J-11 5/20 -5/22
5/20 Mitsuko
Ku-chan dropped me off early at the station and arrived in Umeda around mid morning. I don't really remember what I did prior to meeting up with Gen, but I assume not much. I met with with Gen and her husband outside of Umegei to pick up my ticket, since it seems that I had managed to give Gen the wrong ticket number or something. According to Umegei website I had to pick up my ticket 24h ahead and I had forgotten. Luckily, they still gave me the ticket even though it was past the 24h limit.
I got to meet Mr. Gen! He exists! A lovely person. We had lunch together at La Pausa and I sighed in nostalgia. For those that don't know, that restaurant is across the street from Umegei and I spent far too much time in there back in 2008. All you can drink bar! After lunch, we wondered back towards the station and parted ways with Mr.Gen. Then we trekked back to Umegei for Mitsuko.
Mitsuko is probably one of my least favorite so far of Wildhorn's works. I had been super excited to see girly Touko (Aran Kei) and more than amused to see Mate Kamaras as her partner. Imagine my surprise when Mate started singing and speaking in Japanese. Not to mention Nacchan (Otsuki Sayu) and Hamako (Mirai Yuuki) were lovely. Sadly, my amusement ended there. About halfway through act one I was getting bored and slightly horrified with the plot. By Act II I was clawing at my seat and eventually fell asleep (sorry Gen). I only woke up briefly to see Touko in a pretty white dress and Akane Liv sing. Otherwise.... plot happened and then Touko was old and cranky and her kids hated her then she died alone. At least the finale was cute with Mate and Touko.
Point is Touko was very good, but she couldn't save the show for me. The character didn't actually do anything interesting and the pacing was so fast I couldn't keep up with what little plot there was. I would have honestly rather have seen the concert version.
Gen and I decided to recover from that show at Yodobashi Camera. We found a softbank store so I could charge my phone again. Meanwhile we sat down at the cafe nearby and had some sweet stuff and talked about everything and anything. It was really good to catch up with her. Once my phone was fully charged we decided to go do karaoke. That was fun!!! We found an okay place with a decent Takarazuka collection near the station and sang until we were sore. We both figured out neither of us can sing BeruBara and only the chorus of Endless Dream.
Sadly afterwards we had to part ways and I made my trek over to Elise's for the night. The next day I would be going to see Soragumi!
5/21 A Beautiful Life/Luna Rossa
I was torn between excitement and dread that morning. I headed into mura in order to get into the toujitsuken line and got myself an A-seki on the first floor by accident (I meant to point to the second floor...). Also I managed to forget my opera glasses. I quickly regretted it 10 mins into the show.
I was incredibly happy because it was my first time seeing Soragumi in the Grand Theater and it had been four years since I had last seen them at all. Except, four years ago the troupe was completely different. It felt a bit like I had been rediscovering the troupe all over again. The show itself was decent. The writing was solid if a bit hard to understand. The music was incredibly gorgeous, but I only think two singers did it much justice. I was blown over by Miho Keiko and the power of her voice. She was actually my favorite character in the show. I also managed to thaw my indifference towards Ouki Kaname. The role suited her perfectly. Although, I was far more impressed by the appearance of musumeyaku ninjas. Yuuhi and Sumika worked very well together and I actually enjoyed Sumika's portrayal of ChaCha.
The revue though was what won me over completely. I could feel the power of Soragumi in every number and I nearly cried at the chuzume when Micchan appeared on the ginkyou with all of Soragumi behind her. I felt like I was at home again. The music and dancing were amazing and I loved every single number. They gave me musumeyaku in saris and Chii-chan (Hasumi Yuuya) in leather. How could I not love this? Although my favorite scene was the Bazaar scene with Aoi-san smoking a hooka <=
I hung around for a bit afterwards for demachi and watched people go in and out. After a while, I got bored and decided to head back to Elise's for the night.
