Continuing watching of Kouhaku in the 2nd act.
24th Act: the theme song from this year's One Piece film. Not an anime I've ever really enjoyed, so I don't really think much of it. Instead of showing the actual artist that sang the song though, they have a CG version of the One Piece character that sang the song in the film, some character imaginatively named Uta. I feel sorry for the actual artist that sang it.
Interlude: showing highlights from the Japanese team at the World Cup. Evidently the team coach is one of the 'judges' this year. He's now on stage with the team captain, all the hosts are talking about how awesome the World Cup was this year.
25th Act: King Gnu, appearing for their 2nd time. I recognize this group, though I don't remember anything particular about them. They're an actual band (i.e. they write and perform their own original music) with a modern style that's somewhat hip-hop inspired, but generally lyrical with punk influence as well. Evidently their song was the theme for the 2022 World Cup Japanese team. <shrug> Overall it's a good upbeat song that gets your blood pumping, so it works for a sports theme song in that regard. In the performance they're doing a lot on the state with pyrotechnics, etc.
26th Act: sigh... they're doing the Kendama world record *again*. It was tiring the 2nd (3rd?) time they did it, and now they're doing it yet again. The song is of course Miyama Hiroshi, a kind of bland Enka singer, who will be the final kendama to break the record. While Miyama sings in the foreground the line of people doing the kendama are shown in a corner inset. I kinda feel sorry for the steadicam guy that has to follow everyone through the entire song. They of course made it, so now the record of continuous people doing kendama without a mistake is 127 people, for whatever that means.
27th Act: TWICE, another Kpop girls group. I always complain about how the Johnny's groups are the same and that Akimoto Yasushi's girls groups are the same, but to be honest, the Kpop girls groups might be the most homogeneous. Esp. since they've almost all certainly had cosmetic surgery to fit the very strict beauty standard they all really look the same. As is typical for Kpop it's a really good dance tune that sounds like it should be in a nightclub.
28th Act: A Disney song medley. Started out by two of the hosts singing When You Wish Upon a Star in Japanese. After that is Sakurai with a lot of the Johnny's boys singing some weird Jamboree Mickey song that's a remix of the Mickey Mouse Club theme song. Following that is MISIA, who usually only shows up at the end of Kouhaku (note: she does show up at the end as well for her own song), singing a song that I don't recognize. This part appears to be at Tokyo Disneyland in a bunch of boats, probably at the sea portion of Tokyo Disneyland Resort. If this is live, MISIA will need to hurry to make it to the NHK hall for her own song at the end.
29th Act: Vaundy, a new act, performing at Kouhaku for the first time. Evidently he's still in college from what they said. He's pretty talented, has a really good voice. NHK still refuses to do any kind of pitch correction technology at the Kouhaku concert, so the people that can really sing really stand out, and this guy is great. Of course it also makes the Johnny's groups stand out as well, since they almost always can't sing. In living memory I don't think anyone was as bad as SMAP, but it's still noti, ceable compared to people that can really sing like this guy. Noticeable that the camera never really shows his face, he's always turning to the side or away from it, looking down so you can only see his hair, etc. From what we can see he's definitely not classically handsome and maybe a bit chubby (wearing very baggy clothes, etc.) I'm curious if he's self-conscious, or if the producers are hesitant to show someone that's not really really pretty.
30th Act: Vaundy again, now performing with some female artists that have also preformed solo: milet, Aimer, and 幾田りら. They all have really good voices and it's great to hear them sing together. Aimer was the singer for the Kimetsu no Yaiba, and she's a really versatile singer, singing this song that's a very different style and range for her.
31st Act: Comedy group ダチョウ倶楽部, joined by comedian 有吉弘行. Evidently one of their members died this year when he committed suicide, so he's joining them. Dachou Club is a pseudo- boy band, where they're all middle-aged and were formed to appeal to older women, they started out performing live at onsens, etc. and sing older songs from that generation. I have to admit that they can sing really well. After their nitial song, the comedians come on state and sing with them. Also evidently Ariyoshi was on Kouhaku about 25 years ago or something, so he has some history of being a singer and not just a comedian that has a lot of comedy shows with Matsuko Deluxe. Ariyoshi's initial debut on TV was when he hitchiked across Eurasia in one year, that was also about 25 years or so ago.
