14 posts tagged “morning musume”
It's been almost year, if not a year now, since Kago was put on hiatus.
Now, I know EVERYONE is writing on this, everyone. But, I don't think H!P is going overboard. NO, I don't mean that the sentence isn't to long, I mean I don't think they're doing it on purpose.
Look, H!P has a long history of laziness. T&C Bomber anyone? Good girls, good talent, good singers, good songs....bad premotion resulting in bad sales resulting in H!P not even wanting to try anymore and therefore giving up on the group and letting them go.
Coconuts Musume = Bad concept (Japan is a pretty nationalistic country. They're more patriotic than the US, they just don't get as much crap for it. Thus, they aren't going to accept some below average, if not OKAY looking AKA not that pretty "gaijins" singing in broken Japanese (though, admittedly, not ALL of them spoke it badly. Some could speak it, and Danielle did pretty damn good.) and H!P just clears them out and does nothing, instead letting Ayaka rot in that basement in H!P HQ where Yuko, Kei, Kaori, and several other H!P "members" live.
They don't know how to bring back Ai. While plaguerism is a bigger crime and certainly WORSE ONE than smoking underage, it doesn't soil the squeaky clean image. Wota's don't care as long as their short little 19 year olds can still act and sound like 9 year olds. And most 9 year olds...DON'T smoke. If Ai DOES come back, she will bring back a bad reputation for H!P and soiled image for herself. If she doesn't come back she remains a problem on the back burner for several years. If they graduate her from H!P, they graduate one of their most important pieces of H!P history. They go with back burner. Can you blame them? There are no reprocutions from putting her on the back burner, the fans get tired, more pissed with time, but can't really start to truely complain until she's gone for about a year and a half.
I, personally, don't know what they should do either. W's sales were on decline after Miss Love Tantei anyway, and they'd only be worse.
Here's to Tsunku getting old and tired! -glass clink-
Idols lack honesty. GOD knows what most of our idols do that they are scrambling to cover up like, oh. my. god. Having....sex when they're, like 22? OMG HOW TABOO. REALLY.
But then, there is a glimmer of hope in this sad, sad world, full of the empty, souless capsules that are idols...
A small, shimmering light that gives us faith in humanity.
That there folks....is our Jesus. Oh, yes, I just assigned Mikitty place as Jesus in jpopland.
She adjusts herself, curses, squeals, screams, yankees without doing it insanely obviously on purpose, smokes, drinks, gropes, GOD knows what else....
And DAMN what I'd do to get at a piece o' THAT!
But, regardless, while I am sure Miki has her fair share of glistening idol polish coating her....she's not so obvious about it. She doesn't wink at the camera every 5 seconds as if her eye were bleeding, nothing like that...She's an honest bitch. And that's why I love her.
Ignore this dazed but truthful entry....I slept late today -just woke up-.
Because Yossie deserves it. You know, I really like the costumes in this, and they're gorgoeus, buuut...they still look like any halloween costume you could buy at walmart, though with maybe SLIGHTLY more expensive fabric.
So, it's could thing I don't care about cost, becaus ethey ALL look gorgeous.
Well, except Nacchi...Nacchi should neverm ever have to pull her hair back. Her face is too round for it, it doesn't have ANY angles, it looks like she has a bowling ball for a head. : |
NOW, ONWARD TOWARDS THE YOSSIE FANGIRLING!
I think Yossie just may be the only H!P girl that looks good with her hair pulled from her face. Even tightly. I remember that phase she went through where she always pulled her bangs upward into a sort of...pointy thing? It actually looked fit for a three year old, not a good style, but it didn't make Yossie look bad. The only others I can think of that look good/okay like that is Kaori and Ai Takahashi.
