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The Nogizaka46 Experience Thread

Discussion in 'General Nogizaka46 Discussion' started by spoiledleftie, May 21, 2014.

  1. jiaemi

    jiaemi Kenkyuusei

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    From the model I saw via pictures, now is it more of a vertical distance away from the member rather than horizontal distance as compared to previous events where there was a table in between? Or is there still a table in between :O

    Thanks for the insight ^_^
     
  2. mehr0504

    mehr0504 Kenkyuusei

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    nishinonanase
    Here's my security experience while attending the 6/21 HS event:
    Today was my very first handshake event ever. I went to Nogizaka46's 9th single handshake event at Pacifico Yokohama in Yokohama, Japan. When I arrived at the venue, I went through a bag check. If I had a water bottle, they made me drink it in order to show that it wasn't poisonous. I then went through a boy metal detector test. After that I lined up in order to line up for members for that slot. I had to show my tickets before I could enter the lanes area. Once I got to a specific member's lane, I went through an ID & number of tickets check. I then got in line for the specific member. Right before entering I had to put my bag in a basket on the side while giving the stop watch staff-san my number of tickets. I had to show the palms & backs of my hands before entering to shake hands as well. I then shook hands with the member until a staff-san behind me pushed me out. The members are behind a tall fence and sat/stood on platforms that made them about a little bit more than a head taller than me (I'm 160cm tall). If the member could not hear you or was really curious about you, she needed to lean down closer to your face. There was also a security guard next to the member & a security guard about a meter behind her. After each slot, people needed to exit the lanes area & go through bag/body checks again before waiting in line to wait in lanes for the next slot. That's my handshake process, security checks did not really effect my waiting time as it was either before the slots started or during me giving my tickets to staff-san. It was all small, quick checks but at the same time, it felt efficient to me & I still finished all my tickets within an hr or less.


    Procedure of Security Measures during Nogizaka46 Handshake:
    -Bag check
    -Body metal detector check
    -Ticket check before entering lanes area
    -ID & # of tickets check before entering specific lane
    -Bag on side before entering lane
    -Show palms & back of hands before handshaking member
    -Security guard next to & behind members.
    -Members behind tall fence & sat/stood on platforms making them about 5 inches taller
    -All fans out of lanes area after each slot
    -Need to go through whole process again for each slot

    Here's a poor map I made of the venue: Nogi Handshake Map.png


    Here's what the platform looks like when you handshake the members:
    Platform.jpg

    Sorry if anything I wrote sounds confusing! Hope this helps in understanding what the new security measures were like!
     
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  3. SUPER☆LeMON

    SUPER☆LeMON Kenkyuusei

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    Today I had the great opportunity to attend one of the Undergirls live shows.
    I went to the evening show, getting drenched in one of the heavier rainstorms in Tokyo so far this rainy season, forcing me to buy an UG t-shirt to change into. Management were probably overjoyed though, as this was the situation for a whole lot of the attendees.

    As usual, a few minutes before the live starts there's a member behind stage, announcing some of the venue/concert rules et cetera. This time it was Maichun, which led into hundreds of loud Maichun calls during the entire talking period. During the middle of it she even stopped to say thank you. The Maichun calls also continued on until the overture started, several minutes after the announcement had ended.

    Most of the venue was incredibly fired up, despite the horrible weather, people being loud from the overture until after the members had left the stage post-encore. Urya~Oi is probably still echoing inside my head. If you're the type who prefers concerts where everyone quietly sits down and focus on listening to the music, I can't recommend these lives. The girls are also encouraging all the calls, shouts and occasional singing along. I, being a pinchike, love lives like these, and I think they show off the relationship and cooperation between the girls and the fans way better than some 8 second hand-to-hand contact event.
    Of course, since this is Nogizaka, there was no such thing as a MIX happening. If someone tried he'd probably get a penlight shoved up where he doesn't want it.

    The singing was fully live, and the quality of it a whole lot better than I expected. The occasional sharp note appeared here and there, moreso towards the end, but nothing that hurt to listen to, or ruined the overall sound. Seifuku no Mannequin, for example, is often performed with live vocals by senbatsu, and I've been able to attend two performances of it in that setting myself. The UG + 2nd gen did it way better.

    I went to the show with the intention to cheer on Nene, who is my favorite UG girl, and Marika, who I consider to be the best center in all of Nogi, including A-side ones. Ended up completely spellbound by Hinachima. Other than being amazingly pretty for her age, her stage presence was absolutely amazing. Of course, it helps that she's always had good positions within UG, and that she's a top 3 girl in the current line-up, which was very decisive in terms of positions in ~most~ of the other songs.
    Marika, of course, shined so much I'm starting to think it might be better to just keep her as UG center permanently, all while increasing their activities even more to give them an even stronger position within the group.

