On Thursday night, I went to Shibuya with Caroline to see Mystic again. I had a lot of fun getting ready, and getting all dressed up, and doing my hair and make-up, and being generally girly liek that, because I haven't done that in such a long time.
I met Caroline at Ikebukuro eki, and she too was all dressed up, and I teased her about being Japanese because she was wearing pumps and fishnet stockings with her jeans.
When we got to Shibuya we spent a long time wandering around with my ghetto map that I hand wrote because the printer was broken, and getting lost in little sketchy streets with lots of love hotels. But finally we found the club, after walking past it like twice.
Inside the club more gaijin hijinks continued as we put our stuff in the locker, realized we needed money to get it, unlocke dour stuff, took out our money and relocked it, only to realize when we actually got into the club that I had forgotten to put my purse back in. But by this point we didn't have anymore 100 yen coins, so we couldn't put it in a locker. We bought drinks, me with the intention of getting change to use on a locker, but it didn't work, so I ended up with no change, and a drink that was almost all alchohol which I had about 5 cautious sips of before surrendering it gladly to Caroline.
At first there was almost no one in the club. And no one was dancing at all. I looked around, and one of the few people there looked like Rina-san, the instructor from Yokohama OAS, but I couldn't be sure because of the flashing lights. But a few minutes later, she came over to me with a big smile, and sure enough, it was Rina-san. She squeezed my hand, with a big smile and a genki 'Konnichiha!!!!'. We talked for a tiny bit, I introduded her to Caroline, and she told me that she had come with friends, and so I teased her saying that I was glad she wasn't alone this time. She laughed. Once again,
After a while, Uchida-san came, and talked a bit to me and Rina-san, but looked a bit at loose ends.
Starting at around 12, a lot of people started coming. (We asked Rina-san when Mystic would be on, and she said that they had said about 1:30) Mostly they were B Boys, and B girls. Caroline and I critiqued all the B boys, and decided they were not our thing, and observed that most of the girls were wearing Namie style tiny pleated skirts and boots. For a while there was just a huge group of B Boys that were monopolizing the dance floor, so we were intimidated LOL. But then we finally went on, and danced a lot until the entertainment portion started. Even though I wore my platform boots, which was not a good idea, in retrospect, it was a lot of fun. Caroline is a pretty good dancer, although a lot more sexual than I thought, but then I realized that she dances at parties in the States, and I guess at parties dancing is all about sex.
As the performance section of the night started, I fought my way to the front and center of the dance floor, so i could be close when Mystic came on. Somehow I managed to get about 3 or 4 rows back, in the center, which was pretty good. First there were about 4 dance groups that came out, 2 guy groups and 2 girl groups. Some of them were pretty good, but I kept wishing they'd hurry up so Mystic would come on.
Finally, the DJ announced that it was time for the Live part of the show, featuring Mystic, a mysterious and talent girl group from Okinawa.
Out came Wakane-san and Namichin. Neychin, with her brown permed hair all over the place, had on her ripped sparkling jeans, and the tiniest combination of a tiny army print bra top which had a shirt like a little brown piece of fabric kind of entwined with it. I noticed that Neychin is very flat. But it actually looked really nice, better than if she had been busting out of it. Only Neychin could wear that kind of outfit and not look slutty at all, just really cool. Namichin had on a white crop top, which laced up the front, over another white crop top. She also had on jeans, and a lot of sparkliness, white rhinestone necklaces and belly chain and belly button ring. At first she had on a white hat, but then she took it off after the first song.
The first song they did was 'Gangsta's Paradise ' like last time. After, they introduced themselves, including again that they were from Okinawa. Then Neychin announced they'd be singing an original song, 'Lonely Stripper'. This made me really happy cuz that's my absolute favorite of their original songs. It was interesting to hear in live again after listening to the CD version for so long, because there were a few verses that are left out of the short sample version, for example it actually says 'lonely stripper' in the first verse. It was fun to watch them perform it, because they really tried to communicate the lyrics, for example, during the like that says 'kasanete hada de make money' (she makes money with skin on skin), Namichin did the money sign where you rub your fingers together, and during the 'Nobody knows Hontou no Naked' (nobody knows true naked-ness), Neychin ran her hand up her body in a really sexy way. I really wish they would release full versions of their original songs, with the lyrics!
When the song was over, they said that they wanted to some songs that we could as have fun and sing along to, and they sang a medly of two covers that 'Ooh Mr DJ' song (Namichin sung the verse solo) and that I'm searchin for a Real Love song (Neychin sung the verse solo). At one part, during the MC, Neychin tried to get everyone to sing/say 'woah...' after her, but she's too good of a singer so no one could copy how she was saying it right. LOL During this MC she looked at me and smiled at me a lot. Then they announced that it was time for their last song. However, Neychin said, 'We don't want this to end just as a casual meeting! So this last song will be our original so....' She paused. She had obviously wanted to say sing along, but realized that most people wouldn't know it. She laughed, as did Namichin. '...well...bop along to it.'
The last song was Silent Circus, which is another really good song of theirs. then they left, waving goodbye.
