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ayumi hamasaki ARENA TOUR 09 ~ NEXT LEVEL ~ 12/04/09 Full Report
A friend of mine who's currently living in Japan went to watch the 2nd day of AT09 yesterday and he made a full review about all of it in Indonesian in our Indonesian Ayumi Hamasaki's forum, so i asked him for permission to translate the review into english and post at AHS as well so that people will know how's the NL AT09 looked like.
I'm so sorry if some of my english translation seems messed up or something or hard to understand, because it's not my mother tongue, just feel free to ask me about it, since i still have the review in the original language, i'll try to explain to you enjoy reading! ayumi hamasaki ARENA TOUR 09 ~ NEXT LEVEL ~ 12/04/09 Full Report Saitama Super Arena Quote:
Indonesian-English translation/edited by Ayu's Story Pictures are taken from Shunchan's own pictures collection, AyumiFans.net, AyuKuuFanblog @ Blogspot, AyuChina.com, Yahoo! Japan auction page and AHS itself Take out with full credits! ---------------------------------- From Calico @ AHS Forum Quote:
Last edited by AyUmIXx; 14th April 2009 at 06:27 PM. |
#2
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Very nice read, thanks a lot for posting! I would never be able to remember this level of detail, lol.
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#3
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OMG OMG OMG thank you! I have been waiting for this!
It really sounds awesome! And finally I get the costumes cleared up for wich song they where!
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[Video] Key ~eternal tie ver.~_______LJ Blog________[Video] A History [BIG SALE! Ayu CDs/DVDs/Goods/Ayupans and more!] AHS married to Maro ~13/1-2010~ Spoiler:
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#5
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thank you
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☆ bunnnniiiieeeesssss ☆ - The "New Artists You're Trying Out" Thread - |
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Thanks alot for this review; it's really helpful. Unfortunately, if a flying chair is the all she's got for us this year, it's pretty boring. But at least we get to see new songs live
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#7
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thank you!
"After that, the female dancers started to do acrobatic act and the scene at the back screen was divided into two at first then into 4 then 8 and etc)" oh no.. not again x_x i'll be sure to skip that part on the DVD that mario thing sounds so cool. ayu & shuya fighting? sounds good, i hope she punches him! i think i'm really going to love this tour. all of these new songs! and that In the corner choreography is amazing, i'm glad she added it to this tour. |
#8
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Thanks for posting this, but I can't read it! I already slipped looking at all the costumes, but I want everything else to be a surprise. Thank you very much though! I skimmed a bit and it looks like you added a lot of detail! Great memory!
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#9
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Cool report. So detailed D=. I'm glad her vocals were better than in AT 08
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#10
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Thanks for the review!
Its about time ayu fight shuya!...lol...I'm really interested in the mario video...sadly at the moment that is the only thing I'm really looking forward to. Also very sad how we got big props in previous tours...and we just got a lifted up chair this year...sigh... oh well...atleast ayu gave us pcdl...my fav cdl. |
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Thanks for the report ...
I am just so, so, so, happy that the horrible outfit was NOT for LOVE 'n' HATE/identity. Thanks the Lord for that.
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| Set by me | I love Stargate SG-1 even more now! Cuz in episode 9x12 there was a person called |
#12
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Thanks for the info! The costumes are pretty much with what songs I expected them to be. Him getting A-Block at a resale shop sure shows how easy it is to get tickets for this show though. I saw an A-Block still available on the day of the show according to the website, wonder if that is the one he got?
