Alo hello there!!

Liamers is anticipating the new Momusu Alo Hello DVD, which is due for a late December release.  We don’t have any video previews yet.  What we do have is a brief synopsis, which promises beach sports, frolicking in Bikinis and harsh punishments!  I’m not sure which part of the synopsis has Liamers most excited, but it was the harsh punishments that grabbed my attention.  I’m frightened to think of what that must say about my personality!

In any case, Liamers is hopeful for some JunJun bikini moments, although he is prepared to be disappointed.  Hopefully she won’t be all covered up.  Personally I am a big fan of the Alo Hello! series and I know I’m not alone in that opinion.  So I’m sure this will be a release worth checking out!

Reina : New Stalker Photos !

I wouldn’t necessarily call these “stalker photos,” because they could very well have been taken by a genuine fan who just so happened to be walking around in Shibuya on the same day as Reina and her mom. But I’m not all that concerned by the term, because it could have just as easily been a crazy wota. Maybe that’s actually more likely. Anyway, Hello!Musume has some snapshots of Morning Musume member Tanaka Reina and her mother walking around an intersection. The thing that’s bothering me about these photos is the way she is dressed. Everyone else is wearing coats, scarves, long pants, what have you. It’s cold in Japan right now, you know? Reina is wearing a coat and fuzzy boots. And that’s… about it.

… Reina, honey, you know we love you, but put on some damn pants. Sheesh.

Top 5 most touching H!P songs

Henkka’s latest top five is a collection of songs by Morning Musume designed to tug on the heartstrings.  Four of the songs are pretty obvious, since they are the ones most closely associated with Momusu graduations.  But the surprise is #3, which I had honestly never heard before this post.  As usual it is a superior post by Henkka.  Each entry has a well detailed history, and in some cases a musician’s focus on the song itself.  It’s a unique aspect of music reviews that he brings to the table.

What really touches me is the long version of the I Wish PV, which to me is one of the most touching events in H!P history.  Although I slightly disagree with Henkka’s assessment of Fukuda Asuka.  I never thought she was “disinterested”, it seemed more like she was out of place and overwhelmed at the time.  That is what always endeared me to her.  And as Henkka points out,  her tremendous singing talent makes you wonder what could have been.  Recommended.

Resonant Live : Concert Report

Celestia had the pleasure of attending TWO Morning Musume shows in Tokyo last weekend, and brings us a full report of what was going on outside the theater, on the stage, AND in the audience!  She gives us a track by track account, complete with commentary on the MC’s.  And of course it wouldn’t be a Bikkuri Project review without some costume snark.

And yes, I am the CK who had the pleasure of accompanying her to the first show.  And I share her sentiments about how exciting it is to see Morning Musume firsthand.  Celestia has some great anecdotes about getting to the theater, and how nice her fellow wota sitting around her were.  This show also confirmed for Celestia how much she loves Niigaki Risa.  She is just dynamite on stage!  Great review, highly recommended

Yorosen! Week 3-Five Days of Five Foot of Lovely
Yorosen! Subbed Week 4

So raise your hand if you are regularly watching Yorosen!.  I watched it a couple of times last week., including the first episode with Risako dressed as a witch! (snort)  Morningtime has religiously watched each episode from the beginning.  He continues to feel that Morning Musume would have been better off sticking with Haromoni@.  However, his commentaries on each episode have gotten funnier and funnier with each passing week!  And even if he spends 90% of the time making fun of the program, there is plenty of pervy swooning over Reina and Takitty!

The other nice thing is M’s reviews are longer than the actual episodes, which featured the girls discussing Tuna and Shoguns.  Thrilling!

I used to say that True Life Seek’s Haromoni@ and American Wota’s Berikyuu reviews were better than the shows themselves.  I am starting to feel that way about Morningtime and Yorosen!  Let’s see how he does with Berryz Kobo as his target this week.  Recommended

Is that Reina?  VERY REINA?!  (Hello! Musume)
Very Reina photobook  (Morningtime)

Welcome to Reina World, anyone care for a nosebleed?  Both Nakane and Morningtime have given a good going over to Tanaka Reina’s latest photobook, and for the most part, it is getting rave reviews.  Nakane thinks this PB has taken Reina to the next level, maturity-wise.  In addition to the sexy bikini shots, we get to see her in some very elegant settings.  Oh, and physically she may have grown a little too.

