For those of you who haven’t heard about or seen the clips from this past weekend’s 24hr TV broadcast, Morning Musume and S/mileage from Hello! Project collaborated with some AKB48 members to perform a Ghibli medley and Morning Musume’s Dekkai Uchuu ni Ai ga Aru.
I haven’t read fan reactions on the forums, but I can only imagine the flame wars which resulted from this “yume no collaboration”. I’m a Hello! Project fan, but I found it interesting to see Hello! Project and AKB48 members on the same stage working together (Morning Musume’s leader, Takahashi Ai, and AKB’s #1 girl, Oshima Yuko, were so cute near the end of Dekkai) . And really, this event shouldn’t be about idol group vs. idol group. Both Gaki and OpsMonkey put that in perspective as they remind us that this is a charity event and not the time for wota rivalries.
With the recent influx of new idolgirlgroups in Japan, I could see why the news stations would be interviewing the public about this. For these groups to even come into existence, there needs to be enough interest in forming new ones/joining established ones. That means that people need to want to apply for the ability to audition for these groups. Don’t even get me started on the last two boy groups/bands that formed in the past week or two. Saturation of the market is NOT needed right now~ -_-
Today is the long-awaited release day for AKB’s new single, Heavy Rotation, with the PV that everyone’s been talking about! Sales are already out for the day, and it seems that after shipping 650000 copies to stores to sell – more than their previous single – they ending up selling less than Ponytail to Shushu. But before you start freaking out over their downfall, it was only about 10k less, bringing in a total sales number of 340,487. That’s over 300,000 more copies than AAA’s new single at #2!! With that I’d say it’s pretty much guaranteed they’ll get #1 for the week. I can’t wait to see their total sales for the week!
And here’s your host, Tom Kennedy..errr, I mean Hinatin! I’m glad to see Hina has brought back her popular parlor game. Like the idols themselves, many of our featured bloggers have their own musical talents. Hina breaks out her guitar and plays some of her favorite AKB/SKE tunes, and you get to guess which songs she is playing! Fun, eh?
I’m not sure if there are any prizes in mind, but you can mail your guesses to Hina. Rumor has it that if you win you will be invited back for the bonus “sing-a-tune” round with guest vocalist Kathie Lee Gifford! ;-)
There seems to be no shortage of product endorsements for AKB48 these days. But this is one of the cutest I have seen. Puccho candies is using AKB48 and their new single in a new advertising campaign. Not only is the concept adorable, but the ads themselves are quite tongue-in-cheek! MELOS has linked the site, which is full of mindless entertainment. So now you know why all the girls have recently been talking about candy on their blogs!
Okay, this isn’t really new news. But it was re-announced not too long ago on one of SDN48′s new television programs. AKB48′s “mature audience” unit is about to release their first single. The second part of this story is that management is considering removing the age limit to see the group perform live.
While everyone is ecstatic over the debut single, the age limit issue has stirred a little bit of controversy with some of the SDN faithful. Although the girls themselves seem quite happy about it. I am personally concerned they might homogenize their content to appeal to a wider audience. But then I am reminded of AKB48′s Heavy Rotation PV (hehe) In any case, one year after their debut SDN48 is finally getting the push they deserve. That itself is great news!
It has been a rough week, I know! May-Lyn comes to the rescue with plenty of H!P photos from B.L.T. magazine. I wonder if those came with any collector cards? For those of you who went to Anime Expo, Anni has previews of the PB Oshima Yuko shot while she was in California. I have two words…”CK Wants” And J wonders which you prefer, the sexiness of Maeda Atsuko or the more taboo sexiness of Maeda Yuuka. I know what my answer is!
Wow, I remember watching Team A’s Stage at the theater back in the Fall of 2008! But FINALLY the last piece of the puzzle is in place. The new Team A finally debuted their new stage, “Eyewitness”. Some of the lucky few who have seen the show have their reviews ready…
We will start with known Team B enthusiast Aigon, who feels the Stage rocks…at times. I have long noticed with Aigon he and I have very opposite opinions about AKB48 songs. He usually loves the songs I hate, and vice-versa. But that’s okay. Somebody has to cheer for everything. He still prefers Team B’s new stuff, but ultimately thinks the shuffle has been a tremendous success overall.
RSL noticed many of the Theater upgrades are evident on the LOD. You can always count on RSL for a detailed costume review. In addition to his well-detailed descriptions of each song, he ends the post with a “favorite-least favorite” listing of the songs, costumes and dances.
MELOS begins by giving props to one of the most surprising aspects of the new stages…The Zenza Girls. I love their songs too, even if I still don’t have a favorite Kenkyuusei. I love that Melos picks some of the same songs as me as his faves. Yes, I love Akogare no Popstar and Saboten no Goldrush too!
P.L’s review is brief and to the point, although she might be the only person I have heard say Takamina’s solo unit “sucked”. That is surprising to me! Finally Mina acknowledges the Talent in Team A, but isn’t fond of too many of these songs. She wishes Mariko would smile more, and wonders how the fans see the girls with such bad lighting. Actually Mina, the lighting isn’t that bad in the Theater. That is more the effect of the LOD cameras.
So not the greatest reviews. I don’t know, I really like A6. But my Oshimen is on Team A. Like with most aspects of pop idols, I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
It’s only August, but calendars are already starting to be announced! I don’t even want to think about the upcoming school year, let alone 2011, but I do love seeing who gets their own calendars. Hello! Project has the main artists as usual – Momusu, C-ute, Berryz, Manoeri, S/mileage; while AKB and their related groups have a ton of different solo calendars from their girls. So many options! And then there’s things like anime calendars, and actor/actress calendars, and that leads into the biggest question of them all: how can you choose between so many? Do you have the wall space for all of your favorites?!
So SDN’s senbatsu has been going on for a while now, and we finally have an end date – September 4th. Wow, that’s a lot longer than AKB senbatsu voting! That gives you a lot of time to vote by reading their blogs, so keep going – it’s not too late to start!! But what we didn’t know before is that SDN is going to debut on a major label, Universal Music. Congratulations! I’m not familiar with most of the SDN girls due to the lack of LODs, but I can’t wait to see the girls I do know leading the single. Meetan in the center (with her current position of #1) sounds pretty awesome *_____*
“Yume no Collaboration” Musume x S/mileage x AKB48 (Pure Idol Heart)