People want different things from handshakes so I totally understand where Joe is coming from. (Correct me if I'm wrong but) He seems to be looking for a connection and sincerity from the members and not the superficial tsuri stuff.
10/22 - 10/23 NMB48 Boku wa Inai HS Report 10/22 Slot 1 Sayaka Since I've been going to her handshake for every single (both AKB48G and NMB48) and she already recognized my face, I decided to tell her my name for the last time and leave it to the hands of the God if she wants to remember it or not. S: oh! R: Hey! My name is Rona. S: Rona.. Before (I didnt catch the rest of what she said because it is completely inaudible). R: Please remember it. S: I will remember it. R: I dont believe you lol Miru M: I remember you! Good morning. R: Good morning! By the way, I went to the concert last time. M: How is it? R: I really like it especially Kaze wa Fuiteru (Miru center) M: Eh? Im glad that you like it. But the dance is really difficult. R: (I didnt know how to respond for this one) Times up M: Come back later, ok? Ill wait for you! Slot 4 Sayaka S: Okaeri Rona. R: I want to go to Disney! S: When? R: Lets go together! S: Toy Story Mania is a must! Riripon While I was 3-4 person away from her, I saw her outfit looks like Little Red Riding Hood but then it wasnt after all. Ri: Oh! Ro: Hey, Im from PH. Your attire is really cute. Ri: Really? Ro: Btw, what is that? (referring to her overall attire) Ri: hmm.. I do not know!!! Ro: eh? What?? By the way, I went to concert. Ri: Really? Ro: Regarding the team shuffle.. Times up Ri: Yeah about that, we will do our best Slot 5 Akarin R: Long time no see A: Long time no see R: I went to concert. A: Really? R: What do you think about the team shuffle? A: Im looking forward to it. R: You're now in Team M. Please do your best! A: Please come and watch me in this new team. Slot 6 Sayaka Since I dont know what to say, I decided to drop a pick up line. S: Rona R: hey.. Instagram has a heart. S: Eh? What? R: Twitter has a heart, But what I want most is your heart. S: Hey! That is uncalled for. R: LOL Times up S: I love you (heart pose) R: See you tomorrow Riripon Ri: Welcome back! Ro: Do you like KPOP? Ri: eh? huh? Ro: KPOP.. KPOP Ri: ah! KPOP, I like them! I really like them! Ro: Then, who do you like? Ri: oo-san Ro: huh? who? Ri: oo-san! hiphop!! Ro: I do not know who you're talking about For this one, I realized maybe she heard it as hiphop but by that time I emphasized the word KPOP to her. 10/23 Slot 3 Riripon Ri: Oh! Hello! Ro: What was that? (Referring to the number on her left chest) Ri: This one? Its power! Ro: What? Huh? Ri: Love Power!!! Ro: Love Power, what the hell is that..? Since I dont know what is she talking about, I decided to change the topic. Ro: Please do a freestyle Rap. Ri: Eh? Freestyle.. then "yo yo yo yo" Ro: What the hell? (I was laughing at her the entire time because of this so called free style rap) Ri: Why are you laughing? Slot 4 Sayaka When I was queuing, my heart is pounding too fast probably for the reason if I can execute this pickup line without failing. S: Oh! Rona! R: Are you a magician? Whenever.. S: I'm not! R: Whenever I see you, everyone is invisible. (Pause for a lil bit) R: I only see Sayaka. (I blushed while I said this line and Sayaka definitely saw that) S: Kawaii! (Probably because I almost failed while delivering this pick up line) R: You're costume is really cute! S: eh really? nyan nyan (very cute pose) R: LOL... nyan nyan Slot 5 Miru M: Oh! R: I want to see your outfit! M: This one? (I kinda expecting her to stand and show off her chinese dress, but then I saw there's a towel on her lap.) R: Its really pretty! M: Really? Xie Xie R: Is that a chinese outfit? M: what? Times up! R: Chinese! Riripon Ri: Welcome back Ro: Ill go back to PH next week. Ri: Thats sad! Ro: But ill go back next month! Ri: Really? Im glad! I want to eat banana! Ro: eh? Banana? Do you like banana? Ri: I really like banana! Ro: But I like you! LOL Ri: Like? Me? Really? Im so happy! Ro: yeah. Bye I was so confused when she mentioned banana all of a sudden then I realized that the bananas in Japan are imported from the Philippines. Slot 6 Sayaka R: Tomorrow, I mean Next week S: Rona! R: Next week's Sunday, Ill go back to PH. S: (She makes a really sad face and gripped my hand) R: But Ill go back next month! S: Really? Handshake (In english) (another grip) R: Yes and your solo concert! S: Really? Thats great!! R: I also went to NMB concert and really enjoy it! S: Thank you! I really want to go to Philippines. R: Really? S: Yes! Miru M: Oh! Thank you (in English) R: Hey! Fish me! M: *chu* R: (She was so close that I need to move back) woah Times up. M: Did it reach you? R: (I dont know pose) M: oi! (gave me a nasty reaction)
You would think she would associate the Philippines with durian. I know I do, but since she got her durian in Taiwan, she might not. And she doesn't like durian, so that's not what she would want to eat in the Philippines even if she made the association.
