#okamoto nobuhiko

So I went to KiraFes 2017 day 1 on March 4^th. This was my third year participating in KiraFes! :3

Zoey and I took a taxi (my first taxi experience in Japan!) to Yokohama Arena. There were already girls lined up (what time did they get up and get there!?) but the line wasn’t too bad in my opinion. We waited for 4 hours and along the way, Misae joined us before they started selling at 8:45.

I only got one thing.

Once we got our goods, we went to Tully’s and stared at the pamphlet. Eventually, we killed some more time and we lined up to get in.

Of course I took pictures of the flower stands! xD

Even though I hit for the first application period, I got stands seats… orz but it turns out that the venue wasn’t too big!

After going in, I decided to go to the restroom and barely got to my seat right when they started.

I’m sure you can find a set-list for KiraFes somewhere! And as for my brief fan-report, I’m gonna just talk about songs for each group/singer that left an impression on me some parts will be out of order, okay? Each singer/group sings two or three songs and then change. xD

Trignal started things off this year with Update a Day. I think they were a bit nervous but I was really excited that they started off KiraFes! There was a cool 3D screen in addition to other screens. I didn’t like Wing’s hairstyle that much… even with his hair, I still love him. He gives out such great fanservice!! He waved to us a lot!! Egu’s mushroom hair was cute and Ryohei looked really good. <333

I screamed when I heard Blazing! I really love that song! (especially when it was performed at Trigal’s live with suit) but <333

Kamiya sang a few song that I thought was cute. He started off with a cute song as the second one up.

And of course the one that left an impression on me was that one song Ism Rhythm. A 40+ year old man doing hip thrusts and a sexy dance. He was holding the mic stand suggestively as well. And even did a hand motion to his err crotch. XD LOTS of screaming and fangirls dying. I was just really amused that he did it like it was nothing. XDDD

Oh and when he sang his official cover of “Nagareboshi,” it just made me miss Miyu. (Because it’s originally Miyu’s song but this is Kamiya’s cover… and it’s the rock version of it).

NamiDai was the third person up! XD

I remember he sang pretty cool songs! He danced a lot!! For one of his songs, a part of his jacket glowed in the dark! We were like oooooh!

Kakki was the fourth one up! My first thought was, “Oh, he was definitely a bit sick last year for KiraFes.” Because his voice was a lot deeper last year but this time, he sounded fine! He definitely has a unique way of singing! Othello was a really cool song! He put on a hat for the song.

Nobu was the next one up! At one point, he came out with a traditional Japanese outfit and did a cool dance with a Japanese fan! For another song, I clearly remembering thinking, “Wow… he can do body rolls.”

He was the last singer for KiraFes. Nobu talked about things that gave us a lot of FEELS… I can’t really remember what he said but they were very heartfelt. He talked about how there were many kinds of “Daijobu?” (Are you okay?) and how we are supported by those around us… that kind of talk. I think he also said the other members in Kiramune encouraged him to write the song. <3 Then he asked for everyone’s cooperation for the next song: 8piece. It’s a really great song!! He sang, “Daijobu” and the fans follow up with “Daijobu.” Nobu looked so emotional and looked as if he was gonna cry. AHHHHH ;w; As he was singing, these paper (actually I found out later that they were styrofoam) birds were released and flying around. I thought they were 3D images for some reason. XD Later I found out that some of them had signatures from the Kiramune members! XD

Yocchinlooked really good! He sang while playing the guitar! At first it was acapella so it was nice. His voice also didn’t sound as rough as it usually did when he sung the song.

There was an ad-lib song… more like a song of him talking and he was using a megaphone for that song. XD I could hear him pretty clearly with the megaphone compared to the microphone. It was pretty interesting! I felt a bit confused because I had never heard such a song before.

Uncle Bomb!! sang pretty cool songs. There was this one song which sounded like a Spanish song… and they brought out these gold or silver capes and danced with them (think of bull-fighting capes).

Thetalk corner happened after every member/group sang two or three songs. It was a bit awkward with NamiDai trying to lead the convo. XDDD If you have seen him, you would know he’s the awkward one in the group and usually gets bullied by others… even by kouhais. XD The other members didn’t try to help. They couldn’t understand what he was trying to say and neither did we. XD

He even started a random topic going, “What do you do when you first enter a hotel?” So random! The other members thought it was a weird question as well. They were like, “What do you mean what do you do??” XD

At one point, Kamiya and NamiDai talked about something relating to their age and Wing went, “Shouldn’t you go, “Jiji janai!” (I’m not an old man!) in a cute voice. If you know Wing’s catch phrase… His catch phrase is “I’m not an old lady!” NamiDai asked him if he was a “bishojo (girl)” and he said he wasn’t. xDD When asked about the gender, Wing says that his gender is unidentified. XDDD He’s seriously so cuuuute!

When Kamiya left to get ready for the next song, I felt like the talk corner got even more awkward. Ryohei led the convo.at one point asking if there was anything the members wanted to try. NamiDai said he wanted to do something like the Tarzan kinda thing? XD

Anyway, after Nobu ended KiraFes, he left the stage and the fans began to chant, “Encore!” Though actually not everyone was saying it at the same time. XD

Encore time!

Then all the members came out and they sang Ever Dream!

Kakkistarted with Lesson A to B!!! You know how there was a break in the song? Well, Ryohei came onto the stage with other staff. The staff had an AB paper taped on his/her front or back? Kakki asked what they were doing here and Ryohei announced that they’re the AB team! Ryohei’s blood-type is AB. (Which made me miss Miyu because he’s AB too!!). Kakki asked Ryohei what a typical thing people with AB blood-type experience is. Ryohei answered, “When someone asks you, “What blood-type are you?” And then you answer, “Oh, AB.” And then he/she goes, “O-ohhh…” XDDD Like that reaction. It was really amusing. And then Kakki continued with the song and Ryohei joined in for a few parts! AHHHH

Wasshoi – Yocchin sang this song! And later on, Egu and Nobu joined and waved flags.

Panorama Soda – Trignal sang the song and toward the end of the song, the spotlight was on NamiDai and Kakki. And they were both laying down on beach chairs with sunglasses and sipping from a fancy glass with a flower on it (cocktail?). They were acting cool with the sunglasses. Trignal looked at them as if asking them, “What are you doing here? What are you doing?” kinda look. Ryohei tried to bother Kakki but Kakki just ignored him, acting cool. XD

Next was Kamiyawith Harebare Heart!

Want You – Nobu sang the song and was eventually joined by Yocchin and Kamiya… and they even did the cute dance!!! Then they gathered together and Nobu suggested that they danced together so they did! Then Nobu suggested that they blow a kiss at the “I want you!” part. And each of them did it!! Kamiya did it with an unsure face. Yocchin seemed to exaggerate it if I remember? Then they did it together at the end!!

Funky Wave – NamiDai sang it and we participated in the wave! It’s a really fun song! Then toward the end, Trignal came out with a big electric fan and aimed it at NamiDai while Kakki threw big pieces of paper at him, which hit his face. All of the Kiramune members minus Kamiya joined in for the dance for Funky Wave. The dance moves looked like fish flopping. XD And Kamiya came at the end to do a tsukkomi.

I was so happy to hear Get Together! It’s one of my favorite songs

Then each of them gave a closing comment.

And finally, announcements were made!

Kiramune fan-meeting in Kyoto on July 30^th!!! Egu, Ryohei, Kamiya, Yocchin, and NamiDai will attend!

And Trignal and Nobu joint live on September 30^th and October 1^st!!! When it was Trignal’s turn to give announcements, Ryohei dragged Nobu to read them. XD OMGGG Nobugnal! This is the first time I’ve ever heard of a joint live so I’m really excited!

I always enjoy attending KiraFes!!! It’s great to see all of them singing their songs although I missed Miyu. ;w; I will apply for the Kiramune fan meeting and try for Trignal and Nobu’s joint live if possible! I wonder what it will be like… xD

This should be the last of the fanreports I needed to write! I don’t think I’ll write one for Servamp! xD It’ll come out in DVD so… :3 Anyway, until next time! :3

Again, I’m super sorry for the delay of this fanreport! I apologize if I mix up details from the afternoon session and night session together!  My memory is a bit fuzzy already but I will do my best! Remember, my Japanese isn’t the best and this isn’t beta-ed as usual! Sorta picture heavy.

So I went to both the afternoon and night session! I went to the afternoon session with Emi ( @emii-suterii ). She wrote a fanreport on the afternoon session so you can read it HERE. And since she did one on the afternoon session, I will just do a fanreport on the night session! They’re both pretty much different! :3

I was really happy to be able to go to both sessions!  Actually, I didn’t win tickets for the first application period. But before applying, I asked Emi if she wanted to go together. I was going to apply for two tickets anyways because I didn’t want to go alone. >__< She said yes! I figured it would be better if we both applied for two tickets, just in case. Good thing that happened because I didn’t win the tickets but Emi did! And thank god for Emi’s luck because we got really AWESOME seats for the afternoon session. Block D and row 4!!! I didn’t even need to look at the screen at all. And they were so close!!! >/////////////<

Anyway, I decided I should apply for the night session for the second application period. I was originally planning to go to only one session but I had gotten two serial numbers, one from the first DVD and one from the second DVD. I thought, why not? This would be my first time going to both the afternoon and night session of an anime seiyuu event (not counting lives). Again, I applied for two tickets but for the night session. Truthfully, I didn’t think that I would win tickets but I actually did!

I planned to just post on twitter and ask if anyone wanted to come with me since Emi wouldn’t be able to make it. Luckily, Emi’s friend, Jessa, wanted to go so we went together! :3

On the day of, Emi, Jessa, and I planned to meet at Tokyo Station at the platform heading to Maihama Station around 8:15. So we got on and headed there. Even though I went to Maihama Amphitheater for Kiramune’s Reading Live, it was such a long time ago so I didn’t remember the way. Luckily, Emi did so we just followed her.

Surprisingly, for the goods this time, only people who had the Prince of Stride event ticket could buy the goods. I’ve never gone to an event that had done that… so it was interesting. It was kind of nice, too. When we got there, the line didn’t seem bad at all so we just sat down. The weather was surprisingly cool as well. The venue is near the sea so it was cooler. Plus, it was a bit cloudy and really windy.