Morningtime has a handful of screencaps highlighting the book.  What he feels is more than anyone else, Reina really puts her personality into these shots.  And the different settings and outfits are showcasing the different aspects of Reina herself.  I love his little quote about Reina being a handful.  It’s probably true!

And you can add my rave review to this PB as well.  I picked it up at last week, and it does not disappoint.  Reina just knows how to be sexy, period!  Recommended eyecandy.

Morning Musume in the Future

Tricia has high hopes for Morning Musume in the coming year.  She gives a preliminary list, including her choices for photobooks, graduation, and new units.  A return of Koharu and Sayumi’s Rainbow Pinku unit?  Sheesh, I don’t know if the world is ready for that again.

But my favorite quip is how happy she is that the year went by “super fast”.  I can tell you Ray and I AREN’T thinking that.  Once you hit 30 the days of looking forward to your next birthday are long gone!

“避暑地でデートいたしまshow”…H!P 2008 Summer Wonderful Hearts. (MorningBerryz’s blog)
[Review] Hello! Project 2008 Summer Wonderful Hearts Kouen ~Hishochi de Date Itashima SHOW~ (Renai Revolution 21)
2008 Summer Wonderful Hearts concert ~ My Review (mayuge Madness)

Recommended Reading. The 2008 Wonderful Heart Summer Concert has been out for a few weeks and we have a few bloggers sharing their thoughts on the performances put on by the future of Hello! Project.

MorningBerryz starts it off by going over the performances he thought were most memorable. Obviously everyone will have their own thoughts on the best or most memorable songs within a concert, and it’s interesting to see MB’s choices. Screen caps and video are interspersed as is usually the case in MB’s posts to help bring the oberservations home.

Up next, we have Wendy of Renai Revolution 21 giving a song by song rundown of the concert with a little commentary on each performance, as well as a grade out of 10. I really have to comment on one thing in this review for Wendy says, “It’s amazing to watch Namida no Iro performed in Edo outfits.” I don’t know about everyone else, but I find myself thoroughly amused watching Maimi perform Namida no Iro in that bulky outfit of hers… It looks like an highly approved concert until we get to the second half. Buono!, and the “generic” performances got some harsh reviews.

Finally, we have Liamers of Mayuge Madness chiming in with his thoughts. I have to say, if he was this excited over Risa’s performance of Manatsu no Kousen, it makes me wonder if he’s seen Risa’s version of the song in Morning Musume’s Spring concert. I’m a huge Risa fan, and I’ll take Risa’s solo version over this lip synced version anyday! And I must say, the die hard Matsuura fan in me dies a little every time I see something like “But ya they sang a song I had never heard of before “Hajimete Kuchibiru wo Kasaneta Yoru” and it was really nice.”. XD

Halloween no Musume!

Mars of Stardust demonstrates his photoshop skills by bringing us some stunning pictures of the girls of Morning Musume decked out in their Halloween gear. While all the girls look amazing in their Halloween regalia, I must say that Sayumi looks especially smoking.

Here’s to a happy Halloween, from all of us at International Wota! I think we all know what pengie, broomhead, and maiZe are going to be dressed as!

Mame n Friends

Recommended reading. Mame n Friends has been around for about 2 weeks now, and it’s run by lil_hamz. lil_hamz is a huge Niigaki Risa fan (power to the Gaki fans!) and has a number of Risa centric posts, including a birthday post celebrating Risa’s birthday which was yesterday. Another post, while not exactly Risa-centric (it’s actually taking a look at lil_hamz’s favourite pages from Morning Musume’s 2009 calendar), has a translation of an episode of Risa and Kamei Eri’s radio show which ended just a little while ago.

In addition, lil_hamz has a handful of Morning Musume/H!P related posts, covering Pepper Keibu live preformances, Takahashi Ai’s upcoming drama and of course, the obligatory opening “about me and my H!P fandom” introduction post.

I’m looking forward to seeing what else lil_hamz has in store for us.

The amazing wonderful hearts summer preview!

Midori has a preview of the H!P 2008 Wonderful Hearts Concert! They’re performing Ame no Furanai Hoshi de wa Aisenai Darou, and that’s quite a mouthful to say! I loved this performance, and Junjun and Linlin performed their solo lines amazingly. Midori brings us her usual review of the performance and finds nothing wrong with the song except for the ridiculous outfits. I personally liked C-ute’s outfits, but I agree with Midori when she says that Berryz Koubou had ridiculous outfits.

