Japonism Show & AYH Emotions!!
Okay none of this is going to be a coherent thing, I just have to put all of my excitement out into the universe. I am not going to remember everything because it's the next morning and I don't have the bluray/dvd in front of me, but here we go! Obviously this is going behind a cut so no one gets spoiled.
JAPONISM SHOW
When Japonism came out I wrote an entire post about how it surprised me and was basically the best concert ever. Then this happened and I'm like, scratch that, THIS IS THE BEST CONCERT EVER.
In no particular order, things of sheer joy and brilliance:
SHO'S DRUMMING WAS EXCELLENT AND HE WAS CHEEKY AND IT WAS AMAZING
NINO IS A TAP GOD. That is probably an exaggeration but I was at level 100+ watching and I'm not sure how I survived it, honestly! And then when that went into IN THE ROOM and he was moving his hips like never before I was like WHO IS THIS NINO
I mean, I know this Nino, this is the Nino I try and tell everyone is an amazing and overlooked dancer and is sexy and really turns it on for concerts, but it was like HELLO WE MEET AGAIN
By the way? I FREAKED OUT over the sexy nightscape scene with Fukkatsu Love I was shouting "IS THIS A BROADWAY PRODUCTION!?" and clapping and swooning and loving life
ALL OF THE COSTUMES. ALL OF THE COSTUMES. ALL OF THE COSTUMES. And in general it felt like every single performance was better than even the original Japonism?
With the exception of Bolero! Just because they didn't get to do the fun dance moves from before, but there was the added bonus of Ohno being there and MAGIC FLYING MAN AIBA MASAKI TWIRLING ABOVE THE AUDIENCE LIKE A HERO
Ohno's performance with the masks - INCREDIBLE
Jun's DJxMJ was SO SO COOL and I preferred it, and seeing all the members in the boxes and how they did all that with the tech was ahhhh!!
I was up on my feet dancing through most of the concert. Not knowing the setlist was great because it made everything a surprise and a delight.
JUN EATING A BANANA!!! Was that not the cutest thing you've ever seen? What an adorable person, what a good moment. Yes, I am that easy to please.
Speaking of easy to please -- Jun shooting the arrows (and eventually a blowdart) during Ai wo Sakebe, CUTEST EVER. Song remains a gift to us all.
We were robbed of the other members dancing to Shake It, but I will forgive them for the WONDERFUL, HAPPY, WARM FUZZY Disco Star gathering of beautiful idiots~! Disco Star is a gem.
Do not understand why they wanted to tease me with "It's good to be bad" only to not perform it, but at least they acknowledged its brilliance.
Genuinely I felt like this technically a bonus concert was worth the price of both copies I picked up, so!!! WHOOO!! I was already on a high and then I got to amazing in a different way--
ARE YOU HAPPY?
I think "happy" would be an understatement, I am so beyond happy it is ridiculous.
Sho was a ball of sunshine as his solo directed and I loved his suit, and then Ohno showed up in an equally delicious suit and I went "OHOHOHOHO so this is what we are DOING!" and then Aiba Masaki had a trench coat and baggy pants WHAT A TROLL MOVE, STYLISTS
But honestly it was fine because they are getting BETTER and BETTER over time. I'm not sure how that is possible but their shows keep IMPROVING. WAH.
I actually loved the staging because it felt like it highlighted the 5 of them more than anything else and that was what this show needed, since it was all about friendship and Arashi and the joy they bring each other and us and WHAT A GOOD THEME
Ohno's solo was UNBELIEVABLE. I'm still trying to process it. When I watched Ohno's solo for Japonism (Dome) I was like "wow, this is the most beautiful thing he's done?", and that may be true, but Bad Boy is the most OHNO solo of all Ohno solos!! The perfect representation of THIS MAN IS RIDICULOUS... BUT he also dances like everyone else WISHES they could dance and is a precious person who deserves all of my attention and love.
EPIC.
As I made note of to a friend, I stared at Sho's butt A LOT during this concert, it was very perky :3
JUN SANG HIS SOLO FOR REALSIES. JUN SANG HIS SOLO. JUN GOT OUT THERE AND DID LIVE VOCALS. I was beaming!!! He's usually dancing too much to do any live singing with his solos and this time he went out and just sang his heart out and it meant a lot to me. I really, really loved it and his beautiful sunset/sunrise trench coat in all its glory
Miles Away was ♥ as expected, once again - the live, stunning vocals - look how far these 5 have come I am choked up even thinking about it
NINO BLEW MY DAMN MIND WITH HIS DANCING, he gave it 150%!!!! He didn't have to do that, we all know he struggles sometimes with physical stuff, but he knew (from previous voting) that the fans enjoy his upbeat numbers with dancing and he danced for us to be happy. I'm super grateful and I thought his solo kicked ass -- in fact we KNOW he has trouble with that kind of intense activity for that long, we know this. Like... not like he's a weakling but he does have weaknesses physically. So for him to push to that level and dance that hard for his whole solo, that was not only impressive but incredibly selfless and clearly FOR THE FANS. I just don't care how it was shot personally, I was so in the moment and I loved him for what he was doing. Damn Nino. Well done.
Aiba's solo was also so cute and charming and perfect for him! I wanted to join his fitness class ASAP. I really miss his lighter hair because it just suits him somehow and makes him look younger? Mature and sexy isn't a bad thing hey hey, but for this concert the lighter hair was right. And the STRETCHER!!! I died. That was so funny :D
Drive! With all the member love and dorkiness, ahh :D
I can't even get to the documentary right now because it would be TOO MUCH but I will say there were moments in there that made my heart hurt in the best way.
