The 2009 IW Awards have been tabulated. Thanks to everyone who participated. And of course thank you to all of the writers we cover, without whom International Wota would not exist. You can see the 2009 award results here.
Utada Hikaru’s 5th stop on her Flesh 2010 tour was in Las Vegas, and Greg of Selective Hearing flew down to experience one of Hikki’s rare American appearances. He gives a detailed account of the experience – from waiting in the monstrous line, to the opening act, to the concert itself and his final thoughts.
I love how going to live shows raises your interest in songs which simply didn’t hold your interest when listening to the studio recording. This happened to me with Morning Musume’s Resonant Blue at Anime Expo last year, and for Greg it happened with Hikki’s Kremlin Dusk.
Kremlin Dusk was a song I initially disliked but after watching her rock that song out I don’t have such a strong dislike for it anymore. In fact I kind of like it now.
This was Greg’s first non-idol related Japanese music experience and he has nothing but rave reviews for Hikki’s performance. From what I could gather, the remaining tour dates are sold out, but if you can get your hands on a ticket, Greg highly recommends that you snatch up the opportunity to see her live.
I was so happy to see this post! I absolutely adore CinDy. She is such a great idol, and a great leader among all of those AKB48 Team B lolis! Silver Rain gives a complete and well detailed bio on one of AKB’s original members, who has the sole distinction of being a member of three different teams throughout her history with the group. Team A, Team B, and now SDN48. S.R. includes a touching story on how Kazumi came to her attention while watching the NHK and JCB Hall concert discs.
And for those who like plenty of eyecandy, there are over 100 pics of CinDy in various T.V. appearances, concert performances and occasional PV cameos. She is so cute, and has such a fun personality. Thank you to Silver Rain, I’m sure CinDy would be proud!
I think after seeing this blog everyone will now know the AKB48 Theater chant. Now I need someone to name their blog after the other chant. (Hehe)
Hakushu hosts this site, which has been going steady since November. What got my attention was the picset post he recently did of the AKB48 Theater. And it looks like those pics are relatively recent because the old theater shop in the background looks closed up. But this site isn’t limited to AKB. Quite a few idol acts are covered, including Buono!, Morning Musume, Idoling!!! and evidently Hakushu is a big fan of SNSD. Yep, it looks like the two of us think alike
Yes, it’s safe to say I love this blog already. So check it out, and put it in your RSS reader!
Let’s begin the week with a plethora of cute pics. We start with the girls of Perfume modeling various hairstyles for a magazine spread. I must say that they look younger than ever in these pics. I know they are college age, but I have always experienced Perfume as older than they actually are. Also note that Kira Kira Anni is the new site belonging to Anni of Sweet Japan.
Next up Langdon has me humming the opening theme from ‘Kill Bill’ with these promo pics from Mano Erina’s new television drama. I swear Manoeri is one of the few people in the world who can still manage to look cute holding an automatic pistol!
Indigoburulove has double eyecandy installment in her ‘bikini pic of the week’ series. One problem, where is Oshima Yuko’s bikini? It looks like she is wearing nothing but a few strategically placed bubbles…and of course a smile Very sexy! The second half of the post contains some homemade game cards featuring former C-ute member Umeda Erika. I know I have seen cards like that before, but I have no idea what the game is called. Does that make me a nerd? Or not a nerd? I don’t know.
Finally Heiwa and Ange have posted some of the cutest pictures of Miyazawa Sae I have ever seen. After seeing her “male” roles in Majisuka Gakuen and Infinity, it is refreshing to see the Genking in such a feminine outfit. I felt myself exclaiming the exact same phrase as the girls when I saw these pics…
J has posted a group of photos from “Girls Pop Next”, an exhibition of up and coming pop acts in Shinagawa Tokyo. Incidentally, it was held at the hotel I usually stay at. Damn! Why wasn’t I there?
Among the groups performing were SDN48, Momoiro Clover, HAPPY! STYLE and Nakano Fujoshi Sisters. The leaders of each group took a group photo as well. So for anyone (like me) who enjoys seeing AKB and H!P members posing together, there are two pics of Noto Arisa with Noro Kayo.
These are all groups I enjoy, especially SDN48. So I’m excited to see them all getting this deserved exposure!
