NANA MIZUKI LIVE CIRCUS 2013, Trick 1 at Ehime!

Trick 1 at Ehime hajimarimasu~!

Sorry for the wait~! I tried to be much faster than what I usually am, which I suppose I did succeed in. Though I wasn't as fast as I wanted to be..... somehow school always seems to slap me in the face with a pile of things I need to do right after I attend a Nana live. orz Anyways, here it is now! I have to warn you, this entry turned out to be perhaps even longer than what my live reports usually are. I blame it on there being so much to write about for MCs! I don't know why that was the case though, I suppose it is because of one of the following reasons a) Nana had a lot to say, b) I remembered more things than usual, c) my Japanese has gotten better so I understood a lot more (lol please be this one!) or d) all of the above. So yeah, bear with me and my long-winded Nana shipping! Aaand with that.. Let LIVE CIRCUS 2013 begin~! 

(For report on LIVE CIRCUS 2013 Trick 6 at Seibu Dome, go [here]!
And for report on LIVE CIRCUS 2013 Trick 7 at Seibu Dome, go [here]!)

Goods

Well I never thought that having a worse queuing experience than the one I had on the morning of the first night of LIVE CASTLE was possible, but looks like I was wrong. Today I ended up queuing the longest time so far (over 7 hours), even though there weren't that incredibly people in front and the day that was supposed to be cloudy ended up being 100% sunny (aka hot hot hot, mushiatsuuuusugiru! Blarghhh... orz). Nana could you sometimes tone down your hare onna power, onegai~? Anyways, I was literally dying in the queue in that heat and almost even fainted at one point due to only having brought one drink along with me. Luckily I had friends to save me, so I made it through. At least I was able to get everything I wanted for myself and everything people had requested from me, even if it nearly cost my life lol. Kind of scared about queuing again in Seibu Dome... *mumble mumble* :3

Since I was too lazy to take a picture of my goods haul, here is my LIVE CIRCUS Nanaca set instead!

Inside Ehime-ken Budoukan

The moment I made it into the Budoukan my hands started shaking from excitement (lol I am so pathetic orz), I so couldn't believe I was going to experience a live and see Nana in her home prefecture. I hadn't even paid much attention to where my seat was until I checked the seat map before entering.... and HOLY SHIT, I was almost at the very front of the arena and quite in the middle of the row too. How did this happen?? I was in Ehime AND I had the best seat I have ever had so far. Ridiculously unbelievable. This was going to be such a special concert for me in every single way. When I got to my seat I realized there were only two rows of people in front of me and the stage was right there in my face. I would get to stare at Nana from a very close distance most of the night. So exciting! I hope I can handle it.... Ehum... The man with his seat beside me triggered some small talk with me asking if this was my first Nana concert and whatnot and it was easy to feel that all of us there were very connected with our excitement to be in Ehime to see Nana.

My ridiculously good seat, oh my god! Oh my god!
Seat map in courtesy of [this blog].

The concert

This time, we don't get an opening movie like we usually do in Nana's lives. Instead, a Pierrot (clown) sticks his head out from between the curtains and then comes out to the stage walkway in the middle of the arena to entertain us, from slipping on a fake banana peel to doing some juggling among other things. A few acrobat girls, called G-Rockets I think, join him carrying gym balls and do some nice acrobatics with them along the stage walkway. Very fun to watch! Once they leave, the curtains open and it is time for... 

SET LIST:

01. Gimmick Game

02. Lovely Fruit

03. What cheer?

MC1

04. You have a dream

05. Fearless Hero

Cherry Boys Showcase

06. Get my drift?

07. UNBREAKABLE

MC2

08. 水中の青空

09. STAR ROAD

Team Yoda Showcase

10. Happy☆Go-Round!

11. POWER GATE

MC3

12. Climb Up

13. Late Summer Tale

14. Crescent Child

Nana in Circus -short movie

15. Naked Soldier

16. Preserved Roses

MC4

17. Vitalization

18. ETERNAL BLAZE

19. LINKAGE

MC5

20. 約束

Encore:

21. Astrogation

MC6

22. SUPER GENERATION

23. Love Brick

Encore II:

MC7

24. 7月7日

A very nice and energetic set list tonight, I thought. I got to hear much more of the songs that I was hoping for than I dared imagine. But enough of me going on about the set list as a whole, without further ado to the detailed account!

