AKB48 Bunshin no Jutsu Tour – Team K’s Nanba Hatch Concert

Next up in my set of concert reviews is Team K’s Nanba Hatch concert. I’ll mention ahead of time that this review will be significantly shorter than my Team B concert review.

Korogaru Ishi ni Nare is the first song of the concert, and a perfect way to start a Team K show. Like Team B’s Shonichi, this is Team K’s signature song, and really is a good show opener. This is one of the few Team K songs that, in my opinion, ages quite well. It is a somewhat “old” song in regards to Team K stage shows, however, it holds up well against the more recent stage songs. When this song first debuted, the A and K stages of the time were a lot more…subdued…if you will. They were actually quite boring, however this song stood out due to its heavy rock style.

Saishuu Bell ga Naru is next on the list. This is my favourite Team K song…of all time, and likely will remain as such. Its just so awesome. This is the kind of K song I like; songs that almost breach into the category of heavy metal. Heck, B and A need songs like this. The more heavy-metalish songs in AKB48 Stages…the better.

The next songs on the set list are Saka Agari and Ki ni Naru Tenkousei. Not my favourite Team K song by far, but they’re not terrible..I guess. The performances here are still pretty good though. I always thought these songs were just way to generic, and I was disappointed that Saka Agari is the title song of K5. I doesn’t really deserve to be.

Blue Rose is another K song that “ages well” in my opinion. As always, we get a stellar performance from Sayaka, Sae, Yuka and Ohori, as they go all out. This is defenitly one performance to check out.

The next set of songs is essentially the unit song group from K5: Endroll, Wagamama na Nagareboshi, Dakishimeraretara, and Mushi no Ballad. While all these songs are great, and the performances are equally great (especially Wagamama, but I’ll get to that in a sec)..where the hell is Ai no Iro? That is likely the BEST song out of K5, and its not here? What the hell? I did enjoy the performance of Wagamama na Nagareboshi quite a bit though, because right near the end of the song, Erena just goes right over to Kana and kicks her, right out of the blue, then they go back to singing like nothing happened. It seems kind of tacked on, but its so freaking funny. Now, it likely has something to do with the lyrics, but still, its just funny to watch.

Ame no Doubutsuen and Kimi wa Pegasus are next. Ame is a fairly decent song, and the performance is cute, especially with all the animal costumes. Surprisingly, Nonti is the cutest in this performance, then again it helps that she’s in the Panda costume, and Panda’s are always cute. Of course, Pegasus kicks ass as always, but I liked this performance over any other because of the inclusion of Yuko. She can make any performance better IMO.

(Insert SKE48 songs here)

Nounai Paradise and Shamu Neko are up now, and while Nounai is a fairly decent song (though, not one of my favs), I have to admit I do not like Shamu Neko at all. Everyone else seems to love it, but..I just can’t bring myself to like it. I kinda find it a bit of an annoying song to be perfectly honest. Guess its just not my cup of tea.

Hitei no Requiem, Melos no Michi, Tenohira are the last 3 songs before the encore set. Hiten no Requiem is a song that puzzles me nowadays. Reading the lyrics, it is obvious that the song is about a suicide, however, the beat and sounds of the overall song just do not fit the lyrics. Doesn’t matter though, the song is great, as is this performance. Melos is great as well, a really strong son to pump you up and get you going (and the girls performance reflects this in a way). I’ve also come to love Tenohira as of late. I always thought it was an odd song to use to begin K5 (to me, ballads should really be at the end, but hey…) but I really think it might be AKB’s best ballad yet. Its just really soothing and just puts you into a good mood listening to it. The performance here isn’t too special, but its a ballad, so its all about the singing, and nothing else.

The first encore song and the last in the review (the next 3 songs are just the singles, but I already went over them in the B concert review, and there’s nothing new here) is Hana to Chire!. To be honest, they kinda ruined it by doing a shortened version. Its screws up the pacing of the song and just makes it sound odd in a way. But, its still cool song anyway.