One of my students who happens to be half Filipino half Japanese also said that about bananas... "The fruit that comes from the Philippines."
That's because that's what is taught to kids in Japan when it comes to Philippines. At least that's what i was told to teach my kids lol
AKB48 Group Fall Festival - Pacifico Yokohama 2016/11/3 Preface: I realized that I had more NMB member tickets for this event than any other groups at an AKB event, which was surprising for me. 2 Keicchi 1 Yuuri 1 Shu 1 Riripon Unfortunately, the circumstances of the event's festivities caused me to forfeit 4 of my tickets because certain members' lanes ran/started late, so I lost one Keicchi ticket, missed Yuuri and Riripon. Anyway here are my write-ups plus a surprise member! Slot 2: Jonishi Kei - Play a game and get a two-shot or 1-shot I didn't understand the rules of the game or what she was saying exactly. She said "ringo" which confused me, wasn't sure if that some background info on Keicchi that I didn't know or what, if any of you have any insight please tell me lol. Slot 4: Yabushita Shu - Janken for a 2-shot This was my first time meeting Shu. But since it was such a short interaction I'm not sure if it actually counted. She was really friendly and had a bubbly/giggly aura to her though, so definitely a good first impression. I'm hoping to get more Shu time at the 11/27 event. Slot ?? Kamieda Emika - Name Card Exchange If you've seen/heard about how the Name Card Exchange went at the summer festival, it's basically you can use a name card ticket at any time for any member that is doing the exchange. The members come up to big a red and white festival stage and introduce themselves before going into their lane. In the lane, you meet the member of your choice and they'll hand you their name card which has a drawing or message on the back side. As I was finishing my Keicchi ticket, NMB members were introducing themselves on the stage. At first it was just the kenkyuusei and 5th gen members, but then some of the less popular members who didn't have surprise lanes for the day came up and I saw Emicchi come up. I immediately rushed to the name card area, which was on the opposite side of the venue hall and managed to meet Emicchi albeit briefly.
Yeah, it might have been that. While in the line I literally saw people walk in, hand her their phone, take the pic, chat for a bit then leave. But yeah she might have let me take the pic anyway cuz I'm a foreigner lol.
