Day 2
Setlist here: http://imas-db.jp/song/event/9th_tokyo1005.html
I’ll skip repeats of day 1 and head straight for corner talks.
– ERIKO CORNER –
太陽のジェラシー, Vault That Borderline!, I Want
First suprise of the day, Eriko corner starts with a complete new set list, and then she hit all the nostalgia notes by pulling old classics!
– ASAPON CORNER –
Honey Heartbeat, 黎明スターライン, ジェミー
Once again, if you hear “FUCK YEAH” , it’s probably me as I couldn’t help myself when Asapon opened with 「Honey Heartbeat」.
But the best part about this corner is that I was there to witness the birth of the best Imas meme: ＴＯＫＹＯ！
As part of her MC joke , Asapon pulled out a sign with ＴＯＫＹＯ written on it , similar to the one used to announce tokyo 2020. She left the sign there and someone everybody else started making an MC joke with it. It was glorious.
– HIRORIN CORNER –
迷走Mind, 自転車, チアリングレター
Yes ! yes ! ALL MY YES!
From 「迷走Mind」return to Hirorin pulling out my classics, the classics I’ve been wanting to hear live so badly.
I learned that there are claps at the beginning of 「自転車」, which kind of changes everything somehow and it’s glorious . And then 「チアリングレター」hnnnnnng.
It was the third corner and I was already dead on feels.
Most memorable from her MC was that as she started talking , the crowd kept yelling “かわいい”, usually they do some sort of response/acknowledgement to it before proceeding, but Hirorin wanted to finish to say what she had to say before and the crowd wouldn’t stop insisting, so she stopped , and said “しってるよ！” in the most awesome playful “shut up already” kind of way.
– AZUMIN-SAMA CORNER –
何度も言えるよ, Kosmos, Cosmos, First Step
Yes, Azumin-sama!
During one of the MC, Azumin berrated us for calling her Azumin rather than Azumin-sama. It may or may not have awoken something in me , but I digress.
During her MC when she played with the ＴＯＫＹＯ sign she asked us what was the hottest place in the planet at the moment. We all answered Tokyo, but she replied that the correct answer was “あずみんがいるＴＯＫＹＯでしょう？！” ( The Tokyo where Azumin is ) . Further awakening happened.
– COVER CORNER + ONLY MY NOTE + 待ち受けプリンス –
Day of the future, 9:02pm, チクタク, livE
Same as day 1 really, expect for the fact that when looking at the monitor I nearly shouted “holy shit” during 「livE」Because under certain camera angle Hirorin with glasses and Kami become nearly indistinguishable.
– GUEST CORNER –
アクセルレーション
…and so I prayed, UNLIMITED UO WORKS.
Never have I cracked UOs this fast before.
That’s right, my wish came true.
As Shacho was giving a speech to introduce the guest, he uttered the words “Top” and “Idol”. We instantly knew. Hysteria happened really fast.
Minorin walked on stage still hidden by the lighting and the entire Arena turned bright orange. The brightest orange.
It was LEON time ! Minorin time !
Chihara Minorin ladies and gentlemen descended on the stage , the already lit up fire in our hearts burned brighter !
Minorin kicked ass with 「アクセルレーション」! I can’t YES enough.
– NU CORNER –
Rebellion, しあわせのレシピ, 初恋 ～一章 片想いの桜～
I wasn’t ready for this Nu. I had barely recovered from Minorin and Prince when she hit right at the epicenter of my FEEL center when she pulled 「初恋 ～一章 片想いの桜～」. I hear the casualty were extremely high, I believe it.
– KUGYUU CORNER –
キミはメロディ, Sentimental Venus, my song
Like day one, out of breath kugyuu because of 「キミはメロディ」is one of the most adorable thing I was given the chance to witness. However she turned the gym into a slaughterhouse when she did 「my song」, it’s fairly possible I still haven’t recovered yet.
Her MC was pretty memorable as she did something we’d be waiting for a long time , she insulted us “ドＨＥＮＴＡＩ！！”
It was so great we chanted “もう一回！” and so she did again.
– HARAMI CORNER –
Princess Snow White, 風花, ふたつの月
Still super charged from previous feel, I can objectively say that Harami most dangerous 「風花」was performed!
Hnnnng attack all over the place.
– MINGOSU CORNER –
Fate of the World, 蒼い鳥, 約束
The have highlight of both days was this corner, 9th was already epic enough, but the major reason it’s the best iM@S ever was because of this corner.
I cracked UOs as fast as for Minorin when Mingosu did 「Fate of the World」, I never did that or seen the mixture of Orange and Blue for a Chihaya song before, it was very beautiful.
Then after the classic 「青い鳥」returned, Mingosu went into DECIMATION MODE。
No one survived what came after:
「約束」
I often make fun of Chuck for crying when he hears or sings this song, I believe what transpired after was karma.
What started as classic 「約束」 ended in the ultimate, final form this song can take. In a beautiful moment of things not happening and being better than the way they were originally intended, the rest of the 765 crew appeared behind Mingosu, at that moment Mingosu became too overwhelmed to continue to sing, quick on the uptake the girls immediately started singing in unison in her stead, kind of like in the anime but in reverse.
The entirety of the iM@S girls present that day performing such an emotionally charged 「約束」was truly the greatest experience. I don’t cry easily , I even consider myself to have a rock instead of heart, but yeah, I couldn’t contain the tears myself. The entire arena was crying actually. It was impossible not to.
And then for the final 「M@STERPIECE」they wanted us to sing along them, so the entire karaoke for the song went up on screen.
It was too good to describe, the best of feelings honestly.
After a heartfelt encore with the same video guests, it was with great sadness that I listened to the final songs. 「虹色ミラクル」 &
「THE IDOLM@STER」
It was time to leave and say goodbye to most fellow Producers and Produnus.
The feels level was really over the top, actually just writing about it is enough to bring back all these emotions.
(Fun fact, it took me three weeks to write all of this )
—-
After the live we headed to shinjuku for quick and cheap food, we stumbled on other producers who had the same idea. Small world.
Much needed BsoD happened after food.