After 2 whole years of not being able to go to a real-life concert, I couldn't have felt more alive than before as I joined the last day of Super Junior's Japan Special Event on April 4 this year. It was also Eunhyuk's birthday, so I was thrilled to celebrate the special day in this fan meeting.  |
| SMT vendors near Saitama Super Arena |
The weather wasn't very friendly to us that whole day. I had to wait in line for about 2 hours on that chilly, rainy morning. Even my Vessi shoes were not very resistant to the wet ground. Once the line reached the end, the SMT bus vendors decided to open the stores.
I got myself their chicken burger, cookie set and sweets box. The burger was cold, but the fried chicken was crispy. The cookie set consisted of three cookies in one packet, and each cookie had the signatures and initials of all 9 members, including Shindong's. Unfortunately, the clumsy self in me dropped them by accident. The good news was not all of them were cracked. And as for the taste, I would give it a 3 out of 5. They were slightly dry. I also couldn't really pinpoint what flavour they were. It wasn't butter or vanilla. And to my surprise and disappointment, the "sweet" was just a bag of corn puffs. I have had doubts about buying food from that food truck/ store. 😂 On the bright side, I got two photocards and one badge for free. Even though I didn't get one with my two ultimate biases: Kyuhyun and Eunhyuk, I was still happy to get nice freebies.
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| chicken burger |
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| SMT's sweet box |
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| corn puffs |
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| Freebies: Heechul photocard, Leeteuk photocard and Shindong badge. |
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| Cookies with members' initials and signatures |
After eating, I went to line up for the goods stand. And boy, was the line super long! It stretched to the outside of the arena. To my relief, the line got shorter every few minutes. Initially, I thought of getting a tote bag, but it was sold out when I was near the vendors. 😢 Instead, I got myself a Eunyuk fan and a clear photocard. The clear photocards were sold randomly, and so I got Ryeowook.
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| A giant poster near the arena |
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| Goods list |
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| Eunhyuk fan and Ryeowook clear photocard |
The arena opened at around 3:30 in the afternoon. I went in with one of my Japanese mutuals. I want to give a big shoutout to her because she offered me one of her two tickets. It was lovely meeting her. We both didn't expect where we would sit because it turned out our seats were in the middle of the arena! We were sitting in the center sitting area. I screamed and stared at my mutual in disbelief and giddiness. We were going to see the members up close!?!? This is literally an ELF's dream! Sitting in such a VIP spot with the stage in front of us. I decided not to record videos or take pictures during the event because I didn't want to get caught.
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| This was where we sat! |
Intro
As the lights dimmed, "Way" was the pre-opening song. The members hadn't appeared yet, but my friend was in tears. This was her first-ever seeing SJ in person, so she was over the moon. Then, we watched the introductory VCR about ELF staying together with SJ forever. Finally, the familiar tune of the SJ anthem, "Superman", blasted from the speakers. It was my dream to see the members on throne chairs. They looked stunning in their first outfits: black blazers with sparkly gold embroidery, white long-sleeved shirts and black pants.
The second song was "Black Suit". They walked down the stage, and I had to pinch myself to remind myself that I was living in a dream. They were glowing. Their visuals were even more beautiful than what I saw online.
Then, they started their first talking segment. My favourite part was when Eunhyuk sang the birthday song and the other members groaned at him. 😂 I guess he lowkey expected that there would be a surprise birthday party later on. Another moment I remember was Heechul sang a part of the chorus from D&E's "Oppa Oppa", but he sang "Oppai Oppai" instead of "Oppa Oppa". Eunhyuk reminded him that it's supposed to be "Oppa Oppa". 😆😂 And if I'm not mistaken, I remembered that four of them took turns to talk while the others went off the stage to change into their colourful outfits from their "Callin' " comeback.
