[report] Sexy Zone Summer Concert 2014 in Saitama Super Arena
At long last, here it is!! The much anticipated (or maybe not…) reports for the Sexy Zone Summer Concert 2014 Saitama shows! I only attended the 10 am and 1 pm shows, not the 4 pm show, so this is only the reports for the first two shows of the day. I've heard that more was said about the hot-button issues like the new single and 3-member events, but I wasn't there, so I can't comment on those, I'm sorry. I'm also really really sorry for the lateness; it's been a really busy summer for me, and I'm trying to get out the reports now as fast as I can!
At any rate, here's my experience with the Saitama Super Arena shows!
ten am
For the 10 am show, our tickets were in the Arena A2 block. We had been unsure as to what the setup would be, but as it turns out, Saitama Super Arena is a lot smaller than yomimashou had told me it was (10,000 people smaller) and it turns out there wasn't really room for a mainstage, so there was only a center stage and small side-stages at each tip of the catwalk. There were 4 "spokes" leading from the center stage to the catwalk, and since it was a circle, A, B, C, and D were the inside of the spaces created by these spokes, so A wasn't better than B or C or D. However, it luckily turned out that our seats were right up against one of the "spokes"! Unfortunately, it was a really underutilized catwalk and most people only came past us once or twice, but it was better than nothing.
Once we were settled in our seats we chilled out for a while (because it was 9 am and we had gotten up at 4 am and were fucking tired), but as it started to get closer to show time, I noticed suddenly that the arena was beginning to fill with green, and to a smaller extent yellow. It really choked me up when I realized what was happening, and that a lot of people really actually did do the penlight campaign. ;___; I'd say about 1,000 people did it out of 25,000, but that's just a guess. It's still a pretty significant number, especially taking into consideration that many people were not at the Sexy Second tour and didn't have the penlight available to them, and I'm sure there are others who don't use twitter and didn't see the campaign. Also, Kento mentioned the penlights in his jweb after the show, so I hope that the guys did see and notice them. I'd say a good 2/3 to 3/4 of them were green, but my assumption is that Marius fans were yellow, Sou fans were green, and then most of Kento, Shori, and Fuma's fans felt more sorry for Sou than for Marius (since Marius does get some drama roles and what have you) and so turned them to green, also. I hope Sou felt the love!
Another really awesome thing I saw was somewhere in the lower stands, 3 fans had gotten together with 6 uchiwa that read "５人が大好き" ("we love all five members"), which I'm sure the guys saw and were moved by ♥
But then, eventually the lights went down and the show started! First, Marius came onstage to announce Sexy Boyz and Sexy Show (Marius starting the show in English has become pretty much the norm now, and it always cracks me up a little to think that I'm one of maybe 10 people max who can understand what he's saying in the whole arena XD). First, he introduced Jinguji and Genki, then Sexy Show as Sou, Gengen, Matsukura, and Fu and Tajima, which was odd. I guess they just didn't have anywhere else to introduce Fu and Tajima? idk. But then after that, Kishi, Aran, Reia, and Takaito also came onstage and Marius introduced them as well.
That led in to Marius introducing Kento, Fuma, and Shori, and all the juniors and Marius and Sou went offstage as Kent, Fuma and Shori came on to perform BAD BOYS. It seemed, sadly, as if they reused a lot of what they planned for Kobe, thus excluding Marius and Sou as well as all the juniors in the Gamushara Sexy Natsu Matsuri (henceforth referred to as "the Matsuri" so I don't have to type that all out lol). As always with Johnny's, it seemed like they'd had maybe 5 rehearsals tops, less for the people in the Matsuri, and the whole thing was a bit messy. But at any rate, BAD BOYS was pretty much the same as usual; Kento and Shori did the usual fanservice (it's always cute that Shori seems so giggly about Kento touching him despite the fact that he's supposed to be badass |D;) and Shori did his usual not-so-badass cute little hopping and generally derpy dancing. The girls who were sitting in front of us were pretty great and started giggling at how un-badass Shori was.
Next up was DokiDoki Breakout!!, and all the Juniors and Marius and Sou came back onstage! Most of the song was the guys all running around the catwalk waving and stuff, so I definitely couldn't see all of what was going on, but on the bright side, Gengen came up the catwalk right in front of me and saw me and waved to me~ He's so cute, ahhh. ♥
Up next was Ghost, which was staged unfortunately in that Kento, Fuma, and Shori stood up on the elevated platform on the center stage while Marius, Sou, and Sexy Boyz/Sexy Show stood around the platform also on the center stage. As a result, I didn't really watch Kento, Fuma, and Shori much, though they did do the usual fanservice between all three of them. I was too busy watching Matsukura be super adorable and enthusiastic at dancing, and Marius working his model walk, oh my god. How is that kid so sassy and fabulous, I don't even know. He's going to be a total superstar when he grows up.
After Ghost came the first of the songs from the new single to be performed, Boku wa Kimi no Subete ni Naritai. Marius announced it in English, saying something like "And now here's a love song for you, it's going to be really romantic so please listen!" or something. It was adorable. |D; But then everyone left the stage except Fuma, Kento, and Shori, who stood at stand mics on the elevated part of the center stage. Shori and Kento performed like good boys, but Fuma was really not into it, sort of leaning on his mic stand and looking disinterested. He was in bad shape for this whole show, so soon after the single announcement, and I really felt bad for him.
