Million Live 10th Tour Act-4 Recap

The feeling seeing Machico randomly confessing to Ueshama. The chill of the Tokyo Bay wind hitting your face as you’re teeing up GenP for a friend behind you doing English. The exhilaration of hearing Todakun telling us to “get down.” Nansu wiggling her butt because of the button tail on her outfit. Mocho and Koroazu crying. And countless other moments this past weekend. This is the “hyakuman power” that was sleeping under the sheets with a JUNGO face printed on it, and woke up for a weekend. This is Million Live.

The story of Million Live isn’t just that they are the sub-brand of IDOLM@STER that carries the torch of 765PRO ALLSTARS, but that it is a refreshing of the IDOLM@STER franchise with some of the top seiyuu performers of that generation. That generation is now 11+ years into its existence. Everyone has been through a lot. If I had time maybe I can dig into each one of them, including the two new ones that joined the team half way. Long story short, their success as individuals, or lack there of, speaks volumes to the “refresh rate” or how hard it is to make it as a seiyuu idol in this day and age.

The result of 10 years of hard work is this extremely emotional but also extremely fun, awesome, and fulfilling two-day concert. Unlike what happened during 4th Live, which is the accumulation of promises and wishes, Act-4 of 10th Tour is the result after fulfilling those things. Or at least partly.

• We now have an anime
• We have had more concerts where 765AS sang with the Million (Hotchpotch…and Hotchpotch 2 on the horizon)

I literally left 4th with big-time brain fog, but I left act4 with clarity of mind and purpose. So much have changed. Kokkochan’s chant to summon Hoshii Miki may have summoned something else, perhaps more delicious. Anyways, Act-4 was the true real Million Live anniversary decennial! Or rather, Acts 1-4 all together? But this was the one.

I have more thoughts than time to write them down cohesively, so this is more a recap than a review post… I think Kasshi did a great job with GenP on the second day so please watch that, and day1’s recap.

Outfits and visuals

Here’s a matome post of all the seiyuu post-show photo posts.

As the cast largely wore SSR-inspired outfits, they showed a lot of legs. Some of those leg/skirt combos were quite dangerous but it is actually not that common across the 39. The ones with short pants looked cute, the ones with ZR had adjusted based on how aggressive they wanted it. In stealth I think Yukke had the most dangerous setup but it looks actually really reasonable on her, like a normal person could be wearing this at a nightclub. On the other hand you have Komachan which looks like both Sayoko at 17yo and someone too mature for a high schooler charm-wise. It definitely was the most charming look to me all weekend. The usual dangerous candidates like Mikku and Mocho looked quite great in their various SSR outfits. Mikku’s leg ribbons are materials of dreams.

Long-hair Koroazu is a throwback to her mid 20s and she could almost pass as such, or rather it has this dissonant but charming quality. When she mentioned it during day 2’s MC it was actually a nice segue to how she’s among people who has been with her for 10 years. On the other hand the very-aggressively-cut Tsubati outfit wears Machico as well as Machico wears her own outfits for her own shows. Asuka was cute while being Elena. Kori looks just like Kaori minus the curves. Karaage is like a scaled up version of Tsumugi in that Goldlfish SSR outfit. I thought Atsuki shaped up a lot and it made for a great idol Roco. Akanechang is really, one and the same as Sakichan. For an example of the same but opposite would be Rionee-clone Chikuwa. Rietion came out as her fully-armored self (as of late) but the inside remained the same. Yuuchan is her button-cute usual self. Aimi’s outfit is funny tone-down for the aggressive Julia SSR but both still show heso! And along the same camp, Pyon’s and Aberika’s outfits were actually a bit showy but limited? Basically they could be SSR upstairs but capped? LOL.

On that note, the accessorizing of the outfits are tops this time. Aberika mentioned that her outfit, “secret love” had heart print on the flip side of the outer skirt, which is sewn into the outer layer, which you can’t see unless you flip the skirt. This is just one of the many updates and changes this time. It’s these kind of little tricks that makes these idols shine all the more. People brought their own tools to enhance the outfits, from finger ribbons to hair accessories and extensions. All those legs with garters…and ZRs…not to mention the nail art and all that.

