Bikkuri Project

I’m a little late to the party on this one, but I wanted to offer some thoughts on the newest addition to the Hello! Project lineup. After all, it’s not every day a new (non-temporary) group or soloist gets added to h!p. The last time this happened was the formation of S/mileage in April 2009. I guess with Mano Erina graduating very soon, there is an open slot on the roster.

Here is the video of the announcement. You can get a good look at the members:

It was said that the members of this group might change before their debut. Well, they said the same thing to pre-debut S/mileage, but their membership wasn’t changed. It could be an empty threat to motivate the girls to work harder, or maybe they actually intend to switch things up this time. I would hope that if there is a change it’s to add a girl or two rather than kicking someone out, because that seems rather cruel, but who knows? There are some girls whom I would have expected to be chosen who were passed over, particularly the girls who were picked to be on the cover of the “Kanjou ni Naritai!” single (Tanabe Nanami, Hamaura Ayano, and Taguchi Natsumi). I’m especially surprised that Nanami hasn’t been included. She’s the second most popular egg after Karin and one of most senior members. Ayano has been given a big push with her inclusion in the Morning Musume 11th gen audition and prominent positions in the trainee concerts. I strongly suspect that she is going to be 3rd gen S/mileage, and if that is indeed the plan it would explain why she isn’t in this group. There has been some speculation about Kaneko Rie, the longest tenured current egg, but honestly, I just don’t see Rie ever getting a major debut in h!p.  To me, she lacks the necessary charisma/ talent.

Anyway, since most of the Eggs are relatively unknown, let’s look at the members who were chosen.

Miyamoto Karin 14yrs- Karin is without a doubt the best known and most popular current H!p trainee. Absolutely adorable of face, strong in singing and dancing, Shin-minimoni member, and with theater and voice-acting experience, when she was announced as a member of this group the fandom gave a collective shout of “FINALLY!” Thank God they’re not letting her go to waste. I expect her to be the “face” of the group. You can watch Karin performing with Shin Minimoni HERE. She’s the one in the long coat.

Takagi Sayuki 15yrs-  So, Sayuki is a strong singer, probably the best in the eggs. The thing is… how do I put this nicely?…She’s kind of funny looking. Sort of ugly-cute. Like a troll doll! I mean, sometimes she looks cute and sometimes she looks like an old lady. But like I said, lots of vocal talent, so she should be an asset. You can see her dancing as part of “Team Okai” HERE (light green, Ikuta Erina position, Karin is also here in Kanon’s spot)

Kanazawa Tomoko 17yrs- Only added to the trainees a couple months ago, so I don’t know much about her. I can say that if she’s being added to a new group this soon after joining, the powers that be must have seen something very special in her. You can see her introduce herself HERE at 1:16.

Miyazaki Yuka 18 yrs- Yuka caught many people’s attention during the S/mileage auditions with her charming demeanor and puppy-dog face (I mean that in the best way possible, it’s the same “look” as Konno Asami, and I don’t know how else to describe it). It was pretty clear that she wasn’t a good fit for S/mileage, but she was later picked as an Up Front Trainee and added to h!p Satoyama group “Green Fields”. I’m glad to see her joining H!p proper now. She had too much idol potential to let her slip away to some other group. You can watch Green Field’s PV HERE.

Otsuka Aina 14 yrs- Aina was a finalist in Morning Musume’s 9th generation audition. While I agree that she wasn’t ready to join Morning Musume at that time, her tenure in the Eggs has done her a lot of good. She’s not only become a much better performer, she’s become cuter too! Her voice is sounding quite strong these days, and I’m happy she was selected for this group. You can see Aina performing HERE at 2:00 with Hamaura Ayano and Morning Musume 11th gen member Oda Sakura. Aina is the one standing in the middle.

Uemura Akari 14 yrs- I’ll admit that Akari has really been flying under the radar for me so far. She joined h!p a little under a year ago, and she really hasn’t been pushed or featured at all within the kenshuusei, so I was kind of surprised to see her added to this group. I have no idea how well she performs, but she is rather pretty which is a very helpful trait in the idol world.

I’m very interested to see what direction the as of yet unnamed group will take. Though many of them are pretty young, looking at these members, I don’t see them going the cutsey/humorous route of S/mileage. I’m really looking forward to watching this group develop and find their niche in Hello! Project.

