Mk no Blog

New Buono! Comeback Single Flops Hardcore

2011-02-01T16:58:00.001-08:00

You want to enjoy the newest Buono! double-a-side, after nearly a year of waiting for one of H!P's best subgroups to come back?

Press play, and mute. Put another, better, Buono! song in the background, and enjoy.

And you know what the worst thing is? Tsunku didn't even write these songs!! What is wrong with this world!?!

Sorry these recent posts are so short and caffeine-fueled-anger-filled. But I think if I gave these songs any more words than I already am, that would be giving them too much credit.

Thanks for reading.

These things need to be said. ANGER POST

2011-01-26T13:32:00.000-08:00

I had kind of a shitty day today, and since I'm in the mood, there's a few things that H!P fans have been saying that have literally boggled my mind and I would like to address them.

#1 "Dawa is a good singer" or even, "Dawa is the best singer in S/mileage"
To anyone who says this: do you have ears? Have you ever heard another person sing before? Dawa is not only the worst singer in S/mileage, debatably she's the worst singer in H!P (Eggs not included, I have no idea whose good or not). Remember in a Bijo Gaku episode, and she could barely get through a 5-SECOND LINE in the RECORDING? So that alone should be used to judge how she sounds while dancing. Spoiler alert: even suckier.

#2 Mano Erina is a good singer.
No. No, absolutely not. She's not in the recordings, she's not good live, she hasn't improved since she started her solo career. She has a whiny voice with no vibrato whatsoever. I will say this for her, though, her personality is very sweet and she's stunning, I won't deny it. But her singing is BAD. If you think she deserves to be a soloist based on her talent, I don't know what's wrong with you.

#3 "Ohh, Ai-chan is graduating too soon."
Uh, no she's not. She's been the group a decade, and been the center of MM for at least the last few years. And although I think she is the most talented girl in MM, I am getting bored of her in the spotlight. I'm sick of seeing her touch her face and getting all the lines. She has been a crucial member for a long time, and she's earned her place at the center, but it's time for MM to be shaken up. I could have dealt with this earlier, even. If she had graduated a year ago, I would have been cool with it. It's time.

#4 "It's sad that Mano is getting passed over because of Kikka's new solo career".
I'll admit I've only seen this once or twice, but guess what? IT MAKES SENSE that Kikka as a more talented person would get the spotlight more than a less talented person (see #2). I could not be happier that Mano Erina will no longer be the only H!P soloist.

I apologize for the extreme judgmental attitude, but it really has been a shit day and I just was over at H!O and saw some comments like these and they made me mad as fuck.

FFFFFUUUUUUU!!!!

Thanks for reading.

Anime Review! "Hourou Musuko"

2011-01-14T21:23:00.000-08:00

Sorry, not too many screenshots this time. But this show's review doesn't really lend itself to them, so...

My favorite show so far this season is hands down this one, Hourou Musuko ("Wandering Son"). The main element of the anime is dealing with gender issues at a young age, which off the bat, is quite an ambitious topic to take on, no matter what medium of entertainment. Since there's only been one episode, it's hard for me to judge how well it handles such a big problem, but I can say that so far, the show has a lot of promise.

Our main character is Nitori, a boy entering middle school who prefers to dress up as a girl.

And the other main character is his friend from middle school, Yoshino, who also prefers to cross-dress.

As you can see, the art style for this anime is quite different. It has that "not quite finished" sketchy look to it, but still has fluid, modern animation. It's a unique look that is very easy on the eyes, and I like it a lot. Except their hair seems to be exceptionally shiny, even by anime standards...

The main character, Nitori, obviously struggles most with his desire to dress like a girl, and only does it occasionally. So we do get to see him in a seifuku, and my GOD is he cute.

The pivotal scene in the episode is when his sister catches him trying on some of her clothes. She tries to get the clothes off of him, but he hits her and runs away. He happens to run into Yoshino, who walks him home and encourages him in a very sweet scene that has some of the best music in anime I've ever heard. (Although, I swear it's the same song that's at the end of Ocean's Eleven.)

But, personally, I find Yoshino to be a more interesting character. She meets a girl on her first day of class who is tall, cool, and spontaneous: everything Yoshino wants to be. Her name is Chizuru.

Yoshino asks her about why she wears a boy's uniform, and she tells her it's just because she felt like it that day. Yoshino is envious of her attitude, and later in the episode she cries out that she is going to try to be like her. I find that sub-plot most fascinating, and I love characters who are so awesome they inspire other characters.

While there are some somewhat heavy emotional things going on in the show, it doesn't over-do the crying or fights like many anime tend to do. It's all done in a subtle way that makes it an easy watch, despite the somewhat serious subject material.

The biggest challenge with this show is actually keeping every character straight-- many look the same, and they sometimes look like boys and sometimes look like girls, so it's hard to tell them apart at times. But other than that, I look forward to seeing how this show handles itself, and I'm sure they'll be some teary moments to fuck up my day in the future.

Grade: A-. Highly recommended.

Sorry for the short review ~

"Kore wa Zomie desu ka?" Anime Review... uh.

2011-01-11T15:45:00.001-08:00

What a peaceful beginning. Here we have our protagonist, Ayumu, who loves cloudy weather...

...and hates the sun...

...who lives with a girl who wears armor...

...but the truth is, he thinks it's all fake. All this peaceful scenery, and his close friends, and the useless conversations at school, they're all fake. He is sure that these pointless days at school will last forever. Then this happens.

A cat runs into the road!

Ayumu runs to save it!

He is struck!

Oh, yeah, he's a zombie!

He spins through the air!

He passes by nude by two girls with uselessly short skirts who are never mentioned again!

And he survives! Because he's a zombie!

While this turn of events does comes out of nowhere with barely any explanation for the first minute and a half of the show, I was laughing the whole time. It made me think that this show had some potential right off the bat, if only potential to be randomly funny despite it's (obvious) anime cliches.

Buuuuut after that it sinks into relative mediocrity.

A supporting character that it introduced is Eucliwood, a necromancer who lives with Ayumu, who was the one responsible for turning him into a zombie. Ayumu chose to remain in a living dead state so that he could find the person who murdered him, who he is out looking for every night. Not a bad premise, right?

But here we find Ayumu in a graveyard in one of his usual nightly wanderings, and he is unexpectedly attacked by a young girl wielding a chainsaw who is after another creature. Sound familiar? Sound exactly like Bludgeoning Angel Dokuro-chan? Well, that's where you're wrong. You see, Dokuro-chan is uselessly bloody, which this show isn't.

Oh. Well, okay, maybe this show did kind of borrow some ideas from Dokuro-chan. But what about panty shots of girls who look like they're 12? You don't see any of that in this show right? You're just fishing to find reasons to criticize such an original piece of anime.

Oh. Nevermind, this show is an uninspired rip-off. I guess the "extremely bloody cute girl shonen romance" genre was under-serviced or something.

Maybe the most annoying moment in this episode was here, where Haruna, not knowing that Ayumu is a zombie, is trying to erase his memories so that he forgets about being cut in half.

But I guess she messes up, cause she ends up erasing something else.

That's gotta be one of the stupidest things I've seen. God, what a dumb "joke". She ends up erasing her clothes, get it? Not his memories? I think I just threw up a little explaining that.

What else does this show have to offer? Well, later on, a creepy man visits Ayumu alone after school and makes this proclamation.

To which Ayumu responds by protecting himself in the only way he can...

Oh, and the pedophile rapist also turns into a lobster.

Yeah.

There's also some magical girl transformation scenes in there, I guess just because they had to cover every base of anime cliche.

Wait, her clothes come off again? Great. Wonderful. I have a feeling this will be a running joke.

So, then Ayumu has to fight the lobster monster. Although he is already more powerful as a zombie, Haruna tells him that he now has all of her magical powers, so he can transform if he wants to. So he does.

Ha ha, I gotta admit, that's pretty funny.

So, I guess to throw a bone to all the women sitting through this garbage pile of otaku baiting, they gave us some panty shots of Ayumu in his new costume. Which, coincidentally, are indistinguishable from the panty shots of the women in this show.

Nothing about this indicates that this is a man.

So, what do I think all-in-all of this show? It's good for a few laughs and the over-the-top randomness of the show is enjoyable for what it's worth. But you'll have to overlook some of the stupider aspects of the show if you're planning to watch the whole show.

The best part of the show? Probably that the monster looks like Pedobear.

They must be brothers or something.

Grade: B-

9th Gen Evaluation - "False Hopes about Golden Era II"

2011-01-05T17:27:00.001-08:00

So, MM recently became 9nin again. Who are those 4nin who were added to the 5nin? Well, thesenin.

+ two others. PS, why the hell is Ai crying?

I'll be honest with you: I don't know almost anything about these girls. But I know their names!

Ikuta Erina

She seems cool, I guess.

Suzuki Kanon

I mean, the one that's not Nakky.

Fukumura Mizuki (the former Egg)

(aka the one that SHOULD be crying in that first picture.)

But no, really, she's very beautiful.

Once again, the one that's not Nakky.

And then there's THIS GIRL:

Meet Sayashi Riho, aka "Mk's New Favorite Probably in Morning Musume", aka "Thank the Lord Tsunku Thought About Talent This Time". Pretty sure she's gonna kick my ass like we wouldn't believe once she gets active in MM. Whoo!!

Sorry that this post is really uninspired. But I know nothing about these girls except that Riho seems like a grade-A badass.

But regardless, congratulations to all the winners, and I really think that MM can have another Golden Era with these capable girls! (Ha ha, no.)

2011 Winter Anime Reviews Begin!! First, "Rio: Rainbow Gate!"

2011-01-04T19:48:00.000-08:00

"Rio: Rainbow Gate!" is the first new show to come out of Japan this year.

Aaaand.. there's no particular reason why.

The show seems to be mostly about casinos and the dealers in the casinos. Who, of course all look like this:

(Not the little one)

The main character of the show is a girl named Mint. (I mean, I guess she's the main character; they introduced her first, but she isn't really a part of the plot at all). She has a cute plush named Choco.

Maybe the director likes Mint Chocolate. A ha haah, good one, Mk.

She meets a dealer who works at the casino, named Rio, with big boobs and magical powers or something to make everyone win around her and people call her the "Goddess of Victory". Okay, fine, whatever. But when I see these things...

...and this, which literally occurs within the first 30 seconds of the show for pretty much no reason...

...I pretty much can figure out the gist of the show. Yeah, its a fanservice-type, this time with a casino theme! Brilliant.

The biggest problem is that I can't write off this show as hopelessly average, even though I'd like to. The production values actually seem quite high: the boobs are bouncing away, but they're animated quite well (felt weird writing that) and the background scenery is very pretty.

Aaah....

It also has one fighting scene, which is surprisingly fluid and well-choreographed.

...but who cares! Boobs!

Once we get down to the inevitable "showdown" of gambling, the show gets a bit different. My first clue is that I started hearing dialog like this:

Great, now it sounds like average shonen tournament-style exposition to make the show seem more intense.

When the card playing actually begins, though, it turns into a Loveless-style CGI'd battle scene that at first looks like a Sailor Moon transformation but ends up in Card World which looks like a dirtier Alice in Wonderland. Seriously, when it started I didn't even know what was happening. I actually thought the ending theme song was starting. But, nope, time to get Yu-gi-oh! on this bitch.

So, okay. The Goddess of Victory ends up winning (shocker) and everyone cheers. But how did she even win during all this animated stuff? It's not like the show really explains it. All that happened was that Rio said she didn't sense that her opponent would get the cards he wanted. Okay, fine, but was all that colorful floaty stuff really necessary to have in there? They could have really stuck with the shonen theme and just had an inner monologue where Rio talks seriously to herself and weighs her options at length.

If you're reading this and perhaps think that this show actually may have kind of an interesting addition to the whole blatant fanservice deal, let me close with this last scene. It's a winner.

I'll let you predict the last panel.

*Trip*

*Fall*

*Grab*

Guess what happens! The answer will be in the next blog post for those of you who have never set eyes on anime before.

Overall, I normally detest things like this, but it looks too nice for me to call it absolute crap. Plus the ending theme sucks.

Grade: C

Keep reading for more updates! We're wading through every show, which means I'm sure I'll have plenty more fan-service griping to share with all of you.

読んでありがとう !

New Movie Review - "True Grit"

2011-01-02T10:56:00.000-08:00

I apologize for not having any posts lately. I'm at home and my primary computer is still at school so all of the half-written reviews that I had going there are stuck there and I'm on my mom's computer at home instead. But I thought I'd just share a few words on a movie I've seen recently, just to fill the awkward void until I get back to school

True Grit

True Grit is the latest outing from the director duo, the Coen Brothers, also well-known for other films such as Fargo, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, and The Big Lebowski. It’s a remake of the 1969 sort-of-classic of the same name starring John Wayne. I’ve never seen the original, but from what I have heard on review of the 2011 version, the two films seem to be quite different.

But anyway, let’s get on with what I thought. I’ve been looking forward to this movie since the trailer came out, since I like many other Coen Brothers movies, and their last one that I saw, Burn After Reading, came out back in 2008. So, needless to say, I didn’t need any convincing to go see this one.

It didn’t disappoint. What drew me to the movie in the first place was the main character, Mattie Ross. She’s only 14 years old, but she’s stern, head-strong, serious, and can even be a smooth-talking salesman when she needs to. I always am a sucker for strong women characters that don’t just fill the Disney heroine mold, which reeks of forced independence, or the overly-morose and scripted women of CSI or the like. The actress who played Mattie is Hailee Steinfeld, who I’ve never heard of before, and from what I can tell, no one has, since True Grit has her first big role. But I’ll be sure to keep an eye out for her in the future, since her performance was very well done. I must say I think they did a good job of casting and dressing her as well – she is good-looking, but not in a glamorous Hollywood way that often makes these kinds of movies unbelievable and fake-looking. Mattie’s twin braids and simple black clothes fit her character perfectly—no-nonsense and practical.

And of course, this movie can’t be discussed without mentioning one of the Coen Brother’s favorite actors, Jeff Bridges, who plays the bounty hunter in the movie, “Rooster” Cogburn. I don’t really have to vouch for Jeff Bridges any more than anyone else already has, but I will anyway: he’s a delight in this movie. I thought his voice was perfect—it was low, gravely, and had just the sound you’d expect from a man who has lived a long, hard life of drinking and chasing murderous criminals around the desert.

Matt Damon also stars as the other bounty hunter who teams up with Mattie and Rooster (and then splits up with them, and then joins back together with them later). While this film does prove to anyone in doubt that Damon can act and that he’s not just a pretty action boy, I did find his character kind of unnecessary in the first place. The same character was there in the 1969 film, so I understand that he couldn’t have just been left out, but it still feel like the writing of the movie didn’t give him enough of a reason to be there.

My favorite aspect of the film was the landscape shots of the area around Santa Fe, where the movie was shot. The scenery is so beautiful and captures the wild and bleak but also captivating features of the West at the time this would have taken place (around the 1920s). I’d love to get the DVD again just so I can pause during some of those scenes, just to take it all in.

However, I would not go as far as to call it Coen classic. Some of the plot details still don’t make a whole lot of sense to me, and I feel that they weren’t made that clear. For example, the “emotional turning point” of the movie is obviously supposed to be when (spoilers) the trail apparently goes cold for the fugitive they are hunting, and the two bounty hunters are ready to call it quits. Mattie is admittedly frustrated and yells at Rooster, while Matt Damon’s character leaves, giving up on chasing the criminal. But then, the next morning, while Mattie is getting water, she just happens to run into the man they’re chasing right in front of her. Maybe there were some details I missed that would make this more plausible, but my initial reaction was that it was a bit thrown-together.

