Hikaru Nishida in Los Angeles Disc Acquired!

 Ahhhh, I managed to get ahold on yet another missing piece in my humble Hikaru Nishida collection when I saw Hikaru’s HIKARU NISHIDA IN LOS ANGELES laserdisc up for sale at Suruguya! As some of you know, this is a video that I’ve been wanting to get for some time now (as documented in this blogpost)- and now I’ve finally GOT IT!

Not a real Concert or Video Collection per se, this is one of those videos where it’s more a documentary-style shot video, with Hikaru’s music playing in the background. I suppose you COULD call them “Music Videos” (and in fact, one of the tracks, the opening “Oh My God Da Ne” video of Hikaru just driving around LA in a convertible, WAS included in her official PV collection), but they’re certainly not “official” versions, that’s for sure!

Still FUN to travel along with Hkaru as she shows you the sights and sounds of LA. The clips are intercut with Hikaru giving information of famous places to visit in LA, and you have to wonder how much of this information from 1991 could be relevant in this day and age! But I bet it would be a great time machine for someone who lived in LA at the time, just to see how things were back then!

Little by Little I'm slowly completing my Nishida Hikaru Collection!!

A 1991 Manatsu Jouzu Concert Mention...

 

Grabbed a whole bunch of vintage BOMB! magazines, and in a 1991 issue I was smitten to see some short coverage of Hikaru's concert release "1991 Manatsu Jouzu Concert ", the concert release of hers I consider her BEST!

Wish they had more footage, maybe they had more in another issue that year since the tour went on for a few months....

A Laserdisc I STILL Don't Have: "Hikaru Nishida in Los Angeles"

 

As I had mentioned before in my post gushing about Hikaru's wonderful debut concert "Manatsu NO Surprise",my primary goal was to get all of Hikaru's Concert laserdiscs, and while I (happily) succeeded in acquiring all of Hikaru's Live Releases, there were still many outlying non-concert laserdisc releases I'm missing, and one of them is the above pictured "Hikaru in L.A".

Not only Do I not Have the disc, I'm not even sure what's IN it. I see songs listed on the back cover. Is it an MV collection? Is it like Coco's "Waiiha De CoCo" where they just play the songs in the background while the artist is walking around town? Would DEARLY like to know!

My Hikaru Nishida Concert Collection is Complete!!!

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As some of you may know, one of my favorite J-pop artists of all time is 80’s idol Hikaru Nishida, and besides feverishly acquiring all her CDS and Singles, was also desperate to get all her concert laserdiscs that she had released thru the years- Fortunately, at the time I got into Hikaru, most of her Concert output was still available to get through special orders at Tower Records and Hakabundo….
There was, however, ONE Concert laserdisc that I was unable to acquire, her very first concert release, MANATSU NO SURPRISE. This wasn’t too much of a shock, as both the debut concert releases of fellow Pony Canyon artists Coco (Heart To Heart) and Ribbon (Parade Parade) were equally hard to obtain. But OHHH, How I wanted it- Not only was it Hikaru’s debut, but she was covering songs from her first few albums (from Clear to Tokimeki No Prologue) that she didn’t perform later in the concerts I had. And some of them were songs I really loved!!!
 I tried in so many ways to get my hands on this concert, and some of you may even remember that when I had my old geocities J-drama trading page, Hikaru’s Manatsu No Surprise was high up there!!! But to no avail! Even Otokichi Premium, which filled in holes for so many of my J-pop wants (including those two aforementioned Coco and ribbons discs) came up empty.

My only option left was to wait for it to show up on ebay or the like. Only took 2 DECADES but a copy of Manatsu No Surprise FINALLY came up for sale on ebay recently for a tidy sum, but a price I had NO hesitation paying!!! Well, after MONTHS of waiting (Disc came all the way from Australia, of all places!) , my Hikaru Laserdisc came in today, and WOW, it was WELL worth the wait!!!!

The disc was as beautiful as could be and, aside from some banged-up edges inflicted during shipment (wish it was packaged better, TBH), was a bright and glossy as if it had just come off the shelves! As all Pony canyon fans know, one of the nice perks of the laserdisc is the sweet insert full of colorful pics, and this was no exception!

And the actual concert itself? PERFECTION!

Man, from the moment she took the stage performing her song “Natural Summer Days”, Hikaru took control with the confidence of a seasoned performer! After seeing so many artists’ debut concerts and having to watch a lot of shy and awkward performances, it was a ray of sunshine seeing someone so doggone CAPTIVATING!!

She then went into”Fifteen” and by the time she got to “Koi Wa Shiroi T-Shirt”, I was breaking out in goosebumps, she was so DARN GREAT!!!!!  

She then went into”Fifteen” and by the time she got to “Koi Wa Shiroi T-Shirt”, I was breaking out in goosebumps, she was so DARN GREAT!!!!!  Fifteen, Pun Pun Pun, Te No Hira no Watashi, Namida no Pearl Moon, Sorezore no Hibe E, Hikaru's voice and the awesome LIVE BAND sounded so great!!

Loved this one scene during Te No Hira no Watashi: A fan's dream come true: Someone threw a stuffed plush seal onto stage while Hikaru was strutting along and she scooped it up and held it during her perf, SO CUTE!!

Side Note: Some have told me how shocked they are to see Hikaru ranked so HIGH on my "Favorite J-Pop Artists" list (ranked at #2) above others, but it's watching terrific performances like this that reassures me that her ranking is well deserved...She's absolutely one of my most beloved artists!!!

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

My Hikaru Nishida Collection (So Far!)

After watching my Hikaru Nishida PV Collection video (twice!), I just HAD to dig up all my Hikaru Goods, and decided to take pics of 'em all! In celebration of the this awesome Nishida Hikaru DVD release, I present my entire Nishida Hikaru Collection along with its new addition!

Updated: 07/13

First up, my Nishida Hikaru 3cm Singles Collection…

Then Albums, EPs and Maxi-Singles…

Hikaru Photobooks and Magazines:

And my Hikaru Videos including the *new* DVD Collection!!!

Just about the only thing I wish they could have included were the commercial inserts that were in the original two video clip collections because those were just as fun to watch as the videos themselves! But I’l still pleased as punch here- So NICE to see my favorite Pony Canyon Idol girls in DVD format! Now if only RIBBON can FINALLY get a DVD treatment of their own, I will be SET!

* This Single was a song Hikaru sang with a group called Sweet Beat Soul, MAN, whatever happened to these guys? They accompanied Hikaru on a couple of her later concerts and they were SOOOO GOOD! The guy and girl had such beautiful voices, they really gave the concerts an added PUNCH!
Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com