Christmas Fantasy Live '96
The Sakurai Tomo Christmas Fantasy Live event took place on December 24 to December 27 at the TBS Hall in Akasaka. There were two sessions per day, at 14:00 and 18:00. This was an event with songs, skits, and talk by Sakurai Tomo and the other members of the Asakura Kaoru Engekidan (Ä«ÁÒ·°±é·àÃÄ). The event flowed as follows.
The events were mostly the same every time. I went on 12/25 14:00 (seat F18) and 12/27 18:00 (seat J15). The one on 12/25 was only around half full, and the final event was packed full. There were also some video cameras on 12/27, so there might be a video of this event coming out later. The crowd stood for all of the songs, cheering for the fast songs. The yells and calls were very well organized.. a bit scary for non-hardcore Tomo fans.
The event opened up with the Asakura Kaoru Engekidan members on stage. Then some of the guys came on stage carrying large body bags. Two of them opened up to reveal Nagasaki Moe and Moriya Hisoka. One of the guys took his sword and swung at the third bag. It collapsed to the floor, with nothing in it. Then Sakurai Tomo came out from the very back of the stage! Nagasaki Moe was wearing an arabian harlem type outfit. VERY cute! Sakurai Tomo was wearing a tight red outfit (top and pants). Tomo sang Heart ni Message, and all of the other members danced. [Very nice dancing by Nagasaki Moe.. I was looking at Moe the whole time.]
After the opening song, Yuuseioujo remained on the stage to sing
Umi he Iku Bus.
Then Nagasaki Moe came onto the stage to sing Yume Miru Chanson Ningyou. Moe was wearing a cute red and black checkered one-piece, with a white apron over it. During the song, Moe did some pantomime, just like a robot. After Moe's song, four guys sang a song. Then there was a Cherry Princess skit, around 10 minutes. Nagasaki Moe played the role of Soushi, and Sakurai Tomo played the role of Toshi. They were two samurai who got sent to the world of the Cherry Princess. Yuuseioujo, and most of the other members of the engekidan took part in this skit. There was some fighting with the swords, and both Moe and Tomo did a good job. After the skit, everyone got on stage and Tomo talked for a little bit. She said that there will be a Cherry Princess 3 CD drama next year. Then Yuuseioujo sang a cute song from the Actress II CD that will be released next year, Aki no Omlettes. Then Sakurai Tomo came out wearing a fancy white evening dress, and sang Kimi Wasureji no Manhattan Jilba. There were some guys in the back dancing. [Both Aki no Omlettes and Kimi Wasureji no Manhattan Jilba are on the CD Actress II ] After Tomo's song, they had a series of various skits by Yuuseioujo and some of the engekidan members. Some of the skits were identical to the skits at the Saint Tail Seiyuu Collection events in May. After the skits, Tomo came back on stage, and introduced everyone in the Asakura Kaoru Engekidan. Nagasaki Moe was wearing a very cute santa outfit! Then they held a drawing for some presents. There were 30 tickets to the New Year Countdown event that was going to be held on December 31. Sakurai Tomo was going to make an appearance as a guest at that event. [They called out my seat number, so I won a ticket! So did JP.] There were also four extra presents: a Macross 7 script, signed by Tomo; a Ganbarist Shun script; a diary; and a package of Christmas candy. After the present corner, they went back to the songs. Yamagata Yukio sang two songs, Unchained Melody in English, and one other song. Then Sakurai Tomo came back on and sang three songs: Chotto Happy, Baby Baby, and Actress. For Baby Baby, four people came out wearing penguin kigurumi and danced in the backgound. For Actress two guys danced in the background. After the songs, Tomo talked for several minutes. Tomo said that she was currently busy writing new year cards to everyone in her fan club, which was now over 5000 people. She also mentioned that there were 8000 people who had sent in for Kahou. In 1996, the Asakura Kaoru Engekidan did the Momoiro Princess and Kaitou Saint Tail musicals. In the Saint Tail musical, Tomo did some flying in each session, and since it was controlled manually by the other members, she said that it was very scary. Tomo also made a live video (which will go on sale in March 1997). It's a story of a girl who wants to become a seiyuu. It's a comedy, and should not be taken seriously. Then she called for Nagasaki Moe, and they both talked for a little bit. They had done the Gall Force 3 after recording just a few days ago (Moe said, "5 days ago" during the session on the 27th). Moe was wearing a short white one-piece dress. Moe will release her debut CD single in April of 1997.
Then Moe sang Kanashiki Tenshi (Those Were The Days). She sang the
Nagasaki Moe Japanese lyrics.
This was a very nice, slow song.
After Moe's song, Tomo came back on stage to sing three more songs: Hitasura Maemuki, Koi no Recipe ha Daitan Futeki, and Heart ni Message. Then the event ended.. But there was a great ENCORE! call, and after about one minute of yelling by the crowd, Tomo came back onto the stage (wearing a different outfit). Tomo sang Waracchaukedo Suki. Then for the final song of the event, all of the engekidan members came onto the stage to sing Akogare ni Mukatte. Tomo, Hashimoto Asobi, and two guys had microphones. Everyone danced, very nicely choreographed. On the 27th, after the final song, everyone yelled out One more time! so the curtains went up again. Tomo talked for a little bit, thanking everyone for the support of her and her engekidan in 1996, and asking everyone to support them again in 1997.
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