Disclaimer: This report is based on my opinion and memories of the live. The content may have some mistakes to it.

Before I start, I just want to apologize for such a long post, but I hope you enjoy reading it!

I really only started following Minase Inori (hereby called “Inorin”) just about under a year ago. I have always wondered what her solo live would be like. Considering she had only held one solo live before this tour, it was quite rare to find someone who has attended her solo live (the venue for her first live only held 5000 people; prices for the tickets were jacked up to as high as 120k yen!! Of course resale of tickets were illegal! Though mostly for sellers though. They don’t want you to make profit off their tickets.)

I was lucky to be able to get tickets and attend the final live of Minase Inori’s 1st Tour after missing out on the regular sale of her tickets (tickets all sold out within the first few seconds!!!). This live is held at Makuhari Messe Event Hall on 7/1 2018.

The title of the tour is called「BLUE COMPASS」, which is also the title of her 2nd album that was released a few weeks before her tour started.

Merch Lineup

Like any other live, they will be selling live goods hours before the actual live. Since this is also the last day of the live tour (and also near Tokyo, which attracts the most audience compare to anywhere else in Japan), they decided the start the merch sales at 10am instead of noon~ early in the afternoon.

I woke up at 4:30am and left home at 5:00am. The place was quite far so I got to the venue area at around 7am. The line was already unimaginably long when I got there. Someone on twitter estimated there to be about 2500 people in line, not sure if it’s accurate or not, but I was at around the 1500 person mark from what I’m guessing. Just giving you an idea how dedicated some fans can be!! Keep in mind this is 7am so those before me got there way before 7am!!

Anyways, since there were so many people, the staffs decided to open the merch sales at 9:00 am instead of 10. It was one of the worst lines I have ever been in. It wasn’t because of the people or anything, it’s just it took forever to finally get to my turn to buy. On top of that, once the sun came out from behind the morning clouds, it felt like a war zone. I got to finally buy my goods at 12:30pm, around 5.5hours since I started lining up and about 3.5 hours after the line started to move.

This is what the line looked like after about 3.5 hours waiting in the line. They looped the line over the bridge cause it was way too long.

Finally got close to the merch reception area! About 4.5 hours into the wait for the line at this point!

Looking back over the bridge! Still a ton of people lining up behind us!

Before going to line up at the goods reception area, we were given this card (picture belong) to show that as a proof of what I’m assuming that we didn’t cut or sneak in the line. When it got to my turn to buy goods, nothing was sold out. However at the end of the day, one of the 3 available T-shirt designs were sold out (the other 2 designs only had S and M size left iirc), the key-chain and the cap was also sold out.

If you are curious to what the goods are, here is the link to all the lives goods they were selling for this live tour. Just click on or find “Goods Lineup” on the site page or just keep scrolling down.

They are actually having an after-sale of the live goods but I’m not sure if it works outside of Japan. The sale period is from 7/4 5pm to 7/12 11:59am (JST). Here is the link to the details.

After you finish buying your goods, you will be guided into an area with 3 booths plus an open area.

The open area is for taking pictures of this~

The 1st booth is for signing up for Inorin’s fanclub. And on the side of the table, you can take a picture of this!

The stickers on the suitcase are titles of her songs in her 2nd album!

The 2nd booth is for purchasing CDs, DVDs, and Blu-rays and since this is a live, they usually come with special prizes. This time around it’s 2 kinds of promotional posters (for 「Ready Steady Go!」Live Blu-ray and 「BLUE COMPASS」Album) and a printed signed Inorin bromide. Here is a picture of it:

Enough about the goods and the line up, lets skip to right when we get to enter the venue!

Before the Live

Right after we get through the gate, we can see this lion dancing. Kind of creepy imo, maybe it’s just not my thing haha. Pretty sure this is KING Record’s mascot~

Of course there were lots of flowers too! Most of it is from the business side like Seiyuu Granprix, Inorimachi, etc… The best ones are of course from the fans! Most of them looks extremely well decorated!

Just going to share some of them which I liked~

This is from her Chinese fans~

This is my favorite one of all of them!

