Isshi's memorial event 7/29 Tokyo Ebisu Act*Square

In any case, it was lovely, but sad. I recognized a lot of faces from the FC trip and last lives. Everyone arrived happy and chattering away, and left sobbing, but - at least in my case - with a sense of closure that can only come of sharing your grief with someone who understands where you're coming from.

As you can see, the venue was really gorgeous. Totally fancy, with waitresses and waiters in suits and everything. A few companies had sent beautiful bouquets of flowers. Beside the check-in counter, there was a small table with some merchandise exclusive to the dinner shows, such as tenugui (hand towels) and uchiwa (paper fans),  as well as Shiki-Project merchandise that had been available on the website until very recently: keyholders, photosets, and an early release of both versions of Rasasakura (!). The goods were pretty expensive, but we all realized this was probably our last chance to purchase them, so many girls were taking a very long time at the table deciding what to get. Despite this, the sales women were very understanding, and gently urged us to take our time. I was very impressed by their kindness.

Isshi had announced, before his passing, that he'd managed to convince management to allow us to take pictures. So, plenty of girls had their cameras out to take photos of the beautiful place settings, the costumes on display, and the small makeshift funeral altar. At 7:00, it was finally time for the event to begin. The MC was Isshi's friend who was always at Kagrra, events, including the FC trip, whose name I still don't know. >>  Before dinner came,  he reminded us to try to smile, because Isshi had really been looking forward to the event and he had wanted us all to enjoy ourselves!

The dinner was delicious, although surprisingly Western. I admit I was expecting straight-up Japanese cuisine, but instead we got things like sashimi carpaccio with yuzu sesame sauce, cream soup, roast beef, matcha roll cake with oolong tea ice cream, and coffee. So I guess, not unlike Kagrra, or Shiki-Project themselves, it was decidedly fusion. While we were eating, they played two new, unnamed songs as BGM. They mentioned that they had found a tentative title in Isshi's notes, but I didn't write it down, so I don't recall. Both songs were really good - definitely neo-japanesque, but with a lot of synthesized and programmed melody in the style of Shiki-Project. The first one was kind of funky and dance-y, almost, which I actually liked a lot more than what I'd already heard on Rasasakura. Which is sort of depressing in and of itself, because it makes me think that Shiki-Project was definitely on its way to becoming something brand new and great... it was Isshi without being uncomfortably Kagrra, if that makes any sense.

After dinner, they played us the video Isshi had prepared, to the theme of "going back to his roots," and featuring Isshi, his friend and guitarist Yasuaki, some other guy??, and the MC as the cameraman. I really enjoyed the video, because I actually live in the city just above Matsumoto (his hometown), and I've been to many of the places that they visited and talked about. Though it was a little embarrassing when I laughed as hard as I did when they were walking back to Matsumoto station at night through more or less empty streets, and Isshi mentioned, "One thing hasn't changed... when it gets to be 8pm, everything closes!"  What can I say... it's the countryside!! (Actually, Matsumoto is the second largest city in Nagano prefecture and it's still like that! lol) I haven't yet been to the wasabi farm in Azumino, but now I want to go to see the statues of an oni family that Isshi pointed out and said he'd taken a liking to as a child. :) There was also a bit of live footage from his 6/22 acoustic live at Loft.

After the video we saw a slideshow of photos, including some family photos of from when he was a baby!! O_O They were uncanny... baby Isshi looked exactly like adult Isshi! And apparently his family had a penchant for dressing him up in traditional outfits - go figure! The photos continued on in progression from infancy, to elementary school, to junior high school, and finally one photo that looked to be about high school or university aged - but it was hard to tell, because all we could see was the top of his head and some long, black Professor Snape hair because he was hiding behind his laptop. And then suddenly, bam, a photo from Yume Izuru Chi era! Of course we were all like "Eeeh?!" and laughing from the sudden transition, but afterwards we were told that it wasn't that they had omitted Isshi's photos from his uni days - they actually didn't have any... because he didn't like to have his picture taken!! O__O

What the heck happened?! How did he become such a diva in such a short time?! I want to know!! O_O

Afterwards, the MC said that he was glad that we could laugh at the goofy baby photos, because that's exactly how Isshi would have wanted it. Which of course made everybody sniffly. So while we sat there all misty-eyed, suddenly the MC said, "Stand up!"

So we did. And he said that he knew we all came for a live show, and though Isshi couldn't be there tonight, we would still have music. And that we should all remember him as he was at lives, because that's when he was at his best. He said that we would sing together, but first, he wanted to make sure Isshi was listening - so we would all yell Isshi's name loud enough for him to hear in heaven. So we did. Louder, and louder, and louder still.

They played some live footage, and we sang a few songs in unison with Isshi's voice. Hoozuki, Tsurezure naru mama ni..., and Sakura maichiru ano oka de. The last was to live footage from the Shuuen DVD... and, well, it was powerful. It was like he was really there, listening to us... I usually don't cry in public, but I did a little bit. Of course it was painful, but it was bittersweet too, because as we repeated the refrain to Sakura maichiru over and over again, and Isshi's voice finally cut in... I felt incredibly at peace, somehow. It was cathartic. And I felt like if Isshi really was listening up in heaven, he would surely be singing along with us just then... and I knew he would be happy to know that so many people had come to see him off. Isshi's voice shouted, "Thank you very much!!" from the DVD and a chorus of, "Thank you, Isshi!" followed. One girl screamed, "Give him back!" and another, "We'll always love you!" Slowly, people began to sit back down.

The MC said some final words, but well, I wasn't really listening. But I do know that he did tell us to be strong, because even without Isshi, life would still go on... and regardless of whether we laughed or cried, tomorrow would still come. Maybe it sounded a little harsh, but when I looked up I could see that he was beginning to tear up too. It was getting to be pretty late - past 10pm - and so he urged us to go home, or else it would be tomorrow already. Obviously, though, no one got up to leave.

Finally, he yelled, "Stand up!"  We did, slowly.

"Grab your bags!" Quietly, we began to collect our things.

"Leave!" I didn't want to linger, so I did.

On my way out, I stopped by the goods table again. I wasn't the only one. The sales women told us that we could take some flowers home from the bouquets on our way out. I chose a beautiful purple rose, but many girls went home with armfuls of flowers. Fortunately, there were plenty to go around.

And that was how we said our goodbyes to our oni.

For the record - since I know some of you were wondering - I don't remember when it was said, but we were reassured that the rest of Kagrra, was able to pay their final respects to Isshi as well. So we needn't worry about that.