It became very apparent while watching this concert that, as of now, the current Team K is my least favorite team. However, it has nothing to do with the girls. I actually have quite a few favourites in Team K. What is it then? Its the songs. Team K just doesn’t have a lot of great songs. Or at least not a lot that I am overly fond of. There’s a couple here and there that I truly love, but its really hit and miss…just like this concert. So overall, its a decent show, but not nearly as enjoyable as Team B’s concert.

Ok, so thats Team K done. Hopefully, I’ll have a review of Team A’s concert up soon. Then its on to the Budokan concert and the shuffles.

And another one bites the dust…

So for the last 2 months or so in World of Warcraft, My main (a Death Knight) has been a member of a guild known as The Juggernauts. It was a great guild in my opinion. We did raids regularly, however we never really finished any. But to me, that didn’t matter, considering we actually GOT INTO the raids. I’ve been in a number of guilds where we wouldn’t even get into the raid due to not being able to get enough people or people just being jerks and joining and leaving and whatnot. The fact that we were able to get raids going (which seems to be getting harder and harder nowadays) was just great for me. I also really liked the members of this guild. They were great to play with. And that really goes along way in WOW.

Now, over the last week, things were kinda quiet. I didn’t think of it much as there are always going to be periods of downtime. So imagine my shock when I logged on the other day to find that pretty much all the main raiders had left the guild. Hell, the Guild Master had even left.

Not good. Not good at all.

I logged in yesterday to do some of my dailies, and found I was no longer in the guild. The Juggernauts were officially dead.

Right now, Guilds in WoW are really nothing more than social networks in which to chat and get groups together for instances. This is why I am excited for Cataclysm, in which Guilds will become so much more. The Guild system in Cata will allow for guilds to progress towards special bonuses and the like, which in my opinion, will give guilds a lot more reasons to stick around, and for people to stick around as well. Right now, there is no real draw to stay in a guild, though really if you want to raid you need a guild.

Now, I just need to find a new guild…god I hate doing that, considering most guilds on my server don’t need anymore Death Knights.

On another note, I’m beginning to think I will NEVER get my Polar Bear mount from the Brunnhildar Village daily quest(s). Seriously, I’ve been doing that quest for months, and still no damn bear. I understand making something rare, but come on, this is almost ridiculous. From what I’ve read, it has a 1% drop rate (from the spoils bag you get from completing the quest), so really, every time you complete the quest, you have a 1% chance of getting it. Pretty dumb if you ask me. But hey, guess I just gotta keep doing the quest, it has to drop sometime…

AKB48 Bunshin no Jutsu Concert Tour – Team B Zepp Nagoya Concert

So this past week the latest AKB concert tour was released on DVD. I myself have never been able to justify buying one of these INCREDIBLY overpriced concert box-sets AKB releases on what seems like a regular basis now. Yeah sure, this set has the 3 separate Team concerts, plus the one huge Budokan concert, but $340 is a little much. Hell, I have the boxset for Stargate SG-1, which includes all 10 seasons (which encompasses well over 200 episodes) and from what I remember, that was only a little over $100. Then again, Japanese media being overpriced for what you get shouldn’t come as a surprise to me. I do buy music singles after all…

But anyway, I’m getting off topic. I figured that for my next big set of posts, I’d review the concerts myself (or at least my favorite shuffle groups in regards to the massive Budokan concert) First up will be the Team B concert (obviously…) at Zepp Nagoya.

First up, I will mention that SKE48 Team S performs in both Team B’s and Team K’s concerts (strange how they don’t perform in Team A’s…seems like more Team A favoritism there, they don’t have to share their concert). However, in Team K’s concert, 8 members from Team KII are also present. In both concerts, they perform the same 3 songs, so I will only be including my thoughts on these songs during this review of Team B’s concert, if only because I don’t care to review the same 3 songs twice. That would be kind of redundant.

