30 Day Idol Challenge Day 23

Day 23: Your favorite ex-Idol.




I kind of really want to be contrary and go "ah, but what does it mean to be an ex-idol?" when that's actually a valid question. Can I count Ishikawa Rika, my favorite idol of all time, to be an ex-idol since she isn't in a regular idol group? How does Dream Morning Musume count into this equation? Can they still be active in some regard, not just "idol" activities? What if they're still doing some gravure (or AV) idol work, just not singing in an idol group?

Furthermore, when thinking about celebrities, I actually put idols and singers into a separate category. Idols can transition into being singers (which happens with soloists, I've noticed) and even from singers into idols (what happened to Morning Musume), but they're just different.

And because of that reason, I have to say that my favorite ex idol is..

The ever wonderful Matsuura Aya.

I LOVE her idol stuff, don't get me wrong. I think that all of her singles in her early days in H!P were excellent, and she really was an excellent idol.

However (regardless of the break she's on) Aya is now a singer. She's always had a beautiful voice, but there came that point where her singing and her music became more of a priority and she stopped doing straight up idol stuff. She started performing live, too (Aya the Witch is one of my all time favorite concert tours).

I know a lot of people who do write off her post-idol work as being boring, and I think that if you put it to an idol standard that yeah it could be considered boring. It's considerably slower and less straight up exciting and happy than idol music, and lacks a lot of the things I love about idol music. Yet I still love a lot of her post-idol work; Double Rainbow is in my opinion one of the best albums released under the Hello!Project label, and is such a joy to listen to. I think it's also material that is something that needs to be sung by someone focusing on their vocal skills, which is honestly not a priority for idols. Even though I do love my idol music a lot, occasionally I do want music with a great vocalist, and Aya is PERFECT for that.

Nevertheless, I love her music. Even though I didn't find it up to par with the wonderful Double Rainbow (seriously, I love that album), I thought that Click You Link Me was quite excellent, and it really deserved better treatment from UFA. UFA, remember back when Ayaya was huge and selling up there with MoMusu? How about you promote her!

Though if you consider ex-idol as someone not in the public eye fairly regularly, here:

I really really like Ishiguro Aya (another Aya!) and I'm honestly really bummed she didn't stay with Hello!Project/MM longer. She is honestly (IMO) the most enjoyable member to watch in the Love Machine PV, and I would have liked to see her do more idol songs, because Ayappe is really TOO fun in that PV.

30 Day Idol Challenge Day 9

Day 09: Which Idol's voice do you dislike?


Like I mentioned in my previous post, I honestly don't have an issue with most voices. However, I do have my limits. 






Koharu Koharu Koharu. I have no issues with her personality, but her singing. HER SINGING. I don't mind it OCCASIONALLY; I like Happy enough as a song to be able to ignore this. But guh. just. GUH.

30 Day Idol Challenge Day 7

Day 7- Your favorite idol pairing

Only one answer for me...

The life partners of H!P, Rika and Yossy AKA Ishiyoshi. They have Japanese fans dedicated to their pairing, they've been besties since they joined. Rika and Yossy are super ultra close friends, always fun to watch, and the most obvious best idol pairing EVER.

Maji Desu ka Ska PV/Song Review!

I liked writing my Onna to Otoko no Lullaby Game Review so I'm doing the same here.



Song: The song itself is good; REALLY good. I was deeply afraid that they'd be shoving the new girls into the sexy type and be like "Here, 12-year-old Zukkini! Sing about how tough being an adult is and how love sucks." But they didn't! They did an upbeat song that's all happy and cute!
Though, is it just me or is this not THAT much like ska? I'm no expert on ska, but I've listened to some in the past and it didn't sound that much like this. This is like, ska thrown in a blender with idol music to produce an upbeat idol song with a bit of ska style in there. But I'm not gonna complain because it's way  better than a lot of the recent MM stuff. MM, please come back to being good. We like you good.

Costumes: Oh my goodness YES. Like Otoko to Onna, there are two costumes but both are good! There's the colorful ones and then the black and white ones, and both look perfectly cute but not cheap looking! Yay!

And then there's grandpa!Aika, who I'm obligated to adore because I adore Aika.

Dance: It's cute and jumpy! There's no full dance shot out yet so I can't judge, but it looks very very cute so far. I'm amazed at how good 9th gen got at dancing this! The dance, while not the toughest one H!P's ever had, it's still a lot of work. And 9th gen did a really great job at being at the other girls' level.

Art Direction: I really like this! It's a simple PV, but it really shows that a simple PV does NOT have to look cheaply made. The giant Maji Desu ka Suka! hiragana/katakana were actually a fun feature, with the way that the members interacted with them. It was like a character itself. I actually really liked the relatively simple black and white background for the dance shot, because the girls really stood out with their colors.
The one thing about the close ups that annoyed me was that they gave Risa a brown jacket and a yellow background, which clashes like CRAZY to my eyes.

What were they thinking??

Consensus: Maji desu ka Ska! is a fun song with a cute PV. It's not the best H!P's ever done by far, but it's a nice introduction to the 9th generation of Morning Musume as well as a bit of a throwback to the glory days of Morning Musume.

Dream Musume First Album DoriMusu 1 - 4/20

I'm a bad blogger, I know. Well, school's back in the swing of things now, but I needed to post about this!

I'm sure the internet community knows already, but a group consisting of Nakazawa Yuko, Iida Kaori, Abe Natsumi, Yasuda Kei, Yaguchi Mari, Ishikawa Rika, Yoshizawa Hitomi, Ogawa Makoto, Fujimoto Miki and Kusumi Koharu called Dream Morning Musume has been formed and they're releasing their first album! Many of us have known that there would be a tour featuring these OG members this spring, but now they're adding an album and some fall tour dates.



