A Proper Write-Up On 2008 Wonderful Hearts Summer Concert

Click here for full tracklist because I can’t be bothered to take up the space here and I won’t necessarily mention all of the tracks.

First of all, this is just going to be a highlights post, because every other time I’ve done track-by-track concert reviews I have failed miserably. Another note, I think that all of the songs, or at least most of them, have had a great deal of time chopped straight out of the middle as well.

For the general opening, bits of it were a little lol-worthy. Especially the eggs doing their under the sea, swimming routine. But of course Summer = Hawaii is the general consensus.

Natsu LOVE Romance and Manatsu no Kousen are rather obviously lipsynched and I’m not quite sure if that’s okay with me yet, but I can feel the energy from both songs, and I have been converted to Manatsu no Kousen. I never liked it before. Of course Ai, Reina and Gaki really stick out here, but that’s because they’re the only focused on members.

Yes, Inaba Atsuko looks like she is hosting the Oscars. It’s really nice to see her here, she’s smiling and enthusiastic and I really like her now, even though we don’t have a Yaguchi Mari in the proceedings.

C-ute are the first group to perform without the back up crew. Two songs, Edo no Temari Uta II and Namida no Iro. I’m still questioning why most of the members have flying saucers on their heads, but I digress. I’m suddenly reminded why I like this song so much. It’s an energectic and fairly flawless performance but when the strains of Namida no Iro began I started to think… ‘In those outfits!?!’ But despite the wardrobe being in rather stark contrast to the song Airi and Maimi still embody the feeling of it really well. I love Airi’s lines. Plus, the dance is golden.

Following C-ute‘s very well performed set, we have Papancake by Koharu. And I no longer do not like this song. In fact I have listened to it several times today. Her vocal is good, even though it is pre-recorded, but her hyper-genki-ness is a joy to watch and she generally just performs the song. And then Anataboshi one of my favourite ever H!P songs. Lip-synched, but wouldn’t you want to be with all that hopping around? Trust me, you lose energy really quickly when you’re doing this dance.

Kikka and Saaya really impressed me here, they look so at home on the stage. I understand that they are eggs and have been performing in concert for a while but the confidence exuding from them is almost Morning Musume in quality. Needless to say, they keep up with Koharu very well.

I am also reminded why I like Yuke Yuke Monkey Dance so much as well. And if you needed any reminder of Maasa and Chinami’s awesomeness it’s right here. I love the audience participation in the verses! I so wish I was there to join in. Everyone’s sounding good, yes even Risako. Though I am slightly biased towards her, because she’s my favourite Berryz Koubou member. Especially that Wow! near the end, that rocks like heck because I don’t think I’ve heard Risako do that before.

After so long being rather ambivalent towards it I’m starting to actually fall in love with Resonant Blue. Despite there being the leads on this song there’s still decent enough coverage of all the other members. Thanks to this and a couple of tracks later on (which I will spazz about in due time) I’m really starting to like Reina a lot more and Ai is creeping back up my list, though she still irritates me ever so slightly. You know, I’m surprised I haven’t mentioned the outfits yet. They’re okay, but LinLin should have been given some sleeves, she looks like a badly drawn chibi at times. And while Lin’s looking like a small child, JunJun is hitting the performance on the head. She is seriously fierce in some of those shots… I mean really fierce. Risa just rules her parts as does Eri.

LinLin and Airi and an egg, who I’ve discovered is called Ogawa Saki, sing a nice little ballad. It’s nice to see LinLin with a good chance to shine because, personally, I think she has a great voice that more could be done with… and putting her with Airi hopefully means that other people think so too. And she’s not leading on just any song, oh no, it’s an Ayaya song Hajimete Kuchibiru wo Kasaneta Yoru. Vocally it’s very strong and Ogawa Saki is cute and she can hold her own.

Sayu and Risako’s version of Chu! Natsu Party is cute and fun. Ridiculous costumes and I still don’t particularly like Sayu, but eh… it’s worth a watch at least.