Despite some of its minor setbacks, this movie is quite a solid, complete package. The characters are fun from the start (while admittedly there is little character development), the visuals are stunning, and the soundtrack fits the “on one’s own” attitude of people who lived in the West—the fringes of American civilization at the time. I recommend this movie highly, but with the disclaimer to not expect another O Brother, Where Art Thou?.

Thanks for reading! I saw another movie recently, "The Tourist", so maybe I'll share a few words on that as well later.

PS Just to keep it H!P related CONGRATS TO THE NEW 9TH GEN AND TO KIKKA FOR BEING A SOLOIST (I THINK)! Whoo hoo!

S/mileage "Warugaki①" Album Review

2010-12-18T16:21:00.000-08:00

I've been really looking forward to a S/mileage album ever since I got into S/mileage, right around when they major debuted. Here's my take on their first album.

同じ時給で働く友達の美人ママ – Blah Blah Blah Tsuji Nozomi

Kind of a predictable album opener – Tsunku tends to start albums with the most recent single. Like in MM’s newest album. And Berryz’ newest album. And Mano’s newest album.

踊ろうよ – Odorou yo!

Thanks a heap, Tsunku, for the lovely opening rap lines. I couldn’t help but think of Insane Clown Posse. But once S/mileage starts to sing the song becomes lots of fun. Some of the effects on the vocals, especially in the verse, give a little something extra to the song, like when the ends of the vocal lines are looped. I love the part where each girl sings a line and the rest join in at the end; very classic pop sounding. A good choice for S/mileage’s first album song? I believe so.

女ばかりの日曜日 – Onna Bakari no Nichyoubi

Well, this one gets you on your toes with the hyper-intensive intro. Once it gets started, though, it sounds more like the Beatles. God, Tsunku, I’ve used your name and the Beatles in the same sentence more times in the last few weeks than I ever had before. But not that it’s bad – why not go to a legendary group for inspiration? And it’s not that the songs are copies; it defiantly sounds like it came from the brain of H!P with all the familiar backing track effects and synth. You’ve left your mark, Tsunku.

夢見る１５歳 – Yume Miru 15

Love the placing of this song in the album. It’s been happy and genki up till now, but strap in, because this song cuts the shit and brings out S/mileage’s darker side. I love every bit of this song except Dawa’s awkward whisper at the end. “Summer love”? Pretty sure we were all clear on that throughout the whole rest of the song. The lyrics aren’t so subtle about it being summer. (Not that Japanese lyrics are ever subtle on that subject…)

シューティングスター – Shooting Star

I love the intro – clearly some real instruments were used and extra time was taken to make it sound good. Once we get into the vocals it does dissolve a bit into the b-side style, but the melody is fun and I can just see the relaxed dance that they’ll come up with for this one.

○○ がんばらなくてもええねんで！！ -- Gambaranakutemo Ee Nende!!

My favorite S/mileage song ever. No reason for me to review it twice.

スキちゃん – Suki-chan

My least favorite S/mileage single. But I’ll admit it’s really grown on me. Everyone else seems to be crazy about this song, so I guess I’m in them minority.

学級委員長 – Gayuuinchou

Well, if you’ve been keeping up with Bijou Gaku, you’ve already heard this song quite a few times. But it might be my favorite new song on this album. I wish their voices were stronger, but they’re just kids still so hopefully as time goes by they will sing it better in concert. I like the minimal piano backgrounds and the vocal melody is just the right amount of sadness. And HELL YES at Sakitty’s solo in the instrumental break. That girl is freaking awesome and without a doubt in my mind, the best singer of the group. (Although Kanon makes me doubt myself from time to time…)

しっかりしてよ！もう – Shikkari shite yo! Mou

Another great track. To me, it sounds a little like something from Morning Musume from the pre-Love Machine era, at least in the vocal melody. I liked the long dramatic pause towards the end too.

オトナになるって難しい！！！  あすはデートなのに、今すぐ声が聞きたい  ぁまのじゃく aka “Awkward Indies Medley”

Yeah, these seem really tacked on. Did they just forget about it until the very end? “Oh shit, I forgot about all those, just drag them to the album track list and burn them; the goddamn truck’s already here.” I mean, I like these songs, so I’d rather hear them integrated into the rest of the album, like Suki-chan. But, I do think that aMa no Jaku is as good track to end with. Just like Yume Miru 15, it’s a bit different than all their other songs.

In conclusion? This is a great album. I've really liked all of S/mileage's stuff put out so far -- they've really had a consistently good track record so far. This album doesn't hit a hiccup, either. It's a solid release, with the only flaws being that it has a LOT of singles in it and doesn't leave a whole lot of room for new material, but that's bound to happen when you have a group that has indies singles and then later debut singles to squeeze into one release.

If We are Buono! didn't exist in 2010, this would be my favorite H!P album of the year. Go S/mileage.

Thanks for reading!

Junjun & Linlin Graduation Post "Fuck the World"

2010-12-15T16:30:00.000-08:00

Linlin and Junjun both graduated yesterday. I would like to take this time to make some comments about both of them.

PS, I don't have anything to say about Kamei. Never was really a fan.

First, to Linlin.

Your vocal power has always kept my eyes on you. I love how you are proud to be Chinese and not afraid to show it to your Japanese co-members and fans. I feel that the MM fanbase (in Japan, at least) has not given you the credit you deserve. But rest assured that your foreign fans have supported you a lot. Perhaps because they're also foreigners. You have a beautiful voice and it is truly the greatest shame of Morning Musume's history that it was not put to more use. Your energetic and crazy personality was also essential to the group. We will all miss you so much. I am sure you will succeed in where ever you decide to do.

To Junjun:

I won't lie and say you were a good singer. But you're the funniest girl to ever come through MM. You're not afraid to speak your mind and never took things too seriously. You are an honest person and that drew many fans to you. Just as with Linlin, I feel the Japanese fans weren't as receptive to you as they should have been. But all of us at Hello Online sure loved watching you on TV and during MCs. MM's personality sure won't be the same without you.

Goodbye to both of you, Pandas. This graduation came way to early.

Now I have to stop or I'm going to sob all over my keyboard.

Fantasy! Juuichi Review - "Can't Believe it Sold Less than the Last One"

2010-12-12T14:50:00.000-08:00

No, I'm serious. Here:

These are just the first week sales. 10 My Me sold 16K total. No way is this album going to top it.

But does it deserve such suckiness? Not really, in my opinion. I actually like it quite a bit better than the last album. So, let's take a look at each track.

Fantasy! Juuichi Review

ブラボー！ - Bravo!
Just what you’d expect from a H!P album track – sounds like a b-side with slightly better production. The “cute yelling” were fine for the song, but not from Morning Musume. It’s fine if they do really genki songs, like Guru Guru JUMP!, but you have to have a crack head member like Koharu to pull it off, which they don’t anymore. Some of the layered voice effects in the verse definitely make the song more listenable, but the chorus is very predictable.

Fantasyが始まる – Fantasy ga Hajimaru
Once again, Sayumi’s vocals are right where they need to be – smothered in auto-tune. This is one of the tracks I like a lot from this album, and I think the dark and sad sound really fits Morning Musume and is the kind of thing that they can really pull off. The chorus really sticks in your head even after the first listen. The muted backing track adds to the dramatic feeling it gives off. And the line distribution is very nice; I’m definitely hearing LinLin loud and clear.

女心となんとやら – Onnagokoro to Nanto Yaru
Hmm. This is an interesting one. The kind of cheery hip-hop beat offsets the children’s song melody in a way that seems strange at first, but is actually executed quite well. I really like hearing lots of Gaki here, I think her voice suits this kind of thing well. Not really a stand-out song, and probably more fitting as a b-side, but I don’t skip over it I listen to my iPod and without a doubt it grows on you as time goes on.

愛の炎 – Ai no Honou
So far, my favorite track. The piano intro is very haunting, and I think Reina’s voice suits this song perfectly. Her falsetto sounds really nice. A few times her voice gets kind of whiny, especially when she says “Yeah”, but I’m pretty used to how that sounds so I don’t know what I expected. I like the contrast of the intro and the subtle Latin beat during the verses – I find myself listening to the beat more than the vocals sometimes. I look forward to hearing this live.

I'm Lucky girl
Some of the “techno” effects in this song are so cheesy that it is distracting, but once the vocals start and those are gone the song gets more listenable. The verse vocal melody is pretty uninspired and repetitive, which is annoying since I know for sure Tsunku can do way, way better. This is one song that I might skip over when I listen to this album.

すんごいマイバースディ – Sungoi My Birthday
I love the “churu churu” parts so much, for no real reason. The songwriting sound is very familiar, but it’s neat because I’ve never heard any H!P songs that sound like this. At times I even think the chorus sounds like something the Beatles would write, and I’ve never said that about anything Tsunku’s ever done, so… wow, congrats, Tsunku, you managed to emulate the most popular band ever. This is a good song and also one of my favorites.

1から10まで愛してほしい – Ichi kara Juu made Aishite Hoshii
Don’t really get what the title means… Interesting choice of words. But other than that, the song blends in pretty well with other peppy songs. It’s a little bit better than Bravo!, but man, not by a whole lot. This doesn’t even sound like a MM song; it sounds like S/mileage should be singing it. And I am really getting sick of all of the “Ooh Yeah’s!” on this album. Didn’t we get enough of that with Seishun Collection?

愛しく苦しいこの夜に – Itoshiku Kurushii Kono Yoru ni
Eri really gets the spotlight. Her pitch and clearness are there, without a doubt, but this reiterates the reasons why I can’t agree with others who say she’s a better singer than Reina or Gaki. She’s not. She can keep it together way better than Jun or Sayu, but she has almost no tone. Reina can sound nasally too, but she has a solid vibrato and her falsetto better, and she also has consistently sounded better live. But, regardless, even if it would have been JunJun I am happy that one of the grads got a big part to shine in.

電話でね – Denwa de ne
Ai’s solo. Am I mad about this choice? Yeah, kind of. If I cared about the stuff MM was putting out then I would be more angry about it. But after the decision to graduate Lin and Jun I really just have given up on the focus not being Ai and Reina. But, if anyone deserves to get a solo, it’s Ai—she sounds very good all the time, and this track is no exception. The song itself is pretty uninspired though. (Is that the second time I’ve used this word in this review? For fuck’s sake, Tsunku.)

青春コレクション – Seishun Collection
It sucks.

Hope you enjoyed it!

Not even bothering to check out Mano's new album, so there is no chance in hell that a review for that will be up here. But I'm in the midst of listening through S/mileage's new album, which is, sadly, a lot better than this.

Stay tuned, I guess.

Oh, you've got to be kidding me.

2010-12-08T18:51:00.001-08:00

Really can't believe I didn't see this one coming.

Their new single is called "Shortcut". I guess it makes sense. But I didn't even H!P would do such a random tie-in.

Here's another shot.

But, sadly, both Maeda and Dawa with short hair actually look better than Kanon with short hair.

Caption: "Disaster"

Dawa actually looks a lot like Maeda Atsuko with the new haircut. I do actually think she looks better. Yuuka looks good as well... but I think we'll have to wait and see with her.

"Those Horrible Dresses" in Otoko to Onna no Lullaby Game PV

2010-12-04T20:26:00.000-08:00

So, I know this goes without saying and everyone seems to know about this, but it happens to such an extent in this PV that it bears repeating.

HEY AI-CHAN STOP TOUCHING YOUR FUCKING FACE

Ha ha, anyway, now that that's been established we can say for sure that this is a Morning Musume PV for their newest single, Otoko to Onna no Lullaby Game. The song is much better than all of the other recent MM singles (with the exception of Kaitenzushi), and while it sticks with the same kind of sound it still stands out with it's powerful melody and dramatic strings and drums, and of course, with the bits of silence.

I would say for the most part, everyone looks good. Eri, who I normally never notice, really had me checking her out a lot here. (Just in time, right? Awkward laugh)

Gaki's haircut looks pretty bad in some places, though, like when they straightened it.

As far as all the sets and everything, I really liked how they varied it up with all the different backgrounds. I particularly like the flower pool and the lighted backgrounds. I thought it matched well with the dramatic and kind of random nature of the song.

The dance is pretty uninspired here. It just looks like Nanchatte Renai, and I wish that they didn't look so awkward during the pauses in the song.

Hey, at least it didn't sound like Nanchatte Renai, right?

"This is the best we could come up with guys, I'm sorry. We spent all our money on the mesh to make those dresses even more poofy and unflattering."

But at other times the dance can be lots of fun, mostly because it's all hair-flippy. It looks especially good with the dark background and bright lights.

Whoa, look out.

It may sound like I'm not too happy with the PV, but I actually am really happy and at the obvious effort that went into it (I mean, at least compared with everything else they do). The song is also a welcome break from the repetitive sound we're so used to from MM, but I would have liked if the line distribution had been more even. Eri was given justice for her last single, but Jun and Lin weren't at all and still felt just as tacked-on as Aika.

D'aw, Junjun.

I loved the ending of this PV, too.

FLASH!

Let's just say that I really hope this PV and song is an indication of what MM will be up to in the future with the new 9th gen members.

By the way, some of which sound quite good -- the latest Bijou Gaku had some previews of some singing. Some of the girls look really cool and I hope they are considered.

Thanks for reading everyone!

Comparison: Morrowind vs. Oblivion

2010-12-04T11:31:00.000-08:00

Well, if you had any doubts, this should change your mind:

Ha ha, just kidding. But seriously, I have wanted to compare these two games for a long time, but never really got down to defining what about each game was good and bad. Although a lot of what I'm saying here has already been said, I just wanted to give my 2 cents on it, since I love both games so much.

Disclaimer: I’m not a technical expert on computers, nor am I able to explain the subtleties in graphics, or really go into anything in-depth in mechanical terms, so keep in mind that this review will be mostly based on my game-play and “emotional” reactions to both games. So, if I complain about things and I fuck up and say things that turn out to be wrong, I’m sorry, but at least I warned you that this is not a “professional” analysis of the two games. This is just a reflection from a normal person who loves both games, has spent innumerable hours on both of them, and who, I can safely say, has managed to explore almost everything in both of the worlds.

Let’s start off with the easier argument: Oblivion > Morrowind

A lot of this stuff goes without saying: better graphics, better physics system, better map system, better journal system, more straight-forward combat. If you were a passerby and had to compare the two based on looks and face-value playability, most would (reasonably) pick Oblivion as superior. As far as how it looks, I remember being really impressed with Oblivion when it first came out, especially character and creature animation, which was clearly far better than it had been in Morrowind. So many aspects of gameplay were smoothed out, especially ones that had me tearing out my hair in Morrowind. When you hit a target with a weapon or spell, it always worked, and you got the satisfaction of having at least done something instead of that “whoosh” sound of you missing the target right in front of your fucking face that became so ingrained in my mind with Morrowind. I loved how the block option was manual, and you didn’t just have to wait for your character to decide to dodge an attack, plus you can block without a shield, which as far as I remember, didn’t happen in Morrowind. One thing about Oblivion that I really like was the leveling-up perks – when you hit level 25, 50, 75, or 100 for any skill you got new moves or were able to cast new kinds of spells, or other useful things that made gameplay easier as time went on. I gotta say, nothing is better than getting to 100 in Armorer and only ever having to carry around one repair hammer all the time. Some of these perks are pretty useless, like some of the jumping and rolling moves that you can do, and rarely come in handy, but some of the new power attacks for Blade and Blunt are quite fun to pull of successfully.

