sparkle #054
Well, it was a close fight between this and Up to You, but here it is, our first sparkle from Popcorn!
SUPER FRESH.
sparklehole has a tumblr now, though we have zero plans to sparkle there or anything. The sparklehole is an lj comm and that's how it is staying. ♥ The tumblr is just for whatever caps we might want to make into tumblr posts, plus perhaps reblogging videos/songs/lyrics that are relevant to our current sparkles. For example: this post! ♥ To read lyrics translations on their own, there are translations here and here.
Sho's solo ends, leaving him standing in the middle of the main stage, and soon those back-up dancers will fade away as the lights come up again...
And Sho is marching alone, except wait! Four more figures are emerging!
And they are wearing those pink jackets from Arafes except embellished all Popcorn-tour-like and fdjslfasjk I love it.
Ohno and Jun, who have just leaned in and stepped toward each other before turning, have a little moment with their faces.
Leader and his choreography, I just. I love the way both of his feet are up, and also I love EVERYONE'S JEANS.
Idol, choreographer, uwasa no fisherman, Ohnooooo.
I love thinking of Ohno listening to this song (which I adore) and imagining this performance (which I adore) and then figuring out with Jun and the staff how it will work.
I like all of Ohno's choreography a lot, but I think I love it most when it's quirky like this, when there is a commitment to the song's inner weirdness and how they can show that with their bodies. (SEE ALSO: TOKEI JIKAKE NO UMBRELLA.)
Hello again, Aiba, you attractive human being. I like that argyle-like sparkly diamonds on your refurbished pink coat.
I have watched this bit so many times trying to figure out what Aiba is doing with his arm here and why, but I think the answer is I DON'T KNOW, OKAY.
Ahhhhh, here they go! Sho is starting us off, both physically and into the lyrics of the song.
Jun is in his element, lending these simple motions such attitude and style, lending them that with his body and also his FACE.
Ugh, I love this hand on chest bowing of the head movement for the ~feeling gratitude~ line, and then that fucker Nino has to come along and make this FACE after the feeling gratitude movement, and fjdsk; shut up with your face, Nino.
This choreography is just so perfect for this song. Ohno!! Good work!!
Also good work to: NINO'S AND JUN'S JEANS.
COUNTDOWN THREE TWO ONE.
I feel like if they hadn't committed to this choreography, it could have been a let down, or looked silly, but not only did they commit, they really looked like they were having a good time doing it, like in that moment they weren't thinking of anything else and just being happy doing their weirdo jobs.
Dear Aiba: I love your face.
HUGE LOVE AND PEACE. <3<3 I love how I wrote that as "love and piece" first and was like WAIT SOMETHING ISN'T QUITE RIGHT BUT I CAN'T TELL WHAT.
The peace sign ID is super fresh, you guys. (ALSO SUPER FRESH: JUN'S LEGS. Sigh, Arashi legs, theme of my life.)
Sho, you are a joy, and I like your streaming ribbons. ♥
Ohno's jeans are also particularly good. Aiba's jeans are also particularly good! And Sho's jeans, though baggy, are particularly good for a reason WE SHALL SEE SOON.
Yeah but this side of the dome has the best jeans at the moment, SAYS MY HEART. Also Jun is a glorious human being!!
I wonder how they would have performed this in Kokuritsu! I really like how they did it here, but I can't quite imagine how it would translate to the big stadium. They might have used the moving stages, but it wouldn't have felt the same as them actually walking all this way around to the pulsing beat of Super Fresh. ♥
And it wouldn't have been the same at Arafes, either, because the Juniors were such a big part of creating this atmosphere! Good job, Juniors, and good job, Ohno, in using them. ♥ (Which is not to say that if there is another Arafes this year [FINGERS CROSSED] and if they perform it again, I won't look forward to it wholeheartedly, because I WILL, and I am sure it will be glorious. Just different. :D)
Here at the sparklehole we never disdain to offer caps where there are flashes of skin. I FEEL MATSUJUN WOULD APPROVE.
THESE MOVES, I LOVE THEM. I LOVE THEM SO MUCH. (ALSO ANOTHER FLASH OF SKIN: JUN'S SHIRT IS WORKING OVERTIME [UNDERTIME?].)
Shhh, I am not staring at their thighs or anything.
Stepping back before going forward again with a little skip: I LOVE THIS CHOREOGRAPHY.
Sho in particular seems like he's really soaking in the moment during this song. ♥
AIBA SPIN.
NINO SPIN.
HOP.
(THIGHS.)
AND CONTINUE ON.
The hand-waving sashay!
HI LEADER. <3
AUGH THEY JUST LOOK LIKE THEY'RE HAVING SO MUCH FUN.
(OHNO LEGS.)
