AKB48 in Paris: First Europe, then the world

AKB48 rocked the Old World in July 3 and 4. Specifically in Paris, France, at the annual convention Japan Expo.

During two days, our favorite idols made the European fans happy and they showed the world that AKB48's limit is the sky.

While the most popular AKB48 members stayed in Japan cheering the "Giants" baseball team and going to different shows to promote Namida Surprise, the less popular - but still loved - ones took their luggage to land in Paris. These girls included Sayaka, Nonti, Miichan, Kasai, Meetan, Mocchi, Cindy, Rie, Sasshi and others. Some research students and Love-tan went to Paris but couldn't perform due to the French labor laws that forbid minors to work (*shrugs*).

Concerts, conferences and signing events were part of the menu but, one of the greatest things was the fact of fans being able to record and taking pictures. Looks like at first it wasn't allowed to do so but in Europe, Europeans rule. So take out your cameras, it's time to film!

The concert was the same both days and included:

Aitakatta
10 Nen Zakura
Namida Surprise

Glass no I love You
Kinjirareta Futari
Nage Kiss de Uchiotose!
Himawari

Bingo!
Oogoe Diamond
Sakura no Hanabiratachi


Although it's pretty easy to find the videos on Youtube, we'll help you giving you some links.

This is a pretty good edition of Aitakatta, but we recommend you this one (first day):

[This user, called occy95, uploaded amazing videos with tons of "Sayaka shots" (we are eternally grateful for that), so every Sayaker must add these vids to their favorites!]

Aitakatta was a great start. We wanted to meet you, Europe! :)


Then it was 10 Nen Zakura's turn. I began to like this song before seeing it in Paris (I disliked at first, though) but I must say I love this song after Paris (XD). It was touching.


"Sayaka shot"


I still don't like Namida Surprise but when it comes to cheer AKB, I can even do the choreography... Namida Surprise, the third song they sang.


"Sayaka shot"

Then came MC and girls babbled in French! It sure required a great effort. French is 1000 times harder than English (in every aspect, IMO). It was basically a little presentation of every girl, some words in French, her name and nick.

We'll show you two videos: the first one is the most complete and has great close-ups (Sayaka). The second one is not that good but I like it because it's taken from far and we can see what we missed in the other video close-ups (Sayaka jumping at every French word she said XD).

I asked a French fan what he thought of Sayaka's French. He said it was pretty good, perhaps the best among all the girls. Oh, our baby is a multilingual sweetie.

After the MC came the units! Since this is SaeYaka Paradise we are going to focus in Himawari (Team K in Paris version). Himawari is one of the best AKB48 songs, it's powerful, touching and captivating. Its outfit is simple and marvelous at the same time and guess what... Sayaka is amazing in there.



This time the unit was formed by Nonti, Meetan, Sayaka and Mocchi. Himawari girls from before (Nonti and Sayaka in H1 team 1, Meetan in H1 team 2, and Mocchi in Shibuya AX 2009).


"Sayaka shot"

Notice how great Sayaka looks in jeans ;)

After Himawari, our girls ran from the stage to change clothes but before they presented the next song:

BINGO! As the girls began to sing the fans heard something was wrong with the song... Eh? What? English?!!!! Yea, AKB48 worked hard to entertain you! They made a special Bingo version in English and guess what: I didn't sound bad. (*thumbs up*)



This video is from the first day. Try to catch when Sayaka and the other Himawari girls arrive to the stage. They came running and looks like Sayaka actually never finished dressing up o_O She never managed to put her tie correctly until it fell off and her skirt was notoriously open in front. If it weren't for that little button (?) holding the skirt on the waist... OMG.
Sayaka looked terribly uncomfortable, though. I loved she showed her legs like that but I'd have preferred seeing her relaxed and not worried about the clothes. At least she had her hot pants on ^^;

Bingo! finished but Sayaka's clothing torment didn't stop there. It was time to sing Oogoe Diamond (in English, too!)



Here is a second day version with decent audio. Sayaka's English is awesome.

Now, this is an excellent recording from an excellent position:


Oogoe Diamond, second day

Thankfully, after the song was over, Sayaka was able to escape from the stage to get dressed again.

Sakura Hanabiratachi was the last song of the girls in France. I think if I had been there I would have cried my ass off thinking of how wonderful they are and how sad is the moment to say goodbye. This song also surprised everyone with the chorus sung in French. Delicate detail ^__^

Here is a video from the first day, you can see our Sayaka coming back to stage without necktie but with her skirt properly closed.


"Sayaka shot", second day

Then conferences came and many lucky fans got their stuff signed and shook hands with the girls. We surely feel envy, but we feel happier for them and the girls!

This might be a small step for other artists, but it's a great step for the AKB48 world :B

In other traveling news, it's been told AKB48 would be going to New York in September. Great, it's impossible for me to save money by September. Agh.



I beg for a tour in South America!



This is how AKB will take over the world. You cannot resist!




Media sources:

- The pictures we used are owned by Chris CB Photographie. You can find more AKB48 Paris pictures on his website: http://www.chriscb.org/

- For more Paris good quality videos, we recommend visiting this Youtube user: WeeReZ31