Your STU48 Experiences

Please share your experiences and reports of STU Events, Handshakes and Stages etc All in this thread!

@Riina
2/25 handshake at Tokyo Big Sight
STU48's handshake event at Sunshine City (Tokyo)

@SaitoWinterStar
2/25 handshake at Tokyo Big Sight

@MidoriHime
STU48 Setouchi Meguri 17/3 Aeon Niihama, Ehime

And I swear I saw a few more reports on STU and one epsecially on their 7 prefecture Aeon Mall event tour but I can't find it .__. and I forgot the person's name...can someone help dig those up, it's valuable info.

Edit: found it

And I know that @Cristafari @Boma Adhi @Tuhis @David61 also shared/will share some STU reports too.

And to all STU fans or non-fans going to their events in the future, Yoroshiku!

 

Went to Matsuyama to see STU theater stage. Was refreshingly easy to get tickets via e+, I booked only about a week and a half in advance and seats were available. Actually there was a couple of empty seats too. Of course my seat was near the back but when that meant 8th row, it was awesome compared to any 400-level seats at SSA.

Anyway, it was quite entertaining show. My eyes were mostly focused on my favourites, Fuu and Mariina. Fuu was happy and energetic on stage, quite active and happy. Mariina was...not. When not dancing, she was looking at the floor most of the time and held her hand on her throat a lot. While dancing she seemed every now and then remember she's supposed to smile, flash a smile for 1-2 seconds and forget again. But since I like the strange ones I like her too. Not surprisingly I was the only westerner there, and some of the girls had visible reactions when seeing us off. Fuu was last before the door and you could tell she was on automatic mode... until she saw a foreigner, judging by how she first said "Bye bye", then notices a foreigner -> eyes open wide and another "Byebye!"

All in all was quite good fun and worth the trip even if it cost me 10 hours in a train and a room in a hotel that was more expensive than the stage ticket.

 

STU48 Setouchi 7 Prefectures On-Shore Theater Tour - Rising Hall, Shunan, Yamaguchi 5/8



Very enjoyable show tonight which lived up to and indeed exceeded my expectations. The only slight disappointment was the view from the second floor was spoilt somewhat by the railing which you can see in my photo but everyone stood up anyway during the performance.

I’m trying to remember the set list but my memory isn’t complete, hopefully I can do better after tomorrow night’s show. The 48G songs included Oogoe Diamond, Boku no Taiyou, Iwake Maybe, Mae Shika Mukanee, LOVE Shugyou, 12 Byou, Melon Juice, Oh My God and the local version of Kimi no Koto ga Suki dakara. Also of course STU48’s own songs were played - Seotuchi no Koe, Kurayami and Pedal to Sharin to Kita Michi to.

Most of the songs were centred either by Yumirin or Hinachan. Although Cuca didn’t center anything she got a lot of front row time and was often close to the center. Maybe management are at last recognising her popularity, certainly she got the most calls from the audience.

At the end of the show the girls lined up for a high wave with the audience. Staff were pushing everyone along very quickly so sadly I couldn’t stop to enjoy a little ‘foreigner fishing’ which I was getting from one or two of the younger girls! I kept an eye open for Hinachan and Cuca as I was hurried past the line. I spotted Cuca and called out to her which she acknowledged and I got a smile and some eye-contact from Yumirin. But suddenly I reached the end of the line - and I hadn’t seen Hinachan! Had I missed her? Wasn’t she there? I was certainly looking out for her as intently as I could.

Oh well I’ll never know but anyway I’ll be back again tomorrow for more! This time I’ll be in the 5th row of the 1st floor so I should get a great view.

 

STU48 Setouchi 7 Prefectures On-Shore Theater Tour - Rising Hall, Shunan, Yamaguchi 5/9



And so onto tonight’s show which really was special as I’ve just mentioned in Hinachan’s thread. But first to make some corrections to the set list. I was wrong about LOVE Shugyou, that wasn’t included, but Seijun Philosophy was. Also included was Shoujotachi yo.

As scheduled, Yumirin wasn’t there tonight and her place was taken by Kanon who performed well as a center.

