Your AKB48 Experiences

Actually forgot your oshimen was meetan. For the tickets, did you buy off people or from Yahoo Japan Auction?

 

Woooh! Even though you mentioned your experience in the chat, I still got a kick reading it in the forum.

Thanks for sharing, Cristafari. I'm glad you ha a lot of fun.

 

Wow, just wow. Insane marathon, meeting people too! It's really a family reunion with people you've never met before! Everyone's here for a very special occasion (maybe plural, depending on the numbers of tickets) and everyone's having a blast!

It's also great that some girls remember you... Thanks for sharing it was really nice to read.

 

Awesome stuff, Cris! [cool]

I still remember you asking what Wasamin's nickname was at NYAF She did steal our hearts there though, and I'm glad you had a chance to meet her again [rock]

But tell me.. when did you meet tgsk in NY? [think] Did I miss something?

 

^
Ah, ok.. That was on the Friday then(I wasn't there until Saturday)?

Nice

 

SDN48 Yuuwaku No Garter
March 21, 2010
8:30pm Show


pre-concert adventures

after a quick trip to softmap to have my pictures of haachan and rie printed, i dashed to the fifth floor of donki to try and grab the B3 dvd before i proceed to the 8th floor. i wanted to buy the dvd last week, but when i went to the shop it was sold-out then. yesterday, as i passed by the 5th floor on my way to the 8th floor, i checked to see the status of the B3 dvd, and yesterday it didn't have the sticker that says "sold-out". but today, as i was already holding the money to make buying things faster, B3 dvd was once again sold-out. oh well, i guess i have to wait a few more weeks before i finally get that dvd from the theater (or from donki at least).

went up to the 8th floor and proceeded to get my ticket. i approached the info counter, presented my passport, then told the staff member my "winning number". i listened closely to people while waiting for the cancel macchi the other day, and it seems that to make things faster, you tell them your "tousen bangou" or in english "winning lottery number", then present your id. after a few minutes, i already had my wristband and my ticket with me. i got number 16. lol. early as usual.



i took pictures of the theater as i was passing the time at the 8th floor. i had no more plans to leave the 8th floor, and because it was pretty much empty, i was free to take pictures of almost anything except the monitors. i got another good shot of the theater doors (last one i took was last 2008 and it has been my wallpaper ever since), then took pics of the surroundings. and yes, since the profile pictures were different from what was on the website (at least last saturday and sunday, i know they changed it again today), here is what the wall looks like:



wtf! the guys from hokkaido!

so while i was standing in front of the 2nd mvp wall, just.. well.. staring at the sdn pictures to try my best to map who was who during the last show, some guy suddenly goes in front of me and takes pictures of the sdn wall. nothing really special with that since everybody does that nowadays, but when i had a glimpse of his face, it was pretty much a big shock for me.

to cut things short... they were the same guys who i met when i was in hokkaido, sapporo and who helped me line-up during river!! both of us had extreme WTF faces cause he thought i was still in the philippines, and i had no idea he was going to the theater this whole week. if i hadn't controlled myself, i would have let the biggest "EHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!???" right there when i met those guys. hehe.

like never in my life did i think i would be able to meet those guys again. they were kind enough to guide me during the chaos that was river@hokkaido, and i am still grateful for what they showed to someone like me, a complete stranger lost in the icy part of japan.

and i did point my name on the wall for them to see.

and i also noticed that they switch the music at the 8th floor from akb songs to jazz music when it nears the sdn shows. i was enjoying sakura no hanabiratachi, when they suddenly stopped the track and replaced it with "in the mood" . another wtf moment for me.

entrance lottery
as i was lining-up and waiting for the entrance lottery to start, the takamina super fan suddenly approaches my line, and goes directly to the guys on my right and starts speaking english to them!! it was a big surprise for me, and when i asked him, he said those guys were from hongkong. i asked those guys when the takamina super fan left if it was their first time in the theater, and their reply was:

"we already met you here... a few years ago" [box]

i was so embarassed to not remember them. i guess i've met so many people in the theater that i can't keep up with mapping the faces to names. turns out it was stage48's mmxeric (i hope i got this one right) and his friend. guys, i'm really really sorry i didn't remember you. damn that was embarassing [notme]

and then my usual luck. my line got in 4th to the last, and the takamina super fan was laughing his ass off watching me complain everytime another line was called. though i know i should be grateful for the fact that i'm even able to stand in line in the first place. [rofl]

i went in and stood at the bleachers against the theater doors. no obstruction whatsoever, and not so sharp angle when it comes to the left pillar of death.

concert proper

so ok, i won't do a song-per-song review anymore. i'll just write some highlights that i remember from the show.