Of course, Team B’s concert starts out with their iconic song, Shonichi. I think this is a given when doing a Team B show, its THEIR song. This song is just so full of energy and really puts a smile on your face while watching. While I myself am a bit of a metal head when it comes to music, I do like these kind of songs from time to time, especially when your not in a good mood. The message Shonichi’s lycircs put across is really good at giving you a happy feeling, and don’t we all need that from time to time? Anyway, this is a great way to start the show.

Joshikousei wa Yamerarenai is next, and I’ve always loved this song. Its damn catchy (though that might have something to do with how much it sounds like Morning Musume’s Love Machine, which is also damn catchy) and the performance is really cute. All the girls dancing around with those little stuffed teady bears is just adorable. This is defenitly one of the best songs from B4, so I’m glad they put it in this concert.

Minasanmo go Isshoni is defenitly an interesting song, and one of my favorite B4 songs. However, I’ve always felt that the opening instrumental goes on for a little too long, but that might just be me. If their’s one song that showcases just how high energy Team B is, its this one. This song is an example of someone taking a regular song and speeding it up about 5 times its normal speed.

‘ll be honest, prior to this concert, I hadn’t listened to Wasshoi B! all that much. It just wasn’t really my type of song. However, after seeing it in this concert, I have a great appreciation for it. This is another song that is undoubtedly Team B’s song (I’m sure they could remix it for the other Teams, but it just wouldn’t be the same). Its a cut song, there’s no doubt about that, but the fact that its a song about Team B just makes it a joy to listen to, especially to a hardcore B fan like myself.

We next start the unit song set of the concert, starting with kuchiutsushi no chocolate. This one’s a strong favourite of mine. It features Yukirin as the lead, so that’s one plus. Second, its just a great sounding song overall, plus, its likely one of AKB48’s naughtiest songs to date, though this makes me question the choice of Lovetan and Naachan in this song, considering their a little too young for a song like this. The thing I like about this song the most is how it showcases just how great and variable Yukirin’s vocals are. Normally, she has a very strong, clear singing voice, but here, she has higher, almost desperate sounding vocals. The fact that she can change her singing pitch to fit the songs mood and style is really a testament to just how damn good a singer she is.

My other favorite B4 song, Itoshiki Natasha, is next. This song, and the trio who perform it, are just the embodiment of awesome. Haachans vocals are beyond amazing as usual, and she really makes this song for me. I also love just how powerful this song is. The dance routine with the stand mikes is just so Rock/Metal, and this performance actually seemed to have more power behind it than when I saw it on the LOD performance. It sucks though that they performed a shortened version of this song during the concert (as they did with quite a few songs actually) but still, defenitly one of the top songs of the concert.

Tenshi no Shippo is next. What can I say about this song. Its an overload of cute. I have always liked this song. The vocals are quite good despite the girls not being the best singers in Team B(well, except for Tomomi Nakatsuka, who has a surprisingly strong controlled voice). However, this is such a peppy tune I can’t help but love it to death.

Kataomoi no taikakusen is a strong favorite of mine from B4, however, this particular performance is a bit conflicting for me. Rumi and Moeno are fantastic as they always are in this song. Both look damn good doing it as well. In this performance, Komori Mika is the third girl, and I’m not sure about her yet. She seems like a decent enough singer, however, her stage presence really needs some work. She shows almost no emotion at all for a good portion of this concert, and her movements are VERY stiff. She almost seems like she doesn’t care…sort of like a certain Team A frontgirl….But anyway, I really hope she improves by the time the new Stages start, as I believe she’s part of the new Team B. Her participation in this unit kinda brought it down a bit for me, but it was still a great performance. I especially liked how much they focused on the back dancers, especially Yukirin in red. Hell, I think she might have had more screen time than the leads during this performance.

pajama drive is a song I’ve always liked, though I think it could benefit from stronger vocals. It features who are in reality the worst singers of Team B (Harugon, Naachan and Mayu) however, I guess in the context of the song they fit perfectly in it. Not much to say about this performance other than that It’s pretty good.

