Bikkuri Project

My recent graduation has me feeling thankful to be a h!p fan. There just aren’t many American songs that are suitable for musing on graduation. There’s that Vitamin C thing from forever ago, and I could always listen to the “doooooo dododo doo doo” graduation march over and over again, but thanks to h!p’s frequent graduations, I have lots of songs that are well suited to a graduation state of mind. Here’s my top 6. Mostly MM, but they have the most graduating going on, so that makes sense. They’re not all songs that have been used to for graduations, but there are some other songs that just seemed appropriate.

6. Hey! Mirai- MM- Future-focused songs are always good for graduation. This one is all about dreams for your future life. It’s fitting for the graduate who isn’t quite sure where they’re heading next and needs some encouragement. Lyric Sample: Hey! Kono machi wa. Watashitachi o sodatete. Hey! Kono saki wa. Watashitachi ga tsukuru mirai. Translation: Hey! This town is the place that raised us. Hey! Right before us is the future that we’re going to make.
5. Hyacinth- Ayaya- Pretty song right? It expresses appreciation for the people who supported you, now that it’s time for you to set out on your own. Appreciation for the people who helped you get there is an important thing to remember at graduation-time. Lyric Sample: Arigatou. Watashi ga itsuka watarashi rashii kaze ni naru. Arigatou anata ga kureta subete ni arigatou. Translation: Thank you. One day I will become my own wind. Thank you for everything you gave me.

4. I Wish- MM- It’s the graduation song, right? This song is so very hopeful. The message, “there are both good times and bad in life, but overall, life is wonderful!” is just what a new graduate needs to hear. Lyric Sample: Hare no hi ga aru kara. Sono uchi ame mo furu. Subete itsuka nattoku dekiru sa! Jinsei tte subarashii. Translation: Because there are sunny days, there are rainy days too. Someday, you’ll understand it all. Life is wonderful.

3. Never Forget- MM- This is one of MM’s songs that’s tailor-made for graduation. The lyrics are about reminiscing about the past with friends while you reluctantly say goodbye. I know I’ll never forget my time in college and the people I met there. Lyric Sample: Wasurenai wa anata no koto. Zutto soba ni itai kedo nee shikata nai yo ne. aa nakidashisou. Translation: I’ll never forget you. I want to stay by your side always, but I guess there’s nothing I can do. Aa, it seems that I’m starting to cry.

2. ByeBye Matta ne- Berryz- Sometimes you want to feel optimistic and excited about where you’re going. Sometimes you want to cry your heart out over leaving where you have been. This is the song for that second occasion. Saying goodbye to my best friends, quite possibly never to see them again, is one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. The lyrics and the tone of this song express that feeling perfectly. Lyric Sample: Bye Bye kyou to iu suteki na jikan. Bye Bye watashi na zeitaku na anata to no jikan. Translation: Bye bye. Today was really a wonderful time. Bye bye. The time I spent with you was precious.

1. Aruiteru-MM, Maybe a surprising choice for number 1? I swear though, this one is just waiting to be someone’s graduation song. Maybe Sayumi’s. She seems rather attached to it. I like the image of “walking forward into the unknown future”. There’s the feeling that we’ve got to keep walking, keep progressing. It’s encouraging, especially since the song reminds us that we’re not alone. Lyric Sample: Aruiteru. Sono saki no sora he. Mada minu mirai he. Translation: Walking. Towards that sky ahead. Towards the future we cannot yet see.

To the future! Cheers,

~Celestia~

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 don’t know exactly what this is, but it sure is cute! Also, I love Disney so…

Interesting that LinLin got a singing line when Sayu, Aika, and JunJun just got spoken parts. Anyway, real update on the way soon. I’m busy watching all 9 solo angles of the BonKyu concert you see…

Mickey Mouse!

~Celestia~

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.

Tomorrow is another day,

~Celestia~

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.

Round and round and…

~Celestia~ 

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,

~Celestia~

Having already claimed the distinction of being the first to post the “Another Version” of the Resonant Blue PV, I figure I’ll attempt to be the first to write about it too. I suppose this is the sort of redundant thing the poll tells me I should try to avoid, but I’ve developed a weird sense of ownership for the PV, and a little occasional redundancy never hurt anyone.

*Let’s get the mandatory, “Why the hell isn’t this the regular version of the PV instead of that dance shot version?!?!?” whining out of the way. Expect to see much more of that coming from every direction. It’s a valid point. They shot all this great footage and then didn’t put it in the official PV…why? I wonder if Tsunku or someone will ever explain that one for us.

*Lots of Reina focus. Maybe it’s because she can pull off the ‘urban’ thing the best? She looks great, so I’m not complaining. There’s also a fair amount of Gaki. Again, not complaining

*Way to put the two Chinese girls in a Chinese restaurant. *rolls eyes*

*Love the studio shots, and looking forward to the studio version. It was a smart move for Risa to wear bright green. It makes her stand out.

*The best shots are the ones with each girl (or pair) staring at the camera angstily in front of her backdrop. Panting, sweaty, Ai-chan is especially hot

*Is anyone else reminded of AKB48’s prostitution song by the ‘Reina in a tunnel’ shots?

*I really love the part during the instrumental interlude where they’re doing a ripple and then it cuts to JunJun in the studio doing it

*LinLin has been doing the pigtail thing a lot. I think it’s the designated hair-do of the least popular member. First early Risa, now LinLin

*Koharu looks gorgeous, damn her.

