Rainy cloudy fine today… as the Arashi song goes. It looked like the usual morning, nothing special.
0905: Arrive at work. Five minutes late today because the girl at my regular tea stall took longer to make my iced red tea.
0910: Check Twitter. Screw the news, work can wait. I need my dose of happy pills and good vitamins in the form of Arashi. This is how I always start my day, to get positive vibes from these dorks in order to make it through the day.
0923: I tweet “I need Arashi. From Monday to Sunday, every every every day.”
0930: Announcement of new album and release date breaks.
0933: I troll: “Dear Uncle Johnny, Wow, you’ve never been this efficient. I just said I need Arashi and new album release date is announced?”
0937: Thanks to my best friend Mr GT, information on the new album became clearer. It’s called, brace yourselves (though if you’re an Arashi fan, you probably know by now), The Digitalian.
credit: amnosxmatsujun@Twitter
0940: My other bff Mr Oxford says there’s no such word. Yet. Guess, Arashi speak a language of their own.
0951: Pre-order links are out.
1035: Twitter timeline has people complaining of difficulty accessing pre-order sites.
1037: First word that CDJapan’s LE is now out of stock. HMV follows suit. Sold out, in less than an hour.
I’m not even halfway through my tea yet. And most importantly, I haven’t even ordered yet!!! YesAsia, dokko???
Last year’s album, LOVE, was so epic it’s at the top of my fave now after ONE (which was my fave for the longest time). I am curious and so looking forward to see how Arashi will top that. And by how LE has sold out fast, it seems everyone is eager to know too plus the fact that it has a “Making Of” DVD, something they haven’t done since… I can’t remember, just that it feels like forever. Meanwhile, the rest who were not as lucky to secure the LE will just have to settle for the RE.
It is always like this, you can’t slack if you’re an Arashi fan. I feel for those in the US and Europe because when news like this breaks, they’re still in lalaland or about to. And one never suspects that there’s going to be an announcement. In fact, the only clue they will have an album is if one of them writes about it (usually Jun’s Enjoy) or mentions on any of their shows (usually Nino’s radio show). But no word on the release date until you get that all-important mail from your friendly Japanese online store. Just pray that it did not go to spam.
And it does feel like the hunger games every time Arashi drops something. It’s not hype, it’s for real that copies run out whether albums, DVDs or concert merchandise.
This year is not just any other year though. It’s their 15th year and still going strong. For a group that did not think they will go past 10 years, it’s short of a miracle as what Jun said.
And so far this year, we’ve had two concert DVDs/BDs, three singles for the members’ dramas and merchandise for Waku Waku and Arashi Blast in Hawaii (that includes the Arashi National Stadium 2008-2013 photobook aka the Arashi Bible that’s 712 pages). Then this album and there will be merchandise for the coming live tour, which will obviously be called The Digitalian Live Tour 2014. Oh yes, the concerts, not to mention Waku Waku. All these mean okane. Money. Hard currency. It is expensive being an Arashi fangirl indeed that sometimes I do get the feeling that I work just so I can afford this lifestyle.
I do respect how, despite their market power, Arashi has never taken advantage of that. They could release a gazillion singles and compilation albums every year, or re-package their albums multiple times. Or maybe come up with Arashi Drama Themes or Arashi Sings For Films. Or how about “Making Of” This and That? Kokuritsu has six years of materials for a documentary (yes please!). TV shows BTS. Fifteen years worth of dorkiness in a DVD/BD. Heck, they can make a yearbook/photobook every bloody year. Just throwing ideas out there because certainly, there are a lot of materials available. Fans have been begging for the release of ONE and Dream “A” Live concerts and documentaries. Maybe Arashi is waiting for the time when they shall slow down on their activities before releasing such?
Whatever it is, Arashi never milk the fans like that. It’s not J-Storm’s style to repackage. So if you miss the LE, you miss it completely. And there’s that story that Arashi went into long discussions with their production staff to lower the price of their DVDs because as Nino said, they don’t want their fans to earn money so they can spend that on them.
But who cares? Money does buy you happiness. Whoever said it doesn’t has not met a fangirl.
Indeed, Arashi making fangirls broke but happy since 1999.
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orange jasmine purple yam 
First thing i did after seeing the new album’s title is google the meaning of the word ‘digitalian’..one of those rare occassion that google has no answer for me..LOL! i knew it wasnt a word but arashi made me doubt myself! Hahahaha maybe the album will be electropop? Ugh! Cant wait to hear the new songs and their live performance! Love tour was really awesome so i’m looking forward on how they’ll do it for The Digitalian 😉
Anyways, too bad i cant buy the album since i’m saving up for my trip next year to japan..i’m just glad i have the concert dvds from last year’s tour and arafes con.. 🙂
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oh Japan trip is more important! you get to visit their country and then you can buy The Digitalian there, who cares if it’s RE lol
I’m still wary about the genre that the new album will cover, I’m not really hot about electropop but I am curious on how they will do this.
thanks for dropping by!
