[report] Gamushara J's Party Vol. 2, 2014.3.26
Well, it's only been about 2 months, but here I am with my brief report of Gamushara J's Party Vol 2. Sadly, this was the last Gamushara J's Party I've been able to go to since they're on weekdays when it would be impossible for me to get to Tokyo in time without leaving work early, but since Vol 2. was on a day off for students (during spring break) I was able to take paid leave. This show was a really big disorganized mess, and I don't really remember all that much about it. If you're looking for the set list or anything like that, you can probably find it in magazine scans or on twitter; as usual, this is just what left an impression on me and what I felt was worth reporting on XD
Gamushara J's Party Vol. 2 was a unique experience because it was the first time I've really seen a wholly negative response to a Johnny's show from almost the entire audience. There have been times when I've been impressed by a negative reaction to one number or one thing (for example, when like 1/3 of the audience sat down during Mystery Virgin in Big Hat in 2013), but Gamushara J's Party Vol. 2 is the first time I've seen the majority of the audience just not seem happy or into the show at all. Basically, since the first Gamushara J's Party had a lot of people from a variety of groups and ages, I think (like us), most people were expecting the second one to be the same. But instead, there were only ten people present: Jesse, Hokuto, Juri, Shintaro, Yasui, Hagiya, Morohoshi Shoki, Noon Boyz, and Okamoto Kauan. That leaves a pretty gaping hole if you're into the younger set, which, I think, much of the audience was. Notably, this was taking place at the exact same time as Sexy Zone's Nagoya shows, so we knew Sexy Boyz and what have you wouldn't be there, but compared to the really large cast from the first show, this was incredibly minimal.
We were in the balcony this time in order to be able to come later and leave earlier if need be, but it was nice to be able to see about the front half of the audience as well as the show to gauge the interest level. In the balcony, tension was incredibly low, and a lot of people sat down and seemed generally uninterested. The show itself also seemed like a bit of a mess; the guys said several times that they had only had two rehearsals, and there was a lot of random talking to fill up the time. The whole show wasn't even two hours long, though! What a mess XD
There were some good things, though. Baka6 minus Yugo and Taiga plus Shoki in Yugo's costume (lol) did an impressive staging of Ai no Beat, complete with choreography. They were in their colour costumes, where Yugo wears that god-awful yellow track suit, which was on Shoki instead, and for some reason, Juri was wearing Taiga's pink costume. XD They also awkwardly performed Six Senses with only 5, since Shoki was replacing Yugo, but no one was replacing Taiga. |D; Shoki kept (trollingly?) getting really close to Jesse, which was making Jesse uncomfortable. |D;; It was like, he'd move closer to Shoki, too, then look at him and realize it wasn't Yugo, make an alarmed face, and move away |D;;;
People were generally excited over the Bakaleya guys and Yasui and Hagiya, but over the course of the show, Sanada, Nozawa, and Okamoto Kauan all had solos, barely anyone stood in the balcony, or looked at all into it in the arena. Like half the audience or less were moving their penlights, and some of them were standing completely still looking bored. I felt really bad for them, because it was the agency's bad planning not to tell us who would be there before we got tickets. Notably, starting with Gamushara J's Party Vol. 3, they've begun putting into the fanclub emails who will be there.
During the MC portion, they showed bits of Gamushara, which was, at that time, a preview, since the show hadn't started airing yet. They showed us Jesse's "kabe-don" English and Hokuto's "hoku hoku" section, both of which had me and yomimashou dying from laughter and secondhand embarrassment. Particularly at the English part, we were cracking up, and I sincerely hope that someone around us wrote on their blog that they saw some foreigners laughing at the English. Jesse gave a translation for it (it was the "when are you gonna realize that I'm the one for you" line), and it was way better than the translation that they later aired on TV. Idk what happened there. XD Then with the Hokuto section, after the lights came up again after showing the preview, everyone was like "Wait… where's Hokuto?" It turned out, Hokuto was curled up hiding in a corner, his hood pulled over his face, horrified and embarrassed at his own corner (which, granted, is pretty horrifying and embarrassing XD). They all gave him crap, but it was really adorable to see him so red-faced and embarrassed. It reminded me a lot of what I love about Hokuto. ♥ After they played that portion, they made Jesse reenact his English section with Hokuto (of course lol). He said that he needed a wall, so they made Shoki be the wall |D;;;
There were like a bajillion "MC" type parts, so it's hard to remember what came first, but at some point, they made Juri do an ippatsu gei (one-line joke? I never know how to translate that), and he held out one hand then the other, saying kata-te, kata-te, which means "one hand, one hand," then put them together at the wrists, saying hotate, which means scallop. XD; This wasn't that funny, but he kept bringing it up (he clearly thought it was really funny XD) and then after the English part, someone told Jesse to say it in English. Jesse was skeptical, but Hokuto stepped up, proudly proclaiming "one hand, one hand, ho-TAH-te!" |D;;; In order to make Japanese words sound more "foreign," Japanese people will often emphasize the wrong syllable (which, admittedly, is often how Japanese words are pronounced in English, such as KImono versus kiMOno, but it's still funny when they do it with random words), so I found this to be hilarious.