I have nothing against Ai, at ALL. but she looked WAAAAAAAAAAAY cuter at hat age. No, seriously, what happened? Has she had work done or something? I'm not a member of the "Ai had EYE surgery" cult, but ALL of her features look different. She even looked a lot different just once she hit 13, when she started wearing her hair in those GAWDAWFUL buns to match Tsuji. Tsuji looked okay in them. Ai didn;t.
Am I insane or did Yuuko look like Daniele in this video? The one from Coconuts? I only realized just, say, a few months ago that that was Yuuko. Weird...
I like these costumes more, oddly enough. They're really...weird, in a way, but the bright colors and such suit the girls, and the video better...well, the other costumes suit the SONG more, of course, what with the Indian theme and such.
I suppose there truely is not denying it, despite how...odd, Rika looks like that, looking at the rest of the PV, she's quite obviously probably one of the most, if not the most, attractive of 4th gen.
I still don't like her much, though. :P I like her MORE without blonde hair, though. I think we ALL do. It's a shame the photo's for Elders Club were taken a little before she dyed it back.
Anyone else find it disturbing that Yossie has three front teeth instead of two? No, seriously, if you can get a good picture, you'll see, one of her teeth is squished right next to the other two, and the same length. I think I'd prefer my teeth look like Tsuji's than that, though I obviously <3 Yossie far more. Hell, I rather have any teeth than my own. Ever heard of a...gap? Ew.
Anyone know how tall Yossie was back then? She's a head or three taller than Ai now. Isn't she like 5'4? She dwarfs all the others, except Sayu and Koharu. Which is funny, because here, she'd be considered short.
She had rather sizeable GIRLS when she auditioned, but around the time of 4th gen she lost them, then when she graduated they were back, and then around...21? Around the time women have their last "growth spurt", hers go BOOM. I'm not going to accuse her of having work done, though, because she was already pretty busty.
Okay, so '06 was the year I REALLY got into j-music. There's no point in lying about that- I'm a newb.
But, for a year that should've been relatively big, I am looking over it and realizing really nothing happened in the world of j-music for me.
American music either, actually. My Chemical Romance and Taking Back Sunday put out new albums, and that's it, on the western front for me. 2007 doesn't seem to have much in stock, either. Oh, yeah, we have GAM's new single to look forward to, solidifying that they are now an official group (not that all that promotion was pointing to anything else, anyway.) But we aren't going to ge tmuch more in this PV than the other one, unless they release a 69 ver. with added, useless sex noises like in Melodies. Though, maybe this time they won't cut right before the lips meet....you never know. GAM actually took it a step farther than Viyuuden ever did. Viyuuden merely touched each other; as if touching someone's leg or crawling over them can be DIRECTLY sexually connected. Or, atleast, in MY life, it isn't....don't know about you. But anyway, my odd interests and activities aside (or does j-pop count in that category?), a kiss CAN be connected to one of two things. An extremely intimate show of affection (something I refuse to associate sex with...) or sex. Either one is very, very yuri. And ecchi, in a way, if you're conservative. And -awesome.-
And we have the reunion single, but that is not looking especially hot to me right now. The only stand out-ish things are: OMFG YAY KAORI IS GROWING HE RHAIR OUT AGAIN. YAY. SHROT HAIR WAS SUCH A BAD DECISION. SEVEN YEARS GROWING IT AND SHE -CUT IT-. >_> Look, Kaori, if I have to regret it, you do too.
Besides that, you have Koharu (a given. Though, I would've TEN TIMES preferred Yuuko.) Nacchi, and Maki. All of them are fairly active, excluding Nacchi, some what, because her sales have been pretty disappointing, resulting in slightly rare-r releases. Koharu, however, is two singles in and already releasing an album, completely hidden under the disguise of a stupid anime show that I can't stand, knowing I'll have to hear that whiney, high pitched, over-acting hyper voice of Koharu's for atleast half an hour. And then Maki, who is THE Miracle Girl, no matter what Koharu may think of her self. I don't know about Koharu, but surely Tsunku knows that if Maki's sales were to go down, and, you know, go down to like, Nacchi level, H!P would be near death.
