#i also turned one of the nao pics into an actual art piece

[zephyrinx]

I really wanted to use this character abuse meme, so I did it with three of my characters- Valentine, Naozumi, and Alexis! They’re just sketches, but fun scenarios to explore

COMMISSION ME!

[quell-tea-salon]

THE IDOLM@STER SideM 3rdLIVE TOUR - GLORIOUS ST@GE Fukuoka (2018/3/25) event report

Cast: S.E.M, Cafe Parade, THE Kogado, Legenders, Mofumofuen, Beit (Pierre and Minori only; Kyoji (Ume-chan) was at Anime Japan).

This is going to be long and messy and full of CAPS. Cast members are referred to by their nicknames. The set list, if you don’t mind spoilers.

Where do I start? My heart is so full.

My day started like this: I was exhausted even before the concert because I had been in the queue for the merchandise booths for FIVE HOURS since 8:30am. There was SO many people, and no doubt many, like me, had traveled interstate or even from overseas. As Fukuoka’s concert was the only one held in West Japan I think that many fans from this side of the country would make the effort to come even if they didn’t have a ticket for the concert (anyone could visit the merch booths and there were cinemas nearby showing the live-viewing). Anyway, I was planning to buy the rubber wrist bands but they all sold out within the first hour. I had to keep changing my shopping list while checking twitter updates about stuff that had sold out, and by the time I reached the booths pretty much everything that I wanted was gone, save the official pamphlet and Fukuoka limited edition charm (in pic above). I’ve attended events before so I should have known what to expect, but I was still shaking my head in disbelief ^p^ On the bright side I made friends with the person who was in line next to me (a BeitP!) and after we were finally done with the booths we barely had time to grab lunch before the show started.

There was another long (but thankfully fast-moving) queue to enter the concert hall as staff did ID checks, then yet another line for the bathroom. By the time I made it back to my seat, it was 6 minutes to start time OTL Unfortunately I didn’t have much luck with seating this time; I was two thirds down the back of the hall and could barely see the ground level of the stage. ...And of course there was a tall dude a few rows in front of me blocking my view of the middle of the stage >_> I had to keep reminding myself that I was lucky just to be there. (Sitting in the back rows isn’t all bad though; more on that later.)

The show kicked off with the standard sponsors and messages from Yamamura on the main screen. Then the lights dimmed and the whole cast appeared on stage to perform Reason!! It took a while for it to set in that I was actually physically present at a concert and not watching a live-viewing T_T For today’s concert Totto (Hazama-sensei) covered Shugon’s (Teru) solo parts in the song. Later he introduced himself as the MC for today! While I was happy for him tbh I was also a little worried bc Totto can be fuwafuwa (fluffy.... if you get my drift), but I knew Yoshiki would support him. Thankfully Totto was a decent if mostly absent (lol) host, and even Enokiya, usually a salty tsundere, was surprisingly serious for the most part *Maita P’s everywhere clutching their chests* Furukawa and Shohei both said that they were happy to be here as Fukuoka/Kyuushu is their hometown. They both spoke a few lines (in-character) in the local dialects :D During Legenders’ turn Kasama-san shared a cute story about Fuumin - apparently it was Fuumin’s first time on a plane and after landing his ears felt weird so he said “I think I left my ears in the sky!” which Kasama-san thought was such a cute thing to say wwwwwwww Fuumin turned bright red... Koma-chan was just happy to be near the ocean ww (the convention hall was right along the water).

After the intro talk the lights dimmed again and as soon as we heard taiko drum beats we quickly set our pen lights to fluro pink - it was From Teacher to Future! S.E.M appeared in the ouendan cheer outfits and recited the lines from ep5 (as per Makuhari day 2) before striking the Pose of Passion as the crowd cheered :D Again, they shed the ouendan coats before singing. This time Cafepa were the background cheerleaders!! (Later, Enokiya said that he felt whoever was behind him (Asselin iirc) hit him with their pompom a couple of times ww)

Next was Mofumofuen with Welcome Happy Kira Park! THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST SONGS TO DO CALLS WITH! It was sooo much fun and there were all so adorable T_T To this day I’m still in awe of Yano every time Nao’s voice comes out of his mouth lmao

Cafepa was up next with Cafe Parade! As a fan of Furukawa I was excited to finally get to see him live and he didn’t disappoint. Idk why but today he cranked up the seduction to 100 and his Asselin was.. ajfh;ajfk;ahk;s Asselin u ok why are you dripping sex appeal.......... this is not the Asselin that i know... Also i was wearing concert earplugs (bought a pair after realising that attending so many concerts was gradually damaging my ears; didn’t help that Japan’s concerts are RIDICULOUSLY LOUD) but I could still feel his insane vibrato through the ear plugs O______O But I digress. Cafepa are always rly fun to watch on stage as their performances tend to be dramatic and have a musical flair.

