Apparently from what people are saying, Iikubo was missing when the girls arrived at the airport, so it's likely that she may not be coming because of her flu. :( There goes the question I was going to ask her at the Q&A.
Also Aika is here with them! I'm assuming she'll be doing MC duties.
MM'16 are going to Houston Texas
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Re: MM'16 are going to Houston Texas
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Re: MM'16 are going to Houston Texas
Facebook is exploding with people's photos and videos of the event. Everyone's having such a great time--Aika attended the Hello! Disco event--that I'm going to stop looking at people's posts or I'll die of jealousy. I'm not there because I'm in the thick of prepping my Japan trip and couldn't take time away from it.
I wish people who are there would post pix and videos here. On Facebook, the posts keep piling up and it's easy to lose track of what's going on. Besides, no one identifies who's in the pictures and it gets confusing.
I wish people who are there would post pix and videos here. On Facebook, the posts keep piling up and it's easy to lose track of what's going on. Besides, no one identifies who's in the pictures and it gets confusing.
Re: MM'16 are going to Houston Texas
If I take photos I'll post them. I only have my phone though so I can't promise lol.
I didn't go to the Friday stuff so I can't speak about that. I'm about to head to the con soon though.
I didn't go to the Friday stuff so I can't speak about that. I'm about to head to the con soon though.
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Re: MM'16 are going to Houston Texas
This line is a clusterfuck and the staff are fucking confused incompetents. I should have listened to strawberryjam :/
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Re: MM'16 are going to Houston Texas
I'm luckily sort of close to the front but I don't have a ticket. The line is crazy long though.
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TicTacAnyone
- ANGERME
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Re: MM'16 are going to Houston Texas
Video of them at the opening ceremony.
Re: MM'16 are going to Houston Texas
Had a decent spot so I could see. Was fun.
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Re: MM'16 are going to Houston Texas
I'm glad everyone had a great time! It sounds like a lot of people ran into the girls around Houston. Sad I wasn't able to miss it but at least I got to meet Sakura in NYC <3
♥ Kaori • Risako ♥
♥ Sakura • Kananan • Sayuki ♥
Re: MM'16 are going to Houston Texas
Yeah, this was the set list:
1.One and Only
2.Oh my wish!
MC
3.ENDLESS SKY
4.Renai Hunter
5.Sukkato My Heart
6.Love & Peace! Hero ga Yattekita
MC with Aika - Mizuki, Harunan, Kudo, Oda, Ogata
costume change, out comes Eripon, Kanon, Ayumi, Maachan, Maria, Akane
7.Medley (Souda We're Alive, Love Machine, Renai Revolution 21)
MC - photo session
8.Tsumetai Kaze to Kataomoi
9.The Matenrou Show
10.Ai no Gundan
11.Wagamama Kinomama Ai no Joke
12.What is LOVE?
Encore call (Zukki call)
13.HOW DO YOU LIKE JAPAN?
MC
14.One Two Three
Most of the solos was Sakura and Mizuki with Ayumi playing heavy backup. The Sakura/Mizuki Matenrou Show is loads better than the Reina/Riho version. It was probably my favorite.
Honorable mention to Iikubo, I thought she was super fun to watch, as was Kanon. 12th gen didn't stand out much (to me) other than the fact that Ogata is crazy skinny.
Oh and Miki was there but she was in a chair the entire time because of her injury.
1.One and Only
2.Oh my wish!
MC
3.ENDLESS SKY
4.Renai Hunter
5.Sukkato My Heart
6.Love & Peace! Hero ga Yattekita
MC with Aika - Mizuki, Harunan, Kudo, Oda, Ogata
costume change, out comes Eripon, Kanon, Ayumi, Maachan, Maria, Akane
7.Medley (Souda We're Alive, Love Machine, Renai Revolution 21)
MC - photo session
8.Tsumetai Kaze to Kataomoi
9.The Matenrou Show
10.Ai no Gundan
11.Wagamama Kinomama Ai no Joke
12.What is LOVE?
Encore call (Zukki call)
13.HOW DO YOU LIKE JAPAN?
