Tokyo Incidents ウルトラC

Tokyo Jihen Ultra C Live Tour 2010 (5/12 Tokyo)

I lucked out and was able to snag a decent ticket for their show on Thursday in Tokyo. It was an isle seat, close to the front and there was no one sitting directly in front of me so I had a great view. As I’ve mentioned on this blog before, Tokyo Jihen was one of the first Japanese groups I discovered back when; they remain one of my favorites to this day, I’m glad I had a chance to see them live.

Showing up to the concert venue, I didn’t know what to expect. I had only been to H!P concerts in the past, so obviously this one was going to be a different experience. First thing that stood out to me was the number of females attending the concert, outnumbered the males by at least two to one. The genre, and Shiina Ringo I guess, pulls a totally different audience for the most part.

Tokyo Jihen: Sports

One thing that really hadn’t crossed my mind was buying concert goods; they had a bunch to choose from. Some of the people there already had on their tracksuits and, t-shirts and flags. There were also things like socks, shoes, perfume, medals, stickers, &c. I decided to get a shirt and a couple flags, figured that I could wave it around as the concert went on (and kinda assumed that others would be doing the same).

So, on to the concert itself… the stage wasn’t too big, and really it didn’t have to be, it’s not like they would be running around and dancing and such, they’d be playing instruments which would kind of confine them to certain areas. The band comes out on stage and, what are they wearing, like some sort of caveman outfits or something with their hair all braided and one or two spiky braids just sticking out for good measure. Oh, and Shiina Ringo is blond. I was maybe expecting something sporty, to go along with the sports album and victory theme. They would wear the same stuff until the encore, where they would change into some more casual clothes.

The performances of the songs themselves were awesome. Much flag waving was had and a little bit of dancin’ thrown in too. A comment on the audience, I found it interesting how during some of the slower songs things would just stop. I mean, it’d become like silent and nobody would move a muscle, not even bob their heads. Even when the song happened to pick up the pace and instrumentals somewhere in the middle there, they’d still be stiff, until the next song came on. Now, I’m not one to get all enthused and excited really, but even I was like, come on guys, let’s wave our flags or something, heh.

I haven’t been keeping hard tabs on their releases this year, so there was a little from their latest album that I hadn’t heard before, but it was all good. The stand out performance for me had to be Killer Tune, one of my favorites, if not the favorite song of theirs. The audience really seemed happy when it came on as well. OSCA and Senko Shojo were also a couple of favorites that I really enjoyed seeing live. The band mostly stayed in their respective positions on stage, moving around a little, sometimes coming together to do a little group play thing. Of course Shiina was the most animated, from picking up the guitar, singing through a megaphone, tweeting a whistle, waving a flag, just doing her thing. She was great, but then, so was the rest of the group. I like the dynamics that the addition of the piano and guitarists voices adds to the sound of the group as well.

The lighting effects throughout the concert were pretty cool. There was a countdown timer, 3 minutes, for Noudouteki Sanpunkan, which was nifty too. They used the same screen to run some 8 bit like video game graphics during a couple songs which I thought added a interesting dimension to things, but not so much to be a distraction.

Overall, great show, great group. Admittedly, it’s probably not a concert that I would go to see over and over again, but I really did enjoy it.

Hajimete no Berryz Concert

I don’t think I need to say that I love Berryz Koubou, that’s pretty obvious isn’t it? I also don’t think I need explain how much I love~ Tokunaga Chinami. Those two things however, do setup the rest of the post. On October 11, the setlist for Berryz Koubou’s latest concert was revealed; on that setlist, was “Ohiru no Kyuukei Jikan.” What’s the big deal? Well, what made this special, was that the song was to be sung alone, by Chinami. To the point, the day I heard that Chinami would be getting a solo at the concert, on October 11, I bought a plane ticket to Japan. I just had to be there.