Disappointing though that this isn't the only report that I've seen that says they don't desire to see the show again after seeing it once. |
#13
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I don't mean to hijack this, but since your friend and I were at the same show, there's no sense starting a new thread. XD
SETLIST: Pieces of SEVEN Rule UNITE! DISCO-munication EnergizE AUDIENCE Load of the SHUGYO LOVE 'n' HATE identity In the Corner (...WHUT. I don't know whether to laugh at the random ness or die from AYU IN A SUIT) -HoP intro- HOPE or PAIN GREEN (UR DOIN' IT WRONG) Days (ur doin' it right <3) -curtain dancing- evolution SIGNAL -rollin' intro- rollin' Sparkle Bridge to the Sky NEXT LEVEL -ENCORE- Curtain call For My Dear... everywhere nowhere Boys & Girls MY ALL Day started when my friend, David, and I met up at Kawagoe nd took the JR to Kita-Yo station. Afterwards it took us about five whole minutse to find SSA and find everything going on. =D THERE WERE SO MANY PEOPLE. Holy crap. So many people there to see Ayu. <3 We wanted to buy some goodies but it was already 3;15 and the line to get in our gate was long...so we just queued up like Brits and waited to go in. Once we were in they checked my bag (LULZ NO BOMBS) and we saw all the flowers Ayu received for the beginning of her tour from other J-pop artists. (Cool. <3) We then proceeded to get TOTALLY LOST as to where we were supposed to go...because we read the ticket wrong. Haha. So finally we found out where we were supposed to sit...and HOLY ****! WE WERE NEAR THE FLOOR. We had an awesome view of the stage and the catwalk. Our tickets? For what we thought were upper balcony turned out to be super expensive bottom tickets...holy cow did we get a deal for 130 dollars! The concert was supposed to start at 4 PM but at 4:30 still nothing was happening. Finally the lights went down at about 4:45, and Ayu's voice welcomed us to her tour. The audience went nuts and we all stood up...and all the fans and the glowsticks came on. XD; (We didn't have any since we didn't have time to buy them FOR TEN BUCKS) <b>Pieces of SEVEN</b> This was a great song to start the show off with. Lots of video work and light showing, and when the techno/rock part started all the band members had come out and were strutting their stuff...I had a great view of Enrique (on my side) and Yocchan which made it a lot of fun. The sound was soooo loud that the techno beats were making my heart palpitate! Great stuff! Also when the techno started all the green lights shot out and made the crowd around us go SO wild. I wanted to join in and cheer at the top of my lungs but I was a little sick with a sore throat so I decided to save my voice fo singing along, haha. <b>Rule</b> (I totally called this song first) The intro really fools and distracts you into looking at the front stage...because once PoS (...lol) ended we suddenly heard Ayu doing the beginning acapella chorus for "Rule", and everyone went nuts again. Suddenly, all the green lights focused on the end of the catwalk and there was Ayu!!! Standing the middle of the catwalk with mic in hand and all her male dancers dressed as Rule ninjas around her. Ayu herself had her hair pulled back into a bun (hot!) and was wearing a black sparkly outfit a lot like from the PV, only less wtf-y. (I'm sure there are pics of this tour around somewhere for you guys to reference) I was about to lose it at that point because OMG MY IDOL WAS RIGHT THERE I COULD SEE HER LULZ. Anyway, once the lights shined on her everyone went nuts again and the band broke out into full-throttle Rule and it was on. Ayu and her ninjas mostly did stuff from the PV, such as strutting up and down the catwalk, dancing on the stage, and the dancers picking Ayu up from beneath her arms and hauling her around for a little bit. Her voice sounded great in this song...just like the recording almost but with the obvious live echo. Ayu is meant to sing low, IMO. <b>UNITE!