CK's Japan Tour, Fall 2008 Day 9 ~Resonant Live~

It's a mere hours before I leave Japan to return to San Francisco, so I am sort of in a "come down" state.  But I will do my best to stay enthusiastic and do this review.  Anyhow, I still have a few things to do before I leave, like dash down to Shibuya to pick up Berryz Kobo's new single.  By the way, is anybody thirsty?

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Jeez!  Seven shows in 10 days!  It seems like "forever" ago that I was watching Matsuura Aya live at STB-139.  Throw in three AKB48 shows, Berryz in Fuji and now Two Morning Musume concerts, it has been a whirlwind vacation.  I am sad I am leaving, I could stay here forever!

Since I couldn't find any good pics from this show on the internet, should I pepper this post with pics of my concert goodies?  Or should it be random pics from around Tokyo?  Uhhh, how about a little of both...

Reina Goods

Morning Musume ~Resonant Live~ 11/02/2008-11/03/2008 at Tokyo Koseinenkin Kaikan

I was really "pushing the envelope" by winning a ticket to see AKB48 Team B's matinee show on the same day.  That meant I had mere minutes to literally run out of the AKB48 theater, grab the JR Chuo rapid train across Tokyo to Shinjuku, and meet Celestia so we could hit the concert.  I got nervous for a minute because I didn't know she was lost wandering around JR Shinjuku station.  Eventually we met up and made it over to the venue just fine.

When we arrived the front of the hall/hotel was just a sea of people.  There were two lines, but neither seemed to be moving.  Eventually we lined up on the left which led us behind the hotel where there were tons of people selling/trading merchandise.  This turned out to be the line to actually get into the show.  The weird thing was that they were actually selling the merchandise outside of the theater.  So neither of us could buy and goods or glowsticks.  It was a good thing we were both coming back the next day, lesson learned.

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The stage setup itself was sort of non-descript, unlike the Wonderful Hearts stages, which are usually a lot more extravagant.  It's easy to tell who is a fan of who because everyone prominently wears the colors of their favorite member.  I only saw a few people with multiple colors represented.  I think the idea is that you will get your favorite girl's attention that way.  At the first show Celestia and I were surrounded by Sayumi Michishige fans.  The second day I was in a sea of Kamei and Ai-chan fans.  We also noticed a piano set in the middle of the stage.  That could only mean one thing...Manoeri.  Well, unless Koha has taken up the piano lately.  And contrary to popular belief, there were many girls in the audience!

Hello Kitty Bling-Shibuya

The lights went down, and Manoeri walked out to sing her new single, Lucky Aura.  Now I have made it no secret that I am not a huge fans of Mano Erina's material, although I DID buy the single.  But that was mainly because I wanted the bonus photo, and it was totally cheap too!  I may not like her music, but I do think she is really cute.  Anyhow, song was okay live.  I like it a bit more than Manopiano.  By the way, she did not perform at either of Monday's performances.  So I am glad I had an opportunity to see her.

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Oh boy, time for Momusu.  The arena went dark again, and the girls come out in what looks like yellow rain slickers singing the B-side to Resonant Blue,  Sone Bamen de Bibiccha Ikenai Jan!  I really like this song, and it is perfect to get the crowd going to start the show.  And as usual, I was fixated on Reina during this performance.  At Monday's show I had the opportunity to buy goods so I could represent, so I was decked out in Reina Blue!  And WOW, the crowd was "shot out of a cannon" for the first few numbers.  Mikan is a great song to see live.  It is a lot of fun to dance to, and also really energetic.  By the way, Takitty has amazing legs.  Very muscular, you can totally tell she is a dancer.  By comparison, most everyone elses legs look really skinny!

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After the intros and opening VTR, we heard Pepper Keibu, which was done in the PV outfits, and a few other random songs.  But the one I like the most in this set is TOP, from the fifth album.  Hearing it reminded me of Kei-chan's graduation concert.  I absolutely loved Lemon Iro Milk Tea, with Sayumi, Eri, and Reina.  Now the cool thing was they rotated who the lead girl was on each performance.  Sunday night was Eri, but Monday I heard Sayumi.  It's a great song, and it was neat to hear each girls distinct interpretation of it.  I loved Sayu's uber-cute version.  But I am jealous of Celestia who got to hear Reina's version!  No matter who did the lead, it's a great song.

