C-ute 2006 Cutie Circuit Concert

In celebration of C-ute's six year anniversary yesterday, here is C-ute's first ever solo concert tour.

I picked this concert to encode because it's special for a number of reasons: first, as said above, it's their first solo concert tour. Second, it's their first ever Cutie Circuit and it established an annual tradition of Kugatsu Touka wa Kyuuto no Hi ("September 10th is C-ute's Day") that still goes on today (they always hold a Cutie Circuit on 9/10 of every year).

It was also the first time we got to see the Cutie Girls MC as well as the DJ Maimai MC (which was originally meant to show off the songs from their, at the time, yet-to-be released first album). And finally, it's special because it's the only C-ute concert where you can see 8nin C-ute together. Megumi and Kanna both take part in the concert, but Megumi isn't pictured on the cover (that's because this concert was filmed on 9/10/06, was released 12/6/06, and Megumi's scandal/resignation from H!P happened around 10/31/06). Oh and this concert also has a special place in my heart because it was the first H!P DVD I ever bought.

While watching it last night, this concert totally took me back down memory lane from the time when I first became a C-ute fan in late 2007. I remember buying and watching this concert and not really knowing who the members were. Fast forward to yesterday when I watched it for the first time in a long time, I couldn't help but miss the three graduated members, especially Megumi. I always feel sad seeing how she left because it's just a waste of talent. The combination of her amazing voice and stand-out personality makes me wonder how different C-ute would be today with their original lead singer still with them. Who knows; maybe Megumi would have been my oshimen instead of Airi.

But I digress; this concert may be C-ute's debut concert, but it is just as good as any of their current tours. For starters, the MCs were pretty fun to watch. The first one was the standard self introduction. I had fun listening and watching them there to see how much they've changed. The second was an MC led by Megu. She, along with Nakky, Erika, Kanna, and Maimi played a word game. Using the phrase "Kyuuto no hi" ("C-ute's Day"), they were to come up with a sentence describing C-ute, using part of that phrase given to them. Megumi had "Kyu", Nakky had "u", Erika had "to", Kanna had "no", and Maimi had "hi". This MC went on for a while until the girls all gave answers satisfying to Megumi lol.

Maimi and Kanna bumping heads during that MC:

Then, Airi, Chisato and Mai went on to perform one of the greatest covers of First Kiss (especially given the circumstances). A bunch of people have been warming up to Chisato and her talents lately, but the first time I saw this performance I knew that girl would be special one day. It's a major reason she became one of my top five favorite H!P members in a time where I had trouble telling the members apart from one another.

This concert is pretty short (53 minutes), especially compared to today's two-hour-long concerts, but once again keep in mind that it was their first solo concert and not to mention that Sakura Chirari wasn't released until half a year later, so they didn't exactly have a lot songs to perform anyway. But, despite all of that, it's a memorable concert for the reasons I already went over. C-ute has come a long way since this concert and I look forward to more great work in the future.

For this special occasion, I went all high quality on this encode. It is 60fps and contains chapters (click for fullsize):

Also, it should be noted that this DVD is so old it predates widescreen DVDs (or at least before UFA started releasing them), so it's 720x480 4:3 square pixels. There is also a 16 minute bonus feature that contains some backstage footage, rehearsal footage, and a short interview with each member. Here's a random Airi moment during the bonus footage:

DJ Maimai sez check it out!

Congrats C-ute on being a group for six years! Here's to six more years!