My Latest Wonderful Hearts ratings: °C-ute
My Latest Wonderful Hearts ratings: Berryz Koubou
My Latest Wonderful Hearts ratings: Morning Musume.

Wendy of Renai Revolution 21 shows us a more updated list of her rankings among the Wonderful Hearts troupe of H!P. I think the most shocking development for everyone would be the placement of Linlin; with all the “jokes” she helped start, its suprising how high on the list Linlin actually is. I however find the rank of Sayumi most surprising; I can’t find anything to hate about dear Sayu, and plenty to like. To me, she is a crucial part of the group’s character. I guess this is one thing that Wendy and I disagree upon!

Resonant Live : Feel OverPictured ! xD

Eyecandy Alert!  Nakane has posted two sets of pics from Morning Musume’s latest tour.  Very cute pics, dominated by Reina who Nakane thinks “looks so love”.  Hell, they all look hot!  Enjoy the view.

Yorosen! Week 1

The first week of Yorosen! is in the books.  You know, the collective fifteen minutes where Reina teaches us stuff about world leaders?  Morningtime is not too impressed with the goings-on so far.  In fact, from Morningtime’s summary we can conclude that 1) Reina is a totally hot teacher! (Sorry haters!)  2) Koharu is the funniest character on the show. (Again, sorry haters) and 3) 8th generation is screwed yet again by being placed far in the back of the classroom.

Ultimately the show had little viewer value other than the girls looking cute.  But they also looked cute on Haromoni@, so I don’t see how this is the breakthrough show we have all been waiting for.  But unbelievably the one redeeming factor is Koharu.  Yeah yeah yeah, she’s on crack, she’s annoying…whatever!  Koha is definitely trying to stand out and make things interesting.  And that’s more than I can say for the other members.

So this week’s teacher is Koharu.  Good to see the producers running a gimmick into the ground again.  But let’s see if the “Miracle Girl” can make it a good week.

Berryz Kyuuden

Recommended reading. Berryz Kyuuden is a new Hello! Project blog by Dran which focuses mainly on the Hello! Project Kids groups Berryz Koubou and C-ute. However, he also looks at other H!P groups and artists such as Morning Musume, and even has his thoughts on the latest unit announced Yoshizawa Hitomi and Ishikawa Rika’s Hangry & Angry. He has them down as the new H!P group, but I’ve read in other blog posts that the group itself isn’t part of Hello! Project, and this group is under the indie label GOTHUALL. Though, with your front-liners being half of Morning Musume’s 4th gen, they’re obviously going to be lumped in with Hello! Project no matter what you do.

Anyway, back to the blog… It covers all sorts of media, from singles to PVs to magazine articles to stage plays. The blog has been around since the end of August, so there’s lots to browse through. I’m looking forward to seeing how this blog progresses.

Still shopping for a 2009 H!P calendar for next year?…this may help.

It looks like CDJapan loves MorningBerryz, seeing as the Morning Musume, Berryz Koubou and C-ute calendars which were scheduled for release in Japan on October 11 arrived in HAWAII for MB to enjoy on that same release date. AND, MB was kind enough to share in his good fortune and took pictures immediately to help out those who may still be trying to decide on which H!P calendar to buy.

MB has pictures of each page of each calendar, and I have to say after seeing these three calendars, I went and ordered Berryz Koubou’s release for myself. MB has links to CDJapan and yesasia for anyone interested, and while CDJapan has cheaper calendar prices, the cost of shipping easily matches the prices offered at yesasia (for shipping to Canada at least…). Yesasia, on the other hand, has free shipping on orders over a certain amount depending on where you’re shipping to. Definitely something to keep in mind.

Yorosen! Episode 1  (Morningtime)
Yorosen! Episode 1 English subtitled  (Morningtime)
Yorosen’s Page!  (Hello!Musume)

The first episodes of Yorosen!, the television show featuring H!P’s core groups has shown up on YouTube and for download on Hello!Online.  Morningtime has screencapped the episode.  And at 3+ minutes I am guessing these stills comprise the entire show.  On M’s second post he reviews the subtitled version.  So far the first shows are all dialogue and short on action.  So it looks as if understanding what is being said will be key to enjoying this show.  It might be a bit early to make the call, but Morningtime’s first reaction is to call for a reprieve for Haromoni@.  Nakane has developed a page on his site dedicated to the program.  You can visit the site daily to find updated links.

