Hello everybody! My PC crashed again, so I’m updating from my laptop… I don’t know when will this be fixed, but hopefully soon enough. 

First of all, I’d like to congratulate the Saeyaka  Paradise Blog for appearing in a japanese magazine! This is a huge achievement, and I bet it feels great to get aknowledged in such a way, so here’s hoping to world domination next, webmistresses!!

And next, some news straight from the your favorite theater, at Don Quijote, no less!!!

1. Baby! Baby! Baby! DVD scheduled for release this friday!: Yes, finally, what all of you fanboys had been waiting for, the girls in bikinis, singing in a pool and dancing their silly little choreography! It comes in 3 different varieties too, the Pink edition, which includes a PV version of each girl separately (yes, that means roughly 4 minutes of your favorite AKB girl in a bikini). The blue edition features a Making Of, with all the members, and the Green edition comes with a recorded performance of Baby!x3 at the theater, featuring each team and their go at it. Please order all three of them, I mean, come on! Bikinis!!! And half naked Acchan!!!

2. New single!!! A new single is going to be released on October 22nd, under the King Records label. The single’s title is “Oogoe Diamond” which roughly translates to “Loud voice Diamond”. This is the first single to be released under this label, which makes all of us wonder whether they have left Sony altogether. Speculation suggests that the “Sakura no Hanabiratachi 2008″ poster scam (remember, the one in which you had to buy like 1000 copies of the CDS to attend a special concert) might have had something to do with it, but I guess we’ll never know. I, for one, am really ecstatic to hear about them switching labels, because the latest AKS releases (the Shibuya AX concert and Babyx3 DVD) are more difficult to buy for foreigners (especially if you happen to be a foreigner living in Colombia D:) so a more gaijin-friendly label is great for us overseas fans! On the other hand, Defstar was a more mainstream and bigger label, so I don’t know what to make out of this info… Oh, and before I forget, let me tell you all that the choreography for this PV will not be the usual amazing Natsu-sesei, but another name familiar to all you H!P fans: RYON RYON. Seeing ow she was responsible for Gocchin’s really cool and elaborate choreographies, maybe we can expect great dancing displayed in this single!!! I love AKB’s simplistic choreographies, but I can’t deny that I’m really excited and looking forward to see the girls do something more… edgy

3. Assorted News: Oshima Mai (aka the hottest idol to ever walk the Earth) is releasing a PB on 9/11 (her birthday) The slogan? “A PB full of things that interest adults” You know you want it. Also, Shinoda Mariko is releasing another DVD, and Calendars for 2009 are already on sale! There’s the AKB48 calendar, the Maeda Atsuko calendar, one for Ono Erena, one for Oshima Mai and one for Oshima Yuko. AKB-fy your life with any (or all) of these beautiful calendars in super big and amazing B2 size!!! Yay!

4. The WTF? News: Kikuchi Ayaka is featured in all of the special versions of Babyx3, so if you’re a fan, there’s your last chance to say goodbye.

Also, Ohori Megumi (aka Pervy queen) is releasing a solo single with the stage name Meshibe (pistil) Ohori. So everyone went all WTF? because Ohori isn’t really known for her vocal talents per se, but because she is one really kinky girl! So our first guess was that it was probably going to be a mock single featuring her pole dancing or something like that. And then, there was a special episode of 0ji59fun, where the main feature was Ohori’s struggle to be a popular idol despite being 25 years old, and the oldest AKB48 member. It was pretty heartbreaking (although it does seem like a scam to me) to see how she talked about having so few fans, and how fans lined up for handshakes with the younger girls and never for her. Also, she talked about how she was never selected for a single until Babyx3 came along, and how she’s never in the front of any song. So then, after all that pity fest, it’s announced that she supposedly met with chief Akimoto, who told her that she was too old ofr an idol, so they would test her popularity with a solo CDS release. The deal is this: If she doesn’t sell 10000 copies of the single, she’ll get kicked out of AKB48. O_O This just gets more WTF? with every line I type (God, I wish I was making all of this up) Also, she isn’t to release the single with her real name because Akimoto doesn’t want AKB to be associated with her in case she fails, so she was given the stage name Meshibe Ohori. She graciously accepts the deal and decides to give her best at it.

Ok, let me say it once again: WTF???

Sure, this is all a tactic to boost sales, and I don’t really believe that Ohori’s idol life has been all that painful, but putting a member’s future on the line like that? Sounds pretty damn mean to me. And then, 10000 freaking singles?? That’s a hell of a lot. Seriously. Chocolove (by far the most succesful subunit of AKB48) only managed to sell 9500 copies of their highest selling single. And that unit combined Sae, Sayaka (tw of the most prominent Team K members) with front girl Rina of Team A. Ohori isn’t even as popular as any of the members I just named (maybe she’s more popular than poor Rina-tin ATM?) and she’s supposed to sell more than them? I’m speechless…

Ohori isn’t my favorite member, but I’ve always seen her as an important part of Team K with her “sexy persona” being so radically different from what we’re all used to see in idols. I don’t want to see her leave, and I’m sure that most AKB48 fans feel the way I do, but just how many copies of that damn single do we have to buy to keep her in the group? This makes no sense, and it’s stupid. I’m sure that it’s all a gimmick, and that Meetan will stay in the group, but toying with the fans hearts like this is just evil.

Also, I really do wonder what will Akimoto say if Ohori doesn’t manage to sell all of those singles (because, you know, there’s a decent possibility that she won’t be able to do it). I really don’t think that he would kick her out, because she does have a growing fanbase that would be pretty pissed if their favorite girl was let go for such a stupid reason as this one.

Not much else to say, we’ll have to wait and see what happens, but if you can, do buy her CD, she’s pretty amusing and I’m 200% sure that the PV will be something really perverted…

5. Tomorrow is my birthday!!! Yes, I’m turning 21 tomorrow, so I plan on making a strictly eye candy post to celebrate! Yay!!! Do look forward to it, please.

Hello, everyone! I was writing a piece about the Shibuya AX concert, but it turned out oo damn long (even by my own standards) so I’ll work on it for a while more.

Yesterday, as I was checking International Wota, I noticed a post about Idoling!!!’s concert. And I thought “well, I’ll check it out, it never hurts to stick with another fandom”

Notice how I didn’t know anything about Idoling!!! before this. I watched a small segment they had on Hey!Hey!Hey! where they incidentally appeared making fun of AKB48, and I thought that their honest and straight forward comedic style was quite adorable. I’ll be honest: I never planned to watch their show, I hardly watch AKB48’s show, because huge files with no subtitles aren’t a good thing for my connection, and I never thought that I’d get into them, judging by their “Moteki no Uta” performance, that didn’t really appeal to me all that much.

So why did I decide to watch the concert after all? I don’t think that they’re AKB48’s competition at all, and not because I look down on them or anything like that, but because AKB is a different idol group, with a different concept and a different style. I guess I simply wanted to see what they were about.

The first thing that appears in the video is short clip featuring each of the girls doing something and then how they arrive at the concert, or at least that’s what I think that happened in there, because I actually got bored after the first 3 or so and skipped them altogether.

I’m not going to do a track by track review because I don’t even know the member’s names, or the song names, so something so detailed would be pretty time consuming.

The general impression I got from the first few songs, is that they weren’t too memorable. The Idoling (I’ll skip the exclamation marks from now on, because they kind of annoy me anyway) style of simple choreographies is also present, which must be a great hook for the wotas, but it’s not very engaging visually. These girls have all of the attitude and spunk in the world, though. I was pretty happy to see this, as I love to watch idols enjoy themselves while they do their work, and this was like an added bonus that made up for the somewhat boring choreographies. I liked the different Moteki no Uta version, with maracas, and there’s a chubby girl in the group that’s really lively, and the crowd totally adores her! Brownie points for her because of that!

After the pretty standard sounding first few songs, there’s a small MC (the girls don’t introduce themselves, which I hate, because I can’t freaking tell who they are) and then it’s on to the small unit songs.

