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the-hoopers · 8 years ago

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Hoopers Live Event 7/17

So one of the mods was able to attend the mini live for the upcoming album release and here are their notes:

- Everyone came out in white - seems like they did a soft release on Twitter of their new outfits beforehand, but this seemed to be their first time in all white for a live, and Sena said they were breaking out a summer look - Mirai, Mizuki, and Yuhi were in full prince regalia with ruffled cravats, full shoulder pieces, those little faux military lapel braids, the whole nine yards. I have no idea how they didn't die of heat in JOL, which was not only small and crowded but also not air conditioned - Mirai kept surreptitiously wiping her face off with a towel and Yuhi didn't move around too much beyond choreo, but Mizuki was working it like some sort of homeostatic humanoid MACHINE in her seeming 10 pounds of costume. - Sena, Haruki, and Tsubasa had more casual looks - Haruki had a sleeveless jacket with black hood, and a monochrome long hemmed skirt/shirt that she kept twirling unconsciously in a really cute way. Sena had a dapper sort of style with a ribbon bowtied around her neck which she said was her particular choice, a checkered shirt, and a white jacket, and Tsubasa had a still princely ruffled top wth jacket but a more casual layered look on bottom. - Makoto and Cecil bridged the gap, Makoto having the most "normal" getup (her shirt almost looked like a normal one XD ) and Cecil having a princely/ruffled top but a little less full on Anne of Green Gables puffy sleeve action than say Mizuki (I think she actually had short sleeves?).

I wasn't familiar enough with the songs to know the song set - Love Hunter was in it, though, and then I guess two songs that weren't earlier singles, maybe?

The kids clearly loved the show. Everyone had penlights (blue dominated), and I didn't realize how many kakegoe they already had put together. Since it was my first time at any sort of idol event, the screaming was a little intense at first (I also ended up in the Daifan block with some girls who were SUPER INTO IT) - I ended up exchanging a few (･_･;;; faces with the girl next to me who also looked in her early 20s and had also not been prepared XD But once I sort of adjusted, it was fun - I mean, it made the energy in that little teeny room palpable, and, no slight intended to the Hoops, played the biggest part in turning that podium into what felt like a STAGE. Everyone was having a blast and doing their thing and giving it everything they had, and you would have to be a grinch not to respond to it at least on some level <3

Thoughts on the performers now that I've finally (!) seen them live:

- Mirai has a tsundere character, but she hasn't really figured out how to work an audience or really give her all to the singing while trying to keep that anime style aloofness intact. Sometimes this works for her because when she forgets about her character and breaks into a bit of a goofy grin, it feels very natural and bright and warm and would probably make you feel incredibly special if you caused it, but while actually mid song, the dead eyes are sort of holding her back imo. (She has a LOVELY voice btw, and I can very much see why she is the vocal frontman.)

- Mizuki has secured herself a CLEAR place as one of the leads and it's very evident why. She was probably the most popular person that day, or it felt like she was - and she has definitely mastered a bit of the "whole package" for dansou: she has a very clear aesthetic and persona, she knows how to work it onstage (being a beautiful prince character didn't stop her from breaking out into a beaming smile when performing, for example, and she was visibly delighting in the audience and trying to include them constantly), and when she had a special thank you for the Hoopers fan support for her time in that anime musical, she seemed SO sincere and SO wide eyed and full of emotion that I can see why people love her. Also, she was REALLY giving it 100% to her solos; I don't know if she has a great voice (as opposed to just a good one), but she can certainly make it feel like she does, which is what really matters.

- Haruki had the third most stage time it felt, with lots of time in the front, though not necessarily very many solos. She visibly seemed to love being onstage, smiling constantly and winking, making eye contact, and smirking at fans. She also seemed the most natural dancer, though obviously everyone was on top of their choreography. (I should disclaim that Haruki is my bias so I may not be impartial enough when writing my impressions of her!) During the MC section it seemed to me that she was really having a blast being an "oresama" and enjoying her character, and she and Sena played off each other really well, what with Sena being the big brother while Haruki was sort of the cheeky problem child who kept making it all about him (and Cecil adding a much needed sort of mellow energy to the exchanges). I'd say most of the MC bits were courtesy of Sena, Haruki, Cecil, and Mizuki, in that order.

