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sky_fish

Member Since 23 Jan 2009
Offline Last Active Sep 20 2017 01:33 PM

Posts I've Made

In Topic: Juice=Juice World Tour 2017

19 September 2017 - 09:45 PM

It's literally been ages since I last posted in this forum, and I'm not sure if I was in contact with any of the current active forum members here, so in other words, first and foremost, nice to meet you! Despite my inactivity in fandom recently, after I visited the concert in Dortmund I feel the urge to share my experience.

 

I went there with my friend with whom I already went to other H!P concerts in the past (Buono! °C-ute and Berrykyuu in Paris). Before the concert, we met a friend of hers who brought another friend along, with whom we went to the concert then, together. It was really nice to meet some fellow fans, which I don't often have the chance too, and to talk a bit about H!P and other hobby related things.

 

Some additional information – recently, my friend and I were a bit "out" of the female idol scene after °C-ute (our initial favourite H!P group) disbanded in June and we are understandably still kind of sad about the situation. However, as Juice=Juice are our second favourites since they were founded, they are obviously now our favourite H!P act and when they announced their concert here in Germany, we didn't hesitate to get our hands on tickets. So, in the end, despite not really being up to date with H!P during the last few months, and – as I have to admit a bit sceptical about the new formation (not because of the girls but because in general I'm not good with change) - we became very excited and were looking forward to the concert. (I was especially curious about the new members Ruru and Nanami as I didn't know much about them.)

 

I have to admit, that I am not a "crowd person", so I'm not one of those who has to stand in the front line by all means or such (yes, that's an introvert problem, nevertheless, also introverts enjoy going to concerts once in a while). I also don't like long queuing (neither my friend) so when we arrived at the venue at around 3-4 pm for the first time and the line wasn't very long, we decided to come back later. We had normal tickets and came back at 7.15 pm maybe? Still the queue wasn't long, since premium ticket owners were already inside. Apparently, we were too late to get the chance to write into that mysterious message book that was handed around, but it can't be helped. The venue opened for us even before 7.30 pm, which was very much appreciated, and I felt like everything progressed quickly and smoothly. I can't talk about the premium stuff, but for the rest, I think the organization worked well. Also, when we were inside, most of the audience was already there but I was completely satisfied with our view!

 

As I said, I'm not so good with crowds. I can cope with them during a concert because I'm completely high from adrenaline and joy and excitement, but if it is too crowded or pushy and I don't have enough personal space, I feel very unwell and anxious, so I usually try to stay back and/or at the sides in the audience and close to my friends. Thus, I was personally very happy that the venue wasn't too big, so even in the last row (there were only a few Japanese fans behind us) I had a very good view on the girls (if I can clearly see the faces and smiles of an artist on stage, I count this as very good view ^^).

 

Of course, for the girls it was a bit sad that the venue wasn't sold out but still I think we were a decent and in the first place very excited audience. From my position (back row, slightly in the middle of the stage) we did not only hear the girls' singing and the music perfectly, but also all the screams and chants and singing from the crowd. It might be true that the European audience is not perfect with the name chants and stuff, but personally, I think that is not necessarily a bad thing.

 

Please explain, if you feel the need, but why should every Western fan know each and every wota chants and stuff? I have never experienced a concert in Japan and when I'm watching concerts on Blu-ray I pay more attention to what happens ON stage and not in front of the stage. Also, I don't feel the need to copy the Japanese audience one by one. Of course, I'm trying to chant along when people do (it's kind of a reflex and it's fun), but my personal concert experience is always unique and I do sing and dance along with the song how I personally like it and feel at that very moment and this often clashes with the chants XD. After all, the most important is that everyone is enjoying themselves to the fullest, isn't it? I think, the girls think the same and even if they might be happy that also Western audiences behave similar to the audience in Japan, they surely also appreciate the difference of it. They are in a different country after all and the mix of being in a new part of the world and experiencing a different kind of audience, as well as "feeling home" due to the kind of similar experience of the audience is surely interesting and nothing bad.

 

That's probably just my personal opinion on this, though, no offense to people who see it differently.

 

More importantly, at least, it was very important to me personally to cheer for ALL the members to make their experience a good one, I had the impression that every girl received about the same amount of cheers (at least, that's how it sounded from my position in the venue), which made me very happy and proud of the audience. My friend and I even had glow sticks in each member colour with us (one of each colour, except purple, there we had two, one for each of us because Karin is our favourite) but unfortunately, the orange one didn't work Sorry, Ruru, we tried!

 

Due to work and other stressful things in RL I was not really able to prepare well for the concert, so my lyrics were pretty rusty and there were even two songs I never heard before. Still, I gave my best to sing and chant along and whatnot during the concert to show the girls my support. I had a very positive experience, and I can say, Juice=Juice definitely managed to pull me back into my love for H!P with this concert. We really had a great time and were fully energized and enjoying ourselves immensely!

 

Overall, I think the audience ded great, and so did Juice=Juice, of course! I was very impressed by their never-ending power, their smiles were adorable, their performance was amazing! I was also very positively surprised by the new members and immediately loved Ruru and Nanami <3 Also, the MCs were very cute! I did not understand 100%, but I think my Japanese is decent enough to have caught the most important things they said. I hope – but am also pretty much convinced – that the girls had fun and enjoyed the concert alongside with us, even if it wasn't a sold out venue.

 

After the concert, a very kind Japanese fan distributed some Juice=Juice singles at the exit of the venue and I received a copy of their Dream Road single, which made me really happy since I don't have it yet and I love the songs featured on it. So, unknown Japanese fan, thank you very much for your kindness and the CD!

 

I really hope, Juice=Juice will have the chance to come back to Europe, I'd love to see the girls performing live here again! :D Thank you, Juice=Juice, as well as everyone who went there to cheer on them, for this precious experience!