We got to know each other a bit more while waiting! The staff passed out the goods form to make the transactions smoother. You have to write down how many you wanted of each item. They also lent us these pencils. There were also extra goods that weren’t listed on the official website!

I felt a bit tempted to buy more stuff but I was able to control myself. I’m sorry, wallet… you’ve been through a lot… what with Starmyu and KiraFes. XD

I decided to just get the pamphlet. That’s it. XD I’m a pamphlet collector. xP It’s the first picture of this post.

The staff eventually announced that they would start selling goods at 10:30 instead of 11:00 so yay! I think it took around an hour to get the goods because they only let in around 20 people at a time. After that, Jessa left to go to a dj event. Emi and I decided to go to Tully’s and eat something before the event started.

After we ate, we decided to look at the pamphlet (I’ll take pictures of it soon). XD AHHHHHH RYOHEI AND NOBU. <333 Ryohei looks really good. We fangirled and talked for a bit before heading back to the venue.

We started lining up and I was surprised to see that not many fans had lined up yet. Although the venue is small, it was still a surprise.

Though I found out that wasn’t the main reason… Jessa had messaged Emi about how the trains hadn’t been running for a while… I realized that many fans probably went somewhere else and couldn’t come back to the venue because the trains weren’t running. Even Suwabe tweeted about his concern about the trains not running… Luckily, the staff pushed back the time to 14:30. It was supposed to start at 14:00 but the staff was considerate to change the time due to the train problem.

So Emi and I headed in.

We found the present boxes! They’re adorable!

It was nice that it wasn’t that crowded yet and we took pictures of the flower bouquets and stands!

There were also tapestries, too!

Next is the Galaxy Standard portraits!! And they were signed by the seiyuu as well!! <3

Mamo’s handwriting is just so <333

Wow… I’m impressed because he wrote the kanji for “Thank you” *___*

Oh god… Egu… XD

Looks like it’s part of his jacket design. XD

Niiiice!

Haha.. cute!

We decided to head to our seats!

It was easy to find our seats and I was freaking out over the fact we were SOOOO CLOSE. XD And I had a REALLY AWESOME time with Emi during the afternoon session. Thank you so much, Emi!!! <333

It lasted for around two hours. After it ended, we waited for Jessa. We managed to meet up and went back to the venue. Unfortunately, Jessa and I had to say good-bye to Emi. ;w;

I thought that they might push back the time for the night session but they didn’t. When we got in, there were a lot more people and it was a bit more orderly as well. We got in line to take pictures of the Galaxy Standard members. Well, I already took pictures of them but I figured I could take better ones plus there was still time before the event started.

So our seats were pretty much in the back. XD K Block, Row 21 but still decent since it was a small venue. I did have to look at the screen more though. I was basically in the same area as the afternoon session but just farther back.

————————————————————————————————————————-

And so the event started at 18:30!

First, you heard OnoYuu’s voice. He was on the phone with his nii-chan (brother). And then Egu and Tosshi joined in. (Yay Galaxy Standard!). I don’t remember what happened now…  (In the afternoon session, Ryohei, Hanazawa, and Nobu started it off and it was super adorableeee. They were like, “What? It already started?” kind of thing).

And then in the center of the stage… how do I describe it…? The center of the stage has a circle and so all the seiyuu appeared on stage slowly from below with a pose. XDDD

From the left, the order was Tosshi, Egu, Suwabe, Hanazawa, Ryohei, Nobu, Shimono, Okiayu, OnoYuu, and Matsuoka. Everyone was wearing the jerseys pertaining to their character.

Ryohei and Nobu led the fanmeeting and first off, they did introductions! They each introduced each other as “Prince of” something. XD

• Ryohei started it off and then Nobu. I don’t quite remember what they said… XD
• ThenHanazawa! A lot of us were yelling out that she was really cute! And she’s seriously so adorable and then she looked like she couldn’t take it anymore and screamed, “HAPPINESS!!!” She said she was the princess of eating bread (?). Haha she’s really cute.
• Next up was Shimono! FREAKING ADORABLE. He was wearing glasses (Ayumu heehee)! He said he would also represent Hozumi in spirit! And he had that black kitty with a yellow scarf hanging from his pants and he showed us his back, which had this big can badge of Hozumi. DAWWWW <3333 I only remember in the afternoon session, he said he was prince of kimchi. XD I didn’t catch what he said during the night session. But he’s such a cutie. I was surprised he didn’t say he was prince of karaage. XD
• ThenSuwabe was next! Unfortunately, I don’t remember what he said. >__<
• After that was Okiayu who said, “Please say kyaa!!!” and pointed the microphone to the audience. Then we went kyaa!! Hahaha. Then he said he was the prince of full of karaage. (reference to the afternoon session where he ate a whole plate of karaage). XD
• ThenEgu went he was the prince of debt (same as the afternoon session). Ryohei pointed out that that means that he must owe a lot of people money. XDDD Typical Egu…
• Followed by OnoYuu who said, “Konbanwa!” and pointed the mic to the audience. We said it back! He said he was the prince of yo-yo. He’s really good at doing tricks with his yo-yo. xP
• And then Tosshi… man HE’S FREAKING ADORABLE TOO. XD He ran around the stage first and then said, he was the prince of… and stumbled and said prince again. And the other seiyuu were like, “Prince of prince!?” Then he said he was the prince of megane (glasses). XD
• Finally,Matsuoka. He was wearing a pink Ichijokan jersey to represent Hachiya Tetsu. (In the afternoon session, he wore a green Mihashi jersey to represent Kamoda Kei). He voices two characters in Prince of Stride so… XD I think he mentioned how he was the prince of doing his best (because he voiced both of his characters in the drama script reading for the afternoon session. And both of his characters were on the same team so you can imagine how he had to do a conversation with essentially himself XD It was pretty amusing and amazing).

I felt like the cast was really pumped up for the night session and I think the cast mentioned that as well. XD

Ryohei told us to say, 3, 2, 1 GO (in English) to start off the event!

So most of the members left the stage except for Matsuoka and OnoYuu. So first off was a mini-drama.

• So Hachiya kept going on how he will buy goods for Himemiya and he would buy Himemiya goods. He went on and said he wanted the clearfile, bromides, etc.. He basically worships Himemiya. XD Asuma and Hachiya talked about the fan meeting goods. And Asuma went something along the lines of, “Wait, but there aren’t any Hime goods.” And Hachiya was like, “Yes there is! The clearfile,” and the screen suddenly did a zoom-in on the Himemiya clearfile. I think Hachiya wanted to buy more than one…
  
• Then Asuma promoted the Prince of Stride DVDs. I remember Hachiya saying he has all the Prince of Stride DVDs as well and Asuma was impressed with that. XD I think Hachiya said he could watch Hime as much as he wanted. God… he’s such a Hime fanboy. XD
  
• And then Asuma said he had an announcement. He kept us in suspense by saying, “Nanto (I can’t really translate this but it’s something along the lines of “It seems that…”) and then pausing. He did it a few times (during the afternoon session, Egu dragged it on longer and it was seriously adorable) and announced that this event will be on DVD!  AAHHHHHHH a;sjdkflawe
  

Next up was an original drama script reading corner called “Exhibition Match”. So this exhibition match is set in Smile Land (aka Disneyland. I kept thinking…. So that’s why the venue is in Maihama Amphitheater. We’re literally next to Disneyland. It’s perfect!).

• So first, you see Tosshi, Shimono, Egu, and Nobu. On the screen, there was a picture of a blimp in the sky with balloons and bubbles of the characters on stage. Ayumu was talking very fast so I couldn’t keep up with the Japanese but he was just really cute. I just thought he was very random and sorta crazy (You know his character). I felt like he was doing some kind of weird comedy skit. At one point, his glasses flew off. XD Then Fujiwara said a famous line and then Ayumu did his infamous line where he said, “Stop! Line stealer!” and you hear that police siren. XD
• I remember Okumura was just being a freaking adorable Kuga-senpai fanboy and there was a picture of Kuga on the screen. Eventually, Ayumu got interrupted when there was a sudden strong wind. Okumura said that the wind must mean that Kuga is near. More fanboying. And then Suwabe joined them. More fanboying. Okumura is SO FREAKING ADORABLE. He even did this SQUEAL… I don’t even know how to describe it.
• Then Okiayu joined in and said they would do an exhibition match. One of them was like, “Wait, but there are only 5 members. How are we going to do a match?” Dan-sensei said, “Look again.” Then they started to count and only got up to five. Then Dan-sensei said he would participate in this match! The other members were surprised at this! Okumura was freaking out, fanboying, and wondered if he would be on the same team as Kuga. He sounded like he would die out of happiness if that happened. Okiayu announced the two teams.

• Team Ayumu: Ayumu (relationer), Ban-chan, and Fujiwara

• Team Dan-sensei: Dan-sensei (relationer), Okumura, and Kuga

• And you don’t know how much Okumura was freaking out being on the same team as Kuga. SOOO CUUUTE. XD And Kuga seemed a bit overwhelmed with the fanboying. XD I think Kuga told Okumura to do his best and Okumura was very earnest to do that.
• The first runners would be Ban-chan vs Okumura. And the last runners would be Fujiwara vs Kuga. Fujiwara said he would not lose to Kuga. Then the match started. At first, Ban-chan was in the lead. But Okumura got motivated by Kuga and I think he got in the lead. When they touched hands to change runners, Okumura started fanboying by saying Kuga’s hand was big. At one point, Okumura even said he wanted to “bathe in Kuga-senpai’s sweat.” HE LITERALLY SAID THAT AND I WAS LIKE OMFG. XD And Kuga was very freaked out. XD
• There was actually a buzzer when Ban-chan tried to relay to Fujiwara… I’m guessing they weren’t successful? So Okumura got ahead but Ban-chan managed to touch hands with Fujiwara afterwards.
  
• Ayumu and Ban-chan decided to sing a song to motivate Fujiwara. XD It was a bit weird… and Fujiwara seemed a bit put off with it and then Ayumu said he should do this for Hozumi! And Fujiwara got into it.
• Eventually, Okumura heard Team Ayumu singing and wanted to sing for Kuga, too, to motivate him. He started wondering what he should sing and what type of music Kuga liked. He went, “Classical? But it seems that he likes enka.” Kuga heard all of this and quickly said something before Okumura started singing. XDDD He said that Okumura didn’t need to do anything. Just his feelings were enough. And Okumura squealed at this. XDD God, I love fanboys. XD
• It was a really close match and they both reached the finish line at the same time. When they looked at the times, they found out that… Team Ayumu won!!

