Futsal & "Itsu no Hi ka Kimi Kaeru"
So, I've managed to have a fairly Yo-tastic weekend here (this in addition to last weeks concerts means I am now poor XD), and I figure I may as well share it here. The Futsal report is taken from the post on MM-BBS that I made yesterday (but with some edits), and the play report isn't as detailed, but my memory isn't all that great, so there you have it. XD
I just got back from the first stage in the new league (or whatever). This was also the first appearance of the new Gatas. For the curious, here's the roster:
Old members: Yossi, Ayumi, Miki, Other Miki™, Rika, Mai (Yossi, Miki & Mai played in all games for the full period of each)
New members: Mutou Mika (Egg)
From Berryz: Natsuyaki Miyabi, Tokunaga Chinami, Shimizu Saki, Sudou Maasa
From C-ute: Umeda Erika, Yajima Maimi, Suzuki Airi, Nakajima Saki
There were members missing today, however (for Gatas: Ayumi, Other Miki™, Rika, Tsuji (duh), Chinami; for Gatas & Little Gatas: Mutou Mika; for Little Gatas: Kanna, Risako)
The teams (aside from Gatas): adi-UNIT5 (Adidas), Emulsions (Shiseidou), Samurai Crew (JAL)
The schedule:
1) Opening Ceremony
2) Gatas vs. adi-UNIT5
3) Emulsions vs. Samurai Crew 1-1
--10 minute break--
4) Gatas vs. Emulsions
5) adi-UNIT5 vs. Samurai Crew 4-0
--Little Gatas exhibition match: C-ute vs. Berryz--
6) adi-UNIT5 vs. Emulsions 0-0
7) Samurai Crew vs. Gatas
8) Awards/mini event (no, not song perfs, sadly)
So, the first game, Gatas vs. adi-UNIT5. This was our first chance to see the new Gatas, and also to see if Adidas could put it's money where it's mouth was. Unfortunately, Adidas proved that they're definitely not a team to take lightly. Gatas put up a real fight, but I suspect between some first game jitters and how fast the balls were flying, Maasa ended up letting a few slip through. The game ended with a score of 0-2.
After the break, Gatas played Emultions. They seemed fairly evenly matched, and the game ended in a 1-1 tie, with Yossi scoring the lone Gatas goal. I think Emulsions has really, really good defense, because they ended up tying all of their games. IIRC, this was the first match we saw Erika in as GK, but she didn't seem to be doing as well as Maasa had (the other players were coming in to help defend the goal rather frequently, where as with Maasa, they basically let her do her thing).
After the adi-UNIT5 vs. Samurai Crew matchup, they had a 30 minute halftime and had Little Gatas come out and play a Berryz vs. C-ute deathmatch game. Of course, with all the H!P Kids wota in the audience, they ended up getting more worked up over this than the actual Gatas games. Although, this *was* actually a really good game. First off, just to get this out of the way, C-ute was missing Kanna, and Berryz was missing two (I have no idea who, though, since I don't follow them). I have to say, I figured it'd be some pansy "Awwwww, LOOK AT HOW CUTE THEY ARE!" match, but C-ute seemed like they were out for blood. XD Maimai and Chisato were AMAZING out there. During the match, quite a few of us noticed Yossi, Mai & Miki coming out to watch. And Yossi totally made eye-contact and waved at me (and everyone else near me, but who's counting?)
The Little Gatas game ended 0-0, but this was one game they weren't going to let end in a tie, so they moved on to 3 vs 3 PKs. Maimai started jumping up and down when they announced that, like "Me, me, I wanna do it, me!" And they managed to tie it again, 1-1. So they moved on to 1 vs 1, and C-ute ended up winning 2-1. They all ran and hugged each other, they were so happy.