Outfit #1 - Circus

Circus-style opening outfit! I really like it. The skirt part looks like a miniature circus tent (at least to me), while the top part is also nice and colorful (color-scheme similar to outfit of LIVE CIRCUS poster). Prefer it over the opening outfit of last summer. :3

01. Gimmick Game

Full power start!! Oh my, really not something I was expecting~ but so awesome! Bringing out such a high tension song at the start really revitalized and energized me after my exhausting morning and erased all the fatigue the heat had been causing me. First we only have Team Yoda and Cherry Boys on the stage, but before the singing part of Gimmick Game begins, Nana makes her appearance from this sphere decor in the middle of the stage. I was getting so ecstatic about seeing her do this fast tempo choreograph in a skirt... that I totally forgot I had already seen her do that in LIVE CASTLE, oops. :3

02. Lovely Fruit

Oh god, I wasn't mentally prepared to hear this so soon tonight. Nana tells us to sing for her and we shout at the top of our lungs I-TA-DA-KI-MA-SU Lovely Fruit! While I was excitedly fumbling for my pink penlight, Nana had magically acquired a tray from somewhere. It was soooo nice and lovely to see her do the tray choreograph live - instant overdose of happiness for me. Definitely one of those moments when your penlight waving switches to automatic mode because you are too busy staring lol. Also, I have to say that I maybe love it too much when she says the subete in "Anata no sugao no subete", ahh~ It has started affecting me now even when I just listen to it from my iPod...

03. What cheer?

Wow, really?? Am I really getting to hear and see What cheer? live?! Such a fun surprise (ok I know I have called everything sort of a surprise so far... but it's Nana's fault!), I have been looking forward to experiencing What cheer? one day for a long time now. Such a cute song and such a cute dance, which looks so ahhh when done by a more mature Nana~ This so energetic and happy start to the live is making me drunk on happiness too fast I feel, haha.

MC1

Welcome to NANA MIZUKI LIVE CIRCUS 2013! "I'm home!" Nana exclaims. Nana greets us as tourist ambassador. Nana mentions how nice it is to be back doing a concert in Ehime after such a long time and out of curiosity asks how many people in the audience tonight are actually from Ehime. Turns out..... not a lot. orz She then in turn asks how many people are from around Tokyo and most people seem to be. She says how it is nice to see the Ehime people tonight and thanks them for coming.... and then also thanks all of us from Tokyo for coming all the way here lol. She also asks us if we enjoyed the performance of Pierrot and the G-rockets girls at the beginning of the live and everyone cheers wildly. Apparently Pierrot had been really nervous and worried if we'd like his performance or not, d'aww. Then...

Outfit #1 - Revamped

Same as before, but less. Like usual lol.

04. You have a dream

I had been secretly hoping for this song, since I got it as a karaoke request from someone recently and I thought it would be like destiny if Nana sang it.... not that I actually expected her to do so though haha. If she still pulls out Late Summer Tale later I think my eyes will pop out from disbelief. Anyway... loved hearing this song live. Dreams have played a big part in my life and still do, so having Nana remind me that that is how it should be is always something I enjoy very much. I didn't see her very well during this song though, as she walked down the walkway in the middle to the back of the arena.

05. Fearless Hero

I wasn't expecting this song today either (here I go again...), but it does work as a nice continuation from the message of You have a dream. Nana was lifted up slightly on a broad platform on the stage at the back of the arena during this song, so I mostly saw her behind from afar for this. The people with seats in the back stand were probably ecstatic though, Nana was lifted right into their faces. xD I am happy for them!

Cherry Boys Showcase

Holy shit, Cherry Boy Seven makes a comeback! First we get a reminder of how Nana was kidnapped in the Cherry Boy Seven - short movie in LIVE DIAMOND and then... continuation! Nana was kidnapped to a freak circus! haha. She lies on a table chained to it with the leader of the freak circus (was it called Satan Sigma or something inspired by Nana's seiyuu agency? lololol) smirking ominously beside her in an outfit that makes him look like a Nazi. xD After that we get reused scenes from the LIVE DIAMOND movie and then new introduction clips for all  of the Cherry Boys. Ryoutan goes around introducing all the members (in addition to him Kenny, Aniki, Yutapon, Martin, Tom-kun, Fire, Kado-D and Itaruvich were there tonight) and asks all of them in turn who their first love was. Aniki's was one of his sensei lolol (Did one of them say Nana? I can't remember xD). Also, Ryoutan almost forgot to go to Yutapon completely, woops. 