After they left the stage, you see Hanazawa and Ryohei at the center of the stage. Another mini-drama!

• They were both super cute!! They started off by going, “Ping pong (onomatopoeia for doorbells) in very cute voices. <333 AHHH Then Sakura said they had a announcement and that they should do the drumroll like Hozumi! Riku seemed a bit reluctant and Sakura just did the sound effect and Riku awkwardly joining. XDDD And they announced that Prince of Stride would be getting character songs!!! Just one good news after another huh? XD

Then they left the stage and next, the screen showed a picture of Reiji with the Yagami yakisoba bread. I think he mentioned that you should only eat up to 3. XD So we heard Mamo’s voice and they showed a video message by Mamohimself!

• He apologized that he couldn’t make it to the event. He was asked about a memorable moment in doing Prince of Stride. He talked about how he enjoyed talking with Hanazawa and also, there was a part where he had to sing live at the recording studio. Then he said, “Speaking of songs…” XD (In the afternoon session, Shimono had to do his infamous impromptu singing so I thought oh god… poor Shimono). “Speaking of songs… oh no, I’m not the one who will be singing but… you know, that person… who is famous for impromptu singing… and makes you cry(?)..” Then he paused… and suddenly said, “Tosshi!” He said his name a few times and hoped that we would enjoy the event until the end.  

I don’t remember when the seiyuu came on stage but I clearly remember seeing Tosshi on stage, looking absolutely flabbergasted. XDDDD He was like, “What!?” I’m pretty sure everyone was expecting him to say Shimono’s name (like in the afternoon session). Apparently Shimono went, “Yes! Hehe” at this. XD Tosshi looked really reluctant to do it but he decided to do it. He dragged Hanazawa to do it with him. XD And let’s just say… impromptu singing is really difficult because they both failed. XD At one point, Tosshi sang, “Machu Picchu is a world heritage site~” It was just so random. XDDD Then he let Hanazawa continue it but failed. XD

Anyway, they were all seated. Ryohei and Nobu led the session. At one point, they were talking about Okumura fanboying and how he made this incredible squeal. XD Ryohei asked OnoYuu to try to do it. When OnoYuu tried, he made this really creepy sound. XD Also, Tosshi accidentally called Kuga “Kuga-chan” instead of Kuga-senpai. He got teased for making this mistake. XDDD They were wondering how their relationship got to that point, from senpai to chan.

Next, Ryohei or Nobu said that there was this one song in the OST. They played the song, which is called “Trust.” It’s that one song that gives you many feels and goes, “You gotta show me… you make me feel okay.~” They usually played this during an emotional scene and apparently, it’s only played in five scenes throughout the anime! I could’ve sworn I heard it more times! They played the first two scenes during the afternoon session and for the night session, they would play the rest of the three scenes! Then they talk about the scene afterwards.

I think before each scene, Ryohei told us to say, 3, 2, 1 GO!

1. The scene where Ayumu injures himself in the match so he could relay to Hozumi. ;w; I think this scene is pretty self-explanatory. It’s seriously sad… and gives me so many feels. ;w; I think many of the seiyuu like this scene as well…
2. The successful relation between Hozumi and Kuga. I believe Suwabe said that he actually went to the station where that relation was done (he might have said this during the afternoon session).
3. Lastly, of course, the last episode with the relation between Riku and Fujiwara. <3

Next up, they would do a variety corner, which means they would play games and compete for a prize! They split into two teams. Team Ryohei and Team Nobu!

Team Ryohei – Matsuoka, OnoYuu, Suwabe, Shimono

Team Nobu – Hanazawa, Okiayu, Egu, Tosshi

First, they did Prince of Animation. For this corner, one of the seiyuu from the Prince of Stride cast made a ranking of the top 3 scenes they liked the best. Team Ryohei and Team Nobu will be given a list of 10 scenes and they each have to guess the top 3 scenes that that seiyuu has chosen. And they have to put it in the right order to get points. They will get 1 point for each one they get right. If they get all 3 in the correct order, that team will get 10 points. Since Ryohei and Nobu were leading the session, they would not participate so it’s up to the members in their teams. So the seiyuu this time is OnoD!

Each member had boards and these boxes of magnetic strips of the scenes. They only got like 10-20 seconds to think and then had to show their boards. Ryohei or Nobu gave out a hint that the scenes that OnoD chosen doesn’t necessarily have his character in it. XD

They actually started off with number 3, then number 2, and then number 1.

OnoD’s top 3 scenes 

1. The scene where Fujiwara yells (I believe he was running against Hachiya and was falling behind). OnoD chose this scene because Fujiwara is usually reserved and quiet but this is the first time he voiced out his frustration(?).
2. The scene where Ayumu injures himself in the match so he could relay to Hozumi. ;w;
   
3. The scene where Kuga and Heath are talking. Kuga said he would run home and then goes off running. Then Heath says, “Everyone is an idiot,” and he runs off as well. XDDD

• When one of the seiyuu gets it right, Ryohei puts a sticker on the one they got correct. Egu had gotten one correct, but Ryohei bullied him by not giving him a sticker and simply ignored him when he went in his direction. Egu whined like a kicked puppy (which I found surprisingly cute because usually he usually complains in a loud voice). Eventually he gave him one. XD Sadistic Ryohei…
• When Ryohei went to the left, Shimono had gotten one right and he simply gave him a sticker. I believe after seeing Egu’s treatment, Shimono told Ryohei, “I got one right! Praise me! Praise me!” God, Shimono was so cute. Then Ryohei pat him on the head and said, “Aww, you did a good job,” in this cute doting voice. AHHHHHH <3333
• Apparently Suwabe and Okiayu managed to choose all the right scenes, just not in the correct order.

Team Ryohei – 3 (thanks to Suwabe, Matsuoka, and Shimono)

Team Nobu – 2 (thanks to Egu and Hanazawa?)

Next, they did jump roping! Two staff members came on stage with a long jump rope. Apparently they have to jump rope in teams! And they had the audience count!

• First, Ryohei’s team took the challenge. They managed to do 11! Actually, one of Matsuoka’s shoes fell off while doing it. XDDD
• Next, it was Nobu’s team’s turn! I think they asked Hanazawa if she would be okay jumping since she was wearing sandals but she said she would be okay. They made Egu go in the middle since he’s so tall. And they did 21! It was seriously amazing. Egu had to bend quite a bit to jump. XDDD Nobu also had to hold onto his pants because it was slipping. XD I think a few other members had to do so as well. XD
• Then Shimono tried convincing Ryohei’s team to do it again. XD The rest of Ryohei’s team seemed reluctant because it’s seriously tiring. Suwabe was like, “I’m in my 40’s!” Then Nobu asked the audience what we wanted… and of course we asked them to do it again!!! XD
• So they reluctantly tried to do it again. Matsuoka got asked if he wanted to jump rope with or without his shoes. XD They tried to convince him to just do it without the shoes but he said he could do it. This time, they only did 7 and it was OnoYuu’s fault. XD He started laughing but the rest of the team said it wasn’t a laughing matter! XD I think they asked if they could do it again and they did. XDDD And this time, they got 28! Man, they all looked so tired. XD
• Nobu kneeled and requested to Ryohei’s team to give them a chance to do it again. I think Shimono said okay. They all looked pumped up and headed to the jump rope. And Egu dramatically threw his jersey down on the ground. But once they got in front of the rope, they bowed to Ryohei’s team and said they give up. XDDDDD And the main reason was because they were tired. XDDD And plus there would be one more activity coming up… which would be tiring as well.

And lastly… you can’t do a Prince of Stride event without a running quiz! XD Two treadmills appeared with a digital number counter attached to them. First, each team chooses a runner and they get on the treadmill. Then a question will be asked relating to Prince of Stride. The runners have to run to 50 meters, and the first to do so, their team has the chance to answer the question. If they answer correctly, they get one point. If they don’t, the other team’s runner has to run to 50 and then the other team has a chance to answer the question. Before the runners started, the audience counted, 3, 2, 1 GO! I don’t remember much of the questions in relation to the runners…but anyway…

• Shimono had a lot of energy and he was moving like Funasshi…so Team Ryohei chose him to do the running first. XD For Nobu’s team, Okiayu volunteered to do it. Shimono ran to 50 meters first.
• Then it wasOnoYuuvsNobu. And OnoYuu runs FAST. I didn’t think he could run that fast. XD He got to 50 in no time while Nobu looked like he would die. I think the question asked was… how many times does Kuga say, “The wind is coming”?, and he didn’t look sure and just said 2 times. It was wrong. So Nobu… already dead tired, ran up to 50 meters weirdly, looking like a zombie. Okiayu gave it a try and guessed 5 times, which was wrong. The actual answer was 6 times! The closest number to 6 would get the point this time so that means Nobu’s team got points! Suwabe asked, “Did I really say it that many times?” XDDD
• ThenMatsuokavsTosshi. They were worried about Matsuoka because of his pants. He was wearing one of those fashionable sagged pants. It looked like it would be hard to run in. And I think OnoYuu bent down and grabbed his crotch area of the pants (It’s sagged mid-thigh so it’s not as if he’s actually touching it but still). XDDD Poor Matsuoka getting violated like that. Matsuoka’s counter kept on going up before it started, too. XD Anway, Matsuoka easily won even though one of his shoes fell off. XDDDD I think Tosshi stopped early because he got a cramp?
• I think one of them asked the audience who we wanted to see on the treadmill. I yelled outRyohei. And then one of them went, Egu? I guess many fans yelled out Egu’s name. And told us to chant Egu’s name so we started chanting it. XDDDD When they got on the treadmill, Ryohei said he wouldn’t lose when it came to this kind of game. Egu looked tired and had a weird running pose and truthfully, I didn’t have high hopes for him because he was really slow during the afternoon session. XD But it was actually a very intense… close battle!! XD It was 49-50 meters, Egu’s win!! AHHHHH
• I think the final battle was betweenSuwabeandHanazawa. Suwabe who is 44… and they were worried that Hanazawa wouldn’t be okay because she was wearing sandals. She said she would be okay. Suwabe said he would give a handicap and run with one leg! And he actually won… I was SO IMPRESSED to see a 44 year old man running with one foot like that. It looked like he was hopping… It must have been tiring. XD The question was actually a bit difficult because they got asked, “Which side of Himemiya’s hair is black?” Ryohei’s team said it was up to Shimono to decide. Shimono asked if they were talking about Himemiya’s point of view or audience’s point of view. He was told to answer with the audience’s point of view. Shimono was very indecisive and Suwabe just answered left and it was correct! XD
• So the end result was…. Ryohei Team – 44 / Nobu Team – 22
• Yes, Ryohei’s team won… by double! XD (They lost during the afternoon session). And for the grand prize… they won tickets to “Smile Land” aka Disneyland! XD One of them said, this meant that all of them can go to Smile Land together!! I think Shimono got a bit too excited and asked when they should go together. XD
  

After that, they left the stage and the screen started showing something.