Audios, Bye Bye, Chacha,

~Celestia~

Online Videos by Veoh.com
You’re welcome,

~Celestia~

I think I’m going to do more cross-posting, and by that I mean writing things that apply to both Hello Projects and Johnny’s. Such entries will be posted in one blog and linked in the other. It may well be that only the 4 or so people who read my blogs and are fans of both will enjoy these kinds of posts, but I’ve just been itching to make them, so here we go. This is posted in Bikkuri because three out of my five choices come from h!p

Here we have the top 5 idol performances that make me cry. There are only 5 of them because I don’t cry from watching things very easily. Feel sad, sure, but rarely do I actually cry. These five performances are the exception to that rule. Why do people enjoy watching things that make us cry? Maybe because it’s kind of cathartic? I know that any music or video that really makes me feel something, good or bad, is an instant winner with me. Anyway, if you are in a crying sort of mood, then this is the post for you!

5. Jin, Care, TV performance

For the first half of the song I’m fine, but after he pushes up his sunglasses and you can see his eyes, he just looks so sad, and desperate, and really really beautiful. I think I’m overly sensitive to Jin looking sad, with his eyes all glistenly like that. Don’t be sad JinJin!!!! His singing also becomes more and more emotional as he goes, from almost flat affect to seriously struggling to keep it together. I know this song (which he has named as his favorite song to sing because it’s his song) means a lot to him.

4. Morning Musume, Dekkai Uchuu ni Ai ga Aru, 24 hour Terebi

If you’re not familiar with the story, that guy’s daughter (the one in the pictures in the background) died in a traffic accident, and Dekkai Uchuu was her favorite song. The contrast between the happy, hopeful song and the crying father with all the cute pictures really tugs at the old heartstrings, even though the sadness isn’t focused on Morning Musume themselves. I don’t know how they stayed so composed while singing this.

3. 5^th gen, Sukina Sempai, Konno’s Graduation Concert

I already posted this one as my #1 most sad Morning Musume moment a while ago, so I’m not going to write a whole lot about it, but what do you know, it’s still really sad. It’s 5^th gen and it’s their song, they’re singing it together for the last time, and we all know that 5^th gen is full of cry babies anyway.

2. ByeBye Mata ne, Berryz, Maiha’s Graduation

Reminds me of every friend I’ve ever parted ways with. The Berryz suddenly stop looking like idols to me and start looking like exactly what they are, really sad, crying little girls who are saying goodbye to someone that they love. I want to hug all of them, give them cookies, and tell them it’ll all be okay.

1. Nino, Konseki, Iza Now tour

Online Videos by Veoh.com

Now this is damn sad, not to mention some of the best singing I’ve ever heard from dear Nino. I love it, but I kind of hate it at the same time, because I can’t stand to see Nino looking so pained. The translation can be found in the description of the youtube clip I embedded here, and I’ve retyped it up below. I’d highly recommend reading it because knowing what the lyrics mean makes it at least ten times more tear inducing. Combine pathetically touching lyrics with Nino’s fabulous emoting/acting skills, and I’m practically sobbing. He wrote it himself, and you can see lots of tears in his eyes when the song ends. It’s an unusual thing because Nino is not one of the crybabies of Arashi *coughaibacough*. Isn’t this just beautiful?

Lingering, Lingering

After the early summer rain, the undried remains of tears

Unerasable, Unerasable

My beloved’s shadow floats in the dark night

Walking along the banks at sunset with you together

We lead each other along with our smiles

What shall we have for dinner today?

Such a small and humble happiness

Though you have died, you live within my heart

I could love someone else, but there is no one but you

No matter how many seasons I struggle through

I’m afraid of letting go, of letting it dissapear

I gaze at violets

What a pretty flower

But I know that someday they will wilt

It is evening

If I think of the crimson waters, there remains the two of us on the liquid’s surface

Shadows heap on top of each other

I’m afraid of being alone

Realizing too late that there is only one person on the liquid’s surface

The seed planted in my heart that day

Buds sprouted after

In appearance and form it is different

But my love is unchanged, the gentle light

Sniffle,

~Celestia~

Back by popular demand, it’s the costume hall of shame, tackling yet another of the serious issues plaguing the h!p wardrobe department, an preponderance of misplaced ruffles. I’m not going to suggest banning all ruffles from h!p costumes. They are idols after all, so a certain amount of rufflage is expect, maybe even required. However, that’s no excuse to start flinging the ruffles around willy-nilly.

This is totally Kanna’s bitch face, and it’s easy to see why she’s making it right now. Ignoring for a moment the awful color-combination, look at the placement of the ruffles. I hope I’m not dating myself by bringing up the infamous ‘puffy shirt’ episode of Seinfeld, but this reminds me a lot of that. Poofy-sleeved swashbuckling, a little neckruffly clownyness, and a big ugly chunk of ruffle hanging down her thigh like some sort of tail.

“So C-ute thinks they can beat Berryz when it comes to tiered, boxy, figure swallowing, unflatteringly colored, ruffly dresses reminiscent of jellyfish?” Risako thinks to herself. (I’m not sure if this is her bitch face or not. It may just be her normal face)

“Well suck on this you ‘lalalala’-spouting harlots!!!”

Umm…so Morning Musume, Little Bo Peep called….

Here’s a costume that’s perfectly fine from the waist up, but awful from the waist down. I ask you, is there any occasion, any occasion at all, where it is a good idea to wear long pants on one of your legs and not the other? Half of them have strapped one of those unflattering tiered dresses to one leg (presumably these can be removed and used as costumes by one of the kids groups later) while some kind of awful yellow sheath made to look almost plaid by the clumsy application of various ruffly ribbons adorns one of the legs of the other half. Just take a moment with me now and imagine how much nicer this would have looked without the half-pants. For God’s sake, it looks like they’re trying to hide the fact that they’re all missing one leg!

Hope I wasn’t too rough on them,

~Celestia~