32nd Act: a band called 'back number' (no caps) singing the theme song to this year's morning drama, 舞い上がれ！The two stars of the drama are briefly on stage to introduce themselves, and since it's an NHK drama of course they NHK are going to promote it. The main actress on the drama is someone that I recognize from 10+ years ago when she did a kid's cooking show that my girls enjoyed watching, https://youtu.be/HYbjh1d-GQo. They are a 'special act', so after singing the drama theme song, the band then gets to sing one of their own songs. They're pretty talented, but nothing about their music particularly stands out to me.
33rd Act: Another Akimoto gir's group, Nogizaka 46. Evidently it's the last performance of one of the girls who is 'graduating' (i.e. getting too old) from the group. They're all pretty interchangeable as far as I can tell, so whatever. Like all these groups, they can't particularly dance or sing exceptionally well, but they are all really cute and do everything in unison. At least this isn't one of their normal live shows, where the audience is 90% guys over 30 which make the whole thing really creepy.
34th Act: 工藤静香 Kudou Shizuka, an old-school Idol from the 80s, performing at Kouhaku for the first time in 25 years. Evidently she's Kimutaku's wife? I had no idea. She's singing a medley of her 35 year career. Her music definitely sounds like 80s JPop. There is a live flute player on her 2nd song, she's very good. I'm just glad they decided not to have a bunch of distracting and useless dancers in the background for her songs. Back in the 90's she had a bit of a scandal when she was riding in the car with Yoshiki from X Japan and they were in a car accident in LA and had to call the police. Their relationship was not public up to that point. Then shortly afterwards she married Kimutaku, which evidently was a できちゃった婚.
35th Act: King & Prince, yet another Johnny's act. Their style is trying to emulate a hip hop style, but still unavoidably Johnny's. Pretty yawn-worthy imho, I'm relegated to looking up the next act while I have to listen to theirs.
36th Act: Official髭男dism, which I have to copy/paste the name because I can definitely not remember it, and can never remember how to pronounce it. They're quite talented, but I have to admit that their style really isn't my thing. This is their 3rd time on Kouhaku, starting in 2019. One thing I'll give them is that they have a very memorable band name, so they have good brand recognition.
37th Act: あいみょん, a solo singer/songwriter. Realy cute and really talented, with a really relaxing folksong style.
38th Act: 加山雄三 Kayama Yuzou, an old singer. Evidently he's suffering from Alheimer's and this will be his retirement and last performance. In his short introduction, I actually couldn't understand anything he was saying without subtitles at the bottom. Overall though, his voice is still pretty clear. Pretty darn good for his age. To misquote Yoda, "When 85 years old you become, look as good you will not". It became a bit more noticeable when he walked around the stage during his song, he's not able to walk very well.
39th Act: Superfly, performing for the 6th time. She is really talented with a really powerful voice. One can't help but notice that her teeth are crooked, though I think they may be better than in the past, she may be using Invisalign or something. Her smile is a lot cuter than what I remember in the past.
40th Act: Fujii Kaze. Evidently he's pretty popular overseas, my own daughter really likes their music. He starts out playing the piano, and they are *really* good, like classically trained professional pianist good. Then a transition to the main song, which is a very unique and kind of strange modern style, which ends with them (him? not sure since they seem to have an androgynous look and dress) seeming to die on the stage floor. Pretty unique act overall, but undeniable talent.
41st act: 篠原涼子 Shinohara Ryoko, she was a muse for Komuro Tetsuya, who is playing the piano for her. I vaguely remember this song, and especially remember that she can't sing very well. That certainly hasn't changed at all. After her debut as a singer she transitioned to acting and has been working steadily as an actress in Japan since then, though I'm not plugged into the Japanese geinou-kai enough to know much about her. Komuro has really aged though, he really looks old.
42nd act: Long time mainstay Yuzu, performing for their 13th time, singing their hit from 25 years ago, Natsuiro. I remember this song from when I was younger, which basically serves to make me feel old. On the other hand it probably has the same effect on the Yuzu duo as well.
Continuing on another toot.