After that...what is there to look forward to? Not much. Yet, anyway. So H!P this year looks pretty bad, and'06 was fairly un-eventful besides some of the odd choices Tsunku made (but them being and odd and from Tsunku makes them -normal.-)
So, in OTHER things I can tolerate/listen to, uh, Dir en grey, yes, them!
Agitated Screams of Maggots is...horrible, song wise. YES, I SAID IT. I could some what tolerate Clever Sleazoid, and i actually like recent stuff, but I. Don't. Like. Metal. I don't dislike it, especially, well, okay, this kind of metal/hard core/screamo muttm yes, I do. But I dislike how Diru does it, slightly less than normal. So, all as fine and good with Clever Sleazoid, though I was both highly amused and slightly disturbed to know said video is getting played here.
That's just...creepy. Or, was. But now they're touring here, so I'm not really bothered by it.
But, back to music. Clever Sleazoid - okay, somewhat listenable on a rare basis. It's just...too agressive. And...not really pleasant. I've always liked that Diru can manage to be both, but apparently not anymore... Ryoujoku no Ame = Good. It doesn't especially...stand out. Well, okay, it DEFINATLEY stands out among the other two, but in general, no. I liked it, not much more to say. Agitated Meows of Kittens- uh, I mean...never mind - No. NONONONO. DO NOT WANT. FAIL. FAIL HARD. BAD/ I can't even listen to it and enjoy it. You know what, be right back, I'm going to give it another try...
No, it still sucks. I just...know they can do better. So much better. So, why aren't they? I read this interview, too, and they're basically trying to seperate themselves from the VK thing because OMG PPL RNT TAKIN US SRSLY!
Boo, fucking, hoo. Vk was a big, big thing at the time. It helped get them far. Do I expect them to continue it? Honestly, I don't care, either way. I don't care how they look (okay, so, Kaoru looking like a fucking hobo SOMETIMES bothers me...) as long as I can still listen to the music and enjoy it. Just don't try and hide your roots. It's stupid, and it makes you look like a pompous asshole. STOP. NOW. (It's 7 AM and I haven't been asleep...excuse the loose cussing. I'm half asleep.) And besides, how is a bunch of metal heads that will abandon you as soon as you even consider doing anything similar to the old days, or, if you took up VK, any better than fans that would leave you for metal, and for dropping VK?
My point is made. And I know I'm not the only one looking at it this way
Oh, and the daily song is now weekly because I'm LAZYYYY. You get one tonight, and then you have to wait.
1. Mako's Solo PB
There is a certain justice when someone ignored their entire career can go out with a bang. And, disregarding actual sells, the PB is great. Mako looks both mature and silly depending on the photo set, she got her old haircut back and it looks amazing and hits her in all the right places, sort of like a really well fitted dress. I'm not much for PB's, but as I'm a photoshop junkie, they're much fun to play with (not like that, though I'm sure that's fun, too.)
<3 Mako. And again, I remind you of the fanlisting I made.
Err, okay, so maybe they didn't. But surely it's one step closer, right? Regardless, wota seem to like lesbians because, sales have been satisfactory...and that video is certainly "satisfactory".
I hated this single. Hated it. A lot. Despise dit. Said it was their worst single yet.
But the video and lyrics saved it for me. It's nice to finally have a song by them that isn't about some kind of "sexy" boy or "ambitious" girl. A normal song, maybe?
The video highlights all the girls best features, including their normal clothes, and they all look cute or mature. The song also hit number one on th eOricon chart, their first #1 in years. I think it COULD possibly show a bit of a rise in the girls popularity, maybe only temporarily and for a few more singles, but the better the sales, the better the singles we're going to get. Maybe they will stop experimenting, and start caring again.
I have a subbed version of the video you should look forward to, also.
4.Some Boys! Love to Touch to Maki!
