Amatsukaze: Aoyama Gekijou, 3/22/08, 1:00PM

[meimichi]

Hey, you guys? You know what I unquestionably love best of all about queueing for JE stuff?

Eavesdropping on other fangirl conversations. Extra points if the girls in question are kinda bitchy.

I was queueing today (for a short time, as seats were already decided, after all) and the girls in back of me were such elitist bitches. They were just sort of looking around and surveying the rest of the crowd, and commenting on how their Satoshi fan brethren were clearly the most 気が強い of all Arashi fans. "Well, of course, Sho-chan fans are probably almost as good. But, ugh, Aiba-chan fans are soooo immature!" Oh, boybands, never stop being serious business.



Got to Aoyama Theater only a few minutes before the doors opened. There were huge, huge, huge posters outside the theater, which everyone was snapping photos of.







I took photos too, and then went off to queue...





It moved very quickly, because the theater was pleasantly laidback. No ID checks or fanclub membership card checks or bag checks or anything. I was worried because I'd brought my camera, and it's such a pain when they ask to check it at the door, but as long as you didn't take photos during the performance they didn't care! Yay!



The lobby was packed with flowers. None from the members that I could see, which everyone exclaimed, "How boring!" about. Tapped out their flower budgets after Freestyle, maybe? I don't know. *giggle*



(I took these photos right after the door opened, obviously. It was a packed house, as the whole run is sold out...)



I went upstairs to my seat, which was in the first row on the second floor...very last on the right. The theater really is small, and it wasn't a bad view (except for the lighting issues). I couldn't really see everyone's faces clearly on the stage, but being up high meant I got to see all of the stage and the special effects in greater detail, so I was pretty okay with it. Though I wouldn't mind sitting close one day just for the novelty factor...

I didn't see a single guy there. The theater holds about 1200 people, even though it's small I was surprised not to even see one put-upon boyfriend or husband being dragged there. They converted the theater's men's bathroom into a girl's bathroom for the day, which was lucky since lines were going down the hall. Nobody sat in the VIP seats opposite my view (though possibly there were people on the opposite side I couldn't see). Unsurprising though, since it was a matinee.

I wish I could give a better report of the play itself, but I missed an awful lot of what was going on, especially in the beginning. For one, my seat was angled so that whenever they backlit somebody, the spotlight was shining right in my eyes. I think I was the only one in the audience with this problem since nobody near me was shielding their eyes. So unlucky! They were backlighting people all the time, especially at the start of the show, so I was really distracted since my view was totally blinded.

Plus a lot of the jidaigeki-speak really sailed over my head. I understood the jokes and the gags and when they stopped to talk about their feelings, but the plot points? Not so much.

But anyway. I enjoyed it quite a lot. I'd describe it as...srs bizness plot for five minutes, then FIGHT! Gags for five more minutes, then FIGHT! Rinse. Repeat. Continue for two hours. Then rocks fall, everyone dies. (Almost.) The gags were funny, and the fight sequences were just amazing.

Ohno's role is so...以外! His interview in the program remarks that it seems like the role is the opposite of him, but that he drew on the fact that both he and the character have the same kind of igniting passion. But a role with this kind of stoic personality, it was more a role one would expect to see more from Jun than Ohno, I thought! Not that it was bad at all, just really really...以外.

I can't really vouch for any kind of accuracy in the summary, but I could barely remember it when I got home since it really was a blur of fight sequences in my memory for the most part, so I figured I should write it down before the whole thing was a blur, for my own benefit if nothing else. ;;; So it's really, really, really tl;dr. I don't know anything about the other three plays in the series either... As I understand it, this is a prequel to the first one??

Anyway, Satou Atsuhiro plays...some kind of lord or something? I didn't follow his job title, but he's got a castle. And from what I gathered, he kidnapped Ohno's sister, played by Ashina Sei, to make Ohno go kick the asses of the people who need asskicking in the ongoing war. Not entirely objectionable work, but Ohno would prefer to be doing it without his sister as a hostage, I guess?? THIS MAY ALL BE WRONG I'M REALLY NOT SURE HERE.

