Bikkuri Project

Another cross-over post. You have been warned. There’s more h!p so it goes here.

I’ve got to admit, I’m kind of brutal with music. When I get a new album or single or whatever, the first thing I do is listen to all of the songs once or twice through and sort them into two categories. Either they go into the NEW section of the “My Music” folder or to the “Other” folder, which is a dumping ground for things I’m not sure I want to get rid of, but I’m not sure I want to keep either. The “My Music” songs in the new folder get listened to regularly until I’m no longer being obsessive about them at which point they are moved to the appropriate permanent folder, sorted by group, where they will still be listened to, but not as often. Songs that go to the “Other” folder are largely forgotten about until something prompts me to dig them up again. When I say I’m brutal about my sorting, I mean it. It’s not uncommon for entire albums to end up in the “other” folder, and even with my favorite groups, it’s rare that more than 3 or so songs on an album make the cut.

That’s not to say that I never change my mind. I will occasionally go back and give albums or songs another chance, just in case, and I usually find some songs that didn’t impress me much on the first listen, but are great on the second. Also, watching a good live performance of a song is often all it takes to change my mind about it. So, out of my more recent diggings through my reject folder, here are some of my “New” discoveries.

Koi Uranai Toori ni wa Naranaiwa- Ongaku Gatas Album
I’m ashamed to admit that I kind of blew off the entire 1^st Goodsal album when it came out. Something about Gatas and their music style just doesn’t sit right with me. It might have been Mutou Mika, I dunno, but interestingly enough, she’s the one who inspired me to give this song another listen. I noticed that it is the only song on the entire album where she has any sort of solo line (for a grand total of 5 words), and I wanted to hear what her voice sounded like. Not surprisingly, she’s no Ayaya, but surprisingly, I found myself liking the song. Not the best singing (it’s all the eggs), but it’s got a nice melody.

Fight All Night, KT-
I was resisting this song for a very long time for a very dumb reason; I think the title is stupid. There are several songs I have excluded from my files over the years because I’m embarrassed to listen to something with such a lame English title (MM’s ‘Nature is Good’ comes to mind). However, on reassessment, I’m forced to admit that the part in the beginning where they kind of computerize a few words of Jin and Kame’s voices is rather cool, and they don’t say “Fight all Night” that often, so I have begrudgingly promoted it to the My Music folder.

Dekiru Onna, MM (c/w to Ai Araba)-
B-sides are always at a big disadvantage when it comes to making the list, especially when they are the coupling for a single that I really like. I love Ai Araba so much that almost any coupling track would pale in comparison. So, I brushed off Dekiru Onna as being too slow and kind of strange and forgot about it….until the Sexy8Beat concert. The girls were all sweaty and lethargic, and somehow it was the sexiest performance of a concert with the word “sexy” right in the title! The last line where Rika (Aika in the concert) gets cut off is awesome. This isn’t standard MM, but it’s certainly worth more than one listen. 45 second performance clip! Short for easy viewing.

Online Videos by Veoh.com

Rock You- Arashi, TIME album
What a deceptive title. There’s nothing “Rock” about this song at all. Without a doubt, it was the live performance from the TIME concert DVD that made me like it. Turns out that while I don’t care for the chorus much, I LOVE the verses. The song starts with the chorus, so I probably stopped paying atention at that point when I first heard it. I really hope that this is an Arashi album track that they’ll be bringing back sometime. Also, I like the little Ohmiya moment in this song. You can see better in the larger version, but I swear, Nino has a certain way of smiling that you only see around Oh-chan. Doesn’t he look downright proud? Anyway, this part of the song is really nice, isn’t it? 30 second clip!

Online Videos by Veoh.com

Sayonara Hageshiki Koi, Berryz-
It is a mystery to me why this song didn’t make it through the first time around. Did I accidentally skip it or something? I watched the “Welcome Berryz Kyuuden” concert and was like, “What is this song?? It rocks!” You know, it might even be my favorite Berryz album song now. I’ll have to think about that though…

I suppose the lesson here is that it might be worth your time to give songs a second chance. Something that didn’t really grab you at first may end up becoming one of your favorite songs!

