Hana Shounen Baddies - Boys Stare Ballerina at Ebisu LIQUIDROOM

If there’s one thing Japan does better than anyone else, it’s sushi. If there's another, it's Japan's architects’ brilliant use of space, evidenced in part by the mass of Tokyo live houses constructed below the surface. While decidedly above ground, Ebisu LIQUIDROOM still manages to maintain a deceptive front. Lodged amongst modest office buildings and cafes, the actual cubic footage of the venue feels far greater than that of its neighbors combined. If Sunday’s flood of Hana Shounen Baddies fans was any indication, every cubic inch counts.

The venue is right off the sidewalk, so fans aren’t allowed to wait outside. Even as early as 90 minutes prior to opening, several dozen fans had assembled on the building’s second floor, fully monopolizing the cushions and seats flanking the walls. The café within LIQUIDROOM was almost empty, leading one to believe the fans were either spending the live hungry or had arrived even hours earlier to eat beforehand. While the bar to the side also remained vacant, fans had already begun ravaging the goods corner, with some items already facing extinction. Through all this, several fans in pink shirts passed out free glow-sticks to anyone in sight. More and more fans began trickling into the venue — here, “fangirls” may be just as valid, given the 99:1 gender ratio — and by the time the stage was set to open the staff had a situation on their hands.

As per the norm, fans lined up in order of their ticket number in groups of ten. Ten became twenty and twenty became fifty, and by 5:50 pm the line of people had begun to curve within the waiting room. At this rate, a delay was almost certain, but thankfully the staff was able to process the fans without incident. The horde inched back down to the first floor and into a previously blocked off section of the building, soon revealing a second bar, a second goods corner, and a metric ton of congratulatory flowers. The hundreds of fans hastily gathered in, or rather, taken over the standing room. A lone disco ball, joined by a few massive colored balls, hung over the fans’ heads, a harmlessly ominous taste of things to come.

In the meantime, a slideshow, projected onto a white cloth in front of the set curtains, served as the pre-show entertainment. Sepia video clips of the band members showed what and what not to do during the live, led by their cartoon mascot Badegg — literally, an upset-looking egg, but also a clever play on word to fit the band’s “furyou-hinshu,” or no-good bunch, as in a bunch of “bad eggs,” subtitle. Promotional pictures of the band in various types of garb cycled in a loop. The fans, however, were mostly in casual wear, save for a select few adorned in heavy visual kei makeup/dress.

By 6:30 pm, half-an-hour past schedule, everyone had successfully been stuffed into the standing room and the surrounding area. Then the lights dimmed. The SE played. The fans began to jitter. In one fell swoop, the cloth and curtains were removed to reveal the Hana Shounen Baddies. Each wore black, almost Chinese zombie-like outfits, the same as those worn to promote their newest single, Ballerina. Their opening song, however, was the upbeat Balloon, and at the opening scream of the band’s guitarist Minemura, the large balloons above the fans’ heads popped to reveal… more balloons. Fans immediately took to tossing the balloons throughout the venue, with guitarist Takuma and bassist Tsubuku deflecting balloon attacks effortlessly.

Now, let’s have a review. Balloons within balloons kicks off a song called Balloon. A mascot called Badegg supports a band with an image of being a bunch of bad eggs. This couldn’t possibly be legit, and yet in the world of Hana Shounen Baddies the live must have been business as usual. Maybe this explains why, from the start, the fans jumped in perfect unison, moving where they were told to move, laughing at the slightest hint of humor. To the band’s credit, there was plenty of humor to be had from the start, amongst other examples the vocalist BAKU panicking at the slightest hint of a nearby popping balloon. The highlight of the evening’s MCs, though, was a Wii Remote. Yes, a Wii Remote, which Minemura used to send out a DAN DA-DAAAAN horn whenever a band member said or did something stupid. Needless to say the fans reveled in this.

At first glance, the band might resemble a “typical” popular visual kei group: young, wearing the same clothing, and exhibiting the same vocal screams and crowd or mind-control as their peers. Songs like Blind Good Girl and NBL thusly served as ample crowd-pleasers, but then things got weird — eeriely weird — a kind of weirdness that leaves one guiltily wanting more. In the middle of Oi WAKAME, a group of Vegas-style dancers, replete with colorful feathers and skimpy outfits, hopped onto stage and began dancing with the band members. Rather than being jealous, the horde of female fans laughed and danced with those on stage; the fact that one of the dancers was a man in his 60’s probably helped.

Things only got more bizarre when drummer Hiroshi, comparably dormant along with Takuma and Tsubuku thus far, donned a massive afro and took center stage. BAKU replaced him on drums, and with this the unabashedly cheery Bombieman was performed. For these next several minutes, lyrical and musical convention was thrown out the window, leaving only jumping and vivid amusement for those in the room.

The band went back to “normal” after Bombieman, singing some of their more mellow songs before closing their main set with Blue Bad Boy, their energetic first single and still a fan favorite, followed by their “final” song of the evening, Kyûtai Jûryoku. A brief pause later, the band reemerged with pink t-shirts and a brand-new song, the ballad-flavored Blanco, set for release next year. The audience stood still throughout, only to resume applause and the usual fan furor for the next two songs.

After the first encore set, another slideshow presented the release date for Blanco, January 19th, along with a host of upcoming tour dates. Of particular note was the band’s newly-decided one-man live in Akasaka Blitz, set for March 12th with advance ticket sales to begin the next day. The crowd roared, and almost instinctively the Baddies returned on stage for their final two songs. The crowd sang along with every word, moved along with every step, and was fully rewarded for its efforts; at the final MC celebrating Minemura’s birthday, BAKU, declaring his respect for the guitarist, briefly kissed him on the lips. The drummer and bassist mirrored the kiss minutes later with one final DAN DA-DAAAAN horn.

Whether the horn signals the approach of the band, wholly represents its bizarre humor, or simply served as a touch of spice in the Hana Shounen Baddies live remains to be seen. Yet given the energy of the crowd, and with the bizarre humor in full effect, an equally bizarre major debut may approach sooner than one would expect.


Set list:

01. Balloon
02. Book
03. Blind Good Girl
04. Tulip
05. Pocket
06. NBL
07. Oi WAKAME
08. Bombieman
09. Rakuba
10. Otomezakura
11. Rockin’ Princess
12. Sakotsu ni Nemure
13. Ballerina
14. Blue Bad Boy
15. Kyûtai Jûryoku

Encore 1
01. Blanco (New Song)
02. Rebecca
03. Untouchable

Encore 2
01. Shônen [B] Out
02. Blossom