I keep telling myself I should save this for Yabu's birthday, but I really want to share it, because I've rewatched these 2 performances like four or five times already and I love them. I'm referring to two performances from last Sunday's SC in .ts (1920x1088): the BEST medley, and Yabu's performance of Just Wanna Lovin' You with A.B.C.-Z. The part where I share with you the download links will come later in this entry, because -if you will allow me-, first I need to gush about how awesome Yabu and Hikaru are. I wish they could appear in Shounen Club more often and sing solo, or together. BEST is fine with me too. I can think of them as half Ya-Ya-yah + half JJExpress. Takaki is still not my cup of tea, but Inoo amuses me with his perpetual, impish, pixie smile, and Daiki is the gentle, shy orphan type that makes you want to adopt him... or a little lord.
Anyway, back to the performances, the BEST members seemed to heartily enjoy performing the songs that belonged originally to the two junior groups they were part of before they debuted. Ah, that was a long-winded way to refer to Ya-Ya-yah and J.J.Express and it sounded weird. XD;;; And normally when I watch some HHS (Hi!Hey!Say!) or SYYJ (Shuumatsu YY JUMPing) live stage in which Yabu and Hikaru perform Ya-Ya-yah songs there's often a certain awkwardness and strangeness, but on the BEST medley I didn't get that feeling, and I think it might have to do with the fact that they were clearly enjoying themselves, and I was happy to see that. I also liked the thoughtfulness of whoever decided Takaki-Inoo-Daiki should sing Back in Time on their own, at the front, and then Yabu-Hika should sing Stompin' on their own too, and yet I loved seeing Inoo mouthing the lyrics while he backdanced, and it felt right, because the three of them were a large part of the Ya-Ya-yah show.
As a minor complaint of course there's the detail of "we are B·E·S·T, that's right" replacing the original "we're J.J.Express, that's right", which made me wince. I know it would be out of place if they said "we're J.J.Express" when they no longer are, but it's just as strange as the A.B.C.-S (that's for A.B.C.-Shoon LOL) performance in SC in which they finished saying: "we are Acrobat Boys Club". Here's a plead to the old man that Ai Kotoba wa Ya-Ya-yah will never become Ai Kotoba wa Hey-Say-JUMP. m(_ _)m ... *shudders*
Ah, but then there's this look on Yabu's face, right before he and Hikaru step forward, as if he's breathing deeply and thinking "right, here we go", and the old man smile I adore blooms on his lips, and it's the infectious, bright smile we've seen so many times, the smile that says: "Gosh, I love this!". Seeing Yabu smile like that makes me happy.
Hikaru is all kinds of awesome too, and while he has definitely matured as an artist, it's cute to see he still hasn't left his boyish features behind. He looks pretty much like he did two years ago -even his voice still retains that boyish quality- and that's kind of... I don't know, it feels as if he's just the same good ol' Hikaru as always, as though the debut hasn't changed him in the slightest bit. I'm sure what happened made him wiser at the cost of getting heartbroken, but he's still the easygoing, laidback Hikaru of always. =) That, coupled with his impeccable, confident performing style make him stand out. I just wish his stylist would find a fitting haircut for him. ^^;;; A darker shade of brown would suit him better as well.
Yabu, on the other hand, seems to have turned into a chameleon: he has such a perfect symbiosis with the stage! He thrives on the stage. In the past I sometimes "complained" of his stiffness and slightly forceful moves when he danced, and I also commented that he showed he had managed to pretty much get rid of that with Arashi no Carnival. Well, he has moved on to a higher level, has achieved the perfect balance between great dancing and a very personal style marked by a certain sexy briskness in which every single movement looks well studied and precise. If Gundam Wing's Heero Yui danced, he'd dance like Yabu, I swear. XD But that's not all; there's also this cute, cheeky sexiness to Yabu -like that V sign accompanied by a smile- that reminds you of the bratty, little Yabu with his bowl haircut, who knew he'd get his own way, no matter what.
The Just Wanna Lovin' You performance is simply breathtaking and beautiful, which largely has to do with A.B.C.'s masterful dancing. Z is doing so well too. That's got a lot of merit. It's cute how you can still catch him peeking at the nearest group member now and then, as though to check he's doing it right. ガンバレ、はっしー(・ω・)/ The fact that it's a Ya-Ya-yah song, and that Yabu has performed this song in the She Loves Me musical he's doing these days filled it with even more significance.
