hand accidentally slapped Yoko in the face, and he couldn’t say the Nihao, Xei Xei part. They spread out a little bit and Maru and Shota came to our side during the second show so my eyes were totally focused on them. Other than Hina’s “Positive kibunde,” I think all of them said their lines in a high-pitched voice.

Sukiyanen Osaka - Ohkura said “In the sky” so loud and fast in show 1 so Subaru had to laugh during his part. Ryo and Subaru were saying random things during the “Kono machi, Osaka yeah” part. The names I was able to catch were “Ujiki Tsuyoshi,” “Nagabuchi Tsuyoshi,” “Saigo Takamori,” “Nakashima Mika,” etc. Haha. I wasn’t really paying close attention to those words. Show 1, Maru was asked to do the greetings (still in his mask) and for show 2 Ohkura said something. Hina and Shota were doing the synchronized dance again while Subaru was leaning into Maru.

Greetings - In show 1, Ohkura said “Thanks for coming in this rain.” No kidding! Shota’s was his usual “Let’s get it started” kinda thing. Maru had the mask on and was screaming random things and didn’t muster a single coherent Japanese word, lol. He actually was doing voice percussions and was extremely good at it! Hina was laughing so much after that. His hair looked good, by the way. Hina has said “Hello” to each section of the building except for one in recent shows, and for the last five or six straight shows that I’ve been to, my section has been ignored. WTF Hina! Haha. I was in the section that got ignored for both shows in Kagoshima. He asked for the guys in the crowd to yell and there were quite a few! Hina was like “You (guys) and penlights don’t go well together,” haha. Yoko said he dyed his hair black (and looked awfully good) because he had “this and that” going on… didn’t announce his drama bit, yet!

In show 2, Ohkura stole the “Can we all be baka!?” that Hina usually says. Shota was looking at Ohkura as Ohkura left and was like “You took that (from Hina), didn’t you?” (not in words but his facial expression said so). Then, Shota got us fired up and held his hand to the back and said, “Nnnnn PAAAAAN!!” Maru was right behind him and he had the expression that said “You took mine!” He went on to say “That’s MY ‘funny’ thing! Fine… then I’ll do this one for the first time in this tour… everyone, ready? Nnnnn TEXAS!!” Hina ignored my section again but was like “(Even if I ignored you) You’re still pretty loud! Haha!” Yoko was doing the weird little finger movement he was doing in Osaka and said “My brother and I are trying to make this catch on.” Subaru said “Second floor, how are you doing!? First floor, how are you doing!? Murakami Shingo, how are you doing!?” Hina was like “…yaaaay!” haha. Ryo said “WHAT’S UP!?” in English so I yelled “Not much!” but apparently no one else understood what he was saying so he’s like “…” haha. That dude and his random English, geez!

Explosion - Maru had his mask on still for this in the first show and he was a little late for the song. For both shows, Subaru did the scat thing. Ohkura said “Kagoshima” for both shows instead of “Explosion,” and I’m pretty sure I heard Ryo saying “Excuse me” instead of “Explosion” in the second show. Even if he didn’t, I wouldn’t be surprised if he did something like that, haha. In the second show, Subaru was like “Open your heart to me, yeah” when he was facing Shota. Their faces were really close especially in the second show.

Misetekure - No one was topless unfortunately, haha. For the second show, Subaru messed up the “Kagoshima no yorumo” and couldn’t say it right! During “You don’t cry,” Ryo was staring into Maru and singing to him, basically.

Eden - For both shows, the connection of Subaru’s guitar to the speaker was kinda messed up. Shota’s guitar solo on the other hand was AMAZING for both shows. His adlib on the intro is getting more creative and of course the interlude is just so beautiful.

1: Stereo, 2: Down Up - For Stereo, I thought the performance was a bit sloppier than usual, but it wasn’t bad (who am I to say?! Haha). I really like the intro riff for Down Up. During the drum/bass solo, Shota went over to the mic and said “Enjoy this moment (because this moment only happens now)!!”