black boy
ok so last saturday, i wrote in my review that i hope to see kohara in an sdn show sometime soon. come black boy, when all the girls were on stage, i got waaaaaaaaay more than i had asked for... when i saw harada (now back to her supposedly real name tezuka machiko) on stage dancing i shouted "J-CUP!!" but i'm just happy that nobody really heard me [rofl]. that girl is just... WOW.

mc - introductions
highlights of this mc would probably be machiko and the 32 year old member:

machiko: while inside the booth during the 2shot event, one of the staff members suddenly pointed at my shirt and told me "your shirt's inside-out". i fixed the problem right there at the booth.



to which the audience went WILD trying to imagine she was stripping in her booth when the 2shot booths are half open!!


32 year old member: i actually can't believe i looked good in uniform. (faces sdn members) i did look good right? (faces audience) i told you guys, i really am sdn's ACCHAN!! (starts dancing acchan's steps to iiwake maybe, alone.)

sdn members had to stop her from continuing, and the next girl saved the night by proceeding with her mc even if that other member did not finish yet.

yuuwaku no garter
ok just to add to the incredible things already happening in this song (not to mention my eyes were GLUED to akita today), i noticed that the girls actually do a pretty dangerous step that i have only seen sayaka do in K4. it when the girls stand on the char, then squat on the chair.. then jump to sit down on the chair with legs spread apart. woohooo!!!

all in
with chen qu out of the theater, the girls do a mini shuffle and i get to see my currently favorite sdn member again, kazue. it's just sad that i don't know the girl who replaced chen qu as center, cause she was just incredible!

mc - nacchu time

just a small highlight for this one. nacchu starts talking about majisuka ending this coming friday, then she started talking about the scene where she defeated shibuya (not sure, haven't watched this episode) and where acchan gives her the chicken wing instead, and how she messed up her line by putting the stress on the wrong syllable on the word "tebaSAAAki". then she pulls the friggin chiken wing out of her shirt, she had a hidden pocket in her costume near her cleavage area. and when she held the chiken wing towards the audience, everybody started laughing and somebody suddenly shouts:

"that looks like it has tons of OIL on it!!"

to which nacchu put it back to her breast pocket. lol.

ganbarina, futsu no anata, best by, and even aisareru tameni

so yes, with the costumes in these songs, all i could say is:

machiko is D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S!!!

really. no joking. those things are just overflowing, and she even has to wear some sports bra or something just to hold those in place. she was the only one who visibly had to wear another layer to hold her assets. just WOW. so don't blame me if i went crazy during those 3 songs.

and even during aisareru tameni.. right after i got goosebumps listening to the 32 year old's inf*ngcredible x100 voice, my eyes were on machiko again. even with a simple costume, she was just too much.

ske truely lost a lot by letting her go.

touhikou
again with chen qu out of the theater, i was wondering if they would just play a recording of her voice or something for this song. and just last saturday night, i was writing in my review that i wish one day sayane would do an english version.

what i didn't know was that she actually does an english version when chen qu is out.

so when she suddenly steps forward for the song and starts speaking english, everything just practically blurred out for me. it was the most intoxicating portion of the show for me, and i didn't know just what to shout to let out what i was feeling at that moment. the song just ROCKS and with the english version going on right in front of me..

it was just too much...

i blurted out english phrases non stop, to the top of my voice, praising sayane and how great she is and how awesome she was doing on stage, and then.. suddenly.. as she ended her intro speech everybody shouted "i love you!". lol. it was then that i realized that this was not the first time it happened.

really.. just... an incredibly sad melody, with the members singing it incredibly, with incredible instruments as background.. easily going to become my favorite song.. then suddenly english comes out... making it 100x more awesome for me who understood EVERYTHING sayane said. but then again, too much happiness that the only phrases i could remember that sayane said were "hold you in my arms.. here with me..." and the rest was history.

my wish for sdn right now, is that they release a dvd with both the english and the chinese version of the song. both are great on their own.

high touch after the concert

the fact that i was standing at the bleachers against the theater doors meant that if i wanted to.. i could have been the very first one to go out the theater and meet the girls. hehe. but that's not what i would do. need meat shields. so yeah, i let around 5 people go first, then i proceeded to meet the girls.

meeting kazue who was first in line again was more intoxicating than the previous day. if only i had time to talk to her. she just reminds me of yukki too much.

and its funny how i have to bow down just to give umeda a high five. like lol. that girl is really small!

i did a choris to nacchu, and was so happy to finally meet an ske girl upclose. 3rd ske girl i've met in my life so far (jurina being the first, furukawa being the 2nd) not counting the ex-akb move to ske members.