In the unlikely case you didn't watch these two performances yet, or if you feel like re-watching them now...
The Just Wanna Lovin' You performance made me teary-eyed and melancholic the first time I watched it. It brought back so many memories in a rush, and I kept seeing Taiyô and Shoon dancing to that song -like they did so many times- on my mind. For me it's a very special song that shows the progression Ya-Ya-yah had. It went from being essentially a Yabu/YabuHika song in which Taiyô and Shoon merely backdanced (together with A.B.C., by the way - I like how A.B.C. have always had such a close bond with Ya-Ya-yah and with Yabu in particular) in 2003, to Taiyô and Shoon getting to do the "rap" part in 2005, and then in 2007 to be a song the four of them sang all together. That's what I mean to illustrate with the clips below. =)
This one is from the 2003.06.08 SC. Taiyô and Shoon only backdanced in this, and it was actually A.B.C. who did the rap part and the chorus parts.
This second one is a medley of Stompin', Just Wanna..., and Stand by Me with Jimmy Mackey from the 2003.07.06 SC. Hikaru is missing in this, but it's one of my favourite versions. Here, during Just Wanna..., again, Yabu sings and Shoon and Taiyô backdance.
Same medley, only in Music Station this time in 2003.06.06, so technically I should have put this before the previous one, but never mind. Another difference is that Hikaru was present in this one, and there's A.B.C.-T (T for Yoshikazu Tôshin). I wonder what's become of Tôshin and if he's still in Johnny's. We haven't seen him since the Countdown of 2007. =( In this one it's YabuHika who do the singing in Just Wanna..., while once again Taiyô and Shoon backdance.
And we fast-forward now to 2005.01.16 SC. Yet another performance of Just Wanna..., but in this one Shoon and Taiyo got to do the rap part. Shoon seemed particularly anxious to get to those few, rare seconds of protagonism because he stepped forward too fast for Taiyô to follow. XD This performance is one of my favourites too, because the difference between Shoon and Taiyô, Yabu and Hikaru -but especially between Taiyô and Shoon- was so striking! Shoon was no longer a child and half-way through to becoming a heartthrob, while Taiyô who was already as tall as him, or even a bit taller, still looked so much younger than the actual age gap between them.
And the last stop in this journey back in time is yet another performance of Just Wanna... plus Itoshi no Playgirl from the 2007.02.11 SC. In this one all four of them sing, and I loved it when the four of them sang together, because the sound was great. Things were moving in the right direction, but just when they were about to grasp the Moon... it turned into a big, white balloon with the laughing face of Johnny Kitagawa on it, and flew away. =/
*sigh* Anyway, back to the present. I said I wanted to share with you those two performances in .ts but, due to recent events I won't get into, I've decided to change my sharing policy in what regards Hyakushiki and any Yabu/Hikaru .ts or rare files I might share here in the future. I don't like rules, and never in my life did I think one day I'd be setting up rules here, but it's this, or watermarking, or sharing the videos privately just with a few friends, and I don't want to do any of those things. I'm extremely sorry for the inconvenience. m(_ _)m Maybe I'm being incredibly naive by doing this, but I still believe people are esentially good, so please don't betray my trust. I'm also aware I'll probably be criticized for this, but in my defense, I'm doing this against my will.
IMPORTANT - PLEASE READ:
- The last file of each of these performances requires a password.
- If you're a member of the Shoon LJ comm, it's the same password I set for the Hyakushiki HD files, so if you have it already, you can skip this.
- You need to leave a comment to get the password (the comment page is located on LiveJournal)
- I'll send you the password via a LiveJournal private message, so make sure your LJ preferences allow you to get private messages from any LJ user.
- If you don't have an LJ account, send me an e-mail (esarein8 at yahoo.es)
- By requesting the password you make it implicit that I have your word on the following:
1) you will not to give the password to anybody else
2) you will not re-post these videos on any community, blog, journal, etc.
