Todays Ramblings

I’ve been thinking about Goto Maki goint to Avex a lot recently. I sort of have mixed feelings. I do hope that she does well, and I’m quite sure she will. Goto Maki has a big name in JPop. My fear is that if she becomes successful, and then other big names in H!P will jump off the Ship to the Future and join up with AVEX. Prime candidate being Matsuura Aya. Ayaya is, even more so than Gomaki, the best talent that H!P has to offer. She not only is pitch perfect, but she has such an amazing presence. And, er, well, she’s an actual artist, and not an Idol. There are only a few people in H!P who could call themselves true artists. Most of them are born idols. Nacchi, for instance, is pretty much perfect for H!P, as she’s more of an Idol than an artist, I think. I could see Koda Kumi, TVXQ, Gomaki, and Ayaya on the same stage. But I couldn’t see Nacchi in any part of that little roundup. Goto’s transformation is quite shocking, I think. She has come a long way since this. This is the kind of transformation that I can’t see people like Nacchi and Shibata having.

But in the same sense, I sort of hope that some H!P artists would find new bigger agencies, like AVEX or something. People like Ayaya and some Musume would do good I suppose. I would like to see at least one real music video from H!P. The ones they’ve been pumping out, (save Resonant Blue and C/C) are kind of crappy. It seems like they don’t want to actually spend the freaking yen to make something that’s memorable. I think out of all the groups and units in H!P, the people who get the best PVs are Anime associated groups like Buono! and Kirarin whatever. GAM had some of the best PV’s. LU LU LU and Melodies were lovely. °C-ute is starting to get some nicer PV’s too. Tokkaiko Junjou was pretty nice, at least.

That’s the thing about other artists in JPop. It seems like ALL of them have these really nice and professional looking PVs. Utada Hikaru, Ayumi Hamasaki, etc, all very nice. It exudes expensive.

I GUARANTEE that Maki’s new NAILS cost more than most Momusu PVs. All in all though, I’m sure Maki will do very good. I just hope AVEX doesn’t steal all the good talent away from H!P. My fandom itself lies with H!P as a whole, and I want to keep my reasons for liking it. Haha~

Pikkurishita! Saave no Bikkuri!~

lol at the engrish at the top. Bikkuri Project has posted a survey, and I thought that I would partake.

1. You have found a magical J-pop genie who will grant you one J-pop related wish (so no wishing for a million dollars or world peace or anything like that). It can be virtually anything as long as it’s directly related to J-pop, and don’t worry, because this is the nice sort of genie, not the kind who will try to find a loop-hole and screw up your wish. So, what do you wish for???
An internship at Hello!Project, then eventually their VP of Foreign Affairs! 

2. Is there any J-pop artist or group who seriously pisses you off? If yes, who, and why?
Honestly? The only one who really pisses me off is Koharu. Though, she’s not really a J-Pop artist, more so a J-Pop idol. Everything about her seems to exude the aura of a disingenuous personality.

3. Who do you think is the sexiest japanese singer out there?
Aah~ the Sexiest? Even though she’s not a singer anymore, Kimura/Nagate Ayaka was and is extremely sexy. She has the most beautiful face, omg. 

4. How about the cutest?
Niigaki Risa. Definately. (pouty girl lips! whoot) 

5. Best personality?
Before seeing some videos from the Hollywood Bowl, I would’ve said Xiah Junsu from DBSK/Tohoshinki. In Japan, he is known for being funny and telling these Old Man jokes. But after seeing some videos, it makes me think that this might be a show as well, he was very standoffish to fans. But, if we’re talking H!P, probably Junjun. She’s so funny~! 

6. If given the opportunity, would you rather date person 3, person 4, or person 5?
4. THEN I’D ASK HER TO MARRY ME AND I KNOW SHE’D SAY YES. And then I’d make her Monjya Yaki all the time and we’d live in a cozy Tokyo apartment and live happily ever after, her being the Idol and bringing home the dough and me staying at home with the kids and listening to her sing Koe on HPH. If it didn’t work out between us, me and Ayaka could date. XD I’d let her give me tours around Japan in English, and I’d act all dumb to show her my charms.

7. You work for a Japanese music magazine, and you have the opportunity to interview your favorite artist or group. What are a couple of the questions you want to ask them?
I would definately ask Morning Musume about their thoughts on their American Fans, and if they would go to my blog. XD I’d ask about how they feel about Tsunku’s wanting to expand towards the rest of the Asian market, and how they feel about their competition doing the same, ie SNSD DBSK Super Junior etc. I’d ask them as well how they feel about the Aibon and Gomaki stuff. I wonder if they keep in touch?

8. What’s the best (J-pop) song to listen to when you are really sad?
Recently, it’s either Doushite kimi wo suki ni natte shimattan darou? by DBSK. It’s really beautiful, but in a sad way. A beautiful sadness, I think is what I mean. The main chorus is sort of hard for me to word out, but after like an hour of nonstop singing it, I have it down pretty set.

9. When you’re really happy?
Sono Bamen De Bibichaikenaijan!, the coupling track to Resonant Blue. This should’ve been a single, instead of Mikan I think. It would’ve done well, it has such high energy!

10. Do you often sing along to your favorite songs?
Everytime I hear them I suppose. It drives my family nuts, they don’t share the love of H!P and Jpop that I do. And when I sing in Japanese, their usual reaction is “WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU SAYING?” But I use the music to help with my technical learning of Japanese and Japanese pronunciations. So, they can deal with it.

