User blog:LuciaHunter/Aqours First Love Live! ~Step! ZERO to ONE~ Day 1 Report

To be rather honest, I feel like I'm not quite up to writing these posts anymore... Not since last year. But even so, I understand there's a lot of people out there who will not be able to watch this until the Blu-Ray Disc half a year later, so I'll try my best.

I headed down to the Singapore Live Viewing today where we had quite a few efforts going on. For those who haven't really been following us, you might be unaware that there're now a lot of close ties between three closely-interwined communities: Us over here at Wikia, the people over at /r/LoveLive as well as Team ONIBE. Well, mostly because both Mod Ischy and I are part of all three groups.

But anyway! We had quite a few things prepared this year! Not only did we have a huge banner as part of /r/LoveLive but also printed 25 of Team ONIBE's Call Guides! We managed to hand them out for people to refer to while the goods queue was ongoing, so hopefully that helped some people. Unfortunately I forgot to take any pictures of these... oops?

Zehel did manage to take a picture of the back of the banner though! A lot of our community signed on the back in their own ways~

Meanwhile, the team over at Yokohama Arena itself was also having a great time. Everyone's hard work and donations over the past couple of weeks has paid off, and we managed to deliver 3 absolutely stunning flowerstands to the concert venue itself!

But enough of the pre-live news, time for the actual content! Unfortunately this is where it becomes a picture desert because none of the seiyuus have uploaded post-live photos, guess they're saving them for tomorrow.

Set-list

 * 1) Aozora Jumping Heart
 * 2) Koi ni Naritai AQUARIUM
 * 3) MC - 1
 * 4) Aqours☆HEROES
 * 5) Kimeta yo Hand in Hand
 * 6) Daisuki dattara Daijoubu!
 * 7) MC - 2
 * 8) Yume de Yozora o Terashitai
 * 9) Genki Zenkai DAY! DAY! DAY!
 * 10) MC - 3
 * 11) Yozora wa Nandemo Shitteru no?
 * 12) Torikoriko PLEASE!!
 * 13) MC - 4
 * 14) Tokimeki Bunruigaku
 * 15) Strawberry Trapper
 * 16) MC - 5
 * 17) Guilty Night, Guilty Kiss!
 * 18) Mijuku DREAMER
 * 19) Omoi yo Hitotsu ni Nare
 * 20) MC - 6
 * 21) Todokanai Hoshi da to Shitemo
 * 22) MC - 7
 * 23) MIRAI TICKET
 * 24) Kimi no Kokoro wa Kagayaiteru kai?
 * 25) ENCORE: Pops heart de Odorun damon!
 * 26) Yume Kataru yori Yume Utaou
 * 27) MC - 8
 * 28) Step! ZERO to ONE

Detailed Review
1. Aozora Jumping Heart The very opening song. Think this was a pretty expected one given how it's one of the few songs they can open a live with. We've seen this performed live several times by now: Numazu, Naomi no Heya, Christmas Mini Live, so there's not much it adds. But it did give us our first look at the seiyuus: The most noticeable was Aiai, who had her hair dyed a dark shade of red to get closer to Ruby. Apparently Suwawa had also dyed her hair dark blue, but I actually didn't notice that at all the entire live orz. The hairstyles were pretty standard, since we've already seen this costume before.

2. Koi ni Naritai AQUARIUM The concert went into a lull for a bit... and everyone was kept wondering just what was coming next. But the tune soon resolved itself and everyone caught on, even though a lot of us were in shock. I myself certainly hadn't expected this quite this early, and neither had the people around me. It was their first live performance of this song, and the choreography was great! Just like in the PV, their wavy hand motions and steps were really nice to see. The only downer for this was the lack of the costumes: Many of us had been hoping for some sort of KNNA costume, even an edited one to hide the midriff etc, but guess that's not coming this live. Audience participation also wasn't anything amazing in the arena from what I could see: No real remarkable bursts of blue from orange etc that was present in the PV. Guess this isn't becoming the new Snow halation.

3. MC - 1 The seiyuus take their first break, and do their self-introductions. Unfortunately I don't remember much of anything notable here... My bad. It was really just a standard round of intros with their calls and responses- though Aikyan started out and hers was slightly longer with some nice demonic lines at the front. Arisha also had a good time with the extended version of her call and response, berating the audience both on site and also in the live viewings for not letting out their voice.