Anyway, that game ended up running a little long, but then adi-UNIT5 came out for it's final match, against Emulsions. That ended in a scoreless tie, much to my shock. I figured Adidas would destroy them. XD
Finally, the last game, Gatas vs. Samurai Crew. As Gatas came out, I realized something. There was an extra player! Turns out Yossi, Mai and Miki weren't just watching, they were SCOUTING. They ended up pulling Chisato to come play for them for the last game. She didn't have a uniform, so they loaned her one of Mai's tops & had her wear the orange vest with "3" on it that she used during the exhibition game. The game was looking like it might be scoreless, when Samurai Crew scored a goal! :O Then, Gatas quickly returned the favor, thanks to Miki, who finally got it IN THE NET after more or less shooting it OVER the net for most of the day. I don't mean that it hit the bar and went over, I mean it went OVER the net. During one half, it was like she was trying to hit the giant TV-screen truck. XD Unfortunately, after the game was tied again, Samurai Crew managed to score another goal. Gatas tried to tie it up again, but time ran out and Samurai Crew won, 2-1.
So, final scores for all teams (a win equals 3 points, a tie is 1, and a loss is no points):
Gatas: 0-1-0 (1)
Emulsions: 1-1-1 (3)
Samurai Crew: 1-0-3 (4)
adi-UNIT5: 3-3-1 (7)
After the presentation of the prizes (Samurai Crew & adi-UNIT5 both won a truckload of free food coupons or something, in addition to adi-UNIT5's trophy), they played a game. Each team chose 3 of it's players to shoot into the goal, and they'd measure how fast the ball was going. I forget what the actual scores ended up being, but adi-UNIT5 won this one too, while Gatas came in 2nd, Samurai Crew in 3rd and Emulsions in 4th. The prize for this one was more food, so maybe adi-UNIT5 will eat too much and get really fat and slow before the next games. >D
In the end, even though they lost, it was a lot of fun watching Gatas play. No word on if Chisato will be added as a new member in addition to the already added kids, or if this was a one-game thing.
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So, after this week's announcement about Tsuji getting knocked up and taking a break from all her activities, they had to find a replacement for her role in the play about (what I suspect is a fictionalized account) the life of Teresa Teng (look her up on Wikipedia if you aren't familiar, cause I wasn't). Who better to fill in for one of her "children" than Yossi? I got an S ticket to the day performance for today, 5/13, thanks to my neighbor at the Yossi Grad concert. She also gave me the futsal tickets for the games I've writen about above. For free. Yossi fans are so awesome. T_T
Anyway, given that this was a fairly sudden addition to her schedule, I kind of wondered how well she'd do. Turns out, there was no need for worry. The role Yossi plays is that of an employee at a ramen restaurant, owned by a friend of the producer who finds Teresa. Her first appearance had her running out with one of those take-out delivery boxes and a soccer ball strapped to her leg, yelling "Busy, busy!" XD She did this a few more times back and forth across the stage while the dialogue progressed. Long story short, they decide to have her kind of be the "image" for Teresa's voice (I didn't exactly catch why, I was having a hard time actually hearing some of the dialogue... I think because Taiwan wanted to hunt Teresa down and take her back from Japan, or something). So, they transform Yossi from frumpy restaurant worker (her outfit was kind of like Kei's from the I Wish PV, plus nerd-glasses) to popstar in musical-esque fashion. Unfortunately, to stay true to the story, Yossi did very, very little singing (she did maybe half of a song, at most). Of course, they didn't always stay true to the story. It was set in 1987, and they were making mentions to the 1992 olympics, causing Yossi to break character and go "Wait, that's 5 years from now!", and then appologizing to the audience. XD
In addition to some of the comedy bits, there was also a few action scenes, but nothing really strenuous (for her, anyway). So, in addition to being funny, she also got to (fake) punch people. XD Overall, she did a really good job. Especially the reaction when a stage manager character feels her butt as part of the play. XD At the end of the play, the whole cast came out and bowed, and then at the very last bow, the guy who played the producer came out and pulled her out of the line and towards the front, at which point the applause from the audience went from just loud to thunderous. There were quite a few H!P fans in the audience, from what I could see (some holding fans from yesterday's futsal match, some holding fans with the "Yoshi" from Yoshizawa on them, etc. It was a fairly entertaining play, Yossi aside, and I hope that when it comes out on DVD (if it does) that we can get two versions, one for Rika and one for Yossi. I'd like to see Rika's take on it as well, out of curiosity.
