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| Kohaku Uta Gassen 2011: Inoue Mao and Arashi |
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| Nana Mizuki |
Just about everyone looked and sounded great here, and I was thrilled to see some of my favorite singles from the past year being performed here like “Flying GET” by AKB48, “Miageta Ryusei” by TOKIO, and the ultra peppy POP MASTER by genki Nana Mizuki (reminding me a bit of Hiroko Moriguchi here). Of course I was stoked to see AAA making their well-deserved second appearance, doing the thumpin’ song CALL (though I wished they coulda done flip side single “Lights” instead) and it make me smile to see how happy they were to be there!
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| AAA |
Drooled over the sexy ‘n’ leggy performances of K-Pop sensations KARA strutting their stuff in their “2011 Medley” and Shojo Jidai doing “Genie”…
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| KARA |
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| Shoujo Jidai |
Got teary eyed over the wonderfully heartfelt performances of Arashi doing “Furusato (where the single thought going through my head was WHAT! Sho plays PIANO?) followed by the always somber Ayaka Hirahara. Was excited to see my old favorite Matsutoya Yumi (seeing her coming down the stairs during the opening ceremony made me giddy with anticipation!!) here performing her classic “Haru Yo Koi” live...
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| Arashi "Furusato" |
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| Yumi Matsutoya "Haru Yo, Koi" |
...But for me the absolute highlight just HAD to be the double-pronged Natsu-Matsuri flavored celebration of song by Ayako Fuji and Hosokawa Takashi-
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| Ayako Fuji |
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| Takashi Hosokawa |
WOW these two just came out FULL FORCE and showed everyone what the Year-End festival was all about, so bright, happy and FUN! And DAMN! Is Ayako Fuji getting just prettier and PRETTIER with age? She looked so DAMN FINE!
Like last time, they set up as hosts of the show ARASHI as the White Team captains, and this time for the Red Team leader, they got adorable and perky Mao Inoue to take the reins. So cute watching her naively working her way through the show, and her reaction to the contest results just brought tears to my eyes, she was SO emotional! And hella pretty, to boot!
Part Two: Those Hilarious Flubs!
When You're dealing with a tightly run LIVE telecast, things are BOUND to go awry, and what would the Kohaku be without those inevitable mis-steps and bloopers? Ya Gotta Laugh, and my two favorite flubs this year are:
1. The Stagehand in the background trying to take the table prop
away during Natsuko Godai's performance
2. The Fathead walking in front of Mao Inoue while she
delivers her eulogy about the Japan Disaster
Ahahah, too funny! Aw, whatever, it was a grand old show, and I can't wait to see what they accomplish next year!
PS: OK, one more thing...
My, Didn't Kyoka Suzuki look positively stunning, regal and refined that night? Whoa!
