Stage Komiyama Team K [RESET] (2018/07/06 - 2022/04/06)

I will just put a note that I actually meant Akimoto K in my original comment. I got that confused with Oshima K.
And it's not just the random Japanses on Twitter that said so -- Hosoi-san also said it himself.

 

I know that's going to be your answer. Let just say that is not in the same line as he normally tweet. I don't have enough time nor energy right now.

 

I post Mako & Miichan interview translation in Mako thread. They also talked about the shonichi performance.

 

It seems to me that today main unders are:

Kojima Mako -> Yokoyama Yui
Kurano Narumi -> Yumoto Ami

 

I had cancel machi for last night's Team K show, which was Orin-chan's birthday show. My cancel machi number was very high (#120) so I figured there was very little chance I would get in. However, I came very close (five people away) and won the drawing to go into the theater after the show and greet the members. Although I could feel that I was was coming down with something, I decided to stick it out. At the very least I could say hello to Ran-chan and congratulate Orin. If I remember correctly, this is the second time I have failed to get into a Team K show via cancel machi, but won the after-show drawing. Here are a few observations about the show, and the theater in general....

1) The theater staff has become a lot more lenient regarding tardiness: From a customer service standpoint, this is probably for the best, but it didn't used to be this way at all. In the old days, if you had won the show but arrived after the cancel machi call had started, you had to wait and be part of the "Final Ten" group who goes into the theater last. This doesn't happen all the time, but I have noticed it before. Now if people arrive late, even if they are in the middle of the cancel machi call, they let them in. Last night there were at least 10-15 people who arrived during the cancel machi call who they let into the queue, which was probably the difference between me winning and not winning. Not only that...

A guy with his young daughter (probably around seven years old) arrived 25 minutes late, and they let them in as well. Now on one hand, I would have a hard time turning away a young girl like that. However, at that point they were going to be stuck in the back, which would make watching the show very hard for the guy's daughter, unless he put her on his shoulders. (Actually, that's what he did!) Even more incredible, some guy arrived at the very end of the show and insisted they sell him a ticket and let him in, which they did! I am guessing he was part of Orin's seitensei committee, since I can't think of any other reason someone would want to enter the show that late.

2) The large screen to watch the show on is broken: I have no idea how long it has been broken, or how soon they plan on fixing it, but those who wished to watch the show had to do it on one of the small screens. However, the main audio still seemed to be coming from the large screen broadcast, and there seemed to be a slight discrepancy between the main screen audio and the small screen video. So while I was going to be critical of the member's lip-syncing overall, it may not be a fair assessment in this situation.

3) I didn't realize Team K has so many members who I like: Ran-chan is quickly becoming my favorite AKB48 member, but Team K also has Yasuda Kana, Komiharu, Team 8 Yokoyama, Orin-chan, not to mention a couple other members who are growing on me. And of course you also have Miichan.

4) Was Ran-chan the Center of Seifuku Resistance? I was so busy talking to friends via LINE that I was only half-paying attention to the stage. Technically it felt like all three members were sharing the center position equally, but I think Ran-chan was in Mako's position. Moreover, she had at least a couple of solo lines in the group songs, and was sometimes singing and dancing in the front row. That's awesome! Now she just needs to work on her MC skills...

5) The cancel machi process, and the hashi drawing: So for those who haven't read my reports in other threads, this is the current process for cancel machi. 30 minutes before the show they figure out how many more people they can let in to reach 250, and begin calling cancel machi numbers to fill in the seats. When the show is "full" they do a secondary call of cancel machi numbers until they find ten more people. These ten get to see the show, but they are the last group to enter the theater. After that they line up everyone who had cancel machi but didn't win, and we draw chopsticks to find 12 people who will get to enter the theater after the show to greet the members. Your chances to win depend on how many people are left. If there are 12 or less you will get in. Interestingly, last night there were thirteen of us, which mean one person was going to be out of luck. Luckily I wasn't that one person. In fact, I lost the first two times I tried this, but I have won every time since.

6) My 'High Wave' Experience: The show ended up going quite late, since 1) they sang the Team K c/w track from Teacher Teacher, 2) the birthday festivities, and c) The played the entire MV for Sentimental Train, except for the end credits. In fact, they let us into the theater in time to watch the video, although I could barely see. (I had already seen it on YouTube earlier in the day) After the people in the first row, they let the standing people go through, which meant I wasn't in the theater very long. The girls lines up, and I was trying to get Ran-chan's attention since she was right in my sight line, but the one who noticed me was Katsumata Saori, who started jumping up and down and waving to me. As I went through the line, I got great reactions from Oda Erena, who I am never met before. She is quite pretty, and enthusiastically waved to me and smiled. Nagatomo Ayami gave me a "Hey, I know you" reaction. I haven't seen her in a while, but I guess she remembers me from all those 'Let's Go Kenkyuusei' shows I went to. Komiharu went full on English, and now I feel badly about oshi-mashi'ing all those handshake tickets I purchased for her earlier this year. I tried to make a big connection with Yokoyama Yui, but wasn't too successful, and Miichan seemed to be on auto-pilot. However, Ran-chan seemed to be surprised to see me. I guess she is used to me being in the first couple of rows. But I got a chance to chant her name as I passed. I also got the chance to wish Orin-chan a Happy Birthday, and she gave me a good response.

7) The Group Pic: I usually purchase the Team photo only when I win the show. I was tempted to purchase this one because in all the shots they took Tomu, who was positioned just above her sister, was either making a funny face, or doing some sort of weird pose. I'm not sure which photo they ultimately went with, but I saw Gunji-san snickering as he left the theater to develop the pic. I sometimes find the photo posted on twitter, but haven't been able to find it so far.

8) Orin is getting cuter by the day: I used to think she was goofy looking, but now I think she is adorable. This was her seitensei, so she had a bit of an aura about her. But it's something I have noticed for a while now, and I believe Tomu even wrote something about it in her birthday letter that was read during the show.

9) Birthday Flowers: Here ya go...

 

I don't think so. I just went and re-check (on DMM): the order of appearance for Seifuku is: Kanabun, Ran-chan, Yokoyui. So I think its Yokoyui that's Mako's under (and center) in Seifuku... (actually I think Yokoyui under Mako for the entire stage.) But I agree that this song is pretty balanced over three members.

(Note: I watched live on DMM)

 

In the shonichi, the order of appearance is Kanabun, Yokochan, and Mako, so I think innosu has it right. Ranchan is Yokochan's under and Yokochan is Mako.

 

You only have to pay if you win the show. In the case where I drew the chopstick to go into the theater at the end, I didn't have to pay anything for that. Plus, they store your bags for free, where it normally costs 200 yen. Which brings me to another interesting story about the other night...

One of the people who won the second cancel machi drawing was very short, and he declined the win because he felt it would be too difficult to see and might as well watch on the monitors for free instead. Lucky for the guy who initially missed by one, who got to see the show after all.