KinKi Kids Party 2017.07.16 (20th Ann. Event) Repo

[plumerelle]

Roundtrip from America to Tokyo in a single four day weekend. A ticket that was three times more expensive than I had planned. Sweat. Heat. Outdoor seating in the sweltering Japanese summer.
But KinKi Kids made it all worth it, and so much more.
Would I do this again?
In a heartbeat, yes!


The concert started out moderately cloudy, which was nice, and a few KinKi songs were being played in Yokohama Stadium while everyone got settled. Then the cameras on cranes started panning over the arena, and we could see some fans's faces and uchiwas on the big screens. Someone had already made a "突発ラブ" uchiwa; someone else had a green towel that said KinKi Kids on it and had a cute cartoon. I was impressed. Then, we hear Koichi's voice (though we don't see him in person). He greets us and asks us to call Tsuyoshi out together on his count of "Se~no~!" The screens light up and Tsuyoshi is shown sitting in a couch in some moderately-sized room that looks like a waiting lounge; his hair is long and his front hair is tied back leaving some flowing over his left shoulder; he looks decidedly smooth and well-dressed. He looks at us and grunts an indistinct greeting. Koichi's voice immediately cries out, "Tsuyoshi-kun, kakkoii yo ne~!" Tsuyoshi smiles smugly, and I'm not sure what he was wearing yesterday, but he told us he felt like changing his look a bit for today. [HAHA I feel like whatever he was wearing yesterday must have been a pretty far cry from today, judging from people's reactions and Koichi's face lol]. "It's pretty hot over there, isn't it?" Tsuyoshi asks pleasantly, looking very cool and comfortable in his indoor couch, and we all laugh.

They start talking about Tsuyoshi's ear condition. Tsuyoshi explains that his body is perfectly fine; it's just his left ear is still suffering from hearing loss "体は元気なんですけど、こっちですね、あの突発のですね、突発." And he points to his left ear and Koichi's like "Ah, the Toppatsu ne." They both said the word Toppatsu so many times lol, I found it cute how they just referred to the hearing loss as the "toppatsu" because obviously, all of us fans know what he was referring to. He said loud noises are particularly intolerable to him right now, and make him feel like something is exploding(?) in his head, and with a completely straight face, he says, "So I don't know what it'd be like if I were to hear the cheers of you cuties [かわいい子ちゃん達]." Haha Tsuyo, I think it took us all a moment to process what the "kawaiiko-chan tachi" was referring to. Small tittering broke out across the stadium as over 30000 KinKi fans gradually computed the fact that, yes, Domoto Tsuyoshi had just called us cuties like he was taking a casual stroll in the park [to be fair, Tsuyo's always been the sweeter of the two when it comes to fan service; but I still found this Nakajima Kento-like term of endearment to be unexpected and hilarious]. "'Shut up!' and things like that, I wouldn't want to have to say that to you guys..." Tsuyoshi continues in the same unruffled tone.

"I've really been feeling a lot of love from everyone these days, and I know I've caused a lot of trouble to all sorts of people, but in order to have the best chance of regaining even a little bit more function, I have to appear in this form before you now; You know, I'm in Tokyo, and I can totally just head over to the Stadium by myself. I'm only 30 minutes away, you know. I was just thinking of heading over there, but then the staff...." His face is still completely straight as the camera pans out to reveal his full body and we see that he's actually got two large metal balls chained to his ankles like he's some sort of prisoner. He continues to sigh on about how difficult it is for him to move, and he tries to get up, making an exaggerated show of slowly falling to his knees like he's being dragged down by the metal balls. Koichi's voice plays along "Oh no, you can't move? No don't move!" [うごっちゃだめ？だめ！」We all have a good laugh and then Tsuyoshi asks us to invite Koichi out, just like yesterday, from his onscreen "mouth."

The camera zooms in on Tsuyo and he repositions himself a bit so that his mouth appears at a certain spot on screen, then he says "se~no~" and we yell "Koichi!" A sliding door opens where Tsuyoshi's mouth is, and Koichi walks out of it, looking flawless as always. He greets us again, and remarks that it's a hot day (he's wearing a full tuxedo). He tells us that the staff told him that at the combinis/stores around the Yokohama Stadium, they had signs that said "KinKi Kids, okaerinasai (welcome back)" and both of them talk about how they were here at this stadium when they were really young etc etc. DoS!Kochan remarks that it's been a while since they've done an outdoor concert, and says he can see our faces so clearly it makes him feel uncomfortable [嫌なくらい見ます]. It was sort of funny because both he and Tsuyo were like "okay, shall we do the usual thing where we say we can't see them?" right before this. And then I think they say something sweet about how warm it feels to see us (?). They kept saying 暖かい時間, 暖かい感じ, but my JSL-brain didn't process it in time.

