smile again and again

Almost a year into the hiatus announcement, and I think the fandom is doing FINE. Some of us have accepted things as they are, some are still scared, most of us are sad however else we feel about it, but they’ve been throwing announcement after announcement that it’s sometimes hard to stop and catch our breaths! At least, that’s my observation from my tiny corner of the fandom. I haven’t been that active in a long time, and I’m mostly just lurking and talking to the same fandom friends I’ve been talking to since forever.

Arashi 20th Anniversary Tour 5×20 (December 7th)

To be honest, I couldn’t believe that I actually hit the ballot for their 20th anniversary tour. This was THE tour for me, and not just because it’s their 20th anniversary. It marked my 10th anniversary as a fan, and their 5×10 concert was the first I’ve ever seen on DVD. When my late sister and I went for Arafes, we were awed by the sensation of being there, watching everyone walking by with the concert bags, hearing the sound of cicadas, because we had watched that DVD so many times. We had envisioned ourselves walking down that same path every time, and it was almost eerie how it felt when we were actually THERE.

Ideally, she would be the person I’d take with me for 5×20. Even my friend (whose address I used for my FC) had said that because hitting the ballot for the second time was such an impossible thing to do (we thought), that it felt like this was a gift from her, because I missed Japonism when she passed away. I normally don’t believe in sentimental stuff like that, but it really did feel that way.

Arashi ni Shiyagare #004

Aired On: 15th May, 2010

I’m going to start off by saying that I love Sho-kun’s mom. I wrote my post on the Bakatono episode sometime after watching it, so I forgot that one thing that annoyed me from that episode – when Aiba showed his messy make-up, someone (Sho?) said that he looked like someone from a transvestite bar at the crack of dawn. So after that episode, Sho-kun’s mom messaged him saying that it was offensive to transvestites, so he properly apologised. Thank you, Sho-kun’s mom!

Arashi ni Shiyagare #002

Aired On: May 1st, 2010

They started the show explaining that they had no idea what would be happening, and talked about how in the last episode they learned the Cream Stew rules to MC-ing and whether they should be trying to use what they’ve learned. MatsuJun commented that with Cream Stew, it was alright for them to say things that might’ve been inappropriate with other people, but he had the feeling that their guest that episode was a big-name guest. Ohno commented that (if that were the case) he should’ve peed before filming XD

Arashi ni Shiyagare #003

Aired On: May 8th, 2010

This episode, like the last two, begins with Arashi trying to figure out who their aniki guest is. Sho mentioned that a staff advised him to sleep early the day before, so he assumed it was someone who’d make them move a lot. So perhaps an athlete?

Arashi ni Shiyagare #001

Aired On: April 24th, 2010

I told my friend (who is currently also binging on Shiyagare) that I’m going to stop watching old shows til their hiatus starts, so that I’d have even more content later, but obviously that’s not happening. I’m still reorganising my files, after all. I’ve decided to renumber my Shiyagare files, too – the kazunari@DW numbering system which I used labeled this first episode as episode 0, for example. And then there was the Breathless Encounters SP which didn’t have a number… so I’ll just start from the beginning and use my own system. (I’ll change the numbers for episodes I already wrote about as I get to them.)

Vs. Arashi! 2019.01.24

Aired On: January 24th, 2019

Last week’s VsA! I’ve been wanting to watch this one so much because of the screencaps/clips I kept seeing on twitter. This ep was aired the day before Sho’s birthday, which they talked about during the opening. Sho talked about how turning from 35 to 36 felt like a big leap, which Aiba agreed, mimicking his surprise to realise that he was now 36. Sho added he felt the same about being 37 now, and then Riida chimed in, “I’m… 38!” Sho then thanked his mother who was often a subject in his OP talks, and Nino and MatsuJun prompted him to make a resolution that he won’t fight with her anymore, so he did.

Mago Mago Arashi #001

Aired On: 14th May, 2005

Hi, I’m STILL reorganising old files and today I’ve been going through my Mago Mago Arashi files, which somehow exists in three different folders in three different HDs. (I’ve moved everything to one HD, and if the files are still working, I think I have everything?) I still wonder why couldn’t I have been more organised back then (>_<).

Catching Up

Happy New Year! So, I haven’t been keeping up-to-date with Arashi for some time, especially when it comes to PVs and singles because while I continued buying albums for the last 2-3 years, I kind of stopped buying singles during that time. I’m slowly backtracking and getting the singles I’m missing, but I’ve never been that into PVs in general. I watch them, and I enjoy them for the most part, but I’m not one to analyse them or write long posts about them and stuff.

Today I’ve been cleaning up my Arashi folders and watched some PVs for the first time, though:

Arashi no Shukudai-kun #044

Aired On: August 6th, 2007

In this episode, Arashi’s guest is comedian Jinnai Tomonari, who had recently got married to model/actress Fujiwara Norika (this was in 2007! They eventually divorced in 2009.) Anyway, in the beginning he was talking about his wedding reception.