So, let’s talk about Oblivion’s maps. I can for sure say that my least favorite aspect of Morrowind was that it was too fucking hard to find anything in it. You would only get these vague text directions that rarely led you to the place on the first try, and even if you were on your mini-map it was hard to pick up that there was an entrance on the map that you couldn’t see in-game. I swear, there were way too many quests that I couldn’t complete just because I couldn’t find the damn place. Now, I’ll admit that was younger when I was playing this a lot – probably from about age 10 to age 15 – but I do think that for any gamer it would have caused problems. So, on the surface, Oblivion is miles ahead of Morrowind – the maps are clear, directions are somewhat unnecessary since it just points it out to you on the map, and all locations you will ever visit have their own map marker. Playing the game through the first time, it was such a relief to just be able to bring up the map screen and see exactly where to go. The fast travel option also came as a welcome addition – with Morrowind, one quest could easily become a long journey and the time it took even after you finished the quest to get back to whomever was going to pay you seemed tedious at the time.

The journal system of Morrowind seems to be universally accepted as a confusing, unorganized mess, so it’s easy to argue that Oblivion, at least in that category, has Morrowind beat for sure. You can view all available quests to you, or single out a specific one to see the sequence of events and what to do next. A lot of Morrowind’s more cryptic and confusing puzzles are worked out of this system because of the more directed journal entries – there is never a whole lot of speculation about what must be done in a quest because it will just tell you most of the time.
But now, to counter all that, let’s re-examine some of these aspects that, on the surface, appear to make Oblivion > Morrowind.

Are the graphics really better in Oblivion? Well, yes, they are, you can’t argue that. But I can say for sure that I don’t like them as much as Morrowind’s. In a way, they feel too real – it feels more just like a medieval European RPG than a completely new fantasy world. In Morrowind, sure, the stuff looked pretty stiff and waxy, but it had a wonderfully “weird” charm to it, and the sometimes sub-par visuals never hampered the game from being fun. But in Oblivion, I feel like I wasn’t in a whole new universe – the people looked too normal, the landscapes were uninspired, and the creatures weren’t strange and colorful enough. So, yeah, on paper Oblivion has Morrowind beat on graphics quality, but as far as personal opinion goes, I think a lot of people find a fascinating aspect of Morrowind’s visuals that was never there in the fourth installment.

What about the combat system? I do think in most ways this is superior, since it just makes more sense than it did in Morrowind. But I think the leveling system change was a mistake, and caused Oblivion to feel “done” much sooner for me than Morrowind – to this day, I feel like Morrowind still has stuff to conquer that I haven’t done before. But in Oblivion, you get to a point where, at about level 30, you pretty much have all of the best items in the game available to you and there are no real “challenges” on the road ahead. Also, it just takes too fucking long to level up in Oblivion. I’ve had a character that I literally played with consistently for over a year and I never made it past level 40. The huge drawback is that only upping your major skills gets you level advancement – advancing minor skills helps you increase your attributes when you level up, but it doesn’t bring you any closer to the next level in the process. At first, this isn’t a big problem, but after not too long you’ve maxed out a few of your major skills (I’ve found that any armor or Destruction magic skills get to 100 way before anything else does), and now, it takes that much longer to level up because now you have less options available. After you get past a certain point, leveling up just gets so tedious and by that time, as I mentioned, you feel like you’ve already done everything the game has to offer, so a lot of the times that’s went I quit playing the game for a few months. So, although fighting stuff is easier here, Morrowind’s leveling system and un-changing enemy difficulty allowed for longer playability and a larger sense of accomplishment.

As far as maps go, I did say the joy of finding shit easier in Oblivion really never got old. But I admit it takes some of the challenge out of the game, and the fast travel especially can, in the long run, make the game less fun. I mean, you can choose just not to use the fast travel, but that’s hard to do. Sometimes you just fought your way through a dungeon for an hour and you just want to exit the door and travel to your destination right away. With Morrowind, it was super annoying to have to walk pretty much everywhere, but it made the game seem so much more immense and you got so used to seeing the landscape. In Oblivion, I feel like I was not even on the roads that much and never got used to how the outside looked. In practice, though, the biggest complaint (fast travel or not) about Oblivion’s map is that it’s NOT BIG ENOUGH. There aren’t enough places to go in this game. To some extent, the map system makes this seem even truer, since it’s a lot less likely that you’ll just stumble upon to a new cave, since it’s marked on the map, whereas in Morrowind that happened all the time. But I don’t think that it’s just a psychological thing that comes about from stuff like fast travel or map markings – the game really is too small.

On a similar note, the journal system, while undoubtedly a leap up, can make the game too easy. Most times it just fucking tells you what to do, even when it’s completely obvious. Even stuff that might not have been clear right away could have been figured out without the journal detailing every word of what to do to get an item or defeat an enemy. While there were times in Morrowind where I was really stumped, I could use those few occasions to look up a strategy guide or something, while the rest of the puzzles were usually doable, if you spend some time with them. But in Oblivion, it just seems like it’s compensating for past mistakes by spelling it out all too obviously.

So, what is the take away from all this? Casual RPG gamers would probably go for Oblivion, because they weren’t used to an extensive game like Morrowind and they weren’t expecting something similar from the fourth game. But, among Elder Scrolls fans in general, there seems to be a consensus that Morrowind had many indefinable qualities that made it more fun, and kept us playing long after the main quests of the game were completed. It was just like we knew that something else was still out there, and that if you kept spending time with the game, that some weird crazy stuff would turn up from time to time. Oblivion feels a lot more like a linear-storyline game – there’s point A and point B, and eventually you will probably get to point B and be done with the game.

The reason I chose now to write this post is that rumors have re-ignited about Elder Scrolls 5 being in production, and some speculate that it even has been for the last two years. While it’s uncertain how long it will be before we get any kind of release date, some comments made by Bethesda people have implied that the wait is not as long as I (and, I assume, most others) had anticipated. So, with two really solid games behind them, what do I want to ask of Bethesda for a new TES game? As I mentioned above, unfortunately many of the things that made Morrowind great are kind of hard to explain or define, so it’s not like I can just make a bullet-point list of all the things Bethesda should fix. But I can take a stab at some general aspects that I want to see:

• More challenge
• More item variety and number
• More faction quest storylines (Mages Guild, stuff like that)
• Make the game weirder
• Make the game bigger (but don’t fuck it up like Arena)

So, yeah, I dunno, Bethesda, just work on that stuff I guess.

Thanks for reading, everyone! I’ve been wanting very much to do something like this for a while.

H!P Summer Fankora! DVD Review

2010-11-02T20:35:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I posted, let a long posted something about Japanese music... Sorry, everyone. But I'm here with a delightful new DVD to review that I enjoyed more than I expected. I've decided to only say things about the performances I have anything to say about, so here we go.

ALL FOR ONE & ONE FOR ALL!

What does the title of this song tell us? That H!P is using subliminal messages to push their rampant communist ideals.

Ha ha, just kidding. Anyway, I enjoyed this song as an opener because it really doesn't sound like an opener. If anything, it sounds like a cheesy END to an H!P concert. But I guess why I like it here: the sound of it makes me think, oh I guess this is almost done isn't it?, but then I remember it's not and ending song and I feel more excited as a result.

Mano managed to pull through her solo line okay, which is more than I can usually say for her and more than I can say for her during the rest of this DVD. The rest of this isn't anything special; it's clearly a song that they can choreograph easily with so many people on the stage at one time, it's not too crazy. But it has a fun "family-like" H!P love feeling, like all the groups are equal and share in the same concert. (It's hard to say if that's true or not, but at least that's the warm fuzzy feeling I got).

Also, gotta love that cornball opening music.

S/mileage - Gambaranakutemo Ee Nende!!

This is so far my favorite S/mileage song, and I love watching this performance of it. The smiles on the girl's faces at the beginning of the song are priceless; this group is really going to be known as the "genki" group, if they aren't already. As usual, Sakitty sounds very good, but I think Kanon might have sung better than her in this one-- her phrasing sounded really smooth and her pitch was there too. But what happened to Yuuka? I would have assumed that she would be the best live singer of all of them since she's had more experience, but she's the worst next to Dawa. (A place you don't want to be in, Yuuka. Not at all).

Mano Erina - Genkimono de Ikou!

I tried. I really did. The song starts and it's a really fun beat and the cheer leading dance is cute and energetic, and I think, hey maybe I might like this song this time around. And then Mano starts singing and I really can't get through any more. To this day I still cannot fathom how she became a solo artist. Like, hey, Dawa's no fun to listen to, but at least when I listen to songs with her in it, I get to hear other voices too!

Skip.

Dance de Bakoon!

As you may know from my earlier PV review of this song, it's my favorite C-ute single of all time, maybe my favorite C-ute song as well. Even though the singing wasn't stellar in this song, the energy of even just the backing track itself kept this performance exciting to watch the whole way through. Airi still sounded the best, but honestly after her I think Chisato was in 2nd place. Maimi's tone (read: lack of tone) is really starting to get to me, and I'm biased to Chisato's vibrato, but I really do think that Maimi was not doing so well this time.

Mai and Nakky fucked up a few times, but like I said, it didn't make the whole thing any less enjoyable.

Zoku v-d-en : Aisu Kuriimu to My Purin

This was awesome. This is a song that even Sayu and Jun's (and to some extent Risako's) poor live vocals can't ruin, and to give them credit, all of them definitely sounded better than they have other times. Sayu's personality and commitment to the message of the song (i.e. I'm sexy and cute) alone was enough to make you smile. She's totally into it. And, for some reason, a very nasally, thin-sounding voice actually works quite well with this song, so Jun and Sayu,that's the only time that will ever come in handy.

Daite yo! PLEASE GO ON

Bad ass. This song kicks up the intensity and doesn't let up for one second. The dancing just blows me away, but the worst thing about it is they barely focused on Saki! I think even within H!P itself there is a consensus that she's the best dancer of the whole agency, and perhaps only considered 2nd to Ai (I disagree, I think she's #1, but I don't make the decisions there...). So, why not show her a little camera love? Admittedly, the Saki-Maimi-Yuuka trio didn't sound so hot, while Ai and Reina sounded very good. Especially Reina, her voice came out really clear even after parts with heavy dancing.

S/milage - Chu! Natsu Party

This is a perfect song for S/mileage, in kind of an indescribable way. Kanon once again sounds a bit better than Sakitty, and Dawa once again struggles, but she kept it together much better then all the times she's appeared on TV, so I guess you can call it an improvement.

C-ute - FOREVER LOVE

I never really like this song so much, but I must admit it's got a lot of energy and the dance is pretty awesome too. This is one of those moments where I find myself thinking that perhaps Erika and Kanna leaving was in the long run a good thing. C-ute is cut down to the basics, and as a result I think they have a tighter dance structure and live singing ability as a group. Obviously, Airi and Maimi run the show for the most part, but I think increasingly the "back" 3 are getting chances to prove themselves. Although, I don't know why I'm saying this here, since this song doesn't really show that at all and is pretty much an Airi-Maimi fest.

Sorry for the derailment.

Berryz - Gag 100kaibun Aishite Kudasai

A lot of people have been gushing recently about Miyabi's great live singing, which is obviously the case, but this reminds us all not to count Momo out -- even though she hasn't had as much of the spotlight in the last few singles, her living singing is equal if not better than Miyabi's. She clearly gives it her all and her pitch in this performance is impressive, especially since it's so high up there. Saki sounded good as well, her voice is beginning to sound a little less strained than it usually does.

Well, that's about all I have to say about this DVD. This is one of my favorite H!P concerts ever, the song selection is really fun and I'm glad the fans got to pick some of them this time.

Please do this again sometime, Tsunku!

Some reviews (possibly) coming up...
-Perfume - Nee PV
-Berryz Shining Power PV (when I get an HD version...)

Thanks for reading! I proved that I still like Japanese music!

DBZ: The Good Edition (aka Dragonball Z Kai) Review - Dub

2010-10-05T21:21:00.000-07:00

I very recently got the English season 1 part 1 DVD for Dragonball Kai, and after even watching just half of the episodes I had to sit down and lay it all out for you guys.

In case you weren’t aware, Dragonball Kai is a re-edited version of Toriyama Akira’s masterpiece manga/anime series, Dragonball Z, which first aired in Japan in the late 1980s. An English dub version was aired in America in the late 90s, and in both countries it was very successful. The show has since then defined the characteristics of most shounen anime, such as Bleach and Naruto, and had about 10 or so movies that kind of sucked, except for those two TV specials. But that’s for another day—onto the review!

First, a word on the Japanese side of things: the editing on Kai is a welcome idea for a show that is so badly in need of fine-tuning. It cuts the show down to the basics and takes away the frustration that was so heavily involved in sitting down to watch the original series. This, I’m sure, makes the show completely more accessible to those who don’t already like DBZ. But it’s even more of a treat for someone who loved the original series and thinks it deserves a better re-telling. So… me.

There are a few times where, due to the editing, some scenes are not explained or things happen without showing actual footage of it (for example, while training, Gohan is shown with the dinosaur with its tail already cut off by him, but that actual scene was never shown in Kai), but honestly, only someone familiar with DBZ would notice, or even care. It doesn’t detract at all from the enjoyment of the series, especially for someone who practically has the plot and dialogue memorized.

And it just fucking looks a lot better. The video has pretty much been restricted to the scenes with better animation, and it definitely looks more crisp and fluid. The original version was already colorful enough, but the colors look just wonderfully vivid here. True, the show still sometimes utilizes repeated animation, but I’ve only noticed it in a few scenes, where as in the original that was a staple tool of filling the 25 minutes the show takes up.

I’ve heard the soundtrack criticized for being over-dramatic, but I find that hard to swallow when the 1980’s Japanese soundtrack was practically the definition of over-dramatic. I think that most of the time, it did fit the mood of the scene well, with only a few exceptions. The original English soundtrack wasn’t half bad, and looking back on it I have to admire that they even tried to make one, and hearing it again would be major nostalgia points for Mk. But, I understand for someone without those ties to the English music, these new tracks are just fine. The opening and ending themes are re-dubbed in English, and they kind of suck. I always skip over them. By the way, didn’t an AKB subgroup do the opening and endings? Where they not able to license them or something?

The new dub track and script are fantastic. The clunky awkwardness of the original English script is gone, and the result is fluid-sounding dialogue that still manages to be faithful to the Japanese script. Honestly, I haven’t seen many dubs pull it off like this, not even my other favorites like Fullmetal Alchemist. This proves more than ever that Funimation still is the producer of the best dubs out there, proving that one can be loyal to source material but make the script itself enjoyable for English speakers. There were honestly times where I laughed out loud at jokes or comments, and believe me, I rarely get that reaction from anime. There were a few times that the storyline actually calls for jokes itself (like when King Kai has Goku tell a good joke for his first test) and the results sound pretty forced in English. But I’m glad they didn’t keep the exact wording of the jokes the same as in the Japanese, because then it would be completely incomprehensible, whereas with what they did it’s merely awkward-sounding and pun-ish.

