Happy Birthday Massa Sudo! (Wotaku Now!)
Happy Awesome Day! (Shiny Days)
..::Sneaked In for A Birthday Wish::.. (Eternal ~♥~)
Happy Sweet 16, Maasa! (Aoi♥Usagi)
Today (well, it’s already passed in Japan, but in some parts of the world, it’s still today) is Sudou Maasa’s birthday and she’s got a lot of people wishing her well for the big One-Six. 
THere’s Maasa eyecandy galore (and awesome silly Maasa in Charmy of Shiny Days’ post) in each of these posts, and Shirow of Wotaku Now! even got Maasa a cake! It looks so tasty! Now I want some cake… XD
maiZe • Jul 3rd, 2008
Blogs, Eyecandy, Hello! Project • No Comments
Midori takes an insightful look at the pros at the continually bashed policies that UFA impose on the girls. Midori has taken a more in depth look at the policies than what a normal fan would percieve. Some of the points she makes are very valid and are worth having a think about.
SecondBlossoming • Jul 3rd, 2008
Blogs, Hello! Project • No Comments
Channel-Ai’s 1337rice tackles each track of this brand new release, eventually concluding that it is “not a good album, nor a bad album.” If you love ballads, this is one review you’ll want to read, as plenty of samples are offered for your enjoyment.
pengie • Jul 3rd, 2008
Blogs • No Comments
Ai Otsuka, Puffy to be guests at Avril concert
Tokyograph has news of two special guests at an upcoming Avril Lavigne concert in Japan: pop duo Puffy and singer Otsuka Ai. Puffy and Avril have already collaborated before, but Otsuka is a brand new choice. Maybe Avril is a fan?
pengie • Jul 3rd, 2008
Blogs, News • No Comments
Nanase Aikawa back in action with new single, album
With her second child now nearing his first birthday, popular female rocker Nanase Aikawa will finally be making a return to the Japanese music scene, forming a unit for a movie theme song as well as working on a new album. Tokyograph notes that the new unit, Crimson-FANG, may feature a foreign musician. The most obvious choice for this one is probably Megadeth’s Marty Friedman, who has already toured as Nanase’s guitarist several times… although the possibilities are really endless!
pengie • Jul 3rd, 2008
Blogs, News, Rock • No Comments
Biyudensetsu (hajimete no ROCK CONCERT)
Biyuden : Disbands (Hello!Musume)
Goodbye v-u-den (HNPH)
The End of v-u-den (I WISH;;)
V-u-den Disband (Let’s Laugh! Hello Project)
A sandwiched farewell to Biyuuden (OH NOES! Magi-Kat’s rambling again!) (Magi-Kat presents “Morning Meteora”)
Why I’m Missing Biyuuden (Midori’s J-pop Overanalyzations)
Biyuuden- Nannimo iwazu ni I LOVE YOU pv (Morningtime)
Bye Bye V-U-DEN♥ (Nekocafe’s World!)
Never Forget (Shanimuni Paradise)
v-u-den disbanded over the weekend. There were lots of reactions and I apologize that they are so late on reaching IW. Some bloggers took it as an opportunity to revisit what they loved about the group; while others expressed frustration over the breakup. Most people showed concern about what the future holds for Miyoshi Erika and Okada Yui. Meanwhile, nearly everyone - some begrudgingly - are of the belief that Rika’s career will not be affected too dramatically by v-u-den breaking up.
broomhead • Jul 2nd, 2008
Blogs, Hello! Project, Recommended • No Comments
DCT’s Nakamura marries H&MC’s Maki
Sad news for H&MC fans. Tokyograph announces marriage between the bass player of DREAMS COME TRUE, Nakamura Masato and vocalist of HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR, Maki. The couple had been seeing each other from this spring and submitted their marriage registration not too long ago. Maki decided to leave H&MC by the end of the year, as the other members accepted her decision and will continue their activities without her.