MC
14.One Two Three
Most of the solos was Sakura and Mizuki with Ayumi playing heavy backup. The Sakura/Mizuki Matenrou Show is loads better than the Reina/Riho version. It was probably my favorite.
Honorable mention to Iikubo, I thought she was super fun to watch, as was Kanon. 12th gen didn't stand out much (to me) other than the fact that Ogata is crazy skinny.
Oh and Miki was there but she was in a chair the entire time because of her injury.
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Re: MM'16 are going to Houston Texas
I went, I saw, and I got this signed.
From the mild panic that Harunan didn't make it (on the first day) and the pleasant surprise that was Aika going all Kikka-like, this was pretty awesome and much better than their Anime Expo appearance back in 2009. But one does has to remember that the idol experience of 2009 is nothing like the idol experience of 2016. The more aloof artists that appeared in 2009 are completely different from the girls next door, armed with blogs and radio shows and such, of 2016.
Yes, there were insane lines for all handshake events. There was a line for superpass holders to get the voucher (at least 190 were issued) to obtain the autograph ticket (120 were issued), where I twiddled my thumbs in a queue that started from 8 in the morning and then again at 5 in the morning the next day. There was a lot of exercise and mad dashing and sprinting and super fast walking involved.
However, unlike Kikka & the '09 Q&A, convention programming had some pretty large halls to fill. No one was turned away - there was plenty of seating at the Q&A event. They also cut straight to the chase of answering questions, without any of that frivolous introduction panel (and that was really because the Q&A was scheduled right after the opening ceremonies in the same room). This time, the translator understood idol fandom so translations went much more smoothly.
The biggest disappointment was the lack of communication between organizers, volunteers, management, so the lines got screwed up again and again. Especially that concert where tickets were issued, then rescinded, then kept again, and basically just got everybody so frustrated that the convention center management nearly got brought in (at least, I saw them walking around).
But man - autographs. This is the reason why Japanese H!P fandom has just cause to be completely jealous of US H!P fandom. I probably got 30 seconds with each girl with no shoving, just some polite nudging - wishing Zukki the best with her post-grad life, teasing Eripon about LINE chats with Prince Phi (her character in the Triangle play), getting completely overwhelmed by Teddy Sakura refusing to shut up about TRUMP (the prequel to Lilium), asking Maria about American baseball (and for the record - no, she doesn't follow the U.S. leagues), and having some pretty damn awesome three-way conversation with HaaChel - basically because the two of them were smack in my part of the stage during the concert, and I had my penlight set to Haachin's sea blue <i>right against the stage railing</i> as long as I could muster - so Haachin was all sparkles the day after - and Miki learnt of the existence of a translated Lilium musical (and I now owe her linguistic texts).
I'll have to say that the convention was a more 'fan-friendly' experience than the New York concert - of course, downtown Houston being the most boring downtown helped concentrate the girls and fans together as there simply weren't a lot of places we could go during our down-time, so there were lots of encounters (I started babbling when I noticed Maachan walking past me in Lamar Park). Also, compared to AX - compared to booths hidden away and autograph panels stuck in event rooms, there was just so much open space for the fans to watch the girls in between their autograph signings.
Eripon insisted on being a responsible adult during autograph sessions (and I am Disappoint with a capital D), so we pushed for, and received fanservice muscle flexing from almost everybody else (you heard it here: my friend was doing the calls; I amplified the requests). Maria, that ball of energy, would play up to every request: we got heart signs, peace signs, and "Mozarella Cheeze" gags (I'm not sure where that comes from). Haachin and Miki were working in tandem with each other - Miki did translation duties. Harunan, despite almost losing her voice to the flu, gave us JoJo poses and egged Ayumin on. Maachan was Maachan with her distractions and sketches (that's obvious, but this time we could see her).
As for the concert, these girls were on fire - even Baby Akane-chin, who suffered through a serious case of jetlag. Miki was giving it her all, despite the broken toe. Sometime in the last nine months, Maachan grew a stage confidence that she could swagger and strut on stage like it was nothing. I'll confidently say that while Mizuki gave a lot of energy and Teddy was virtual center, MaaDuu did not disappoint. By 2017 I can really imagine 10th gen doing 90% of the hard work with Maria handling the high energy moves, followed by Miki (and maybe Haachin & Akane will speed learn this year).
