part 3...

明日の記憶
(ＶＴＲ)

For "Ashita no Kioku," all five stood on the main stage, and above each of them on the big screen was their photo for the tour. As they sang, each member (oldest to youngest) would have their main "current" photo fade out in turn, and baby photos of them would be shown instead as their birthday flashed above the stage. Then elementary school, middle school photos...

They went through all five of them in order individually, and then the screens started flashing all at once: photos of everyone from the debut, photos of everyone at various ages matching up, photos of all of them throughout the years. The backdrop turned gradually into a big collage of photos, and the view of the photos shifted until the final image: the kanji for "Arashi" written by making a collage out of their childhood photos.

Then, lights went down, and the VTR.

I really can't pull together specifics from the VTR because I was basically just crying the whole time. They played the instrumental version of Ashita no Kioku, and we got another scrapbook setup on the screen. Each "page" showcased a single year of Arashi, with photos of key events. On the screen, running text scrolled by picking out the big events on that year's timeline (concerts, dramas, movies, etc) while each member narrated in turn.

First old debut footage of them on the yacht. Jun saying he's not really nervous, not exactly. Nino saying he's grateful to be there. Ohno looking off the boat saying he hopes the weather holds up.

I remember Sho spoke about their first concert: "Our first concert. I wonder, is anyone who came to that concert here tonight now, ten years later...?"

Kisarazu Cats Eye. Gokusen. Kimi wa Pet. Stand Up!

Aiba: "24 Hour Television. I wrote my first letter to the members..."

Jun: "Hana Yori Dango. I feel like many more people were introduced to Arashi because of it..."

Shimura Doubutsuen: Aiba vs tiger. Letters from Iwo Jima. News Zero. The Asia tour. The first Dome con. FREESTYLE. Maou. 24 Hour Television again. So many other things.

Then the scrapbook pages flipped backwards and we moved back in time, until...


A・RA・SHI
SUNRISE日本
君のために僕がいる
時代


A.RA.SHI. As the intro began...out rose the five of them from beneath the center stage, in all their glory in the transparent costumes.

OBVIOUSLY FUCKING AMAZING, I DON'T NEED TO TELL YOU. They broke up the big screen again to show the real time footage against the original performance.

As he dashed offstage to change, Jun turned around and grinned, "I figured it out just now on the third night: the transparent costumes are way convenient for rainy weather!"

Sunrise Nippon I don't remember. Kimi no Tame ni Boku ga Iru, I only remember dancing and having fun doing it. I thought Jidai's arrangement seemed slower-paced and did not like as much.


ナイスな心意気
PIKA☆NCHI
とまどいながら
言葉より大切なもの

Nice na Kokoroiki was on the main stage. The members did the thumbs-up sign posing dorkily a la the single cover.

Pikanchi: yeah, definitely sounds better as a group. Tomdadoi Nagara and Kotoba Yori mo Taisetsu na Mono were both shortened versions, I think?

For Kotoba Yori mo Taisetsu na Mono, Ohno's truck came by us. I thought he was waving at me for just a second, but realized it was actually my friend behind me. *laugh* I think this is the first time I've seen Ohno really up close, though, and same as the care he showed at his butai last year, I was so touched at the kindness he shows to fans. More than anyone else, you can feel him trying to look at every single face.


Hero
サクラ咲ケ
WISH
きっと大丈夫

For Hero, all the members were raised on giant elevating platforms through the arena that put them on equal eye level with the stands.

Sakura Sake: I LOVE THIS SONG

WISH: I don't remember it at all.

Kitto Daijoubu: They were back on the center catwalk for this, I couldn't see anything so we were just screaming the call responses for all we were worth.


Love so sweet
Happiness
Believe

Love so sweet was on the moving stages. Jun didn't sing the right lyrics for his solo part, he was looking down at the audience from the stage and sang instead, "Even though it's raining, we won't worry about it!"

Happiness was from moving stages as they moved back to center stage. By the way, from the Kokuritsu DVD, the audience looks like a giant blur of uchiwa and I thought, "I'm sure they can't really see the uchiwa at all when the view looks like that!!" I had been in the stands last year so I didn't know, but to my surprise, even though I was near the center of the arena, I could read some uchiwa all the way at the top on the far side. If I could see them, they definitely could too.