OKAY!!! Now it’s my time to spazz (this may be a very long paragraph)! High-King and Cinderella\Complex and Kioku no Meiro. It took me most of yesterday to find the right word to explain my feelings for this section of the concert. It’s my favourite part and I’m dissapointed that we’ll likely never hear anything more from High-King. The word that I finally came up with was ‘electrifying’. There’s so much energy and effort put in here that the atmosphere is tangible through my laptop screen. And despite the fact that I can’t understand most of what they’re singing I can somehow feel it, especially in Cinderella\Complex there’s something about the way Ai says her lines, and the expressions that make me think “Wow, I know what you mean” (even though I blatantly don’t). They’re all fabulous dancers too. Kioku no Meiro seems to fill the entire area with sound and is just generally amazing so I’m incredibly glad that it was performed. And can I just start a fanclub for Maeda Yuuka. I was sitting through most of KnM waiting to see if she’d get her solo chorus and YES SHE DID. I love her, she’s so cute, yet amazingly talented too. Plus she looks like a complete professional, even against all those H!P big shots. You have no idea how much I wish I cosplayed right now. (spazz over, you can come out from behind the sofa.)

This is the only MC I wil really talk about, apart from Inaba-san’s near the end. They bring back the tennis thing and the H-K girls answer questions while pretending to ‘rally’ with Makoto. And Reina is fail. Plus you realise how much she loves to talk. Yes, I really am beginning to like Reina. Yuukarin pwns with her cuteness and Saki looks like Gaki for a split second or four. There’s a little talk of Cinderella The Musical and Reina gives us a character preview that I did lol at.

I love Tokonatsu Musume so much I almost died when I heard it start to play and out came Risa, Eri and Aika. You know what, oddly enough I was disappointed when I discovered that I couldn’t see the shaka-hand movement thing properly, but that might be just because for the past two weeks I’ve been wandering around singing the song and that just stuck with me. Much like the fact that I’ve listened to and watched so much idol music I naturally respond to most questions with a peace sign. I love the dance break with the hula moves… but these girls generally are a lot more natural with dance than most of Coconuts Musume were.

JunJun gets her chance to shine next but I don’t care much for the song so… moving on. But well done JunJun.

Ah, wait. I don’t like Kousui much either. Moving on furthur.

The Buono! set is typical Buono! awesomeness and I’m not gonna talk about it too much because, honestly, you probably already know what to expect from a Buono! performance anyway. I will say that the girls are on top form all the way through Gachinko de Ikou! and Kiss!Kiss!Kiss! Oh, and that Airi’s Hai donmai is rather cute. No pun intended.

Berryz Koubou and C-ute team up again and relive the battle concert for a song or two. Massara Blue Jeans is a song I suddenly love and Special Generation isn’t quite there yet, but eh whatever. Those high notes are hit (Risako-voice-haters you may now eat your hats) and I still think that Mai is actually a twenty year old trapped in a younger body.

Now this is an MC that is really worth talking about. Inaba-san reads some messages from the members of Morning Musume + impressions. And it is amazing so I’m going to have to talk about all of them. Her Reina is absolutely hilarious, she’s got the attitude, even throwing in a wink and a CHANCE! XD She has a little bit of a problem remembering what to say for Aika, which is lol too. Usa-chan peace for Sayu. Her JunJun was rather accurate too from what I can gather. The Koharu-voice killed me dead the first time, absolutely and the look on Inaba-san’s face is totally “I can’t believe I just did that!”

I don’t like it when they end concerts with ballads but I’ll forgive them Ame no Furanai. Yes, I refuse to type the full title, because I can’t remember it. The most pointful thing to say about this performance is that only JunJun and LinLin get solo lines, their Chinese lines and the rest is sung by everyone. JunJun does really well but the focus is on LinLin and that last note. I love that moment from the first time I heard it and I love the fact that Jun’s singing along. As a side note Noto Arisa’s jumping really makes me worry for that microphone.

And as they walk off the stage to the strains of Ai Araba IT’S ALL RIGHT I find myself thinking that that is the most satisfying Hello!Project concert I’ve ever seen. Minus the battle concert. Two songs I didn’t enjoy, MilkyWay, High-King and most of all Inaba-san’s impressions mean that this is an amazing watch.

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Add a comment October 26, 2008