</b> Immediately following the last note of Rule UNITE! broke out with the "Aye! Aye! Aye!" that we all know and love from past tours. David had no idea how the dance went so he was like "wtf why are we putting our arms out" during the chorus. Of course, if you've seen one UNITE! live you've seen them all. Nothing too special. Afterwards she disappeared from the stage and the next video started. <b>DISCO-munication</b> I love this interlude. XD And it was the OMG CUTEST AYU VID EVER. 8-bit gaming Mario Ayu! Honestly! Ayu was a video game character bouncing around on pipes and opening up boxes while her male dancers ran around in baseball uniforms. Finally Ayu ended up in a baseball stadium wearing a little red cheerleader's uniform and hit a homerun...also the dancers were introduced, and GO-MI particularly cracked me up since he was the catcher and acted goofy with his hair and glassses. There are three new male dancers in this tour (god why) but I don't remember their names. Oh well. <b>EnergizE</b> It seemed only natural that this be the next song and it definitely was. Ayu and her female dancers showed up at the top of the stage wearing their cheerleading outfits (pom poms included!) and Ayu...for some reason that she continued to do off-and-on throughout the concert...sung...like...a...chipmunk. UGH. NO. STOP IT. Luckily I didn't really give a dang since it was LIVE DUDE but otherwise it would've drive me nuts. Anyway, about halfway through the song the male dancers came out in baseball uniforms and pretended to hit each other balls...then GOMI ran to the top andthey all pitched balls at him, and I guess it was velcro since some of them stuck to his (pink!) catcher's outfit. <b>AUDIENCE</b> Nothing too special. Same ol' we've seen before. But my friend David failed again since he couldn't get the clapping right, haha! <b>Load of the SHUGYO</b> This video was by far one of the best I've seen, if only because of the way it was presented to us and because of the content! Basically Ayu was a captain of the guard (HOT MILITARY OUTFIT WOO <3) and her and her female dancers were giving the male dancers shock treatment before throwing them into their cells for captivity. You know, I may be gay, but I can appreciate a hot guy and those fellas (minus SHU-YA cause ew) were mighty fine. Zin's been really working out, haha!) In their cells the guys are pretty much crying because they're miserable and trying to get water out of the dead faucets. Eventually deer-eyed Ayu comes down and tries to hand Shuya a glass of water but he smacks it out of her hand (and it breaks all dramamtically on the floor) and runs past her to press the button that opens all of the cells. (do these buttons really exist? cause I don't think so =D) Ayu just sits there like "lol what" while the guys escape down the hallway and the women chase after them. (keep in mind now that there are three screens above the main stage showing videos) The left and right screens cut to live feed as the women run on stage and act like they're looking for the guys and getting pissed. This feed is justapositioned to hte middle screen showing the video of the guys running away. idk I thought this was cool. <b>LOVE 'n' HATE</b> The light-play in this live was, just, awesome. Ayu appeared in her hot military outfit (...ugh, I died <3) and did her thing around the stage whlie singing this pissy song. The lights were the main attraction, though. So many rough colors and a countdown on all the screens whenever she counted, with the font being a classical font in white lettering. Eventually it was just her and Shuya on stage (of course, ew) and Ayu basically played captain with him as if he was her little prisoner, but it wasn't like "my name's WOMEN' rawr", it was more like "I don't really want to do this, aw." Finally when the last countdown began she stood at the top and at "zero" all of the lights went bright red and big fat red "0"s were everywhere. <b>identity</b> This isn't my fave new song and isn't really my fave performance. Lots of catwalk stuff so I mostly saw her from behind. The military jacket came off to reveal a black outfit and Ayu just mostly sang for a few minutes. She still sounded really good. <b>In the Corner</b> Once Ayu disappeared in the middle of the catwalk our eyes were turned to the spotlights on the main stage showing six white chairs. Once the intro to ItC started I had a serious "WTF?!" moment since THIS WAS SO DAMN RANDOM and then I lost my marbles as I remembered this form PCDL and "OMG AYU IN A TIE AND BOWLER HAT". When the male dancers came out in their suits I told my friend David "in about two minutes I'm goign to be on a different planet" BECAUSE YES. THERE WAS AYU. IN A STRIPPED DOWN SUIT. It was a dream come true. And I was there. <3 It was basically the PCDL performance again but LIVE YAY. Although honestly I could've lived with or without it since it's on PCDL anyway..but later I found otu that lots of things had been rehashed from that. <b>HoP Intro</b> Everything