In Topic: [10/14] Kikkawa You 3rd Album 「YOU the 3rd ~WILDFLOWER~」

09 August 2015 - 11:28 AM

Really looking forward to this release! I really enjoyed her albums so far, especially the first one.


In Topic: H!p Top Songs of 2014 Fan Poll

21 November 2014 - 03:19 PM

+ 10 I miss you (°C-ute)

+ 9 The Future (°C-ute)

+ 8 The Power (°C-ute)

+ 7 Kokoro no Sakebi wo Uta ni Shitemita (°C-ute)

+ 6 Love take it all (°C-ute)

+ 5 Chikyuu wa Kyou mo Ai wo Hagukumu (S/mileage)

+ 4 Senobi (Juice=Juice)

+ 3 What is Love? (Morning Musume)

+ 2 Black Butterfly (Juice=Juice)

+ 1 Aa Susukino (S/mileage)


In Topic: [11/19] ℃-ute's 26th single "I miss you / THE FUTURE"

05 November 2014 - 11:03 PM

I have to say, I really love both songs and I also love both MVs!

 

"I miss you" is such a special song that it just sticks in my head and I can't get enough of it. I think this is one of those songs that shows °C-ute's real talents and potential and that's great! I really hope that they would have the chance to promote themselves with this song! >.< Please! The PV for "I miss you" is really really interesting! The concept of the movement in the whole setting plus the running cameras from different angles, laying different focuses onto the girl and the blending together of those up to three shots at the same time are a concept, that I never saw before in a J-Pop PV and that makes it outstanding in some point! The girls look beautiful and the outfits are great. What is a tiny bit akward (at least that was what I thought when I first watched it) was the dance shot in between that on the one hand seemed a bit out of place but on the other hand was pretty interesting because they let the three different singing groups dance three different dance parts, which made it pretty interesting again! 

 

About "The FUTURE", the short preview of the song back then made me really curious and it was funny to hear something like a mixture of techno and rock because just a short while before the preview came out I was telling my best friend that I expect something rockish and catchy for The Future and exactly that was what came out XD haha. I liked the sound and felt a bit reminded on Momusu's "What is LOVE" regarding tempo and style (which I didn't like that much first but then the song grew a lot on me, that's why I was looking forward to The Future. After watching the PV, I'm totally happy with the song and the PV! The PV is just amazing! The girls look so pretty and their emotions that they show in the clos-ups are just awesome! Here they show their acting talent I think and I really appreciate that! I also LOVE the dance shot, the camera movements and angles are so great, it makes the dance appear so dynamic! The dance itself looks awesome too! I bet it's difficult as hell to dance that fast and I really admire °C-ute for being capable of this! Again this shows °C-ute's true potential in my eyes! Not every idol group would be able to pull this off! 

 

I'm glad, that I ordered both - LE A plus LE B! I wouldn't forgive myself if I had missed one of the PVs! XD


In Topic: [11/19] ℃-ute's 26th single "I miss you / THE FUTURE"

24 October 2014 - 10:44 PM

WOW, "I miss you" is really really a great song! o_O I love °C-ute's songs lately anyways, but THIS one really got me! It's definitely above H!P average and it's definitely something really special!

 

The structure of the song is incredibly interesting! It's something so special! I'm not a pro regarding music but remembering my music classes from school, I tried to figure out the structure like the following:

 

Verse 1 - a simple verse with a simple melody but nice harmonies

Verse 2 - a variation of verse 1 with two melodies sung by two groups, the group that starts singing as the second group dominating and great harmonies!

Chorus 1 - lead by Maimi, really beautiful

Verse 3 - same melody and grouping like in verse 2 BUT to make it interesting - this time the group (Maimi) that starts singing first dominates the melody!

Verse 4 - same pattern as verse 2

Chorus 1 again - lead by Airi (aw... so beautiful!)

instrumental bridge

another bridge with Airi's unbelievably beautiful solo (goosebumbs!!!!)

Chorus 2 - I interpret the "I miss you part" as another chorus (maybe I'm just not capable of the right description of this), anyways, it's definitely the climax of the song

Chorus 1 again - lead by Maimi again

Verse 5 - same melody and pattern as verse 3

 

Really?! That's REALLY awesome and interesting! It's SO special, I can't remember about something like this in the J-Pop I heard until now and I listen to A LOT of J-Pop, really! 

 

AND what makes the song even more interesting is the "style" of singing in here. If you ask me, °C-ute sings like a human string orchestra in this song! It's like Maimi and Airi are actually the leading violines and the other voices are playing the background melody and such. The harmonies are sung quite "fast" and "simple" and like "staccato", just like in a string orchestra! Did you pay attention to that? You should listen to the song again and imagine a string orchestra! Also the instrumental is really fitting to the song and reminds on something like modern pop-classic or so. Plus, the more you listen to the song, the more interesting it gets! Really, this is a truly brilliant composition in my opinion! *___*

 

I'm really deeply impressed by this song and if Tsunku might really have had in mind with writing this song what I am interpreting into it, then I think, he's even more brilliant than all of us already thought he is! Unbelievable!!!!

 

By the way, I tried to figure out the lyrics, which is actually pretty hard sometimes when two - three different melodies and lyrics overlap XD and I'm sorry, my Japanese is not good enough to share an actual translation of the lyrics with you but as far as I understand the over all message of the lyrics, this song seems to be a gloomy, emo-like song about a past love but also a song of having grown up and having learned to accept ones true self and such. (No guarantee that I understood the lyrics correctly, though). I think, it's a grown up but sad love song. With that, I personally don't think that "I miss you" has something to do with Berryz.