Memorable Stuff:

• There’s this part where a girl appears tap dancing alongside another one who plays the koto. The contrast is pretty shocking, and interesting, even though it doesn’t always quite click. The girl in the koto is absolutely beautiful and I love her already for being so good at it (but I don’t even know her name so whatever). The tap dancing girl… well, her skills aren’t as good as Miyazawa Sae’s amazing tap power, so brownie points for Sae, Team K and AKB48! (yes, I’m biased, so what?)
• My favorite song on the entire concert is one sung by Rumi, Mai and Maria (I think) with some girl whose name I don’t know in the piano. Rumi’s voice is simply breathtaking, crystal clear and perfect pitch. The harmonies are beautiful, and I rather enjoyed this ballad, which is weird, I usually hate those. Mai looks weird when she sings sometimes, like she’s nervous or something…
• There are a bunch of other random songs, all performed lively, but not all of them manage to catch my interest, though
• There’s another “break” thing where 2 girls play the taiko. Very impressive.
• There’s a song they do with a random guy (I’m guessing a comedian) very old fashioned, it kind of reminds me of Mr. Moonlight. It’s all about the physical comedy, actually, and they sing live, so their voices falter and sometimes they giggle a lot or even scream! It’s pretty interesting to watch, and it reminds all of us how these girls are mainly about comedy themselves. I appreciate how they sing live through the whole concert BTW, and I think that they are actually pretty decent performers, they have some great singers in their roster, and I don’t believe what I’ve read so manytimes “that they suck”. Singing live is really a feat, even though their choreographies are pretty simple. So they earn another point.
• Nagisa no Sindbad is performed here. Which makes me reminisce about W I also really liked this performance, chubby girl is back, owning the crowd as always, and they harmonize pretty good, although this time I’m not really sure if the harmonies are sung live.
• Happy Summer Wedding: Seeing this song performed really made me go “Wow! MM really are a legend” I’ve been a fan for many years, but for some reason, I had never seen it in that light! Anyway, the guy is back again, in a wedding dress (ew) and 2 girls perform with him. The vocal quality of this song is pretty bad, to be honest, but this number is all about the comedy as well, so I won’t really dwell on that. Not my cup of tea, really.
• There was a song in english performed, but I didn’t really understand a word from it XD there was also a Bennie K song, and a song they performed in long gold outfits (Oh look! Rumi’s there!!! *hearts*) which sounds really lovely. I’m sure I’m forgeting more songs but whatever.

After this, the girls thank the crowd and go to change, they put on some really plain white dresses with colored hems, which reminds me, the costumes these girls wear are nothing too frilly or shiny or whatever, but they still fit the songs well, I guess.

Another set of songs, apparently singles or something. They are all back in happy mode, and I actually like these batch of songs more than the first one (maybe they’re growing on me already?). After they are done singing, they move on to thank the audience again and leave the stage.

ENCORE: The girls are wearing really plain jean shorts and red T shirts. They still look good, pretty casual, like a girl next door kind of look, I guess. Oh look! They’re introducing themselves!!! Awesome!!

Wow! the crowd really loves Fonchi (she didn’t really stand out all that much to me… except for the giggling part in that first comedy song)

Kato Sayaka looks TOTALLY different in video than in pictures. It’s like… scary. She also reminds me of AKB48’s graduated member Hoshino Michiru, and I think she was one of the girls playing the taiko… I might be wrong though.

Michelle Miki is a total gaijin, and she gets like no lines whatsoever. See, that’s what the future holds in store for the lucky few foreign who manage to join the Idol world in Japan…

Oh, so chubby girl is Kikuchi Ami! Well, she’s a lucky girl, because the crowd REALLY loves her. Being 2nd gen and all, that must be quite the honor, or something. I’m just guessing, I don’t really know how the dynamics of the group work. She looks a bit like Konkon. And she was playing the piano in that first ballad I loved so much (Omoi no Uta? I believe?) Go figure. Girl’s pretty talented.

Michelle cheering on Rumi = lolol No, that’s not going to get you extra lines, Michelle, but you should still worship Rumi because she can outsing lots of idols I’ve heard in my life *whistle*

Wait, no, chubby girl is maybe Yazawa Erika… I can’t tell. I have to watch this thing again, now that I have a vague idea of who the hell they are.

Tap dancer girl is cool. Not as cool as Sae, but cool enough for me to like her. A bit.

Serina is really bawling there. And she looks like she’s 10.

And then they perform a song named Lemon Drop, typical upbeat idol pop, and a little more typical than typical because that’s Idoling’s style, pretty enjoyable, though.

So all in all, I enjoyed watching this. I’m probably not going to be a hardcore fan just yet, but they’re a pretty interesting group. I like how they play up the individual talents of the girls, and the fact that their choreographies are limited is actually a great chance to see how they interact with each other on stage and how their personality is reflected by that.

You should give this group a chance, don’t think about it as competition for Momusu, because that’s not what these girls are about. Idols who do comedy is a pretty interesting gimmick to at least check it out, and even though they can definitely make you laugh, they also have some good songs and great singers, they are rightful idols, in other words.

I’ll agree that the group isn’t for everyone, but you should at least try it out and see whether you like it or not, I for one, am already a fan of Koizumi Rumi and her beautiful voice <3 <3 <3

Well, first of all, I wanted to say thank you to everyone who has visited my blog, I’ve had over 8000 page views, which is a much greater response than I ever expected to get, so I really want to thank everyone who has visited and came back. I love blogging, I absolutely ADORE AKB48, and I’m thrilled to see that at least a few people have grown to love the group because of this blog, it makes me incredibly happy because that’s why I created it in the first place, in order to spread the love.

I want to thank Tokyograph for linking to Aitakatta, it’s really an honor for me, and for my relatively young blog.

And now… on to the real news.

Somehow things are going a bit shaky at Don Quijote this week. Remember sweet little Team B member Ayarin? Well, turns out that she was fired. Which of course, sucks majorly but was the logical step in the idol world.

The fact that foreign fans can’t help but think of how lame each and everyone of this boyfriend scandals have been also helps state even more the difference between japanese fans and us. Idols are what they are, and if we can’t really grasp the whole concept, then sucks to be us, because that’s not going to change. I keep telling this to myself, but I feel like I’m more hurt about the fact that this had to happen in my beloved AKB48 than about Ayaka herself.

I mean, not that I don’t feel sorry for her and her fans, but I read from someone at Stage48.net that Ayarin’s friends had posted stuff on their blogs about how they hated Otakus and how she was thinking of quitting AKB because of the scandal. I don’t really know if this is the truth, but what I do know is that what Akimoto wanted to accomplish with this whole kicking her out thing is to set the rules even clearer than they were before for the girls. You screw up, you’re freaking out. There’s no suspension, no pretending like nothing happen. Unlike H!P, who try to be aimed to a wider audience, AKB has always been wota-oriented.  If a girl (or her friends ) diss the wota, then there’s no prentending it didn’t happen (like  H!P  did with Ishikawa Rika and her big mouth) because the wota are the reason why  the whole group exists,  and Akimoto aknowledges it, he respects them (and in fact, he once said that he was a wota himself on TV…) and he’s not going to have his whole group boycotted by some 15 year olds, and he’s making that a very CLEAR statement for the other girls.

I feel bad about Team B, they always work so hard, and for them to lose a front girl like Ayarin, must be pretty tough and frustrating. And then comes the DVD question, are they going to edit her out of B2? I sure hope they don’t, like I said before, she wasn’t really my favorite girl voice-wise, but she’s all over the place! If they cut her out it won’t even make sense anymore. I don’t think they’ll do this, though. B2 must be out for all of us to get our filthy paws on very soon, but it also raises questions about another DVD, B3. That stage has been performed over 150 times now, which is a lot. I’ve read that people aren’t as excited about it as before, let’s say it’s getting old. So that one must be ending pretty soon, but what are they going to do? I wonder if they already filmed it? And if they did, are they going to re shoot almost everything? And include Sashihara as Kikuchi’s permanent replacement as she has been in the latest B shows? I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

I do wonder who will be pushed to the front now that Kikuchi is gone. I mean, a part of me is always kind of excited when a big Momusu member leaves just to find out who will fill her position. This isn’t the same of course, but Ayarin and Mayuyu were the face of Team B, so it’s almost certain that a girl will be pushed into that position. I’m thinking Kashiwagi might be the logical choice, given how she leads a lot of songs, and is an amazing singer. I would love to see my beloved Haachan in the front, of course, but I’m good with any girl who is a good singer.

Like I said before, please support AKB48, and especially Team B. They are all very committed hard workers, and they deserve all the love and support in the world after all of this chaos.

And finally, to wrap this whole scandal business and never look back at it again, I really wish all the best for Ayarin. She proved to be a great performer and a very fun girl to watch, it’s sad to see her leave. I hope that she can experience the life of a normal teenager now, and that there are many many good things in store for her in the future.

Hi again, people. So, let’s play a game called “guess which Research Student (aka SEED) was added to which Team?” Well, let’s not play that, because I seriously have no idea of who is who, regarding SEEDs, I only now that there’s a gorgeus one named Chisato somewhere, and am crossing my fingers so that she ends up in Team K-ickass (and yes, I do know that she’d be perfect for Team A, but screw them :P)

So, this girl named Nito Moeno was added to Team B! Yay! Apparently, she looks a lot like prominent B member Kashiwagi Yuki, this is a fact that has been stated by many people anyway, I, on the other hand, think that she looks freaked out in all of the pics Congratulations to her, anyway!

Ok, so with those news out of the way, let’s head to the reason why I made this post. The AKB48 girls have already publically stated (in a Hey!Hey!Hey! appearance) that Akimoto has told them that they can’t have boyfriends. This is nothing new to all of us idol-wota people, and even though H!P has a rate of 2 - 3 boyfriend scandals each month ever since last year, AKB fans remained peaceful and cozy in our comfy little idol niche, until these news surfaced…

Meet lovely Team B frontgirl, Kikuchi Ayaka, also known as Ayarin.

