Commentary on 57th Kouhaku Utagassen 2006~!
 

Wow! So this year’s 57th edition of Kouhaku Utagassen was absolutely amazing!! It was much better than last year’s, in my opinion. My favorite enka singers (even though I don’t really like enka music all that much…) were Sakamoto Fuyumi from Akagumi, and Hikawa Kiyoshi-san from Shirogumi. I was a little disappointed because the Shirogumi team won – Akagumi was winning during the half-way point, but then the guys ended up winning in the end. I really thought that the ladies had it in the bag—I thought that their performances were absolutely amazing. I guess the guys had a lot of help due to performances from SMAP and DJ OZMA…they’re really popular and DJ OZMA’s performance was really elaborate. I still liked the ladies better, though. I was slightly disappointed by Hamasaki Ayumi-san’s performance…her vocals weren’t exactly the best. Hirahara Ayaka-san was, as usual, unbelievable! I loved the song she performed, “chikai.” Ayaka ("I believe" ayaka XD) sang “Mikazuki” and she really blew me away with her vocals. Hm…oh, yes! Akiko Wada-san was great, too! She performed her song, “Mother” – I think she wrote it about her mom after she died, and it was so sad to see her perform…there was such passion in her voice, I think she cried a bit, too. Hm…I missed BoA’s performance, Koda Kumi was okay…she looked like a mermaid in her dress O_O and Nakashima Mika’s performance of “Hitoiro” was nothing less than what I expect of her live performances—vocally superb. I guess that leaves my two favorite performances of the whole night:

Angela Aki-san and her performance of “Home” was truly splendid. I could really feel her passion when she was singing that song, there was such emotion in her voice. I thought I’d cry watching it! She was really AMAZING! For the guys, my favorite performance was KOBUKURO and their performance of “Kaze.” They sang it acapella and it was really powerful. It’s hard to do something like that, and they really pulled it off, so my hat’s off to them. Those two performances were really the highlight of the whole event for me.

Overall, I thought that the 57th Kouhaku Utagassen was one of the best, yet. Definitely better than last year’s – I thoroughly enjoyed the whole thing! ^__^

DJ OZMA took the whole show imo. I haven't DLed the whole show, but I've seen bits and pieces of it. I really need to see that ayaka performance.

i agree with you..it was very gd...first time i saw it from start to end..for guys, i didnt really noe anyone of them..so nvm bout them

but females wise..really good! one questions, u noe one of them was in this big big headress and the backing was this metal like "Shinto" structure...She sounded awfully like a male..

shocked with DJ OZMA's performance... were the girl dancers really topless? I mean... they looked like they were... and the lady host from gokusen was like really shocked and speechless after the performance...

but the show was ok... wish the girls won though. didnt get to watch it from the beginning, only when ai otsuka was starting. Damn i missed BoA... and the w-inds performance, since i love boogie woogie 66. That part with the music revue with smap performing dear woman at the end was quite funny (especially those two old ladies going "moe" while in maid outfit... hahahahaha). I wish the show had less enka, though hehehe... i switch channels whenever there is enka on since i dnt quite get it... but hey, i aint the intended audience so i wnt complain :p

When was the last year the "girls" team won? Every year the guys win and win and win LOL :laugh

i think this is due to the gaining popularity of the males now? Boybands etc..
i also hoped the Girls win..i mean, with Kuu now on the rise, thats an addition to the female popularity..

as for the DJ OZMA one, i think the females were wearing a suit..it was so flabby when the bent down, u could see the folds...i think they were shocked because its really shocking! haha..even if its fake, it looked real didnt it

hahaha yeah i thought it was real too... i just saw the performance of DJ OZMA again on youtube, and it did show a clip at the end of it where an announcer said that the girls were wearing bodysuits...

that performance sure gained some viewers in youtube, it's like the 4th most viewed new clip today :p

>< i'm still waiting for this to be uploaded at jpopsuki >< i'm dying to watch it (i enjoyed last years, which infact was the first i'd ever seen ^^;;).