So the first scene kicks off with Ohno trying to escape the castle with Ashina so they can be free. (In every fight scene, there were eight random minions onstage, so the odds were almost always eight-on-one. The choreography was unbelievable.) Asskickery ensues. One-handed cartwheel from Ohno. Things are going pretty well for him until Atsuhiro shows up. They fight. Seems like Ohno kills him, but then Atsuhiro pops back up all bad-eighties-zombie-movie-like (the audience totally cracked up) to kick more ass. Ohno loses his sword, and Atsuhiro is like, "THAT'S HOW WE DO IT IN THE SENGOKU-JIDAI, BITCH!"

Moving on. A fortune-teller shows up to the court and warns Atsuhiro to keep his men away from the mountains, and that his doom will come when there are two moons. Atsuhiro's all, "But. The moon? There is TOTES only one up there, right? So I'm good!" It was hilarious. He said, "月...一個しかないじゃんっ！！♥♥♥" in this idiotic tone that I really can only translate as him saying there IS TOTES ONLY ONE MOON. But it turns out the fortune teller is a fake, and it's really Kida Tsuyoshi in disguise. He flees in the scene. Why does he want Atsuhiro out of the mountains? SUSPICIOUS!

So Ohno is sent to go investigate, and Matsumoto Marika trails after him (I thought, "This girl has the cutest voice!!!" and it turned out she was the seiyuu for Miwako in Parakiss~). She's basically declared herself his apprentice but Ohno doesn't want her around. After much whining and attempts for her to tag along, Ohno asks her if she really does consider him to be her master, and she says that she does. He says coldly, "I don't want to lay eyes on you again. This is an order from your master. Go. You're free, now. Go be free."

He stalks off, leaving Marika to encounter a monk played by Takeda Yoshiharu. These two are utterly hilarious together, going all-out on bringing the comic relief, and I think if anyone stole the show then it was him. Takeda crawls over to her and claims to be dying of hunger, and she takes pity on him and gives him an onigiri and some water. He falls madly in love with her as a result, because it's the first time in his whole life a girl has ever been nice to him. She blows him off and goes off in pursuit of Ohno.

But Takeda is actually on a quest for revenge. Ohno killed his brother in the war and he plans on killing Ohno in return. He tracks Ohno down and asskicking ensues, but then Marika interrupts them. Takeda abruptly professes his eternal love for her, saying she's a gift sent to him from the gods, and various other sappy things, as she bitchslaps him around.

He says he'll do anything she asks, and she brightens at that, and says fine, then she wants him not to try and kill Ohno. He's like, "But that's the one thing I don't wanna do!" She says, upset, that Ohno is actually a very kind person. He's not a bad guy. He would never, ever kill someone if it weren't for the war. And if Takeda kills Ohno, then she'll follow Ohno in death. She exits, leaving Takeda to deliver a hilarious hammed-up monologue to the audience: "So, option A: I kill Ohno. Which makes me super-happy. But then Marika kills herself. THAT WILL MAKE ME VERY SAD AS I WANT TO MARRY THIS GIRL. Option B: I don't kill Ohno, which does not make me super-happy, but Marika lives...AHHHHH WHAT AM I GOING TO DOOOOOO."

Ohno continues up the mountain with those two morons bumbling along on his trail. Eventually they get to Kida Tsuyoshi's hideout, or rather Takeda and Marika get stuck in one of Kida's traps (the staging for the traps was hilarious, there are these giant moving bushes that run around the stage, and everyone would be distracted by the running bushes...until then the bushes would reveal a cage to trap them in~). Uhhhh then more asskicking? I think? I'm sure I've already missed like five instances off asskicking, if I can't remember what happened then "asskicking" is a pretty sure bet anyway.

So Ohno and Kida tumble off a cliff into a sekrit place where it turns out the mountain is made of GOLD. And...I totally didn't follow Kida's whole agenda, but he doesn't want Atsuhiro to find the gold, and he wants to be able to keep on living in the mountain, free like the wind.