1: Forward, 2: Wonder Boy - I really like listening to Forward at concerts! I like to dance to it, haha. Since I was at the very end of a row on the second floor, I had a lot of space to dance around, hehe. For Wonder Boy, Yoko messed up the lyrics in the end and the DOON DOON DOON he said it fast on purpose. He said “Tawawana oppai” again… classy, haha.

1: Mamoritai, 2: Watashi Kagami - I must honestly admit that Mamoritai is not my favorite song, but Ohkura’s voice is really nice. His singing voice might be my favorite in the group. He kinda coughed into the mic early in the song. Shota’s costume for Watashi Kagami Hall version has flowers on the blue cardigan and wears a pair of red check-patterned pants. Adorable as usual, haha. Only Shota can pull off something like that!!

Eight Ranger 1 - Confessions were Orange and Red. Orange’s was “I brought you here for one reason only… this is embarrassing… did I just say “I’m embarrassed” out loud? …I love you!” This was well received by the fans as well as the other Rangers and we kept on woo-ing, haha. Red’s was “You, your family, my family, and our future children… I have confidence to feed you all. Everything else’s up to you. Come to me whenever you want.” The other guys were like “Yeah, Red’s making a lot of money.” Red goes “No I’m not! I just meant I’m THAT serious.” “Ahhh.”

When Blue said that he’s waiting to hear the girl’s answer, Green goes “GO, then!!!” sounding very impatient. Red gestures Blue to high-five him as he leaves with a big smile on his face, haha. All the Rangers except for Blue are lined up so that Blue can high-five them one by one, but they all either raise their hands too high at the last minute or just totally ignore Blue, so Blue ends up not high-fiving anyone, haha.

Orange’s ippatsugei was “Mepo!” like that guy on the Muchaburi when Shokotan was guest said. Blue went to the mannequin (who was extremely pale and scary looking… it had a different wig from the Arena shows) and she asked him to confess to her again. He tried to, but her body was twisted in an awkward way so he’s like “Well… your body’s crooked, but I like you for that as well.” The girl goes “………Funny, funny.” Black said “Everything about her (her body, her timing) is bad today!” When Blue said “I really want to know how you (the girl) feel… please!!!” and closed his eyes and prayed, everyone around me went AWWWW KAWAIIIII.

The mannequin kept on falling over to the sides and finally a staff member came out to hold the thing at the bottom. When Blue held her, her top half of the body fell off, LOL, so Blue had to sing his song while holding the top half of the girl’s body. It was hilarious and weird at the same time… at least Blue finally looked taller than the mannequin (because he was holding her by his waist)!

The “boyfriend” of the girl was Kiriyama from BAD. When he said to the girl “Do you really like me?” some fan in the crowd said “SUKI!!!” and Kiriyama tried not to laugh at that. Blue is mad at Black, Black is sad that he can’t tell the truth, Yellow’s pissed at Black, Orange doesn’t know what to do with Yellow, Red and Green are too much to handle for Nasu, etc. the usual.

When Black and Yellow make up, Yellow usually shows up in the spotlight looking like a kicked puppy and says things like “You should have told us if you had known…” but this time, because he was on total crack, he dramatically opened the curtain and went “YO BLACK! YOU SHOULD HAVE TOLD US!” Black was like “Yellow… what the hell happened to you overnight!?” Orange did the “Sonnano kankei nee” bit (please refer to my explanation of this thing on the Yoko’s greeting part in the Osaka concert report) as well as “Oppappiiii!” thing that the same comedian does. He got a good laugh out of it so did that a few more times. Black said “Orange, this is not yours, you know!” For more information on this thing, please watch this: http://youtube.com/watch?v=iPdQRpqUbGo

Red and Blue came out and in the darkness, Blue kept on touching Red’s thighs; I don’t know why. He did a few more strokes in the light until Red started telling Blue how he should realize that his friends are doing so much for him. They do the stretch thing during the song and put their faces close to each other, per usual. Red put an arm around Blue’s shoulders as he sang the last part of the song. After that, Red pushed Blue forward and Blue went to hug Black. When Nasu listed all the things that the other guys did to help Blue out, Red came to the front and looked at Blue straight in the eyes, saying “From this time on, we’ll have a mature relationship (as in friendship type of “relationship”). This is a promise between man and man!” Blue had said “I feel like a kid…” before that. It somehow sounded realistic with Shota’s birthday just passing and all.

