Making my dreams alive! - Part II

Okay time to continue where I left off in the previous post. I want to give you all a heads up that this post will be all out fangirling to the extreme! You have been warned! Haha! XD

I forgot to add the loot picture in the previous post, but here are all the concert goodies I bought plus few extra items. Those cardboard boxes include a poster and a thermos bottle. I spent almost 300 euros on all the goodies but it was sooooo worth it! I'm most happy about that pen light (or cyalume light or what ever they are officially called)! I wish I could've got another one but the queue lines were insanely long every time I checked so I didn't have enough time to buy an extra. (;___;)

I saw Love Live shoe laces on Gamers store and just HAD TO buy these Eli-laces on my shoes! I was so devastated that I forgot to take my Kotori sneakers on my trip because I wanted to wear them in the concert but at least I got a little comfort from these shoe laces... XD Harasho~!!

Finally March 31st arrived and I was so happy and so nervous at the same time, and it felt like I had a million butterflies in my stomach! I tried to spend the morning in Akihabara but I was too excited to focus on anything so I just decided to head to the venue. Tokyo Dome was full of Love Livers already and the atmosphere was indescribable! I smiled like a fool all the time because I still couldn't believe it was all really happening. There were people singing the songs, cosplayers taking pictures with other fans, and as silly as it sounds I felt like I was finally part of something, like a big family!

At 2 p.m the doors finally opened and the chaos begin. There were so many lines to different gates that I got really confused. First I queued in a wrong line but then I decided to back track all the way back to my gate and started following the line from there. After lining up for about 30 min I finally got in and found my seat with a help of one of the staff members there. I think my seat was great even though it was bit aback. I had a clear view at all the 5 stages and saw the screens clearly too. The grandstand was really steep and at first I thought I'm going to fall off if I stand up but in the end when everyone was standing it didn't feel that steep anymore.

Light blue is Eli's color.

While waiting for the concert to start they played Love Live songs through the speakers and people immediately started singing and waving their pen lights! It was a great way for me to practice and memorize some of the pen light choreographies. Pen lights are a must have accessory in every pop concert nowadays (in Japan) and usually the most popular songs have their own "choreography" how to wave the lights, when to shout or sing and so on. I spent about a month to practice all the moves and shouts for LL songs by watching their previous lives.

All girls in Love Live have their own signature color, so that means that you can change the color of your pen light to represent one of them. Also when they introduce themselves one by one, you need to change your pen light to their respective color while they speak. If they all perform at the stage you can just use the color of your favourite girl, but if there is only few girls performing you use one of their colors instead of you favourite (unless she's on the stage ofc). Some people use also the color of the girl who is the center of the song and especially during their solos. But in the end just wave the lights however you want as long as you're having fun! The true meaning of pen lights is to show your support and love for your favourite character after all.

The concert started at 4 p.m. I felt goosebumps all over my body when I saw the girls first time on the stage! They started with "Bokura no LIVE Kimi to no LIFE" which is their first single (you can see the full set list from here). It was so surreal and amazing feeling that after so many years of admiring them behind my computer screen I was finally there, in Tokyo, watching them perform live! I just couldn't stop smiling! µ's has been such a huge part of my life for over 4 years and this concert was definitely my ultimate dream come true!

My favourite outfits! Angelic Angel, Eli as center!

I told my hubby before the concert that there are 4 songs which are the most important to me and it would mean a world to see them live... Well my wish was heard and they sang ALL OF THEM in this concert! I can't believe my luck! All in all the set list was almost perfect and there was a good balance with their old and new songs. :)

Printemps
(Hanayo, Honoka, Kotori)

Lily White
(Nozomi, Umi, Rin)

BiBi
(Eli, Nico, Maki)

All the subunits performed 3 different songs; 2 from their latest singles and one old song. I was so happy that BiBi was the last to perform because they really blew up the whole Tokyo Dome! The atmosphere hit the roof immediately when Cutie Panther started to play! BiBi is definitely my favourite subunit because their chemistry with each other is just so spot on and their songs are always very upbeat! Soramaru (Nico's voice actor) is so funny on the stage and I've started to like Nico's character much more because of her.