Outfit # 2 - Gangster movie lady

Ok I really didn't know what would be the best way to call this outfit so bear with me. I loved it though. It was a short dress of black and white stripes with matching hair decor and then red boots. Reminded me of old gangster movies. Really really nice~ So far a very strong start outfit-wise to the live.

06. Get my drift?

Yeeesssssss! I was looking forward to this so ridiculously much and having Nana sing it in this kind of outfit, ugh overkill on my heart. Why do you keep doing this to me?! When Nana started singing (I want you, I want you to bind me) I thought it was pretty funny, considering how she was tied to a table in the Cherry Boy Seven G short movie.... Are you telling us Nana that you didn't want to be saved after all?? haha. It was so great having Nana come sing some of this song right in front of me. Totally made my night. I love this song so much. We even joined Nana in the chorus and sang "tashikametai no yo imasugu" and "kakehiki nante hitsuyou nai yo" for her. Ahhhh that took me over the moon~!

07. UNBREAKABLE

Yay, ripples of excitement through my body~! Funnily enough, a few days earlier I had thought of how I would love to hear UNBREAKABLE live again, since it was my ganbaru song before I came to study in Japan and I hadn't heard it live since LIVE CASTLE. Thank you Nana for singing this for me again! Filled me with the feeling of how I was meant to come here (to Japan, sure maybe Ehime too) to pursue my aspirations.

MC2

There was some weird noise at the start of the Cherry Boys Showcase -video and thus Nana makes a Symphogear related noise joke, how the noise is present here tonight at the concert. This leads her to tell that naturally the idea of the name Cherry Boy Seven G came from the name of the second season of Symphogear, which is called Symphogear G. Nana tells us that there was a questionnaire about what fans would like to see from the Cherry Boys and many wanted Cherry Boy Seven from LIVE DIAMOND to make a comeback. And then Nana adds that since they never actually saved her from her kidnappers in the LIVE DIAMOND video, a continuation was definitely in order (but wait Nana, not like they saved you in tonight's video either... orz lol)!
Then Nana mentions how we can see Shu-chan on the video, but how he is not actually here tonight. Apparently though, by a funny chance, Nana and everyone bumped into him at Haneda Airport when coming to Ehime and they jokingly asked him if he was joining them after all. And then they had another funny encounter at Haneda Airport too! Nana went to the toilet (lol such a funny topic starter for someone like her... "then I went to the toilet..." ahh, Nana I love you. xD) and while waiting in the line for her turn, she realized that the person waiting in front of her in the line was [Takayama Minami]! lol what are the chances?? And then Nana had started laughing, and Minami-san had been like "There is only one person who that laugh could belong to......*turns around* Nana-chan!" haha and then Nana demonstrated by herself how they had hugged each other enthusiastically (or more like, how she flung herself to Minami-san's neck lol). Nana said then that Zweiwing had transformed to.... Hanedawing! lol turns out Minami-san was flying to Ehime too on the same flight by coincidence.
Then time to end the MC~ all this Symphogear talk sort of ignited some tension in the crowd for a Vitalization treat next, but instead Nana says that since we are in Ehime the next song will be a very old one... 

08. 水中の青空

Ahhhh~ really such an old song. The atmosphere became very nostalgic, since here we were blessed with a song from Nana's first album and in the prefecture she came from. Such an amazing moment and feeling.  Really emphasized the fact how far Nana has come along the years. Also thanks to the blue lights during this song, it gave me the blissful and fresh feeling of really being underwater (水中) and the lingering heat woes from earlier today just vanished completely from my weary body. Also such a fitting song for the opening night of LIVE CIRCUS and the beginning of the hot summer season, with lyrics like "mou natsu ga hajimaru..."