When Blue went to hit the girl but couldn’t, Black hovered over Blue again (like in Osaka) and put his body in between Blue’s ass (stuck out in the air) and legs. Nasu kept on saying “Violence is not the answer!” with a straight face but kept on looking into the camera; it was hilarious! Black wanted to say “I couldn’t tell (Blue) well enough (so there were many misunderstandings)” and the Japanese word for that is “Umaku ienakatta,” but Black said “Umaiku… maiku? What kind of mic is that?”

After Green said “Look at all the women out there” and Blue went over to the girl to tell her to have a happy life, Nasu hit the girl and Blue said “Nasu… your hand!!” Nasu went “…Oops, I (used my hand to) hit her!” Then Nasu said stuff like “Your (the mannequin’s) hands are so gasagasa (dry and rusty),” and of course Black had to come in and say “Your skin is zarazara (bumpy and not smooth)!” but Nasu came back to say “It’s getting better!”

Eight Ranger 2 - During the theme song, Yellow was doing a handstand the entire time. Orange and Green got close to the camera and were making kissy faces, and then Blue came in the middle of them and made a kissy face to Orange with his eyes closed. Kawaii <3 Orange was doing some major hip thrusting (like in the Osaka show) somewhere maybe while the title of the skit was being announced.

Confessions were Red and Yellow. When Black told Red to go, he had a facial expression that said “What!? I went during the first show!! Why me?!” Anyway, his went like this: “I haven’t had a girlfriend in sooooo long. Well, my work as an idol is going well on the other hand so it’s not too bad I guess, haha… but. I think I want someone who can support me now. Will you support me?” Yellow’s was short and simple: “Hey, what’s up? Oh, is that a Chanel bag? Pretty cute. But you know, you probably haven’t realized this yet, but your smile is the best brand.” Black did the Chanel pose )( using his arms and legs, then said “Orange! These kinds of things are something that you should be doing!!” so then Orange got on to the floor and did “Louis Vouitton!” His legs stretched out to form an L and he used his arm to do the V.

At the end of the “We’re so happy for Blue” song, Black and Red said “ban ban!” at the same time. Black said “That wasn’t on purpose but somehow Red and I said the same thing!”

Nasu and Yellow had an awkward moment once so Black’s like “Nasu and Yellow, are you guys in a fight or something?” Nasu’s like “No we’re not!” A little later, Yellow was leaning his entire weight on Nasu. Did I ever say how Yellow was weird?

The weird thing by Orange was saying “Tamago (=eggs)” the way Red said it on the Heat Up bonus track. Everyone said it too, including Blue for his ippatsugei. The “next morning” when they all met up, Orange came out singing “Tamago! Tamago! Tappuri Tamago!” The crowd sang with him too, hahaha. The original song is “Tarako, tarako, tappuri tarako” but he used “tamago” instead (http://youtube.com/watch?v=vAtBNOKT8jM). He also said “Tsun tsun chan chan, quickle nancharaaaa!” a song used in a commercial. “Nanchara” means “so-and-so,” so Green said “Just say ‘Wiper’!!” which is what the product is; quickle-wiper (http://www.kao.co.jp/quickle/).

Orange kept on imitating Furuhata Ninzaburo but sounded nothing like him, lol. Furuhata is a character from a very famous detective drama played by Tamura Masakazu. It’s the character that Kimura acts out in SMAPxSMAP sometimes, too (I wonder if he still does it? It’s from a long time ago). Orange kept on saying “Nanban da… nanban da… sannan da (=I’m the third son)” and we all said “You’re chonan (=first son)!”

While Red was singing the song with his arm around Blue’s shoulder, Black kept on waving to the two but they both kept on ignoring him. Black waved bigger, then once he figured he’s not getting the attention he wants, he started doing that little finger movement (the one him and his brother use) and Red and Blue gave in to wave back at him. Red and Blue said something about Super Man but I didn’t get why they mentioned that. Maybe it was an inside joke.