and they still positioned the 3 ex-akb girls at the end of the line. when i got to nonti, she still gave me that weird look. and now so did yukarin. hmm... and when i got to cindy:

cindy: ita ita ita ita (he's here he's here)
me:

cindy must have said something weird about me to those two girls. . (at least that's what i want to think right now, hehe).


highlight

ok so for the highlight of the evening, it would have to be the mc after best by.


machiko: good evening everybody! sdn's extra large melon pie.. machiko tezuka!
(warning: pun included)

the whole theater burst in laughter. for me, that easily topped natalie's "yume mo ookiku" phrase. machiko then later explained that she used that phrase during her gravure days, and she wanted to try it again in the theater. she got really loud cheers from the audience!

and when it came to masami kochi (the other "gifted" girl)...

masami kochi: good evening everybody! sdn's jumbo meat bun (nikuman/siopao/etc)

and the theater was just in chaos.

 

^thanks for the review. your descriptions made me drool in front of my keyboard LOL [rofl] nice to know that cindy still remembers you, i wonder too what she was thinking when you were approaching

i really am wishing hard for an SDN LOD or a DVD to come soon.

dammit i need another fix of yuuwaku no garter from AX2010

 

Was that person (meetan ojisan) the one who came to meetan event on akbingo 2008 (meetan saga) ? the one with all photos attached to his happi?

and the golden happi wota who came to you or Melos?


and to Youko> So now if you buy the ticket, you'll get the AKB strap? And did you take picture of SDN wall?

I'm sure want to see SDN show also.

 

Thanks for the reviews, CK and Youko! Both very SDN-centric experiences sound great!

 

Wooh! Thanks for the review, Youko. Sounded like lots of fun.

 

2Shot Event
Tokyo Big Sight
March 22, 2010

meeting-up with the gang
it was the last day of the 2shot event and without anything to do at home, i decided to just go to the place for fun. i was on my way to the event place when hiroki suddenly messaged me: "just tell me if you want to take a picture with chikarina". now really, i wasn't expecting to take a picture with anybody today. i just wanted to have fun at the place.

got to the place at around 2pm already, and met with hiroki after 20 minutes or so. he showed me his pictures for the day, which btw were just insane if you ask me. i hope he posts those online. after a few minutes of talking, we went to the ampm store at tokyo big sight where we chatted with the legendary memolist for a while. shortly after, we were joined by koba, and after a while he went to fetch cristafari. so it was indeed cristafari who i saw at the theater last saturday. hehe.

after a few chats, saying a few dozen thank yous to koba for just giving me nonaka pics and a SIGNED matsuyuki pic, signing of birthday cards for kohara and fujimoto sara, the guys decided to take pictures. since i was left alone without any tickets i decided to scout the place for any ticket sellers, and omg there were a LOT...



i scouted for tickets for suuchan, haachan, sayaka, kazue, nacchan, and other girls who might interest me. though the fact that i was only holding a 3 megapix camera made me think 3x before even checking the ticket prices, i still tried, and WOW at the prices:

suuchan - 10,000
nacchan - 9,000
mayuyu - 12,000

no way was i going to buy those. they probably didn't really sell it for that high, but upon sensing i was not from around here, i guess they tried their luck. its one of those times when gaijin power fails. i just laughed and continued to scour the place. people were selling anything from pictures, to ax photobooks, to posters which i have never seen before. akb48 flee market! wish i had these back in my hometown.

after a couple more hours of just goofin' around, and almost falling down when i saw namida no shounan of ax 2010 on the big screen (they had one to project everything from B1 concerts, to sakura no shiori, to nemousu korea clips, infinity scenes, etc.) at first i thought it was haruna, but when i saw it was oori, and shiho was even there (one of the rare full original unit cast), i really wanted to shout and cheer. i was able to hold for that one, but i lost it when an hour later people started cheering for tsukina for wimbledon at another concert. i had to shout, and i had to dance, else i would have gone crazy. [rock]

when it neared 6:00pm, cristafari was just too kind and gave me a ticket for chisaki of sdn. i felt bad that i couldn't even map her name to her face, but i promised myself i will learn who she is from now on. then, we also got a chikarina ticket. suddenly, i became mr. line-up-n-o-w when just minutes ago i was mr. nothing-to-do. hiroki, koba, and i decided to line-up for chikarina first as we saw cristafari lining up for sayane with hiro@vegas.

lining-up and taking a picture with chikarina
lining up for chikarina was a breeze. probably just 30 people in front of us. 3 of us were talking while lining-up, and with koba almost having a heart attack after i gave him my last tic-tac.

soon it was time to face chikarina. koba wanted to do the moomoomehmeh pose, which i told him to just go for it. as for me, it would just be my normal wii pose. the moment koba entered the room, could hear him and chikarina talking in really loud voices. i looked at the staff member guarding the door with a wtf face, and he shrugged in return. just lol. a few more seconds and it was my time to face chikarina.

i entered the booth, explained to the staff member who was taking pictures to just press the center button (as my phone was in english), and proceeded to greet chikarina:

me: hello chikarina
chikarina: oh hello!
me: i came all the way from the philippines (yeah, not really much of a topic)
chikarina: really wow!

staff: ok pose please
me: ok, let's do this pose *makes wii sign*
chikarina: ok like this?
me: yup.