Of course, the Fanservice Award goes to Aika. She crashed a Hello!Pro panel at the convention. She sung her solo at the Hello!Disco party (no, I had just left to get some sleep for the Mad Autograph Battle, so maybe PQ can confirm?). She took two shots, interviewed people before and after the concert (I was her first one), made the MC so much better than New York, let us take group photos - and most interestingly, let herself get virtually encircled by near-insane fans - and not even blinking an eye as such.
In retrospect, though, I can see this being an issue, that you need a certain level of assertiveness and groupthink to really get into the high of things at the convention, which does't seem to sit well with this BBS. That's partly due to fandom moving away from forums and onto Twitter and Facebook, which are much faster-paced as updates occur real-time. It also depended on how well you could find high-energy people to hang around with, which was how I suffered the first time in 2009 and had to adapt to standing firm in my approach over the past few years (it helps to have a career where your job consists of having people hating you for every contradictory reason possible). So that's my words of advice for future events.
In all, fun times were had. Stay tuned for the DVD release, although I'm not 100% convinced that it will be as accessible as Anime Matsuri promised...
From the mild panic that Harunan didn't make it (on the first day) and the pleasant surprise that was Aika going all Kikka-like, this was pretty awesome and much better than their Anime Expo appearance back in 2009. But one does has to remember that the idol experience of 2009 is nothing like the idol experience of 2016. The more aloof artists that appeared in 2009 are completely different from the girls next door, armed with blogs and radio shows and such, of 2016.
Yes, there were insane lines for all handshake events. There was a line for superpass holders to get the voucher (at least 190 were issued) to obtain the autograph ticket (120 were issued), where I twiddled my thumbs in a queue that started from 8 in the morning and then again at 5 in the morning the next day. There was a lot of exercise and mad dashing and sprinting and super fast walking involved.
However, unlike Kikka & the '09 Q&A, convention programming had some pretty large halls to fill. No one was turned away - there was plenty of seating at the Q&A event. They also cut straight to the chase of answering questions, without any of that frivolous introduction panel (and that was really because the Q&A was scheduled right after the opening ceremonies in the same room). This time, the translator understood idol fandom so translations went much more smoothly.
The biggest disappointment was the lack of communication between organizers, volunteers, management, so the lines got screwed up again and again. Especially that concert where tickets were issued, then rescinded, then kept again, and basically just got everybody so frustrated that the convention center management nearly got brought in (at least, I saw them walking around).
But man - autographs. This is the reason why Japanese H!P fandom has just cause to be completely jealous of US H!P fandom. I probably got 30 seconds with each girl with no shoving, just some polite nudging - wishing Zukki the best with her post-grad life, teasing Eripon about LINE chats with Prince Phi (her character in the Triangle play), getting completely overwhelmed by Teddy Sakura refusing to shut up about TRUMP (the prequel to Lilium), asking Maria about American baseball (and for the record - no, she doesn't follow the U.S. leagues), and having some pretty damn awesome three-way conversation with HaaChel - basically because the two of them were smack in my part of the stage during the concert, and I had my penlight set to Haachin's sea blue <i>right against the stage railing</i> as long as I could muster - so Haachin was all sparkles the day after - and Miki learnt of the existence of a translated Lilium musical (and I now owe her linguistic texts).
I'll have to say that the convention was a more 'fan-friendly' experience than the New York concert - of course, downtown Houston being the most boring downtown helped concentrate the girls and fans together as there simply weren't a lot of places we could go during our down-time, so there were lots of encounters (I started babbling when I noticed Maachan walking past me in Lamar Park). Also, compared to AX - compared to booths hidden away and autograph panels stuck in event rooms, there was just so much open space for the fans to watch the girls in between their autograph signings.