After that came Otoko never give up, which started with Fuma calling out to the Juniors asking if they were ready. They were supposed to yell "oooh!" (sort of a manly "yeah!" in Japanese) in response, but it was sort of un-energetic, and apparently they weren't loud enough, because he made them yell it several more times before announcing that this was the new single. No one said any information about it, or "please buy it," just… this is it. They all seemed pretty unenthusiastic about it. This number was particularly a mess, too, because the Juniors who were in the Matsuri didn't know the choreography to speak of. Of course, I as watching Reia, who's usually quite good at the choreography, and he was clearly watching one of the non-Matsuri Juniors beside him to remember the moves when it wasn't the chorus. This was one of the messiest parts of the show, and it didn't help at all that Kento, Shori, and Fuma looked somewhat like robots, doing the moves without any style or emphasis.
Next was BaiBai Dubai, for which Marius and Sou came back. They did the moves sort of loosely in a giant circle around the catwalk, in clusters of a few juniors + one Sexy Zone member. Since I was close to center stage/"spoke" catwalk, I didn't get to see this very well during the 10 am show. At the end of BaiBai Dubai, Shori announced Kento's solo corner in his really cool ~foreign accent (the one that he did in the King and Queen and Joker making, and also in Marius's first English corner from Sexy Zone Channel).
Kento's solo section started with Teleportation, which no one in the audience really expected but then they got really excited for it when the intro music played XD; The autotune in that song is crazy, though; it really does not sound like Kento XD;;; The choreo was similar to the 2013 New Year con, though. After Teleportation, he moved to a piano that had been set out on the catwalk, and announced that he was going to sing the song "from JMK" before singing Eien no Merry Go Round. During this, they showed clips from the JMK Loveholic show, and all of Kento's highly annoying fans were highly annoying as usual, screaming his name and stuff while he was trying to perform. He seriously has some of the most annoying fans I've ever experienced in any JE group. =__=; Up last was Candy, but sadly, he didn't perform with any of the usual Juniors.
Next was Shori, who kept all the Juniors to himself. XD He started with Onaji Sora no Shita, dancing along a line of four sets of Juniors. I don't know what the other pairs were (they probably were comprised of Tajima, Fu, Genki, Takaito, Aran, and Kishi, though I can't swear to it), but at the end of the row was Jinguji and Reia, who were making the most serious faces and trying not to make eye contact. It really seemed like they knew that if they met eyes they'd end up grinning or giggling and distracted (and this theory was proved true later, so say tuned for the 1 pm show XD). Next Shori did Summer Nude, followed by Watashi no Okite. It's always hilarious to watch Jinguji do Watashi no Okite because he just sucks at being at all effeminate or girly (even SHORI is better than him!), but seeing it with Genki and Reia was a new treat! Reia is always cute and girly and adorable in his dancing, so seeing his do the little hip shakes and stuff was expectedly adorable, but oh man was Genki getting into it! He was really being cute and working the girlish moves, and he and Reia was pretty great to watch.
Up next was Fuma's solo corner, and it started with the 2013 New Year Con intro in English for rouge. It's something about how he can't get the other person out of his mind and he's lonely without them, but they always leave behind their rouge (lipstick) when they leave with a kiss. This time, it was really cool, though; when he said the end lines, he fell from the stage dramatically into the darkness before they brought the lights up again. He had the same costume from the 2013 New Year con, but this time he had a bedazzled "pimp hat," also XD I generally love Fuma's solos and his style, and seeing rouge and FaKe back to back was pretty amazing ♥ He did a really good job.
After Fuma's solo corner, Kento came out in the upper stands and was once again overwhelmed by his annoying fans. He couldn't really get a word out through their screaming and grabbing for him for a while (and it annoys me that he sometimes panders to the ones who misbehave and yell things to him when he's trying to talk =___=;), but finally, he told us all to sit down for a break and talked for a while about how cute all the fans were before announcing Kishi and Aran, who came out on the opposite side of the Arena in the upper stands, as well. They talked a little bit about Kin Kyori Renai, and then told us to keep sitting and they'd sing some songs while we rested. This was… sort of instead of an MC? I don't really know, but it was lazy and odd. While Kishi and Aran (and maybe members of Sexy Zone? It was hard for me to see the uppser stands) sang Namae no Nai Omoi up in the upper stands, Marius, Sou, Gengen, Matsukura, Reia, Jinguji, Genki, Fu, and Tajima walked up and down the aisles of the lower stands, waving at fans.
This continued for Kimi wo Hanasanai Kimi wo Hanarenai, also, and was pretty much the laziest use of time in a concert that I've ever experienced. After that, they did Sexy Zone, and everyone went back to the stage and ran around the catwalk some. No one was sure if we were allowed to stand up or not, but we continued to sit while they did Sexy Zone and then keep the challenge, another B-side from the new single. Marius and Sou stayed onstage for this, which was really awkward, but at one point, when they crossed paths, they hugged, and that was cute.
After that, all the Juniors and Marius and Sou left the stage, and Kento, Shori, and Fuma got prop guns. Kento told us that in Kobe, the fangirls would all go "ahh!" when shot at with the fake gun… (how do you know, you haven't even done it there yet?) and then Fuma was like you could also go "ahhhh~" (the sound he made was really sexual). =__=; They told us to do that when we got shot at, and then proceeded to sing the final song from the new single, Ashita ni Mukatte Ute, which has a strange Western cowboy theme. Eventually, they stated to do an ad lib where first they each shot at the audience so we could do the "ahh!" thing, and then Kento "accidentally shot" Fuma. Fuma fell on the stage, and then when he talked, his voice was really high-pitched and chipmunk-y. He yelled at Kento for shooting him, but it eventually devolved into him singing Ari no Mama de ("Let it Go" in Japanese, from the movie Frozen). Then, he shot Kento back, and Kento's voice got really deep XD Kento decided it was Shori's fault, then shot Shori. Shori's mic was chipmunk-y first, but then turned deep, then back to chipmunk, and Shori got all giggly and didn't know what to do XD; Eventually, they finished the song, and on the last chorus, Sexy Boyz and Sexy Show came up on the center stage. Sou was mocking their silly dance, but then Kento shot at him/the entire center stage and all of the Juniors and Marius and Sou fell down as if shot. When Kento, Shori, and Fuma left the stage, Sexy Boyz and Sexy Show stood up again, but then Marius's mic was really low, and Sou's was chipmunk-y XD Marius tried to say "hamariusu," (Marius's catchphrase made by Yoko from Kanjani8, a pun on "hamaru" or "to be obsessed with" and his name) but it was super uncute, and Sou was like "that's so wrong!" (what he actually said was "hamariusu ja nee yo!" with the connotation of like, Marius saying it in a super deep voice wasn't cute/wouldn't make people obsessed with him).