And yes, if you’ve seen my other posting, what a great night I had from Hinachan! She soon spotted me wearing her badge. She waved at me twice during MCs and at the end we exchanged heart signs. And during the high wave this time I did indeed spot her, but she also spotted me! She called out in English “Where are you from?” I think she understood me that I was from England but I’m not sure that she understood me saying that I’ll see her at the 2-shot on Sunday. Anyway I was now being moved on by staff-san.

And that’s not all! Quite unexpectedly and out of the blue (no pun intended lol) I also got fan service from Aoi, someone who I must admit I haven’t really noticed in the past. I found that she was looking at me and waving at me like Hinachan did. At the high wave I called her by her name and I got a ‘wow you know my name!” type of reaction but there was rather a language barrier between us (plus staff-san was now despairing of me lol).

So that 2-shot with Hinachan on Sunday will truly be some occasion! Bring it on! But rather more importantly for this thread, I’ve enjoyed 2 great shows in a 48G Theater style which I never thought I’d ever see. And wow Hinachan! All that after a morning petting wild but tame deer on Miyajima Island. Japan is a damn amazing country, it really is!!!

 

How do I get a ticket for a handshake event? The friends I made here on my vacation say it is impossible for me to get. I'e heard of foreigners going though...

I went there for 4 nights. Met great people.

 

Finally took the time to upload this. I will write a full concert experience report after.

if the video does not show watch the video here

 

Hah, I'm only like a year late seeing your comment, but while I'm here, and in case others are curious, I wrote up my experience going to my first individual handshake event (an STU event, but I guess this was before this thread existed), and an SKE national handshake event. For reference I'm from the US, with US bank accounts/credit cards, but I was staying/had friends in Japan that let me use their addresses for delivery. I think if you search this forum there are also people that will provide address service for a fee.

Edit: I forgot I actually wrote up an even more detailed guide to getting tickets for a Keya IHS.

 

5/11 Theater Performance [GO!GO! little SEABIRDS!!] in Takamatsu Harbor, Kagawa

I was fortunate enough to get a ticket for this show. I was really excited. Last week at the HS event in Osaka I told Maiha (my STU oshimen) that I'd finally be able to see a performance.

The process of applying for STU tickets is a lot more difficult and confusing than for other 48G tickets, but the process on the day of the event is MUCH easier. The ticket is issued to you digitally via the EMTG app on your smartphone. You download it about 5 days prior to the performance. Shortly before the performance the ticket will display your seat.

I arrived in Takamatsu a couple hours before the performance. There's a warning on the STU site about not arriving at the ship/dock prior to the ID check times, but that didn't seem to apply in Takamatsu because it is a pretty large and open harbor (but a relatively small city, so not very crowded). As soon as I got off the train I walked over to the harbor to look for the ship so I'd know where to go when it was time. I needn't have worried. You can't miss her.



After that, I decided to take a walk around Takamatsu to waste an hour. The harbor is right next to the train station and the site of the castle ruins (and an interesting local history museum). When it was nearly 17:00 (the beginning of ID checks), I made my way back to the ship. There were three striped tents set up. One with goods for sale (and a long line), one for ID check and wristband issue (you need to have a wristband AND a ticket to board), and a tent for checking bags or other things you can't bring on the ship. Checking your back costs 200 yen, which is cheaper than the coin locker at the station - so I learned that for next time.

I was a little worried about the ID check because my ticket was issued with my name in katakana but my ID has my name in romaji. It wasn't a problem. There wasn't much of a wait and I showed my ID and my smartphone ticket to the staff who used an interesting little device to "stamp" the screen on my phone which stamped the ticket. I got a wristband and made my way towards the gangway.





After a short wait (they were having problems with one of the metal detectors), we were allowed through security and they checked our phone ticket one more time before walking up the gangway. You go down some steps into what was once the vehicle area of the ferry. They had some flags and banners set up that were signed by all the members and had lots of messages. Unfortunately, I was too excited to take any pictures of those. You then go up the stairs on the other side of the ship and enter into the lobby area. It's pretty small, but there's a snap bar selling quick meals and such. From here, you can enter into the theater or go out towards the restrooms and a staircase onto the upper deck of the ship, which you can explore.