11/8 2016 Yamamoto Sayaka Live Tour ~Rainbow~ @ Zepp Tokyo I usually don’t write my experiences at concerts or live performances unless that particular performance meant a lot to me. Well, this one definitely deserves a write-up. So, where do I start? Let’s start off talking a little about obtaining the tickets. Initially I had plans to attend every single one of her tour performances with maybe the exception of the one in Hokkaido. I applied the lottery like everyone else and surprisingly I actually didn’t win a single ticket for any of the Zepp performances. I knew it was going to be hard but I didn’t think I would’ve gotten none. I mean, all the shows are literally on weekdays. Everyone whom I applied with also didn’t win any tickets which I was counting on as a backup. I knew my only choice was to buy tickets from resellers, which may I add is technically against the rules. Knowing that I have to pay all these extra cash to these resellers really discouraged me in attending all the location. Eventually other ticket distributors started their lottery and I eventually won 2 tickets for the Tokyo one. Just when I thought my battle was over I find myself holding possibly one of the worst ticket ever. Zepp Live Houses shows this time have no seating of any kind except the on the 2nd floor. Basically tickets are numbered and you are let in base off your number. In short the lower number you had the earlier you could get in which means the closer you could get in front of the stage. Without getting in too much detail, my ticket was almost equivalent to possibly the 2200th person to go in. Cool fact, the first floor only has the capacity for about 2400 people in Zepp Tokyo LOL. After a series of events a friend and I became the first 150 people to enter the venue. I won’t disclose how I did it on here but if you ever ask me in real life maybe I might just tell you lol. Suddenly my friend and I became 5-6 people distance away from the dead center of the stage. A distance like this would’ve prolli easily been a 500-600 dollar ticket in the resell market lol. Let’s talk about the performance itself now. Some of you may already know if you tuned into the Takoyaki Podcast from last week was that I wanted to go into this live without prior listening to the album. The reasoning behind that was because I knew I would be attending multiple of these Zepp Live which would probably have very similar setlists. That being said, Zepp Tokyo wouldn’t have been my last time listening to it live anyway so I had nothing to lose to go into this performance with completely fresh ears. Although it was near impossible for me to not have heard Yukikoi and Rainbow Rose so these two were the exceptions lol. The setlist for Zepp Tokyo I think was the exact same as Zepp Nagoya’s from a week ago which was a little disappointing. The opening for Hitokoto was pretty badass with these strong backlights blasting Sayaka’s gigantic shadow onto this see thru veil in front of her. At that moment I knew this was going to be great lol. What I Liked: One thing I really like about shows with live band is that you can actually get to know a little bit about each of the band members. That whole MC was actually interesting enough that I still remember each and every one of the band members’ names. Sayaka was introducing them and giving us something to remember them by. For example Koji on guitar was the “Long Hair Tantou” while the Leader on Piano looks like Fujimori Shingo from Radio Fish lol. I really liked this feeling that they are actually part of the team rather than just some background instrumental. The Rave Band they pushed out as support goods this time was pretty sleek too. The fact that you literally don’t have the do anything and the production team will wirelessly control the crowd’s Rave Band to synchronize in flashing certain colors matching with the performance was pretty dope. While looking at photos from the first Zepp Live at Nagoya I was actually a little curious on how they dealt with the transitions in between Sayaka’s outfit change. What they did was they had a band solo while Sayaka goes off stage to change. This transition was pretty smooth since this was when the band really showed off their skills. There was also this part where Sayaka did a Guitar battle with Koji and one with Ayasa (Yes, she’s a violinist. Wtf indeed lol). KYAHHHH KAKKEEEEE What I thought was interesting: What I thought was interesting was that since this was Sayaka’s first footing as an “Artist” rather than an idol, most of the crowd refrained from doing any mixes. This was really interesting because when songs like Dakishimetaikedo and Bokura no Eureka came out the crowd was left in an awkward position lol. Do we mix? Do we not? Anyone who goes to event almost as often as I should know exactly what I mean by this lol. We’re so used to listening to these songs with the mixes that the mixes have literally became part of the song in our minds. What ended up happening was some mixes were kept and while others kinda faded out lol. I actually don’t know if there was some unspoken rule but on the day everyone appeared to be around on the same page. Penlights were near nonexistent and support goods were kept to a minimal (uchiwas, lightboards, signs, nmb goods). I didn’t really think much about it then but when I do, it gives me a little emotional kick. Our beloved NMB Captain growing out of the idol shell and moving on to an Artist lol. *tears up* What I hated: Despite what an awesome time I had, I actually got a little worked up by some douchebags. While everyone was waiting for the Live to start suddenly a group of teens showed up pushing and shoveling their way through the crowd in attempt to move towards the front of the stage. Right away I knew they were Yakkais (Fans who causes trouble). They literally didn’t care for anyone around them as they pushed their way through. Once they got to where we were, people