Dear Girl ~Stories~ 4 Lovers Only event report (updated 5/8)
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Yesterday was the Dear Girl ~Stories~ 4 Lovers Only event at Pacifico Yokohama. It rained practically all day. As expected from Ono “Rain Man” Daisuke. I didn’t get to sleep until 2AM because I was working on organizing the letters and art for the project. Thank you to everyone who participated!! I’ve posted some photos in the gallery above. I only had a black marker so all the colored parts were written with Gundam Marker, haha. (Please don’t mind the fact that I wrote “Yokohama Pacifico” instead of “Pacifico Yokohama.” >_> It was 2AM.)
Anyway, I woke up at 5:30AM and was out the door before 6 in order to line up for goods by 8. There were already lots of people by the time I got there. Waited for four hours for them to start selling goods. During that time it would rain off and on. Sometimes the rain would come very suddenly. Other times it was sunny and bright out. Whenever it’d get sunny, I imagined it was because Kamiya “Sunny Man” Hiroshi gave OnoD a good kick in the butt. ^^; They finally did start selling goods at 12 and I bought pretty much everything except Suwa san’s tshirt and the Neko Masshigura Hibiki Kan. I also bought the Hibiki drama CD and received a clear file of Kamiya and OnoD as a bonus. (My only reason for buying it. ^^;) There were no purchase limits. FYI, some goods from the event, including the pamphlet and tshirts, will be on sale online. The pamphlet has a lot of great photos, including ones of Kamiya and OnoD holding swords. They looked like yakuza. XD Going for the dirty agent look, maybe?
After buying goods, I had lunch with friends and got back to the venue a little after 4PM when doors were supposed to open. There was a very long line to get in. …And it was rainy and windy. We finally got in though and my friend and I went to our seats in the 24th row (aisle). We had a great view of the stage. I got ready with my towel and all. I had changed into the Ono Daisuke produce tshirt during lunch. For tshirts this time they had girls’ and men’s sizes. I bought the girls’ M size and the length of the shirt was perfect, but the part where the sleeve connects under your armpit was a bit tight. I was able to exchange the Kamiya shirt for an L size but OnoD’s shirt was already sold out by the time we got back, and of course I was wearing the one I had bought so I wouldn’t be able to exchange it anyway.
The stage had a large monitor at the top, an upper stage, stairs on both sides, and then the main stage below. Beside the stairs were the letters “DGS4LO” that lit up and the stairs were also lighted. There were video cameras so I think it’s safe to assume the event will be released on DVD. After some time, the lights went down and music for Dear Girl wa Nemuranai began playing. Out came Kamiya and Ono from the upper stage! The event had begun. During the opening they also sang My Dear Girl! and there were dancers. Kamiya and OnoD also danced too! It was sooooooo cool~! Props to the choreographer. After the songs, they welcomed everyone and explained that the event had four parts: Live, radio, Hibiki, and video. The first part was live and there would be more of it later. I must also mention that Kamiya was wearing shoes with plush bear faces on them. XDDD The audience yelled out, “Kawaii~” and OnoD chuckled and said, “Hiroshi… Kawaii…” and immediately got punched by Kamiya. XD
The next corner was radio. They relived some DGS moments on stage. First up was Duriangelion!! A table with half a durian and a bottle of Vittel came up from under on the upper stage. Kamiya and OnoD ran up the stairs and then couldn’t get any closer. Whenever they tried, they would run away because of the smell. OnoD put on some gloves as BGM from Evangelion started playing. He took a spoonful and went up to Kamiya with it. Kamiya reluctantly ate it and after a second made a face and went for the Vittel. OnoD tried some too with the same result, except he didn’t drink any water after. Kamiya explained that during RE:BRIDGE, the durian didn’t taste as bad as the first time, and that this durian was like the one from the first time, meaning it tasted really bad, LoL. Next up was Namaste senpai! A mannequin wearing traditional Indian clothing came up on stage. As usual, Kamiya went to find Namaste senpai, leaving OnoD on stage by himself. But that’s OK! They had practiced this on last week’s show of DGS and OnoD said the exact same things he did then, such has having sung 53 songs, etc. There was a plan on Twitter and mixi for the third row to be silent like how it was on the radio, but I guess everyone couldn’t help themselves since the third row also cheered. OnoD was going to start his “next song” when Namaste senpai came out to teach OnoD a new yoga pose that would be good for his throat. The monitor showed an illustration for how “Ono Dai san” should pose, which was drawn by Namaste senpai. It was sort of an orz pose and on the side it said “Japanese dogeza.” OnoD did the pose in front of Namaste senpai and then tried to pull on Namaste senpai’s clothes, which earned him an “Indian Kick.” OnoD fell over. XDDD The next drawing shown on the monitor was a face with their tongue sticking out. Namaste sensei yelled at OnoD to pretend like he was licking his boots. OnoD kneeled down center stage and stuck out his tongue. The monitor showed a close-up on OnoD’s face. So funny! Namaste sensei finally “went back” to India. During the whole time, Kamiya kept adjusting the mustache and finally just took it off, saying it was detachable. ^^;
After that, the staff put a table in the center of the stage and Kamiya and OnoD sat down. Movie time!! They showed some video footage of DGS recordings. Some of the video they showed were Mote*Sta from Kamiya’s birthday (Temuko, LOL), OnoD trying to get the smell out of Yagihashi kun’s sock, drunk Kamiya and OnoD, pulling the table cloth from the table, and Kamiya getting scolded by Louis the 53rd. I really wish they would put all this footage on DVD. Hilarious stuff! You can tell they really enjoy recording the radio show.
