Johnny's World Kanshasai!
I made it back from the Johnny's World Kanshasai alive! I'm beat; the thing was almost three hours in total, and obviously, most of it was standing (when not jumping and screaming in joy, of course), but I'm still not over how amazing it was *___* Basically after this, every concert I ever go to from now on is probably going to be a disappointment. It was that amazing.
I can't really give a full report because one, I'm no good at remembering set lists and two, there was so much going on at one that a lot of the time it would be difficult to even see all of it. However, after the show, yomimashou and I debriefed over Coco Ichibanya curry, and so I do have notes of the things that were exciting to me. If anyone has any questions about who appeared and things like that, though, I'd be happy to see if I can remember, assuming it's not already written here.
So, first of all, our seats didn't seem promising when we got out tickets. We were in the fourth level (arena being the first, stands being the second, balcony being the third, and our seats in the upper stands being fourth) which, in Tokyo Dome, is pretty far away. But luckily, we happened to be in the third row and dead center, so they were actually really amazing for seeing the show, especially with the aid of binoculars. It also added, in my opinion, that we were too far away to be seen by the guys, so the people around us weren't freaking out and screaming and waving 100% of the time, but instead were actually just cheering for their favourite guys or when they were excited. To me, it was a much better energy for enjoying the concert (since honestly, while it's nice, having one of the guys wave to me isn't really my main priority at a concert.)
Our seats were also prime for spying on the kankeisha seats, ahahahaha. We were stupidly excited by this, and gleefully spotted Yuma coming into the kankeisha section right before the lights went down. There was also a family there, a mother, a father, and two younger kids, and yomimashou and I are seriously hoping it was Fuma's family. His siblings are nine and five, so it seemed like it could have been!
Once the show started, we were immediately elated to discover that not only were Marius and Sou appearing (they hadn't been in the actual Johnny's World shows) but the Bakaleya guys (except Jesse) were there! This elicited many a scream from the crowd, as well as the usually-quiet yomimashou and I, and we were really thrilled! Additionally, we were excited that, true to his word, Fuma had actually dyed his hair blonde upon high school graduation. It looked so good! Work it Fuma. The last amazing thing that we discovered pretty much right away is that the kanshasai concert really had nothing to do with Johnny's World. By and large, it was just a concert, though they did sing "Where My Heart Belongs," and "Let's Go To Earth" a couple times... but who wasn't expecting that?
The show progressed like a regular concert with the exception of there being three debuted groups plus a lot of juniors (Zip! this morning told me that apparently, 400 Johnny's talents in total appeared), so the artists got some breaks to catch their breath, and there was basically never a dull moment. They included a lot of tricks like flying (and Hasshi jumping off the top of the scaffold thing from countdown, etc and falling onto a giant blow-up thing, which was horrifying) and there were also a couple instances of the guys playing their instruments. One really great thing, though, was that whenever JUMP performed, Inoo looked so incredibly happy! It seems as if he's really glad to be able to devote himself to JUMP now that he's graduated college. Just... every single moment, he seemed thrilled to be there, which was really adorable. All of JUMP had great energy, though, and there were a lot of good fanservicey/"member-ai" moments, which was awesome.