09. STAR ROAD

Hell yes, finally! I really wanted to hear this in an orchestral concert, but at this point I am just over the moon just from the fact that I am getting to hear it live. I love it so much and with Kado-D here, I still got my violin goodness for it too. Such pleasure to my ears, this whole song. Nana really sang it from the heart and it made my heart clench in turn. Definitely one of those moments where you are alone with Nana in the world and everything else just fades out. I so want to hear this again and let it make my heart ache..... well, I have Seibu Dome! :3

Team Yoda Showcase

At first it is not Team Yoda who takes the stage, but the acrobat girls of G-Rockets from the beginning of the live. Two of them head to the middle walkway to perform in... uh.. I don't know what it is called, an acrobat wheel maybe? In any case [here is a picture] so you know what I am talking about! They did some very nice tricks on it up and down the walkway while the other two girls did some dancing at the main stage end of it. They finish with posing around the wheel and once they disappear, Team Yoda takes the stage in oriental clothes. We have Martin and Itaruvich introducing them and doing some funky dancing in the top part of the stage. I have to say that this oriental-style introduction song is my second favorite after the one in LIVE CASTLE. Too bad I can now only remember the part where Nana sings "Yokosou he". orz I really can't wait to hear it again next month!

Outfit #3 - Princess Jasmine

This outfit obviously used Disney's Princess Jasmine as inspiration. Feels like Nana's going through Disney characters in full force in her concerts now lol. I look forward to what she picks next! The top part of this outfit is not as small and revealing as Jasmine's and the pants have slits on the sides. Very nice~

10. Happy☆Go-Round!

Song starts with only Team Yoda present and at the speed of light I determine Nana is not going to show up on stage...... so I turn around and she is at the back of the arena on a.... little elephant (not a real one of course)! That combined with her Jasmine outfit is so cute. xD Even if I can't see so well from the other end of the arena. This time, unlike in Zachou Kouen, Nana didn't ask for us to call her name instead in those La-laa etc parts. I guess it might have been too much since this was the towel song of tonight too. My towel nearly fell on top of the guy in front of me every time I threw it up in the air. Maybe I was being too eager with my throws? :3

11. POWER GATE

After Happy☆Go-Round!, Nana continues full force by busting out POWER GATE. When the song starts, we get some surprise guests on the front stage - Bary-san and Mikan! D'awww so cute! Nana is off her elephant now and making her way to join them at the front. Bary-san's movements are soooo hilarious. Big thumbs up for the person inside that huge suit haha. xD When the time for "Woo-wo-oo POWER GATE" came, I was surprised to see how many girls there seemed to be when Nana told only the girls to sing. 

MC3

Nana starts this MC off by explaining that since there was no concert in Ehime during LIVE UNION, Bary-san and Mikan never got to appear on stage with her when she sang ONE and that's why they were making an appearance tonight during POWER GATE instead. I am really glad that Nana now got the chance to perform with the mascots that she loves the most! At this point, we get mawatte -calls. Nana of course tells Bary-san and Mikan to turn around with her, if that's okay with them, to which Bary-san makes a funny reaction lol but ultimately they are both okay with it. Of course we started shouting a very enthusiastic mou ikkai after the first turn around and this time Nana tells all of the Cherry Boys to join them too. After that Nana thanks Bary-san and Mikan and they start making their way off the stage....... very slowly haha with Team Yoda helping them. Bary-san seems to be pretending to have a bad leg lol. So we give him a cheer and then another for Mikan. Then they are gone.

After Bary-san and Mikan have left the stage, Nana switches to talk about her elephant and how since the elephant is so present in many of the live goods for LIVE CIRCUS, she of course had to have an elephant make an appearance in the live itself. Someone from the audience shouts the question "What is the elephant's name?" and Nana proceeds to tell us that apparently there had been much talk about what its name should be among her staff. In the end the reasoning went like this "Nana no Na to Dumbo" (=Nana's Na and Dumbo) so..... Nambo! Nambo it is.

After, Nana says she needs to do some preparations (in other words, she needs her cheek mic for the next song) so one of the Cherry Boys shall keep us entertained in the meanwhile. Nana ends picking Kenny. Kenny starts talking and we say "ohh" and he says that it is okay to say "ohh" a lot during his talk. He starts with saying "atsui natsu" after which we "ohh".... and then we end up "ohh"ing between pretty much everything he says. xD Then Nana is ready for....

12. Climb Up

Holy poop. Have you seen this song from LIVE ATTRACTION, or perhaps from the footage of LIVE SPARK? Well I can tell you that this was nothing like them. This is definitely one of my favorite aspects of Nana's concerts - getting a concrete reminder of how far this woman has come along the years by hearing very old songs songs performed by the Nana of today (Ok I said this for 水中の青空, but it really can't be stressed enough :3) . Climb Up and its choreograph have suddenly become so smooth and elegant in the hands of the current Nana. I was totally mesmerized from start to finish. Her movements flowed along so perfectly and effortlessly it was nearly impossible for my brain to process that this really was the same dance as it had always been in the past. So pleasing to the eye. Truly.