Isn’t she adorable?

Apparently, little Ayarin, 15 years old, has found out about the greatest thing a 15 year old can find out about, that is: Boys, of course. Her alleged boyfriend is this unknown guy who posted a purikura of them, surrounded with lovely pink hearts, and which candidly states that they’ve been together for 3 months. (Ah, I remember back in the old days, when 3 months meant SO much in a relationship…) So here’s the pic, for future reference, I do think that they look pretty cute together, but I’m a sucker for romance and all that crap women love.

The guy isn’t all that cute though, poor Ayarin…

This news had been out for a while now, but for some reason (probably due to denial, or to the reaction of UFA to all of the Kid’s scandals these days) I assumed that nothing would happen to her, that she’d be performing like nothing had happened, especially because a few days ago it was announced that she was going to be transfered to famous agency “Ogipro” along with other Team B front girls, Nacchan, Mayuyu and Harugon. Ayaka would also be one of the most pushed-to-the-front members, considering how Team B’s sole representation in any single is constantly Mayu. However, she’s been in 2 singles, which is way more that some poor Team A or K members (not to mention her fellow B’s) (Of course, I’m not counting BINGO! or Sakura no hanabiratachi 2008, because those included all of the members, but really few were actually featured in the PVs)

This is bad news for Ayarin, because apparently she hasn’t been performing often in Team B shows lately, and also, SEED Nito Moeno was suddenly added to Team B, which now has 18 girls. People are speculating whether she’ll be silently thrown out of the group, considering how Team B girls aren’t really the busiest with other kinds of work and usually attend shows regularly…

My personal opinion on all this is that I’m tired of this crap. I’m really tired because ultimately, this was the reason that drove me away from H!P, and I don’t want it to happen again, because AKB is a very important part of my life. Everyone has already stated their opinion on the “no boyfriend” policy, seeing how frequent this type of scandals are becoming, especially among the younger girls. My POV is that although that rule is crap, it does make sense, considering what the idol image is all about. I seriously don’t think that these girls don’t ever go out with guys, I don’t think that all of them are virgins (I mean, look at Ohori, she’s clearly none of that XD) I don’t care if they are or not, because this whole idol thing is an act they put up with for the fans, I appreciate that, and I would also appreciate a little bit of… common sense when it comes to handling their personal lives.

I don’t know if I’m talking BS here, but paparazzi in Japan seem nowhere as wild and suffocating as the US ones, I don’t blame the girls for their stuff getting posted in newspapers and the such, because they are entitled to their privacy and it’s really none of our business, but if you already know the rules, then you can play the game without any problems. I don’t know if I’m making my point clear (because I have a bit of a hangover, so I’m dying here…) but what I mean is that it’s been proven before that idols actually do date people (like Iida Kaori and Tsuji Nozomi), and they don’t always get caught, you know, because you have to know how to handle it. Of course, it sucks to have to hide and go to small places to have fun just because some crazy guys with cameras are interested in getting you kicked out of your group, but this wasn’t the case with poor Ayarin, she was sold by her own boyfriend. Ouch.

That reminds me of the Kamei non-scandal. Which I think was true to a certain extent, because we all know that she’s too hot to not have a boyfriend. Ayarin should probably tell her future dates that when your daily work consists on putting on frilly pink costumes and singing girly pop to a crowd of grown men with glowsticks who dance along with you, you probably need to keep your date under the radar. Ayarin is only 15, so of course, she shouldn’t be blamed for this. I’m sure that if this scandal doesn’t get her kicked out, she will learn how to deal with this annoying “no boyfriend” situation, and not exactly by not having a boyfriend (like all wotas believe their pure innocent idols do) but you know, the old fashioned sneaking out and hiding.

Now, what if she does get kicked out? Well, personally, I’d be sad (because I’m always sad when an AKB girl leaves) but Kikuchi isn’t really one of my favorite members. I’m glad to see all of the support she’s getting, because I do give her credit for always trying so hard at everything she does, even though I don’t really like her voice all that much and I’ve stopped hoping that “those guys from agencies realize that this is a stupid policy, and finally remove it and then all of us will be happy and no girl will ever get kicked out and W will reunite again yay!”, because I’ve learnt the hard way that to agencies, idols are pretty much disposable, regardless of how big their fanbase might be. This is of course, partially due to the fact that an idol is a very VERY manufactured product, and while all of them bring something fresh and original to the table, they can be easily replaced by someone pushed to the front for long enough, regardless of her charm, talent, beauty or whatever.

Bottomline (because I really need to get some sleep) is that as long as an idol group keeps being labeled as one, girls who belong to said group must hide their boyfriends or get the boot. It’s that simple. I’m with all of you people who say that she’s a teenager, she should go out, enjoy the life of a normal teen and whatever, just… you can do all of that and not post it in your blog when you know your gf is going to be fired because of it. Or maybe the guy didn’t do it on purpose? God knows that people are capable of such a good natured stupidity at 15…

So, people, support Ayarin, and Team B. They are amazing, and she’s a very good idol who has earned everything with hard work and a huge charming smile.

Bye bye!

Hi everyone! This isn’t the special entry I promised a while ago, but it’s still AKB48 news, so I really felt like posting it.

The SEED adding crazyness continues, with Kitahara Rie added to Team A (damn! If they add one more SEED to that Team I’ll be a n00b all over again, I can’t recognize this girl for dear life)

Moving on, we have another SEED, this time joining Team B, Sashihara Rino. Let’s hope that she’s a good singer, after listening to Team B’s Senaka Kara Dakishimete, they are in desperate need for good singers. Yukirin, Haachan, Naruppe, Nakayan and Matsuyuki can’t make everything sound lovely, more help is needed.

Ok, after all that talk about SEEDs, let’s have more talk about SEEDs! Yay! No, I kid. former AKB48 SEED Deguchi Aki has officially joined SKE 48, which is amazing, because she’s an incredible performer and I didn’t want her talent to go to waste! The other semi-familiar face is Takada Shiori, who apparently is the sister of really neglected obscure former Team K member, Takada Ayana. Poor Ayana, I never even heard of anyone being her fan or at least liking her to some extent. That’s pretty sad considering how she was in team K for 3 Stages…

Poor Ayana didn’t even get a different profile pic in all the years she spent in AKB! Just the old and ugly Aitakatta pic… Sad fact.

Well, apparently, Team K members feel the same way that most people do about poor Ayana, seeing how Ohori Megumi (aka. Pervy Queen) posted an entry in her blog saying how she hoped that Shiori would fulfill her sister’s dreams. Ouch. I mean, Takada was in Team K for 3 freaking stages!!!! YOu would think that’s enough but apparently no…

So here’s the pic of SKE48, yes, I am aware that some of the girls look seriously hideous, but this is a common thing in AKB48, at the beggining they kind of look like little trolls, and then a little make over and voila! perfectly cute idols.

So, other than that, the other pretty big happening in AKB48 was the release of the 3 DVD set, the Shibuya AX concert held in January with a countdown of the top 100 songs of AKB48. Funnily enough, this was released almost simultaneously with Morning Musume’s Single Daizenshuu DVD, which I found to be an interesting coincidence, to say the least.

Of course, comparing an AKB48 concert with a MM concert is probably not a very wise thing to do, because regardless of what most people believe, the 2 groups are radically different from each other. MM concerts tend to be all over the top, flashy lights and effects, huge venues, a short tracklist of singles and album songs and hideous costumes of course While AKB48 stick to their “homely” feel even in big concerts. It’s all about the girls, not the show. So the feeling is really different.

However, I couldn’t help but thinking about this a bit further. What if MM would actually perform 100 songs? I’ll tell you what, it would be boring as hell. And no, I don’t mean it out of hate, but simply because while MM’s singles are probably stronger than most of AKB’s stuff (you know, production wise and stuff), their B-sides and album songs tend to be pretty blah, if not downright boring and/or impossible to listen to. Does MM even have 100 great songs to perform? Of course, not all of the songs AKB performed are great songs, hell, one of them wasn’t even a song! (the overture) But the music style of the group allows for songs to be kept in the same line of quality, generally speaking, so nothing falls out of place, and this consistency in the composition of the songs makes up for great concert material, even when songs are taken out of their original Stage Performance context. MM doesn’t necessary have that consistency, because they don’t actually need it. They put out a single, they need the A-side (which will get promoted) to be really good, the B-side to be passable and when all of that needs to be put in an album, then we get the really supbar album songs. This isn’t a bad thing, I insist, it’s just meant to fit into the needs of the group.