Koichi asks the band to come onstage, and they enter. We see a smiling Dojima Kouhei, and the ever fab Yoshida Ken with the usual feather in his hat. Koichi says he feels 安心 to have the band members there with him, and that the band has prepared a lot of songs even though they're not necessarily going to sing all of them. He also says that even though the things have turned out this way こういう形になった、he feels 安心 knowing that so many people around him are around to support them (and he gives a shout out to Toma and Nagase for being guests yesterday, as well as to MatsuJun and Aiba for singing Ai Ai with him on TV before). Today, he wants Tsuyoshi's parts to be sung by the audience. We all have to sing it properly, he warns us, because he's just going to sing the way he normally sings, so if we don't sing the harmony parts properly it'll end up sounding super weird. Tsuyoshi looks so amused, like, "harmony, srsly?" We go "ehhh!!!" and Koichi flashes his doS colors: "Some of you might think it's yayakoshii and want to stay silent so you can enjoy listening to the songs, but THAT'S NOT ALLOWED [絶対ダメ]!" On screen, Tsuyoshi is looking amused this whole time. Koichi asks him if he'll be able to do anything, and Tsuyoshi just *looks* at the shackles around his ankles. We laugh. Tsuyoshi talks about maybe dancing and then tries to reassure us: "I'll think of a way to deal with this sometime during the show." [なんとかしますよ、本番中に] It's doubly funny because the shackles are so obviously fake. Oh, Tsuyoshi... if you weren't so damn good at singing you'd have made a fine comedian.

Koichi tells us that we're going to sing the first song, and that all the talking and stuff up to this point was planned (just like it was yesterday), but that after the song, they have absolutely nothing planned at all, so he really has no idea what this Party is going to turn out to be like. Then, a super cute Tsuyoshi says (only pretending to be coy): "Hmm... it's not really my place to say this, but... to hold an event like this and not have any plan as to what to do... isn't that a little...?" And Koichi's all smug, like, "Maybe it's just me, but that's because I feel safe with everyone [僕だけかもしれん、ここ安定感はね、やっぱり，20年歴史もありますよね], and he also says, "You know all those mean things I usually say to you all, like 'I'm not going to wave at you!'? Today, I won't say any of that!" which prompts the entire stadium into a big catcalling "woooooo~"

I must have zoned out for a bit because I don't know how they got to this topic, but it seemed like there was something Tsuyoshi wanted to say and he was really cute to Koichi, "Is it okay if I go ahead and say it? [言うってもいいですか？]" and Koichi completely humors him, like, "Yeah yeah totally fine. If there's something you wanna say, go right ahead and say it!" And Tsuyoshi then does what must be an imitation of some comedian I don't know: "Nantoka nantoka!" His voice is really deep and comedic for this and his face funny. We all laugh. And he also does a weird version of the first line of the song we're about to sing, like he kind of says it really fast and squeaks? Hahaha, I wish I could remember how we got around to all these strange monomanes.

Koichi asks us to sing "Hey, Tsuyoshi, Genki kai?" During the second chorus, Koichi changes the "Minna" to "Tsuyoshi" just like he did yesterday. We actually didn't sound bad, despite the verses having lots of syllables, and I think we even harmonized a bit with Ko-chan. True to his word, he really sang his part just as he normally does! The band, I must say, sounded AMAZING live. Ken-san is a remarkable person. Koichi's roughing voice at "Hotonto nai~" was perrrrrfect. On the two side screens, we could see Koichi standing in front of the live stream Tsuyoshi screen, but it was angled so that Tsuyoshi's image was on the left and Koichi's person was on the right; it looked just like the ftr were together, Koichi's whole singing body positioned beside Tsuyo's face. I melted a little at that image :) At the end of the song, Kochan asks Tsuyoshi to give the signal for the ending chord, and Tsuyo does so with one of his metal balls LOL (he had been mucking around and playing with them like an idiot throughout the song hahahaha).

Koichi makes fun of us again, saying that the fans at other groups' concerts are like "waaahh~!" when they see their idols but the fans of KinKi are like "ooo~" and he makes a really hilarious face like he's an old lady looking up blankly at something above her. And everyone laughs, including Tsuyoshi. Koichi continues with his oshibai, "Like, where are you looking, people?" and he looks again, which of course makes us all crack up again. He then straightens up with a doyagao and shakes his head, "You guys are really too in love with us." [お前ら、本当に俺らが好きよね] His voice is really soft and velvety and sexy as he says that. The stadium erupts in a scream, of course. Tsuyoshi makes a remark about the heat again and asks if Koichi is hot in his Tuxedo. The way he says "tuxedo" is funny, something like "タクシード" and instead of saying "tucksheedo" he actually sounds it out, like "ta-ku-shee-doh" and both Koichi and the audience laugh.

The ftr do the usual audience survey, Tsuyoshi remarks that there's a wide range of people here. Koichi asks if there are people who have been supporting them since before their debut. Almost everyone put their hands up (I was thinking to myself, LOL LIARS) and both of them start telling us off, "what really? What have you guys been doing? There're lots of fresher groups out there, you know!" [もっとフレッシュなグループはいっぱいあるよ] . He asks if there are fans present who haven't turned twenty yet. and there are some cheers. He asks if there are fans who are just turning twenty this year, and there are also some cheers. Tsuyoshi is peering out at us from the screen, looking at the amount of hands that go up. Finally, Koichi asks if there are fans who are the same age as the two of them, and there's a mix of cheers and laughter, because we can obviously see where he's going with this (I think all KinKi fans are perenially prepared from experience to be called old or ugly or fat or stupid at any time by their idols). Tsuyoshi's lips curl up in a smile, too. Koichi nods out to the audience that responded, "Ah well, I guess you guys can understand what happens to your body at this age... better take care!" And Tsuyoshi points to his ear, "あの、突発を気を付けてね❤ (Be wary of the Toppatsu, ne)." Koichi laughs, "A lot can happen at this age, you know." Tsuyoshi then pats his knee and his shoulder too. "Be wary of this and this, too," he warns us. He then begins to pat those three parts (ear, shoulder knee) rhythmically in sequence on the screen behind Koichi while Koichi continues to talk to us. Pat-pat-pat. Pat-pat-pat. Tsuyo's getting a little nori-nori with his mini-dance in the background, and it's funny because it takes a while for Koichi to notice it, and he only notices it because the audience is starting to laugh. He shouts something at Tsuyoshi, something along the lines of "You're having too much fun!" "Or you're really just doing whatever you want, huh!" (I can't remember orz). Tsuyo actually had a straight face for the beginning of his dance, but as he kept doing it and Koichi kept failing to notice it, Tsuyo's face started getting more and more contorted with silent laughter as he tried to hold it in to see how long it'd be before Kochan noticed xD.