13. Late Summer Tale

Okay really... Are you seriously singing You have a dream and this for me tonight?! Nana have you been stalking me instead of the other way around? haha. I was totally getting mesmerized during this song by Nana flashing her lovely thighs from the slits on the sides of her Jasmine pants (she was wearing hot pants of the same color underneath).... sorry if that sounded creepy btw. She came to sing in front of me again for a part of this song and in the midst of waving to everyone she gave a fast peace sign in between when she looked at me. Instant kill. xD Late summer loooveee~

14. Crescent Child

Ooh myyy~ finally I am getting to hear Crescent Child live too! Now I have heard all my top favorite songs from ROCKBOUND NEIGHBORS live, and actually all of them were sung by Nana in this live! Success, success! This song already makes me quite sad when I listen to it at home, so hearing it live really filled me with great melancholy. I am not sure if Nana's gentle smile was also adding to this melancholy too or saving me from it. I have to say there is no other situation in which sadness feels this good. 

Nana in Circus -short movie

We see Nana wandering inside a circus tent, where she meets the Pierrot who performed for us at the start of tonight's live. They are having a nice and magical moment together and the Pierrot gives Nana a flower and hands her a card. However, we cannot see what card it is that she received. Then Nana is alone again. Instead of the friendly Pierrot we all love, a Jester dressed all in black and white makes an entrance. Quite ominous atmosphere. He stops beside a torch and we get to see that in his hand he holds some cards as well. Slowly he pulls out a card and turns it revealing that it has a picture of the two circus balls that are on the floor inside the tent. He flicks it into the fire of the torch and when the card burns, the actual balls disappear. I think the Jester made something else disappear at this point too just can't remember what, but afterwards he pulled a card with a picture of the flower Nana was holding in her hand and while the card burns Nana lets go of it and it wilts and disappears after hitting  the floor. Next the Jester gestures to Nana that she should give her card to him, but she grips it tighter. The Jester gestures in a more demanding manner and we get to now see that Nana's card is the 7 of hearts and has a picture of her on it. She refuses to part with her card again, and the Jester starts slowly pulling another card from his hand revealing a joker that contains our friend Pierrot. Nana is now faced with a fierce dilemma - her or her friend? She lets go of her card and it ends up on the floor. When all seems lost, a miracle happens! The card on the floor with Nana's picture transforms and a second Nana in the card's outfit appears. A warrior Nana! The despairing Nana falls down on her knees and watches as warrior Nana brandishes her sword and faces the Jester. The Jester drops his cards and runs out of the tent, with warrior Nana pursuing him. Then the movie ends and.....

.... Suddenly the Jester runs onto the stage! With warrior Nana close to behind him! Oh my gooooddddd! The Jester pulls out a weapon of his own and we get to witness an epic duel on the stage. Oh my god so awesome! After a while warrior Nana decides play time is over and with a flick of her sword she traps the Jester into a beam of light (a spotlight that shines right down on him) and he makes some pantomime movements to indicate he has no way of getting out of the light. With another wave of her sword, Nana brings down justice upon the evil Jester hitting him with lights of many colors and in the end there is an explosion and he is done for, leaving no trace behind (he gets pulled down on that little platform that can be used to sneakily enter and exit the stage). Victorious Nana gets her microphone and starts singing.. 

(side note: getting to see a fight scene seemed so unreal to me tonight - I had just the day before departing to Ehime watched her sword fight from LIVE MUSEUM when I was avoiding packing and had thought to myself how it would be so nice if Nana did something like that again. AND THEN I GET THIS! Shinjirarenai!! *pinches self*)

Outfit #4 - Fairy soldier

The first thought that popped into my head was female Peter Pan, but I had to soon admit to myself that this was more like a fairy inspired outfit. All green dress with a leafy bottom half and some leafy business in her hair too.  Nice with a close to nature feel.