My thoughts:

1. Group name is super appropriate. As a fan of these OG girls I can't WAIT to see them in action. I've heard people take issue at the fact that they're using the name "Morning Musume" when that should be just given to the current line up, but to me and to quite frankly the majority of Japan, THESE girls are Morning Musume, not the current line up. I love the current girls, don't get me wrong, but not calling this group MM would be just wrong to me.
2. As a fan of these girls I'm super excited! My favorite idol still has a recording career, hell yes.
3. At first I did not want Koharu in this group, but now I'm getting closer to accepting it. I have nothing against Koharu, but she really doesn't seem to fit the golden era-ness of this group. All these girls were in H!P in the 2001-2002 era that's really memorable; Makoto fits in near the end of the golden era and Mikitty was a soloist. However, I'm kind of intrigued about how Koharu will fit in with this group. I don't know if it WILL work, but I'm interested.
4. In that video I posted, Yuko going "I'm 37!!" is my favorite thing ever. Please keep it up, Yuko, I love you.
5. I'm not sure about the longevity of this group, but I certainly hope that there's a good deal of longevity. I've heard rumors that H!P's stated that this is in fact a temporary unit, but if that was the case then the title of their album "DoriMusu 1" (Dreams 1, haha, puns) would be insanely misleading. Still, Nacchi going "we're going for the Newcomers award" makes me think that they might be here to stay, which I would be very very pleased with.

I can't wait to get their new album DoriMusu 1, which is mostly covers but two new songs!

Obligatory 9th Gen Musume Post

So, I woke up today to find out what had happened with the 9th generation of Morning Musume. I was originally thinking of staying awake to find out the results real time, but I was sleepy. So with that, I decided to go to sleep and wake up and find out which idols I'd need to learn about and support.

Now, before this I have watched the Bijo Gaku special and I decided really early on not to strongly support any girls or strongly dislike any girls. I knew if I did that that one way or another I'd end up disappointed and bitter and I really don't want to feel like that about any of my idol groups.

So it's been announced that Suzuki Kanon, Sayashi Riho, Ikuta Erina and the egg Fukumura Miyuki have been put into Morning Musume.

Kanon
Kanon is my immediate tentative favorite. She seemed funny in the auditions and when she started doing her audition acting part and just goes to lay on the ground to answer the phone. She immediately seems to have an abundance of personality. The fact she's really cute also helps. I think if MM/H!P ever got themselves another TV show or TV appearances that she could really shine.

ALSO SHE'S FROM AICHI. I did a project about Aichi prefecture for Japanese class. I'm sold.

Riho
She was the favorite of a lot of fans on the internet; she already does have a solid amount of dance skill, she's cute, and her singing wasn't bad at all. She also seems kind of confident, but at the same time that could be a negative thing, because there's a thin line between confident and smug. Anyways, she's the 9th gen member that most people agree has the most potential, so I really can't wait to see what she can do with the rest of MM.

Erina
I feel bad, but I didn't really notice her that much in the auditions. I remember thinking she was cute and that I liked her, but I liked all of them. She really seems like she's the underdog with the fans right now, but I do think she could have potential.

Mizuki
At first my reaction to the egg Mizuki making it in was:

because I was rooting for Sekine Azusa, my absolute favorite egg, to make it in. However, today I went back and listened to Watashi no Tamago to listen for Mizuki and she does have a really nice voice in Shugo Chara Egg. So I'm not that bitter, and I do like her; she's up there with Kanon right now for favorite 9th gen.

... But Tsunku really should have added Sekkii. 

Hello! Project Fankora Concert Review- pt 6

Momoiro Kataomoi


Now we're at the Mano Erina section. Oh ff. She's doing Ayaya.
Don't get me wrong, I don't mind ManoEri. I kind of like her, and she seems like a fine girl. However, why do they do this to us? I get that the whole point of the Fankora concert is that fans get to help pick songs that they want to hear again, but Mano Erina is no Matsuura Aya and whenever they have her perform these songs it's a HUGE reminder.

Now this doesn't make ManoEri bad, persay, that just makes her NOT Ayaya, who was one of the highest selling and most beloved H!P acts of all time. Ayaya was also one of the best singers and performers of H!P history, which is not something that we can say about Mano Erina. The difference is huge, and is seen like crazy in this performance.

ManoEri gets REALLY pitchy here. Like, not a little; it was pretty easy for me to discern how off pitch she was. Her energy level was also not as strong as it could be, even though that's the type of song this is. To me, I can tell she's trying her best, but it's just not there.

Basically, my final verdict is that if you are unfamiliar with the original version or ADORE ManoEri, you'll probably like this; it's a good song and ManoEri's pretty cute. However, as a fan of the original and a fan of Ayaya's, this just sounds like a poorly done knock-off; having a weak voice sing a song by the best voice of H!P's history is not really the best idea ever.

On a separate note, this concert's really making me dislike Momoko a lot. I know she has a ton of fans, but man, the way that she keeps dancing on the sidelines is just annoying as hell to me. There's a difference between dancing/jumping along on the sidelines and doing what Momoko is doing, which is holding a fake microphone and going out of her way to draw attention to herself. Drawing attention to yourself is fine, but this is not the time/place for Momoko to do so, during a ManoEri performance.

Haru no Arashi


This isn't one of my favorite ManoEri songs ever, but I like it better than Onegai Dakara, so that's good.

ManoEri's voice is really not the best this concert, is it? It's all over the place in this performance, even clashing with the background; are those just supporting vocals or are they doing the thing where they play the actual song in the back? All I know is that there's some really iffy clashing of vocals here, and it's not very pretty. Mano Erina's not the worst vocalist H!P has to offer; far from it. However, it's times like these where I have to wonder about her legitimacy as a soloist.

I mean, ManoEri's not as bad a vocalist as H!P's had, and she seems like a sweet girl. But I honestly don't know what Tsunku/UFA found so compelling in her that they decided to make her the one soloist in H!P. Her vocals here are iffy at best and she never seems too energetic. Her performances thus far aren't too compelling. She was fine back when she was in Gatas, but I don't know how strong she is without a group to support her.

To her credit, she does get pretty fierce here and I can tell she's getting into it, which is usually the thing I like most in idols. I don't know; I guess if you're her fan, you'll like it, and if you don't particularly care about ManoEri, like me, you'll probably wonder why she's a soloist, like me.

New PBs AKA Serenyty will be very happy and poor

Sorry I haven't updated in over two weeks; finals decided to be really tough on me. But I made it through it and I plan on writing more.