JUN'S UBIQUITOUS RING, THEIR GLORIOUS FACES, ALSO THAT JUN'S JACKET HAS BOTH STARS AND A CROWN, AND NINO'S HAS WHAT READ TO ME AS SHERIFF STARS BECAUSE HE IS THE SHERIFF OF MY HEART I GUESS???
YES GOOD.
The weirdo glorious lines of Jun's body.
Somehow that specific pink is so fetching on Sho. ♥
IN THE WAVING ARM MOMENT, GOING FRAME BY FRAME IS REALLY FUN.
WAVY-ARM CHAMPIONS.
Oh, Sho is getting ready!
I looooove this. LEADER, YOU ARE SO GOOD TO US.
With only the beat to go on for a bit, their walking gets more rhythmic, and it is kind of overwhelming to me for some reason (UGH THE REASON IS PROBABLY THEIR STUPID LEGS AND/OR FACES).
OH IT IS TIME TO PAUSE FOR SOME MORE STYLISH HEAD-TWITCHING.
GOOD STYLISH HEAD-TWITCHING, ARASHI.
A brief interlude of strings before we continue on our march. Strings... and LEGS.
THE BEST COMBINATION?? And a smack on the hips to finish off the interlude and head into more singing!
Aiba is so handsome with this black hair. <3
UGH YES JUN YOU ARE HANDSOME TOO. <3
AUGH WAIT I GOT AHEAD OF MYSELF: IT'S THE PART WITH SOLO LINES EXCEPT AIBA IS DOING HIGH HARMONY THROUGHOUT. THIS IS MY FAVORITE PART OF THE SONG!! SO PRETTY, SO PRETTY.
ARE THOSE RIBBONS FOR EXCELLENCE IN FACE-HAVING, BECAUSE THEY SHOULD BE.
shooooooo
Sigh, everyone's voices are so pretty here. ♥♥
Dear Matsumoto Jun, you are a treasure, one I would like to keep FOREVER, but not in a weird stalk-y way, because the way I get to have you in my life right now is glorious. ♥ PLEASE CONTINUE.
Yes, the rest of these are just for his legs.
I mean, look at them.
Seriously.
Those jeans are working hard for the money.
I wonder if Jun can feel when people are lusting after him, like every second I just stared at his legs went into a little piggybank in his soul that says JOB WELL DONE, SELF.
Ahh, here comes Nino! <3
They're making progress; they'll be together soon!!
GRATITUDE FEELING FACE/MOTION LOVE.
POPCORN TOUR, YOU ARE GLORIOUS, THAT IS THE FEELING I HAD WHEN I PAUSED ON THIS WITH ALL THE JUNIORS WITH THEIR POPCORN LOGS AND THEN ARASHI COMING TOGETHER IN THE MIDDLE.
SUNRISE ON THE BEAT (OF MY HEART WHICH IS THUMPING FOR ARASHI AND SUPER FRESH)!!
Ah, ah, someone reached the middle!!
lolol why did I keep this cap; it is a mess :D PROBABLY BECAUSE AIBA IS IN IT AND I WAS LIKE I NEED MORE AIBA. You know what, past self, that is fair. Aiba, even out of focus, is just stupidly beautiful.
AH, THEY'RE TOGETHER, COUNTDOWN THREE...
TWO
ONE. (I LOVE THAT NINO'S COUNTDOWN BETWEEN THREE AND TWO IS A MATTER OF MAYBE TWO INCHES AND AIBA'S IS LIKE A FOOT.)
DAMMIT, THE YELLOW LIGHT OF NINO SOLO LINES, time for overwhelming feelings FINE.
augh
sparkle, you are not helping
DON'T PEEK YOUR EYES OPEN, HOW DARE YOU
DON'T CLOSE YOUR EYES AGAIN, HOW DARE YOU. AND THIS IS ALL DURING THE GRATITUDE FEELING LINE!! NINO, YOU DEMON.
ohhhhhh, you are pretty
PRETTY HAND, GRAVITY-DEFYING HAIR.
oh no, they're going to
YES GOOD.
ugh, the little salute on huge love and peace, I just have so many feelings (SELF, IT ISN'T PIECE, CALM DOWN)
Their pink gradient jackets! Their emoting on the word peace!
AUGH AIBA FACE. <3<3<3
This part of the song is ALSO so pretty!
I wanted to be like LOOK, LOOK AT THESE LYRICS JUN IS SINGING HERE WITH THESE MOTIONS AND SUCH FEELING but the differing translations have really confused me so I will just feel feelings VAGUELY, OKAY. BUT LOTS OF THOSE VAGUE FEELINGS, JUN. HEARTS.
omg leader, look at your baby bear eyes!!
SHO, I LOVE YOUR FACE SO MUCH. (DOES THAT BADGE THING ON YOUR JACKET SAY WHAT'S FOR DINNER.)