The shining moment for me (or one of them, anyway) was right after the Bakaleya guys sang "Shake it Up." As soon as the music for "Shake it Up" began to play, the crowd went wild, and the boys looked like they were having a great time singing it. Shintaro and Yugo, in particular, were adorable as always, waving at the crowd and giving 120%, but all of them were amazing. From my point of view, it was great; the Bakaleya guys were basically the only Juniors to get any attention at all; Noon Boyz got to do some things, and Jinguji and Kaoru were there, but the Bakaleya guys were by far the stars of the Junior show, and I loved every second of it! But then after the song was done, ABC-Z, Sexy Zone, and JUMP reappeared to take the hand mics from the Bakaleya guys. Fuma was to take the mic from Hokuto, but after he took the mic, Hokuto lingered and they put their arms around one another and sang together for a few minutes, even as the other Bakaleya guys were leaving. It was basically the crowning moment of the whole thing... because seeing those two together anymore just fills my little heart with joy. ♥
After that, Yuma suddenly appeared onstage! As always, he was awkward and didn't know what to do with himself, but it was cute and he hung out with JUMP during the next few songs before appearing alongside the groups for the MC. For whatever reason, the MC was Yuma, JUMP, ABC-Z, and Kento, Fuma, and Shori. We assumed this was because it had gotten late and Marius and Sou had had to leave, but they appeared later (in yomimashou's words, perhaps they got permission slips signed by their parents to stay out late XD) so I'm not sure what's up with that. My theories are either that they were afraid Marius would either say something unintentionally offensive again or that he would get frustrated and cry (both of which happened at Summary) or that they just really hate Marius and Sou and their fans. Knowing Johnny's, it's probably the latter. :| But it was cute to see all three groups interact with one another, and one great point was that whenever the camera was on Hasshi (who was talking about his upcoming drama), Kawai would lean into the screen and make a ridiculous smile at the camera. He basically secured his spot as my favourite ABC-Z member (not that there was really any question, tbqh) and is sort of the best. ABC-Z also mentioned that they were scarred for life by going on J's Journey to Australia, so... I'm sort of looking forward to seeing it once it starts airing.
But! The most amazing part of the MC as when they showed a preview for Bad Boys J! It was basically a really brief trailer and didn't show too much, but it looks amazing and I cannot wait. Of course, Kento can't fight convincingly to save his life but... I'm sure that will be part of the charm. XD; And Nika and Hasshi looked great, and I'm happy for the Snowmen who get to be in it, too. I have an unfortunate side eye for Yasui and Hagiya Keigo because, of course, they're competition for the Bakaleya guys on the debut front, but I'm sure they'll be great, too; they looked really good in the trailer.
After that, the Bakaleya guys performed a number that they did last week on Shounen Club (I forget what, because old Kat-Tun songs mostly all sound the same to me lol) and I'm unsure as to why they feel the need to constantly dress Yugo in hideous shades of yellow, but I guess it makes him easy to spot. At any rate, the boys were great and got to stand in the center stage, just the five of them (since Jesse wasn't there) for a large part of it, which was a good feeling. They've been split up too much recently, so seeing them together was definitely a great feeling. Also, it was at this point that Yuma mysteriously reappeared in the kankeisha... was he hanging out with Shintaro (remember, they're costars from Battery and Koishite Akuma) backstage? We may never know, but I hope so.
Sometime around this time, Marius and Sou reappeared, dancing with Juniors while Kento, Fuma, and Shori walked around the catwalk, drawing more confusion and concern, but since it's not really different from normal, I guess there's nothing really new or exciting there. There was a lot of really great stuff with JUMP, though, starting with Inoo and Hikaru doing a wire routine together! It was pretty complicated and seemed like something they'd rehearsed a lot together~ And Inoo just looked so happy the whole time, it was so sweet. Then JUMP did their new (???) song, "Come on a My House" (Japanese blogs claim it's for a curry CM but I've yet to find a reliable source), and it was just a really great cute and happy song, and they all seemed so happy... Yamada and Chinen got cosy and seemed like they really liked each other, and Yabu and Takaki were really adorable, too. And of course, by this point in the concert, Yuto's always full of concert adrenaline and is jumping around like crazy, and he was all over Keito, so it was great. ♥
Soon after that it was time for the last spurt, and all three groups plus the important juniors (Bakaleya, Jinguji, Kaoru, possibly Noon Boyz?) came back out onto the stage and performed all three groups' songs in mixed group clusters. Yabu was with Marius and was patting him on the head in a really adorable/hilarious way, and meanwhile, in the "frontman" cluster of Yamada, Shori, and Hasshi, Yamada randomly started doing intense fanservice with Shori, holding him close and stroking his hair, and Shori looked so confused, it was adorable. Then, during Lady Diamond, after Shori did his haiku, Hasshi finally got his shining moment! He got to perform a haiku (which may have been several syllables too long), and his roughly translated to:
I'm Ryosuke,
but the person next to me
is also Roysuke!