The dialogue of every character really shines here, and the addition of some light profanity does help to keep the show exciting and more fun for a viewer that’s not ten years old. Once again, referring to myself here. But really, every character is expressed well with the dub – Goku’s childish ignorance and idiocy is there, along with his determination; Piccolo is, if possible, even more badass then before; King Kai’s still a giggling weirdo. Gregory’s’ voice is actually really cute, and although one might assume a high-pitched voice coming out of a large grasshopper would just suck balls constantly, it’s actually easy on the ears and definitely had a smile on my face. The voice actress who plays Gohan is clearly giving a different performance than the first time around, and I’m honestly not sure what to make of it just yet. Raditz was pretty much on par with everyone else, but there were some times that his voice got really high and scream-y and I don’t know why they made that choice; he just sounds fucking crazy.

So, all in all, this is the kind of thing that makes me fall crazy in love with Dragonball Z all over again. Many of the show’s original flaws that it’s often (rightly) criticized for are largely gone – dragged-out pacing, a poor English dub track—and for fans of the show and first-time viewers, it makes the whole thing go down much easier. But, hey—if you don’t like crazy colorful shounen anime with training episodes and long, long battles, it’s not like this version is going to change your mind—it’s still Dragonball Z. But if you were on board the first time, you’ll fucking throw yourself back on the moving train for this version.

Grading:

Editing: 9/10 (makes the show way more watchable; only a few discrepancies as a result)

Animation Quality: 8/10 (it doesn’t look like anime does now, but it still is enough to make you stop and admire the new quality)

Soundtrack: 7/10 (nice, gets the job done)

Script: 8/10 (the flow is miles ahead of the original, even makes me genuinely laugh)

Acting: 7/10 (the same gang is back, and they’ve definitely improved, but it’s still an anime dub track so there’s only so good I can expect it to be.)

So, that’s it. I know this was a weird-timed review, but I just recently got my hands on this even though it came out May 2010. But I couldn’t stop myself from gushing about it.

I swear I like Japanese music, guys. I promise. Maybe someday that GO!GO! album review will be up here.

Onaji (other words) Mama PV Review

2010-09-28T14:56:00.000-07:00

Sorry it took me longer than normal to get a review of this up, but an even vaguely HD PV only showed up today. Don't you hate that? When you don't get a decent PV directly from UFA for the longest time? If I remember correctly, that happened with Otakebi Boy WAO! and it was just as annoying then as it is now.

But anyway, I did get a PV file, so let's begin! S/milege's new single, "Onaji Jikyuu de Hataraku Tomodachi no Bijin Mama" !

Lord, that is a horrendous title.

First things first: the song review. I think everyone agrees that it's an okay song (some people think it sucks, but I'm not going to take it that far). The arrangement is a bit cluttered, similar to the way Onna ga Medatte Naze Ikenai was, and the "rock" aspect doesn't really feel well done at all, just kind of thrown in there.

I don't like that monologue AT ALL, but for the most part I hate all monologue in H!P songs so that might be a personal preference more than an actual flaw.

The vocals on this track are okay; S/mileage still has the tendency to hurt your ears with really nasally voices. As usual, Sakitty has the most easy-to-listen-to voice, and Dawa has it on the other end of the spectrum. They've both proved that through the TV performances of this song... one is the best sounding, the other is the worst sounding. Take a guess which is which.

OKAY, onto the PV!

Awww. I like this close-up version a lot. It gives the impression (and few idol groups give this impression) that, you know, S/mileage might kinda like each other.

The dance is not that great, though. It's super jumpy, and I normally wouldn't care but I'm sure it makes it a lot harder to sing. There's a reason that Gambaranakutemo always sounded better live than other singles -- cause the dance was not as unreasonable as this. Like...

Or this part, during Kanon's monologue...

Like, is this the best the choreographers could come up with? On TV perfs of this I always hoped the camera wouldn't show this dance move because its pretty weird.

Oh, and there's a guest in the PV... um, you know... it's that girl that was one of the two friends but this was the one that didn't have affairs with older men... what was her name again...?

Ohhh, right, Nono. She even points that out for us in the PV. (The girls are singing "NonNon" and she points at herself, which its pretty funny.) I don't have any qualms about her being in here; since I wasn't a fan of MM when she was in it I'm not really a fan of her now. But it seems like as far as the rest of Japan goes her being there might help people notice S/mileage, if just a bit more.

But one thing Nono did kind of perplexed me...

What is she doing? Admiring the mop? Well, I guess its just supposed to look cute.

Some other parts of the PV that I liked...

INTENSE KANON

NO MORE MAEDA

WE'RE FUCKING S/MILEAGE!

Well, thanks for reading. Overall, I liked the PV okay, the song is meh, so in conclusion, it's no Gambaranakutemo.

But the b-side is great! Give the new Chottoko LOVE a listen.

Upcoming stuff... the new GO!GO! album review is about 3/4ths done, so someday that will be here.

Thanks guys! We're fucking S/mileage!

Splinter Cell: Conviction Review

2010-09-19T18:26:00.001-07:00

Whoo, so just seconds ago I finished playing the game, so now as good a time as ever to share my thoughts on it.

First off, I'll say that overall, I really enjoyed playing this game. I haven't played a Splinter Cell game since Chaos Theory, so this was kind of nostalgic for me as well. The game play is thrilling and so much fun, and the cut scenes and "story progressing" parts are well-integrated into the game itself. The voice acting and writing is top-notch, which is a nice break because I just finished StarCraft 2 which had pretty bad writing.

There are some flaws, however. I bought this game on Friday evening and finished it at 9:00 Sunday night. So... its way too short. I'm kind of used to games nowadays being shorter, like with the recent Call of Duty games and stuff, but I really, really wish it could have gone on longer and I felt unsatisfied with the length.

Also, the stealth aspect is super fun but its not nearly as skill-dependent as earlier games. Its a very accessible game, once again unlike the earlier ones, but it just feels like you have nothing to do with your success in the missions, and so much of it is automated with just the pressing of a button.

Also, the trademark green Splinter Cell goggles make an appearance, but they're not useful except for a few times where there are laser traps that you have to avoid. But, you still get to kill people from above, like from on a pipe or a ledge, which is just really, really fun.

In closing of this short short review, I just want to say that Sam Fisher is SO HOT in this game. Like, Liam Neeson style-- older, but still kicking ass like nobody's business.

My overall raking of this game ...

Graphics - 8/10 (top-notch physics, but nothing ground-breaking)
Story - 8/10 (engaging and pretty easy to follow, but too short)
Voice acting - 10/10
Uh, just being fun - 9/10
Challenge - 6/10

Overall <3 8.2 / 10

Thanks for reading, I just wanted to vary up the content of the blog just a little bit. Maybe I'll put up a StarCraft review later as well.

I still really like Japanese music, you guys. Trust me.

Sorry, I fucked up (Otakebi House Part 2)

2010-09-05T08:25:00.001-07:00

Whoops, I messed up, so this review will be in two parts for some reason.

Anyway, about Maji Good Chance... I haven't heard this song in a while so it was a lot of fun hearing it again, and pretty much everyone sounded good in it. Even Risako seems to have remembered not to add that breathy vibrato at the end of her phrases anymore, so her tone is much better. Pitch is still a bit of an issue, but hey, its Ricchan, that kind of comes with the package.

Speaking of Risako sounding better, this version of Yakimochi o Kudasai is far better than the one at the album release event. Risako sounds better (except for that high part at the end, but I blame Tsunku for that since he gave that line to someone whose range isn't that high) and Saki really impressed me. I can tell she really focused on sounding better for this song. And, her dancing is still the best thing ever. Chinami sounded better as well. You go, girls.

So, I gotta take time to discuss the acapella. As usual, for the love of God, STOP giving Risako the melody. Just don't do it. Give it to Miyabi. Give it to Momo. Shit, you could even give it to Yurina. She proved that beyond belief with her Jingisukan performance from Medachitai! Admittedly, she didn't sound THAT bad this time, but it's still not the position she should have. Give her the bass harmonies, in a range she can sing.

Everyone else sounded good, though. Saki is really impressive with the beat, its really tight and keeps the rest of it together. That last note really sounded good, thank God Risako nailed that one, if any of them.

This might be one of the best overall Berryz performances I've seen. I'm surprised, even Risako sounded really good. Momo was spot on, as usual, and Miyabi's falsetto was clear and on pitch. Maasa and Chinami were kind of the stragglers, but Captain, as I said before, sounds like she's improved.

Plus, I really like this song.

So, another thing I have to cover regardless of whether I liked it or not is the medley. In this case, its a big fat NOT LIKE. It doesn't even count as a medley, just a bunch of song clips with silence between them and no interesting transitions at all. A big drop from Medachitaii.

What happened to the Maasa call outs? The xylophone playing? The moving staircase? All the fun stuff that happens in a medley? Well, not this time, says Tsunku.

So, I don't know what happened, but during the intermission, Berryz must have turned up the kick-ass valve because this is a fucking awesome performance of this song. The energy level is super high and everyone hits those high notes right. Even Risako. EVEN RISAKO. Yurina sounds off, but she clearly has a sore throat or something, so I'll forgive her.

Whoo, Berryz, way to rock.

So, that's all I've got for you. This was a fun DVD if you watch it a few times, since the awesomeness doesn't smack you in the face as much as it did with Medachitaii.

Bye

The Noble House of Otakebi

2010-09-04T23:18:00.000-07:00

Waaaaaaaaaah Berryz live review !

To start off, compared to Medachitaii! this DVD does seem to lose a lot of energy. But I prefer to see it as a more relaxed live, and I did enjoy it quite a bit.

To start things off, like I said, we have the most non-epic opening of all time:

First off, I haven't heard this song in many months and I'm glad they finally brought it out again. They have only done it, what, once live before?

Someone seems to have told Risako (or should I say reminded) how to sing tolerably live again. Not nearly as much wavery breathy vibrato at the end of her phrases. Hey, pitch is still an issue, but at least her tone has improved.

Miya really upstages Risako here. Just doing what she does best.

I don't know what's going on. Something about summer, I assume.

I'm not going to relive my opinions on every song, but there were a few performances I wanted to point out.

By now, who even cares what I think about this?

2010-08-25T15:31:00.001-07:00

What, wait really, what is this...?

Oh, my.

Uh...

Well...

Oh, jeez, I don't even...

They're 13!? What is this...

Oh my, are they actually...?

O___O

O_____________________O

X___X

So, honestly, I didn't want this post to become another AKB-rip fest where I call them all sluts, or on the other side, defend them and cite all of the times where H!P has had sexual things like this in a PV, and call the haters just plain haters without any real reason to hate it.

But, all the captions are pretty much what my first reaction was to this PV, at least the first time I saw it.

I'll admit that upon re-watching it, I began to get less shocked by it, but I don't know if that was just me getting used to the craziness or it actually being not that bad.

On the surface, I can see what some people are saying when they defend this as almost a satire in exploitation PVs. The sexuality of it is so blatant that it could be kind of a funny thing, I guess. But, I dunno, it seems a little too convenient that AKB is using the same techniques that it's making fun of, if it is indeed intended to be a "joke" PV.

But, if I have to go with my gut reaction, I would say this whole thing makes me uncomfortable. Not that I'm going to pretend H!P is "more wholesome" than AKB, but to be fair, H!P's never done stuff quite like this before. Sure, there are a few dance moves that C-ute or Berryz does that are awkwardly sexual (see Dance de Bakoon post), and some outfits that MM has used aren't the cleanest, and hey, just look at v-u-den. But one can say that H!P has never thrown it all in our faces all at once, like this PV does.

So... all in all, I'm not really sure what to think about this PV. But, since I don't claim to be an AKB fan, thank god I don't really HAVE to have a stance on it.

But this part I can safely say is fucking weird:

Tomomi kind of grosses me out, even without all this stuff, but, God, this is strange. If you can't figure out what this is representing, it looks like someone just CAME ON HER FACE. That's messed up. *shiver* I don't think there's any excuse for that.

As far as the song itself goes, at least no one seems to disagree about this. It's fine, but not as good as Ponytail. But I have found myself humming it without realizing it, so I dunno, maybe its not so bad.

Like I said, lots of hypocrisy in this post on my part.

But, hey, I feel like I don't have any concrete thoughts on this.

PS, I did like this part:

AKB, why can't you put out more stuff like Sakura no Shiori? I love that stuff.

Coming soon... to this blog...

-GO!GO!7188 review
-Berryz DVD live review... as soon as the thing gets up on the tracker, dammit

Bye everyone <3

Dance de Back On! (Or, Dance de Bakoon) (Or Whatever Tsunku said it was this week)

2010-08-24T14:44:00.001-07:00

Whatever the title, this release kicks so much ass that I can't wait to talk about it.

As far as the song goes, I love the chorus a lot. I don't think it's just the vocal melody, since that alone doesn't sound that unique, but it must be the chords underneath it or something else. There are some awkwardly long pauses in the vocals at times that I wish were filled up with something else, but other than that I can't complain a whole lot about this.

The verse I don't love though, the voices are meant to be kind of dragged out and whiny, which leads it to sound unmelodic and doesn't lend itself to being a hook. But the chorus is great.

The PV is great. Proof that you can make a greenscreen PV just fine, thank you, if you put in time to do editing and blind your watcher with flashing lights.

Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, looks awesome in this PV. Even Mai, even Chisato. Airi looks even especially good. And it's not done in an over-sexual way at all, they all just look stunning in a way that they might look if they were about to go clubbing or something.

But you know who really steals the show?

"Me, bitches."

Chisato kicks my ass so much in this PV it's not even funny. All of her lines are spot on, delivered with that powerful vibrato she has. Some of her lines in the second chorus are a bit too high for her, IMO, but she still gives them her trademark touch. You go, Chisa-puppy.

But, hey, she's not the only one looking good.

A good start to a PV, right?

Maimi abs FTW.

Beautiful <3

Not that the PV's perfect. There are a few parts that make you cringe a bit...

Uhhh...

"I dunno about this, you guys..."

But hey, when we saw the Massara Blue Jeans dance, we knew this was coming, didn't we.

So, all in all, perhaps my favorite release from C-ute ever, and in the broad scope of things a super-fun song and PV that gives every member of C-ute justice.

I hope Tsunku continues writing and handing out lines to C-ute with this in mind.

Coming up still...

That GO!GO!7188 reveiw.

Berryz new concert is coming out soon...

Probably something else.

Just a whole bunch of shit...

2010-08-22T21:28:00.000-07:00

A lot of stuff to go over! Graduations, new PVs, and all of the other things that happen in the idol world.

Item #1 Graduations

Do I even have to say who I'm referring to?

My initial reaction was bad. Bad. Because JunLin are my two favorite members, Lin being #1. So, naturally, the first thing I want to do is rip my hair out in anger and stop following Momusu at all. For a week or so, I was actually avoiding anything MM-- I didn't like reading about their new single, or their new tour, and even hearing about the 9th gen didn't make me want to read about it. It just made me depressed.

Then I calmed down. I grasped the fact that being an MM fan means putting up with stuff like this. Since 4 members have graduated in the past year, and since all of them were buisness decisions made with care (I guess), not because of scandals, I really began to hope that this whole overhaul of the group would mean changes in the image and sound of the group as well.

But, most recently, just running it over in my mind makes it seem more fucked up. WHY the HELL is the 8th generation being graduated when there are STILL 5th GEN MEMBERS IN THE GROUP? It seems like such a cheap shot, and so out-of-order compared with all other graduations.