Eripon insisted on being a responsible adult during autograph sessions (and I am Disappoint with a capital D), so we pushed for, and received fanservice muscle flexing from almost everybody else (you heard it here: my friend was doing the calls; I amplified the requests). Maria, that ball of energy, would play up to every request: we got heart signs, peace signs, and "Mozarella Cheeze" gags (I'm not sure where that comes from). Haachin and Miki were working in tandem with each other - Miki did translation duties. Harunan, despite almost losing her voice to the flu, gave us JoJo poses and egged Ayumin on. Maachan was Maachan with her distractions and sketches (that's obvious, but this time we could see her).
As for the concert, these girls were on fire - even Baby Akane-chin, who suffered through a serious case of jetlag. Miki was giving it her all, despite the broken toe. Sometime in the last nine months, Maachan grew a stage confidence that she could swagger and strut on stage like it was nothing. I'll confidently say that while Mizuki gave a lot of energy and Teddy was virtual center, MaaDuu did not disappoint. By 2017 I can really imagine 10th gen doing 90% of the hard work with Maria handling the high energy moves, followed by Miki (and maybe Haachin & Akane will speed learn this year).
Of course, the Fanservice Award goes to Aika. She crashed a Hello!Pro panel at the convention. She sung her solo at the Hello!Disco party (no, I had just left to get some sleep for the Mad Autograph Battle, so maybe PQ can confirm?). She took two shots, interviewed people before and after the concert (I was her first one), made the MC so much better than New York, let us take group photos - and most interestingly, let herself get virtually encircled by near-insane fans - and not even blinking an eye as such.
In retrospect, though, I can see this being an issue, that you need a certain level of assertiveness and groupthink to really get into the high of things at the convention, which does't seem to sit well with this BBS. That's partly due to fandom moving away from forums and onto Twitter and Facebook, which are much faster-paced as updates occur real-time. It also depended on how well you could find high-energy people to hang around with, which was how I suffered the first time in 2009 and had to adapt to standing firm in my approach over the past few years (it helps to have a career where your job consists of having people hating you for every contradictory reason possible). So that's my words of advice for future events.
In all, fun times were had. Stay tuned for the DVD release, although I'm not 100% convinced that it will be as accessible as Anime Matsuri promised...
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Re: MM'16 are going to Houston Texas
I'm really jealous of everyone who went. This sounds like an awesome experience and better than the New York or France ones.
Formerly Mizura
Re: MM'16 are going to Houston Texas
After reading Kitaoji's account and seeing all the photos and updates on FB, I am really, really depressed. Hopefully, getting off the plane in Japan a week from now will erase the despair.
Last edited by Madara on Tue Mar 01, 2016 4:12 am, edited 1 time in total.
Re: MM'16 are going to Houston Texas
I'm also super bummed out :( especially seeing as this would have been my only chance to ever see Kanon. And that's two ultimate H!P favorites I never got to see :(
Re: MM'16 are going to Houston Texas
Had a total blast this weekend. I feel it also helped that I hung out with an amazing group of people who I've slowly gotten to know over the years. Like, each trip I got to know them more and more and then finally this one we all sort of connected. Hello!Disco really helped to solidify that bond for sure. Next time can't come soon enough.
The concert was amazing. J-Melo was there recording as well so I'm sure you'll see us all being goofy soon. (As well as Hello!Station and maybe other places as well.) Aika and staff had camera's out a lot of the times.
Unlike everyone else I only got into one of the two autograph sessions. I never know what to say to them so I resort to being pretty shy. I did tell Zukki I loved her though. I also gave a general gift to Mizuki for all of Morning Musume as well as handmade bags for Zukki and Sakura. After Zukki freaked out Aika started following behind me with the camera since she noticed I had a 2nd bag, which I gave to Sakura and she filmed her reaction and interviewed her about it. Not sure if that'll end up anywhere but if it does, I'd love to hear what she said. I gave all the girls separate photos to sign. The best reaction came from Masaki because all I had for her to sign was an L photo of her from her debut pre-Pyoko. She was chattering up a storm to Duu and when I got to Duu she intently watched to see what photo I was going to give her. When I pulled out one of Haruka's Pinups from the latest tour she face planted on the table in such a dramatic fashion and Duu laughed at her. OHaru asked (or I assume she asked me) if I got her photo in Japan. It wasn't my photo, but I was going to deny her, I had been to Japan. Just not at that particular time to get the A5 I was getting signed. (A little white lie doesn't hurt every now and then.) Maria was cute, she was shocked when I pulled out a Pinup from her first tour. After signing she held it up and waved her hand over it. "Dry, Dry" She said. Miki I spoke to the most and told her the pinup I gave her was my favorite, which is true because she was doing the Usa-chan peace and I love that pose. Everyone else was pretty standard.