First up, the other day Kamei Eri, JunJun and LinLin graduated from Morning Musume. Now, I'm no particular fan of either of these girls; I liked them, but they weren't necessarily my favorites. But they will definitely be missed from Morning Musume, and I know the first performance or appearance I see without them will be very saddening. No matter how high these girls are on your list, graduations are always very sad, at least to me, and I know I'll miss these girls; I can only hope that JunJun and LinLin stay in the business.

However, recently there's been some happier news!

Ex-Morning Musume member Ishikawa Rika, AKA my #1 favorite idol forever is releasing her 11th solo photobook! It's called Lucky and she's releasing it on her birthday, January 19th 2011. As a big fan and supporter of Rika, this is wonderful news, and I plan on buying/pre-ordering it soon. Rika's proven to be a favorite with photobooks, considering she already has 10 of them under her belt, so they're always really fun and really good. 

And finally, probably more exciting for me...

Mitsui Aika is FINALLY releasing a photobook!!!

I LOVE Aika. Mittsi's one of my favorite idols and I've always wanted her to get a photobook. Aika has actually wanted one of her own for a long time as well, often mentioning it in her New Year's wishes and things like this. She's releasing her photobook on January 26th and she also gets a solo DVD as well.

I'm really excited; honestly, Aika has more fans than a lot of people give her credit for, and she really deserves to get some kind of a push. I hope this moves up her sales some and helps her gain some fans!

Rika hasn't posted any previews of any sort, but on the Up Front channel there's a preview of Aika's DVD; already it's getting some buzz because Aika definitely has cleavage that people haven't really noticed before.

So yay, two excellent releases for the month of January!

Review: Onna to Otoko no Lullaby Game's PV

A quick break from normally scheduled programming (AKA the three series' that I'm currently working on) to review, that's right, Morning Musume's latest PV, Onna to Otoko no Lullaby Game. Now, most of this review is going to focus on the PV itself and not the song.



The song itself... I actually like it a lot. It's much better than the previous few singles, and I think that since the only singles to be released in 2010 were Onna ga Medatte Naze Ikanai and Seishun Collection, Onna to Otoko no Lullaby Game automatically wins best song by default. Yay? I like the fact that 8th gen actually gets solos. I know it wasn't what everyone wanted (that is, a song dominated by Eri, JunJun and LinLin) but hey, let's be honest. The ONLY H!P girl to get the special treatment for their graduation single song was Yossy in Kanashimi Twilight. I mean, that's not counting B-Sides (since Fukuda Asuka and Yasuda Kei each got a version of Never Forget for a B-side of their single). So I'm not going to get into that. This song isn't the best thing ever, but it's certainly not a drag, and feels a bit refreshing. I haven't gotten bored of it yet, which is nice (and what happened with Seishun and Onna ga Medatte).

Costumes:
How do I even start to deal with how torn I am with this single? I'm VERY torn. On the one hand, you have THESE outfits.

Which are VERY unflattering at pretty much every angle and look cheaply made at many angles. It feels like they went over budget with the other costumes and just scrounged these together from the leftover things they had lying around. Have the costumes been THIS cheap since something like Summer Night Town? I don't know. 

So yeah, those costumes, while not bright, florescent green, are pretty bad. However, you THEN have something like this.

Or this

Or the costume I want more than anything, Reina's:

DO WANT DO WANT DO WANT. I WANT PUFFY AND GIANT BOW'D.

And I immediately get MORE faith  in the costumers. Seriously. This is a GIANT gap in the PV; costumes I adore (probably my favorite H!P costumes of recent years) and what's essentially a giant mess. Did two different people make these? If so, hire the ones who made the recent ones and immediately fire the ones who made the dance shot costumes. They probably made the Seishun Collection messes too.

Oh, and one other thing; these costumes are GORGEOUS and I love them. So. Why are the other costumes in the PV at least 2-3 times more than the pretty ones? UFA, sometimes I just do NOT get you at all.

Dance:

Blerrrrrrrrrg. I'm sorry, but. Where have the good choreographers gone? To Momoiro Clover? To AKB48? That's where they've gone. There are too many WEIRD parts in this dance. UFA, do you realize how many gifs have been made of MM rubbing their breasts? The one part that I very much approve of is the hair flip, especially when it relates to Takahashi. Seriously. Takahashi, keep flipping that ponytail. It makes me interested in you. 

The dance is just... it's just so strange. I'm not a dance person, but I just keep feeling like it has the potential to be better, with a lot of the parts like the spin/hair flips. And then they bring out the weird breast rubbing moves and ones that look like I choreographed them. Why.

Art Direction

I don't claim to be an expert in art direction in any way, shape or form. However, again, this is a mixed bag. I think that a lot of the scenes are pretty boring, such as the dance shot backgrounds (kudos, H!P; there's multiple backgrounds again!) and, to an extent, the close up background. But then again, I find the backgrounds when they're wearing their pretty dresses to be GORGEOUS. Seriously. Beauuutiful. Probably my favorite H!P backgrounds for the last... while. But then they're used sparingly. Why???

Editing:

Oh my goodness. I could edit this mess better. I honestly don't understand who they got to edit this, and why it feels that lazy. The thing is, the PV itself is made up of decent elements. The settings are mostly decent, and then we have the gorgeous shots that I loved. However, the whole thing feels very sloppily edited. First we have the white background dance shot, a couple of pretty backgrounds, and then to the black background dance shot, pretty close-ups for about 15 seconds, going through all the members. Back to the black background dance shot. It's so easy to summarize, especially when it comes to the close-ups with the leather backgrounds and the ugly dresses. Those shots just keep going on. and on. And it just does NOT feel very creatively edited. The impression I get is that they take a few interesting shots that could work very well, but then slapped it together in a day and called it a PV.

Overall

Maybe I'm being over-critical. This IS one of my favorite MM PVs since... goodness, I can't remember the last time I thought a MM PV was actually GOOD. Don't get me wrong, I love MM. They're the reason I'm being so critical; I just want the best for these girls and I don't think they're given enough good songs or PVs, and I've just been very frustrated with H!P/UFA as a whole lately. I do think that Onna to Otoko no Lullaby Game IS a step in the right direction, in terms of song and PV. It looks like some aspects of the PV got some effort, which is pretty good in H!P right now (see: Berryz Koubou's Shining Power). However, I just don't see how anyone could think that MM could catch up to other idol groups going right now. Not just AKB48, either. SKE48, AKB48's sister group, put out a PV recently to their 4th single "1! 2! 3! 4! Yoroshiku!" that I can only describe as being one of my favorite idol PVs in recent years. It's energetic, entertaining and just a joy to watch, which is honestly more than I can say about recent H!P PVs. Same with Momoiro Clover; unless MM/H!P ups its game, I could see MomoClo outselling Morning Musume in about.. a year or so, given more exposure. 