Believe was danced center stage again. The rap was really cool.


(挨拶)
5×10

Friday final speeches were a total teary lovefest, I heard, but here there was no actual crying, though both Jun and Nino seemed to be on the edge.

They played instrumental of Kansha Kangeki Ame Arashi. I can't remember everything everyone said, but something like...

Sho said, "Thank you to all of you, especially everyone sitting up at the very top. Ten years ago, we put on our first concert. And I remember saying then: 'We want to become an Arashi that people will be proud to be fans of.' Now, I wonder, have we accomplished that?" The audience cheered in response. "Thank you very much. We keep mentioning the rain, but I think it's amazing that all of you are here in this weather and came determined to have fun with us. And I believe that these concerts, where everyone can join in with that fun, are truly our pride and joy as a group. So thank you, all of you, who are here tonight. And...I'm sure they don't want me saying this, but..." He took a deep breath, and yelled: "All of you people standing outside the stadium listening tonight, thank you to all of you, too!"

Ohno: "Thank you all. I never thought, ten years ago, even in my dreams, that I would be standing here in this place now."

Aiba: "Thank you, thank you, thank you. You know, ten years ago on that first day of our debut... No matter what question anyone asked me at the press conference, I would answer, 'I want to raise a storm throughout the world.' The truth is... Though I kept saying that over and over, I don't think I ever understood what that meant. 'Raise a storm throughout the world.' But now I finally do know what it means, standing here tonight." (He was smiling hugely and had it pulled together one hundred percent, I was surprised.)

Nino turned around and immediately said mockingly, "'I wannaaaaa raise a stooooorm throughout the wooooorld!' None of us had a clue then what the hell he was talking about, and now he says ten years later that he's only just figured it out himself?!" Aiba turned around and butted in there briefly, I didn't catch what he said but he was really cute.

Then Nino turned more serious and all jaw-clenchy, obviously working to hold it together. "Ten years ago, I think had given up from the start. I was a very unfair person, I think... Ah, well, of course I was! I'm human, after all. But if Arashi had not been these other four members with me, I feel sure that I would have quit. I definitely would not have made it to ten years. But Arashi isn't something we do alone. Arashi is something we make together with all of us. A lot of things have changed among us in these past ten years, of course. But some things have stayed the same. The transparent costumes, for one."

That got a whooping reaction from the crowd, and he said teasingly (most everyone in the audience was wearing transparent ponchos), "Hey, you guys are wearing the same thing, don't forget!

"...but, you know, I really think there's a lot of value in that. I think it's very special for us: that some things will never, ever change. That's why you can still see us now dancing in our transparent costumes, dancing with vegetables, even in our tenth year! So let's all keep going together into the eleventh and the twelfth year and on..."

Jun turned around. They were all so soaked it was hard to tell, but he looked like he'd been crying at Nino's words. He said, "Thank you. Thanks to all of you. We keep going back to the rain, but... I am so touched at how in this weather, none of you have moved from your seats to go home. You guys all chose to stay with us and stick it out through all of this weather. I really don't like to say it out loud, but... It's during concerts, more than anything, that I feel how much I value the other four members. How much I value everyone around me here. Moments like that, where I really feel how important everyone is, will hit me all of a sudden. And now... I'm having one of those moments right now."

His expression there was so cute, like he couldn't decide whether to laugh or cry, and the audience cheered at it, and he broke into a grin: "Thanks. This was the best birthday ever! Now, it's time for us to go to the last song, filled with our feelings of thanks to all of you. Please listen to it: 5x10."

They stood on the center stage and sang it standing in a line, with the stage mostly dark. The audience sang along loudly for the, "Honki de naite, honki de waratte, honki de nayande, honki de ikite..." part as Sho's voice rang out over us.

At, "Arigatou, korekara mo..." the music cut off completely there for a few seconds. They stood there unmoving, and then the music swelled to a huge crescendo and the lights flooded the stage brightly as they sang, "Arigatou!" Seeing the news footage, apparently the other two nights that was where they released the balloons, but in the rain it was impossible, so they did their best by turning up the lights and really making the music arrangement in that moment have impact.

The stage descended again and they disappeared, waving goodbye...

And then the call began...