They also sang all the songs from the movie. Before they started Sunny Day Song, Rippi (Rin's voice actor) teached a new choreography for the audience to use with the song. It was so cute and fun to practice together with them!! (>w<) The concert lasted almost 6 hours and there were only few 5-10 minute breaks during which the girls changed their outfits. It's amazing how they were able to perform so flawlessly and give their everything for unforgettable experience to the fans! Eli's voice actor has been suffering from a knee injury for some time and I was afraid that she wouldn't attend to the Final Live, but luckily she was there! She skipped few dances though and even had her own moving platform so that she didn't have to run between the stages!

Tokyo Dome glowing orange!

µ's had 2 encores. In the first encore they sang Snow Halation, which is a song that they have performed since the very first live. Snow Halation is the perfect example for pen light usage. The song starts with everyone waving white lights, but when the final chorus starts everyone change the color to orange thus mimicing the transformation in the original PV. I have always wanted to see the transformation from white to orange and I gotta tell you... no pictures can describe it!! It was unbelievable and definitely one of the most magnificent sights I've ever seen! So awesome!

Thank you µ's!

Before the final encore they showed a memorial video of their previous lives and while everyone was watching it, they rolled out a giant flower in the middle of the Tokyo Dome! Just like the one in the ending of Love Live movie! Then "Bokutachi wa Hitotsu no Hikari" started to play and the flower opened with all the girls standing inside it wearing the outfits also from the movie! After they finished the song, the whole stadium started crying and singing the song while µ's said their goodbyes to everyone. I cried so much because the truth finally hit me.. It was time for µ's to move on. It might sound funny, but I really felt empty inside and tought "now what?". I know there are new girls coming but still... they are not µ's. I love these 18 girls with the bottom of my heart and I'm not ready to let them go! Not yet. (;___;)

The Final Love Live was one of the best days of my life!! I couldn't be more happier or grateful that I was able to be there! Patrick said to me that everything is possible if you want it enough, and after failing the first lottery I decided that I'm going to go to the concert no matter what! And so I did. It surely wasn't cheap but it was worth it and I would do it all over again!! Because my love for µ's is forever!

Making my dreams alive! - Part I

Hello peeps, long time no see! My bloggers block is finally eased up a little bit and I actually feel like writing again so it's time to bring this blog back to life! I'm sorry for being so inactive with blogger lately (especially in commenting your blogs)! m(_  _)m I was just so damn tired the whole winter, but now that spring is finally here I feel more energetic and I hope it reflects to this blog as well!

So let's start this spring with my latest trip to Tokyo!

As I told you in february I won the ticket to Love Live! The Final Love Live -concert. It was a 2-day event but I got ticket only for the first day (Mar 31st) and I went to see the live viewing of the concert on the second day  (Apr 1st). I was supposed to leave to Tokyo on March 27th but all didn't go as planned. I was flying with ID-tickets, meaning that I only get to the flight if there are seats available, and of course on that exact sunday Finnair had to cancel few of their other flights to Asia and passengers from those cancelled flights filled all the available seats so I was left behind... (;__;) Well I needed to be in Tokyo on Tuesday at the latest so I didn't want to take a risk again with Finnair's flights and as soon as I got back home I booked the cheapest flight from Helsinki to Narita. Few hours later I was on a plane off to Paris! I flew from Paris to Hong Kong and from Hong Kong to Narita. It was the longest flight trip I have ever made but at least I got to Tokyo in time! I did little shopping on the day of my arrival but I was so exhausted from the flight that I went to sleep really early. Plus I needed to wake up on 5 am on the next morning...

So on wednesday morning at 6:30 am I met with my friend Misaki and her friend Rumi. We wanted to buy the concert goods that started selling at 8:30 am. I've always admired japanese people for their ability to wait in line so calmly for abnormally long times! Well at least I had company with me, but after 4 hours of waiting and moving one inch at a time I started to question my sanity.. XD Finally somewhere around 11 am we were done and I was super happy that I got everything I wanted!