Aside from the fact that 3 1/2 minutes is the length of an extended commercial, not a television show.  I will go out on a limb and say Morning Musume doing a cerebral program is NOT the answer!  C’mon now, these are J-POP IDOLS!  We need physical comedy!  When you have physical comedy, there is always the chance the girls might kiss!  Hello! Morning was silly, and it was loaded with physical comedy.  AKB48’s show?  Same thing.  Idoling???  Same thing.  Even Haromoni@ was sometimes physical, just not usually very funny.  Sure, they all look cute in their schoolgirl uniforms.  But there was nothing intriguing going on here.  As Morningtime says…

“Yes it’s only one episode in but there had better be something more interesting to come or this will be a disaster.”

So true.

Two recent H!P concerts: one good, one not so good…

I haven’t seen either of these concert DVD’s, so I was really interested in hearing Madara’s thoughts.  The show he really liked was Morning Musume Tanjo 10 Nen Kinentai.  Madara likes the classic songs done in the show, especially since 3 of the 5 girls were around for the original versions of many of those songs.  What grabs my interest the most is the emotional angle of the backstage footage.  I enjoy any chance to see idols being “real”, and backstage crying is usually a big “buy factor” for me.

Then Madara covers Ongaku Gatas’ first concert tour DVD, which doesn’t fare nearly as well.  He doesn’t feel the group has enough material to sustain a solo show, and the cover songs they sing only make him long for the originals.  Then there was Yuri Sawada’s t-shirt…

Madara ends the report with a rant about Yuri’s “Stop Snitchin” shirt which he is obviously offended by.  We have seen some crazy shirts worn by the girls over the years.  And there is no way that they are ignorant to the messages they are wearing.  So I wonder, are they just wearing these messages to be cool and hip?  Or is there something more sinister going on here?

Is futsal all these girls are up to?  Has anyone seen any copper electrical wiring around Gatas’ dressing room?

Cover You Tracklist

Celestia lists the tracks for the new Morning Musume cover album.  But she is fascinated not by what is on the list, but what is missing when you compare it to their latest tour setlist.  Could this mean that Morning Musume’s 9th album is in the works as well?

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?

Pepper Keibu New Single Pics!
Pepper Keibu : More and More!
Pepper Keibu Photobook ~

Nakane can’t seem to get enough of Morning Musume’s latest single, so we are treated to two sets of promotional pics and a download of the LE photobook.  Nakane is most enamored with the pics of Eri and Sayu, but a bit less so of Reina.  It has been said by me and many others lately, it is perhaps time for Tanaka to experiment with a new look.  As much as I love her, the hair is getting a little boring.

Needless to say, eyecandy alert!

シングルV「Come Together」:Ongaku Gatas & the art of suppressing the inevitable Nocchi rant.=D
Momusu returns!!!…time to go out and buy that disco ball you’ve always wanted! XD

MorningBerryz writes a nice flowing, enthusiastic post on Ongaku Gatas’s original and close-up version of the Come Together PV, and he also takes a look at the making of section. There’s plenty of screen captures involved to move the entry along, and it’s another H!P fan-pleasing effort from our MB.

An earlier post sees MB giving his thoughts on Morning Musume’s Pepper Keibu single, and the read is well-written, especially when dealing with the song as a period piece. I couldn’t follow or agree with some of the entusiasm on show here, but I enjoyed perving at all the jacket scans. Junjun will always be my sexy place in Morning Musume and I cant thank her enough for that, although if I did meet her in person I can try and show it XD.

Sayumi’s Love Story Preview
Resonant Live Tour Merchandise

Paul talks about the prievew video for Sayumi Michishige’s Love Story Photobook, highlighting how in awe he is with Sayu’s sexiness in parts of the clip. After discussing what makes Sayu for him, Paul then links the preview at the bottom for your viewing pleasure.

Well, my promise to Paul to buy a pink Sayu or - as of recently - a pink Koha shirt may have to wait a little longer. As Paul says himself, the designs aren’t exactly great, but that’s not stopping him from finally opting for Sayu’s effort. I think that’s pretty awesome, and If I wasn’t going to America soon and if the patterns on the shirts didn’t suck, I’d be there with him no doubt. The towels look good though, and Paul’s eyeing up Koha’s. And there you have the story of the Resonant Blue Live merchandise.

[Vortex] Supermodels and Superidols

Vee has uncovered a 1993 issue of Vogue with a very interesting cover design.  It takes no stretch of the imagination to see that it was the inspiration for the cover art of one of Morning Musume’s early singles.  I am not surprised that the creative department at UFA would use an American magazine’s cover as the model for a single jacket.  But it is still a pretty funny sight to see.  In any case, some classic eyecandy…on both photos!

