Once again, I'm sorry for the lateness, but I'm back with a report for one of the Gamushara Sexy Natsu Matsuri shows~ The first show I attended was on August 3rd, and was Team Mu vs Team Sha. It was the last show of the first day these teams played against one another, and it was also my first time seeing the show, so exciting times were had all around. XD;
August 3rd: Team Mu vs. Team Sha
I was surprised upon arrival to see how much more organized the Matsuri was than the only other J's Party that I'd been in the arena for. Unlike before, when they'd taken forever to call people number by number, they got us into number order preemptively, then let us in in lines, which went much easier. Once inside, after ripping our tickets, they kept us in two even lines going down the many flights of stairs (EX Theatre's arena is in a basement), which was amazing, because last time I thought I was going to be killed in a stampede XD There were staff members telling us not to run all the way into the arena, so it was much more well-controlled than it had been before.
When we got into the arena, we were confused to discover a wall of people dividing the arena in half. What we didn't realize was that there was a catwalk, which there hadn't been before, and that people were crowding around it. But instead of fighting the crowd we decided on going towards the edge of the stage on stage left/house right. We weren't too far away from the stage, which was nice!
We endured standing there for the hour until the show started, but finally, the house went dark and Marius announced in English that the show was starting! The curtain dropped, and Sexy Boyz and Sexy Show, plus ten backup juniors (I recall Vasayegh Hikaru and Tanimura Ryuichi but no one else, sorry!) singing the Gamushara theme. They did some cute choreography between the two groups, but then they announced the two teams, first Mu, who came out on the side-balcony on house right, and then Sha, who came out on the side-balcony on house left. Jinguji had been trying to seem cool the whole time, of course, but when Reia came out, it seemed like he was trying even harder to be cool XD For his part, Reia seemed really nervous, poor baby. He looked nervous up until the Performance Battle segment in all the shows.
They started of the show after that with a senpai medley, starting with Sexy Zone. Marius said the "Sexy Rose" line to start out, with his pointedly hard R sound, which was cute. Sexy Zone was followed by Everybody Go, with Sexy Show in the front. It was at this point that I started noticing that Gengen seemed in a lot of pain; he'd only injured himself less than a week earlier, and he still wasn't able to do all the dances fully. He also looked like he was wincing and in a lot of pain, not smily like he usually is ;;; It was rally worrying.
After that was Ee ja nai ka, and then Suki Ya Nen Osaka, during which it changes from Boyz and Show to Yasui with Reia and Takaito. They stayed around through Za ABC and Yume Monogatari, and then Boyz and Show came back for Ultra Music Power and NYC. Gengen seemed a little more peppy to be singing songs by his beloved Yamada-kun, so I was happy XD After that was Kibou Yell, then Garasu no Shounen, during which Jinguji and Genki seemed to continue the legacy of Hikaru and Yabu from JUMP doing this song together (since I feel like Jinguji and Genki are comparable to Kento and Fuma, or Yabu and Hikaru) XD; Next was Love You Only, then Real Face, and then A•RA•SHI by Boyz and Music For the People with Show. Sou, Gengen, and Matsukura's dancing during Music For the People was seriously amazing, even despite Gengen's injury. The medley then ended with Jinguji and Genki singing Sekai ni Hitotsu Dake no Hana, without doing the hand motions for some reason. Instead, they did some incredibly awkward and staged fanservice at the end, where Jinchan awkwardly had to chance what hand his mic was in so that he could pinch Genki's cheek, and Genki did not look so thrilled about it. XD;
Up next they moved into a Japanese-style Sengoku Period-themed routine, starting with Marius singing really Japanese-style solo. Juniors danced with fans behind him, and even though he was lip syncing, his voice and singing really are amazing. This then moved into a swordfighting scene, but sadly, Gengen wasn't in it (he was still recovering from his injury), and so Genki couldn't be in half of it, either, because he was supposed to be fighting Gengen. Marius and Sou did some really great up-in-your-face fanservice, too. ♥ There was so much choreographed fanservice in this, it was really amazing.
Next was Tokyo Boogie Woogie, sung by Jinguji, who looked like he was trying to take himself very seriously, and thus looked goofy. It moved into Tokyo Sinfonita with Sexy Boyz and Sexy Show, with some really cool dance moves. All the members of Show really are amazing dancers. After this, Yasui announced that those three numbers were representative of the Sengoku period in Japanese history, and then the Showa and Heisei periods. I'm not really sure what happened to the Edo, Meiji, and Taishop periods between Sengoku and Showa, but I won't ask questions. XD;
Next were the first Mu and Sha corners, which were supposed to be representative of countries; I'm not sure why XD Team Mu was supposed to be Italy, and sang Itoshii no Playgirl, and then Sha was supposed to be America (New York, because that's a country) and sang A to Z. At one point, they came out onto the catwalk, and Reia saw me and gave me a peace sign ♥
After these corners came Paraiso, with Marius singing up on the house right side balcony, with Jinguji and Genki on the stage. Marius's singing really is amazing, but at one part, where Genki and Jinguji got to have solo lines, Jinguji made me laugh with how bad his English pronunciation was (even compared to Genki) and also how hard he was trying to make his voice not so high pitched. XD;;; Keep trying, Jinchan.
