Iida Kaori’s Baby Son Dies of Chronic Renal Failure (「☆☆☆」)
Iida Kaori (Hello!Online Forums)

Bri of 「☆☆☆」 and poster Nouciel on the Hello!Online forums both bring the sad news of former Morning Musume member Iida Kaori’s son passing away at the age of six months. Her son, whose name was never released to the media, was born in January of this year, and died of chronic renal failure on July 27th. A memorial service was held in September, but this news was not made public until today.

Both Hello! Project and Iida have released official comments, which can be read here and here. They have not yet been translated.

On behalf of all of IW, I offer our condolences to Iida and her family.

Lotta Love Lotta Love and Minna no Tamago Previews (「☆☆☆」)
Shugo Chara!! Doki Previews (Stardust)

The first episode of season 2 of Shugo Chara aired today in Japan, and with it, previews for Buono!’s upcoming 5th single and Shugo Chara Egg!’s first single.

Bri of 「☆☆☆」 is liking this latest single of Buono!’s best of all previous releases, and Mars of Stardust definitely feels it’s one of the best. Both Bri and Mars say the Shugo Chara Egg! single is very cute… There’s nothing to compare it to yet, though, so I guess there’s not too much to say about it at the moment.

New Milky Way Artists Photos (「☆☆☆」)
New Morning Musume Artist Photos (「☆☆☆」)
New Morning Musume & MilkyWay Artist Pictures (Totally Hello! Project)
Lookie, Lookie What I Found… (Give Me Love)

There are new official photos of Milky Way and Morning Musume and they show off the costumes for their latest singles.

Bri at 「☆☆☆」thinks the Milky Way outfits are cute and says that Niigaki Risa, Kamei Eri and Takahashi Ai stand out amongst Morning Musume.

亜田無 at Totally Hello! Project has the pictures posted.

Give Me Love posted the Milky Way outfits and talks about them as well as the desire to own one of the tambourines that the girls carry around.

PEPPER~ Keibu! (Stardust)
Doctored Pepper (The J-Pex)
wtf Pink Lady (LOVE Tantei)
Pepper Keibu… huh? (H!P Fangirling like Nobody’s Business)
Pepper Keibu and Cover You - Morning Musume (「☆☆☆」)
Pepper Keibu : Full single and Download (hello!musume)
Pepper Keibu and C-ute costume follow-up (Midori’s J-pop Overanalyzations)

Recommended reading. A lot of blogs have something to say about Morning Musume’s 37th single announcement.

Mars at Stardust looks at the single’s covers and finds that Risa and Eri are the standouts on these awesome looking covers. Mars goes on to describe the upcoming single as well as announces the upcoming cover album. It looks like Mars is on the fence on whether or not to be excited about this release, but it seems this will not affect the selling power of the single.

Pex is not the slightest be discouraged over the fact that Morning Musume’s next single will be a cover. It looks like Pex is a fan of the original song, and feels that the Morning girls will be able to do it justice. What’s interesting here is that Pex gives us his ideas on how the PV should be.

On the opposite spectrum, chibon of LOVE Tantei is completely disappointed by the lack of originality in this upcoming release. Having thoroughly enjoyed Morning Musume’s latest endeavour, chibon wonders what is going on with UFA and why they can’t seem to release back-to-back releases of original and high-quality content.

DJ_MaiMai tries to look at the positive side by giving examples of previous H!P songs which have been covers. She also embeds a number of videos to further highlight her examples.

Bri of 「☆☆☆」 is disappointed at the announcement of this new single because she had a song in mind for Morning Musume’s 37th single. She’s also hoping that covering Pink Lady may shine some good publicity (eqaulling more sales) on Morning Musume.

Nakane of hello!musume has embedded audio files of Morning Musume’s 37th single - an instrumental and one with Morning’s vocals. Nakane has also added some colour-coded lyrics to the post, so you can sing some karaoke to the instrumental version, if you like!

Much like Bri, Midori is looking that the release of a cover as a possible sales booster for Morning Musume. Midori is looking forward to seeing the PV, and closes off the post following up on a costuming issue with Airi’s dress from C-ute’s latest PV. Though, in relation to the costume… Are we supposed to be looking at Makoto’s outfit? If so, I don’t quite see the resemblance.

Hello! project 2009 calenders (Wotaku Now!)
2009 Calendar Covers (「☆☆☆」)
2009 H!P Calendars: WHICH ONE WILL CFB BUY!? (Obnoxious Wota)
2009 Calendars (Morningtime)

The time has come to choose your Calendar! The covers for the 2009 Morning Musumue, Berryz Koubou, C-ute, Matsuura Aya and Abe Natsumi calendars are up and ready to get you thinking about which calendar you want to buy for next year.