Anchan did the recap of their past two songs, and managed to derp the title for Aozora Jumping Heart. As someone on Twitter commented, it just wouldn't be Anchan unless she derps something.

4. Aqours☆HEROES Aqours moves out from the main stage onto the center stage in the middle of the audience, where the huge round stage actually had a screen for a floor. This was the first time we were seeing this, so it was really quite amazing. But it lives up to its true potential only later in the live. Again, this is an old song, so nothing really added. I did like the choreography though- feels like their movements were sharper. Shukashuu's spin was amazing as always.

5. Intermission 1 The girls take a break while the chibis take the screen, and it doesn't take us long to notice the difference between previous lives and this. Whereas μ's chibis had been cute but mostly static, the animation level for Aqours was off the scale. They were still floating heads, but now the heads had full animation for everything: their eyes, their mouths, even their flowing hair. It was a short skit about them heading to Yokohama Arena for the live, with some characters making a big fuss out of it as usual while Riko and Dia play the sensible roles. Maru breaks out some history of Yokohama, while Chika completely misunderstands the meaning behind Shin-Yokohama (where Yokohama Arena) is, and so on.

6. Kimeta yo Hand in Hand The intermission ends with the second years taking the stage in modified Daisuki dattara Daijoubu! outfits, which have sleeves. I didn't pay much attention to this song (my bad, I never did like this single) but the choreography was on point, similar to the anime. Something I always found amusing about this song was this moment where Riko looked kind of blank and derp while they swing their right hands in a circle in the air... and there was a moment where Rikyako had the same kind of look.

7. Daisuki dattara Daijoubu! Since they were already in the costumes (not to mention 2nd years clearing the songs in one shot), this song coming up was hardly a surprise. I was half-expecting a sudden blackout to happen just for lulz but it didn't. Unfortunately a blackout did happen somewhere though- Malaysia's Live Viewing apparently went dead for the second years' section due to an ongoing heavy storm, but they managed to get it back afterwards. It is... apt in a very depressing sort of way. Again, nothing much I remember of this song... other than Shukashuu's jump I guess. Come to think of it where does Shukashuu not perform anything amazing...

8. MC - 2 The second years take a break with MC, talking about the songs they just performed. At this point I discuss with my neighbours and they do share the same observations: Their Daisuki outfit was a lot thicker than what we expected. Lunaries also mentioned that he had seen a red dress beneath their current costume, but it could also have been just padding... but we were suspecting a speed-change.

9. Yume de Yozora o Terashitai And we weren't disappointed, when the lights went out for barely a minute (with accompanying piano music) before coming back to show both the first and second years in their Yume de Yozora costumes. This costume was one of the more memorable ones for me: while it hadn't really stood out for the anime characters (and made some of them look kind of bland, even), it looked really great on the seiyuus. It was sleek, elegant, and just the right amount of glitter to make it shine to break up the outlines without being distracting. This one came with sleeves too, but it fit them really well. Not much on the choreography... It's a pretty slow song.

10. Intermission 2 Another short skit of the chibis, now discussing food in Yokohama. Maru brings up history and Yokohama's high Chinese population, and decides on ramen (since this is originally Chinese). Someone else picks siew mai. Mari interjects something about how both of those aren't really Chinese because they're now hybrids of Japanese and Chinese cuisine. Dia cuts in and says curry is the best fit as a hybrid of cuisines. An argument starts and Chika breaks it up by making them go to a nearby restaurant in Shin-Yokohama that's conveniently named Numazu.

'''11. Genki Zenkai DAY! DAY! DAY!''' The intermission ends and CYaRon! takes the stage, signalling that today was going to be a subunit day. But that aside, their costumes had been faithfully recreated from their single cover (but with additional details instead of their simple white shirts) which looked really great on them. The choreography on this song was really fun as well, with them acting out all sorts of antics based on the lyrics. They start out on the main stage but end out in the front center stage, which had their symbols rotating on the floor.

12. MC - 3 A short break for the girls, who all go to take a sip of water of official Aqours water... shilling on camera? They discuss their new costumes, with Anchan pointing out her pin- this originally only had one orange mikan on the single cover but the one she wore had three, symbolizing the three of them. They also had a bit of fun talking about the song they would perform next, saying how they were going to go see the starry night sky. They made the audience hide their Kingblades, and only reveal them when the seiyuus went past that section of the audience. And then went about in a circle. Kind of reminiscent of Kussun's birthday celebration, except in reverse.

