[concert report] Kanju X-Mas Concert - BBV (101215)
Finally finished this report. And only a month late. ^^;
Went to see BBV on December 15 with Rachel. I was so excited to see Kanju again and honestly, the concert was awesome. Great seats, got seen by a bunch of the boys, and they sang a lot of the songs I was hoping they'd sing. This concert reminded my just why I love Kanju SO MUCH.
And seriously~? Goods FAIL. I went to the concerts four times and I don't remember seeing anyone buying goods any of those times. No one wanted the clappy balloon things at the TOUZAI Uta Gassen. No one wants them at the Kanju thing either. Ok. Enough complaining about that. It saved fans money.
OUR SEATS. The Shochikuza has three floors and in general is a rather small venue. If they aren't within the first few rows on the first floor, I actually prefer the second or third floors 'cause it's easier to see the main stage. Can't see the hanamichi from the second or third floors, but I'm mostly there to see Matori and he never goes there anyway. And since it's a little hard to explain, you can find a seating chart here. Our seats were on the second floor, left side balcony, seats 3 and 4. 4 is better than 3 because it's next to the door and Kanju are really good about coming out to the balcony through those doors. Rachel claimed 4, because hey. Her tickets, she's tall enough to see over my head, and I like the number 3 better anyway. haha...
JUNIORS THAT APPEAR: B.A.D., BOYS, Veteran, KyoOtoko, Gang Star, and Jr.BOYS. Yuma was also there.
WARNING: I'm a Matori fan and there is flailing included in this.
OPENING/BIG GAME ("ballad" version). The lights go down and the curtain rises to reveal their ten silhouettes against a large white sheet. They only sang the chorus and then the sheet dropped. I can't remember the exact order... but I think it was:
Muro Ito Ryuta Daichi Akito Junta Bun Kiku Kunta
BLOW OUT has got to be one of my favorite Kanju songs... and when it's live? Oh god, even better. They all have new costumes. B.A.D.'s is green velvet and look nice, except for the fact that they're different shades of green and don't match design wise. *facepalm* Big pair of lips on their backs. Sparkly. BOYS's costumes are black with silver and white decorations. Not bad and I thought it suited them rather well. Veteran's are blue with white. Lots of white cords and stuff hanging from shoulders. It's a pretty blue too... very similar to the shade of Kisumai's Kis-My-LAND outfits, minus the iridecent factor.
KyoOtoko, Gang Star, and Jr.BOYS come out at this point. Matori was LATE running on stage from the right and then for some reason, ran back towards the right side of the stage. A few of them were grouped there and when I looked more closely, there was someone on the ground and I thought someone was hurt. Ota and Matori danced in the front trying to block whatever was going on behind them and that's when I realized that the white sheet had gotten caught in the stage and they were trying to yank it out. Smooth guys. haha...
KyoOtoko were in the hot pink and black outfits. Gang Star... I'm inclined to say that they were in the silver long coats 'cause Jr.BOYS were in the gold ones, but it's also possible that only the main Jr.BOYS were in the gold coats and the rest of them were in silver... which would mean that I have no clue what GS were wearing. *fail*
I'll just get this out of the way now. HAIR. SO MUCH WRONG~~~~~~~~! Ok. Daichi's is too close to blond, as is Bun's, but at least Bun's cut is still nice. Daichi's looks like a mistake. I'd seen him on Ahoyanen! Sukiyanen! last week, so I'd KNOWN his hair was like that, but I forgot and got to facepalm over it all over again. And then OTA. Cut on Ota is always okay... but it was blonde all over except for at his bangs. It was black under the upper layer of bangs. It's like Matori had extra hair dye and Ota used it.
ESPER. Lots of jumping and Matori being ridiculous. A little bit into the song I saw Hama-chan and a few others run off stage and a a few minutes later, HELLO! We had Hama-chan less than 2 feet away from us. Rachel didn't notice at first since she was facing the stage, but because I'd seen them run off stage, I knew someone would be coming out. Was glad it was Hama-chan. He was singing out over the balcony first so he didn't see us either, but when he did, there was this clear recognition when he saw Rachel and he made lots of noises. He saw my Hawaii uchiwa and did the shaka for me. He also did the "manly" handshake thing with Rachel before disappearing out the door again.
Hama-chan... SO cute.
They performed NEXT STAGE next. Wow that was repetitive of me. I like this song a lot. This was Yuma's first appearance... and his costume was a bit unfortunate. It's like they took leftover bits from other costumes to make it. It's bright fuchsia, like the ABC-Z ones, complete with Hasshi-like fuchsia fur on the shoulder.
They did their opening greetings. KyoOtoko, Veteran, BOYS, BAD and then Yuma. Some of them did call & response things. Like, Hama-chan did this, ®Oi-C~!" thing that I've never seen before and then Junta and Yuma copied him. Must be something from the earlier concerts.
2010 Hit Medley
Yoku Asobi, Yoku Manabe. SUPER CUTE~! I generally don't watch NYC performances, but Yuma and BAD singing this song, with other BBV members, KyoOtoko, GS, and Jr.BOYS backing is completely awesome. They were totally having a blast with it.
Arigato. The HSJ one. This was a little weird. Ok, a LOT. Gang Star performed this one, but it was like they let the actual song play and had GS sing with it. Still sounded like HSJ.
Ai wa Takaramono. Muro and... Hama-chan I think. Jr.BOYS in the back.
Fighting Man. Kikuoka and Bunichi. It was funny when this came on cause Rachel poked me and was like, what song is this? haha... It's a little strange, by the way, when Bun is totally dancing and Kikuoka sings the song just standing there.
LIFE by Senzaki and... Uh-oh. Don't remember. Ryuta? Junta? uh... oops? Totally approve cause Senzaki's voice suits the song.
Change Ur World. REIYA~! Ok. Super hot when he does Koki's stuff. For as pretty as he is, his actual mannerisms are really masculine and HOT.
Monster. hahahahahahaha.... Sorry. But there were ghost sheet things flying around over the audience and on stage. This was Akito, Hama-chan, and Bun. Akito started off in the right aisle of the 1st floor and then Hama-chan and Bun joined him on stage at that part of the song that Ohno first starts singing. If this is what happens when they're allowed to plan what happens during a song... I don't know. haha... But they used the large spider web backdrop from Shounentachi and everyone (the backdancing Jr.BOYS and GS included) had on the neon gloves that are super bright under black light.
Kodoku na Soldier. Yuma, no longer in the terrible pink thing and possibly in... blue? The background was a really nice pastel colored stained-glass style image. I'm not entirely sure what the image was of... Dogs? Deer? Mythical creatures? There was also a human I think. Can't remember. About halfway through the song, KyoOtoko came out to dance. And Yuma sorta fails at stage presence when on stage by himself. It felt awkward.
This next song was interesting. It's called PARAISO and it's in ENGLISH. Realized immediately that it wasn't Japanese, but it took a bit to figure out that it was English. haha... But it was super pretty. Maybe some of you know the Lea Salonga version? Granted, she's not the original singer (there are other videos sung by Smokey Mountain) I personally think it sounds better sung by Kanju, crappy English and all. They start off with Junta (whose English is understandable), Yuma, Akito, Hama-chan and we're pretty sure, Dai-chan. And then after the first chorus, everyone comes out in white. It sounds so full with so many of them singing. And it was thanks to Junta that Rachel was able to pick out enough of the lyrics to google it. It's a beautiful song, really. Paraiso is Tagolag for "paradise".
Then the main 5 Jr.BOYS come out and perform SHOCK ME. Main 5 being Matori, Ota, Mukai, Ryoya, and I assume the one with the most horrendous haircut was Fuuga. I'm pretty sure I turned to Rachel and said, "Did he lose a bet or something?" it was THAT BAD. Never got a clear shot at his face (and really, I was watching Matori), so I'm just assuming that was Fuuga. I hope he'll be back to his host hair the next time I see him.