When Black and the rest told Blue to go smack the girl, Black, Orange and Red inch in so close to Blue. While Blue’s talking things over with the girl, Orange and Red keep on doing “You bitch!!!! How can you do this to Blue!!!! GAAA I can’t look at this!!!” kinda gesturing throughout, haha. When Green said “Look at the girls here,” Black said “Nihonjin shinjirarenai!” with a foreign accent, basically saying he doesn’t trust Japanese people. My friend and I both yelled “Well, we’re not Japanese!!” A few people turned around to see what the heck we were saying, haha. Anyway, everything settled down and Black told Red to go up to the stage to say “Arigato.”

Arigato - They’ve returned to singing Arigato. It makes more sense to sing Arigato after the whole skit; I wonder why they did Energy for a few shows in Osaka. For show 1, Yoko went up to the main stage and did the “Arigato!” Because the show started later than 14:00, they were kinda rushing everything. For show 2, Black told Red to go up there and say “Arigato.” Red kept on saying “sangeki (=tragedy)” in his speech; they said “sangeki” a lot in Osaka too so I think it’s their boom, haha. When he said it the third time, Nasu said “You said it three (=”san”) times for sangeki, right?” but Red just kept on putting “sangeki” in the speech so it didn’t really matter, haha. Red wasn’t sure of the lyrics so he kept on turning around and checking the lyrics out.

Obachan Rock - In show 1, I was on the second floor so the four that came up were really close. Ryo and Ohkura started out on our side and Ohkura was just standing there for like a whole minute. He looked skinnier than before! Subaru and Hina moved over to my side and stayed a while too. Subaru’s facial expression was really soft this day; he seemed to really be enjoying the concert and he was actually looking into the crowd! Hina’s hair looked good (did I say this already?). For show 2, I saw nothing on the second floor but Yoko, Shota and Maru came out in front. Maru came right in front of us, and unfortunately, Yoko and Shota were on the other side.

MC 1 - Shota said that his grandmother was from the real edge of Nami Ooshima, which is a part of Kagoshima, and he mentioned some kind of seashell that only people from Kagoshima would know. They were all like ohhhhhh.

Hina started saying “Well today’s the first show after Yasu-kun’s birthday,” so I knew they weren’t gonna do his “surprise” party here… boo, haha. Shota thanked the fans for so many “Happy Birthday” uchiwas (You’re welcome, dear). He said that so many people celebrated for him and he got many e-mails, too. Yoko suddenly said “Yasu, tell us how you feel using three onigiri fillings.” We were all like “What!?” Yoko said “Right, Subaru?!” Subaru said “People usually express their feelings using onigiri fillings!” Yoko kept on saying that kind of thing to Subaru and he kept on responding in the same way. Anyway Shota was forced to express his feelings using three things that fill an onigiri.

He started off saying “Jako…” but jako is not really an onigiri filling, haha. Then he’s like “Mentaiko… ummm…. Like a fish trapped in a fish net…” He was having such a hard time (can’t blame him!) and Yoko’s like “Forget fish!! Just think of an onigiri filling!” Yasu said “Ikura… well I can’t eat ikura… oh, I want to become an adult that can eat ikura!” Yoko said “Haha, fine, I’ll give you that… two more!” Yasu goes “Two more!? Hmm… shirasu (whitebait… still stuck with the whole fish idea, lol)… My body is as small as a shirasu, but… umm… and like a dot like mentaiko… ummm I’ll do my best!” I don’t remember what he ended up saying but I sure know it was pretty funny! He even started saying “tachi uo (cutlass fish)…” but tachi uo is totally not onigiri material, lol. I don’t even know if it’s the type of fish you eat! I saw it in the aquarium, though, haha.