All in all the live was pretty short, because of all the dance groups that performed and whatnot, but it really just reinforced for me how amazing their voices are. I mean, their harmonizing, the sheer quality and volume, they're just amazing. this time since I wasn't in the front row, I got less contact with them then last time, although I still felt Neychin sung to me and looked at me quite a bit. On the other hand, it was nice to just watch them interacting with the audiance. They did a great job of that as always, bending down to sing directly to the people in the front row, and making sure to make full use of the width of the stage so that people on the sides didn't feel left out. Also, once again you could tell just how close Namichin and Neychin are, which was really cute. Their dancing didn't leave as much of an impression on me as last time, possibily because the stage was wider so there was less of them dancing together. Also, a couple times one of them would dance in the back as the other sung her solo lines.
After they left, we all danced again for a while. I had resigned myself to the fact that since 1) there seemed to be more people than last time, and 2) I wasn't with a huge group of Hyper, Neychin and Namichin, wouldn't come and say hi. However, Lady Luck chose to smile on me. Caroline and I were dancing near the opening of the dance floor when I felt someone tap me on the should. I turned around to see Namichin standing there, a huge smile on her face! I was so suprised and happy, all I could do was cry 'Ahhhhh!!!!' and squeeze her hands and she held them out to me. Then she was gone. I think she just happened to pass by me on her way out of the club. I was so happy!! Because, I mean, I have never actually had a conversation with Namichin, and yet she makes a point of tapping me on the shoulder and squeezing my hand when she noticed me! This is what I love about Actor's, and what no amount of Makino's bullshit can take away. Everyone is so warm and friendly, and there is this simple bond of joy that grows up between you and them, from even the smallest most ordinary contact.
So, anyway there were like 4 more dance groups that performed after that. Then we danced a little more, but by this time both Caroline and my feet were killing me, and I was getting pretty tired, so we finally left, at a little after 3 am.
We hobbled pitifully along the dark streets of Shibuya until we found a Freshness Burger which was open until 5. We sat down and ate sausage wraps and french fries, and chatted about the club, Mystic, Actors, and how cool it would be to be in a group with a close friend like that. Caroline really like Mystic and said their singing was amazing, and that Namichin was really beautiful and she had the most beautiful smile Caroline had ever seen. Yay.
At 5 we limped back to the station. On the way we ran into Rina-san and her friends again,who said hi. As we parted at the station, Caroline said that this was most most fun night she'd had in Tokyo, which made me really happy. And it was a lot of fun!

Namichin white small shirt, hat, Neychin tiny brown shirt, army bra
-Gansta's Paradise
-Lonely Stripper (make money (money sign), honto no naked (hand up body)
- Ooh Mr DJ (Namichin) Real Love (Neychin) (woah...woaah...)
-Silent Circus (tada no deai ni shitakunai. original dakedo issho ni... nottekudasai! warai)
takusan Neychin to contact totta
-Namichin grabbed my hand on the way out

 
Today I was depressed and took a two and a half hour nap, which included sleeping thru 'Psychology of Self'. (Hey that's kind of ironic.) Then I dragged myself out of my warm bed and made myself go to Hyper, even though I was tempted not to. But I still wanted to go, so I did. It was raining, like it always seems to when I go to the Rapport.
A few people at Hyper put their hand on my shoulder and talked to me, like Mika-san, who shared with me that her father had died from cancer as well, and Emi-chan told me to cheer up and gave me a big hug. It was so sweet of everyone.
Before Hyper began, Anna-san invited us all in to watch the Pro Class perform there two songs they had just completed, so we all sat at the front of the room and watched. I was really glad we got to, because they were all so enthusiastic, and happy and so serious about it. It was really heart-warming. I felt suspiciously teary-eyed in the beginning. It really cheered me up to watch them.
After they left, and Anna-san apologized for keeping us waiting, we did exercises, and she said in a business-like almost MC-ish tone, 'Let's start Yagyugaiden.' So we spent the whole class working on it, first just by the count, and then to the music. Today Anna-san was the only instructor. Not even Namio was there, which is really rare. We worked really hard this class, I was absolutely dripping with sweat. I mean, my shirt was wet. It was pretty gross, but on the other hand, it felt really good to be concentrating on something, and working really hard on it.
Anna-san added a set pose (well two, actually, it' s really fast!) for the ending, which I think works a lot better than having all of us just do out own poses. Then she explained that starting Nov we'll be working on Miami. This means that people who weren't here for Yagyugaiden will have to come early to classes and learn it from other students. She said that she may make Yagyugaiden not an All-Hyper dance, but one for only the people who have been working really hard of it, because a lot of the really passionate people came every class in Oct. (Like me! hee hee) She said that it wasn't about who was good, just who was working hard, so if people who couldn't come to lessons in OCt wanted to be in it, they would just have to work really hard to catch up on it.
Fukuda-san and Uchida-san handed out souvenirs they'd bought for everyone in Aomori, these weird wood and cloth things that looked like big toy tooth brushes that are apparently for wiping your PC screen or something. I was amused, because the first think Anna-san asked when they handed her one was, 'Nan desu ka?' Which is exactly what i was thinking.
There you have it folks, possibly the shortest Hyper review ever. I guess it's a reflection on both my mental state and the amount of work we put in this class.
Tomorrow Caroline and I are going to Shibuya to see Mystic perform at a club called Harlem. Yay for Wakane and Nami-chin and their amazing voices and wonderful smiles!
Speaking of which, I have some more news in the never-ending saga of Actors, which I heard from Yayoi-san who heard it from Emi-chan, which I will recount at some point.