Another one I though was pretty cute~

After taking pictures of these flowers, I went to take a look at the stage.

I took these pictures after the live was over. They said we are not allowed to take pictures of the venue, but I saw lots of people doing so after the live (and staff didn’t stop us) so maybe it is okay if it was after everything was over!

This is what the stage looks like from the arena floor! The 2 huge white bright blocks are screens~

This is what was shown on the screen!

There is this compass like thing at the centre of the stage. I wonder what it’s for? Hmm…

Schedule & Set List

Video#1

The live started pretty much on time. Shortly after the clock strikes 5:30pm, the arena dimmed and they started playing a video which was about 5minutes long. It’s just a video of Inorin doing things and we are watching her as if we are invisible. She didn’t speak or anything. Pretty sure there is probably a meaning behind this but I couldn’t figure it out. If you have seen her first live Blu-ray, it’s the same sort of video.

After the video ends, music started playing and Inorin came on stage to sing! She came out wearing this!

Now, before I start talking about songs, I want to talk a bit more about dances. Inorin said it herself that she is not good at dancing, so I won’t be able to write much about dances in this report since she just didn’t dance that much. Mostly just hand movements here and there. I will give a short comment on each song instead~

Also I just want to mention that Inorin’s pen light (hereby called “blade”) colour is light blue!

1. Heart no Iro

The first song she sang was Heart no Iro, which is also the first song listed on her new album, 「BLUE COMPASS」. Song started off slow, but once it got to the chorus, the speed picked up!

2. Yume no Tsubomi

One of the classic Inorin songs! This is her debut single and this song was actually the starting song for her first ever solo live! Really high pace song! Extremely fun to dance and jump along with the song! Highly recommended song of hers!

Here the MV of the song!

3. identity

Another high pace song from her new album! It’s one of my personal favorite from the album! The chorus is absolutely amazing!

MC#1

After 「identity」, she gave out a small MC session, introducing herself and talked about how this was her first ever solo arena live.

She then asked the audience if we would like to see her spin (to see her dress from all angles). Of course the audience cheered her on like there was no tomorrow. After spinning, Inorin then asked if we would like to see it again. Without hesitating at all, the audience cheered loud and hard for her again. Inorin then said, she isn’t nice enough of a person to do this twice (teasing us), but then proceeded to spin (this time counterclockwise) again. She then complimented how Inorin is such a nice person, spinning a second time for the audience (Yeah, she complimented herself). The crowd bursts out laughing~!

It was a fairly short MC and she said she was excited to sing here. She ended this MC by saying the phrase “BLUE COMPASS, START!”

4. Aimaimoko

After the short MC, she went straight into her next song, 「Aimaimoko」, which is the OP from the anime 「Tsurezure Children」. It’s a slow pace love song. I love this song very very much (my favorite Inorin song!) but it’s not really suited as a live as you can’t really get hyped from it. Regardless she sang it beautifully! The blades were a mix of both pink and light blue! Pink is the image colour for 「Aimaimoko」as you can see from her CD jacket.

5. Tabi no Tochuu

「Tabi no Tochuu」is another slow paced song from her first album. It’s one of the songs that caught my attention from the first album! Again, this wasn’t a fast song, so the audience couldn’t really get hyped from this song either. I have to say at this point in the live, I was a bit disappointed because although the songs are great, I didn’t feel like I was really getting the “live” experience. Still more songs to come so I still have hope! (:

Band Intro

At the end of the song where she was done singing (and when the BGM/ band is still playing), Inorin left the stage to get changed. Meanwhile the band continues to play (Oh yeah I forgot to mention she uses a live band!), Inorin starts to introduce each band member via speaker which I assumed was prerecorded. There were a total of 5 members and when she introduced each members individually, they got to each play a short 30 second or so solo to show off their skill! Really impressed with all of them with their solo! I have to say the drum dude had the coolest hair and solo though!

After the introduction, the introduction to the next song starts playing and Inorin came back on stage wearing this new outfit below!

Super cute outfit, one of my favorites of the night (still more outfits to come!).

