643 replies to this topic

[tkb013]

Great report.  I really enjoyed reading it.  You have a good style to your writing and I was laughing a lot!!! 

 

 

Thank you. I hope others enjoy reading my take on things as much as I'm enjoying reading theirs. Even better if they get a few laughs out of it.

 

 

Sayumi was most disappointing

 

 

Sadly, I have to agree with you. Sayu was the one I was most excited to meet but her response to me was underwhelming. But I know she was tired and cold so I won't hold it against her. Plus I'm sure I told her something she'd already heard a hundred times before I got there.

 

 

* Having troubles with MultiQuote. Might be time to stop drinking.

[komorin]

I don't think it's that important to remember all of the details of a handshake. It's disappointing to forget for sure, but most of it is small talk, and small talk is ultimately forgettable. Just remembering the major things is ok in my opinion.

 

Even after seeing my oshi in person and interacting relatively a lot, I only remember some major highlights

[TheAnna18]

Alright, here I go! Time to talk about my handshake experience!!

Sakura - When I was in line before shaking her hand, the first thing I thought was that her hands are SO TINY and adorable!! Finally it was my turn, and I told her I love her voice, she was very cute and said thank you!
Kudou - When I got up to her I was SO NERVOUS! I've always liked her a lot, and she has a tough air about her so I froze and didn't know what to say! I just had a big smile on my face. She said something to me but I was in such shock all I could go was just smile at her LOL

Maachan - Alright, I love Maachan with a passion! If I was reborn as a Japanese girl, I would definitely be Maachan. Lately I've been really into janken, and I thought it would be a wonderful idea if we played together! So she shook my hand and I said "Maachan daisuki! Will you play janken with me?!" and she said OKAY! and we broke out into rock paper scissors, first we both drew scissors, then I was SO FLUSTERED and excited that I fumbled on the tie breaker! She said "one more time!" and we did another round, but I fumbled again and I'm pretty sure she won. Then she started doing some crazy janken song thing, it seemed like a sort of japanese kid's rhyme that I had never heard of. The staff had been tapping me to keep moving forward, but I was in my own world with maachan that I didn't realize! My boyfriend was right behind me and he gave me a little shove to move forward, then I snapped out of it and went on to Ayumi. My boyfriend says Maachan kept looking back at me and smiling

Now, from this point on I went full derphead and when I'm excited I can't help but put my hands in little fists and shake them around (LOL) so until I got to Mizuki, I was only shaking with one hand, while my other hand was in a fist shaking around. (Picture of Maachan under the spoiler, as an example) I think the staff was mad at me for holding up the line with Maachan, so they pushed me along really fast with every other member!

Spoiler

Ayumi - Very sweet girl! If she said something, I don't remember. Super cute! I was still in shock, and I couldn't think of anything to say to her so I just stood there smiling and shaking my fist
Haruna - She told me I was cute! I said "thank you.....arigatou!!".
Kanon - Gave me a slightly weird look (no doubt because I looked like a complete idiot with my fist in the air lol) but still gave me a warm smile and possibly said something. I still was unable to speak...!
Riho - Very warm smile! I don't remember if she said anything!

Erina - Sort of glared at me with a "why are you acting like such an idiot face?" and gave me a half hearted smile :|

From this point, I finally realized I was only shaking with one hand because the other one was in a fist, so I started using two hands!

Mizuki - very beautiful girl and seemed very friendly! She might have said something but I don't remember!
Sayumi - Finally I was able to muster up some words, I said "good luck after your graduation!" She seemed kind of disinterested and just shook my hand and then I was on my way out!

Overall, the girls were pretty much exactly how I expected them to be! Maachan was an angel, Eripon was....yeah lol. Sayumi was a little disappointing but in the end I don't care because MAACHAN


 

[pige]

Takahashi had some wardrobe problems in LA too didn't she? North American curse on MM Leader's Clothes? We're two for two.