    The MCs were really strong, Kanarin and Seirarin taking up the roles as lead MCs for most of the evening. This time, they targeted Noujou and Asuka in particular quite a lot. Noujou because everyone wants to see Noujou do her stuff, Asuka because she's generally not a member to step forward on her own.
    There was also a second gen only MC with Junna (lead MC), Renachi, Karin and Miria-sama. From what I was able to see during Principal, I'd argue that these four are probably the least awkward un-promoted second gen girls, and they did really well overall, although Junna did forget some of her scripted parts and had to read on her hand once or twice. The non-scripted parts she was super natural, not shy at all, and led the conversation well. They explained some personality traits of the new girl Iori (apparently she's a very bright girl, kinda touchy and seems to have some sadistic tendencies), and also talked about Ayane who was unable to join this event due to her school situation. She's expressed a lot of sadness about it, so they asked us fans to send her nice comments on her blog in support.
    They closed the MC saying they hope to be invited to perform at UG lives again in the future, as they will not participate in the July ones.

    Following the 2nd gen MC, there was a unit corner. These units are somewhat random - while some are constructed, others are formed by lottery hence there's a chance of seeing some really weird line-ups. Most notably - Chiichan, Maichun, Kiichan and Hinachima: Watashi no tame ni. While all songs up until now had been performed in full - these followed the one verse+chorus -> mid8+final chorus structure.
    Anyway, impressions from these are:
    Maaya's singing voice is very deep.
    Himetan sounds pretty damn amazing when she gives it her all.
    Chiichan is actually really good.

    These were followed by a full performance of the new UG song - Koko ni Iru Riyuu, and then one of the skits from Principal Trois, except without a script.
    This time was Torishirabe/Interrogation (I've explained what this skit is about before so won't do it again) - Line-up being Asuka as the suspect, and Rotty, Maaya and Renachi playing the cops. The two main features here was Maaya speaking basic English, and Renachi making Asuka do different member impersonations. Kazumin was seemingly okay, but Reika's Hop, Step kara no Hoippu seemed to be incredibly embarrassing. Ashurin also expressed regret that she actually did it shortly after the skit ended.

    After the skit, Kanarin called in Chiichan and Noujou for a stretching session, which thanks to Noujou turned more into a morning gymnastics session. Except extremely low tension. Turns out in the end she just wanted to stand on the stage and laugh at all the fans loyally rotating their necks. However, it does appear she's aiming to take over the main NHK morning gymnastics TV program.

    This was followed up three full songs, and then yet another special corner. A call battle between Kanarin and Seirarin.
    They each formed a team, consisting of four other girls + half the venue. Sadly, most of my favorite members ended up in Seirarin's team, while my side was Kanarin. Seirarin suggested all Kanarin oshis on the left side switch places with Seirarin oshis to the right, but the venue staff were probably not too fond of the idea.

    After all this came a single medley. I expected it to be rather short, but each single followed the one verse+chorus -> mid8+final chorus structure. With the exception of Oide Shampoo (After a 2nd gen only first chorus) and Kizuitara Kataomoi, they also performed each song in smaller units (around half the members).

    They ended with an MC and then Hatsukoi no Hito wo Ima demo (Ashurin center), all thanking everyone and leaving the stage afterwards.
    As soon as they had excited, the encore call started. (Not the uncle lou call that most people do, but rather, half the fans shouting NOGIZAKA and the other half shouting FORTYSIX). After killing our throats for ten minutes or so the girls appeared again and performed Freeasy, 13nichi and Nogiuta.

    After Nogiuta there was a final MC, and the beloved fabulous center Marika wanted to say her thanks for the fans for being so into it, and coming there despite the rain etc, but midway through she started crying so Rotty had to try and decipher what she was trying to say.
    Once everyone else had left the stage, Asuka and Marika returned to the middle again, and Asuka thanked everyone for making Marika cry, because it's not something you see everyday <-lol. The venue was roaring with Marika calls by this point. Very sweet. Some fans seemingly remained in their seats calling member names for a good 10 minutes or so after everything had ended and the lights were turned on, which was kinda cute.

    TL;DR
    UG are pretty damn great(est).
    This live was pretty damn great & I'm going to another one again soon.
    Hinachima is an angel.
    Marika is flawless.
    Nene's face is God.
     
    Last edited: Jul 1, 2014
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  4. ajeossi76

    ajeossi76 Kenkyuusei

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    @SUPER☆LeMON Thank you for sharing your experience! It was really good reading, although I'm a bit jealous ;) I'm still disappointed that I couldn't get to Paris to watch Nogizaga46, but hopefully I'll see them some other time. Nice to read about Marika too, I really like her!
     
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  5. Maji!?

    Maji!? Kenkyuusei

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    I'm seriously impressed they did the whole set live, I thought Momoiro Clover Z were the only idol group doing whole sets live these days. Does Nogizaka always perform live? I had no idea.
     
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  6. SUPER☆LeMON

    SUPER☆LeMON Kenkyuusei

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    Nogizaka are very on and off with the live singing.
    Most TV performances are clearly studio vocals, except when they're invited to shows that forbid pre-recorded vocals (only Johnny's Entertainment can ignore those rules). Non-stand alone events seem to depend on the arranger. Last year's Mezamashi live was fully live as far as reports and video recordings claim (Ear shattering Seifuku no Mannequin), whereas the ZIP live wasn't.