After SHOCK ME, the main 5 leave and the rest of Jr.BOYS come out and sing Harukana Yakusoku. I think Jr.BOYS is at around 20 members currently.
Oh my god, I LOVE it when Veteran performs GO. The main 5 from Jr.BOYS back this one from the beginning. I will never get tired of watching Matori dance this one and it's so obvious that it's still his favorite choreography. Jr.BOYS in black pants and sleeveless button downs with the orange swoosh on their left shoulders. Veteran in black with their individual color accents. Kunta, purple. Bun, magenta. Kikuoka, light pink (because Veteran for some reason needed two shades of pink). Ito, blue. Ryuta, green. Muro, yellow.
I hope this song makes it onto the Kanjani8 DVD since it's the song they performed on this tour, but if you haven't heard the lyrics, there's a bunch of English, and them shouting, "BREAK THE WORLD! BRING IT OUT BASTARDS!" Whether or not they know what they're saying... well. That's debatable.
About halfway through the song, main 5 Jr.BOYS and the rest of them switch so that the main 5 can go do their costume change. Can someone just make the main 5 a unit already? It'd make writing this a lot easier.
This next song was really good, but I have mixed feelings on it. It's called MAZE and it's really good and has a nice rock feel to it... probably because I'm pretty sure it used to be an OsSAN song, which may have a great deal to do with why Ota didn't look too thrilled to be back dancing for it. *sigh* Sorry Ota. (´･_･`) Jr.BOYS and GS (in their black jackets with the silver stud accents) back for this one. KyoOtoko wore their purple themed costumes and Reiya's rapping was really good. They didn't sing the full song.
BOYS came out and sang GIVE ME next. The black and white suits with the hats are back! GS came out partway through to backdance. Kusumoto and Uemura were in black suits... but I can't remember if that means that Arimoto and Fugal Shawn were in white, or if all of GS were in black. There were definitely both black and white hats...
While we're talking about GS, Kusumoto seems to be paired with Uemura a lot. Looking at all of their dancing, I wonder if it's based on dance ability. Uemura doesn't stick out when next to Kusumoto, while Arimoto and Fugal Shawn look like they're being out-danced by Kusumoto. And it may just be me.
Anyway. Hama-chan and Daichi did their tossing-hats-across-the-stage switch smoothly and without dropping. GS opted to plop the hats on each others heads. Kusumoto had difficulties keeping the hat on even though the curls were shorter than the last time I'd seen him. Cute.
And then BAD got solo songs and a unit song. Akito appeared from the platform on the hanamichi and then moved to the main stage, singing Tomaranai Omoi. Such a pretty song~! It took me a second to register that he wasn't singing Sakura Michi. haha... ^^; He stood on one of the rising platforms while the stage started to rotate... and then Matori came out to dance solo. I think my heart may have stopped. The hand that my penlight was in sure did. Couldn't concentrate enough to keep it moving to the beat. SO PRETTY~~~~~~~! He got Senga's job, which I TOTALLY APPROVE OF! Black shoes, pants and tank, with an open purple satin button-down shirt over it. Sleeves rolled up.
Rachel and Laruku, you can stop laughing at me now. (EDIT: Rachel informs me that she wasn't laughing at ME, but at HIM, because while I really liked it, she thinks the whole solo ballet dancing thing looks silly when done by ANYONE.)
Junta sang Love Criminal for his solo song, and while Akito got Matori, Junta got practically everyone else. Kusumoto and Reiya were the main. I don't think I ever noticed Reiya for his dancing before, but he's really good! I'm telling you... it's the short ones!
Um... A I SHI TE RU was a little amusing, even though I'm pretty sure it was supposed to be "kakkoii". They were both in masks and capes (Akito, black. Junta, red) and I'm sorry, but it was funny. Then Jr.BOYS did this running with long strips of red cloth, creating a criss-crossing pattern around Akito and Junta. It got raised up towards the ceiling and that was pretty cool. And then we started to laugh again, because then Matori and maybe Reiya (?) tossed Akito and Junta SWORDS. Fencing swords.
They sang Aoi Kisetsu next and I'm pretty sure this is the one where Yuma sang the whole time and the BBV units took turns singing with him. Probably. I didn't write anything else in my notes about this song. Oh. They're getting a little lazier about the choreography. I miss the sharpness they had with the jacket choreography when I saw them perform it at the TOUGH WEEDS shows.
Jyuunen Go no Kyo no Hi mo (that looks funny in romaji) was next. I feel like I'd heard this one before and the hand choreography was familiar, but I can't quite place it. Anyway. Everyone was on stage for this one. Jr.BOYS were in white pants with those white sleeve button-down shirts and the green, red, or yellow stoles hanging loosely around the neck. I didn't think this until the 12/20 show, but because of something I saw at the 12/19 7WEST show, I just thought I'd mention that these costumes are way too short for Ota. The part that's supposed to be at the waist is like, mid chest area on Ota. haha... Ota had a yellow stole and I'm inclined to say that Matori's was red.
During this song, Junta and Daichi both came out to the hanamichi and they both saw us. Junta looked happy and I feel like there's a possibility that he remembers us. Daichi saw us, cupped his mouth and shouted, "HELLO~!" haha... Rachel missed it because she was still watching Junta.
At the beginning of Yuki ga Furu Machi, they had Reiya come to the front of the stage and come of with a two-count pose. He jumped to face the left side of the stage and then turned his head towards the audience with his left pointer on his chin. SUPER CUTE~! *flail* And then all the Juniors had to copy him. Akito was like, "Not doing it!" and Reiya laughed, slapping at him a bit.
MC - BBV, Yuma, KyoOtoko
Reiya's Birthday~! 18. ONLY 18. *facepalm* Like, I knew, but still. 18? That's it? >.< They wished him a happy birthday and asked him what his goals for the next year are. He said that he wants to write more lyrics, good lyrics, and get to perform them at concerts. Akito jokes that they're Kanju and they do as they please, so he's sure that Reiya could sing them at a concert. haha...
They talked about how cool Reiya sounds when he does rap and asked when he started to do that. When he answered that it was recent, Akito said something like, "It's that easy to do?" haha... Reiya started to rap in April, when Kanju performed at the Osaka HSJ concerts.
They also complemented him on his hair and the talk segued into talking about Hama-chan's hair and how it was permed but got straightened again.
Apparently, Daichi and Hama-chan go to the same salon and on coincidence, ran into each other there recently. Daichi wasn't sure if it was on purpose or what, but they got seated diagonally across from each other, so he could see Hama-chan through the breaks between mirrors. He said it was really awkward and that Hama-chan was making faces at him while Daichi was getting his hair done. hahaha.... At first I thought it was weird that they'd just happen to go get a hair cut on the same day, but I guess if you think about it, their work schedules are really similar, so if they'd just made appointments when they were free, it's not totally impossible that they'd see each other.
Akito brought up how running into people outside of work is awkward because it's hard to figure out what to talk about. Mostly everyone agreed with him.
I don't remember how the topic came about, but they started talking about sempai having kids, which lead to them talking about what kind of kids they'd have. They said that Ryuta would have Yankee kids. They initially said Ito's would play the piano, but then they decided that no, it'd be the violin. They joked about how Kikuoka would sound as a parent, impersonating his old-man voice. They said that Bun-chan would be a good dad and looks like he'd have a daughter.
Poor Hama-chan. They couldn't decide if he'd have a monkey or horse for a kid. Then they digressed a little to talk about Hama-chan's niece whoÅfs in the first grade and apparently LOVES Bun-chan. Super cute.