finally noticed what they were trying to do. People up front started to push back and blocking them, telling them to stop pushing. They literally gave 0 f*ck and kept forcing it. People were about to get into fights and honestly that annoyed the hell out of me. Me and a fan beside actually signaled staffs to come. I suddenly got really worked up because I could tell all the Japanese around was pissed off by this group of guys but were too scared to voice their opinions. My friend and I started yelling at them in English. Even though I doubt anyone really understood us but they knew I was pissed because I used a crap tons of F words with no restraint. The staff came and I guess couldn’t do anything since technically they didn’t “break” any rules so they were able to stay where they were. In the end half of them got closer to the stage than us while the other half was behind us. The funny thing after was that the Japanese fans around us started trash talking that group of guys I guess after figuring out that everyone seem to be on the same page. Since the 2 yakkais behind us couldn’t get in front with the rest of their friends so they just sat down on the floor and took a nap. This was also very cringe worthy, since they literally took a piss on everyone who performed on that stage that night. It wasn’t till Bokura no Eureka came up the Yakkais started to do the “jump” that they’re super famous for. After the song ended they all left the venue. You could say they only came for Bokura no Eureka and didn’t care about anything else Sayaka did. A**holes. ---------------------------------------------------- After the show ended, typical band shenanigan. SATOKO (drummer) threw out her drum sticks and the guitarist including Sayaka threw out their picks. Sayaka thanked everyone who came and then suddenly said something like “Thanks for coming too you guys!” while waving up at the 2nd floor. WHAM, the moment I noticed Milky was up there my mind blocked off all the other girls that also came. She gave everyone a wave and ran off lol. Oh, Miyuki-chan lol. It was a nice pleasant surprise, although probably for different reasons from the Sayamilk shippers lol. Thoughts on Rainbow: From watching the live performance I thought the album was pretty solid. I don’t think I could ever look at the album with full oshi goggles off but for sure there were some songs that I felt were VERY mediocre. However as her first album and within the time given to her I’m still really proud what she has accomplished here. A song that stood out especially for me during the Live was Smile. Just because it was a very easy song to get people to hype about. All she had to do was jump around with her arms up and have the crowd yell LET’S GO LET’S GO/ KEEP ON KEEP ON with her lol. Final Thoughts: Watching this Live was a big deal with me. The last time I watched Sayaka performed a solo live was over 2 yrs ago at the Natsu Matsuri. I’m sure like every Sayaka fans out there, watching her perform a full live was a dream we were all waiting for. Not only was I able to do that but was also given a chance to watch it from a near perfect distance. This was a life changing experience for me. It’s safe for me to say that this experienced topped off every concert, live or theater shows I’ve attended since entering this fandom. That being said, I still have 2 more performances at Zepp Namba that I will be attending. The experience probably won’t be comparable but I’m still really excited to see what’s in stored for me!
11/27 LOVE TRIP Handshake Event This event was definitely more NMB-heavy, which I'm not complaining about. -Slot 2- Emichi, Selfie 2shot lottery, didn't win. Kinda bummed that I didn't get a 2shot with any of my 3 tickets, but it's alright because I was more interested in talking to her about Pokemon lol. -Slot 3- Shu, Old Maid, Won! Basically, I had one of those moments where I was excited/rushed by the staff and wanted to say something but fumbled on the delivery, but Shu seemed nice enough to roll with it. -Slot 5- I had some tickets for another member that I couldn't use in Slot 3 but inquired about oshimashi and decided to use a ticket on Yuppi who is my guilty pleasure NMB member. Considering I wasn't planning on meeting Yuupi that day, the topic I gave her was based off of her recent activities which included her photography work that she posts on Twitter. -Slot 6- NMB Party Hour I decided to make amends on my previous baka gaijin mistake with Keicchi at the Aki Matsuri, but she was cool and let it slide. I'm so sad Keicchi is leaving, and hate that I took so long to get around to meeting her. I didn't mention this in the memo, but Shu usually takes the phone and does the selfie. But she was a bit surprised and caught off-guard that my phone camera settings were in English and so she was like "Whoa, Eigo ya!" I like how you can break her character or get candid reactions to something when she sees or is asked to do something in English. Referring to Sakuraism's Shu douga from earlier. While deliberating on who to use my remaining oshimashi tickets on, I was originally considering Yuuri at the request of zeroshiki and because I missed her last time. But her line was a bit too long to also make it to Riripon, so I decided for a completely new option: Tanigawa Airi Considering I usually meet her other half, Emichi, I decided to see Airi, especially after enjoying Tanieda English. This was a fun handshake because it was her chance to try her Tanieda English skills. The November or December thing was part of her intro from the most recent Tanieda English. I can't believe she got it wrong again lol! I'm thinking of going to her again next year. Riripon I was pretty lucky getting all their 2shots with only one ticket for each of them. Meeting NMB members at these events is always fun. They seem a lot more friendly and open to talking than most members from other groups, but that's just my thought.