It is unknown whether Yuusuke will be the main vocalist afterwards or perhaps H&MC will find a new vocalist.
kaystar • Jul 2nd, 2008
News, Punk, Rock • No Comments
Recommended oggling. Waterpixie shares some eyecandy of the Chinese Super Junior subgroup (taken by one of the members himself) and shares some 100% fangirl comments on it.
tsukiki • Jul 2nd, 2008
Blogs, Eyecandy, Kpop, Recommended • No Comments
New Artist Image for Ogawa Makoto
Totally Hello! Project has ex-Morning Musume member Ogawa Makoto’s new artist picture. This is the first new picture of her since she left Morning Musume in the summer of 2006. Hopefully this means she’ll be starting her activites in Hello! Project again…?
tsukiki • Jul 2nd, 2008
Blogs, Hello! Project • No Comments
Takahashi Ai & Niigaki Risa : Pink Lady (Hello!Musume)
Ai Takahashi & Risa Niigaki as Pink Lady (+Video) (HPNH)
Morning Musume’s Takahashi Ai and Niigaki Risa will be playing Pink Lady in Nihon TV’s upcoming drama “Aku Yuu Monogatari”, which is a commemoration of the songwriter who passed away last August. Hello!Musume has two translated articles while HPNH has a video. It looks pretty promising if you ask me.
tsukiki • Jul 2nd, 2008
Dramas, Hello! Project, News • No Comments
Some Berry ♥ C-ute visual screens!…and a gift from Ohta. ^-^
It’s Aloha Friday! Hello! Project Style!…(hmm just how well does your favorite H!P girl flirt?!)
Recommended reading/ogling. First up, MorningBerryz has received a shipment from Ohta and man, oh man, MB got some C-ute and Berryz Koubou visual screens. I’m partial to the Maimi one, but 4 visual screens is impressive. He can have a mini H!P Kids party. In addition to the screens, Ohta also sent along a few UFA photos as a gift.
In the second post, MorningBerryz takes us back to the summer of 2002 and the Morning Musume Hawaiian releases. The Hawaiian versions of Morning Musume songs are so summery and so relaxing that reading this article makes me want to pull them out and really get into the mood of summer with some Hawaiian-flavoured sounds. MB closes out the post with screencaps from the Morning Musume Single Medley~Hawaiian~ pv. Which H!P girl has the best flirting ability? Who can sweep the ukelele playing Boo Takagi off his feet?
maiZe • Jul 2nd, 2008
Blogs, Eyecandy, Hello! Project, Recommended • No Comments
[09/10] “title TBA” Ongaku Gatas 3rd single (JPH!P)
Tiny from JPH!P posts information of a new Ongaku Gatas coming in September. No title yet.
Charmy Renai • Jul 2nd, 2008
Forums, Hello! Project, News • No Comments
TLS Survey // Thank You For IWota (Raid My Minibar)
Things you never cared to read about. (みんな☆)
Recommended reading. Raid and Kimitsu are a little late with their TLS Survey responses, but it’s always interesting to see the reasoning behind why people blog. I won’t spoil anything from their responses, so go and check them out!
maiZe • Jul 2nd, 2008
Blogs, Recommended • No Comments
hide-chan at Hello! Island shares some ManoEri eyecandy with us, and as always, you could look at it as a guessing game of which H!P member do I look like today. At the end of the post, hide-chan has an example of one H!P member mashup forming the entity we know of as ManoEri.
maiZe • Jul 2nd, 2008
Blogs, Eyecandy, Hello! Project • No Comments
Recommended ogling. Our broomhead has a new theme at True Life Seek, and to test out a new gallery feature, he gives us a treat with some Sayaka eyecandy. I haven’t really paid much attention to Milky Way because… Well, because of Koharu, but Sayaka is quite cute. I may have to keep a closer eye on her (and refresh myself on how her voice sounds).
maiZe • Jul 2nd, 2008
Blogs, Eyecandy, Hello! Project, Recommended • No Comments
Recommended reading. Amimi shares how she started her Hello! Project fandom in an interesting way. She puts turns it into a rap that can be sung along to the theme song from the ‘Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’. The lyrics don’t quite rhyme, but the creativity, and the fact that I loved that TV show so much, made this a really enjoyable read/singalong!
maiZe • Jul 2nd, 2008
Blogs, Hello! Project, Recommended • No Comments
W.T.F.G. 須藤茉麻!!! (CK’s H!P Blog)
Do the Saru! (Berryz Kobo International)
Berryz Koubou Yuke Yuke Monkey Dance PV (Mayuge Beam!)