They moved on to a couple more songs, "House Party" and "Devil". In "House Party", they performed on the stage in the center. In the middle of the song (when they lined up and did the worm thing), Siwon tickled Eunyuk's waist! Eunhyuk yelped and giggled. 😂 And during the bridge's choreography in "Devil", Yesung took Shindong's place. He posed a cute heart. Eunhyuk did another cute pose. Leeteuk sat on the stage with his legs glued straight and bounced a few times. The other didn't copy his moves. 😆
Show & Tell
Each member sat on a row of chairs in the center of the stage. I was speechless by each member's radiant beauty. Donghae had the brightest smile I've ever seen. Yesung was standing at a spot close to where we were sitting, so my friend was happy. Siwon was damn tall! 😯 He got off his chair when he laughed. 😆 Kyuhyun was handsome in his blue coat. Heechul looked gorgeous in a ponytail. Eunhyuk was so pretty in pink. Leeteuk looked grand in white.
Their mission was to share their favourite photos or photos of what they did during quarantine. Ryeowook went first. He shared adorable pictures of himself and the members. One of his photos was with Zhoumi, and the members mentioned his name too! Yesung chipped in about Ryeowook's bad drinking habit: Ryeowook vomited on the floor, and Yesung had to carry him home. 😂 I was so moved and happy for this OT15 crumb! 😭
Ryeowooks shared this photo, and the group mentioned Zhoumi!
Another picture Ryeowook shared was a selfie of him and Kyuhyun. Kyuhyun immediately went to hug Ryeowook! Aww, Kyuwook! 😭💕
Next was Donghae. He had prepared some photos that made us all explode with laughter. He recently had a fight with Ryeowook and Eunhyuk, so he exposed candid images of both members as payback. Eunhyuk imitated the picture of him glaring angrily, and we all died laughing. 😂 The members also didn't expect Donghae to have a photoshopped image of Siwon with a shiny bald head! I kid you not; it's one of the funniest pictures I've ever seen! 😂😂😂
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| Donghae's candid photo of Yesung Credits go to the owner. |
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| Donghae's candid photo of Eunhyuk Credits go to the owner. |
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| Donghae's photo of bald Siwon Credits go to the owner. |
Then, it was Yesung's turn. He shared the most photos among them, and Kyuhyun joked that he wanted to go to the washroom. 😂 We all know that Yesung likes taking pictures to keep them as memories. He presented a bunch of old photos of him together with the members. The members teased him, but they also let him talk as he shared what he liked about his pictures.
Siwon's photos were pretty much himself in cherry blossom views. The members pointed out that he looked like the father from the classic Japanese anime "Crayon Shin-Chan". And gosh, they were right! 😂😂
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| Credits go to the owner. |
Kyuhyun talked about him playing online games while taking a bath and eating a couple of his favourite Japanese dishes. He shared 3 photos since they had to save time.
Heechul got everyone hollering and chuckling with his photos of his fellow members taking the Covid test. He shared a photo of Ryeowook and Eunhyuk getting swabbed. The culprits were not having it.
😂😂😂
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| Heechul's photo of Eunhyuk getting swabbed. Credits go to the owner. |
And last but not least, Leeteuk shared food photos and several random ones (which I don't really remember. 😅
Ballads
The show & tell segment was longer than they thought, but they transitioned smoothly to ballads to accompany the gloomy weather: "Raining Spell for Love", "One More Chance", "Lunar Eclipse", and "Callin' ". Ryeowook hit his high notes just as flawless as ever. He even sang Donghae's lines of the chorus at the near end of "One More Chance"! 😭💙 Eunhyuk's nightingale part in "Callin' " made my jaw drop. Whoever turned a blind eye to their singing needed to get their ears checked! Everyone in this group is a polished, talented singer. Each of the members has a distinctive, colourful and soulful voice.
D&E medley
Was this how the duo sing LIVE if they were to have their own concert?? Because I now am manifesting to attend their next D&E show one day! 😮👏 They sang "Sunrise", "B.A.D" and "Oppa Oppa". I was hoping that Eunhyuk would walk to my side of the stage, but he didn't...😞 Still, I saw close-up shots of his face on the giant screen in front of the humongous auditorium was incredibly handsome. 😍💘
Eunhyuk's birthday surprise
The group surprised the birthday boy with a rectangular, white cake with blue frosting and strawberries. Leeteuk sang the birthday song in English; he even added, "Happy birthday, dear my Eunhyuk". Awwww! Donghae was holding a camera, and he was about to move Eunhyuk's head towards the cake so that he would be cake-faced. But Eunhyuk refused. So, his best friend suggested the members smear a finger full of cake icing onto parts of his face. And they agreed. Donghae dabbed a splotch of the blue icing onto Eunhyuk's left cheek. Siwon smudged a big one under his nose. Yesung did his onto Eunhyuk's right cheek. A drop of Yesung's icing fell onto Eunhyuk's shirt. 😂😂😂 And Leeteuk dashed a long line of icing to give Eunhyuk a unibrow. 😂😂😂😂😂 Donghae shortly shot Eunhyuk's new look with his camera. Siwon and Yesung took selfies too. 😂😂😂😂😂😂 I can't with these idiots!!