When the talked about Masaya, they mentioned that offstage, Muro's super nice to him. I enjoy when they talk about all the Muros. Ryuta gets super embarrassed and tries to hide it by getting mad or acting tough, but then it just makes the audience make Woo~! noises and then he tries to yell at the audience. Junta basically had to haul him backwards from the waist. haha... They talked about how rare it is to have three brothers in Johnny's.
Akito: What if each of you had another three boys?
Daichi: It'd go from "Muro 3 Kyodai" to "Muro-kei" on the dressing room door!
When they said Nitta's smart and looks like he'd have a girl, he kinda looked at them like he wasn't sure what he was supposed to say to that. And I guess he always has his electronic dictionary with him and it has funny things in it. Like an example of how manly men talk about a pretty girl that walks past them. Uh.... right...
They joked at first that Senzaki would have Diddy Kong as a child, but then they said that Senzaki looks like he wouldn't get married and Senzaki was like, "Huh?" I wonder why they said that.
They decided that Yuma's kids would be really cool, but cute and Akito was like, "That makes me mad~". haha... Oh, Akito.
And since they were talking about kids, Akito told this story about Daichi when they were in junior high school. They were second years, playing with those rocket fireworks that you hold in your hand and then release. Daichi lit his, but was holding it in a way that when it shot off, the backwash burned a huge hole into the front of his t-shirt.
Daichi was facepalming on the side and asked why Akito was even telling that story, but then was like, "Wait. Didn't you say 'hanaMI'? Not 'hanaBI'?" and Akito paused before looking over his shoulder as if Daichi could be talking to someone else behind him. haha... It's always funny when Akito doesn't notice his mistakes when he talks.
They wished Reiya a Happy Birthday again. Veteran and KyoOtoko leaving the stage and a red curtain closing behind BAD, BOYS and Yuma.
They did their promotion things... the AkeOme Concerts, the 7WEST X-Mas concerts, Yuma's appearance in Kakumei, the PLAYZONE 2010 DVD, the Dare mo shiranai J-Gakuen DVD's, Hama-chan announced the Ahoyanen!Sukiyanen! times incorrectly again and Daichi repeated the announcement again with the correct time, Junta's news program... They talked about Nagareboshi for a bit, since the following Monday was going to be the last episode. Akito said that he didn't know the ending yet. They promoted Juniben next and then Up&Up, asking if anyone saw that day's episode. I guess it was Maashii that day. They also advertised the radio shows and magazines they appear in.
VETERAN CORNER. hahahahaahaha... ok. Getting a little ahead of myself. So Veteran comes out from the left, all in black pants and white shirts, but Maashii comes out with a top hat. I think this changes every time cause on 12/20, he came out with his pants pulled up high with suspenders and glasses. Daichi caught sight of him while he was still offstage and cracked up.
Anyway. Back to the 12/15 show. Maashii the Magician did some flower tricks, multiplying flowers and that went well, but then, when he tried to do the pulling things out of his hat stuff, he messed up and EVERYTHING in the hat came out. hahaha... FAIL~!
They did a mock practice of SOS. Kikuoka and Ryuta moved to the front and were doing different choreography so Muro called everyone to a stop. They started from the beginning again and when Kikuoka and Ryuta did the same thing, Muro stopped them again and was like, "Sagare!" ordering them to move back in line. I think left to right it was Ito, Ryuta, Kikuoka, Muro, Kunta, and Bun-chan. Kunta was definitely behind Bun.
They start again and this time Muro cuts them off because someone is not only singing an octave too high, but is also singing the wrong lyrics. You can already tell it's Bun-chan, because Kunta is CRACKING UP. They do it again, but this time, the rest of them don't sing so that you can hear Bun-chan singing the wrong lyrics in a falsetto voice. He argues for a bit that he's not singing the song incorrectly, but then is like, "'Sakebu'? Hehehe... Why didn't you guys say so earlier? This is embarrassing!"
They're interrupted by one of the Jr.BOYS bringing them mail. They read the letter out loud, while Kunta stares the poor member of Jr.BOYS down, responding to each line of the letter as if that boy had written it. The letter was written from a superior sort of stand point, so Kunta was looking him up and down, asking who he thinks he's talking to. But then it turns out that the letter was written by Yokoyama Yu and Kunta turns all smiles and dusts off him off. I love how supportive Yoko is when it comes to Kanju, especially Veteran.
Bun-chan turns to the audience and says in response to the letter, "We'll do this right. Yokoyama-kun, just watch us." And they go into SOS for real.
And it was the full version too~! Haven't heard it in full since the the first time they performed it at their unit cons last year. The acapella is so good~! I'm still wondering who wrote which lyrics.
There's new choreography this time. There are white chairs involved, wood and not folding chairs, some of them more successful at it than others. Muro seems to have problems twirling the chair around in the air and Kunta seems to forget exactly where he's put the chair before sitting. His butt's hanging off the side a lot of the time. There was also this cool part in the choreography where they set up the chairs back to back. Then three of them sat in the chairs facing the audience and the others came running from behind and jumped over them. Although... if they're not careful, they could easily run right off the stage and into the audience.
STAY GOLD is by far my favorite BOYS song. In contrast to the low lighting of Veteran's song, STAY GOLD was bright! They used a wall of strings of white lights and appeared at the top of two staircases. Daichi was on the left and Hama-chan on the right and I'm pretty sure they were in the gold costumes they wore when they performed STAY GOLD on Shokura back in 2009.
There was this moment at the beginning when Rachel and I turned to each other and were like, "I think Hama-chan's looking at us," which was weird because when they're that far back on the stage, how the hell can you tell? But maybe I should explain.
When Kanju went around with KAT-TUN on their tour last year, Rachel and Bethany went to see them in Sendai, and their seats were REALLY GOOD. When BOYS performed STAY GOLD at that concert, Hama-chan was right in front of them. Most people outside of Kansai don't know Kanju, so when you have two white girls in the front doing all the hand motions, it's really obvious.
So to feel like Hama-chan was looking in our direction (well, Rachel's direction) at THAT moment, during THAT song... I think the chances are really high that he was.
V.I.P. I enjoy this song a lot, even though the lyrics are about as bad as ABC-Z's Vanilla. haha... The staircases had been moved so that one was on the raised platform at the back, creating one long one. Main 5 Jr.BOYS were on the stairs, GS at the foot of the stairs, and the rest of Jr.BOYS on either side. This song is the best when it's at a Kanju concert because all the fans know when to shout Junta's and Akito's names. Not to mention that all the backdancing Kanju totally love it too.
Hahahaha... ok. So there's this new song called BiriBiriDANCE and we'd seen it performed by Yuma and BIShadow at the TOUZAI Uta Gassen last November. My impression of it was that it was kinda, really stupid. So, I made a face when it started at the BBV concert... until I realized that all of BBV, KyoOtoko, GS, and Jr.BOYS were going to be backdancing for it, with Yuma at the mic stand in front.
Poor Yuma... he's singing all professional and stuff, but behind him, EVERYONE IS CRACKING UP and having a blast. The dance is pretty silly, but when they just go for it, it's super funny.
And then there's Jr.BOYS and GS in the back. I'm going to copy and paste what I wrote in my notes... MATORI! THAT IS NOT PG! Ota the cock blocker. So, there was this part... Matori and Kusumoto were facing each other and suddenly, Matori grabs Kusumoto's hips and then procedes to DROP TO HIS KNEES in front of him. Ota, on the other hand, was not having ANY of that. He wrapped his arm around Kusumoto's waist and pulled him away from Matori. And then within 3 seconds, all the lights on stage dropped off.