Berryz Kobo - Yuke Yuke Monkey Dance! (Wotaku Now!)
Yuke Yuke Monkey Dance PV (Let’s Laugh! Hello Project)
Yuke Yuke Monkey Dance Full PV (Hello!Blog)
I like monkeys too, Berryz! But.. (70%) (musical GAME)
Recommended reading. Berryz Koubou’s latest PV continues to be a hot topic as more bloggers chime in with their thoughts.
Chris of CK’s H!P Blog is concerned with the direction that Berryz Koubou seems to be taking. He associates this latest release with something that Koharu could do… That’s a scary thought for me. However, he takes solace in the fact that there are a lot of Maasa sightings in the PV. Though, if I were a big fan of a less ‘in the spotlight’ member, I’d be a little disgruntled that the PV she gets more screen time is one where she’s dressed up on a monkey costume. However, Chris finds Maasa cute in the monkey outfit, so I guess it’s working for him.
Our zush clues us into the fact (for those of us who didn’t know) that Risako’s favourite animal is a monkey. Do you think she enjoyed the theme of this single? zush is not at all impressed with the outfits for this PV, but he’s quite taken with the song itself.
James of Mayuge Beam! likes almost everything about this single… The one exception is the monkey outfits. In his eyes, Maasa and Chinami steal the show for this PV.
Shirow of Wotaku Now! is on the same wavelength as James, and also sees Maasa and Chinami as the stars of this PV. However, he is not in agreement regarding the monkey suits, for he LOVES them: “The monkey suits multiply the awesomeness by a thousand”.
Beth of Let’s Laugh! Hello Project is another fan who is enjoying this release. We seem to have quite a few bloggers in this batch who peg Maasa and Chinami as the top Berryz in this PV. Captain also caught her eye, possibly because of her “un-captain like-ness”. I’m not quite sure if that is something that should be taken as a compliment or an insult towards Captain… It really depends on how you feel like reading it. XD
Tom of Hello!Blog is loving the funny, laid-back feel of ‘Yuke Yuke Monkey Dance’, for he feels that H!P releases have been a tad too serious lately. Berryz is bringing back the fun to H!P in his eyes. Again, Maasa and Chinami are two of the standout performers for Tom, but he also sees Yurina sharing the spotlight in this PV.
Our freehummingbird of musical GAME is not quite impressed with the single, but I don’t quite get how this could rank in with 70% if the “PV is a stink bag”. The grading here was a little confusing to me because while the analysis of certain sections were almost completely negative (ex. fashion sense and choreography), they still got 70-75% grades.
maiZe • Jul 1st, 2008
Blogs, Hello! Project, Recommended • 1 Comment
Papancake PV (★Strawberrie★)
Tsukishima Kirari starring Kusumi Koharu ‘Papancake’ streaming video (Hello!Online)
Papancake PV (I WISH;;)
Tsukishima Kirari starring Kusumi Koharu : ‘Papancake’ (hello!musume)
Super Cute Koahru strikes again! (Wotaku Now!)
http://letslaughhp.wordpress.com/2008/06/30/papancake-pv/ (Let’s Laugh! Hello Project)
Chch-PANCAKE?!?! (Cutie Party)
The Tsukishima Kirari starring Kusumi Koharu (Morning Musume.) PV for “Papancake” appeared yesterday and is an explosive piece of awesome. Strawberrie and Kuno (of Hello!Online) share the PV, and we also have a number of early reactions.
xxrainydayxx loves it.
Nakane (of hello!musume) is surprised by Kusumi’s singing skills and is reminded of an Alice Nine song but is disappointed by the over-yellow background.
Shirow (of Wotaku! Now) likes various aspects of the PV but is disappointed in Kusumi’s non-eating of the papancakes:
The one thing (and one thing only) that annoys me about the video is that she dosent even eat the bloody pancake, throughout the video she flirts with it, pouring over the maple syrup … looking at it wantingly … she even cuts into it with her fork … and then the PV ends! what an anti-climax!!!!