He painted this giant banner with the "kaze" kanji, which was lowered from the ceiling...aaaand it was handled so hilariously that I was like, "Is this a mistake or just a random gag??" The banner descended from the ceiling all tangled up and you couldn't see the kanji at all. Kida hopped around for a few seconds trying to yank the banner down, but it was too high up. And then he was like, "LOL WELL...THE BANNER HAS KAZE WRITTEN ON IT, OKAY?" HILARITY.

And he talks about how he wants to live free, like the wind, and invites Ohno to live like that too. But Ohno's trapped in his situation due to his sister, and turns him down regretfully, saying he's bound by his situation and can't be free like that at all. Kida says they're still friends, though, right? Ohno is the only friend he's ever had. Ohno smiles then, and Marika is shocked because she's never seen Ohno smile since That Day, when his sister was captured and their parents were murdered.

Meanwhile, back at the palace, Ashina is kinda surprisingly cozy towards Atsuhiro despite her hostage-ness. They're pretty into each other, apparently. Ashina sings a song called "Amatsukaze." She has a really lovely voice. I can't recall the exact lyrics, but they're about freedom, and Atsuhiro asks if she really does want to do what the song says, and go outside to be free. "I don't know," she replies, and they embrace. So sister is apparently kind of a bitch if she's into Atsuhiro, y/y?

Ohno comes back to the palace. Atsuhiro's like, "So. What up in the mountains?" Wanting to protect his new BFF's sparkly gold hangout, Ohno's all, "Absolutely nothing suspicious whatsoever!" But Atsuhiro isn't buying it. He asks if Ohno would put his life on the line for that statement, and Ohno says that he will. Then Atsuhiro pulls his sword on Ashina and asks if he'll put her life on the line for it. CONFLICT!

Uhhhh then I think they kick ass some more. It's all going pretty well until rifles get introduced into the equation. Ruh-roh. For Ohno, not Atsuhiro, obviously. They tie up Ohno and it's all very bondage-y, and Atsuhiro asks for his last words before the firing squad executes him. Ohno doesn't have any. Right when they're about to fire, Marika and Takeda pop up out of nowhere and kick ass so they can bust Ohno out, Takeda having decided to throw in his lot with Ohno and Marika. Because possibility of getting laid > murderous revenge.

And I guess Atsuhiro forgives it all or is just really really desperate for a capable minion (considering that his four minions with rifles just got their asses kicked by one chick with a sword and one monk with a staff, I can understand that he might be hurting for minion types, oh well). I really don't remember. I just know that Ohno gets sent off on another mission to kick the asses of some people for the good of the war.

There is an unbelievably beautifully-staged dream sequence around there, where Atsuhiro flashes back to murdering his own father (or was it Ohno's?? I was confused). The battle scene is depicted in the background with dancers doing this amazing choreography with red silky fabric, and when Atsuhiro wakes up in the foreground, they leave the fabric wrapped around him as a blanket to show it was a dream. Hard to explain, but the transition was so clever!

And then Ohno kicks some asses and it turns out that Atsuhiro sent him not to kill minions of the opposing kingdom as was advertised, but totally innocent civilian villagers. Whoops. Ohno has a meltdown over killing innocents. The dancers reappear with lavender silk fabric and do this amazing sequence where it's like he's trying to outrun his guilt, and they just keep trapping him in the fabric. By the end, he's all twisted up in the fabric, unable to move. Music swells. INTERMISSION!

Back at the palace, Atsuhiro knows how to par-tay. You've got a bunch of girl dancers in short yukata-like outfits, doing swing dancing. IDEK, but it was AWESOME. Ohno barges in all ready to kick Atsuhiro's ass for sending him to kill innocents, but Atsuhiro is like, "Aww, HUGS!" HE TOTALLY HUGS OHNO, and this is like the most inappropriate response to "lol sorry I sent you to kill blameless people" evar. And he says he understands Ohno's pain and that this is all part of a trial for Ohno to become strong, and he says it's very lonely being so strong sometimes, and Ohno has to deal. Apparently by figuratively killing puppies. I DON'T KNOW.