Matori... where exactly were you going with that and why in the world did you think that was appropriate behavior on stage?! -_-+
Gang Star sang AXEL next and does anyone know whose song this is? 'Cause I really like it. (Rachel tells me Tsubasa and what do you know? I already have it. *plays on repeat*) The backdrop was sorta like an optical illusion thing that they kept moving up and down so that it looked like the pattern was turning and the spotlights reminded me of vent fans. They were wearing black pants, shoes and tank top, and then open silver-gray button... shirts? jackets? And Kusumoto's dancing is... well. I think he's been getting pointers from some of the older boys. Jr.BOYS minus the main 5 backed for them.
Nothing really different about Big Game. BBV only, the usual costume choices. Oh. In the first verse, after Bun-chan's first line, he normally does a body roll, but this time, he turned to give Hama-chan this huge and adorable flirty smile. haha...
Also, backflips off the raised platform by Muro, Ryuta, Hama-chan, and Daichi never gets old. And as soon as the singing is done, BADBOYS run behind the still raised platform while Veteran finish the rest of the choreography.
This next part was really unexpected and I was kinda confused at first, but holy crap... SO COOL~! Maybe I'm biased, but I could watch them do this taiko routine over and over again.
At first, BADBOYS were lined up across the back of the stage, with Veteran in a line down the center. They did things where each member of Veteran held their arms out at different angles and I remember wishing that I could see it from the front (which I did on the 20th and wah~! Cool.)
Then they switched places, Veteran across the back and BADBOYS in front with five drums. They initially left the center drum vacant, so we thought that maybe Yuma would come out, but they spread out a little so that they could each reach two taiko. This part was so in sync and so impressive. They're arms moved together, at the same speed, same height.
BADBOYS moved again so that BAD was in the center and BOYS were on the outsides, just a little more forward. The platform Veteran was standing on in the back rose and then the smaller one BAD was on rose a little, so that we had a 3-tiered effect going on.
And in the last part, KUNTA~! He was the only one who had the complimenting rhythm and SO COOL~!
At the end, they all did deep bows and I felt really proud of them. Kanju is often really goofy and full of laughs, but it's so rare that they do something serious like this. And it was so obvious that they must have spent a ton of time rehearsing. Good job guys. It was really something.
Sasou was the next song they performed. Jr.BOYS took the taiko drums to the outer edges of the rotating stage. Matori was of course on the super far end, but when he came around, Rachel thinks he may have seen my uchiwa. I still liked the effect of the taiko, but Jr.BOYS were noticeably not as together as BBV had been.
UME Goin On is so fun. And again, people came up to the second and third floor balconies. We had Daichi this time and I think he was there for a while before we noticed. Sorry Daichi. I also noticed that while I know the hand motions, I don’t want to do them when the spotlight is on our area. Daichi~! Boo… Ah well. There will be other chances.
Daichi stayed there through the beginning of Romantic. I still ended up watching the stage, which Rachel couldn’t do even if she’s pretty meh about Daichi, but since she was right there… And since I wasn’t watching, I missed Daichi making noises at her too. He did the same guy handshake that Hama-chan did and after the show we were talking about how someone should tell these boys that that’s not how you should shake hands with fangirls. Haha…
Another Matori and Kusumoto moment. They were both at the left side of the stage, in the front arms around each others shoulders. In the chorus, there’s that choreography where they do that thing with their hips. Matori reaches across with his right hand to push Kusumoto’s hip into the roll… except he was a little short and his hand ended up kinda frontal. *facepalm* Kusumoto just smiled.
Ryuta stole Kusumoto at the end of Romantic, holding on to his wrists while doing the last few beats of choreography. I’ve never seen Ryuta and Kusumoto at concerts together like that before, possibly because I usually notice Kusumoto only when he’s with his unit or with Matori, so it struck me as strange.
After Romantic, BBV did these thank you bow things and although it was a bit abrupt, it was nice in a way. BBV really seemed like they wanted to make this concert FOR THEIR FANS, like they wanted to show their appreciation for their fans.
And then the music for Kodou came on and I think I might have died. I love this song so much and I loved TOUGH WEEDS so much. I didn’t cry, but I teared. It’s such a beautiful song and they’ve only performed it one other time after TOUGH WEEDS. *breathes* Beautiful song. Happy beyond words that they sang it.
They did the introduction of Juniors after Kodou finished. Jr.BOYS first and then when Daichi was supposed to do GS’s, he forgot what their current unit name was and said, “Ga-Bi-GOMEN! I FORGET!” And Akito called out “GANG STAR!” for him. Hahahahaha…. GS turned to look at Daichi, like HEY~~~~~~!
At KyoOtoko’s intro, they wished Reiya a Happy Birthday again and he did his cute pose thing from Yuki ga Furu Machi. I think he also blew a kiss towards the audience.
Veteran were next. Muro did his new call and response thing that I think he developed on Ahoyanen!Sukiyanen! ‘cause that’s the only place I’d seen it before. Ito didn’t do anything. Ryuta stole Muro’s c/r since it’s really just a play on their name “Muro”. Bun-chan… Kikuoka did his deep royalty bow. And then Kunta stole Muro’s c/r thing too, but changed it to “Kunta”. Haha…
Daichi probably just waved and Hama-chan did his “Oi-C~!” thing. Junta and Akito did their usual call and responses. Yuma was the last to get introduced. And just as a side note, he looked tired.
Curtain came down and the BBV call started. By the way… “BB-Bui” sounds retarded. They should take the opportunity to teach the fans how to say the letter ‘V’.
Rachel has a white board uchiwa and since we both feel really bad that Hama-chan is neither of our #1’s (or #2’s >.<), she wrote “BOYS♥ Arigatou!” (BOYS♥ありがとう！)
Encore came pretty quickly. It’s not like they have to change and I’m pretty sure Shochikuza staff wants to get everyone out on a timely basis. They sang NEXT STAGE again and I’d never thought about it before, but it’s a really good song for an encore.
Kunta came out onto the hanamichi and when he was right under us, we called out his name and he looked up. He saw Rachel’s “Kunta-sama” uchiwa and my “Hawaii” uchiwa and waved/shaka’d. Yay~! He finally saw Rachel’s uchiwa, which also makes me really happy since I made that uchiwa. Haha…
And then from all the way across from the right side of the stage, Matori saw my uchiwa for him and was jumping and waving. I did the shaka just to make sure that he was really looking at me and he did it too. ♪───Ｏ（≧∇≦）Ｏ────♪ MATORI~♡! I turned to Rachel and we hi-fived… but when we turned back to look at him, he was still watching us and was totally laughing. He did the shaka again. Gah... SUPER HAPPY! And I’m grinning like a complete idiot as I write this now, over a month later. I make fun of fans who jump around and flail at the boys, so I SHOULD be embarrassed… but I’m totally not. Just super happy. ^^;
Tatsuta, Takumi and Daichi came to watch the concert and got to jump around the stage too. Tatsuta went at Muro, RUNNING and then jumped up at him. Cute. And then later in the song, he was latched on to Akito, legs and all, and Akito was spinning around with him on the hanamichi. Careful! The hanamichi’s not that wide!
At the end of the song, they all lined up and Hama-chan kinda looked in our direction, pointed as if asking if the uchiwa was for him, and then nodded a thank you when Rachel was like YES, this is for you! I was watching Matori, so my description sucks a little. I’m sure Rachel will correct me. Or rewrite that so that I can just c/p it in. "He made a fist and placed it over his heard and bowed slightly." Well. There you go.
She also said that when Gang Star were on the hanamichi, she waved at Arimoto and he looked at her like, "ME? Why in the world would you be waving at me?" haha... Arimoto... *squishes*
Overall, it was a great concert and with seats like the ones we were lucky enough to have, we got to have lots of interaction with the boys. Factoring in everything, it’s definitely in my Top 10 favorite concerts that I’ve been to and possibly in the Top 5.
Sorry it took so long to write this, but it’s done. And it’s 16 pages long in this Word document (and over 6,000 words). Hope you enjoyed it!