I just got back from the first stage in the new league (or whatever). This was also the first appearance of the new Gatas. For the curious, here's the roster:
Old members: Yossi, Ayumi, Miki, Other Miki™, Rika, Mai (Yossi, Miki & Mai played in all games for the full period of each)
New members: Mutou Mika (Egg)
From Berryz: Natsuyaki Miyabi, Tokunaga Chinami, Shimizu Saki, Sudou Maasa
From C-ute: Umeda Erika, Yajima Maimi, Suzuki Airi, Nakajima Saki
There were members missing today, however (for Gatas: Ayumi, Other Miki™, Rika, Tsuji (duh), Chinami; for Gatas & Little Gatas: Mutou Mika; for Little Gatas: Kanna, Risako)
The teams (aside from Gatas): adi-UNIT5 (Adidas), Emulsions (Shiseidou), Samurai Crew (JAL)
The schedule:
1) Opening Ceremony
2) Gatas vs. adi-UNIT5
3) Emulsions vs. Samurai Crew 1-1
--10 minute break--
4) Gatas vs. Emulsions
5) adi-UNIT5 vs. Samurai Crew 4-0
--Little Gatas exhibition match: C-ute vs. Berryz--
6) adi-UNIT5 vs. Emulsions 0-0
7) Samurai Crew vs. Gatas
8) Awards/mini event (no, not song perfs, sadly)
So, the first game, Gatas vs. adi-UNIT5. This was our first chance to see the new Gatas, and also to see if Adidas could put it's money where it's mouth was. Unfortunately, Adidas proved that they're definitely not a team to take lightly. Gatas put up a real fight, but I suspect between some first game jitters and how fast the balls were flying, Maasa ended up letting a few slip through. The game ended with a score of 0-2.
After the break, Gatas played Emultions. They seemed fairly evenly matched, and the game ended in a 1-1 tie, with Yossi scoring the lone Gatas goal. I think Emulsions has really, really good defense, because they ended up tying all of their games. IIRC, this was the first match we saw Erika in as GK, but she didn't seem to be doing as well as Maasa had (the other players were coming in to help defend the goal rather frequently, where as with Maasa, they basically let her do her thing).
After the adi-UNIT5 vs. Samurai Crew matchup, they had a 30 minute halftime and had Little Gatas come out and play a Berryz vs. C-ute deathmatch game. Of course, with all the H!P Kids wota in the audience, they ended up getting more worked up over this than the actual Gatas games. Although, this *was* actually a really good game. First off, just to get this out of the way, C-ute was missing Kanna, and Berryz was missing two (I have no idea who, though, since I don't follow them). I have to say, I figured it'd be some pansy "Awwwww, LOOK AT HOW CUTE THEY ARE!" match, but C-ute seemed like they were out for blood. XD Maimai and Chisato were AMAZING out there. During the match, quite a few of us noticed Yossi, Mai & Miki coming out to watch. And Yossi totally made eye-contact and waved at me (and everyone else near me, but who's counting?)
The Little Gatas game ended 0-0, but this was one game they weren't going to let end in a tie, so they moved on to 3 vs 3 PKs. Maimai started jumping up and down when they announced that, like "Me, me, I wanna do it, me!" And they managed to tie it again, 1-1. So they moved on to 1 vs 1, and C-ute ended up winning 2-1. They all ran and hugged each other, they were so happy.