He does this little head swivel here that is so cool and makes me smile so much. <3
And then they are off!
Marching in a circle as five! Still doing the Super Fresh choreography of feelings!
And then they line up back in their places for the last beautiful lines of the song.
(LEGS.) SOMEHOW EVEN THE WAY THEY ALL DO THIS QUARTER TURN IS STYLISH.
SIGH, SUPER FRESH!! THOSE FIREWORKS (COLOR-CODED FIREWORKS, ARASHI COLORS!!) ARE HAPPENING IN MY HEART AS WELL.
AIBA FACE. He just looks like he's having so much fun! Such simple movements, not a very difficult song to sing at this part, just having fun with his bandmates and Juniors and 50,000 fans, whee!
It's like all the walking choreography has built up so that when they start doing these motions, they are filled with the song and its feelings.
IT'S WONDERFUL.
Oh. Oh yes. I took so many caps of this. (OH HEY LOOK AT SHO'S JEANS WITH THE ARASHI CHARACTERS ON THE BUTT!!!!!) (Special mention for this cap: Nino's butt; Sho's Arashi butt)
Look, I took these caps for reasons. (Special mention for this cap: the stretch of Leader's hips; the sassy set to Sho's butt.)
And I could have kept like ten times as many of these, but I showed restraint! (Special mention for this cap: JUN'S EVERYTHING IN THOSE JEANS.)
It could also be argued (not truthfully, but you know, IN SOME FASHION) that I took these caps in order to study their jackets and what is on them. I DO VERY MUCH LOVE THOSE JACKETS. (Special mention for this cap: Leader's absurdly muscular thighs.)
But really, I have no need to argue anything when Arashi in their jeans are arguing so well on their own behalf. :D THEIR LEGS ARE DESERVING OF ATTENTION, OKAY, THE CAMERA-PERSON THOUGHT SO AS WELL. (Special mention for this cap: how much fun Aiba is having with this uber-simple choreography of joy; ALSO HOW LONG AIBA'S LEGS ARE.)
They really all seem to be having a lot of fun, it is my heart's Kryptonite!!!
MOONWALK AT THE PERFECT PART OF THE SONG, AHHHHH. I kind of thought Nino would be good at this, since he's so noodle-y, but I found him endearingly kind of jerky at it. :D :D LEADER, OF COURSE, IS RIDICULOUSLY FLUID DURING THIS MOVE, FJDLASKFDJSALK. He makes his shoes slipping along a stage look sexual, and I mean that in the BEST WAY AHHHH.
WELL DONE, LEADER.
This song is so mellow that I can see why they didn't perform it before this, I guess, but then again: the lyrics! They are so Arashi concert perfect!
The dancing here has become more clearly dancing, and yet it retains all the impressions of the walking choreography and fjldksfjlsdak it's just so great, okay.
JUN-FACE, JUUUUUN.
(jeans)
THE YES/NO BADGE. THE YES/NO OF HIS STUPID FACE. (P.S. I ACTUALLY THINK NINO'S FACE IS YES/YES, DAMN HIM.)
YEAH, ARASHI, WORK IT.
GATHERED WITH THE USUAL FRIENDS! THE PHRASE IS THE FEELINGS THAT CONNECT US!
Finishing off the last line to go into the part with the horns!!
Leg flares out to the side and then behind, all fancy-like.
And arms come around back to join~
One hand comes to splay on the belly (I DON'T KNOW WHY BUT I LOVE IT).
And the other joins in~~
THE HANDS MOVE UP AND ON AIBA IT LOOKS LIKE A WEIRD KIND OF ADORABLE CURTSEY.
I LOVE THIS ALL SO MUCH.
I LOVE THAT IT LOOKS LIKE THEY ARE DOING THESE ARM MOTIONS WHILE STILL WITH ONE LEG CROSSED OVER THE OTHER.
Finishing off with some appropriately balletic motions with the strings~
They're pretty. ♥
MEANWHILE OHNO IS MAKING THIS FACE.
AND I LOVE HIM SO MUCH I CAN'T BREATHE.
OH OH IT'S THE WATERFALL DOWN THE LINE!!
leader, i love your choreography. I love how the crowd can't quite hold in their feelings during this move. ♥
A lot. I LOVE THIS CHOREOGRAPHY A LOT. (Also, and this is the last time so please observe proper appreciation here, LEGS.)
A last spin!
And we're done!
THE CROWD LOOKS AND SOUNDS AS HAPPY AS I FEEL. SUPER FRESH!!
What a fun sparkle, ahh. ♥
I'll have another post up late this week for you to vote on my next assignment! In the comments here I am open to suggestions for what to put in the poll, with the concert of choice this time being BEAUTIFUL WORLD. I can't wait. :D :D