C-ute’s mish-mash of outfits leaves me intrigued to see what the heck will be within the calendar. Shirow of Wotaku Now! has some amusing commentary on that cover.

Bri at 「☆☆☆」 loves Momusu’s cover, is a little disgruntled at Berryz Koubou’s, and is not impressed with C-ute’s at all. She’s got a thumbs down for Nacchi and a thumbs up for Aya (go Aya!).

CatchFiveBats of Obnoxious Wota is torn between Berryz Koubou and Morning Musume’s calendars… He’s taking suggestions in his comments… I wonder if he needs a suggestion from me, or if my vote is predictable…

Morningtime just looks at Momusu’s and Nacchi’s covers… There is some amusing commentary on Morning’s, while Nacchi’s smile doesn’t seem to be up to snuff this time around.

5 (FIVE) Covers (Hello! C-ute)
5 (Five) Covers (「☆☆☆」)
Covers for 5 (FIVE) (Totally Hello! Project)
5(FIVE) (H!P Fangirling like Nobody’s Business)

Some low quality photos for Berryz upcoming 5th album have been released. Many people have been talking about BK’s new artist photos on the official H!P site, and the assumption that those outfits would be used on the new cover were correct. However, it looks like people are liking the covers even though the initial reaction to the outfits themselves were more negative.

Buono!’s 5th Single (Hello! C-ute)
Buono! 5th Single (Strawberrie)
Buono! 5th Single (「☆☆☆」)
Buono! To Release 5th Single (2008-11-12) (Totally Hello! Project)

Buono! has a 5th single on the way, which will be the first ending theme for Shugo Chara’s second season. I think the announcement of this single has allowed many Buono! fans to breathe a sigh of relief in regards to the possibility of the group breaking up. I wasn’t particularly worried, particuarly since I saw links to merchandise to celebrate Buono!’s 1 year anniversary a few days ago… If you’re celebrating 1 year, I don’t think you’re gonna kill the group the next day. XD

Berryz Koubou 18th Single (Strawberrie)
Berryz Koubou 18th Single (「☆☆☆」)
Berryz Koubou’s 18th Single (Hello! C-ute)
18th Berryz Koubou Single Announced (Totally Hello! Project)

Many blogs have news of Berryz Koubou’s 18th Single, which has yet to be named. This is coming about a month and a half after the release of Berryz Koubou’s 5th album. All I have to say is that I’m so glad the remix of Dschinghis Khan is only a special release, and not actually a BK single.

Gachinko de Ikou! PV (H!P Fangirling like Nobody’s Business)
Buono! - Gachinko de Ikou PV (Mayuge Beam!)
Gachinko de Ikou! Full PV by Buono! (Love マシーン)
Gachinko de Ikou! PV (「☆☆☆」)
I wasn’t gonna do this, but… (Aoi♥Usagi)
The Shifty World of ‘Buono!’ (itsumo genki)

Recommended reading. The PV for Buono!’s upcoming single has been up for a few days now, and many bloggers have something to say about it.

DJ_MaiMai at H!P Fangirling is absolutely loving the PV, though I got a little bit confused with the reference to a having non-H!P people being featured as a first… Has Buono!’s first single already been forgotten? XD As for a girl swooning when she sees a hot girl dress like a guy and pull it off, I had a male friend who was gay swoon over a female friend dressed as a male greaser… Opposite genders, but same principle. XD

James at Mayuge Beam! is worried about Buono! breaking up with the 1st season of Shugo Chara! coming to an end, but as mentioned in an earlier post here, Shugo Chara!’s going for a second season. He takes a look at the new arrangement of the girls in this PV (ie. Miya’s not in the middle here) and uses her role in previous PVs to explain her movement to front and centre, goes into a synopsis of the PV and takes a look at each of the girls. I was a little confused in his talk about Momoko… “She can NOT look cute EVER.” Is a word missing in this sentence? o_O And yes, Miya is totally hot in this PV…

markusantoine of Love マシーン has the PV embedded, and is amused by Momoko proclaiming herself as the leader of Buono! However, I have seen an interview with Buono! somewhere where Miyabi and Airi both said that Momoko was the leader (even though Airi jokingly [I think] said that Miya should really be the leader).

Bri of 「☆☆☆」 likes the mellow rock feel of the song, and proclaims it her new favourite Buono! single. She gives a list of what was written on the dart board and what each girl landed on during the dart throwing. I don’t quite see what she saw in regards to Miyabi’s attitude in the PV, but she’s loving Airi here (and in Buono! in general).

