43 posts from 2008

Here in Oklahoma, it's not yet 2009 so that means I can do a wrapup of H!P events in 2008.

C-ute releases - 1 album, 4 singles (LALALA...what do I say next?)

Berryz releases - 1 album, 3 singles (Uh ha! Let's do this for the next 10 months!)

MM releases - 1 album, 2 singles

Graduations (along with a reenactment)

Mutou Mika - to continue studies ('Kay)

Mika: I've decided to graduate

Management: ...To become a solo artist? Because you know you're not as popular as Mano. It wouldn't work right now.

Mika: No no no. I wanna go back to school and be a normal person

Management: ...Really? Ok see you later then. GTFO

Kimura (Nagate) Ayaka - to become an actress (or get married, whatever)

Events

Haromoni@ ends - This show starting to sink after January and never recovered. Then it ended in September.

Berrikyu starts and ends - A awesome show but in the end, it died with Haromoni@. Just terrible...

Yorosen starts - It's actually doing decent so far. Let's see how it does in '09

 

That's it. Now let's get ready for 2009!!

Happy Holidays, my fellow wota! I'm sure you have seen this MM 60s Christmas special but I have to post it anyway.

 

And I guess I'll do a news roundup while I'm here.

Berryz Koubou's artist picture has been updated and their 1st Best of album, Berryz Koubou Special Best Vol.1, (I guess they've had enough singles to get a best of album also...clever album name) comes out on January 14th, 2009. These are nice outfits. They look like 60s-ish high class ladies.

 

Ice Cream Musume aka the winners of the H!P New Star Contest that happened in Taiwan a few months ago, opened their new blog recently. The girls haven't even debuted yet and yours truly already has a favorite.  

 

Peipei (aka Ceng de Ping)!! She's cool looking and it was awesome that she dance to a Frank Sinatra song at her final audition instead of singing (In front of Tsunku, that takes guts...I mean huge guts) Anyway ICM debut in January with a mini-album release in Taiwan and Japan. I wonder how they'll interact with the two resident Pandas...Anyway I guess I should introduce the others.

 

Youko (Fans call her Light Bulb...I forgot why)

 

Guu-chan (Who I'll just call Guu)

 

Reirei (Call her Rei)

 

Anchii (Let's call her An or Chii)

 

Shenshen (Just Shen please)

Now that I have officially introduced them to you and changed their nicknames to my liking, I can grow to love them. Let's watch them grow into an established group.

Happy Holidays guys.

Well it might be a little late but I'm still gonna talk about this.

On a recent yorosen episode, C-ute was featured. Nakki and the rest of the girls were discussing "Famous men in history". The first person they discussed was...Adolf Hitler. The Adolf Hitler who led Nazi Germany during the 2nd World War (A topic I know a lot about. I like learning about WWII)

 

They described Hitler as a "great and captivating speaker" (Which was actually true. The man knew how to win an audience) The members acted like they had never heard of Hitler (You think you would've heard of one of the most famous dictators of all time) They even called him "Uncle" Hitler.

The show soon gathered many complaints from people who said that the episode was "Historically inaccurate". The forums were in a panic as to what would happen to C-ute. So TV Tokyo posted this apology a few days later.

Personally I glad they apologized and C-ute's sales weren't that much effected. Now I ask for everyone to put this topic to rest and only bring it up again for historical reasons.

Here's more C-ute fanart I picked up from my internet travels. No pervy pics here...although that doesn't mean I haven't seen any lol

 

 

 The Mai/Erika alliance is stronger than ever it seems

I think most of you have already seen this very well done drawing of an actual Berryz/C-ute photo 

Don't have a clue what the writing says but a cute picture anyway

In my time as a C-ute fan, I have seen my fair share of awesome art from their loyal followers. I have decided to share some of it for you today. (Warning: Most features Chisato so if you hate her, don't look)

 

 

Shogun Ume. If you've seen the latest C-ute tour, then you know where this outfit comes from.

 

 

Chisato in: The Healer

Zero Suit Chisa

Over at Midori's J-Pop Overanalyzations, Midori has made a list of what makes one a wota. I decided to see how much of this applies to me.

You can name and/or recognize half or more of the AKB48 research students or H!P Eggs (I hardly know any of the Eggs or Research students.)

You own at least 10 photos of your favorite idol  (On my computer, yes. Actual ones, no.)

You buy t-shirts advertising your favorite idol/idol group and wear them on a regular basis. If you're a man 25+, you don't feel any regret or embarrasment about this. (Oh I wish! If I could find a shirt advertising Ume or Jun or Momo, I would wear it with pride)

You know all of your favorite idol's stats by heart (Definitely. I know Erika's birthplace, birthday, and more) 

Whenever anyone insults your favorite idol or idol group, you immediately come to their defense... even if you know you're b.s.ing half your compliments. (Well when people insult Erika or Jun, I just laugh at them. You gotta respect other people's opinion)

You have spent more than you make a day on idol goods. (I've done that before and I think I spent my money well) 

You can recognize all of your favorite idols' voices. (Thanks to Junjun's accent, I know her voice and I know Ume's too)

You have almost a stalkerish obsession with wanting to meet them or even just see them in person. (That would be an awesome experience. But I wouldn't call it stalkerish, though)

You hear someone say something that remotely sounds like your favorite idol's name and you immediately assume they're also a wota. (Everyday, because I know people that share the names of some of my favorite idols) 

You heavily anticipate any news from your idol. (When I hear any C-ute news, it makes my day) 

You have sent fan-mail. (For Reina's 17th birthday, me and a bunch of other H!O users got together and sent postcards to Japan. It was fun organizing that with everyone) 

Your favorite idol appears in your dreams more than once. (My H!O friends can back me up on this one. They know I've had many idol dreams)

You have wondered what would happen if your idol dated you. (Mainly for guys, but if we include Johnnys here...) (I think that Erika or Jun would be a good girlfriend. But I can only dream...) 