REVIEW: BERRYZ KOUBOU “5 (FIVE)”
REVIEW: MORNING MUSUME “Pepper Keibu” single

Four and a half stars for both?  I always thought CJ was more of a “Rex Reed” type when it came to H!P reviews.  Maybe my memory is failing me…

In the Berryz review, CJ gives us some brief thoughts on their past full-length CD efforts.  “Enjoyable but imperfect” is a great description as far as I’m concerned.  With that he feels this is Berryz’ best full-length release to date.  CJ always does a great job of analyzing the musical styles used in each track.  And most every song gets good feedback, except for the Special Generation Remix.  I love how everyone is so opinionated about this song! 

As for Pepper Keibu,  CJ feels the song contains the best harmonization Morning Musume’s current lineup has ever done.  He is also glad that they took the song into their own direction, rather than doing a note by note imitation of Pink Lady’s original.  And given that this is CJ’s third post in reference to Pepper Keibu, I’m guessing he really likes it!

But most importantly he enjoys Reina’s solo lines.  And as someone who is probably as big a Reina fanboy as CJ, I am always glad to see Tanakacchi get some good ”pub”.  Recommended

Costume Hall of Shame: Next Time, Hire a Professional
Resonant Live Set List
More Happy Egg News

Celestia brings back her Costume Hall of Shame segment - although it might be a one off - and it looks like the snark hasn’t failed on Celestia just yet. Whilst I actually like gomaki’s get-up, or just being able to make out gomaki’s hot figure, the others are worth Celestia’s cheeky-toned time.

An earlier entry sees Celestia giving us the setlist for Morning Musume’s upcoming Resonant Live concert, and it’s lovely to see Lemon Iro to Milk Tea in the mix. It’s one of my favourite H!P songs of all time, and the 6th gen shine in it, even beloved Sayu. It’s her song in my opinion. Celestia tags each song with some of her thoughts too.

And lastly we have Celestia’s thoughts on H!P’s new egg unit Shugo Chara Egg!, at least I think that’s the groups name - I dont keep up anymore. Anyway Celestia briefly goes over the members of the unit and what she thinks of them thus far, and what they have to offer.

Detective Ai?  Takahashi to Star in Drama!  (Stardust)
Takahashi Ai to star in new dorama  (Sazaki’s H!P weblog)

A couple of our regularly featured bloggers bring news of the manga based dorama, Q.E.D. - Shoumei Shuuryou starring Morning Musume leader Takahashi Ai.  Mars has a link to the official site announcement, and gives us a brief synopsis of the shows plot.  Sazaki has translated the article from Oricon Style, which notes that this is the first time an active member of Morning Musume has ever starred in a TV drama.  Great job Takitty!

The show will be broadcast Thursday nights beginning January 9th.

Morning Musume’s “Pepper Keibu” interview

I’m a bit meh on the idea of the Musumes doing covers, but they seem to be quite into it so what so I know? Then it gets random with some others questions, as usual there’s the occasional bizarre or hilarious answer among the surprisingly mundane. And I continue to fall for Shige. Hopeless!

Shining Musume finally hired 7gen member

Am I the only one who has never heard of this manga before?  Santos finds some of the funniest stuff to write about.  Shining Musume is a hentai comic that was started in 2001 based on a Japanese pop group, and I’ll give you one guess as to which one.  Santos gives a little background history of the comic, which recently resumed after a brief hiatus.

I cannot stop laughing at the names of some of the characters.  Fushimoto Miki, Himei Eri, Batsuura Aya, and of course my favorites Tsuchi-chan and Hako-chan are all produced by a guy named “King”!  And in the latest chapter Kurumi Kowaru, AKA “Miracle Ace” has joined the fray.  Gee, I wonder who they are all supposed to be?

I gotta read this comic!

Pepper Keibu : Group Pictures!

Nakane has uploaded some new promotional photos for Pepper Keibu, and as far as he is concerned the keyword is “Disco”.  Then again, wasn’t this song originally done in the 70’s?  So that would make perfect sense, right?

Nakane has a problem with a couple of the hairstyles.  Especially Risa, who looks like she ironed her hair onto her head.  But he finds Sayumi and Eri to both be really “HAWT”.  I have a question…Why did everyone seem to get a new look, but Reina looks exactly the same?

Overall I think they all look really good, and the costumes are very cool.