    The first Nogi event I ever attended was a "festival" one featuring several artists such as JUJU, Chris Hart, VAMPS etc. At this live, the 8th single senbatsu performed around 6-7 songs, fully live. The ZIP live I attended this Spring was lip sync during verses, with some songs being live every chorus, and other songs only the final one.
    Mini-live after the Principal main show was lip sync until final chorus as well, although fan reports state the performances of Natsu no Free & Easy during the final day was done fully live.
    For their stand alone concerts, as far as I've understood, it depends on the song. Ikoma did Mizutama Moyou live during this year's anniversary concert, whereas last year it was lip synced. A majority of the songs are lip synced though, and mics that's actually on / can be turned on are limited - First anniversary 13nichi no Kinyoubi is a good example.

    UG lives, since implemented last single, have always been fully live. If it's to save money on new recordings, or if it's by request from the girls (a lot of them express joy over -being allowed- to sing live), I do not know. I very much appreciate it though. :D
    As far as I've understood, they received both dancing and singing lessons for these.

    (Also, unrelated to Nogi, but I think most Avex idols that aren't SKE are forced to do their sets fully live cause they have a kinda strict policy on that stuff, haha.)
     
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  7. gocchisama

    gocchisama Member Stage48 Donor

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    Hello! I want to share here my little experience with Nogizaka46 at their Showcase in France. I attended Japan expo (name of the french convention) after knowing that the whole senbatsu was coming. Even though i'm not as much of a fan as other could be (i'm just listening to their songs and watching their show from time to time), I coudn't miss it as i thought it was necessary as a 48 group fan to support them.

    We had 3 talk show with half of the senbatsu each, and one live show (9 songs in total, around 50 min). Spoiler : It was great!


    [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG]
    "First talk show highlighted Reika, Yumi, Ikoma and Nanase"
    We were around 40-50 people waiting for Nogizaka in front of Rakuten booth. We were really close, and everyone behaved well so the event went smoothly. The girls in real life are sooo pretty (look at Nanase smile!!!). Reika leaded the MC in a very convincing way. She knew what she was doing. No interaction between the fans and the girls, but they didn't feel unsure at all and showed they practice French to appeal to fans, which we answered in a positive way (Nanaaseeeeeee). I noticed that Ikoma Rina is really pretty, and while Nanase has a peaceful aura around her, Ikoma was shining with her cheerfulness and energy. Nanamin was astonishing, but when it comes to personnality, i think it was unfortunately a little bit plain. (she refused the mic :( ). It was funny to see that they put a lot of time endorsing Rakuten goods. I was not surprised as it was the sponsor that allowed Nogizaka to come to Paris. I'm glad they had a little time to visit Paris before Japan expo, though ( they like french bread and macaron, as expected)

    [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG]
    "Second Talk show, Sayuringo was there; Yumi and Nanamin talked"
    I don't know what happened, the host said we could ask some questions to the members but due to schedule complication, we only had small talk about members impression of the french convention and Paris in general. Maiyan is so zefzefmqzkejf and surprisingly not so tall. As tall as Ikoma. What i remember of this talk show is that because the crowd wasn't super active ( that's a shame) i made loud call to my heart content to many members. When i called "Maiyan!!" She smiled and waved at me. Something i don't expect to happen in Japan, so i was really Happy. Sayuringo, despite her dorky character, was seated very elegantly on her chair, making her look like an high class lady. Again, Ikoma Rina was incredibly enthusiastic talking about cosplay and said she didn't wanted to loose to Europeans. (talking about cosplay in front of otaku, you're 100% sure to get loud cheer lol, good job Ikoma) Nanamin said one of them was so good she took a 2 shot with the cosplayer, who i am 100% sure he didn't know who she was. Overall, the girls are really nice and always waved at the fans, which is a really good point.

    [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG]
    "Nogizaka46 showing a pro level performance"
    Before Nogizaka was a live performance of Yoshiki, precursor of Visual Kei and foundator of legendary group X-japan. I am a fan of him of course, but i know him well too much : he's a diva. I knew he would take more time than usual so i was worried about the length of the girl's show. When Yoshiki performance was over, i was sad to witness half of the crowd left, leaving only around 150-200 person in the live house. Also, half of them were just curious people wanting to watch a japanese idol group while the other half, in front of the stage, were the actual wota who came to see Nogizaka. Basically, we had to do twice as much cheer as usual to make sure the members felt relieved that we actually enjoyed their show.

    The show was great. We had girl's Rule, tsuki no ookisa, Gururu no curtain (i'm gonna relisten to this song, it was great live) and Seifuku no Mannequin! Too bad i hadn't Barrette because i love Hori Miona. The girls showed great skill and displayed an amazing performance as a group. I feel sorry because they didn't deserved the crowd "cold reaction" of the other half (those who came just by curiosity). We had few glowsticks and didn't know any mix, but Ikoma was kind enough to give us the timing of the call. Fortunately, they performed all of their setlist.