11/27 2006 Love Trip Kobetsu Handshake @ Makuhari Messe Ishizuka Akari Shiroma Miru Yabushita Shu Shibuya Nagisa https://twitter.com/andilee1989/status/802749374807715840 Yagura Fuuko Yamamoto Sayaka
Yamamoto Sayaka Rainbow Tour Live: Zepp Namba 21st November 2016 Fan Report It’s been a long time since I’ve written any fan report for a concert, so please forgive my rustiness. So more than a week ago, I flew over to Japan, and attended one of the concerts from Yamamoto Sayaka’s first live tour at Zepp Namba on the 21st of November. It was the penultimate concert of the tour as there were 2 concerts that were scheduled at Zepp Namba. About the tickets, I applied for them throughout the several rounds but didn’t manage to win any; however, one of my friends managed to win tickets for 2 people, and so thanks to her, I was able to go and be her tag-along! Spoiler So on 21st November which was a Monday, we went to the concert together, and it was pretty much a full-day event. We started off the day by getting to Zepp Namba at around 10am-ish in the morning just to line up to get goods. Although the goods sales only started at 12pm, I think that was a good decision on our part because once goods sales started, we were able to get through it pretty fast since we were quite near the front. I mean it was a 2 hours wait, but we just spent it talking to each other the whole time haha. We were done by around 12:30 pm and could just run off for lunch. The live itself was scheduled to start at 6pm, and the doors were going to open at 5pm, so we got back around 4:30pm to the venue, so we managed to have a looong, relaxing lunch. Anyway, jumping ahead to when we had entered the venue, well what was interesting was the songs that were playing before the actual concert started. I remember reading online that Sayaka herself had picked the setlist for those songs, so I spent my time standing there judging Sayaka’s taste in music. I mean there were of course some Japanese rock songs like Radwimps and the like, but the volume of English songs was rather big too. One of the songs was Let It Be by The Beatles. There was also lots of songs that I grew up with such as Taylor Swift, Paramore’s That’s What You Get and not surprisingly Sayaka’s idol while growing up, Avril Lavigne. There were other stuff too but I forgot now ooops. I was there with a few other international fans, and we were just waiting for Sk8tr Boy to play, and it really did to our amusement. I bet we must have been the strange gaijins of the day getting hyped up over old school English songs hahaha. Her song choices were all super nostalgic to me too as it was all songs I grew up with, so I actually quite enjoyed it haha. It was somewhat nice to get that hyped up like that before the concert actually started. On the concert itself, as far as setlists go, it didn’t differ much from the previous Zepp locations (Nagoya, Tokyo, Sapporo). I think it was only towards the end, the song order changed a little, and Sayaka sang one extra song at Zepp Namba. For Day 1 (the one I went), she did Amagami Hime, and for day 2, she did Dazai Ozamu wo Yonda ka and did a double encore with Rainbow Rose for day 2 as well (based on reports). But anyway, more on that later. Let’s just start with first and foremost; SONGS & PERFORMANCES I REALLY ENJOYED 1. HITOKOTO. When the lights dimmed and Sayaka did this very first song on the setlist, at first, all we saw was her silhouette with her guitar while she sang; and I thought that really built up the anticipation to see Sayaka herself appear on the stage right after she had finished singing the intro of the song. It felt like, “OMG SAYAKA’S SOLO LIVE IS A THING. IT’S REAL. IT’S HAPPENING”. To me, that moment was so surreal it actually took me time to actually grasp that I was right there at the very moment watching her solo live. 2. RAINBOW ROSE. This is arguably the anthem of the entire concert; I mean the title of the album and the tour is Rainbow after all. As Sayaka herself has mentioned before, this song is a very special song that Sayaka wrote and dedicated for fans, family, and everyone who has been supporting her all this time. I already loved this song prior to the live because it has so much meaning and story behind it especially for fans, but when I got to see this live, it reached a whole new different level; it was just beyond amazing. As someone who has been watching over Sayaka for more than 5 years now, this performance really made me feel so overwhelmed with emotions seeing her come so far. I didn’t cry like I thought I would, but seeing Sayaka beaming and shining on stage, I couldn’t help but to smile so widely too. I felt both so happy and proud for her! 3. DAKISHIMETAIKEDO. A bit of a backstory, but Dakishimetaikedo came out in the NMB album about the exact time I left Japan 2 years ago (I lived in Japan a year), and I haven’t seen Sayaka or NMB live ever since then. So, that day in Zepp Namba was my very first time being able to see the song being performed