Your AKB48 Experiences

Many thanks from me to @Sakuraism for help and translations on the day as well as for organising the Anchu Gaijin Train. Although it was my second NMB HS, my first one last year was just a National one.

Sayanee was very lovely and it doesn't take rocket science to understand why she's the HS queen of 48G!

Indeed both OJS and regular staff were friendly and I want to mention the staff member in Riripon's lbooth who chatted to me in good English while I was waiting and let me have double time with her.

Also the OJS guy in Fuuko's booth was standing way too close to every fan (is that called 'c-blocking'? lol) but he gave me breathing space.

Apart from Sayanee and Riripon I had a good HS with Keichi, she was very lovely after I wished her a Happy Birthday. Nagisa gave me one of her XXL-sized smiles and I was very thrilled to be able to meet her again at the 2-shot by using an oshimashi ticket.

My NMB oshimen Mirurun was also very lovely but not as hentai as I expected although she was rather more so with me at the 2-shot!

I also want to mention Miikki, my favourite theater girl, she was very nice and confident, not shy at all as I thought she might be, and again I was allowed longer with her.

In many ways the HS was better and certainly more relaxed than the 2-shot a couple of days later. You definitely do get to know the girls better and now I really do have an incentive to properly learn Japanese. Things certainly got lost in translation between me and Shuu, it was nice that she smiled at me while fluttering her eyelids, but I wished I could have properly wished her Good Luck for the future!

 

3/20 Makuhari Messe

Everyone else already posted but I'll post anyway since this would be from the perspective of someone going for the first time. Thanks to everyone here that provided all the helpful information and advice and especially to sakuraism for the cod service. Other than the first round, resale is your best chance to win tickets for major senbatsu members. The advice to take a breather from and step out of the venue from cristafari was very helpful as I felt like I was about to pass out during the 4th round lol. Stepping out, eating and being able to sit and stretch energized me for the later rounds. I had 18 tickets, was able to use 15 plus two cd tickets that I had.

Mayuyu

2x in 1st round and 1x in the 6th round. Mayu looked and acted like the superstar that she is. Out of everyone that I saw, she seemed the least enthusiastic about the event but was very professional and had the best poses when it was time to take the photo. She doesn't seem to initiate conversation but reacts slightly better to younger female fans and those with multiple tickets. During the first round, the girl in front of me must have said something which offended mayu as I saw her with a disgusted look and the girl was suddenly down on her knees doing a dogeza. In the 4th round when I was lining up for katorena, I saw that there was now a security guard inside mayu's booth and she seemed even more out of it by the 6th round, offering her hand up very limply for the handshake. Even so, meeting mayu was the experience I valued the most. She's a real star. She's sharp too as she talked to me in english, assuming correctly that I couldn't speak japanese.

Tomu

2nd round. Was very enthusiastic and I was really impressed. Uses two hands for her handshake and makes you feel really appreciated.

Yuria

2nd and 3rd round. Yuria was nicer than I thought. Also had her for the cd signing and laughed when I said in japanese that I can only speak english. She remembered me by the third round and said to see her again. Unfortunately those were the only tickets I had.

Riripon

3rd round. The best experience I had. She was really hyper and was very welcoming. I said I was from san francisco and she said kakkoii, thought about it for a moment and translated for me saying cool just to make sure lol. Even if she's not one of your oshis, I definitely recommend that you get a ticket for riripon.

Akane

3rd round. Akane had a long line for someone not sold out. Missed my slot for nao but I think I'm glad that I lined up for akane before nao. Was right up there with tomu and others as far as being welcoming.

Yuiyui and Mion

4th and 5th round. Had similar experience with these two. Their lines were really long and they were welcoming, not overly so but good enough to make it worth your time.

Katorena

4th round. When I was lining up for mayu, it looked like she was lazily greeting her fans but when I finally met her, her bodily actions were slow but her words and tone were very welcoming. So maybe she just moves as if she's unenthusiastic but is not actually so.

Rara and Ryoha

5th round. By the 5th round, I had 8 tickets for oshimashi mostly because of the absent members and so I used 2 for each one. Their lines were really short and I was able to use 4 tickets in less than 20 minutes. Rara was really nice and speaks perfect english. Ryoha was kinda reserved so you really just need to see her and not expect too much.

CDs
I also have two cd signings with yuria and tomu which I'll pose later. Lol, maybe someone can tell me what they wrote.

No sakura and others and quick take on oshimashi: While lining up for mayu, I saw a note in front of sakura's line which cristafari explained when I posted here that sakura was out for the day. Was really disappointed as sakura was who I wanted to see the most. I even applied 20x during her resale round and managed to win 2. Unlike with haruppi and ngt, this was only announced at the venue so it was a complete shock. Fortunately the oshimashi system lets you use the tickets but with limitations -- there's only a 30-minute window to use and you can only use on certain members in certain rounds and they're definitely not usable for the more popular members.
So the tickets I had were: 2x sakura, 3 haruppi, 1 nakai, 1 kitarie (and 1 unused for nao) and ended up using 1 for riripon, 2 each for rara and ryoha and 3 leftover. So probably not the same value but better than nothing I suppose.