At first the sexy image pissed me off, but lets face it; It sells, it's hot, and the songs are a huge improvement. Even my mom likes Some Boys!, and she hates both slutty singers, and jpop. ESPECIALLY H!P jpop. But I find her now singing it, Nature is Good, and Massara Blue Jeans under her breath while she works.
It appeals to a wide audience and has both a killer melody and rythm, Overall, I expect a lot of good from Maki from now on, music wise.
5.Return of Yuko to HM
HM has been a boring, sad little place for awhile now, but the queen has returned. LONG LIVE THE QUEEN!
Uh, yeah. But it seem the producers are smokin' the good stuff again, because Yuko has returned, along with some drag queen who is not completely devoid of any form of sexual attractiveness.
I wish she'd be the host again, honestly, and we'd get more games with Nono et al. Karaoke games where the girls embarass themselves, anything. Just something owrth watching again. The girls are cute, and so were the animals, but animal cafe's and such are not cute. At all. =(
BONUS
6. Munasawagi Scarlette (Scarlet Apprehension)
I hated Berryz. Despised them. They failed at catching my attention, and singing, But I REALLY like this single. More than I should. The PV is cheap, but still fun to watch, especially seeing the girls apply make up and "chu" the camera. The dancing is insanely good, I'm wondering where all the dances for Momusu and Biyuuden come from.
I have this single on repeat, and it's my first Berryz single (only other ones I've heard I popped the window closed within two minutes.) I want to have the children of whoever made this single...okay, well, now I remember that's Tsunku. But hey, Tsunku ain't so bad...
With added pedoliciousness from my anime voiced friend, Yasu (AKA making up for my lack of cute. I sing Sayumi's parts and sound like a gramma.)
This one was pretty easy to do, with some mixing problems towards the end: ALL done in one day. Both recordings, AND the mixing.
Not much more to say today, folks, it's late. Chu!
I think we all know asians are technically, usually smaller. I say this fully aware that my BMI list me as 1%
But I am expressing a specific worry for Asian men. I had always thought Shinya to be tiny but figured, "Hey, he's still alive. He must be doing SOMETHING right."
But I was more than shocked when I found out his weight....90
This places his BMI at 14.0, with the underweight category starting at 18.6. My BMI is 26.4 (overweight starting at 25.0)
I have noticed an odd misocnception these days, that people like Shinya, are probably healthier than people like me.
If he were a woman, his dress size would be 0, or -1, if such a size existed.
I love the guy, I really do, and he may be more pleasing to look at than me, but let's face it...he's unhealthy.
And then, I found out Teruki's (An Cafe) measurments....His BMI is 12.8.
And now I beign to wonder, just how rampant IS this problem? So I type up Gackt's, Mana's, Kyo's, Kaoru's, Toshiya's weights and heights. All underweight by atleast 2 or 3 percent.
Sure, perhaps my or Makoto's, or Aibon's "flab" isn't quite that fun to look at...but is looking at protruding bones any more arrousing?
This is a rather badly put together post, but it's something that I truely care about, because I IDOLIZE these men, and not only did such idolization (is that a word) as that lead to me going two weeks only eating once every couple of days last year, but I don't want anything to harm them. Anything at all, and I know I can hardly protect them, and I know I certainly can't protect them from themselves, but isn't their something wrong with this?
The odd thing is that most teen girls, American and not, find no problem with this, find it NORMAL even. I showed my friend a picture of Teruki with his ribs, quite visibly, sticking out, told her his weight and height, and she just stared at me like, "So what?" I asked her and she said that sounded perfectly normal to her.
Then again, we also live in a world where Eri (no more than probably 80/90 pounds or 40 or so kg) is considered to be a fatty.
Then again, I am sometimes somewhat put off by 30 and 40 year
old men lusting after 14 year olds...
Maybe I'm just not cut out for writing, or jpop...
