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Following OtonaAKB, AKB48 came up with a new form of temporary membership: part-time idol. Find out more about this new project here.
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SKE48 Announces 7th Generation Auditions
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Details on the AKB48 Group Pennant Race
The AKB48 Group teams will compete against each other in a new event, the AKB48 Group Pennant Race. Points will be awarded based on theater ticket applications, theater version handshake ticket sales and sousenkyo votes.
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30 November 2010

AKB48 'live' in AFA X (Singapore) Experience - Part 3

     The final part of this 3 part series documenting my AKB48 experience at the recent AKB48 'live' in AFA X. Part 3 will cover the post event activities and the review.

Part 1: http://melosnomichi.blogspot.com/2010/11/akb48-live-in-afa-x-singapore.html
Part 2: http://melosnomichi.blogspot.com/2010/11/akb48-live-in-afa-x-singapore_27.html

image credit to supermerlion

more after the jump

Post Concert
08:30PM: It's not over yet
     I ended off in part 2 when the girls left the stage. The time was 8:30PM. The concert ran for 1 hour and 15 mins. At this point of time most of the people were still exhausted. Some people made a mad dash for the exit in hopes that there is a goods booth selling AKB48's Singles or photos. But to the disappointment of many, there wasn't any there.

     After a short rest the bunch of us from SGP48 started discussing about our next plan of action. Because AKB48's Team K had a concert in Kieo University the day after the concert, this meant that their flight out of Singapore had to leave the same night as the concert. And since you had to be at the airport 2 hours before the scheduled departure time, we managed to narrow down the possible flights to 2.

Flight No.DepartsTerminalReach airport by
NH 625423:55PMTerminal 39:55PM
NH 625400:55:AMTerminal 210:55PM

     We all split ourselves into groups of 4 and took taxis to the airport. Some of us would go to Terminal 3 and the rest of us were to go to Terminal 2. My initial plan was not to go because I had to rush home, however the concert ended sooner than I expected and that meant that I still had extra time. The rest of SGP48 had left to the taxi stand already. I managed to get in touch with Kazuki and Shunichiro and we headed to the taxi stand....... only to find a ridiculously long queue. Luckily I knew of another taxi stand nearby which nobody uses and managed to get in a taxi within 3 mins. Off to Changi Airport Terminal 3!

     In the taxi Kazuki and Shunichiro helped me to recall the events that happened during the concert. Big thanks to them. The trip was quite long and we talked about other stuffs about the concert, and also the major changes in our rankings. Both Kazuki and Shunichiro changed their Oshimen after the concert XD. I almost did too. Finally we reached Changi Airport T3. Most of those who went to the airport also went to T3 because its the first plane to depart.There were like 15 ~ 20 of us there.

09:15PM: Big mistake
     We were still mingling around and I took out my laptop from my bag to check the flight schedules once more. WHILE MY LAPTOP WAS STILL OUT, there was a call from one of our guys at Terminal 2. The girls were there! I quickly closed my laptop screen and with my laptop in one hand, my board and a large bag in the other and my backpack on my back, all 20 of us started running towards the skytrain that connects T3 to T2. Bad news is, we were at the left corner of T3. And the skytrain was in the right corner. We literally ran to whole 700 meters of the T3 departure hall. It must be a crazy sight, 20 people dressed in pink shirts running across T3. AND I'M CARRYING MY LAPTOP IN MY HAND TOO. Good thing it didn't drop.

     When we finally reached the skytrain we were in luck that it didn't depart yet. Otherwise we had to wait for 5 whole mins for the next train. Some of the faster runners have already made it in and held the door open for the slower ones (like me). With everyone inside, it was a 2 min journey to Terminal 2. That meant 2 mins of rest for us until we had to run another 300 - 500 meters. Finally I could put my laptop back in my bag.

     2 mins later the skytrain arrived at Terminal 2 and as soon as the doors opened everyone ran out. Me and 2 other guys only managed to run about 100 meters before we were too exhausted and let those still with energy to run ahead. They dashed to the entry gates of the terminal. Me and the other 2 guys however decided to use the shorter route and bypass the check-in counters and wait for them directly at the passengers gates. Good thing we did that because while we were only 50 meters away from the gates we saw the girls coming out of the check-in counters.

