NMB48: West Tour 2013 in Osaka Orix Theater — Thoughts on some of the footage

I’m still missing her.

Remember how I said I didn’t care about AKB?

I feel that now, since Yui left, I don’t care about her anymore. NMB Yui was awesome. What’s she gonna do in AKB? Wasn’t she cool in NMB? She was all funny and contributed really well to the singles and everything.

*sigh*

So anyway, I think this was footage from TV show where they went around during this performance. There’s a mixture of backstage stuff and performances.

For some reason I think they look better when they’re not all idol-ed out. Also Maachun with the chest out!

When they were practicing, it just occurred to me how they all actually look their age. It makes me wonder how powerful makeup is in Japanese society. Although, there’s always that Asian conundrum, adults look like kids, kids look like adults, and everyone shares clothing.

The way they’re dressed and the way they look here though, definitely takes me backs to my university days.

This scene did give me some chills.

I used to be a staff member at Anime Expo, and I used to know some of the higher-ups. And one thing I really miss about it is being backstage, or being part of event planning, managing, getting the group together, and accomplish goals. I really miss that atmosphere, and unfortunately I don’t think it’ll ever come back. It really sucks too, because I feel like I was on the verge of something, but because of problems here and there, I had to give it up.

It’s the same kind of atmosphere here, when I see the team getting prepped and getting ready to deliver a performance. I really miss that. For being introverted, I really like event planning. And I was even the manager.

The HA! outfits are still one of my favorite outfits. I still would rank Doryoku no Shizuku as #1 though.

I was actually somewhat surprised with most of the perfomances. When I watch it, I feel like their production values could use just a little boost and they would be phenomenal.

On top of that, I like the concert venue too. The best concert I’ve ever attended (and probably will ever attend) was Utada Hikaru’s concert at the House of Blues. World class talent on a small stage. That memory will forever live on.

When I watch the dome concerts, they’re just cavernous. It’s just not the same.

Team B2!

One thing I’ve ignored is how the teams interact with each other. It was nice to see things like Milky fawning over a 4th gen, or even the MCs when B2 took jabs at M. We’re so used to everything being scripted on TV, it’s nice to see what goes on backstage sometimes, to know that it’s not all senbatsu all the time.

And Maachun doing some funny business.

As for the performances, I most appreciated Fuyu Shogun and Baatari Go!

That’s a little too much chest pumping for my liking, though.

Fuuchan has really grown on me. At first I knew her because of her terrible acting, her lengthy intro, and because Fuuchan is watching. Now it seems like she’s gaining a dimension in humor and seems to have a much warmer aura. She leads Fuyu Shogun and does it with style.

The other thing about Fuyu Shogun is that Hitomin actually shows up as an idol. She looks good in that role. Wonder if she’s just going to continue pursuing her dream of being a entertainer.

Get pumped.

Baatari go was one of the sleeper NMB songs for me. I’ve never seen it performed until now… and it was awesome. I love the energy, and they were really sharp with their performance. I feel like these are the kinds of songs that fit really well in ensembles.

Speaking of which, I really appreciate that in this concert, they perform full versions of all the songs. None of this TV-style, only half of the song performance, but a full on performance from the start. I really appreciate that, and it gives the feeling that it’s really a concert and not a marketing tool.

And they also had multi-team formations for some of the singles, so in that sense it was also pretty original.

Lastly, there’s always the side where they show people get injured or working hard. To me, that hurts.

The reason why it hurts, though, is because there’s this belief that that shows that they’re working hard. I don’t know about that. I’d rather enjoy a performance where they’re fully rested and relaxed instead of battling injuries and going to the ER because of exhaustion.

Kanakichi inhales this air afterward, then she starts talking like Nana.

I do see some good in this concert. Maybe I can dream that they come to the US. Once I hit 30, though, I’m not sure that I’ll stick with this, unfortunately…

Ganbarimaachun.