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LA premiere of Hidden Fortress: The Last Princess
I think it finally hit me sometime yesterday that I had actually seen Matsujun in person. It would explain me grinning like an idiot and my friends asking, "why do you look so happy?" x3 Here's my experience of the premiere! Read at your own discretion. It is LONG.
I had originally intended for us (![[profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
twitch500lair and I) to leave at 3PM. ...We arrived at USC by 2PM. My mom, however, drove way, waaay past where the theatre was and we had to walk extremely far....just to get more confused. After wandering around for a good twenty minutes or so, we finally decided that we needed to ask someone for directions.
I approached the first guy that I saw who looked kind enough to help. He was wearing a suit and my first impression of him was someone who was self-confident, yet still nice and modest. I asked him where I could find the Norris Cinema Theatre. I don't think he really knew where it was either for he turned to the woman next to him and asked. She prepared to lead us and in the meanwhile, he asked why I was there for. I told him that I was attending the premiere of Hidden Fortress: The Last Princess. He smiled and said that I made it in good time (to be sure. At that time, it was around 2:30PM >.>). He then told us to follow him as the woman lead the way to the theatre.
The man that I talked to really left an impression on me, not only because he was really kind, but because I couldn't help but feel like I had talked to someone important. Even so, I felt at total ease with talking to him because he wasn't intimidating at all. On retrospect, I regret not introducing myself or asking who he was except, I was going to find out some hours later.
When we reached the theatre, I was surprised because it looked like there were not a lot of people there. My sis and mom left then and so Sena-kun and I walked around to the side of the building. There, we were met with a line, wrapped around to the back of the building cunningly hidden if looked at from the front haha. Sena-kun and I hurriedly took our place in line at the back of the building and began our 3 hours wait in the heat.
In the mist of waiting, I metokenakab and got to talk to her and meet some other ARASHI fans. It was really fun and I'm really happy that I got the chance to meet them all, especially okenakab. I hope this won't be the first and last time I see you all :D
Around 4:45PM-ish, there were cameras all around recording the line and the fans. I totally felt everyone's energy and excitement just shoot up. By that time, everyone was extremely psyched to get in. Some of the girls who were around me had brought uchiwas and an older woman was telling them to wave them in the air. It was all really fun.
Slowly but surely, the line crawled and we made our way in.
The first guest to come out was Mr. Anthony Daniels, the man behind Star Wars's C3PO. You could probably imagine the surprise and shock on my face when I realized, "HEY. WAIT. THAT WAS THE GUY I ASKED FOR DIRECTIONS O_O." Seriously, he was awesome and extremely funny. I couldn't believe that I had actually talked to him without realizing who he was at all. *embarrassed*
The director, Higuchi Shinji, and Matsumoto Jun came out next. I think almost all the fangirls were squealing and er. fangirling their hardest. ^^![[info]](https://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif)
aatash wrote up a really good report that can be found here so please refer to that (since I can't really describe it in a any better way and school kind of killed my brain).
Small, fangirl comment: is it possible for Jun to actually look better in person?! and he was so cute! At times, he seemed embarrassed and smiled. One question asked by the dean was regarding Takezo's similarity to a Western hero and, according to the translator, he said that he was nothing like that in real life. In English he added, "I'm shy" (I think) which prompted massive squealing from the fans. xD
One event that I want to comment on, however, was the Q&A session. While listening, I had a feeling that the translators...weren't the best at their jobs. Readingaatash 's comments about it just supported my thoughts. It's kind of sad to say I realized that the translations weren't truly what the guests were saying when I don't understand Japanese >.> Jun's face of confusion at some of the reactions was also another hint that what was being translated wasn't really what was being said. I think that that disappointed me the most because Jun had really good comments and answers. The fact that it was "lost in translation" made me really critical of the Q&A.
The reception that was held afterwards was nice. Likeokenakab said, there wasn't a mob around Jun, but there was for the food xD I had completely given up on getting some actual food and settled for desert, which tasted really good!
By this point, my parents had already arrived to take us back and were rushing us to leave. Grudgingly, we left. Sena-kun and my sister rushed up the stairs that lead away from the reception area for one reason: if there are guards telling you to go downstairs, that's probably where Jun is. And sure enough, he was in the room that overlooked the reception.
There was already a group outside of the room when we reached there and the walls were glass so we had a pretty clear view of the inside. Jun was surrounded by reporters? crew? people? We fans were pretty much just waiting outside. Some had cameras and phones out taking snapshots, others were just chatting and waiting for him to come out. After standing there for a good...fifteen minutes or so, we noticed that Jun had left the room. Of course, the first thought to cross everyone's mind was "RUN TO THE OTHER SIDE OF THE BUILDING AS FAST AS YOU POSSIBLY CAN" I was having an internal debate about whether to follow or not (morals vs. fangirl), but since Sena-kun and my sis was alreay running, you could say that my fangirl won out in the end.
When I got to the other side, Jun had gotten out of the building and was pretty much surrounded by fangirls. Thankfully, no one tried to attack him >< They left a good....two feet radius of space around him but you could hear everyone screaming "JUN!", "MATSUJUN!", "GAMBATTE!" or something else along those lines while the staff were yelling at us to step back. Jun got into the car and as the car was pulling away, he stuck his hand out the window and waved back at us. Immediately, everyone's hands go up and wave back. I give some props to the chauffeur too - the car really just sped away xD
Then began the car ride back home, with Sena-kun, my sis, and I singing A-RA-SHI at the top of our lungs and my father thinking we're all crazy. I had the best time ^^
Also, happy birthday to my dear mommy, who sided with me in my argument against my dad in which we insisted that yes, Jun is very popular. (I had totally forgotten >< I'll make it up to you Iswear hope!)
