Berryz Koubou Concert Tour Shoka 2010　～Umi no ie Otakebi House

Written by a_firefly

Location: Nakano Sun Plaza, Tokyo

Prelude

Wao! Wao! hey boys and girls, ladies and gents, it is only appropriate to do a war cry and roar that be fitting the theme of Berryz Koubou early summer concert – roughly translated to House by the sea, the War Cry House.

I initially did not plan to attend this concert but due to changes in my flight and work schedules, I ended up in Tokyo in time to go to this one. I was actually planning for the last Morning Musume concert and may be the C-ute concert too, alas…I ended up with my favorite group…w00t!!!!

Anyway, I won’t say too much about my experience in general in Japan, even though it was my first time, and it was really interesting, and exciting, and I get to explore a little bit of the back allies, other than the usual tourist spots, but suffice to say that, I was like…all excited all the time, LOL!!!

Anyhow, lets cut to the chase, it was a Sunday, and it’s raining, the sky was gray and cloudy, the temperature had gone down a bit, so it was actually a refreshing change from the previous day, when it was quite humid.

Apparently, it rains a lot in Japan, and therefore everywhere you go, there is umbrella for sale. You can get one for 250-300 yen, and they are the ubiquitous white-handle, see through ones. There are umbrella vending machine at the concert hall even…good for when you lost yours somewhere in the hall and needed one after the concert.

Since I got there a few days before the concert, I have to settle for ticket from the ticket shop. Expensive? Yes! but well worth it because I was not too far from the stage and slap bang in the middle. I was tempted to wait till the very last minute, but I was glad I didn’t wait, because the good seat I’ve got would have been gone by then.

When I got there, I was a little curious, so I stood around to see who were the Berryz fans, and all I can say is there were all kinds, young and old, I mean OLD…, and regular looking kids and of course the otaku-looking type which consists about half of the crowd. There are some female fans, but not many, and also little kids with their parents too.

My previous Hello!Project experience was at the Anime Expo in Los Angeles when Morning Musume did an appearance and performance there. There were much more things going on then, with the local and Japanese wota, all practicing their chants and dance moves. This one was pretty subdued, people were just standing around chatting, or looking around.

At the venue, even if you are not attending the concert you can still line up to purchase the merchandise.

There was also a tent for exchanging stuff outside the concert hall, I did not venture in there so I have no idea what it was like.

Nakano Sun Plaza Hall is actually not enormous so if you get a seat that is within the first 12 rows you get to see the whole stage pretty good. It has the 0 row section which consists of extra 4 rows, right bang at the center, in front of the stage. They are good for looking at your favorite member up close, but not good for watching the whole show, because you would have to turn your head like a thousand times, and your eyes would be tired from darting up, down, left, and right every seconds to catch all the actions.

An hour before the concert start, I followed the crowd to get in. It took a little while, and they checked my bag, asked me if I have camera or video camera, and they gave me a tag to collect my camera after the concert. They also pat me down to make sure I was not concealing any weapons.

Many fans were here on their own, but it does not in any way diminish their enthusiasm.  Where I was sitting, there was this guy on my left who was obviously Yurina’s fan, as he wore green, and has green glow sticks.  He was very quite before the concert, and turned into a monster as soon as the concert started…:0

I started talking to these 2 guys on my right, who came from Osaka for this concert. One is a Risako fan like me, and the other one is a Miya’s fan, so red and purple were the color of their t-shirts and glow sticks.  They told me that they like the other members and other group too, but their fav are red and purple.

They asked me where I was from, and also asked me who I like, he was happy to meet a fellow Risako fan from outside of Japan. They don’t speak English, so I have to communicate with them in my broken Japanese.

Then, I saw this Captain (Saki) fan, who came in a fully geared up, yellow raincoat type outfit with Captain’s pictures hanging all over …wow!!!

Looking to my right, I saw many people testing out their pink glow sticks, so I guess many of the Momo’s fans were here too, mainly on the right side of the hall.