~Celestia~

*I know the trainees are called “Kenshuusei” instead of “Eggs” now, but I still like to call them eggs.

Oh blog. How I did not miss deleting the flood of spam comments that come in every day.

But anyway, speaking of my youtube channel (which is really close to 200,000 views!!!), I made a video of my 20 favorite h!p songs of 2010. Here’s the video with some commentary.

20- This song annoyed the crap out of me at first, but somehow I’ve come to like it. It’s probably the “dokidoki and wakuwaku” parts.

19- It’s a “nice” song. Not a great song, but nice. I connect this one with the recent graduations more than Onna to Otoko.

18- Special appearance by MM 9th gen member Fuku-chan! Catchy song.

17- Fantasy 11 has some real gems that won’t be fully appreciated until they’re heard in concert. This one, for example, really caught my ear

16- Makes good use of Mano’s “special” vocal skills. The PV sure was crazy.

15- So cute! Love the echos and the background harmonies

14- I think this Buono concert is one of the best DVDs h!p has ever produced. The live singing is superb.

13- Managed to draw a tear or two from me when I heard it live in person

12- It’s a real step in the right direction for Morning Musume, but overall, I’ve been much more impressed with their album songs than their singles this year.

11- Airi always gets the best solos. Also, isn’t she adorable in her little sailor outfit?

10- Again, S/Mileage brings the “cute enough to melt your face off”. Everybody loves somebody yeah! I don’t like how they keep throwing the super-high falsetto notes at them though.

9- She’s certainly gotten better, but I would like this song sooo much more if a better singer were singing it. Is that mean?

8- Another s/mileage song that grew on me. Now I can’t get it out of my head. I like the meaning of the lyrics too. Congrats on the “new artist of the year” win! S/mileage seems to be gaining a tentative foothold in the mainstream market. Hope they can keep at it.

7- Boing Boing Boing. I’d like to hear this song in concert again sometime.

6- Harmonies are to die for. So pretty and soothing. People need to start realizing how great this song is.

5- I don’t care if it was a failure sales-wise. I stand by my liking of this song!

4- A little bit Genki+. Can’t wait to see it performed in concert!

3- After a whole slew of forgettable songs, C-ute finally got something good. Thank God.

2- Love how they really dig into their solo lines. Kick ass song.

1- Yay energy!! Probably going to become a Morning Musume concert standby for a long time until everybody is absolutely sick of it. I sure hope so anyway. It’s in my personal Top 20 h!p songs of all time after all.

As for 2011, there have only been a few songs heard so far, but C-ute’s new single is definitely making the list! Echos FTW

~Celestia~

It’s the day I start blogging again. LOL.

No, but there were so many wonderful happenings at last night’s concert, I have been pulled out of the woodwork to write about them.

First, Kikkawa Yuu (You?) solo career! It is unclear whether or not she will be a soloist with h!p or in some other capacity, but I am so very very happy for her either way. This girl has too much talent and charm to graduate from the Eggs and disappear forever.

Second, not really an announcement, but Okai Chisato center for a C-ute single! Yesssssss!!!!!!! After years of singing backup for Airi and Maimi, Chisa is finally getting the attention she deserves. Her voice is really something special, and she’s grown from looking like little boy into quite a pretty young lady, as evidenced by her recent photo book.

And of course, Morning Musume 9th generation. I am thrilled, absolutely thrilled about Tsunku’s choices. It’s a miracle! He actually picked the best ones out of the audition instead of the “project” girl. And I love 4 member generations. 4th, 5th, and 6th, all the best generations have been 4 members! All 4 girls are very cute, with strong potential to become beautiful as they mature, and all have at least decent performance skills already. Overall, they’re starting out at a much higher level than previous generations.

