Headed straight to Osaka early in the morning, and towards the theater hall where the concert was held at Orix Theater, because they were selling concert-related goods. Lines were a little lengthy, but I managed to buy a few things. Tote bag could prove useful - definitely going to replace those Coles/Woolworths grocery ones.
The IC card integration issue struck again, and again with the SUICA, which failed to work with Osaka's subway system. Surprisingly, my manaca worked, although I couldn't get either of them to be recharged. Maybe Rena can help me...
After purchasing the concert goods, since I had almost 6-7 hours of free time, I decided to explore a bit of Osaka. First stop was Namba, where the AKB48 shop/cafe was. The actual shop area was larger and a bit more spacious than the overly cramped one in Akihabara, although the converse was true for the cafe.
Bought a few things for my friends as gifts, and then I headed out towards the NMB48 store around the corner.
The store apparently underwent a renewal not too long ago (there was a bouquet stand of flowers just outside the front door) but it was certainly smaller and more sparse compared to the AKB48 store. Photo sets were, by and large, all sold out (unless you like BII or Kenkyuusei, which there were plentiful) and there weren't a lot of goods on sale either. A little disappointing.
Last time I came here 2 years ago, the adjacent Yoshimoto Kogyo complex looked a lot different to the one now. There must have been a massive renovation - everything, from the front to the interior decor and fittings, and the shops inside, looked brand new. Shops selling owarai geinin goods were more spacious, as was a new upper level food hall right outside the theater entrance.
Didn't manage to find any third-party idol-related goods stores in Namba, so I went to have lunch at nearby Dotonbori. Wanted something a bit cheap and cheerful so takoyaki beckoned.
I wanted to withdraw some cash, so I tried to look for a HSBC within Osaka (mainly to avoid international transaction fees), but I was really surprised to find out that HSBC shut down all their ATM services throughout all of Japan. Disappointed, I went to a regular 7-11 and did my banking there, and with the transaction fee.
Went to Nipponbashi for a bit. Compared to Akihabara and observing all the shops, I concluded it was the place to go to if you like two things: trading cards/card games and (of all things) porn as, by and large, 80% of those shops were specialising in those two areas. Only one or two stores sold anything remotely male/female pop idol related (and even then, the stock was lacking); if you liked electronics, the big chains like Yodobashi or Bic Camera were far better bets.
Because I wanted a quick snack before the concert proper (and as my legs were begging me to take a breather) I went back up to Namba and bought a sakura mochi (the Kansai version made from glutinous rice flour) from Takashimaya, as I've always wanted to try one during spring. Yes, you can eat the leaf if you want. If you do, you get a nice mix of the leaf's saltiness and the actual mochi's red bean sweetness. And at $2.70 AUD each, it was certainly more interesting to savour than the abundance of macarons back in Australia at that similar price range.
Then, only a little more than an hour until they allowed people to start entering the theater for the concert, a friend suggested I go to the AKB48 cafe to try out Miyuki Watanabe's special mixed fruits juice drink (actually, it was her mum's concoction) which was just announced on Google+ around an hour ago. Thus I went, except when I arrived, the cafe queue was massively lengthy, and I really only had an hour until I needed to go up back to the theater. For some reason, they wanted me to go through to a side lane where, if you guess a random member's name correctly, you get a free prize. The little kids in front of me were surprisingly pretty good with their members (they guessed Tomu Mutou correctly). For me, I got Wakana Natori and a free soft drink voucher.
Nevertheless, it was time to rejoin the cafe queue, impatiently wondering how long I'd have to stand in line before it was my turn to enter the cafe. After approximately 45 minutes later, they finally gave me a seat. However, unlike the Akihabara and Sakae cafes, you had to go up to the counter to order your food/drink (instead of the waitresses coming up to you to take your order), adding another 10 minutes before I could make my order, and all I wanted was the drink. Thankfully, the drink came out quite quickly. It was a concoction made up of, according to the juice's promotional ad, banana, apple, pineapple and milk infused with a bit of honey. Tasted pretty decent although, like most food/drink at these cafes, at $5.50 AUD, it was leaning on the expensive side. Good work Milky('s mum). I quickly drank it all and subsequently left for Orix Theater. The waitress was probably surprised at how unusually quick my stay was at the cafe!