15. Naked Soldier

As expected, Naked Soldier begins after the amazing build up from the fighting scene! I have always liked this song, but hearing it live definitely made me love it more. The way Nana sings it is truly majestic and beautiful. I so loved that moment so much when she sings "hikari oh ooh~" in that high pitch, it sounds so amazing. Throughout the song she made similar gestures with her rapier and knelt down like she did during SCARLET KNIGHT in LIVE CASTLE. Very niceee~

16. Preserved Roses

Somehow it took me a few seconds to register that this was Preserved Roses, I guess because of my internal conflict of feeling like she would sing it in LIVE CIRCUS yet at the same time feeling she wouldn't since there was no way T.M. Revolution would be around to sing it with her. All through the opening melody I wondered how this was going to be done, but turns out they played TMR's part from tape. Works for me. After the chorus they start the song with, we started singing TMR's parts for Nana along with the tape. That was so much fun! I was surprised to see how well I knew his parts too even though my focus is always on what Nana sings. And maybe it was just me, but it felt like Nana was having so much more fun singing this song tonight than in any of the performances I have seen of her singing it with TMR. Seeing her so into it made me very happy too!

MC4
Nana talks about how it has been a long time since has had a sword fight, the last being during Justice to Believe in LIVE MUSEUM, which was in 2007. She continues to say that of course there was Zachou Kouen with its katana battles not so long ago, but swinging a katana is very different from how you are supposed to handle a rapier. She tells us that she had been practicing at home and Keitan had been looking at her like what is this crazy woman doing haha. 

Then Nana talks about Preserved Roses and how T.M. Revolution was only present as "a voice" since he also has a tour going on currently and there is no way for him to make a real appearance in her live. She then adds that she is actually taking part in TMR's tour the same way as "a voice" for when he sings Preserved Roses. This somehow brings us back to talk about Symphogear G and Nana asks how many of us have watched the first episode, and most of us have. She tells us that Kenny watched the first episode as well and his first comment was "Where was the OP??" and we all shout our agreements on how we were just as disappointed about that as Kenny was. Nana then adds herself that "Even I really wanted to sing it.... so how about I sing it now?" which triggered many happy cheers from everyone in the audience.

17. Vitalization

From the moment Vitalization started, I had to totally change my opinion of it. It has impact. It so has impact. When Nana started singing, it sent shivers down my spine - I sure was not expecting that to happen at all. The smile-gang radio version does it no justice whatsoever. I enjoyed this so much, it really blew me away. The different ways Nana uses her voice in this song is something I really love and I think the way she sings at the start is truly beautiful. Can't wait to hear this again at Seibu Dome!

Also, as a special sneaky gift, the PV of Vitalization was showing on the big screens on both sides of the stage at some parts of the song. It does indeed have a similar vibe to the Synchrogazer PV and involves a lot of cubic things. Oh and Nana wearing something similar to Tsubasa on her legs lol. Can't wait to see the whole thing! I couldn't really focus too well on the parts that were shown either, since I came to the conclusion that it was more worth it for me to ogle at the real Nana now in the concert since I can watch the PV as many times as I want later and I can see Nana this close only in this moment, only this once.

18. ETERNAL BLAZE

Suddenly.... EtaBure! Why aren't you letting me recover after the impact of Vitalization Nana?! I so love this moment in every Nana live, when everyone goes on 777% power mode for this song and the venue is alight with orange penlights everywhere - always so magical. I was very close to the fires they shoot out from the stage, but I didn't notice the heat as much as I usually do... I guess because of my extreme queuing this morning in worse conditions. 

19. LINKAGE

I wasn't expecting such a full force song after ETERNAL BLAZE, but not that I minded. Because of my surprise though, it took me a moment to register what song this was. Once I did realize that it was LINKAGE, I became quite ecstatic. I was totally looping this song back when it was only available on the Unchain Blades EXXiV PV so I had definitely been waiting to hear it in person. With this, Nana has sung all of ROCKBOUND NEIGHBORS songs in her lives (Synchrogazer -Aufwachen Form- already making its appearance a year ago in LIVE UNION) and I am happy to say I have heard them all, yay~! *sense of accomplishment* Hmm, though now that I say that.. did we ever get to hear Sacred Force -Extended Mix-? Suddenly I am not sure lol. Maybe in LyriPa?

MC5

Nana talks a bit about the Budoukan and asks us if we also think that it has a very nice wooden smell to which everyone concurs, though then Nana adds how it is now mixed with the smell of everyone's excitement too (lol do you mean sweat Nana?). I don't remember much else from this MC, apart from her saying the words she doesn't want to say and we don't want to hear.... namely that it is once more that time that she has to sing the last song of the evening. She tells us that she wanted to sing this song in Ehime and that she also chose it because she wants to make a promise with everyone... 