Junjou Shugi is without a doubt my favorite song from B3. It’s an awesome sounding song, and Haachan is in the lead. Thats a win win right there. Moeno and Nakayan are in this particular performance, and while Moeno does a fantastic job, as usual, I still don’t think Nakayan fits in this much. She is a great performer, but her vocals just don’t fit with Haachan’s or Moeno’s. Yukirin would have been a perfect fit here in my opinion. Nonetheless, its still a fantastic performance, but again, its shortened, so that makes me sad.

Kagami no naka no jean d’arc is such an awesome song, excluding it from this concert would have been heresy in the eyes of any Team B fan. This is one of the few (if not the only) Unit songs in this concert to feature Kohara in it, and I really enjoyed seeing her in this concert. She just seems to enjoy everything she does. Too bad she’s now part of SDN48, and not even one of the main team members either. She was great in this song, and so was everyone else in it as well. I love just how rock this song is.

We know move on to SKE48’s little portion of the concert. Now, I am a recent SKE48 convert, so I enjoyed their little part of the show. The first song they perform is the title track of their 2nd Stage, Te wo Tsunaginagara. I remember reading a review on this stage over at CK’s AKB48 blog, and he mentioned how this song was “so K4”, however, I just don’t see that. Its a great song, don’t get me wrong, however, I don’t think it has a Team K feel to it. Still, a great song, and I really enjoyed the performance here. Next, they perform SKE48, which is really just a remixed version of AKB48. I actually like SKE’s version better, to be honest. IT just seems to flow better for some reason. I would have preferred them to perform another stage song from S2, maybe even a unit song, but this is ok I guess. To finish off their little set, Team S performs their debut single song, Tsuyokimono yo. Now, if any SKE song has a Team K feel to it, its this one. This is one damn awesome debut song. This performance is great as well, and really shows off how powerful this song is. Overall, SKE’s performances are great, and they are really taking off as a great Idol group. I’m also really warming up to the fact that Jurina Matsui as one of the front girls of this group. For someone so young, she has great potential, and in all honesty, she a fantastic performer even know. The thing that gets me is just how happy she seems when she is on stage. That goes a long way for me. The only thing I have to complain about here is the lack of Yui Matsushita. I don’t remember seeing her once. I wish they would have shown her a little more (seeing as she’s my fav SKE member) Ah well…

Team B returns to the stage now with Two years later from B3. Another strong performance here. Nothing too special to say here. Great performance overall. Same with the next few songs, yokosuka curve, kobushi no seigi (which is always a fav of mine, I love the outfits, so badass), suifu wa arashi ni yume wo miru and arigatou. All these songs are great, but I really don’t want to go over most of them again, considering I talked about most of them in my B4 review, and the performances here are just as good.

The First of the encore songs is my favourite from B4, B Stars. Now, most people always complain that this song says B way too many times, but I don’t care. I love it. Its so high energy and just damn fun to listen too. It really gets you going. The performance here is awesome. Did I mention I love this song? Can’t say that enough…

The last 3 songs are the last 3 singles at the time, Namida Surprise!, Oogoe Diamond and Iiwake Maybe. I still don’t like Namida, so I won’t even bother talking about it. I always love hearing Oogoe. Its one AKB song that never gets old for me. Team B puts on a great performance of it here. Team B’s rendition of it is very unique in how its sounds compared to when the other teams perform it, likely due to the range of vocal ability Team B has. The Iiwake performance is also great, though I wonder if its a good way to end the concert. I kinda like it when they do ballads to end off a stage/concert. Their the perfect ending songs. But oh well, Iiwake kicks ass, so I guess its pretty good to use as an ending song.

And so ends Team B’s Nagoya concert. All in all, it was fantastic. Team B is always a joy to watch perform, and this concert is no exception.

One thing that really hit home with me while I was watching this was the fact that I’m really going to miss the current Team B. It hit me that this was likely one of the last times in concert that they were going to perform together as Team B. While the new Team B has definite promise, it will NEVER reach the level the current lineup did. So to that, I say goodbye to the current Team B lineup. You guys kicked ass on so many levels, and no one could compare to you.

Original Team B, you will be missed, dearly.