From left to right- Suzuki Kanon, Sayashi Riho, Ikuta Erina, Fukumura Mizuki

At the time of the 8th gen auditions, Morning Musume needed a star. What they got was Aika.  Now, Aika is cute and sweet, but she just doesn’t have the big talent or big personality to be anything but a background girl in the group. I don’t blame Tsunku for choosing her, because IMHO, there really wasn’t a girl with that star potential among the 8th gen finalists. (Yes, even Sumire. She really was badly off the rhythm with her dancing and her voice was quite immature. She’s a great little idol now, but she just wasn’t ready to join Morning Musume at the time of her audition). And while the pandas had the personality (and LinLin had the talent), the fans didn’t want to accept them for a long time just because they were Chinese. Sad but true. So Momusu stagnated a bit. They didn’t really lose much popularity, but they didn’t gain much either. I think this new 9th gen has the potential to really bring freshness to the group and draw in lots of new fans if they are used properly. These four girls each bring something to the table that Momusu needs right now.

Sayashi Riho-

The clear fan favorite from the audition, and with good reason. She’s young, she’s very pretty, and she’s a crazy talented dancer. Her singing is already very strong, and it’s sure to only get better. Without a doubt, Tsunku has found the new “ace” he’s been trying to find for Momusu for a long time now. I predict that she takes some of Eri’s old lines in the upcoming concert and then becomes co-lead vocal with Reina after Ai-chan graduates (I’m guessing next fall, once the 9th gen has settled in a bit). My one concern is that there are subtle signs that she may be a bit of a diva. Well, so was Goto Maki, and she did the group a lot of good. I just hope she knows how to work as a team player and doesn’t mind sharing the spotlight, at least at first.

Suzuki Kanon-

And the 2nd fan favorite from the audition also makes it! Mole-chan, as she is affectionately known, will bring energy, and lots of it. Morning Musume has been a bit…calm… since Koharu left, and I think she can help fix that. She also has a very powerful and deep voice for her age, which will help to keep the group from drifting too squeaky once Risa eventually graduates. I was impressed with her at the audition, because while she was clearly struggling a lot with the dance at first, she made a huge improvement by the final dance audition, and she kept a big smile on her face the whole time. That kind of work ethic and resilience will serve her well as an idol.

Ikuta Erina-

She wasn’t featured very prominently in the auditions, so I don’t have as much to say about her. What I do know, is that she has a great smile, and during the dance audition she was beaming and clearly putting her all into it. I have a feeling she’ll be a natural on stage. Tsunku says she has a “little sister character”. I’m excited to see how her character develops and what niche she fills in the group. I do believe she really wants this. She’s a fan of idols (both AKB and S/mileage) and that’s something I love to see in a girl. Unfortunately, she’s already getting some flack from the fans for liking AKB, so she may have a bit of an uphill battle ahead of her. However, there are also fans supporting her already, and the protest is much milder than the sh*t storm we saw with 8th gen.

Fukumura Mizuki-

Last but not least, our surprise Egg addition. Mizuki joins Kanna, ManoEri, S/Mileage, and now Kikka as an Egg who graduates on to much bigger and better things. I was expecting an egg or two to be added, but I honestly didn’t think Fukumura was a likely choice. Now that I think about it though, it makes a lot of sense. She’s a very feminine girl with a soft, soothing voice and demeanor, and that is a character Tsunku said he feels Morning Musume needs right now. She’ll help balance out the otherwise super-genki 9th gen. She’s also been one of Tsunku’s favorites recently (she took Yuka Maeda’s spot in Shugo Chara Egg), so I’m surprised at how much I didn’t see this coming. Apparently she didn’t see it coming either, based on her overjoyed reaction in the pictures of the concert.

The only remaining question on everyone’s minds, “What about Dayun?”. Maybe they didn’t want to overwhelm us with announcements last night and we’ll find out later in the concert series?

Best of luck to 9th gen! As Tsunku said at the audition, “The future of Morning Musume is in their hands” and as he didn’t say but maybe thought, “Don’t screw it up”

~Celestia~

Edit: Dang! Riho is one bad ass 12 year-old.

And I feel fine?

Sorry about being late to the party here. I got back to America, then I went to Disney World, and now I’m trying to get ready for grad school, so I’ve been busy.

Okay, so our first graduate is Kamei Eri. On a personal level, this is the graduation I’m least upset by. Somehow, Kamei has never been one of my favorites, and at least her graduation is her choice. I will miss the three six gen girls as a collective unit, but that’s about it. However, I recognize that she is a strong performer with lots of fans, so I worry about the negative impact this will have on the quality and popularity of the group as a whole.