A quick overview:
Natsumi: Has the worst case of eggplant nose I've yet to see, but for some reason she's grown on me. I tend to like the "ugly" girls. Kei, for example, was one of my favorite MM members, and I think she is now one of the more talented H!P members (and could maybe have a little success in America with english as good as hers. :X) and girls like that tend to take the teasing and turn the tables and generally earn their place relatively fast. Plus, her singing is better than some in here, plus she seems really sweet, and she has a cute smile.
Aika: It seems she has mixed repsonses. SOme hate her and think her retarded, some are begging for her to get in.
I'm not begging for her to get in, but I think she'd be a really nice addition. She may have a nasally, Ayaya esque smokers voice, but I for some reason find it very fun to listen to, if not a bit grating in excess.
Her singing is relatively solid, and I think she was the only girl NOT seen crying in the pre-training came footage.
Yuu: Gangly, a bit gawky, dorky, with added cute. I think she's adorable, her singing Furusato sounded more in pitch than the rest, and I think the H!P make over could do her some great, though she's already really cute. She reminds me of a less awkward Erika. I'd be glad to have her in.
Ayami: Seems to be a bit of a camera/stage ham. While she seems normal now, I think she might end up a bit like Koharu in personality, and I find her FAR more annoying than Sayumi. I'd say no.
Sumire: FUCK NO. There's this seen in American Dreams, where they show footage from when the singer was a kid, at her birthday party when she was a baby, with her mother screaming in her face, going, "FUCKING SING! NOW!" and then turning from the footage and saying, "But she's always wanted to sing!"
That was Sumire's childhood so far right there.
Minami: Again, no. I dislike Reina, why would I want a Reina wota? Her cross eye is ten times worse, and twice as scarey. They move AS she talks: One moves to the middle, then the other, then both snap back, then one goes to the left randomly, and the other goes up towards the right (AKA googley eyed). Plus, here's your added scandal.
I often visited her blog and site, to look at pictures. She's the only finalist we've uncovered anything about, so we learn a bit form it, and while I don't like her, I'm interested.
So,
She recently updated with this....charming new layout;
She has listed her special skills as "being wile", and "drinking heavily".
She also randomly mentiones Takahashi, though I'm not sure in what context. Probably wota-worship of some kind, Maybe a prayer or something.
Anyway, she also has pictures with a boyfriend or something who is, oddly, shirtless,
But, really, is it a good idea to post that sort of stuff RIGHT after auditioning? If Mari fucking/dating someone while after gaining respect is no dedication, what is doing it before you've even earned any right to break any rules?
I want to scream at her to lighten up the goddamn eyeliner, it's not flattering, and makes her eyes look both more crosseyed and beadier.
-sigh- I don't hate her at all, but I just really hope she doesn't get in...
This comment made for a rather large discussion the BBS, but just how much is to it? It seems it was split into two teams. The larger being, "Of course, Berryz are HAWT and they can kind aof sort of in a way if you close your ears and eyes and count to ten hold a tune!" and the smaller (and mine) being, "Uh...No."
I don't hate Berryz....really, I don't. They're fun, they're cute, and some of them can sorta sing (Chinami (is that her name?) and Miyabi (who's name I constantly try to spell as MIYAVI.), in specific.) but surpassing MM? Me no think so.
Berryz and C-ute wouldn't exist with MM. Morning Musume started it all, and when Momusu goes down, EVERYONE goes down. Some may argue MM has already "gone down on Tsunku", but that's not that weird, afterall, how did Rika make it in the group? not true, trust me. They're still, I beleive, the best selling all-female group in Japan (correct me if I'm wrong, but they're still outselling toofuckingbigwouldtakeupentirestageontheirown48, right?)
48,000 doesn't seem like a big number when you're in America and the top single sells in the millions sometimes, while the top single on Oricon sells 70,0000 or so, but in Japan I believe that's pretty significant. Also, keep in mind, with a whole new gen coming, the possibilities are endless, and I have an inkling their debut single will be really awesome...for some reason I think Tsunku wants to surprise us positively.