Ohno goes back to see Kida, but Kida no longer wants to be BFF with a metaphorical puppy-killer. He says, "And here I thought, if it was you, you really could become the wind..." Way harsh.

And my memory is just totally gone here because the rest of this really is one long fight scene with everyone getting killed pretty much, and I'm at a loss even remembering who killed who and why and what the setup was. I mostly just remember it was way pretty and Ohno did another one-handed cartwheel in the fight sequence OVER these guys holding a banner. I mean, they were holding a banner between them, and he just sailed right over the banner right into the cartwheel. It was amazing. *_*

But yeah. I guess the cat's out of the bag on the golden mountain or something, and it's Ohno, Takeda, and Marika against Atsuhiro and all his minions. They take the fight to the mountains. Marika gets mortally wounded, and she sends everyone else ahead, saying she's fine with dying if Ohno smiles again. Ohno holds her and wants to stay with her, but she shoves him on his way, and tells Takeda to follow him. Then the enemies attack her. Takeda comes back to save her, but gets killed, and she ends up having a bomb that she self-destructs with to take out the rest of Atsuhiro's minions.

Then up in the mountains, Kida and Atsuhiro fight as Ashina watches on, and Atsuhiro kills Kida. Then Ohno shows up and goes craaaazy. They fall into the water (more blue silk fabric that looked amazing!), and fight some more...with the full moon above, and also reflecting into the water below. OOPS TWO MOONS. And with that, Ohno kills Atsuhiro. He goes over to Kida, and takes the "kaze" banner.

At this point Ashina also goes kind of crazy, and she explains that Atsuhiro had killed his father to take control of the kingdom. He wanted to entrust the kingdom's future to another ruler who was just as strong as he was, so he's been basically grooming Ohno all this time to do these puppy-killing errands so Ohno will be able to grow up into a ruthless ruler. But she says that's all over now, and she starts cackling like a loon over how she's going to rule instead now that Atsuhiro's dead, and they'll have all the MONEY IN THE WOOOOOOOORLD because of the gold mountain, the usual bent-on-world-domination supervillain crazy.

Ohno, still crouched over looking at the banner, softly, his voice cracking, began to sing the song that Ashina sang in the first act. This was the best moment in the whole play. The audience just went still. Nobody was breathing. I love those moments in plays.

It was short, but very emotional and his voice was trembling, and then finally he stood and wrapped the "kaze" banner around himself like a scarf, and told Ashina harshly, "You don't understand the meaning of that song at all."

And then...earthquake? Flood? Magic? I don't know what happened, but the smoke machine started flooding the stage, and when it cleared, all the gold was gone. Ashina starts screaming, "Where did the gold go?!" Ohno lifts his sword as she screams, and he says, "This will be the final time I strike anyone down with this."

He charges at Ashina, but stops just in front of her, and makes a slashing motion in the space between them. "I've cut the ties that bind us. You're no longer my sister. The two of us are nothing to each other. Go. You're free now. Go be free."

He leaves his sword behind with Ashina, saying he doesn't need it anymore. Because he's going to become the wind...

THE END.

Then they did about six or seven curtain calls. The first three with the entire cast, and then just the main players, and then the three leads. By the end of the third, everyone was giving a standing ovation. On the second-to-last, Ohno spoke, and thanked everyone for coming. He said he was very thankful that they'd gotten through all of it without any injuries...but that since it was only the second show and they had so many ahead, maybe it was too early to be saying so. *g* "これからも応援よろしくお願いします!"

Then the curtain went down, the house lights went up, and we thought that was the end...but no, one last time the curtain went up, and there was Ohno, all alone. He walked up and down the stage, waving to everyone in the audience and smiling and flashing peace signs. It was a really slow thing, like he was really looking to see the faces of each section of the audience carefully, and when he was looking in one direction everyone standing there would stop clapping to wave back to him. I was really touched at how excited and attentive he seemed towards all the fans.