As for the pandas, I just feel so terrible for them right now. Tsunku decides the whole China expansion thing isn’t working out, so he just kicks them to the curb? Read the translations of their blog entries. They’re absolutely heartbreaking. I feel a bit less bad for JunJun, since she is the second oldest in the group, she knew her time would be coming soon. It’s LinLin’s graduation that absolutely kills me. The girl has an incredible voice and one of the most entertaining personalities in the group. Plus she’s the second youngest! I feel like at long last, she was finally gaining fan support, and now she has to leave. I will really really miss her presence in Morning Musume.

The good news is the 9th gen auditions. Long overdue. IMHO, Morning Musume is in desperate need to new blood right now. I’m hoping for a girl or two from the audition and a girl or two from the eggs.

Which eggs? I’d say Saho Akari is a good contender. She fits the age profile, and she’s been showcased a lot lately (new Aa!, Shugo Chara Egg, ManoEri backdancer). In Aa! she’s proven that she hold her own vocally with Miyabi and Airi, and that’s saying a lot.

My other pick may sound a little crazy, but I’m going to say Miyamoto Karin. Yeah, she’s young, but Tsunku’s set the age limit at 10 this time around, so it’s totally possible. She’s absolutely adorable, she’s got a spunky confident personality, and she can already out-sing and out-dance most of the other eggs. I think that the public could really fall in love with her.

My one request is this. Please PLEASE do not add Hirano Tomomi.

~Celestia~

If you can’t tell from the title, I’ve decided to start a new project! See, I finally bought some good video editing software for my computer. I was sick of “Movie Maker” which seems to crash and freeze at the slightest provocation, not to mention that it won’t accept any but the crappiest quality of video.

And with my new software I plan to make a 10 part video series. That’s right, 10! My top 100 favorite H!p songs to be precise. And considering that each video takes roughly 5 hours to complete between getting the files, editing them, and uploading the video, this is no small undertaking.

The actual top 100 list itself is done though. Today I was supposed to teach 5th graders, but 3/4 of their classes were given the day off due to the high number of students who have the flu, so I was pretty much free all day. I started by writing down all the songs I wanted to include, in no particular order. Then I realized that there were 130 songs and only 100 spots, so I had to spend the next hour pulling out my hair and deciding which I could bear to leave out. Then I cut up apart all the titles and set about arranging them in order, one by one. “Hmm? Do I like this song better than this one? No? How about this one? The next one?” and so on. Then I recopied the complete and ordered list, praying that a strong breeze didn’t come up before I finished.

All in all, a productive afternoon.

So here’s the first video, numbers 100-91! Enjoy.

Note: For this and future videos, I tend to like group songs more than solo artists, so don’t be surprised that there aren’t very many solos in here.

~Celestia~

Tonight I attended the 5:30 Hello Project Champaloo show with fellow blogger Tsukiki. It was a great show! Much better than last winter’s h!p concert, in my opinion. I think that the new subgroups have really done something to revitalize Hello Project. Based on what I saw tonight, I have high expectations for many of them. I also appreciate that they’ve largely been faithful to the style and feel of the original groups.

The bad news was that I couldn’t find very good tickets at the last minute, so we ended up in the family section. The 2nd row of the family section, so we had a pretty good view, but these concerts really are less fun when you can’t stand up. Also, one of the hall employees was always standing almost right next to us, frowning and surveying the crowd for people in the family section standing up or raising their arms too high, I guess. I was scared that if I cheered too enthusiastically he would yell at me. And if I’m getting all my complaints out of the way at once, please add that Mai was not there tonight for some reason and there were way too many GIANT hair bows of doom sitting on the girl’s heads. Koharu’s during the last costume set was the worst, but Gaki’s during the ZYX song and Sayu’s during the VUDen song were pretty bad too, and I know there were others.

But other than that, it was a lot of fun. Here’s my track by track run down.

Guru Guru Jump- A very fun way to start things out. Bummer that I couldn’t actually jump though. Momoko was very into her “guru guru” ing. Lol.

Piriri to Yukou- Not my favorite Berryz song, but I like it better in concert. Pretty surprising choice, but I guess it worked.

Ama no Jaku- S/Mileage is sooo cute! They sang live too. I really hope they do well when they make their official debut.