There was also a message from some of the Juniors who couldn't be there, which turned out to be a message from Genki, Jinguji, and Miyachika. Genki was standing in the middle with his arms around Jinguji and Miyachika, looking really cute and happy and giggly. Jinguji, for his part, had one hand on his hip and looked pissed off, giving Genki and Miyachika a super side-eye, and Genki and Miyachika kept meeting eyes, which was making Genki giggle eve more, and Miyachika had a sort-of smug expression. |D; It was really adorable… and hilarious to see Jinguji being the third wheel. XD;;
At some point, Yasui announced at the time that challenges from the TV show would be performed live at future Gamushara J's Parties, but now that's been made clear on the TV show, so… there you have it XD That's what I get for having this report be so late.
After the show, there was only one really short encore, and that was the end, as I mentioned, less than two hours after it started. It was crazy short and crazy disorganized, and generally had the feel of having been thrown together haphazardly. Some audience members were more disgruntled than others; on my way back to the train station, I overheard a girl complaining loudly into her phone that Jinguji had not been present and the whole show had sucked because of it. |D;;
So yes. Gamushara J's Party Vol. 2 was basically a disaster, but I'm hoping that the others have been better after that. |D;; I can't go while school is in session, but I'm hoping to be able to take some time off during summer break to be able to go see them again. They might be a shitshow, but I need to see my juniors. XD;
For now, I'm trying to get caught up before I head into Tokyo again for ABC-Za and Reia's Crea show! All that's left in terms of reports is the plot summary for the Kamen Teacher movie (hopefully people still care… |D), but I want to translate the 50 Questions Reia recently had in either Winkup or Duet (I forget which is the one that does that), and I need to write my je_wakamono fic, and do some chores around my house. I'm happy that at long last it's getting warm, though! Just need to make it through this long Friday and then I'll be able to catch up on some sleep. But not before I watch Johnny's Jr. no Shinjitsu for like the 100th time tonight with yomimashou and 9kinds, as well as maybe the King & Queen & Joker PV and making~
Gamushara J's Party Vol. 2 was a unique experience because it was the first time I've really seen a wholly negative response to a Johnny's show from almost the entire audience. There have been times when I've been impressed by a negative reaction to one number or one thing (for example, when like 1/3 of the audience sat down during Mystery Virgin in Big Hat in 2013), but Gamushara J's Party Vol. 2 is the first time I've seen the majority of the audience just not seem happy or into the show at all. Basically, since the first Gamushara J's Party had a lot of people from a variety of groups and ages, I think (like us), most people were expecting the second one to be the same. But instead, there were only ten people present: Jesse, Hokuto, Juri, Shintaro, Yasui, Hagiya, Morohoshi Shoki, Noon Boyz, and Okamoto Kauan. That leaves a pretty gaping hole if you're into the younger set, which, I think, much of the audience was. Notably, this was taking place at the exact same time as Sexy Zone's Nagoya shows, so we knew Sexy Boyz and what have you wouldn't be there, but compared to the really large cast from the first show, this was incredibly minimal.
We were in the balcony this time in order to be able to come later and leave earlier if need be, but it was nice to be able to see about the front half of the audience as well as the show to gauge the interest level. In the balcony, tension was incredibly low, and a lot of people sat down and seemed generally uninterested. The show itself also seemed like a bit of a mess; the guys said several times that they had only had two rehearsals, and there was a lot of random talking to fill up the time. The whole show wasn't even two hours long, though! What a mess XD
There were some good things, though. Baka6 minus Yugo and Taiga plus Shoki in Yugo's costume (lol) did an impressive staging of Ai no Beat, complete with choreography. They were in their colour costumes, where Yugo wears that god-awful yellow track suit, which was on Shoki instead, and for some reason, Juri was wearing Taiga's pink costume. XD They also awkwardly performed Six Senses with only 5, since Shoki was replacing Yugo, but no one was replacing Taiga. |D; Shoki kept (trollingly?) getting really close to Jesse, which was making Jesse uncomfortable. |D;; It was like, he'd move closer to Shoki, too, then look at him and realize it wasn't Yugo, make an alarmed face, and move away |D;;;
People were generally excited over the Bakaleya guys and Yasui and Hagiya, but over the course of the show, Sanada, Nozawa, and Okamoto Kauan all had solos, barely anyone stood in the balcony, or looked at all into it in the arena. Like half the audience or less were moving their penlights, and some of them were standing completely still looking bored. I felt really bad for them, because it was the agency's bad planning not to tell us who would be there before we got tickets. Notably, starting with Gamushara J's Party Vol. 3, they've begun putting into the fanclub emails who will be there.