Taken with Google Earth. Click for bigger size.

09:30PM: Seeing the girls for the last time
     The 3 of us ran towards them, but kept 5 meters of space between us and them. I held up my board and quickly located Amina, and started screaming her name with my still coarse voice and waved them goodbye. However I lost sight of her once the rest of the crowd came over from the other side of the check-in counters. I decided to give the other girls a chance again and shouted their names when they walked by. Then I spotted Haachan (again thanks to her short hair) and switched my board to the opposite side. I screamed "ADEJOU" a few more times and she replied "Adejou" back to me. I continued shouting the name of each girl who went past me while waving goodbye. Eventually all of them went through the passenger gates and we couldn't see them anymore. We gathered and took a picture for the Shiichan birthday project done by Blucherri and then we all headed off in different directions. That's the end of my AKB experience in Singapore.... for the time being.


Review
     Ok with my experience done, now I start addressing the problems. Starting with the good things.

     What else can I say? The concert was literally the best experience ever in my 17 years of life. All the screaming and jumping and lightstick waving and MIXing. I have my coarse voice and aching arms to prove it. I think I never lost my voice this badly before. Seeing the girls with my own eyes rather than watching them on my 52" LCD TV screen, the girls look so much prettier. Haachan and Micha stunned me with their gorgeousness. Harugon, Rabutan, Chiyuu and Amina were cute beyond words. Sayaka, Sae, Nacchi and Wasamin showed off their fierceness in Kimi wa Pegasus. And finally Komorin's slowness in thinking caused funny moments during the performance.

     The members who wowed me the most in the concert were Haachan, Micha and Wasamin. Their dance movements were very sharp and precise, and their voices were amazing. With the exception of Haachan who is already in my top favorites list, Micha and Wasamin have moved from near the bottom of my ranking to near the top.

     I'm happy that the lineup turned out this way, without most of the frontgirls. Sure some of them might not be as good as the frontgirls and make mistakes but then it also gives us the opportunity to learn about these less promoted girls. After all AKB48 is not only made up of the frontgirls. Some people keep on forgetting that there are more than 16 girls in AKB. There's 48 of them.

     The only issues I had about the concert is that it was too short (but then aren't these things always), and the bass was way too loud. But I think the latter had something with me sitting right below one of the huge ass speakers.

     But sadly not all was good.

AKB48 not in the original guest lineup of AFA X, and took them a month later to announce.
     I'm not sure whats up with this, or why they choose to do this, because it caused a lot of inconvenience to everyone. Especially for those coming from overseas. Since AFA X is the most probable event to host the concert, most of them already secured their tickets. However when they found out AKB wasn't going to be part of it, they got confused and canceled their tickets. Only to find out a month later that they were going to perform at AFA X! Thing is, now the tickets cost twice the price. It could be that Cool Japan and AFA X handle things separately.

Ticket collection at HMV@313
     There was no official organization of the queue until 10AM when some guards came out. No ropes or barriers whatsoever. Not even a sign showing where the queue starts. This created a problem because there are 2 entrances to 313. Luckily those who came early started organizing the queue themselves and rerouted the other people who queued at a different location. Also since there weren't any barriers or ropes, people could just freely enter the queue. While some people already planned for their friend in the queue to buy the tickets and were just sitting there to chat, some others used this opportunity to slip into the queue unnoticed.

Member list not available until late
     As mentioned earlier, the member list was not out until a week before the concert. This created a lot of problems because for a large number of people. Since majority of the AKB48 fans here are casual fans, they only know the girls which are featured. That meant Acchan, Yuko, Mariko, Tomochin, Mayuyu, Takamina, Kojiharu, etc etc. If their not coming, there wasn't a point for them to go. So they decided to wait for the member list.....but that didn't come out until very late and caused last minute buying so they got back row tickets.