After which Yamada responded:
Even if I'm Ryosuke
The Ryosuke beside me
...isn't he an idiot?
I think Yamada's was too many syllables also XD;;; But it was pretty great, especially since Hasshi keeps saying he wants to do "Double Ryosuke" with Yamada. His wish was finally realized! Nothing will ever be as great as that old Myojo shot of them both being like 10 years old together, though. So tiny and adorable |D;
Another highlight of this multi-group cluster section is that we got to see everyone just having fun together! Yugo and Shintaro were in a group with Keito, and all three were adorably rocking out together, and looking like they were having the times of their lives. Also, Tsukada was getting very excited and made Sou dance, and while Sou looked uncomfortable at first, it was sort of cute to see him get into it in the face of Tsukada's intense enthusiasm. Another great point was when pretty much everyone started making fun of the silly hand dance for "Hitomi no Screen" and were all wiggling their fingers at one another, and such.
They finished off the show with "Let's Go to Earth" (take two), and then named the Bakaleya guys (and no other Juniors, kekeke) before sending them on their way. Of course, we called them back for an encore, the high point of which was, when they came back out, Taiga and Juri were standing on the same platform and had their arms around one another. ♥ I have no clue what my opinion is on the state of affairs of their relationship, but... I can get behind that 100%~
Of course, everyone was energetic and adorable, especially the Bakaleya guys, and since they were the stage crew for most of the show (doing and undoing people's harnesses for flying and stuff) it was good to see them both sort of casual and performing on the stage. It was amazing to see them live again, and it was amazing to see all the groups together, and it was all in all an amazing show.
Up next yomimashou and I have tickets to see Sexy Zone in Yokohama on both May 4th and 5th (hahaha oops), so I'm hoping that show isn't a disappointment after this one. This show was so great that I just can't get over it *____*
I can't really give a full report because one, I'm no good at remembering set lists and two, there was so much going on at one that a lot of the time it would be difficult to even see all of it. However, after the show, yomimashou and I debriefed over Coco Ichibanya curry, and so I do have notes of the things that were exciting to me. If anyone has any questions about who appeared and things like that, though, I'd be happy to see if I can remember, assuming it's not already written here.
So, first of all, our seats didn't seem promising when we got out tickets. We were in the fourth level (arena being the first, stands being the second, balcony being the third, and our seats in the upper stands being fourth) which, in Tokyo Dome, is pretty far away. But luckily, we happened to be in the third row and dead center, so they were actually really amazing for seeing the show, especially with the aid of binoculars. It also added, in my opinion, that we were too far away to be seen by the guys, so the people around us weren't freaking out and screaming and waving 100% of the time, but instead were actually just cheering for their favourite guys or when they were excited. To me, it was a much better energy for enjoying the concert (since honestly, while it's nice, having one of the guys wave to me isn't really my main priority at a concert.)
Our seats were also prime for spying on the kankeisha seats, ahahahaha. We were stupidly excited by this, and gleefully spotted Yuma coming into the kankeisha section right before the lights went down. There was also a family there, a mother, a father, and two younger kids, and yomimashou and I are seriously hoping it was Fuma's family. His siblings are nine and five, so it seemed like it could have been!
Once the show started, we were immediately elated to discover that not only were Marius and Sou appearing (they hadn't been in the actual Johnny's World shows) but the Bakaleya guys (except Jesse) were there! This elicited many a scream from the crowd, as well as the usually-quiet yomimashou and I, and we were really thrilled! Additionally, we were excited that, true to his word, Fuma had actually dyed his hair blonde upon high school graduation. It looked so good! Work it Fuma. The last amazing thing that we discovered pretty much right away is that the kanshasai concert really had nothing to do with Johnny's World. By and large, it was just a concert, though they did sing "Where My Heart Belongs," and "Let's Go To Earth" a couple times... but who wasn't expecting that?