After their voices got back to normal, Sexy Boyz and Sexy Show performed Kono Te wo Tsunagou, just like on Shounen Club last month (two months ago? I forget), and also just like in Yokohama Arena. I think the costumes were the same as YokoAri, not the same ones they wore on TV. We finally stood up after we saw some other parts of the arena standing up. XD
Then Marius, Sou, Gengen, and Matsukura left, and Kishi and Aran came out to perform Dial Up with Genki and Jinguji. Unfortunately, they hadn't bothered to change the spacing, so even though Miyachika wasn't there, they left room for him in the formation, making it awkwardly off center a lot XD;; After that, Reia, Fu, Takaito, and Tajima returned to perform Happy Happy Lucky You, and Fu put his arm around Reia at one point XD Those two are such good friends, it's always cute when they do fanservice.
Then all the juniors left again, and Shori returned wearing the strangest origami crane print suit and hat. He said he was going to do his new solo, and proudly added that he'd written the lyrics himself… only, his voice cracked when he said "write" and it was cute XD;; The lyrics were very Shori-esque, too, including the English "you are so special just the way you are." XD
Up next was Fuma's new solo, and it gave me a lot of feelings. Fuma wrote on J-web about how he wanted it to be a "fight song" that suited him, and it really resonated with me. It felt a lot like Fuma was pumping himself and the group up to push through this current mess, and it was really moving.
After Fuma's solo corner was… Don't Stop Sexy Boyz!! I bet you weren't expecting that. I wasn't, either, and neither was anyone in the arena. XD We all screamed and were excited.
Finally was Kento's solo. Before the solo there was a skit between Kento, dressed in a baseball cap, nerdy glasses, and a backpack to look like an otaku or something, and Anderson Casey, all in English. Kento talked about being in love with some girl, and Anderson told him to go for it, but Kento replied, "But I'm aflaid… that she will say… NOOOO!!!" Not only was his "no" really overdramatic, but the way he said "aflaid" was my new favourite Kentynglish, right up there with "red gween white pink and yellow" in Candy. XD; Later in the skit, he messed up the English, saying "I can't feel it, but I can see it inside" rather than the other way around. XD; Also, he forgot his prop, a paper airplane that he threw into the audience later. Anderson had to duck off stage, and returned with it and put it on the bench much later. XD;; Oops.
After that, Marius, Sou, and Juniors who were in the Matsuri came back out to perform the Gamushara theme song, and then the last spurt began! They sand Lady Diamond, Real Sexy, and Sexy Summer ni Yuki ga Furu, but sadly, almost no one came by our catwalk. Jinguji did walk by at one point, but I think he gave me a major side eye when he saw my Reia uchiwa. Oops. XD;;
Last, they did King and Queen and Joker, and this was the first time that all five members performed a song together with choreography as equals. A bit sad that the last song was also the first song, but I think that Kobe being only 3, the lack of space, and the lack of rehearsals compounded the issue as much as the management's ill will. Sadly, Kento and Shori didn't do their usual fanservice. Reia was standing at the edge of the center stage facing in my general direction, and I think he might had seen my uchiwa, but most of the time, he was making eye contact with an older junior who was in his line of sight, winking at him and smiling at him flirtily and stuff |D;;; Oh well.
They all left briefly after that, but of course only let us call for a little white for an encore before coming back due to time constraints. First, they did Butsukacchau Yo with Sexy Zone on carts and the Juniors on the catwalk. Naturally, Marius and Sou had to share a cart, because neither of them counts for a whole member =___=; Then, they did Kanzen My Way, and finally, Anderson Casey saw me in the audience! I always try to get the other half guys to see me, so I was happy XD;; However, Reia walked past me and turned the other way right before coming close to me, so he didn't see me, sad T__T; The Jinguji fan behind me also felt sad for me. I love Sexy Zone fans (and I guess the associate Junior fans?) because they're always so kind to one another. ♥
Then finally they all said goodbye one more time and did the "We are… Sexy Zone!" thing before filing around the center stage in a circle in order to leave. They walked around one whole rotation, waving at the audience, but then Reia and Fu weren't paying attention and almost went off the wrong side of the stage before realizing and running back to the other side. XDD Good job, guys.
And that was the end of the first show! After that, we filed out as per usual, and we had about an hour until we went back in for the 1 pm show. yomimashou and I camped out around the venue with a bunch of other girls and ate our sad lunch, a few onigiri. We also didn't have a chance to rest our feet, sigh. But soon enough, we headed back into the venue, this time to the stands for the 1 pm show!