    I particulary looked at Miona ( she is sooo cute goddamn it) Maiyan ( Center aura for sure, no doubt about that) but i think the biggest highlight was actually Ikoma Rina. She made the mood of the crowd rise with her call, was cheerful during cheerful song and was so cool during seifuku no mannequin. Her choregraphy was perfect and i naturally kept my eyes on her as her dancing was very attractive and energetic. Today, Ikoma Rina, from the performance to her talk show, reallly impressed me a lot. Was she like that since the beginning or did she improved since her demotion as center? From my point of view, i judge from what i see. And now i truly believe Ikoma has a big potential and really put effort to shape it. Good job, really!

    By the way, the show was on playback. Not that i mind, though....

    [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG]
    "Beauty Maiyan, Cutie Hoshimina, cool Ikoma"
    After such a convincing performance, it was the time for the last talk show. It was logical to have the other half of the senbatsu missing during the first talk show. We waited a little longer than expected because of the delay Yoshiki caused. I took this opportunity to talk to japanese fans who made the trip straight from japan to support Nogizaka. The funny things is that they all thought i was a nogizaka fan (knowing the girl's name was enough) and since we were very friendly, i think i have appeared on all photo as "european nogizaka fan representative" lol. I had nothing Nogizaka on me, so i had to borrow a Nogizaka towel. It's always a good experience to share with fans! always.

    Instead of Reika, Goddess Maiyan lead the small talk show and basically said the same thing like this morning ( i like France, I like macaron, Please buy Rakuten goods, etc) and instead of Ikoma being playful during the first talk, Sayuringo was super funny during the third one. I think her personnality and character make her interesting to follow ; for example she was playing with the translator, fixing him in the eyes while doing her speech, which made him very uncomfortable ( that was so funny lol) and when she actually learned a few words in french, she started putting her french phrase "c'est très bon!" all the time! It made everyone laugh. Sayuringo really made me a good impression and it's always fun to see such a beautiful girl like her acting like so childish (but in a good way!)

    Overall it was a very good experience for me. But to be honest, it won't change my position over the group. I absolutely don't question their ability and appeal, it's just that i'm too commited to another group to get into Nogizaka more than listening to their song. Maybe i will start watching their show more often though.

    I do acknowledge Nogizaka46 strength as a strong sister group of AKB; they have the right members to raise their popularity and a good staff bringing them decent songs (the quality of barrette, Girl's rule and seifuku no mannequin are my favourite) so i'm looking forward for their activities in the future.

    [​IMG]
    "Family photo with Nogizaka"

    Credits to @Misaki94 for all the Nogizaka46 pictures.
     
    Last edited: Jul 7, 2014
  8. jiaemi

    jiaemi Kenkyuusei

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    Thanks for the report!

    Amazed about the fans from japan that made the trip all way to France, salute!
    Also regarding sayurin's nature, maybe thats what makes some people/members think shes a little on the baka side, which actually is the opposite hahas XD

    Time for me to pray and hope and do more good deeds to hope nogizaka comes to singapore or any neighbouring country soon XD
    Either that or I`ll just fly to Japan again next year hehe XO
     
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  9. Captenblack

    Captenblack Kenkyuusei

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    Nice report you have threre ^^
     
  10. Aya

    Aya Member

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    Thank you for writing the report~ It's good. :cute: I wish I was there... Uwaaa....
     
  11. Trinu

    Trinu Under Girls

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    I think this is more common than we think lol
    I'm going to Perfume's concert in November and I've read people angry/afraid of not getting tickets because Japanese fans get them pretty fast and then come all the way to Europe to support the group.
    Which, IMO, is a bit insane. If the group is based in your country, why not let the rest of the world enjoy it too? :fp:

    Oh, well! Nice report there! If they had announced earlier I would've tried and gone too. :(
     
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  12. Maji!?

    Maji!? Kenkyuusei

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    I'm jealous beyond all belief because I live close enough to go, but I was sick with fever all week recently and my work wouldn't give me any time off to go, and calling in sick wouldn't have worked. Thanks for taking the time to describe it though, sounds like they were impressive despite the crowd's reluctance. About your second point though, one of my friends is a massive wota from Japan who's seen both Ngzk and 48G live and up close. She said that the 48G members were definitely cute, but looked the same as they always do on TV, but the Ngzk looked so good it was actually hard to believe.

    I'm going too, getting tickets softened the blow of not going to this a bit.
     
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  13. Trinu

    Trinu Under Girls

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    Same here. It's gonna be my first jpop experience! :omfg:
    Are you in the Perfume Fans (UK) FB group? We should totally meet as fellow AKB fans! :^^;:
     
  14. Jeff86

    Jeff86 Kenkyuusei

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    takayamakazumi
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    Here I go, beware of the long post I'm gonna talk about meeting Nogizaka at the Japan Expo the 7/04.
    They had a booth (Rakuten) at the JE with goods. I was really hoping to see some goods and I wasn't disappointed, they went all out : 3 t-shirts, 1 happi, 2 towels, the card collection part2 and sticks.
    So I broke the bank and took almost everything because why not! Now fully dressed as a Nogizaka wota, I waited for their first talk show at the booth and I was 2nd row.