3) you will not share these videos through private messaging, e-mail or any other method - if you want another person to have them, give them the link to this entry
- To make things easier for you and me, please paste this in your comment:
http://www.livejournal.com/inbox/compose.bml?user=yourLJusername and type your LJ username where indicated.
To speed things up, I've already PM-ed the password to those of you who regularly leave comments on this blog. =)
2010.01.17 SC HD - BEST medley.ts .001 .002 .003
2010.01.17 SC HD - Just Wanna Lovin You.ts .001 .002
Anyway, back to the performances, the BEST members seemed to heartily enjoy performing the songs that belonged originally to the two junior groups they were part of before they debuted. Ah, that was a long-winded way to refer to Ya-Ya-yah and J.J.Express and it sounded weird. XD;;; And normally when I watch some HHS (Hi!Hey!Say!) or SYYJ (Shuumatsu YY JUMPing) live stage in which Yabu and Hikaru perform Ya-Ya-yah songs there's often a certain awkwardness and strangeness, but on the BEST medley I didn't get that feeling, and I think it might have to do with the fact that they were clearly enjoying themselves, and I was happy to see that. I also liked the thoughtfulness of whoever decided Takaki-Inoo-Daiki should sing Back in Time on their own, at the front, and then Yabu-Hika should sing Stompin' on their own too, and yet I loved seeing Inoo mouthing the lyrics while he backdanced, and it felt right, because the three of them were a large part of the Ya-Ya-yah show.
As a minor complaint of course there's the detail of "we are B·E·S·T, that's right" replacing the original "we're J.J.Express, that's right", which made me wince. I know it would be out of place if they said "we're J.J.Express" when they no longer are, but it's just as strange as the A.B.C.-S (that's for A.B.C.-Shoon LOL) performance in SC in which they finished saying: "we are Acrobat Boys Club". Here's a plead to the old man that Ai Kotoba wa Ya-Ya-yah will never become Ai Kotoba wa Hey-Say-JUMP. m(_ _)m ... *shudders*
Ah, but then there's this look on Yabu's face, right before he and Hikaru step forward, as if he's breathing deeply and thinking "right, here we go", and the old man smile I adore blooms on his lips, and it's the infectious, bright smile we've seen so many times, the smile that says: "Gosh, I love this!". Seeing Yabu smile like that makes me happy.
Hikaru is all kinds of awesome too, and while he has definitely matured as an artist, it's cute to see he still hasn't left his boyish features behind. He looks pretty much like he did two years ago -even his voice still retains that boyish quality- and that's kind of... I don't know, it feels as if he's just the same good ol' Hikaru as always, as though the debut hasn't changed him in the slightest bit. I'm sure what happened made him wiser at the cost of getting heartbroken, but he's still the easygoing, laidback Hikaru of always. =) That, coupled with his impeccable, confident performing style make him stand out. I just wish his stylist would find a fitting haircut for him. ^^;;; A darker shade of brown would suit him better as well.
Yabu, on the other hand, seems to have turned into a chameleon: he has such a perfect symbiosis with the stage! He thrives on the stage. In the past I sometimes "complained" of his stiffness and slightly forceful moves when he danced, and I also commented that he showed he had managed to pretty much get rid of that with Arashi no Carnival. Well, he has moved on to a higher level, has achieved the perfect balance between great dancing and a very personal style marked by a certain sexy briskness in which every single movement looks well studied and precise. If Gundam Wing's Heero Yui danced, he'd dance like Yabu, I swear. XD But that's not all; there's also this cute, cheeky sexiness to Yabu -like that V sign accompanied by a smile- that reminds you of the bratty, little Yabu with his bowl haircut, who knew he'd get his own way, no matter what.
The Just Wanna Lovin' You performance is simply breathtaking and beautiful, which largely has to do with A.B.C.'s masterful dancing. Z is doing so well too. That's got a lot of merit. It's cute how you can still catch him peeking at the nearest group member now and then, as though to check he's doing it right. ガンバレ、はっしー(・ω・)/ The fact that it's a Ya-Ya-yah song, and that Yabu has performed this song in the She Loves Me musical he's doing these days filled it with even more significance.
In the unlikely case you didn't watch these two performances yet, or if you feel like re-watching them now...