13. Yozora wa Nandemo Shitteru no? We always joke about how this song was the most calm (and hence boring) song out of the lot but good lord. This was one of the surprising ones. Absolutely, absolutely superb usage of the screens and overlays. The backdrop of a starry night sky was perfect, they had light effects under the seiyuus on the ground that connected them and shifted, Anchan drew a star on camera that was overlaid on the screen... It was perfect. Aiai and Anchan went out onto carts halfway through the song, and left Shukashuu in the center where she did a solo dance during the instrumental. I swear they let her shine too much... but I'm not complaining.

14. Torikoriko PLEASE!! AZALEA takes the stage in their single outfits, and Arisha causes multiple cases of nosebleeds across the arena and cinemas. I'm sorry if I sound biased but this was exactly how it was. Suwawa and King looked just as you might expect from that single's outfit. Arisha's dress- she made it look even better than Dia did. It was amazing. This is one of the few photos I'm looking forward to.

Anyway about the song itself... I don't remember much LOL. It was just fun and upbeat as you might expect. Near the end they grab a bunch of magic wands with long streaming ribbons, and begin waving them. The ending tune (ai no juumon part) was also extended really long (twice as long? Thrice?) for them to make their way back to the main stage.

15. MC - 4 MC with AZALEA, where they wave their wands and Arisha explains the meaning behind the title of Torikoriko PLEASE!!. Torikoriko is apparently a magic spell they cast to capture the audience's hearts. They begin to play with this by making the audience change their lights to pink as they cast the spell on different sections of the arena, and finally the live viewing sites. They put their wands away and then head out in search of excitement.

16. Tokimeki Bunruigaku I always did like this song but again, another one of the surprisingly good ones. AZALEA starts out in the center of the main stage on a slowly raising platform, and as they each perform their solo lines, the screen behind them would show falling petals in their colour. The petals mix once their group lines start, but the real magic is when they start to switch to the faster, more upbeat part of the song (around 1:35). A flower of their colour forms behind them, they put one hand up and down, and move their arms in a circle, dispelling the petals as they go. It sounds a lot lamer than it looks because it was actually really amazing, making the crowd go wild at that point. The stage slowly lowers back down and the rest of the song is performed on the main and then front stage. More petal effects out on the floor. Amazing ending.

17. Strawberry Trapper Then Guilty Kiss takes the stage and the crowd goes nuts. They enter the stage by rising up from the trap door floor in the upper center stage, with accompanying coloured lightning effects on the screen. It was our first look at their costume, and they were the only subunit to not really follow their single cover. Instead, they had a gothic looking outfit that fit each of them really well in their own ways. It looked great, but what was better was them rocking out with the fake microphone stands they had. They really went all out with this song, they would sweep the mic off its feet and lower it almost all the way to the ground, along with a lot of amazing kicks. The song even ended with all three of them doing a running kick that went pretty high- actually they did a lot of kicks that showed quite a bit *cough* but I'm sure that was all intended and accounted for with safety pants so they're safe. Also a lot of screen effects on this one, all sorta gothic things going on in the borders on the screen. Was almost disruptively attention-grabbing for me but quite cool nonetheless.

18. MC - 5 MC starts off with Rikyako suddenly being embarrassed by just what she has done, acting in character. They discuss the fake mics, their outfits (Aikyan has a nice pair of demon wings on one of her shoes)... I can't really remember much of this MC. The girls do practice some Guilty Kiss Guilty Night calls with the audience though.

19. Guilty Night, Guilty Kiss! True to its name... a lot of flying kisses sent to the audience. This song took place mostly on carts moving around the stadium, so there wasn't really a lot to say for choreography. Just deadly to any audience which received a flying kiss. A lot of camera close-ups on this song too, with the screen CG overlays once again as they draw hearts. The ending was also extended as well for the carts to make it back to near the stage safely, but the song ended and the arena went dark with them still on the carts.

20. Intermission 3 I was expecting another chibi story but it turns out those were over. Instead what we had was a series of scenes from the anime recollecting the story: I had thought it was just their first commercial at first but it actually went on quite long and in detail. It ended only at the scene after Mari and Kanan made up, and Ruby greets Dia with her Mijuku costume. And that's when we knew what was coming next.

