Where does the time go? This coming Thursday, March 18, International Wota will be celebrating its third anniversary. You know what that means…. It’s time to break out the cake!!
As per IW tradition, we’re calling any bloggers who want to celebrate the big day with us to share a cake (or other such goodies) on their blog, and we’ll share all the cake day messages here on the site. For those who are unfamiliar to IW and how Cake Day works, check out the posts from Cake Day 2008 and 2009.
I’m looking forward to seeing what cakes and other goodies people come up with this year. My favourites from last year were Vee’s “Yuke Yuke Monkey Cake” and Amy’s flan and potato sculptures. I wonder what will make my favourites list this year.
The new album from C-ute has been out for a little while now. It hasn’t gone unnoticed that I haven’t seen/heard too much scuttlebutt over the new tracks. After reading the following reviews I am beginning to understand why. But if you are still wondering if you should hit the purchase button on your own shopping cart, here are a few opinions for your review…
Suffice it to say the new 5-nin version is not working for Jin, who has been disappointed with C-ute’s latest single releases. So there is one strike. As far as the new material Jin finds one song worthy of mention. But the rest of the CD is given the seal of “disaster”, making me wonder if the 2 1/2 star rating was a bit too generous.
Arche-JoIyO has been reading a lot of negative reviews, but wonders if the Cd could really be “that bad”. She rates each song individually, the final judgement being if the song makes it onto the Ipod (hehe). I won’t give away how many songs made the cut, but overall she finds the album enjoyable. At this point I’ll take “enjoyable” as the ultimate victory.
TD wonders if this album represents the group’s search for a new identity. If you think about it, MoMusu, Berryz and Manoeri definitely have a consistent style (more or less). But what about C-ute? They seem to be all over the map lately. And while she sees this effort as a bit “premature”, she appreciates the attempt to mature as a group.
Finally Greg is disappointed with the group he once said “gets the best songs in H!P”. Perhaps this is an aberration. Echoing Tasuki Daisuki, it could be that Tsunku is experimenting with a new dynamic. If it doesn’t work, then back to the drawing board I guess.
I feel badly for C-ute, as it seems they haven’t yet recovered from the loss of Erika and Kanna. I know they weren’t the front members of the group, but they were as much a part of the family dynamic as anyone. Unlike some of these reviewers I have actually liked their recent singles, so perhaps I would give a more favorable review than these. But the general consensus seems to be consistent across the board.
The good news is that like the bad haircut I recently got, nothing is permanent! Tsunku and the girls can always follow this up with something new and different, and then everyone will declare C-ute to be awesome all over again. And one other thing…
If this doesn’t speak to the benefit of adding new members, I don’t know what does!
4 concerts, 4 countries. Holy smokes… This coming May, Hangry & Angry are coming to a European city near you! The European Hello! Project bloggers are all over this news and plans are being made. Links to get tickets are in the posts and you can definitely feel the excitement building.
I love how Zush already has his ticket in hand… Looks like he needs to pinch himself to make sure he isn’t dreaming. I have to say I’m jealous. Yes, I did see Morning Musume at Anime Expo last year, but I had to fly to the other end of the continent to do so… What are the chances that some Hello! Project related act will make a trip to the northern neighbour of the US of A?
You may or may not be aware that AKB48’s Team K did their final performance of their 5th stage ‘Saka Agari’ on February 21st. The show marked the end of the original K lineup and the beginning of the AKB48 Team shuffles that were announced last summer. The end of the original Team A and Team B are soon to follow, although no official dates have been announced as of yet. Here we have two tributes…the first one by Xyish of “team no akb no life” Xyish has a great deal of the senshuuraku LOD in the form of snippet videos. There’s tears, laughter and plenty of memorable moments to catch. No question, it’s a must-watch performance.
Melos also has a review of the senshuuraku. In addition he has a translation of Ohori Megumi’s post-show messages that she blogged the day after the performance. I’m sure this was especially emotional for Meetan (and Nonti for that matter) since this also marked their “graduation” to full time members of SDN. I’ll leave you with an especially touching quote from Melos that I think says it all…
“Team K will always be remembered by me and I’m sure many others as the greatest, strongest, most united and most loving Team ever. Nothing can ever replace the old Team K. Rest in peace.”
This idol blog/twitter thing is all the rage lately, eh? Now it’s S/mileage’s turn. In celebration of their awesome new single they have begun tweeting as well as posting on Ameba’s blog site. In addition the girls also have a new official web page.
This is a pretty big push for Hello! Project’s new flagship group. As someone who has never understood the hysteria over Maeda Yuuka, I might be the last person to jump on this group’s bandwagon. That said, I am in love with the new single and PV. M and Ta-dai have all the information for you to fill up on the loli goodness!