After that came Yasui's first solo, Kareha no Kage (which was really catchy and yet there's no recording, sob), with Jinguji and Genki, Takaito, Reia, Tajima, and Fu backdancing. At one point, Jinguji ended up behind Reia, and it became obvious that Jinguji was watching Reia for the choreography. When he moved in front of Reia, he was looking over his shoulder, and his steps were about half a second late XD Why is it that Jinguji never knows the choreography to anything? |D;; Lucky that he had Reia there for him.
Up next, leading into the Performance Battle corner, was Fight All Night, staged as Sexy Boyz vs Sexy Show. The whole number was basically 100% shirt-grabbing fanservice between every permutation of all six of them, but most notable were, of course, Marius and Sou, and then
Jinguji and Gengen, who were surprisingly, um, into it. XD I seriously love that sort of competitive-themed staged fanservice, so this number was my jam XD;
That segued into BAD BOYS, during which the competing teams came out at the top of he stage. It started out with Fu and Reia taunting one another, in the spirit of Team Mu versus Team Sha, but then Marius and Sou came back, and, WOW, Marius and Sou are capable of singing BAD BOYS! Really well, in fact! Sou has always been an amazing performer, and Marius has been getting better so quickly. They both have a really amazing stage presence, and are really great idols. Ugh ;___; They were so good in this show! …meanwhile during BAD BOYS, while everyone was trying to be badass, Vasayegh Hikaru was blowing kisses at the audience |D That kid, I swear. The number ended with Jinguji and Genki yelling at one another that their team would win, and then it moved into the Performance Battle segment!
Yasui came out to explain the Performance battle section, but while he was trying to show it, the magnets weren't strong enough, and the board started falling apart XD He started explaining, but people's faces in the front must have looked like they already knew, because Yasui raised an eyebrow and was like, "I know, you all already know what happened from Twitter, but just hear me out!" XDD Oh Yasui, stop breaking the 4th wall. Anyway, for those who don't know, the performance battle had each team perform, and then they scored by first having us cheer on cue and measuring decibels of the crowd cheering for each team, and then by counting Junior votes. Each Junior put a ball into a box, and the balls counted for two decibels each, giving the Juniors a pretty unfair sway. But I digress.
Before the corner started, Yasui gave us one last note that drumsticks might fly into the audience XD He explained, "I know you probably want to take home the stick Jinguji touched, but we won't have enough then, so please give it to the staff after the show." XD;; Then, the performance battle itself always began with a VTR of each team's rehearsals and what have you. Some of it was reused from the TV show, and some of it might have been unaired, I honestly don't remember During this show, Team Sha performed first, and they did amazing ♥ Jinguji dropped his stick before trying to get it into the can, but when he grabbed another stick to do the trick with, he yelled, "I'll definitely get it in!!" before doing the trick, and he got it in! Also, Reia and Matsura's cymbal routine was super, super cute in real life ♥
Next up was Team Mu's turn. They did well, but unfortunately, Gengen looked like he was in pain the whole time. The day before, he'd been replaced with Jinguji, so we were happy to see him performing again, but he was wincing and just looked like he was really struggling. He also couldn't do the windmill still, and just moved to the back. Poor baby ;___; Fu did his headspin, which was awesome, but when his shirt flipped up, he grinned and was showing off his abs. |D; He's pretty ripped for a sixteen year old, but he really thinks he's sexy, and it was sort of like ahhhh Fu you're a baby stop that XD;;; Finally, Genki did his backflip down the catwalk, which was awesome~ ♥ He did awesome!
Up next was the voting. The Juniors voted first, to keep it as fair as possible, but they hid where the balls were being put so that the crowd's response wouldn't be altered. Of course, I cheered for Reia's team, Team Sha, and they won in terms of decibels! After that, each guy on both teams took out a ball and threw it into the audience, one by one. It turned out that the Juniors had voted evenly, five and five, so team Sha were the winners! I was really happy for them, of course, but a little sad for Team Mu… Gengen started crying almost immediately after Mu's loss was announced, and Hayashi Ren, looked sad as well. Reia glanced down towards team Mu and looked really worried about his friends, which was sweet. ;___; Yasui asked Genki to give a comment, and Genki said that they all had done their best, so he was proud of his team.
After that, Genki, Jinguji, Gengen, and Matsukura had to leave to get ready for the next Boys/Show number, and Yasui talked to the remaining six members. Mizuki talked about how he'd been sad when they lost earlier, but he stumbled on his words and everyone called out how cuuuute it was. Yasui said the challenge seemed fun and he wanted to try, to which Reia told him he should do all the challenges alone XD Takaito then suggested that he try playing the piano blindfolded, completely deadpanned, and everyone was a bit baffled. Oh Takaito, so awkward. XD; Hayashi Ren still looked sad, and Fu was cuddling him the whole time, which was adorable.
