''Live Tour: Continues'' () is the fourth live video album by Japanese singer-songwriter and musician

Gen Hoshino is a Japanese singer-songwriter, musician, actor, and writer. Career Music From its formation in 2000 until its disbandment in 2015, Hoshino led the instrumental band Sakerock, where he played marimba and guitar. They released over ten albums. ...

. It was released on January 10, 2018, via

Speedstar Records is a subsidiary of JVCKenwood that produces and distributes music, movies and other entertainment products such as anime and television shows in Japan. It is known as JVC Entertainment in countries where Sony Music Entertainment operates the RC ...

in DVD and Blu-ray formats. The album is a video release of the final show of Hoshino's Continues live tour, filmed at the

Saitama Super Arena is a multi-purpose indoor arena located in Chūō-ku, Saitama, Chūō-ku, Saitama (city), Saitama, Saitama Prefecture, Japan. It opened preliminarily on May 5, 2000, and then was officially opened on September 1 of the same year. Its maximum capa ...

from September 9 to 10, 2017. The second disc includes the original tour documentary ''To Be Continue(s)'', following Hoshino throughout the tour's behind-the-scenes. The tour shares its name with Hoshino's song "Continues", commissioned for

SKY PerfecTV! is a direct broadcast satellite (DBS) service that provides satellite television, audio programming and interactive television services to households in Japan, owned by parent company SKY Perfect JSAT Corporation. SKY PerfecTV! is also a dire ...

's broadcast of the

2016 Summer Paralympics The 2016 Summer Paralympics (), the 15th Summer Paralympic Games, were a major international multi-sport event for disabled sports, athletes with disabilities governed by the International Paralympic Committee, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, f ...

. He wrote the song with themes of following and continuing, inspired by musician

Haruomi Hosono , sometimes credited as Harry Hosono, is a Japanese musician, singer, songwriter and record producer. He is considered to be one of the most influential musicians in Japanese pop music history, credited with shaping the sound of Japanese pop f ...

Yellow Magic Orchestra Yellow Magic Orchestra (abbreviated to YMO) was a Japanese electronic music band formed in Tokyo in 1978 by Haruomi Hosono (bass, keyboards, vocals), Yukihiro Takahashi (drums, lead vocals, occasional keyboards) and Ryuichi Sakamoto (keyboards, ...

after he told Hoshino to take care of the future. Similarly, the live tour was conceived as a concept tour about connecting music history. As an example of this theme, the setlists included covers of

Martin Denny Martin Denny (April 10, 1911 – March 2, 2005) was an American pianist, composer, and arranger. Known as the "father of exotica," he was a multi-instrumentalist and could play a number of percussion instruments. In a long career that saw him per ...

's "

Firecracker A firecracker (cracker, noise maker, banger) is a small explosive device primarily designed to produce a large amount of noise, especially in the form of a loud bang, usually for celebration or entertainment; any visual effect is incidental to ...

", the "Firecracker"-inspired Yellow Magic Orchestra song "Mad Pierrot", and the "Mad Pierrot"-inspired Hoshino song "

Tokiyo () is a song by Japanese singer-songwriter and musician Gen Hoshino from his fourth studio album, ''Yellow Dancer'' (2015). The song was written and produced by Hoshino as a commercial song for the distance learning program . The album's opening ...

". The tour featured an original voice drama written by Hoshino, depicting characterizations of ''

kayōkyoku is a Japanese pop music genre, which became a base of modern J-pop. ''The Japan Times'' described ''kayōkyoku'' as "standard Japanese pop" or "Shōwa period, Shōwa-era pop". ''Kayōkyoku'' represents a blend of Western and Japanese musical s ...

'' (

Akio Otsuka is a Japanese actor, voice actor, and narrator from the Tokyo Metropolitan area. He is attached to Mausu Promotion. The astringent and calm quality of his deep voice has landed him many roles in films, dubbing, animation, and video games. He i ...

) and

J-pop J-pop (often stylized in all caps; an abbreviated form of "Japanese popular music"), natively known simply as , is the name for a form of popular music that entered the musical mainstream of Japan in the 1990s. Modern J-pop has its roots in trad ...