in front of my eyes, and I certainly wasn’t disappointed. I mean I don’t know if it was just me but I thought Sayaka was on exceptional form that day, and her singing was so on point and it sounded great with the livehouse dynamics too! 4. KANOJO NI NARITAI. When I had first listened to this song from the album, I had a feeling that it would be super fun song to do at a concert, and it really was! That WOAH WOAH WOAH parts were so fun to do call and response with together with Sayaka. It was just a really lively happy cute song; and was just a fun song to jam to live! 5. SMILE. This was another song that was perfect for the concert atmosphere. I knew that especially in Japan, if there was a towel in the concert goods, there’ll be at least one song where they’ll use the towel to swing around. And it ended up being this song so I could finally utilise my towel that was around my neck the whole time and swing it about. It was just a super rad fun song to get hyped up with the LETS GO LETS GO parts while I jumped about with my towel. 6. AMAGAMI HIME. Out of the entire setlist, this probably stood out the most to me!! This was because this was the one song she added into her setlist that wasn’t in any other of the Zepp lives. And it was funny as it was the first song in the encore, I was kinda really blur at first and when the song first started, I was like, “What is this song?! Sounds super familiar.” After a few seconds, it finally hit me and I turned at my friend and looked super stunned, and after that was like “NO WAY ITS AMAGAMI HIME!” Out of all the songs she could have done, I wasn’t expecting this at all, so it was such a pleasant surprise! Sayaka’s vocals were super crisp and amazing in this, and I’m really thankful to have been able to see it live. Thanks for deciding to do it on the 21st and not 22nd Sayaka XD 7. 365 NICHI NO KAMIHIKOUKI. I have alwaaaays loved this song, and while I know this was a song that was performed in every single Zepp concert, it felt somewhat special at Zepp Namba Day 1 because they had literally just announced how 365Nichi had gotten a Japan Record Award for this year, so we were all just yelling “Omedetou! (Congratulations)” to Sayaka for that. And I loved it live as well as there was just a peaceful, reassuring warmth to it. I’m really glad I got to see it like at least once in my life. 8. MELODY. This was the very last song on the setlist and I think it wrapped up the entire concert really well as the song itself (though not written by Sayaka herself) was very true to Sayaka. Once again, just seeing Sayaka giving it her all on stage and her genuine heart of wanting to deliver her songs and performances to people, I really felt proud and glad that I have supported her all these years. And it also kind of felt like Sayaka’s strong will to continue producing music and delivering it to both her fans but also people who are yet to see her or even know of her. In a way, it gave a real sense of how everything had to come to an end, but it was a promise that we’ll continue seeing Sayaka continue doing what she loves - performing her heart out on stage. OTHER THINGS THAT REALLY STOOD OUT AND IMPRESSED ME 1. The unity and support of Sayaka’s band From the entire concert, this may have been the aspect that stood out the most to me. Compared to Sayaka, all of the band members were really experienced and have played in many different concerts before, but they were all really kind and supportive to Sayaka. I loved how at the MCs, Sayaka took some time to talk about each and every one of them so that we got to know all of them. I’ve been to these kind of lives before, and usually the band support members would only get like a name mention and an applause, and that’s all you’ll get to know about them. But for Sayaka’s live, it was so nice because you got to know what each member meant to Sayaka, and the type of relationships they had with each other. It was just such a warm, friendly atmosphere as the band was just gently pushing Sayaka on as she performed, and each and every member was just so passionate and enthusiastic. Even just watching them smiling and performing with Sayaka was such an honour and joy. I am glad Sayaka had such supportive band members! When she does go on a tour like this again, I hope she’ll get them all back as her YS band because they all really seemed to have a blast just jamming together. It was really a sight to behold and a joy to the ears. 2. The MCs (a) Sayaka’s fangirl #1 Ayasa, the violinist This came up in the MCs but it was really great as Ayasa the violinist talked about how she’s been collecting Sayanee posters and recently, she has even purchased newer posters and hanging them up in her house. I think it’s really cute as how Ayasa looks like such a beautiful, refined lady, but in actual fact, she’s just a typical fangirl at heart. That gap is amazing haha. She also dropped a bombshell when Sayaka asked Ayasa what her favourite poster currently was and Ayasa had said, “The SayaMilky poster