one pm
Our seats for the second show were in the first row of the stands on the "back" side of the stage-- while the center stage was a circle stage, as always, there was still a designated "front" and "back" for the most part. We were really close to the catwalk, though, and since we were in the front row, we had a clear view of the guys going around! We happened to be sitting between two mother-daughter combinations, which was pretty cute XD The moms ended up holding uchiwa and penlights for their daughters |D;;;
The penlight campaign happened again: more green than yellow, but a good percent, maybe 1,000 people. Maybe more-- I'm not good at estimating. Sadly, I didn't see any exciting uchiwa this time, but I hope that the penlights were visible to the guys ♥
The opening was the same as before, with Marius announcing the juniors and Sou, and then BAD BOYS, with Kento, Shori, and Fuma. Then, for DokiDoki Break Out!!, Fuma had his jacket off one shouler to look cool (?) but it kept almost falling off, and he had to fix it XD;; Not so cool, Fuma. Ghost was also the same, but we saw it from the other side; Marius was still fabulous. XD
Leading into Boku wa Kimi no Subete ni Naritai, Marius's English was different from earlier and clearly unplanned, he said some "um" and "well"s. XD It's cute how when they tell Marius to speak English he doesn't plan it at all. |D;; I love how he talks like a valley girl in English. Fuma was even less into it this time, actually sitting down on the stage rather than doing what he was choreographed to do, and he just looked really sad the whole time, poor guy ;;; Then came Otoko never give up, and again, the Juniors were not all that into saying "ohhh!" …but Fu was really into it. XD He was doing a sort of samurai-esque pose, and was really enthusiastically yelling "ohh!" XD;
For BaiBai Dubai next, I got a much better view of the guys on the catwalk! First, I noticed Reia moving around a little slower than he was supposed to… because he was stopping to wink at and flirt with various other Juniors. |D;;; Then, Kento was with a few of the bigger, less-well-known juniors, and Nagata Jiei was completely off the choreography XD He kept trying to go the wrong direction, which is difficult when you're holding onto the other people you're dancing with XD At one point he messed up his footing so bad he almost fell off the stage XD;;
Up next were the solo corners, but Kento's were about the same, though he didn't specifically announce JMK the second time through. Shori's was about the same as well, but Jinguji and Reia's little twosome got even cuter ♥ This time, they happened to meet eyes, and both of them grinned, like they couldn't help it. They looked into one another's eyes for a moment while smiling, but then Jinguji ended up going the wrong direction with his arms, and Reia giggled. Adorable! After that, rouge and FaKe were about the same; still amazing. ♥
Before Namae no Nai Omoi, Kento did the same little talk with Kishi and Aran, and then the juniors and Marius and Sou came out. But then, by some miracle, despite not having walked in that aisle before, Reia came down near me! I was pretty far from him, but somehow, by some amazing luck, he saw my uchiwa, then me, and smiled before mouthing "thank you~" to me. ♥ I'm so happy I could show him I was here supporting him again!
The juniors were still moving around during Kimi wo Hanasanai Kimi wo Hanarenai, but then they had to get onto the stage for Sexy Zone. Sou and Gengen met up with one another before running towards the catwalk, but while Sou made it towards the stairs, Gengen got trapped behind a huge line of tiny juniors XD; Sou turned around and was like D:? when he saw, and waited for Gengen, then they ran up on the stage together. Cuuuuute. Those two have really been adorable together recently~
Up next was Sexy Zone, and Marius said something cute in English, like "let's go!" or something. After that was keep the challenge, but this time, they told us to stand up, rather than letting us wonder what was going on XD;; Before they got the guns, Fuma, Kento, and Shori made an odd announcement, with Fuma saying "We didn't think so many people would come out today, so to show our gratitude, we're going to do another promotional event with three members." It didn't make sense and he didn't really sound genuine saying it, so I'm not really sure what was up with that, but since then, Kobe came to light, and… I think that says a lot about what Fuma was feeling. Ashita ni Mukatte Ute was about the same as before, again with them "shooting" the audience, then one another, and then finally Marius and Sou, who had come onstage for Kono Te wo Tsunagou. This time, however, their voices didn't change, but instead, they talked about how they had gone to heaven. Sou said that Marius was an angel, which was adorable. ♥ They then tried to get Marius to talk on the stop, which resulted in some seriously garbled Japanese that everyone sort of giggled at, sigh. ;___; But Sou hugged Marius after that, and Marius didn't seem hurt.
They did Kono Te wo Tsunagou, and then Dial Up and Happy Happy Lucky You went pretty much the same. When Shori came out for his solo, he asked, "Do you want me to do a solo now?" and actually… didn't really get a very enthusiastic response from the crowd. I feel bad for him, but at the same time, I hope that people felt the same way that I did-- That Kento, Fuma, and Shori didn't need ~15 minutes of solo time each while Marius and Sou were barely onstage at all.
Fuma's solo went about the same as before, and then Kento's (he didn't forget his prop or screw up the English this time, thankfully!), and then Gamushara was about the same, as well. After that was the last spurt, and sometime in here, Gengen saw me again! He's seriously the cutest little thing ♥ Sadly, Fuma seemed really out of it and unhappy the whole time, and wasn't meeting the audience's eyes, really, or anything. After hearing what he said at the Kobe shows, I think he must have had a lot on his mind and in his heart during the Saitama shows. On a lighter note, I also sometimes worry about Kishi… he seems so concentrated on doing all the dances as intensely as possible, I'm afraid he's going to fall off the stage or something. XD Tamamoto Fumito, with whom I made eye contact during Crea, saw me again, and smiled for me, yay. Sadly, I didn't get Inoue Miuzki or Hashimoto Ryo's attention, so that I could have the set of Kaneda, Tamamoto, Inoue, and Hashimoto. XD;;
Also, according to this source, Gengen wasn't paying attention to where he was going and bumped into Sou during the last spurt, but then Sou hugged him. Cuuuute. ♥ I didn't see it, but I really wish I did! XD
I didn't really see much else of note through Lady Diamond, Real Sexy, Sexy Summer, King and Queen and Joker, or the encore, but I do have to mention-- not once in the whole show did any of the guys actually say anything along the lines of "please buy the new single." They mentioned that the new single existed, and that's it. They didn't push it, or talk about the concept, or say anything positive about it at all. It didn't really seem like they wanted to, and I'm proud of them for staying true to themselves and not letting the management push them into anything.
