Berryz in New Jersey

I’ve put off writing this, but I figure I need to get something written up about it.

Berryz came back to mainland America for the second time this past weekend to AnimeNEXT in New Jersey. Of course, I was there, and I thought I’d share a little bit about my experience there. First of all, I will say that it was nice meeting all of my friends there, putting faces to names and all of that. Part of what makes these things enjoyable is the other fans that show up; it’s not every day that we can all get together in one spot.

On to the con itself. There was a brief appearance by the girls at their booth. I was standing on the outside of the crowd so I had a clear view of the girls as they walked in. “Chinami,” I shouted in an effort to get her attention. She turned towards me and as a big smile lights up her face, she waves. She recognized who it was, you could tell by her expression. It was a short amount of time at the Berryz booth, before they split up the crowd and Berryz went on their merry way.

The concert was great as expected. I had a great time in the front row dancing along and cheering for my girls. I was glad to see Because Happiness reformed live, as I didn’t get to see it on their last tour. It was interesting too, the crowd filled in the gaps of Because Happiness with C-ute’s parts, and I thought that was amusing.

During the autographs I didn’t say too much. “Please sign here,” I would say in Japanese, I would then thank them for coming back to America. When Momoko was signing my book, Chinami started talking to me, as the person in front of me had finished. Chinami got a special message of course and it was nice having a few extra seconds to talk with her.

After I got my autographs I took a seat back in front of the girls. I positioned myself so that I would be directly in front of Chinami. During breaks in the line we would smile and wave at each other, it was nice having that little bit of extra interaction with her before the events of the day were done. During another break in the line Risako looked in my direction and I smiled and waved at her, to which she replied with a smile and wave of her own. After that she leaned back in her chair and made this cute face, I can’t describe it. It was like she was being all coy or something, it was adorable. I got the attention of the other girls as well. After trying to get her attention during a break in the line, I was eventually able to get Maasa to wave at us. We also exchanged smiles and waves with Miyabi, Captain and Momoko. It was really nothing special, but for the 50 or so minutes after having got my autograph, to continue to interact with the girls was nice.

That pretty much wraps up Berryz in New Jersey at AnimeNEXT. I had a great time not only seeing my Berryz, but also meeting up with all my friends and other fans. Til next time.