#I mean good god even twitter is using itself to train AI but it's focused on categorizing tweets and for ads

[venacoeurva]

If Tumblr DOES end up scraping our data for training it's irritating but at this point I'm just so tired of this shit I almost can't bring myself to care, really, which isn't helpful but what can I fucking do. I rely on social media to survive, and we keep having to move or the risk of having to move. Other sites will do it, other sites did it, and even if Tumblr decides not to sell data to midjourney and such or this is some advanced hearsay, scrapers would access our blogs anyway as they do any other site, so it feels kind of just... moot regarding training until actual regulation and legal precedents are set in place?

That being said, I wonder if it will fall through if it hasn't already with the implosion of Matt being himself and people lawyering up against him/Tumblr, and the scraping plans and data selling could very likely be a data privacy violation in at least some places

[arbs-high-quality-translations]

arb’s high quality live reflections: Aqours 3rd Live Tour Fukuoka Day 1

I had actually written one of these for Saitama, but I ended up not finishing it until after Osaka. Oops.

The venue

Since I have school Monday morning, I couldn’t fly and instead went to the notorious Shinjuku Piccadilly, former home of fights and ietaiga, for LV. Though, things seem to have calmed down quite a bit since the beginning of the year. And I mean quite a bit. The theater was honestly deader than NA DV for the first two hours or so. After a few surprises, the energy started rising, and by the end we were fine, but the first half or so of the live definitely could have used more energy.

Since it’s my first time LV instead of DV or venue, I expected my experience to be like a “lesser” version of what people actually at Fukuoka got. But that definitely wasn’t the case. Even without being there, just being the first to experience the events of a live, not knowing what’s about to happen next, makes things feel so much more real and special. I’m not just remembering things I saw on Twitter or Discord anymore; I’m experiencing things with my own two eyes.

As a funny side note, there was actually an earthquake in the region towards the end. Everyone suddenly reacted to it, but it was only a magnitude 3 so the show continued on. 

Segments of note

Opening MC

God this became an absolute circus. Arisha forgot to do her buubuu desuwa and everyone was confused, then Ainya forgot to do her Lock On. Arisha does the first diahooo but then doesn’t bother with the second one, and says that the buubuu is on her today. Then FKT forgets how to speak Japanese and starts doing calisthenics. Fun times were had by all.

MIRACLE WAVE

This was a really interesting one. The song starts off, and as always, Anchan is in the back. But rather than just nervousness on her face, like the last 4 times, she had an incredibly pained looked on her face. Like she was really worried about something. Of course, her flip goes well and the song ends as it should, but in the MC right after she just breaks down. She gives her rehearsed lines with tears in her eyes, almost bringing Rikyako to tears off on the side as well, and when Suwawa gives her the hug, she just holds her tight and cries. 

This wasn’t like Saitama Day 2 when you could just see the sadness on her face. It felt like she was finally letting go of something, and her emotions were let loose with it. A really powerful moment for me because she has so much pressure and tries so hard to be the best leader that she can, and often times puts up a strong front to lead the rest of the group from. But at the same time, she’s as human as everyone else. Seeing her let go like that honestly made me feel relieved.

Fukuoka Special Intermission

Kanan is literally God. Nothing else needs to be said.

in this unstable world

This is my first time looking at the screen and not at Aikyan herself and damn I’m glad I went to at least one viewing. In terms of stage presence and dance ability she is second to none. It was already an amazing performance to begin with, and I was able to gain a new appreciation for it thanks to some excellent camera work and stage lighting.

Pianoforte Monologue

Everything started fine, but halfway through the mood changed. I think it just wasn’t Rikyako’s day. She wasn’t hitting her notes like she normally does for the song, and I think it started getting to her. She had this very clear dissatisfied and frustrated look on her face, and at times it seemed like she was going to cry. She recovered by the end of the song and ended well, but it was a rough performance to say the least. 