Like, which members would you expect to graduate first? The ones that have been in it the longest? Isn't there someone that's in the group that's been in it for almost a decade?

But, no. Not with Tsunku. Apparently these girls that have been in it for 3 years are ready to do something else, but not Ai.

I love you, Ai, and you're the most talented member of the group as far as performing and singing goes. I know it, most people know it. But for the love of God, I'm sick of YOU being the center! Not because you're bad at it, of course, but, I don't know, I want to see some different people get the spotlight!

I had a dream that that person would someday be LinLin, but that's all over now.

Now I'm all mad again. Grrr

Pending Posts:

- C-ute - Dance de Bakoon! review (It'll be positive)

- My belated recation to Heavy Rotation (It'll be a lot of contradictions)

- GO!GO!7188's new album review (Don't know what it'll be)

Bye

Jitterin Jinn

2010-06-03T18:34:00.001-07:00

This is an old Japanese band from the early 90's. Take a listen...

I love it. I really love it. The song moves along like a train, I think, that's what the drum beats remind me of. I'd love to find out what the lyrics mean.

Trying to get my hands on their best-of album... I normally don't seek out old Japanese groups but this one is too good to pass up.

They have a traditional enka vocal sound but with a modern-day background. It's similar to the GO!GO!7188 song "Ukifune" -- it has a sad and mournful sound but with a beat that keeps the movement up. Songs that fuse the old Japanese and the new are some of the best music I can find.

Waaaaaaaaah I like it a whole lot.

S/mileage Is A Group...

2009-11-28T15:53:00.000-08:00

Well, they will be, anyway. How do I feel about this?

Honestly all four of the girls have so little personality that I can't say I'm excited to see them interact with each other. Vocally, though, they're a tight group, always sound good live, even though the individual voices don't blow me away or anything.

Perhaps the personality factor will change with time as the girls grow up and get comfortable around each other. Like, I never knew Chinami had a personality of her own until I saw her just interacting with other Berryz members, who she is comfortable with.

Musically, the music for the group hasn't really caught my attention. aMa no Jaku was a great tune with a great verse and after-chorus part (I think it goes into a minor key there...). Which was definitely a step up (speaking in terms of musical creativity) from most other H!P releases.

Asu wa Deeto (etc) was not as good of a song, I think, but once again it was done in an intersting way that I can appreciate even if I didn't myself love it. Suki-chan I really haven't gone out of my way to listen to, and since there is no full version out, I can't really pass judgment.

But that brings me to another important factor of S/mileage that they seem to have over all (and I mean ALL) other H!P acts right now. And that is, great PVs.

All of them had interesting storylines (Asu had death tarot cards, aMa had basketball, and Suki-chan has a picnic of some kind), interesting outfits, and lots of extra footage that was outside of the usual close-up / dance-shot material that usually makes up a H!P PV.

So, if this tradition of Fantastic PVs keeps up, I'll keep following this new group. But I'd like to see some more powerful vocals, not the high-pitched, very unwavering sound we've been given so far. And hopefully as time goes on, the group will develop it's own style and become comfortable enough around eachother so that we can see what these girls are really like.

Mk's Hello! Project X-mas Wishlist <3

2009-11-20T14:05:00.000-08:00

In the spirit of the season, here are the things Mk wants from Santa this year, as far as the H!P category goes.

1. Um, photobooks for Chisato AND Captain. I mean, I get maybe that Chisato wouldn't get one right away, but Saki is turning 18. 18!! Like, I can't believe she hasn't gotten one yet. And she's very cute and pretty and small, so, like, WHY NOT, UFA?? It is true now that Nakky, Mai, Chinami and Maasa have gotten one that this prospect doesn't look as bleak as it used to.

Wantability scale: 6/10 - I would like to have this, but I'll still love these members even without a photobook. I mainly want them to have one so that everyone else can realize how great they are.

2. More Lin Lin solos IN THE SINGLES. Lin Lin has been around long enough that there is no excuse not to have her singing up front with everyone else. She can very clearly handle it, in a lot of ways better than other members who DO get lines can, so goddammit Tsunku stop stuffing her to the back. Honestly, if other 8th Gen. members (Aika and Jun) don't get lines maybe I get it, but with Lin Lin she is so talented that it sucks so bad to not have her belting it out like I know she can.

Wantability Scale: 10/10 - If this really happened, I think I would like Morning Musume a whole lot more.

3. A Buono! PV that features DULCE more than just a few seconds where they zoom the camera across their face and you can't see anything. I mean, I get that Buono! is the focus, but I think they could pull in a lot of more mainstream fans if they at least acknowledged the people who really make the music happen. I think it would give Buono! a generally more 'musically interesting' feel, something the idol industry desperatley lacks.

Wantability Scale: 5/10 - Honestly, if this doesn't happen it's no biggie as long as DULCE keeps playing live with Buono! for their concert tours.

4. More "normal" outfits, especially for singles. I know that everyone loves the huge puffy dresses and ridiculous headbands that H!P so often dresses their idols in, but I really want to see the girls-- just once-- in just, like, jeans and a t-shirt. I think that's one reason Buono! has had more (kind of) of a mainstream audience-- their clothing is stuff that girls that age might really want to wear. I have noticed H!P has been doing that more recently, but only really for concert tours. If their were more singles like that I would be happy.

Wantability Scale: 7/10 - While this is already kind of happenning, I would still really like to see it more.

5. More interesting arragement of songs. So I know that I've complained about this quite a bit, whether here or over on Hello! Online, but Tsunku's style of songwriting is just SO repetetive. I mean, I like all of the vocal melodies and effects and all, but the order of how the song goes is the SAME EVERY TIME. In case you don't know my opinion on the matter, I'll break it down for you.

This is how most H!P songs are arranged.

Instrumental Opening
Verse 1
Pre-chorus
Chorus
Shortened version of instrumental opening
Verse 2 (usually thiner backgrounds during the first half)
Pre-chorus
Chorus
Longer instrumental section, more intense dancing, more guitar/keyboard solo, NO vocals)
Pre-chorus (This is the most varying section- it's not rare that this is eliminated)
Chorus
Instrmental Ending (usually identical to opening, NO vocals)

I challenge anyone to come up with more than... 10? 12? examples of songs that don't follow this exact pattern. The only big difference is that sometimes Tsunku starts with the chorus right after the opening instead of the verse. So, with that in mind, Tsunku, PLEASE vary it up. This is the only aspect of H!P whuch consistantly bores me.

Okay, Santa, there you have it. Make it happen.

H!P Champloo DVD Concert Review… aka Thank God No Mikan

2009-11-07T17:09:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone, here is my review of the recent H!P concert DVD. Instead of reviewing the entire concert, I decided to single out what I felt were the most important performances of the concert: the ones people will be talking about for a while.

#1 Guru Guru JUMP

I love this song a lot, without a doubt one of my favorite songs to come out of H!P in a while, so obviously I was quite excited to watch this part. And it delivered. I like the distribution of lines a LOT, and it’s good that this song lets so many people have substantial solo lines (unlike Piriri to Yukou which lets everyone have a solo line that’s 2 seconds long). And really, everyone that took a solo line sounded great, with the exception of Ai-chan (but that’s just IMO). I wish they would have let at least one of the S/mileage girls take a line as well, but I understand that at this time it was more uncertain what prominence these girls were going to have in H!P.

My favorite aspect of this performance was definitely still the energy of Lin Lin and Koharu, which is what made me love it in the first place. But Jun Jun seemed almost cut out of the song with the way they organized lines, which was weird, because Lin and Koha definitely weren’t. But anyway, Lin’s energy was really palpable here: her second “COME ON!!” is evidence enough. And this is without a doubt Koharu’s best performance of the song with her fantastic falsetto during the last chorus. This is how I want to remember Koharu now that she’s gone: as a crackhead belting out the crazy songs in a way that no one else can. *tearing up*

What this performance will be remembered as: A Great Last Tribute to the Crack Head (and Everyone Else Did Good Too)

#2 Minimoni Jankenpyon!

So, I may definitely be the exception when it comes to the experience I had with this performance: this was the first time I had heard this song. And after getting over the initial O_O feeling, I realized what a goldmine of awesomeness I had just stumbled on by seeing this new unit perform it.

First off, Karin has NEVER even passed under my radar before, but now I can’t get her out of my head! And how awesome is Lin Lin here? She is so unembarrassed about how much fun this is for her, you can really see it in the way she dances with everyone. I could see someone else being unenthusiastic at having to perform with a bunch of kids, but Lin Lin just grabs it and goes for it. AND THEN BLOWS OUT MY BRAIN.

What this performance will be remembered as: The One That Made Everyone Love Miyamoto Karin (or Is Lin Lin The New Crackhead?)

#3 Yume to Genjitsu (Aa!)

Performances that introduce me to a new song always have a special place in my heart, and this one is no exception. But not only that made it awesome: the whole performance of it was flawless. And I’ll admit that I may be biased since I don’t have a studio recording to compare it to, but wow. Airi and Miyabi sound fantastic. And whoa, Akari, what happened to you?!? She went from awkward Amulet Spade to being right up there with Airi and Miyabi in the beauty category. I also really like how much effort was put into the choreography for this song, usually these kinds of non-single tracks get so little time put into them and most dance moves are just ripped off from other ones. But this dance was cool and creative and really fit well with the song.

What this performance will be remembered as: Maybe It’s Not So Bad That Reina Wasn’t In This Group a Second Time (or The One that Made Everyone Realize Akari’s a Sexy Beast)

#4 MY BOY

So, well all know Buono! can bring it. We all know they can rock like really nothing else can in H!P right now. But, just in case you HAVEN’T figured it out yet because you choose to reside under a large rock, here’s just more proof. This performance makes me wonder how three of the cutest and sweetest girls in the H!P Kids came together to make a group that can perform like they did here. It really makes me sad that this song did so poorly, since it fits them so well and they can obviously pull it off without a problem. (I’m still a bit on the fence with the outfits, and I wish they didn’t have to wear the single outfits for this, but that’s okay, I’ll just wait for the Winter Festa DVD.)

What this performance will be remembered as: Whyyyy Didn’t This Song Sell Well?? (or I Really Need To Buy The Hybrid Punch DVD)

~Bonus Section~ Performances I could have done without:

1. Sekai wa Summer Party – I really like this song, but man, seeing Mano Erina perform live is quite boring and uninspiring. They way she sings just does nothing for me. I know there are some super Mano wota out there, and this performance makes me scratch my head and ask, “Why?”

2. Shouganai Yume Oibito – I know this was a weekly #1 and recent landmark in sales for MM, but this still just felt like filler. And especially coming right after Nanchatte Renai, which basically sounds like the same song. (That made me wonder, what if they sang Naichao Kamo right after that? I would have blown up my computer.)

3. Resonant Blue – I don’t know anyone that was not pissed that this song got performed AGAIN. It’s a good song, I really like it, but it’s just like… Tsunku, WE GET IT! Give up on this song! (But hey, at least there’s not this AND Mikan, hence the blog title).

~Bonus Section 2~ Wishlist for Next Concert:

1. Let S/mileage members sing in the opening songs.
2. MORE KARIN
3. No Resonant Blue / Mikan / Guru Guru (dare I say it? I love it, but it’s been played a lot)
4. More Special Medlies, I really like MM’s and I’m sure I’ll love Berryz’s and C-ute’s as well.
5. Do a group ballad with everyone again
6. Lin Lin SOLO!!!

Okay, that’s it. See you guys later…!

Kimagure Princess: Fun Single AND Low-cost Lion Feed

2009-10-15T19:35:00.001-07:00

I'm not making this up.

Learn to economize, the Morning Musume way!

New Big Bang Theory: Berryz Koubou Ryuusei Boy PV

2009-10-15T12:04:00.001-07:00

Take a look. It's a groundbreaking new study done by leading scientists, one of which was in the running just behind Obama and Pelosi for the Nobel Prize pick.

According to this video, billions of years ago, Berryz Koubou was floating and dancing in space in stunning yellow dresses, and were so overcome with the mad funk of DANCE MAN that they began to rocket themselves deep into another galaxy. They collided violently with a nearby planet, causing it to inwardly collapse on itself, develop a crippling drought, and then fade nicely into the Earth as we know it today.

In conclusion, this is a weird PV, and a disgrace to the awesomeness of this song. Honestly the only good thing about this PV is the outfits, which are quite nice. The dance is stupid, the CG is creative at best, but still feels more like a kids show than anything else. And yes, I know this is an anime song for a kid's show, but I'm still pissed about it.

But, this is also my first time hearing the full version and I do like it quite a bit. Momo has a nice solo line, which is good becuase I didn't hear any of her with the 1:30 preview we were given before.

So, love the song like nothing else H!P in a long time, but this PV does it no justice.

Okay, I lied... MM Kimagure Princess PV

2009-10-08T20:02:00.000-07:00

I know in my last post I criticized this... but now that I've seen it in full, I guess I don't really think that.

Wow, Eri looks really great. I couldn't tell from the preview that she had such a big role in this song, but she really stands out here. Ai is not as heavily focused on as she has been before, which is ... good. Koharu does some nice stuff here too... I believe that's her butt at the start of the song.

LinLin is getting exactly 9% more exposure than usual in this, and sadly, I'm really happy with that.

The dance looked REALLY stupid from the preveiw, but it looks better in the full version, especially the leg kicking during the 'ha! ha!' parts. The "Sexy Princess" part is still creeping me out a little bit.

So, I guess somewhat disregard my earlier comments...

And what we can learn from this that UFA's biggest promo plan at this point is promoting MM's butts more that usual. And, my god, it just might work. Innovative, but effective.

S/mileage PV... Why do these girls get all the $$?

2009-10-07T19:59:00.001-07:00

Take a look.

The PV is fantastic, right? Now, go look at MM's new PV (preveiw). And look at Berryz new PV (preview). WHAT HAPPENED HERE?

Why do the more flagship-y groups (and THE flagship group) not get this kind of focus? If Berryz got a PV like this for Ryuusei I would be Super Happy. Now, they definetly had a PV of this quality for Rival, but not for DD, or SBG.

MM's Nanchatte Renai was just dragged through the dirt of low budget as well. However well it sold, it was definetly NOT becuase of that PV.

So, what's the moral here? That S/mileage is the new focus of H!P? If you reveiw, you see that aMa no Jaku had a very nice PV as well.

Or is the H!P practice of low-quality PVs just blinded me into thinking that a PV like this is 'fantastic'?

You be the judge: shift in focus or brainwashing.

More New Stuff - PV Previews

2009-10-03T15:28:00.000-07:00

PV Preview #1: Buono! "Bravo Bravo"

Well... I really like it! Buono! has some of the consistantly best PVs in H!P. The cheer leading part is a nice touch, and contrasts well with the punk-rock scenes in the rest of the PV. I don't love the song yet, but I love the chanting parts and the "Bravo!" parts as well. Airi looks really HOT here too. And I'm glad the Buono! band is getting some actual exposure too, not like Gachinko de Ikou where they had a total of 2 seconds screentime.

PV Preview #2: Morning Musume "Kimagure Princess"

(Go to 4:24)

Honestly, a pretty big dissapointment. The outfits aren't that great (though less boring than Nanchatte's), the dancing seems akward, and there doesn't seem to be any story to it from what I can tell. But I guess I'll have to wait for the whole thing to come out to really say for sure.

This is a Mass Blog... Recap of New Stuff <3

2009-09-30T16:09:00.001-07:00

What's up everyone.

Some new stuff coming your way...