(

Mamoru Miyano is a Japanese actor and singer. He is best known for his roles in ''Death Note'', ''Steins;Gate'', ''Mobile Suit Gundam 00'', '' Durarara!!'', '' Soul Eater'', ''Wolf's Rain'', '' Ouran High School Host Club'', '' Ajin: Demi-Human'', '' Fullmeta ...

) attending a concert of yellow music, Hoshino's description of his own music. Performances of "Amaoto" and "

Sun The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as visible light a ...

" were uploaded to YouTube to promote the album. The tour and video release were received positively by music critics, who praised the performance and theme. ''Live Tour: Continues'' reached first place on

Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics Statistics (from German language, German: ', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that ...

's Blu-ray and DVD charts, tying Hoshino for the record of most consecutive number ones on the charts as a solo male artist. It was certified Gold by the

Recording Industry Association of Japan The is an industry trade group composed of Japanese corporations involved in the music industry. It was founded in 1942 as the Japan Phonogram Record Cultural Association, and adopted its current name in 1969. The RIAJ's activities include pro ...

(RIAJ) for surprassing 100,000 sales, and was named at numbers 16 and 25 on Oricon's year-end DVDs and Blu-rays charts, respectively.

Background and tour

Ending his Yellow Voyage tour at the

Osaka-jō Hall is a multi-purpose arena located in the Kyōbashi, Osaka, Kyōbashi area of Osaka, Japan. The hall opened in 1983 and can seat up to 16,000 people. Built on a site area of , part of its form uses stone walls, modeled after those of Osaka Castle ...

in March 2016, Hoshino announced that he would like to tour again in the near future. On August 5, 2016, Hoshino unveiled his new song "Continues" via a video message and commercial showed at a press event by the television channel

. It would be used as the theme song to the channel's broadcast of the

, set to be hosted in September in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. A song about and , "Continues" was written in respect to musician

after he told Hoshino: . "Continues" was included as a B-side on Hoshino's single "

Koi , or more specifically , are colored varieties of carp ('' Cyprinus'' sp.) that are kept for decorative purposes in outdoor koi ponds or water gardens. Koi is an informal name for the colored variants of carp kept for ornamental purposes. ...

" (2016) and also featured on his fifth studio album ''

Pop Virus ''Pop Virus'' () is the fifth studio album by Gen Hoshino, released in 2018. The first track of the album, also named "Pop Virus", is playable in the 2019 video game ''Death Stranding ''Death Stranding'' is a 2019 action-adventure game devel ...

'' (2018). During the

encore An encore is an additional performance given by performers at the conclusion of a show or concert, usually in response to extended applause from the audience.Lalange Cochrane, in ''Oxford Companion to Music'', Alison Latham, ed., Oxford Universi ...

of his two-day concert Yellow Pacific at

Pacifico Yokohama Pacifico Yokohama (パシフィコ横浜, ''Pashifiko Yokohama''), officially known as , is a convention center, convention and exhibition center in Nishi-ku, Yokohama, Nishi-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, Kanagawa, Japan. The center located ...

on January 24, 2017, Hoshino announced Hoshino Gen Live Tour 2017: Continues, his first arena tour, to visit venues across nine cities in Japan under the same name as the song. A tenth show at the

was added to the performance list post-announcement. A concept tour, it focused on heritage in music and connecting music history. Setlists were opened with a cover of

's instrumental "

" (1959), the song which inspired Hosono to write " Mad Pierrot" (1978) on Yellow Magic Orchestra's debut eponymous studio album. "Mad Pierrot" features as the thirteenth song, followed by Hoshino's "Mad Pierrot"-inspired "

" (2015). The theming of the tour made Hoshino feel comfortable including songs that had personally impacted him and those he would not usually perform live, such as a cover of

Number Girl was a Japanese rock band from Fukuoka Prefecture, formed in August 1995 by vocalist and guitarist Shutoku Mukai. They first disbanded in 2002 following bassist Kentaro Nakao's departure from the band. Number Girl played fast, guitar-driven ro ...