Eventually, they moved on to the second half of the show, which started with the Sexy Zone Medley from Kouhaku (yes, they are still doing that thing =___=;): Sexy Zone, then Lady Diamond, and then Sexy Summer ni Yuki ga Furu. Marius and Sou sang all the solo lines, of course, and they sounded A M A Z I N G. They're seriously so freaking talented. After that came Real Sexy, and then Baibai Dubai, and then they added King & Queen & Joker on the end. Marius was the king, Sou was the queen, and Jinguji and Genki shared the Joker lines XD Jinguji was particularly "cool" trying to do a ~Fuma act for the Joker part. XD;;
Following the Sexy Zone Medley was the Mu corner, starting with Arashi's Happiness, leading into NEWS's Koi no ABO. During Koi no ABO, they all had water pistols, and were squirting the audience. XD; Gengen looked like he was having a little bit too much fun with it, and was excitedly squirting the audience, while Fu clearly knew exactly what it was suggesting, and was doing pelvic thrusts while squirting. |D;;; Fuuuu stop that. XD;;; After that came Fire Beat, during which Genki rapped admirably. All of them doing the headbanging was cute. XD
Next was the Sha corner, starting with Jinguji singing Sorafune as a solo… or rather, Jinguji lip-syncing it. |D;;; He's horrible at lip-syncing, so his mouth didn't match the music at all. |D;;; Tajima backdanced by himself, because one-man backdancing is trendy these days, idek. After that, all of Team Sha did Sexy Honey Bunny, and then Tension, which began with Jinguji and Reia standing back to back and singing together. ♥ Then they moved up the stairs, Reia to one side and Jinguji to the other, but Reia kept looking at him the whole time, making googly eyes, only Jinguji didn't look back at him. Reia wasn't bothered, though, and when Jinguji began to sing, he moved over to stand beside him, pointing at him, as if directing the crowd's attention to him. Reia is always looking to show Jinguji off and always seems so proud of him, it's really sweet.
After the Sha corner was Yasui's next solo, Rock U, and I have to say, his Kitayama voice impression was pretty spot on XD Reia was backdancing for him again, and he was amazing, of course ;___; ♥
Then came the Sexy Boyz corner, starting with the Jackson Five song "ABC." This song is often performed in Japanese in Johnny's stuff, but Marius, Jinguji, and Genki sang the fully English version, which was pretty funny. It seemed like Genki and Jinguji were struggling, so I assume Marius requested it be the all English version. |D;;; Next, Marius and Genki cutely perforemd Smile Song together, and then Genki left and Jinguji came back for Danger Zone. Jinguji stood at the top of the steps and acted like he was controlling Marius, who stood below and moved when Jinguji moved his arms, like a puppet. Jinguji was clearly trying to look really sexy, which made me giggle. |D;;;
Up next was the Sexy Show corner, starting with Your Seed, which was adorable knowing how both Sou and Gengen love Hey! Say! JUMP. Their dancing was truly amazing, and Gengen seemed a little bit better, less wincing and in pain. They did Crush next, and when they came onto the catwalk, Gengen happened to see the girl next to me, who was a huge Gengen fan. He saw her, waved at her, then looked at her uchiwa, and did what it said before winking at her. It was so sweet to see him giving a fan exactly what she wanted. What a sweetheart ♥ Last up, they stood together on the stage and sang Give Me… before the show moved into the last few numbers.
There was apparently a longer last spurt with Don't Stop Sexy Boyz in the first show, but at our show, all they did was With You, with Sexy Boyz and Sexy Show on the stage and the teams up in the side balconies. I watched Reia, of course, and he spent most of the time doing things for people in the balcony and waving at people with his uchiwa. There were so many (there are always so many Reia fans), and it was sweet to see him appreciating all of them.
Everyone came back to the stage for Epilogue, the last ballad. Jinguji and Reia were standing with Team Sha right in front of me, and their shoulders were almost touching they were so close; it was adorable. Gengen began to cry again during the ballad, and was pretty much sobbing… it was really sad ;;; Poor kid. I'm glad his leg healed quickly!
After that, everyone left the stage, waving goodbye, from the right or left, but Yasui and Takaito went up the stairs. At the top of the stairs, Takaito grabbed Yasui's arm and said "Wait a minute, Yasui-kun," in the way he does that they'd add an anger mark on Gamushara XD; He said that they should do one more number, and so they preempted being called for an encore (the show had a really tight schedule, doing three shows a day some days) and everyone came back to do Yuuki 100%. Boyz and Show were up in the side balconies, while the teams were on the stage. At one point, Gengen looked down from the balcony and saw me and waved back at me~ He's such a cutie~ When Boyz and Show came back to the stage for the last goodbye, Reia was standing next to Matsukura, but Jinguji wedged himself between them, pressing up close to Reia. XD; They all said goodbye one last time before turning to go, and Reia gave me one last wave as he was going offstage right in front of me~
And whew, that's it! Sorry that it took so long for me to get this out. I'll try to get done with the 4th and the 9th in the near future, too!