Keep on Rockin’,

~Celestia~

I haven’t been around much lately, have I? I do have a good excuse though. We’re entering into finals week at my school, so I’ve been very very busy trying to graduate. It’s important that I do so, because if I don’t graduate, I don’t get to go to Japan, and if I don’t get to go to Japan I don’t get to go to concerts in Japan, and if I don’t get to go to concerts in Japan I will be so utterly disappointed that I probably won’t even bother defending myself when my mom comes to kill me for wasting all the money they spent on tuition by coming out without a degree.

I do feel obliged to take note of the fact that Mika Mutou is leaving both Ongaku Gatas and H!P. It’s no secret that Mucchi has not been my favorite h!p member. In fact, it’s fair to say that she’s been my least favorite h!p member. However, the announcement of her departure has made me like her just a bit more. She evidently realized that there is no future for her in the idol industry (and you’re just kidding yourself if you really think otherwise), and so she made the wise decision to exit gracefully. I respect her for that. She was lacking in looks, charm, and vocal ability, but apparently not in brains. I still kind of hate Mucchi the idol, but I wish Mika Mutou the person all the best with wherever her future takes her.

I wonder though, is Ongaku Gatas over? It’s been a while since they released anything, they’ve lost two members, and Arisa Noto is going to be busy with that new Happy Style unit now, so who knows how long she’ll stick around.

To Mika!

~Celestia~

PS. As long as we’re talking about eggs, I added a new poll. Vote for your favorite Egg! I added the girls who seem to be the most visible, but if your favorite isn’t on the list, feel free to add her! Remember that Erina and Miki aren’t eggs anymore, so please don’t add them!

Egg-watch here! I’m not going to write about the entire All H!P Winter concert (I’m too tired from doing the last review!) but I thought that this performance was worth our attention. It is the first time, to my knowledge, that h!p eggs have gotten solo lines in a song in a real h!p concert acting as h!p eggs (not as members of, say, Ongaku Gatas). With all the ‘Love Machine’ going around lately, the opening of this concert is quite unique in that respect. Also, the line thing they do at the beginning is so cool! The Eggs have definitely been sorted into a hierarchy of sorts in the last year or so. It’s pretty easy to tell who the favored eggs are by observing who gets which lines in this performance. Little Ogawa Saki leads the charge, Mori Saki does ‘the face’, ManoEri has the “disco” line, and then these three, along with Kitahara Sayaka sing the majority of the rest of the song. Sayaka is awesome, by the way, and if she doesn’t graduate from the eggs and into a permanent debuted position soon (I still say they should put her in Morning Musume) then I may have to personally hunt down Tsunku when I’m in Japan and hit him over the head with something. Just watch her sing ‘Akarui’. Awesome, no?

Other eggs who get lines (but not as many as those four) include Maeda Yuuka (2), Aoki Erina (1), and Saho Akari (1). I should note that Kikkawa Yuu wasn’t in this concert.

Personally, I’m really enjoying watching the eggs develop, especially now that I can recognize all of them. I enjoy cheering for these girls, because I know they’re all so close to being able to debut, but there’s always a good chance that they’ll never quite make it. They must want it so badly, don’t you think? Every time one of them manages to break out (Kanna or Erina for example) the rest of them must all start hoping and praying all the harder that they’ll be next. I’d say the smart money is on Yuu and Sayaka (since they’re already getting something with Milky Way and they both look and sound great in the PV) and perhaps Mori Saki too. There are a lot of notable very young eggs who have been getting a lot of attention (Maeda Yuuka, Fukada Kanon, and especially Ogawa Saki), and while I can almost guarantee you that h!p has plans for these girls, I wonder if those plans are to debut them together soon or to wait until they’re just a bit older first. I think it would be great to see them as unit aimed very specifically at little girls (no scary old men please) some time soon, but I worry that they would attract scary old men anyway, so maybe it’s better to let them stay relatively safe in their egg shells until they’re at least teenagers. On the other hand, both Ogawa and Maeda got solos in the last Egg concert, and if that’s not a sign that the management thinks they’re ready to hatch, I don’t know what is.