While I was waiting, beside seeing many people changing into their “concert gears” and testing out their gadgets, I also saw people doing stretches to loosen up, in preparation for the physically and mentally pumped-up event.

Concert Start-to!!!

Right on the spot, as scheduled, the light dimmed, and an announcer started off the event with some words, then the concert began. Below is a set list I copied from somewhere,  it seems to be the correct one as far as I can remember.

00. Sketch

01. Maji Good Chance Summer

Opening VTR (BG Koi wa Hipparidako)

02. Rival

MC

03. Koi no Jubaku

04. Tomodachi wa Tomodachi Nanda!

MC Tsugunaka & Sudou

05. Yakimochi wo Kudasai! (Shimizu, Tokunaga, Sugaya)

06. Ground Demo Rouka Demo Medatsu Kimi (Sudou, Kumai)

07. Ai ni wa Ai Desho (Tsugunaga Momoko, Natsuyaki Miyabi)

Drama “Umi no Ie Otakebi House (House, home of the sea cry)” (15 minutes watching while sitting)

08. Natsu Wakame

09. Maji Natsu Sugiru (Beatbox)

10. Natsu Remember You

Medley

11. Anshinkan (Shimizu, Tsugunaga, Natsuyaki, Kumai)

12. Passion E-CHA E-CHA (Shimizu, Tsugunaga, Natsuyaki, Kumai)

13. Fighting Pose wa Date ja nai! (Shimizu, Momoko, Natsuyaki, Kumai)

14. BERRY FIELDS (Tokunaga, Sugaya, Sudou in pineapple outfits)

15. Yume de Do Up (Tokunaga, Sugaya, Sudou)

~Medley Finish

16. Toshoshitsu Taiki (Tokunaga, Sugaya, Sudou)

17. Yuke Yuke Monkey Dance (Shimizu, Tsugunaga, Natsuyaki, Kumai in banana tree outfits)

18. Seishun Bus Guide

19. Ryuusei Boy

20. Otakebi Boy WAO!

21. Yuujou Junjou oh Seishun

Encore

22. Piriri to Yukou!

MC

23.Bye Bye Mata ne

Just before the first song, there was this little sketch that started off the theme of the concert, which was based around this beach house owned by Captain’s parents.

During the sketch, the phone rang, and Risako answered it, and that led into the first song. The crowd went mad, and the chanting started earnestly, and the Yurina’s fan next to me was jumping up and down, so were the two on my right.

The Japanese fan next to me asked me which is my favorite song before the concert started, I said there are many, and one of them is actually Maji Good Chance Summer, which for the life of me, I just couldn’t remember, and I totally forgot the name, while I was trying to think of the name, there it was – their first song!!!

I was really hyped up too, since I have watched many concerts video, and been to Morning Musume mini-concert in L.A., I jumped right into the chanting of each member’s name while they were singing, and did the Ooh-Wa Ooh-Wa whenever it was appropriate.

I was in heaven, and I was just trying like mad to take in everything and burn them into my memory. I purposely took some time on each member, watching them closely as they performed.  In the back of my mind, I kept telling myself,  “This is live!  They are right there! They are so close, in the same room, so to speak, try not to miss anything!!!”

Risako, my favorite, was cute and pretty as ever, even though she is the youngest, she seems to play the little shy yet seductive one. Those eyes of hers were just unbelievable, I died a few thousand time just looking at her.

The guy on my right who is a dedicated Risako fan, basically moved around facing only Risako. He jumped and chanted with his red glow stick, singing along, and constantly pointing his hand and glow stick in her direction. I have finally witnessed a real wota in action.  You wouldn’t believe how high some of them were jumping.

In a way, I felt I was not prepared for this concert as I don’t know many of the songs as they were from the new album. I was so busy recently, that I have not listen to the album yet, except for Ryuusei Boy.

But their songs were so catchy that I caught up pretty quickly, it was just amazing amazing amazing!!!

Did I mentioned it was simply amazing?

On the next part of my report, I will write more about my impression on each member.