    First talk show was (in that order) : Reika, Wakatsuki, Ikoma, Naachan, Nanamin, Kazumi, Tomato and Misa. I was so happy cause my two-top was right in front of me!
    First shock : even though someone mentioned it somewhere, I had that image that Reika was tall and what a shock when they entered!! Being used to see them on screen I didn't realize how small they are!
    Second shock : Misa!! Holy mother of God!! The girl is unbelievable!! It was litterally hard to look at her cause I'm pretty sure she could have killed me with a single stare. She was smiling from ear to ear and was really comfortable and inviting to the public. MisaMisa!!!!

    I was in heaven at this point, the MC went smoothly. Kazumin was very funny and she mentioned French people laugh at her 'Amazing' when japanese don't! I know they visited Paris a little so I guess she showed her 'Amazing' at random people for Nogidoko or a single bonus.
    Ikoma was talking about Naruto and was super genki. Naachan was happy cause she saw big pigeons in Paris lol.
    Wakatsuki had an eyepatch, don't think she mentioned why lol.

    I didn't see the second talk show cause I was queuing for the showcase. I talked to a Nogi fan next to me and huge coincidence, he had the same two-top as me!! Kazumin oshi and 2-oshi Misa, of course we got along perfectly and stayed together all day from here lol.

    The showcase was 45mn long and just after Yoshiki. The crowd wasn't forced to leave between the 2 concert so I decided to queue for Yoshiki to have a good place at Nogizaka too.
    So Yoshiki did 20mn more, not that I'm complaining cause the show was awesome and it didn't affect the length of the Nogizaka's one. I think there weren't that much Nogizaka fans. Some people stayed from the Yoshiki concert and some were just passerby. So as Gocchisama said we had to pull double duty and go all out!!

    I predicted that we'd have only singles but it wasn't the case, we had B-sides too but no Undergirl songs.
    I'm not the biggest Ikoma fan but thank god for her, she was really good at getting the crowd going cause a majority didn't know what to do most of the time.
    I noticed that Miona did some mistakes during the old songs and was lost here and there, I guess she doesn't perform it often.
    I was surprised to see Kazumin in the front that much duringFree&Easy and turns out she took Rena's place.
    During the MC we had a mistake with Sayurin. She wanted us to scream something, she said "Nogizaka!!" so we all screamed "46!!!". That wasn't what she was trying to do so we had a good laugh. Then she made us do a "Sushi" call for no reason, good time!!!

    We got interviewed by japaness press or staff, don't really know lol.
    We went to gueue for the second talk show and got to see Nene, Kawago, Mai-chun and Himetan who were going around the expo. Nene is so tiny it's ridiculous!! I didn't get to see Himetan T_T

    Then I went for the last talk show with : Maiyan, Sayuri, Sayurin, Maimai, Yuttan, Miona, Manatsu and Minami. This MC was a little messy, surprisingly.
    From this group I had decided to root for Yuttan but!!! Maimai said something and I screamed her name, she litterally stopped, looked at me and gave the most angelic smile I have ever seen in my life. After that, I just had to keep rooting for her, SORRY YUTTAN, THE HOLY MOTHER GOT ME!!

    Overall, HOLY DAMN!!! That was incredible, thank god Misa was in Senbatsu for this single!! In person, she really was the stand-out for me, with Maimai second.
    Maiyan and Sayurin are beauties but strangely, I wasn't taken back with them as I was with Misa, she's got one serious aura. Thought I'd lose my soul and I had eye contact with her. I had fun screaming "KAZUMIN!!!" during the day with my fellow Kazumin-oshi, awesome end to an awesome week, THANK YOU NOGIZAKA!!

    Hope they'll come back for a real concert next year and bigger fanbase in France!!
     
    Last edited: Jul 9, 2014
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  15. Maji!?

    Maji!? Kenkyuusei

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    I'm not actually, I only found out at the last second because youtube linked a PV to the announcement about their tour. It'd be cool to go with someone though, I actually think my friends would like them, but £30 is too much to go and see a group you don't know.

    Happens a lot with Japanese celebrities because Japan seems to care a lot less about their celebrities being taller than average than the West does, in fact the cute factor has the reverse effect. Idols are often smaller than they look as well because they're thin and they've got longer legs, which gives the illusion of height. I find it crazy that even though I'm below average in height, I'm still taller than every single 48G member.
     
  16. kabuki

    kabuki Kenkyuusei

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    SUPER☆LeMON <<- I reallyyyyyy appreciate your reports

    thanks for your shares. very interesting. :approve:
     
  17. SUPER☆LeMON

    SUPER☆LeMON Kenkyuusei

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    Glad people takes the time to read them!
    ----------

    Since my last post, I've had the opportunity to attend as many as three Nogizaka events - two Under lives as well as the first Natsu no Free & Easy event, all occurring the same weekend. I'll write about them in three different spoiler fields, in case you don't want to read all of it.

    Running really late with this one, so it might not be as extensive compared to if I had written it like three days ago, but that's life.

    Under Live 7/11
    First noticeable difference compared to the other time I went was that they had changed the order of the songs in the set list. It was also announced before the concerts that the (yet to be promoted) 2nd generation members who originally were not supposed to join this time around would once again take a part in it. Whether it was due to good fan reaction, the members' / staff's kindness or some other reason I do not know, but personally it made me really happy. They even went ahead and announced that the 2nd gen will also join the two added Shibuya Under lives too during the actual live.

