Yuuka Sugai: Her special "Soko Magattara Sakurazaka?" graduation shows recap, part one

 

 No pics like those above on this show but think all fans will enjoy these two posts. Yuuka's graduation concert took place November 9th at the Tokyo Dome, on the 6th and 13th of that month were her final appearances on Keya's 'Soko' variety show. Know I'm a bit late with these recaps but the subs for them weren't done until January 3rd, won't complain as at least they were done. This post has the recap for episode #106 that aired on November 6th, the following post has the recap for show #107 which I won't view until finishing this up.

 So while these posts won't be overly exciting know that Yuuka does have many fans here who will enjoy them. It may also our last chance to see her in a 'live setting' and will say I've been a huge fan of her over the years, wish she had more posts. Think I would place her either third or fourth on my list of all time Keya members though no one is within a country mile of the top two!!!! This will be a mini post as I just took 47 screenshots which is a low total for me! Will let them do most of the 'talking' and they do go in order of the action. Let's get to what took place in this first of two special shows, the hosts are Tsuchida on the left and Sawabe on the right.

EDIT: Viewed the second part of this special sendoff which was much better, took twenty more screenshots than I did for this show and that's the next post.

 Will say while this was an enjoyable view like most of their shows it was really just kind of so-so and have a feeling the second part of this special sendoff will be a tearjerker! As you can see above Yuuka had a grand entrance as she was escorted in by a pair of butlers played by Mizuho and Ten. I've always thought that Yuuka came from a wealthy family so could that have been the main reason for butlers? So this first show was all about the things that Yuuka had always wanted to do in Keya but perhaps couldn't because she was the group's captain. The first thing on her list was to be praised and there was a two part special show back in September with that theme.

 All the members were there but we didn't hear any praising of Yuuka from the first generation members, perhaps they'll be the main focus of the next show. However I thought the highlight of this first special show was what the second generation members did for her graduation. They prepared a 365 day calendar for 2023 and for each day a member said something uplifting about what Yuuka has meant to them and the group as a whole. Well, not everyone understood what the word Praise means as a few members, such as Rena, gave a goofy comment for a day and each member had 28 days of comments they made about Yuuka. She looked at about ten assorted days throughout the year and I really felt this first segment was by far the best, would have liked to have seen all 365 days.

 Rena can be a bit ditzy on occasion and because of that she's often one of the highlights of these shows. Did learn then that May 11th is Children's Day in Japan. Wish that segment was a bit longer or there were some other kinds of praises but that wasn't to be so it was on to the next part of what Yuuka had wanted to do while a member of Keya. Being the captain probably meant she couldn't goof around all that often so her wish was to prank as many of her mates as possible, three scenarios were set up with the staff to do that. However it wasn't what Yuuka was expecting as these turned out to be 'reverse pranks' where she was the one who was pranked though she didn't realize it at the time. The staff had let on to the other members what Yuuka's grand schemes were, they put on some so-so acting performances to make Yuuka believe they had been pranked which wasn't revealed until this show.

 Want to keep these recaps a bit on the shortish side so will zoom through Yuuka's second wish which was to scare some of her mates though they knew exactly what was coming. There were three short segments to this, first off was terrifying the gals with fake cockroaches which was a good idea but could have been staged better. Minami and Kira were the butt of these pranks though don't think any of these members pranked would win an award for their acting performances. Thought the cockroach scene would have worked much better had they put a string on them so she could make them move. Up next was a scary face prank and can't think of who that face is of which I've seen in other things.

 That was a bit of a flop in my eyes but Yuuka was thinking she's done such a superb job at frightening everyone, she soon learned that wasn't the case. Up last Yuuka was to pretend that she had been 'cursed' and fall to the ground writhing in pain. But her mates tried to reverse that stunt with one of their own with them pretending to be 'cursed' themselves with the figure of Sadako appearing on the scene. She was played by Fuyuka and this final scene may have worked if everyone didn't burst out in laughter. All those scenes had been taped weeks before and in the studio the secret was finally revealed to Yuuka that it was herself who had been pranked. All in all just a fair show but as mentioned this could be the last time we see Yuuka in a live setting so to me that made it a must watch and there's only so much that can happen in a 24+ minute show. These screenshots below will fill you in a bit more of what took place during these skits. So that wraps this post up and now it's time to view part two of her special sendoff. Sure in that episode is when Yuuka will be hearing so much more praise and have a feeling there won't be a dry eye in the studio. The full episode isn't on YT but after the screenshots have s short clip from the show.