That being said, Onna to Otoko no Lullaby Game IS a step in the right direction, and I can only hope that Morning Musume keeps moving in that direction.

And fires whoever edited this PV. 

Hello! Project Fankora Concert Review- pt 4

MC2

O hai thar, Yossy. I keep forgetting you're in this concert as the sole shining representative of the amazingness that was the Elder Club. Next time bring Rika with you. We can jam.

This whole MC was basically Momoko going "LOOK AT ME I'M A LEADER OF MULTIPLE GROUPS OOOOOOOOH" and everyone else not caring. She's being a little too attention-whorish for my tastes here. 

Aisu Kuriimu to My Purin

Can I just skip this? Please? PLEASE. No? Gah. 

Zoku. I just don't like them. It's nothing against the members; I just think that they are honestly the antithesis of what v-u-den WAS; in fact, no one in current H!P is fit. H!P is about youngness, youth. v-u-den was about women starting adulthood and that's part of why I find them interesting and that they're tied with Gatas for my favorite H!P group. I've ranted about this before, it shouldn't be tough to find on the Disco.

Anyways, this performance keeps confirming what I originally thought about Zoku in my Zoku rant (in which I stated I would NEVER call them Zoku v-u-den. OK, yeah. don't want to get into this. I like the members, but they don't represent v-u-den's v-u-denness. 

This was actually less offensive to me than Koisuru Angel Heart, but JUST BARELY. This song is not something to be taken seriously, but at the same time is actually supposed to be sexy. Playfully sexy, sexy in a "look at how silly fanservice can be!" kind of way, but nonetheless sexy. The impression I've always gotten from the Aisu PV is "haha, fanservice is ridiculous" but it's still pretty hot. 

The dancing was not TOO bad, but it had some iffy bits; the kickline was uber fail, and no one was really a good dancer. It felt slightly unrehearsed, and, my main complaint about the group as a whole, like they really didn't try. 

JunJun, you're doing it wrong. 

Speaking of not trying too hard; I understand that Zoku's only doing one song and that they all have other things to do. But seriously. The costumes? What are they supposed to be? I mean, even if they had to use them for the main groups. Why are the main groups using those costumes? 

Vocals weren't too bad; Risako was really the best one there and I was happy that she got Rika's long solo near the end. I wasn't expecting amazingness from them, so. 

I don't mean to sound mean; a LOT of this is my bias speaking. But say what you want about the original v-u-den, but their performance skills (not vocal, performance) were out of this world, and Zoku doesn't come close to representing the original group I love so much. They honestly feel a tiny bit like a REALLY good cover group of the original, but certainly NOT the revival. So really, it's my bias as a v-u-den enthusiast, but in my opinion the revival groups are that; trying to be the original group as best as they can. And this really wasn't that bad of a cover, but when it comes down to representing what v-u-den was I can't give Zoku the thumbs up. 

Oh, and Momoko attention whores. I know a lot of people found Momoko getting up and dancing cute, but I honestly thought it was pretty disrespectful (my GOD this review is going to get me flames). I liked her a lot before, but man I don't know now. I just really thought it was rude, no matter how I felt about the actual performance going on. I mean, I don't mind people going for attention, but IMO this was not the place to do it. 

Also, I was hoping to see Yossy rocking out in the back (she's notorious for LOVING this song), but that didn't happen. Perhaps she needed Rika to be there. 

Daite Yo! Please Go On!

Am I the only one that finds it awkward when solo songs become group ones? I don't know, maybe I am. But the one thing that I keep focusing on here is just how it is of a group song. It MIGHT have been done another time, but the one memorable time that Daite yo! was used as a group song was for Goto Maki's Captain Kouen concert, which was Gocchin, Tsuji Nozomi and v-u-den. It was really more of a solo song for Maki, but with the other four sang with the chorus. 

Also, there was a dance solo section before the rap. Speaking of, that would have been REALLY cool for High King. If High-King is excellent at one thing it's dancing; in fact, I think that was the main theory for the group? I could be wrong. Anyways, while the girls ARE rather fierce here, I only wish that there had been a better arrangement of some kind to better feature their dancing.

However, despite preferring a more imaginative arrangement other than just the song sung by five people, I really like this performance. I can really tell why it was that these five girls were chosen; their dancing was all spot on and excellent to watch, and all of them seemed to be giving it their all. The singing, to be perfectly honest, was nothing special. To be frank, Goto Maki was much better than Aichan was here, and the others never wowed me. 

Though she IS fierce here

However, it was the dancing and the energy of this performance that made it really entertaining to watch. The five performers were all really excellent at performing, and it was so high energy that it made me forget the low energy-ness of Aisu Kuriimu. High-King's never been my favorite unit ever (I love Maimi but I don't really care that much about the others), but they really impressed me here. 

Hello! Project Fankora Concert Review- pt 3

Maji Bomber!!


Sorry to all you Berryz Koubou fans out there: Berryz may have gotten me into H!P, but as of recent times I just don't follow them all that much. At all. They have lost a lot of spark that they might have had with me. In fact, when watching concert performances of Berryz for something like a review I have a little game I play, but I'll explain that later.

Maji Bomber is a pretty good song; I wouldn't consider it that interesting, but it's pretty catchy and is a good song for a lot of the people involved. It's a song where pretty much every Berryz memeber gets a solo and sounds great. Vocally, this performance isn't bad at all. Some members sound better than others, but otherwise they all sound nice when singing it.

However, this is another issue of energy; they perform it well but not great. I don't watch the performance and go "man that was better than in the PV!" or "oh man, that was epic;" it just feels standard. It was a solid performance, but nothing memorable.

Like, looking back I'd remember S/Mileage and C-ute's performances as being particularly energetic and thus I'd feel positively towards the group. Conversely, nothing about this performance was particularly memorable; it was just. Good. Except...