The Just Wanna Lovin' You performance made me teary-eyed and melancholic the first time I watched it. It brought back so many memories in a rush, and I kept seeing Taiyô and Shoon dancing to that song -like they did so many times- on my mind. For me it's a very special song that shows the progression Ya-Ya-yah had. It went from being essentially a Yabu/YabuHika song in which Taiyô and Shoon merely backdanced (together with A.B.C., by the way - I like how A.B.C. have always had such a close bond with Ya-Ya-yah and with Yabu in particular) in 2003, to Taiyô and Shoon getting to do the "rap" part in 2005, and then in 2007 to be a song the four of them sang all together. That's what I mean to illustrate with the clips below. =)
This one is from the 2003.06.08 SC. Taiyô and Shoon only backdanced in this, and it was actually A.B.C. who did the rap part and the chorus parts.
This second one is a medley of Stompin', Just Wanna..., and Stand by Me with Jimmy Mackey from the 2003.07.06 SC. Hikaru is missing in this, but it's one of my favourite versions. Here, during Just Wanna..., again, Yabu sings and Shoon and Taiyô backdance.
Same medley, only in Music Station this time in 2003.06.06, so technically I should have put this before the previous one, but never mind. Another difference is that Hikaru was present in this one, and there's A.B.C.-T (T for Yoshikazu Tôshin). I wonder what's become of Tôshin and if he's still in Johnny's. We haven't seen him since the Countdown of 2007. =( In this one it's YabuHika who do the singing in Just Wanna..., while once again Taiyô and Shoon backdance.
And we fast-forward now to 2005.01.16 SC. Yet another performance of Just Wanna..., but in this one Shoon and Taiyo got to do the rap part. Shoon seemed particularly anxious to get to those few, rare seconds of protagonism because he stepped forward too fast for Taiyô to follow. XD This performance is one of my favourites too, because the difference between Shoon and Taiyô, Yabu and Hikaru -but especially between Taiyô and Shoon- was so striking! Shoon was no longer a child and half-way through to becoming a heartthrob, while Taiyô who was already as tall as him, or even a bit taller, still looked so much younger than the actual age gap between them.
And the last stop in this journey back in time is yet another performance of Just Wanna... plus Itoshi no Playgirl from the 2007.02.11 SC. In this one all four of them sing, and I loved it when the four of them sang together, because the sound was great. Things were moving in the right direction, but just when they were about to grasp the Moon... it turned into a big, white balloon with the laughing face of Johnny Kitagawa on it, and flew away. =/
*sigh* Anyway, back to the present. I said I wanted to share with you those two performances in .ts but, due to recent events I won't get into, I've decided to change my sharing policy in what regards Hyakushiki and any Yabu/Hikaru .ts or rare files I might share here in the future. I don't like rules, and never in my life did I think one day I'd be setting up rules here, but it's this, or watermarking, or sharing the videos privately just with a few friends, and I don't want to do any of those things. I'm extremely sorry for the inconvenience. m(_ _)m Maybe I'm being incredibly naive by doing this, but I still believe people are esentially good, so please don't betray my trust. I'm also aware I'll probably be criticized for this, but in my defense, I'm doing this against my will.
IMPORTANT - PLEASE READ:
- The last file of each of these performances requires a password.
- If you're a member of the Shoon LJ comm, it's the same password I set for the Hyakushiki HD files, so if you have it already, you can skip this.
- You need to leave a comment to get the password (the comment page is located on LiveJournal)
- I'll send you the password via a LiveJournal private message, so make sure your LJ preferences allow you to get private messages from any LJ user.
- If you don't have an LJ account, send me an e-mail (esarein8 at yahoo.es)
- By requesting the password you make it implicit that I have your word on the following:
1) you will not to give the password to anybody else
2) you will not re-post these videos on any community, blog, journal, etc.
3) you will not share these videos through private messaging, e-mail or any other method - if you want another person to have them, give them the link to this entry
- To make things easier for you and me, please paste this in your comment:
http://www.livejournal.com/inbox/compose.bml?user=yourLJusername and type your LJ username where indicated.
To speed things up, I've already PM-ed the password to those of you who regularly leave comments on this blog. =)
2010.01.17 SC HD - BEST medley.ts .001 .002 .003
2010.01.17 SC HD - Just Wanna Lovin You.ts .001 .002