I went down into the theater and saw that since it was Cuca's birthday performance, her fanclub has placed a pamphlet and a fan on each seat.



The pamphlet had some messages and instructions about how to cheer for her at certain points in the performance and specific penlight color instructions depending on row/area of the theater.



The theater itself is a bit on the small side. I'd say rows A-E are prime seats, especially seats 5-16. I, unfortunately, was in row J and off to the side (and had a rather large gentleman in front of me so maybe 1/5 of the stage was blocked for me). Sitting in my seat waiting for the performance I was reminded that we were definitely on a ship. You could feel it swaying a bit in the water, which did make me feel a bit uncomfortable. If you're somebody prone to motion sickness or sea sickness it may actually be slightly unpleasant at times.

The performance itself was outstanding. I do have two very minor complaints. At the beginning and end they do a little gimmick where they bring huge sheets out over the audience from the back. It's interesting and with the BGM it definitely has an underwater vibe, but the sheet running over your head and resting on your head for a few minutes was kind of annoying, and I could tell folks around me felt the same way. My other minor complaint is the acoustics aren't great. You're on a ship made of steel so certain frequencies are amplified more than others. I feel like they tried to compensate for this by just cranking the volume.

Otherwise, the performance was really good. I was really impressed with the overall concept. Like the group, it has a kind of aquatic theme/feeling. Everything is much more "fluid" than the stages of other groups I've seen. Members are constantly flowing in and out. Compared to other groups, there is much more time when there is just one or two members on stage at once. This really serves to highlight each individual member. I feel like it really gives you a chance to get to know each member and lets each one try to shine in their own way. Another thing that helped is that there were two "introduction" portions.

The first introduction was the standard ones. Each girl does her catchphrase and a quick comment and then runs off stage. Except, she doesn't stay off stage. Unlike other groups, when members are doing their introductions, everyone else isn't just standing there waiting their turn - they're all doing a slow little dance routine in the back to the BGM. After a girl runs off stage, she sneaks back into the back as the formation shuffles, never stopping their dance. It was VERY cool.

The second introduction portion came towards the end of the performance. Each girl came out one at a time, had the stage to herself, and could say what she wanted to say. Some members spent 20 seconds on stage alone, others spent several minutes (I suspect my girl Maiha was pushing the envelope because she was on stage the longest by far). This is probably pretty tough for them because they don't have other members to comment and back them up and save them if they get stuck, but it really feels like a personal moment. STU has done a great job developing a stage that lets each girl shine.

The highlight of the performance for me, I think, is the dancing. They've clearly worked very hard. STU obviously has less songs to pull from so they do some 48G classics along with their own, and there are also times where they aren't singing - just showing off their dance skills to an instrumental track. The costumes are a lot more conservative than other groups, which fits the more conservative rural culture of most of the Setouchi prefectures.

Overall, I had a very good time and was really impressed. They may have won me over. AKB, especially T8, have always been my favorites. I think STU may be my favorite group, now. We'll see.

On the way out I snapped a picture of Cuca's flowers and banner from her fanclub:



I didn't buy the picture from the performance (though I'm already regretting that. I wish I had), but here's a snap I swiped from the Twitter of another Maiha fan (hence the hearts).



That's my report. I'm already looking forward to the next time I can see them!

 

2019/7/15 OTODAMA SEA STUDIO 2019 海の日スペシャル！ SKE48 X STU48

And the saga continues with Otodama Sea Studio location of which was 45 minutes by train from Yokohama, to a place called Miurakaigan.

Even if the name of the event hints at a show together, in all honesty this was more like having 2 concerts back to back, first STU and second SKE.
Now, I thought I had a pretty good ticket, as it said ”A 110” on it which in other events has meant I’d be the 110th person to enter. I had a conflicting AKB event ticket which I skipped which was a guaranteed front row, but SKE and Naochan takes always priority and I chose this one. However, once I got to the area I found out A was the shit tier of tickets, and before A tickets got in, the FC tickets were inserted... of which there was about 1330. So being about the 1460th person to enter you might guess that my visibility wasn’t super good. However, I did find a spot where I saw all the important things.