After an intense bout of running and boarding the subway, I managed to arrive. At first, I was greeted with a humongous line into the complex, but it turned out that it was for the goods. The actual concert entrance queue was much shorter and with multiple entry points.
After a painless ID check, and stuffing my bags into a coin locker, I went upstairs to where I'd be sitting. Very high up, in fact. The view wasn't too bad but, with the benefit of hindsight as I realised later on during the concert, binoculars would have been a good idea. Nevertheless, the view wasn't too bad; since it was the front row of a section of seats, I could see the whole of the stage and still make out a few members' faces without my view being blocked by a giant wota's head.
At the beginning, they were screening the HA! extended MV on the stage monitor. When I came in, it was the latter half, so I got to see the cheesy-as, slow-mo death sequence. A few people sitting next to me (one Momoka-oshi and the other one a Milky-oshi) started to initiate a conversation with me. Seems that I must be the only (or at least one of the very few) foreigners attending this concert, judging by their remarkable surprise when I told them I was from Australia.
Then the concert started, the familiar sound of the overture and wota crowd MIX filling the entire hall with energy and excitement. Even just being a part of the wota crowd was amazing - a truly high tension experience that not even concert discs, Blu-ray/4K/whatever, can replicate. Glowsticks everywhere, excitable wota screaming members' names. Young and old, male and female, kids and elderly. All part of the fun as one.
In case you haven't been following the concert updates on Google+ or Twitter, or you've simply forgot, here is the setlist:
- Kage-ana: Kanako Kadowaki
1) HA!
2) Teppen Tottande!
3) Zetsumetsu Kurokami Shoujo (all)
MC1
4) Renai Higai Todoke (Kitagawa Kenji coupling)
5) Hoshizora no Caravan (Kitagawa Kenji coupling)
6) Nemuku naru made Hitsuji wa Dete Konai (Kitagawa Kenji coupling)
7) Fuyu Shogun no Regret (Kitagawa Kenji coupling)
8) Dazai Osamu wo Yondaka? (Teppen Tottande! original song unit)
9) Bataari GO! (Junjou U-19 coupling)
10) Namekuji Heart (Teppen Tottande! original song unit)
MC2
11) Almond Croissant Keikaku (Teppen Tottande! original song - Team BII)
12) Lily (Teppen Tottande! original song - Team N)
13) With my soul (Teppen Tottande! original song - Team M)
MC3
14) OMG
15) Junjou U-19
16) Virginity (extended lineup)
17) Kitagawa Kenji (all)
MC4
18) 12月31日
ENCORE
EN1) Nagiichi
EN2) Seishun no Laptime (all)
EN3) Boku wo Matteru (all)
EN4) NMB48 (all)
- It was great seeing the members live (despite not having binoculars) as well as watching some real classic NMB48 songs live. NMB48 songs really do work much better with an energetic crowd and in person.
- Junjou U-19 was stunning to watch, what with that electrifying blend of aggressive choreography and insane light work. They also unfurled banners for Teppen Tottande!, played the moving video clips during 12月31日 (the ones you saw during the MV) and shot out a sea of gold ribbons everywhere for Seishun no Laptime. Exhilarating stuff, and 12月31日 was just beautiful - as if you're wrapped in the sound and emotion of the moment.
- Momoka (during MC2) and Maachun (during performance and at the end) were indeed hilarious. A couple of obaa-chan jokes towards Nana (Sayanee seemed to make the most of them) here and there, and they got us to do a Mexican wave during MC2.
- Final word of the evening goes to Milky: 一緒にちゃぷちゃぷしよう~. As you'd expect from her.
Post-concert, it was time to head back to base. Once I arrived back in Nagoya, I saw someone carrying a bag of McDonalds. Thus, I went to the nearest McDonalds for dinner. And at $6.50 AUD for a standard medium meal for a special burger (they call it the Cheese Terimata burger - essentially fried egg, cheese, lettuce and a teriyaki sauce coated sausage patty), it was decently priced.
Nagoya Station was full of JR ads. Oh, and the bird too. If you know what I mean...
That night's SKE48 midnight short featured Akisun, who failed to answer the question correctly.
Breakfast: Onigiri
Canned coffee of the day: Mt Rainier caffe latte (3.5/5 - more full bodied than your average aluminium canned coffee but also slightly more expensive at $1.40. Only found in brick-and-mortar stores)
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