5/22 Sumire-uri
I could barely contain my excitement for this day. I had never gone to a Sumire-uri before and didn't know what to expect. Sadly the weather was completely against us. This was a wonderful time to remember that I had killed my umbrella. We decided to have breakfast in Sorio so I could also get an umbrella there. The weather was awful and I still got wet because the wind was blowing the rain everywhere. Once inside we meet up with Maureen and I was overwhelmed by the sheer number of people clamoring to take pictures with of the 99th class. They were all so cute I just wanted to take them all into my pocket and feed them skittles.
Elise eventually encouraged me to pick a group to give money too and to get my photo taken. The first girl I picked was absolutely terrified and couldn't manage a smile for the photo. It was so cute. I took my photo with a few other girls and I couldn't help but be amused by how nervous they all were.
Then the 98th class appeared and it was even more of a bloodbath. Not only were you competing with other fans, but you had the 99th class that wanted to get photos with their sempai. It was adorable. I couldn't decide what I liked better the 99ths with their stoic faces or the sempais with their "yay look at my baby" faces. The 98ths weren't as nervous as their kouhais. In fact I was pretty struck by how poised a good chunk of them were and how lovely they were. I was in particular drawn to two very tall ones (one of them whom in their excitement to take a picture with me nearly took out her classmate with the sign she was holding). The other one... was just incredibly lovely and charismatic. I didn't have the courage to ask any of their names.
Once we were properly exhausted from the crowds, I managed to meet up with my old Eriko-kai friend K-san. I was overjoyed to see her and we hugged and jumped like little school girls. I caught up with her briefly before Elises friend appeared and we went off to have lunch together. We ate in Sorio II and had a good chat about whatever came to mind. I discovered there what Japan's idea of a hot dog was. Regardless it was actually pretty good.
Afterwards Maureen, Elise and I hung out for a bit before heading back home. It was sunday so there wasn't much to do, except just flail at each other and compare photos. it was a very good day.
Tomorrow I would see Soragumi again and have the Walk of Doom.
Ku-chan dropped me off early at the station and arrived in Umeda around mid morning. I don't really remember what I did prior to meeting up with Gen, but I assume not much. I met with with Gen and her husband outside of Umegei to pick up my ticket, since it seems that I had managed to give Gen the wrong ticket number or something. According to Umegei website I had to pick up my ticket 24h ahead and I had forgotten. Luckily, they still gave me the ticket even though it was past the 24h limit.
I got to meet Mr. Gen! He exists! A lovely person. We had lunch together at La Pausa and I sighed in nostalgia. For those that don't know, that restaurant is across the street from Umegei and I spent far too much time in there back in 2008. All you can drink bar! After lunch, we wondered back towards the station and parted ways with Mr.Gen. Then we trekked back to Umegei for Mitsuko.
Mitsuko is probably one of my least favorite so far of Wildhorn's works. I had been super excited to see girly Touko (Aran Kei) and more than amused to see Mate Kamaras as her partner. Imagine my surprise when Mate started singing and speaking in Japanese. Not to mention Nacchan (Otsuki Sayu) and Hamako (Mirai Yuuki) were lovely. Sadly, my amusement ended there. About halfway through act one I was getting bored and slightly horrified with the plot. By Act II I was clawing at my seat and eventually fell asleep (sorry Gen). I only woke up briefly to see Touko in a pretty white dress and Akane Liv sing. Otherwise.... plot happened and then Touko was old and cranky and her kids hated her then she died alone. At least the finale was cute with Mate and Touko.
Point is Touko was very good, but she couldn't save the show for me. The character didn't actually do anything interesting and the pacing was so fast I couldn't keep up with what little plot there was. I would have honestly rather have seen the concert version.