Yoko said that he really sees the NewS commercial a lot these days. Ryo said that they were asked to dance to the song freely, but it was hard because they kept on getting orders such as “More energetically!” or “Smile!” etc. Ryo said he had to memorize the melody while he was on tour. For the UFO commercial by K8, all the things they said were adlib. They weren’t sure which part was going to be used, but they didn’t expect that part where Subaru says “this bokkon happens back home, too” to be used, haha. This is when the hot, boiled water is poured into the sink and the sink goes “bokkon!” because the water was too hot. That does happen when you make that kind of instant noodles so it was pretty funny when I first watched the commercial.

MC 2 - They were amazed that this was their 107th show. Yoko started talking about how he had lost weight. Then, they all started talking about their current weights. If I remember correctly, it was: Yoko and Maru at 66.5kg, Hina started the tour off at 60, went down to 56 but now brought it back up to 59. Shota was 54.5 and the big ones said “Man, anything in the 50’s sound so nice!” Ryo said he was about 54.5, but that was before he had lunch that day. He probably was like 55 now, but since he really had to poop, he said he must be at like 56 now. Subaru said he was 48 and everyone was like EHHHHHHHHH. At the start of the tour he had 52 but he has lost weight. Seeing that reaction, Hina said to the crowd, “You all must have thought ‘Wow I’m heavier…’ just now, didn’t you!” Ohkura had his mic down and was trying to be invisible, but Hina said “So Ohkura! How about YOU!!!” so he had to say. He was at 67.5 or so now, but during this tour, his worst was 72. Maru said “Well, you’re tall so that’s about the right weight!”

Yoko kept on apologizing about Shonen Club Premium when they performed Explosion (=showed tummy). He said he was holding his breath after they ripped the shirts off to reveal their tummies, but he said he couldn’t hold it for so long, haha. Duh! Ohkura bumped into Miyake Ken (V6) at a gym one time and Ken told Ohkura how bad Maruyama and Yokoyama from Kanjani8’s stomachs are. Yoko said that when he was at his peak, he couldn’t see his “thing” when he peed because his stomach got in the way. These days he can see his “thing,” which is big… but not that big… yeah, don’t you love idols who talk about their “things” on stage? Haha. He said he has lost 4kg and his neck lost a lot of fat.

Yoko said that the best way to lose weight was to not eat anything, lol. He said drinking juice is the worst. He said whenever he got home, even if he had just eaten a huge meal, it was habit to say “I’m hungry.” He kept on drinking juice and eating ice cream. Hina pointed out that Yoko drinks too much kamu kamu Lemon Tea (the tea Yoko talked about on Recomen) but he said that was an exception.

Ohkura said he has lost a bit of weight, but because he celebrated Shota’s birthday and drank too much, he’s “boyon” again, haha. Maru said he was losing weight too, but during the two-week off they had between Osaka and Kagoshima, he has become “heavy metabolic.” Yoko said “Oh so you’re now ‘hevimeta’! (=usually used for shortening “heavy metal”)

Yoko complained about the most recent issue of Potato. The four skinny ones had their shirts opened and were on the first pages. The other three were like “Where are our pictures?!” and found it at the end of the magazine, haha. Yoko said the cameraman said “Yokoyama-san, you don’t need to take your shirt off.” Ohkura was expecting not to take his shirt off either because Yoko and Maru didn’t, but the staff said “Ohkura-san, please show us a little bit!” Ohkura said he really held his breath while they took that picture.

Yoko said that Sho-kun (I’m assuming Sakurai from Arashi) has lost a lot of weight too, for his drama. He said he saw Sho-kun buying a lot of bottles of water on a magazine. Yoko said “Yeah, I get all the Johnny’s information from idol magazines. I’m no different from you all!”

Hina said that TOKIO’s leader (Joshima) is originally from Kagoshima. I thought he was from Nara so I was surprised to hear that. Apparently, Joshima was born in Kagoshima and went to so-and-so Elementary school (when Hina said the name of the school many fans went KYAAA!) then moved to Nara when he was in third grade or so. Hina said the day before the Kagoshima concert, he went to a bar by himself where he randomly bumped into Joshima, who was there with a few of his friends. Yoko said “Oh, so GO BAR, huh?” He really likes Forward doesn’t he, haha. Anyway, Hina told Joshima that he had a concert in Kagoshima the next day and Joshima said “Actually…” and told him he was from Kagoshima. Hina said “Can I say that during an MC?” Joshima said “Sure! That’ll be very oishii!” Haha.