Anyway, that game ended up running a little long, but then adi-UNIT5 came out for it's final match, against Emulsions. That ended in a scoreless tie, much to my shock. I figured Adidas would destroy them. XD
Finally, the last game, Gatas vs. Samurai Crew. As Gatas came out, I realized something. There was an extra player! Turns out Yossi, Mai and Miki weren't just watching, they were SCOUTING. They ended up pulling Chisato to come play for them for the last game. She didn't have a uniform, so they loaned her one of Mai's tops & had her wear the orange vest with "3" on it that she used during the exhibition game. The game was looking like it might be scoreless, when Samurai Crew scored a goal! :O Then, Gatas quickly returned the favor, thanks to Miki, who finally got it IN THE NET after more or less shooting it OVER the net for most of the day. I don't mean that it hit the bar and went over, I mean it went OVER the net. During one half, it was like she was trying to hit the giant TV-screen truck. XD Unfortunately, after the game was tied again, Samurai Crew managed to score another goal. Gatas tried to tie it up again, but time ran out and Samurai Crew won, 2-1.
So, final scores for all teams (a win equals 3 points, a tie is 1, and a loss is no points):
Gatas: 0-1-0 (1)
Emulsions: 1-1-1 (3)
Samurai Crew: 1-0-3 (4)
adi-UNIT5: 3-3-1 (7)
After the presentation of the prizes (Samurai Crew & adi-UNIT5 both won a truckload of free food coupons or something, in addition to adi-UNIT5's trophy), they played a game. Each team chose 3 of it's players to shoot into the goal, and they'd measure how fast the ball was going. I forget what the actual scores ended up being, but adi-UNIT5 won this one too, while Gatas came in 2nd, Samurai Crew in 3rd and Emulsions in 4th. The prize for this one was more food, so maybe adi-UNIT5 will eat too much and get really fat and slow before the next games. >D
In the end, even though they lost, it was a lot of fun watching Gatas play. No word on if Chisato will be added as a new member in addition to the already added kids, or if this was a one-game thing.
-----------------------------
So, after this week's announcement about Tsuji getting knocked up and taking a break from all her activities, they had to find a replacement for her role in the play about (what I suspect is a fictionalized account) the life of Teresa Teng (look her up on Wikipedia if you aren't familiar, cause I wasn't). Who better to fill in for one of her "children" than Yossi? I got an S ticket to the day performance for today, 5/13, thanks to my neighbor at the Yossi Grad concert. She also gave me the futsal tickets for the games I've writen about above. For free. Yossi fans are so awesome. T_T
Anyway, given that this was a fairly sudden addition to her schedule, I kind of wondered how well she'd do. Turns out, there was no need for worry. The role Yossi plays is that of an employee at a ramen restaurant, owned by a friend of the producer who finds Teresa. Her first appearance had her running out with one of those take-out delivery boxes and a soccer ball strapped to her leg, yelling "Busy, busy!" XD She did this a few more times back and forth across the stage while the dialogue progressed. Long story short, they decide to have her kind of be the "image" for Teresa's voice (I didn't exactly catch why, I was having a hard time actually hearing some of the dialogue... I think because Taiwan wanted to hunt Teresa down and take her back from Japan, or something). So, they transform Yossi from frumpy restaurant worker (her outfit was kind of like Kei's from the I Wish PV, plus nerd-glasses) to popstar in musical-esque fashion. Unfortunately, to stay true to the story, Yossi did very, very little singing (she did maybe half of a song, at most). Of course, they didn't always stay true to the story. It was set in 1987, and they were making mentions to the 1992 olympics, causing Yossi to break character and go "Wait, that's 5 years from now!", and then appologizing to the audience. XD
In addition to some of the comedy bits, there was also a few action scenes, but nothing really strenuous (for her, anyway). So, in addition to being funny, she also got to (fake) punch people. XD Overall, she did a really good job. Especially the reaction when a stage manager character feels her butt as part of the play. XD At the end of the play, the whole cast came out and bowed, and then at the very last bow, the guy who played the producer came out and pulled her out of the line and towards the front, at which point the applause from the audience went from just loud to thunderous. There were quite a few H!P fans in the audience, from what I could see (some holding fans from yesterday's futsal match, some holding fans with the "Yoshi" from Yoshizawa on them, etc. It was a fairly entertaining play, Yossi aside, and I hope that when it comes out on DVD (if it does) that we can get two versions, one for Rika and one for Yossi. I'd like to see Rika's take on it as well, out of curiosity.