After the 2nd autograph session we went out to lunch and then a few of us headed to NASA Space Center.
And thus begins the best part of this entire trip. (Convention sucked, Hello!Disco awesome (especially with Aika showed up), Concert was amazing, Autograph memorable, but this one, this takes the whole cake for me.)
It's always been my dream since I was a little girl to visit it and I knew I'd probably never get another chance. I grew up watching shows about space travel and I wanted to be an astronaut and go to space camp. I'm a NASA geek for sure. So after the 2nd Autograph we went and poked around for a bit. But I wanted to go on the tram ride like super bad. So, me and Andrew (who use to post here but I can't for the life of me remember his username) went by ourselves. (I'd also like to point out we were the only two out of our group that never got a 2nd autograph). We met up with another small group of wota. We all went around and ended at Rocket park. I went in and started taking pictures but then Andrew stopped me and said "They are here". I didn't know what he meant but then I saw her. Iikubo Haruna was standing off in the distance coming out of the Saturn IV building. I told him, it wasn't her at first because why would I of all people, be that lucky? We were JUST joking about them coming to the Space Center not 10 minutes ago. But then Zukki came out of the building followed by Ayumi. (I feel like either Akane or OHaru were there but my brain just can't place them). I started to panic. Pure absolute panic and excitement. Now, you need to realize. I'm living my dream standing at the NASA space center. I'm already on a major high. Couple that with the fact that a quarter of Morning Musume are standing in front of me in the distance. I was freaking the F* out. Andrew ran to tell the others. (Turns out they already knew, figures.) And I, trying to remain cool calm and collected, tried to blend in with the few other tourists that made up out group and continue to take pictures and try to ignore the girls as they went about their business. One of their managers was with them and I didn't want to look like I was stalking the girls. I'd just come from the convention, still in my Sakura shirt and wristband. Andrew had come back at this point and this is where everything just fell apart. He was wearing his Berryz Sakura Con T-shirt and they noticed it. I heard Berryz Koubo and I knew they spotted us. Trying to remain cool calm and collected I asked Andrew to take my photo with the giant ass rocket standing behind me. No sooner had the words left my mouth than did the group of them come over. They introduced themselves as Morning Musume '16 and commented on Andrew's shirt. Then they noticed mine.
Then in the most surreal experience of my life. They gestured and asked if they wanted to take our pictures. Not even realizing what I was doing I handed over my phone to Ayumi and she ran back and took our photo. She asked me if it was okay (I didn't even care if it came out like crap, a member of Morning Musume had my phone in her hand.) I said yes and thanked her. We said out goodbye's and left to go into the Saturn IV building. Still freaking out. We gained our composure, still a few tourists around after all. And then no sooner had we done that then Mizuki and Eripon walked by. (THE REST WERE ALL STILL INSIDE THE BUILDING!) So I tried to go back to being cool clam and collected and continued to take (probably the worst) pictures. Soon enough Masaki appeared around the giant rocket with one of the staff with camera (Their manager maybe?). And then we realized they were all on the other side of the rocket. So we moved to the other side and that's when Haruka, and Sakura with Miki showed up and left. Thinking I was finally safe I started to relax. But no, there was still one more Musume and she was coming right at me with Phillipe and his camera. Feeling like a deer caught in the headlight, instead of running away I ducked and covered like a bomb just got shot at me. All Maria did was look back at me and say, "Sorry" with a smile. After that we tried to regain what little we had left, took a few more pictures and left. There was only 1 tram left to get back to the main center so we booked it to get in. Little did we realize the stragglers of Morning Musume (Miki and her wheelchair) were on it. The other half of Musume had already gone.