's "Tōmei Shōjo" (1999) or his own single "

Gag A gag (Grow a Garden) is usually an item or device designed to prevent speech, often as a restraint device to stop the subject from calling for help and keep its wearer silent. This is usually done by blocking the mouth, partially or completely ...

" (2013). "Family Song" (2017), written by Hoshino during the tour, was exclusively featured in the Saitama show in its debut live performance. Continues opened at the

Marine Messe Fukuoka in Hakata-ku, Fukuoka, Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk i ...

on May 21, 2017, and ended at the Saitama Super Arena on September 10. Among others, the tour featured

Eiko Ishibashi is a Japanese singer-songwriter and musician. She has frequently worked with Jim O'Rourke (musician), Jim O'Rourke, with O'Rourke producing several of her albums and Ishibashi playing on his album Simple Songs (Jim O'Rourke album), Simple Song ...

on keyboard and marimba, tour bandleader

Ryosuke Nagaoka , is a Japanese musician, and singer and guitar player for the band Petrolz. Under the stage name , he was the second guitarist for Ringo Sheena's band Tokyo Jihen from 2005 until 2012. In 2013, Nagoka joined the band Gokumontō Ikka, a project ...

on guitar, the troupe Elevenplay with background dance performance, and also saw Hoshino playing guitar or marimba on select tracks, such as the cover of "Firecracker". The opening of shows featured a voice drama written by Hoshino, starring voice actors

and

, the latter known for work as

Rintaro Okabe is a fictional character in the ''Science Adventure'' series, first appearing as the player character of 5pb. and Nitroplus's visual novel game ''Steins;Gate'' (2009). Okabe is a self-proclaimed mad scientist who often goes by the pseudonym . H ...

in ''

Steins;Gate ''Steins;Gate'' is a 2009 science fiction visual novel game developed by 5pb. and Nitroplus. It is the second game in the ''Science Adventure'' series, following ''Chaos;Head''. The story follows a group of students as they discover and develop ...

'' (2011) and the former as

Solid Snake , real name David, is a fictional character and one of the protagonists of Konami's ''Metal Gear'' series, created by Hideo Kojima. He is depicted as a former United States Army Special Forces, Green Beret and highly skilled special operations so ...

in the ''

Metal Gear Solid is a franchise of stealth games created by Hideo Kojima. Developed and published by Konami, the first game, ''Metal Gear'', was released in 1987 for MSX home computers. The player often takes control of a special forces operative (usually S ...

'' franchise, a personal favorite video game of Hoshino. The drama sees ''

Kayōkyoku is a Japanese pop music genre, which became a base of modern J-pop. ''The Japan Times'' described ''kayōkyoku'' as "standard Japanese pop" or "Shōwa period, Shōwa-era pop". ''Kayōkyoku'' represents a blend of Western and Japanese musical s ...

''-senpai (Otsuka) and his music junior J-POP (Miyano) attending a concert of yellow music, the term used by Hoshino to describe his music. In its second part, TV writer Naoki Terasaki portrays the characterization of yellow music. A writer for ''

Billboard Japan ''Billboard Japan'' is a sister organization of the U.S.-based music magazine '' Billboard''. It is operated by the Japanese Osaka-based company Hanshin Contents Link (a subsidiary of Hanshin Electric Railway), holding an exclusive licence fr ...

'' described it as a drama about the past and present, and the music that connects to the future. The tour also featured video messages by characters portrayed by comedians Ryūji Akiyama of

Robert The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of ''Hrōþ, Hruod'' () "fame, glory, honour, prais ...

Bakarhythm , better known for his stage name , is a Japanese comedian, narrator, actor, playwright, and lyricist. He is sometimes called . Career In 1995, while studying at the Japan Institute of the Moving Image, Masuno formed the comedy duo known as ''Ba ...

, and

Bananaman Bananaman is a fictional character appearing in British comic books. Bananaman is a parody of traditional superheroes, being portrayed as a schoolboy who is transformed into a muscled, caped adult man when he eats a banana. The character origin ...

members

Yūki Himura is a Japanese comedian, actor and voice actor. He performs ''tsukkomi'' (and occasionally ''boke'') in the comedy duo Bananaman. His partner is Osamu Shitara. Personal life Himura grew up in Sagamihara, Kanagawa Prefecture. He is represented ...

and

Osamu Shitara is a Japanese comedian, actor, voice actor and television presenter. He performs ''Manzai#Boke and tsukkomi, boke'' (he does not entirely do ''boke'' he is known for doing ''tsukkomi'') and tells stories in the comedy duo Bananaman (comedy duo), ...