New Thing #1 - C-ute Everyday Zekkouchou!! Perfs and Opinion

This song definitely has grown on me, I really didn't like it at first. But I love it now, mostly because it's in a key that I can sing in (which Shochuu definitely WAS NOT). So I'd like to share some live perfs of this song, and really C-ute sounds so good in both of these, so check it out.

Music Japan:

WEST WIND:

Maimi is the only one who sounds less than good in MJ, but she really sounds a lot better in West Wind so it's all good.

Also, the b-side, Amai Wana, is really great too. Even though it has some Erika solos that remind me why Erika should be leaving C-ute...

New Thing #2 - Berryz Koubou "Ryuusei Boy" Song Prevew = AMAZING.

Check it yo.

It's awesome, right? Funky, upbeat, sounds a little like Puffy at the "1 2 3 GO!" part. All you could ask for really.

My only complaints: no Maasa so far, and no Momo either! That's a surprise. But my guess is that this is a Miya-Risako centric song, with a little Yurina thrown in, like Dakishimete x2.

Guess that's it everyone. I'll be back hopefully when the Kimagure Princess PV comes out, which will (hopefully) be out within the next week or so.

What's With All of These... Kusumi Koharu graduates from MM and H!P

2009-09-19T05:57:00.000-07:00

Wow. This is a shocker.

I thought for sure it would be Ai or Gaki first, and on the outside change maybe Reina.

I'm sad about it, but not as much as I would have been before. I used to be a BIG Koharu fan, especially when she was in Milky Way.

I'm sad to see her leave because I though she was going to finally contribute to MM using her natural voice, not her Kirarin voice.

But I guess Kimagure Princess will be her last single, and her last contribution to MM.

So, Koharu, good luck wherever you go, I'll miss you.

Hachinin Mooningu Musume Yoroshiku ~

MM's New Single is WiN

2009-09-16T15:09:00.001-07:00

About damn time, Tsunku.

We're finally leaving the murky waters of Emo-Musu and entering Fun and Happy Morning Musume!

Their new single is definitely an improvement-- it may not be perfect, but the balance of craziness and normalness is so Morning Musume that it's just perfect. I think we are seeing a return to more old-school MM, which is A-Okay with me.

But how will Japan react to it, I wonder? Will people be skeptical about it? See it as just a weak attempt to be the MM that they used to be?

I guess I don't really care. All I knows is I love the song and that's all that matters to me.

Listen for yourself, dear reader...! Idoru shimashou ne!

I hope the PV blows my mind away. (But then again, who doesn't?)

Berryz Koubou Tour DVD Reveiw: Sono Subete no Ai ni

2009-08-05T10:56:00.000-07:00

HEY everyone… I apologize for not getting this review out sooner. I’ve just been trying to enjoy the DVD a little for myself first before reviewing it.

And I also apologize for not reviewing the A B C C-ute concert. Frankly C-ute is kind of depressing me lately, and now especially with Erika graduating, I really want nothing to do with them right now. And I didn’t really even like the DVD. But whatever, I’ll save my “Future of C-ute Without Kanna and Erika” post for another day.

Now back to a group that definitely is NOT depressing me right now, Berryz Koubou! Concert Review IKUZO!

Here's my favorite performance of it all, Furare Pattern!

1. Dakishimete Dakishimete

A good opening number, the lead-in was well done too. The vocals weren’t fabulous, Risako didn’t sound so good during the first half of the song. Miyabi sounded great though, this song really features her well and shows her talent at consistently good live singing. The dance looks more boring when done live I think, which is strange because I love the dance and watched the dance shot version of this single a lot. But live it just seems awkward and choppy. These outfits are great though, the jackets are cute as well. IMO these are the only good outfits from this tour.

2. Ai no Suki Suki Shisuu Joushouchuu

This song is so corny but I love it. Gotta like those cheesy chimes in the beginning. And the crowd seemed really excited about it as well. They took off the pink jackets for this one, which I like better, but I know everyone else was unhappy about it. I guess I wish they would have kept them for one more song and then took them off. And is this a recurring theme in H!P? The girls wear an outfit with jackets for the first song and take them off for the second. It happened in the most recent C-ute tour as well.

3. Sayonara Hageshiki Koi

So I’m definitely biased against this because I don’t really like this song. But they performed it well so I have no other complaints. Risako’s first solo line wasn’t too good, though… her timing was a bit weird. And it was strange how Captain lip-synched to the “whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa” part after the first chorus and before the first verse. Or at least I’m pretty sure she lip-synched. Do you guys know what I’m talking about?

4. VTR

It’s weird. Um, stats of their blood type and favorite school subject? It felt like reading a baseball card. And the outfits they used for them are also not good. What is this insistence on the princess look for Berryz? One thing the C-ute concert totally kicks Berryz’s ass at is the VTR. That VTR was awesome.

5. HAPPY! Stand Up

Love it. Fun, repetitive, and kind of funky too. I’m really happy that this song didn’t fall into the background after the Berikore! tour to promote the album it was on. This song is so Berryz it’s crazy. Now, these outfits. Does anyone like silvery space diapers with strange backpacks with squirt guns attached to them? If so, I guess Berryz is really reaching out to that demographic. I, however, am not one of them.

6. Gag 100kaibun Aishite Kudasai – Acapella Version

Wow. Fantastic. Didn’t really blow me away, but was still quite impressive. Berryz isn’t all cuteness, you know… they really do have talent. I really have to admire everyone but Momo on this song—singing the melody must be by far the easiest part to sing. The harder parts would be all of the harmonies, and even more so, keeping the beat. So good job girls … I loved it. The crowd didn’t seem to like it all that much, though… I guess wota don’t like stuff like this.

7. MADAYADE

You know, I would have minded if they just skipped over this song this tour. I mean, I like it a lot, but it just isn’t really a fun song to listen to live. It’s too upbeat to be a ballad but not really upbeat enough to be exciting. They all sang it well, though.

8. Nanchuukoi wa Yatteru YOU KNOW?

Haven’t heard this one in a while, it was really enjoyable. The dance seems pretty uninspired though, especially during this live. It’s a pretty upbeat song with a heavy dance beat, I assumed the choreography would match it. But no, it’s mostly para para and recycled H!P dance moves. And what was that part where Miyabi and Yurina had their backs to the audience during the instrumental break? Anyway, the singing was well done.

9. Sakura wa Raku sa (Captain and Miyabi)

Yes! LOVE this song! Captain sounded fantastic, and her dancing was really fluid. Miyabi just sounded like she always does, I guess. Not bad, but just uninteresting. I wish they would have done a full version though.

10. Sabori (Risako)

God, what an ugly dress. Well, as much as I like Risako solos, this one really didn’t do it for me. Believe me, I loved her VERY BEAUTY and REAL LOVE performances from the last two tours, they were great. And this one was fine too, I guess the song just doesn’t get me excited like the other two do. But you have to love that pouty face she does. > 3 <

11. MC (Maasa, Captain, Momo)

Well we find out that Captain’s rival is… Chinami!! I think it’s because Chinami is always next to Miyabi in pictures are Captain wants to be there instead. These outfits leave a lot to be desired, I really think they should have just gone with something like C-ute’s A B C casual outfits, or like the ones they had in the Berryz Kamen vs. Cutie Ranger tour. If only…

12. Joshi Basket bu ~Asaren Atta Hi no Kamigata~ (Chinami, Maasa)

This song is pretty weird, but I lived this performance. Neither Maasa nor Chinami ever really amaze me vocally, and they didn’t here, but they sure were fun to watch! And for the record, I do think Maasa has the most awesome in Berryz, so I’m not biased against her at all.

13. Aitai Kedo… (Momo, Yurina)

Momo sounded awesome, but Yurina bored me like she always does. It’s not like her singing was bad, but her stage presence can be pretty nonexistent sometimes and here is a good example. And they kept Maasa and Chinami out there to be backup dancers, I guess? It seemed kind of weird to have them there. Nothing would have been lost from the performance if they had just left. No offense, you two.

14. Otokonoko

I’m not nearly as big of a fan of this song as everyone else seemed to be when the best-of album came out, but I can’t deny this was a good rendition of it. I keep getting reminded of Massara Blue Jeans during that part right before the chorus where there are they three hits with the guitar rhythm. I want to sing, “massara pin no BURUU JIINZU!” And we finally get a look at Miyabi’s black-and-white outfit, which is way better than everyone else’s.

15. MC (Yurina, Chinami and later Risako)

I don’t get this one at all. Something about soccer and Risako is their coach. And Chinami and Yurina disagree on something, I guess…?

16. Ah Merry-go-round (Captain, Momo)

Really didn’t expect to hear this one, but I’m glad they sang it! I expected it to be one of those album tracks that’s played the first tour after it comes out and then is forgotten forever… and I also never got the impression that this song was that popular. But I’m glad to see a comeback and Momo and Captain make a good duo!

17. Furare Pattern

REALLY didn’t expect this one either! I haven’t listened to this in such a long time. Everything was great—the dance, the harmonies, the outfits (the ones they wore in Korea). This is one of my favorite performances of the concert. Also when they sing “TONIGHT” it really doesn’t sound like “TONIGHT”. I like how they make it one-syllable.

18. Jingisukan

My god, give this song a rest. I have nothing really to say about this except that is a carbon copy of every other time that they’ve sang it.

19. Happiness ~Koufuku Kangei!~

This song is so crazy, but it was pretty awesome. And I swear to God Miyabi does the best of those little “ooh”s. I wish Berryz would start bringing those back. No one can “ooh” like Miyabi. Once again their English is a bit off… they squish “HAPPINESS” into “HAPPNESS”. But it’s not a big deal, at least I know what they’re saying.

20. Yuujou Junjou oh Seishun

Wow this one is popular. The energy in this performance was pretty high too. Another great performance, one of the best of the DVD.

21. Yuke Yuke Monkey Dance

Another big energy song, and the crowd seemed really into it. The wota came up with some good cheers for this one, and I like the ones that Saki leads (the ones were a girl sings a line ending with ‘monkey’ and Saki yells ‘SAY!’ and the audience yells it back). And you can’t forget those signature Berryz “WAO!”s either. The monkey graphics on the big screen were kind of corny though.

22. CLAP!

Why do I feel like this is going to be the next Yuujou Junjou oh Seishun? Honestly I feel like it’ been overplayed. And for some reason all of Berryz always performs it even though it’s actually only a Chinami-Yurina-Miyabi song on the album. But the audience liked it a lot (probably why it’s done so much) and you could hear them shouting out the words too.

23. Seishun Bus Guide

I’m pretty sure this is a different performance than the one that was shown on Dohhhup, because they’ve definetly improved since then. I still think this song is a bit ridiculous, but the girls did a great job singing it. I think this is a song that is in a good range for Risako, she sounded really great here. Those outfits look really warm, though…! (They wore the Seishun Bus Guide space outfits—the blue ones).

24. Rival

Okay, part of me wants to yell and scream, “OMG RISAKO DID THE FALSETTO AND IT WAS GREAT!!!” But there’s another part of me that says… did she really do it? Was she really in Super Risako Mode, or was it slightly edited? It’s really hard to tell. As much as I am a Risako fan, which I am, I know her consistency is not the best in Berryz. I’ll leave it to the readers to decide… But aside from Risako’s Maybe-Real Falsetto, the song sounded okay. I think it might take some more time for this song to sound really great. And I can’t blame them, the dance as so much jumping around and running that it makes sense if it’s a hard one to perform.

25. Anata Nashi de wa Ikite Yukenai

Oh God, I’m sorry Berryz. These dresses are horrible. They look awful and uncomfortable and make the dance for this song look stupid. You can barely even see their leg movements! Like, WHO looked at these and thought, “Yeah, these are good. This is definitely the best work I can do. I’m really giving Berryz Koubou a lot of credit here.” Those really ruined this song for me, even though they sounded fine. I just can’t look… it burns…!

26. Sono Subete no Ai

I think I am really giving Berryz super props when I say that I loved this performance despite those crime-against-nature outfits. It was fantastic. Everyone sounded great. Without a doubt one of the most important Berryz performances in their history. It was very emotional, and even the level-headed Saki started to tear up. Risako did too but that’s not really a surprise. Just wow. A great ending to a great tour.

Well, there you have it. So to me, this tour was much more enjoyable than C-ute’s A B C (except for the outfits, C-ute had the best). And in some ways it was even better than Momusu’s PLATINUM tour as well. I guess Berryz just has that effect on me. I rate this concert a 8 / 10.

Umeda Erika -- Second Member to Leave C-ute

2009-08-01T09:18:00.000-07:00

Read about it here...

http://www.hello-online.org/index.php?act=helloonline&CODE=article&topic=898

I really don't know what to say. When I read the news at first I was just really, really surprised. I mean, wow, two members leaving in a month? And this definitely was not as obvious as Kanna's leaving... I mean, I think I knew in the back of my mind that she wasn't going to come back.

Erika says she's going to continue her modeling career, which I hope she gets more credit for than her work in C-ute. I mean, truthfully, she was kind of a weak singer, not the best dancer. She was a cool girl, I liked seeing her and Maasa talk during the latest H!P DVD Magazine. (Sorry, I've been trying to find that video but can't anywhere...)

Well, thanks for all the good memories Erika... I hope your modeling career goes well!

PV Review: S/mileage "aMa no Jaku" Morning Musume "Nanchatte Renai"

2009-07-21T11:34:00.001-07:00

Yo, I'm here with two new PVs and their reviews... take a look <3

Morning Musume "Nanchatte Renai"

The good: I like the setting of this, it reminds me of the w-inds PV for "CAN'T GET BACK" which I also really liked. I really liked Koharu's solo line, when I heard it for the first time I didn't even recognize her voice. It wounds so nice now that she's dropped the Kirarin singing. Gaki and Ai look really sexy here. And the camera work is very nice here, not too many still shots of just dancing or close-ups, they move it around to make it interesting.

The okay: Umm... everything. The song, the outfits, the whole PV in general. It's not bad, really, but it's just the same as everything else that they've come out with recently. And too little of LinLin here, I'm pretty mad about that. I thought that maybe after her bigger precense in Shouganai Yume Oibito and her other solo opportunities she's been given recently in the tour and the new H!P cover album that in this new PV she'd get some light, but I guess not. The song is really average as well. The rapping is interesting, I guess, but it doesn't stand out like it should.

The bad: Like I said, there really is nothing that stands out as horrible here, it's just all been done before. I guess little-to-no LinLin time is a bad thing ;)

PV Rating: 6/10
Song Rating: 6/10

S/mileage "aMa no Jaku"

The good: Whoa, H!P, when did you get a budget?? This PV really surprised me. Lots of different situations for the PV (Dance shot, close-up, around school, looking at pictures), which obviously took time to produce. All of the girls look great, especially Sakichi. Dawa is ... I don't know, she's not growing on me that well. I just don't think that she's that cute. But Yuuka and Kanon looked cute enough to make up for it :) The song is also quite good, I can tell that it wasn't just thrown together in the last second.

The okay: I'm not really happy to see the most overused situation in the idol genre: girls in schoolgirl uniforms go around the school doing cute normal schoolgirl things. I mean, it's not bad, but if you want to promote these girls you've got to do something so that they don't just fade into the woodwork like everyone else. Also, the vocals of S/mileage have yet to really impress me.

The bad: Um... I can't think of anything!