Valuable lessons: So the photoshots are only half the fun. The other half is being able to converse with the girls so a little japanese goes a long way. And I guess if you want multiple shots with major senbatsu members, it's better to have multiple tickets in the same round so you can use them at once. Also, it's probably good to have a round with less popular members so you can use tickets for oshimashi if you have to.

 

Attending the HKT48 本気のアイドルを見せてやる in Saitama Super Arena 2017-04-01



The setlist for the noon concert is not many differents from the previous hall tour .

But we'll got some VTR for lovetan and some setlist she sing with some member , and closed with
Lovetan's solo in anata ga ite kuretakara and all the members singing ima kimi wo omou before the encore .

And the idol medley session is very interesting part for me , also they perform 1 one of my momoclo favorite songs

Badly it was my bad after the concert , i just tought the evening concert gate will open at 16:30 JST and the show beginning at arround 18:00

But in fact , the gate is open on 15:00 and the show will begining on 16:30 . And then when i come to the entrance at arround 16:25 , the gate was empty , and almost all the attendance already inside the hall , and in front of the gate they was preparing id check for the attendance .

Bcos i tought as my past experience never faced this kind of problem , i didnt lend the ticket's owner id when i buy the evening concert ticket , since the seller said he was arround 50years old man , and i'm just arround early 20 so i think its not neccesary to bring his id , since when they paid attention at the checking time it will be very weird if they on the id that was writed 50years old . And at last i never have any experience when i need to pass the id checking .

Based on the hkt48's oficial twitter , the setlist is seems slight difference from the noon concert , and there was sasshi's singing on mizugi . Feels so bad i miss this evening concertt

 

4/8 2017 Boku Igai Dareka Kobetsu HS @ Makuhari Messe

Yagura Fuuko

Spoiler

Yamamoto Sayaka




Shiroma Miru

Spoiler

Today was also Jonishi Kei and Yabushita Shu's last handshake event and since they both have the same last slot it was clear you had to pick which members to send off if you wanted to get a decent spot. Initially I wanted to go for Shu's since I like Shu more in general but I had some Keicchi oshi friends that day so I ended up chatting with them a lot. I knew for sure Miru and Sayaka would definitely come out for Keicchi's and I also felt that Keicchi would have her's first just because Keicchi would finish her handshake before Shu, from experience. By going Shu's basically means I will not even be able to listen to Kei's send off speech while on other hand if I went for Kei I could still go to Shu's afterwards. As expected I was right, Akari, Sayaka, Miru and Riripon came out with Kei. The fans started singing Tochuu Gesha as she approached us, she makes her speech and then we did a full group photo and ended it with her Seitan motto "Yappari Kei-chan wa Number one!". Surprisingly I ended being right behind Akari so there was a little lulz eye contact with my oshis.


if the video does not show watch the video here
(The fans on the right are mainly waiting for Shu's send off, left are Reinyan's lol)

Overall it was a really nice send off. The members who came out also stuck around unlike with Shu's. Although for Shu a huge chunk of members came out but they only came out to take a group photo and left right after. After Kei's send off I quickly went to Reinyan's. Although that day wasn't technically Reinyan's last event but it was her last NMB handshake event so her committee did also prepared something small for her. After Reinyan's finished I joined Shu's. I won't go into it since I felt I wasn't REALLY part of the effort. I didn't really know what they were doing and I could barley see or hear Shu lol. Regardless I didn't feel too bad because I knew I was going to their Graduation concerts in a couple of days. In fact while I'm writing this I just came back from Shu's lol.

 

Here's my late write-up of

AKB48 8th Album 2-shot Photo Event April 22nd, 2017 @ Makuhari Messe

This was a long day, as I was there from slot 1 to slot 7 with no breaks.

-Slot 1-

Yamada Nanami

I had a Shu ticket for this day but she graduated already, so I looked at the list of available members to do oshimashi on and went to Nanami since I had to be there for that slot anyway.

Spoiler: Yamada Nanami conversation

Miyawaki Sakura

This was the reason why I came for slot 1. I won a Sakura ticket from a round of resales.

Spoiler: Sakura conversation

Good guy Matt stays honest and screws himself out of getting an extra photo with Sakura.


-Slot 2-

In the events leading up to Hilary's graduation last year. I invested in an American flag costume to where at big concerts and other events. I like taking dumb/funny pics so I brought this costume and had to change in and out of it a few times throughout the day. The theme I was going with this time was a pro-wrestler persona since Tofu Pro Wrestling was taking place at this time.

Shiroma Miru

Quick context, I went to the 4/8 NMB Handshake event in which I met Miru. (Too lazy to post the write-up) I told her I was from America and she proceeded to chant USA! USA! USA! with me. This was the perfect inside joke.

Spoiler: Miru convo

Miyawaki Sakura

Spoiler: Sakura convo

I was pretty lucky with Sakura that day. Around slot 5 or something she fell ill and cancelled the rest of her 2-shots for the day.