So anyway, after a few delays in my flight, I made it to Japan on Thanksgiving Day. The concert wouldn’t be for a few days, so I filled my time doing a little bit of shopping, eating and visiting a couple places that I missed during my first trip to Tokyo. I could only stay for a few days, with work and school keeping me busy, but I tried to make the most out of my time.

One thing I wanted to try, was to go to a maid cafe. I ended up going to @home cafe in Akihabara. That sure was an interesting experience. They served me some juice and some interestingly designed cakes, we did a little chant, played some games and I got my picture taken with one of the maids. It was a unique experience, one that I was glad to try. The atmosphere, and the moe~ oozing throughout the place was a nice sight.

With the visit to the cafe, and to a few places someone I know recommended that I check out, I was able to keep myself pretty busy. Now, on to the concert…

First, I had wanted to get some really good seats, 1-3 row, center. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to get them. But that’s okay, because it turns out that rows 1 and 2 weren’t even available. They were taken out to setup camera equipment and such. I ended up getting 4th row tickets in the center for both the afternoon and evening concerts. With the missing seats, that put me right in front of the stage!

I’ll skip a full concert review, but I will just summarize it and say that I had an awesome time! Honestly, during the train ride over, the walk to the concert hall, and while waiting for the concert to start, I could not stop smiling. And afterwards, the smile lingered, I had so much fun. Chinami’s solo was awesome; the Dschinghis Khan beat-boxing was awesome; the girls in fish costumes while Momoko chased them around the stage with a net; the girls did an awesome job of standing out in their own unique ways; it was all awesome!

And too add to the awesome, being in the 4th row I was able to get the attention of the girls. I mean, I’m there jumping around, dancing and such, waving my bright orange glow sticks and strobe light, and they’re there looking straight at me. I don’t mean they were just looking in my general direction, or just turning my way and giving me a quick glance, I mean looking -at- me. A big, tall, black guy kinda stands out, right, lol. During the two concerts I was able to catch everyone’s eye at least once. Near the end of the second concert, I waved and smiled at Risako and she waved and smiled back. Right after that, Chinami gave me the smile treatment as well. Every time they looked my way, my smile would broaden and I’d wave frantically. I know that sounds all fangirlish and what not, but well, I’m a fangirl yeah, lol. Fangirl? Fanboy? Wota!!! God, I love this stuff.

For the second concert I sat with some big time wota. They were really into it. Before the concert we had talked a bit in mixed Japanese/English where I told them about how long I had been listening to Berryz, the first song of theirs I heard, my favorite member and that it was my first Berryz Concert. Anyway, they were really chummy and such throughout the concert.

Headed back home in about 12 hours. Another great trip to Japan, I’m looking forward to doing it again someday.

Champloo

I went to the Hello! Project summer concert in Nagoya yesterday, and let me say, I had a blast. My first H!P concerts, I saw both the 3:00 and the 6:30 shows and really enjoyed them. Before the first show, I just hung around outside, observing what people were selling and trading. Was going to get in line for some goods, but decided to wait until I got inside. And once inside, I bought a bit more than I probably should have, but hey, why not.

In wota fashion, I was wearing orange shorts and had an assortment of orange glow sticks to support my dear Chinami. Not much, but gotta represent.

In the concert hall itself, at 3:00 my seat was all the way in the back. I thought this was going to be a problem, but even from there the view was great. With that said, at the 6:30 show, my seat was much closer and so I enjoyed it all the more. You’d be pretty hard pressed to get me excited about almost anything, but sit me down in front of a group of young laughing, dancing, singing Japanese girls and well, on my own, I’ll go crazy. And as wrong as that may sound, it is what it is, lol.

An interestingly mixed selection of H!P songs started the concert before the girls hit the stage. With the lights being put through their paces, the mix got you pumped for what was to come.