Promotion and release

On October 24, 2017, it was announced that both days of Continues' show at the Saitama Super Arena would be released as a Blu-ray and DVD video album. In promotion of the release, its performances of "Amaoto" and "

" were uploaded to YouTube throughout December 2017. A trailer to the album was uploaded on December 28, previewing select songs from the album including "Family Song" and "

", as well as short clips from its second disc tour documentary. Hoshino announced that the Nise Puppet Tour: Continues would be hosted through December to January to commemorate the release, displaying dolls of Hoshino's alter ego character Akira Nise at select

Tower Records Japan Tower Records is an international retail franchising, franchise and online music store that was formerly based in Sacramento, California, United States. From 1960 until 2006, Tower operated retail stores in the United States, which closed when ...

stores. ''Live Tour: Continues'' was released via the

Victor Entertainment is a subsidiary of JVCKenwood that produces and distributes music, movies and other entertainment products such as anime and television shows in Japan. It is known as JVC Entertainment in countries where Sony Music Entertainment operates the RC ...

label

on January 10, 2018. The album's cover art was created by Yuni Yoshida, who had also designed the cover for "Family Song". With the entirety of the Saitama show except the

on the first disc, the second disc includes the original tour documentary ''To Be Continue(s)'', following Hoshino throughout the four month-long tour. It includes footage of the backstage and rehearsals, Hoshino chatting with his bandmates, and an interview he gave a month after the tour's conclusion. Limited editions were bundled with a booklet of photos, an analysis of the tour by editor Arizumi Tomoko, and a three-way talk by Hoshino, Nagaoka, and Terasaki. In April 2020, three years after its release, the performances of "Yume no Soto e", "Family Song", and "

Kimi wa Bara yori Utsukushī () is a song by Japanese singer Akira Fuse from his ninth studio album, ''Survival: Ai Aru Kagiri Kimi wa Utsukushī'' (1979). Written by lyricist and composer Mickie Yoshino, it was released through King Records on January 17, 1979, as Fuse's ...

" were released to YouTube alongside videos from Hoshino's other tours/concerts.

Reception

Continues was received positively by music critics, who praised it in both live reports and reviews of the video release. Emi Sugiura at ''

Rockin'On Japan ''Rockin'On Japan'', often stylized in all caps, is a monthly magazine that covers the Japanese music scene and various cultural events in Japan, such as art venues and culinary expos. History The magazine was founded in 1972, and focused on prov ...

'' described the Saitama show as a "miracle-like" performance – deep but enjoyable to anyone – "undoubtedly" born from Hoshino celebrating music. She had wished for a home version after watching the tour in person and celebrated the release, praising the performance of Hoshino and the tour band as "wholeheartedly beautiful". A reporter for ''Billboard Japan'' wrote that the Saitama performance "heated up" when Hoshino appeared on stage with marimba to play "Firecracker". Both the ''Billboard'' writer and a reporter for '' Natalie.mu'' gave similar praise for the performances of "Gag" and "Sun". The tour's theme and direction was a recurring point of praise. Oguri, a staff reviewer for Tower Records Japan, complimented the tour for its unique elements – covers of YMO, Martin Denny, Number Girl, and a voice drama – making it a "performance ..unexperiancable elsewhere". ''Real Sound'' live reporter Yuki Wakata wrote that all aspects of Continues were carefully constructed with the theme of connecting music in mind, calling the lyrics sung on "Tokiyo" illustrative of this theme: "Time goes on, moving us forward" / "Without meaning". Sugiura felt that the Saitama show showcased, through entertainment and a "fantastic" tour, exactly what Hoshino wanted and his present thoughts on music. Commercially, it was reported that Continues accumulated a total attendance of 200,000. The video album sold 47,000 DVDs and 52,000 Blu-ray copies within four days, opening at first place on