Goto Lala CD Jacket Sign

Spoiler: Lala convo

For any of you who follow Lala on Twitter/Instagram. She does a daily video where she teaches English words/phrases to her followers. I taught her peace/peace out and to my surprise she used that as her word of the day that day and event mentioned that "a fan at today's handshake event taught me it." I was legitimately proud of myself. Here's a link to the video in question.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BTMAUjEh3BZ/?taken-by=hahahalalala0723


-Slot 3-

Goto Lala

After teaching "peace" to Lala, I decided to teach her how to dab.

Spoiler: Lala convo

Shiroma Miru

Spoiler: Miru convo

I was totally caught off-guard by Miru fishing me and she literally grabbed my beard. I guess I shouldn't be too surprised as I've heard she can be pretty physical with fans (especially regulars). It was fun but weird lol.

-Slot 4-

This would be one of two crazy slots for me. I had Emichi, Yukirin and Yuiyui scheduled for this event. I figured I could get through Emichi quickly and then rush to the other two. Yuiyui would have a significant wait, so I figured Yukirin would move pretty quickly and went to her after Emichi.

Kamieda Emika

Signed polaroid photo x2

At the previous event, I won Emichi's polaroid and I was kinda indifferent towards it, as I'd prefer the smartphone pic for a higher quality pic. As I entered Emichi's lane this time, it was notably empty, with one guy in line prior to it opening. I had 2 tickets for Emichi and as I checked-in I noticed the staff grabbed 2 and handed me 2 of the polaroid winner tickets. It turns out Emichi's slot was no draw/auto-win for the polaroids, which is the case for members who don't sell a certain number of tickets for a slot. In Emichi's case it means she didn't sell more than 48 tickets for that slot which is actually pretty sad and I realized that after the fact. I did have a good long conversation with her which is the biggest benefit of these sign bonuses.

Spoiler: Emichi convo

My takeaway from this is, support your oshis/favorite members, especially if they're not popular.


Kashiwagi Yuki

Spoiler: Yukirin convo

I'm not a huge Yukirin fan, but I won her ticket from one of secondary rounds on a whim. Even if you're not their oshi/fan, you still want to get a pic/meet with them at least once. It's like a wota bucket list.

Oguri Yui

Spoiler: Yuiyui convo

I was really impressed with Yuiyui. I think I read somewhere that she's interested in English and I was quite surprised at how well she responded to some English phrases in proper English. She has a good personality and produced a good aura. I've noticed this especially in recent performances too. In the last few months, Yuiyui has spiked in popularity, leading to huge lines at events. Would recommend.

 

*Can't post more than 50 pics in one post so here's the second half*

-Slot 5-

This was my other "hell slot"

I had 2 CD jackets for members this slot (Tanigawa Airi and Emichi), Sayanee, Jurina, and Lala. I was most worried about the CD jackets as they made them more limited this time around (200 signs per member as opposed to 300). I did those first and luckily the members I selected had empty lanes.

Tanieda English CD Jacket Sign

I saw both members shared the same time slot and I had plenty of tickets to spare so I used both tickets on them to make a special jacket cover.



Airi

Spoiler

Emichi

Spoiler

My next target was Sayanee which I knew would take up a lot of time. My reasoning was I had 3 Lala tickets and 2 Jurina tickets later that day, so I figured the other two could be sacrificed if it meant I could see Sayanee.\

Yamamoto Sayaka

Spoiler: Sayanee convo

Matsui Jurina

Spoiler: Jurina convo

I ended up missing Lala unfortunately. At recent events, I've learned that Lala takes an especially long time doing her handshakes/special activities. However, at the handshake event not only were her lines not super busy but they were all "same-day" lanes with the star. In hindsight, I could have done Lala before Jurina and get both, but I really wanted to do that pose with Jurina, also because I had something else in store for her.

-Slot 6-

Since I forfeited one Lala ticket, I decided to go see her first before changing and seeing Jurina and hopefully have enough time to change back and do oshimashi with Lala. That wasn't the case.

Goto Lala

Spoiler: Lala convo

Matsui Jurina

Spoiler: Jurina convo

-Slot 7-

Tanigawa Airi

Spoiler: Airi convo

Yagura Fuuko

Spoiler: Fuuko convo

It was my first time meeting Fuuchan, so I had to be on my best behavior. No calling Poochan (I totally forgot about it until later). And I wanted to be nice when she asked about her Tanieda English segment.

Kinoshita Momoka

I used my extra Lala ticket on Momoka who was available for oshimashi. (A lot of NMB girls were available this slot, Nagisa and Fuuko to name a few). Momoka seemed pretty chill, so I went with her.

Spoiler: Momoka convo

 

Props for meeting the HS trifecta in one day. That must have been exhausting by the end of the day.

 

HS-Event 14/5 Intex Osaka (My first one)

So, today I went to the Shoot Sign-HS-Event in Intex Osaka. I had all in all 13 Tickets for 10 members. I know that's not much time per member, but since I won't be able to go again for ~one more year, I wanted to meet as many of my favorite members as possible. To be honest I was really nervous, but it turned out to be much less complicated than I thought ^^; I kinda always expect the worst I think.