21. Mijuku DREAMER Mijuku DREAMER outfits were... exactly like the anime, I guess. Sorry if that's a bit disappointing but it didn't quite stand out for me, I'm not sure why. If you liked that outfit, you would probably like this one. Meanwhile, the song went just as the PV did, except with no third years' speed-change. I noticed Ainya's quick wink just like Mari did during her solo though. And when the song moved into the climax (which is when fireworks explode in the anime), many of the audience broke out Ultra Oranges- I broke one out myself. Wasn't disappointed: The stage itself featured pyrotechnics, with the ceiling at the back dropping sparks just like the anime did. The third years also had a group hug near the last bit of the song.

22. Omoi yo Hitotsu ni Nare This was definitely one of the more memorable songs. The stage goes dark with a short piano instrumental playing, then lights up again in a blue shade. With a piano on the back center stage. And Rikyako goes up, and takes a bow.

At this point, everyone's jaws were dropping.

There's also a cute moment where Rikyako looks down at Anchan who looks back and gives her a nod, just like Chika and Riko would. But then Rikyako takes the piano, and absolutely destroys the crowd. It wasn't faked at all- they had a camera down on the piano itself, and would also show shots from above where you could see her playing intensely. She played perfectly, and had those glissandos, and the crowd would just go wild.

It was ridiculously unfair on a whole new level: Rikyako wasn't even a part of this song and she just stole the crowd from everyone else. Most of the arena and my cinema switched to pink. I cracked out another Ultra Orange, I always did love this song but this was just amazing.

23. MC - 6 The nine of them gather once more, and begin discussing their last two songs. Rikyako commented that the pyrotechnics were intense enough that she could feel their heat. The group also belatedly but properly welcomes Rikyako back. They also mention the scrunchies that all of them were wearing, which was featured in Omoi yo.

24. Todokanai Hoshi da to Shitemo One of those songs which was relatively unexpected- I was certain they had to squeeze another song here so they didn't change to Mijuku outfits only for 2 songs, but it was a wild card that could've been any song, since I was expecting them to close with MIRAI TICKET. It was their first time performing this song, and I don't remember much of it... just that the choreography was full of energy just like the song. It was one of the few songs that I noticed the rainbow colour scheme for the lights, which play a much more prominent role this year because they weren't only on the main stage but also on the floor of the center stage, as well as along the pathway leading to it.

25. Intermission 4 The final intermission, they pick up where they left off with the anime and run through all the way to the end. Nothing much since this is just an anime recap. But it was a sure guess what was coming up next.

26. MC - 7 The stage lights up, and we see our seiyuus in MIRAI TICKET costumes out on the center stage, with the floor being a flat white light. And unexpectedly, the seiyuus begin to perform the entire Episode 13 skit out.

Just for the record, this is so, so much better with the seiyuus than the characters. That episode had very mixed reviews but wow, this version fixes all that. They were so cute during their parts, and Anchan's agony over the 0 was really heart-rending. And when she did the closing lines thanking the people there, you could see that she was already holding back tears.

27. MIRAI TICKET Aaand the song begins after the skit concludes. Nothing really remarkable... though I noted that the arena audience didn't really have the shift to blue lights as the anime did. As in not even a significant percentage. Was kind of odd. Near the end of the song Anchan does do the Chika run, except this time it's back to the main stage where they end the song there. Some of the seiyuus were definitely holding back tears at this point.

28. Kimi no Kokoro wa Kagayaiteru kai? A few short lines thanking everyone, and then announcing their final song for the main section. This was an unexpected choice for me: I had expected this to be the encore opener, and it certainly didn't cross my mind as a closer. Once again, an old song, so nothing really new, just the same vaults. But I definitely noticed that for the Anchan and Rikyako solo in the middle, they sounded perfectly fine. This was a huge, huge leap from previous lives, where they would sound really winded by this part. All that training has definitely paid off.

The song ends, and the seiyuus leave the stage.



29. Encore Animation A long honoured tradition, there is an encore animation featuring the characters. Yohane starts it out with some chuuni lines, and we see that they're all dressed in the First Live tees. Hanamaru is munching on some Noppo bread, and Mari brings out some Shiny Stew midway... Basically an animation and short skit for them to showcase their respective charm points.

30. Pops heart de Odorun damon! Yet another unexpected opener. I mean at this point sitting at home I realise how it's all not that different from the Christmas Mini Live, but on site I wasn't even considering it because I was expecting this to be tomorrow. The seiyuus come onto stage wearing the First Live tee on top of a Uranohoshi skirt, each with a few badges on top of them. These were the badges available for gacha on site at the concert venue, most of them had a combination of 2 character badges + 1 subunit single cover badge. There was also a burst of confetti at the start of the song. The song choreography is largely the same, but they move onto individual carts (each with their own colours) halfway and begin moving across the arena.