Koichi tells us that they have lots of video clips from past concerts that were never made into VHS or DVDs and that they're gonna pick some to view with us tonight. He gets a big white folder with a list of clips from a staff member, and on the screen we see Tsuyo gets the same thing. As they flip through it, Koichi remarks that rather than remembering what they themselves were doing, he remembers being impressed by the juniors who had backdanced for them. And he mentioned Sakurai Sho's name; I think he said something like, "His face appeared on camera a lot!" but I'm not 100% sure what exactly it was.

Koichi then says he has really strong memories of the Bonnie Butterfly performance from the G concert so they start showing the clip on the screens. At first, the screen is just black for the intro where they sing the "if you want to feel the same I do..." part and all we hear are their voices. The intro part is actually quite long, so Tsuyoshi laughs as we watch it. "What, are there no images?" and Koichi is all reassuring like, "No, no, just wait, wait for it." We see Yonehana backdancing behind Tsuyo in the clip, and Koichi gets super excited: "YONE-SAN!" They both look super super kakkoii in the video; that song is like their hip-twisting go-to xP. After a while though, it seems like Koichi is getting embarrassed by how hard they're working their booties, so he's like, "okay, that's enough!" [もういいか！」 The video stops.

The second clip they show is まけたらあかん from the ASOBO concert pre-debut, which elicits quite a cheer from the crowd too. We all scream when Takki flashes across the screen as a backdancer, and Koichi cries out with us, "Ah, Takki! Takki!" He really was so excited whenever a Jr showed up, it was adorable (I'm sure Takki heard his name being called out by his much admired senpai from backstage, so I feel doubly happy about this). The camera focuses on young shounen Tsuyoshi for a bit (and may I say that Tsuyoshi back then had like the most classic archetypcal teen idol look), and Koichi is noticeably high tension as he looks at us and then back at the screen and back at us: "Ahh! This! The Tsuyoshi-kun from this era! This is the image of Tsuyoshi-kun I have!" 「ああ、あの頃の剛君！俺のイメージそういう感じ、剛君は」The camera turns to young Koichi, and Koichi exclaims in surprise: "Eh! I just waved right there!" 「ええ、俺、手振れたね！」Yep, Koichi Mr. I-don't-ever-wave/look/kiss-at-fans, you used to be more generous with fan service. Thank you for reminding us of that bygone past xP. We laugh like crazy. Soon, Koichi gets tired of watching this clip too and asks the staff to stop the video.

They then start talking about stuff they did at old concerts, like when Tsuyoshi sang the Yokohama baseball team theme song and Koichi sang the Giants team theme song. They try to figure out which concert it was, and then finally they do and the clip is shown. We see Tsuyoshi's clip first; he's in a baseball uniform with a big flag singing the song. It's hilarious. He changes the lyrics to sing "KinKi! Kinki! KinKi Kids~!" or something to that effect. Koichi's clip also shows him wearing a baseball uniform (Giants) and singing their team song with altered lyrics. The stadium is bursting with giggles. Evn the ftr are laughing.

After that, Koichi tells us there are guests here tonight too. We hold our breaths as he invites them out.

Are you ready for this?

First guests of the night: TAKIZAWA HIDEAKI and KATO SHORI!!! The crowd is going wild. I am screaming my liungs out. Takki! I never thought I'd see him live! His hair is short and trimmed and he looks super sharp even in just a casual T-shirt. My. God. I know how much Takki loves Koichi, and how much TT and KK share in common, and I can't take my eyes off him. Shori is such a cutie and looks so thin and small beside Takki. He's got such piercing eyes, goodness! and he looks adorably nervous as he bows to both Koichi and the Tsuyoshi on the screen (sort of similar to the way he looked on BBB). Both guests are dressed super casually, in constrast to Mister Tuxedo who's welcoming them both with a friendly arm-grab.

Takki is looking pretty relaxed with Koichi, and doesn't waste time pointing out that he was in one of the clips that was just shown but didn't actually have his face appear in it. And as he trades memories with KinKi Kids, Shori kind of just stands there, smiling like a little awkward angel. Koichi then asks him something (I forget what exactly, but it was something about past concerts that he backdanced for as a junior) and Shori says tentatively, "Um, I'm only twenty years old... 「僕、今年二十歳なんですけど...」" L.O.L. I thought Koichi was about to fall on his butt in comedic indignance! Tsuyoshi is chuckling in the back, as is Takki. Shori smiles in some relief at the comedic effect but still seems a bit nervous in the face of Koichi's questions. Koichi begins to play the senpai, "Well, you see, twenty years ago..." and he asks Shori something again, and Shori answers, "I was born in 1996." Somehow, that prompts Koichi to turn to us and sing loudly, "ここは、おれのSEXY ZONE~~~~!" It's SO awful it's somehow great. Tsuyoshi looks like he wants to roll his eyes, "How many times are you going to keep doing that?" he scolds Koichi.