Before I get to the Members, first some general impressions:
I had my first Member in the first slot, and since I didn't know about the procedure etc, I went a bit earlier than necessary. So I arrived at Intex at 8am, went to get my tickets stamped (which went down without any troubles) and then got into the line to enter the hall.
I overestimated the time I would need for all the HS, so I had pretty much time of waiting between the slots (I barely met popular members, so I didn't have to wait much in line). I think all the Star Wars-Conventions prepared me quite well, since these events also involve lots of sweating, standing, waiting, and not getting much food/water ^^

Now to the HS itself:

Aikawa Honoka
She was the first member I met, and actually I could have been first in her lane, but since I didn't know the procedure, I waited until one other fan entered so I could watch and learn ^^
I had two tickets, but I only used one 2-shot with her so I could talk more, that's the result ^^;


To be honest, my memory is a bit blurry, after all I think I was more nervous than I thought. She was really cute tho, and I wish I could have gone more often xD (I thought that about most members tho xD)

Sugiyama Aika
I had also two tickets for her, but since I will go to the SKE-2shot-Event next week, I decided not to take any 2-shot but talk instead. She asked me how long I was learning Japanese, and if "Hallo" was correct for "Hello" in German. Unlike some fans mentioned before, she wasn't tsundere at all, which was fine with me ^^

Futamura Haruka
Next was Futamura Haruka. I only had one ticket and I didn't win a sign, but I'm still glad I could congratulate her on her birthday When I told her I came from Germany, she immediately shouted "Gracie!", which obviously isn't German ^^; After a bit of thinking she remembered "Guten Tag" was the German word for "Hello" and when the staff pulled me away, she wanted me to tell her the right pronounciation for it, but her's was actually pretty good

I didn't meet any member in the 3rd slot, so I had plenty of free time (about 2.5hrs)

Inuzuka Asana
Then it was finally time to meet my second Oshi, Wanchan. I had two tickets for her, and I didn't take any 2-shot this time either, since I'll go to meet her next week too. I asked her if she received my letter in March, and apparently it arrived (at least she said so ^^). I can't wait to meet her again next Sunday

Tsuzuki Rika
I was really looking forward to meet her, since we both are Sae-Fans and she also uses German in her blog all the time, so I wanted to know why. Apparently she sold so few tickets that she didn't had any lottery but instead every fan got a 2-shot. Her lane was indeed really empty, which was quite sad to see...
Since her lane was empty, I could go straight to her, which kinda caught me unprepared, so I messed up the 2-shot at first by turning off the camera, and I also forget to put my pouch into the bins (staff didn't say anything tho). As a result the 2-shot took almost all the time I had, and I could only ask her about the German-thing, she said she uses it because she loves Germany ^^ If I've had more time, I would also talked with her about Sae, so for her I really regretted not buying more tickets...


Yamada Juna
I had one ticket with her, and also won a 2-shot. After the picture, she asked me in English where I was from, and after I said "Germany", she said something I didn't quite understand, I think it was whether her pronounciation of "Hallo" was right.



Kojima Mako
In the 5th slot I only met Kojimako, and for that I took of my shirt to show the soccer-jersey of my hometown's team which I was wearing beneath it. It's already 3 years old but thanks to that it still has the Bundesliga-Mark at the shoulder, which Mako also immediately noticed. Unfortunately the time was already over by then so we couldn't do much soccer-related talk

I was also free on 6th slot, so I had another ~2.5hrs to wait...


Ota Nao
I met 3 members in the 7th slot, with Nao being the first. She seemed to have a pretty sore throat, but she was still doing her best. I remembered that she mentioned that she'll go to Germany soon, so I asked her about that, and I'm not sure whether she said she already went or that she'll go soon -.-


Takeuchi Mai
Next I went to Maimai, because I expected her line to be full due to her upcoming graduation, but to my surprise it was almost empty. She was still super friendly and I had one of the most pleasant talks of the event. Her abilities as MC really work great for HS too I guess. She mentioned my handsomeness (finally someone did! ) and I said that I was happy to meet her at least once before her graduation, then she asked me to continue supporting Team S and then Staff pulled me away.


Oba Mina
Last but not least I also met Minarun, since I'm a fan of her since quite a while I really wanted to meet her. Luckily I also won a 2-shot, but of course this also took most of the HS-Time since I only had one ticket, So I only had time to tell her that I'm always supporting her before I got pulled away.