HAPPY PARTY TRAIN

When they first came on stage wearing the costumes, everyone in the venue was shouting but we still couldn’t see on camera. Once the lights came on, everyone went crazy. This is a personal favorite song of mine, as it has a lot of meaning to me, and the performance of it this time was actually excellent. MVP goes to Suwawa for actually hitting (most of) her notes. 2L was definitely rough but she’s gotten a lot better since then.

DROPOUT!?

I’ve wanted Saint Snow to do one of their own songs this tour, but after Saitama and Osaka I gave up on that. But at long last, my wish came true. The duo looked really nervous going into it, and even during it at times when the camera closed in on their faces, but they nailed the performance. After this, the theater definitely woke up and was hype as hell for the rest of the live. Hoping to see a different song tomorrow so I can get even more Saint Snow.

WATER BLUE NEW WORLD

This is one of the songs people kept saying was really good in LV, and I can see why. While getting the whole view of the venue is quite nice, this song definitely lends itself more to close camera work. It follows the anime performance much better, and in doing so it brings back a lot of the memories and emotions I had watching episode 12 as it aired. The only thing I missed from the venue is the part in the bridge where on each measure, a ball of light flashes in the center stage that corresponds to one of the girls’ character colors. That was a really nice touch that unfortunately can’t be focused on in LV because of the important of the dance during that segment.

Kiseki Hikaru

If you think the song by itself is good, you absolutely have to watch the performance of it. Because of the OST track that it draws its main melody from, and the context in which it was released, it might feel like a farewell song, but when performed live, that gets turned around completely. Rather than making me want to cry, it gave me hope for the future. For both the franchise and myself. 

As the song changes key and reaches its climax, the stage lights all turn on together and get so bright that they almost block your vision of the seiyuu in the center stage. Imagine seeing this image, but head on instead of from the side. It’s meant to resemble the sun rising, and it definitely was the highlight of the live for me.

Encore

They say white people have no rhythm, but that’s a god damn lie. It’s the Japanese that have none. We started doing the Aqours chants in the theater and a group of guys to the right of me start going completely off beat. They weren’t trying to ruin it either; they just had absolutely no sense of rhythm. For the next 5 minutes they keep starting and stopping to join back in but they cannot for the life of them figure it out. Only when the lights flash to the beat in the venue do they discover rhythm and start joining in with the rest of the theater.

Hop Step Wai!

I guess this marks the official retirement of Landing Action Yeah!!. I gave that song massive shit at first because I really didn’t like it, but over time it really grew on me, especially with how we sing it at so many events. Hop Step Wai! is already a pretty good song in my opinion, so I’m looking forward to hearing it again throughout the next year.

Yuuki wa Doko ni? Kimi no Mune ni!

Drama aside, this is probably my top Aqours song. It means so much to me, and being able to not only hear it live, but to sing along so many times over the past month has been an absolute privilege. The kicker, though, was the surprise in the bridge. The last 4 performances have just been the regular full version of the song, but this time, they added in the episode 11 version, too. I actually decided that I wanted to go to 3rd Live after I saw episode 11 and knew that I had to be there for that moment if they ever did it. I’m glad they did. It caught me by surprise, and my emotions just welled up. I had to hold myself back from crying for the rest of the song so I could sing properly.

As a side note, who the fuck does ietaiga to Yuukimi lmao. Grow up.

Closing MC

Another emotional moment. Furirin was in tears during her closing comments. She was crying like a baby, but still was able to walk up and thank every one of her fellow members personally. That meant a lot to me. I’ve always seen Furirin as one of the more detached members, as I never really knew if she was holding something back because she had to be “Ruby” rather than “Furihata Ai”. But this moment told me that just like everyone else, she’s really thankful to be a member of Aqours.

During Rikyako’s comments, she still had this sense of dissatisfaction in her words. At one point, she gave a big sigh. The others quickly joked it off, but I think she wasn’t quite pleased with how today went. As always with her, though, she’ll definitely rebound from this.

Final Thoughts

What a start to the final leg of the tour. It’s been a crazy few weeks for everyone involved, and this is definitely the best way to cap it all off. There were a few hiccups here and there, but overall, it was a great live, filled with both good performances and lots of emotion. Looking forward to tomorrow.