Omakase Gaurdian- Meh. I just don’t like the song.

Minimoni Jankenpyon!- These girls will do the original Minimoni proud, you just watch. I was worried about Miyamoto Karin because she’s so young, but actually, she did an excellent job and she seems really comfortable on stage already.

Sekai wa Summer Party- Mano with no piano. I think I watched S/mileage (the backdancers) more… Her voice may be improving a tiny bit, slowly but surely.

Shochuu Omimai- I would have preferred “Bye Bye Bye”.

Seishun Bus Guide- I would have preferred “Rival”. It was pretty good I guess.

Nanchatte Renai- Yaaay Momusu! I love everything about this song, but Sayumi’s solo part tonight was kind of painful to listen to.

Shouganai Yumeoibito- Hearing these two songs back to back, SYO really is Nanchatte-lite, isn’t it?

Yume to Genjitsu- Aa!.. sort of. I know a lot of people are bemoaning that Saho Akari has taken Reina’s place, but I’ve got to hand it to the girl. She really holds her own in a group with Miyabi and Airi, and that says a lot about her talent. I didn’t know she could sing like that! The new song is great too. It’s plenty good enough to be a single, so I hope they do something with it.

Pira! Otome no Onegai- Out of all the songs tonight, this is the one that’s still stuck in my head. I LOVE this song! Please oh please make it a real single! Please? It’s better than a lot of what h!p has released in the last few years. Mai not being there tonight was too bad though, since she’s the best singer in Pucchimoni V. Pirapaparaparapipopa….

Heya to Y shirts- Cute, but solo ballads don’t tend to hold my interest very well.

Umbrella- What a very Tanpopo-like song. It’s my least favorite of the 3 brand new songs, but it’s still not bad.

My Boy- I was so wanting to head bang during this. I compromised by waving my glowstick like a maniac. One of the best performances of the night.

Jump- Aaaarg! I couldn’t jump during “jump”! Oh the irony. Awesome song that’s even better live.

Cosmos- Ai-chan had a lovely dress. Other than that, just another beautifully sung yet boring solo ballad for Ai-chan.

Only You- One of my personal favorite performances of the night. I know, I was surprised too. Lots of audience participation helped. All three girls sang very well… for being those particular three girls. About Risako’s voice. I can’t stand her in ballads, but in songs like this where the lyrics are belted out at maximum volume, she really shines. And JunJun rocking out of the air guitar while on her knees was 100% certified awesome.  Oh and by the way, Sayumi was center, so I guess she’s officially Rika.

Iku ZYX- ZYX alpha feels like it has too many girls to really be a subunit. I guess there will be one less soon though… Gaki was great as usual, but I wish she was in a subunit where she had less competition for the spotlight.

Diamonds- Was okay, but nothing compared to…

Cinderella Complex- Do you have any idea how excited I was when I saw this on the set list?!? I never thought we’d be hearing this one in concert again, but BAM here it is, and it is FIERCE. This subunit beats all the other new ones in terms of pure on-stage charisma. Also, Maimi dancing in skin tight glittery black pants. Two words: Smokin’ Hot. I couldn’t stop watching her. My other favorite performance of the night.

Special Generation- And my dream of yelling, “Su-pe- su-pe-sha-ru-generation!” in a concert has come true! You know, there’s a reason that certain songs like “Mikan”, “Jump”, and yes, “Special Generation” keep popping up again and again in concert set-lists. It’s because they are a ton of fun live! People watching the DVD at home can’t really appreciate that, but you might want to think about it the next time you groan “(song that gets done a lot) again?”

Tokaikko Junjou- Someone, I don’t know who, forgot to sing Mai’s line for her. Now that was an awkward pause. They recovered well though. I’m happy I got to see my favorite C-ute song, even if it was only being performed by 5 people.

Resonant Blue- This however, is one that I can join in on the groans of “again?!” It’s not that it’s bad in concert, but it’s not sufficiently great to merit being in every single concert set list since it has come out. Enough already! Give it a rest and then bring it back.

Sono Bamen de Bibbachi Ikenai Jan- Prime example of a song that is “meh” on CD but awesome live. Fun to see the mass rendition of the “omg she touched my ass” move.