    Either way, last time I went there with the intention to cheer on Itouchanzu (Marika and Nene for the less educated), Nene being my highest ranked member in current Undergirls, but halfway there I ended up being too awed by Hinachima, and since I knew it would happen again I went all out Hinachima crazy right from the start this time around.

    Pre-live announcers were Seitan and Ranze. Seitan basically forgot her entire script so a nice fellow in the crowd who was used to going to Nogi events shouted out what she was supposed to say. Ranze did okay.

    Not much to say about the actual performances up until the unit corner. They sang live, they danced, some better than others. I guess last time I focused a lot on hearing each member's voice as well as possible and didn't study their movements as much. During the time I wasn't looking at Nene or Hinachima, I did however manage to notice that Ranze is actually a better dancer than quite a few first gen members, so I totally understand why they let her under for Renarin.

    First MC was pretty standard. Himetan killing everyone with a beam, then Maichun did asked whether anyone came straight from work which was a few people, only to brag about how the same applies for her. (With her long 3 hour shifts). After half of the members disappeared to prepare for Romantic Ikayaki, Ashu mentioned that there was only an evening performance this day and sounded like there was more to say, but in the end that was it. Then she insulted us all wondering if we'd gone crazy from the heat cause everyone was a lot more fired up than usual, not realizing what she said sounded kinda bad, she and the members all had to shout that she meant in in a good way.
    - By the way, as for the Romantic Ikayaki performance, Nene was dancing normally for most of it until she got paired with Marika. When that happened, Marika moved her face really close to her and she got all flustered and stopped moving. Some Itouchanzu shippers in the building even cheered.

    Second MC was also pretty standard, with Hinapyon casting spells and doing a beam, and then Ashu being picked on by other members and forced to do a beam as well. Crazy amount of Ashurin fans in the venue that day, so the uwaaa response kinda echoed.
    Following all this was the 2nd generation MC, the girls talking about how they are really happy to be able to perform again. They discussed things they regret from last time etc and bullied Kotoko. Ranze mentioned she unders for Renarin going all nod-nod which resulted in murder stares from the rest.

    Following this was the unit corner, line-ups and in some cases songs being different from the Under lives the week before this. Lineups this time around were:
    Sekkachi na Katatsumuri - Rotty, Seitan, Maaya, Kiichan, Kanarin
    Shibuya Blues - Chiichan & Jou-san (WHITE HIGH t-shirts)
    Kodoku Kyoudai - Nene & Marika <- !!!!!!!! (Music Video outfits)
    Dankeschön - Hinachima, Maichun, Kawago, Ashu, Rarin, Himetan

    Nothing new or special about Sekkachi, but Shibuya Blues was fantastic, as in better than the original.
    Introducing themselves as the cover duo "Twin Towers" (referring to their heights in case someone would fail to understand), they performed the live version complete with the harmonies, although no messy guitars this time around so they played air guitars instead. Chiichan's singing impressed me last time when she sang Watashi no tame ni, but even more so this time around. She should really be utilized more. Noujou is already known to be one of the better singers of the groups, and is constantly put in units by management, so no surprise that she'd do well. Her singing style was rather similar to Maiyan's in this particular performance, even though she did Kazumin's lines. After the performance Chiichan did Hafu~un, and Noujou did amazing before the stage lights faded out.

    Kodoku Kyoudai was a dream come true. Vocally, it was obviously vastly inferior to the previous performance, but they sounded perfectly okay given how much they have to move in the song - especially for a Nogizaka track. Itouchanzu is no really no joke either, their chemistry is great, so most of the fans were really fired up throughout the whole performance. In the final chorus, the Dankeschön members also appeared as back dancers wearing the Koko ni Iru Riyuu outfits.

    As for Dankeschön, it is by far one of the funniest Nogizaka live songs. I was hoping to hear someone do Ikuchan's live parts, but it was turned into a duo line for Rarin and Ashu who proceeded to double centered the entire thing. Choreography is great, fan interaction is great, energy is great, Hinachima's dancing is great. Overall just great.
    The Koko ni Iru Riyuu performance after it was also pretty amazing, really don't understand people who dislike the choreography or claims that it's too simple to be really honest - happens way more in it than like 95% of their other ones.

    Third MC was once again a skit from the Principal Trois audition round, or actually - two skits fused into one. The "Don't Enter" one, as well as the "Family Restaurant."

    It starred Maichun and Hinachima as two bored high school girls trying to come up with things to do, Himetan as an annoying stranger and Seitan as a waitress. Seitan however, did not have more than three lines - two being off-stage, and it was later explained that Seitan was sick while the other members were coming up with the sketch during rehearsals, so when she returned the day after they were like "Oops sorry we've already finished it." Nogizaka members so nice.
    Mentionable highlights were Maichun's Romantic Ikayaki solo (by the way, she's probably around the same level as Maiyan when it comes to singing), and Hinachima showing everyone what a true angel she is by saying she felt so worried about saying so many rude things towards Himetan because of her role. Oh, and Himetan was actually really funny in the sketch, the role she played essentially being -Himetan-.