• They promoted the upcoming Prince of Stride stageplay that would happen in Tokyo and Osaka. They showed Riku, Sakura, and Fujiwara. After that, they showed nice pictures of the Saisen members and announced that the Saisen members would have their own drama CDs!!! And furthermore, there will be a drama CD of the prologue of the Yagami brothers!!

ThenOxT came out wearing the Honan jerseys!! OxT is really amusing. XD They really know how to make the talk interesting. I heard that Oishi Masayoshi has experience with comedy? XD Well, he was doing the talking mostly. He said that they came JUST for this ONE song. xDDD Anyway, they had some requests.

• First, they wanted us to stand up. Then he explained how whenever fans say, “Stride!”, it sounds like “Soi”, so we might as well just say, “Soi!” And when we say “Soi!”, he wants us to jump and/or wave our penlights up. Not only with the “Soi” part, he said to just watch his hand movement. Whenever he raises it up, we should just jump and/or wave our penlights. Second, he said that we should have fun. Then whenever he says the words, “Maihama” or “amphitheater”, we should go, “Woo!” Lastly, they wanted us to do fanchants, basically sing some parts. He sang one part of the first verse, and most of the fans were able to sing after because of the opening. But then he sung the second verse and many fans didn’t know how it went. Oishi was like, “If you didn’t buy the single, you won’t know how the next part goes.” But he said, we can just hum it if we didn’t know the part. XDDD
• Then they sang it!! There were many blue and red penlights all around! :3 It was really fun! They were so cool, too!!!

After they finished, Ryohei and Nobu came out. Ryohei came out with his jersey tied around his waist. <333 They thanked OxT for coming just to sing this one song. XD Then Be My Steady played in the background and all the other seiyuu came out.

They lined up in the same order as the introduction. Oishi was at the end of the left side and Tom H@ck (guitarist) was on the right side. This time, for the concluding thoughts, they started from the sides first, from right to left. My mind blanks out on what they said but…

• Hanazawa said she was tired. And apparently she had always wanted to wear the jersey. She noticed that many fans wore it, too!
• Shimono said he wanted to drag the real Hozumi aka Kensho next time if theres an event, not just the can badge. <333 And he suddenly put his glasses on the ground for some reason. XD
• OnoYuu said he was “protected” by his brother and took out Shizuma’s acrylic charm from his pocket. OMG dawwww.
• I think Egu and a few others mentioned how it would be nice if all of them could get together (all of Saisen, etc) next time if there’s an event.
• Again,Matsuoka mentioned how he did his best voicing two characters. XD It must have been an interesting experience. XD
• Ryoheiwas the last one to say his comment and he said that the staff worked hard to plan out this event. <333

Then they all said thank you and began to leave the stage. ;w; Ryohei and Nobu high fived each other! AHHHH I think Shimono left weirdly. XD And Ryohei, one of the last ones to disappear from our sights, bowed once more and left. ;____;

And then we heard Sakura. >__< At the end, she told everyone to gather! And everyone said, “For always supporting us… thank you very much!!!” AAAAHHH ;W; Too many feels… On the screen, there was a picture of the PoS characters in chibi form surrounding the words, “Many thanks to you!” (in English).

My thoughts:

• Suwabe – Really cool as always!!!
• Okiayu – I think he’s really handsome in person! xD I feel that he’ reliable.
• Hanazawa – SHE’S SO CUTE!!!! <3
• Matsuoka – Awkward but really cute!! I was really impressed when he voiced two characters!!
• Egu – For the first time, I thought he sounded cute when he whined. XDDD And his character is really cute, too! I usually find him interesting or dorky… but not necessarily cute. XD But overall a dork. XD
• OnoYuu – Not only is he good at yo-yo… he can run fast!! He has a really nice smile, too!
• Tosshi – THIS FREAKING ADORABLE KUGA SENPAI FANBOY. AHHHH I think I grew to like Okumura… he’s seriously a cutie.
• Nobu – Oh Nobu… XD Cute.
• Shimono – SUPER ADORABLEEEE. AHHHH. When I see him in videos, I think he’s always gets bullied by others and interesting… but he was super cute in real life. In the afternoon session, he was the closest seiyuu to me and AHHHH. <3 He was waving to the fans as well. And bravo to his impromptu singing. xD
• Ryohei – What can I say? XD MY BIAS <33333 Super adorableee. XD I never fail to see him bully Egu every time.

• It was an awesome 2-hour event. I’m really glad I got to go to both sessions!!! Both sessions were really interesting!! And had so many awesome announcements!!! I can’t wait until it’s on DVD!!! :3 I look forward to the character songs as well! I hadn’t laughed so hard in so long.
• A special thanks to Jessa for coming with me to the event!! <3 I had lots of fun!

Thank you for reading this loooong fanreport of incoherency. XD Look forward to the CDs and DVD!! I REALLY RECOMMEND it. :3　Now, I have the urge to rewatch Prince of Stride…. anyway, until next time!

I apologize for the delay! >___< I just had too many events going on within 3 weeks (3 events!) and I wasn’t able to recover since I had work as well. I’m pretty sure I forgot a lot of things already.. but I’ll just tell you what I remember! I’ll just give you a brief description (this is why I should not procrastinate on fanreports). I believe Emi ( @emii-suterii​ ) and Rizu ( @fugacissomnii​ ) wrote a fanreport for day 2 of KiraFes 2016 so you can check out Emi’s report HERE and Rizu’s report HERE for reference! Basically the same things happened but with differences of course! Sorry for any grammatical mistakes and such! And of course, you all know, I’m biased so…. XD

I actually couldn’t sleep well the night before (most likely because of excitement). So I woke up around 5:30 or so and got ready. The place I was staying at was only a few stops away from Saitamashintoshin, the closest stop to Saitama Super Arena. I planned to meet up with Zoey ( @xpeppermin​ ) and Sam ( @bakedcrackers​ ). They were already queue-ing for goods and apparently it was already a crazy queue. Zoey told me that it would most likely be difficult to get in line with them.

When I got there, the venue wasn’t that difficult to find. Follow the fangirls and signs!

But I could see how it would be difficult to get in line… The line zigzagged like crazy.

Luckily, we managed to find each other. Actually, they spotted me standing there awkwardly. I wanted to join them in line but there was this line guide rope in the way and some staff members standing around. I thought it would be better to ask so I asked a staff member if I could join them but he said that wouldn’t really be fair to the others. Actually, I regretted asking in the first place… because I saw other girls just going under the rope anyways. Eventually I was able to join them suspiciously. XDDD Emi came later but it was hard to describe where we were at that time… so we couldn’t meet up in line.

So we waited in line, talking to each other. The staff passed out the goods paper as well. And I learned from last year to always bring a pen so I did… xP

Finally, we managed to get the goods within an hour or so. Nothing was sold out. I only got the pamphlet; I was surprised to see it was completely black and very thick, much thicker than last year’s and Ryohei’s can badge and charm set.

(My wallet was already crying since I went to the Starmyu event the week before and two weeks later, I would go to the Prince of Stride event… I swear I will write that fanreport soon, too!).

After that, we finally met up with Emi. It was so great to meet her even for a short time! We talked for a bit! Then she had to go.

Then Zoey, Sam, and I went to Omiya, one stop away, and ate something at a café. I got a savory salmon salad crepe. It was a bit weird but interesting. After eating, we decided to look at the KiraFes pamphlet. Instead of flipping it normally, we decided to take turns opening the pamphlet to a random page and awe over it. xD I kept on flipping to NamiDai…. But they all looked very good! <333 Ryoheeeei!

Eventually, we went back to the venue with Sam’s friend joining as well. We could enter at 14:00.

When we entered the venue, we saw flower stands and present boxes.

I took pictures of some of the flower stands. (I’ll just post Trignal’s)

Aww… Tsuda Kenjiro sent them flowers as well! :3

I was really surprised to see Nobugnal (Nobu + Trignal).

After that, we headed to our seats. We had to part with Sam and her friend.

Zoey was with me. I got the stands, level 200.

When we got there, I was surprised that it wasn’t as big as I thought it was going to be. Apparently Saitama Super Arena has more seats than Yokohama Arena but it wasn’t too bad. Actually, I thought Saitama Super Arena was a better venue overall. (I remember poles were blocking parts of the screen when I was in Yokohama Arena). The stage setup was interesting as well. It kind of reminded me of Tokyo Dome set up in a way. Also, our seats were pretty nice in my opinion!

While we were waiting, they showed advertisements of the Kiramune artists and also of anime that starred some Kiramune members as well! I remember many fans kept screaming when Nobu’s upcoming single, “Kimi no Egao, Boku no Egao” advertisement was shown. He looked very cute there. XD

———————————————————————————-

Finally, KiraFes 2016 started at 15:30!

I believe it started off with the screen showing the chibi version of the Kiramune members one by one, explaining the rules (no smoking, no high heels, etc..).  

Last year, KiraFes 2015 started off with NamiDai so I wondered who would start this year.

And it actually started off with Kamiya! Cue the purple penlights. He sung songs from his Haregou album.

• -Zeitaku na Jikan (Extravagant Time)
• -HARE? GO!
• -VIVA LA FESTA!!

Next up was Nobu!Cue the white lights. He sung from his Questory album.

• -Star Fanfare
• -Want You - When I first heard this song, I thought it was such an adorable song. I was very happy to hear it sung live! It was seriously adorable. Especially when he said, “Want You!” in this cute voice.