Conclusion:
I am really happy how this went down, I have only two things which I regret: Not getting more tickets for each member and not getting any tickets for 3rd and 6th slot, since the time waiting felt incredibly long.
1 or 2 Tickets are nice for greeting someone etc, but for more interesting conversations I really need to get more, especially since my Japanese-Skills drop quite a bit under stress apparently

Now I'm looking forward to next week and the SKE-2-Shot-Event, I hope it'll go down as easy as this one. Also thanks again everyone in the HS-How-To-Topic for giving me helpful advice

 

13/5 Thumbnail Two Shot Report

The last time I was at a 48G event was back at Takamina’s last handshake in Fukuoka ;; It’s been quite a while and I’m not really a fan of the group anymore (instead, I’m more a fan of individual girls), so I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect. (Ok, I went to HKT's Matsuyama concert last year, but that's not really an event)

I arrived around 8:30. It was raining and kinda cold, but it was warm enough instead which was good. I got my tickets stamped and the staff tried to speak English to me which got me confused (she said name check, but it sounded like name chigau, so I was like?? No, it’s definitely my name lol).

The line wasn’t that big (people didn’t really show up until the third and fourth slots), so I was able to go to Miichan’s lane quickly. I was expecting it to be busy, but it was honestly pretty dead. I went to visit her in the first and second slots, and it was the same both times. It must suck being placed to Yukirin, who is always busy…

Actually, I won a cheki on my first try lol What are the odds! As such, we got to have a nice convo.

Spoiler: Miichan Convo + Photo

Miichan: Hello!
Me: Hello!
Miichan: What pose are you thinking of?
Me: Is a heart ok?
Miichan: Ok! –takes picture-
Miichan: How old are you?
Me: -- (a lady’s age is a secret ;p)
Miichan: Wow, you’re Japanese is good!
Me: Ah, my kanji is not good tho
Miichan: Mm, yeah, kanji is difficult huh? (brief silence)
Me: Actually, my birthday is on the 30th!
Miichan: Ah, that’s soon
Me: So the two-shot is a present to myself lol
Miichan: -nods- -time- Thank you, come again ok?
Me: Yes, I will!

She seemed a little down (maybe not a morning person?) but she cheered up for the second slot when she recognised me.

Miichan: Oh! You’re back! What pose?
Me: Ummmmm cat?
Miichan: Cat! Like this! –pose and photo-
Miichan: Thank you! –handshake-
Me: Thank you~
Miichan: Come again… Niku?
Me: -laughing- Nikki!
Miichan: Nikki!
Me: Bye bye~

I don’t know if I’d go to visit Miichan again, but she put in the effort of trying to remember my name and does listen when you speak, so I do recommend visiting her once if you’re a fan.

I had nothing in third slot, which I regret, since there was such a long time between meetings, but I hadn’t had breakfast. So I had brunch in the cold before heading back in for Kitarie.

One thing I enjoy about events is the fans. Miichan’s lane had mostly guys in the 30s range I guess, while Kitarie had a much better balance of girls to guys, and also had more stylishly dressed girls. As an aside, I saw one girl in Kitarie’s lane, then again when I was lining up for Komiharu, Anna and Momoka lol. I guess we have similar tastes?? I wanted to talk to her (outfit was on point!) but we just kinda smiled at each other lol

Kitarie’s line was long. The girl next to her, Miyajima Aya, had pretty much no lane at points but her service looked kami level, so I’ll get a ticket for her next event. Miichan sat the entire time, but Kitarie walks the previous person out out, and since she’s still standing, she walks you in.

Spoiler: Kitarie Convo + Pic

Kitarie: Hello!
Me: Hi Kitarie~
Kitarie: I love your dress!
Me: Thank you!
Kitarie: What pose? –pose and photo-
Kitarie: Ahhh, you look like a princess!
Me: -laughing- No I don’t!
Kitarie: Thank you! Enjoy your day okay!
Me: Thank you! You too!

I would definitely recommend her. I’m not even a massive fan, but she’s pretty and very radiant. She really puts effort in to make you feel welcomed. Her line also was moving relatively well despite the time she takes.

Next I debated about going to Aanya’s autograph session or Komiharu’s photo first. Aanya’s signing lane was close to Kitarie’s booth, so I went there first. Good decision, as I was first in line~ It meant waiting there for 40 odd minutes, but I figured Komiharu’s line would already be busy by then. I’ve heard mixed reports on whether being first or last in line makes a girl remember you (though I guess it only matters if you see them often enough ;p) but first makes more sense to me. She’s less tired, hasn’t seen a billion faces, and last kinda implies you were elsewhere and she’s been shoved in last minute, whereas first shows the ‘stake out’ dedication. In any case…

Spoiler: Aanya

Aanya: Yaho~
Me: Hello!
Aanya: Wow~ Nikki-chan? –reading signing paper-
Me: Yes~
Aanya: The flowers are really pretty!
Me: Thank you!
Aanya: Are you half? (was asked three times if I was half or Japanese by various people which is interesting)
Me: No, I’m Australian but I live in Ehime.
Aanya: Eeeee… ah, the pen died… -steals pen from next lane, staff calls time-
Aanya: -spelling out her name- -Ok! –staff tells her she has to write the date- Really? Ok!
Aanya: Thank you, come meet me again!
Me: Of course I will! Bye!
Aanya: Bye!

That was a really good experience. It felt really natural. As she was walking to the signing area she looked a little tired? Poker face? Maybe she was just confused about which lane she was in (another girl was lol). She brightened up as soon as she saw her line and got really into it. 10/10 would recommend. Her signature took up a good amount of space, which was great.