Koko ni Iruze- The big problem here is that there is so much going on on stage that I don’t know where to look! This song is always a blast. Ai-chan absolutely killed her line at the end (in a good way).

Aozora ga blah blah blah- Okay I guess. I don’t know what all the fuss is about this song, but I suppose it’s a nice enough way to end a concert.

Gaki-san was the last one off the stage at the end. Love you Risa!!!

I noticed that they did more with the lighting and staging than usual, kind of like they did with Platinum 9 Disco. Maybe h!p has a new stage manager? If so, keep up the good work!

And now I’m going to bed. Night night everyone!

~Celestia~

EDIT: I almost forgot. Ice Cream musume sang their song (well, some of them), and Jang Dayun showed up to introduce herself. She looked cute, and the ices have gotten better at Japanese. Rei Rei sat down during their performance. I guess she’s injured or something, though she didn’t seem to be having any trouble walking, so hopefully it’s not that bad.

Might as well announce it here first… my new laptop arrived today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Super duper thanks to my wonderful father.

That means that I can finally get back to regular updates here. Expect something soon, probably in the next couple days.

In the meantime, a few ultra-brief comments on recent happenings.

H!p has a redone their website- Have you noticed this? It’s quite spiffy.

Buono’s New PV- OMG plot! I love that Momoko is still “the special one”. Love the twist ending.

MM’s New PV- Only low quality, but loving it already. Much better song than Naichau Kamo, IMHO. Probably not as good as Resonant Blue, but with one major improvement, multiple solo lines for everyone 6th gen and above.

Cute’s Bye Bye Bye PV- The song is… okay. The PV? The suckiest piece of suck that every sucked. Seriously, what happened there? Was Kanna the one funding C-ute’s PVs or something?

New Egg Unit- Shugo Chara Egg-Akari+ Sakkity huh? Well, Sakkity and Kanon are two of the best singing eggs, and Yuuka and Dawa are two of the cutest. It makes sense. I guess Akari had her chance in Shugo Chara Egg, but she didn’t prove charismatic enough. Still sad for her though. Personally, I’m really hoping for a major H!p debut for these girls (not TNX). The last egg to do that was who? Kanna? LinLin doesn’t count.

Tsuji Nozomi- Saw her on TV the other day, along with a really cheesy dramatization of her life. Poor little angel Nono was just admiring the other Morning Musume’s costumes when big bad Yuko came and yelled at her!! Lol. We all know she was a little terror back then, and it did not go down quite like that. Even Tsuji herself admits it later in the interview.

Big Ol’ Graduation Concert- I plan to do something with the DVD later, so we’ll save commentary on that.

Apostraphe Key- Is in a totally different place on Japanese keyboards, which I’ve been using for some while now. I’m so confused!

Morning Musume Concerts- Going at least twice, probably three times. Nya nya.

Got to get to bed now. So glad to be back.

Tadaima!

~Celestia~

So you think you’ve got the Eggs all figured out, huh? Well let’s find out! I’ve created a “Name that Egg!” quiz for you. 20 questions, most of which are simple matching a name to a face type stuff. Not all of the Eggs are in there, but most of them are.  I used different pictures from my “Meet the Eggs” posts though. Thought that would be too easy. *evil laugh*

Remember, no cheating! Now get to it!

Pencils Down!

~Celestia~

Just got back from the Wonderful Hearts concert! As expected, I had an awesome time (though not quite so great as the Momusu concerts. I’ll explain why near the end of this post). I spent most of the MCs jotting down notes by the light of my glowstick so I could write a good review for you. Am I really that obsessed with my blog? Why yes, yes I am.

Let’s jump right in with the story. Unlike the Shinjuku venue, Nakano Sun Plaza was extremely easy to find, only about a block away from the station. While I was looking around confusedly for the goods line, a pair of girls noticed my distress and asked me if I needed help. (all this conversation is in Japanese, but I’m translating). When I said I was looking to buy a T-shirt they personally escorted me over to the goods tables (I bought a Momusu T-shirt, and it came with a photo set of all the girls!). We chatted for a while about who we liked, where I was from, etc. The girls were Reina fans. They had been to the afternoon show and were looking for someone selling tickets to the evening show. I wished them luck before heading inside. They were really sweet and helpful to me! I hope they found tickets.