*click*

chikarina: thank you!
me: (in english) thank you very much! that was fun
chikarina: but wait... i'm sure i've seen you before already, right?

me:
chikarina: desuyo? (right?)

me: hai. gaijin mvp desu (yup. i'm one of the foreigner mvps)

if only i had time, i would have told chikarina that i have been watching her since her himawari days. hehe. and i would have reminded her of how hiroki actually introduced me to her during the romansu irane handshake. i just hope i didn't make a too weird of a face when she said she somehow remembers me.

lining up for chisaki

this one i lined-up with cristafari and hiro@vegas. it was fun to watch cristafari showing off the pics he took on his i-phone, and how people kept teasing him "kawaii! (cute!)..... cristafari kawaii! (cristafari's cute!!)"

and we had fun looking at the end of yukirin's line half a kilometer away, when yukirin's booth was just a few feet from us. (and they extended her schedule to 23:00!!! like 11:00PM!!!)

while lining up for chisaki, i had to get as much information as i could about her. i've only seen 2 sdn shows so far, and i've only learned the names of about 30% of the members. soon it was time for me to face chaki (after being harassed by hiro and cristafari, lol. poor girl. just joking!)

as i entered the booth, and the usual explanation of how my pathetic phone works to the staff member, i greeted chisaki with a big hi and hello.

me: hi there chisaki (in english)
chisaki: hello! (in english)
me: i came all the way from the philippines (yah, lame topic again)
chisaki: really?!

staff: ok pose please
chisaki: wait! *puts down peace sign* in the philippines what do they...
staff: pose please
me: *mukuchi mode*

staff: ok ready
me: let's do this pose *makes wii sign*
chisaki: oh ok

*click*

me: thank you very much! hope to see you in the theater again!
chisaki: see ya!!

and the picture of chisaki turned out AWESOME!!

conclusion
and that was it for the 2shot event for me. after saying "otsukaresama" to a few people including the guys from hokkaido that i met last sunday, we went home while cristafari was still going for a few more tickets with chisaki then mami.

i too don't think something like this will happen ever again. i'm glad i got to tokyo just in time.

pictures
again, sorry for overdoing the watermarks

 

CK,

soo happy to see u enjoy the event!
hope u had great time at the yokohama arena tonite!
keep in touch!


Youko,

it was good to meet you there!

didnt know you had no tix, wish u would told me.
eventhough i graduated from AKB, being team K finished, may able to get hold of some tix there.
(though being k-wota, i have almost no connection with B-wota)
anyrates, so happy to see you start getting into SDN!
see ya at the theater!


koba,
お疲れさま
古参の方達の方が気が合うって聞いたから
あんまりオイラのお仲間stkするのやめてね
（ってか君を受け入れてくれてるオイラのお仲間にそんな事言って欲しくなかったよ）
気分害してる人多いから謝った方がいいかも


Hiroki-san,

お疲れさまでした
お会いできて良かったです！
koba君のお守りよろしくお願いいたしますw
今後ともよろしくお願いいたします　m（_ _）ｍ

 

Youko,

actually this show was first time Chen Qu being out.

You experienced the special show!

All In, Katoh did Chen part, but most of regulars welcomed her with "Mamitan" call,
same with Akita who subbed Imayoshi w/ "Kazuchii" call.

I spoke with many of fans prior to the show and decided to do "I Love You" instead of "Wo Ai Ni" at 17:00
show.

right now, SDN is very similar to AKB back in 2006 (like K2nd).
you can built and grow together with them.

hope you gonna enjoy SDN more and more.

 

Hey! Thanks for the posts, Yokou and Hiro!

I thought this was really cute.

 

^That's really cool that Chikarina remembered you all by herself! Congrats!

 

NO WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG.

p.s. guys, take it outside the forum please.

 

^ Wooh! Thanks for the review! Sounded like a blast!

I'm so glad the fans were cool were cool with the old Team songs sung by the New Teams. (I'm personally accepting of the idea.) And that's so cute how the girls were stoked about performing at Yokohama.

I'll be looking forward to your next set of reviews.