Beth (of Let’s Laugh! Hello Project) feels cheerful after experiencing the PV but also notes Kusumi’s non-eating of the papancakes:
She does stare at it, point at it, even cut it at one point. Does she eat it? No. She doesn’t! xDD.
And Misa (of Cutie Party) is confused.
Kirarin☆Snow ☃ • Jul 1st, 2008
Blogs, Hello! Project, Recommended • No Comments
Nakanomori Band announces breakup
Tokyograph brings us the sad news: the four member all-girl pop-rock group has decided to call it quits after first going on hiatus in April. Vocalist AYAKO required throat surgery, which probably contributed to the decision, but it is still disappointing nonetheless.
pengie • Jun 30th, 2008
Blogs, News • No Comments
K-popped! Passionate about Korean pop culture
Recommend for K-pop fans, fans of Korean culture in general, or the K-curious. K-popped is a Malaysian-based blog that’s a little over a year old. I found it a while ago searching for a specific article and have been watching it, but it mostly covers stuff just outside my area of what I want to write up. Besides covering acts like the Wonder Girls and Lee Hyori, there’s reviews of dramas, movies, fashion, food and actual news from Korea. All very well done.
jim • Jun 30th, 2008
Blogs, Kpop, Recommended • No Comments
Morning Musume : Haromoni@ + Concert Set
Recommended ogling. Nakane has a load of Morning Musume Photos. I’m particularly liking the concert photos where the girls are in the black and white outfits. There are still a few frills as is pretty much a requirement on concert outfits, but the minimalistic colour scheme really works for me.
maiZe • Jun 29th, 2008
Blogs, Eyecandy, Hello! Project, Recommended • No Comments
Recommended viewing. Shirow is highly tickled with Airi’s latest DVD release, Airi’s Classic. For the enjoyment of other fans who don’t have the time to sit down and watch Airi mini-golf for 50 minutes, he’s very kindly created an OPV (not to be mistaken for the blog Our Pleasant Vista XD) giving you the highlights of the DVD in a little over 60 seconds. It’s a fun watch, and the background music is just so wonderfully amusing.
maiZe • Jun 29th, 2008
Blogs, Hello! Project, Recommended • No Comments
broomhead has some Kanna eyecandy to share, though he’s a little disturbed with how her hand ended up. And of course, there’s the customary broomhead snark to go with it. My day is now complete… XD
maiZe • Jun 29th, 2008
Blogs, Eyecandy, Hello! Project • No Comments
Recommended viewing. Our zush has some adorable scans of Berryz Koubou from their debut year, back in 2004. I’m hesitant to recommend this as ogling, but it’s definitely some nice eye candy. You can see how much these girls have grown up in the past 4 years, even though their latest release may be trying to bring their personal growth back to the level which it was at when they first formed the group.
maiZe • Jun 29th, 2008
Blogs, Eyecandy, Hello! Project, Recommended • No Comments
[Graduation] Shirota Yuu Graduates from D-BOYS
Vee has the details (and a fair ammount of fangirling) on popular actor Shirota Yuu graduating from the acting group D-Boys. This is very sudden and sad news. I hope Shirota at least still continues his successful acting career. Maybe he’ll even join Johnny’s…
tsukiki • Jun 29th, 2008
Blogs, Dramas, News, Recommended • 1 Comment
Tanaka Reina - Takahashi Ai : MAC FAN Cover
Nakane has the covers as well as the interview. What I want to know is why on Earth would Ai and Reina advertise Cinderella to a bunch of computer nerds (no offense)? I mean, how many of them even know what High-King is? I guess that would be the point, but it just seems like the most unlikely place for them to promote it.
tsukiki • Jun 29th, 2008
Blogs, Eyecandy, Hello! Project • No Comments
Recommended reading. freehummingbird has a slightly delayed, but still appreciated, review of High-King’s ‘C\C (Cinderella\Complex)’. He’s not exactly sold on Yuuka’s inclusion in this group, feeling her cuter voice doesn’t quite fit in with the other girls who have older, more mature sounds to them. However, both the a- and b-sides are well received by fhb, and like a few others I know, he enjoys the b-side more than ‘C\C’ itself.