And that's it! I'm really really sorry it took this long x__x; The show was sort of a mess and definitely unfortunate in terms of Marius and Sou, but I enjoyed it for what it was. Still, I'm crossing my fingers that the next Sexy Zone concert will be better.
At any rate, here's my experience with the Saitama Super Arena shows!
ten am
For the 10 am show, our tickets were in the Arena A2 block. We had been unsure as to what the setup would be, but as it turns out, Saitama Super Arena is a lot smaller than yomimashou had told me it was (10,000 people smaller) and it turns out there wasn't really room for a mainstage, so there was only a center stage and small side-stages at each tip of the catwalk. There were 4 "spokes" leading from the center stage to the catwalk, and since it was a circle, A, B, C, and D were the inside of the spaces created by these spokes, so A wasn't better than B or C or D. However, it luckily turned out that our seats were right up against one of the "spokes"! Unfortunately, it was a really underutilized catwalk and most people only came past us once or twice, but it was better than nothing.
Once we were settled in our seats we chilled out for a while (because it was 9 am and we had gotten up at 4 am and were fucking tired), but as it started to get closer to show time, I noticed suddenly that the arena was beginning to fill with green, and to a smaller extent yellow. It really choked me up when I realized what was happening, and that a lot of people really actually did do the penlight campaign. ;___; I'd say about 1,000 people did it out of 25,000, but that's just a guess. It's still a pretty significant number, especially taking into consideration that many people were not at the Sexy Second tour and didn't have the penlight available to them, and I'm sure there are others who don't use twitter and didn't see the campaign. Also, Kento mentioned the penlights in his jweb after the show, so I hope that the guys did see and notice them. I'd say a good 2/3 to 3/4 of them were green, but my assumption is that Marius fans were yellow, Sou fans were green, and then most of Kento, Shori, and Fuma's fans felt more sorry for Sou than for Marius (since Marius does get some drama roles and what have you) and so turned them to green, also. I hope Sou felt the love!
Another really awesome thing I saw was somewhere in the lower stands, 3 fans had gotten together with 6 uchiwa that read "５人が大好き" ("we love all five members"), which I'm sure the guys saw and were moved by ♥
But then, eventually the lights went down and the show started! First, Marius came onstage to announce Sexy Boyz and Sexy Show (Marius starting the show in English has become pretty much the norm now, and it always cracks me up a little to think that I'm one of maybe 10 people max who can understand what he's saying in the whole arena XD). First, he introduced Jinguji and Genki, then Sexy Show as Sou, Gengen, Matsukura, and Fu and Tajima, which was odd. I guess they just didn't have anywhere else to introduce Fu and Tajima? idk. But then after that, Kishi, Aran, Reia, and Takaito also came onstage and Marius introduced them as well.
That led in to Marius introducing Kento, Fuma, and Shori, and all the juniors and Marius and Sou went offstage as Kent, Fuma and Shori came on to perform BAD BOYS. It seemed, sadly, as if they reused a lot of what they planned for Kobe, thus excluding Marius and Sou as well as all the juniors in the Gamushara Sexy Natsu Matsuri (henceforth referred to as "the Matsuri" so I don't have to type that all out lol). As always with Johnny's, it seemed like they'd had maybe 5 rehearsals tops, less for the people in the Matsuri, and the whole thing was a bit messy. But at any rate, BAD BOYS was pretty much the same as usual; Kento and Shori did the usual fanservice (it's always cute that Shori seems so giggly about Kento touching him despite the fact that he's supposed to be badass |D;) and Shori did his usual not-so-badass cute little hopping and generally derpy dancing. The girls who were sitting in front of us were pretty great and started giggling at how un-badass Shori was.
Next up was DokiDoki Breakout!!, and all the Juniors and Marius and Sou came back onstage! Most of the song was the guys all running around the catwalk waving and stuff, so I definitely couldn't see all of what was going on, but on the bright side, Gengen came up the catwalk right in front of me and saw me and waved to me~ He's so cute, ahhh. ♥
Up next was Ghost, which was staged unfortunately in that Kento, Fuma, and Shori stood up on the elevated platform on the center stage while Marius, Sou, and Sexy Boyz/Sexy Show stood around the platform also on the center stage. As a result, I didn't really watch Kento, Fuma, and Shori much, though they did do the usual fanservice between all three of them. I was too busy watching Matsukura be super adorable and enthusiastic at dancing, and Marius working his model walk, oh my god. How is that kid so sassy and fabulous, I don't even know. He's going to be a total superstar when he grows up.
After Ghost came the first of the songs from the new single to be performed, Boku wa Kimi no Subete ni Naritai. Marius announced it in English, saying something like "And now here's a love song for you, it's going to be really romantic so please listen!" or something. It was adorable. |D; But then everyone left the stage except Fuma, Kento, and Shori, who stood at stand mics on the elevated part of the center stage. Shori and Kento performed like good boys, but Fuma was really not into it, sort of leaning on his mic stand and looking disinterested. He was in bad shape for this whole show, so soon after the single announcement, and I really felt bad for him.
After that came Otoko never give up, which started with Fuma calling out to the Juniors asking if they were ready. They were supposed to yell "oooh!" (sort of a manly "yeah!" in Japanese) in response, but it was sort of un-energetic, and apparently they weren't loud enough, because he made them yell it several more times before announcing that this was the new single. No one said any information about it, or "please buy it," just… this is it. They all seemed pretty unenthusiastic about it. This number was particularly a mess, too, because the Juniors who were in the Matsuri didn't know the choreography to speak of. Of course, I as watching Reia, who's usually quite good at the choreography, and he was clearly watching one of the non-Matsuri Juniors beside him to remember the moves when it wasn't the chorus. This was one of the messiest parts of the show, and it didn't help at all that Kento, Shori, and Fuma looked somewhat like robots, doing the moves without any style or emphasis.