I’d like to note that Mittsi still got to keep the “Love Machine” ending line. I think the tradition of giving it the the youngest Musume is really cute, and that reminds me, this is sort of the one year anniversary of Mittsi’s debut concert! By that I mean, the all h!p winter concert last year was her first appearance. She’s become so much more confident since then, hasn’t she?

Go Eggs!

~Celestia~

With the h!p Eggs suddenly getting a whole lot of attention lately, perhaps it’s time to devote another post to them. H!P has released new pictures of them for their upcoming 3rd concert, and I must say, they’re quite nice. It’s further evidence that they’re investing more in their eggs that they bothered to get them dolled up in fashionable clothes and style their hair for pictures instead of just slapping them in matching T-shirts and pony-tails like usual.

In particular, new Milky Way member Sayaka Kitahara’s picture is striking.

I’m telling you, this girl is going places. I think Milky Way is sort of the last test of her abilities and appeal. If she passes, and I have no doubt that she will, then it’s only a matter of time before she graduates from the eggs and debuts with a real unit.

I also really like Maeda Yuuka’s picture, even though she looks like she’s about 6 years old. She’s like a sad little doll, and I just want to give her a hug.

Speaking of eggs, I recently realized that I only had seen part of the Newcomer’s concert, so I set out to remedy that. The concert bugs me a bit because I imagine that it must have been weird for the Eggs to perform with Aika, JunLin, and Kanna as equals when they know that when they next meet, those four will have the fans chanting their names while the eggs backdance for them. Even within this concert, it’s clear that the eggs are 2nd class citizens and the four debuted girls are the main attraction. It seems like that could be awkward on both sides, really. Still, it’s the best egg footage out there right now, so well worth watching. Here’s their performance of dadida dobidobidobidee or whatever that song is called. Is it just me, or does Aika seem loads better at singing in this clip than she does in MM performances? Weird. Perhaps being covered with tinsel inspired her. Kanna also seems to sing better than usual. Sayaka is one of the eggs who gets a lot of focus in this, so pay attention! She sings with Ogawa Saki right after Aika.

I just realized that I can recognize and name pretty much all of the eggs now. That’s dangerous. I didn’t want to get attached to them because I know that many of them will never debut for real, and that makes me sad. I guess I just couldn’t help it though. I do wish they’d give their other concerts DVD releases. I want to see more of what they can do.

I still don’t like Mucchi though.

Auf Wiedersehen,

~Celestia~

I have been thinking a bit about H!P kids and eggs, and how it is decided who gets to be promoted and who doesn’t, and in the end, I just don’t understand lot of it.

First is Suzuki Airi. She’s cute, and she is one of the best singers in h!p kids (in my opinion), so why was she left behind when Berryz Kobou was formed? I am aware that Berryz was originally intended to have a rotating roster, but the fact is that the Berryz girls were promoted, and the other h!p kids were ignored until very recently when they began releasing actual singles as Cute. When they have someone like Airi on the roster, having her occasionally dance backup at other h!p concerts while worse singers are getting to release singles in Berryz doesn’t seem like it was a wise decision.

The next thing is the eggs. It seems likely that some of them are more talented/cute/whatever than some of the h!p kids. However, because the h!p kids joined first, they are promoted while the eggs are, for the most part, stuck as background dancers hoping that someone will drop out of one of the main kids groups so they can join like Kanna did. Now, I understand that seniority is important in Japan, and the h!p kids have, essentially, “paid their dues” being the backup dancers. But, from a business standpoint, and h!p is a business after all, it seems like they could utalize their talent resources more effectively.

And so the final point. When it came time to add new members to Morning Musume, were either of these groups even considered? I’m not counting LinLin, because she was only an egg for a few months. There is appeal in holding open auditions, creating the idea that any girl has a chance at getting in. I don’t think they should stop doing that. Also, as Cute and Berryz continue to establish themselves, it’s probably too late to move any of them to MM. Let’s say though, that three new members are going to be added as the 9th generation of morning musume. Wouldn’t it make sense to hold open auditions for one or two spots and fill one or two of them with the most qualified egg(s)? I was thinking that maybe none of the eggs were actually good enough to be in a “real” group. But, after watching the Ongaku Gatas video, I saw at least one, maybe two of them that I think should be promoted to a better group. After all, you’ve got to give the eggs some hope.