When I watch a performance of Berryz I ALWAYS watch for Miyabi. Now you might be wondering why. Miya's not my favorite Berryz member (that's Chinami), but ever since I saw the performance of Nigiyaka na Fuyu with the fish costumes I realized that Miyabi never really looks super enthusiastic on stage. I have nothing against her as a person, but I just observed her lack of interest. So therefore, I have dubbed her face of "why am I doing thiiis?" to be "Miyabi Face" and now looking for evidence of Miyabi Face is my game.

Like here, sort of. Not my best. 

If there's any point I want to make here is that I don't find Berryz that interesting anymore. There weren't any glaring things wrong with this performance, but it really didn't hold interest for me.

Seishun Collection

Now here's professionalism! Performing a fairly dull song with fairly dull choreography with ugly costumes, all of them look at least somewhat happy to be there. No Miyabi faces to be found!

Seriously, I really am not the biggest fan of this single to begin with. Now, I DO think it's a move in a better direction. It's upbeat and happy, which I honestly think is what the Japanese music market is looking for at the moment with AKB48. Unfortunately. This happened. Well, Onna to Otoko no Lullaby Game looks to be better. 

Other than that I don't have too much to say. It's a nice performance, with all of them doing a good job, but no one doing particularly well. They all seem to be enjoying themselves and giving it their all; granted this isn't saying THAT much, considering there's not much to give when it comes to this song, but hey, I'll take what I can get. 

Hello! Project Fankora Concert Review- pt 2

Genkimono de Ikou!


((on a side note, I just learned the grammatical reasons for Ikou. Yeah. Be jealous of my Japanese knowledge))

Speaking of Japanese knowledge, what does Genkimono de Ikou! mean? Why, I'll tell you! It's "Let's go with Energetic Things!" Basically, it's "yay energy." Which is why it baffles me that they got Mano Erina of all people to do this song in particular and to get the budget her PV must have gotten, considering they hired a legitimate director and everything.

The vocals are fine for this performance. She has a few pitch issues, but she's not horrendous, and never sounds too out of breath. However, man, the energy level was low. That's why I made the point about the title. The song is LITERALLY about energy; the title is rather energetic. So why are you performing this like it's "let's go with slightly unenthusiastic things!"?

I've never been a huge proponent of H!P needing super strong vocalists. Hell, plenty of my favorites aren't that great of vocalists, I know that. I think that as a soloist Mano Erina should be stronger than she is now, but she's not super terrible or anything and that in itself is good. However, if there's one thing that should not be missing from a lot of H!P songs it's energy. They don't always require amazing vocals (though some do; I'm looking at you, Ayaya), but they do require their performer to have the right level of energy and ManoEri just did NOT deliver the genki for this performance.

They also need to start training her on stage presence; I like her well enough as an idol, but man if you ALWAYS need four background dancers to fill the stage and you're a soloist, then that's a problem.

I don't need THAT much from an idol. But come on. It's the title of the song; energy should be a given.

Dance de Bakoon!


I've got it! C-ute stole Mano Erina's energy!

In all seriousness, THIS is what I'm talking about when I'm talking about energy and what I need from idols. None of the girls here have perfect vocals; not even Airi or Chisato. I'd say that no one here is bad and that they're all very good in their own right, but it's not the greatest vocals ever. Why? Because they're giving it all they've got into the dancing and the energy of the song, and so their singing skills suffer just a little.

The dancing here is INTENSE; I swear, these girls gave it their all and I'm beyond impressed. Lately I've been really into C-ute, mostly in thanks to my friend Dani who adores Nakky. This is the type of performance that confirms the reasoning behind liking them so much as of late. The energy here is intense.

Maimiiiii <333 and fierce!Airirin

I even like this performance better than in the PV; all the girls are performing their best, they all look very much into it. This is one of those performances that is super fun to watch and that I just have to love. At this point in the concert, only four songs in, I'm just thinking that this is the song and group to live up to. 

Hello! Project Fankora Concert Review- pt 1

I haven't forgotten about my other review in the works; not at all. I'm still working on finishing my Gatas review. However, I decided I wanted to review Fankora while it was still relevant, whereas Gatas might not have another concert TO review.

So, here's Fankora! First off the bat I'm a bit disappointed that they only had ONE concert to review, especially since it's the one I was possibly LEAST excited about. Oh dear God I have to review Zoku. So it's a bit disappointing I can't see the Tanpopo# performance I wanted to see, however I still like the idea that they took fan contributions and did a lot of older numbers (even if they didn't use my super epic suggestion of doing I&YOU&I&YOU&I *grumble*)


All For One and One For All


What a way to start out a concert; this IS the quintessential H!P as a whole song, excluding Hello! no Theme (HELLO HELLO HELLO DANCING...). However, I realized when watching this that it was the first time that we saw All For One without the Elder Club involved (if I recall correctly), and so...

We start with Takahashi and Niigaki. And then I realize. Oh my goodness. This is the Mobekimasu version of All For One. Why do I have to endure this?

This isn't to say I dislike Mobekimasu; not at all. I like them. However, the fact that it's not Yuko, Nacchi and Kaorin singing the first line just makes a little bit die inside.

I did like that the beginning started out with all of Morning Musume's generations; it's as if H!P's saying "Yeah, MM>>the rest of them, woo!" I mean, I do miss the old distribution of lines, I really do. But that's not super feasible without having a few Country Musume members to throw in, good soloists to throw in (why hello there, Yukidon; how's enka-town?) etc. After a while, this song just gets to be really long. The one thing that made this song so good originally was that it WAS all of H!P; all 45-46 members of Hello!Project, with a bunch of different generations, showing just how vast H!P was but having all of them sing a song. It's showing H!P's history and the importance of each generation within the collective whole.

However, after MM's generations, it just shuffles through the Mobekimasu order; MM, Berryz, C-ute, ManoEri and S/Mileage a few times. It's slightly repetitive. 

(And goodness, whyyy did the unit I've been least impressed with lately have to sing the 4th gen lines? *sigh*)

The performance itself was OK. It was really nothing special, and honestly I got kind of bored part way through it. I mean, a few of them looked like they were into it (C-ute in particular, S/Mileage too) but about half way through there's really not that much energy left and it's kind of a let down. This is a song to perform with an abundance of energy, not holding it back. At one point I was looking through the Eggs to try and find my favorite, Sekine Azusa.