Followed by Yocchin! Cute the hot pink lights! And he sung songs from CYCLE.

• -Hajimari no Uta
• -Wasshoi – Very fun song!! There were fanchants as well!

ThenKakki’s time! Green lights!

• -Saichaina – I actually grew to like this song and have liked it since I saw it sung live in KiraFes last year. Some people used hot pink for this song to represent the sakura. It’s just a very pretty song~ The animation was just amazing as well. Very high tech.
• -Lesson A to B – Man… when I first heard this song, I just thought this is one of the most random songs I have ever heard. It’s crazy! I do like one part of it but… anyway… to see it live… it was just damn amazing and full of win. Like seriously. Why??? Oh god, where do I even start? XD Basically the most awesome part was that they played a video behind on the screen as he was singing. Basically a PV. And it was a video with Kakki… cosplaying!!! Lots of cosplay outfits! God, I’m sure he had tons of fun with this song. So he was in different oufits including an old man and best of all… crossdressing. CROSSDRESSING. And he looked good!!! Very pretty! He crossdressed as a schoolgirl with straight, long hair, holding a… gun. Yes, he started shooting random stuff too. Did I mention it was super random? For some reason, I could’ve sworn I saw him cosplaying as a nurse as well. And then there was another crossdressing outfit he had on. And guess who he cosplayed? XD He cosplayed Marilyn Monroe… with that white dress and short blonde wig… and he even did that one famous scene where wind is blowing the dress. XDDD At one point, he took out the breast paddings from his chest and threw them somewhere. LOL Just so many things happened in that pv but it was fun overall. The crossdressing got to me the most. xD  

After that came Miyu! Yay for the red lights!

• -Jewelry Day – AHHHH I didn’t think he would sing an old song but <333. It’s from the JUMP single.
  

I remembered he did an introduction after singing this song. He also asked the audience if it was anyone’s birthday. (It’s a birthday song). Then he said, coincidentally, it was his father’s birthday. Dawww <3

• -I am I – It’s a pretty mellow song~ :3 So prettyyyy

He’s my second bias after Trignal. He has such a wonderful singing voice. >////< I seriously love his voice.

Then it was NamiDai’s turn. He sung songs from ELEVATION.

• ELEVATION
• Awaked
• LIGHT RAY

I just remember that NamiDai was very cool, singing all these songs, which was a bit strange because I don’t associate him with cool that often.

Lastly,Trignal finally came out!! I was anticipating them for a while. XD And little did I know that they would start off with….

• ESCOLTA - AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I remember Zoey was telling me that she hoped that they would sing this song for KiraFes and they actually did it!!! ASDLFJLAKWEF; IT’S SERIOUSLY SUCH A CUUUTE SONG. LOOOOVE IT!! <3333333333 All three of them were basically wearing all white with random lines of their colors within Trignal (so Ryohei = red, Egu = yellow, Wing = blue). Ryohei wore a hat as always! RYOHEI LOOKED SO GOOD!!! AND THEIR HIP SHAKING PART DAWWWW WING IS SO CUUUUUTE (though I’m not sure if I approved of his hair since it was a bit long) and Egu… was Egu. XDDDD The dance was as cute as I remembered!
  

They did an introduction after the song. And then said that their song would be a summer song…. Which means…

• PANORAMA SODA – an upbeat song!! It kinda reminds me of Summer Magic. XD I think Wing messed up at one point here. XD

Time for the MC Talk corner! :3

• So Kamiya led the MC!
• I remember he asked the members something but I forgot what it was.
• NamiDai got told to wipe off his sweat. You know how NamiDai is famous for sweating a lot? (Egu too). He was given a towel by Ryohei but before Ryohei gave it to him, Ryohei starting wiping off his sweat with the towel. <333
• Also, at one point, they talk about Kakki. And Ryohei proceeded to touch Kakki’s abs and sorta hug him? XD Man, Ryohei is too good at this fanservice. XD AHHHHHHH
• I also remember Miyu teasing…. bullying Egu. XDDDD Oh Miyu…
• Oh and someone called Kakihara, “Tetsuya”! XD That was pretty interesting. XD
• I only remember two topics in particular!
• One topic was aboutfood. People who have gotten better at cooking goes to the right side and people who haven’t goes to the left. Most of the members went to the right side. On the left side, there were only Egu, Miyu and Kakki.
• Apparently Kakki doesn’t cook at all. O__O; I think the members were surprised Nobu was on the right side and Nobu tried explaining how he has cooked. I don’t really remember the contents but it was a weird explanation that didn’t count. So the members told Nobu to go on the left side. XDDD But then at one point, all the people on the left side tried to join the right side and leave Egu by himself. But he chased Miyu down. XDDD Miyu tried to run away from Egu. And Egu kept following Miyu!! XD Eventually Miyu got caught by Egu and got hugged by him XDDDD Fans were going crazy. XD
• Unfortunately, Nobu had to leave early to prepare for his next song.
• The final topic wasalcohol. People who have gotten “stronger” with drinking (or basically can drink more) goes to the right and those who haven’t goes to the left. On the left, there was Ryohei, NamiDai, Wing, and one more. NamiDai explained that he has gotten “weaker” and how once you hit a certain age (over 30), you just can’t drink as much. People were surprised Ryohei was at the left side as well because he’s known for his love for drinking. When Ryohei was asked to explain, he said he agreed with NamiDai.
• On the right side, Yocchin said he has gotten a bit stronger thanks to NamiDai. Apparently NamiDai invites him to go out to drink a lot (well, with Uncle Bomb and Kiramune Company XD). Yocchin said he likes drinking some kinda “hai” and recommended it to Kamiya.
• Kamiya was on the right side and said he hated the taste of beer (I CAN TOTALLY RELATE). But recently, he is now able to drink two glasses of beer. But he gets red and tipsy easily. XDDD Ryohei proceeded to show us how Kamiya acted when he’s tipsy/drunk. Ryohei went to the middle of the stage and just sat down, legs sprawled and looking really out of it (I can totally imagine this).
• When it was Wing’s turn to explain, he told Ryohei to show the audience how he (Wing) acted when he’s tipsy/drunk. Again, Ryohei went to the middle of the stage and sat in a very cute seiza (imagine how girls sit while doing tea ceremony) and looked very tired with his head sort of tilted and looking feminine with his hand position, too. Then suddenly, he became alert because he noticed someone’s glass was empty and asked what they wanted and ordered for them. (If you watched Kiramune Company’s episode with Ryohei… it’s basically that). XD Then it got to a conversation where Kamiya praised Wing for being really considerate when they go out to drink. Then they looked at Egu with a face. Egu suddenly got defensive and said he was considerate, too! And Wing went, “Uhh… when?” LOOOL God, I really want to see what they’re like when they’re tipsy/drunk. XD And that was the end of the MC talk portion!

Next up was Nobu’s second round of songs! All were from his Questory album.

• -Shinjiru Kokoro
• -HOLY HOLY - I’m pretty sure for this song…This song… so Nobu looked really cool in his outfit. There were “enemies” with weapons on the stage, closing in on him and on the screen, there was this really awesome animation of a dragon flying around. Eventually Nobu got a weapon and he FLEW. (I totally flashed on Johnny’s groups right away). What I mean by flew is that a rope and string(?) were attached around his waist and he flew. AHHHHHH. He even did backflips and beat the enemies. And before the song ended, he slayed the dragon!!! It was seriously really cool!!!
• -Lost Universe

Then it was Kakki’s turn.

• -Oresa
• -Orange
• -Call My Name

Followed by Uncle Bomb!! Apparently they sang from INFINITE.

• -LOCUS
• -Party Star

I remember the songs were super cool! The dance was really cool, too!

And then Miyu!

• -Peppy Hopper!! – Another old song from his album, vivid. <333 AND I BELIEVE HE FLEW HERE LIKE WHAT NOBU DID. HE FLEW SO ELEGANTLY. OMG. ASJKLKFSD
  

And after the song, he said he had an announcement… he announced a new album coming up!!!! The title hasn’t been decided yet but it would come out this winter.  AND he said he would sing two songs from it.

• -Ryusei no Kimi e
• -Melody

Oh god… I really love his voice. >////< I remember one of them was a bit slow-ish? But I really liked it! I think I really liked “melody”… I could just close my eyes and feel so content listening to Miyu.

After that, Trignal came out!

• Kiss Plus – AHHHHHHHH FINALLY. SERIOUSLY LOVE THIS PARTY SONG. I had been waiting for them to sing this song!! <3333 They were jumping as if they were at a party with music blasting. They also did hand motions… doing the peace sign when they sung “Futari (literally meaning two people)” I just thought it was really cool!! It makes me all hyped up too!!!
• GREAT ESCAPE PARTY – I think Egu forgot his lines here. Because at one point there was silence when Egu should’ve been singing. XD Heehee but it was cute.
• MISSION – Very cool as always!!

I think Ryohei didn’t wear a hat for these songs. <3333 AHHHH

ThenKamiya came out!!!

And there was so much awesomeness here!!!

• -Danger Heaven? – First it started off with him on the stage. There was a desk with some papers on it. He was dressed up like a typical sort of scholar… well just think of his PV. As he was singing, he started writing and eventually threw papers in the back and in the front. Then he walked toward the middle, where you see this super HUGE book. He opened the book and then smoke came out of it. Suddenly, a ninja-like person with a big weapon appeared. Then Kamiya went to the book and there was smoke once again. And he came out with a cape (basically that other outfit from his PV. Kind of reminded me of Attack of the Titans for some reason). He got a sword somewhere and started fighting with that ninja-guy. And he won! The ninja-guy was on the ground for a while and eventually started dancing with Kamiya. XDD Man, it was seriously awesome. XD

After that, NamiDaicame out in this extremely…. Gaudy outfit? XD I remember that I didn’t approve of his outfit much.

• -UTAO – This is seriously such a cute and hyper song!!! I really love it and the fanchant as well!
• -For Dear Light

Then it was Nobu’s turn again!

• -Shunkan Beat – I really love this song… it’s just really cute and adorable. It makes you hyper! XD

And I believe Nobu announced he would sing from his new single releasing in July! And it’s called “Kimi no Egao, Boku no Egao (Your Smile, My Smile)”

• -Kimi no Egao, Boku no Egao – I remember Nobu sung this song and smiled a LOT. He’s just so adorable.