Next was BaiBai Dubai, for which Marius and Sou came back. They did the moves sort of loosely in a giant circle around the catwalk, in clusters of a few juniors + one Sexy Zone member. Since I was close to center stage/"spoke" catwalk, I didn't get to see this very well during the 10 am show. At the end of BaiBai Dubai, Shori announced Kento's solo corner in his really cool ~foreign accent (the one that he did in the King and Queen and Joker making, and also in Marius's first English corner from Sexy Zone Channel).
Kento's solo section started with Teleportation, which no one in the audience really expected but then they got really excited for it when the intro music played XD; The autotune in that song is crazy, though; it really does not sound like Kento XD;;; The choreo was similar to the 2013 New Year con, though. After Teleportation, he moved to a piano that had been set out on the catwalk, and announced that he was going to sing the song "from JMK" before singing Eien no Merry Go Round. During this, they showed clips from the JMK Loveholic show, and all of Kento's highly annoying fans were highly annoying as usual, screaming his name and stuff while he was trying to perform. He seriously has some of the most annoying fans I've ever experienced in any JE group. =__=; Up last was Candy, but sadly, he didn't perform with any of the usual Juniors.
Next was Shori, who kept all the Juniors to himself. XD He started with Onaji Sora no Shita, dancing along a line of four sets of Juniors. I don't know what the other pairs were (they probably were comprised of Tajima, Fu, Genki, Takaito, Aran, and Kishi, though I can't swear to it), but at the end of the row was Jinguji and Reia, who were making the most serious faces and trying not to make eye contact. It really seemed like they knew that if they met eyes they'd end up grinning or giggling and distracted (and this theory was proved true later, so say tuned for the 1 pm show XD). Next Shori did Summer Nude, followed by Watashi no Okite. It's always hilarious to watch Jinguji do Watashi no Okite because he just sucks at being at all effeminate or girly (even SHORI is better than him!), but seeing it with Genki and Reia was a new treat! Reia is always cute and girly and adorable in his dancing, so seeing his do the little hip shakes and stuff was expectedly adorable, but oh man was Genki getting into it! He was really being cute and working the girlish moves, and he and Reia was pretty great to watch.
Up next was Fuma's solo corner, and it started with the 2013 New Year Con intro in English for rouge. It's something about how he can't get the other person out of his mind and he's lonely without them, but they always leave behind their rouge (lipstick) when they leave with a kiss. This time, it was really cool, though; when he said the end lines, he fell from the stage dramatically into the darkness before they brought the lights up again. He had the same costume from the 2013 New Year con, but this time he had a bedazzled "pimp hat," also XD I generally love Fuma's solos and his style, and seeing rouge and FaKe back to back was pretty amazing ♥ He did a really good job.
After Fuma's solo corner, Kento came out in the upper stands and was once again overwhelmed by his annoying fans. He couldn't really get a word out through their screaming and grabbing for him for a while (and it annoys me that he sometimes panders to the ones who misbehave and yell things to him when he's trying to talk =___=;), but finally, he told us all to sit down for a break and talked for a while about how cute all the fans were before announcing Kishi and Aran, who came out on the opposite side of the Arena in the upper stands, as well. They talked a little bit about Kin Kyori Renai, and then told us to keep sitting and they'd sing some songs while we rested. This was… sort of instead of an MC? I don't really know, but it was lazy and odd. While Kishi and Aran (and maybe members of Sexy Zone? It was hard for me to see the uppser stands) sang Namae no Nai Omoi up in the upper stands, Marius, Sou, Gengen, Matsukura, Reia, Jinguji, Genki, Fu, and Tajima walked up and down the aisles of the lower stands, waving at fans.
This continued for Kimi wo Hanasanai Kimi wo Hanarenai, also, and was pretty much the laziest use of time in a concert that I've ever experienced. After that, they did Sexy Zone, and everyone went back to the stage and ran around the catwalk some. No one was sure if we were allowed to stand up or not, but we continued to sit while they did Sexy Zone and then keep the challenge, another B-side from the new single. Marius and Sou stayed onstage for this, which was really awkward, but at one point, when they crossed paths, they hugged, and that was cute.
After that, all the Juniors and Marius and Sou left the stage, and Kento, Shori, and Fuma got prop guns. Kento told us that in Kobe, the fangirls would all go "ahh!" when shot at with the fake gun… (how do you know, you haven't even done it there yet?) and then Fuma was like you could also go "ahhhh~" (the sound he made was really sexual). =__=; They told us to do that when we got shot at, and then proceeded to sing the final song from the new single, Ashita ni Mukatte Ute, which has a strange Western cowboy theme. Eventually, they stated to do an ad lib where first they each shot at the audience so we could do the "ahh!" thing, and then Kento "accidentally shot" Fuma. Fuma fell on the stage, and then when he talked, his voice was really high-pitched and chipmunk-y. He yelled at Kento for shooting him, but it eventually devolved into him singing Ari no Mama de ("Let it Go" in Japanese, from the movie Frozen). Then, he shot Kento back, and Kento's voice got really deep XD Kento decided it was Shori's fault, then shot Shori. Shori's mic was chipmunk-y first, but then turned deep, then back to chipmunk, and Shori got all giggly and didn't know what to do XD; Eventually, they finished the song, and on the last chorus, Sexy Boyz and Sexy Show came up on the center stage. Sou was mocking their silly dance, but then Kento shot at him/the entire center stage and all of the Juniors and Marius and Sou fell down as if shot. When Kento, Shori, and Fuma left the stage, Sexy Boyz and Sexy Show stood up again, but then Marius's mic was really low, and Sou's was chipmunk-y XD Marius tried to say "hamariusu," (Marius's catchphrase made by Yoko from Kanjani8, a pun on "hamaru" or "to be obsessed with" and his name) but it was super uncute, and Sou was like "that's so wrong!" (what he actually said was "hamariusu ja nee yo!" with the connotation of like, Marius saying it in a super deep voice wasn't cute/wouldn't make people obsessed with him).