For STU those were:
- The song selection was nice, nodded to SKE by performing Gomen ne, Summer. Also other guaranteed summer hits like Ponytail to shushu and Manatsu no sounds good. (No, there was no sun to be seen and only about 20 degrees made it rather not summery.)
- Mariina looks very lovely now that she’s learned to remember to smile on stage
- Chihochan is very lovely live, as was a lot of other members such as Miyumiyu

SKE part I’ll cover in the SKE thread.

 

I promised boat shenanigans and boat shenanigans you shall get!

STU48【GO!GO! little SEABIRDS!!】8/8(木)公演

This was a day after Team H stage, which was very entertaining and enjoyable, meaning the bar was set pretty high. I had gotten from Fukuoka to Hiroshima the night before, so I woke up in hotel and since the harbor is conveniently accessible by streetcar, all I needed was to find breakfast and get on down to the harbor. I achieved the former and latter was a quick task to complete, so I was refueled and ready once I got to the site. I was comfortably in advance in order to look at the surroundings and find my way to the boat itself. From the streetcar stop to STU boat is about 700m walk.

Once it was time, I sorted out the ID check and EMTG stamping and got my wristband. I did wonder why they insisted in having the wristband on right wrist but whatever. Got to the goods line, bought be a Mariina acrylic pin and saw it was time to enter the boat.

While waiting for the show to start, I indulged in the overpriced offerings and were understandably underwhelmed when pastries were clearly frozen and not perfectly defrosted and paying 500JPY for a coke was also ridiculous but I put it down to being part of the STU experience. Took some pictures on the upper deck and went to my seat.

My seat was M-4 which was far from optimal, but seat 4 is right by the corridor, so it had an armrest to lean to, and with corridor, stair and dude sitting in front of me not being Big Show, I had actually a very good visibility to all of the stage.

I’ll not go over the stage in detail as it has been done before, but I do agree on the tarpaulin part being slightly uncomfortable, but people held it up with lightsticks so it wasn’t really a problem either. The song choices on the stage is nice, and while I am not a fan of the dubstepish-parts in the beginning, I do like the Balearic house touches later. (And the mirror ball.) The ship did sway noticeably every now and then when ferries and other ships left the harbor, but clearly the girls were unaffected.

However, having seen a very convincing Team H performance less than 24 hours before the bar was set high. And I do have to admit Team H took the cake. There is nothing to really fault the girls, plenty of them like Mariina, Miyumiyu, Chiho etc are great performers and all kinds of awesome, but I found myself wanting the same magnetic presence Jiina and Yukachan gave by the bucketload the night before, but it wasn’t there. I am not sure whether my mindset is partially to blame. Also, I saw some empty seats, some of which filled by people arriving late but not all.

Notes:
- Mariina is great
- Miyumiyu is a really solid performer with a radiant smile which should take her far in the idol world
- Frankly I am underwhelmed with the Yumirin hype. Nothing actually wrong with her, but slightly invisible
- It was Yurarin’s graduation show so understandably it might have had in effect on the girls, and of course MCs
- Yurarin was the only one doing omiokuri, so I cannot comment on their omiokuri game. I would have liked to see how some of them have changed since Ehime show

What is comes down to is that while great entertainment and I am not in any way unhappy that I went, it is expensive fun. With delivery cost the ticket was 5 924 JPY, and when compared to a 2 100 JPY Seishun Girls show, which is also very entertaining but barely over a third of the price, gogoriba does not compare favorably. Of course, when we take into account the peculiriaties hobby/addiction we are in, if you are a Chihochan or Mariina fan, the value point is meaningless as you will pay it anyway and be happy.

I do recommend seeing the stage at least once even if you are a fan of other groups, because it is a well made and refreshingly different. Whether you turn it into a habit, is up to you, dear reader.

Edit: forgot to mention STU lightsticks are complete shit, get HKT or SKE ones instead. The older model had its battery compartment pop open on me and newer one changed colors unintentionally. Why they changed the UI is beyond me.

