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Houkago Princess’ Crowning Glory: 1st Zepp Diver City One-Man Live Report

放課後プリンセス、初のZeppワンマンライブレポート
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Houkago Princess’ Crowning Glory: 1st Zepp Diver City One-Man Live Report

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The stars and planets aligned as Houkago Princess held “LIVE〜PRINCESS STORY〜”, their first one-man live at Zepp Diver City on September 22, 2016.

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Taking the stage for “~Miracle~”, the second of their 2 performances of the day, Houkago Princess was met by the enthusiastic shouts and waving penlights of their fans. Starting off with “Kiete, Shirayukihime” and “Manatsu no Yoru no Yume”, the heat inside Zepp Diver City began to boil over as the members paraded down the walkway to the stage in the middle of the floor area.

After a quick greeting and self-introduction, the live continued as a harpsichord melody ushered in “Junpaku Antoinette”, the members kicking up their heels and pirouetting across the stage. Changing directions quickly with the rock/dance mixture of “Dream Door”, the members raised their fists high above their heads, kicking and bouncing along to the throbbing rhythms before retreating offstage.

After a short video showing clips from Houkago Princess’ MVs and photos from past events, Nana Odagiri, Miran Yamaguchi, Maika, Saori Kizuki, and Sasara Sekine returned to the stage wearing black lacy crop tops and flowing tan and black pants, putting on a display of their athleticism and grace with a dance performance which transitioned into “Ito 4 kute BALLOON”.

With the coronation of Marina Nagasawa, Mayumi Kojima, and Sasara taking place at the end of the evening, it was sadly the final night that Houpuri Youth would be active as well. Cadet member Nina Horii joined them onstage for their final performance of “Smile x 3 〜Egao Zutto Saita mama de〜”. Even though they vowed not to cry, sealing it with a huddle and a shout of “xiaolongbao!”, Marina found it unable to keep the tears from coming.

The rest of the members returned to sing “Chou HAPPY BIRTHDAY” (Houkago Princess’ birthday song) for Mayumi as she walked out to the stage in the middle of floor and took in the sight of all the pink lights waving just for her. Marina and Sasara embraced Mayumi from both sides as tears of happiness welled up in her eyes while the song came to a close.

With the rest of the group offstage once again, Maika stood alone under a spotlight as the floor area was filled with purple penlights, her voice reverberating as she sang “My love song”. Having written the lyrics, Maika became immersed in the music, her voice soaring as she hit the high notes and knelt gently at the center of the stage.

After another video which continued the review of Houkago Princess’ story with clips of “Kiete, Shirayukihime”, “Junpaku Antoinette”, “Seishun Mermaid”, and their newest single “Himitsu no Tiara to Gelato”, the members returned in their Audrey Hepburn-esque outfits. As soon as the opening notes of “Baka da ne” shot out from the speakers, the voices of the fans called out loudly as Houkago Princess teased them playfully. After spinning and waltzing through “Seifuku Cinderella”, the members took a break to introduce their newest song “Himitsu no Tiara to Gelato”. This was by far one of the most impactful performances of the evening as midway through the song, the members pulled on their outfits while twirling, revealing shimmery flowing evening gowns, ending with them placing tiaras on each other’s heads.

Below is a video of the performance from that night!

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From there, Houkago Princess turned back the clock with “Kimi-pedia”, waving their penlights to “Ichigo Ichie”, and the anthemic “Kojiki Shika!”. Quickening pulses with the inescapably cute “Watashi no Migite Anata no Hidarite〜Gyutteshitai〜”, Houkago Princess closed out the main portion of the concert with their classic “Juliet〜Kimi wo Suki na 100 no Riyuu〜”.


After a few minutes of encore calls, the fans began counting down to 8:00pm along with a clock that appeared on the screen at the back of the stage. The first announcement was that Houkago Princess would have 2 teams: Twinkle (Nana Odagiri, Maika, Saori Kizuki, Miran Yamaguchi, Sasara Sekine) and Miracle (Marina Nagasawa, Mayumi Kojima, Himari Shirosaki, Saho Michishige, and Nina Horii). The second announcement was news of a Tokyo/Osaka/Nagoya/Fukuoka tour to begin in March of 2017.

Returning for the encore to the sound of harps, Houkago Princess were met with waves of kechas as they began “Seishun Mermaid”, shards of light sparkling off of the mirror ball hanging from the ceiling like the stars in the night sky. Himari Shirosaki commented about the tour taking the group to her home ground in Osaka, prompting the others to start talking about its specialty food takoyaki. Marina Nagasawa reminded fans that she and Saori Kizuki would be holding their birthday event at TSUTAYA O-WEST on October 11th.