After their voices got back to normal, Sexy Boyz and Sexy Show performed Kono Te wo Tsunagou, just like on Shounen Club last month (two months ago? I forget), and also just like in Yokohama Arena. I think the costumes were the same as YokoAri, not the same ones they wore on TV. We finally stood up after we saw some other parts of the arena standing up. XD
Then Marius, Sou, Gengen, and Matsukura left, and Kishi and Aran came out to perform Dial Up with Genki and Jinguji. Unfortunately, they hadn't bothered to change the spacing, so even though Miyachika wasn't there, they left room for him in the formation, making it awkwardly off center a lot XD;; After that, Reia, Fu, Takaito, and Tajima returned to perform Happy Happy Lucky You, and Fu put his arm around Reia at one point XD Those two are such good friends, it's always cute when they do fanservice.
Then all the juniors left again, and Shori returned wearing the strangest origami crane print suit and hat. He said he was going to do his new solo, and proudly added that he'd written the lyrics himself… only, his voice cracked when he said "write" and it was cute XD;; The lyrics were very Shori-esque, too, including the English "you are so special just the way you are." XD
Up next was Fuma's new solo, and it gave me a lot of feelings. Fuma wrote on J-web about how he wanted it to be a "fight song" that suited him, and it really resonated with me. It felt a lot like Fuma was pumping himself and the group up to push through this current mess, and it was really moving.
After Fuma's solo corner was… Don't Stop Sexy Boyz!! I bet you weren't expecting that. I wasn't, either, and neither was anyone in the arena. XD We all screamed and were excited.
Finally was Kento's solo. Before the solo there was a skit between Kento, dressed in a baseball cap, nerdy glasses, and a backpack to look like an otaku or something, and Anderson Casey, all in English. Kento talked about being in love with some girl, and Anderson told him to go for it, but Kento replied, "But I'm aflaid… that she will say… NOOOO!!!" Not only was his "no" really overdramatic, but the way he said "aflaid" was my new favourite Kentynglish, right up there with "red gween white pink and yellow" in Candy. XD; Later in the skit, he messed up the English, saying "I can't feel it, but I can see it inside" rather than the other way around. XD; Also, he forgot his prop, a paper airplane that he threw into the audience later. Anderson had to duck off stage, and returned with it and put it on the bench much later. XD;; Oops.
After that, Marius, Sou, and Juniors who were in the Matsuri came back out to perform the Gamushara theme song, and then the last spurt began! They sand Lady Diamond, Real Sexy, and Sexy Summer ni Yuki ga Furu, but sadly, almost no one came by our catwalk. Jinguji did walk by at one point, but I think he gave me a major side eye when he saw my Reia uchiwa. Oops. XD;;
Last, they did King and Queen and Joker, and this was the first time that all five members performed a song together with choreography as equals. A bit sad that the last song was also the first song, but I think that Kobe being only 3, the lack of space, and the lack of rehearsals compounded the issue as much as the management's ill will. Sadly, Kento and Shori didn't do their usual fanservice. Reia was standing at the edge of the center stage facing in my general direction, and I think he might had seen my uchiwa, but most of the time, he was making eye contact with an older junior who was in his line of sight, winking at him and smiling at him flirtily and stuff |D;;; Oh well.
They all left briefly after that, but of course only let us call for a little white for an encore before coming back due to time constraints. First, they did Butsukacchau Yo with Sexy Zone on carts and the Juniors on the catwalk. Naturally, Marius and Sou had to share a cart, because neither of them counts for a whole member =___=; Then, they did Kanzen My Way, and finally, Anderson Casey saw me in the audience! I always try to get the other half guys to see me, so I was happy XD;; However, Reia walked past me and turned the other way right before coming close to me, so he didn't see me, sad T__T; The Jinguji fan behind me also felt sad for me. I love Sexy Zone fans (and I guess the associate Junior fans?) because they're always so kind to one another. ♥
Then finally they all said goodbye one more time and did the "We are… Sexy Zone!" thing before filing around the center stage in a circle in order to leave. They walked around one whole rotation, waving at the audience, but then Reia and Fu weren't paying attention and almost went off the wrong side of the stage before realizing and running back to the other side. XDD Good job, guys.
And that was the end of the first show! After that, we filed out as per usual, and we had about an hour until we went back in for the 1 pm show. yomimashou and I camped out around the venue with a bunch of other girls and ate our sad lunch, a few onigiri. We also didn't have a chance to rest our feet, sigh. But soon enough, we headed back into the venue, this time to the stands for the 1 pm show!