6. Shoo-Bee-Doo-Wap-Wap!

Really really interesting song! The title is already weird by itself, but the beat and the rhythm of the song feels like something Inorin has never sang before. Super super catchy song! In my opinion, it’s one of those songs where you got to listen to it a few times before loving it! The audience at this point is starting to get more into her live!

7. Cinematic Diary

Another surprising song from the 2nd album. Interesting rhythm like 「Shoo-Bee-Doo-Wap-Wap!」but this song has more of a cutesy feel to it. This is one of the song that made an impression on me on my first listen though. Also a catchy song!

MC#2

So for the 2nd MC, there are 2 main points that are worth talking about.

First thing is that she learned to skipped! She was super proud of it! I believe the context for this was that in the making of the BD for her first live, she was skipping really awkwardly and a lot of people “made fun” of her. But this time around, she proved to everyone that she could do it. And she did it beautifully! The audience absolutely loved it as well, shouting and cheering her on!

After skipping, Inorin prepared herself to introduce the next songs. First off talking about how the theme of the next few songs will be summer related since it’s now summer!

8. Natsu no Yakusoku

To be completely honest, this was the first time hearing this song for me. Since it was a coupling song with 「Starry Wish」that was not included in any of the album, I sort of missed this song while making the playlist for all her songs. The first impression of the song is that it’s a slow yet beautifully sad song from the feels of it. Again, there were no calls in this song, and I don’t remember much dancing at all. Overall I would say it was ok. I would guess it would be one of those songs that you will grow to love after listening to it many times!

9. Natsu Yume

Now, this song was the summer song I was thinking of when she mentioned that she will be singing summer themed song. Song started off really calm and happy, feeling like we are laying down in the middle of a grass field, with the wind blowing gently. The chorus is just feels like a piece of art. No matter how you look at it, it’s just lovable. You just feel happy listening to it!

10. Korekara mo.

Make that 3 slower pace songs in a row! No hate though! Although these songs are not what you typically hype the audience up with. They were all extremely beautiful songs and a pleasure to listen to. This is another new song from her 2nd album! Once all the lyrics of the song were sung, she ended at the top of the stair chair at the centre of the stage. Then the got transported via an elevator like system down below the stage. The venue’s light dimmed and the 2nd video began to play.

Video#2

The video, like the first video mentioned above is pretty much about the same thing. It’s just a continuation of the previous video. There isn’t much to comment on since no words were spoken. If you are interested, they will definitely include it in the Blu-ray for the 2nd live when it comes out! Inorin also changed clothes during the video. The new outfit can be seen below.

This outfit personally is my less favorite. I don’t hate any of them, I just like the other designs/ colours better. My friend who went to the live with me on the other hand thought this was the best outfit! If you like clothing which exposes the shoulder, you may like this outfit haha.

11. Million Futures

I’m still having trouble deciding which song is the representative song for her 2nd album. Is it this song or is it 「BLUE COMPASS」? This song may be the representative song because the MV of the album is for this song and also it is way more energetic and catchy than 「BLUE COMPASS」. Of course both songs are completely different in their own way so it really depends on how you look at it.

This song in my opinion is the turning point of this live. Finally a high pace energetic song! Also with song calls! Yay!! I have to say, this is one of the top songs of the album (many others will probably agree with me as well) and there is definitely a reason for it! The chorus is so powerful and moving, you can feel her emotion flowing through the arena. Rather than her usual cute image, this songs really pushes the cool image out of her. As for the blade, I think some people changed the colour of their blade to white to match the theme colour of the song, but white usually isn’t in most of the blades so most of them are still light blue!

If you have to choose one song to recommend from her 2nd album, this is probably the safest and best choice!

Here is a link for the short MV version!

12. Starry Wish

Here we go!!! More hype songs! This is another well known Inorin song! I believe this is the ED theme for one of the Nanoha movie/ TV series or something. I feel like every time she sings this song, she pours her emotion into singing this song. The chorus is especially powerful! This is another highly recommended song of hers! Oh yeah, some people changed the colour of their blade to ocean blue to match the jacket colour of the song!

Here is the MV for the song! Give it a listen!