Your husband/wife/boyfriend/girlfriend/immediate family has learned to deal with your obsession long ago. (My mom hardly says anything about it. Except sometimes she makes fun of C-ute's name) 

If your favorite idol is suspended/fired/retired/graduated/has no work with their agency/other you check more than two sources of possible info everyday and accept any rumors about his/her return to be true immediately. (Probably not. If Erika graduates or Jun goes back to China or something like that, I would initially freak out but then I'll accept that they're probably happy in normal life)

You have at least 3 photobooks or DVDs of your favorite idol (I've downloaded some PBs but no actual ones)

You could colorcode a song sung by AKB48 O.o (I'm afraid of those who can!) (Nope)

You do fandubs, cosplays, or fandances of your favorite idol or idol group (Nah, I like dancing when I'm listening to my Mp3 player but I wouldn't tape it and upload it) 

You make birthday and worship posts on a blog/forum (I don't need to explain this...just look at my archive) 

You don't take the cheap route and buy your idol's songs from iTunes or another mp3 site, you spend the money to order every edition of the CD/DVD. (Only recently have I purchased an actual CD. I mostly download though)

 

That's the last one. I guess 11 out of 20 is pretty good.

Well after much waiting, C-ute's PV for their new single, Forever Love, is out now. I know this because: 1. I saw it on Youtube and 2. Because I couldn't get into Dohhhup and the only time that happens is when there's a new PV. The single will be released November 26th.

Now that I can get back on Dohhhup, here's the PV

http://www.dohhhup.com/movie/U0NeM3gEwFSPRBEhsLFmHKxnwfXVAvAb/view.php

 

 

The PV is full of good closeups. Everyone looks pretty and the suits actually look kind of cool. The "My Darrin" and "I Lub You" parts were pretty interesting and the spy-like theme to the song and PV is a huge difference from the traditional setting of July's "Edo no Temari Uta" and the Spanish setting of April's "Namida no Iro".

So let me try to explain the plot of this video. The C-ute...Agents...Detectives...whatever are hacking into some computers. They then spy on (clones of) themselves dancing around and singing. I'm suprised that police didn't arrest C-ute at the end of the PV for cyber-terrorism or that this didn't happen:

Erika: I'm hacking the system now

Maimi: Make sure you get the data reports

Airi: Man whoever uses this computer watchs a lot of hentai

Nakki: And whoever uses this one needs a virus check. This computer is soooooo sloooow!

Anyway, as usual, Airi and Maimi are the main singers but this time the other girls get a few lines in. The dancing is typical for a C-ute song in my opinion.

So overall I would give this PV an A-. Extra points for creativity.   

You've probably noticed that I haven't updated in a few weeks. No I'm not dead. There was just nothing that I wanted to write about. Until I heard about Reina's birthday. I was a little late in celebrating because I was really busy yesterday. But as I said at H!O, better late than never. So anyway as my 2nd favorite MM member, I pretty much HAVE to celebrate her birthday...with picspam. These pictures will make your nose bleed.

 

 

 

 

 

So how about that? Did that blow your mind? Do you wanna play for Reina's team now? I bet you do so get out there and celebrate her birthday!

I'll give you points if you understand the title lol.

 

 

Well the newest Berryz Koubou PV is here. You can go see it, thanks to the good people over at H!O

 

http://www.hello-online.org/index.php?act=helloonline&CODE=article&topic=569

 

Apparently, in this PV, the Berryz are working at a office. (Yes that means Berryz is reaching out to the salaryman demographic) and the girls are getting swamped with work and phone calls. So what do they do? Dance and sing and basically do everything but their job.

 

So let's review the dancing, Pretty typical for a Berryz video...until they got the "Bridge self-touching part". Honestly when I first saw that part, I laughed and got freaked out at the same time. But overall, the video gets a B+ from me. Not too bad but a little bit of a repetition of the past BK videos I've seen.

Yes the rumors are true: The Hello! Project Elder Club, which includes Momusu OGs like, Nacchi, Yuko, Mari, Rika, and Yossie, will be dissolved in March 2009. They will still be under UFA though. This means that the only people left in H!P will be the Eggs, Berryz, C-ute, Momusu, and Mano. Currently I haven't heard a real reason for this move but I'm guessing they're doing this so the older members can improve their careers.

To be honest, I support their decision. Within H!P, all they can do is be idols. After their graduation, they can release more songs (maybe even WRITE their own songs), they can become actresses full time, they can do what they want to do because they wouldn't be idols anymore.

The ones I'm really concerned about is Nacchi and Mako. Nacchi's about to release a single soon, so I don't know how her career will be effected. Also, Mako just came back less than six months ago, so her restarted career will be effected somehow soon.

That means Ayaya's gone. Hopefully she makes better songs in graduation (That last single was horrible)

Yuko's gone too so does that mean no one will be there to teach the girls to be proper idols? (Wonderfuls Hearts will go crazy)

 

(Thanks to Hello! Online for the picture)

Oh well there's no need to be sad or mad about this because things happen. Just because someone gets mad and depressed doesn't mean you can change it.

 

Well anyway there's more info here:

http://www.hello-online.org/index.php?act=helloonline&CODE=article&topic=558 (H!O article)

http://www.helloproject.com/newslist/hello_0810191500.html (Official announcement)