 

STU48 at LIVE HIKING!! vol.00 ＠ Zepp DiverCity Tokyo 4/21

Members:
Ishida Minami
Imamura Mizuki
Iwata Hina
Oki Yuka
Kawamata Anna
Rissen Momoka

Setlist:
0. Overture
1. Omoidasete Yokatta
2. Yumejikara
3. Hana wa Dare no Mono?
4. Hitorigoto de Kataru Kurainara
5. Iki wo Suru Kokoro

I discovered this idol event while looking for events taking place during my current stay in Tokyo. STU48 alone was enough for me to buy a ticket but also performing were two of my favourite groups AngeReve and Arcana Project.

As for STU's performance, the choreography was definitely the best in the event. ('Iki wo Suru Kokoro' had nobody wearing QR codes as might be expected lol.) For me, Okichan was the best performer but I'd say that Momochan also stood out and she's definitely one to watch. I was quite close to the stage and it was great to see them perform here in Tokyo even if it was only a fairly short appearance.

Hinachan has tweeted a photo of today's senbatsu members:
https://twitter.com/sukinasoo_hina/status/1649349687412150273

 

7/30 STU48 全国ツアー2023 兵庫公演, both concerts

I am going to lump both concerts of the day in one, as they were essentially identical. I went to Kobe with a happy-go-lucky feeling, as I admittedly have fallen off STU badly not having time to follow online or chances to go see for myself, and most of my favourites, such as Mariina are long gone. I would not let it deter me from enjoying myself, and Michu and other members I still knew such as Arisa were there so I was good.

My seats were in row 17, left edge for the first concert, and row 14, right in the middle for the latter. The difference in atmosphere was great, as in the first concert it sounded like there was quite few cheering on the entire left side, and it was hard for me to get my shouting on with silence around me. The latter one had no such issues and I was able to go all out. Also the people in two seats on my right side didn’t show up, so I had comfortable room.

I do have some gripes for STU, but I will note that none of it is about the members. All of them are as far as I am concerned just as perfect as any other group’s members. And they performed once again flawlessly. (In the daytime concert there were a couple instances of a feedback loop, and they were killed quickly. They just should not have been there anyway.) They dance well, sing well and are more charming than Satan who is trying to sweet-talk you into stupid shit.

For the playlist my issue was that even if it was mostly STU, and it was well performed and I enjoyed the unit songs a lot, the biggest bangers on the setlist were Girls’ Rule and Eien Yori Tsuzuku You Ni, which are notably not STU songs. (This could be just me though so your mileage may vary.) They did have high tension STU songs too which worked well, so please don’t take this as being a too low-energy set otherwise.

And even if it is foolish to talk of value when it comes to idols, STU feels the most pay-to-play. The front row was ”Premium” as in almost double the price, and there was no omiokuri so basically only way you got any interaction chance was to pay up. I don’t blame them for setting up the premium row but no omiokuri on top of that wasn’t a good thing. (Also people who also paid extra for the kameko seats, took it seriously and there was some big optics in there.)

But do note that in the end these are minor inconveniences in the big picture and I did enjoy going a lot. Next time I’ll just open my wallet wider and see what happens. (Also, I did find a new angel to identify and see if she gets me to follow STU closer. )

Next: Back for takoyaki fun!

 

2023.11.23 Labor Day (JP) Thanksgiving Day (US); first meet was with Riko Kudo. First time talking to her since what was probably the last all-48 online meeting back in 2021 (and that was from a cancelled meeting from 2020) Now using STUCharaAni and the MeetPass app for the first time. Registration was a bit of a chore but I was able to use my US phone number to receive a verification code.
Riko was cute and Christmassy in a Red sweater and white fuzzy beret. I asked in Japanese if she remembered English and she replied "of course" we talked about xmas, her sweater, and her senbatsu selection.

Next was Chiho Ishida, I really have a thing for tare-me eyes. Chiho is so elegantly pretty in her beret. I greeted her for the first time and she said "really??" in a panic I had to think if we had possibly meet at a prior online event and how could she remember something from 2 years ago. I was stumbling in my Japanese after that so she asked where I was from. She was really happy to know I was calling her from California.