The opening song was my favorite from Morning Musume’s Platinum 9 DISC, Guru Guru JUMP, performed by the whole gang. When all of H!P is saying JUMP, how can one resist; much jumping did ensue. And with that done, sans S/milage, next up was Berryz Koubou’s Piriri to Yukou!. An oldie, but a goodie, and fun to dance to.

S/mileage was first after the Intro/MC with aMa no Jaku followed by Omakase Guardian by Guardians 4. These ones were a little bit harder to dance to, but still fun.

Minimoni Jankenpyon! Fun song and fun to dance to. I’ve not listened to a lot of minimoni but with this revamp, I’m really liking it. Jankenpyon is one I’ve heard before, but not really payed much attention to. Props to LinLin, and their outfits were pretty cool too.

On the first performance of Mano’s Sekai Wa Summer Party, I think Erina, messed up a little bit, but was alright on the second go round. There are a few points in the instrumental to this song that sounded a bit off, or maybe too strong. Anyway, with S/mileage dancing in the background, this was another that I could get into.

C-ute’s Shochuu Omimai Moshiagemasu, I wasn’t too much a fan of the song, nor the PV… but the live performance was great.

Seishun Bus Guide has a pretty cool dance, and so I feel pretty cool dancing along to Berryz Kobo’s latest single.

Nanchatte Renai and Shouganai Yume Oibito by Morning Musume; good stuff. With MM on the stage, I think I watched Koharu the most, she’s just fun and… I don’t know. One thing I did catch myself doing whenever Reina was on the big screen was checking out her eyes, they’re so captivating, or maybe amusing is a better word, haha. I don’t know, I like how they’re offset and crosseyed or whatever. Ehh…, LOL. I’m going to have to redo my MM rankings.

Aa! and Pucchimoni V’s new songs were great. In Aa!’s case, I’m definitely liking the sound after being disappointed by the on the Champloo album. In Pucchimoni V, Erina, I don’t know… I think she messes up again.

Moving on to Reina’s solo, she did a excellent job. She was followed Tanpopo#. Yurina seemed like she kinda didn’t fit with the sound of this group, dunno. My Boy was awesome, as is to be expected of Buono!. And then we get some more jumping with C-ute’s JUMP preformed by all.

Ai’s solo… I like the song, but… yawn? I would have liked to see LinLin do her thing, but whatever. Maybe the placement after JUMP and a MC made it seem dull. Again, I like the song and she has a great voice, it just didn’t fit.

v-u-den… Risako, Sayumi and JunJun carry out mic stands as they come onto the stage. There’s just something about their stage presence in this song that is so, bad… in a good way. Risako in her opening solo is really owning the mic and is very into it. Then when the additional instrumental comes in, you cannot help but be pumped. Later on you have JunJun on the ground doing some wicked air guitar, rushing back to the other side of the stage and jamming some more. This was my favorite song on the Champloo album and seeing it live is so much better. The first performance of the song, I could really tell that the crowd loved it, they were really into it.

ZYX-α and High-King do their thing, and then High-King comes on with Cinderella\Complex. That was a bit unexpected, but very much welcome. The dance is one you can really get into.

In the MC here, I just want to point out that Koharu is really fun to watch. Even if I have no idea what she’s saying, she is really playful in a very amusing way.

Special Generation plays and the crowd is really into it. Another Berryz oldie but a goodie. At the end here, Maimi steps out between the Berryz, decked out in white, saying her opening lines from Tokaikko Junjou. The contrast looks cool and is a great transition.

Resonant Blue finishes up the group songs and this one was again, really fun to dance to.

Ending things is Sono Bamen de Bibiccha Ikenai jan!, Koko ni Iruzee and after a quick MC, Aozora ga Itsumademo Tsuzuku Youna Mirai de Are! Tho I wasn’t familiar with the last song, it was a good end to an awesome concert.

So yeah, I definitely enjoyed doing the whole wota thing. Chants, claps, jumping, dancing, singing, the whole nine yards. Will really have to look into making this happen more often.