Legenders - Symphonic Brave. I was shaking bc MY OCEAN BOYS!!! It’s my least fave Legenders song but I’ve gradually warmed up to it after watching them perform it on LV a few times, and i rly do love the vocals. Combined with the visuals on the monitor this song makes you feel like you’re soaring through the sky and that anything is possible... Sadly Koma-chan wasn’t performing well today (I briefly wondered if he had a cold or something bc his voice was rly weak in both volume and control), but Kasama-san and Fuumin were amazing! I love the use of mic stands in this song T_T

Kogado - Tsuyoku Toutoki Kemonotachi. Each time they perform this song they do a brand new fight sequence during the bridge; usually Shohei is the one who comes up with the moves (with help from the dance instructors) but for Fukuoka, all three Kogado members worked together and performed a badass fight scene complete with explosive sound effects www

For the next song, a grand staircase decorated with red carpet unfolded on the main screen and Pierre appeared on the upper level of the stage. Mahou no Stair!!! (Yes!!!!!! We knew that Pierre and Minori were definitely singing their solos since they were unlikely to do any Beit songs without Kyoji, and it also happened to be the last day for Beit in the tour.) As Pierre made his way down the stairs towards the lower level of the stage, the steps lit up in red, mimicking the red carpet, while the staircase on screen shifted so it looked like Horieru was a prince gracefully descending upon the ballroom to join us for a dance ;______; Tbh I’m not fond of Pierre’s solo as it sounds rather flat (a pity considering Pierre has such a cute genki voice) but he was super cute and princely and melted every heart in the vicinity T_T At the end of the song he made a gesture like he was waving a magic wand to cast a spell (the main screen behind him showed a sparkly golden spiral) and when he moved aside to retreat from the stage MINORI APPEARED ON THE UPPER LEVEL HOLDING A BOUQUET T______________T Pierre had summoned Minori!!!!!!!!! We screaaaaamed omg Beit medley T______T

During Cherish Bouquet TakaP unleashed his sparkly princely charisma by 5000000% and killed a bunch of people (both girls and guys) in the audience [FANSERVICE INTENSIFIES] By the end of the song most of us were dead.... and when he held out the bouquet towards us (the camera) our SCREAMS lol istg ;;;;;;;;;;;;

Then both Pierre and Minori appeared on stage again wearing blue happi kimonos as the next song’s intro played AND WE LOST IT BC IT WAS FUN FUN FESTA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BEIT!!!!!!!! GROUP SONG!!!!!!! THEY’RE DOING BEIT SONGS AFTER ALL!!!!! T__________T AND FUNFUNFESTA IS MY #1 FAVOURITE SONG TO DO CALLS WITH omg i felt sooooooo spoiled at that moment...... There was so much to love about this part. Pierre usually dances with his Kaerre plush in this song but this time he was holding Kyoji’s pierre plush (the blue one!)  so Kyoji could perform with them ;___; And both Pierre and Minori were super generous with the fanservice! TakaP’s winks are so destructive >< During the catering part konamono was replaced with “Ramen!” (specialty dish of this region). THEN KOGADO BURST ONTO THE STAGE, ALL WEARING HAPPI KIMONOS AND CARRYING A MIKOSHI PALANQUIN djhfaglhgdfLJHGLFHJDSdf they were hopping and cheering and it was both hilarious and amazing to see Kogado like this......... Really there was so much happening, my heart could barely keep up ;;;;;;;

Shinonome was up next with Piece Montee. This whole sequence was really cute! During the song he mimicked making a cake, piping cream and taste-testing before finally being satisfied with his creation. A HUGE (like, human-sized) balloon art cake was wheeled out onto the stage. After Shinonome left the stage, the lights dimmed and Nao-kun appeared, admiring the cake which had a plate saying “Happy birthday Nao!” on it!!!! NAO-KUUUUUNNNNN THE BIRTHDAY BOY <3<33333

Nao was the cutest thing during Hop Step Hai, Ship T___T He kept admiring the cake and looked soooo happy... He even showed us his fluffy tail and i just jhdfkj;gf;KDF,lkl just, an angel ;;;;;;;;;;

Later during the talk segment, Yano thanked us for all the love, support, and birthday wishes, and said that while he’s feeling incredibly happy and blessed, he has no doubt that Nao is feeling even happier and at the top of the world. It was also Minori’s birthday around that time, so as a double birthday celebration they asked us producers for a favour. We all held up our pen lights in red to mimic candles on a birthday cake, and when Minori and Nao made the motion of blowing out the candles we turned off our pen lights all at the the same time. The hall and stage lights were completely dimmed for this and it was a really pretty sight T_T Happy birthday, Nao and Minori!!!!!!!!!!!