Next was the Hibiki portion of the event. At first they led everyone on to believe that they were going to do a public recording at the event, but it turned out to be a skit. There was a semi-transparent screen put up on stage and HiroC and OnoD were supposed to change into their Hibiki jumpsuits, but it kept on being something else, such as school girl uniforms, Ononita, Hamashou, and Mario and Luigi. (It wasn’t actually Kamiya and OnoD wearing the costumes, which is why the semi-transparent screen was there to cover their faces.) Finally they got into their jumpsuits and Kamiya and OnoD came back out on stage, and out came Yusa Kouji wearing the Teraikemen eye mask. He couldn’t read his script with it on. XD He explained that their mission was to get a girl who had cooped herself into her room because there was nothing to look forward to in life and it was HiroC and OnoD’s mission to get her to come out. They tried one-shot gags and that didn’t work, so Black Hibiki came out. Okiayu and Yonaga were both wearing really nice black outfits. Okiayu looked SO. GOOD. Like, wow… I’ll take this look over his flowery shirts any day. ^^; They had a contest to see who could get the girl to come out. The girl apparently likes animals so they did some animal imitations, with Kamiya as a squirrel, Yonaga as Yonagappa, and Okiayu as a stink bug. That still didn’t get the girl to come out. Teraikemen Shireiken then mentioned that she also likes anime, so HiroC said a line in Izaya’s voice, and OnoD a line in Shizuo’s voice. That of course got a big cheer from the crowd. Still, the girl wouldn’t come out. I don’t remember what they had Black Hibiki do but of course the girl didn’t come out then either. Lastly, Ikemen Shireikan said that the girl likes music. Cue DIRTY AGENT with all four guys singing. This 4-person version was so cool!!! After the song, the girl finally came out. Mission success!