[Juriken'14(狩)]

my short report :

 

in the morning it was very cold and windy couple days ago was hot ... lol

 

because I was in line really early, I was able to watch the girls walk into the theater

 

 

can't really remember wtf I said during the HS because DAMN Sakura's hands are so tiny and soft !!!!

 

but I did told Riho I love her thighs, Haruna she is pretty, Zukki she's cute, etc

 

and yeah Eripon's facial expression is "WTF is wrong with this fuktard" when I was like "suberi suberi~~" lol

 

I was totally frozen when I touch Sayu's hand .... she's waiting for me to say something, but I was totally stunned lol

 

 

later the girls coming out to take a group photo, then they went back in to change

 

after they change back to street clothes, they walk back out to go on the 2 black vans

 

looks like Kuduu remembers me, she points and wave at my direction when she walking to the van

 

I was really close to one of the van, I saw Maachan (playing with her phone or something) and Sakura through the pitch black windows

 

so I keep waving blindly (can't really see thru those) lol

 

 

 

EDIT:

 

oh yeah, some of Japanese wotas giving out stuff lol they gave me some CDs, photos, and Sayu book

 

also looks like many Japanese wotas didn't know that Up-Front Link got English Facebook and twitter accounts, they were surprised when I showed them using my phone

[randomrrr]

I was totally frozen when I touch Sayu's hand .... she's waiting for me to say something, but I was totally stunned lol

 

 

Why? Because she's too pretty? Or she's just like you imagined?
Tell us (or me, lol) in detail!

[Juriken'14(狩)]

can't really explain lol

 

the thought of "Sayu's last HS I can go to"

 

my brain got overwhelmed and stunned

 

and yeah, Sayu

 

 

actually I thought I'll go crazy, but surprisingly I didn't

 

I'm so calm and just "overwhelmed and stunned" lol

[randomrrr]

^
I'm amazed how you can be calm and be "overwhelmed and stunned" at the same time, lol

well, good for you, you got to see her

[lovemusic]

Pics:
 

[☆れいな☆]

My short report:

I forgot my tickets at home when I was already on the train.
Waited til 1:20 for box office to open - got my tickets printed... sigh... At least I have a physical ticket!
Stood online (which grew a lot between my arrival and getting the tickets... sigh..)
Got asked about my favourite member (and why) by a couple of Japanese men who had a tally going. 
Got a free copy of TKSK from a couple of Japanese fans
Merch line was ridiculously long and I was still way behind 5 min before the show started so I left to get a spot (kind of regret this since I saw the girl behind me on line on FB post about her handshake.. she got the cd.... so damn close! Oh well.)
I met my friend in the standing area who held a spot for me, got to stand in 5th row, which was great! ..When I could see.
The fan in front of me was EXCEEDINGLY rude. He was a *tall* (prob about 9 inches taller than me), older fan... who came dangerously close to elbowing me in the throat during TIKI BUN's line dance. He got very aggressive when I protected myself from him. Very careless, and very rude. 


...But in the end, I'm really happy I went. I may have not been able to see a lot, or meet the girls, but I had a great time seeing them live, and hanging out with friends. (And reuniting with some people from Berryz!) The girls are spectacular performers, they all sound amazing live (Even Haruna sounds good! Riho sounds amazing!), and they really are all charming. Ayumi won a lot of hearts this weekend. She truly shone. She has the idol persona. Sayumi is such a seasoned performer. You can tell she's a veteran. She's so cute, I loved her solo, and her cute little "OMG!" moment when she had her wardrobe malfunction. I can't wait to see the footage of this show. 


...And now post-Musume depression hits lol.
 
 
 
 

I hope that's true, a lot of people on 2ch sound skeptical of these figures.

Of course they would.... Sharing is not there strong suit as I learned. There was a (Japanese) fan that was a good height. And there was 2 short girls just behind him. The people around him asked if he would let them go in front of him because he could clearly see over them.... NOPE. Such a gentlemen he is. ARGH!!!