One more note on Yukke: some have said her outfit was the most aggressive. Short pants, thigh-high leggings, big chunk of her belly under the jacket. I think she deserves it, given that she is the mama of Million Live and is in incredible shape. Rockstar Aimi also showed her heso, but if you compared her outfit with the SSR outfit it’s based on, you sort of get those brain gears turning. A fair number of outfits also originally showed some belly in the SSR art, and many had in some degree showed it off. It’s just being one-upped by Million Mom Saito-san might be amusing to some. Anyways, we only compare the cast for the luls.

Let’s wrap up the outfit talk with Todakun’s story. So we all know, as announced, she has some kind of physical disability that limits her participation. Turns out she danced more than just about anyone else on day 2, with a head-mic version of Unison Beat and also part of Dance In the Light. She said that so many people worked with her to reduce the strain she has to deal with for the performance and practices, including having her ortho doctor shaving her insoles in her dress shoes. Anyways, it seemed to pay off.

Songs

Super Lover on a Full Moon… Again, Yuiton said. Maybe this is for the best. I wore custom-made “Unbabba” tshirts with my renban and we monkeyed together. I thought we actually were pretty tame!

Rather than piecing this together I could have just pointed you to this Vtuber. The moment Miyako said that she expected Libra singalong I knew this was legit. Actually when we got Silent Joker I knew we were in a treat–it’s kind of the first hype song that tipped things off. But having no Matsuri in Silent Joker also meant we weren’t going to get Libra, so as it were…

Well, actually Camparina was the one that tipped things off. I think for me I enjoy Million musically both with the new stuff and the Old things. Also see GenP clip here I am dying lmao. To skip to day 2, between Dear, Up 10sion, HappyDa and Clover Days, I was sobbing. I’m glad it happened then, because then the rest was just a smooth march to the core of Million Live discography. (The funny thing is I don’t even like Booming Clover that much.)

It really was a setlist put together by the cast and Jungo, or at least 50/50. I think they just had to come at us with the strongest original-member set and cast, as acts 1-3 has left me wanting badly of all the songs from act 4, at least. I knew UNION can be saved for then, but WELCOME too? I can only shake my head.

The crowd, in 2024, didn’t do all the calls and stuff but a lot of the older Ps still remember to furicopy to Pregra, so that’s all I can hoped for. HappyDa call-wise did not blast as it used to but I think that’s okay. No color change for Super Lover is fine I guess, because all the solo except Mirai’s were medley-length.

Did I ever mention I can’t get enough of Dance in the Light? Toda saying “let’s get down” was just so cool and sent a shiver down my spine. Actually Todakun was just so epic during day 2, both emotional (was a total wreck during encore) and awe-inspiring with her solo dance routine and DITL. Having to sit there on the steps to sing Twirler was also a nice touch. I thought she was MVP. Then again so many of them were, like I just can’t forget Komachan, who was also in DITL…and Yukke…damn that song was stacked.

A lot of the songs that were cool weren’t new either. This dans l’obscurite performance was so, so good that it blows the previous performances out of the water. Shinso Mermaid with Koroazu, Shooting Star, Marionette, among others… It’s just all so good, both the solos and group songs (the latter songs are obviously more hype).

The idols sang love songs to their Producers. How oddly inappropriately…passionate.

Meaning

During the final MC part both days, due to the large number of cast members only 1-2 people gave a little spiel. Mocho cried. Koro cried, Machico barely held together, not to mention the usual crybabies in Million. What is really moving is to see Chaki and Tanechan really go at it, and I get it, it’s emotional as all out and I was teary along with them. Again it helped to get that out of my system during Clover Days lol.

The expression some of them wore that night is just unforgettable. Tanechan had this huge smile the whole time and it was just amazing. Reina needless to say is peak cute when she performs Umimi, but it was a bit more usual. The likes of Machico and Aberika were just brim-full of emotions. Even casuals like Tenshin Mukai was a face full of snot.

It feels, for the first time since the start, or maybe since Wanst, that we had a proper anniversary concert. It took this long to gather all 39 of them, and did all the strongest songs (give the time limits).

To me it is a reset and a new beginning. I hope we can continue to enjoy these concerts with the same performers as they were originally, or at least, the songs that were not yet performed? Ending the show with a Hotchpotch 2 announcement does carry a lot of weight.

Will JUNGO continue to disappoint Ps like myself in the same way he did the past 9 years? I guess I’ll find out first hand.