The live goods! You could buy only one of each item and for example if you wanted to get 2 t-shirts you had to queue two times to get them!

Someone tweeted that there were almost 5000 people waiting for the goods... Thank god there were about 30 cashiers as well!

Everyone who bought the goods also got a random sticker of one of the Love Live girls as a bonus. I got Maki-sticker but luckily there were many people waiting near the shopping area who were eager to change stickers with you if you had their favourite girl. I found one girl who had Eli and she wanted Maki so we made the trade and both were happy! (^w^) I've always wondered how japanese people can be so extremely lucky because they always seem to get their favourite girls but this "trading things" explains it! Clever!

This truck was driving around Akiba and played Love Live songs!

After shopping the goods me and Misaki rushed to Akihabara where we had a reservation to SEGA's Love Live! collaboration cafe! Before we entered the cafe everyone had to make the signature sign of μ's (making a ring of peace signs with everyone) and yell "MUSIC.... START!!" as they do every time before their concert in the anime! It was so adorable I can't even...!! The cafe wasn't that big but it was really cute and there was Snow Halation and Sunny Day Song theme going on.

The menu had only few thing to offer and of course I wanted to taste everything because with every salty dish and every sweet dish you got different clear file and I wanted to have both! (>w<) Everyone also got random pictured coaster with every drink they ordered. I ordered Eli & Nozomi drinks and got Hanayo and Umi coasters... Just my luck. But then I remembered we're in Japan, so Misaki helped me to find a guy who was willing to change his Eli coaster to my Umi coaster! Win win again! XD

Kotori & Eli drinks!

For starters I ordered Rin's ramen dish and Snow Halation pancakes for dessert. Both dishes were soooo delicious!! Especially the pancakes! I can't even remember when's the last time I've eaten pancakes that good!! Yummy!

 They also had these cute Snow Halation cut-outs of the girls!

 There was also this board where you could write greetings!

With our tummies full it was time to go check few important Love Live locations. First we headed to Honoka's house which is a japanese sweet shop in real life as well. There was a long line of people waiting to get inside the shop but I just wanted to get few pictures of the house itself! We also accidentally stumbled upon the area which is in the CD cover of BiBi's final single! I didn't even notice it until I got back home and went through my photos! If only I had known I would've taken better pictures of it!! XD

 In the anime and movie the girls hang out in front of this cafe few times.

BiBi's 錯覚CROSSROADS scene!

Honoka's house!

Then it was time to hit the Kanda shrine which is also an important place in the anime. We definitely weren't the only one's with the same idea since the place was crawling with Love Livers! XD Later in the evening I noticed on twitter that Emitsun (Honoka's voice actor) had also visited the shrine earlier that day!! I can only hope that she was there at the same time as we were! Huhuhu! (= w =)♥

There were a lot of Live Live emas in the shrine! Most of them wished luck to μ's in their Final Live!

Finally it was time to hit the karaoke! Misaki had made a reservation for JOYSOUND's Love Live! karaoke and our room had Kira-Kira Sensation theme in it! The karaoke had the same "get random coaster with each drink" thing going on as in the cafe, and this time I got Nozomi and Honoka coasters so I was pretty happy with them! We sang every Love Live song available and it was so fun!! Why can't we have karaoke boxes here in Finland as well?! I'd visit them every week!

Sooooo cute!! ♥

The drink menu! Wish I could have tasted them all!

Eli & Nozomi drinks and our Final Live pen lights! ♥

2 hours went by super fast and before I even realized, it was time to leave. We went to eat late night ramen and then it was time to head back to my hotel. I had super fun and Love Live filled day! A perfect eve before the main event! ♥ But more about that on part II... (>w<)

BONUS PIC:

Purikura at it's finest... Check out my oversized hand and loooooong legs! XD