They then ask Takki about what songs he's backdanced for and which one he wants to see. Takki says "FRIENDS" is a song he has good memories of. Koichi points out that that's not really a dance song. Takki: "It's not really a dance song, but there's a part where the juniors sit on the steps at the back of the set and lean against Tsuyoshi-kun/Koichi-kun, and we kind of go like this." He mimicks the swaying motion they did back then. The crowd claps and loves it, but Tsuyoshi's just like, "What the heck were we doing back then? A bunch of kids sitting on the steps going like this..." I think Tsuyoshi basically acted as the tsukkomi this whole evening LOL.

Koichi asks Shori which senpais he's backdanced for. Shori answers HeySeyJump, and everyone's like "eeehhhh~" because it's funny, since HSJ (along with SZ) are one of the groups the ftr always refer to as ”もっとフレッシュ” (fresher and younger) when they make fun of us for being old and following them for too long. They're always like, "why don't you fall for someone younger and fresher, like Sexy Zone or Hey Say Jump?" So to hear that Shori backdanced to HSJ is kind of funny. Koichi then cries out, "お前、イケメンだなぁ～" and Shori looks embarrassed hahaha.

Takki's not off the hook either, as Koichi immediately says to him, "お前も。" and he says something about how Takki was considered super goodlooking pretty early on in his Johnny's career, and he imitates Johnny saying "Takki!" which was really funny too.

They prepare to perform "FRIENDS" with Shori and Takki as the background swayers on the steps (LOL) and Koichi tells Shori, "Sorry this might seem weird, you probably don't even know this song, but after this, you can consider yourself as having backdanced for KinKi Kids." Shori laughs, "ああ、そうですね。” The band then moves aside to reveal a set of steps for them to sit on, and Koichi instructs them on where to sit and stuff. When they're settled, Koichi notices that a portion of the audience can't really see them in that position, so he's like, "Ah, you guys can't see us very well, sorry- please just live with it.[我慢してください～～]" The way he says "gamanshitekudasai" is in a tone that's like completely blowing us off LOL. DoS!Kochan again!

Koichi sings "FRIENDS" with the audience as Tsuyoshi. Since the first verse is Tsuyo's, he reminds us at the beginning that we need to sing it xD Of course, we got it heh :) Koichi's vocals are excellent and I forget what Tsuyoshi is doing, but I think in one of the songs during the night, he kept on playing with his ankle cuffs (with the metal balls) and it was both funny and cute. This might have been the song he did that in. Towards the end, Koichi holds both the kouhais' shoulders and sways with them; they walk down the steps and to the front of the stage. Koichi has his arm around Shori but Takki is walking alone; after they reach the front, Koichi grabs Takki over too.

After the song, Koichi asks Takki how he felt. Takki says it brought him back to the past and he was super nervous. Koichi smiles reassuringly, "Maa, maa, the two of us felt the same way when we danced for SMAP-san or Hikaru-Genji-san, too," he says. He turns to Shori and asks how he felt. Shori uses his newfound gag with the straight face of a pro: "Thank you so much; I mean, somehow, I just got the opportunity to backdance for KinKi-san..." We all laugh at that, and the ftr look super amused too xP Shori keeps bowing and saying thank you for this opportunity. And then! Koichi tells Shori that in the future, he'll come to a Sexy Zone concert and backdance to their "ore no Sexy Zone~!" too. Poor Shori was just like, "Hai!" "Hai!" Koichi continues, "Yeah, and to all the Sexy Zone fans, I'll wave super hard!" [Sexy Zoneのファンのみなさんに、手めっっちゃ振る!!] The audience gives an indignant "EEHHHH!"

To which, our Prince Domoto replies cheekily: "I'm NOT gonna wave to you guys!" [お前たちには振らねえぇ～]

Right, right, Highness, we know the drill. As your fans, we reserve the right to be S'ed by you at your concerts. Case rested.

KinKi Kids thank the two guests and they thank KinKi back. And then, our beloved Takki and Shori exit into the side of the stage.

My knowledge of SZ is limited to their variety show appearances on Arashi and KK shows, but I thought Shori was an adorable little angel. He looked so shy; his voice was so much softer than the other three, who were clearly a lot more comfortable with each other (Takki's already been through the KK wringer too many times on DB hahaha) and he was so polite! He always referred to himself as "boku" in this small voice I just wanted to hug him. I think the ftr are fond of him too, because they kept teasing him like friendly ojisans and including him in the ranks of the "KinKi backdancers" was a nice touch haha. Seriously though, having Takki, Koichi and Shori right next to each other is like having a trio of princely faces. It was so beautiful. A sight to remember.

The ftr then comment on how ikemen the guests were and especially on how Takki has grown up to be such a 立派な男.