maiZe • Jun 29th, 2008
Blogs, Hello! Project, Recommended • No Comments
Mano Erina… Super idol in the Making
Very cute and simple. Shirow thinks it’s a great start for h!p’s newest soloist.
celestia_414 • Jun 29th, 2008
Blogs, Hello! Project • No Comments
Kago returns to TV on “Sanma no Manma”
TokyoGraph reports that Kago Ai will appear on “Sanma no Manma” - a popular talk/variety show. This will be her first TV appearance since her revival back in April.
SecondBlossoming • Jun 29th, 2008
News, Pop Idols • No Comments
[single] JYONGRI - Unchanging Love ~Kimi ga Ireba~
[single] Miyu Nagase - Akane
[album] Perfume - GAME
Recommended reading. Lex gives us three track-by-track reviews with JYONGRI’s lastest single, Miyu’s recent single and Perfume’s first original album, giving the high points and the low points of the songs, all leading to an out-of-five rating.
For JYONGRI, Lex likes the A-side, despite the poor vocals in the verses, but thinks the single was ruined by the accompanying B-sides. He also thinks the Elton John cover to be an AWFUL (in big letters) rendition and believes a rap shouldn’t have been in the song.
He also takes a look at Miyu Nagase’s recent release, giving it a nice 4-star score and saying that the lead song was a soothing ballad and that the B-side had a nice funky attitude to it.
My favorite review was (of course) Perfume’s GAME. Lex goes on to review each song, giving a highlight of each song. Although he finds the album high quality, he thinks that Take me Take me and Butterfly provide a weird and somewhat offensive vibe to the album. On my part, I thought those two were very good songs on the album, but despite those two, he likes the album and recommends it, which I totally agree to!
freehummingbird • Jun 29th, 2008
Blogs, Pop Idols, Recommended • No Comments
New Music Review: Ninin Sankyaku (misono)
Solo gives a short and sweet track-by-track review of Ninin Sankyaku, misono’s final rock-themed single, saying that although both tracks were enjoyable, they had their minor flaws. He also went on to review each song that was in the medley, and also gives us previews of the single.
freehummingbird • Jun 29th, 2008
Avex Trax, Blogs • No Comments
Yuke Yuke Monkey Dance, AKA the greatest video in existance. (Renai Revolution 21)
Yuke Yuke Monkey Dance PV (★ Morning Musume Again ☆)
Monkies Like This (Shanimuni Paradise)
It was the best of times, it was the blurst of times (True Life Seek)
Yuke Yuke Monkey Fail…I mean, Dance - Berryz Koubou (ºAbsol-ute ºC-ute)
Going bananas for “Yuke Yuke Monkey Dance” (I couldn’t help myself…) (Kira Kira Bomb)
Recommended reading. Here’s the next set of ‘Yuke Yuke Monkey Dance’ responses. Like the first batch, feelings regarding the PV are very mixed.
Wendy at Renai Revolution 21 is loving the PV and relates the silliness of the PV to golden age Morning Musume. While I can understand where she’s coming from, I don’t quite agree with what she’s saying there, but that’s an argument for elsewhere.
yanki07 at Morning Musume Again is not a huge Berryz Koubou fan. Well, this is certainly an interesting release to take notice of them with… I don’t know if this is a good thing or bad thing. yanki07 likes the song, but the PV…. Not so much.
Tsukiki of Shanimuni Paradise has 2 PV reviews in this post. First up, she watched Kuroki Meisa’s ‘Like This’ PV and she wasn’t impressed. While she’s sexy and can dance, it seems the singing is subpar, which is a huge turn off for Tsukiki. Following it up, she reviews Berryz’s ‘Yuke Yuke Monkey Dance’, and it doesn’t fare much better. Tsukiki likes the line distribution in that everyone gets to sing, but feels there’s too much Risako overall. I feel horrible, and I don’t actually want this to happen, but Tsukiki really amused me with one line in her review:
God, Risako, please get into some really horrible scandal and leave H!P forever. PLEASE.
broomhead of True Like Seek has a detailed review of the PV and why it has disappointed him so greatly. The roles of Maasa and Chinami within Berryz is highly frustrating for him, and he is the first person I’ve seen who mentions how bad the monkey costume is to poor Yurina. I thought the same thing when I watched this PV.