The curtain started going down again, and he bent down and got down on the floor so he could wave to the audience until the very last second.

ADSAD:d'wsd:SDM;sd SO, SO CUTE.

Conclusion: super-fun! Wouldn't want to sit in that exact seat again for the novelty factor of not being constantly blinded, but otherwise that's my only complaint. I really wish I could articulate the appeal of the fight scenes more! They were really incredible, the way Ohno moved through the choreography was just amazing. There were so many sequences, but they never felt tedious to watch.

Comments

[nagoya-mewmew.livejournal.com]

They were just sort of looking around and surveying the rest of the crowd, and commenting on how their Satoshi fan brethren were clearly the most 気が強い of all Arashi fans. "Well, of course, Sho-chan fans are probably almost as good. But, ugh, Aiba-chan fans are soooo immature!"
Seriously?? I'd hate to hear what those particular fans think of foreign fans then if they'll speak that way about fans who I assume are Japanese. Eeep! (I always "overheard" J-fans saying things like, "Wow, even gaijin like Arashi now. They're really getting popular in the world, aren't they?" XD)

No flowers? Wow... wonder what happened there. You'd think a little something would've been sent. No flowers at an opening of ANYTHING is quite odd. o_0

The curtain started going down again, and he bent down and got down on the floor so he could wave to the audience until the very last second.
BLESS HIS HEART!!

Thank you for sharing your report of the butai. It's difficult to communicate the feelings of a play, but your account is very well done. And the pictures are very nice too! ^_^

[nyonyo.livejournal.com]

Oh, no, most fans seem awfully nice. I just found those particular girls especially ridiculous because, while I agreed the group there seemed a bit more mature, it was because tickets were 9500 yen a pop and it's not like most younger fans would be shelling that out. I don't think people seemed mature just because they were Ohno fans, I think it was because they were all...actually older. And yet these girls were patting themselves on the back to no end for having the most put-together and well-behaved fan faction. ^^;

I admit I didn't look really hard at every flower arrangement since I didn't get there early enough, but if flowers from the members were there, they weren't displayed obviously (and I heard other girls crying out "Tsumannai!" about not seeing them either, so I didn't really look hard). I was surprised too. ^^;

BLESS HIS HEART!!
I KNOW, RIGHT. ♥

[banana-babe-qt.livejournal.com]

Wow! Thanks for sharing your pictures and your summary of the whole experience! It made me feel like I was really there lol. It's def. nice to see how much Ohno cares about all of his fans, although it does surprise me a lot that there were no guys there at all...I mean it wasn't like some totally sappy love story, there was fighting etc... so you think dragging along a boyfriend wouldn't be too hard. But... I suppose.. if I went to see an Arashi member live, I wouldn't want my fiance there since I would feel guilty drooling over the guy on stage! haha Sorry to hear about the semi-bad seat, but sounded like an overall good experience! ^_^

[neocopasetic.livejournal.com]

"...But, ugh, Aiba-chan fans are soooo immature!"

We are noooot! *kickandscreamtempertantrum*
Srs bizniz indeed, lol! ewe;

ANYwho, thanks so much for the report! I've been wanting to go to a butai for a long time, but I'm never in Japan long enough to properly ballot and go ;_;

[blood-opal.livejournal.com]

The curtain started going down again, and he bent down and got down on the floor so he could wave to the audience until the very last second.

DVD!!! DVD!!! THIS IS SO DVD MATERIAL!!! XDDDD Awww, that is just so like Ohno.

[yuckie-chan.livejournal.com]

Eventhough you said it's tl;dr, I ended up reading til the end xDDDD It sounds so amazing. And the way you describe things also veryyy interesting <3 I kinda fancy the "two moon" thing, and how Ohno cut the bind as well. Thanks so much for writing and sharing your story with us!