I went to Komiharu’s line and it was pretty busy. Lots of stylish people again, seemed to be a slightly younger crowd. There was a really cute girl, maybe 4 or 5, dressed in something that looked like a HebiRote outfit. Komiharu was super genki with her.

Spoiler: Komiharu

Komiharu: Hello~
Me: Hello~
Komiharu: Wahh, miteita! *
Komiharu: Sit down~ You’re cute!
Me: Komiharu is cute!
Komiharu: No no! (I vaguely recall this being in English) –pose and photo-
Me: Thank you!
Komiharu: Mm, see you again!
Me: Of course, bye bye!

*(I’m not entirely sure what she meant; It means “I was looking/I saw” right? But she hadn’t seen me before now, and none of the other lanes were close to hers and I wasn’t around near lane ending times so she wouldn’t have seen me from backstage… Could this mean another girl had mentioned me so it means more of “Oh! I see who they’re talking about” thing? That sounds arrogant but I was the only white girl (or person) from what I saw and defs the only one wearing a flower crown lol)

I’d recommend her for sure. Very sweet and bubbly. Her smile truly is infectious and she fishes without trying haha

I wandered off to the trading area and instead of getting rid of photos, I made friends who gave me Momoka photos haha Also ended signing some birthday cards, one for a HKT girl I can’t remember, but her fan committee kinda dragged me in lol

I got to Momoka’s signing lane and it was a mess. It started out normal but ended up branching in four directions… Staff weren’t fixing it and people had no idea what was going on. She also showed up late, which was actually kind of ok because it meant the lines next to us moved on faster so there was more room for Momo’s line. Momo had a surprising age range (middle schoolers to jiisans) and a wide range of fashion, though a more casual/low key punk style seemed to be the biggest pull.

Spoiler: THE GODDESS MOMOKA

Me: Hello!
Momoka: Hello. Those flowers are nice.
Me: Thankyou!
Momoka: They’re beautiful.
Me: Thankyou!!!
Momoka: -signed- Here.
Me: -a stuttering mess- Momoka is really cool!
Momoka: -laughing- Bye!
Me: -a tomato- bye!

Momoka’s signature is hella tiny and not worth it unless you’re a big fan haha. I feel like she might not get foreigners often and was either trying to figure out English or if I could speak Japanese, so I didn’t get much of a conversation with her. But she’s got me hook, line and sinker so honestly, I don’t mind lol

Still on that high, I went off to see Aanya. Her line moved pretty quick, probably because I’d spent a lot of time in Momoka’s lane so the crowd had already thinned. She’s way more popular than I thought, and to be honest, I think she’d have a good chance in sousenkyo. Obviously not senbatsu, but she certainly wouldn’t do poorly. But she sticks by her guns of not entering and I respect that.

Spoiler: Aanya, Pt 2

Aanya: Yahoo!
Me: Hi Aanya~
Aanya: You’re back!
Me: Yes!
Aanya: What pose should we do?
Me: Gao?
Aanya: Gaoooo!
Me: Thank you!
Aanya: Thanks for coming, come see me again!
Me: Of course! Bye bye~

She’s really cute and I wish she was more popular. I recommend her since she’s fun and you won’t be stuck in line forever with her.

My next photo was with Suuchan. I was talking to a guy in a suit who was in her lane. He asked where I was from, other boring small talk and if I liked Suuchan (duh?). Interestingly, he caught up to me later and said he was the father of one of the girls from another sister group. I don’t know how legit that is and obviously won’t say which girl, but he invited me to hang out with the Suuchan oshis next time lol

Suuchan’s line was kinda slow, but not unbearably so (getting there tho). She seemed to have a quieter crowd, and more guys to girls in her lane. Notably, Suuchan was the only one who spoke English to me.

Spoiler: Suuchan

Suuchan: Hi!
Me: Hello!
Suuchan: Wow, pretty!
Me: No, Suuchan’s pretty! (Japanese)
Suuchan: Beautiful!
Me: You are! I love you~
Suuchan: Wow! –laughing-
Suuchan: Thank you! Bye!
Me: Bye~

She was so bright and happy! Honestly, my biggest thing was to get a member from every group, but I don’t really follow NGT or SKE, so Kitarie and Suuchan were my defaults lol. No regrets, they’re both excellent choices and well worth the money.

I had two tickets for Myao next. Back at my last event, I was lucky to get into an AnDare filming, and being the only foreigner there, got a bit of screen time. A week later at Takamina’s last handshake, Myao recognised me from there and I saw her twice. Even though it’s been well over a year, I thought I’d see if she’d recognise me. Realistically, she wouldn’t, but that led to a fun conversation.

However, I was floored by Momoka and was wondering if I could oshimashi Myao’s tickets to her. Turns out I couldn’t so I went to Myao first, so Momoka could be my last. Turns out to be a good call since I won my second cheki.

I also got to Myao early, being first in line. Whoever was before her was taking their sweet time with their fans to the point where they moved fans somewhere else to continue taking photos. Myao didn’t show up until 10 minutes past the block starting time thanks to this.