These costumes are horrendous to Yurina. She sticks out wearing a monkey costume in a group of people wearing monkey costumes. Wow.
Amimi of ºAbsol-ute ºC-ute is another fan who is not getting into this PV. She’s more of C-ute fan (obviously), but even she’s complaining of the unfairness of the releases being given to Berryz. Her review is pretty thorough, and she does her best to try and find positives for each aspect of the release that she comments on.
To round up this set of reviews, Valentine at Kira Kira Bomb sandwiches the negative responses with a positive one. Here is one blogger who is absolutely LOVING the monkey suits… And the giant banana in the background.
maiZe • Jun 29th, 2008
Blogs, Hello! Project, Recommended • No Comments
My Answers (Bikkuri Project)
Survey Says (The J-Pex)
Pikkurishita! Save no Bikkuri!~ (Mayuge Beam)
Bikkuri Project Survey (Shanimuni Paradise)
Survey, yay: Bikkuri Project Version (Amasugita Kajitsu)
Bikkuri Project Survey (Slasha’s Tatami Mat)
Another Survey? (Raid My Minibar)
Another survey! YAY! (musical GAME)
~Bikkuri Project Survey~ (Midori’s J-pop Overanalyzations)
Yayayay! Lots of responses to my survey coming in already, and a lot of the answers are really interesting (IMHO).
celestia_414 • Jun 29th, 2008
Blogs, Recommended • No Comments
Monkeyz Koubou Dances (Shiny Days)
One, two, Monkey three … (LOVE Tantei)
Berryz Koubou - Yuke Yuke Monkey Dance (hello! girl)
OMG THEY REALLY DID WEAR MONKEY SUITS (I guess it really is Yuke Yuke…) (H!P Fangirling like Nobody’s Business)
“Yuke Yuke Monkey Dance” initial reactions (Midori’s J-pop Overanalyzations)
See No Tsunku, Hear No Tsunku (The J-Pex)
Recommended reading. The PV for Berryz Koubou’s upcoming single is up and a lot of blogs have piped in with their thoughts.
Charmy of Shiny days is highly amused by this PV, but wonders how this will affect Berryz’s credibility in the future.
Chibon of LOVE Tantei is surprised by how much they’re enjoying this PV. It’s interesting to note that the thing that Chibon found most annoying in Tsukiatteru’s PV is they are loving so much here.
hello! girl is not too impressed with the song or PV.
DJ_MaiMai of H!P Fangirling like Nobody’s Business is loving the latest release. I’m surprised with one line in this review, though: “I’ve never noticed how beautiful Chinami is <3333″. If you’ve watched Tsukiatteru or Dschinghis Khan, I don’t know how in the world that could be, because Chinami was stunning in both those PVs.
Midori likes the line distribution, but like hello! girl, is not too impressed with the song overall.
Pex finds it hard to concentrate on the song due to a number of reasons listed in the post. Pex also has an interesting theory on how Yuke Yuke Monkey Dance came to be.
More PV reactions to come in an upcoming write-up. There’s a lot to go through…
maiZe • Jun 28th, 2008
Blogs, Hello! Project, Recommended • No Comments
Recommended reading. Second Blossoming, after feeling a little disappointed by YUI’s third album, has his heart captured again by “SUMMER SONG,” the artist’s newest single. He writes in detail on the PV, mentioning a possible tie to the Taiyou no Uta movie as well as another one of YUI’s videos. The post is well worth a read, if only to sit back and listen to the summery feel of this song.
pengie • Jun 28th, 2008
Blogs, Recommended • No Comments
Another survey!
Celestia has put together a survey that is a little different from the Cutie Party one floating around. What I mean is that the Cutie Party focused on the musical tastes and preferences of people. This survey goes into a different aspect of the entertainment and J-Pop world.