Went to see BBV on December 15 with Rachel. I was so excited to see Kanju again and honestly, the concert was awesome. Great seats, got seen by a bunch of the boys, and they sang a lot of the songs I was hoping they'd sing. This concert reminded my just why I love Kanju SO MUCH.
And seriously~? Goods FAIL. I went to the concerts four times and I don't remember seeing anyone buying goods any of those times. No one wanted the clappy balloon things at the TOUZAI Uta Gassen. No one wants them at the Kanju thing either. Ok. Enough complaining about that. It saved fans money.
OUR SEATS. The Shochikuza has three floors and in general is a rather small venue. If they aren't within the first few rows on the first floor, I actually prefer the second or third floors 'cause it's easier to see the main stage. Can't see the hanamichi from the second or third floors, but I'm mostly there to see Matori and he never goes there anyway. And since it's a little hard to explain, you can find a seating chart here. Our seats were on the second floor, left side balcony, seats 3 and 4. 4 is better than 3 because it's next to the door and Kanju are really good about coming out to the balcony through those doors. Rachel claimed 4, because hey. Her tickets, she's tall enough to see over my head, and I like the number 3 better anyway. haha...
JUNIORS THAT APPEAR: B.A.D., BOYS, Veteran, KyoOtoko, Gang Star, and Jr.BOYS. Yuma was also there.
WARNING: I'm a Matori fan and there is flailing included in this.
OPENING/BIG GAME ("ballad" version). The lights go down and the curtain rises to reveal their ten silhouettes against a large white sheet. They only sang the chorus and then the sheet dropped. I can't remember the exact order... but I think it was:
Muro Ito Ryuta Daichi Akito Junta Bun Kiku Kunta
BLOW OUT has got to be one of my favorite Kanju songs... and when it's live? Oh god, even better. They all have new costumes. B.A.D.'s is green velvet and look nice, except for the fact that they're different shades of green and don't match design wise. *facepalm* Big pair of lips on their backs. Sparkly. BOYS's costumes are black with silver and white decorations. Not bad and I thought it suited them rather well. Veteran's are blue with white. Lots of white cords and stuff hanging from shoulders. It's a pretty blue too... very similar to the shade of Kisumai's Kis-My-LAND outfits, minus the iridecent factor.
KyoOtoko, Gang Star, and Jr.BOYS come out at this point. Matori was LATE running on stage from the right and then for some reason, ran back towards the right side of the stage. A few of them were grouped there and when I looked more closely, there was someone on the ground and I thought someone was hurt. Ota and Matori danced in the front trying to block whatever was going on behind them and that's when I realized that the white sheet had gotten caught in the stage and they were trying to yank it out. Smooth guys. haha...
KyoOtoko were in the hot pink and black outfits. Gang Star... I'm inclined to say that they were in the silver long coats 'cause Jr.BOYS were in the gold ones, but it's also possible that only the main Jr.BOYS were in the gold coats and the rest of them were in silver... which would mean that I have no clue what GS were wearing. *fail*
I'll just get this out of the way now. HAIR. SO MUCH WRONG~~~~~~~~! Ok. Daichi's is too close to blond, as is Bun's, but at least Bun's cut is still nice. Daichi's looks like a mistake. I'd seen him on Ahoyanen! Sukiyanen! last week, so I'd KNOWN his hair was like that, but I forgot and got to facepalm over it all over again. And then OTA. Cut on Ota is always okay... but it was blonde all over except for at his bangs. It was black under the upper layer of bangs. It's like Matori had extra hair dye and Ota used it.
ESPER. Lots of jumping and Matori being ridiculous. A little bit into the song I saw Hama-chan and a few others run off stage and a a few minutes later, HELLO! We had Hama-chan less than 2 feet away from us. Rachel didn't notice at first since she was facing the stage, but because I'd seen them run off stage, I knew someone would be coming out. Was glad it was Hama-chan. He was singing out over the balcony first so he didn't see us either, but when he did, there was this clear recognition when he saw Rachel and he made lots of noises. He saw my Hawaii uchiwa and did the shaka for me. He also did the "manly" handshake thing with Rachel before disappearing out the door again.
Hama-chan... SO cute.
They performed NEXT STAGE next. Wow that was repetitive of me. I like this song a lot. This was Yuma's first appearance... and his costume was a bit unfortunate. It's like they took leftover bits from other costumes to make it. It's bright fuchsia, like the ABC-Z ones, complete with Hasshi-like fuchsia fur on the shoulder.
They did their opening greetings. KyoOtoko, Veteran, BOYS, BAD and then Yuma. Some of them did call & response things. Like, Hama-chan did this, ®Oi-C~!" thing that I've never seen before and then Junta and Yuma copied him. Must be something from the earlier concerts.
2010 Hit Medley
Yoku Asobi, Yoku Manabe. SUPER CUTE~! I generally don't watch NYC performances, but Yuma and BAD singing this song, with other BBV members, KyoOtoko, GS, and Jr.BOYS backing is completely awesome. They were totally having a blast with it.
Arigato. The HSJ one. This was a little weird. Ok, a LOT. Gang Star performed this one, but it was like they let the actual song play and had GS sing with it. Still sounded like HSJ.
Ai wa Takaramono. Muro and... Hama-chan I think. Jr.BOYS in the back.
Fighting Man. Kikuoka and Bunichi. It was funny when this came on cause Rachel poked me and was like, what song is this? haha... It's a little strange, by the way, when Bun is totally dancing and Kikuoka sings the song just standing there.
LIFE by Senzaki and... Uh-oh. Don't remember. Ryuta? Junta? uh... oops? Totally approve cause Senzaki's voice suits the song.
Change Ur World. REIYA~! Ok. Super hot when he does Koki's stuff. For as pretty as he is, his actual mannerisms are really masculine and HOT.
Monster. hahahahahahaha.... Sorry. But there were ghost sheet things flying around over the audience and on stage. This was Akito, Hama-chan, and Bun. Akito started off in the right aisle of the 1st floor and then Hama-chan and Bun joined him on stage at that part of the song that Ohno first starts singing. If this is what happens when they're allowed to plan what happens during a song... I don't know. haha... But they used the large spider web backdrop from Shounentachi and everyone (the backdancing Jr.BOYS and GS included) had on the neon gloves that are super bright under black light.
Kodoku na Soldier. Yuma, no longer in the terrible pink thing and possibly in... blue? The background was a really nice pastel colored stained-glass style image. I'm not entirely sure what the image was of... Dogs? Deer? Mythical creatures? There was also a human I think. Can't remember. About halfway through the song, KyoOtoko came out to dance. And Yuma sorta fails at stage presence when on stage by himself. It felt awkward.
This next song was interesting. It's called PARAISO and it's in ENGLISH. Realized immediately that it wasn't Japanese, but it took a bit to figure out that it was English. haha... But it was super pretty. Maybe some of you know the Lea Salonga version? Granted, she's not the original singer (there are other videos sung by Smokey Mountain) I personally think it sounds better sung by Kanju, crappy English and all. They start off with Junta (whose English is understandable), Yuma, Akito, Hama-chan and we're pretty sure, Dai-chan. And then after the first chorus, everyone comes out in white. It sounds so full with so many of them singing. And it was thanks to Junta that Rachel was able to pick out enough of the lyrics to google it. It's a beautiful song, really. Paraiso is Tagolag for "paradise".
Then the main 5 Jr.BOYS come out and perform SHOCK ME. Main 5 being Matori, Ota, Mukai, Ryoya, and I assume the one with the most horrendous haircut was Fuuga. I'm pretty sure I turned to Rachel and said, "Did he lose a bet or something?" it was THAT BAD. Never got a clear shot at his face (and really, I was watching Matori), so I'm just assuming that was Fuuga. I hope he'll be back to his host hair the next time I see him.
