Gaki-saaaaaaaaaaaan!!! My favorite Momusu has a new photobook. Many thanks to gordiehowe at the hello online forums for putting scans up for download. I still can’t get over how she has transformed from an awkward pig-tailed kid into such a lovely young woman. She’s kept the same beautiful smile throughout though. Here are my favorite pictures of our little duckling turned swan.
Allow me to indulge myself with a bit of personal news at the end here. I finished my last ever class as an undergraduate about an hour ago. There’s still finals, of course, but no more classes. I feel…weird. I’m happy, but I also kind of feel like crying. I’m proud to have (almost) earned my degree, and I’m looking forward to going to Japan, but I hate it when things end, and today was the first time it started sinking in that a major chapter of my life is almost over. Even more than when I finished high school, everything in my life is about to change all at once. I don’t even know what to feel right now, and as graduation approaches, I know it’s just going to get more confusing.
Yesterday, I took it upon myself to learn how to make animated .gifs, and now I’m kind of addicted to it. I made a bunch for my other blog, and then spent far too long just staring at them. Watching them go around and around and around and around and…anyway, for my first, but certainly not last batch of h!p .gifs, I’ve just used the Resonant Blue “Another Version” pv since I already had it on my computer.
Feel free to take these, but as always, comments are highly appreciated.
Not much of an entry, but I came across this picture, and I was so amused that I just had to share it.
Hehehehe, that cat wishes Nacchi dead!
Which caused me to casually scan through my files and some websites for other hilarious photos to come from official photobooks. Here are a few that I found. May they amuse you on this fine Friday.
More Nacchi torturing that poor kitty. You can clearly see the terror in its eyes.
I couldn’t not include something from the Aibon/Nono photobook, could I? This is just so utterly random.
I think there’s something unintentionally hilarious about Ai Takahashi double fisting gas pumps. Am I just weird?
I’m okay with the tiara and the princess dress and the fuzzy slippers, but the teddy bear??
Reina’s side job: chasing ducks out of empty swimming pools
Sorry there aren’t many, but I’m too busy with tests and papers to do a more thorough search.
C-ya,
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.
But first, a comment on some recently leveled criticism. I don’t tend to do a lot of reviews in terms of the quality of recently released albums and singles for a couple of reasons. First, I think I’m better at writing snarky commentary or analytical pieces than music reviews. There are other blogs out there that do it much better, so if you want to know about the quality of the music, I suggest you check one of those. Second, every time something new is released in Hello Project, tons of blogs jump on reviewing it, which isn’t a bad thing, but I feel like adding my own opinion is probably redundant. How many reviews of the same CD are people really going to read, and how much is there for me to say that hasn’t already been said? While I don’t always succeed, it is my goal for this blog to offer something fresh that you’re not reading at every other h!p blog. All that being said, maybe I’ll attempt a review of the new C-ute album when I get my hands on it, just for irony’s sake.
Okay, now on to the last group of screen caps! There’s only a couple, because it’s just the encore. Those with fluff allergies are advised to wear a mask when viewing these images. Love it when Risa jumps. This dance move reminds me of a peeing dog. Now that VUDen is being disbanded, I almost don’t have the heart to wonder how they make all of their costumes, even this one, look so much like lingerie or to suspect that in this case it might be the fluffy stripper heals. Eri wants YOU to join the Morning Musume fandom.
I did warn you that I got carried away with “Love&Peace” right? Okay good. I love it when they sing with their arms around each other’s shoulders, don’t you? JunJun mistakes Gaki-san for a cute little puppy and begins to pet her. Don’t worry Jun, it happens to the best of us. The kiss attack. Taking pointers from Chisato, are we JunJun? Haarto beam! Cute, and Reina’s looking as wonky as ever. Sayumi might have overdone it a tad on the victory pose. Reina, “I don’t care that Eri’s the one singing. Look at meeeee!!”
Speaking of “Look at me!” Let’s cap this entry off with another couple of Koharu’s always entertaining facial expressions.
It occurs to me that however I try to ignore it, there is a VUDen portion of this concert, so I’ve carefully screen-caped all of the important parts for you. This is Rika Ishikawa’s ass. I did not cut anything out of the frame. By my count there were a total of 17 ass-shots in Jaja Uma Paradise alone (not including ass-focused shots. only shots where asses, but no faces were visible) Aika is so cute! Just look at her and try not to fall in love. I dare you. Yui attacks Aika and the other members of VUDen by knocking them down with her crotch. Kinda blurry because it’s in motion, but you should be able to see from the picture that what she’s “kicking” them with is definitely not her legs. Gaki-san, now is not smiley time. Aw, who am I kidding. It’s always smiley time with Gaki-san. You can never have too much Mittsi. Shabondama is a pain in the ass to screen cap because they never stop thrashing around. Since I couldn’t get any decent close-ups, here’s a nice action shot. My two favorite girls! Sayumi looks so happy!
Stay tuned for next time. I got a bit carried away with “Love and Peace” so I’m devoting the entire next entry to that song.
Either LinLin just lost at Jankenpon, or Jun2 stole Lin2’s icecream, and she’s holding it up over her head where she can’t reach it. Mean JunJun!
Boing!
Plop!
Who knew Eri hated having her head touched so much? Yay Shianimuni Paradise! Oh no! The next song is lipsynced! Ai-chan and the others make their escape, leaving only Koharu to entertain the crowd.
Why the horrified look in that last one Koharu? Huh? Oh God! Run JunJun!!! Runnnnn!!!!!
You should have never said that you were cuter than Sayumi in Mikan’s making of video….
Yay yay yay! My screen-caps are done! I have a bit of a problem though. There’s simply way too many of them, so they’re going to have to be delivered in installments. I want to be able to comment on them, so I’m going to do it this way instead of posting thumb-nails.Expect the next installment tonight, when the bell tolls one. That, or whenever I get tired of studying for my economics test.
OMFG it’s Niigaki Risa!!!
Risa jump! Now with more scarf.
Jun2 is 2 hawt 4 U These two girls who probably don’t even weigh in the triple digits might just kick your ass. Pretty Ai-chan smile Reina and Koharu are surprised and somewhat puzzled by the camera. Awww! 6th gen luv Aww! 6th gen..wait..No, Sayumi is telling them to shut up.
Neeeeeee?
I’d better stop there before I crash any computers. How did Reina make it into so many of these? Anyway, the next installment is pretty funny, so don’t miss it!
Shameless self promotion time. While I’ve got your attention, International Wota is having their first blog awards, and I’m very pleased and honored that this blog is nominated in two catergories: Best h!p Blog and Best Written Series (for the costume hall of shame). There’s some really stiff competition, so I would be shocked if I won anything, but of course if you’d like to vote for Bikkuri it would be greatly appreciated.
Details and instructions for voting here. You have to be a member of the site, but I suspect that most of you are anyway, and if you’re not, I’d encourage you to join. There’s lots of great blogs that link there.
So I’m joining the crowd and posting my results from the Hello!Blog poll. No need to read this, I just thought the images were pretty. It seems my tastes have changed somewhat since I first posted my preferences. Interesting how that happens.