Going even further along with this commentary, I must say that some key members were missing during parts of the AKB concert, like Acchan, Maimai, Miichan, Tomochin and so on. The absence of said members didn’t really affect the overall quality of the concert, but it sure hurt some unit songs, where a stand in needed to be placed. Besides, what’s an AKB48 concert without Acchan’s face shoved in your eyes every 2 seconds? It felt kind of weird, and going back to the comparison thing, in MM this kind of stuff just doesn’t happen. See, in AKB the most popular girls get signed with various agencies, which manage their career outside of the group (like acting, modeling, TV hosting, gravure, and so on). So if the girl has to, say, go to a photoshoot on the day of a concert, she misses the concert. So we could safely say that AKB is a side project for the most popular girls (like Oshima Mai, who hasn’t even been seen at the theater much in the A4 revival). MM is radically different, all of the girls are signed to the same agency, and their idol career is their main thing. They never do anything that isn’t sponsored by their agency, and of course, their work schedules for things other than MM never conflict with an important concert.

Well, taking all of this into consideration, I’d like to have a word about the quality of both concerts. I was sincerely blown away when I watched MM’s concert. I used to be a huge fan, then Koharu’s screeches, Reina’s spastic winking and poor Aichan getting shoved in my face all the time drove me away in order to keep my sanity. I still download MM’s concerts, and watch them merely out of tradition. Sure, there are girls I love to watch, like Risa, Eri, Sayu or Aika and Aichan is amazing to see live, but the magic was gone. The excitement I used to feel whenever something new was released just wasn’t there anymore. Last concert I watched I skipped like half of it. I don’t even know the new songs (nor do I want to) so I get bored. And in that same train of thought, when I saw this one up in the H!O tracker I thought “Hmm… let’s see Koharu butcher all of the MM songs I love” and then I sat down and watched it and I was blown away. This concert moved me, it made me remember how much I love this girls and why I stuck with them for so long. This is hands down the best MM concert I’ve seen in quite a long time, and I’m glad I watched it, because every second of it was entertaining and nostalgic all at the same time (and Koharu’s horrible singing didn’t appear in most of the songs, thank God)

And what about AKB’s concert? WOW. That’s all I can say. I can only feel even more proud of being a fan after watching it, knowing how hard on the girls it must’ve been to rehearse 100 freaking songs while having to perform twice a day a completely different thing from what they were going to sing. They all are in full spirits, energetic, dancing their hearts out and 0wning this thing from beginning to end. I thought that a concert like this would bore me to death, but I didn’t even skip one song. Not even the ones I don’t like, because the new performances were incredible. These were 4 different concerts, I believe, which might be the reason why they always seem to be so pumped while MM kind of half asses some of their dances (especially in the first part) in order to have energy for the rest of songs.

I can’t draw a conclusion from this, other than saying that both concerts are great, definitely worth watching. And that all of you people starting in the AKB fandom, this concert is a great way to know all of their popular songs, and realize how AMAZING they are on stage, all of the three teams!

Thanks for reading!

Hello! This semester will be hell, so that could mean that I will either try to escape from my crappy reality by updating like crazy or get depressed and not do anything at all XD Let’s hoep that it’s the former one, this blog has been seriously therapeutic for me ever since I started, so I don’t expect to abandon it any time soon! However, you’ll have to bear with me, and my erratic update schedule, since uni/hospital sucks all my free time…

Anyhow, this isn’t what you all came for, right? Here’s the profile you’ve all been waiting for since so long ago! (really?) The lovely and slightly airheaded Hii-pinku finally gets her special spotlight time here in Aitakatta! *pachipachipachi* But first, I’ll tell you about the things and projects I have for the blog, seeing how I haven’t updated in ages and I lost track for a bit

1. Finish the A4 track by track review: This might be a tough one, seeing how everything just piled up on me… But I really want to do this review, because A4 is one of my favorite stages (only centimeters below K3) and I really feel like reviewing it… we’ll see how this goes.

2. Himawarigumi 1 review: This one is even more long term. I’ve been thinking if I should just do a random performance review each week? That would be fun, and also, it would force me to update weekly, so I’m really looking into that option.

3. Finish the remaining Team A profiles: Tojima Hana and Ohe Tomomi (aka Ohtoji) are among my top favorite members ever, so I plan on doing epic profiles of each, which is why it’s taking me so long >_< On the other hand, the Kenkyuusei members that became Team A members this year… I don’t think I’ll be profiling them anytime soon, I’d need to see more footage of them in order to figure out what they can really do. I could venture into doing a mini profile of Amina, since she was in H1, and I already have a strong impression of her, but Reina… well, I honestly have never seen her perform, and that is a must for me, so I’ll wait until H2 gets released for that one, and the newest addition to Team A, Miyazaki Miho aka Myao is terribly cute and adorable and whatnot, but I have no idea about her either, so I’ll have to wait even longer in order to make that profile. But I promise you that they’ll be done ASAP, maybe after I finish Team K?

Ok, so there are my plans! Comments and/or suggestions are as welcome as always

Oh, and before I forget! Team A has a new member! Yay! Miyazaki Miho aka Myao was added last sunday! She’s so cute! I hope that she does really well, but I’m sure she will! On the other hand, this news makes me wonder if they have a graduation in mind soon, considering how Team A has 17 members now… Or maybe one of the girls is getting really moved to SKE48? We’ll have to wait and see! In the mean time, please adore Myao just as much as any other Team A member, k? Because I really like her!

                                                   

Ok, so that’s enough about news and the such, let’s talk about what we’re here for Komatani Hitomi!

 

Name: Komatani Hitomi (駒谷仁美)

Nickname: Hiichan (ひぃちゃん)

Birthdate: December 16th, 1988

Birthplace: Saitama, Japan

Hobbies: Shopping

Audition song: Otsuka Ai - Planetarium

Height: 156cm

Bust: 75cm

Waist: 56cm

Hips: 82cm

Lovely Hiichan, aka Hiipinku, Pinku or anything related to that color. Funny thing is, you might have something in common with Hiichan, (yes, I know that you’re nowhere near to becoming Kojiharu’s best friend, you’re probably not a hot japanese girl and your coworkers are probably far from being a bunch of cuties but still…) and that is the fact that Hiichan happens to be a huge Momusu fan, and a HUGE Sayu fan (yay! Go Sayu!). Hiichan has a passion for pink (in case her nickname didn’t give that away…) is probably as airheaded as lovely Haruna or more, and has THE most nasal talking voice I have heard in my entire life. I’ve heard people hate on her because of her voice, but that just seems absurd to me, because it sets her apart from the other members and also, her singing voice is simply divine! Nowhere near nasal or anything like that, she’s a fantastic singer. The thing with Hiichan is that she’s not much of a cam-whore, so you probably won’t spot her very easily.

Her dancing is okay, nothing amazing, really, but when you sing and look like that, you don’t really need to be the best dancer ever, I mean, that just wouldn’t be fair! I actually don’t think that Hii is a bad dancer, but I feel like she has a very particular style of performing and she does everything within that range, if you understand what I mean… she’s not very over the top or anything, and she’s actually on the mellow side, but she delivers perfectly in that particular way of hers. It’s kind of hard to explain, so you’ll have to see her performing in order to understand what I mean…

Anyway, let’s start going over Hiichan’s PV time (which has been really limited, sadly…)

1. Sakura no Hanabiratachi: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6XHLUwJMek You know, it’s always shocking to me how Hiichan gets systematically shafted in every single PV under the sun… She’s not even getting a PB yet, and God knows she deserves one like right.now! Anyhow, everyone (but Risa and Mai) was pretty raw back in the day this was released, so we see a baby faced Hiichan that now looks a lot older (and prettier) Still, I want to pinch her cheeks! She’s adorable here!

 

Well, this is actually a screenshot of Takamina, but in the background we can see Hiichan’s crying face… Anyway, I decided to put this one up because is one of the shots of her where she looks more… human XD I mean that ina good way though, her complexion and her facial features are absolutely flawless and perfect, so she looks like a doll sometimes, yes, she’s THAT gorgeus!

Hii says Hi!! See what I mean about her looking like a doll? No? Well, I’ll show you more pics later on, then. I don’t really like her long straight hair, she doesn’t stand out much with that hairstyle. Thankfully, she has changed it quite a bit ever since…

The girls that can be clearly seen in this screencap are from (your) left to right Yukarin, Nacchan and Hiichan is the one in the right. She cut her hair, which was a great move for her as it made her beautiful features stand out more!. I love her little pout, and notice how it’s more subtle than what Yukarin and Nacchan are doing, that’s Hiichan for you… Still works wonders, though, as we’ll see later on.

Ok, I keep on yapping and yapping about the same thing, but anyway, she looks like a CG, right? Alright, I’ll stop now, I swear

3. BINGO!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzp6tTAYoF0 She wasn’t officially a part of this PV, but all of the AKB girls were featured anyway, so still, I’m sure she’ll be in at least one frame…

The infamous mugshot! It’s pretty small and crappy, but I love how she’s the only one who looks like “I’m so sorry, I will never do it again” Ahh, Hiichan, everyone loves a good girl!