     One possible reason I thought of for the lateness in the member lineup is that it could be a marketing strategy to sell more tickets and take advantage of the confusion. The other possible reason is that AKS (AKB48 management) could not finalize the schedules for the girls. After all it's not a simple process when there are like 12 different agencies handling the girls. Not to mention that they perform daily and appear regularly on TV.

No gift deposit point
     AFA X did not provide a drop off point for gifts to AKB48 and fans who wanted to give them stuff were pissed. After spending lots of money on their gifts only to find out that there wasn't a way to pass it to the girls. For those who did manage to find a staff member to help pass the gifts to the girls, there was still the question of if the gifts would even reach them.

No merchendise booth
     This one is just disappointing. Aren't these a staple for concerts? How come the I <3 Anisong concert has concert goods but the AKB48 "live" doesn't have any. I have no other comment for this.

Post AFA X AKB48 Member Ranking
MELOSKIEYUKU
01. Sato Amina
02. Katayama Haruka
03. Kuramochi Asuka
04. Kashiwagi Yuki
05. Nakata Chisato
06. Maeda Ami
07. Fujie Reina
08. Kasai Tomomi
09. Iwasa Misaki
10. Oshima Yuko
11. Sato Sumire
12. Kikuchi Ayaka
13. Ishida Haruka
14.Takahashi Minami
15. Umeda Ayaka
16. Nonaka Misato
17. Sashihara Rino
18. Hirajima Natsumi
19. Maeda Atsuko
20. Shinoda Mariko
21. Komori Mika
22. Masuda Yuka
23. Sato Natsuki
24. Nakagawa Haruka
25. Nito Moeno
26. Suzuki Mariya
27. Miyazaki Miho
28. Ota Aika
29. Yonezawa Rumi
30. Itano Tomomi
31. Minegishi Minami
32. Uchida Mayumi
33. Kitahara Rie
34. Nakaya Sayaka
35. Matsubara Natsumi
36. Matsui Sakiko
37. Akimoto Sayaka
38. Yokoyama Yui
39. Miyazawa Sae
40. Kobayashi Kana
41. Chikano Rina
42. Watanabe Mayu
43. Oya Shizuka
44. Oku Manami
45. Tanabe Miku
46. Kojima Haruna
47. Nakatsuka Tomomi
48. Takajyo Aki
01. Kitahara Rie
02. Sato Natsuki
03. Kojima Haruna
04. Takahashi Minami
05. Kikuchi Ayaka
06. Watanabe Mayu
07. Kasai Tomomi
08. Maeda Ami
09. Sato Sumire
10. Sashihara Rino
11. Oota Aika
12. Nakagawa Haruka
13. Matsubara Natsumi
14. Komori Mika
15. Oya Shizuka
16. Masuda Yuka
17. Katayama Haruka
18. Umeda Ayaka
19. Iwasa Misaki
20. Maeda Atsuko
21. Minegishi Minami
22. Suzuki Mariya
23. Fujie Reina
24. Ishida Haruka
25. Yonezawa Rumi
26. Miyazawa Sae
27. Matsui Sakiko
28. Nito Moeno
29. Yokoyama Yui
30. Sato Amina
31. Kuramochi Asuka
32. Akimoto Sayaka
33. Takajyo Aki
34. Hirajima Natsumi
35. Nakaya Sayaka
36. Shinoda Mariko
37. Kobayashi Kana
38. Tanabe Miku
39. Itano Tomomi
40. Kashiwagi Yuki
41. Oshima Yuko
42. Chikano Rina
43. Nakatsuka Tomomi
44. Nakata Chisato
45. Nonaka Misato
46. Uchida Mayumi
47. Oku Manami
48. Miyazaki Miho

Now I'm off to prepare for the AKB48 events in STGCC. Yay for Mocchi coming!


Part 1: http://melosnomichi.blogspot.com/2010/11/akb48-live-in-afa-x-singapore.html
Part 2: http://melosnomichi.blogspot.com/2010/11/akb48-live-in-afa-x-singapore_27.html  
   

1 comment:

Regina said...

Thanks for posting the reviews on the AFA AKB48 experience! I would have been there for sure if not for my overseas studies. Hopefully they'll be back again when i'm home. lol