Morningtime has got some eyecandy for us in the form of screencaps. I really recommend that you all download this video. I mean, usually when OG and MoMusu are on a television program together, certain things become known that was not definitely known before, but had been suspected… There are a lot of surprises in this episode, and Morningtime has certainly capped all the good parts. CHECK IT OUT, YO.
K Bites reports today that on the latest episode of Star King, some members of SNSD, Super Junior, and SHINee were getting into fights with each other! But not the kind that will lead to lawsuits, the one that will leave all of us wishing we had large amounts of pudding and jello on hand! SNSD’s Seohyun and Sooyoung face off in a very intense battle with tons of wrestling, and I’m proud to say that my baby is FIERCE. Next off, Minho plays DIRTY, Eunhyuk and Eeteuk make the cutest pillowfighters ever, and Minho gets beat by a girl! The hugest shock is not the fact that pillowfighting is a sport, but that this professional(?) pillowfighter actually rejected Minho! Does she not realize that there are 23907237123 fangirls, including me, screaming right now because she was just all over my favorite member of SHINee? BAWWW.
Ado has the cover for Kamei Eri’s latest photobook, and he’s quite impressed with how incredible she looks. However, on my first glance I had a completely opposite reaction from him. Is it just me, or is that one seriously creepy look on the face of Morning Musume’s resident turtle? Judge for yourselves (and let me know what you think…).
Wota (in training) is a fairly new idol blog by Yanki☆Mina. I’m guessing from the blog title that she’s relatively new to the idol world, seeing as she discovered Morning Musume in the past year or so, but I’m not sure if her AKB48 fandom started before or after her Morning Musume discovery.
The blog has a good variety of posts ranging from news to picspams to video posts and some commentary on recent interesting blog posts she’s read. One of her most recent entries features some of her favourite Hello! Project performances. I love going through posts like this one – you can stumble upon some good concert performances that you haven’t seen for a while. That performance of The Peace! really is a great one. If you’re going to put The Peace! in a listing of your favourite performance, Rika better be in the line up, because no one does that monologue like Rika does!
Anyway, I’m looking forward to how Yanki☆Mina’s wota training progresses and her blog as well!
Many newer Hello! Project fans do not understand the greatness that is Matsuura Aya. It pains me every time I hear a someone tell me they first heard an Aya song sung by another member of Hello! Project (ex. any of the H!P Kids singing an Aya song on Hello! Pro Hour). However, Henkka at The Three Metalheads understands her greatness:
While I can’t claim to know any better than you… I have to say, Ayaya has to be the best performer to ever come out of H!P. She is ridiculously awesome. There’s no un-cheesy way of saying this, but she has the voice of a goddess and she was born to do music.
I couldn’t agree more. He has a clip from the bonus DVD of her album Naked Songs and even suggests that it may be the best bonus DVD in the history of the project. Funnily enough, Naked Songs is the one Aya album I don’t own, but now it looks like I need to be on the look out for the LE version.
As much as I approve of Henkka spreading the Aya love, the post (or rather, Henkka’s thoughts) eventually goes into the gutter… *sigh* I am only endorsing this post to the point of his recommending the album… Everything after that is all on Henkka.
Disappointing times might be ahead for those of you who love your favorite idols running around in their photobooks with short skirts, string bikinis and low cut tops… I don’t know if you guys know, but the Japanese government is growing more worried about the use of children in PBs which might be used for sexual… purposes… Just a heads-up, yo.
MB makes a mistake that I’m sure we all made when we heard the announcement of Ishikawa Rika’s recent photobook…. -_-;; Anyway, she’s sharing with us her charming Rika PB collection (see what I did there?!) and has scans of Rika’s most recent. And it’s definitely worth a look-see.
coinlockersbaby proudly declares her love for her half-naked idols. It’s basically just eyecandy… with a veeeeeeeeeeery appealing picture of Nakky. Hm. Enjoy, guys~
Utada Hikaru’s 5th stop on her Flesh 2010 tour was in Las Vegas, and Greg of Selective Hearing flew down to experience one of Hikki’s rare American appearances. He gives a detailed account of the experience – from waiting in the monstrous line, to the opening act, to the concert itself and his final thoughts.
Now, how to celebrate Cake Day… I’ll have to outdo...