Followed by Miyu!

• -Uso to Mirai to – No words to describe this incredibly beautiful song. It gave me goosebumps. AHHHHH MIYUUUU <333

ThenKakkicame out!

• -Monogram
• -Susumasero! - This song is really cool!!! XD Do it!!! XD And I believe for this song, he got on this podium thing that rises so I couldn’t exactly see the front of him. I suddenly heard screaming and I thought, wait, what happened? And when I looked at the screen, he had LIFTED UP HIS SHIRT AND FLASHED HIS BODY. He definitely has been working out that body… OMGGGG XDDD I NEVER THOUGHT THAT SORTA THING WAS ALLOWED. I DUNNO WHY I THINK THAT. XDDD But WOW. Great fanservice…. XD Sexy. xP

AndTrignalcame out!

• -Hoshizora Sentiment
• -RAINBOW

God… of all the songs they had to do… they had to choose the two songs that were ballads and gave me too many feels. >___< They were both very beautiful songs… and during Rainbow, there was an animation of a rainbow forming in the background. AHHHH… It’s like how I remembered it was… for Trignal’s live last year.

After that, Kamiya!

• -Neverland Glitter
• -Harenochi Hajimari no Hi – So actually, I don’t keep up with Kamiya’s songs but I do have this single!!! And I really like this song, too!! I was so happy to hear him sing it!!!

And finally, Yocchin finished it off. I was thinking that I didn’t see him as often compared to the other members! And he gave this emotional speech about how they do KiraFes every year as if it was their last time doing it (?) and his gratitude to the fans…. My feels… >______<

• -Anthem
• -Goodbye
• -The End

Like seriously… ;w; ahhhh

We started to chant “Encore!” for a while.

And finally Trignal came out!!! They would start the encore!! (And I believe all the members wore the KiraFes 2016 T-shirts for the encore.) And I was really surprised to hear them singing…

• -DARLING – IT’S SUCH A CUTE SONG. AND A SPECIAL APPEARANCE FROM NOBU! Nobugnal!!!! It was just full of fanservice!
• Nobu appeared sitting in a chair. And the Trignal members were singing to him. Wing pushed Nobu towards Egu when he did his solo part. Then he pushed Nobu towards Ryohei when it was his solo part who proceeded to HUG him (and thus not singing his lines because he was hugging him with two arms. Wing tried putting his mic towards Ryohei). AHHHHHH. AJSDF;AKWELF Then when it was Wing’s part, Wing hugged Nobu from behind. AHHHHH SO CUUUTE ASLDKFJALWE. Towards the end, one by one, they sung, “My Darling” while kneeling in front of Nobu while offering a hand. Nobu looked very flattered and was looking at all 3 of them, trying to decide. And he looked like he was gonna take Egu’s hand but chose Wing in the end. LOOOL Poor Egu. Then Nobu grabbed onto Wing’s arm and they skipped happily.

After the song, they talked a bit and talked about how they wanted to do Nobungal one day and they finally did! I think they said for when Nobu chooses one of them, it’s really just up to him. And Nobu said, “Maybe I’ll choose Wing again next time.” And Ryohei started acting like a little spoiled kid who can’t get what he wants. XDDD By sorta stomping his feet. XDD You know how Ryohei loves Nobu. XD

And of course, Nobu was the next one to sing! :3

• -ONE

I’m pretty sure Miyu must have joined him for this song though I don’t know why I don’t remember what happened here… XD

It was Miyu’s turn of course!

• ZIP ROCK! – AAAAAAAHHHHHH I was so happy to hear this song sung live!!! <3333 It’s one of my favorite songs by Miyu so AS;FJKAWLE And towards the end, Kamiya joined him and they danced together!!!! A’SD;FJLKAWE

I had been hoping for KAmiYU to sing a song together throughout KiraFes and they finally did!!! YAAAAAY!!! XD

• -my Proud my Play! - But what threw me off was the fact that I had never heard of the song they sung… I thought I had all of their songs because I really love KAmiYU… (Later, I found out it is from some tokuten… got to go find it…).

And of course, Kamiyawas next!

• -YELL – For this song, NamiDai joined him. Kamiya was running all around throughout the entire song (Wow, he has more stamina than me!) and NamiDai did the same but on the other side… But NamiDai looked like he was gonna DIE. He tried! XD Whenever they met in the middle, they high fived each other and when they met for the last time, Kamiya hugged NamiDai. Daawwwww I don’t think I see much skinship from Kamiya. XD

Then it was NamiDai’s turn!

• -Gekiatsu Chouzetsu Saturday Night!! – And yes, it was indeed Saturday night. XD They attached this bungee jump kinda thing… And he was AMAZING. FLIPPING CONSECUTIVELY AND FAST. WHILE SINGING. I’M SO AMAZED WITH HIM. XD Yocchin came out and asked the audience if anyone had seen NamiDai. And I was surprised to hear Yocchin call NamiDai, “Daisuke”! While NamiDai was flipping, Yocchin had this WTF face like… what the hell are you doing? He was just shaking his head and when NamiDai finally stopped and his song ended, Yocchin still had that face on and NamiDai looked like a little kid who looked like he did something wrong. XD It was seriously priceless.

Of course, Yocchin was next!

• Dream Flag – I believe this time, 3 Kiramune members joined him, carrying these big flags. They were waving them, too. I think there was Kakki, Miyu, and Wing(?). I thought that Miyu was very strong for being able to wave the flag constantly. XD

And finally Kakki!

• -Hikouki Kumo – I remember this song was very nice to listen to~

And all the members came out, wearing the T-shirts. Yay for Kiramune All Stars!

I think it was here when they all said their concluding thoughts about KiraFes 2016 and promoted their recent singles, DVDs, live tours, etc..

I remember quite a few members almost forgot to promote. XDDD Unfortunately, I forgot most of this part…. I know I yelled out Ryohei when it was his turn to talk. Oh! and I do remember…

• Nobu mentioned how it was great that he could do Nobugnal with Trignal. Cue Ryohei being unhappy. XD He also said how it would be cool if he and Kamiya could have a faceoff. XD And Kamiya looked at him with a serious face and basically went, “I accept your challenge.” XDDD
• Kamiya was the last one and he said he had a big announcement. He was gonna have his second live! And it would be held in Makuhari Messe, same as last year! XD He asked us not to post the setlist and what happened during KiraFes 2016… basically spoilers on twitter or any social media. XD One of them commented that NamiDai always immediately posts things on his blog and he said he would not do that. XDDD

And of course for the finale… they all sung!

• -EVER DREAM – AAAAAHHHHHH Lots of fanservice of course!!!
• -Bokura no Egaku Mirai –Of course they would sing this song! <3 They started off on this circle… so they were in a circle and that circle rose and moved around slowly.

And during the encore with all the members, suddenly a purple ball was thrown in front of the girl a row in front of me…. but it bounced off the seat in front of her so a girl two rows in front of me got it and she looked like the happiest girl in the world. I believe she was a Kamiya fan, too. But OH MY GOD… I have NEVER seen a ball thrown that close to me before. XD It was nice of Kamiya to throw it in our direction too because we weren’t so close to the stage either. XD

They all said thank you and left the stage. >____<

It felt like it was all a dream…. >___< I wish I could’ve gone on the second day, too, but I had work on Monday and last year, I was so exhausted from KiraFes what with it being  a very loooong live.

But wow, it was an amazing 5.5 hours of my life!!! I was a bit more familiar with the songs this year compared to last year so that was nice. And I love the songs that they sang this year! I was a bit sad I didn’t get to hear Get Together!! (I heard that they sung that on day 2 instead of Ever Dream) and more KAmiYU songs. But overall, I loved it. I love the stage setup for Saitama Super Arena because the stage setup extends from one end to the other and the members all sang from different positions each time, in consideration of all the fans! And they did so many cool things this year such as flying and doing skit-like stuff!  I was glad to get the seats that I got. I got a good view of all the members in general! I didn’t have to look at the screen that much!

• Kamiya - I really enjoyed Danger Heaven? And loved the fact he sung my favorite song by him!!!
• Yocchin – So cool as usual!!! <3
• NamiDai – I was surprised to see his cool side!!! XD
• Kakki – Too much awesomeness from him especially Lesson AtoB! And what’s with the sexiness!? XD
• Nobu – How can he be so cute and cool? XD
• Miyu – I could listen to him all day…. I love his voice and songs… >///< I look forward to his new album!
• Trignal – Egu – Oh god… such a dork as usual. XD
• Wing is just SO ADORABLE AS ALWAYS. He was waving to the fans a lot!
• Ryohei – ASJDF;AJKWEL AHHHHHH <333 My bias XD

Thanks Zoey and Sam!!! <3 I had fun seeing you guys again! And it was nice to meet you, Emi! And Rizu, unfortunately we didn’t get to meet but next time!!! I had tons of fun! I’m definitely going to KiraFes next year and I look forward to the DVD!

I’m gonna attend both days of Trignal’s live: Secret Garage in Yokohama in August. I actually won the tickets a while back. I will be going with Zoey, my Trignal buddy. XD And the last day is also my birthday so I’m really excited for that!!! AS;DJFLKAEW It’ll be the best birthday present. <3

Next up, Prince of Stride event fanreport! Since Emi has already done the afternoon session of that, I will do the night session! That will come up soon! (I should be free this weekend and I don’t have much to do at work on Monday so…look forward to that!


Thanks for reading this long post if you got to the end of this! <3

a-voice-of-my-own:

K so I had a little time off work and I decided to revisit Kodama Yuki’s; Kids On The Slope or “Sakamichi no Apollon”.

I re read the manga and sat down to FINALLY watch the anime. This one was a series I had avoided watching forever; due to a lot of descriptions of homoerotic tones, in reviews (which would be queerbating for this manga) and the emotional academic experience I have with the subcontext of the story’s subject matter.

Still, I’d always wanted to watch it. Not only because this Era captivates me, but my college studies surrounded it for a long while, and IT’S ABOUT MUSIC! It was directed by Watanabe Shinichiro of Cowboy Bebop fame, the music performed and composed for screen by the incredible Yoko Kanno, and all these years later; it’s still considered a masterpiece and a very very unique anime.