11. How about dance?
Haha. Well, I don’t go as far as to dance to the music. Though I sometimes do the SEXY BOY dance, when they go “Chimata de uwasa no SEXY ue ue~” ohoho~ And at work, I’ll do the “Chiicha na” dance too. And once at the movie theaters I did the Tell Me dance. XD

12. Artistic integrity question!! If someone offerrered to pay you for blogging, but they were allowed to censor some of your opinions or veto some of your blogging ideas, would you do it?
Well, honestly, if they were paying me, it could go either yes or no. I’d probably do it if it was a company that had the same sort of values and ideas as me. A little censoring would be okay, as long as they didn’t actually tell me to CHANGE my ideas. If they were paying me for a job, then I’d try to accomodate them as much as possible, and hopefully vice versa as well. 

Aah, that was fun~ If you do one too, definately link me! I wanna read the results!

Berryz Koubou Yuke Yuke Monkey Dance PV

thanks to shindy0002 of YouTube 

Dohhhup has put the PV up for Berryz Koubou’s new single, Yuke Yuke Monkey Dance. This is Berryz 17th single, which will be released on July 9th, 2008.

This is a nice single. I think this is probably a direction that Berryz should be taking. The PV for Dschinghis Khan was popular, I believe, because it looked like they had actual fun, and it wasn’t just an act or something. They were able to show their personalities. Especially Chinami. This PV still features Momoko, Risako, and Miyabi as the centers, but it gives a lot of airtime to the other Berryz as well. What’s not surprising is that Chinami again stole the show, but what IS surprising is that Maasa is on the same level as Chinami in this video. She is so cute, and she looks so young! Yurina used to be my favorite Berry, but she just doesn’t strike the same chord with me as she used to. For being the tallest, she still kind of fades into the background. I love her voice still though. Very pleasant.

This song is one that at first I was like, “meh.” But as I continue to listen to it, it’s really growing on me. Especially the “tikitikitiki~” part. Ohoho, very cool. Their outfits with the blue background are very cool. Though, I think the Monkey Suits were a bad idea. I’d rather have seen some cute trendy monkeys, maybe the same outfits they were wearing, except orange and brown with monkey ears and cute monkey tails. I should really be added to Hello!Project’s image consultation for foreign fans. XD Overall, I would say that this will be good for Berryz. A song that the younger can dance to, and that the older will bop their heads too. And anything with Chinami shining will be awesome of course. T-T

J A M E S’ Recommended H!P Listening -
Okai Chisato and Hagiwari Mai
Futari wa NS 
video in VodPod 

Aah!~

I have been away for a while! I completely forgot about Mayuge Beam!. Sorrysorrysorry~

I’ll do a real post now, then!

Berryz Koubou will release their 5th studio album on September 10th. Ever since VERY BEAUTY, I have started to like Berryz more. Especially Chinami. I think she’s my favorite. And Dschinghis Khan is now my alltime favorite single of theirs, with VERY BEAUTY and SPECIAL GENERATION coming in a close second. They are also going to release a new single titled Dschinghis Khan Onkochishin Remix which is apparently just a remix of their last single. I’ve been hearing that it will be sort of combined with the original version. This seems kind of lame, but Tsunku hit a good note when he gave this single to Berryz. So I’m wondering if he’s just trying to ride it’s success. SharanQ did do a cover of both Morning Musume’s Aruiteru and Resonant Blue. So, Tsunku is a big fan of riding coat tails when he can, apparently. I am excited to hear it, and I hope there is another PV too. Where Chinami will undoubtedly steal the spotlight again. <3<3

And now. For things that are to come. Kusai Koharu is to release another single for Kirarin Revolution, titled not BalalaikaPanpancake. The Official Hello!Project website updated her Artist Page and Photo with a new one of her in a new, quite ugly, purple and orange dress. I have really low expectations for this single. All the solo stuff she’s done has been pretty crappy since Balalaika. When KIRA✩PIKA started, I had hopes for her. I thought eventually I might even learn to like her. But after K✩P stopped, all was downhill for her. When MilkyWay started, I just realized how much I’d rather have Yuu-chan in Momusu, rather than Krapumi. I’m sorry to all “Miracle-chan” fans, but she just bugs the crap out of me. She’s basically just eye candy/candidate for fanfic rape for Wota. She can’t sing, her acting is subpar. Her voice is okay, as long as you don’t have to actually watch her talk. Which makes Seiyuu work great for her. Just, why couldn’t they find a part for her where she didn’t have to sing? D:

While reading TotallyHello! Project, it was reported that Yaguchi Mari also received a new artist picture. With her though, quite the opposite is happening than with Kushutthefuckup. She looks beautiful. Her eyes always get bigger as she gets older. She almost looks too pretty, almost fake. I hope she returns to the Idoling world. We need more Yaguchi. T-T I’m hoping that with the return of Ogawa Makoto, there will be more of a chance for Yaguchin to have a more active role in H!P, rather than just being an MC at H!P concerts. She needs a slot like Berikyuu or something. And a single where she dances~

I suppose that’s all the rambling I’ll do for this post. Now, for,

J A M E S’ Recommended H!P Listening-
Abe Natsumi
Koi no Hana
 video in VodPod ->