20. 約束

Ahhhh, I am so happy Yakusoku has made a return, and as the special last song of LIVE CIRCUS! Even though we did have Kado-D here tonight playing beautifully as always, I will be forever sad that the violin duet version of this from LIVE GRACE -Opus II- will never see the light of day. I did however get the same strong feeling of friendship as I did then and again wished that SAYURI was there listening to Nana sing this. Such a heartwarming song. It will always touch me deeply. Nana seemed so at peace and so grateful for everything while she sang this song.

Encore call!

Naa-na Naa-na! Everyone seemed much more eager with shouting her name tonight than usual. It somehow made me stupidly happy. xD After letting us wait for quite a while we get...

Outfit #5 - Encore

Nana was wearing the white shirt with the blue LIVE CIRCUS logo on it and some reallyyyyy nice turquoise striped short shorts. Very nice combination. I think these are my favorite of her encore shorts from the ones I have seen so far anyway.

21. Astrogation

Oooh~ at first I was very surprised at Astrogation being in the encore, because I felt I had just heard it as part of an encore not long ago.... but then realized that it was all the way in LIVE CASTLE, oops. In any case, I was really happy to hear this song again since I love it! For this song, G-Rockets join everyone on the stage to do some tricks on ropes of cloth in the background. Nana also got lifted up on a pretty high pedestal on the the stage for a part of Astrogation and my neck was dying so bad when I was looking up at her since I was right by the stage. It felt like Nana was looking in the other side of the arena more than my side... so due to those perfectly fitted turquoise striped shorts I ended up staring at someone's lovely behind for most of the song lol.  And just to be clear, I wasn't intending on doing that but Nana gave me no choice! Ehum... Anyways... I got really excited somehow while listening to this, since Astrogation conveys quite well how I am feeling right now. SHINKURO shitai demo todokanai, kimi to no kyori WAAPU shitai~ <3

MC6
Shassu~! Nana thanks us for calling her back! She then mentions that the Cherry Boys haven't actually had a chance to see the Cherry Boy Seven G -video yet, so she asks us if we mind watching it again for their sake. Nobody minds of course. All the Cherry Boys shuffle to the front of the stage and we all stare at the big screens on the sides of the stage. It takes a while for the video to start up and then.... no sound! Nana tries to do real time voice acting for it lol but the video is cut quite soon. Nana almost concludes that obviously watching it isn't going to happen, but then the video pops back on and we get to see it to the end of the scene of her lying on the table... after which it gets cut again. Nana shrugs it off by saying that the rest is just the introduction bits anyway so this is fine. She then tells us of her problem of finding the same training shirt she had for the first part of Cherry Boy Seven four years ago in LIVE DIAMOND for this new clip, but miraculously after going through her closets for ages she did find it. Then she also mentions how she used the limited edition LIVE CIRCUS t-shirt during practice, but how it is weird since it has her face on it. xD Then it is time to continue~

22. SUPER GENERATION

When SUPER GENERATION started, Nana begins making her way down the middle walkway again and these containers up in the ceiling pop, showering the arena with colorful strips..... of which I managed to catch one (the guy beside me was hoarding them like a maniac from the air so I am happy he left one for me xD)! Yay, so happy! At the end of the song for the laa-la-laa-la-laa-la part Nana does the same as what she always does for POWER GATE (guys sing, now girls sing etc) and also adds "Okay now those who are from Shikoku!" and then "Those who are from elsewhere!" - I found this very cute. :3

My little treasure~ getting something like this (at Ehime especially) really made me happy.

23. Love Brick

Oohhh~ once again a song I wasn't expecting, least of all in the encore! This being here made me so happy. Somehow haha. I really like how we get to echo Nana for the chorus, for the "baby I love you" "baby in your eyes" and so forth and I kept thinking how much I am going to enjoy doing that in Seibu Dome. Probably. :3 Gahh, silly excitement~  Everyone, Nana included, seemed to be very happy during this song. I really like that feeling of collective happiness. While singing this, Nana makes her way back to the main stage.

This brings the encore to an end and we get everyone bowing on the stage (even Pierrot still in his costume) and Nana shouting thank you at the top of her lungs. Then Nana does her kakatte koi -call already... so does this mean this is the end? Surely not right? A very important song has yet to be sung.... right? Right?