Pepper Keibu PV & clarifications on C-ute calender follow-up

Midori has watched Morning Musume’s latest PV and doesn’t have too much to say. She comments on line distribution, the costumes and dancing, but it seems like it hasn’t left too much of an impression on her. The one stand out point looks to be the pandas. Go Junjun and Linlin!

Up next, Midori has more comments on Airi’s dress from C-ute’s calendar, and actually it was me who was confused about comparing Airi’s dress to Makoto’s from Midori’s previous post. I don’t know what came over me, but I was thinking of Airi’s “Edo no Temari Uta II” costume, thus the confusion. I see the resemblance now. >_<

Cinderella The Musical - Paparazzi shots

chibon has some lovely photos for us from Morning Musume’s Cinderella Musical as well as some shots of the girls during the mini concert that they usually have at the end of a musical.

Risa is looking very fierce in her red outfit from the concert segment, and I have to say that Mittsi looks absolutely adorable in the third last photo as she’s holding that doll!!

What would you do? (Wotaku now response)

Oh it scares the living daylights out of me if someone were to find themselves in a jam and actually ask themselves, “WWWD?”

Anyways, Midori responds to Wotaku Now’s Freaky Friday Situation. Instead of just limiting it to one idol though, Midori goes over what they’d do as each member of Morning Musume. As Tanaka Reina, Midori says, “If I were Reina, I’d eat.” I laughed.

mayuge Madness
New official keibu pics

mayuge Madness is run by Liamers and is dedicated to Niigaki Risa. I already like Liamers because they describe themselves as one of the “few Irish H!P fans.” I’m assuming he means Irish as in literally from Ireland and not Irish as in raised in Irish culture (or some bastardization of Irish culture), but I want to say he isn’t alone anyways.

The most recent post goes over the recent photos related to “Pepper Keibu.” Shockingly, Liamers loves Risa! He also talks a bit about the other members. I guess I didn’t give Risa much attention the first time that I saw these photos, but she really does stand out. I don’t think she looks that much better than anyone else; but how she looks is totally different compared to even a few years ago, let alone 5 years ago.

OMG A DINOSAUR!

Love Tantei posts screencaps of Morning Musume and Downtown taking a ride of Jurassic Park The Ride. They comment on Takahashi Ai’s mouth being in the shape of a square, which suits her personality. You can watch that video here on Youtube. I remember seeing this as it was the first time I heard Takahashi Ai’s ridiculous scream.

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.

Anyone For Hot Peppers? Part II  (Groove Music Life)
Pepper Keibu and other covers  (Resonant Blue)
Pepper Keibu Full PV  (Hello!Blog)

And the Pepper Keibu reviews keep-a-rollin’…

CJ is “knocked out” by the new song and PV.  And like me, he has no problem whatsoever with Reina being front and center.  CJ wonders if Cover Yuu is indeed MoMusu’s 9th Album, then will all of the post Sexy 8 Beat singles be left without a long-play CD?  More importantly, he sees the cover album as cementing Morning Musume’s place in Japanese music history.  Wow!  That’s a bold statement.

Indigo is usually very skeptical about song covers.  But she fell in love with the song, which is all the more incredible since she doesn’t like the original version by Pink Lady!  Indigo has already preordered the CD, and hopes we will see multiple versions of the PV.  Her only complaint is the lack of JunJun face time.  And I am beginning to agree.  JunJun is becoming so cute it’s going to be increasingly tough to keep her in the background forever.

Tom sees this song as a brilliant move by H!P, and an almost guaranteed #1 hit for Morning Musume.  He loves the feel of the PV, and is liking the outfits and dance routine.  Mittsi is the standout performer for Tom, and he loves Sayu’s little solo line toward the end.  He has posted both Pink Lady and Momusu’s version for a little side by side comparison.

So it seems like the consensus just loves this song.  I’m glad my little review didn’t make it on here as I wasn’t nearly as complimentary as everyone else.  I guess I’ll go back and rewatch the PV with a new set of eyes and ears.

morning musume “pepper keibu” pv  (Love マシーン)
HAIR (and Pepper Keibu)!  (Super Happy Genki Hyperforce Go!)
Legs, Legs, Legs! [PK PV HQ]  (Stardust)
Pepper Keibu : Download the Blue Sexy PV!  (hello!musume)
Needs moar heels  (hajimete no ROCK CONCERT)

More PV reactions, GO!

