![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.mescallado.com\/chuodori\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/japan-2010-009.jpg\" "\\"japan-2010-009\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\nThis is by far my favorite store, it has so much great J-pop merchandise.\u00a0 What I really wanted to do was look at the AKB48 pics they had in stock.\u00a0 Unfortunately I couldn’t get near the pic area as it was just filled with schoolkids.\u00a0 I waited and waited…tried to muscle my way in, but to no avail.\u00a0 It’s the one annoying thing about the AKB48 fandom.\u00a0 With their popularity has come a new generation of young fans, and they are friggin’ fanatical about the pictures.\u00a0 I guess it’s the one thing they can afford to buy.\u00a0 Anyway, I found the October 2009 issue of Sabra<\/em> that featured Ohori Megumi<\/em> in a gravure pictorial, and I also found Saito Yua’s<\/em> 2009 image DVD.\u00a0 So two awesome scores.\u00a0 After that I headed to Shibuya to pick up a bunch of CD’s, including the new one’s from S\/mileage, Watarirouka Hashirtai, SKE48, Idoling!!! and the Berryz Kobo Fall Tour DVD!<\/p>\n By the way, I also checked out the newly remodeled H!P store in Shibuya.\u00a0 Damn I wish they allowed pictures in there.\u00a0 They had a bunch of Berryz costumes on display, including the fish costumes from the fall tour…awesome!\u00a0 Unfortunately every cool picset they had for sale was pretty much sold out!\u00a0 WTF!<\/p>\n AKB48 Live at Yokohama Arena<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n (1st Show, Wednesday Evening) By the way, since this post is pretty long I am not going to posts the setlists.\u00a0 But you can check them out at MELOS no Michi<\/a>.\u00a0 Okay, this concert was the reason for the scheduling of my trip.\u00a0 AKB48’s three shows at their biggest venue ever played.\u00a0 I had scored a ticket to each show, but had no idea where I would be sitting.\u00a0 In fact, no one did.\u00a0 They were using a custom seating chart for this show.\u00a0 Huh???\u00a0 I got to the venue about four hours before showtime and saw a bunch of kids trading pics.\u00a0 I asked them where the pictures were being sold, and they told me “Sold Outo!”\u00a0 Turns out the kids were lining up at dawn to get the pics.\u00a0 Again, so annoying.\u00a0 I queued up in the goods line as I wanted to get other stuff too.<\/p>\n Two friggin’ hours in wind and driving rain!!!\u00a0 I swear I was sure I would catch pneumonia!\u00a0 The first thing I saw when I got in was AKB48’s new fashion PB.\u00a0 What???\u00a0 That isn’t out until next week!\u00a0 I quickly bought one, along with Watarirouka’s swimsuit PB.\u00a0 They had different little booths set up for different types of merchandise.\u00a0 I ended up with a Special Edition Tour Shirt, which was the only one I liked.\u00a0 I also got the new “Hikoukigumo” flag, a phone strap, Green AKB48 glowstick, and a Wasamin microfiber towel.\u00a0 I hung out in the shop as long as I could before they expelled me back into the storm!\u00a0 But finally doors opened, it was almost showtime…<\/p>\n ZOMG!!!\u00a0 I am in the front row!!!!!\u00a0 I figured section A would be in front, but instead it was on the side of the T-shaped stage.\u00a0 I was just about as close as you could get, which is key in a huge place like Yokohama Arena.\u00a0 Anyway, the highlights…<\/p>\n New Team formations!!!\u00a0 I know a lot of people were annoyed that the new Teams were doing the old team standards, but I enjoyed it, especially because I got to see plenty of the new Team K songs.\u00a0 Five of them!!!\u00a0 And they were pretty much all of my faves from K6!<\/p>\n The next highlight for me had to be Renai Kinshi Jourei<\/em>…Wasamin gets a unit song?\u00a0 ZOMG, I am in heaven!!!\u00a0 She wasn’t center girl, but she did a dance solo in the instrumental portion that was out of this world!\u00a0 Iwasa is soooo talented!\u00a0 She already proved in Infinity that she is a great singer.\u00a0 She totally acts like the girl next door every time I meet her, and now she’s a champion dancer too!\u00a0 She’s a “3-tool” idol!<\/p>\n We also got to hear two new songs.