Yay for recycled screencaps! This is one of my favorite BINGO! PV moments, so I’ll post it as many times as I can. Anyway, here we see a bunch of girls smiling at the camera and waving. So we see Yukarin first, with her big smile and a cute wave, then there’s Shiho, who is really happy smiling her heart out, and then we have Hiichan, smiling sweetly as she clings to Risa’s arm. And then of course, there’s Risa (who has now the biggest boobs in AKB48 officially, 91cms, which beats Noro Kayo by one cm. Sorry Nontii! Ok, back to Hiichan) So we can really see the contrast between their personalities, and I’d say that the girl with the most similar personality to Hiichan (other than super cute airhead Kojiharu) is probably Nozofisu, who is also on the gentle, quiet side.

Well… that’s all, sadly, so let’s take a look at her performances!

A1 - Party ga Hajimaru yo: All of Team A seemed to be so excited at this point, and Hiichan is no exception, of course…

Graduated member Orii Ayumi sings with Hiichan, who looks pretty plain with that particular hairstyle…

A1 - Dear my Teacher: The first time I watched this performance, what stood out to me the most (other than Maimai’s awesomeness of course)was Hiichan’s voice. She has a few solo lines in this song, and she sounds great in them!

As everyone else in A1, Hiichan is trying too hard at times, but DMT is not one of those times XD She totally owns every line, and seems to enjoy the performance from beginning to end!

A1 - Classmate: I love this classic sounding song! It’s very pretty, and when you watch it performed you get this fuzzy feeling inside… Cyute!

No solo lines for Hiichan, however, she makes Yukarin’s kind of inexperienced voice sound smoother and also her voice is amazing to hear at anytime either way. I read once that Hiichan had been in another idol group before joining AKB48, I don’t know if this is true or not, but it could be a possibility considering how ahead of most of her teammates she is when it comes to vocal ability.

I said I’d shut up about this, but I can’t. Hiichan scares me in this screenshot. It’s because of the lighting, which leaves her eyes looking completely black, and that along with her doll-like face scares me to death…

Vacuum eyed Hiichan again… scary… She looks like a Noh theater mask

Thankfully, when she snaps out of it, she’s really adorable and sweet as always!

A2 - Koi no Plan: One of my all time AKB48 favorites, this song is pure Team A. Totally girly and bubbly!

Chiru + best friends Kojoharu and Hiichan! I love Hiichan’s hat, somehow I feel like it goes really well with her dress

Hiichan starts to show her real “personality” in A2. She’s more laid back and comfortable being herself. Like I said before, she’s not a show off, but whenever the camera is on her, she knows what to do to stay in the limelight!

I love this girl’s smile. She fixed her teeth too, like many other fellow AKB’ers. She looks even more perfect now. Life is unfair like that…

A2 - JESUS: I insist, this song is really something else… I love it though, it’s packed with lots of energy and I like the 80’s sound of it. Hiichan… well, she doesn’t appear all that much in it, but still…

Sexy mysterious looking Hiichan! She still has some baby fat in her face, and yet looks beautiful here.

A2 - Dakedo…: I’m running out of things to say about this song, because it isn’t really my cup of tea. Pretty ballad, though. I like the lyrics, although they are a bit emo…

Melancholic looking Hiichan. See, her range of expressions isn’t particularly huge, nor is she totally over the top at trying to convey a particular feeling, but she accomplishes it perfectly in her own style nonetheless, that’s what I like about her.

A2 - Dear my Teacher: This has always been Hiichan’s song. She nails it perfectly and effortlessly here, and it makes me think once again that it’s a shame how she almost never gets lines and stuff like that, she’s a great performer!

Flirty Hiichan! How cute is this, seriously?

A2 - AKB48: I effing love this song. Seriously. With a passion. Hiichan was really cute during this performance, channeling her idol’s spirit, that is to say, Sayu’s.

Half Usachan Peace!!!! This is… too… adorable… must… love… Hiichan… XD

A3 - Tsukimisou: I find it funny how this is one of my favorite AKB48 songs, yet there are few screencaps of this performance in my profiles… That’s gotta change! Hiichan was unfortunately sort of neglected here, but we still get a few shots of her!

This is a song about how girls are like an evening primrose, which is a flower that blooms during the night then wilters the next day. It’s a very interesting analogy, but I’ll leave that for another discussion. The thing is that this is a very strong yet “womanly” song, which is why I like Hiichan’s apparently defenseless pose. It’s a sharp contrast from what the other girls are doing, and it fits her “Damsel in distress” idol persona very well.

This looks like a scene from a musical, no? All the girls surround her and she looks like she’s the center of the dance. Very cool looking, but sadly far from what really happens to poor Hii in most songs… I like how she looks like she’s pointing at Miichan, like “Oh, I didn’t do it, it was her!” Hiichan is THE good girl, and she will do anything (or blame anyone) in order to keep her position XD

A3 - Rider: I know I keep repeating myself in every post about this song, but that’s only because I think it’s a very important song in AKB history, and it makes me very happy to see that this song was given to members with great voices, all perfect for it, especially because Hiichan is the lead of this unit! Yay!

Stunning Hiichan was the lead for this song along with Watanabe Shiho. She looked beautiful in that white suit, and notice how she looks older now, and of course, prettier.

I love how commited to singing this song Hiichan was! I think that it was very important that whoever got to lead this unit would really be able to sing it with the same amount of sadness and hope that it has. I’m glad that Hii was so good at it, she really made this one a memorable performance.

Yes, Hana is the reason why I’m posting this screencap. Got a problem with that? Then go away, because I ADORE Hana! And you will be seeing a lot of her in this blog anyway

Sad looking Hiichan… She’s lovely <3

A4 - Only Today: I have just realized that 80% of my A4 screencaps SUCK. So I have to redo those before I do Hana and Ohyay or I won’t forgive myself for that! Hiichan looked absolutely beautiful in A4, with her cute pigtails and all…

Ugh… what a sucky screencap… Anyway, look at the pigtails! How lovely! (And notice blurry Hana next to Hii Blurry Hana > your face)

A4 - 7ji 12fun no hatsukoi: Well, this was Hii’s unit in A4, and she didn’t get a big part in it, sadly. Still, she’s the one who looks the best in that tight fluffy outfit, so go Pinku!

Another recycled screencap FTW! Anyhow, that step of Hiichan’s looks oddly familiar… It resembles the start of a certain song that sold millions of copies and all of us have heard more times than we could bear and now inflicts brain damage to everyone who listens to it… I wonder if Natsu-sensei is becoming a bit old and recycling dance steps? (Or maybe she’s lazy and that’s why she recycles, like I do with my screencaps XD) or perhaps Hiichan decided on her own that she would do that step, you know, she’s a pretty big fan of *that* idol group…

How serious… Is she identified with the song? Does she have a secret unrequited love? You know what’s funny… there are like 4 different screencaps of this performance where she looks exactly like this. Focused much?

Heart-shaped earrings! Hiichan is a fashionista! She’s always referring to herself as “beautiful” and “gorgeus” which cracks me up! She really is following the footsteps of Sayu-sensei!

Now, girls, please take a look at Hiichan’s impossibly slim waist and weep…

A4 - DARUIKANJI: My most listened to song in iTunes. What an emo, right? Anyway, I like how aggressive this song is, and how Hiichan manages to portray that (to a certain extent, because she doesn’t really have a lot of lines or anything)

Hana and Hii really got paired a lot in A4! Anyway, here they are, and this dark and dull shot is perfect for this song, it sort of reminds me of a dark alley or something along those lines…

Work it girl! I love her hair color, BTW, it fits her perfectly, she looks so much better now than she did back in the day, and she was beautiful then, so go figure…

A4 - Mr. Kissman: Even more Hana-Hii goodness! This is probably one of my favorite songs about S-E-X, it’s just so… silly and sassy at the same time!

This is just… too hot for words… So I won’t type anything else…

w00t! Hiichan has made it to one of the most important positions in AKB48 here, next to Acchan! Go girl!!!!

A4 - Kimi ga Oshiete Kureta: I like the filler songs of AKB48. They are so easy to listen too, but they are pretty catchy nonetheless!

 

The two “ladylike” characters of Team A, the good girl and the gravure model if you will XD

A4 - BINGO! You all know about BINGO! by now, I hope… Still, some pretty nice moments in here, this song hasn’t been killed for me yet (Ok, I lie, I always skip it in H1) so I enjoy it quite a bit /this part is true though)

Mwahahaha! I knew she had to have some flaw… That arm looks kind of crooked, doesn’t it? Not like it matters to me, because mine looks like that…

Hiichan: “Oh look Acchan, I’m next to you again! I’m rising to stardom!” Acchan: “You wish, I’m like WAAAAAY above anyone else in this group so back off!” Ok, all kidding aside, the fact that she gets lines with Acchan actually surprised me a bit, but of course, her beautiful voice at least get used, which is good, I guess… I mean, it could be worst, if she were in Hello!”you-can’t-sing-unless-you’re-Risako”Project

Classic Hiichan look. Gawd, I’m running out of things to write yet there are so many great screencaps of this girl!!!

