Comments on: Japan Nite 2008, Part 1: Scandal

By: duncan

duncan — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 08:17:46 +0000

I saw them in Paris last week at Japan Expo.
I have to agree with a lot of your comments,; I thought they sounded a lot better on their CDs than they did live, I’m hoping they can come up with more classic pop/rock songs like ZONE, and they did the teaching Osaka-ben in Paris too; obviously with a bit of French :).
Still, Rina standing on her drum kit was hella cute, Tomomi has an energetic stage presence, and Koi moyou is probably my favourite song of the year so far.

By: Tokyograph

Tokyograph — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 22:28:44 +0000

I can totally see what you mean. I agree with you that they seem “managed,” and part of the story that will appear later in my report is that they were the only group to not hang out in the crowd at L.A. after the show (I got the impression they were under orders not to), even though they were waving to fans and posing for pictures from up in the balcony area. Based on your story from Sakura-con and reports from other shows I’ve read, I’m not sure why that is.

Also, I didn’t realize they were going to play 2 sets at Sakura-con, and it’s a shame they played identical sets. Though I’m happy that Tomomi was able to cause a ruckus there! She really does seem like a ton of fun
Anyway, I’m hoping for more from Scandal, but I think it could really hurt their potential if they remain just a manufactured act than a real band. It may make them more popular among fans of teen idols, but not as serious musicians.

By the way, saying they’re a possible replacement to ZONE is a pretty bold statement! Let’s see if it comes true!

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 06:07:39 +0000

They played at Sakuracon at well, and I caught both of their shows. As expected, they’re more ‘act’ than ’show’ presently, as each set was identical, we also got the same osakan dialect lesson, and so on and so forth. Did Mami do the ‘behind the back of the head’ playing at the end of the set as well? She did it at precisely the same time both runs here.

From my brief conversations with the girls and their handlers, I got the impression they’re still very … managed. If it gets to a point where they can do more of their own accord they could be really impressive.

That said, it was enjoyable, they seem to be in the front-running to replace ZONE. Even though I could tell right off that the second set was going to be identical, I stayed anyway. And, I’m glad I did!

The one thing that was actually dynamic both times Tomomi, just as you discussed. When I found this post (I hadn’t read this prior to the convention performances), I found that pretty amusing. She is notably more lively and energetic, going so far as to cause some problems for their staff a couple of times, when she’d run out into the aisles and play you could see some nervous watching from the wingworks from the staff. Her active movement actually caused her to detach the strap at one point, and she had to just hold it (amazing, really, given her size) until someone came out and repaired it, and you could tell she was laughing the whole time.

Ketchup Mania felt a lot more ‘mature’ and had moved into the ‘band’ phase and past the ’show’ phase. But I look forward to seeing what Scandal can produce in the future.