Suddenly, almost out of nowhere, Koichi asks Tsuyoshi, "Hey, Tsuyoshi-kun, you wanna play some trombone?" つよしくんP-Boneやんない？
"Mm, sure." ん、いいよ
"You mustn't actually blow into it; it's bad for your ear." でも吹いちゃダメよ、耳に悪いから
"Mm okay."　ん
"Let's do Bara to Taiyou next."
(audience screams their approval)
K: "You can do the part between the verses with the p-bone."　間奏もやるよ、P-Boneで
"Mmm." 　ん
"But really, don't blow into it; it's bad for your ear!"　でも本当に吹いちゃダメだよ、耳に悪いから

OMGGGGGG the sweetness from Kochan. There were reports of the "Kochan-stop" from yesterday's Party (The doctor stopped Tsuyoshi from coming to the event => "Doctor Stop" and not only that, but Koichi also stopped Tsuyoshi from forcing himself to come, hence termed the "Kochan-stop") and I felt like I could literally see the variation of it in front of my eyes as mother hen DK nagged his partner at least four times about his ear and to NOT blow into the trombone (p-bone). Tsuyoshi assembles the plastic trombone. It's the same yellow one from the M concert and the Bara to Taiyou PV. Of course, Tsuyoshi assembles it wrong and we all laugh, including Koichi. Tsuyoshi then starts sliding the comical looking part of the trombone out in front of the camera, and his face is angled in a cute selfie position; he says to us as he slides it towards us, "出っちゃうの？" Tsuyoshi is still as cute as ever. Koichi instructs Tsuyoshi a bit more on what parts of the song he wants him to mime the trombone at, but then when Tsuyoshi asks him to clarify some more details, he turns all S on Tsuyo and turns away, "まあ、そりゃどうでもいい" [do whatever, I don't care].

Koichi asks Ken-san and the band to take it away, and soon the ardent notes of Bara to Taiyou fill the stadium. When Tsuyo's part is about to come up, Koichi reminds us fans to sing with a shout: "Tsuyoshi-kun's solo!" And when it's the instrumental part, Koichi shouts to the screen at Tsuyoshi: "Your turn!" 「お前の番だ」and Tsuyo starts fake-playing the trombone in an exaggeratedly passionate way. It was really hilarious. Throughout the rest of the song, he also kept playing the trombone at the shackles/metal balls around his feet as if trying to destroy them with the power of his music LOL.

After the song, Tsuyo complains about how tiring it was to play the trombone. But of course it's a fake-complaint. And Koichi complains about how hot it was to dance Bara to Taiyou in that tuxedo. Poor Ko-chan! He's so sweet at heart though, and turns to us (after being turned to the screen where Tsuyo is for the longest time) to tell us, "Hey, it's really hot; everyone please take care of yourselves and drink lots of water!" He then turns to Ken-san and asks, "Ken-san, did you drink some water?" Ken-san holds up his water bottle and indicates yes. Tsuyoshi peers out from his screen and asks Dojima-kun, "Hey Dojima-kun, how's that sake you're drinking?" LOL. Ever cheeky, that Tsuyo. Dojima shakes his head and laughs, like iya iya iya. I really feel like Dojima is the reliable, good-tempered older brother that KinKi Kids step all over in their pranks and games hahaha.

Tsuyoshi teases Koichi again for being hot and having to dance. And Koichi responds, but his voice is all panting and he's wiping sweat from his face. Tsuyoshi raises a brow, "Can you continue on like this?" and Koichi breathes: "Yes, I'm going to sing, but before that, we have more guests to introduce."

We scream in excitement. Tsuyoshi is looking playful on screen. "Eh, who can it be?" he asks Koichi. "Don't tell me... it's Koichi's mother?" 「ええ、だれでしょう？もしかして…光一のおかん？」Let me just tell y'all that Tsuyoshi, with his long tied back hair, peering down at Koichi and being so tongue in cheek, is unstoppably charming. Throughout the night, he just drawls out his words, sounding simultaneously cute and funny and oddly.. yes oddly erotic. Koichi laughs, and then calls the guests to come out.

There is a big cheer from the audience as we see who comes out.

It's Nakamaru and Ueda from KAT-TUN. Naturally, that piques my interest, because even though I'm not a KAT-TUN fan, I do know that they were formed initially as Koichi's backdancing group for POPJAM, and that Koichi had picked them out himself. They are the closest thing KK has to a direct kouhai group, and I really liked the atmosphere between KK and KT during episodes of Shounen Club Premium a few years back (it was like seeing the grown up children coming back to visit their parents and realizing finally the full extent of how amazingly good and tolerant mom and dad were xP). Both Nakamaru and Ueda are dressed really casually as well (I bet all the guests are wearing their private clothes) and they bow to both KK. Nakamaru thanks Koichi again and tells us that KT has always been KK's direct kouhai (直属後輩). We cheer.

They then talk about when Nakamaru and Ueda entered the jimusho and how the first songs they backdanced to were KinKi songs. They mention Ao no Jidai and Tayorimase. Ueda (?) looks up to Tsuyo and asks him something about Tayorimase that I didn't quite catch. Nakamaru (?) then talks about how one of the first concerts he appeared in was a KK concert and he watched as they performed Tayorimase (or some other equally embarrassingly dance-y song) and thought that they were super cool. Koichi interrupts him, "You must have been thinking, what the hell are these guys doing?" Nakamaru says he thought Koichi was super kakoii. Ueda (?) says that he actually has a picture of KATTUN with KinKi Kids that he's very proud of and treats like a treasure. He takes out his phone and shows the photo to Koichi. We yell "let us see!" and Ueda holds his phone out to the camera, which zooms in to show us a photo of the three KATTUN members (actually I forget if Junnosuke was in it too) with KinKi. It looked like they were in their Shounen Club outfits from when KK guested a few years ago. Ueda's phone is kinda dirty LOL.