because it’s really cute!” I think Ayasa just outed herself there as a SayaMilky fan. That caused Sayaka to be really shocked and shy about it and not really knowing how to react haha. What was funny about this though was that coincidentally, my friend had just passed over Boku wa Inai Type D Tsutaya CD to me which she had helped me get months ago for my birthday, and I was carrying around the bonus photo everywhere in my bag that day. It was this: Before the live, I had actually joked with my friend that since I would be carrying that photo in my bag during the live, maybe we’ll get something SayaMilky in the live since it’ll be my “SayaMilky charm”. I kinda said it really lightly, not expecting anything at all, so I can’t believe my “charm” actually worked. Hahah thank you Ayasa (b) Sayaka’s fangirl #2 Satoko, the drummer I remember this part of the MC really well too because Sayaka was sharing about how just a day ago, Satoko had added 山本彩推し (Yamamoto Sayaka oshi) into her Twitter profile. And Satoko was talking about how she actually looked at fans’ profiles to see how it was done, and realised lots of people would put *full name* and then oshi after it and so she decided to do it for Sayanee. It seems ever since they’ve been going on tour together, both Satoko and Ayasa had grown to be huge fans of Sayaka, and I think it’s really cute. They even go to the lengths to call Sayaka as “Sayanee-sama” on Twitter just to mess with her haha. But like even when they tweet/talk about her, they really have a lot of honour and respect for her and it’s really nice how much they show their love and admiration for her while properly supporting her with their own skills and talents. I just love them both haha. THE DOWNSIDES 1. Having to tiptoe almost through the entire concert While I generally really enjoyed myself in the concert, the biggest downside to me was due to my height. There were some times where I was lucky and didn’t have to budge at all. However, most of the time, as I was pretty short at 154cm, I had to tiptoe almost throughout the entire concert and because of that whenever I could, I took the chance to jump up and down at certain songs when other people were doing it too just to see the stage. From the position I was at, I wasn’t at the far back, but I wasn’t at the far front either. I was somewhere around the middle, so I think I would have been fine if I was taller but unfortunately, I am not, so I had to strain myself throughout the live and had my legs become really worn out and tired when it was all over. Tiptoeing the whole concert is not fun, but of course, we only managed to get normal standing tickets, so there was nothing I could do about it. There were times I even gave up and just stood there and listened to Sayaka without even seeing her because it was really just that tiring. If there’s anything that really deterred and affected my entire experience, this was probably the main factor XD Also because of this, I could see everyone on stage except Satoko the drummer. And this was a total bummer to me cause I know the drummer is always the hardest to see on stage since they are way back. But from the videos from Jijipress that I’ve seen of snippets from the previous Zepp tours, I really wanted to see Satoko rocking out on the drums cause she always looked like she was having such a blast and enjoying herself. It was really a pity I couldn’t see it because apart from Sayaka, I wanted to watch the band as an entirety too to see their overall dynamics but oh well. 2. Fans that were obnoxiously loud Okay, you must be like WTH OF COURSE THEY WERE LOUD IT’S A FREAKING LIVE/CONCERT. But please hear me out. The fans that were directly behind me screamed so loudly that it reverberated so strongly in my ear drums I felt like I was going to go deaf not from the music at the livehouse but from them screaming into my ears. I mean seriously that wasn’t fun. Also, I think one of them was trying to be super funny or something and kept yelling out “MILKYYYYY” or something. That irritated me a little because while I do love Milky, please this is Sayaka’s big moment and her solo live, so please cheer and support Sayaka on instead of yelling out irrelevant, unnecessary things O_O FINAL THOUGHTS Apart from that, I actually don’t have much complaints. Just thank you Sayaka for such a fun, memorable live! I actually didn’t spazz as much as I thought I would, but it was definitely a really fun time, and I truly enjoyed myself. Ever since becoming a Sayanee fan (like many others), my biggest dream was to see her solo live one day, and so it’s been a true honour that I’ve been able to do so. At this point, I feel quite fulfilled as a Sayanee oshi for 5 years now… I don’t know when’s the next time I’ll get to see Sayaka live again as it may not be anytime soon due to real life commitments, but I’ll continue watching her warmly from afar like I always have. ^_^ Anyway, that’s all I have for my report! Thanks for reading until the end! xxx Peace out, Ven