A4 - Keibetsu Shiteita Aijou: I couldn’t resist it. She looks too pretty here…

Her eyes look like they can pierce thorugh you, right? Damn this girl, she looks good in every freaking frame! Thankfully she was blurry in the rest, this is already like the longest entry ever and it isn’t even done yet!

A4 - Nante Suteki na Sekai ni Umareta no Darou: Pajama Hiichan! That’s all I can say, because my brain has gone numb! This profile took me two days to write! I need to rest…

Cute and whatnot… I’m braindead…

So anyway, I hope you liked this HUUUUUUGE post. I have to say in my favor that it’s full of pretty pictures of Sayu’s #1 fan

Feel free to comment if you want to, your comments make me a happy wota, and they encourage me to update more and work hard in order to always make interesting entries, so please do, it’s a win-win situation

Love you all, and see you soon, with a special post I’m planning! No, it won’t be another profile for at least another week, but I promise you you’ll like it!

Bai bai!

HI! I’ll keep rambling until I get home, which will hopefully be tomorrow, and then I can continue with the regular pic-loaded updates. Anyway, I wrote this one as a follow up of my last entry, in hopes that people who are beginners in the fandom and want to really understand what this whole “Team” business is about will probably know what each one has to offer. Well, see you whenever I get home and can finally update regularly again!

Let’s asume that all of us have a favorite type of idol, well, it’s not really an assumption, you see, because most of us actually go through different idol fandoms attracted by a certain girl who has the character or talent treats that we specifically favor the most.

To make my point clear, I’ll talk about my personal taste, as far as idols go.

I like idols who are first and foremost happy to be where they are, I like my idols to be proud of their group, collective, unit, whatever, and I like it when they support their colleagues or groups. In this vein, I would like to point out my favorite Morning Musume member, who is the main girl I think of whenever I state this, Niigaki Risa. She has constantly said in interviews, Futarigotos and whatnot that she adores MM, she always has treasured the fact that she’s part of the group and it really shows in her performances and in everything else she is a part of.

I also happen to like idols who are confident, and a bit of show offs even. A girl who isn’t afraid to steal the spotlight and speak her mind, immediately gets my utmost recognition and unconditional love. This is why I love Team A’s Oshima Mai, never one to be afraid, she sings her heart out, smiles all the way through concerts and dominates the stage with her confidence. This is a very important thing for an idol, because if a girl isn’t sure of what her talents are, and isn’t capable of faking it either, chances are that she will slip to the background and remain unnoticed. Another example of a girl who I love because of her confidence is Team A’s Tojima Hana. She’s not really a front girl, but whenever the camera is on her, even for a split second, she totally steals our attention, it’s like you HAVE to look at her, because she looks like she knows exactly what she’s doing.

Another favorite treat of mine, is how capable a girl is to convey the feeling of a song or the energy of a dance. Some girls are technically perfect, but they don’t really have much feeling put into their performances, so they don’t stand up to me as much. Miyazawa Sae of Team K is a perfect example of this, she is very upbeat, but whenever there is a sexy or sad song, she can handle it just as well, channeling all of that energy into something great that highlights the emotion of a particular song.

Finally, and probably the most important of all, is that I happen to like girls who are talented. Sure, I’m not looking for Utada HIkaru kind of vocals or Amuro Namie dancing skills, but if I’m going to be fond of an idol she has to prove that she is good at what she does, which is singing and dancing. That is the reason why I have never jumped in the Kusumi bandwagon, that girl can’t freaking sing, her voice breaks every other line and while she has really improved her dancing, and she is the most charismatic one out of the current MM, my eardrums still bleed whenever she sings. On the other hand, I’m a big fan of Oshima Yuko mainly because of her talent. Don’t get me wrong, Yuko is my favorite member for a number of reasons, including her fun loving personality, but the reason why I was captivated by her and have never looked back since, was her sheer talent. Yuko is a great actress, you can see this in the Keibetsu Shiteita Aijou PV, where she cried, but not in the typical idol way of crying fake tears, she was shaking and sobbing and seriously crying, fitting the mood of the song perfectly. This acting skills enable her to be a great performer, and she also has a very distinctive kind of husky voice that sets her apart. She is also a fine dancer. It might sound kind of mean, but I’ll be honest with you, I’m into idols because of the music, and while I’m not expecting any life changing songs, I do expect my favorite idols to be able to do what they’re hired to do!

Ok, so with all of that in mind, I have had great fun by being an AKB48 fan, because there are so many girls that you will definitely find one to suit your taste. I won’t do the 48 girls individually, but I’ll try to do a bit of a profile of each Team’s style, so that you can decide what fits you best.

Team A

Team A, the first Team created, is pretty much a classic idol group. The girls who are part of this team are all charming, cute and sexy in a very girly way, which is probably what sets them apart from the other 2 teams. They have great songs in all kind of styles, but their main musical feature is probably pop per se, both mellow laid back tracks, like Haru ga Kuru Made, 7ji 12fun no Hatsukoi, Shinkirou, Kikyou, coupled with more dramatic danceable numbers like Faint, Mr. Kissman, Namida no Shounan and so on. Something that is also unique about Team A, is that their choreographies usually have a more “flowing” feel to the moves, as opposed to the sharp moves and steps of Team K’s choreographies, for example. Personality wise, the girls from Team A are pretty much typical representatives of the Idol label. Whether absolutely charming, like Acchan, careerist, like Takamina, fun loving like Miichan and Tomochin or downright sexy and “in charge” like Maimai, there’s no doubt that if you’re a fan of classic idol groups like Morning Musume and Wink you will probably find yourself swooning over the professional hotties of this team. That is not to say that there aren’t any quirks or personality treats to give this group a little more… variety, take the very sweet but slightly insane Ohyay as an example, or the beautiful but airheaded Kojiharu, and overall, it seems like most of the girls in this Team were handpicked to be stars, which means that while some may not have great voices, and others aren’t exactly the best dancers they all have lots of personality, and this creates a very interesting amount of strong characters so you will certainly find a perfect match for your idol tastes whithin this hip looking, slightly retro oriented team of girls.

Team K

Team K, the followup Team, has a bit of an edge to it. The energy level of this girls is like way up in the sky, they are always bursting with enthusiasm and pump up the audience with their rock inspired songs and hyper pop numbers. Something that will have you recognize them instantly is the fact that they have the most powerful singers, so their songs sound a bit in the lower range and somewhat stronger than those of the other teams. As I said before, Team K’s signature music is a winning combo of rock, energetic or really powerful pop, and while they are very sexy on their own right, it’s not the girly sexy “Fall in love with me” style of Team A, but more of a “I know I’m hot, so you must worship me now!” kind of sexy, if you get what I mean (and if you don’t, then go watch Blue Rose, and then you’ll get it) Impressively enough, although this one is the “Cool” Team of AKB, they have some of the most beautiful ballads, due to the great singers that are part of the team, songs like Nakinagara Hohoende, Don’t Disturb!, Kataomoi no Sotsugyou Shiki or the incredibly sweet and melancholic “Aisareru to Iu Koto” help prove this point. Personality wise, this girls are all little balls of energy, and each one of them does it in their own style,so there are purely cool girls like Saeyaka, crazy adorable ones like Yuko or Kasai, cute little kids like Erepyon, Machan or Kaorin and the silly girls like Nonti, Nacchi and Kana and so on, but you can trust me on this, even the most mellow looking ones, like Matsubara Natsumi, really fire up out of nowhere when the show starts and as a result Team K stands strong as the powerful and cool team of AKB.

Team B

Team B, the last group that was created, had been a bit of a puzzle, musically wise, because of the fact that they were given 2 recycled stages to perform, so none of us had any clue of what their songs were really about. Thankfully, that all ended with the opening of B3, which is one of the strongest stages of AKB as a whole and proved that with every audition, Akimoto has a knack for picking a group of girls that will smoothly fit with each other and with the music that he has tailored for them. First thing you will notice about Team B is that they all seem to be in hyper mode, and it’s a different kind of energy from the one Team K exudes, this one is more like… wacky, crack, pure fun type of energy, which is great, because it helps Team B stand out from the other two. If Team A is starpower and Team K is coolness then we’d probably be better off saying that Team B is the most charismatic Team of all. Regardless of the amount of big names and great characters in the senpai groups, B’s girls manage to work, smile and joke their way into the sturdiest of wota hearts. They have the kind of schoolgirl goofiness and carefree attitude of groups of young girls, like Berryz Koubou or Buono, and it’s always refreshing to have some great lighthearted fun every now and then! With all of that said, Team B’s music is a very interesting mix of dreamy pop (Shonichi, Gokigen Naname na Mermaid, Tenshi no Shippo), and dramatic songs with greatly incorporated elements of techno (Junjou Shugi, Inochi no Tsukaimichi, Temodemo no Namida) or a little bit of rock (Kagami no Naka no Jeanne da Arc, Seifu wa Arashi ni Yume o Miru). It’s kind of an eclectic combo, and takes hints from the other teams’s styles to make them their own. We can only sit and expect for more great things to come from this team, already on their first original stage they are way ahead of the way!