Security was tight! They not only searched our bags, we were actually patted down. The good news was that there had to be a separate line for girls (so we could be searched by female security employees), and of course, it was way shorter than the line for the guys. I do want to mention that I saw quite a few girls at this concert, more than I saw at the Momusu concerts. I’d estimate that there were at least a hundred. In fact, at the end, Makoto even commented that there seemed to be a lot of girls in the audience tonight. I’m proud to count myself as one of them!

I found my seat, on the first floor, but way in the back =( . I swear, next time I will shell out the cash to buy myself a good seat. A lot of the people around me spent much of the concert watching through binoculars. I don’t think we were that far away, but still. Okay, now for some song by song commentary.

Resonant Blue (All)- I really like this song…but I question the wisdom of opening a Wonderful Hearts concert with a song where only 3 girls really sing. It was cool watching everyone do the dance though. You know what would be amazing? An all h!p performance of Shabondama! Can you imagine that many girls thrashing about on stage?

Lalalala Shiawase no Uta (All)- No. Just no. Stop shoving this stupid song down our throats.

Minna no Tamago (Shugo Chara Egg)- They sang live! I was surprised at how good they sounded. Go Eggs!!

Happy Happy Sundae (Koharu)- You know I have a hate/hate relationship with Koharu’s voice, but I’ve got to admit that this song is catchy, and loads better than Pa pa pancake. I just wish she hadn’t tried to sing it partially live. *shudders*

Tan Tan Taaan (Milky Way)- Yuu and Sayaka are so pretty! I’m newly thankful to Koharu, because without her, Milky Way wouldn’t be.

Forever Love (C-ute)- Omg, C-ute looks HAWT in those suits. Seriously. Maimi especially. Also, I love Nakki for dancing her little butt off out there. The shyest and quietest of the H!p kids when she joined has become one of the fiercest performers. Oh, I should mention that Kanna was out sick today. Poor thing. Erika did her lines.

Meguru Koi no Kisetsu (C-ute minus Airi/Maimi +Aika/Reina)- Reina seemed to really enjoy this, and the audience did too. Total win!

Madayade (Berryz)- The dance to this is pretty fun, isn’t it? The HAHAHA parts especially.

Koi no Jubaku (Berryz minus Buono +Eri/Sayu)- This was the first song I’ve seen performed with a “L-o-v-e lovely so and so” chant. Yay! Not too sure about Sayu’s lines here though.

Lalala Sososo (ManoEri)- I’m sorry, but this is by far my least favorite of Erina’s indie singles. The words “hella boring” come to mind. Nothing against Erina, but I think the audience was half asleep by the time she finished.

Rottara Rottara (Buono)- And everyone wakes up! The sudden shift in energy was kind of ridiculous. This is my favorite Buono song, and it didn’t disappoint. Oh, for the record, I think Miya’s new haircut rocks.

Naichau Kamo (MM)- I feel lucky to be among the first to see this performed live. Good song, maybe not great. It was funny to watch the wota be so confused about what to do. It hasn’t been out long enough for them to learn the dance or when to shout member’s names and stuff, you see.

Mikan (MM minus Ai/Reina + Maimi/Risako)- I can’t believe how much fun this song is live. You really have to see it live to understand. In fact, it was one of the two songs (the other being RR21) to get the most enthusiastic reaction from the crowd. After a just a couple of concert performances I’ve gone from being kind of lukewarm about Mikan to “OMG I LOVE Mikan!!!”

Jinguisukan (All)- Not my favorite Berryz song. I do remember that Momo did a good job with her big solo line.

Shiroi Tokyo (Risa, Maimi, Chinami, Saki N., Mai, Mano)- One word: Gaki-saaaaaaaaaan!!!

Natsu Doki Lipstick (Maimi/some eggs)- Maimi is hot. I have never been so convinced of that fact.

Baka ni Shinaide (Risako, Saki S., Yurina, Miyabi)- Berryz album track, huh? The staging for this was pretty epic, especially the black and white thing they did with Risako’s face during the last line of her solo at the bridge. I was really impressed with Saki’s harmonization during the last chorus too.