PV Rating: 7/10 (Remember, this is by H!P standards)
Song Rating: 6/10

Well, thanks for reading... I'll be back in a few days with the C-ute tour reveiw... the DVD came out recently.

Bye Bye Everyone! Enjoy these new songs and PVs!

Morning Musume Tour 2009 Platinum 9 Disco Reveiw

2009-07-18T14:50:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone, here is my review of the DVD that just came out recently... it's quite good, please go watch it...

Here's a little preview of SONGS, the opening song for the tour.

01. SONGS

Great intro and lead-in to this song. You can tell UFA put some moolah into this show, the lighting and everything is really cool. The way they flashed the lights on each girl for the first time on every beat was really cool, made you feel like you were seeing something really big. (Which, I think, I am.) This song isn’t one of my favorites, but it is pretty funky and I can’t say anything bad about the performances. These outfits are really nice, I just wish they’d rip off that single shoulder pad, I have no idea why that’s there. Aaaand… Ai’s hair is awful. Even she looks bad in it. They should have given her a style more like Eri’s. I’m aware that this tour is to somewhat promote the new album so it makes sense to do something like this, have the first album track be the first concert song. Berryz did it too with Berikore, the first song was Happy! Stand Up, just like on the album. But I’m still not really a fan of this as a first song. It has to get the crowd REALLY excited…! And this didn’t really do it. I would suggest Resonant Blue but they did that already in the 2009 winter H!P concert. They should do GuruGuru Jump! first! Ha, yeah, I know it’ll never happen but that song would be fantastic as an opening number. Okay less of my rambling and more reviewing…

02. Naichau Kamo

Another fantastic lead-in, they played a different track for a few seconds right before it, and even though I knew this song was coming up it kind of surprised me because the lead-in music didn’t match it at all. I don’t think anyone can call Nai Chau Kamo a really exciting song, but they managed to get me a lot more excited then I would have thought with that kind of surprise beginning. I’m sorry to be talking on about the lead-in stuff but, I don’t know, you really don’t see that kind of stuff in Berryz concerts which is basically all I’ve watched up until now in live shows so seeing in her makes the tour really high quality. Umm, yeah, the song… good, I guess. Glad they did a half-version, I wasn’t really willing to sit through the whole thing since I don’t really like this song a whole lot… once again, though, no complaints on the performances. But the song did feel a little out of place as to where it is in the concert… I think they should have waited longer to play it. It just kind of kills the mood a little, it’s not that upbeat or genki. I think something like Mikan or (you guessed it) GuruGuru Jump! would have been better here. I’ll try not to suggest GuruGuru Jump! as a possible alternative track for every single song. ;)

VTR

Wow, this one took FOREVER. It had boring music coupled with the first 30 seconds being just a slow banner saying “Platinum 9 Disco Morning Musume Concert Tour 2009 Spring”. Like, why not just flash it in one screen and not drag it out forever, I’m pretty sure the audience can read a lot faster then they decided to scroll it for Christ’s sake. But after that I actually did like this VTR, I liked the pictures they used, they had one full body shot of the girl in those black outfits that were on the ticket (which are fabulous) and then a picture of them smiling crazily with a flower and their name appeared. Just to let you know I actually cheered in my chair for LinLin and JunJun. I love them!

03. Mikan

You know what this song should have been? GuruGuru Jump. I’m sorry, I really won’t do that again. Once again, nice lead in from the crappy VTR music into the Mikan intro. This concert has a really nice flow to it, and I think those transitions they obviously spent a little more time on then they do usually really help. The thing about this song is… I listen to it on the album and it does nothing for me but then I hear it live and I can’t help but dance and sing along. I guess MoMusu is just that good live, huh? I really like Ai’s long solo line during the last chorus (I think that’s where it is…), it really shows how mature sounding her voice is, and that she’s not afraid to not sound cute all the time. I loved the way Reina yelled “CHANCE!” during the last few lines of the song, I like when MM does things outside of how it sounds on the original recording. It proves how comfortable they are with this song. Which they should be since they do play it kind of all the time… Oh, and the outfits aren’t bad. They remind me of one of the Buono! Hybrid Punch costumes. I hoped for something a little more colorful.

Uhhh… NO MEMBER INTROS? Has that ever happened before? I really like those! Boo. Not much beyond them saying hi to the second and first floor people (I think Ai called the second floor people “little people”, I guess because they’re far away) and saying things like “Let’s sing together” and whatnot. Oh, and what’s with having new outfits for only one song? They’re already in new outfits! But it’s okay since these are pretty cool too… they’re the blue and red barmaid-ish ones with the huge flowery headbands.

04. Shouganai Yume Oibito

Um, good, I guess. I don’t really have much to say about this song… not one of my favorites but they definitely performed it well, Ai’s solo line after the end of the instrumental break was very good, as usual. The harmony was also done well, but it’s not a difficult harmony to sing so I can’t give them too much credit for hitting it right on…

05. Jounetsu no Kiss o Hitotsu (Takhashi Ai, Niigaki Risa & Tanaka Reina)

Wow. I can think of one word to describe this and it’s probably “sex”. I think this trio is really the Trio of Sexiness in Morning Musume. Maybe it’s just those outfits, for some reason they seem really stripper-y to me. It’s not like they really are, they’re not that much more revealing than anything else they’ve had on during the show. I guess those girls just bring that quality out of the outfits… As far as the song goes, good performance, once again not one of my favorite songs so it’s hard for me to get into listening to it on the album so I’m kind of vaguely comparing this performance to the original. But the girls did a good job, as I guessed, so I really have no problems with this perf. Yay.

06. Kataomoi no Owari ni (Kamei Eri)

Well, I’m not an Eri fan or a fan of this song, so I’m just going to say that the performance was good (which it was), I’m sure it’s not easy to do a solo song so props to Eri. That’s all.

MC (Tanaka Reina)

Ahh, Reina. When I first encountered her in High-King, I didn’t have a good opinion of her, I thought she was a brat and her voice was too nasal-y, but she’s an idol I’ve grown to like. Her expressions are so funny! And she is quite cute. This was a solo MC where she told a story, all I got from it was that it might have been about Eri’s birthday, but it was fun to watch anyway.

07. Fine Emotion (Junjun & Linlin)

My two favorites… together!! I really do think LinLin and JunJun make a good team, and it’s not just because they’re both Chinese or were both in the same generation, but it’s because they both have this nice balance of being cute but not trying to hard to be cute. And they sound great on this song too! The outfits… I’m not a huge fan, but they’re better than the monstrosities we see them in later for my favorite song, so I’m not complaining. Yet.

08. Watashi no Miryoku ni Kizukanai Donkan na Hito (Mitsui Aika solo, Junjun & Linlin as backup dancers)

I never say this about live perfs usually, but I really like the chanting the wota have come up with for this one. And I love this song a lot too… Aika has definetly improved since the last time she did it live. Her only problem is in the beginning she gets off from the recording a bit much… but once she starts into it she snaps right into the beat. And JunJun and LinLin were adorable backup dancers! Aika’s outfit was… interesting. Army meets idol.

09. Yowamushi (Niigaki Risa)

Love this song. But why didn’t she do it with Sayumi, isn’t that how it is on the recording? Not that I’m really complaining… I think this was the song that got me to start noticing Risa’s singing, so it was fun to sing along with her. I wonder what genre this song would be… R&B, right? I can’t place it anywhere right now…

10. It's You (Michishige Sayumi solo, Takahashi Ai & Kamei Eri as backup dancers)

Uuh. Sayumi is my least favorite vocalist in MM for a reason. She just sounded breathy and weird during the whole thing. I guess that’s probably how the original sounds, I don’t really listen to it much, but I didn’t like it. And her silhouetted dance solo was… uninteresting. If you’re going to let anyone dance so everyone can see, why not but Eri and Ai up there, you already have them on stage! And for some reason those gloves bother me. Aren’t their hands really sweaty…?

MC (Reina & Junjun)

The first time I heard this MC I was distracted so I was just listening to the audio while I did something else, and Reina makes the funniest sounds during this! Just try it, I’m sure you’ll notice it when you least expect it. I don’t really get what this one was about… like, English and text books or something… but Reina’s noises were worth it. She sounded like Ricchan from K-ON! These outfits are okay, but they basically are the same color and cut (kind of) as the first dresses they wore, so I’m disappointed. I want more COLOR! I do like the sparkly makeup though.

~ Special Medley ~ YAY Let’s GO!

11. Love Machine

Once again, great transitions throughout this whole medley deal. (I’ll only say it once). Man, I never get tired of this song. I loved their expressions during the twangy “WAAAOO” voice at the beginning, JunJun’s face was so funny! Guys, it’s Love Machine. Enough said.

12. Renai Revolution 21

This song sounds so strange to me in Japanese… I’m used to the Chinese version since the first time I heard this song was on the Ice CreaMusume mini-album. This isn’t one of my favs of the MM hit singles but it’s still nice and fun!

13. SEXY BOY ~Soyokaze ni Yorisotte~

This song is so parapara, I start doing parapara during it…! I wish they would have moved around more while dancing, they just kind of stood there.

14. THE Manpower!!!

This song is great if only for the fact that Ai and Risa get their manly singing voices on and it’s awesome. But luckily it is also a great song too!

15. Aozora ga Itsumade mo Tsuzuku You na Mirai de Are! (Linlin solo, then the rest of the members join)

LinLin solo… the way it was MEANT to be! She sounded freaking fantastic, no one can convince me otherwise. Wow, what a voice. I really hope LinLin gets more popularity from all the nice solo stuff H!P is letting her do. Everyone should know how great LinLin is!! So this is the end of the medley. I was skeptical going into it, but it was pulled off really well and it’s impressive that the girls can sing like that non-stop for the 10 minutes or so the medley lasted for.

~ End of Special Medley ~ That was fun.

MC (Kamei Eri, Michishige Sayumi & Linlin)

Well, LinLin had them say something in Chinese, I don’t know what it means… but she sounded really cute saying it! That’s it…

17. The Bigaku (Tanaka Reina)

I’ve never heard this song before (is it a Melon Kinebi song?) but I really loved it. Reina is really talented, I think! And her outfit was super cute as well, those thigh-high sparkle red boots were quite amazing. I don’t ever really give her enough credit for her singing, she is really good.

MC GAKI (Niigaki Risa)

Risa shows us her nails, which are really quite something. Seriously, how can you do ANYTHING with those claws on your fingers? But they were pretty cool I guess…

18. Yume Kara Samete (Takahashi Ai)

Another one I’ve never heard before, but Ai did a nice job. Her dress is quite ugly though, reminds me of those things Berryz wore as the last outfit during their Berikore! Tour. And I wish they’d change her hair, it’s awful. But as far as the song and performance goes I have no complaints.

19. Take off is now! (Takahashi Ai, Niigaki Risa & Tanaka Reina)

If Momusu ever puts out an American single, it should be this song. It really sounds like a lot of stuff I hear on the radio here. And with the MM Sexy Trio doing it, I can promise it will sell! And these girl do it live perfectly too (much more than I can say for most American pop stars, and for that matter, a lot of Japanese singers as well.) I like how they sing “sexy” as SEKUSI and not SEKUSHII… it’s just one step towards better English pronunciation in Morning Musume songs.

20. Guru Guru JUMP (Kusumi Koharu, Junjun & Linlin)

Finally! It’s just not the same without all of the H!P members but it still is full of win like nothing else. Those outfits though… awful. Just pure crap. Seriously, just put them in jeans and a cute t-shirt and they would not just look cute but way better than in these trippy clown dresses. They all were really high energy except for Koha who seemed a bit off today… You can tell the crowd likes this one a lot though! And I am one of them…

21. HOW DO YOU LIKE JAPAN? ~Nihon wa Donna Kanji Dekka?~

This is another song that lets Gaki and Ai use their man voices which is awesome! This song is really cool too, I love the bass lines in it, and the perf was really high energy. I could have heard more of the not Ai-Reina-Gaki trio though. These outfits I’m not a fan of. I don’t really like leopard print though… and Reina’s tail is really strange.

22. Resonant Blue

Good perf, nothing out of the ordinary. I kind of wish they’d give this song a break for a bit (along with Mikan). Sayumi’s HELP ME!! was kind of boring today too. It’s a good song I’ve just heard it at ever MM tour and H!P tour for a while. I wanna hear Koi no Dance Site instead!!

23. Love & Peace! Hero ga Yattekita

I love when Reina yelled “LOVE AND PIISU”, it was the cutest thing I’ve heard all night. I’ll just say this: the Sayumi Kiss Attack was pretty awesome. I really like how MM is close enough to each other that they can mess around like that and still have fun.

ENCORE Never saw it coming…

24. Sono Bamen de Bibiccha Ikenai jan!

WHOA THOSE OUTFITS SUCK. There, I said it. Sayumi actually sounded pretty good here. And LinLin sounded great as usual, I love her little speaking part.

25. Ame no Furanai Hoshi de wa Aisenai Darou?

Kind of wish they’d stop doing this as a final song, but this is one of my favorite H!P ballads so I can’t really complain. LinLin and JunJun’s solos are perfect. The Chinese is so cool. Okay, I guess this is a pretty good ending song, I take it back.

So that’s it. All in all a great show, good lighting, much better than other H!P lives that I’ve seen. The outfits could have been a bit better, but what do you expect. I give this live an 8 out of 10. Yay!

I'll see you guys later when I get the C-ute tour ABC... see ya then! Bye Bye! (pω・。)

Aihara Kanna... No Longer in H!P ANGER

2009-07-10T09:18:00.000-07:00

So, yes, Kanna is no longer in H!P after only months and months of waiting for news when her surgery AND recovery should have only taken a few weeks. Because I'm a Kanna fan, I'm well open to conspiracy theories, so you can read about them here:

http://www.hello-online.org/index.php?act=helloonline&CODE=article&topic=885

I am really angry. This is the second C-ute member to just leave with no graduation and no goodbye or anything. UFA... I hate you. Grrr.

On a side note here is some Kirarin backstate footage:

Kirarin Last Stage Live Review

2009-07-09T07:41:00.000-07:00

Today I am reviewing the Kirarin last live DVD, which came out a few days ago. Here is a little preview from our friends and Dohhhup...

Intro:

Wow. Low, low production values on the opening VTR. I guess it was only to let the audience know what they couldn’t do during the show. But why did they include that on the DVD? I don’t know. It’s weird. The recap animation was cool though, even though I haven’t followed the show. I’m sure it was really special for those who were there and had been watching it for the whole time, though.

01. Koi☆Ka na / Tsukishima Kirari

Koharu is full of genki today, as you would expect. This song is great, and I like that she doesn’t sing it too squeaky like her later stuff, although she started to sing it more like that as time went on. I’m about 90% sure she’s singing live, and she sounds great.

MC 1

Usual opening MC, getting the crowd pumped up. Since this is a kid show, wouldn’t it make sense to have, like, a kids-only-no-wota show to record for the DVD? I know they’ve done that with other Kirarin live things, and I’m surprised they didn’t do it this time. Koharu’s sparkly makeup looks nice…

02. Balalaika / Tsukishima Kirari

This song is so awesome, in the weirdest way. I like it because it’s low enough that it forces Koharu not to be squeaky, and is definitely easier on the ears that some of her other stuff. But WHY did they only do the verse and the chorus? This song deserves more than that. I was pretty disappointed. Boo.

MC 2

Recap of some of the Kirarin live drama stuff, which was pretty entertaining, despite being really low budget. I’m starting to notice how little I like Koharu’s lip color… it’s too dark, I think.