31. Yume Kataru yori Yume Utaou Aaand another unexpected follow-up. I was totally expecting this as the ending song. But no. It came out now. And they broke out pom-poms from their carts, waving them at the crowd as they moved around. Since it's a cart song, not much in choreography, they just ended back up on the main stage at song end.

32. MC - 8 And then the closing MC. I was struggling really hard to TL this live and... it didn't really work out. Idk. I left out most of the generic comments that won't really be missed and tried to focus on the unique lines, but even so I felt I missed a lot. But even so I desperately wanted to try- A guy sitting in front of me was constantly refreshing his Twitter on the Wikia account and it just felt so, so important to get this moment out. To help people who were there understand. Anyway, here's what I did manage to capture:


 * Aikyan thinks they've shown to their brightest today and won't forget this light, and will work harder to shine brighter.
 * Ainya was nervous at first but got over it thanks to everyone. She always aspired to Yokohama Arena but made it here with her beloved Love Live!. Being able to meet Aqours and tons of fans has made her really happy (she's crying now) and she'll work harder in the future.
 * Aiai feels seeing everyone's smiles make her feel like she can do anything, just like being part of Aqours. She felt disconnected from Ruby at first but got over it with everyone's help, and thanked the audience.
 * Arisha had the greatest time thanks to everyone. She could really feel everyone's support for her and that helped her advance.
 * King was the one who broke down the hardest, almost being unable to speak. She felt really happy to have made it here and achieved so much with both Maru and everyone.
 * Suwawa is really happy to be able to see so many people supporting them and her confidence has risen (0 to 1) thanks to this.
 * Rikyako found everything new (both Yokohama Arena, piano practice) so it felt fresh but also worrying. But it's also her first time feeling like she really understood Riko.
 * Shukashuu was really stressed back during Christmas mini live but seeing everyone's faces today was really fun and made those feelings disappear.
 * Anchan was the first to mention the live viewings aside from the audience in the arena in this closing MC, calls it a miracle so many could watch them. Being able to see tons of Chika's image colour, and everyone's smiles made her feel glad she was able to meet Chika and Aqours. She declared that she already decided that she won't cry today, and she managed to smile her tears away.

'''33. Step! ZERO to ONE''' The final song. What a closer. The same song we've been hearing for a very long time (since over a year ago, in their first event at Mielparque Hall), but now with all their combined experience. It was pretty hyped (broke another UO), and they ended the day on a really high note.

Overall Thoughts
It was a brilliant concert for their First Live, no doubt. Some key points that I noticed:
 * Unexpected song list. They have changed the formula. Or rather, they've been operating on a changed formula for a very long time now but we just keep subconsciously following the old μ's formulas that we get surprised by it. I love how every step of the way near the end was another surprise. And this was more than just their song list: the lack of announcements in their closing MC was another shocker. It was just chock full of surprises for us at every turn.
 * Good effects usage. They just keep finding new things to throw in every year, and a floor that's also a screen was both new and utilized to its maximum potential this year. They also did a lot of overlays, which I think was something new from Final Live. These CG overlays when done right had a really awesome effect. On the other hand, the physical special effects were relatively limited: just pyrotechnics for Mijuku DREAMER and confetti on Pops HEART.
 * Limited set list, possibly overreliance on old songs. I don't know if they're gonna throw out the rest of the songs on Day 2. But there's three songs that didn't get performed today and that I really missed. BD songs aside, there's also:
 * Sunshine Pikkapika Ondo
 * Humming Friend
 * Mattete Ai no Uta
 * ^These are songs I really like and they all didn't get performed ;w; I'm legit worried they might not do them tomorrow either.


 * Aqours concert is surprisingly emotional. But it also felt kind of... artificial to me. The emotions were coming from the characters and not really the seiyuu- I'm not sure how to put this into words. It's like I feel what they want me to feel but it's from an artificial storyline. I don't really feel the seiyuus' struggles just yet, not as acutely as I did for the last group. I'm not sure, I'll have to monitor this. Maybe they just need more time.

Well, that's all I have for now. Day 2 in just another 10.5 hours, so I'll make another post once that's over!