The show progressed like a regular concert with the exception of there being three debuted groups plus a lot of juniors (Zip! this morning told me that apparently, 400 Johnny's talents in total appeared), so the artists got some breaks to catch their breath, and there was basically never a dull moment. They included a lot of tricks like flying (and Hasshi jumping off the top of the scaffold thing from countdown, etc and falling onto a giant blow-up thing, which was horrifying) and there were also a couple instances of the guys playing their instruments. One really great thing, though, was that whenever JUMP performed, Inoo looked so incredibly happy! It seems as if he's really glad to be able to devote himself to JUMP now that he's graduated college. Just... every single moment, he seemed thrilled to be there, which was really adorable. All of JUMP had great energy, though, and there were a lot of good fanservicey/"member-ai" moments, which was awesome.
The shining moment for me (or one of them, anyway) was right after the Bakaleya guys sang "Shake it Up." As soon as the music for "Shake it Up" began to play, the crowd went wild, and the boys looked like they were having a great time singing it. Shintaro and Yugo, in particular, were adorable as always, waving at the crowd and giving 120%, but all of them were amazing. From my point of view, it was great; the Bakaleya guys were basically the only Juniors to get any attention at all; Noon Boyz got to do some things, and Jinguji and Kaoru were there, but the Bakaleya guys were by far the stars of the Junior show, and I loved every second of it! But then after the song was done, ABC-Z, Sexy Zone, and JUMP reappeared to take the hand mics from the Bakaleya guys. Fuma was to take the mic from Hokuto, but after he took the mic, Hokuto lingered and they put their arms around one another and sang together for a few minutes, even as the other Bakaleya guys were leaving. It was basically the crowning moment of the whole thing... because seeing those two together anymore just fills my little heart with joy. ♥
After that, Yuma suddenly appeared onstage! As always, he was awkward and didn't know what to do with himself, but it was cute and he hung out with JUMP during the next few songs before appearing alongside the groups for the MC. For whatever reason, the MC was Yuma, JUMP, ABC-Z, and Kento, Fuma, and Shori. We assumed this was because it had gotten late and Marius and Sou had had to leave, but they appeared later (in yomimashou's words, perhaps they got permission slips signed by their parents to stay out late XD) so I'm not sure what's up with that. My theories are either that they were afraid Marius would either say something unintentionally offensive again or that he would get frustrated and cry (both of which happened at Summary) or that they just really hate Marius and Sou and their fans. Knowing Johnny's, it's probably the latter. :| But it was cute to see all three groups interact with one another, and one great point was that whenever the camera was on Hasshi (who was talking about his upcoming drama), Kawai would lean into the screen and make a ridiculous smile at the camera. He basically secured his spot as my favourite ABC-Z member (not that there was really any question, tbqh) and is sort of the best. ABC-Z also mentioned that they were scarred for life by going on J's Journey to Australia, so... I'm sort of looking forward to seeing it once it starts airing.
But! The most amazing part of the MC as when they showed a preview for Bad Boys J! It was basically a really brief trailer and didn't show too much, but it looks amazing and I cannot wait. Of course, Kento can't fight convincingly to save his life but... I'm sure that will be part of the charm. XD; And Nika and Hasshi looked great, and I'm happy for the Snowmen who get to be in it, too. I have an unfortunate side eye for Yasui and Hagiya Keigo because, of course, they're competition for the Bakaleya guys on the debut front, but I'm sure they'll be great, too; they looked really good in the trailer.