Argh those elitist fangirls are sucks. I think it's just not Ohno fans who would love coming to the butai. I'm a Sakurai fan and I would loooooveeee to come to the butai. I'm going to Japan in April, but unfortunately when the balloting was started, I still hadn't sure whether I'll go to Japan or not, so I didn't ask anyone to ballot me tickets :( Ah well, hopefully, next time...

[nyonyo.livejournal.com]

I know that last time I went to Harajuku, that one shop above the lingerie store on Takeshita-doori was selling bunches of tickets for the Tokyo showings. Don't know if you'd be around for the Tokyo or the Osaka showing times, but if you don't mind paying a crazy amount you could probably still go for Tokyo if you really really wanted ^^

[yuckie-chan.livejournal.com]

Thanks for telling me... yeah I know there're surely those crazy bunches who'd sell those in high prices. Unfortunately I'm just a poor student xD, so I'll just enjoy your report for this year ^^ Thanks for taking the trouble to tell me though ;)

[queencoc.livejournal.com]

OMG, I cannot believe those girls. ちなみに, do you feel like striking up a conversation with the fellow Arashi fans around you when queueing for events/goods? I always feel like doing so, but I lack the courage to open my mouth :(

Great report, thanks alot! Makes me feel like watching a butai soon. Didn't ballot due to lack of funds. Hoping they will release Wasurerarenai on DVD. Prefer such stories over jidaigekis ;)

[nyonyo.livejournal.com]

Not very often. I mean, most people seem to almost always queue in pairs or groups of friends, and I feel awkward breaking into their conversations when I'm queueing alone. So I just amuse myself by eavesdropping. *g* I chatted a very tiny bit with people while queueing for Freestyle, but that was it.

I joined the fanclub too late to ballot for Wasurerarenai T_T I'd like it if they put it out on DVD too!

[gds-kurimu.livejournal.com]

thank you so much for the report!
i really enjoyed it ^^

[jennah-13.livejournal.com]

uwaaah~ you're sooo lucky to have come watch it~ X3
YAY! OMG~ I wish I could see it live too! Especially the fight scenes you keep on praising! (^^) whee~
Ohchan's so wonderful ne? I love that last curtain call where he even waved until the last minute! (^^) he really loves teh fans~

[amethystdream3.livejournal.com]

omg, it really sounds like it was amazing. I really wish that I could have gone to see it even more now to be honest I almost asked for a trip to japan to see it be my bday present, but then realized that there was no way my parents would do that..especially with my mom planning a cruise in May..but I think I would take that over a cruise anyday XD
thank you so much for posting about it ^^

[hiroki-chan.livejournal.com]

ohno is so sweet towards his fan. anyway, I so envy you! I wish I could go too >_<

thanks a lot for the complete report and pictures ^^

[jennlyy.livejournal.com]

Thank so much for the report!
I really felt like I was there watching it^^

[darenothope.livejournal.com]

Thanks for this. I wish I could go and see it. I saw the CM for his butai DVD and he's just so different to his normal self. I wish he'd do some dramas I think he'd do really well.

[bakushou.livejournal.com]

Read the entire thing and I'm so glad I did.
Man, I really want to see one of his butai's
It's almost like he has an On switch and just puts his all into it...
This is why he's my role model. XD
Anyhow thanks for the wonderful report! >.

[sanctified-x.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much for posting your report. I got a heads up from sizthdivision and I practically flailed madly all the way through reading it. LOL. I really wish I could have seen this... And the pictures!

This was awesome! <3

[hakka-candy.livejournal.com]

Seriously, thank you so much for this wonderful and hilarious summary. I could really visualize all the special effects with your detail. XD I'd give anything to see the show. Especially those flowy silky fabric scenes, howdotheydothat?! *__*

[genuyn.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much for this hilarious and amazing summary of Ohno's butai!
You're so lucky to have been able to see it! I wish I could too.
The ending of the story was really cool...(Ohno breaking the sister/brother bond).
I can imagine the scene slightly...oy, Ohno is such an amazing guy!! :)

[epinette.livejournal.com]

"So, option A: I kill Ohno. Which makes me super-happy. But then Marika kills herself. THAT WILL MAKE ME VERY SAD AS I WANT TO MARRY THIS GIRL. Option B: I don't kill Ohno, which does not make me super-happy, but Marika lives...AHHHHH WHAT AM I GOING TO DOOOOOO."