I had originally intended for us (
twitch500lair and I) to leave at 3PM. ...We arrived at USC by 2PM. My mom, however, drove way, waaay past where the theatre was and we had to walk extremely far....just to get more confused. After wandering around for a good twenty minutes or so, we finally decided that we needed to ask someone for directions. I approached the first guy that I saw who looked kind enough to help. He was wearing a suit and my first impression of him was someone who was self-confident, yet still nice and modest. I asked him where I could find the Norris Cinema Theatre. I don't think he really knew where it was either for he turned to the woman next to him and asked. She prepared to lead us and in the meanwhile, he asked why I was there for. I told him that I was attending the premiere of Hidden Fortress: The Last Princess. He smiled and said that I made it in good time (to be sure. At that time, it was around 2:30PM >.>). He then told us to follow him as the woman lead the way to the theatre.
The man that I talked to really left an impression on me, not only because he was really kind, but because I couldn't help but feel like I had talked to someone important. Even so, I felt at total ease with talking to him because he wasn't intimidating at all. On retrospect, I regret not introducing myself or asking who he was except, I was going to find out some hours later.
When we reached the theatre, I was surprised because it looked like there were not a lot of people there. My sis and mom left then and so Sena-kun and I walked around to the side of the building. There, we were met with a line, wrapped around to the back of the building cunningly hidden if looked at from the front haha. Sena-kun and I hurriedly took our place in line at the back of the building and began our 3 hours wait in the heat.
In the mist of waiting, I met
okenakab and got to talk to her and meet some other ARASHI fans. It was really fun and I'm really happy that I got the chance to meet them all, especially okenakab. I hope this won't be the first and last time I see you all :DAround 4:45PM-ish, there were cameras all around recording the line and the fans. I totally felt everyone's energy and excitement just shoot up. By that time, everyone was extremely psyched to get in. Some of the girls who were around me had brought uchiwas and an older woman was telling them to wave them in the air. It was all really fun.
Slowly but surely, the line crawled and we made our way in.
The first guest to come out was Mr. Anthony Daniels, the man behind Star Wars's C3PO. You could probably imagine the surprise and shock on my face when I realized, "HEY. WAIT. THAT WAS THE GUY I ASKED FOR DIRECTIONS O_O." Seriously, he was awesome and extremely funny. I couldn't believe that I had actually talked to him without realizing who he was at all. *embarrassed*
The director, Higuchi Shinji, and Matsumoto Jun came out next. I think almost all the fangirls were squealing and er. fangirling their hardest. ^^
aatash wrote up a really good report that can be found here so please refer to that (since I can't really describe it in a any better way and school kind of killed my brain).Small, fangirl comment: is it possible for Jun to actually look better in person?! and he was so cute! At times, he seemed embarrassed and smiled. One question asked by the dean was regarding Takezo's similarity to a Western hero and, according to the translator, he said that he was nothing like that in real life. In English he added, "I'm shy" (I think) which prompted massive squealing from the fans. xD
One event that I want to comment on, however, was the Q&A session. While listening, I had a feeling that the translators...weren't the best at their jobs. Reading
aatash 's comments about it just supported my thoughts. It's kind of sad to say I realized that the translations weren't truly what the guests were saying when I don't understand Japanese >.> Jun's face of confusion at some of the reactions was also another hint that what was being translated wasn't really what was being said. I think that that disappointed me the most because Jun had really good comments and answers. The fact that it was "lost in translation" made me really critical of the Q&A.The reception that was held afterwards was nice. Like
okenakab said, there wasn't a mob around Jun, but there was for the food xD I had completely given up on getting some actual food and settled for desert, which tasted really good!By this point, my parents had already arrived to take us back and were rushing us to leave. Grudgingly, we left. Sena-kun and my sister rushed up the stairs that lead away from the reception area for one reason: if there are guards telling you to go downstairs, that's probably where Jun is. And sure enough, he was in the room that overlooked the reception.
There was already a group outside of the room when we reached there and the walls were glass so we had a pretty clear view of the inside. Jun was surrounded by reporters? crew? people? We fans were pretty much just waiting outside. Some had cameras and phones out taking snapshots, others were just chatting and waiting for him to come out. After standing there for a good...fifteen minutes or so, we noticed that Jun had left the room. Of course, the first thought to cross everyone's mind was "RUN TO THE OTHER SIDE OF THE BUILDING AS FAST AS YOU POSSIBLY CAN" I was having an internal debate about whether to follow or not (morals vs. fangirl), but since Sena-kun and my sis was alreay running, you could say that my fangirl won out in the end.
When I got to the other side, Jun had gotten out of the building and was pretty much surrounded by fangirls. Thankfully, no one tried to attack him >< They left a good....two feet radius of space around him but you could hear everyone screaming "JUN!", "MATSUJUN!", "GAMBATTE!" or something else along those lines while the staff were yelling at us to step back. Jun got into the car and as the car was pulling away, he stuck his hand out the window and waved back at us. Immediately, everyone's hands go up and wave back. I give some props to the chauffeur too - the car really just sped away xD
Then began the car ride back home, with Sena-kun, my sis, and I singing A-RA-SHI at the top of our lungs and my father thinking we're all crazy. I had the best time ^^
Also, happy birthday to my dear mommy, who sided with me in my argument against my dad in which we insisted that yes, Jun is very popular. (I had totally forgotten >< I'll make it up to you I