one pm
Our seats for the second show were in the first row of the stands on the "back" side of the stage-- while the center stage was a circle stage, as always, there was still a designated "front" and "back" for the most part. We were really close to the catwalk, though, and since we were in the front row, we had a clear view of the guys going around! We happened to be sitting between two mother-daughter combinations, which was pretty cute XD The moms ended up holding uchiwa and penlights for their daughters |D;;;
The penlight campaign happened again: more green than yellow, but a good percent, maybe 1,000 people. Maybe more-- I'm not good at estimating. Sadly, I didn't see any exciting uchiwa this time, but I hope that the penlights were visible to the guys ♥
The opening was the same as before, with Marius announcing the juniors and Sou, and then BAD BOYS, with Kento, Shori, and Fuma. Then, for DokiDoki Break Out!!, Fuma had his jacket off one shouler to look cool (?) but it kept almost falling off, and he had to fix it XD;; Not so cool, Fuma. Ghost was also the same, but we saw it from the other side; Marius was still fabulous. XD
Leading into Boku wa Kimi no Subete ni Naritai, Marius's English was different from earlier and clearly unplanned, he said some "um" and "well"s. XD It's cute how when they tell Marius to speak English he doesn't plan it at all. |D;; I love how he talks like a valley girl in English. Fuma was even less into it this time, actually sitting down on the stage rather than doing what he was choreographed to do, and he just looked really sad the whole time, poor guy ;;; Then came Otoko never give up, and again, the Juniors were not all that into saying "ohhh!" …but Fu was really into it. XD He was doing a sort of samurai-esque pose, and was really enthusiastically yelling "ohh!" XD;
For BaiBai Dubai next, I got a much better view of the guys on the catwalk! First, I noticed Reia moving around a little slower than he was supposed to… because he was stopping to wink at and flirt with various other Juniors. |D;;; Then, Kento was with a few of the bigger, less-well-known juniors, and Nagata Jiei was completely off the choreography XD He kept trying to go the wrong direction, which is difficult when you're holding onto the other people you're dancing with XD At one point he messed up his footing so bad he almost fell off the stage XD;;
Up next were the solo corners, but Kento's were about the same, though he didn't specifically announce JMK the second time through. Shori's was about the same as well, but Jinguji and Reia's little twosome got even cuter ♥ This time, they happened to meet eyes, and both of them grinned, like they couldn't help it. They looked into one another's eyes for a moment while smiling, but then Jinguji ended up going the wrong direction with his arms, and Reia giggled. Adorable! After that, rouge and FaKe were about the same; still amazing. ♥
Before Namae no Nai Omoi, Kento did the same little talk with Kishi and Aran, and then the juniors and Marius and Sou came out. But then, by some miracle, despite not having walked in that aisle before, Reia came down near me! I was pretty far from him, but somehow, by some amazing luck, he saw my uchiwa, then me, and smiled before mouthing "thank you~" to me. ♥ I'm so happy I could show him I was here supporting him again!
The juniors were still moving around during Kimi wo Hanasanai Kimi wo Hanarenai, but then they had to get onto the stage for Sexy Zone. Sou and Gengen met up with one another before running towards the catwalk, but while Sou made it towards the stairs, Gengen got trapped behind a huge line of tiny juniors XD; Sou turned around and was like D:? when he saw, and waited for Gengen, then they ran up on the stage together. Cuuuuute. Those two have really been adorable together recently~
Up next was Sexy Zone, and Marius said something cute in English, like "let's go!" or something. After that was keep the challenge, but this time, they told us to stand up, rather than letting us wonder what was going on XD;; Before they got the guns, Fuma, Kento, and Shori made an odd announcement, with Fuma saying "We didn't think so many people would come out today, so to show our gratitude, we're going to do another promotional event with three members." It didn't make sense and he didn't really sound genuine saying it, so I'm not really sure what was up with that, but since then, Kobe came to light, and… I think that says a lot about what Fuma was feeling. Ashita ni Mukatte Ute was about the same as before, again with them "shooting" the audience, then one another, and then finally Marius and Sou, who had come onstage for Kono Te wo Tsunagou. This time, however, their voices didn't change, but instead, they talked about how they had gone to heaven. Sou said that Marius was an angel, which was adorable. ♥ They then tried to get Marius to talk on the stop, which resulted in some seriously garbled Japanese that everyone sort of giggled at, sigh. ;___; But Sou hugged Marius after that, and Marius didn't seem hurt.
They did Kono Te wo Tsunagou, and then Dial Up and Happy Happy Lucky You went pretty much the same. When Shori came out for his solo, he asked, "Do you want me to do a solo now?" and actually… didn't really get a very enthusiastic response from the crowd. I feel bad for him, but at the same time, I hope that people felt the same way that I did-- That Kento, Fuma, and Shori didn't need ~15 minutes of solo time each while Marius and Sou were barely onstage at all.
Fuma's solo went about the same as before, and then Kento's (he didn't forget his prop or screw up the English this time, thankfully!), and then Gamushara was about the same, as well. After that was the last spurt, and sometime in here, Gengen saw me again! He's seriously the cutest little thing ♥ Sadly, Fuma seemed really out of it and unhappy the whole time, and wasn't meeting the audience's eyes, really, or anything. After hearing what he said at the Kobe shows, I think he must have had a lot on his mind and in his heart during the Saitama shows. On a lighter note, I also sometimes worry about Kishi… he seems so concentrated on doing all the dances as intensely as possible, I'm afraid he's going to fall off the stage or something. XD Tamamoto Fumito, with whom I made eye contact during Crea, saw me again, and smiled for me, yay. Sadly, I didn't get Inoue Miuzki or Hashimoto Ryo's attention, so that I could have the set of Kaneda, Tamamoto, Inoue, and Hashimoto. XD;;
Also, according to this source, Gengen wasn't paying attention to where he was going and bumped into Sou during the last spurt, but then Sou hugged him. Cuuuute. ♥ I didn't see it, but I really wish I did! XD
I didn't really see much else of note through Lady Diamond, Real Sexy, Sexy Summer, King and Queen and Joker, or the encore, but I do have to mention-- not once in the whole show did any of the guys actually say anything along the lines of "please buy the new single." They mentioned that the new single existed, and that's it. They didn't push it, or talk about the concept, or say anything positive about it at all. It didn't really seem like they wanted to, and I'm proud of them for staying true to themselves and not letting the management push them into anything.
And that's it! I'm really really sorry it took this long x__x; The show was sort of a mess and definitely unfortunate in terms of Marius and Sou, but I enjoyed it for what it was. Still, I'm crossing my fingers that the next Sexy Zone concert will be better.