\u00a0 First was Jibun Rashisa<\/em>, which featured Mayuyu, Erepyon and Suuchan.\u00a0 Sato Sumire in a unit was awesome too!\u00a0 During the encore they sang another new song, which will be featured on the upcoming album.<\/p>\n As far as the new SKE single is concerned, I prefer the c\/w track to the A-side.\u00a0 I just find Bungy Sengen<\/em> to be a cuter song.\u00a0 That said, this was the first time I had ever seen SKE48 perform in person.\u00a0 Of course all the songs from the new AKB single would be performed.\u00a0 For the first night Team PB<\/em> did Enkyori Poster<\/em>, which is my favorite of the PB\/YJ songs.\u00a0 After that they did the MC, where Sae was just flabbergasted by the hugeness of the arena.\u00a0 At one point Myao ran over the side of the stage I was on and started doing “six-shooter” motions at us while we cheered for them, cute!<\/p>\n Each of the three shows ended similarly, starting with all the new singles back to Romance, Irane (plus Aitakatta!).\u00a0 They altered between Senbatsu and full chorus for these songs.\u00a0 And I loved watching Meetan sing Aitakatta! and Oogoe Diamond.\u00a0 At the end of Oogoe they shot streamers into the air.\u00a0 I caught five of them, which I have tucked away in my suitcase.<\/p>\n Each encore was similar, for the first show they did the new album cut (Kimi to Niji to Taiyou to), coupled with Dareka no Tame ni<\/em> and Majisuka Rock n Roll<\/em>.\u00a0 During the encore they dropped little paper hearts from the ceiling, most of which were signed by AKB\/SKE members.\u00a0 unfortunately I didn’t catch any, but someone gave me an SKE one.\u00a0 In the end one of the guys I was with was a huge SKE48 fan, so I gave it to him.<\/p>\n In summary I was really impressed with the first show.\u00a0 Would the next two be just as epic?\u00a0 And would the weather be as bad as the first day?<\/p>\n Show #2 (Thursday Matinee)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n I will be brief with the 2nd show review as it was my least favorite of the three.\u00a0 Anyhow, got down to the venue at 9:30.\u00a0 And if you were wondering, it was raining harder and even windier than the first day.\u00a0 I checked the line for goods…It stretched all the way around the arena, then doubled back a quarter of the way!\u00a0 On the first day the line was one-third as long, and it still took almost two hours.\u00a0 Since I already had most of the goods i wanted, I bailed to the nearby McDonalds and had breakfast!<\/p>\n By the way, getting into the venue was a total clusterf**k.\u00a0 there were two lines stretching in both directions, plus an onslaught of people coming right down the middle.\u00a0 I just inserted myself into the crowd and slowly maneuvered toward the door!<\/p>\n If you have seen an AKB show, you know that one of the girls does a pre-show announcement of rules and such from behind the curtain.\u00a0 For the first show it was Yuko.\u00a0 This time it was Mayuyu, and the place went nuts!\u00a0 After that we were all ready for the overture to begin, so everyone was caught off-guard when the Kenkyuusei walked out.\u00a0 The only time that ever happens is in the beginning of K6.\u00a0 Could it be???<\/p>\n Hell Yes!\u00a0 The show leads off with Lemon no Toshigoro<\/em>, which is such a cute song.\u00a0 Now that I have seen some of K6 live, I really love it!\u00a0 The beginning set was back to the original teams, and a bunch of songs we have seen performed many times before.\u00a0 That was until Yuko, Mariko and Harunyan came out dressed in…<\/p>\n Yuuwaku no Garter<\/em>!!!\u00a0 Could this mean we are going to get some cool shuffles for this show?\u00a0 Yes, the girls were in the YnG outfits, and they did all the same gyrating done by SDN48.\u00a0 Unfortunately when they threw the garters none of them made it to the crowd, they all fell into the camera section.\u00a0 LOL\u00a0 Then Acchan came out and led Dakishimeraretara<\/em>.\u00a0 Ya know, I don’t care who sings this song.\u00a0 I just find it dull, and I know I am in the minority with that opinion.\u00a0 No3b’s upcoming single “Lie” ended this set.\u00a0 My first impression was that it wasn’t that great.