 

Well, I hope that that turned out somehow useful, or at least readable XD

Bye!

 

Hi everyone! I’m really sorry that I haven’t been able to update, but my internet connection is reallybad and it won’t let me upload pictures, so I can’t finish my Hii-chan profile So, if life gives you lemons, make lemonade! Ok, enough with the cliches, all of this lovely free vacation time has allowed me to rewatch ALL of AKB48’s Stages and Concerts, which has helped me a lot in understanding and noticing some of the girls that I never really payed attention to, and has also lead me to a few other conclusions, which are the main reason of this update! Most people who have spent some time in the AKB fandom, will inevitably end up choosing a favorite Team out of the three, and while Team A is most people’s favorite almost by default, there are lots of Team K fans (such as myself) who love to get pumped with their energetic performances, and Team B fans, who adore this cute girls and their somewhat wacky personalities and undeniable talent. So, I figured I would do a bit of a “more advanced” type of entry, including some of the main reasons why you should love each of the teams. Truth be told, if you are just getting into the fandom, you will probably not understand most of the stuff I’ve written or you won’t be familiar with most of the girls’s names, but still, I promise you that you will find some reasons to motivate you go and look further into the Team of your interest.

I’m also working on a bit of an “Idol Profile” of each of the teams, so that you can know exactly where to look according to the type of idol you are most fond of.

Yeah, I know that this is pretty pointless, but it was actually a lot of fun to work in, and took lots of hours of dedicated fangirling over each team, so I hope that it ends up at least being readable, despite of the wall of text that it appears to be…

25 reasons why you should love Team A

1. They started it all
2. Acchan (Need I say more?)
3. Takamina’s voice and facial expressions
4. Most gravure-licious members (Nozofisu, Yukarin, Maimai)
5. Miichan’s mad dancing skills (and glasses in DARUIKANJI)
6. Tomochin’s intelligence
7. Ohyay’s adorable awkward jumpy behaviour, and her awesome voice
8. Narita Risa’s boobs
9. They’re so good that some of their members were transfered to Team B in order for it to be awesome (Cindy, Nacchan, Shiho)
10. Faint, with all of Tomochin’s loli power, Nozofisu’s hotness and Hana’s amazingness (and hip sway that makes us all faint…)
11. Team A has the most songs written for it, even though Team K has had 4 Stages as well, that is pretty cool
12. Lots of racy lyrics (Dear my Teacher, Doku Ringo wo Tabesasete, Seifuku ga Jama o Suru, Tsuki no Katachi, Warning, Junai no Crescendo, Mr. Kissman)
13. Nageki no Figure’s perfect robot dancing
14. Most awesome graduated members ;_; (Chiru, Ayunee, Kayap…)
15. Best opening song and costumes to go with it so far (Tadaima Renaichuu <3)
16. Most touching song (Rider, with lyrics about a fan who passed away)
17. Maimai’s crying during Haru ga Kuru Made
18. Kojiharu’s constantly clueless behaviour, her sidekick Hiichan, and how they both manage to look smoking hot and in total control even though they’re airheads IRL
19. Nakanishi Rina’s angelic voice that soothes you and makes you feel peaceful
20. They have had only 1 stage that’s only been performed by them (A3 Dareka no Tame ni) they shared A1 with Team K, A2 with Team B and A4 with the Kenkyuusei (aka Seeds) that makes them very awesome, and it reassures their position as the “Leading” Team in AKB48
21. They came up with the black and white dresses with squares of primary colors(Koi no Plan) way before Berryz Koubou and their Sakura Mankai concert
22. Bird, dammit. Probably the best unit ever.
23. Hana’s *GAO* power!
24. All of the A-sides of the singles have been their Stage songs, and lately, most of the B-sides too…
25. They’ve got the most popular Seeds on their Team (Sato Amina and Fujie Reina)

25 Reasons why you shoud Love Team K

1. They are so freaking cool. Seriously, I feel like a surge of energy whenever I see them performing one of their team songs
2. Oshima Yuko is hands down the best actress of AKB48. Don’t believe me? Go watch Keibetsu Shiteita Aijou again, dammit!
3. Sayaka has such a powerful voice that whenever she opens her mouth you will certainly know it. And she really rocks that voice BTW
4. Sae is the best thing that can happen on stage. She is SO into everything, every step of every dance and every word of each song, with great facial expressions and energy
5. No, I lied, Saeyaka combined are the best thing that can happen on stage… Wow (Blue Rose, Kimi wa Pegasus, Chocolove)
6. Masuda Yuka’s constant pwnage of everybody else of any other team, as she proved in the Shuffle version of the first concert. Not only does she have the most amazing voice of the whole collective, but she has unparalleled stage presence to go with it.
7. Nacchinon’s comedic skills that are so great that I crack up whenever I see them even though I can’t understand a word they’re saying
8. Most members that look like kittens X3 (Kobayashi Kana and Matsubara Natsumi)
9. They “played” their own instruments in Tomo yo
10. Umeda Ayaka’s Doc Martens, love for pink, fixed vampire fangs, dancing skills, perfect harmonizing voice… and especially, the fact that she’s freaking back!!!!
11. Oshima Yuko’s funny faces, they are too adorable
12. Kasai Tomomi’s ultra girly manners and her moe anime character voice
13. Ohori Megumi’s hentai character which cracks me up
14. They got to keep the most talented Seeds as Team members, IMO (Naruru and Mocchi)
15. Korogaru Ishi ni Nare. Period. There’s no other Team that can perform that song like Team K.
16. Most amazing singers in a Team (IMO) Masuda Yuka, Akimoto Sayaka, Noro Kayo, Kuramochi Asuka, Oshima Yuko, Umeda Ayaka…
17. Erepyon’s loli appeal
18. Kasai’s “Dark Side” aka Kinjirareta Futari and especially Oshibe Meshibe Yoru no Chouchou, where she and Meetan fire up the stage in corsets (or nurse outfits…)
19. Because Blue Rose is REALLY cool
20. MARIA in gothloli dresses. Amazing.
21. Hana to Chire! Perfect choreography and amazing vocals. I get chills down my spine everytime I watch it performed
22. The pantless animal costumes in Ame no Doubutsuen
23. They got Honehone Waltz. And Erepyon and Machan were the cutest kids on Earth when they performed it in K3 <3
24. ICE from AKB48 (Oshima Yuko, Ono Erena, Kasai Tomomi, Sato Natsuki, Imai Yu) was the greatest subunit ever created, and the best line up ever. And Aisareru to Iu Koto is one of the most beautiful ballads of the entire universe. And I will not be told otherwise.
25. They have great themes for their songs! I mean, Animals (ame no doubutsuen), salsa (fushidara na natsu), flamenco (Cinderella wa Damasarenai), lesbians (Kinjirareta Futari), leather (Blue Rose), TEAM K!!! (Korogaru ishi ni nare, 16shimi no Uta), gothloli (MARIA), pirates! (Theater pirates), princes (Kimi wa pegasus), funny clowns (kurukurupaa), bones (honehone waltz), YUKO!!! -best theme ever- (Nakinagara Hohoende), prehistoric animals (MAMMOTH) Ok, I’ll stop. But you better love Team K, because they are freaking amazing!

25 Reasons why you Should Love Team B

1. They had a lot to live up to being the follow up team of A and K, and they managed to amaze us all with their talent!
2. Best first stage ever! And I’m not saying that because it was K2, but I mean, when you watch A1, you can tell how much improvement they needed, and same with K1, but B1 is amazing, and while some things need a little polishing, the final product is way superior when compared to the other first two stages!
3. They are very good sports, even though they got shafted with 2 recycled stages, they always appear glowing and smiling their little idol hearts out, no matter what!
4. Wasshoi B is probably the most crack-up, cute, amazing song ever. All at the same time.
5. Mayuyu’s innocent aura and the millions of yens wota pay for her pictures
6. Nacchan’s absolutely insane behaviour
7. Yukirin’s crystal clear voice and matching radiant smile
8. They have a TV show (AKB48+10) and a manga, while the other teams have to share 0ji59fun with each other AND with them! Mwahahahahaha!
9. Cindy’s constant tiara wearing, her evil mastermind-ness, her undeniable talent and charisma that make her the spokesperson of the Team, and the fact that she’s the most reliable performer both because of her experience as a former Team A member and her “I’m in charge” type of character
10. Haachan’s voice and sexiness and stage presence and kindness and dance skills and… well, Haachan, just that,
11. Tanamin’s beauty and the energy she exudes whenever she dances
12. The “Pajama Drive” unit (Nacchan, Mayuyu, Harugon) it’s the first time in AKB history that a stage gets named after a unit song and not a Team song.
13. Shonichi has the most honest and moving lyrics ever (they are all about the hard work of Team B, how the girls got discouraged at times, felt like crying or giving up, but they kept walking forward because they believed in their dream *sob* It’s so beautiful!!)
14. The youngest team on average (which means… lots of lolis!)
15. The Ninja competition in AKB48+10, I bet you would’ve never guessed who the winner would be!!!
16. Harugon’s unmatched energy level, and Lovetan’s irresistible cuteness
17. They have a song about Joan of Arc!
18. Nakayan’s cute glasses, and how she looks even cuter without them!
19. Yonechan and Mikipomu’s never wavering smiles
20. Naruppe’s voice! I mean, wow!
21. Matsuyuki’s hair… it makes you want to stand by her side and just… run your hands through it… in all of its shiny soft goodness…
22. MIkachi’s ability to be with Yukirin in a duet and not get completely owned, but instead, bring her own charm into it as well, even though she has less experience than her colleagues
23. The punky costumes for Inochi no Tsukaimichi, and Inochi no Tsukaimichi itself. That song really blew me away with the amazing vocals and overall edgy sound
24. You know, I’m trying really hard not to be biased and leave this one out of the list, but I swear I can’t. I still tried though… Junjou Shugi is the perfect mix of great beat and arrangement, nice lyrics, sexy choreography, amazing vocals and the best line up possible in Team B (Naruppe, Matsuyuki and Haachan), yes I might be a bit biased, but I’m not lying! You’ll all see when the B3 DVD gets released…
25. They are simply fun to watch, a group of young girls with very engaging personalities and lots and lots of energy that will certainly bring a smile to your face whenever you watch them perform!