After the little skit, they had a corner where there the teams were divided up between Hibiki and Black Hibiki. They were given a theme and Yusa would decide whose answer was best. The winner would get a prize. The first theme was pick-up lines. Okiayu was up first and said, “Feed me curry to my heart’s content. ^^;; He really does like curry… OnoD’s line was, “Please wipe my armpit sweat now and forever” or something like that, LOL! Yonaga’s line was “Love injection,” which is a line by the Japanese comedian Tanoshingo. Kamiya was last and said, “I’ve got money” while doing the money gesture with his hand and having a doyagao facial expression. It was hilarious. The winner for this round was Kamiya. XD Yusa’s reason was, “Money is everything.” The next theme was a lne from a dependable man. Kamiya raised his hand up first but Yusa called on Yonaga, saying it’s not good to be greedy. ^^; Yonaga said, “I’ll make cucumber!” which was decided as not being goo enough so they’d make Yonaga go again after. ^^;; Next was Kamiya and again he said, “If it’s money, I’ve got lots” while making a doyagao. LOL! Okiayu’s line was, “No matter how old you get, I’ll continue to lead you by the hand.” Everyone swooned over this line, including Kamiya and OnoD. XD OnoD’s line was really weird, something like, “Vocal cords are the part of the human body that wear out last. I’ll maintain them forever.” The cast then laughed at him saying that he’d be the first to lose his job. XD Last was Yonaga again and this time he said, “I’ll support you forever!” Okiayu was decided the winner for this round. The last round was to yell out their grudge. OnoD said, “I shave my legs every event but never get a chance to show them off!” LOL. XDDD He showed them and wow… So white and clean!! XDDD Next was Kamiya with, “Actually, I don’t have much money. *cry*” LOL!!! So cute~ XD When he went back to his seat, OnoD pretended to give him some change. Okiayu said, “I recently gained 3kg.” Yonaga kun grumbled, “Call me up for the main part of the radio show already!!” LOL. Poor guy. Yusa decided that Black Hibiki was the winner and their prize? Dear Girl Samba started playing in the background and out came the Men’s Maid!! XDDD Okiayu and Yonaga were surrounded by them and they came in really close and touched and rubbed various places, LOL. Yusa thought Hibiki did a very good job too so he had the Men’s Maids come out again to do the dance around Kamiya and OnoD. As they left, Kamiya got up, pointed back where the maids were running away and yelled, “He touched me!!!” LOL. OnoD was all, “One of them touched my knee with their ‘Silicon Valley.'” LOL!!!!!! Wow, to think the name of my hometown would come up here and be used in that kind of meaning. XDDDD (I’m from San Jose, California, the capitol of Silicon Valley.) Of course they couldn’t let only one person get away unscathed so Kamiya and OnoD moved the podium, put a chair in the middle of the stage and made Yusa sit down. Out came the Men’s Maid for a third time. XDDD Alas, it was time to say goodbye to the guests and everyone, including Kamiya and OnoD, went off stage.
They started showing CDDG (Countdown Dear Girl), which they made to look like CDTV with the CG characters and all. It was a countdown of the best DGS scenes (with video!). At #5 was OnoD’s “maguro ippon tsuri,” which was from last year’s CharaHobby public recording. #4 was when the Frenchmen came to do an interview and OnoD did his French one-shot gag about the Eiffel Tower. That got a chuckle out of the Frenchmen. XDDD At #3 was the Hamaween Party. They had a video comment from Hamaween and you couldn’t see UchiP’s face cuz he was too tall. XDDD (What’s funny is that on the train home, the monitor on the train showed a commercial for HamaShou’s upcoming live. ^^; How timely.) #2 was the first celebration of Kamiya’s birthday on the show, Kami*Sta! And they actually showed the footage of them in Kamiya’s house!! It was 98% mosaics though, LOL. XDDD You could only see Kamiya’s face, maid!Suwa san, Nyanko Sensei, and some objects inside the house. They even showed when OnoD climbed into Kamiya’s bed and then got kicked. XDDD It was so hilarious. Lastly, #1 was Haman Memorial. The look on Kamiya’s face when Sakakibara’s voice started playing was priceless. XDDD
Kamiya and OnoD came back out on stage and in the middle was a large, red king chair. A while ago they led everyone to believe they were going to do a public recording, but now they really were going to! And it would be aired on May 7th– Yup! OnoD’s birthday episode!!!!! They had OnoD sit down in the chair while a staffer put a Teraikemen eye mask over his face and headphones playing Tyurya Tyurya Birthday over his ears. OnoD said it was really loud, but it was that way so they he wouldn’t hear Kamiya explaining the plan to the audience. Kamiya called out to OnoD to check if he could hear and OnoD didn’t react at all, which meant that he couldn’t. Kamiya then explained that they were going to trick OnoD into thinking that MamaD was guest on the show. And who would be playing the role of MamaD? On the upper stage, the middle part came up to reveal Taitem lying down on on his side with his head propped on his head in a RED CHINA DRESS. LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Kamiya laughed hard too. He didn’t know Taitem would appear in that outfit, and apparently the dress was Taitem’s