It is a survey asking your feelings about it and the acts within it, with questions along the lines of “who is the sexiest?” and “how often do you dance to your favorite songs?” It should get some interesting answers, and it just may say more about the personalities behind the bloggers than before.
broomhead • Jun 28th, 2008
Blogs, Noteworthy, Recommended • No Comments
J-music survey. (J-pop obsession)
Cutie Party survey?! (musical GAME)
I am a slowpoke when taking surveys, my apologies. (Hotaru’s blog)
J-Music Tastes - Cutie Party Survey Response (fields of maiZe and berryZ)
J-Music Survey from the Cutie Party Blog (-beats in my head-)
I got pretty behind on these. Here are the rest of the Cutie Party survey responses.
broomhead • Jun 28th, 2008
Blogs, Recommended • No Comments
No idea what the blog title entry says but aiwish472 talks about losing her H!P fandom. Well, aiwish hasn’t given up on Hello!Project entirely, as of yet, so it makes for an interesting perspective.
There is a clear sense that one day, who knows when, aiwish knows she will no longer be a fan of Hello!Project. Even if she stays to the bitter end, Hello!Project itself won’t last forever. So really, this introspective look is applicable whether or not aiwish gives up on H!P or not.
I like this approach. It may be too late for aiwish to consider it this way, but I think it is easier to appreciate what you appreciate knowing that it won’t be around forever. Personally, I look at Perfume this way. I know that they will not remain popular or active forever, so it makes what they do all the more valuable to me.
aiwish isn’t ready to give up on all Japanese music yet though, finding interest in the music from AKB48 and Johnny’s.
broomhead • Jun 28th, 2008
Blogs, Hello! Project, Pop Idols, Recommended • 2 Comments
Spring 2008 Momusu Costume Review
Midori is back and I am quickly becoming a fan of all the over-analyzing. There is nothing about fingernails here - instead it is a look at the costumes from the Spring 2008 Morning Musume concert. Midori goes through them and gives out a */5 Rating on the quality of the clothes as well as a “Alcohol Level” to determine how drunk the costume designers were when putting together the outfits. I would have just measured their blood alcohol level and used that as the rating for both cases. The drunker the costume designers are while making the outfits, the better.
broomhead • Jun 28th, 2008
Blogs, Hello! Project, Recommended • No Comments
Morningtime takes several search terms used to find his blog to create amusing Hello! Project news stories.
Charmy Renai • Jun 28th, 2008
Blogs, Hello! Project • No Comments
Aira Mitsuki - Colorful Tokyo Sounds no9 / China Discotia
Millhouse from the OPV team takes a look at Aira Mitsuki and reviews two songs by her. If Millhouse is correct in saying that Aira Mitsuki is like Perfume, then I am very interested. Regardless of whether she is or isn’t, this is a nice overview that may interest people in learning more about her.
broomhead • Jun 28th, 2008
Blogs, Pop Idols, Recommended • No Comments
Yuke Yuke Monkey Dance PV (★Strawberrie★)
行け 行け モンキーダンス (Dohhh UP!)
Strawberrie shares the new Berryz Koubou PV, which has just been released on the Dohhh UP! web site (direct link also provided above). Interestingly, every single frame has at least one banana in it, including the title screen. This is some insane, seizure-inducing stuff (it’s bananas?) with Berryz in monkey suits half the time, likely to please and enrage in equal proportions.
Kirarin☆Snow ☃ • Jun 28th, 2008
Blogs, Hello! Project, Media Site • No Comments
Lex takes a look at BoA’s latest triple A-side. Apparently, according to the comments, enjoying “Kissing You” isn’t prevalent view. I don’t really follow BoA communities, but that’s a little surprising to me. I listened to Vivid and figured “Kissing You” would be the favorite. Maybe it was that awful haircut she wore in the PV for it.
broomhead • Jun 27th, 2008
Blogs, Pop Idols • No Comments
Baby, I can see someone else singing Like This.