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After the next MC, which seemed to have Reina trying to teach Sayumi and Eri to speak French?  With some great Reina pouting thrown in.  It was time for Tan Tan Taan with ALL of Milky Way.  Personally, I prefer Anataboshi.  But the funny thing was the Ai-chan fan behind me was apparently a huge Kitahara Sayaka fan as well.  When they came out he went absolutely berserk.  Even his friends were laughing at him...SAYAAAAAAAAA, SAYAAAAAAAA, SAYAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!

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That led to a bunch of the new material, with a few solos thrown in.  Mittsi looked cute , but I thought she was pitchy throughout Watashi no Miryoku ni Kizukano Donkan na Hito.  Risa's solo was in the matinee, and Takitty's was in the evening.  Of the two, I preferred Gaki-san's Indigo Blue Love.  Then again, ballads are always a tough sell for me.  But she looked smoking hot.  That hairdo she is wearing is total win.  And I loved the way she "spun" out of her dress to go immediately into Take Off is Now with Takitty and Reina.  A very sexy song.  I generally liked the outfits here, although I thought Risa had the lamest of the three (see my last post).  Somewhere in this set there was a Risa/Ai MC segment.  They were talking about birthdays, and all of a sudden Reina (b-day 11/11) ran out in the background of the set, flashed a peace sign, and ran off.  Such a cute moment.  But my favorite performances of the show were still to come...

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GuruGuru Jump is not on the Aku Yuu tribute album, so this must be a preview of their 9th full length release?  In any case, it is a cute, fun, and energetic song.  JunLin and Koharu made a great team up there.  This one got the crowd going again.  And the following MC segment with the three of them and Aika was cute too.  JunJun plays that ditzy card perfectly.  She makes Koharu seem like the levelheaded one when they are together!  But I still say Koharu's personality goes a long way in adding much needed personality to the group.  My favorite song of the night by far was Koi no Dial 6700.  Man, this is an awesome song.  Having LinLin sing lead on it so she could do the "rin rin rin rin" parts while pointing to herself was genius!  She looked so happy and cute up there.  But the cutest thing was Sayumi dressed in the sweet loli clothes doing the "hello?" parts.  That was unbelievable.  You have to see it!

Next we get the standard Momusu selections.  Souda! Were Alive, Koko ni Iruzee, Roman My Dear Boy are all good choices.  Souda! really gets the crowd going too with the fist pumping part.  At some point Reina waved to me here.  At least I think she did.  She was looking right toward me, and there were no one else in Blue in the immediate vicinity, AND I jumped around when she looked my way.  So I am going to say she was waving at ME!  Resonant Blue finished the set.  That is an amazing dance!

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I love the way they "chant" for encores at these shows.  "encor-ee, encor-ee" on and on and on.  They did it the same way at Berryz and AKB48.  Ame no Furanai Hoshi de wa Aisenai Darou? is that beautiful song from the Summer concert with the JunJun-LinLin chinese solos at the end.  I love that LinLin got a lot of face time in this show.  And JunJun was so cute when she pointed out everyone with bananas in the audience!  The last song was the standard Auzora de Itsumademo Tsuzuke You na Mirai de Are!,, a song that I loved when I saw H!P winter.  I really tried to savor this moment because I really don't know when I will next get the opportunity to see them.  I watched Reina all the way off of the stage.

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So there ya go!  Quite a trip eh?  I know we all like to critique the DVD's when they come out.  But there is nothing like seeing these groups perform live.  They are ALL consummate professionals, and fabulous at what they do.  And I am so in love with Reina.  She is the total package, a perfect Idol to me!  I really felt sad after the show was over.  Now all that is left is to pack to return to California and relive the memories through these posts, photos and personal experiences.  I love it here so much.  If I could I would move here for good.  But for now I'll just have to plan my next trip over.  Hopefully it will be fairly soon.

Goodnight

CK in Tokyo (for just a little bit longer)