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Silent Siren! PASSPO☆! Fudanjuku! Otome Shinto! DIANNA☆SWEET! Tokyo Idol Festival Collab Stage!
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One of the great things about a big idol festival is the potential for collaborations between different groups/soloists. With more than 10 different collaborations taking place over the weekend of Tokyo Idol Festival 2015, it was a rare chance to see some unusual combinations that may not ordinarily happen. Finding the “sweet spot” where a collaboration will become something truly special and uniting the fans of all performers involved is no easy task. Here are 3 of the collaboration stages from the annual sensory overload that is Tokyo Idol Festival!
PASSPO☆ x Fudanjuku – Heat Garage (3:50pm – 4:20pm) August 1, 2015
PASSPO☆ took the stage in danso wigs, short khaki pants and their latest tour T-shirt to perform Fudanjuku‘s “Danso Revolution”. While it is already generally known that Shiori Mori and Anna Tamai have the deeper voices in the group, the usually higher pitched Ai Negishi proved she had range in the lower register as well. The members of Fudanjuku came out and congratulated PASSPO☆ on covering their song despite looking like trainees (kenshuusei) with their matching outfits. The members of PASSPO☆ even came up with male names: Mashilo Shiranegi (Ai Negishi), Shion (Anna Tamai), Rock Mizusaki (Mio Masui), Dai Aoki (Yukimi Fujimoto), Dameo Natsuki (Natsumi Iwamura), Naoto Inti Raymi Redcliff (Naomi Anzai), and Gen Mori (Shiori Mori). Fudanjuku apologized that they would not be doing joso (dressing as females) before performing a very masculine rendition of “Shojo Hikou”.
Gen Mori and Mashilo Shiranegi joined the members of Fudanjuku (minus Uramasa Seimyoji and Kensui Aiba) for a panic-inducing performance of “Chenmen Paradise”. Dressed in their usual outfits PASSPO☆ (minus 2) returned to the stage with the remaining members of Fudanjuku for “La La LOVE TRAIN” which ended with Mio Masui presenting Kensui Aiba with a love letter, shocking Uramasa Seimyoji. It shouldn’t have been that surprising since both of their colors is light blue. Mio jumped into the arms of Aiba before running away giggling at the end of the song.
Anna Tamai commented, “a couple has been born!” after watching the rom-com antics, which prompted the members of Fudanjuku to suggest that they split the two 7-member groups into couples. Tamai was chosen as the representative for PASSPO☆, and she embraced Kouki Seto briefly before scurrying away squealing with delight.
The collaboration stage came to an end with all of the members performing “Taiyou Mitai na Kimi ga Suki” while hanging all over each other. While it would have been even more amazing if PASSPO☆ had gone all the way and had danso airline pilot or drive-in carhop outfits made, it was probably one of the most amazing collaborations of Tokyo Idol Festival 2015 which brought together two of the most passionate fanbases together, if only for a few brief moments.
DIANNA☆SWEET x Otome Shinto – Doll Factory (6:45pm – 7:00pm) August 1, 2015
The super positive “mostly middle school student” idol group from Tokyo, Otome Shinto and the fiery sweet girls from Nagoya, DIANNA☆SWEET, came together at the Doll Factory as Otome☆SWEET for a collaboration that captivated the hearts of fans who love cute and energetic young idols. Ayame Tajiri (Otome Shinto) explained that the collaboration was realized due to both of the groups sharing the same live producer.
Starting with “ICE CREAM MAGIC”, the members of both groups got hearts racing as they flipped their hair over their shoulders and swayed back and forth gracefully to the song’s aggressive dance beat. Moving on to member introductions, Mayu Ogata’s mind seemed to be racing as her words jumbled into each other as she tried to get her own name out. The members of DIANNA☆SWEET introduced themselves next, the loudest cheers coming for the popular Mana Wakaba.
The collaboration stage came to a raucous close as all of the members performed Otome Shinto’s beloved 2nd single “2 Gakki Debut Daisakusen!!” Leaders Fuka Nagayama and Yurika Takahashi shared smiles while dancing next to each other after the thunderous MIX during the opening refrain. Seeing the contrast between the maturely dressed members of DIANNA☆SWEET and the flashy cheekiness of Otome Shinto as they danced together, it was as if the 1st and 2nd semester versions of the girl described in the song were on stage at the same time.