We got back into the building, met up with the other few people we were hanging out with and shared our story. The other 5 from earlier were already gone at this point (I think? I didn't see them again.) Andrew went and talked to Phillipe I think about how we didn't plan to be there all "stalkerish". Sakura came walking by with Miki in her wheelchair. I waved like an idiot, said Hi. (I get totally introverted around them...)
After that I decide it's time for me to go to the gift shop because, 1. I needed to get things for my family and 2. I wanted something for myself. xD
I probably should have realized they would also be doing this. Which they were. AND Phillipe AND the other Camera guy AND Aika. I was beside myself. I tried everything in my power to ignore them, But they were just wandering around everywhere. It was the weirdest feeling in the world to shop with every member of Morning Musume around you. I buttoned up my shirt to hide my Sakura shirt, didn't want to make it took awkward, they were still filming every now and then after all. And tried my very best to get everything I needed to get. When I went to go pay. Who was there but Eripon at the other register. And then Haruna showed up behind me. So crazy. After that I went out to the others who had realized that Morning Musume were in the gift shop and just sort of left me to my own devices. Seriously, my brain was beyond crispy at that point so naturally I wouldn't have realized they went into the gift shop.
Anyway after that the girls left and upon inspection of my phone I found a little surprise. My camera had recording in photos, the entire experience. It starts with the hand off of the phone, climaxes with bottom half shots of the girls and ends with a photo of me and Andrew standing in front of the rocket.
This ends my best memory of my life. I'm never ever going to erase those photos. Ever. I'm going to probably go to CVS and develop them.
The concert was amazing. J-Melo was there recording as well so I'm sure you'll see us all being goofy soon. (As well as Hello!Station and maybe other places as well.) Aika and staff had camera's out a lot of the times.
Unlike everyone else I only got into one of the two autograph sessions. I never know what to say to them so I resort to being pretty shy. I did tell Zukki I loved her though. I also gave a general gift to Mizuki for all of Morning Musume as well as handmade bags for Zukki and Sakura. After Zukki freaked out Aika started following behind me with the camera since she noticed I had a 2nd bag, which I gave to Sakura and she filmed her reaction and interviewed her about it. Not sure if that'll end up anywhere but if it does, I'd love to hear what she said. I gave all the girls separate photos to sign. The best reaction came from Masaki because all I had for her to sign was an L photo of her from her debut pre-Pyoko. She was chattering up a storm to Duu and when I got to Duu she intently watched to see what photo I was going to give her. When I pulled out one of Haruka's Pinups from the latest tour she face planted on the table in such a dramatic fashion and Duu laughed at her. OHaru asked (or I assume she asked me) if I got her photo in Japan. It wasn't my photo, but I was going to deny her, I had been to Japan. Just not at that particular time to get the A5 I was getting signed. (A little white lie doesn't hurt every now and then.) Maria was cute, she was shocked when I pulled out a Pinup from her first tour. After signing she held it up and waved her hand over it. "Dry, Dry" She said. Miki I spoke to the most and told her the pinup I gave her was my favorite, which is true because she was doing the Usa-chan peace and I love that pose. Everyone else was pretty standard.
After the 2nd autograph session we went out to lunch and then a few of us headed to NASA Space Center.
And thus begins the best part of this entire trip. (Convention sucked, Hello!Disco awesome (especially with Aika showed up), Concert was amazing, Autograph memorable, but this one, this takes the whole cake for me.)