Miran Yamaguchi moved to center stage, the pounding rhythms of “FORZA! OLE!” got the audience heated up as they pumped their fists and called out “ole! ole!”. Leading the singalong, excitement reached fever pitch, peaking with a loud “ore mo!” shout. Thanking the fans for supporting her song, Miran expressed her wishes to perform it soon and often in the future.

Nana Odagiri summed up Houkago Princess’ first Zepp Diver City solo concerts saying it was one of the dreams come true that they had been working hard for while worrying if they would be able to make it a success. With their new 9-member lineup, she mentioned how they are also aiming to stand on the stage of Nippon Budokan as well. Maika added, “We’ve just begun”, before asking the fans for their support to bring them along. Running back out the stage in the middle of the floor, an explosion of streamers fluttered down as Houkago Princess put an exclamation point on their first Zepp Diver City one-man live with “Gachi Only you”.


After the concert, the coronations of Marina Nagasawa, Sasara Sekine, and Mayumi Kojima took place. Each of them shared their feelings about being surprised at Tokyo Idol Festival 2016 where their promotions were announced and their hopes for “Himitsu no Tiara to Gelato”. When asked what kind of princess they want to become, Sasara exclaimed, “A strong one!”. The rest of the members appeared on the stage and crowned the newest “afterschool princesses”, posing with them as the fans were allowed to photograph the momentous occasion. Nana read a letter she had written, congratulating Marina, Sasara, and Mayumi, causing them to shed more tears of happiness as she praised their efforts and expressed her expectations as they would begin Houkago Princess’ new chapter together.


Comments by Maika/

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Houkago Princess having their first one-man live at Zepp Diver City, and 2 performances in one day on top of that, had me spending every day leading up to it filled with anxiety and anticipation at the same time. Seeing that so many Houkago Princess fans had come when I stood on the stage, I was able to enthusiastically take on the challenge while thinking, “Alright! Let’s paint Zepp Diver City in the colors of Houkago Princess!”

We had a performance before 4:00pm where we wore seifuku and the one after 4:00pm showed us in our princess outfits so they were both different. Having a walkway allowed us to feel closer to the encouragement and smiles of the fans as we took on many new challenges during the performance. Arriving at this moment at Zepp has been a journey that began over a year ago when we made our major label debut and I had been wondering what it would actually feel like. I became overwhelmed with emotion and it felt like tears were going to start flowing but at the same time I also thought Houkago Princess still has a lot to keep working on.

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Ever since I joined Houkago Princess, I had a dream of performing a song that I had written the lyrics for so, I’m really happy that I was able to sing “My love song” during our biggest one-man live. “My love song” expresses the feelings of a mermaid thinking about their special someone and so during the intro there is the sound of waves crashing but, at the same time all the fans switched their penlights to my color, violet! Seeing that, I was really able to pour my feelings into the song. Such an experience like that is something that will remain with me forever; it’s a time I treasure deeply.

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With the new formation of Houkago Princess, our first tour being set, and our new single “Himitsu no Tiara to Gelato” releasing on October 12th, our evolution will not stop! Our goal of performing at Nippon Budokan is not a matter of “when” anymore but, something we will “absolutely” become a reality as we continue to work hard!


Setlist
01 Kiete, Shirayukihime
02 Manatsu no Yoru no Yume
03 Junpaku Antoinette
04 Dream Door
05 Itoshikute BALLOON
06 Smile x 3 〜Egao Zutto Saita mama de〜
07 Cho HAPPY BIRTH DAY
08 My love song
09 Baka da ne
10 Seifuku Cinderella
11 Himitsu no Tiara to Gelato
12 Kimi-pedia
13 Ichigo Ichie
14 Kojiki Shika!
15 Watashi no Migite Anata no Hidarite〜Gyutteshitai〜
16 Juliet〜Kimi wo Suki na 100 no Riyuu〜

E1 Seishun Mermaid
E2 FORZA! OLE!
E3 Gachi Only you


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Related links
Houkago Princess Official site : https://houpri.fanmo.jp/
Houkago Princess Official Twitter : https://twitter.com/CB__official

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Related Artists : HOUKAGO PRINCESS
Author
Kai Okudara

Writer, researcher, photographer, foodie, KSDD

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