After SHOCK ME, the main 5 leave and the rest of Jr.BOYS come out and sing Harukana Yakusoku. I think Jr.BOYS is at around 20 members currently.
Oh my god, I LOVE it when Veteran performs GO. The main 5 from Jr.BOYS back this one from the beginning. I will never get tired of watching Matori dance this one and it's so obvious that it's still his favorite choreography. Jr.BOYS in black pants and sleeveless button downs with the orange swoosh on their left shoulders. Veteran in black with their individual color accents. Kunta, purple. Bun, magenta. Kikuoka, light pink (because Veteran for some reason needed two shades of pink). Ito, blue. Ryuta, green. Muro, yellow.
I hope this song makes it onto the Kanjani8 DVD since it's the song they performed on this tour, but if you haven't heard the lyrics, there's a bunch of English, and them shouting, "BREAK THE WORLD! BRING IT OUT BASTARDS!" Whether or not they know what they're saying... well. That's debatable.
About halfway through the song, main 5 Jr.BOYS and the rest of them switch so that the main 5 can go do their costume change. Can someone just make the main 5 a unit already? It'd make writing this a lot easier.
This next song was really good, but I have mixed feelings on it. It's called MAZE and it's really good and has a nice rock feel to it... probably because I'm pretty sure it used to be an OsSAN song, which may have a great deal to do with why Ota didn't look too thrilled to be back dancing for it. *sigh* Sorry Ota. (´･_･`) Jr.BOYS and GS (in their black jackets with the silver stud accents) back for this one. KyoOtoko wore their purple themed costumes and Reiya's rapping was really good. They didn't sing the full song.
BOYS came out and sang GIVE ME next. The black and white suits with the hats are back! GS came out partway through to backdance. Kusumoto and Uemura were in black suits... but I can't remember if that means that Arimoto and Fugal Shawn were in white, or if all of GS were in black. There were definitely both black and white hats...
While we're talking about GS, Kusumoto seems to be paired with Uemura a lot. Looking at all of their dancing, I wonder if it's based on dance ability. Uemura doesn't stick out when next to Kusumoto, while Arimoto and Fugal Shawn look like they're being out-danced by Kusumoto. And it may just be me.
Anyway. Hama-chan and Daichi did their tossing-hats-across-the-stage switch smoothly and without dropping. GS opted to plop the hats on each others heads. Kusumoto had difficulties keeping the hat on even though the curls were shorter than the last time I'd seen him. Cute.
And then BAD got solo songs and a unit song. Akito appeared from the platform on the hanamichi and then moved to the main stage, singing Tomaranai Omoi. Such a pretty song~! It took me a second to register that he wasn't singing Sakura Michi. haha... ^^; He stood on one of the rising platforms while the stage started to rotate... and then Matori came out to dance solo. I think my heart may have stopped. The hand that my penlight was in sure did. Couldn't concentrate enough to keep it moving to the beat. SO PRETTY~~~~~~~! He got Senga's job, which I TOTALLY APPROVE OF! Black shoes, pants and tank, with an open purple satin button-down shirt over it. Sleeves rolled up.
Rachel and Laruku, you can stop laughing at me now. (EDIT: Rachel informs me that she wasn't laughing at ME, but at HIM, because while I really liked it, she thinks the whole solo ballet dancing thing looks silly when done by ANYONE.)
Junta sang Love Criminal for his solo song, and while Akito got Matori, Junta got practically everyone else. Kusumoto and Reiya were the main. I don't think I ever noticed Reiya for his dancing before, but he's really good! I'm telling you... it's the short ones!
Um... A I SHI TE RU was a little amusing, even though I'm pretty sure it was supposed to be "kakkoii". They were both in masks and capes (Akito, black. Junta, red) and I'm sorry, but it was funny. Then Jr.BOYS did this running with long strips of red cloth, creating a criss-crossing pattern around Akito and Junta. It got raised up towards the ceiling and that was pretty cool. And then we started to laugh again, because then Matori and maybe Reiya (?) tossed Akito and Junta SWORDS. Fencing swords.
They sang Aoi Kisetsu next and I'm pretty sure this is the one where Yuma sang the whole time and the BBV units took turns singing with him. Probably. I didn't write anything else in my notes about this song. Oh. They're getting a little lazier about the choreography. I miss the sharpness they had with the jacket choreography when I saw them perform it at the TOUGH WEEDS shows.
Jyuunen Go no Kyo no Hi mo (that looks funny in romaji) was next. I feel like I'd heard this one before and the hand choreography was familiar, but I can't quite place it. Anyway. Everyone was on stage for this one. Jr.BOYS were in white pants with those white sleeve button-down shirts and the green, red, or yellow stoles hanging loosely around the neck. I didn't think this until the 12/20 show, but because of something I saw at the 12/19 7WEST show, I just thought I'd mention that these costumes are way too short for Ota. The part that's supposed to be at the waist is like, mid chest area on Ota. haha... Ota had a yellow stole and I'm inclined to say that Matori's was red.
During this song, Junta and Daichi both came out to the hanamichi and they both saw us. Junta looked happy and I feel like there's a possibility that he remembers us. Daichi saw us, cupped his mouth and shouted, "HELLO~!" haha... Rachel missed it because she was still watching Junta.
At the beginning of Yuki ga Furu Machi, they had Reiya come to the front of the stage and come of with a two-count pose. He jumped to face the left side of the stage and then turned his head towards the audience with his left pointer on his chin. SUPER CUTE~! *flail* And then all the Juniors had to copy him. Akito was like, "Not doing it!" and Reiya laughed, slapping at him a bit.
MC - BBV, Yuma, KyoOtoko
Reiya's Birthday~! 18. ONLY 18. *facepalm* Like, I knew, but still. 18? That's it? >.< They wished him a happy birthday and asked him what his goals for the next year are. He said that he wants to write more lyrics, good lyrics, and get to perform them at concerts. Akito jokes that they're Kanju and they do as they please, so he's sure that Reiya could sing them at a concert. haha...
They talked about how cool Reiya sounds when he does rap and asked when he started to do that. When he answered that it was recent, Akito said something like, "It's that easy to do?" haha... Reiya started to rap in April, when Kanju performed at the Osaka HSJ concerts.
They also complemented him on his hair and the talk segued into talking about Hama-chan's hair and how it was permed but got straightened again.
Apparently, Daichi and Hama-chan go to the same salon and on coincidence, ran into each other there recently. Daichi wasn't sure if it was on purpose or what, but they got seated diagonally across from each other, so he could see Hama-chan through the breaks between mirrors. He said it was really awkward and that Hama-chan was making faces at him while Daichi was getting his hair done. hahaha.... At first I thought it was weird that they'd just happen to go get a hair cut on the same day, but I guess if you think about it, their work schedules are really similar, so if they'd just made appointments when they were free, it's not totally impossible that they'd see each other.
Akito brought up how running into people outside of work is awkward because it's hard to figure out what to talk about. Mostly everyone agreed with him.
I don't remember how the topic came about, but they started talking about sempai having kids, which lead to them talking about what kind of kids they'd have. They said that Ryuta would have Yankee kids. They initially said Ito's would play the piano, but then they decided that no, it'd be the violin. They joked about how Kikuoka would sound as a parent, impersonating his old-man voice. They said that Bun-chan would be a good dad and looks like he'd have a daughter.
Poor Hama-chan. They couldn't decide if he'd have a monkey or horse for a kid. Then they digressed a little to talk about Hama-chan's niece whoÅfs in the first grade and apparently LOVES Bun-chan. Super cute.