personal belonging. XDDDD His legs were so smooth. XDDD After finishing the explanation, they took the headphones off OnoD and Kamiya started asking the guest some questions. The used a voice changer on Taitem’s microphone and it was actually kind of hard to make out what he was saying since it was so high, but Kamiya repeated the answers. Even OnoD at times made a “what are they saying?” face. ^^; The first question was for how long they’ve known OnoD, to which Taitem replied “OnoD’s entire life.” Of course that immediately got OnoD thinking. We learned that OnoD dressed up as a girl for the sports festival when in 6th grade (they said that this is probably when OnoD started becoming interested in cross-dressing XD), that MamaD found a photobook of Kawashima Naomi while folding OnoD’s futon, and that OnoD once researched about how to befriend a beetle. There were some other things too but these were the most funny. Of course by the end of it, OnoD had an idea of who it might be, but Kamiya told him to not say who he thinks it is yet since for the last part, they’re going to have the person touch OnoD. I think OnoD also thought it could have possibly been his older brother because at one point, he asked, “Ani?” Anyway, Taitem came down from the upper stage and patted OnoD on the head, then on the shoulder, and then took OnoD’s hand and made him rub his butt, legs, and belly. XDDDDD At the end, Kamiya asked who OnoD thought it was, and OnoD said that at first he thought it might have been his mom, but now that he’s touched the person, he was all, “It’s a man, isn’t it!” The crowd tried to trick him by going “Ehhhh~~~?” which did confuse OnoD a little bit. Kamiya told OnoD to hurry up and make a decision, and to say who he thinks the guest is. OnoD yelled out, “Taitem!” to which the crowd went “Ooooh~” I think it would’ve been better if they didn’t do that though because it totally gives it away. Oh well. Kamiya let OnoD take off the eye mask and see who the guest was. The moment he did, he burst out laughing at seeing Taitem in a red China dress. XDDDD Though the guest wasn’t MamaD, they actually did call up MamaD to find out stuff about OnoD, so all the stuff that was said really is true. XDDD OnoD was surprised his mom knew about the photobook, LOL. They brought out a huge birthday cake with 33 candles, and the audience sang Happy Birthday. OnoD looked like he was going to cry. (OnoD’s manager posted a photo of OnoD and his cake, with Yusa’s hand wiping his mouth, up on TwitPic.)
The last part of the event was the second live portion. They sang a medley of the ED songs (Kienai Omoi ~Dear Girl~, Tsuki no Mane, Kiseki). I was really happy to hear Kiseki live since it’s one of my favorite songs. So pretty. Kamiya said they want to end the event on a high note so they sang Party Flight and Netsuai S-O-S!. The crowd joined in for Party Flight. At the end, they ran off stage, and before stepping off, Kamiya blew a kiss. XD But they had run off the wrong part of the stage and had to go back to go out the right way and Kamiya blew four kisses. Kyaa~ XD
There was no announcement that the event was over and people started chanting “encore.” After a long while, Kamiya and OnoD took to the stage again, this time wearing the shirts they had designed. They said some messages for the audience and almost teared up hearing Kamiya. He talked about how after the natural disasters that they were wondering if it was okay to continue to hold the event, but in the end they decided to hold it, and that Kamiya feels that was the right choice because they could then see everyone’s smiling faces. Kamiya is so good at talks. You can tell he really cares about the fans and that he speaks from the heart. I can’t help but respect him for that. Lastly, they said that they usually can only use tools to deliver their voice, so they put down their mics for a second and yelled out “Arigatou gozaimashita!” It was so touching. ;__; Now it was time for the final song, and of course it was the first song they ever recorded for the show, Say Your Name! ~Dear Girl~. Near the end, heart-shaped styrofoam floated down from the ceiling. Luckily I was able to catch one of them. After the song, Kamiya and OnoD left the stage and a video with Prologue as the BGM started playing on the monitor. It was a compilation of photos taken during the four years DGS has been running. Very moving. Now whenever I hear the song, I think of this movie and the event. It makes me kind of sad because it reminds me of how I felt when the event was over. I wanted it to last forever, but alas, all good things come to an end. At the very end, the screen showed hand-written messages by Kamiya and OnoD. OnoD’s said “arigatou” and Kamiya’s said “kore kara mo yoroshiku.” And that was the end of the event. It was scheduled to be 2.5 hours but ended up being 3.
I wonder when the DVD will be released. I’ve been to a lot of events but this was definitely one of the most memorable. I sincerely hope they’ll have another event in the future, and at a bigger venue. I’m sure there were a lot of people who wanted to go but weren’t able to get tickets. I was very fortunate to have gotten tickets through the lottery. In any case, Dear Girl ~Stories~ is now into its 5th year. I think we can expect many more unforgettable DGS moments in the future. We love DGS!!
Update 5/8: Corrected a few things in the report.