cut to a video again...yoyu could tell that the ballads were coming since it was a slow, zomg im in wuv cant be w/ mah smookums! video. Ayu and one of her male dancers (don't knwo which one, but it wasnt Gomi or Shuya, yay!) looking all sad and ohnoez, as the trees and scene around them gradually changed to express the four seasons. Finally Whatshisface disappeared and the video cued out to show Midoring at the top of the stage in a white flowy dress dancing around like she was having a seizure. <b>HOPE or PAIN</b> When this song started playing I thought "omg again?!" since it was just done (like some of theo thers) at PCDL. Ayu popped up on the center stage while Midoring was still dancing...Ayu's outfit was...omg no. She lookedl ike a big fluffy Bo-Peep from Versailles. ugh. It was rather ridiculous looking and not flattering at all. The dress that she revealed from beneath it later was equally NO but more on that later...but Ayu always has misses with me when it comes to those horrible ballad dresses. This song was boring, and halfway through Whathisface popped up at the end of the catwalk and strutted his "OMG!ANGST!" dance while Ayu sang. I don't think she moved at all during the performance. <b>GREEN</b> You couldn't even tell this was the next song because the intro was done so quietly...but once it kicked in all the green lights came on just to show how original they were. Ayu started to sing and sloooowly walked down the catwalk...towards the interlude she finally made it. And finally something interesting happened...the catwalk popped up in a ring of green to show Midoring and Whathisface finally reunited and dancing together...it was the same dance from GREEN PV, but with Midoring not leading. They definitely weren't as stiff as in the PV so props to them I guess. IDK, I found this to be SO disappointing. It was boring, Midoring was feminized (sry I loved hot and assertive Midoring from the PV) Ayu looked ridiculous and....idk...a song that had so much potential for awesomeness was really stripped down. The PCDL version was so much more interesting and fulfilling. Since this was one of my fave songs from the past year I felt really let down...but not as much as if she hadn't performed it, so it was okay I guess. (BUT I STILL FEEL CHEATED OUT OF HOT LESBIAN SMEXNESS) <b>Days</b> This song was way better. Ayu took off her coat of suffocating sheep-herding doom to reveal a dumb pink dress that hugged her and poofed out around her feet. She looked like an old-style Barbie doll. ANYWAY ENOUGH PISSING AND MOANING ABOUT HER TASTES IN DRESSES. For some reason SHUYA RETURNED acting like he was a dang prince and he and Ayu pretended that they were in WUB BUT IT WAS ILL-FATED! (this seems to be an ongoing theme for her.) I don't remember much else because it was kinda boring. Finally Ayu disappeared beneath the stage at the end and Shuya did hsi dancing thing and I had to put up with the girls next to me screaming over him, ugh. <b>Curtain Dancing</b> The music continued and KAERU from last year returned (LOL you Japanese studying people will get the joke there) and descended from the top in her curtain thing. She was wearing a beautiful, white sparkling leotard that really shone through the lights as she did her acrobats. It wasn't as special as last years but still a pretty awesome thing to see in person. She even touched down adn ran around for a while before ascending back up into the ceiling and the band started playing the notes to a song I know and love. =D <b>evolution</b> Ayu popped up and the song started. I went NUTS AGAIN since this is my FAVORITE SONG EVER and I didn't care WHAT song she played when I saw her live as long as she PLAYED EVOLUTION. AND SHE DID. <3 It was the same thing but omg it was so amazing live. I think I almost started crying because I just love this song more than any other. I screamed the lyrics at the top of my lungs, esp. at the parts where she hands the mic over to us. Now whenever I listen to my favorite song I can remember screaming it in her general direction. <3 <b>SIGNAL</b> AGAIN SO DAMN RANDOM AND PCDL-ISH. But thsi song is CRAZY live. It's so classic and a real crowd-getter. THE LIGHTS COULD'VE GIVEN ME A SEIZURe. So many flashin' colors, it was so intense and awesome. NEXT LEVEL was such a colorful album and this tour reflected it. The stairs, the main lights, the bordering...EVERYTHING was flashing rainbow colors and it was a happy time. Ayu also sounded GREAT in