Kimitsu shares a PV from Kuroki Meisa. Kimitsui is right on with the comparison to Amuro Namie because I am getting the vibe too. The entry comes along with a brief commentary about imitation within the Japanese pop industry that I found myself nodding my head to.
broomhead • Jun 27th, 2008
Blogs, Pop Idols, Recommended • No Comments
The blog gives us a track-by-track review of the quad-A-side single, providing readers with a listen of each track and then going into the song itself. They also provide the Moon Crying PV and go on to explain the story behind the song. A very enthusiastic review, Channel-Ai gives a five-star rating for three out of the four songs, but for “That Ain’t Cool”, they certainly thought that it wasn’t cool of Fergie to be taking Kumi’s spotlight in the song, and I couldn’t agree more. Fergie takes up almost half of the song! Despite the low score on “That Ain’t Cool”, the single took home a 4.5 star rating, with DJ Aeon saying that this is a must-buy single, and a good comeback effort after that “rotten” comment she made a few months back.
freehummingbird • Jun 27th, 2008
Avex Trax, Blogs • No Comments
KAT-TUN’s Ueda to Hold Solo Concert (Tokyograph)
KAT-TUN’s Ueda Tatsuya’s Going Solo~!! (Shanimuni Paradise)
Tokyograph reports the details, and Tsukiki brings the fangirling. Reportedly all of the songs in the show will be written by Ueda himself. Well that’s not something you see idols do every day! This marks the second of the 4 “forgotten” KAT-TUN members to get some individual attention recently. Anyone want to place bets on who’s next, Taguchi or Tanaka?
celestia_414 • Jun 27th, 2008
Blogs, Johnny's • No Comments
[single] Tomiko Van - Tokyo Biyori
GatesofHeaven suggests Tokyo Biyori is definitely of a higher caliber than some of Tomiko Van’s songs on her covers album, which GoH openly criticizes them to be a catastrophe. GoH also finds salvation in both Tomiko’s B-sides stating them to be “nothing short of excellency”.
Hopefully our ex-DAI singer can bring back what she does best by releasing more outstanding tracks.
SecondBlossoming • Jun 27th, 2008
Avex Trax, Blogs • No Comments
Die reviews Nami’s debut single track by track, showing love for the title track, calling it the “supreme techno prominence” but keeping away from the other two tracks, calling them “B-side material”. Even though the B-sides didn’t make a great impression, Die still believes in the single and says it is an impressive way to kick off the “greeting” era, giving the single a solid 94%.
freehummingbird • Jun 27th, 2008
Blogs, Pop Idols • No Comments
Recommended technical reading. Not to scare anyone off, but CJ’s post goes into the nuts & bolts details of the steps likely to be taken making a professional remix of two songs from different eras in recording technology.
In my opinion this kind of remix seems more like a gag you’d hear on the radio, or download on a blog, not an official release. Working from the masters will of course produce a much better result than trying to rip elements out digitally, and my guess is the original group/label came up with this idea. There is a good amount of speculation here, so there’s mine. We can’t know for sure what is going on with this exactly, but CJ describes one possible route and it’s a good example that in the music biz, the simplest seeming thing can be incredibly complicated. (Just the label situation with this is a headache–it’s described very simply and accurately but still makes no sense because the real-life situation makes no sense. The only thing I would add is there have gotta be some more analog holdouts…CJ lists the most vocal critics of digital recording; I would say it’s less of an absolute with many people who still might use both.)
So…strap yourself in you you want to know more about all that. There’s also a decent comment about how the song (the cover and the original) might be viewed in Germany. That’s a good question and maybe this will be a new hit or be mocked mercilessly. Or both! There’s a Yiddish version that I think is actually the most known, but don’t quote me. They play it at Bar Mitzvahs.
jim • Jun 27th, 2008
Blogs, Hello! Project, Recommended • 1 Comment
Strawberrie shares a full-length radio rip of the upcoming Tsukishima Kirari starring Kusumi Koharu (Morning Musume.) single … And it’s AMAZING!!! This one definitely gives “Chance!” a run for its money, and I thought that was the best single Koharu’s done since “Happy☆彡”. Koha just gets better and better. Wheeeee….. I’ll be listening to this all day, won’t I?
Kirarin☆Snow ☃ • Jun 27th, 2008
Blogs, Hello! Project, Radio • No Comments