WOAH. CHISATO. (Picspam)

Wendy of Renai Revolution 21 stumbled across some particularily hot pictures of Chisato and decided to share them with us. These pictures are pretty recent, and I think every Chisa fan will love them! The little cutie is finally growing out her hair. She’s always had a cute face, but her short hair made her look like the spy from Johnny’s, so maybe having longer hair will make it easier for fans to take her more seriously as an idol. Looking fine, Chisato!

Holy Shit. Chisato Just Upstaged Ayaya.

Now, when I say littlest, I don’t mean youngest. Tsukiki has been floored by the little ball of energy known as Okai Chisato. As most Hello! Project fans already know, the H!P Kids had solo fan club events this past summer and the DVDs featuring these events were just released a few weeks ago. In Chisato’s solo event, she sings Matsuura Aya’s “Suna wo Kamu You ni… NAMIDA”, and it looks like it was Tsukiki’s favourite performance.

I’ve been a hug fan of Chisato since I saw a clip of her doing a monomane of Fujimoto Miki back when I first got into C-ute. Her talent is definitely under used within H!P, and while I’m not quite sure if she’s the BEST singer among the H!P Kids, as Tsukiki feels, she’s definitely in the top 3.

Chisato Okai: Holy Crap, She’s Even Better At Singing Than I Thought!!!

Celestia thinks that Chisato has what it takes to be a solo artist in H!P. The video on show - a singing segment from the FC DVD - aims to prove Celestia’s point. To me at least, it just sounds like average karaoke. I suppose by H!P/Idol standards you can get away with that. Anyway, I’m not as enthusiastic about this whole thing as Celestia is, but hey, you lot might be and I guess that’s the important thing.

Ever changing Chisato

zush has found some awesome Chisato fanart and shares them with us. I have never come across Chisa fanart before, and all the pieces that zush has posted are beautiful drawings. I love the squinty-ness of Chisa’s eyes in the first one, and the the third drawing with Chisa holding a pair of handguns… It makes me think of the gunner dressphere in Final Fantasy X-2, except none of the girls actually have dualies. So, maybe I’m thinking of something else, but can’t remember what off the top of my head. XD

Anyway, all of these drawings really capture Chisato’s adorable, fun-loving essence. I don’t understand how some people have such a negative view regarding Chisato’s look. I think she’s one of the cutest C-ute members! (Note I said cute, and not hot. She’s only 14. She has time to develop the hot factor.)

No, REALLY.

I feel that the general consensus of the C-ute 2009 calendar cover was that it was absolutely ridiculous. Chiakii doesn’t really refute this, but still enjoys the cover. She likes the idea behind the cover even if it didn’t play out too well. And I agree with her that Arihara Kanna and, yes, even Nakajima Saki look good in those, as Chikaii puts it, “crazy clog-wearing-milkmaid-esque outfits.”

C-ute Calendar ‘09

Midori has many complaints regarding the supposed cover for C-ute’s 2009 calendar. It looks like Midori is holding out hope that this is a joke, and that a much better photo will be released at some point. She tears down each girl on the cover (even Maimi, simply due to her inability to fit in with the randomness that this photo embodies - I actually find it quite amusing that with the completely un-related outfits all the girls are wearing, Maimi is able to stand out with an especially random outfit).

Personally, I feel that if this actually is their calendar cover, this may be the karma coming around, because they’ve had some pretty awesome outfits in previous singles (please ignore ‘LALALA Shiawase no Uta’). Maybe the wardrobe department realized that they’ve been too kind to C-ute recently and felt the need to even things out a bit. XD

A Game of Fiery Handball, Anyone? - Edo no Temari Uta II

Hotaru takes a look at °C-ute’s lastest single. Hotaru is left slightly confused at what style is being attempted, but this does not interfere with enjoying the single. Hotaru also looks at the PV and each individual member’s involvement. I mean it, Hotaru really covers each member, even down to Arihara Kanna’s shoes.

Gamer Ai + C-utie Drawings

Mars has the translation to an article with Morning Musume’s leader where she explains her love for video games. I remember there was an article a little while ago like this, where she talked about the kinds of games she likes to play. But I don’t remember if she said exactly which Final Fantasy games she liked best. I’d have to say that FFVIII was my favourite of the series due to the storyline, but FFX is up there for me too.

Up next, Mars has the girls of C-ute drawing their leader as well as a translation to their thoughts about their leader. I don’t know why, but I always get a kick reading about Maimi being an airhead. It’s just so cute!

A Super Quick Update

Celestia takes a look at various Hello!Project news. The fact that yet another scandal or problem has occured with Celestia not around on the Interwebs is worrisome. She also found a neat picture in a bookshop while in Japan.

Edo no Temari Uta II PV (H!P Fangirling like Nobody’s Business)
Edo no Temari Uta II is Better Than the Title (°Absol-ute °C-ute)
Let’s play handball (Shiny Days)
Edo no Temari Uta II (Kira Kira Bomb)
..::Too Bad It’s Too Short::.. (Eternal ~♥~)

Recommended reading. More bloggers have something to say regarding C-ute’s latest PV!

DJ_MaiMai of H!P Fangirling feels that C-ute is showing off some of their best stuff in this PV. Personally, I don’t get the problem with Chisato’s shoulder things. I think they add character to her outfit. XD But, Berryz as C-ute’s backup dancers? At a concert, maybe… And they’d switch off for each other. But in a single’s PV? Berryz did that back in the day for W, but they have seniority over C-ute. If anyone’s going to be doing back-up dancing in a PV, C-ute would be doing it for Berryz.

Despite her worry over the title of the song, Amimi of Absol-ute C-ute was happy to have her fears unfounded with the release of this single. In addition to the customary thoughts on the outfits, dance, etc., Amimi has and interesting interpretation of what the line distribution could mean… COuld it possibly foreshadow future leads for C-ute?