Encore II, mou ikkai!

The lights didn't go on after everyone left the stage so looks like we'll be treated to a second encore! We all start shouting mou ikkai in mad fury haha. And not in vain, yay!

MC7

Nana returns to stage by herself with a couple of changes - no more short shorts but instead a long skirt, and also a cheek mic. Everyone in the audience tenses up and holds their breath at what this might imply. Could it really be....? Nana starts talking about how today is Tanabata and thus a special day that requires a special song.... and how that special song requires a special instrument.. the harp.... and that's why (everyone is really really holding their breath now and at least my heart was pounding really fast).... Agematsu Mika-chan is here (lol you can basically hear everyone let out their breath at this point xD)! Mika-chan walks on stage with her harp being brought close behind her. Everyone seems slightly confused. The two of them chat for a while, Nana thanking Mika-chan for being here tonight. Then Nana drops the bomb..... Mika-chan won't be playing the harp alone tonight.... but instead they will play together! A duet! Nana's harp gets brought out to the stage at this point. She's sitting on my side of the stage, yay! Nana is once again really nervous, just like she was in LIVE GRACE -Opus II-. Though this time it is a different kind of nervousness. It is easy to tell. It is radiating how she does not want to let her friend, and teacher, down. After sitting in her seat she even nervously jokes how this seems like one of their harp lessons. Then, it is time to begin....

(side note: I had been wondering a lot about this song before coming to Ehime. I really wanted to hear Nana play the harp for it herself, but I felt the harp in 7月7日 had to be too difficult for her at this point, especially since she has to sing at the same time. I played with the idea of her and Mika-chan teaming up for it in my mind, but didn't really want to hope for too much. Really a dream come true that it actually ended up happening tonight! I couldn't be happier! Hurray for my amazing Nana luck!)

24. 7月7日

Oh my god. Nana does it again. The moment they start playing their harps together tears start falling from my eyes. I really didn't think this was going to happen to me in LIVE CIRCUS or that Nana could do something that would get to me as much as her harp debut at LIVE GRACE -Opus II- earlier this year, but watching those two play together was such a touching display of their friendship. You could feel Mika-chan's playing and smile encouraging Nana, and Nana answering that by bravely continuing to pluck the strings of her harp and sing from the bottom of her heart in turn. It was like they were absorbed in a world where only the two of them existed, and that gave me a very powerful sense of peace and happiness too - like you really don't need much to be happy. Having certain things, like people you love, is enough. This was one of the most beautiful things I have ever heard in my life, and definitely one of the most beautiful moments of my life too.  Nana even made it through the whole song without any mistakes, or if she did make some they were so small that Mika-chan was able to drown them out with her harp main melody. Truly an amazing duet. Once the song ended I really couldn't believe what I had just experienced. It left me with a wonderfully tranquil feeling.

(please let this duet be included in the LIVE BD/DVD, pleaseeee! I want it to make me cry again.. *masochist*)

After they got up from their chairs, Mika-chan gave Nana a hug, but unlike the hugs that they usually give each other when Mika-chan performs at Nana's lives, this one was a proper firm one that so was meant to tell Nana how well she did and how proud Mika-chan was of her. It was easy to see it meant the world to Nana and it made me very happy. I am glad these two have each other. Mika-chan then exits the stage, and Nana runs around through all the stages to wave to everyone one more time. She even does the kakatte koi call again and then makes her exit via the sphere decor in the middle of the main stage.

After concert

After the concert, we were hanging around the entrance of the Budoukan and got to witness all of the staff leaving in vans that had curtains covering the windows. The Cherry Boys didn't bother having their curtains closed but instead were eagerly waving to us from inside and we waved back even more eagerly. One of the Team Yoda girls (can't remember who now) was also poking her head between the curtains of their van but otherwise, the vans had the curtains shut tight. Was quite fun seeing them though.

All in all, I have to say this was definitely one of the (if not the most) special Nana lives to me so far - it was in Ehime and my seat was the very best I have had. Well, I don't think it can get much better than this anymore lol I was right by the stage after all. xD A really really awesome night! Looking forward to Seibu Dome next!

And with that, I shall end my report.
Not sure if I will eventually write about my pilgrimage to Niihama the day before the concert, but we'll see.