13. Hoshikuzu Contrail

Make that 3 in a row! Holy crap! Before this live, I really was mutual about this song, but I fell in love with it afterwards! It’s such a great live song! So much energy and Inorin just looks cool as hell on the stage!

MC#3

This MC I’m not 100% sure if it happened after 「Hoshikuzu Contrail」or before, but I know it’s before she changed out of this red outfit. There is one cool take away from this MC.

Inorin did the spin for her dress like before, but this time around, Inorin said she wanted all of us to spin as well. She said that it was embarrassing to spin around just by herself, so she wanted everyone to spin as well (while she watch at the top of the step at the centre of the stage). She instructed us on the direction of the spin and made a call on when to spin (so we don’t kill each other while spinning haha). And so we did it… except there was one problem. Some people spin at different speed, so what ended up happening was that we all completed the spin, but it was a bit disorganized~! Regardless though, she really enjoyed it and thanked all of us for doing it! It was really fun for us too! She finished off the MC with a lead in into the next song.

14. Sangatsu no Gunjou

And it’s finally here, 「Sangatsu no Gunjou」. This is by far my favorite song of the album (I think a lot of people like it too). I had my eyes on this song since I listened to it the first time. The rhythm and melody is just so so so beautiful. The chorus is absolutely amazing. I can’t phrase this song enough!! This is one of those songs that has a really powerful chorus! This is my personal recommendation of this album!

After she sang all the lyrics of the song, lights dimmed on her and she again went down the elevator system to get a quick dress change. The band took over for a good minute or so and she came back with a new outfit! This is my favorite outfit of the whole live! So plain and simple yet it just looks so good on her. The dress just has Inorin written all over it!

15. Arpeggio

She went straight into singing after the clothing change. 「Arpeggio」is the next song. This performance single-handedly made me fall in love with this song! I thought it was just an ok song before, but holy crap was I wrong. This song is freaking beautiful! Plus there are some fun clapping part in the song you can follow along! If listen to the song closely, you will be able to hear clapping in some of the part (that’s the cue for you to clap during the live!). Like the title itself, this song has so much build up and is just amazing to listen to!

16. Happy Birthday

Ayyy!! Is your birthday in July? If it is, get ready for it! Inorin asked whose birthday is in July in the venue (this live is on July 1st). Of course, miraculously half the people in the venue rose their hand(lol). She said this next song is dedicated to those who’s birthday is in July. Must be a treat for those received this song sang personally from Inorin! She added that please look forward to future lives as she may sing the songs to people who’s birthday is in the month of the live!

Oh in case you are wondering, this song is called 「Happy Birthday」, but it’s Inorin’s original song, not the “Happy birthday to you” song. It’s a pretty catchy song!

17. harmony ribbon

Can this live get any better at this point? 「harmony ribbon」is not as well known as some of her other singles. It’s a bit of a slower pace song, but packs tons of emotion! There is a section at the end of the song where she goes “Lalalala….”. That’s our cue to singalong! She is handing us the mic in the picture below~! We also wave our hands like windshield wipers while we singalong! God she is making me love songs I thought were just decent before! Not complaining though!

You may have took notice to the big star in the middle of the stage. It’s actually a compass (like BLUE COMPASS) and it changes colour throughout the live!

Here is the MV of 「harmony ribbon」! If you are curious about the “lalalala….” part I mentioned earlier, it’s at around the 5min mark of the MV!

MC#4

This is the final MC of the live, as she announces that the next song will be the final song of the live! How to better end it then to sing the song that shares the same title as your new album and more importantly your live tour name! Last up is 「BLUE COMPASS」. But before that, she announced that there will be a king super live taking place this year in Tokyo, Taiwan, and Shanghai. It’s already old news to us since it was already announced the day before, but the live would probably feel weird without any news at all. Plus it’s a good chance to plug the live in anyways~

18. BLUE COMPASS

The final and last song of the live tour… a complete 360 degree change from the previous chain of songs. Extremely slow pace song, but probably one of the more difficult songs to since due to the range. Another highly recommended song of the album! Just wait till you get to the last part of the song, get ready to be surprised! This song just has beauty written all over it! It’s one of those songs you just feel like crying because of how powerful it sounds (‘:

With that, she thanked everyone along with the band members and left the stage. The live ended…. Or so you thought.

