HAPPY CAKE DAY FIELDS!!!! <3

Recommended celebrating! MaiZe of fields of maiZe and berryZ is celebrating the one year anniversary of her blog. As it’s making its way into its troublesome two’s, she recorded us a podcast for our listening pleasure. At the party, there’s a fantastic looking cake, and and when you’re done enjoying that, there’s Maimi, Miya, and Joh’s fingers. The three best party favours, ever. Happy birthay, fields!

The End of an Era: Elder Club Graduates  (Stardust)
Bye Bye HELL! Project  (Hello Island)
Here’s Something To Ruin Your DAY!!!!  (Tricia’s H!P and TNX Blog)
ELDER CLUB…GONE?  (fields of maize and berryz)
Change is good  (On Haku to Myaku)

It’s interesting how so many people are taking a pragmatic view of this situation.  Not everyone mind you, but quite a few…

Mars feels this is horrible news as many of the Elders rank among his favorites.  He just can’t picture Hello! Project without Morning Musume’s OG members.

hide-chan thinks this works out great for everyone involved.  The Elders are free of the bonds and rules of H!P  Or as hide-chan calls it, the Hell!  And when he says it is Something New, Fresh, and Amazing, he is talking about what could lie in the future for the graduating members.

Poor Tricia, she is devastated this happened on her birthday of all days.  She was looking forward to a return of Tsuji-chan, and a possible future 5th gen. group.  The emotional Tricia is also sad she will never get to see Melon Kinenbi.  Tricia, never say never.

Of the Elders, Maize is mainly a fan of Ayaya, and she hopes this will open up an opportunity for Aya to advance her career.  She also points out how amazingly “heavy” this graduation concert will be.  Usually we all giggle at the on-stage goings on of the graduations, especially since we know the girls are usually returning to H!P.  But not in this case.  I’m sure it will be a sad night in Yokohama.

Jim feels this will be a good move for everyone except for H!P themselves.  He also notes Kago Ai as an example of there being life after Hello! Project.

There are many different ways to look at this.  But we are merely the audience, and it will unfold as it unfolds.  I highly doubt this is the last surprise we will get in regards to this.  Still more to come…

Memorable Snippets: Part 11 - Morning Musume & Westlife “East Meets West”

MaiZe continues her Memorable Snippets segment with a clip of Westlife meeting Morning Musume on PopJam. This will please SB to no end, considering he has an undying passion for naff boybands. Anyway MaiZe describes the interaction between both groups to go along with the clip, and dont you just love how awkard the whole moment feels?

AYA The Witch - Matsuura Aya 2008 Haru Concert Tour Review
Shine More

Recommended reading. Our own maiZe is focusing her attention towards one particular Hello! Project idol lately: Matsuura Aya. She kicks things off by reviewing Ayaya’s 2008 spring concert, which she calls “smoking!!” Her enthusiasm continues throughout the post as she makes notes on each song performed, adding the occasional picture and video along the way.

In a later post maiZe introduces Shine More, her brand new Ayaya “worship blog,” and I gotta say… yeah, why wasn’t there one before this? Anyway, maiZe starts the new blog off on the right foot with some pics of the singer in her younger days. That is… a huge teddy bear. Wow.

An Earnest Competition Keeps Buono! #1

MaiZe’s latest entry is heavily screen captured, detailing in depth Buono!’s latest single Gachinko de Ikou!, and the headers that split the write-up give a nice structure to the read. Both the tracks and the PV are discussed, and maiZe’s eye for song arrangement certainly helps paint an image of how the songs are meant to flow. Simply though, it’s just nice to see our maiZe put out her opinions. She’s liking both tracks a lot, and I have to admit, on aesthetics alone Buono! are the cool cats of H!P

Berryz Koubou’s 5th Album Track List

The covers to Berryz Koubou’s fifth album have been leaked along with a tracklist, and MaiZe shares them with us, along with her hopes and fears for the album. Near the end of the post is a translated talking segment involving the BK members regarding the upcoming release. Oh, and it’s still nice to see our MaiZe talking a little smack about Risako. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Memorable Snippets: Part 10 - Yaguchi Mari “Lower My Freakin’ Mic!!”

MaiZe shares a clip of a live performance of Morning Musume with Pink Lady. Or is it Pink Lady with Morning Musume? As they battle it out, someone forgets that Mari is so, so tiny. Or do they? (Do they…)

This leads to some pondering over height. She also wishes Yurina a happy birthday. Apparently Yurina is 5′10″ vs. Mari’s 4′9″(I thought Mari was 5 even…need to recalculate…something…). I think Yurina is closer to 5″9″, but this still makes her the tallest in H!P. I just looked up Kaori who I thought was taller, but she is only 5′6″! Also, watching this vid with that info, Pink Lady themselves can’t be over 5′10″, even in those crazy boots. I always thought of them as very tall. My mind is blown.

Anyway, Ai-chan getting shoved off her mic is also pretty funny. And the guy carefully adjusting Mari’s mic. So many fake real vs. real fake vs. real real moments in this clip, it’s great.

Hare Ame Nochi Suki - Berryz Koubou & Inaba Atsuko: OMGWTF *dies*
Memorable Snippets: Part 9 - Tanpopo 2nd Generation “The Dangers of Special Effects”

maiZe’s latest entry includes a Berryz Koubou video - a Hare Ame Nochi Suki performance - and she goes through the technicalities of it. A few comments on the quality of singing are given, and generally speaking, maiZe is pretty chuffed with the clip because it’s one of her favourite H!P songs.

An earlier entry continues the memorable snippets feature, and this time around 2nd generation Tanpopo get a look in with their first performance on Utaban. For any of you who don’t remember it, maiZe has the video up for your viewing pleasure, and really, it takes me back to a happier H!P time. That and 2nd gen Tanpopo ruled.

J-music survey. (J-pop obsession)
Cutie Party survey?! (musical GAME)
I am a slowpoke when taking surveys, my apologies. (Hotaru’s blog)
J-Music Tastes - Cutie Party Survey Response (fields of maiZe and berryZ)
J-Music Survey from the Cutie Party Blog (-beats in my head-)

I got pretty behind on these. Here are the rest of the Cutie Party survey responses.

Memorable Snippets: Part 7 - Okai Chisato “Look Out Chisa!!”

Our own maiZe returns with yet another installment in the delightful Memorable Snippets series. This week’s episode features Okai Chisato and Hagiwara Mai on the set of “Tokaikko Junjou” playing catch with a baseball, probably the same one that Yajima Maimi wisely launches into the distance before it could have exploded and hurt someone. Alas, the ball has already found its first victim, as we see in this clip. Poor Chisato, distracted by her own dancing, fails to notice that the stationary point of the ball’s action functional is a trajectory that includes her head (see Hamilton’s principle). Alas, physics hurts. Blast those Euler-Lagrange equations!

High-King, to You I Pledge My Fealty

Recommended reading. maiZe writes on “Kioku no Meiru,” describing how the Cinderella\Complex c/w caught her attention and eventually blew her away. She follows it up with a discussion of the single’s lead track, offers up screencaps of the dance shot, posts unrelated male eyecandy, and plugs #wotachat at the end. It’s a fun, lighthearted read, and maiZe’s enthusiasm for this group really shines in her writing.

Memorable Snippets: Part 6 - Todd Mika & Kago Ai “Sonna banana!”

Our own maiZe brings us the next instalment of her memorable snippets spot, this time concerning minimoni and their attempts to pull off memorable fruit gags. The clip included is taken from a 2004 H!M episode, and its never a dull moment when you’ve got Nono and Aibon about.