Then it was time for Mofu In The Park, another super fun song to call along to! ME ME! PYON PYON!! GAO GAO!!!!!!!!!!!! This was Mofu’s last day in the tour and they really gave it their all ;___;

THE NEXT PART......IS WHERE I DIED. When i heard the song intro play i FLIPPED MY SHIT BECAUSE I RECOGNISED IT AS SECRET! PLAYFUL! DRIVE! which is a song from the St@rry Collaboration series (the extra CDs that came with the anime BD/DVDs) and NOBODY EXPECTED THIS BECAUSE IT WAS BELIEVED THAT THEY WERE SAVING THOSE SONGS FOR FIVE ST@R PARTY DKJFA’JGFA;KJGAF;IYLAKYJK

So i was in disbelief already and my brain barely had a second to process that this song belongs to S.E.M and Jupiter before S.E.M APPEARED FROM THE SHADOWS ON AN ELEVATED TROLLEY DECORATED IN BRIGHT RAINBOW LIGHTS AND I JUST DIEEEEEDDDDDDDDD ajbgadjakhaf;l ok so i kinda expected a trolley to come out bc i noticed the staff running around and looking like they were securing the routes, but i wasn’t expecting it to be S.E.M, much less them singing this...sinfully sexy song ;_______; The trolley started from the left side of the stage and made its way around the perimeter of the concert hall, doing a left into the walkway RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE BLOCK OF SEATS WHERE I WAS (they were so close omg S.E.M!!!! BEFORE MY EYES!!!! crying forever) before ending its journey on the right side of the stage. As per tradition they were throwing rubber balls at the audience (sadly not in my direction ><). Jirou-chan and Rui were perfect idols and dishing out fanservice the entire time //// Hazama-san was amazing and beautiful and stoic ajhgfsaldgsl god i love SEM so much ;;;;;; As the trolley passed in front of me JIROU-CHAN POINTED AT ME!!!!!!!! At that moment i was actually grateful for getting a shitty seat at the back of the hall sobssss Jirouuuuuuuuuu ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

I REALLY love this song but i have to admit i was barely paying attention to the singing because i was... distracted....... haha... Also this performance changes things for Shizuoka because if SEM did their collab song without Jupiter there’s a chance that DraSta will sing Etranger without Beit. Oh my god. I’m shaking just thinking about it. I’M JEALOUS OF EVERY SINGLE PERSON ATTENDING SHIZUOKA T_T pls say hi to my babies on my behalf.... Anyway, back to the concert.

Tbh i was already 1000000% satisfied with the concert after SEM’s performance lmao but the set list continued to blow my mind... One of the solos i was hoping to hear was Saki-chan’s Favourite ni Odorasete, AND THAT WAS THE NEXT SONG!!!!!!! I started out not rly liking Kobapyon’s voice for Saki-chan because he does this weird squeak that a lot of female seiyuu do too for cute moe characters, which ig kind of describes Saki-chan... But the more i learned about Saki-chan the more i started to like him (her? they? idk which pronoun Saki-chan prefers, pls do enlighten me if you know) and his solo is such a cute and catchy song T_T Kobapyon is srsly really cute in person as well.... just a bundle of angelic cuteness and ribbons tbh.... To top it off, the guest performers for this song were Minori and Pierre!!! Minori was at the top of the stairs and as Saki-chan approached he gave him a bouquet, which Saki-chan happily accepted. Then Minori held out his hand like a fking prince and held Saki-chan’s hand and escorted him down the stairs AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH (the crowd wouldn’t stop screaming ajkh;skjfg). At the bottom of the stairs was Pierre, sitting on a bench and reading a book (iirc). Saki-chan bade Minori farewell and approached the bench, and Pierre pulled out a handkerchief and set it on the bench for Saki-chan to sit on JKAHGLFHGLAHG WHO EVEN DOES THAT ANYMORE OH MY GOD T_______T Saki-chan danced with the both of them in turns and just looked like a beautiful princess with her princes... (I just remembered a tweet i saw about this... “Saki-chan with B(eit) LOL BURUZON CHIEMI REFERENCE) By this point the audience had died again from both jealousy (of Saki-chan) and just overall bliss from getting to witness this cute af performance. Compare this to last year when SEM were the ones escorting Saki-chan and got slapped in the face instead LOL. (When this was brought up during talk time Yoshiki was like “Oh, so it’s fine if it’s Takatsuka?” LMAOOO)