Travels and fans

Thanks to the Million Live TV anime, there are a number of first timers even among the EN-speaking overseas attendees that I know and met on this stop. I say to them, congratulations and welcome to the swap of Million Live. Act-4 is going to be the best show you’ll ever attend, and it will be all downhill from here. As someone who’s been following from 1st and attending since 3rd live, I feel like I have some insight here.

The insight is, really, JUNGO is half clueless going into these shows. What is a good show or not-so-good show will come down largely to your own personal inclinations and vibe at the time. There are always some external objective or limitation which pins each show also. That adds flavor and makes some shows quite interesting. But Million Live’s disco and cast are also a lot less flexible than CG and Shiny, so at some point you’re just going to get the same stuff we’ve seen before, just with increasing constraints such as physical health, business of schedules, what have you. Which makes the full cast Act-4 really special.

Since 2022, IM@S has been doing a lot of collab with other localities where they have had the tour (and not just Million either). For Act-4, I spent about an hour walking around Minatomirai using the locotone tour app which has voiceover at some locations, and took some AR photos. I spent a few minutes at Queen’s Square subway stop listening to Miki, Mirai, Tsubasa and Serika talk to people who paid at the gates. I got one of those one-day passes (and punched a hole in Julia’s head, sorry). I went to HUB Sakuragicho (which by the way, sucks compared to 82 Tolim in Akiba…which I also went, plus the Kotobukiya shop). I also did the tour pack for the extra tickets, also because the exchange rate is currently so good.

The façade is that yes, Million Live Theater Days did get localized Korean and Chinese versions (RIP), so they partnered with JTB (same company as the LL oversea tour packs) to sell these act-4 tour packages to oversea attendees. The main draw is they can help Mainlanders get visas to visit Japan. For me as an American it was mostly the pay-to-win to guarantee tickets. There was no lottery and I sort of pulled the trigger last minute seeing that the demand for the package is probably quite low, and tickets are still in demand (I had already secured tickets from friends by that point, which I could then let go). Strangely there were only options for 2-people at the Hilton and 1-person packs get to be at the APA Resort Yokohama. K-Arena is literally connected to the Hilton Yokohama so I would rather stay there next time.

In addition to accommodations and tickets for day 1 or both days 1 and 2, the tour package includes a special exhibition on the second floor of the Hilton, which features displays from the Million Live anime screening. Signed scripts from the 12 episodes, plus signed THE@TER SEASON posters were on display along with all the Million Live CDs from….2020 onwards? There were a lot, I didn’t look closely.

There were flower stands. There were way too many to fit in K-Arena in fact, that fans queued for a long time and many couldn’t see them. The flowers were distributed in different places inside and it was tough finding them all. There were a lot of backstage flowers too, they set up makeshift shelves to display them to the cast members. I think the people who crowd funded an ad display inside Yokohama station has the much better idea. Sure it cost over a million yen, but as they say, hyakuman power or some such. It’s not even ten thousand dollars…

The call book people also had the right idea. They cleared it with the police in advance, set up distro points with planned pathing, and took collections. There were only 10000 books. Kinoko and Afro-sensei wrote a thing in there even, LOL.

The GenP card exchange thing was also a fun thing…except it was next to this wind tunnel which made it freezing on day 1 and miserably freezing on day 2 if you had to wait in line. I went on day 1 and the line was crazy long, but GenP worked through it pretty much by the break 2 hours in. I actually went in about 20 minutes before the break ended and got through by about 3:30pm on day1. I got a nice reaction from him so that was cool. On day 2 I went again with a friend (as I bought vols 1-3 on Asobi store) and I tried to eigo him. Anyways, the kid is good stuff. I also got to see WakachikoP which was a nice surprise, and they were taking photos of her with fans, and I got mine. I am so thankful about that and she’s here to mingle. She can speak a couple lines in English too.

Wrap

This show is so good especially if you are a long timer. It’s so good even if it’s your first Million Live concert. Youtube algo is now recommending me all these vtubers who did watch-alongs or just want to talk about the show because they went. It’s really hard to leave that weekend behind. I’ll probably forever remember that weekend. It takes some effort to pivot my thought this week away from it… Maybe I should have slated to go to Shiny Osaka or something. Anyways, see you all at HotchPotch 2 or ML 11th.