    Following the sketch came some more performances and then the chant battle I described in my previous live report. It was mostly the same, except instead of instead of Team Nakada there was a team Nakamoto this time around. Oh and Rarin tried making some promo for her realtime radio show which Noujou and Maichun were also gonna appear on so fans started calling her Naga-san like her fellow comedian hosts do <- She openly dislikes this nickname by the way, but it's become a staple among fans to use this now.

    Following the chant battle came the single medley - no new things except when Baretta started, only one silhouette appeared behind the curtain - that of Iori, the recently added second generation girl. She sang the whole first chorus by herself before the rest of the second generation girls appeared and she moved to the far back. Hard to tell whether she's good or bad as it was obvious she was very nervous, it being her first performance and all. Voice was shaky, but not ear-wrecking - incredibly nasal though which I'm not a fan of. After this point she took part in every remaining performance, in the far back row.
    Following the medley they did the "last" song Romance no Start, and then the final non-encore MC where they asked Iori for her introduction and impression. She struggled quite a lot and even started crying, but the members and fans were all really understanding. Cute little happening. They also advertised that for the Shibuya Under lives, fan club members are able to vote for the units (and their line-ups) appearing in the unit corner - and even the KKS are available options.

    By the way, since you care so much, I voted for W-Hina Kodoku Kyoudai and 4x Itou Koumori yo.
    I also requested Hoka no Hoshi kara and Dankeschön but I don't remember the line-ups. Noujou in Ikuchan position and half the girls in both units were 2nd gen. That's about it.


    Encore was exactly the same as last time. During Friday the 13th Noujou came up and danced super close to me which was pretty cool. Very pretty in real life, and she doesn't sweat very much so her make-up and hair looked really nice. Especially in comparison to some girls like Nene whom's fringe started to look really unfortunate around the 1 hour mark of this 2 hour event.
    Encore MC not all that exciting, just everyone saying thank you, some promo for Nogiten and repeating the voting thing. That's about it.

    Under Live 7/12 Evening
    Setlist was exactly the same as the report above, so I'll do very little mentions regarding that.

    This time around Hinachima wore a ponytail, and since her hair is very long and very thick, it was a very mighty ponytail that flipped around a lot while she was dancing. Dunno about everyone else but it certainly stole my attention.

    First MC was Himetan and Kanarin trying to fire up the venue and Chiharu talking about her sweat.
    Second MC Seitan mentioned that her parents were there and that she could see them, but she wouldn't mention where they were seated. Earlier however I did spot two older people who didn't look like your average fans seated in the exact middle of the venue, the lady also looking a lot like Seitan, so figuring that out became a huge mystery.
    During the second gen MC it was the regular girls at first, and then they called in Iori to say hi, no surprise entrance like the one from the day before. She still seemed nervous, but it was a lot better compared to the day before. The girls also mentioned the fact that for the Shibuya Under live unit requests, KKS are selectable options. Talking about units they want to do Ranze (best dancer among 2nd gen) mentioned that she wants to do Kodoku Kyoudai with Kotoko (possibly worst dancer in Nogizaka). When she mentioned it to Kotoko earlier in the dressing room Kotoko refused, but Ranze begged the fans to make this this performance become a reality. <- Basically bullying.
    Karin mentioned she wants to do a four man unit with all the Itou, although she's worried about the only four man unit being Koumori yo since her singing sucks. Regardless, she asked people to vote for a Koumori yo collaboration between Itouchanzu and Itouchanzu2. I felt really cool for already having voted for this.

    The Principal skit this time around was the "Director" one, with Junna as the director, Kiichan as the lead actor and Marika as the lead actress. It was slightly delayed because the fans had to bully Rarin who was the lead MC for a while, shouting Naga-san for a good 2-3 minutes.
    The whole sketch is about the director being really hard on the lead actress, so it was quite fun seeing a KKS boss around with a 1st gen member. Script itself wasn't that amusing though, but they all did perform Marikka Seventeen together. After the sketch, Junna also apologized to Marika for her impolite language but Marika said it was okay, and that it was fun.

    For the cheer battle, it was a Naga-san vs Maichun battle this time around. It was the first time Maichun got to lead something, as a big super I am pretty happy to see how her position within the group is growing quickly. She feels so natural that she might as well could've been a 1st gen to be honest.

    Final MC Iori once again got to speak, being asked about how she felt about her solo part, to which she responded that she was happy everyone was watching over her, followed by a random "Beautiful" from Marika who had been staring at her for a while, which got her all flustered.

    During the encore MC Ashurin said that she "Rabus" everyone, so don't remember who but they suggested all members and fans say "Rabu" together, and so we did. Then they did the usual thanks and exited the stage.
    Oh and Hinachima's ponytail was great.

    Yokohama Individual Handshake Event 7/13
    For this event I only had five tickets, all to be used in the third block, but my original plan was to arrive there already by the first block to help some friends with their preparations for a fan event thing. In the end I overslept and arrived 20 minutes into the third block so look at that. Me and plans.
    Either way, after lining up for a good 10 minutes to get my bag and body checked by someone who isn't my pretty Nogizaka staff lady, I met up with some Sayurist (Devotees of Sayuri Inoue) friends to line up for her.