After that, the Bakaleya guys performed a number that they did last week on Shounen Club (I forget what, because old Kat-Tun songs mostly all sound the same to me lol) and I'm unsure as to why they feel the need to constantly dress Yugo in hideous shades of yellow, but I guess it makes him easy to spot. At any rate, the boys were great and got to stand in the center stage, just the five of them (since Jesse wasn't there) for a large part of it, which was a good feeling. They've been split up too much recently, so seeing them together was definitely a great feeling. Also, it was at this point that Yuma mysteriously reappeared in the kankeisha... was he hanging out with Shintaro (remember, they're costars from Battery and Koishite Akuma) backstage? We may never know, but I hope so.
Sometime around this time, Marius and Sou reappeared, dancing with Juniors while Kento, Fuma, and Shori walked around the catwalk, drawing more confusion and concern, but since it's not really different from normal, I guess there's nothing really new or exciting there. There was a lot of really great stuff with JUMP, though, starting with Inoo and Hikaru doing a wire routine together! It was pretty complicated and seemed like something they'd rehearsed a lot together~ And Inoo just looked so happy the whole time, it was so sweet. Then JUMP did their new (???) song, "Come on a My House" (Japanese blogs claim it's for a curry CM but I've yet to find a reliable source), and it was just a really great cute and happy song, and they all seemed so happy... Yamada and Chinen got cosy and seemed like they really liked each other, and Yabu and Takaki were really adorable, too. And of course, by this point in the concert, Yuto's always full of concert adrenaline and is jumping around like crazy, and he was all over Keito, so it was great. ♥
Soon after that it was time for the last spurt, and all three groups plus the important juniors (Bakaleya, Jinguji, Kaoru, possibly Noon Boyz?) came back out onto the stage and performed all three groups' songs in mixed group clusters. Yabu was with Marius and was patting him on the head in a really adorable/hilarious way, and meanwhile, in the "frontman" cluster of Yamada, Shori, and Hasshi, Yamada randomly started doing intense fanservice with Shori, holding him close and stroking his hair, and Shori looked so confused, it was adorable. Then, during Lady Diamond, after Shori did his haiku, Hasshi finally got his shining moment! He got to perform a haiku (which may have been several syllables too long), and his roughly translated to:
I'm Ryosuke,
but the person next to me
is also Roysuke!
After which Yamada responded:
Even if I'm Ryosuke
The Ryosuke beside me
...isn't he an idiot?
I think Yamada's was too many syllables also XD;;; But it was pretty great, especially since Hasshi keeps saying he wants to do "Double Ryosuke" with Yamada. His wish was finally realized! Nothing will ever be as great as that old Myojo shot of them both being like 10 years old together, though. So tiny and adorable |D;
Another highlight of this multi-group cluster section is that we got to see everyone just having fun together! Yugo and Shintaro were in a group with Keito, and all three were adorably rocking out together, and looking like they were having the times of their lives. Also, Tsukada was getting very excited and made Sou dance, and while Sou looked uncomfortable at first, it was sort of cute to see him get into it in the face of Tsukada's intense enthusiasm. Another great point was when pretty much everyone started making fun of the silly hand dance for "Hitomi no Screen" and were all wiggling their fingers at one another, and such.
They finished off the show with "Let's Go to Earth" (take two), and then named the Bakaleya guys (and no other Juniors, kekeke) before sending them on their way. Of course, we called them back for an encore, the high point of which was, when they came back out, Taiga and Juri were standing on the same platform and had their arms around one another. ♥ I have no clue what my opinion is on the state of affairs of their relationship, but... I can get behind that 100%~
Of course, everyone was energetic and adorable, especially the Bakaleya guys, and since they were the stage crew for most of the show (doing and undoing people's harnesses for flying and stuff) it was good to see them both sort of casual and performing on the stage. It was amazing to see them live again, and it was amazing to see all the groups together, and it was all in all an amazing show.
Up next yomimashou and I have tickets to see Sexy Zone in Yokohama on both May 4th and 5th (hahaha oops), so I'm hoping that show isn't a disappointment after this one. This show was so great that I just can't get over it *____*