Itsuka, Mata - YAY for finally doing Itsuka, Mata!! I thought I’d never hear it again after not hearing it at all in Osaka! Ryo messed the intro up in show 1 so they started over. For the quick MC after this song, they talked about the previous time they came to Kagoshima. It was about a year ago, and Yoko didn’t remember that they had performed on the same stage so got booed at by the fans, haha. The man has stood on so many different stages; give him a break! Because Yoko wanted to make himself look better, he goes “Well, I’m better than Ohkura! When this idiot landed at the airport today, he’s like ‘Ahh, it’s really nice here in… Fukuoka.’” They followed him up by saying that Kagoshima is just THAT relaxing.

In show 1, they also talked about how they had an awesome time at the onsen (“Iroha no yu,” which apparently was near their hotel last time they visited), which Hina missed because he had to go back to Tokyo for work that time. Yoko said “Oh yeah, THAT’S why we had so much fun!” Haha. They also talked about Subaru losing the hotel key. Ryo said that he came to Kagoshima with NewS but to a different venue. They did it at an arena and Ryo was quite confident when he said “Yeah, the square-shaped one, right?” but the fans said “No! Round!”

I didn’t like the clapping that went on during this song in show 2 (it’s just a tacit understanding that you don’t clap during quiet songs… this coming from a former GLAY fan, haha), but it faded eventually so that was good. In show 2, after this song, Ryo took his boots off and said “Sorry, I really have to go” and left early to poop, lol. He really had to go. Hina said “Well, we’re human after all!”

1. Ruwa, 2. Magic Word - Seriously, Subaru does NOT need a microphone!! He was soooooo loud. The adlib at the end though made him sound awesome. It’s hard to believe the voice coming out of that tiny little body of his. For Maru’s solo, Hina and Shota said “Let’s call him! MARU CHAAAAN!” and then the “BAN BAN!” VTR started, haha. The Juniors in the back were wearing army pants so it really looked like Maruu’s Boot Camp. They all got into one line and followed Maruyama-sensei with all the PAAAAANs and the TEXASs.

Junior Medley - The thing I liked most about the Kagoshima shows was that there was a minimum number of Juniors. BAD, BOYS and OSSaN were present and they sang a medley. I can say the names of BAD and BOYS now but still don’t know any names from OSSaN… just that they start with O, S, Sa and N, haha.

Kanashii Koi - After the sound of thunder, they did Kanashii Koi. They were all lined up in one line and had the shiny jackets on. I don’t know why but Ryo was laughing in show 2 for the next couple of songs.

Osaka Rainy Blues - During Subaru’s first solo part, Shota and Yoko were just nonchalantly walking around while Hina was spinning like crazy. Then, to go with the song, Yoko and Shota started doing like a janken move in the middle. It was hard to see from the second floor but I think they were actually doing janken. After that, Shota and Hina did some dances. Once the song started, the rap-group stayed in the front and Shota, Subaru and Hina went up on top. Shota and Hina had this synchronized movement where they would go ß à ß ß, à ß à à a few times then ↑↓↑↑, ↓↑↓↓ a few times.

Futari no Namida Ame - I don’t know why they didn’t use that mirror ball for both shows during this song! It was nice to finally be able to see everyone from the front for this song. Usually in the Arenas, they would do this song on the round stage that goes around so I don’t get to see everything. Ryo in show 2 was nuts with the mic stand when they have that movement where they make the stand look like a girl. Overall, Ryo was purely nuts. Surprisingly, Shota messed up the dance a bit in both shows!

Osaka Romanesque - In show 1, Ryo said “Kagoshima” instead of “Midosuji.” The four young ones took their black jackets off for this song in both shows and got into tight white polo (?) shirts and they looked NICE. Especially Sho-chan and Maru!