    My two tickets for Sayu ended up being somewhat a waste, but still not. I go to her all the time and comment on her blog all the time so she always remembers me, but I basically walked in only to say I hadn't really thought of anything to speak about, which made her go all "bich pls" on me, gripping my hand so hard it almost started to hurt, asked when I come next and so when I got kicked out she shouted for me to come up with a topic for the 21st orz. I'm very M whenever I need to be so I found it very fulfilling. Also she's so pretty in real life it hurts.

    After Sayu I told my friends about it and it seems I wasn't the only one who've been through this. We all agreed forgetting your topic with Sayu is a great experience, although two tickets was a bit little as it only equalled around 15-16 seconds of apologies, awkwardness and a hand slowly getting crushed. When we'd all shared our reports, I walked away to see Minami, meeting up with some of my fellow Minami oshi.

    The line was pretty crazy. Despite not having sold out the block, it stretched out beyond the barricades, and even within them, it was folded around four times by the time I entered. Most people weren't even loopers, as it's a generally agreed that Minami is better using all your tickets at once, compared to looping several times, due to the fact that it increases your possibilities of having an actual conversation. A lot of fans in the line were kinda worried she was starting to get tired though as this was her last block, but everyone leaving the booth seemed to be very satisfied. Noteworthy thing was Minami's lane was once again next to Nene's, giving me the opportunity to look into it through the gaps behind the paper walls. She's so pretty it's insane, and then she looked over and smiled when she had a few seconds of rest which totally just killed me and everyone else mesmerized by her.

    Anyway, despite the long line it all progressed smoothly, neither slower nor faster than how it was prior to the AKB saw incident. As soon as I entered the booth I was greeted by an amazing smile and a long time no see. For a good thirty seconds or so we discussed her personal clothes (Secret Honey. This day she went for a simple style apparently), and her Paris trip. She got surprisingly energetic when I asked about Paris and started listing up lots of things that was great about it without any chance for me to respond, such as the city was beautiful, the fans at Expo called her name, and most importantly - she ate French bread and it was delicious. To this I responded that I love french bread too, and that I've gone to Paris quite a few times, so she went all "I ate it every day" and that was about when the staff called out that time was up. The guy behind me was surprisingly nice and actually didn't start to push me out. I also tried to back away but Minami didn't release so I just mentioned that I sometimes eat only french bread as my three meals, which apparently was what she did in Paris. Then I proceeded to mention that it seems time is up so she finally released me from her devilish grasp and told me "You'll come again right" to which I could only reply yes in a very cool and ikemen way as I walked out.

    Hanged some more with my fellow Minami oshi, sharing reports, talking about how fab Minami is at conversations before I went out to meet up with an Indonesian fan from Twitter. And Stage, I think. Took a while until I met up so managed to view the Rena Seitansai. Quite a few of the people arranging it are not actually Rena oshi, or even that big fans of her individually. A lot of them are Nogizaka fans who participated in this so that she'd feel as welcome as possible, so it was rather moving. Ikoma held a speech and Rena proceeded to take a photo of all the fans, but it seems she's absolutely useless at handling cameras and you can see the result on her twitter among other places.

    Anyway after that I met up with the Indonesian fan, talked for a while, bought some goods. Then I traveled back to Shibuya, met up with the Sayurist friends I mentioned earlier, raised a few glasses/bottles in the name of the lovely Sayuri Inoue, and then went home to not write this report.
    The end.
    There we go. Only wrote a little this time.

    Only a few more upcoming Nogi events for me, namely Kizuitara HS on Monday (Minamix3, Sayux3, Misax1), Under live in Shibuya the 25th, HS August 2nd, as well as Summer Tour Osaka, but I'll probably write reports on those too. If people show interest.
     
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  18. z00z00

    z00z00 Kenkyuusei

    Joined:
    Jan 14, 2013
    Location:
    Solar System
    Oshimen:
    ikutaerika
    ^ Hell yeah we are interested, especially those who have never experienced any HS event. I'd love to know more about the girls from a fan's perspective, a bit bias but it does reveal many interesting things. Like how you are overwhelmed by Itou Nene's beauty while I always fail to find her that attractive, seems like she looks much better in real life than on-screen.
     
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  19. jiaemi

    jiaemi Kenkyuusei

    Joined:
    Mar 4, 2013
    Location:
    Singapore
    Oshimen:
    ikomarina
    Twitter:
    Jiaemi_Jem
    Your reports keeps tempting me to fly to Japan right now :v
    Slowly counting the days on my calendar till next year for my next trip to Japan ^_^v
     
  20. SMZ48

    SMZ48 Kenkyuusei

    Joined:
    Jul 4, 2014
    Location:
    Yokohama, Japan
    Oshimen:
    itomarika
    I went to the Under Live at Shibuya AIIA Theatre today.
    Enjoyed a lot of songs and the 'gdgd' talk.
    And the surprise was the appearance of Hori-chan for the guest centre for Baretta!
     
    Last edited: Jul 26, 2014

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