First photo nothing, second ticket cheki~ Lucky! The fans for the previous girl had been laughing with the staff, trying to bribe them for cheki tickets lol

Spoiler: Myao Myao Myao

Myao: Hi!
Me: Hisashiburi~
Myao: Hisashiburi..?
Me: Yeah, two? Years ago, at Takamina’s last handshake –laughing-
Myao: Eeee… what pose should we do?
Me: Well, since you like Kpop, let’s do Gangnam Style –laughing-
Myao: You’re pretty~
Me: No no, Myao is~

-second photo, cheki-
Myao: Where are you from?
Me: Australia, but I live in Ehime
Myao: Eeee
Me: It’s a little far haha
Myao: Yeah, a little! –showing me the cheki- Cute! It’s cute right?
Me: Of course! It’s got both of us in it lol
Myao: Next time I’ll meet you in Ehime!
Me: Please do~
Myao: Come again okay!
Me: Ok, bye bye!

She’s so enjoyable. Not as energetic as some (or as obviously energetic), but we had a good chat and she made you feel close to her and part of the process (me seeing the cheki), instead of sit down and move along.

My last one was Momoka. Again, I had two photos with her. Honestly, before today I didn’t care if I got a cheki or not. It’s nice, and definitely value for money, but I wouldn’t be miffed if I didn’t get one (I've got my own polaroid camera that I use semi-regularly and have dozens of small chekis from maid cafes lol). Now that I’d seen them in person I wanted them all, so you can bet I’ll be forking out money for Momo until I get one haha!

Her line was pretty big but it also moved relatively fast. The thing with Momoka is that people are never sure what hair colour she has and are constantly trying to grab a glimpse of her. “Silver!” “It’s really grey?” And other whisperings as people tried to find the right angle to peek haha

Spoiler: An absolute Angel I cannot believe

Me: Hi!
Momoka: Ah! From earlier!
Me: Yes~
Momoka: What pose do you want?
Me: Um, like this?
-we started out with small smiles but she ended up grinning bigger and bigger and I turned into a tomato again-
Me: -face in hands- Too cool
Momoka: -laughing- Next?
Me: Ahhh, a heart?
-Momoka did a peace sign too, so I copied lol-
Momoka: Thanks
Me: Thank you!!!

For me I’d recommend Momoka. She’s got a crazy image but she’s really chill and has a cute smile. She doesn’t seem into it but her fans were doing weird photos like pretending to pat her head and stuff, which I didn’t see from other girls, so I think she’s more into it than what she conveys. Honestly, since I’m not a major fan of the 48G anymore, I’ve been ticking things off my list so I can leave the fandom/not follow it with no regrets. It now looks like I’ll have to keep following the group to make sure I have more time with Momoka ;;;;

One thing I would make a note of is staff. Some staff had no idea what was happening and others really didn’t know procedure. For example, Momoka didn’t put the date on my album cover. I don’t care, but did they have to or was Aanya’s security person being pedantic? The second photo I had with Miichan I had to take off my ring, even though I didn’t have to do that for any other photo. Maybe three times out of all my photos was I asked to show the front and back of my hands. I understand time is an issue, but when it comes to security or ‘fairness/right procedure’ in the case of signings, I think staff should be more consistent.

I also tried to pick a different pose for each girl. I only doubled up on one I think so that's fine. Next time I'll try to write them down before I go in lol. Also it was nice how my outfit (colour) tended to match a lot of the girls lol

At the end of the day it was enjoyable. There was no craziness, the wota were genki, staff generally knew what was up and were helpful. I regret not buying a few more tickets, but I’m kinda glad I didn’t since I didn’t want to end up wasting them. It was a good learning experience and I had a good time. I’m looking forward to the next event~

 

@Chrissel how awesome are you to pick honono as your first idol to meet!!
who is your oshimen??

 

Sugiyama Aika and Inuzuka Asana, but Honono is my KKS-Oshi and my overall Ni-Oshi ^^

 

5/13-14, 2017 AKB48 Thumbnail Shamekai Event & Shoot Sign Kobetsu HS @ Intex Osaka

Every year I find myself buying less and less for the Album 2Shot, this year the only 2 members I even wanted photos for were with Sayaka and Miru. There once was a time when I would want photos with all sort of members but seeing a member I'm not super interested in meeting , especially at a Shamekai is just not up my alley. So this year all I've bought was Miru and Sayaka's tickets. Sayaka's I could barley win anything and Miru I didn't even want too many since the whole table 2Shot thing is still such bulls**t to me. The cheki is bull too, I couldn't care less if I didn't win it.

Day 1

NMB members almost always have home advantage when there is an AKB avenue held in Osaka. Members always sell extra well compare to Kanto ones. For the 13th, the only Miru I won was tickets for the 2nd slot and the 7th slot. What this means is that I had NOTHING to do in between the 6 ish hours. Even though I only live 30mins away from Intex Osaka, I just thought it was such a waste of time and 2shots just isn't worth me hanging around for 6 hours. Thus I decided to just use Miru's tickets in some of the earlier slots so I could leave the venue earlier. I tried to find if any of the NMB members I'd want to see was available but there were only a handful of NMB members that I could use it on and none of them really interested me so I decided to just throw it on other members from other groups.