With the anime being condensed into just 12 episodes, from a 50 something chapter long manga; it truly did hold up to the story of youth, uncertainty, and unfair life lessons so well captured in Kodama’s original story.

It’s one that anyone can enjoy, esspecially if you have music fortifying your bones; but know that it does reference quite a lot of societal context, that may be under appreciated in its importance to the characters’ experiences, if you lack at least a basic knowledge of post WWII Japan, and the US occupation.

BUT it’s not a wartime or occupation centric story.

AND it’s not a BL.

It’s a story about that anxious awareness you have in your coming of age; knowing that you are both of the world and circumstances surrounding you, but are not actually in it yet. That time at the end of youth, when you don’t know how one switches from child to adult, but that it will happen, and…it just did. You could’ve blinked and missed it. Yet you can’t say for certain when or how exactly it occurred. You wish for the innocence and idleness of childhood, which at the time, you despised so much. If you’re lucky; you realize the things and people that shaped you, when that elusive moment innocence flew away, happened.

It’s also about the love found in only friendship. The kind of love found nowhere else, in life. A deeper understanding for another person, that cannot be compared to the love of family, or romance; it’s just more than that.

This is why I say; making reference to underlying homoerotic tones, in regards to this story, would be queerbating. There’s nothing queer about it. The two main characters love eachother, intrinsically. They are both male, and they share deeply intimate moments. Yet they’re the kind of moments that can’t be experienced really, in the same way one would expect them to be understood, if they were shared between lovers or even family.

They are simply, eachother’s person.

They also made a live rendition The story is told in a different way, from both the manga and the anime, but it is soooo good. The order of events, and some of the details of circumstances, are changed around (a lot of the darker elements are completely omitted) but it’s done so in a way that allows the main characters’ friendship, to shine a little more pure.

Komatsu Nana (Ritsuko)

Chinen Yuri (Kaoru)

Nakagawa Taishi (Sentaro)

I’ve never seen Komatsu play such a sweet character, and she was very good at showing those subtle reveals of deep emotions, churning inside.

I also thought it was genius to cast Chinen, a JPop idol as Kaoru; since he’s much moodier and insensitive in the manga. Part of his growth is in consideration of others feelings, and that little touch of diva, did the trick while keeping him more approachable for the more upbeat tone of the film version.

Nakagawa is known for rom coms and comedy variety skits, aswell as popular dramas. And he’s the live action Ryota from Your Lie In April! And the live action Arata in ReLife! IRL he’s a big goofball who does a lot of children’s events. That somehow lent a strong vulnerability to even his most violent scenes.

Keep reading

K so I had a little time off work and I decided to revisit Kodama Yuki’s; Kids On The Slope or “Sakamichi no Apollon”.

I re read the manga and sat down to FINALLY watch the anime. This one was a series I had avoided watching forever; due to a lot of descriptions of homoerotic tones, in reviews (which would be queerbating for this manga) and the emotional academic experience I have with the subcontext of the story’s subject matter.

Still, I’d always wanted to watch it. Not only because this Era captivates me, but my college studies surrounded it for a long while, and IT’S ABOUT MUSIC! It was directed by Watanabe Shinichiro of Cowboy Bebop fame, the music performed and composed for screen by the incredible Yoko Kanno, and all these years later; it’s still considered a masterpiece and a very very unique anime.

With the anime being condensed into just 12 episodes, from a 50 something chapter long manga; it truly did hold up to the story of youth, uncertainty, and unfair life lessons so well captured in Kodama’s original story.

It’s one that anyone can enjoy, esspecially if you have music fortifying your bones; but know that it does reference quite a lot of societal context, that may be under appreciated in its importance to the characters’ experiences, if you lack at least a basic knowledge of post WWII Japan, and the US occupation.

BUT it’s not a wartime or occupation centric story.

AND it’s not a BL.

It’s a story about that anxious awareness you have in your coming of age; knowing that you are both of the world and circumstances surrounding you, but are not actually in it yet. That time at the end of youth, when you don’t know how one switches from child to adult, but that it will happen, and…it just did. You could’ve blinked and missed it. Yet you can’t say for certain when or how exactly it occurred. You wish for the innocence and idleness of childhood, which at the time, you despised so much. If you’re lucky; you realize the things and people that shaped you, when that elusive moment innocence flew away, happened.

It’s also about the love found in only friendship. The kind of love found nowhere else, in life. A deeper understanding for another person, that cannot be compared to the love of family, or romance; it’s just more than that.

This is why I say; making reference to underlying homoerotic tones, in regards to this story, would be queerbating. There’s nothing queer about it. The two main characters love eachother, intrinsically. They are both male, and they share deeply intimate moments. Yet they’re the kind of moments that can’t be experienced really, in the same way one would expect them to be understood, if they were shared between lovers or even family.

They are simply, eachother’s person.

They also made a live rendition The story is told in a different way, from both the manga and the anime, but it is soooo good. The order of events, and some of the details of circumstances, are changed around (a lot of the darker elements are completely omitted) but it’s done so in a way that allows the main characters’ friendship, to shine a little more pure.

Komatsu Nana (Ritsuko)

Chinen Yuri (Kaoru)

Nakagawa Taishi (Sentaro)

I’ve never seen Komatsu play such a sweet character, and she was very good at showing those subtle reveals of deep emotions, churning inside.

I also thought it was genius to cast Chinen, a JPop idol as Kaoru; since he’s much moodier and insensitive in the manga. Part of his growth is in consideration of others feelings, and that little touch of diva, did the trick while keeping him more approachable for the more upbeat tone of the film version.

Nakagawa is known for rom coms and comedy variety skits, aswell as popular dramas. And he’s the live action Ryota from Your Lie In April! And the live action Arata in ReLife! IRL he’s a big goofball who does a lot of children’s events. That somehow lent a strong vulnerability to even his most violent scenes.

The story takes place in late Showa Era; mid 1960s to mid 1970s, during a significant period of courtship (if you wanna call it that) between Japan and the US. This is the generation after approximately 230 THOUSAND Japanese civilians were massacred by the US Airforce. The story also takes place in the southern Kyushu prefecture of Nagasaki; one of the two cities annihilated by the American nuclear attacks. During this period; you see a country emerging from military occupation, radically changing in its internal view of itself, and becoming the 2nd strongest world economic power.

Yet for this generation itself; young adults were torn between a nationality steeped in exclusive tradition, and recognizing their identities in the world outside of their nationality. The story can be somewhat viewed as an allegory between not only the “youth” lost of Japanese identity, but also the marriage of modern Japanese and American cultures. There’s a whole history there, that I won’t go into in this post, but some notable points are as follows:

Japanese and American cultures are innately almost the exact opposite, in every way, yet there has been a long standing fascination with each other. There’s just some sort of symbiotic relationship in the two countries’ pop culture.

The US occupation of Japan (1945-1952) changed Japan inside and out, and while the country of Japan is roughly only the size of California; there are close to 100 US military bases throughout the islands and mainland. The US is the only country to have ever invaded Japan.

The phenomenon of what is some times refered to as “children of ash” were the children of US soldiers by Japanese civilian mothers. In most cases; abandoned by their own families, they were outcasts in their own communities. The majority were illegitimate, and often the result of rape.

Debated cival unrest on local levels, due to student protests by the Communist Youth Party, The pro Russian Socialists, and those who fought to rid the American presence from Japan.

Catholicism set up shop and began to convert the locals to Christianity; who had suddenly found themselves poverty stricken, traumatized, and quickly losing their identity as a people.

Jazz; a uniquely American music, was embraced and made even better, by Japanese musicians of the Showa Era. Yet it went hand in hand with American soldiers and businessmen, as they were often the audience. Young Japanese men played to groups of blatantly racist foreigners and occupying personnel, amid the introduction of hard drugs, openly sexual promiscuity, and arrogance that they brought with them. All of which, was also uniquely Western, to them.

So now that you’re up to speed on a lot of the underlying dark tones of the story; know that these themes are mostly brushed over in the manga and anime, and are almost completely left out of the live action film. The story wasn’t really written for an audience outside of Japan, so these points are just known to Japan’s audience. Also, the majority of the dialogue is in a Kansai type dialect, so you definitely want to watch with subtitles.

Kaoru (a pianist) is a moody, introverted young man from the city. His father is a sailor of some sort (not military but probably a merchant) and though they have a loving relationship; due to his business, Kaoru is moved around to different relatives. He’s wealthy, intelligent, speaks and reads English, and his family is very Westernized. He’s moved into his Aunt and Uncle’s mansion in Sasebo Nagasaki, where he’s expected to follow in his Uncle’s footsteps, and become a doctor.

Sentaro (a drummer) is the child of a local girl and an American soldier. We know from a glimpse of a photo; his parents were involved for at least a brief time. Shortly after his birth though; he’s abandoned to the village priest, and later raised by his mother’s family. Though he calls his Aunt and Uncle, Mom and Dad; no one in the family or the village accepts him, save for his Aunt. He’s massive in size, has reddish brown hair and light eyes, and inherented an almost entierly American, boorishness demeanor.

Side note for my Given readers; there’s a lot of Sentaro reminiscent aspects to Akihiko. Besides being a half white drummer; I honestly wonder if the character inspired Kizu.

Both boys were abandoned by their mothers as infants, and while Kaoru’s father is just always away; Sentaro never even knew his. In the manga and the anime; there is a deep theme that women are so easily overlooked and yet so incredibly vital, in the raising of kind young men. The film leaves this out, but it’s not to disregard its importance in life or the story; it’s that they left out all of the instances of lack of consent, which indirectly leads the boys to understanding the traumas and strengths, of their own mothers. So if you watch the film first; you may have some unexpected and unsettling moments, watching the anime. They also leave the topic of political activism and drug use out of the film. Those topics served the context of the society the boys live in, and isn’t as relevant in the film.

Everyone in town is terrified of Sentaro; his laugh is too loud, his stride is too outspoken, he comes and goes as he pleases; getting into fights as if it’s funsies and smiling while doing so. One nuance to the character; is that he smiles big, just showing all those teeth, and talks while he’s eating (not just with his mouth full) which at this time would have still been extremely rude for even a male. The whole town treats him as if he’s an outsider, like he didn’t grow up with them. As a small child; the other children beat him and called him “America” as if he represents the very people invading their world, all by himself.