Then came the barrage of chant….

Yes! A chant for encore!!!

Wait, but sounds different than usual….?!?!?

…

Instead of the usual “An-ko-ru, an-ko-ru” (this is “encore’s pronunciation in Japanese), we instead heard a chant of….

“I-no-rin, I-no-rin”

Woah, never in a thousand year have I ever thought a chant for encore would be with the artist’s name!! Everyone need to do this more often!!

ENCORE

But wait!!! Instead of coming out on stage, she appeared at the side of the stage by the second floor and third floor area in a looping cart! WOAH WOAH WOAH she is gonna loop the whole arena!!!

She also changed to her live goods clothing for the encore.

EN1(19). MELODY FLAG

For 「MELODY FLAG」, Inorin looped half the arena. waving and singing while riding the cart thing as seen above (obviously she can’t really dance on there haha). At this point, the crowd was just going wild, screaming every last breath they have left (since the live will be over soon, might as well give it everything you got), dancing and jumping around, just trying to have a good time with the final moments of the live nearing.

Then came the main dessert of the show…

EN2(20). Ready Steady Go!

「Ready Steady Go!」is by far the best live song Inorin has ever sang. The song just screams “LIVE LIVE LIVE” by itself. She told us to pull out our towels and follow her lead.

Yes, this song uses towels instead of blades, but of course you are still allow to use the blades if you don’t have towel. Or be me and use one in each hand haha.

This song has got absolutely everything, calls, jumps, dances, you name it… thus making it the perfect live song. Like the previous song, everyone is giving their all screaming and jumping and cheering. Gosh, this is by far the best moment of the live. No words can describe the atmosphere and the excitement in that moment.

In case you are wondering how the towel was used, when we get to the chorus of the song, we swing our towel in a circular motion like a cowboy swinging his rope. Very tiring if you do it for a long period of time but really really fun!

Inorin looped the last half of the arena and by the end of the song she ended up back in the middle of the stage.

Here is 「Ready Steady Go!」’s MV! Her mechanic outfit is super cute >W<

MC#5

Of course you can’t do an encore without another MC! This time around, she thanked everyone for calling her out again for the encore, talked about how much fun she had and in general just all those thankful words. She was really glad this live tour was a huge success.

Then came the announcement… announcement of something that has not been announced before yet.

Without pause, the audience went with the response of “OOOOOOOOOOOHHHHH?”

…

“This live will be made into a blu-ray disc!”

“WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO”

The crowd went wild again, but this announcement was sort of expected. Last live of the tour, first live tour, a crap ton of camera around during the live.

Then it continued…

“But there is more…”

“OOOOOOOOOOOHHHHH?”

“The making of Minase Inori’s 6th single has been decided!”

The crowd exploded with cheers and screams. The atmosphere was insane.

That’s an announcement that we were not really expecting. It probably took some people by surprise. But all in all it was a great day to be an Inorin fan!

Inorin then added that both the Live BD and the new single will be released on the same day, which is October 17th, 2018.

With that, she announces that the next song will be the last song of the tour.

She then said she will be singing the song from the「BLUE COMPASS」album which she has yet to sing yet.

In that moment I could not think of which song it was. It turns out it was 「Sweet Melody」.

EN3(21). Sweet Melody

To be completely honest, this song is probably my least favorite of the new album. The melody and the rhythm just isn’t catchy at all, it isn’t really upbeat or high paced, nor is it emotional. Just not my cup of tea I guess. Regardless though, it’s the final song for the live, I gave it everything I had along with everyone else.

Nothing special really happened during the song. However like any other live at the end of the very last song, there is a “tradition” to do a jump as the ending for the live. The band member usually comes up with a different beat at the very end of the song to help get the timing of everyone’s jump together. And to end the live, we all jumped together and cheered as loudly as we can to close out the night.

Inorin and her bandmates came out on stage together to thank everyone, left, right, centre. Then one last time, without mic, shouting thank you to the crowd and left the stage.

As soon as they left the stage, a new chant started.