Markusantione has embedded the PV AND a preview of the B-side.  He likes the dance better than the one in Resonant Blue, but wishes the eight girls not named Tanaka Reina would get more face time.

Kiko focuses on the girl’s latest hairstyles.  She likes Sayumi and Eri’s hair the best, but wishes Reina would get a boyfriend and dump him, just so she’ll cut her hair (as a sign of independence?)  Yeah, I am always weary when my girlfriend cuts her hair short!

This is the lastest of multiple posts by Mars about this song.  He really likes the choreography, but is mostly taken by the “shortness” of the outfits.

Nakane finds the PV to be awesome, and has provided a link to download the HQ version.

Pengie feels MoMusu did a good job of walking the fine line between merely imitiating the original and bastardizing the original beyond recognition.  She includes a conversation on #wotachat with Second Blossomming about the group’s choice of footwear.  And the amount of leg shown has Pengie listing which members she would invite into her bed, and in which order.  Ultimately she feels Momusu would be at their best if they didn’t sing at all, and just simply performed naked.

The funny thing is I have the same thoughts when watching this PV, but it sounds funnier when Pengie says it!  I guess it looks as if Pepper Keibu is a winner, ne?

PV Keibu  (Bikkuri Project)
You got Pink Lady in my Momusu  (Slasha’s Tatami Mat)
Peepaaaaa KEIBUU !!!  (Wotaku Now!)
[Review] I review PV’s so you don’t have to  (Pink Wota)
Morning Musume - Pepper Keibu (or OMGAHSKJDJLSKAJDOSIADJLSKADJLASKO)  (Shanimuni Paradise)

Lots of opinions about Morning Musume’s new single and PV, here we go…

Celestia gives her plus/minuses for the PV.  She likes the costumes, and is happy with the overall line distribution.  But she finds the song repetitive and the dancing somewhat cheesy.  And since this seems as if it is a “dance shot”, Celestia wonders if there will be a few more versions.

Slasha has posted the covers and a link to the PV, and figures that H!P is going to milk the Aku Yuu thing for all it’s worth.  Slasha is waiting to hear the consensus before deciding whether or not to purchase the single.

Shirow didn’t care for the song at first, but now he can’t get the hook out of his head!  He has screencapped the PV, paying special attention to certain parts of the body that many of us enjoy looking at.  Funny what a few beers does to your enthusiasm.  Shirow must be a “happy drunk”.

Vee goes over four important aspects of the PV that makes it a WIN for her.  She questions the legality of Mittsi being so sexy, and wonders when Koharu turned into Kumai Yurina.  Ultimately Vee likes this “minimalist rendition” of the PV.

Being a huge fan of Pink Lady, Tsukiki is really excited about Morning Musume covering them.  She calls this her “favorite MoMusu song since Yossie left”.  Tsukiki is also really happy about who stood out for her in the PV, and just as importantly who didn’t.

More opinions to come…

[Review] Because the term “eyecandy” would be debatable

Recommended.  I think Vee has decided that everyone has been a little too nice about the Hello! Project calendar covers.  So she gives them a good going-over, and nobody comes out of it unscathed.  Vee seemed to have the most “fun” with Morning Musume and C-ute’s calendars, noting the strategic positioning of legs and some funny criticisms of LinLin and Aika.

I don’t know who can look at C-ute’s version and not laugh at that Amish Country motif.  Vee finds it remarkable that Maimi can still look hot in such a silly photoshoot.  In fact, she has prescribed to the “so bad it’s good” theory awarding this and Ayaya’s cover the win.

Ya know, I never thought of it that way until Vee mentioned it.  Now the C-ute calendar is my favorite too!

Sgt. Pepper’s Wonderful Hearts Club Band

It’s good to see Magi-Kat up and blogging again! In this post she mostly talks about Pepper Keibu. I still feel like I’m getting fucked over here with UFA not giving us an original single next, but Magi-Kat on the other hand is sure it’s going to be good, providing some convincing reasons why. Well, convincing to everyone else but me!

She also promises a cookie to the first who manages to decode the meaning of that post title. Oh, but whoops, I already did! You snooze, you lose. Now back away from the cookie!

Morning Musume in Hawaii Fan Club Tour merchandise…

MB finally posts up his purchased items from the latest H!P Hawaii Fan Club Tour, and to say there’s a lot of merchandise would be a gross understatement. There’s a store of eye candy for you to filter through, and JunJun and Sayu look absolutely stunning. Is it me, or do they look close to being sisters with every new photoset? Anyone sense a new unit? Granted, the vocal output would be terrible, but on aesthetics alone it would be a f****** hot time. Anyway, I have to wonder where MB gets all his money to purchase all these lovely UFA photos. Damn him!