Ok, I really wanted to include the Idol Profile of each team, but due to space restrictions I won’t. It’s a bit long, and there’s already a big wall of text in this post as it is due to the fact that I can’t upload any pictures. Anyway, I expect to post that one in some 2 - 3 days, and when I get back to my apartment in a week, I will finally finish Komatani Hitomi’s profile, which has been driving me crazy over the past weeks… So, see you soon! Bye bye!

 

Hi everybody! I happen to be on vacation now!! Yay!  It seemed like that awful semester was going to last forever, but thankfully, it didn’t, so now I’m at my parent’s house, with no TV, and a really crappy internet connection. I don’t really know if I’ll be able to continue with my profiles in this conditions, but I’ll do all that I can, I even brought my screencaps from my apartment PC so we’ll see how that goes.

In the meantime, I found a survey that I really felt like answering because it made me feel very nostalgic, I don’t know it it’ll do any of you readers any good, but I felt like posting it anyway.

1. What was the first Japanese song that you ever listened to? The first one I can’t even remember, because I was a little kid and the people who dubbed the shows I watched didn’t bother dubbing the songs, so they were aired in japanese. Anyway, I’m rambling. The first purely Jpop song I listened to was Hamasaki Ayumi’s “Audition”

2. Did it inspire you to like that group/singer, or did it turn you away? I loved it. It was so “happy” and nothing I had heard in either spanish or english brought about that feeling of carefree joy, so to speak. I was immediately hooked.

3. What is the one song that you have been listening to for the longest time? WANDS - Sabitsuita Machine Gun de Ima o Uchi Nukou. I felt in love with the vocalist’s voice, and that song is still incredibly beautiful to me, I’ve been listening to it since 1999

4. What group/singer have you liked the longest? I guess I still have a casual liking with my first Jpop love, Hayashibara Megumi, but the artist I have been a huge fan of for the longest time is Sakamoto Maaya, who I’ve liked since 2002.

5. What is the song with the most plays on your itunes/media player? AKB48 - Daruikanji

6. Is that song your favorite? I wouldn’t say that it’s my favorite song ever, but the dull mood of the song really fit the way I felt all the past semester, so I guess that’s why I listened to it so much.

7. If not, what is? That is a very tough question, because there are many songs that have been dear to me, but right now, I’d say that “Korogaru Ishi ni Nare” from AKB48 is my favorite song.

8. Is there any one group that you can listen to all/most of the songs by? If so, who? AKB48 is the only group that I almost never skip in my iPod. The reason is that their songs vary in style a lot, so there are ballads, rock, pop, cute stuff and so on, so no matter what mood I’m in, there’s always something great to listen to

9. What is your favorite agency? Horipro? lol That’s the agency that signed one of my favorite AKB48 members, Oshima Mai

10. What is your favorite group/singer? Group: AKB48, more specifically Team K. Singer: Still Sakamoto Maaya, she soothes me with her beautiful voice.

Well, that is all XD I wanted to comment on the fact that my favorite ex Momusu/H!P girl Got Maki has signed with Avex!!!! Yay!!! I’m very happy about it, and unlike many people who hated on her and called her a “ho” in the last stages of her career, I really liked her latest releases, and she worked very very well with the sexy image, which I’m sure she’s going to be given again when she finally starts releasing again… In short, congratulations Gocchin, I’m always going to be a fan no matter what

And to make this post more AKB48 oriented, (or at least a little) I want to say to all of you people that AKB48’s latest single, the cellphone only release BABY BABY BABY is available for download through your Docomo cellphones the tracker at Hello!Online so head there right now everybody! (I would provide a link, but this crappy computer decided that it won’t load that page so…)

The single includes the very catchy and summery  titlr song, along with Team B’s “Shonichi” (Opening Day) very awesome song, Himawari 2 “Yume wo Shinaseru wake ni Ikanai” (I can’t let the dream die) which is a dramatic song full of energy, along with (if I understand correctly) the theme song of Team B “Wasshoi B” which is full of crack, as everything Team B usually is, and the long version of “Koi no Chewing” also by Team B’s loli characters, Hell, this is like a Team B release! And if that wasn’t awesome enough (and Team B is, trust me) BABY BABY BABY comes not only in its original version, but also in the “Jounetsu no Inori” (prayer of passion) version which slows the pace a bit, and “Tsuyoku no Taiyou” (Strong Sun) version, which makes it sound really old school, but in a great way, of course.

If that still left you doubting, then let me tell you something about the PV, which I haven’t seen, because it’s cellphone only, but as we “speak” tons of japanese nice NinjaPirates are trying their best to uh… make it possible for all of us to see it. Anyway, the PV starts with Acchan getting freaking nekkid!!!! That’s all I need to say, right? But if that wasn’t enough for you (boy, you’re made of stone if THAT wasn’t enough for you) then I’m happy to tell you that all of the girls appear in bikinis in this PV, yes, you heard me right, all of them! And super sexy hottie Oshima Mai is a front girl, so you can stare at her all that you want (I know I want…)

Heh… that made me feel like a sales person in an infomertial, but give BABY BABY BABY a shot, it’s a great song, it’s already stuck in my head! And the PV won’t take too long to surface this side of the web, so I’ll be updating you all with the details.

In the meantime: http://youtube.com/watch?v=JYyiaOiShLY&feature=related <— A preview of the PV, which is pretty cool itself!

Ok people, see you soon, because I’m thinking of going to visit my bf in his hometown, and there must be internet there, you know!

Hi people… guess what this post is about? More news! Damn, if only they churned this earlier I wouldn’t have to double post, but this is pretty big, so I thought it deserved its own post anyhow.

So, looks like Tsuku isn’t the only one in high hopes of conquering the world, but while Tsunku has managed to bore all of Japan with MM and is now heading for Asia, Akimoto is going to try and take over Japan. Yeah, just like you read it fellows, in words of their management “AKB48 is going to expand through the country” WTF? This was bizarre enough, and then came the real news: Oh hi new Akimoto project!: SKE48. I’m not even kidding. I wish I were, though, because this is just painful! I don’t know the details yet, apparently there’s a press conference scheduled for June 5th where all of our questions will hopefully be answered.

So why do I think that this is painful? Well, because of the suspense, of course

I’m trying to look on the bright side, but I’m failing at it ATM… Are they going to have a group that mirrors AKB? I mean, Team S, Team K (repeated? Damn!), Team E? Seriously 48 more girls? Producing stages for 6 different Teams? I don’t know what to think of this yet… However, I am sure that Akimoto’s greed knows no boundaries! 96 girls???? This makes H!P look normal-sized! How do you manage to keep up with so many girls? You have to be insane in order to spend enough time to get to know 96 freaking girls! (and OMG it would take like all of my freaking life to screencap, research for info and profile all of them XD)

Ok, I’m jumping into conclusions here, but the brilliance of this idea leaves me in awe. Sakae is a geek district of Nagoya, like Akihabara is of Tokyo, apparently. There are geeks all around Japan, that is common knowledge, I mean, geeks are everywhere! So instead of trying to lure them into Tokyo to see AKB48, they can go to their local geek place and see XXX48! It’s a great plan, actually, because geeks will get hooked, that’s for sure, and more money will surely come to Akimoto’s bank accounts, but…

Will these alternative groups release mainstream singles? Will they ever get invited to Kouhaku? Will AKB48 tour with them? Surely, the chance of these other groups of succeeding even in the moderate way that AKB has is minimal, and my guess is that they will remain that, local groups, and that when Akimoto found out that AKB48 was becoming a bit too famous and “Idols that you can go and meet” was going to be hard to keep up with (I mean, try going and meeting the popular girls, like Acchan, Mai, Haruna… they are doi