Then Koichi starts thanking KAT-TUN for all the backdancing they did for both KK and for his solo projects. Both Nakamaru and Ueda are like iya iya iya, please don't say that senpai. Nakamaru is laughing embarrassedly as Ueda says, "Honestly, looking back at the footage from back when we were juniors, we were really bad kids." I think he also says something along the lines of "Thanks for putting up with us." Koichi's face is all smiles this entire time and he pats Ueda as he answers, "Maa maa, you've gone through a lot and now you're at the stage where you can look back at your past and see how much you've grown. That's really a wonderful thing." Ughhhh Koichi, can you be my senpai too? He has such a big brother aura around Nakamaru and Ueda and they both seem to respect him a ton (they look a little more nervous around him than Takki did, but more comfortable than Shori). The KT duo bow and thank Koichi. They tell us that the last song they backdanced to as juniors was Kanashimi Blue.

That prompts some cheers, and Koichi looks super happy to hear that they liked it. He makes a gesture towards Dojima-kun who is still onstage (Dojima is the one who composed Kanashimi Blue btw) and tells his two kouhai, "Well, this person here is the one behind Kanashimi Blue." Both Nakamaru and Ueda immediately turn around and bow to Dojima, holding out their hands to shake hands with him. Dojima is laughing and flashing Koichi a look haha. Then, someone mentions Misty, and I think on TV before, Ueda had said that Misty is one of his favorite songs. So Koichi says again, "Well, the person behind Misty..." and he gestures towards Dojima again. Both KT members turn around again and do the same thing, saying thank you and bowing while shaking Dojima's hand. And I think either Koichi or Tsuyoshi makes a joke to Dojima, saying that maybe he'll compose something for KAT-TUN next. Nakamaru and Ueda are very taken with the idea and immediately start saying, "please please, これからもよろしくお願いします" Tsuyoshi is chuckling self-satisfiedly.

Koichi then looks through the big list of clips again to try and find a clip where KAT-TUN appear backdancing to Kanashimi Blue. They eventually choose the clip from the G-con, and we watch a short portion of it. Koichi then asks if they remember the choreo for Kanashimi Blue. Nakamaru says, "Yes, actually, we don't remember our own choreos, but we definitely know KinKi-san's choreos." Koichi replies, "Ah, it's the same with us, we know SMAP-san's choreos very well, but I can't remember any of KinKi's! I don't think I can even remember the choreo for Kanashimi Blue." xD So Nakamaru and Ueda start dancing the Kanashimi Blue moves on stage, and Koichi nods along and tries to follow a bit too.

Then, LOL Koichi starts trolling poor Dojima again. He says to Nakamaru and Ueda, "Hey, why don't we ask this guy here (Dojima) to tell us what the meaning behind Kanashimi Blue is? 「悲しみブルーの芯をおしえてもらう」" Dojima just looks up at Koichi with his mouth open, like wtf why are you dragging me into the limelight so much? LOL. But he's such a good sport, faced with Koichi's muchaburi, he starts explaining the song.

Which really is just him saying the lyrics out loud while miming the words. 「かなしみに唇寄せて」He puts his hand on his lips LOLLL「唇に手をかざして」He puts the hand in front of his lips to hide it. 「真っ白なこころを染めて」 He puts a hand on his chest. 「近ついて、もうずっとそばに」It was all super hilarious, because it's obviously not explaining much of the song at all. Both Koichi and Tsuyoshi can hardly keep their giggles in their mouths. Koichi tsukkomi's Dojima: "I didn't understand any of that!"

Koichi asks, "Well then, wanna perform Kanashimi Blue?" We all cheer and the two guests step up as Koichi turns towards the audience. Koichi then tells them where to stand. "ね、剛君はここにいるね。やっぱり、KINKIの中でやって、なかで [Tsuyoshi-kun stands right here, you see. So you guys perform in between KinKi, yeah, in between us]" T.T KOOO-CHANNNNN. The audience goes "woooooooo" like a catcall at this, and Koichi just looks at us. Nakamaru is kind of left standing on the far left and the balance looks off since there's no Tsuyoshi there to complete the formation, which he seems to notice. He brings this up with Koichi and Koichi just tells him to dance anyway. "Do you guys really remember the choreo?" he asks them. They say, of course. The band starts playing, and we sing KANASHIMI BLUE!

Again, the fans sing Tsuyo's part, and Koichi shouts out the bar before we have to come in to remind us to sing. KATTUN dance pretty well. They definitely know the moves and they were super into it too :) After the song, Koichi looks impressed, "You guys really do know this well! Amazing. When Tsuyoshi gets better, we should all perform together again sometime! 「ようく覚えてんね～すげえなぁ～剛はげんきになって、また二人と一緒にやって」"

Then KATTUN make their exit.