As usual I won't go into much details for 2shots since I find most of the convo really "meh" and dull.

Shiroma Miru

We both called each other " Oh! It's Hentai-san" exact same time when we met lol.

Fukyouwaon Pose

Yamaguchi Maho


Mahohon was a lot cuter than I expected, photo wise lol. Visually she's not really my type but she looks hella cute in this photo.


Kojina Yui

I feel like Jiina is like my default to go to when I have no clue who else to see loll. I think Jiina has a pair of really nice legs but that day she was wearing a long dress and I knew it wouldn't show up in the 2shot. Hey, I at least got her to show part of her leg loll.
After she was all like, "Heyyy, what pose were you doing!? lolll". Was I suppose to reply, "Just a perv checking out your legs" ? loll
After the photo I told her I would see her again tomorrow and she seemed surprised, I guess she didn't think I would be coming to see her back to back like this loll.

Kato Minami

Again, another girl who is just not really visually my type. Although there's something about her looking at me from the side of her eyes that made this photo kinda cute. The pose was supposed to be like "What's up with her!?" kinda ticked off pose. When the photo was over she asked me "What's up with me~~?" with a puppy face. At that moment I was thinking like why did she repeat part of what I just said?? Then I got it, that she's trying to fish me and have me answer something sweet back at her.


CD Jacket Signing

Another part of the event I didn't care for at all. Basically for every 2shot ticket you bought, you have a chance to get 1 of these free tickets. I was thinking about selling all of my tickets but I figured I will just use 1 of it since I'm so free on the day and then I could check off my "done it" list. I'm actually not sure how many people are actually using these tickets to get an autograph or simply just to talk to the members since you get slightly longer time because they are signing. I decided to use it on Murase Sae (Saepii) since she's the only girl that I won't be seeing any time TOO soon that I'd like to talk to. Man, these Jacket signing queues are ridiculously long. I think I queued 45 minutes for Saepii, which is insane for someone her callibur loll.





Conclusion: I mean the talk was fun. I think something like this is probably worth about 2 handshake tickets. So if people were paying 2000 yen for these I'd totally understand but anything more I just don't know how I would feel about that. Since some people are actually buying these for as high as 4000 yen per ticket, I think I will just sell my remaining lol.


Day 2

This day was definitely a memorable day for me for various reasons. One being that it's been ages since I last experienced such ridiculous LONG queues. Since I usually attend Kanto events before because where I lived, so I never really knew the conditions of going to NMB members IN Kansai. It was so freaking horrible. I've never queued for Shiroma Miru for almost a WHOLE hour besides when she had to make up for the handshakes she's missed. Even Fuuchan was about 30-40 minute queue. The whole day I had girls like Miru, Fuuchan, and Sayaka. You could say the whole day felt like non stop queuing. By the time I finish the members for 1 slot, the next slot is starting so I go back to queue right away. The other memorable stuff, while I guess you just have to read my Miru and Fuuchan reports to know lol.


Ishizuka Akari

http://vid1245.photobucket.com/albums/gg588/Sakuraism/Mobile Uploads/C8041AD6-24C4-4488-A669-3D00ADBB6FF5_zpsd8gogj0f.mp4


NMB girls had such healthy lanes that day, I even failed 1 of my tickets to get her douga (video). This has never happened to me before loll.

Yagura Fuuko

Spoiler

Shiroma Miru

Spoiler

Yamamoto Sayaka

Spoiler

Kojina Yui


FINALLY, I got a non fail 2shot with Jiina. If you've followed my reports regularly you know how I've failed my first 2 with getting blurry ass photos that I didn't even want to post. I bought more Jiina thinking about making up my failures, funny enough I didn't even get the chance to loll. I guess third time is the charm lol. After I took the photo, she looked at our photo and immediately went "Ikemennn!!" that kind of threw me off and got me all flustered for about 3 seconds lol. It's one thing to call someone handsome face to face, it's another to look at their photo and say it loll. I later then told her that in September I have about 100ish tickets for her and she seemed pretty excited saying "Oh! Then we can talk about so many things!"


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@MidoriHime It's nice seeing you back (kinda?) and around! Last time I saw you was like 4 years ago at Tomochin's grad concert lol.

 

Thanks for the write-up as always. Man, Jiina looks so pretty.

 

@Sakuraism so basically fuuko now resigned her poochan name? thanks for solving the fuuchan situation, wasn't sure how to call shu's sister.

 

@broz0rs o trust me, jiina is the type of girl that looks way nicer irl than on photos.

@hermionepj1 what do you mean she resigned her poochan name? lol. She never took it in, I'm just the one who's calling her that. Also I don't know wut Yabushita Fuu go by with her nickname, I just brought it up to mess with her lol.

 

I meant resigned as in she had to accept it lol and im sure you will influence more people into calling her that!

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