Yona Fes 2022 Live Report by Gakuensai Gakuen Fans

Do you know Kenichi Washizaki? He is a person who mainly hosts anime and game-related events and serves as a personality for anime-related radio programs such as Nippon Cultural Broadcasting's Cho! A&G and Onsen.

The radio program that Kenichi Washizaki started in 2016 is "Kenichi Washizaki's Yorunight x Yorunight." It is broadcast late at night from Monday to Thursday, and the number of episodes has reached over 1,000.

The main personality is Kenichi Washizaki, and

・Mondays feature a monthly assistant (often a female voice actor)

・Tuesdays feature Keiko Sawaguchi from the idol group predia

・Wednesdays feature Yuma Aoki, the vocalist and guitarist from the band Gakuensai Gakuen

・Thursdays feature a rotating weekly guest

The program follows a style where Washizaki and another guest or assistant appear daily.

I especially love the Wednesday show with Yuma Aoki! The one-hour broadcast flies by as they engage in endless aimless chatter and throw in silly analogies.

Through this program, I also came to love Yuma Aoki and his band, "Gakuensai Gakuen." Their songs are great, but their talk is top-notch. When they perform live, they spend more than half of their allotted time chatting with each other, and it's said that sometimes their talk is so good that they end up cutting even more songs from the setlist. I have been subscribed to their fan club site, "Gessha," since the very beginning.

They released their first full album, "Utopia Dayori," in January 2020. To commemorate the release, several live concerts were scheduled in Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya.

However, that was when the novel coronavirus began to rage. Unfortunately, the concerts were canceled, and the ticket I had for the Nagoya performance was refunded...

I remember being incredibly disappointed back then, even though I had been so excited and thrilled at the thought of finally seeing Gakuensai Gakuen live.

After that, the coronavirus kept spreading and then subsiding, and the days continued where I couldn't go to live shows even if I wanted to. I moved from Aichi to Okinawa, making the chance to see Gakuensai Gakuen live even more distant.

It was then that the holding of Yona Fes 2022 was announced on Yorunight. Of course, there was a possibility it might be canceled due to the spread of the infection. Even so, it was an event for a program I love, and a unique opportunity to see a live performance by Gakuensai Gakuen that I had been waiting for for so long, so before I knew it, I had reserved an advance ticket.

And then the day arrived. Although I had seen it on live DVDs, it was my first time actually going to Yaon. It really is inside a park, and you can hear the sound leaking out clearly.

Since a 'Paella & Tapas Festival' was being held in the park that day, I stopped by before the doors opened.

I noticed a mackerel paella topped with a big piece of mackerel, so I bought it!

While doing that, it became time for the doors to open, so I headed near the entrance. This time there were no paper tickets; entry was entirely by electronic ticket. It's convenient, but you lose the fun of collecting the torn-off ticket stubs.

When I looked for my seat, I was surprised to find it was further forward than I expected. I'm happy, but being within the first 10 rows is a pretty good seat, right?

On the program, they were saying 'Please!!!! Buy tickets!!!!' right up until the last minute, so I wondered how many empty seats there would be, but it seemed to be almost full. I don't think there were even 50 seats left. Considering the capacity is 3,053 people, that's amazing.

And then at 5:00 PM, the show finally began.

The first song was 'radio!radio!radio!' performed by the program's unit 'Odd Eye': Takeshi Washizaki, Keiko Sawaguchi, and Yuma Aoki. This song, with the chorus 'Welcome to this radio land!' repeated over and over, was truly fitting as the first song of Yona Fes.

After the song ended, the stage was changed during a brief MC. Once the Gakuensai Gakuen set was placed on stage, the members came out as they were.

Aoki said, "Well then, I'm going back from Odd Eye to Gakuensai Gakuen!" wrapping up the MC, and Washizaki and Sawaguchi exited the stage. It was finally time for the Gakuensai Gakuen stage. I wondered what the first song would be.

1. Searchlights (New Song)
Aoki: "We're going to perform a new song! Searchlights."
Yes, it was an unexpected new song. The sight of them singing while strumming their guitars, combined with the blue lights, was impressive.

2. Sauna (New Song)
The second song was also a new one. It was a ska-style track with a pleasant off-beat rhythm that I believe had been performed at an event before. The clapping from the entire audience felt great.

3. Dawn song
The third song was Dawn song, which has been performed since the beginning of last year. It's a song in 5/4 time, packed with highlights like various rhythmic accents, breaks, and a melodica solo. It's frustrating that I can't post a link here because it has only been released on platforms like YouTube Live without archives. The transition from the melodica back to the chorus was so beautiful that it brought me to tears.

4. any love, anymore
From here on, it was time for the classic songs. The "pa-ppa pappapparappa-pa-" at the beginning of the chorus is originally meant for a sing-along with the audience, but unfortunately, that's difficult in these times. I raised my fist as high as I could to convey my feelings.

As sung in the first verse, in a narrow sense, it is a song about anime and those of us who love it, but it can be broadened to be a song about people who love "things that will eventually end," or people who love "things that have already ended."

Are you trying to forget someone precious? Have they already become junk?

You have been holding a stopped heart for so long, and I feel like you are waiting for me there.

This year, too, many anime-related radio programs ended in March. I felt as though the unbearable feelings that exist for every single listener were being carried on an inaudible sing-along.

5. Momoiro
This is also a song I love. Originally written about Momoiro Clover, this also sings about "parting" in a broad sense. According to Utopia Dayori, when they were recording it, it was the day after Nishikido-kun announced his departure from Kanjani Eight, so Aoki said he put a lot of emotion into the vocals (Aoki is quite the Johnny's fan, especially a big fan of Kanjani). It is a masterpiece sung loudly, albeit sadly, over Aoki's high-tone vocals.

If we enter the grave after a hundred years, you are the same as me. If it doesn't change even after a hundred years, can we call it love?

6. wants
The final song for Gakuensai Gakuen was wants. We were able to see a precious stage performance where this song was a collaboration with Washizaki.

Furthermore, while performing this song, Gakuensai Gakuen waives their portrait rights, so audience members are permitted to take photos and post them on social media.

You can see photos taken by the audience by searching for "#kyounowants" on Twitter.

Unlike their usual live shows, this was a six-song set performed with almost no MC. It was impressive to see Kurita-kun on drums, Ichikawa-kun on bass, and Abe-kun on percussion all playing with smiles on their faces.

As for Gakuensai Gakuen, the members other than the vocalist are company employees, not professional musicians. However, they captivated the venue with a level of performance and unity that made it hard to believe that.

Next time, I would love to see a solo concert.

Yes, if possible... I wonder if they would come to a live house in Okinawa, where I live (whispering).

For now, my live report ends here. The performers who followed were also wonderful, but I can't keep writing with this much intensity, so I'll leave it to the other geeks who were at the venue.

I haven't dug deep enough into Washizaki's Poaro-era songs to talk about them, and honestly, I haven't followed predia much. I really want a fan who can pour their love into it to write the rest of the live report. Yes, I mean you, the one reading this right now.

Come on, before your memories fade, hurry! I'm counting on you!

The end