C'mon, Sekkii, I know you're in there somewhere....

All in all (haha, see what I did there?) this is another performance to remind me yet again how much I miss the Elder Club. I don't care how legit a decision it was, Tsunku, the Mobekimasu groups haven't gotten better songs or PVs since they left; bring back the Elders. 

VTR

It's a VTR. What do I have to say. Well. A couple of odds and ends.

1. Best MC roster. Ever.

Makoto's a pimp. Yossy's the pimp. We all win. Makoto, please never stop being the one male member of Hello!Project. You make everything more epic and more amazing. I hope to study abroad in Japan when the 2012 H!P summer concert will take place. I will cheer hard for Makoto. I was surprised this screen didn't get more cheers; there's obviously a deficiency in the Ishiyoshi wota in the audience. Wait, is that picture of Yossy from Tokyo Alice? If so, then that's over a year older than the concert. Maybe I'm wrong, but I could have SWORN that was a picture from her stage play. Or maybe I'm totally off. 

2. That took a LONG time to get through ManoEri. I get she's 1/5th of Mobekimasu. But really? 

MC1

Yossy's funny. The first MC should be funny, yes? aaaand no. It's sadness. Graduations. I've already blogged about Eririn/JunJun/LinLin graduating, but it is actually pretty sad to watch happen. JunJun and LinLin look pretty upset; like they haven't actually accepted it. Because anyone who thinks it was 100% their choice to go back to China needs to get their brain straightened out. 

Aannd to the first main group song, which is....

OO Ganbaranakute mo Ee Nende!

Yay, I like S/Mileage. I've actually had a reaally big thing for this song ever since previews came out, and so seeing a live performance of it really warms the heart. I'm seriously really excited for whenever the DVD of S/Mileage's solo concert comes out; I can see S/Mileage without sitting through ManoEri. It's perfect!

The girls here are really fantastic; they have some really nice live vocals. Even the admittedly weak link Wada Ayaka (it's OK, Ayacho, I still love you!) sounds really nice and never sounds too terribly out of place throughout this relatively vocally strong performance. It's times like this that I'm still amazed at how little they've been around so far; they all sound great for debuting not that long ago. I mean, they were all Eggs, but even still; many Eggs still suck. 

You don't suck! Cute Kanyon is cute!

Energy wise I love these girls. They're all very energetic and are all very much into it, unless they're somehow amazing actors. The dance is silly, but they do it well.

Oh, you girls be silly

I seriously have nothing but high hopes for the future of the group; they are all very solid at dancing (or at least the dances choreographed for them), solid at singing, and they jive really well together as a group, which is really important. They all look like they're having fun with the silliness of this song. I maintain that this is one of the best single songs H!P has had in years, and while I'm not super into the Bijin Mama song.

More later!

Muten Musume; so Tsunku ISN'T just crazy :D

A while ago a lot of fans were concerned as a new morning musume song was leaked from recordings at sushi restaurants of all places called "Appare! Kaiten Zushi", a song about rotating conveyor belt sushi. Now, a lot of fans of Eri, JunJun and LinLin were a bit shocked and displeased that Morning Musume would have a silly song like this as the graduation song of their favorites. Luckily for them, it's been revealed that in a collaboration with a big sushi restaurant corporation, a "new unit" (of all the Morning Musume members) called Muten Musume would be releasing a sushi-themed single; so really, even though it's Morning Musume doing it, it's Muten Musume.

 So adorable... 

In addition, all the girls have "Muten" characters that they nicknamed themselves and are just cute little cartoon drawings of themselves. Most of the names are just "Ai Ai" "LiLi" "ReiRei" and stuff (hey, isn't there a Rei Rei in Ice Creamusume? Maybe?), but I like Aika's "Ika Ika" which I believe means squid. XD 

My favorite's a squid now? She's a cute squid, though...

I'm actually pretty excited to see where this goes. Girl groups ARE pretty big right now, and depending on how far this promotion goes I think it stands a good chance at bringing in a new audience for Morning Musume. I mean, selling sushi isn't super glamorous and isn't as glamorous as even selling pocky was, but hey. Morning Musume has a cartoon dressed as a squid, AKB48 has girls dressed as vegetables. 

I'm wondering how well this will sell; will it be promoted like a regular Morning Musume single, just as Muten Musume? Will it be played in commercials or just in restaurants? How far will this single be carried. I think it's good that Morning Musume is being given some press right now, and has something that will bring them into the public eye at least a little. Other than hearing a really bad audio for the sound no one really knows that much about the collaboration so I really hope it works out and that this can maybe help amp up Morning Musume's appeal and sales!

AKB48 and Morning Musume (and S/Mileage) Together At Last~

Today, a surprising amount of news popped up, but one of my little idol dreams came true today.



AKB48 and Morning Musume (with S/Mileage who I kind of forget are there sometimes ^^;;) performed two things together; a Ghibli medley that I'll post in just a minute and the B-side to The Peace (and MM's inspirational song for all time) "Dekkai Uchuu ni Ai ga Aru."

Now, in the comments to Dekkai and other places I've seen MM fans criticize AKB48 in this performance by saying they have too little energy, but all I see is that AKB looks terribly unpracticed. A couple of them (including Maeda Atsuko notably) just looked a bit confused and hesitant, as if they weren't 100% sure what was coming up next. While I did enjoy the professionalism of some of them (Oshima Yuko and Kasai Tomomi really stood out to me, here), I honestly can't blame the AKB girls; they're incredibly busy, and from the way they're dancing it looks like they went over the bare basics of it and the management "OK, good enough, let's go do all the other stuff we need to do.



Despite that, though, I REALLY enjoyed seeing this. There's a moment where Takahashi Ai and Oshima Yuko looked at each other and smiled and it just warmed my heart. I'm a fan of both Morning Musume/Hello!Project AND AKB48. I love the idol world, idol groups, and most female JPop idols. Even though I liked Morning Musume first, I don't feel any resentment towards AKB48 for being more popular; it has to be good for the idol industry, which just makes me happy. I've also seen a lot of stuff online and heard about a LOT of AKB/MM fan rivalries, and I've seen a lot of people go "OH, well, my group's superior because of THIS" and that just bugs me. The groups are both female idol groups, but they're both very different, and when one succeeds the other doesn't necessarily fail because of it.