When the talked about Masaya, they mentioned that offstage, Muro's super nice to him. I enjoy when they talk about all the Muros. Ryuta gets super embarrassed and tries to hide it by getting mad or acting tough, but then it just makes the audience make Woo~! noises and then he tries to yell at the audience. Junta basically had to haul him backwards from the waist. haha... They talked about how rare it is to have three brothers in Johnny's.
Akito: What if each of you had another three boys?
Daichi: It'd go from "Muro 3 Kyodai" to "Muro-kei" on the dressing room door!
When they said Nitta's smart and looks like he'd have a girl, he kinda looked at them like he wasn't sure what he was supposed to say to that. And I guess he always has his electronic dictionary with him and it has funny things in it. Like an example of how manly men talk about a pretty girl that walks past them. Uh.... right...
They joked at first that Senzaki would have Diddy Kong as a child, but then they said that Senzaki looks like he wouldn't get married and Senzaki was like, "Huh?" I wonder why they said that.
They decided that Yuma's kids would be really cool, but cute and Akito was like, "That makes me mad~". haha... Oh, Akito.
And since they were talking about kids, Akito told this story about Daichi when they were in junior high school. They were second years, playing with those rocket fireworks that you hold in your hand and then release. Daichi lit his, but was holding it in a way that when it shot off, the backwash burned a huge hole into the front of his t-shirt.
Daichi was facepalming on the side and asked why Akito was even telling that story, but then was like, "Wait. Didn't you say 'hanaMI'? Not 'hanaBI'?" and Akito paused before looking over his shoulder as if Daichi could be talking to someone else behind him. haha... It's always funny when Akito doesn't notice his mistakes when he talks.
They wished Reiya a Happy Birthday again. Veteran and KyoOtoko leaving the stage and a red curtain closing behind BAD, BOYS and Yuma.
They did their promotion things... the AkeOme Concerts, the 7WEST X-Mas concerts, Yuma's appearance in Kakumei, the PLAYZONE 2010 DVD, the Dare mo shiranai J-Gakuen DVD's, Hama-chan announced the Ahoyanen!Sukiyanen! times incorrectly again and Daichi repeated the announcement again with the correct time, Junta's news program... They talked about Nagareboshi for a bit, since the following Monday was going to be the last episode. Akito said that he didn't know the ending yet. They promoted Juniben next and then Up&Up, asking if anyone saw that day's episode. I guess it was Maashii that day. They also advertised the radio shows and magazines they appear in.
VETERAN CORNER. hahahahaahaha... ok. Getting a little ahead of myself. So Veteran comes out from the left, all in black pants and white shirts, but Maashii comes out with a top hat. I think this changes every time cause on 12/20, he came out with his pants pulled up high with suspenders and glasses. Daichi caught sight of him while he was still offstage and cracked up.
Anyway. Back to the 12/15 show. Maashii the Magician did some flower tricks, multiplying flowers and that went well, but then, when he tried to do the pulling things out of his hat stuff, he messed up and EVERYTHING in the hat came out. hahaha... FAIL~!
They did a mock practice of SOS. Kikuoka and Ryuta moved to the front and were doing different choreography so Muro called everyone to a stop. They started from the beginning again and when Kikuoka and Ryuta did the same thing, Muro stopped them again and was like, "Sagare!" ordering them to move back in line. I think left to right it was Ito, Ryuta, Kikuoka, Muro, Kunta, and Bun-chan. Kunta was definitely behind Bun.
They start again and this time Muro cuts them off because someone is not only singing an octave too high, but is also singing the wrong lyrics. You can already tell it's Bun-chan, because Kunta is CRACKING UP. They do it again, but this time, the rest of them don't sing so that you can hear Bun-chan singing the wrong lyrics in a falsetto voice. He argues for a bit that he's not singing the song incorrectly, but then is like, "'Sakebu'? Hehehe... Why didn't you guys say so earlier? This is embarrassing!"
They're interrupted by one of the Jr.BOYS bringing them mail. They read the letter out loud, while Kunta stares the poor member of Jr.BOYS down, responding to each line of the letter as if that boy had written it. The letter was written from a superior sort of stand point, so Kunta was looking him up and down, asking who he thinks he's talking to. But then it turns out that the letter was written by Yokoyama Yu and Kunta turns all smiles and dusts off him off. I love how supportive Yoko is when it comes to Kanju, especially Veteran.
Bun-chan turns to the audience and says in response to the letter, "We'll do this right. Yokoyama-kun, just watch us." And they go into SOS for real.
And it was the full version too~! Haven't heard it in full since the the first time they performed it at their unit cons last year. The acapella is so good~! I'm still wondering who wrote which lyrics.
There's new choreography this time. There are white chairs involved, wood and not folding chairs, some of them more successful at it than others. Muro seems to have problems twirling the chair around in the air and Kunta seems to forget exactly where he's put the chair before sitting. His butt's hanging off the side a lot of the time. There was also this cool part in the choreography where they set up the chairs back to back. Then three of them sat in the chairs facing the audience and the others came running from behind and jumped over them. Although... if they're not careful, they could easily run right off the stage and into the audience.
STAY GOLD is by far my favorite BOYS song. In contrast to the low lighting of Veteran's song, STAY GOLD was bright! They used a wall of strings of white lights and appeared at the top of two staircases. Daichi was on the left and Hama-chan on the right and I'm pretty sure they were in the gold costumes they wore when they performed STAY GOLD on Shokura back in 2009.
There was this moment at the beginning when Rachel and I turned to each other and were like, "I think Hama-chan's looking at us," which was weird because when they're that far back on the stage, how the hell can you tell? But maybe I should explain.
When Kanju went around with KAT-TUN on their tour last year, Rachel and Bethany went to see them in Sendai, and their seats were REALLY GOOD. When BOYS performed STAY GOLD at that concert, Hama-chan was right in front of them. Most people outside of Kansai don't know Kanju, so when you have two white girls in the front doing all the hand motions, it's really obvious.
So to feel like Hama-chan was looking in our direction (well, Rachel's direction) at THAT moment, during THAT song... I think the chances are really high that he was.
V.I.P. I enjoy this song a lot, even though the lyrics are about as bad as ABC-Z's Vanilla. haha... The staircases had been moved so that one was on the raised platform at the back, creating one long one. Main 5 Jr.BOYS were on the stairs, GS at the foot of the stairs, and the rest of Jr.BOYS on either side. This song is the best when it's at a Kanju concert because all the fans know when to shout Junta's and Akito's names. Not to mention that all the backdancing Kanju totally love it too.
Hahahaha... ok. So there's this new song called BiriBiriDANCE and we'd seen it performed by Yuma and BIShadow at the TOUZAI Uta Gassen last November. My impression of it was that it was kinda, really stupid. So, I made a face when it started at the BBV concert... until I realized that all of BBV, KyoOtoko, GS, and Jr.BOYS were going to be backdancing for it, with Yuma at the mic stand in front.
Poor Yuma... he's singing all professional and stuff, but behind him, EVERYONE IS CRACKING UP and having a blast. The dance is pretty silly, but when they just go for it, it's super funny.
And then there's Jr.BOYS and GS in the back. I'm going to copy and paste what I wrote in my notes... MATORI! THAT IS NOT PG! Ota the cock blocker. So, there was this part... Matori and Kusumoto were facing each other and suddenly, Matori grabs Kusumoto's hips and then procedes to DROP TO HIS KNEES in front of him. Ota, on the other hand, was not having ANY of that. He wrapped his arm around Kusumoto's waist and pulled him away from Matori. And then within 3 seconds, all the lights on stage dropped off.
