License to Sparkle! Akishibu project Rocks TSUTAYA O-EAST During 2016 Tour Finale!

| Idol | Posted by Kai Okudara on Jul.04.2016

Sponsored Links

Akishibu project came to the end of another long road of personal growth when they took the stage at TSUTAYA O-EAST on June 15, 2016 for the finale of their 2016 Shingitai Mushashugyo Kai (心技体武者修行〝改〟) tour.

img_Akishibu_20160615_039

After a dramatic opening video featuring images of crashing waves, inspirational words flashing by on the screen, and time-lapse scenes of the 5 cities that the tour took them to, the members rushed onto the stage as the fans called out to them. Opening with “white”, the song written for Emiri Otani, who graduated from the group on April 18th, it felt like the conclusion of a chapter, a symbolic gesture showing that, they had indeed grown stronger even as their numbers had decreased.

Shifting into overdrive, the driving riff to “Akishibu Way” rang out from the speakers and the crowd sprang to life. The momentum kept building as the live rolled on with “Midaregami Fighting Girl”, the members swinging their fists and the fans raising the temperature inside the venue as they jumped and danced along. Birthday girl Natsumi Ishikawa (aka Abu-chan) called out for the audience to get more excited, she and the rest of the members answering back with what seemed like a faster than usual performance of “Eternal Blue ~Kimi to Boku to Sora to Umi~”.

Slowing down slightly with “Gachi Koi Revolution”, the members bounced around the stage swinging their fists, chopping the air with their hands, and flaring out their elbows. The fist swinging continued, joined by the members and fans pointing out at each other during “Be yourself”. Scrambling to rearrange their formation, the non-stop performance rolled on with “Summer☆Summer”, the fans enthusiastically calling out to Yuuna Arakawa (aka Yuunarin), who sang the opening lines. Even as one of Akishibu project’s newer songs, it seems to quickly become a fan favorite based on the loud calls coming from the crowd.

Yuunarin assured the audience that there was still more “non-stop” on the way as she and the other members twirled and moved their arms like gentle waves to “Dream in a sea”. Abu-chan called out for the fans to grab up their towels and even high-fived a few of them in the front of the stage as the live switched over to spin cycle with “Restart”. Towels whipped around in the air but the temperature kept rising as the fans jumped along to the fast-paced rock.

Ami Iseki (aka Amirakuru) called out to the fans to stay excited as the music took an electronic detour with the pulsating beats of “Kagayaki License”. Bringing the 11-song opening to an authoritative close with “Answer”, Akishibu project showed just how much they had leveled up in a few short months.

Finally stopping to take a break to greet the audience after 11 songs in a row, the members of Akishibu project were not even out of breath! When Abu-chan announced that it was her 20th birthday, the fans cheered loudly. Leader Yue Miyatani (aka Yuechi) explained that the theme of the Shingitai Mushashugyo Kai tour was one of defeating and surpassing their weak selves to become stronger and promised that even though the tour was ending, Akishibu project had a lot more planned for the future. Hinako Kera introduced the name of their 5th one-man live at Zepp Tokyo on August 22nd: “Ore no Natsu!! Wake!!” (俺の夏!!沸け!!, literally “My summer!! Get hot/boil over!!”) However, the fans might have been most excited about the picture of a bikini-clad torso in the background of the title, chanting “oppai” as soon as they saw it flash upon the screen.

img_akishibu_5th_banner

After a few of the members scrambled to claim that it was them in the picture, they added that Akishibu project would be holding 3 days of free lives at Shinjuku BLAZE with La PomPon, Nama Ham and Yaki Udon (July 5), Chu-Z, Bakusute Sotokanda Icchome (July 6), and Maneki Kecha (July 7).

The exciting news continued with a new collaboration song for the auction site Mobaoku, which would include choreography by popular Mix Channel personalities Oshima Kyoudai and a shirt by galaxxxy, which would be given away to the first 1,000 fans starting from the end of the live. Finally, it was revealed that Akishibu project would be releasing their first single “Summer☆Summer/Setsunatsuri” on August 9th.

With that transition, the members performed “Setsunatsuri” a cool traditional Japanese-styled rock song complete with the members waving folding fans delicately. Swinging back into high gear with “Manatsu no Serenade”, the fans came alive once again, calling out loudly and dancing along. The main performance accelerated to the finish line with a passionate rendition of “New World”, some of the audience rushing forwards like waves crashing into a seawall.

An encore call using each of the members’ nicknames in it was started and continued until a tribute video to Abu-chan appeared on the screens. Despite beginning with her expressing her doubts and worries, it showed her victories as she walked the path of idol. The members returned to the stage in shirts specially made to celebrate Abu-chan’s birthday and started the encore right away with “flower x flower” as the venue was filled with the glow of purple cyalumes. Everyone sang “Happy Birthday” to Abu-chan and presented her with a cake, flowers, and a scrapbook. Saori Funaki read letters which were written by Abu-chan’s older sister and father, expressing how proud they were of her.

Next was “Yumemita sono Basho he”, a song which Akishibu project had not performed in quite a long time, a slow piano ballad-like tune. Armed with new towels (they threw theirs into the audience during the first performance), the members closed out the encore with a repeat of “Restart” before taking a commemorative picture with the fans and taking their final bows.

As much as Akishibu project has grown over the past year, the amount of change since their 4th one-man live at Akasaka BLITZ on March 22nd until their latest tour finale was nothing short of exponential. With the summer music festival season right around the corner, Akishibu project will definitely be working hard to make sure that their 5th one-man live at Zepp Tokyo will be one of the hottest lives of the season!

Photos by Nathan Gey

Set List

01 White
02 Akishibu Way
03 Midaregami Fighting Girl
04 Eternal Blue ~Kimi to Boku to Sora to Umi~
05 Gachi Koi Revolution
06 Be yourself
07 Summer☆Summer
08 Dream in a sea
09 Restart
10 Kagayaki License
11 Answer
12 Setsunatsuri
13 Manatsu no Serenade
14 New World

E1 flower x flower
E2 Yumemita sono Basho he
E3 Restart

Related Links

Akishibu project Official site : http://akishibup.net/

Akishibu project Official blog: http://lineblog.me/akishibuproject/

Akishibu project Official Twitter: https://twitter.com/AkishibuProject