Bon Kyu! Bon Kyu! BOMB Concert Groupdub Pt1

I have to admit I wasn’t sure if I should be encouraging these things before. So, when I say I’m happy they’re getting better, it’s for them and for me. I say that partly because it’s true and partly because it’s a hard sell. But I think this is reaching a level now that was only getting hinted at before and can only get better if they stick with it. So check it out.

This vid has an obvious technical problem in the sound, but the performance is great. Any pitch problems are comparable to an average MM live show, which might be an insult coming from some people, but it’s really pretty entertaining. The timing and the energy are good; I really like this pick for first song. Timing in particular is my biggest peeve with these. It’s just about perfect, and everybody’s having fun. Rest is details.

Featured in the group are Kyttyee herself and Pink Wota’s Vee.

Back from the dead with Pepper Keibu!

Arashi is back and blogging, but for how long I cant say. Whatever the case this entry has some interesting thoughts on Momusu’s upcoming single. Relating it back to the 70’s original and then comparing H!P’s version, Arashi’s quite taken with Momusu’s more dancable rendition. Admittedly this is the first post I’ve read in regards to Pepper Keibu! - that’s how much I dont care about H!P right now - so the read was very interesting for me. I still cant be bothered to find out more though. Anyway, if you’ve been keeping up with the flood of posts regarding Pepper Keibu, this might be another nice read to add to the list.

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.

Resonantor…The movie !

This is really another write-up of what appears to be the work of nenriki2008 (There is a 3rd trailer not linked to in Nakane’s post). Still, Recommended for its newness; first mention I’ve seen and the videos have just topped 1,000 views as I write this. Amazing editing work makes these some must see fake trailers…OR ARE THEY??? (Stranger things have happened at this point…I sure want to see this movie.)

Morning Musume Hawaii FC Concert
Berryz Kobo Concert Tour 2008 Autumn ~Berikore!~ Setlist

I love setlists!  It is so exciting to get a preview of what we will be seeing on future DVD releases, although Morning Musume’s FC Concert DVD is usually expensive and not easy to get a hold of.  Tricia is excited about the number of solos in the concert, and there are quite a few.  And Koharu is singing Himawari?  Gee, I wonder if it will be lip-synched?  Could this possibly be a preview of Momusu’s Fall tour?

Speaking of Fall tours, Tricia is very excited about Berryz’ set.  Well, except that Special Generation is part of it…again!  Tricia has also linked to the tour merchandise page from the official site.  Now this is a concert I will be getting the chance to see live.  And I am most excited to see Suhada Pichi Pichi on there.  Anyhow, both sets look pretty cool.

It’s funny how enthusiastic most of us are before the DVD’s come out.  Hopefully these two won’t disappoint.

Random stuff and Nonsense

Morningtime has a fun, light hearted post covering all sorts of things relating to Hello! Project. It seems morningtime has had a lot of time on their hands, and you can see it with the opening question “which MM member is most likely to hit someone?” What really got me was that the question had multiple answers, depending on the situation. That set the stage for quite an amusing read.

I just have to comment on that one photo of Satoda Mai. Is it just me, or does she look really old there?

Super Happy Genki Hyperforce Go!

Recommended reading. The blog’s name may seem daunting, but Super Happy Genki Hyperforce Go! is a promising looking new H!P blog. This blog has been around for about a month, and superhappygenki already has quite a few interesting posts.

There is the obligatory introductory post which outlines superhappygenki’s likes and dislikes within Hello! Project’s groups. It looks like she’s not too into the soloists.

She has also written up 2 posts highlighting specific members of Hello! Project. Up first was Berryz Koubou’s Captain, Shimizu Saki and with superhappygenki’s enthusiasm for Captain, I think she and SecondBlossoming would get along quite nicely. She follows that up with some musings on Morning Musume’s leader, Takahashi Ai, which definitely give you something to think about.

However, this is not solely a H!P blog, for superhappygenki also has a post on doramas. She also notes that some anime/manga posts may pop up every now and then. This is definitely a blog I’ll keep my eye on.

%Risa Niigaki% [10]

Will continues to shower us in H!P pictures, this time of Risa eating a big watermelon, and isn’t life just so damn perfect in Photobooks?