Glad to here it was good though :D

OMG THEY had Body Suits on???? I thought they were Really Topless! Wow. THis changes EVERYTHING IMO.

it was okay...not the best or anything...but it was sure a good thing to watch i really enjoyed SMAP and Dreams Come True's performance ^_^

I was bored. There wasn't really anything that blew me away. I felt that most of the performances were rather uninteresting. I still enjoy the male enka singers because I think they're so much better than the ones on the female team and that's where the big difference is. I like the pop performers on the female side, but their performances were rather plain.

i enjoyed it. :) ayaka's performance was awesome! she couldn't have done it any better. LA18 semi-blocked DJ OZMA's performance. like halfway, some scenery of the ocean popped up (but you could hear the perf. in the background)! XD then i went on YouTube and was like, "OH. i see." i also enjoyed TOKIO, Hirahara Ayaka, DREAMS COME TRUE, & Angela Aki's performaces. Ayu's dress was nuts. it was huge! i heard her perf. was bad, so i was expecting a horrible performance. i thought it was ok, actually. her vocals could've been better.

i thought it was more entertaining than last years.

The girls won two years ago.

Yeah! Dreams Come True's performance was really great! First time I'd seen them live, and I was saying to myself, "Ohh...so that's why they're so popular!" XD

Yea! i think Dreams Come True must be really popular in Japan..everyone was out there..it was BIG

Average Ratings for Kouhaku:

1st Half: 30.6% (All time low - tied with 1990)
2nd Half: 39.8% (Places 2nd last in all 57 years)

Ratings were done 4.8% and 3.1% from last year for the 1st and 2nd halves respectively.

http://www.sanspo.com/geino/top/gt20...007010302.html

I really liked DCT performance but OMG DJ OZMA!! I just loved it. lol

I also liked that singer that did an elaborate thing. The song sounded kinda of rocking enka. I forgot the persons name though.

I really liked this years one. Even if Akagumi still didn't win. But I thought this year had a nice mix of songs, but some artists were missing... (Shimatani, for instance).

^^May be you're talking about Kobayashi Sachiko?

DJ OZMA's performance owned everyones. XD That was one of the best performances I've ever seen. It was so complex and well planned (Except for the 'topless' incident)

^ Yep it OWNED. Plus the song is awesome.

I just googled her and yeah it is. I will now find music from her. lol

If you find music, send some my way! I have a hard time finding her music.

There's this other artist, but idk how to romanize his name. But he performed right before Otsuka Ai.

Dreams Come True's performance is the only one that was really good IMO. The other ones were normal, average. Nothing special.

hahaha.. yeah, guys wins every year... i never heard that the girls wons... that boys vs girls is just a hoax i tell yah!! wehehehe.

Since the guys' have SMAP, that's almost an automatic win for them lol.

just wanted to comment on mika nakashima's performance... solid vocals... good stage set-up (petals and mike stand)... but terrible body language... she was shlumped over the mike... bad posture... could have done with more "nana" rock posing... mika never seems to fully embody nana's rock image... it seems like she's uncomfortable with the nana role whenever she performs... she is better at communicating her non-nana material

dreams come true wasn't the only really good special performance... nearly all of the enka artists plus rimi natsukawa were incredible/special... but maybe that's because people are not into enka/traditional japanese music?

as usual, people exaggerate when it comes to ayu's performance in kohaku... it wasn't bad... just okay...

guess for the people who were bored, they need something flashier... i found it a very very very entertaining show with the right combination of flash and restraint... more entertaining than all those award ceremonies in english put together...

I'll PM you when I find music from her. lol

http://www.jpopmusic.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=66777 that's a list of the performers in order of performing. lol

Last years was better in my opinion. The performances/stage were bland and everything seemed all over the place. It wasn't organized. I mean they get the minna no uta out, then the random 2006 mini performance, ect.>< The perf. that saved Kouhaku from being completely boring was Dreams Comes True, the amazing enka singers, Rimi Natsukawa, and DJ OZMA.xD

I haven't watched this year's Kouhaku yet, but if you guys are complaining about the amount of Enka, well, go watch Music Station SUPER LIVE.

It's full of Jpop artists and nothing else, and it's 4 hours long. It's got all the big artists you can think of, Ayu, Kumi, B'z, Mr.Children etc etc. It's mainly focused on a younger audience, while Kouhaku is more for the general population of Japan. Because of that, it's extremely conservative and therefore, boring. DJ Ozma pulled that act to mock the organizers - they didn't know about it beforehand.

Personally, I didn't download the whole show, just the performances of the singers I like and some important singers.

Yeah it's never fair for the girls when they appear. :laugh They did put up quite a good performance though, to their credit.

And the enka performances were all really wonderfully done. Really stuck to the theme of this year's show too.