But, also keep in mind, Momusu have never sold THAT amazing until after Love Machine. Let's look at the chart here;
LOVE MACHINE: 1,646,630
A huge jump from the previous sales of Furusato. The single was released at the perfect time, with a new member of only 13 with a somewhat odd but charming look, who actually looked atleast 4 or 5 years older than she was, and sounded that as well, and what with it being patriotic and how Japan needed that at the time.
Koi no Dance Site: 1,229,970
Wow. hold on there, that's a big drop! But to be expected, LOVE MACHINE osld exceptionally well, so this was fine, especially isnce Koi no Dance SIte was actually a rather lackluster single.
Skip to I WISH: 654,640
wtf? Oh, but fourth gen wa sperfect. YOU LYING BASTARDS! IT COULD NEVER BE POSSIBLE THAT MOMUSU IS EXPERIENCING A NATURAL DECLINE!
Oh, put a sock in it, it's alreayd visible that the hype is wearing off.
Skip to Do it! Now: 310,600
OMFG, IT TOTALLY MUST BE 5TH GEN AND TSUNKU'S FAULT! THAT'S THE ONLY VIABLE EXPLANATION! I HATE YOU, TSUNKU!
Skip to Joshi Kashimashi Monogatari: 91,789
*Is now wearing a t-shirt iwth a picture of Sayumi's head covered in red marke rused ot look like blood and holding a shot gun* I HATE YOU MOMUSU, DIE FUCKERS!
Looking at this, I believe you'll find it's a very viable decline. LOVE MACHINE shot them up and created HUGE buzz, but that can only last so long. It seems to me, Momusu began a natural decline that only seemed so bad because of LOVE MACHINE.
And, no, I doubt sales will pick up without another LOVE MACHINE Though Aruiteru did do really well. And I no longer foam at the mouth when I hear it, now I actually LIKE listening to it.).
So, I wonde rif Berryz will pull a LOVE MACHINE of there own, sell millions, and then NOT begin a natural, slow, steady decline that was caused by no one but the consumer...
Can you tell I'm PMSing?
I really think Maki is gorgeous. So she deserves more than useless T&A shots. And, don't even get me started on the name Foxy Fungo...
Now, THIS is what I'm talking about. But what the fuck is that frilly, feathery nightey they've thrown over her? It confuses me greatly.
GOD FUCKING DAMN MAKI HAS LONG FINGERS! HOLY SHIT! Moving on...
Bottom line: Maki isn't a amazing singer with range and skill out to HEYAH. But she has her good points and her songs haven't really highlighted them.
One of my fave. pics from the book. Ignoring the boobs, it seems to express some kind of emotion, which it shouldn't, considering how plastic, fake, ect photobooks are but it still holds some kind of meaning. Good shot.
I think the fact I've only liked the nature shots says I am crying out for a nuetral, mature but not too sexy Maki. I like the new songs, but not the image. It seems awkward, and seeing how Maki deals with it makes me wonder about her ego too. She's gone from charming, cute, and dorky, to this weird "sexy", withdrawn, almost snobby creature. From he rmanuerisms, it almost seems to me like she's trying to forget she's part of H!P and instead live in a happy little world in her head imagining it's AVEX. Not that I can blame her, but I hate people who are ashamed to admit their roots.
I was oddly weirded out by the rest of this set, but this photo has a nice look to it. You know, I have to say they hired a really good photographer for this photobook. I used to hate this pic because of the weird make-up, ect. But it's grown on me.
That's all I have of it, all ANYONE has of it, actually. No one has yet to scan in the whole thing. I've only got 54 or so pics, but anyone who's interested just comment. It's full of tons of fanservice I didn't include in here, so if you like Maki, just ask, I think you'll enjoy it.
Next up will be Mako's new photobook!
Night, kids. :P