Koichi then says to Tsuyo, "Ah, 感動した、今日は." Tsuyoshi does an "ん!" which is super cute, and then Koichi asks him, "I know you can't do loud noises, but is singing okay for you? You can still sing right?" Tsuyoshi nods, yes, singing is fine. Then Koichi continues, "I know there'll be a time lag [with the live feed], but even with the time lag, don't you wanna do a song together?" 「ぜったいずれても、一曲やんない？」Tsuyoshi seems on board with it, but he wants to figure out a way to overcome the time lag. He's like, "Am I ahead of you?" "No, you're behind!" "Oh." xD And Tsuyoshi's like, hmm, if I sing it a bit faster like this... (I should mention that at this point, they're just talking to each other and ignoring the audience LOL). Koichi seems more impatient though, and he just goes ahead and says that a ballad would be easier to sing in these circumstances. "Let's sing Mou Kimi Igai Aisenai."

We are melting and screaming and filled with feels because O.M.G. Koichi being so eager to do a mushy tearjerker ballad is so completely not like him!

Tsuyoshi is still trying to figure out how to sing it so they match up, but Koichi just cuts across him, "Even if there's a lag during the chorus [where they sing in unison]  it's fine. We don't know how any of this is gonna turn out. We've never done this before. Let's just try it out. とにかくやってみようか." Tsuyoshi doesn't completely give up on the time lag problem; he's looking thoughtful: "Would you say we're off by about half a beat?" But Koichi cuts him off again. "Okay we're starting!!"

He signals the band and the first notes of that tinkling piano start. T.T

They both sound wonderful. Tsuyoshi was off by about half a beat when he came in for his verse, but the band quickly adjusted to his rhythm within the space of a bar. It was amazing to witness the unity of the Domoto Family Band. I mean, all those instruments managed to adjust so naturally! It's really a testament to how well they know each other and their skill and comfort level with their instruments. True musical pros! During verse 2, Tsuyoshi himself entered late with the lag but then self-jumped half a beat to match us in Yokohama Stadium before the band could adjust. It was amazing to see. I know that Koichi has the reputation for being a perfectionist and nitpicky with performance details, but when it comes to music and the actual quality of the sound, I think Tsuyoshi is just as much of a perfectionist; you can tell that he really wanted the song to sound good, and I'm sure that the idea of being half a beat off was just burning away at his musical soul xD

After Tsuyoshi's last line 「もう君以外愛せない、今ここに君と約束するよ」Koichi looks up at the screen of Tsuyoshi as the last notes of piano roll away and cries out, 「最後、よかったよ」and he keeps saying よかったよ, よかったよ. Tsuyo just replies, "As you were singing, it looked like you had a karaoke box behind you." He's joking that the room he's in feels super lonely, like he's some sad person shut in a solo karaoke box :P And then he does a little shibai of going across the room「ああ、もう時間だ！」 to pick up the phone and telling a karaoke box staff to add more time xP It was cute.

Koichi starts talking about the song that he and Dojima composed together. He had talked about it yesterday too, how he and Dojima composed the melody and asked Tsuyoshi to write the lyrics. Yesterday, he performed the song, and just sang "lalalala" in place of the lyrics since there were no lyrics. Koichi also acknowledged SNS here (xD) because he said something like "Word travels super fast these days, you guys probably already heard about this via Twitter or something..." I wonder if he ever checks Twitter :3. Anyways, he turns to Tsuyo and says, "You've already written a portion of the lyrics, haven't you?" Tsuyo acknowledges it, so Koichi makes him show us. Tsuyoshi takes out a giant notepad that has lyrics written on it in thick marker.

The tentative title is "Toppatsu Love" which was decided yesterday as a tongue-in-cheek reference to Tsuyoshi's "Toppatsu (acute)" hearing loss. Koichi explains that to us briefly and then tells us the bad news: he's just realized after going back that Arashi actually have a song called "Fukkatsu love"! Oh no! Tsuyoshi does a comical face palm on screen. We all laugh. Koichi tries singing that chorus part "Top-patsu- Lu-ve~" again and Tsuyoshi suggests that maybe if they change the "Toppatsu" to something that means the same thing in English it might work out. Only, Tsuyoshi can't really think of anything that would fit the meter, so they talk shop a bit and Koichi suggests "若干love (A little love)" which is laughed at by us. Tsuyoshi thinks the title should represent something from a female point of view, and they enter this topic of how a lot of the songs they composed together have feminine lyrics written by Tsuyoshi. Tsuyo gives a merry laugh and says that the words sound better and more melancholy when he writes from a female POV, so he likes to do that.

Koichi then asks Tsuyoshi to read the lyrics aloud for us. Tsuyoshi gives him a look: "わかりました" and starts reading, only he reads in this super deep voice like he's some monk reciting a sacred text. We burst into laughter. Koichi is exasperated: "いやいやいや！This definitely wouldn't be the way Sexy Zone would read it!" Tsuyo is so amused at the mention of SZ LOL. They decide to have Tsuyo hold up his lyrics so the camera and zoom in on it and we can all read it. We do, and Tsuyo reads aloud for us too, explaining the meaning/significance behind some lines as he goes along.