Matori... where exactly were you going with that and why in the world did you think that was appropriate behavior on stage?! -_-+
Gang Star sang AXEL next and does anyone know whose song this is? 'Cause I really like it. (Rachel tells me Tsubasa and what do you know? I already have it. *plays on repeat*) The backdrop was sorta like an optical illusion thing that they kept moving up and down so that it looked like the pattern was turning and the spotlights reminded me of vent fans. They were wearing black pants, shoes and tank top, and then open silver-gray button... shirts? jackets? And Kusumoto's dancing is... well. I think he's been getting pointers from some of the older boys. Jr.BOYS minus the main 5 backed for them.
Nothing really different about Big Game. BBV only, the usual costume choices. Oh. In the first verse, after Bun-chan's first line, he normally does a body roll, but this time, he turned to give Hama-chan this huge and adorable flirty smile. haha...
Also, backflips off the raised platform by Muro, Ryuta, Hama-chan, and Daichi never gets old. And as soon as the singing is done, BADBOYS run behind the still raised platform while Veteran finish the rest of the choreography.
This next part was really unexpected and I was kinda confused at first, but holy crap... SO COOL~! Maybe I'm biased, but I could watch them do this taiko routine over and over again.
At first, BADBOYS were lined up across the back of the stage, with Veteran in a line down the center. They did things where each member of Veteran held their arms out at different angles and I remember wishing that I could see it from the front (which I did on the 20th and wah~! Cool.)
Then they switched places, Veteran across the back and BADBOYS in front with five drums. They initially left the center drum vacant, so we thought that maybe Yuma would come out, but they spread out a little so that they could each reach two taiko. This part was so in sync and so impressive. They're arms moved together, at the same speed, same height.
BADBOYS moved again so that BAD was in the center and BOYS were on the outsides, just a little more forward. The platform Veteran was standing on in the back rose and then the smaller one BAD was on rose a little, so that we had a 3-tiered effect going on.
And in the last part, KUNTA~! He was the only one who had the complimenting rhythm and SO COOL~!
At the end, they all did deep bows and I felt really proud of them. Kanju is often really goofy and full of laughs, but it's so rare that they do something serious like this. And it was so obvious that they must have spent a ton of time rehearsing. Good job guys. It was really something.
Sasou was the next song they performed. Jr.BOYS took the taiko drums to the outer edges of the rotating stage. Matori was of course on the super far end, but when he came around, Rachel thinks he may have seen my uchiwa. I still liked the effect of the taiko, but Jr.BOYS were noticeably not as together as BBV had been.
UME Goin On is so fun. And again, people came up to the second and third floor balconies. We had Daichi this time and I think he was there for a while before we noticed. Sorry Daichi. I also noticed that while I know the hand motions, I don’t want to do them when the spotlight is on our area. Daichi~! Boo… Ah well. There will be other chances.
Daichi stayed there through the beginning of Romantic. I still ended up watching the stage, which Rachel couldn’t do even if she’s pretty meh about Daichi, but since she was right there… And since I wasn’t watching, I missed Daichi making noises at her too. He did the same guy handshake that Hama-chan did and after the show we were talking about how someone should tell these boys that that’s not how you should shake hands with fangirls. Haha…
Another Matori and Kusumoto moment. They were both at the left side of the stage, in the front arms around each others shoulders. In the chorus, there’s that choreography where they do that thing with their hips. Matori reaches across with his right hand to push Kusumoto’s hip into the roll… except he was a little short and his hand ended up kinda frontal. *facepalm* Kusumoto just smiled.
Ryuta stole Kusumoto at the end of Romantic, holding on to his wrists while doing the last few beats of choreography. I’ve never seen Ryuta and Kusumoto at concerts together like that before, possibly because I usually notice Kusumoto only when he’s with his unit or with Matori, so it struck me as strange.
After Romantic, BBV did these thank you bow things and although it was a bit abrupt, it was nice in a way. BBV really seemed like they wanted to make this concert FOR THEIR FANS, like they wanted to show their appreciation for their fans.
And then the music for Kodou came on and I think I might have died. I love this song so much and I loved TOUGH WEEDS so much. I didn’t cry, but I teared. It’s such a beautiful song and they’ve only performed it one other time after TOUGH WEEDS. *breathes* Beautiful song. Happy beyond words that they sang it.
They did the introduction of Juniors after Kodou finished. Jr.BOYS first and then when Daichi was supposed to do GS’s, he forgot what their current unit name was and said, “Ga-Bi-GOMEN! I FORGET!” And Akito called out “GANG STAR!” for him. Hahahahaha…. GS turned to look at Daichi, like HEY~~~~~~!
At KyoOtoko’s intro, they wished Reiya a Happy Birthday again and he did his cute pose thing from Yuki ga Furu Machi. I think he also blew a kiss towards the audience.
Veteran were next. Muro did his new call and response thing that I think he developed on Ahoyanen!Sukiyanen! ‘cause that’s the only place I’d seen it before. Ito didn’t do anything. Ryuta stole Muro’s c/r since it’s really just a play on their name “Muro”. Bun-chan… Kikuoka did his deep royalty bow. And then Kunta stole Muro’s c/r thing too, but changed it to “Kunta”. Haha…
Daichi probably just waved and Hama-chan did his “Oi-C~!” thing. Junta and Akito did their usual call and responses. Yuma was the last to get introduced. And just as a side note, he looked tired.
Curtain came down and the BBV call started. By the way… “BB-Bui” sounds retarded. They should take the opportunity to teach the fans how to say the letter ‘V’.
Rachel has a white board uchiwa and since we both feel really bad that Hama-chan is neither of our #1’s (or #2’s >.<), she wrote “BOYS♥ Arigatou!” (BOYS♥ありがとう！)
Encore came pretty quickly. It’s not like they have to change and I’m pretty sure Shochikuza staff wants to get everyone out on a timely basis. They sang NEXT STAGE again and I’d never thought about it before, but it’s a really good song for an encore.
Kunta came out onto the hanamichi and when he was right under us, we called out his name and he looked up. He saw Rachel’s “Kunta-sama” uchiwa and my “Hawaii” uchiwa and waved/shaka’d. Yay~! He finally saw Rachel’s uchiwa, which also makes me really happy since I made that uchiwa. Haha…
And then from all the way across from the right side of the stage, Matori saw my uchiwa for him and was jumping and waving. I did the shaka just to make sure that he was really looking at me and he did it too. ♪───Ｏ（≧∇≦）Ｏ────♪ MATORI~♡! I turned to Rachel and we hi-fived… but when we turned back to look at him, he was still watching us and was totally laughing. He did the shaka again. Gah... SUPER HAPPY! And I’m grinning like a complete idiot as I write this now, over a month later. I make fun of fans who jump around and flail at the boys, so I SHOULD be embarrassed… but I’m totally not. Just super happy. ^^;
Tatsuta, Takumi and Daichi came to watch the concert and got to jump around the stage too. Tatsuta went at Muro, RUNNING and then jumped up at him. Cute. And then later in the song, he was latched on to Akito, legs and all, and Akito was spinning around with him on the hanamichi. Careful! The hanamichi’s not that wide!
At the end of the song, they all lined up and Hama-chan kinda looked in our direction, pointed as if asking if the uchiwa was for him, and then nodded a thank you when Rachel was like YES, this is for you! I was watching Matori, so my description sucks a little. I’m sure Rachel will correct me. Or rewrite that so that I can just c/p it in. "He made a fist and placed it over his heard and bowed slightly." Well. There you go.
She also said that when Gang Star were on the hanamichi, she waved at Arimoto and he looked at her like, "ME? Why in the world would you be waving at me?" haha... Arimoto... *squishes*
Overall, it was a great concert and with seats like the ones we were lucky enough to have, we got to have lots of interaction with the boys. Factoring in everything, it’s definitely in my Top 10 favorite concerts that I’ve been to and possibly in the Top 5.
Sorry it took so long to write this, but it’s done. And it’s 16 pages long in this Word document (and over 6,000 words). Hope you enjoyed it!