HAHA, this is freaking hilarious! (:

The curtain call thing with Ohno sounds really cool! Ohno's insanely awesome and cute at the same time. This sounds like a very good stageplay t catch especially with the fight scenes and such.

Thanks for sharing photos & the report! :D

[chokoreito.livejournal.com]

I really enjoyed reading your report, thank you so much for sharing!♥
God I wish for a DVD. ;-;
The last scene seems so cool!! I love it!! And at the end where Ohno-kun waves for the fans till the last minute is just.. uh.. too much love.. TOO MUCH LOVE!!♥♥♥
T^T I wanna see so bad~~

Thank you again for the lovely report, and I hope next time you have the best seat ever! :D

[esquethetic.livejournal.com]

thanks for reporting, it sounds so good ;_; i could actually visualize things using your descriptions of the silk and everything, thanks again!

[mycutykoala.livejournal.com]

Hey, thank you so much for writing all of this down. I really appreciate it. The butai sounds AMAZING! And in the end, where Ohno keeps waving to the audience is adorable. T_T I wish I was there...It'd be great if this went on DVD too. lol
Thanks again!

[mint-and-mocha.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much for sharing this report. It was long but I'm really glad I read the entire thing!! The details you included were really fantastic (Your summary was hilarious too!). And I love the part about Ohno coming back and really taking the time to try to see all of the fans.
I hope they decide to release a DVD (and also that I'd have a chance to see one live someday!).
Anyway, thanks again!!

[archaenon.livejournal.com]

That report is wonderful btw. =o
*is an aiba-chan fan*

Didn't think that being a fan of one particular member was that sort of serious bussiness. Makes me wonder what Matsujun fans are , hohoho.

[nyonyo.livejournal.com]

Oh, it is way serious business. You get judged like crazy. As soon as someone even vaguely familiar with Arashi finds out you're a fan, they will immediately ask, "Which one are you a fan of?"

I love all the members and can't really choose one, but that answer is kind of odd, so since I was Jun-baited I'll usually answer Jun. I work at a high school where I'm getting asked all the time by my girl students, and it ALWAYS plays out this way:

GIRLS: Which one do you like??
ME: Matsujun!
GIRLS: ... *awkward silence*
ME: ...
GIRLS: .........um, who ELSE do you like?
ME: I guess...Sho-kun?
GIRLS: *visible relief* Oh, yes, SHO-KUN is really cool, isn't he??

When one of my more rowdy all-boy classes found out I was a fan and I told them I liked Jun, one asked me, "How can you like Doumyouji? Is this some weird American thing? Nobody likes Doumyouji in Japan. Couldn't you have gone for Hanazawa Rui? Or even Kimutaku, at least with Kimutaku I can accept his appeal!" I've never met a Jun fan yet in passing, I really wonder where all the talk of him being so popular comes from since at least at my high school everyone seems to love Nino and Aiba best ^^;;

[anamuan.livejournal.com]

perhaps they are all secret!closet matsujun fans.

[nyonyo.livejournal.com]

Even the boy who told me to go for Hanazawa Rui or Kimutaku instead? :(

[anamuan.livejournal.com]

yes. especially him. He's trying to get you off matsujun so there will be more magazines for him. sekritly.

[nyonyo.livejournal.com]

That's a lot of sekrit Matsujun fans. Is there some kind of sekrit handshake I've missed out on? Why does everyone know to be covert??

[anamuan.livejournal.com]

Possibly. If it's a sekrit, it's not like anyone could just tell you. And the awkward silences following your proclamation of Jun-fanship are not because they don't think that Matsujun is suited to you, it's actually just because no one is supposed to admit to being a Matsujun fan, ever. Especially in public, or in response to a direct question.