Pre-closing
We danced with our lightsticks to the songs "You & I" and " Wow! Wow! Wow! ". It was my first time dancing to "You & I", and I had fun following the members' moves. They walked in a line down all sides of the stage, waving and smiling.
Pearl Sapphire Blue ocean
The members got their phones ready as they recorded us making our signature ocean. The hall became pitch black, but our fan wands were like stars illuminating a night sky. Section by section, the audience moved their light sticks up and down. My friend and I watched and waited until our turn to make a wave. And it was worth it. It was just as magical as the pearl sapphire ocean I first witnessed in real life when I attended my first Super Show two years ago.
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| poster for a fan project |
Closing
This was the perfect song to close the show! Everyone danced to the music in sync with the group. We were also holding the blue poster for the members to see ELF Japan's fan project. I felt like we were a lot more connected with them. We knew that the members were happy to perform again, and we were delighted to see them in an actual event.
The best part was when they were about to finish the song, explosions echoed in the air, and blue streamers rained down on us. My friend grabbed a handful of the streamers and stuffed them into her bag once the show ended. I noticed a lot of other ELFs did that too. I wondered why people do that. It wasn't till I spoke to some of my fellow ELF friends online that people keep streamers as a piece of memory. Darn it! I should have grabbed one that night! 😭
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| streamers all over the floor |
Surprise video from ELF Japan
Just as the members were about to leave, a video flashed on the main screen. Several lucky Japanese fans said sweet, thankful messages to Super Junior. One particular fanboy mentioned Yesung as his bias, and Yesung whooped happily. 😄 When the video finished playing, Heechul, Eunhyuk, Leeteuk and Donghae wept. 😢 Heechul even held a tissue to wipe his eyes. They were very touched by the video that they waved goodbye to us until the stage was empty and the lights were on.
Final thoughts
It's a bummer that Shindong wasn't there for the entire event because he was (and still is now) recovering from Covid. The group sang, danced, and rapped Shindong's lines in their songs that evening. And they all sounded great. In their group photos, they even saved a space for Shindong. Some even exchanged parts in some of the songs, and they sounded amazing! As expected from the K-Pop kings!
It's also a pity that we couldn't shout or respond vocally and loudly. The only way we could do to reply to SJ's questions and respond to their comments was by clapping. For instance, we clapped rhythmically to say Heechul's catchphrase "Nikko Nikko Ni". During the bridge part in Super Junior D&E's "Oppa Oppa", the screens in front of the audience showed clapping emojis. The emojis signalled us to clap as a way to replace saying the word "Oppa".
Hearing them sing was a blessing to my ears.
Adoring their looks and moves was a feast to my eyes.
Laughing along with them was healing to my being.
Dancing along with them in several songs, waving our lightsticks to the beat of the music and creating the pearl sapphire blue ocean was a new imprint on my memory archive.
Everything that night was surreal.
I met two more of my mutuals. One of them gave me two of her old lightsticks.
The other mutual had a gift for me. It's a small container with lip balm inside, and apparently, she made it herself! 😮 Everyone I met that day was so friendly and generous, and I'm very thankful to have found this fantastic community.
I miss them so much already! 😭I don't think the "blue light ecstasy" that is swirling in my entire mind and heart doesn't wear off till a few more days. I wish I could turn back time to relive that unforgettable day. This is definitely my highlight of 2022 so far. But there will be Super Show 9 soon this year, so I'll have to be mentally and financially ready for another SJ and ELF date.