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Sometimes proverbs about : be careful what you wish for is so true.. xD
I just read the news before I went somewhere, I wait for my friends so there is still time to check on it and it’s so hard to order on CDJ.. while I check HMV, they already sold out.. At the end I bought the bundle set.. Maybe I will give the RE to my friends if I can’t get the LE somewhere.. early Christmas presents? xD Though now I’m mourning about the tax that I need to pay since it cost more than 50 USD xDD
Well, actually I fell refreshed after I read this, one way or another xD
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I’ve been stalking YesAsia coz it’s the only site that has not released the LE and perhaps the last hope for many lol
yes, we always justify it as early Christmas gift, birthday gift, reward for hard work etc isn’t it? well we do deserve to make ourselves happy, customs tax be damned lol
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lol, hope you get the album form YesAsia :))
I’m currently looking for another copy in one site for my friend, that site usually do late preorder and haven’t saw any news on it. Hope they will open it later because till now they still have LOVE DVD in LE xD
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if all else fails, try Daisuki, she’s based in Tokyo. I sometimes get concert merchandise or albums (if I ran out of LE) from her. I think her deadline is today though.
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Hi, I’ve been reading your blog for quite some time. And I always love how you wrote about Arashi.
I know how you feel. When the news broke out, and I’m still amazed at how strange the title is, it sold out. And then for the next hour I can’t think straight at my work and still amazed how fast it is..
Is it true that the Arashi member did a long discussion to lower the dvd prices? I want to read the real article if you still have it.
Being a fan of such an awesome grup (and I know they have their bad sides too) makese want to be a better person. Lol. Is it weird?
Anyway, hope you can get your copy soon. I heard yesasia already opening pre order..
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hi! thanks for reading!
yes I got mine from YA yesterday morning. LE is already sold out there too though lol
if I find that article again, I’ll post about it. it’s in one of their interviews for an album or concert DVD release. they felt that the price was too high and they didn’t want fans to spend all their money on Arashi. I think that was Nino and we all know how Nino is stingy so it’s kind of expected but still touching lol
I have never seen a group that’s so involved in every aspect of their career from concerts to merchandise. you do know that Aiba is personally involved in designing the merchandise, right? and they have long discussions too on the materials used and the practicality of the goods.
all these side stories about Arashi make me love them more because while they are not perfect, it offers a glimpse as to how they are as people. they’re all very down-to-earth.
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I know that Aiba is in charge but I don’t know that they really invest so much energy like that. >.<
And Nino, that brat suprises me from time to time… ^0^
Yes, they are very down to earth. That's what I love about your writing. While you adore them you remember that they also human who can make mistakes. I hope I can be like that. Sometimes I think I adore them too much :p
Congratulation for getting the album!
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J-web usually publishes BTS conversations when they release albums/concert merchandise etc. if you haven’t read any, you check them out because they reveal a lot about what goes on and it’s always very entertaining when you hear (or read) them talking lol
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Hi!
I’ve been following your blog for quite some time. And I love how you write about Arashi.
It happens to me too. The news broke out, and while I’m still pondering whether to buy it or not and wondering why it has such a weird title, the LE was sold out. I am in shock and in awe.
During those times I keep trying to access hmv and cdjapan with no luck…
I hope you can get your copy soon..
Is it true that Arashi member want to lower their dvd price? Can you give me the source? if you still have it of course. I’m really happy to hear that. I don’t know that they think about their fans to that extent…
Being a fan of such an awesome group makes me want to be someone better.. lol..
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im an Arashi fan for almost a year already. and i’ve never experience this kind of rush when buying CDs/DVDs. usually i can get the CD i want from local music store. i didn’t buy the Love last year so i was hoping that i could get a copy for the album this year. when the links for CDJapan was out, i was on my way to work, so of course the LE was out of print already when i checked. the next day (today) my friend gave me the link for YesAsia, but then our internet chose this day to be so slooow and before i even knew it, LE is already oop.
well i just want to say that if this is a real battle, i have been killed twice. LOL
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awww I know how it feels lol
yes, albums/concert DVDs are serious business in the Arashi fandom. I guess it’s coz these guys don’t make multiple releases in a year so you know they’re not messing up with fans. and when you miss on the LE, you miss it entirely.
if you still want the LE, you can try Arashi Daisuki, she’s based in Tokyo and taking in pre-orders. but I think her deadline is today.
ganbaremasu!
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I have been obsessively checking my emails for the album release for the last week or so (after I almost missed out on the LE Love DVD – I think I managed to literally get the last one at CDJapan – it changed to out of stock as I clicked on it to buy and was super surprised when it came and was the LE instead of RE!) but I was still caught offguard. I went on CDJapan less than an hour after the email went out and the LE was already gone. I managed to get the bundle of both versions – only 25 left when I started my purchase and only 5 left by the time I had completed my transaction. This being an Arashi fan thing can be quite emotionally exhausting and stressful at times, but worth it!
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oh my god lucky you!!!
I got mine from YesAsia yesterday morning, it was a 24-hour wait and not even sure if YA will release it.
and by the end of the day, LE was already sold out.
indeed, no one knows the stress of album releases like Arashi fans do lol
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I live in Germany and just checked on YesAsia and the button for pre-order LE is still on instead of saying sold out.
You think one can still pre-order? Or will you get a reply that it is sold out?
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hi Mani77! they restocked today so you better get it before it runs out again. Good luck! XD
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