Back to reality - Showcase review (1)
I'm back home. :/ Drove 450 km in 1 day just to see miss Wakeshima. she was worth the bother though. =) Now the gear of my car is making a weird noise, but that's another story...^^; Mmh, how to start the summary of yesterday's showcase? It was so short but so cool, heh.
I arrived early afternoon in Paris, parked the car outside of the capital (much less expensive and easier to find parkings) and took the subway. I first went to a Japanese bookshop to order the next Kaori Yuki and Betsuhana so that I receive them at home, then I directly went to the Champs-Elysées avenue and bought her new album at the store that was organizing the show. I took the collector edition, it was the same price as the regular one (looks like a promotion, I guess they wanted to be sure everybody would buy the collector/limited version for the event). I paid it 18.75 euros. This edition contains an extra DVD with 2 new and beautiful videoclips of still doll and Suna no Oshiro. In the CD case there is a second booklet with the romanization and the translation of all the lyrics into English <3 (that's for the version by Wasabi-records/Kaze, I'm not sure it's also included in the Japanese edition).
I then went outside to queue with all the other fans. It was 16:30. It was easy to understand this was the place to be, many fans were dressed as gothic lolitas, all were so pretty. ^^ Many guys were also well dressed, inspired by visual kei or some romantic 19th c. Most of us were in our twenties I'd say. I didn't wear too much fluff, I knew I'd be walking and then standing several hours so I avoided the extra high heels and too uncomfy clothes or showy ones (as I was alone, that was to avoid stinky guys to come talk to me in the street - I hate that).
And so we patiently waited on the sidewalk of the Champs-Elysées. The sun was setting and it was getting colder and colder. According to the meteo, it was 2-3°C. At 18:00 (woohoo on time! So uncommon) they (the big security guys) let us enter the store after giving us a ticket. I was #139. I'd say I was kinda in the middle of the queue. Oooh good warmth inside! They were broadcasting the 2 new clips of Kanon on 6 or 7 large flat screens that were surrounding the stage, and we were waiting for her right in front of it. At 18:15, the organizer of the event started to speak and presented her quickly. Yay! She was about to come! And her lovely, shiny snow white cello was already there. Photos and filming were strictly forbidden, as always. There were officials with pro equipment to do that.
A few minutes later, she appeared and slowly walked to the middle of the small stage. She had sober makeup. Her skin is more tanned than I expected, she looks like some lively and cheerful child. ^^ She was wearing her all-red puffed dress that you can see on her recent pictures with the white cello. It seemed not so easy to move with that. ^^; She looked impressed and stressed, not giving one smile. She pronounced the few French words she learnt, that was sooo cute, and she pronounced them well! One of the most complicated sentences she said was "je joue du violoncelle" (I play the cello). We were applauding and screaming of excitment. She also said a few things in Japanese. When speaking her voice keeps that pretty tone of her but has this typically Japanese high-pitched side that I'm not too fond of. Good thing she manages to find a much prettier voice when singing. Before starting her performance, she dropped us an elegant curtsey holding her bow horizontally in the right hand (it looked weird but I can understand it'd be ugly if the bow was hanging vertically), and went in position to start with a cello solo.
I love watching people play classical instruments, she's no exception. She does master hers, heh. ^^ How to describe, she has small and sturdy fingers, and thin hands that move very nimbly (well I could only see her left hand on the neck, the right one was too low, ppl's heads were hiding it :( ). She was very concentrated when playing the cello parts, looking at her left hand a lot.
She played 2 excerpts of her album (sweet ticket and Shinku no Fate Rhythm) and finished by performing still doll. To me, the most impressive thing has been when she was singing while playing. Here again she looked quite concentrated, looking straight in front of her, as if she wasn't looking at anything in fact, a sort of blank gaze, like a true doll heh. She gained confidence while performing and was more smiling towards the end. During still doll, she was miming a clockwork doll most of the time. Nice to see. Then we drowned her into our screams and hand clappings. She looked so happy. It was a success. :)
She made a quick break after the show, while the staff was preparing the stage for the autograph session. They explained us she intended to sign for everybody that was present at the showcase, and in order to be able to do that she could not write our name when signing (awww). They also said she would only sign her album. But I've seen people with her singles instead, I hope for them that it's been accepted too.
Right before starting, we've been allowed to ask her a few questions...
That's it for now, I'll write the rest later. This post is getting too long... ^^;