Heavenly Psycho - I think the Heavenly Psycho was normal in show 1 but in show 2, Ryo kept on changing the pace of the song and was all kinds of crazy. It still is a pretty nice song.

Band session - These three boys are getting better and better! The costume for this show wasn’t the green/yellow/pink/balloon skirt/shiny/pink legging one like the Arenas, but it was the bluish one they wore when they first did Kanfuu Fighting on TV. During show 1, Ohkura’s mic wasn’t at its place so he had to drum and fix it at the same time until some staff came over to help out.

Do you agree? - Subaru was hyper from the moment he came out on stage for this song. Yoko’s dances were dynamic; he was kicking his leg out big time! Ryo’s steps were quick and crazy. Ryo is crazy. For show 2 I think it was, Ryo’s rap was way too fast but Shota dealt with it. Did I mention how Ryo was (IS) crazy?

Gojo ni Go! - I love listening to this song during concerts! It’s so AWESOME. I think it was during this song where Ryo kept on spraying the smoke on the Juniors, guys and a few people in the crowd for both shows.

Sayonara wa Itsumo - It was funny how only Shota’s costume was glowing in the dark (the pink parts).

EN Mugendai - In show 1, Maru came out from our side on the second floor and Yoko and Shota came from the other side. They switched sides, and I was being a good girl not moving from my seat (second row from the break). I couldn’t see much because everyone was standing on their seats and stuff, but Yoko was kind enough to wave to the people behind the crowd (i.e. us) reaching his arm out. Shota I think saw my “911 Omedetou” uchiwa and threw the sign board right at me. The sign board came down to the seat and I was at a temporary shock, and went to grab it but when I did, the girl next to me totally ripped it away from me. That bitch!!!! Had she not been a Shota fan, I would have gotten it!!!! She didn’t even have an uchiwa out!!!!! The Red and Black Ranger girls sitting behind me gave me a “I know how you feel, she’s a bitch” kind of facial expression, lol.

In show 2, Maru came down our aisle. He stopped by our place and shook hands saying “Thank you!” in English. His fingers were rather skinny; not what I expected from a bassist!! That actually was my first “touching” of my concert career, haha. I’m glad I had my “From NY” uchiwa out in the aisle because I think that’s why he stopped to turn around. Unfortunately, I don’t LOOK like I’m from NY but I don’t know how else to prove it!! Haha.

Double and Triple Encores - They didn’t come out for the second or third encores for show 1, but did for show 2. During the second encore, they sang ZOM and Shota started saying “Jump! Jump! Jump, jump, jump!” to the intro. It was cute. We did the “Ooooooh soya soya soya soya!” again, too. Hina first had his arms around Shota and stuff but disappeared from the stage. Then, a few moments later, he walked down our aisle. Fans were pushing and shoving and he was like “be careful” to those girls. Then, I touched his chest and got his attention (not on purpose!) and stopped and shook hands and said “Thank you!” in English. He grabbed my hand back and wow his hand was smooth. His chest was quite nice, too, lol. As he went down the aisle, he gave this little kid a big cheek rub. He had a “Shingo” soccer jersey on (#8 and his favorite soccer team). Subaru was wearing a pair of cow-patterned pants and a white tank top.

In the third encore, everyone but Subaru and Ohkura came out. Ryo only had a towel around his waist and his head. Yoko came out with only black boxers and black socks and was hiding his crotch. Shota bent down so that we could see him til the end as the curtain came down.

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Overall, the concerts in Kagoshima were awesome!! It was so loud and fun. I would not be exaggerating when I say that I had more fun in Kagoshima than I did in Osaka, haha. Maybe it’s just the general proximity. Other than the goods line being awful, I had a great time in Kagoshima. I had to fight for the iron sheet 5 minutes before the second show started, and got the rest of the goods after the second show was over. We went back to our hotel by taking a taxi because there were no more buses that Sunday night and it was raining like it was nobody’s business. We had ramen for dinner, which was really good after only having two Mister Donut doughnuts in the morning and two bottles of water.

VIVA Kagoshima!