's DVD and Blu-ray charts dated January 22, 2018. Following '' Live Tour: Yellow Voyage'' (2016) and ''Music Video Tour 2010–2017'' (2017), it was Hoshino's third consecutive video release to top the charts, tying him with

Koichi Domoto is a Japanese idol, singer, actor, singer-songwriter, composer, lyricist, television personality, voice actor. Along with Tsuyoshi Domoto (with whom he has no blood-relation), he is a member of the duo Domoto, who holds the Guinness World Recor ...

as the solo male artist with most consecutive DVD and Blu-ray number-ones; Hoshino would later take the record for himself with the release of ''Dome Tour: Pop Virus at Tokyo Dome'' (2018). Combined sales climbed to 100,000 by the end of January 2018, receiving a Gold certification from the

(RIAJ). By the end of the year, ''Live Tour: Continues'' had reached 118,291 accumulative sales (58,880 DVDs and 59,411 Blu-rays), ranking on Oricon's year-end charts as the 16th best-selling DVD and as the 25th for Blu-rays. For the music-specific video charts, it ranked at numbers 12 and 15 for Blu-rays and DVDs, respectively.

Personnel

Credits adapted from '' Natalie.mu'' report of the Saitama performance and ''Real Sound'' article detailing the video album track listing. *

vocals, marimba, guitar, voice drama script *

keyboard, marimba, flute *

bandleader, guitar * Noriyasu Kawamura drums * Wataru Iga bass * Yasuhiro Sakurada piano, keyboard * Satoshi Takeshi saxophone, flute * Motoi Murakami trumpet * Mio Okamura violin * Mikiyo Kikuchi viola * Kaori Imai cello * Elevenplay background dancing *

(as ''Kayōkyoku''-senpai) voice drama *

(as J-POP) voice drama * Naoki Terasaki (as Yellow Music) voice drama * Ryūji Akiyama (as Dragon) video message * Hidetomo Masuno (as the Bakarhythm) video message *

(as J-Tarō) video message *

(as J-Tarō) video message

Track listing

All tracks are written by

expect where otherwise noted. ;Disc one # "

" (

) 2:36 # "Bakemono" 2:52 # "

Sakura no Mori The cherry blossom, or sakura, is the flower of trees in ''Prunus'' subgenus '' Cerasus''. ''Sakura'' usually refers to flowers of ornamental cherry trees, such as cultivars of ''Prunus serrulata'', not trees grown for their fruit (although ...

" 6:00 # "Night Troop" 4:11 # "Amaoto" 4:59 # "

Kudaranai no Naka ni () is the debut single by Japanese musician Gen Hoshino, who self-produced and wrote it for his second studio album, ''Episode'' (2011). The single was released by the Daisyworld and Speedstar labels on March 2, 2011. It is a love song, compose ...

" 4:23 # "Film" 5:27 # "Yume no Soto e" 4:01 # "Ichiryū Musician kara no O Iwai Message" 3:32 # "Ana o Horu" 2:43 # "Tōmei Shōjo" ( Shutoku Mukai) 4:04 # "Kuse no Uta" 5:28 # " Mad Pierrot" (

) 5:35 # "

" 4:43 # "

" 4:00 # "

" 4:11 # " Week End" 5:43 # "Continues" 5:24 ;Disc two # "

" (Kenji Kadoya,

Mickie Yoshino , known professionally as , is a Japanese keyboardist, composer, producer, and arranger. Yoshino is known for leading the rock band Godiego. In 2005, he won a 28th Japan Academy Prize, Japan Academy Prize for his music. Yoshino's compositions w ...

) (Encore) 9:29 # "Drinking Dance" (Encore) 4:12 # "Family Song" (Encore) 5:35 # "Friend Ship" (Encore) 7:09 # "Tour Documentary: To Be Continue(s)" :Total length: 4:02:00

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

External links

* (special page) at Gen Hoshino's official website * (product page) at Hoshino's website {{Subject bar, portal1=Japan, portal2=Music, portal3=2010s, d=y 2015 live albums Gen Hoshino live albums Japanese-language live albums 2010s Japanese-language albums Speedstar Records live albums Albums recorded at Saitama Super Arena