Those girls were out of luck I guess. I usually hear that Japanese fans are always there to help out foreign fans. They even give away singles and light sticks for free. Maybe that Japanese was not from Japan and hence the attitude.

Some fans just think they're entitled. I had the same issue, but he was some older white guy. He knew I couldn't see, and after that confrontation, he made sure I wouldn't see as long as I stood behind him.

[olorosooso]

Nihongogo posted some nice pictures of the girls' performance here.

[JoeyBatou]

^ Wow nice pics

Thanks to you and the photographer

[Pizzicato]

Thanks for sharing your experiences everyone!  I lived right next to the Best Buy Theater for 8 years (before it was there) and just recently moved.   Talk about bad luck!  It was great to be able to read your stories and see pictures.  To anyone who was disappointed with a member or the entire experience during the handshake - just remember that jet lag is REAL.  Not only that, I can only imagine that the staff had their itineraries completely packed from the moment they arrived so there was no chance to get some good sleep.  And then perform for 90 minutes?  I'd die.  

 

Anyway - so jealous!  Thanks again!

[Bexie]

^ Another thing to remember with the handshakes is how many of them must they have done? For those who went it was likely an exciting once in a lifetime thing and you're going in with high expectations, but for them, they've done thousands. It must all get very samey, and I expect that because of the general speed at which people are chivvied down the line by staff, everyone's faces must be a bit of a blur. It must be difficult to keep energetic and interested for every person, and listen to what they say (especially here if people were talking in English or doing their best with broken Japanese) and then trying to think of something to say in return, all in a few seconds - although from what I've heard, they do a great job at it. I've seen far more people talking about how great and kind the girls were than people saying they were disappointed. I reckon if someone was disappointed with one or several member's handshakes, it was probably just a time when they were thinking "Urgh, I'd quite like to sit down now!" or something  

[wahodes]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who didn't get a handshake ticket..I was actually so freaking close to getting one (it's a long story and it involves another fan being a jerk so I don't want to point fingers) But the concert was amaaaaaazzzzinnnngggg! I never felt so pumped and excited. My arm got so tired from waving my glow sticks so much haha. 

 

If I ever have another chance to see them live (mark my words I will) I won't go alone because honestly trying to conquer the craziness inside the venue was so overwhelming to do alone. It would have been nice to have a friend to figure everything out with. Not to mention waiting in line all day alone was sooo boring and long. 

 

Im happy for all the people who got to shake their hands! I will get my chance one day *^*

 

Does anyone else feel like it won't be too long before they come back? It seems like there was such a big hype around this event (i mean tsunku himself was there). Not to mention they now have an english speaking member..Maybe it's just wishful thinking but I really hope they come to the U.S again soon. 

[FRESHSKY]

@wahodes

With the English speaking member I was thinking that too!

I really wanted to say ganba-Ikuta to Ikuta and to tell Ayumi that we're the same height but I got so flustered and forgot!

I'm really sorry about that entitled fan! No one likes jerks!

If they come another time, feel free to contact me if you remember! I'd totally wait and be bored and overwhelmed with you!

 

Also, it sucks to hear that some people had a bad experience with Ikuta! I feel like I identify more and more with her, and she's quickly becoming one of my top favorite members! She was super nice with me, she spoke English and was pretty cheerful!

Sayumi looked so tired and cold, I felt so bad! She had a shawl and had a hoodie tied around her waist. Even so, when I usa-chan peaced she usa-chan peaced back with a tired smile! She really is a trooper! I'm seriously gonna miss Sayu.

[beyooooonk]

^

You know, I want there to be an American idol group... I would love love love to be involved in producing it in some way! I can dream haha

[tkb013]

l33t4rtist - Your pictures are the best I've seen so far. Thank you for sharing them and thank you to everyone else for sharing their pictures and videos. I'd share my pictures but they all came out really bad, as if I took them underwater from three miles away.

[Ahornbjörn]

[beyooooonk]

EDIT: Nevermind