I don't expect that this will change the minds of anyone who's staunchly against Morning Musume or AKB48, and many people will go "OH, well, this group sucks because of THIS"; however, to me it seems like a sign that the girls themselves aren't resentful towards each other and that the management of both groups aren't resentful enough to pull one of the groups from the TV show. One of my little fantasies is that either Morning Musume and AKB48 or Momoiro Clover, S/Mileage and Watarirouka Hashiritai would do a TV show together doing all their fun idol things and promoting both groups. This is a HUGE long shot, but I think this dream of mine has never been closer.

With Graduations Comes...Hate?

OK, it's been a few days since the giant bombshell of Kamei Eri, JunJun and LinLin graduating from Morning Musume together has dropped, and a lot of reactions have come across. Mainly, fans of the girls graduating have spoken out, depressed that their favorites were leaving the group. Some fans are quite frankly excited, not to see these girls go, but to see a new Morning Musume that's completely different from the current one. However, one thing I've seen a lot and that quite frankly disappoints me is all the Aika hate.

Now, I'm not going to pretend that Mitsui Aika's really popular and that people all love her. I know that, for some reason, a lot of fans really dislike Aika. Why? I have no idea whatsoever. But ever since the announcement for the graduations, all I've seen is "why couldn't Aika have gone?" and giving HER hate for the fact that Kamei, JunJun and LinLin are leaving.

Let's just get one thing out of the way:

Aika is not at fault for Eri, JunJun and LinLin leaving. She did not decide this at all.

Aika is pretty close to members in her generation (especially JunJun, I think, though she seems really friendly with LinLin) and with Eri, I think. There is no way she's happy or going "yes, I win" over this. Aika's not some maniacal "let me try to get rid of the others" person. I doubt she's happy to lose her friends like this.

Secondly, all of the girls leaving have relatively normal reasons, more or less. Eri's is inavoidable; she has a skin condition that being in Morning Musume, performing whilst covered in make-up and sweat, can NOT be good for. JunJun and LinLin are leaving under much less clear-cut terms, but they were different from Aika from the start, being literally referred to as "foreign exchange students." Exchange, implying that they're learning and going back, which is just what's happening right now.

While the rest of 8th gen is leaving, that doesn't mean that Aika should or has to. I just don't understand all the hate that's been happening lately. So, with my best Chris Crocker impression, all I have to say is "Leave Aika alone."

Also, I leave you with proof of Aika and 8th gen's amazingness.

Graduations and Auditions and... Skin conditions, Oh my?

This morning, I woke up about to have a very leisurely breakfast, eat a waffle and spend the day largely away from my computer. I decide to open up my laptop to check a few things before I go and do this and BAM there it is; two giant bombshells about Morning Musume at once. One that I am happy/ambivalent about, and one that was a huge relief to me.

The first one is that at the end of Morning Musume's next tour, Rival Survival, Kamei Eri, JunJun and LinLin are graduating. Now this news I'm fairly ambivalent about. Kamei's graduation I'm alright with. The reason she's graduating is because she has a skin condition and that after consulting her doctor everyone decided it would be best for her to graduate from Morning Musume and Hello!Project to treat it. Health is most important, and so I really hope that Eri can get better and be well.

However, I'm pretty sad about JunJun and LinLin. I understand that they were originally called "Exchange students" so I remember when they first joined people didn't know how long they would last, but by now they seemed so permanent; they've been on two albums, in two Alo-Hellos, countless tours, the revival units, etc. I had really thought that they were making a name for themselves in Morning Musume. Granted they were just about the least popular members for the entirety of their tenure, but they still had their fanbases. I'm a bit sad about this; I had really high hopes for 8th gen leading the future of MM, but I guess it will just be Aika. :(

I really was hoping that at the very least the next graduation would be Ai and Risa. Now, before I get haters telling me I suck for not liking them, I have specific reasoning; they've been in Morning Musume for way too long. The original charm of Morning Musume as a group was that it rotated members, and that almost every single people would join or leave and it would be very interesting. In my opinion, that's what they need to keep doing, and the remaining 5th gen members should do it. Putting it into perspective, they've been in the group for nearly ten years, which is a really long time for any of the members.

So while I wanted other members to go, at least it's not Aika who's my favorite in MM right now. It's a bit saddening, but I'm very interested to see how Morning Musume will be after these graduations. For some time I've been thinking that H!P needs to shake SOMETHING up to get the general public interested in Morning Musume again, and this might just help.

The other major announcement is that Tsunku announced gen 9 auditions, and THAT I'm excited about. I've long thought that MM needs some new members to shake things up and feel fresh, so I think this is a great move on H!P's part. Hopefully it can get televised in some way, to bring back more interest in Morning Musume.

So, I wish the very best for Eri's health, and for JunJun and LinLin's careers in China. graduations are sad, but I'm excited to see how different Morning Musume will be in the future years to come.

Sayumi gets some bad press

Hey;

Recently, Michishige Sayumi of Morning Musume has been getting some bad comments because she follows other idol groups. Other idol groups that aren't in Hello!Project and are arguably Morning Musume's rivals; that's right, she's a fan of AKB48 (and Idoling!, too).



This is audio of Sayu singing AKB48's latest single, Ponytail to Shushu, to herself before a performance of Morning Musume's newest stage show, Fashionable. And it's been controversial.

Personally, I don't get it. The way I see it, fans are jealous because AKB48 is so much more popular than H!P and they lash out that an H!P idol would support AKB48. Because, really, AKB48 members are fans of idols too, and they don't seem to come under fire.

My favorite AKB48 member, Oota Aika, has mentioned that she likes S/Mileage and Yume Miru 15sai in her blog posts. Sashihara Rino is an unapologetic wota who loves idols. Kashiwagi Yuki has worn a Hangry&Angry shirt. But, as far as I know, there aren't wota armies out to get THEM.

IMO, I LIKE that an idol likes other idols; it shows that they're still interested in the whole idol world and thus probably love what they do. AKB48 is the most popular idol group in years and I think is bringing back female idols into popularity; H!P fans should be happy for their successes.