Gen and I decided to recover from that show at Yodobashi Camera. We found a softbank store so I could charge my phone again. Meanwhile we sat down at the cafe nearby and had some sweet stuff and talked about everything and anything. It was really good to catch up with her. Once my phone was fully charged we decided to go do karaoke. That was fun!!! We found an okay place with a decent Takarazuka collection near the station and sang until we were sore. We both figured out neither of us can sing BeruBara and only the chorus of Endless Dream.
Sadly afterwards we had to part ways and I made my trek over to Elise's for the night. The next day I would be going to see Soragumi!
5/21 A Beautiful Life/Luna Rossa
I was torn between excitement and dread that morning. I headed into mura in order to get into the toujitsuken line and got myself an A-seki on the first floor by accident (I meant to point to the second floor...). Also I managed to forget my opera glasses. I quickly regretted it 10 mins into the show.
I was incredibly happy because it was my first time seeing Soragumi in the Grand Theater and it had been four years since I had last seen them at all. Except, four years ago the troupe was completely different. It felt a bit like I had been rediscovering the troupe all over again. The show itself was decent. The writing was solid if a bit hard to understand. The music was incredibly gorgeous, but I only think two singers did it much justice. I was blown over by Miho Keiko and the power of her voice. She was actually my favorite character in the show. I also managed to thaw my indifference towards Ouki Kaname. The role suited her perfectly. Although, I was far more impressed by the appearance of musumeyaku ninjas. Yuuhi and Sumika worked very well together and I actually enjoyed Sumika's portrayal of ChaCha.
The revue though was what won me over completely. I could feel the power of Soragumi in every number and I nearly cried at the chuzume when Micchan appeared on the ginkyou with all of Soragumi behind her. I felt like I was at home again. The music and dancing were amazing and I loved every single number. They gave me musumeyaku in saris and Chii-chan (Hasumi Yuuya) in leather. How could I not love this? Although my favorite scene was the Bazaar scene with Aoi-san smoking a hooka <=
I hung around for a bit afterwards for demachi and watched people go in and out. After a while, I got bored and decided to head back to Elise's for the night.
5/22 Sumire-uri
I could barely contain my excitement for this day. I had never gone to a Sumire-uri before and didn't know what to expect. Sadly the weather was completely against us. This was a wonderful time to remember that I had killed my umbrella. We decided to have breakfast in Sorio so I could also get an umbrella there. The weather was awful and I still got wet because the wind was blowing the rain everywhere. Once inside we meet up with Maureen and I was overwhelmed by the sheer number of people clamoring to take pictures with of the 99th class. They were all so cute I just wanted to take them all into my pocket and feed them skittles.
Elise eventually encouraged me to pick a group to give money too and to get my photo taken. The first girl I picked was absolutely terrified and couldn't manage a smile for the photo. It was so cute. I took my photo with a few other girls and I couldn't help but be amused by how nervous they all were.
Then the 98th class appeared and it was even more of a bloodbath. Not only were you competing with other fans, but you had the 99th class that wanted to get photos with their sempai. It was adorable. I couldn't decide what I liked better the 99ths with their stoic faces or the sempais with their "yay look at my baby" faces. The 98ths weren't as nervous as their kouhais. In fact I was pretty struck by how poised a good chunk of them were and how lovely they were. I was in particular drawn to two very tall ones (one of them whom in their excitement to take a picture with me nearly took out her classmate with the sign she was holding). The other one... was just incredibly lovely and charismatic. I didn't have the courage to ask any of their names.
Once we were properly exhausted from the crowds, I managed to meet up with my old Eriko-kai friend K-san. I was overjoyed to see her and we hugged and jumped like little school girls. I caught up with her briefly before Elises friend appeared and we went off to have lunch together. We ate in Sorio II and had a good chat about whatever came to mind. I discovered there what Japan's idea of a hot dog was. Regardless it was actually pretty good.
Afterwards Maureen, Elise and I hung out for a bit before heading back home. It was sunday so there wasn't much to do, except just flail at each other and compare photos. it was a very good day.
Tomorrow I would see Soragumi again and have the Walk of Doom.