The lyrics are as follows:

離れた夜空に咲く花 (The flowers blossoming in the night sky over our separation)
故意に落ちた稲妻みたいで (are like bolts of deliberate lightning falling)
ぬめった風も泣いている (Even the sleek wind is weeping)
歌ってるすべてが切ないの (everything I sing is full of sorrow)
諦めのキスはまだしないよ (I won't make a kiss of resignation yet)
いつかそっと叶うよと胸は弧を描く (Someday we'll make it come true/ I draw the contours in my heart)

突発LOVE (Sudden LOVE)
言葉にない　このメロディーも (This melody that has no words)
聞こえない　そのメロディーも (That melody that can't be heard)
突発LOVE (Sudden LOVE)
虹打つ愛のネオンがキレイ (The neon of this rainbow-hit love is beautiful)
会いたいよ　(I miss you)
大好きよ… (I love you...)

（Cr: minami51244 @weibo; translation by me)

Tsuyo explains some nuances behind the lyrics:
The flowers blossoming  = fireworks in the night at the KinKi Kids Party
neon of this rainbow-hit love = the penlights of the fans

We are all like T.T when we hear how he incorporated the fans into the lyrics. It's sort of funny when he gets to the "Toppatsu LOVE" line, because the verses before it are so poetic and then all of a sudden, almost out of nowhere, we have "SUDDEN LOVE!" Even Tsuyo is unable to keep a straight face as he reads it aloud.

After Tsuyo is done explaining the lyrics, Koichi immediately cries out, "乙女だなぁ～！よくこんなこと書いただなぁ～！おまえ、女かい？(You're such an innocent little maiden! You always write these kinds of things. You sure you're not a woman?)” Tsuyoshi just sits there smiling and answers in a really cute voice, "男だよ" (I'm a man.)

They let us know that these lyrics are still a work in progress, and then, Tsuyo seems to notice Dojima-kun laughing a lot onstage, so he points that out, looking mock-offended. Koichi asks, "Dojima-san, what do you think (of the lyrics)?" and Dojima is cute as he answers, "I think they're good." 「いいと思う」This answer doesn't seem to satisfy Tsuyo though, and he teases Dojima a bit more, saying that his eyes are really bloodshot. Honestly, those two! They're always so playful when they're around poor Dojima; he really is like the forbearing older brother to them and their antics :)

Koichi says the grand chorus (おおさび) isn't done yet, and Tsuyo agrees. Tsuyo then says that Koichi can just sing the chorus part with "lalalala" for now. And then there comes this part of the two of them talking in between each other.

Tsuyo: "You can just sing it with 'lalalala' for now."
Ko: (indistinct)
Tsuyo: "When you sing the lyrics to the melody..."
Ko: "What sing the lyrics?"
Tsuyo: "When you sing the lyrics to the melody"
Ko: "That's not possible できないよ"
Tsuyo: "You can sing the lyrics..."
Ko: できないよ！

But finally, Koichi agrees to sing the lyrics to the melody, even though he's never tried it out and probably is seeing these lyrics for only the first or second time. Around this time, some fireworks start randomly blasting off somewhere to the left of the Stadium. People cheer, and Tsuyoshi looks at us questioningly so Koichi explains that there are some fireworks going off. Tsuyo asks if those are our fireworks, and Koichi answer, no, no they're other people's and have nothing to do with the Party xP The timing is perfect though, given what Tsuyoshi had just said about the fireworks in the lyrics <3

They start playing the new song. And wow, it's actually already fully arranged and everything because the entire band is playing it, and the accompaniment sounds pretty polished. It's a decidedly Dojima-esque arrangement. Just think of the upbeat electronic pop vibe in the N album and you'll find that Toppatsu Love fits right in with that style! It's upbeat, but like Nan Nen Tattemo, there's a tinge of melancholy to it. Towards the end of the demo, as Koichi is singing "lalalala"s to the chorus, Dojima chimes in with some harmonies and the two of them duet "lalalas" back and forth for a few bars; it's a merry vibe, and their voices both sound amazing. As Koichi is singing the first chorus, Tsuyo seems to realize that the lyrics don't fit the rhythm very well, so he grabs his marker and adds a line to the chorus (which is the 会いたいよ line above). Koichi sings a second chorus right after the first one, and he doesn't see that Tsuyo had added a line so he actually makes up some lyrics on the spot to fill in the lines, but I couldn't hear very clearly what they were.

When the song ends, Tsuyo tells Koichi: "We were seven syllables short, weren't we?" They start humming out the melody and trying to fit different syllables to it and ignore us for a while. The usual KinKi Kids. Hehe. It was a true treat though, watching the two of them at work musically! I feel like we were watching something sacred and not meant for our eyes :P

Then, Koichi says something mushy, about how even though the two of them are in separate places right now, they'll always continue on as futari no KinKi Kids. We're clapping and some of the audience is a bit teary now. I think Tsuyoshi then tells us a bit more about how seeing us at the Party the previous day inspired him to write the lyrics. Koichi playfully drags Dojima into the spotlight again and asks him to tell us the meaning behind Misty. Tsuyoshi is totally in on it too (I love how the two KK have such an instant, wordless understanding with each other as soon as one of them begins teasing Dojima). Dojima starts acting out the lyrics to Misty just like he did for Kanashimi Blue. Koichi is totally not satisfied with that LOL but they eventually let Dojima off the hook.

Koichi and Tsuyoshi talk more about the lyrics to Toppatsu Love and the process of making the song (which I sort of zoned out for oops; in my defense, the fireworks kept going off intermittently throughout the Party from Toppatsu Love onwards so sometimes it was hard to hear them). I remember Koichi saying 「剛君、すごい」regarding the way he writes lyrics, though.

Part 2 >>