this song. I want her to resign all of ASFXX because hogod her "new" voice is perfect for it. I loved this song live. Actually, if I could resee any performance again now from this live, this one would be towards the top because the colors were so entrancing. XD After Ayu disappeared again the dancers had their intro and had some danceoffs between each other. Usually I don't care for the dancer stuff but this was pretty amusing. =) Especially when GO-MI was being weird again. <b>-rollin' intro-</b> Right from SIGNAL we went to one TRIPPY video filled with colors and shapes zooming all over the place. It was so awesome. <3 Techno beats blasting and yeaaah I was happy. <3 Especially since I could guess what two of my fave NEXT LEVEL songs were next. =D <b>rollin'</b> So uh...somebody is a capsule fan. Ayu was wearing a purple top and a short blonde wig that, if you plugged the JUMPER sunglasses on her, she would've looked like Toshiko's twin. Nothing super special about this live besides it was just so funny because of the outfits. IDK why either but Ayu seemed determined to sing like a chipmunk again. She and her astronaut dancers danced like robots which was kinda whut. <b>Sparkle</b> ...and on this one, too. Seriously, Ayu, what's with the chipmunk singing? Stop it. D= Nothign much special abotu this one either. This whole tour seems to be centered around video and light work as opposed to stage work since that's what most of this was. It sounds boring, but if you were there you really were having the time of your life. <b>Bridge to the Sky</b> The video then cued to show a very pretty Ayu staring off into space. We are zoomed into her eye and granted access to her "memory" as pictures flashed on the screen from recent times, gradually going back in time through the years to her debut and even before. We even saw baby pictures, haha. (It was weird. o_O) Once the song really got into gear though everythign zoomed backwards until we were pulled out of Ayu's eye again and we are showed that her profile was the last picture in a photo album to be left on a white chair. It didn't take many guesses to know which song was next. <b>NEXT LEVEL</b> The chair appeared in a mist of fog at the top of the stage, and Ayu in a white suit and top hat at the bottom. The lights were fixed on the chair and her. She began singing as her dancers, dressed in toga-like garb, appeared and danced beside her. It was all very ethereal and dare I say...heavenly...looking. Towards the end Ayu went up and sat in the chair, in which it was raised from the platform to show a chandelier hanging from its bottom. As she sang the last chorus she was pulled out over the stage a bit before being settled back down. She got up and went back down to join her dancers at the end of the stage for their bows and thank yous...even though we all knew the encore was coming, haha. <b>Are you ready?</b> I love this little song, really. XD "ARE YOU ARE ARE ARE YOU ARE ARE ARE YOU READY FOR THE DRIIIIIVE (or whatever that last word is). The CG A symbol was craptastically done which made me continuously laugh. For us the themes were riding a bike, playing baseball, etc. (spring activities). This was supposed to distract us from watching the stagehands change the stage around and haul out a bigass piano, but lol I watched them anyway. The A symbol also gave us a quiz by showing us a single cover and crossing out the title so we had to guess what it was. (SEASONS, btw) <b>Curtain call</b> Ayu appeared at the top next to the piano, which Eguchi was playing acoustic style. As she sang a fake gospel choir apepared at the bottom wearing purple robes I guess to give off an "authentic" vibe. I reallyl ike this song so I loved hearing it live...fake choir and all. XD <b>For My Dear...</b> What. Really. This is my LEAST favorite Ayu song, but only because I can't stand her vocals in the original recording. But now I am thoroughly convinced, after this and SIGNAL, that she needs to re- record the whole ASFXX album. And oh dear GOD was her voice loud! What, did they crank up the mic or was she eating it? It still pierced my ears and lol I still don't like this song. XD; <b>MC</b> Ayu and Yocchan started talking, even making us cheer for Yocchan so he would talk. (lol somebody was being a little up in himself that day) Afterwards Ayu informed us that it would be a "new MC" and had Zin come out to talk instead of Yocchan. The same thing happened last year though so idk what she was talking