It's always been my dream since I was a little girl to visit it and I knew I'd probably never get another chance. I grew up watching shows about space travel and I wanted to be an astronaut and go to space camp. I'm a NASA geek for sure. So after the 2nd Autograph we went and poked around for a bit. But I wanted to go on the tram ride like super bad. So, me and Andrew (who use to post here but I can't for the life of me remember his username) went by ourselves. (I'd also like to point out we were the only two out of our group that never got a 2nd autograph). We met up with another small group of wota. We all went around and ended at Rocket park. I went in and started taking pictures but then Andrew stopped me and said "They are here". I didn't know what he meant but then I saw her. Iikubo Haruna was standing off in the distance coming out of the Saturn IV building. I told him, it wasn't her at first because why would I of all people, be that lucky? We were JUST joking about them coming to the Space Center not 10 minutes ago. But then Zukki came out of the building followed by Ayumi. (I feel like either Akane or OHaru were there but my brain just can't place them). I started to panic. Pure absolute panic and excitement. Now, you need to realize. I'm living my dream standing at the NASA space center. I'm already on a major high. Couple that with the fact that a quarter of Morning Musume are standing in front of me in the distance. I was freaking the F* out. Andrew ran to tell the others. (Turns out they already knew, figures.) And I, trying to remain cool calm and collected, tried to blend in with the few other tourists that made up out group and continue to take pictures and try to ignore the girls as they went about their business. One of their managers was with them and I didn't want to look like I was stalking the girls. I'd just come from the convention, still in my Sakura shirt and wristband. Andrew had come back at this point and this is where everything just fell apart. He was wearing his Berryz Sakura Con T-shirt and they noticed it. I heard Berryz Koubo and I knew they spotted us. Trying to remain cool calm and collected I asked Andrew to take my photo with the giant ass rocket standing behind me. No sooner had the words left my mouth than did the group of them come over. They introduced themselves as Morning Musume '16 and commented on Andrew's shirt. Then they noticed mine.
Then in the most surreal experience of my life. They gestured and asked if they wanted to take our pictures. Not even realizing what I was doing I handed over my phone to Ayumi and she ran back and took our photo. She asked me if it was okay (I didn't even care if it came out like crap, a member of Morning Musume had my phone in her hand.) I said yes and thanked her. We said out goodbye's and left to go into the Saturn IV building. Still freaking out. We gained our composure, still a few tourists around after all. And then no sooner had we done that then Mizuki and Eripon walked by. (THE REST WERE ALL STILL INSIDE THE BUILDING!) So I tried to go back to being cool clam and collected and continued to take (probably the worst) pictures. Soon enough Masaki appeared around the giant rocket with one of the staff with camera (Their manager maybe?). And then we realized they were all on the other side of the rocket. So we moved to the other side and that's when Haruka, and Sakura with Miki showed up and left. Thinking I was finally safe I started to relax. But no, there was still one more Musume and she was coming right at me with Phillipe and his camera. Feeling like a deer caught in the headlight, instead of running away I ducked and covered like a bomb just got shot at me. All Maria did was look back at me and say, "Sorry" with a smile. After that we tried to regain what little we had left, took a few more pictures and left. There was only 1 tram left to get back to the main center so we booked it to get in. Little did we realize the stragglers of Morning Musume (Miki and her wheelchair) were on it. The other half of Musume had already gone.
We got back into the building, met up with the other few people we were hanging out with and shared our story. The other 5 from earlier were already gone at this point (I think? I didn't see them again.) Andrew went and talked to Phillipe I think about how we didn't plan to be there all "stalkerish". Sakura came walking by with Miki in her wheelchair. I waved like an idiot, said Hi. (I get totally introverted around them...)
After that I decide it's time for me to go to the gift shop because, 1. I needed to get things for my family and 2. I wanted something for myself. xD
I probably should have realized they would also be doing this. Which they were. AND Phillipe AND the other Camera guy AND Aika. I was beside myself. I tried everything in my power to ignore them, But they were just wandering around everywhere. It was the weirdest feeling in the world to shop with every member of Morning Musume around you. I buttoned up my shirt to hide my Sakura shirt, didn't want to make it took awkward, they were still filming every now and then after all. And tried my very best to get everything I needed to get. When I went to go pay. Who was there but Eripon at the other register. And then Haruna showed up behind me. So crazy. After that I went out to the others who had realized that Morning Musume were in the gift shop and just sort of left me to my own devices. Seriously, my brain was beyond crispy at that point so naturally I wouldn't have realized they went into the gift shop.