I didn't say it makes sense. The 'whys' of things are never clear.

[nyonyo.livejournal.com]

Seeing as I put Matsujun down on my fanclub application place for member I wished to support, you would think they would send me a memo or something. :(

[anamuan.livejournal.com]

i have officially spent too much time trying to justify this.

[divid-chan.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much! <3

[anamuan.livejournal.com]

I never really understood bitchy fangirls. Criticizing based on broad, superficial criteria only invites getting the same treatement. ON THE OTHER HAND, i am totally down with the 'fun to watch/listen.' ;jklaf;jlkfa i feel so conflicted.

The show sounds amazing.

This is totally out of the blue, but I was hoping you could tell me where I've got my information wrong becacuse, well, you've actually had to deal with getting tv in Japan. I remember you complaining about the tv people finding you a little while back. Is this information accurate?

Possibly because movies are so expensive (nearly $20 a ticket) and basic cable is provided (for an obligatory yearly fee) to everyone with a television set, TV, rather than motion pictures, is the primary method used to create and maintain popularity for Japanese celebrities. All of Japan’s major television stations are included in the basic cable package, and the most popular dramas (and television programming in general) air on those major stations, so these shows are basically accessible by everyone.

[nyonyo.livejournal.com]

I like listening to bitchy fans too much to ever give it up. NEVER CHANGE, BITCHY FANS.

Yup, I got away with free TV for six months, but the NHK guys go door to door every month to find the people who aren't paying. I think it's 1800 yen a month...so essentially you can watch a month of as much TV as you want for the price of one movie ticket. ;P

[anamuan.livejournal.com]

if you don't pay, could they/do they cut you off?

[nyonyo.livejournal.com]

No, I don't think so, I think TV is just transmitted everywhere freely through denpa (it's not like it's cable, my TV isn't hooked into the wall except to plug in). They just go door to door of the houses who aren't paying to check and see if people have moved in. I know JETs a while back would just say they didn't understand the NHK guy, or would claim they didn't watch Japanese TV at all so they shouldn't have to pay, and would get out of it but still get the TV coming. Now the NHK guys are armed with English pamphlets though so the jig is up. ;P

What I'm really curious about is how Japan determines TV ratings. Their percentage system seems so straightforward compared to America's idiotic complicated Nielsen deal...I wonder if they can somehow really track who's watching what, or if they track individuals to determine percentage estimates the way America does.

[anamuan.livejournal.com]

I have no idea how the system works. Actually, how does the American system work?

[nyonyo.livejournal.com]

The Nielsen company determines the ratings by choosing a random sample of people by going door-to-door, and installing monitors on their TVs. Then the viewers are meant to fill out surveys on their viewing habits, saying who was watching what and what their ages and gender was (that way the TV studios know if they're hitting their targets and how much they can charge for commercials appealling to that particular target market).

But a lot of people don't complete the surveys, so the data can be faulty. Because the sample they use is kind of small, a lot of people believe the system to be outdated, and were hoping that new data from Tivo and the like would outweigh it. But Nielsen then bought the rights to just incorporate Tivo data into their own calculations, so no dice. Anyway, the actual rating system for America is irritatingly complex; I know enough about the data to be able to say "lol yappari those numbers are horrible, my cult TV show of choice is utterly doomed" but I just know enough to be able to tell a good ratings number from a bad, and I get really confused at what the numbers literally mean.

Whereas Japan works off of really simple percentages: 9.3% of all people watching TV were watching this program. So I'm curious how they monitor it, though I don't know how I'd find out.

[anamuan.livejournal.com]

wow. that. that is a lot more complicated than i thought it was. It also sounds like a remarkably stupid way to go about things. no wonder all my favourite shows get cancelled without warning.

Is that the sort of thing you could call up NHK and ask?

[masteraura.livejournal.com]

WOW! Thank you for sharing your experience! :D
I wanna see and feel what is there when watching a butai! :)
Thank you thank you!!~ :D