I am a fan of both H!P and AKB48, so I could be a bit biased... but I just think it shouldn't be a big deal that a girl is a fan of something.

Music Japan Review

Hey to my two followers (hey, neat! People read my stuff. Maybe.) and to anyone who reads this; I deeply apologize for the lack of updates; I got caught up in college life (you could say my CAMPUS LIFE HAHA C-ute joke), and decided that school work was more important than blogging. Well, I still kept up with Idol things, became enchanted by the new idol group, Momoiro Clover, kept up my love for Ishikawa Rika and H!P and such.

The one thing I've loved the most over these past two months, however was the fairly recent female idol special on the show Music Japan, featuring Morning Musume, AKB48, Idoling!, Momoiro Clover, S/Mileage, Tokyo Girls Style and Vanilla Beans. So I thought, for my newest post I'd give my impressions.

Momoiro Clover: Man, am I in love with this group (and Ayaka! A~rin da yo!). I got into them before Music Japan aired, so I was already quite excited to see them perform live. And WOW did they deliver. They sang their major debut single, Ikuze! Kaitou Shoujo, with the most energy I've seen from idols in a while. In my opinion, they blew everyone else on this show out of the water. The only thing that anyone could conceivably hold against them is the fact that they lip synced, but really, with that kind of dancing, I'd like to see any kind of idol who could dance like that while singing. They were amazing, and I can't wait to see more from them.

S/Mileage: When I first heard that these girls, as opposed to the likes of Berryz, C-ute or ManoEri would be on this special, I was a bit surprised; however, they HAVE been getting promoted a lot lately and I think there's definitely going to be a little bit of a rivalry between S/Mileage, Momoiro Clover and Tokyo Girls Style; they're all making their major debuts (after either training in the case of TGS or indie label singles in the case of the other two) in the same time frame, the girls are all of similar ages (fairly young idols) and the groups range between four and six members, so that's similar. S/Mileage really didn't disappoint at MJ, singing their newest single (and my addiction) Yume Miru 15sai. They sang live (unlike many) and did a great job. The four of them were really cute and energetic, and the only one who was even a bit off with her singing was Dawa (Wada Ayaka), but she certainly wasn't bad and didn't throw off the rest of S/Mileage at all.

Tokyo Girl's Style:Ah, the other similar young group and arguably the most hyped from the bunch. Hailing from the music giant of Avex and being compared to old greats such as SweetS, who were before my time as an idol fan. I have to say, they really don't give me much of an impact. Their songs so far, Kirari and Onnaji Kimochi aren't really that interesting; I think they really would have made more of an impact if they had performed Kirari, but instead they performed Onnaji Kimochi. The thing that I keep getting from watching TGS is that they aren't all that interesting. Yes, they can sing well and have dance talent; they got that from training that would honestly probably benefit many idols. However, Onnaji Kimochi is kind of a bland song that has a really simple dance until they go into a dance break. The song itself isn't very complex and doesn't seem too difficult to sing, which kind of confuses me. If they want to show off how amazing the vocals/dancing skills of the members, wouldn't Avex give them complicated/difficult songs that would more showcase their abilities?

Morning Musume: Ah, MoMusu. Despite all the new idol talent that keeps popping up, you remain pretty constant. They performed Seishun Collection, their newest single (wow, all these idol groups are releasing singles at similar times). I sometimes think I'm the only one who really likes this single. It's not as good as golden era Musume, that's for sure and it's not the best song ever. But I think that as of late, Morning Musume has had a kind of sadder more darker image and I really think that this could be a move in the right direction, with the song and PV. It's hopeful and upbeat. All of the girls do a really good job performing live. The dance isn't too complex, but I think that since they can sing live it's not a tragedy at all. While I think they're moving in the right direction, MM really needs to step it up in the face of the giant that is AKB48.

Vanilla Beans: After my friend misread the katakana, I can no longer think about them without thinking of them as "Bunny Lovings". And laughing. I honestly had never heard of them at all before seeing this show, and I don't think many others had heard of them either. They definitely are going for the old-fashioned type of idol, feeling quite old-fashioned. They're vocally quite nice and the song's not bad. I really don't know if they'll sell too well or if they have so far, with an audience that's not completely just looking for nostalgia. They're "nice", but not great or wonderful or anything like that.

Idoling!: I have heard of Idoling! before this performance, but mainly because they are produced by the same guy who produces AKB48. And WOW, do I wish I had heard of them before this. The song they perform... which has a really long title that I can't remember right now is REALLY catchy and I personally really really love it. The performance, while nothing amazing in the dance performance (I THINK they lipsync, but I'm not too sure), was really sweet. They all feel genuine and it was a really good idol performance. Looking at the girls faces, they all seemed pretty happy to be there. I love the PV to this song (not really part of the show, but) and I really hope to see much more of them.

AKB48: The current giant in the idol world in Japan. They obviously saved the most popular thing for the last. The performance was fine in the dancing and at this point I'm not even going to wonder if AKB is going to sing live (the answer is no, they are not. And never really sing live, at least from what I've seen). Ponytail to Shushu, their newest song is pretty good and catchy. I don't know, I've never quite been able to get onto the AKB48 bandwagon, no matter how much I try. I like members; my favorites are Genking (Miyazawa Sae), Yukirin (Kashiwagi Yuki) and Lovetan (Oota Aika). I like their songs, songs by the subgroups, etc. I just have never been able to be their wota like I'm able to be a wota for Hello!Project; hell, I'm now really being a wota for Momoiro Clover, so it's not any inability to move to new things. I guess AKB48 feels so overproduced that it never really feels genuine. I know all idol groups are heavily controlled by the companies that back them and I know that this is true for every group on this show. I just have trouble loving AKB48 like I love other idol groups.

So, as a whole, I really enjoyed this program; it's fun to see idols from all different companies performing on one stage and interacting with each other. During the introductions for the younger groups, S/Mileage and Momoiro Clover seemed to be interacting with one another, laughing at jokes and generally being pleasant with each other. If I had to rank the newly debuted young girls groups at this point, it'd be Momoiro Clover>S/Mileage>Tokyo Girls Style, which is actually being shown through the sales at this point. Right now, it's a good time to be an idol fan, with so much abundant talent.