Bikkuri Project

Holy shit, I’m a college graduate.

 ~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 am currently debating whether or not to attend the summer Wonderful Hearts concert, and before you say, “You fool! Of course you should go!!” please hear me out. The concerts are on August 2nd and 3rd. I will be in Japan staying with friends starting in mid July, but I’ll only have moved to my residence in Saitama a few days before. I won’t be very familiar with the area yet, so I’m concerned that I won’t be able to figure out the train system in time to safely get myself there. Also, I’ll probably be very busy trying to set up house in my new apartment. Finally, I’m unsure whether or not I will have training activities for my job that day. It’s a weekend, and the contract says I don’t work weekends, but since it’s the very beginning, there might be activities anyway. I suppose they might get over before the concerts, but with my lack to train skillz, I don’t want to cut the timing too close. I do really want to go though, and an all Wonderful Hearts concert would be a great way to kick off my year in Japan, wouldn’t it?

Then, assuming that I can work out all of the problems mentioned above, what sort of tickets ought I to get? On the one hand, as a 5′4” 115lb female, I’m worried that if I sit on the main level I will be accidentally trampled by overenthusiastic dancing wota or perhaps take an elbow to the face and break my nose or something. I’d imagine being rushed to the emergency room would be a pretty effective way to ruin my concert-going experience. Also, I don’t really intend to dance along, because I want to actually watch the concert, so I’m worried people might get annoyed if I’m not dancing with everyone. On the other hand, I don’t want to have to bring binoculars just to make out which girl is which. I’m going to the concert to actually see them, and that might be difficult if I’m sitting up in the “family” section.

Help?

~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~

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!

I have been having a bit of a dilemma lately, so I was hoping that some of you may give me your opinions. You probably already realize that there are A LOT of h!p blogs out there, and their numbers seem to be increasing exponentially. This is a very good thing, because more blogs means more people who are big enough fans to write, and it also means more attention being drawn to h!p within the English speaking world. So this is all well and good in a general sense, but on a selfish and personal level, I find myself feeling rather limited as to what I can write about. If there are 50 reviews of the Resonant Blue PV, for example, then what’s the point of my adding another one? If 50 people write up thoughtful reactions to the latest h!p scandal, is there anything the 51^st person can say that hasn’t already been written?

It brings to question who exactly it is that I’m writing for. If I’m writing for my own enjoyment, then I should just write whatever the hell I want and not worry about what others are writing. I know that I’m self indulgent on occasion, but I think that I am much more writing for you, the readers, and so I feel obligated to do my best to offer something that is unique and worth your time. I try to think about what kind of entries I would most enjoy reading and then write those. I certainly enjoy writing entries like that, but it does leave me with considerably less material to work with. Another concern with the way I’m doing things now is that anyone who comes across my blog who is not from our community will wonder what kind of crappy h!p blog doesn’t even review the new PV or bother to mention an important scandal.

Another problem is the issue of my other (Johnny’s) blog. I try to update both blogs fairly evenly because I don’t want people to get the idea that I’ve abandoned my h!p fandom in favor of Johnny’s (SO not true), but since there are far less Johnny’s blogs in this community, I have far more original material to work with and comment on there. Now, I know of many arashi and *that group I promised shall not be named here* blogs with translation, fanworks, and scans (less actual writing, but plenty of eyecandy), and as an International Wota contributor, I almost feel obligated to ask them if they would like to be included in the site. On the one hand, more Johnny’s recognition within the community, and likely more readers for me! On the other hand, more competition, less virgin territory to cover, and maybe there aren’t enough people interested anyway. Is it more selfish to contact them or to not contact them? I can’t decide.

But back to the issue at hand, this blog. I’ve posted a new poll so you can share your opinions, but I’m basically asking you to choose between two options: Only posting the updates that I feel address topics that haven’t already been covered by many blogs, meaning that updates aren’t quite as frequent, or post updates on the full spectrum of h!p goings on regardless of what the other blogs are doing, likely meaning updates on a daily basis.

Anyway, I hope I’m not offending any of the other h!p blogs or implying that my entries are somehow worth more than yours. That’s really not what I mean at all. The issue is arising more from my personal preference and reasons for blogging than anything.

Ready, set, vote!

~Celestia~

PS. 4th gen won the last poll!

This first paragraph is going to be the same in both of my blogs. Just giving you a heads up.

Hey guys. I have officially returned from my spring break camp-o-rama, and I’m pleased to see that nothing HUGE happened while I was gone. I was so worried all week. If you were wondering what all I was doing, my school has an ‘alternative spring break’ program where instead of partying all night and sleeping all day, a group of 15 or so students spend the week doing ’service learning’. My particular trip focused on nature, so that meant I spent the week doing stuff like camping, surveying streams, removing invasive species, building trails, and planting trees. It was usually too cold to sleep, even with 12 or so layers of clothing on, we routinely got stuck in thigh-high mud, and my arms look like I lost a fight with an angry cat (blackberries are the devil), but I had a truly awesome time. What does this have to do with Jpop, you might ask? Well, 4 of our resident Japanese exchange students participated in the trip, and so I had the chance to get pretty close with them and learn a bit about their opinions on my favorite music. Our sample group is made up of female sophmores in college, all around 20 years old.

So, they weren’t all that interested in Hello Project, but that was to be expected I suppose. What I did find out is that they knew most of the words to a lot of the songs, including Shabondama, though they weren’t familiar with anything in the last year or two. Collectively they could name all of the members through Koharu, but they knew nothing about 8th gen. In general, they seemed to regard h!p as something kind of funny and nostalgic, but rather uncool to be interested in at their age. The situation seemed like  someone in America today declaring themselves a big fan of Ace of Base. Sure I remember the songs and I’ll sing along for fun, but there’s no way I’ll take them or their music seriously anymore.

As the unrelated note of the day, I just realized that MM’s Cinderella will be playing while I’m in Japan, so I’m going to be able to see it. I got shivers just typing that. Not, “oh I wish I could see that…” but, “I am going to see Morning Musume perform Cinderella!” Also, I am likely going to be buying the DVD of their Spring Concert, but I won’t have to wait for it to be delivered because I’m going to buy it in Japan!! How freaking awesome is that?

I’ll be back with a proper post once I catch up to everything I’ve missed this week. It could take a while…

HAGS,

~Celestia~

I don’t know if you remember, but I was considering applying for a job to teach English in Japan. I did end up deciding to apply, and I just found out today that I got it. The reality is just now setting in, but officially, starting at the end of July, I will be spending the entire fricking year in Japan!! Do you know what this means?? Do you have any idea how much stuff I’m going to buy, how many concerts I’m going to attend??? I anticipate that my blogs are going to become much better too, because I will be able to report right from the source. Holy shit I’m excited.

Also, I should mention that I’m going to be away for Spring Break, so in case I don’t post again before then, don’t expect any updates over next week.

!!!!!!!!!!,

~Celestia~

EDIT: I forgot to mention, if anyone is going to be in Japan from august 2008 to july 2009, and you would like to catch any sort of h!p concert with me, please please let me know! I’d love to be able to attend with another english-speaking fan, preferably around my own age (22). I’ll be living in Saitama, so Tokyo venues are pretty convenient. Just let me know, k?