Friends, these are good days.
♥♥♥
JAPONISM SHOW
When Japonism came out I wrote an entire post about how it surprised me and was basically the best concert ever. Then this happened and I'm like, scratch that, THIS IS THE BEST CONCERT EVER.
In no particular order, things of sheer joy and brilliance:
SHO'S DRUMMING WAS EXCELLENT AND HE WAS CHEEKY AND IT WAS AMAZING
NINO IS A TAP GOD. That is probably an exaggeration but I was at level 100+ watching and I'm not sure how I survived it, honestly! And then when that went into IN THE ROOM and he was moving his hips like never before I was like WHO IS THIS NINO
I mean, I know this Nino, this is the Nino I try and tell everyone is an amazing and overlooked dancer and is sexy and really turns it on for concerts, but it was like HELLO WE MEET AGAIN
By the way? I FREAKED OUT over the sexy nightscape scene with Fukkatsu Love I was shouting "IS THIS A BROADWAY PRODUCTION!?" and clapping and swooning and loving life
ALL OF THE COSTUMES. ALL OF THE COSTUMES. ALL OF THE COSTUMES. And in general it felt like every single performance was better than even the original Japonism?
With the exception of Bolero! Just because they didn't get to do the fun dance moves from before, but there was the added bonus of Ohno being there and MAGIC FLYING MAN AIBA MASAKI TWIRLING ABOVE THE AUDIENCE LIKE A HERO
Ohno's performance with the masks - INCREDIBLE
Jun's DJxMJ was SO SO COOL and I preferred it, and seeing all the members in the boxes and how they did all that with the tech was ahhhh!!
I was up on my feet dancing through most of the concert. Not knowing the setlist was great because it made everything a surprise and a delight.
JUN EATING A BANANA!!! Was that not the cutest thing you've ever seen? What an adorable person, what a good moment. Yes, I am that easy to please.
Speaking of easy to please -- Jun shooting the arrows (and eventually a blowdart) during Ai wo Sakebe, CUTEST EVER. Song remains a gift to us all.
We were robbed of the other members dancing to Shake It, but I will forgive them for the WONDERFUL, HAPPY, WARM FUZZY Disco Star gathering of beautiful idiots~! Disco Star is a gem.
Do not understand why they wanted to tease me with "It's good to be bad" only to not perform it, but at least they acknowledged its brilliance.
Genuinely I felt like this technically a bonus concert was worth the price of both copies I picked up, so!!! WHOOO!! I was already on a high and then I got to amazing in a different way--
ARE YOU HAPPY?
I think "happy" would be an understatement, I am so beyond happy it is ridiculous.
Sho was a ball of sunshine as his solo directed and I loved his suit, and then Ohno showed up in an equally delicious suit and I went "OHOHOHOHO so this is what we are DOING!" and then Aiba Masaki had a trench coat and baggy pants WHAT A TROLL MOVE, STYLISTS
But honestly it was fine because they are getting BETTER and BETTER over time. I'm not sure how that is possible but their shows keep IMPROVING. WAH.
I actually loved the staging because it felt like it highlighted the 5 of them more than anything else and that was what this show needed, since it was all about friendship and Arashi and the joy they bring each other and us and WHAT A GOOD THEME
Ohno's solo was UNBELIEVABLE. I'm still trying to process it. When I watched Ohno's solo for Japonism (Dome) I was like "wow, this is the most beautiful thing he's done?", and that may be true, but Bad Boy is the most OHNO solo of all Ohno solos!! The perfect representation of THIS MAN IS RIDICULOUS... BUT he also dances like everyone else WISHES they could dance and is a precious person who deserves all of my attention and love.
EPIC.
As I made note of to a friend, I stared at Sho's butt A LOT during this concert, it was very perky :3
JUN SANG HIS SOLO FOR REALSIES. JUN SANG HIS SOLO. JUN GOT OUT THERE AND DID LIVE VOCALS. I was beaming!!! He's usually dancing too much to do any live singing with his solos and this time he went out and just sang his heart out and it meant a lot to me. I really, really loved it and his beautiful sunset/sunrise trench coat in all its glory
Miles Away was ♥ as expected, once again - the live, stunning vocals - look how far these 5 have come I am choked up even thinking about it
NINO BLEW MY DAMN MIND WITH HIS DANCING, he gave it 150%!!!! He didn't have to do that, we all know he struggles sometimes with physical stuff, but he knew (from previous voting) that the fans enjoy his upbeat numbers with dancing and he danced for us to be happy. I'm super grateful and I thought his solo kicked ass -- in fact we KNOW he has trouble with that kind of intense activity for that long, we know this. Like... not like he's a weakling but he does have weaknesses physically. So for him to push to that level and dance that hard for his whole solo, that was not only impressive but incredibly selfless and clearly FOR THE FANS. I just don't care how it was shot personally, I was so in the moment and I loved him for what he was doing. Damn Nino. Well done.
Aiba's solo was also so cute and charming and perfect for him! I wanted to join his fitness class ASAP. I really miss his lighter hair because it just suits him somehow and makes him look younger? Mature and sexy isn't a bad thing hey hey, but for this concert the lighter hair was right. And the STRETCHER!!! I died. That was so funny :D
Drive! With all the member love and dorkiness, ahh :D
I can't even get to the documentary right now because it would be TOO MUCH but I will say there were moments in there that made my heart hurt in the best way.
Friends, these are good days.
♥♥♥