But inside this man sized 15 year old, beats the heart of a joyous and unconditionally loving child. He’s adored by his Aunt’s tribe of young biological children, and cares deeply for his community, including the Catholic church which he adamantly attends. So much so; Kaoru exclaims at one point; he’ll surely be a natural father, surrounded by happy children, as an adult. Sentaro describes Kaoru as his angel.

When Kaoru arrives in town; he’s singled out immediately by classmates, due to his intellectual way of speaking, his girlish face, and small stature. Yet being a bit of a standoffish dick; he’s the only one of them to “stand up to” the seemingly dangerous Sentaro. Interstingly, he also represents American influence; in that he comes from a family that has completely assimilated. Eventhough he’s more traditional in his mannerisms, and even his physical appearance; he’s all business and reformed etiquette. The two together, mirror two very different Americanized people. A big part of this is subtlety shown in the different ways they go about trying to flirt with girls. He has also lost touch with language, as he speaks English better than local dialects. Eventhough, there are dozens of ways to speak Japanese; it’s a serious problem for him, as he moves around. He can’t understand what his own people are saying.

With the encouragement of Ristuko, who’s father runs the local record store; the two bond over jazz, in a secret practice room, in the basement of the shop. She acts as a sort of guardian over both of them, and she and her father seem to be the only people in town, that know Sentaro is an actual ray of sunshine.

There’s a lot of crushing going on with the boys, as a sort of love triangle forms in Ristuko’s heart, throughout their three years of highschool. And another with Yurika, between Sentaro and Jun; an older musician whom Sentaro idolizes. Yet the main “love story” is between Sentaro and Kaoru.

In their case, the akai ito red string of fate; is represented as Ristuko’s blue yarn. Blue meaning something pure and stable. Both boys suffer extreme attachment trauma, and while Kaoru expresses his as admittedly, not being able to get along with or let other people in; Sentaro expresses his as never letting himself grieve for his excruciatingly unfair circumstances. One of the most heartwrenching scenes in every adaptation, is when he finally let’s himself cry, and sobs uncontrollably into Kaoru’s arms.

In the anime; without knowing subcontext; some of the racial discrimination is easily missed. In the film; they really draw on it, most prominently by adding to a scene where American soldiers are talking shit about the boys while they’re trying to play a set. Throwing slurs at Kaoru and Jun, who is their vocalist and trumpet player, and picking up on the fact that Sentaro is probably one of their “responsibilities”, to put it “nicely”. The scene is even more difficult to watch, knowing both Kaoru and Jun speak English, but Setaro doesn’t understand a word they’re saying.

There is never a moment of sexual or even romantic tension between the two, boys. They experience friendship in its deepest form. Yes they squabble like they’re dating, and no one else knows what’s good for the other. Have throw down fights, followed by silent treatments and angry faced acts of service love language; like an old married couple. Piss eachother off, and know exactly how to soothe one another, like only close partners do. But not a single moment of it is homoerotic. It’s the pure love and joy, only found in those rarest of friendships, where you just know one another, even if you don’t yet know a lot ABOUT the other. Where you heal wounds, without trying to fix the other person, because you’re not looking at them like a mate whom you want to meet your expectations or needs. Instead it’s companionship where you speak eachother’s truths, and cannot be apart without experiencing painful sorrow. Even feeling jealousy at them being with someone else. Where you see the other’s beauty, as well as the faults, and love them all, because that is your person.

At one point; they meet some older men, who while watching them get drunk together; insist that they must treasure eachother, no matter what, because true friendship like theirs’ is forever. For life; through the good and the bad. Their relationship captures the newness of growing from a sweaty, awkward boy; into first loves, and fist fights, and broken hearts. All while being told you’re becoming a man, and there are expectations in that; because men are unfairly expected to make marks on the world. Being told this by adults, who seem to irronically always forget that you are the litteral future expectation, and you’re learning from their all too often, poor examples. Those tedious moments of discovering your ability to be made into a mumbling idiot; by first feels and falling out over your own idiocy. Trying to understand tenderness, and your own terrible ability to be insensitively aggressive. As well as learning that it’s ok, rewarding, human, and HEALTHY to show affection and share intimacy with one another, as two young men. Eventhough half the time; Kaoru interjects that Sentaro isn’t his friend, they just play music together.

Viewing the two as a potentially queer interpretation of that love, only takes away from its profound wonder. Being a gay guy myself; obviously I don’t mean that because it’s QUEER, but because it would make it sexually romantic, which is not this story. They have moments of aversion to eachothers’ affections, that are part of being told men can’t be close, but it’s in childish humor. Sentaro tells Kaoru he’s only truly happiest, when they play music together. Kaoru says that he can’t be separated from him, and that their times together are his “favorite things”.

And they check eachother out, in platonic affection; the same way Sentaro teases Ritsuko, in the film, that she better tell him he looks good. Sentaro comments that Kaoru is pretty and sensitive, and Kaoru exclaims in jealousy, that Sentaro is so handsome; sometimes he takes even his breath away. He acknowledges his impressive, natural masculinity, while Sentaro acknowledges Kaoru’s gentility …but it’s all in admiration and innocent honesty. This too can be seen as that mirror, of two very differently Americanized Japanese men. The two are physically very different, and if you look back at this time in history (not the understanding of toxic male perception, now) Americans were admired as being effortlessly “masculine”.

There’s a whole sort of set of rules for what constitutes being “masculine”, between the two cultures. I’ve written on it before, but for a moment; for the sake of this story’s setting, unlearn what we now understand about the former misconceptions of what it means to be a male. In that time and place; the American men young Japanese boys were exposed to, were big US soldiers. Their average height, was 5'9" to 6 foot. They were muscular, broad shouldered, loud, and assertive, with strong faces and big eyes. Eventhough Sentaro is despised for physically being all of these things; that’s still where young Japanese men at the time, were trying to get to. The average height and weight of a Japanese man at the time, as just over 5 foot, and Americans had them out weighed by a good 20-40 pounds.

Both boys represent to one another, what the other will never be; as perceived by other people. Kaoru who is small and reserved; finds that being courageous and taking the lead in his own life, doesn’t mean he has to be outlandish. By the end, he’s grown his hair and walks with a beautiful air of quiet masculinity and grace. There’s a whole thing with the song “One Day My Prince Will Come” and he does infact grown into one version of a modern prince. Sentaro on the other hand, will never not look white, and his bold presence can be one that instills inspiration and joy, rather than fear or disdain. As a child; he wacks off all of his beautiful, wavey auburn hair; in an attempt to have some kind of control over the way he looks, and declares he’ll use his size and strength, to protect himself.

One part that is always declared to be queer coded (and trust me, I get why) is when the two first see eachother. It’s not supposed to be romantic sexually; it’s romantic interpersonally. Sentaro is in high sunlight, and revealing his face, he’s almost angelic, in an iconic western kind of way. Yet he looks up into Kaoru’s face and thinks HE’S dreaming of an actual angel, because he’s so lovely looking down at him in the light. They are what eachother is told, they should be more like. Really it’s just the sun in their eyes, which I always felt was the mangaka referencing to [the sun rises in the East/sets in the West] but that is their first impression of the other. Sentaro is this impossible vision of unobtainable Westerner presence and command (which we all know is absurd) in the moment Kaoru first realizes he’s another boy. Irronically (absolutely NOT Western) when the Japanese express that even people can be kami; Sentaro is an example of that. Someone who’s presence you can’t disregard, but is unexplainable in their sort of unknown power over the people around them. In another allusion to their sense of self worth; Karou apparently looks like what Sentaro would imagine angels look like. Which to him, is not at all Western; Karou’s delicate, and small, and unmistakably East Asian. This says a lot about Sentaro’s internalized subconscious self; considering he’s a devout catholic, which is the branding iron of western control. Ironic; a Christian diety would look like a Japanese person, to him and Karou himself, even being very Americanized, thinks Christians are odd. This fascination they instinctively feel, is absolutely a form of being in love, but takes on a vicarious, platonic version of it.

The story ends in a twist, and it’s one of those stories that you wonder; how could this possibly end in a satisfactory way for the audience. Yet it’s entirely satisfying and poignant. Without it being sappy or just fanservice. Completely unexpected; the film changes the ending up a little, and it’s even BETTER!

The film is such a beautifully sweet tear jerker, compared to the original’s darker angst, but I absolutely loved every minute of it, and felt the changes were done respectfully to the original. It’s easier to follow, without knowing the subcontexts, but difficult to find, to watch. If you intend to watch the anime or read the manga; I would recommend doing so before watching the film. If you want to watch the film only, it’s a really wonderful stand alone story, and the actors did exceptionally well !!

Anime only:

Side note worth mentioning: During this time; the Beatles had just started taking over rock and roll. Rock was still viewed as a sort of cheap, and dirty music, mostly because of the use of expensive electric guitars, and blatant marketing to underage girls. Simping had been discovered, as a means to sell music; which left a bad taste in the mouths of other musicians. Before music acts on that scale; making music wasn’t about making money or even really fame; it was about being appreciated and respected for your talent.

Okamoto Nobuhiko; My Hero Academia’s Bakugo, voices a boy named Seiji, who heads up a Beatles-esque boy band! He does an INCREDIBLE job in the anime, of being both adorable, and cringey! I really love Okamoto’s cutesy characters

☆Sentaro is voiced by Hosoya Yoshimasa:

My Hero Academia; Tokoyami

Katsuya Honda (Tohru’s dad) in the upcoming Fruits Basket; Prelude

My fave character in Horimiya; Ishikawa

Ensemble Stars (Enstars) Trickstars’ leader; Hokuto Hidaka

and a BUNCH of sports anime characters:

Prince of Tennis/Free!/Haikyuu!!/Yuri On Ice etc

☆Kaoru is voiced by Kimura Ryouhei:

Who’s characters you’d most likely recognize are:

Kuroko no Baskuke; Kise

Free!; Hiyori

Haikyuu!!; Koutaro

sunset–haze:

Okamoto Nobuhiko’s Official LINE Blog!

これかららじがめ！

2018/8/28 21:44

Identity V!!!!

アイデンティティV！！！！

I’m taking my revenge—–!!

りべんじだーーーーー！！

Mr. Muscle fairy!!!

筋肉の妖精さん！！！