Beri Kou Festival!

Well, ’twas Thanksgiving break, the time for my annual fall pilgrimage to Japan to see mah Berryz, yeah. Just a few thoughts and highlights…

Welcome to Beri Kou Fes!

First off, shout out to my fellow wota and friends in Japan and from other places around the globe. Some I’ve met for the first time, some I haven’t seen in a while. I’ve said it before, but these guys and gals really are a great group of people; I really do feel a sense of pride associating myself with ’em. I’m very lucky to be able to follow my interests and travel, pursuing my passion for Japanese music, and in turn, to meet other people who have a similar passion.

On to the concert… finally got to see Dakishimete Dakishimete. I had been wanting to see that one for some time. Kimi no Tomodachi was pretty cool too, another one I was looking forward to. The rotating setlist gave me the opportunity to see a few different combinations of the girls and songs too, which was an nice little bonus of sorts. Cutting the music and having the audience sing along with Rival, one of my favorite songs, was an awesome little experience too. Great concert overall, I wouldn’t expect anything less.

Two Chinami solos! Yea! Maasa and Captain too. The random selection worked in my favor I would say, haha. The solo performances were cute, with the rest of the Berryz as backup dancers/cheerleaders.

Chinami and her genki self was great, her smile lighting up the stage. What more can I say man. The girl has got me hooked. MC Maasa, always running the show. She really is the King of Berryz, great at leading the troops. While Captain is Captain, coming with her sharp dance moves and high energy as always.

Kumai really is a beauty. That’s nothing new, but her presence on stage has been grabbing a little bit more of my attention lately. Miyabi’s voice is as solid as ever, tho she did miss a bit of a line at one point. She continues to keep her skill in top form.

Ahh, Risako… I felt like Risako was dancing -for me- for a lot of the night on Saturday, heh. Like we kept locking eyes as she danced right there, me in the front row, we kept smiling back and forth at each other. I’m not gonna say it was awkward, but at some points I was kinda like thinking to myself, just stop, lol, this is too much. Yeah, maybe that doesn’t make much sense, but anyway, we always seem to connect at these concerts. Risako’s Ibu-sama character was cool too. She really seems to naturally fit that role and her performance was decent. Also, and maybe this will kinda come off as somewhat of a backhanded complement, but I didn’t really feel that she was dancing all that lazily this time, ha. Baby steps, yeah.

Poor Momo, always getting picked on during their little skits and such. A good chunk of it coming from Chinami as I’ve mentioned here before. It’s not only Chii that picks on her tho, each of them are in on it in their own way. Momoko is just too cute sometimes, haha.

No idea when I’ll get to see them again, but this past experience was a blast. Till next time.