03. Happy☆彡 / Tsukishima Kirari

Not a big fan of this song, since it is one of those Koha-squeak ones. I’m almost certain she isn’t singing it live… and I’m pretty sure she’s been singing everything else live… so what’s the deal? Why this song? I guess it would be kind of hard to sing it, with those longer notes at the end and stuff. But almost all Kirarin live shows or appearances up until now have been lip-synched, so I really wanted for ONCE to hear them sung live. I guess it won’t happen for all of them.

04. Chance! / Tsukishima Kirari

Once again, I’m pretty sure she’s not singing live. Are my ears just bad, and has she really not been singing live the whole time? But this song is awesome so I’ll let it slide. A squeak song that doesn’t bother me! Yay! I never get tired of that outfit change, I can tell you that.

05. TOKYO FRIEND☆SHIPS / SHIPS

Wow, LIP SYNCHING. I haven’t seen that many perfs that it was that obvious. I don’t really have much more to say, since I don’t follow this group at all… *skips over* PS, are those boys from Jhonnys? I forget if they are or not…

MC 3

Man, I never liked those first Milky Way outfits. I know everyone said the second outfits were over the top, but man, I really don’t like these. The ruffles just look so cheap. But they show off the Super-Saya-Abs so I guess it’s not all bad. Anyway, another recap of the formation of Milky Way in the show, I guess. I really don’t like the animation in Kirarin at this point, the CG is just awful. The girls have some kind of disagreement or something, and the audience thinks it’s funny, but I can’t tell you what it is, because I can’t pick up a word. Sorry. I think Saya was having trouble staying in character… you can tell she just wanted to giggle normally.

06. Anataboshi / MilkyWay

Let me just start by saying I LOVE this song. It’s one of the highest played on my iTunes and I think one of the best things to come out of H!P in 2008. So it definitely deserved more than a half-way performance. And, it’s weird because to me it sounds like they aren’t singing live sometimes and are other times. During the chorus it sounds recorded, but during the pre-chorus it doesn’t… hmmm… I’ll never solve this mystery!

07. Gamu Shalala / MilkyWay

Even though it wasn’t sung live (I’m about 99.5% sure), this song really pumped up the crowd (and me), maybe because the lights got darker or the bass got louder or something. But they totally killed the groove by ending the song too early. Grr. I know it’s just a b-side, but seriously, just do the whole song if it’s a good one, which this is.

MC 4

Wow, nice hot-red-plastic-sparkle pants, SHIPS. That little mascot thing makes an appearance. Seriously, what is that and how did it end up in the show?? It must have told Koharu something bad because she ran off after they talked to each other. Then they played this game where they showed some of Koharu’s single outfits and had them guess which one it was from. Of course all the wota knew it right away. (I guess I did too…) Then there was this picture of Koha in a suit and I didn’t pick up where that was from… sorry. It was totally awesome when Mai-chan made her appearance! I was cheering a little in my bean bag chair!!

08. Hana wo Pu~n! / Kira☆Pika

This song is weird.

09. Futari wa NS / Kira☆Pika

Yay, live singing. They sounded really good. This kind of song makes me wish H!P did a lot more duo units, because it lets them do cool things with the vocals, like this one does, that groups larger than two just can’t do as well. Probably my favorite performance so far.

10. Makenki! Tsuyoki! Genki! Maemuki! / Yukino Noel

I’ve never heard this song before… it must be a character song or maybe something from a Kirarin album. I don’t think this was sung live, and if it wasn’t, even the recording didn’t sound good. Saya’s voice sounded pretty hoarse when she yelled out to the crowd, so I don’t know, maybe she was singing.

11. Hate na Hate na / Hanasaki Cobeni

Another one I haven’t heard. I don’t really like the song, and I assume is also not live, but Yuu’s voice sounds good on the recording. She’s a really good singer, I hope she gets in more units soon!

12. SUGAO-flavor / Tsukishima Kirari

Another one I haven’t heard, but I guess it’s the b-side to Koi Ka na. Not a great song, but Koharu did actually sing on this one and she sounded very nice.

13. Himawari / Tsukishima Kirari

Another album track I haven’t heard, but this one is really catchy and fun. I might have to download one of those albums someday… I don’t get why they cut a lot of these songs in half. I feel like they should just ditch the b-sides or less important songs and let them sing the full version of the single tracks.

14. Papancake / Tsukishima Kirari

Oh man, here it is. The squeaks above all other squeaks. This song gives me a headache sometimes. But it was fun to watch and a pretty exciting tune, and the audience seemed happy about it. I wish she would have sung this one, just because I’ve heard her sing it before (at the H!P 2008 summer show) and she sounded good! She’s already proved that she can do it, so why don’t they let her?

15. Happy☆Happy Sunday / Tsukishima Kirari

This is my favorite Koharu solo song ever. It’s so catchy, I just love it. And YAY she sung it live! Or, at least, it sounded like during the chorus she just sung over the original recording. And she sounded really good! Good job Koha! Another costume-change one (sort of), which I love. Gotta love that sparkly cape and those wings.

There were two SHIPS songs in here, but I’m skipping them because I’m tired.

18. Tan Tan Taan! / MilkyWay

I’ve forgotten how much I like this song. They did a full version, they all sang live, and it sounded great! The counting part of the song is always fun, I couldn’t help counting along. I got a little emotional in the last line of the song, “Bye Bye Tan Tan Taan”… like I’m saying goodbye to Milky Way, a unit I really enjoyed listening to. Great performance. My favorite so far. These new outfits are okay, if they would strip off some of the mile of shrink-wrap (or whatever that is).

19. Sansan GOGO / MilkyWay

Wow, awesome. This song is a great last number, and all the girls sang it really well.

Encore

Wow, they have real microphones this time for some reason instead of the headsets… I wonder why. But it was cool because the lights got all dark and when they lightened up… hey, it’s the guy from OhaSta! That was fun for me since I really liked all of Milky Way’s OhaSta appearances. Wow, the girls were actually crying at this! Not fake crying, believe me. Koharu looked really touched. Then SHIPS did a reprise of their first single, and one of them did break dancing which REALLY caught me off guard but was pretty cool. Then Milky Way sang SanSan GoGo again… which was kind of unnecessary… wasn’t a fan of this. But Koharu finally broke down crying at the end (only Yuu and Saya had been crying before). She read a farewell letter or something like that… Then Milky Way put their tambourines down… and walked off stage.

So that’s it. As far as performances go, this isn’t anything great, but the emotional aspect made it worth watching. Whether you like Koharu or not, this show shaped her career and I’m sure she’s sad to be leaving it. And it got us better acquainted with two great Eggs that I hope to see do more in the future.

Thanks for reading! Bye bye, Tan Tan Taaan!!

Review - Perfume New Album - Triangle

2009-07-07T10:38:00.000-07:00

Today I am reviewing Perfume's latest July 8th release, their new album Triangle.

Track 1: Take Off
Well, it's 49 seconds, no singing. I can't really say much more.

Track 2: love the world
Liking this song a lot. Very much in the One Room Disco style, but different enough to set it apart. I'm not really a fan of Perfume's singing style though, which is kind of breathy, and it really comes out during this song. But this is a catchy song, good album opener in my opinion.

Track 3: Dream Fighter
Hmm... all of these songs seem to kind of have the same beat. Nothing spectacularly sets this apart from the song before it. By itself it's a fun song, but in context of the album it's a bit repetitive. I realize that idol albums are known for having low production values outside of the already-recorded single tracks, and this kind of song just proves it further.

Track 4: edge (Triangle mix)
The first 45 seconds or so are basically a basic trance dance club beat, of which I'm not a fan. The vocals bring it out of that a good amount, but I have little respect for techno music like this with long extended repeated lines. And it's eight minutes long. I have nothing against long songs, I listen to live Phish songs that are over fifteen minutes long. But this one just takes something that could have been done in 4 minutes and drags it out twice as long. Long for long's sake is not good.

Track 5: NIGHT FLIGHT
A little 80's, but in a good way. Really like the intro. It's funky and delightful game-sounding. Probably my favorite song so far on the album. The vocal melody sounds a lot like Tommy February6 to me. Really boring ending though! Boring endings really bother me.

Track 6: Kiss and Music
The start sounds like cave music from Zelda. Game-sounding in a BAD way. The vocals really pick up the song, very uniquely Perfume without sounding just like their singles. A nice slower rhythm, a nice break from the rest of the album.

Track 7: Zero Gravity
This sounds like something I've heard before, but I can't put my finger on it. (No, it's not another Perfume song.) Any way, the ocean at the start is corny. That's all there is too it. I like the keyboard in this song, and noticed it more than in the rest of the album. Once again, Perfume's breathy vocals take center stage here and I'm not having fun with it.

Track 8: I still love U
Once again, totally 80s beat. It really bugs me when English songs use letters instead of words, and it bugs me a little bit here. Normally idol songs that do that don't bug me, but I guess I had higher expectations for Perfume. So this is the song everyone has been talking about and so far I'm not really impressed. It's okay, at best.

Track 9: Speed of Sound
LOVE the beat, more than anything else on the album. Vocals are kind of a backing to the instrumentals, I think. Which is interesting... an INSTRUMENTAL idol tune? Has that ever happened before? I guess Perfume did it first, they can take credit for it.

Track 10: One Room Disco
Really, this song is fantastic, and everyone already has their opinions on it, so I won't say anything more than this song is fantastic.

Track 11: Negai (Album Mix)
Well, this is different. But honestly it just seems out of place. They should stick to what they know how to do well. Once the vocals start it gets out of that awkward synthesized strings sound, thank God. But I do like the pseudo-reggae beat during the chorus, it's nice.

Overall: 6/10
I realize it's an idol album, so my expectations are going to be low to start. But this album lacks variety. It's all too much the same. I can easily say that the one thing H!P albums have over this one is that they do some different stuff on the album. This album will probably sell well since Perfume is pretty popular, but I've heard better from idols before.

The End... the Kirarin live DVD isn't up on the tracker yet so I can't review it. I promise to the second it gets up there!

Bye Bye (●^ω^●)♪ See you later

Slow News... Mk's Special Favorite LIVE Videos Post

2009-07-06T19:20:00.000-07:00

Like I said, I'm bored, so here are my favorite concert H!P vids.

These aren't ranked, but this might be my favorite: GURUGURU Jump (Koha, LinLin, JunJun w/ the rest of H!P) @ H!P 2009 Winter Wonder Heart Kouen - Kakumei Gannen

Why? Literally this might be the most genki I've seen in a 3-minute time slot. I had never heard this song before this tour, so I assumed it was an older MM song, but then I noticed, hey LinLin really is taking center stage here! Then I got the album it was on and have listened to it nonstop. Anyway, back to this perf, it's so great. The energy is just so palpable. The shouted parts like "SEXY!" and "PEACE!" get me so pumped every time. This is the perfect song to do with all of Hello!Project. Even thought the girls didn't all sing, their presence gave the song so much more excitment. Wow. I love it.

Next is LALALA Shiawase no Uta (C-ute with all of H!P) @ H!P 2009 Winter Wonder Heart Kouen - Kakumei Gannen (sorry same live).

So, this is a great song. The only problem with it is that I get choked with rage every time I hear it because it reminds me of how much Airi and Maimi hog the lines. Most C-ute songs do that to me. But hearing this song with different vocalists singing it was AMAZING. I was floored by Risako's line. She is such a talented singer with a unique and passionate voice, unlike most girls in H!P (I include many of my favorites in that). I liked Ai's solo as well, and I guess Maimi's line was good too, I won't lie. Once again, this is a great song to do with everyone, becuase it just adds so much to the energy.

Then I thought of DARIN I love You from the C-ute and Berryz 2008 Spring Concert... that was a good one.

I don't even really know why I like it. I guess just all of them, doing it together. The song is pretty good, nothing stands out. I can't really give a reason why I like this one other than just the two groups worked well together and the outfits are fab. Um, yeah. That's all I've got.

Next is this... Sweeeets→→→Live (Kanna and Chisato) @ C-ute 2008 Summer Concert Tour - Wasuretakunai Natsu. Sorry, embedding it was disabled, you'll have to click. EDIT: Or, the screen is really flat?? Sorry, I don't know what that's about. Just watch it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxaTJmJhttE&feature=PlayList&p=F4F887639C198581&index=4

So, like I said, I don't like watching C-ute perform live because it fills me with anger. But THIS is a side of C-ute I want to see, the lesser members showing their talent. Both the girls sound awesome. I don't see how Kanna can be so unpopular, the crowd is cheering her on pretty well. The dance is good too, and this song I had never heard before. And I'm probably biased because I really miss Kanna and sadly got to develop an interest for her during her absence. KANNA COME BACK.

I should have more, but I don't. Hopefully Momusu's new PV will come out soon and I can review that. But I'm really excited about all of the concert releases coming out. Tommorrow is the Kirarin Last Live DVD, Platinum 9 Live on the 15th, C-ute's ABC on the 25th, and Berryz's Sono Subete no Ai ni on the 29th.

I promise to review them... I will just die in the process, there's so many.

Bye Bye (。・∀・。)ノ Here is a nice picture of me I took recently too.

H!P Thoughts...

2009-07-04T14:33:00.000-07:00

So Momusu is in LA right now, which is pretty exciting. I've been watching a lot of those videos of the girls arriving in the airport. It didn't really hit me before this, but OMG Morning Musume is IN AMERICA! I had a lot of fun watching those.

Other than that, slow news week. The radio rips from Buono!'s new single "Take It Easy" and Guardians 4 single "School Days" are out, but I haven't listened to them yet.

Let me just say that Buono! is kind of letting me down lately. What happened to their rock and punk image and sound? I really liked that a lot, and that's what made Buono! unique and popular. Where is THAT Buono!? As far as G4 goes, I was really excited for this unit when the members were announced, and I liked their first single... so I hope the second is good and hopefully no bottom-of-the-line PV like the first single. Seriously, that was a cheap, cheap PV. And it was such a great song too, it would have done better with a good PV.

Go Bucks !! フャイトォォFight ・∀・

2009-02-04T16:08:00.001-08:00

I went to see the Bucks play last Saturday and I had lots of fun
I got to shoot a free throw after the game! I missed it Oops...

But I tried by best anyway. And I'm glad I tried at least...
That's all. Check back next time, please o(・ω・`)o

Pig (・ω・`) Tails and SweaterVests

2009-01-31T11:56:00.000-08:00

Today I dressed up And I tied my hair in pigtails It hurts a little. Look (*^ー^*)

One more

I hope it looks okay (*^ー^*) Yay わいわい

Please check back next time (ﾉд<｡)ﾟ｡

New Hair?! ( ´ ∀ ` ) Yes

2009-01-27T12:14:00.000-08:00

I think I will grow out my bangs. Please cheer for me (*^ー^*) It requires discipline.

It looks okay so far... do you think?

Hmmm... not to long yet... but maybe it will look better when they get longer. I can't wait to clip my bangs back!!

So... check back next time, thank you! バイバイ

Hello

2009-01-18T15:54:00.000-08:00

Yo ~ I'm Mk ( ^ _ ^ ) Welcome to my blog.

This weekend a few good things happened...

I got a new DVD.... its called Lucky Star #5 ... I'm happy
Only 1 left to go.

And... I got a dress in the mail. (ノ∀<*)
It looks nice, I think... Pictures later, maybe.

Thanks for reading, everyone ふぅぅ... Please continue to support this blog.