Mr. Moonlight (Ai-chan w/ Erika, Chinami, Saki N., Chisato, Saho Akari, and Sekine Azusa)- Chinami did the opening line (not as well as Gaki-san does it, but that’s okay). Ai-chan makes a very charming guy, even in an awful yellow-plaid suit. The best part was her romancing Chisato during the monologue in the middle. I almost didn’t recognize Chisato with her longer hair acting all girly and shy! C-ute’s token little boy is starting to become a woman!

Soku Dakishimete (C-ute)- I was never a huge Megumi fan, but even I can recognize that this song just isn’t the same since she left.

Gag 100 whatever (Berryz)- Ug. Another one of my least favorite Berryz songs. Is this payback for costume hall of shaming them? Never realized what a Momo-fest this is. That helps me to like it just a bit better.

Darling I Love You (Berryz/C-ute)- Kinda boring if you ask me. Risako and Airi singing together was really cute though.

Take off is Now (Risa/Ai/Reina)- Liked it better at the Momusu concert (more fitting costumes), but it’s still hot!

Renai Revolution 21 (MM)- Yes! I’ve always wanted to see this live. It got a huge response from the crowd too.

Guru Guru Jump (All, but mostly JunJun, Koharu, and LinLin)- Jun, Lin, and Koha do all the vocals still, but it was a master stroke having the whole gang in the background doing the ridiculous dance. This one was really really fun.

Ame no Furanai (All)- Beautiful beautiful song. Still just as touching no matter how many times I hear it, though Risako’s completely out of tune solo line almost ruined it for me this time. I’m not a Risako-hater, but that was just BAD.

Go Girl Koi no Victory (All)- A great high-energy ender.  I’m glad I taught myself the dance a while back!

Now, for why I enjoyed the Momusu concert more. Basically, there quite a few people there who you could tell were primarily only fans of one group, and that sort of brought down the energy level of each individual performance. When only part of the audience is really cheering and jumping around with a song and quite a few people are not very familiar with it or not very into it, it’s just not as fun. In fact, there were a some fans (and I noticed them from all 3 main groups), who would sit down and look bored when their favorite group or members weren’t performing! I’m sorry, but I think that’s just plain rude. It’s not a Berryz or C-ute or Morning Musume concert. It’s all of their concert, and they all deserve at least the respect of you paying attention when they’re performing and cheering for them. It was a pretty small minority of people who were doing this, but enough that it was noticeable, and enough that it detracted from the atmosphere for me.

Okay. End rant. Don’t get me wrong. I had a great time! I wish I could go again right now, but I guess I just prefer concerts where everyone is more on the same page.

Going to bed now,

~Celestia~

No, the answer is not “Chicken Butt”.

I got a ticket to tomorrow’s Wonderful Hearts concert!!!!!!!!!!! It turns out that I only have to work until noon tomorrow, so I can go! Yaaaaaaaaaaay!!!!!!

I arrived in Japan late last night, got a hotel room by the airport, and slept for like 12 hours. Then, this morning, I spent over two hours on one bus and three different trains with all of my heavy luggage to get back to my apartment. Then after a couple hours of recuperation, I set out again with a new mission: find a ticket to tomorrow’s concert.

It wasn’t easy. I had a rough map of how to find a reputable second hand ticket store in Shinjuku, but getting there involved another hour of trains followed by a lot of confused wandering around. It’s a crazy hectic area, and I swear they couldn’t have built a city more easy to get lost in than Tokyo if they tried. I only found the place because I noted that it was next to McDonalds on the map, and I happened across some guy advertising for McDonalds with a sign pointing in the right direction. Then, when I got inside the store, I could only find tickets to the (too far to travel to) shows next week! Feeling sure I was defeated, I tried asking at the counter. Much to my joyous surprise, one of the clerks directed me the the showcase outside where there were three tickets to tomorrow night’s show! It was risky of me to try to buy them so close to the show day (there weren’t any tickets to the afternoon show left), but the good thing about that is that since it was the last minute, they were marked down to almost face value! I payed a fraction of what my ticket would have cost if I had bought it a week or two ago, judging by the price of next week’s tickets.

I’m so excited now! It was pretty iffy that I would be able to go to this concert, but it looks like everything is working out. I get to see my beloved Momusu again and see Berryz and C-ute for the first time! Can’t wait until tomorrow. I’ll be sure to publish a full report once I get back.

Good fortune,

~Celestia~