One of the many things I love about Cat’s blog is it’s a great place for a newbie to learn tons of great stuff about AKB48. In fact every time I read her posts I learn something new, and I have loved the group for three years! Now she has embarked on a new series, discussing in great depth the major players in AKB. And who better to begin with than the face of the entire organization, along with the new phenom from down Nagoya way?
I especially love her post about Acchan. I have always been fond of her, although I am aware of the frequent bashing she gets from fans. I get that much of the criticism isn’t entirely unfounded. But I will never concede that she isn’t an enthusiastic member of AKB. If you have ever read her blog you would know what I mean. She definitely loves what she does. But what Cat points out is what a simple girl she actually is. the thing about Atsuko is she’s good at everything, without being too good. That and her general shyness makes her arguably a perfect idol. Somebody your average fan can relate too. Then you have Jurina…
Leading SKE48 at the age of 11, how amazing is that? But it’s funny how most of the big guns have their critics. And Jurina has it in spades because many AKB fans see her as an “invader” of sorts. But the fact is the girl is incredibly talented…more talented than many girls with twice her years and experience. Once again Cat goes into the virtues of Jurina in an explanation on why she has the position she has.
Oh, and both of these posts has plenty of eyecandy to go along with the story, so enjoy.
With the official announcement that Melon Kinenbi is disbanding at the end of their spring tour, there’s bound to be some reaction.
H!P’s most stable group that is made up of pure awesomeness some of the oldest Hello!Project members is breaking up. While their sales were never the best, they will still be missed as a group by many bloggers and wotas alike. The official message from the group implies that they will continue to be in showbiz, but there is no official announcement yet as to what they will be doing.
While Tokyograph and Hello!Online break the news, we also have some early reaction from bloggers, though more is sure to come. Paul, as the post title would imply, is rather upset about their break-up to say the least, but he’s still waiting to receive their final album. While over at Hello!SayuNii, Paul’s fellow blogger isn’t quite as upset, there’s still the question of why? That is- Why did Melon Kinenbi break up now, when they have a new album titled (ironically) “Melon’s Not Dead” and it’s their 10th anniversary. Hello!SayuNii also has most (if not all) of the Japanese news releases about their break up, but all of the Melon fans out there will certainly be waiting for more news.
This has to be the biggest reaction from the growing number of AKB48 bloggers ever! Everyone knows the girls and AkiP have been on a roll lately, but nobody guessed the new single would put up “JE” type numbers in it’s first day of release. I’m not going to go into each writer’s individual reaction. But suffice it to say that everyone is going through the same shock and jubilation. Even the doubters are kissing the proverbial feet of Akimoto Yasushi for even thinking that a “choral song” was a leap backward for AKB48’s momentum.
Yep, the entire organization just “leveled up” with this release.
We didn’t know what else to get you, so we hope you like eyecandy…
In honor of JunJun’s birthday, Morningtime has a big collection of adorable “panda” pics. She is just too adorable, and has the greatest personality. She is great at playing the “innocent and ditzy” character. But I think a lot of that is done with tongue in cheek. In any case, just watching her makes me wish for another MoMusu TV show.
In honor of the new single, J Has what I think is the complete B.L.T. spread of AKB48 in their beautiful Kimonos. Pretty much everyone got a page, so be sure and find your favorite girl. It’s great to see the likes of Nakayan, Natsumi, Umechan, Tanamin and Chris in here as they don’t usually get much love in the AKB magazine spreads. And I must say Tanamin looks adorable!
Langdon has one pic for his “hump day” feature, but it’s a good one. I love any photo that features Shokotan. And here she is hanging out with Aya Hirano.
Finally MB gives us the latest PB from Noto Arisa. And if you haven’t seen these pics yet, whoa!!! This book is the perfect explanation on why I think Nocchi is great! She is 21 years old??? That is awesome! Gawd, I want to take her barhopping!
In summary, I would gladly give my valentine to any of these girls!
At around this time last year, the international Hello! Project fandom was buzzing with the news of Morning Musume coming to America to perform at Anime Expo. This year, instead of an announcement on AX’s latest musical guest of honour, a whole lot of drama is surrounding the suits of the convention. About a month a go, a number of Anime Expo division managers resigned. Now, an insider report has surfaced putting the current CEO of the Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation (SPJA), Michael Lattanzio, in an extremely bad light.
Greg and Paul have further details on the latest report. If Lattanzio really did treat representatives from the Japanese music industry in the fashion mentioned in that insider’s report, it will be interesting to see what musical guests AX can scrounge up for this year.
Last year, the first guests of honour (Morning Musume) were announced on Feburary 12th. While I’m not sure if a musical guest is usually the first GOH to be announced by Anime Expo, we have a little less than 2 days to see if some big announcement will come out putting these rumours to shame… But if there’s still no word in the next few days, then we can really start wondering.
Where does the time go? This coming Thursday, March 18, International Wota will be celebrating its third anniversary. You know what that means…. It’s time to break out the cake!!