\u00a0 Oh well!<\/p>\n SKE did their songs again, and this time Team YJ got their chance for some last minute promotion of “Choose Me”.\u00a0 After that it was pretty much the same finish, except now they performed Bingo!<\/em> and Hikoukigumo<\/em> and part of the encore.\u00a0 Good thing I had my flag with me, hehe!\u00a0 As far as the new single and Senbatsu Election announcements were concerned.\u00a0 The new single looks hawt, and I think they filmed it during their recent trip to Guam.\u00a0 During the third show they showed scenes, which featured plenty of bikini!!!\u00a0 The funniest thing about the announcement was the accompanying film, which featured their manager tgsk in a smokey boardroom and a wacky press conference with a bunch of execs holding B.L.T. photos.\u00a0 Hahaha.\u00a0 Then his mother appeared to give him advice.\u00a0 Too funny.\u00a0 Oh yeah, I forgot to say during the first show he came down and watched for a few minutes right next to me.\u00a0 As far as the Senbatsu Election is concerned, Meetan isn’t in it.\u00a0 So this time I will root for Wasamin to make the Top 40.\u00a0 Go Wasamin!!!<\/p>\n Show #3 (Thursday Evening)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Since I was sort of “meh” about the matinee I had really high hopes for the night show.\u00a0 Especially since Wasamin posted on her Mobame that it was her favorite of the three setlists.\u00a0 Pre-show…Atsuko does the rules.\u00a0 Crowd goes bananas.\u00a0 Then the overture finally starts.\u00a0 This is the loudest I have heard the crowd so far.\u00a0 The lights go up, no music.\u00a0 Huh???<\/p>\n Four girls on mini-motorcycles.\u00a0 It’s Team Hormone!!!\u00a0 Could it be?\u00a0 Are we going to be watching a live version of Majisuka Gakuen?\u00a0 The girls actually ride onto the stage, which looked totally dangerous!\u00a0 As they eat hormone from their mini-hibachi, they are soon greeted by Rena dressed as Gekikara!\u00a0 One problem though, Akicha’s mic isn’t working.\u00a0 It threw the girls for a loop for a minute or so.\u00a0 After Rena threatened Sasshi with a pencil, Shibuya (Tomochin) came out and shared her mic with Aki.\u00a0 one by one, every girl in the cast with the exception of Jurina and Miichan come out and do a bit reminiscent of their character.\u00a0 Then with the rest of AKB dressed as Yabakune they opened with Majisuka Rock n’ Roll<\/em>, complete with gang brawl in the background, LOLOL!\u00a0 But that wasn’t all…<\/p>\n They performed three songs as the cast, including Boku no Taiyou<\/em> and Skirt, Hirari<\/em>.\u00a0 Then it was time for unit songs.\u00a0 MAJI Units, that is!\u00a0 To me the best one by far was Acchan and Nachu’s duet of Kinjirareta Futari<\/em>, with Nachu singing “in character”.\u00a0 The Four Queens also did Classmate<\/em> in character, with Reina cackling, Tomochin brooding, Yukirin holding her crucifux and Nyan saying “Okaani!” during the song.\u00a0 They kept in character all the way through Akkanbe Bashi<\/em>, which was an awesome site to see.\u00a0 The whole cast doing the Akkanbe dance, LOL!!!\u00a0 But on the last verse Meetan was dancing on my side of the stage, and when she stuck her tongue out and drooped her eye I was floating!!!<\/p>\n The one disappointment to me had to do with SDN48.\u00a0 Not that they weren’t awesome, they were great!!!\u00a0 And I loved seeing the 2nd gen girls!\u00a0 But what was up with the MC afterwards?\u00a0 They started doing the build-up for the song Ganbarina<\/em>, which hasn’t been performed outside of their stage show yet.\u00a0 The they abruptly left the stage.\u00a0 WTF!!!!!!!\u00a0 From what I heard they were running late and had to cut a song, and this was it.\u00a0 Jerkoffs!\u00a0 Did we really need to hear Romance, Irane three times?<\/p>\n After we finally got to see a performance of Kimi no Koto ga Suki Dakara (what took so long?\u00a0 That song is great!)\u00a0 The show pretty much ended the same way the first three did, with all the big hits.\u00a0 Except…<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n
\n***Most of the following pics from AKB48 official blog<\/a>***<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n