about. Zin taught us the MY ALL dance alongside the new male dancers and my friend still didn't know what was going on and just gave up haha. <b>everywhere nowhere</b> Nothing special happened. I was just a little "whut" from all the PCDL rehashing. <b>Boys & Girls</b> I know a lot of you whine about how "done" this song is...but honestly, you have no idea how amazing it is to be in an audience until it is DONE LIVE. Singing with Ayu and watching the crowd go totally nuts and everyone jumping up and down and Ayu with a huge smile on her face is just...ugh, amazing. I would watch a whole concert of this song being played over and over if it meant this much intensity for two hours! <b>MY ALL</b> Not my choice for a closing song but it wasn't surprising. Ayu cried a little towards the end and all the dancers were dancing in a circle at the end of the catwalk. The streamers shot out from the stage and made 4everyone go nuts...I tried in vain to catch some but all the Japanese people around me were elbowing me and making sure I couldn't =D Some people had GOBS of them and I didn't get one. =( *SAD PANDA* At the end Ayu stood by herself on the stage and told us all to quiet down before throwing her arm bands to some lucky duck in the audience. Then she screamed "ARIGATOU" and ran off the stage. We were all clapping like nutter butters and Who... started playing to signify the end of the concert. <b>OVERALL</b> I griped about some things and didn't write much, really, but truly this was an amazing concert. idk if it was because I LOVED the most recent album or because I was there, but it was so energetic and fun that it was worth the 130 dollars for those AWESOME SEATS. This concert relied way more on lighting and video work than any other I've seen from her before. There was little addition to the stages, and they didn't even utilize the possible movements of the stage much. There were really no sets, either. Yet it was still awesome because the lights and videos WERE the sets, and I guess in the end that's easier and cheaper to do. If you loved NEXT LEVEL you are probably going to love this live...on that note, I think this was the only concert I've seen from her in which she actually performs EVERY SONG from that album. Once I realized that I was pretty happy. XD Oh, and "AYUUUU!" guy was there. He was sitting next to me. Evening to remember? Heck yes! It was even worth breaking a bracelet and getting lost afterwards in the dark for. So yeah. Afterwards David and I bought some omiyage (souvenirs). I got the bag, the sports towel, and the Ayupan. Then I bought some pics from an illegit vendor. XD; Yeah! EDIT: Sorry for the typos, weird formatting, etc. I copied this from my journal. Some things may also be off because my mind is kinda wonky right now since I'm sick. Refer to the original post for pictures. Last edited by Calico; 13th April 2009 at 10:05 AM. |
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wow thanks for the reviews!! but i seriously am keeping myself from reading these reviews because i wanna watch the DVD!
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#15
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Quote:
I'm glad you got to see the show, sounds awesome. ^_^ |
#16
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Thanks for the reviews. And YES, we're getting a LIGHTS and LASER show. This is exciting!
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#17
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It's a totally normal thing for Japanese concerts. For all artists at every opening, ending, special show, or sometimes even every show, there will be flowers outside of the arena from various outlets. Usually they will be from other artists that are on the same label, radio stations, and tv shows that the artist frequents. The first time I saw them I was like "aww look at all these artists supporting Ayu", but then when I saw the same things at every artist I've ever been to, its really doesn't seem like a special thing anymore.
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#18
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The reviews sounds great hahha...
I find the Mario Ayu VERY INTERESTING!!!...i cant stand but say WHY SHUYA AGAIN! |
#20
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SunshineSlayer, anyway, my friends told me that Tohoshinki also sent flowers to Ayu... is it true? do you know bout it?
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