The CafePa medley kept going! Next up was Roll’s One Whole Wonderful. Roll is SO cute!!! TwT He mimed being surrounded by cakes and took a bite from all of them before breaking into the HAPPIEST smile, omg just precious ;;;;;;; Why is CafePa full of cuties ;;;;;;;;;;;; My heart was purified ;;;;;;;;; Then the rest of CafePa joined him on stage for Reversed Masquerade. I love this song more and more each time i see it. I especially the single-file march they do towards the end ;w; 

I started yelling again when the next song played because it was another one that i had been hoping to hear!! Amehiko’s Sweep Your Gloom!!!!!!! (Lol before the concert i was like “I’ll be happy if i get to hear this ONE song. And maybe these others too if i’m really lucky” and i got to hear pretty much all the songs on my list dhjgladhflajdh BLESSED) I love Amehiko’s smooth voice so, so much and this song, despite the serious and uplifting lyrics, sounds sexy af bc of Kasama-san’s voice //// To make the performance even more amazing (THIS KEEPS HAPPENING THROUGHOUT THE CONCERT ISTG WE ARE SO LUCKY) Rui and Jirou-chan joined the stage as the backup dancers and i wished that i had extra pairs of eyes to watch all my favourites doing the moody sensual dance T_T

As a LegeP i was still feeling giddy and happy AND THEN SORA APPEARED ON STAGE FOR FLOWING FREEDOM omggggggggg my heart >_____< I LOOOVE this song and Sora did such a great job performing it T_T Fuumin was even wearing red contacts to match Sora’s eyes and the text graphics on the main monitor was really stylish and well done, so much so that i found myself watching the graphics half the time. Next, rounding up the Legenders medley was Legacy of Spirit. Legenders’ starting point! This LegeP couldn’t have asked for more TwT (I guessed that they would save Chris’ solo for Shizuoka.)

Finally it was The Kogado’s turn again! They’ve performed RAY OF LIGHT at every appearance in the tour and it just gets better each time!! Just kickass in all aspects and I love Ren singing in a higher tone, esp that last note of the chorus *__*

Back to SEM with ∞ Possibilities! I’ve heard this song a million times but i’ll never get sick of it. We cheered each time Hazama-sensei hit that goosebumps-inducing note in “koeTEEEEEEE” ;____;

Next was yet another song on my wish list! Hazama-sensei’s Learning Message! Like everyone else I’m absolutely in love with Totto’s amazing vocals and the song’s technopop instrumentals are to die for. Imo this song’s key sounds a tad high for Hazama’s in-character vocal range but Totto never fails to deliver a strong vocal performance >< In true SEM tradition he had some weird dance moves haha (someone on twitter interpreted them as possible math symbols).

Beit took the stage again for Smile Engage!!!!! Ahhh THE representative Beit song T_T Horieru and TakaP were sparkly and charming as usual but tbh the vocals sounded a little thin without Kyoji...

SEM joined them on stage next for Eureka Diary. As with the previous songs i think Minori sang most of Kyoji’s lines? I have to admit that I don’t really like this song but it was great seeing Beit and SEM on stage together ;w;

We were in the last segment of the concert which followed the standard template - Beyond The Dream, costume change break/”Encore!” yelling time, then GLORIOUS RO@D, and lastly, DRIVE A LIVE. Iirc Jirou-chan sang Touma’s solo part in GloRoad? I was jealous of the people sitting in the front half of the hall as it was raining paper/foam stars with the Glorious St@ge logo. But more importantly I was ecstatic to be able to participate in yelling “WE ARE 315!!!!” during Drive A Live T_______T I’ve never felt closer to the im@s community and the 315 idols.....

I don’t remember much from the ending talk but I do recall SEM attempting to speak in the local dialects, a somewhat teary-eyed Murase addressing F-LAGS who were watching the LV, Beit & Mofu & Kogado expressing gratitude for the support they’ve received (last day for all these groups), and SEM blowing a synchronised kiss at the camera before disappearing from the stage right at the end akjgfa;kgjfas; *clutches heart*

This day will be a treasured memory of mine for years to come.... Ngl, because i didn’t have a great view from my seat at times I kinda wished that i could’ve split my body in two to watch the concert live and the LV at the same time. But SEM drove by in their rainbow limo trolley within metres of my seat and Jirou-chan shot me in the heart so there’s that.... And while it’s a shame that my main baes DraSta weren’t at Fukuoka, the amazing set list gave me everything else that i wanted, plus more. So much more T_______T Thank you, 315Pro. This P will keep working hard to support our idols!!