With Otome Shinto collaborating with Party Rockets and even holding a joint live house tour earlier in 2015 under the name “Otome Rockets”, could there be a chance of an “Otome☆SWEET” tour coming together in the near future? If the reception just based on the two songs performed at Doll Factory on the first day of Tokyo Idol Festival 2015 was any indication, it might just happen sooner than you would think.
Silent Siren x PASSPO☆ – Heat Garage (10:15am – 10:45am) August 2, 2015
Two of Platinum Production’s biggest groups got together at Zepp Diver City to kick off the second day of Tokyo Idol Festival. Announced as a surprise performer at the end of July, Silent Siren got to experience a rock festival (they were at Rock in Japan Fes.2015 on August 1st) and an idol festival in a weekend when they took the stage as the “top batter” at Zepp Diver City.
Over a thousand hands waved back and forth to the upbeat synth melody of “Lucky Girl”, alternating with claps and pumping fists. The temperature inside the venue having risen, Silent Siren cooled things down with “Guru Guru Wonderland”, Yukako Kurosaka (aka Yukarun) leading the audience by waving her towel in one hand while playing her keyboards with the other. While Hinako Umemura (aka Hinanchu) kept the beat going on her drum set, vocalist Sumire Yoshida (aka Suu) started the chant for Silent Siren’s summer hit song “Bisan”, leading to an extended call-and-response exchange between them and the fans.
Putting down their instruments, they thanked everyone from getting out to Odaiba so early in the morning despite the summer heat outside. They mentioned that as the big loser of their SaiSai Corner, Yukarun was chosen to perform with PASSPO☆, which was actually good since she was the group’s resident idol authority. The members of PASSPO☆ appeared on stage and Anna Tamai (aka Anya) seemed to take offense to how performing with PASSPO☆ was seen as a punishment, suggesting that Yukarun be punished if she was unable to keep up with them. However, as one of the better dancers in the group, Anya commented that Yukarun was about at the same level of Natsumi Iwamura (aka Nachu, known as the least talented dancer in PASSPO☆), causing some fans to laugh. Suu mentioned that Yukarun used to dance quite a lot prior to joining to Silent Siren, leading Anya to comment about her calves. Hinanchu shared that Yukarun would be practicing by herself in the studio and dressing room during Silent Siren’s tour. Bassist Aina Yamauchi (aka Ainyan) added that since Yukarun had bungee jumped as a punishment for losing SaiSai Corner previously, that she was kind of fearless as well.
Captain of PASSPO☆ Ai Negishi mentioned that in order to make the collaboration truly special, they had given Yukarun lines to sing just as Yukarun returned to the stage in an outfit just like the one that the members of PASSPO☆ was wearing, to the delight of fans and members alike. Yukarun was made to stand next to Mio Masui because they were the same height. Naomi Anzai placed a hand on Yukarun’s shoulder and asked her if she was ready before moving into her position for “Material Girl”.
Yukarun integrated herself seamlessly into the formation, rocking back and forth to the upbeat pop punk rhythm. A loud “Yukarun” chant met her as she sang the second verse while standing near the front of the stage, pointing out at the fans like a veteran idol.
Anya put her arm around Yukarun’s shoulder as the group finished up the song after she had finished her usual playing around with Nachu during the middle, which included some intense rubbing of noses together in front of Hinanchu’s drum set. Even though Yukarun proved that she could probably join PASSPO☆ based her performance, she was asked to invite an imaginary boyfriend on a date as punishment anyway. Asking “Do you want to go watch Shingeki no Kyojin?” (which opened on August 1st), it would be impossible to find anyone who would turn down such an amazing invitation. While it would have been even more amazing to see all of the members of Silent Siren collaborating with PASSPO☆, it was an amazing start to the second day of Tokyo Idol Festival 2015.
Related Links
TOKYO IDOL FESTIVAL 2015 Official Site : http://idolfes.com/2015/
DIANNA☆SWEET Official site: dianna.jp/
Fudanjuku Official site : http://nfs724.com/
Otome Shinto Official site: http://otomeshinto.com/
PASSPO☆ Official site: http://passpo.jp/
Silent Siren Official site: http://silent-siren.com/
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Otome Shinto PASSPO☆ Silent Siren
Kai Okudara
Writer, researcher, photographer, foodie, KSDD
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