Anyway after that the girls left and upon inspection of my phone I found a little surprise. My camera had recording in photos, the entire experience. It starts with the hand off of the phone, climaxes with bottom half shots of the girls and ends with a photo of me and Andrew standing in front of the rocket.
This ends my best memory of my life. I'm never ever going to erase those photos. Ever. I'm going to probably go to CVS and develop them.
This is a place where a signature goes. Enjoy some Airi instead.
Re: MM'16 are going to Houston Texas
That's one heck of a story. It's cool that you went to the Saturn IV building, but the fact that you saw Morning Musume there, had Ayumi take your photo and then had to deal with them in the gift shop all without not freaking out around them. I'm glad a lot of people are having a good experience at the Houston concert (despite the anime matsuri).
Formerly Mizura
Re: MM'16 are going to Houston Texas
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Shoujo Q" data-cid="195438" data-time="1456885721">
Had a total blast this weekend.
[...]
I'd also like to point out we were the only two out of our group that never got a 2nd autograph.</blockquote>
I'm really happy you had a wonderful time this weekend (and thank you for your detailled report !), at the Con and by meeting the girls outside.
Also, I know that places to get goods signed are very limited. So I think you did really great doing it only once because it was one more place for someone who couldn't go the first signing.
Had a total blast this weekend.
[...]
I'd also like to point out we were the only two out of our group that never got a 2nd autograph.</blockquote>
I'm really happy you had a wonderful time this weekend (and thank you for your detailled report !), at the Con and by meeting the girls outside.
Also, I know that places to get goods signed are very limited. So I think you did really great doing it only once because it was one more place for someone who couldn't go the first signing.
Campy <3 !
Re: MM'16 are going to Houston Texas
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Shoujo Q" data-cid="195438" data-time="1456885721">This ends my best memory of my life.</blockquote>Go to sleep Q, you're writing poor and unbelievable Mary Sue fan fiction. 
jk, that's really awesome! Glad you managed to score such an amazing experience despite Anime Matsuri's general shittery. I always silently hoped this would have happened to us in Paris with MM or in London with Babymetal, but no dice so far.
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Shoujo Q" data-cid="195438" data-time="1456885721">I'm never ever going to erase those photos. Ever. I'm going to probably go to CVS and print them.</blockquote>FTFY!
You better burn them to 5 DVDs and send to storage in different parts of the world. Also back them up online.
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="kitaoji" data-cid="195427" data-time="1456805007">In retrospect, though, I can see this being an issue, that you need a certain level of assertiveness and groupthink to really get into the high of things at the convention, which does't seem to sit well with this BBS. That's partly due to fandom moving away from forums and onto Twitter and Facebook, which are much faster-paced as updates occur real-time.</blockquote>The BBS is a very much real-time forum and is as fast as the members bother to post here.
jk, that's really awesome! Glad you managed to score such an amazing experience despite Anime Matsuri's general shittery. I always silently hoped this would have happened to us in Paris with MM or in London with Babymetal, but no dice so far.
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Shoujo Q" data-cid="195438" data-time="1456885721">I'm never ever going to erase those photos. Ever. I'm going to probably go to CVS and print them.</blockquote>FTFY!
You better burn them to 5 DVDs and send to storage in different parts of the world. Also back them up online.
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="kitaoji" data-cid="195427" data-time="1456805007">In retrospect, though, I can see this being an issue, that you need a certain level of assertiveness and groupthink to really get into the high of things at the convention, which does't seem to sit well with this BBS. That's partly due to fandom moving away from forums and onto Twitter and Facebook, which are much faster-paced as updates occur real-time.</blockquote>The BBS is a very much real-time forum and is as fast as the members bother to post here.
Last edited by aine on Wed Mar 02, 2016 2:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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#whereisyui #ゆいちゃん
~breathe your last and fall into my eternal embrace~
Re: MM'16 are going to Houston Texas
DVD is up for pre-order atE-lineup, in case you're not on Idol Swap. I believe E-Lineup and FC-orders are pre-order only, but like the New York concert, there's a good chance that it will open up to general sales.