…

“Mo ikkai, mo ikkai”

…

…

Yup, so you thought the live was over? NOPE, here is to a DOUBLE ENCORE!!!

The “Mo ikkai” above translates to “One more time” in English. So this chant is calling out to Inorin to perform one more time for us!

Double encore isn’t that uncommon if you are attending the LAST LIVE OF THE TOUR, or if it’s like a special situation, ex. someone in the group is retiring.

MC#6

One last MC…

Inorin really kept it short and sweet, thanking us again for calling her out. Talked about how thankful she is for this tour and having such great fans.

To round out the live, she said she practiced and prepared this one last song for us and hope we enjoy it.

I wonder what song it is…. hmmm….

…

…

…

Inorin: “Kirin”

Audience: “OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH”

You know where this is going!!!!!

Inorin: “Lemon”

Audience: -Screams-

Yup, Inorin has done it. The double encore song will be 「Massugu ni, Toumei ni.」AKA: the Kirin Lemon song.

The audience went completely wild.

DOUBLE ENCORE

DE1(22): Massugu ni, Toumei ni. (AKA: the Kirin Lemon song)

For those who are wondering what the hell this song is or what the hell I’m talking about, this is a song Inorin sang for as a promotion to the drink “Kirin Lemon”. Take a look at this official video! The song is surprising good considering it’s sort of like a “commercial”. She is super cute in the video too!

Again, this last song felt like everyone is on drugs haha, we are all just too happy and excited to be part of this live. Dancing and singing our hearts out! Trying to make the best of every remaining second of the live. One interesting thing about the blade is that some people changed it to the colour yellow to match the colour of lemons!

And the end of the song, we all did the jump again to finish off the live. Inorin once again thanked everyone for coming and left the stage. She posted these photos after the live ended on her Twitter account~

One last picture with the bandmates for the tour!

One last thing before I finish the live section! Inorin has a youtube channel herself, and her team has uploaded short versions of all her songs in her 1st and 2nd album. Below is the link to her first and second album (trial version) if you want to give it a listen!

1st Album 「Innocent Flower」

2nd Album「BLUE COMPASS」

Final Thoughts

My overall thought of the live is that it’s was a really good live. Although the first half was not really my cup of tea, the songs were overall enjoyable. The second half really picked up the slack though! Second half was definitely the driving force of this live!

I wouldn’t say this is the best live I have been to, but it was definitely worth my money for sure! The best live I have been to goes to TrySail with their Makuhari performance on their 2nd live tour.

If I were an Inorin fan, I would 100% recommend going to her live! You get to see her in person, buy her goods, enjoy the “Inorin” atmosphere, and see and meet lots of “Inorin” fans! (Hey! That’s the best place to find her fans!) She is also really goof when she does her MC! Of course, you can also hear your favorite songs of hers live.

However, if I’m there to enjoy the Japanese live atmosphere or live singing, I personally would not recommend her live. I will tell you why.

First of all, she is a fairly new artist, she doesn’t really know how to move and lead the audience as oppose to more experienced artist.

Secondly, she unfortunately cannot dance. You just see her standing in place waving her arms most of the time. Of course some people don’t mind that, but I’m just saying if you decide to go to her live, expect to both you and Inorin to not move much.

Lastly, she seems to struggle from time to time when she sings live. I’m not sure of the exact cause, could be her songs are just generally harder to sing, could be something else. Inorin sometimes cannot hit the high notes/ hit it in the wrong pitch. I am not saying she is a bad singer or anything, but don’t be surprised when you find some of her live songs sounding different than the studio version.

Personally I really like Minase Inori, so all 3 points I mentioned were already outweighed by the fact I get to see her live!

If you want to here a great live artist sing, my personal favorite is Kotobuki Minako’s live! She is a member of Sphere and her live voice sounds just like her studio voice. Very amazing.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this!

I hope you enjoyed it as much as I have when I was writing this! (New record! 5.5k+ words!!) Feel free to let me know if you have any questions!

Until next time~~

Salo

PS: The live photos and the Twitter photos are not my photos, I found them via Twitter/ Google search.

Here are the links to them:

Live photos link.

Twitter photos.