During the MC portion, they showed bits of Gamushara, which was, at that time, a preview, since the show hadn't started airing yet. They showed us Jesse's "kabe-don" English and Hokuto's "hoku hoku" section, both of which had me and yomimashou dying from laughter and secondhand embarrassment. Particularly at the English part, we were cracking up, and I sincerely hope that someone around us wrote on their blog that they saw some foreigners laughing at the English. Jesse gave a translation for it (it was the "when are you gonna realize that I'm the one for you" line), and it was way better than the translation that they later aired on TV. Idk what happened there. XD Then with the Hokuto section, after the lights came up again after showing the preview, everyone was like "Wait… where's Hokuto?" It turned out, Hokuto was curled up hiding in a corner, his hood pulled over his face, horrified and embarrassed at his own corner (which, granted, is pretty horrifying and embarrassing XD). They all gave him crap, but it was really adorable to see him so red-faced and embarrassed. It reminded me a lot of what I love about Hokuto. ♥ After they played that portion, they made Jesse reenact his English section with Hokuto (of course lol). He said that he needed a wall, so they made Shoki be the wall |D;;;
There were like a bajillion "MC" type parts, so it's hard to remember what came first, but at some point, they made Juri do an ippatsu gei (one-line joke? I never know how to translate that), and he held out one hand then the other, saying kata-te, kata-te, which means "one hand, one hand," then put them together at the wrists, saying hotate, which means scallop. XD; This wasn't that funny, but he kept bringing it up (he clearly thought it was really funny XD) and then after the English part, someone told Jesse to say it in English. Jesse was skeptical, but Hokuto stepped up, proudly proclaiming "one hand, one hand, ho-TAH-te!" |D;;; In order to make Japanese words sound more "foreign," Japanese people will often emphasize the wrong syllable (which, admittedly, is often how Japanese words are pronounced in English, such as KImono versus kiMOno, but it's still funny when they do it with random words), so I found this to be hilarious.
There was also a message from some of the Juniors who couldn't be there, which turned out to be a message from Genki, Jinguji, and Miyachika. Genki was standing in the middle with his arms around Jinguji and Miyachika, looking really cute and happy and giggly. Jinguji, for his part, had one hand on his hip and looked pissed off, giving Genki and Miyachika a super side-eye, and Genki and Miyachika kept meeting eyes, which was making Genki giggle eve more, and Miyachika had a sort-of smug expression. |D; It was really adorable… and hilarious to see Jinguji being the third wheel. XD;;
At some point, Yasui announced at the time that challenges from the TV show would be performed live at future Gamushara J's Parties, but now that's been made clear on the TV show, so… there you have it XD That's what I get for having this report be so late.
After the show, there was only one really short encore, and that was the end, as I mentioned, less than two hours after it started. It was crazy short and crazy disorganized, and generally had the feel of having been thrown together haphazardly. Some audience members were more disgruntled than others; on my way back to the train station, I overheard a girl complaining loudly into her phone that Jinguji had not been present and the whole show had sucked because of it. |D;;
So yes. Gamushara J's Party Vol. 2 was basically a disaster, but I'm hoping that the others have been better after that. |D;; I can't go while school is in session, but I'm hoping to be able to take some time off during summer break to be able to go see them again. They might be a shitshow, but I need to see my juniors. XD;
For now, I'm trying to get caught up before I head into Tokyo again for ABC-Za and Reia's Crea show! All that's left in terms of reports is the plot summary for the Kamen Teacher movie (hopefully people still care… |D), but I want to translate the 50 Questions Reia recently had in either Winkup or Duet (I forget which is the one that does that), and I need to write my je_wakamono fic, and do some chores around my house. I'm happy that at long last it's getting warm, though! Just need to make it through this long Friday and then I'll be able to catch up on some sleep. But not before I watch Johnny's Jr. no Shinjitsu for like the 100th time tonight with yomimashou and 9kinds, as well as maybe the King & Queen & Joker PV and making~