- Sena was clearly the Daddy Direction of the bunch, but also had like managed to create this really cool seamless transition from her MC self - which, since she has to do most of the talking and mediate the topics, felt like a more natural/less cosplay-y side of her - to this sort of quintessential dansou "I'll pretend want you so much it hurts me and we both know it's an act but I love doing it and you love letting me and I love that you love letting me" face. You all know which one I mean! She and Haruki had a lot of little sung bits together while standing back to back.

- Cecil has SO MUCH FACE. SO MUCH FACE. I mean that in the best way possible. You can tell she's the ~Takarazuka fan (well, you can tell she's a Kurenai Yuzuru fan) in everything from how she sings to the way her posture has aspirations of emitting energy and taking up space onstage, which she will maybe get to show off more once the Hoops get bigger venues. She has less of a distinct persona than some of the others (especially, say, Mirai or Haruki), but has a clear "little brother" dynamic with the others and it provides such a badly needed sort of glue to the MC section, that she was so comfortable bouncing off and between the others. What a good blonde bean. <3

- Yuhi is SO MUCH CHEEKBONES and SO MUCH EYES. She really looks like that in real life and it's blinding. That said, I can't tell if her looks are her best point, or conversely whether they're holding her back, because she wasn't great at emitting "energy" when onstage - and I wonder if she were LESS of a breathtakingly beautiful HUMAN GREEK STATUE, it would make her this adorable awkward underdog. As it is, she is a HUMAN GREEK STATUE and quite frankly maybe it's just as well she wasn't smiling like Mizuki and Cecil or winking like Haruki because someone might have died to be quite honest and that would have put a damper on the proceedings. You'll get there, Yuhi!

- Mush (Tsubasa) is def Most Improved In My Personal Esteem. I love her new hairdo, I love that she is so utterly Doing Her Own Thing, and it was great seeing what a warm response she got from the audience when she did her introduction. (She's changed it from "ganbarimush!"?! Is my nickname out of date ALREADY?)

- Makoto is beautiful and not the best singer, which from me is usually a compliment because I always end up loving the ones who can't sing because usually they figure out how to sing smarter instead of harder, or else they get this raspy tone to their voice, or they learn to shout-sing, and I love that when a voice like that sings you can hear the story behind how it got there. <3 Full disclosure, the show was really short and there were 8 of them so I ended up paying the least attention to Makoto, I'm REALLY SORRY, I'll make it up next time I see them live!

They disclosed the name of their CD at the end of the first two songs. As most of you know now, it's FANTASIA. (God, I wish I'd taken notes - they translated it into Japanese as.. 幻想的 (gensouteki), iirc, and said it was because they were all 幻想の人.) They told us to overreact when they revealed it but we totally let them down and gave the most half hearted "ehhhhhh?!" I've ever heard. XD Then they disclosed the track list, which didn't all fit on the screen, which flummoxed them for a good while. XD What I recall is their singles were all on there, then several "live songs" (SOMEONE EXPLAIN!! Have they had songs they only perform for their lives?), and then new songs. The first was I think Hoop a Go Go, which they said they'd only been told about themselves that very day, and they were excited about. One was 乙女[something in kanji that thwarted ALL OF THEM, lmfao], and the last was cut off on the screen but they informed us it was "fine", in English, which Sena translated as 元気, but Haruki clarified that since she has foreign fans she thinks more of the nuance can be captured in いい, as in "how are you," "I'm fine/いい". (Iirc.) They announced the rest of their album promo, and this whole time Cecil was wiping her face with her towel, which was actually a pretty effective prop (while Mirai, that poser, kept ducking back to surreptitiously beautify and de-sweat her face XDD ). Finally, Mizuki gave her special thank you for all the support from Hoops fans during her show's run.

Then was Love Hunter (the call and response choreo involved a lot of bouncing up and down and making "finger gun" shots at the audience, which was so cute and SUCH a good call), and then handshakes/the second event for people who were real fans and not cheapskates like me. XD

Overall impressions, there was something terribly indie-theater/aspiring-artist about it despite the fact that they're already signed to a label and the whole thing is so clearly managed. You can, naturally, start braiding out the whole lot of obvious criticisms right there, and the idol industry as a whole does make me uncomfortable for a whole host of reasons.

But of course the reason it survives is because it hijacks the part of you that wants to support the PEOPLE in question, and makes it clear that boycotting x or y will only hurt ~~your group/~~your favorite, not ~the industry. It's an evil, brilliant, soulless, and almost ironclad system and capitalism must die, AND.............these kids REALLY were cute. <------ XD

#the hoopers #dansou

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