Usa-chan of Aoi♥Usagi feels obliged to review Buono!’s PV, for in the reviews she had read prior to her post, no one had mentioned a specific section that stood out to her. She looks at each of the girls and explains the role each girl plays to become the cohesive awesomeness that is Buono! She also goes over the dance and concept of the PV before giving us a screencap of why she wrote this review… I must say it’s a very cute screenshot.

isilwentari of itsumo genki loves the PV and the nonsensical pseudoplot. Buono! has not been a constant winner for isilwentari, but it looks like everything done in this release was done right. However, can you really blame them for mentioning “Kokoro no tamago” in multiple songs? If you’ve watched any Shugo Chara!, I don’t think anyone would question it. I mean, they’re a group that was made to sing for this anime… You need to make the references in the songs for it to stay relevant.

~Single Daizenshuu~ the Epic: Part I (Kameipuru☆Syrup)
Morning Musume Concert Tour 2008 Haru ~Single Daizenshuu!!~ Review (「☆☆☆」)

Recommended reading. Here we get two very indepth concert reviews for Morning Musume’s 2008 Spring Concert.

Ines of Kameipuru☆Syrup has taken a very methodical look at the concert and graded each performance based on “1) vocal performance/unity and 2) dance performance/unity on a scale of 0-10″. High and low points for each performance are presented, and summarizing charts are available at the end of the post. What I noticed was that the 7th/8th gen performance of “Hyokkori Hyoutanjima” got the lowest rating. Looks like the newest members of Morning Musume still have a lot of work to do to get to the same level as their sempai.

Bri of 「☆☆☆」 gives us her reactions as she watches the concert. I enjoyed reading her thoughts and feelings on each of the songs. You could tell when she really got into certain performances. As I read through this, I realized that I need to re-watch the “Egao Yes Nude” performance, for it seems to have been smoking. I was distracted during my first watch through, so I’ll definitely be looking for all the hotness the next time around.

Something Strange is Happening to Me…

Bri seems troubled by a recent “changing of the guard” in her Hello! Project fandom.  She notes how she is becoming annoyed with some of her past favorite members, but surprises herself with a new appreciation for members she never really liked before.  The biggest surprise being a new found affection for a certain H!P Kid with a questionable singing voice and attitude.

Just about everyone goes through crisis’ like this at some point in their lives.  Personally I have flip-flopped many times about the members I watch closely and the one’s I don’t pay much attention to.  So let’s all support Bri during these troubling times!

Michishige Sayumi 5th Photobook (「☆☆☆」)
New Sayumi Michishige Photobook out 26th September (Morningtime)

Another Sayu photobook? Ok!

Gachinko de Ikou! Covers (「☆☆☆」)
New Single Covers for Gachinko de Ikou - Buono! (°Absol-ute °C-ute)
Gachinko de Ikou! Covers (Stardust)
Gachinko de Ikou! Covers (Strawberrie)
Gachinko de Ikou! Infozzzz (What Kio Says: Hello Project Much?)

The covers to Buono’s Gachinko de Ikou! are being passed around. The Limited Edition shows the girls playing strip poker and the Regular Edition has them playing strip Jenga.

Bri of 「☆☆☆」 thinks the Limited Edition is just “gross.” Her reasoning makes sense as the background is pretty ugly. However, they are playing strip poker, so all is forgiven. Also, is Bri’s blog now named “「☆☆☆」” officially? I could have sworn it was I WISH;; not too long ago…

Mars from Stardust has the images in a smaller resolution. The covers look significantly better when they aren’t blown up.

Strawberrie is another blogger who likes the Regular Edition better. But… but… strip poker!

Kiokiou of What Kio Says has the covers as well.

Amy of °Absol-ute °C-ute has the covers as well as an obnoxious conversation with a certain blogger. The two of them have way too much enthusiasm for Jenga… I like seeing someone post a chat log with CFB on the other end though. A little “turnabout is fair play” on his style of blogging.

Biyudensetsu (hajimete no ROCK CONCERT)
Biyuden : Disbands (Hello!Musume)
Goodbye v-u-den (HNPH)
The End of v-u-den (I WISH;;)
V-u-den Disband (Let’s Laugh! Hello Project)
A sandwiched farewell to Biyuuden (OH NOES! Magi-Kat’s rambling again!) (Magi-Kat presents “Morning Meteora”)
Why I’m Missing Biyuuden (Midori’s J-pop Overanalyzations)
Biyuuden- Nannimo iwazu ni I LOVE YOU pv (Morningtime)
Bye Bye V-U-DEN♥ (Nekocafe’s World!)
Never Forget (Shanimuni Paradise)

v-u-den disbanded over the weekend. There were lots of reactions and I apologize that they are so late on reaching IW. Some bloggers took it as an opportunity to revisit what they loved about the group; while others expressed frustration over the breakup. Most people showed concern about what the future holds for Miyoshi Erika and Okada Yui. Meanwhile, nearly everyone - some begrudgingly - are of the belief that Rika’s career will not be affected too dramatically by v-u-den breaking up.