Charmy of Shiny Days is liking both the song and PV, but is a little disappointed that a certain H!P member is not featured on the background vocals.

Valentine of Kira Kira Bomb has one of the few reviews that I’ve read that isn’t impressed with the single. That’s not to say that she hates it, but it definitely hasn’t left much of an impression with her. She gives her reasoning as well as a final verdict. My favourite line is the last line in her review… I love the uncertainty in her question/comment.

-NEEDS MOAR TSUNKU?!

amyrulez of Eternal ~♥~ has a lengthy and indepth review of the single. He enjoyed the PV so much it brought him to tears. All of the girls were able to impress him in this release, which he seemed throughly surprised by. And it looks like he’s one of the few who likes Chisato’s pointy shoulder bits on her kimono.

They Shoot Saki’s, Don’t They? ~ The Nakayoshi Battle Concert

Recommended reading. CK’s copy of the battle concert has arrived and he quickly gets down to business, determining who won the battle. He breaks the concert down into rounds, tallying winners for each round. Leading into his review, he points out that though his favourite H!P Kid is from the C-ute camp, as a whole, he prefers Berryz Koubou over C-ute… How will this affect his judging throughout the concert?

One thing that CK mentions is the bashing that the youngest Berryz member, Risako, often gets.

“She gets bashed a lot on the posts. A lot more criticism than she deserves. Jeez, she’s just fourteen years old for cripes sake! Give her a break.”

I’m guilty of Risako bashing at times, but using her age as a factor to defend her shaky performances is a little bit weak, seeing as she performed “Very Beauty” with her good buddy Airi who just so happens to be the same age as little Risako, and as CK puts it, “Airi was just amazing on this song!!!”

Overall, this is a fun, enthusiastic and amusing review. Want to know who won the battle? You’ll just have to read on to find out!

Edo no Temari Uta II PV (Strawberrie)
Edo no Temari Uta II (The J-Pex)
°C-ute : Edo No Temari Uta II Clip (Hello!Musume)
C-utes latest single - Edo no Temari Uta II (Wotaku Now!)
Edo no Temari Uta II First Thoughts (Shanimuni Paradise)
This. Is. AWESOME. (Aoi♥Usagi)
C-ute plays handball (hajimete no ROCK CONCERT)

Recommended reading. C-ute’s latest PV is up, and bloggers have lots to say about it already!

Strawberrie doesn’t have much in terms of commentary, but has a lot of screencaps and a link to the video on DohhhUP!

Pex is liking the new PV, what with the bright colours and interesting costumes. I agree with Pex in loving Chisato’s outfit the best. What’s fun with this post is that we get to see the beginnings of a new fan coming in the C-ute fandom!

Hello!Musume finds that there is only one downfall to this single/PV… And that’s it length. Also, a few subliminal advertising messages are pointed out… I didn’t notice those before.. But then again, I’ve only watched this PV once so far.. I need to rectify that.

Shirow of Wotaku Now! got a nice surprise when he woke up. Shirow’s got a different standpoint from most others that I’ve heard. While he wouldn’t mind if the track were a bit longer, he still thinks “that every second of this is pure quality, like most things in life I prefare them to be short and sweet as opposed to drawn out and medicore affair.” However, Shirow does not agree with mine and Pex’s opinion regarding Chisato’s outfit. XD

Our Tsukiki is unsure of how she feels about the PV. She lists off the pros and cons that she’s noticed, but in the end, she can’t quite figure out if she likes it or not.

Usa-chan of Aoi♥Usagi I absolutely loving this PV. She’s got screen caps of the girls, and gives a run down of each girl within the PV. Heck, she’s even liking NakaSaki! My favourite part of this post had to do with Chisato (surprise surprise)…

Ah, Chiisan. With your voice that sounds like a 80-year old woman who has smoked a pack a day her whole life… and still just happens to be a kick-ass singer.

Our pengie has screencaps and snark mixed in with her review, which is always great fun! She’s liking the unique sound this single has, and the girls are all looking pretty good… The only negative comment on that front is directed at little Maimai, who pengie feels looks like a six-year-old. I’m sure there’s someone out there who would enjoy that… HEY SEC… Nah, I won’t go there… XD

Saki, you sexy beast!

Recommended reading. Usa-chan has a track by track review of the H!P Kids battle concert, and if you couldn’t tell by the title of her post, she was loving the performance of “Natsu Doki Lipstick”. I’ve noticed that there seems to be a concensus on Chinami owning Dschinghis Khan, whether it be in the PV or in live performances.

What amused me in this review was her monitoring of Miyabi’s hairdo. As much as I love Miya, I have to agree with Usa-chan… Her hair was something else in this concert… The first time I saw her hair, I cringed. That couldn’t have been fun to comb out afterwards. XD

~Berryz Kamen vs Cutie Ranger~ Concert Review

Recommended reading. Our Celestia has watched the H!P Kids concert extravaganza and was not disappointed. She likes that the battle concert places the two groups on a level playing field, even though Berryz will always have seniority over C-ute simply because they debuted as a group a few years earlier.

Celestia makes a passing comment about whether the Berryz girls are truly happy for their H!P Kids group counterpart, and it’s a legitimate question… I’ve often wondered about that myself.

Celestia then goes over the concert track by track, giving the highs and lows of each number. And, as in her usual concert review fashion, she names a “winner” for each performance. Who comes out on top in this concert? You’ll have to read on to find out!

O 46, 46, wherefore art thou, 46…
Lesbian Lumberjack Love Song II

Our own pengie has some thoughts on the beginnings and endings of life in Hello! Project.

In the first post, she is trying to rekindle her interest in the H!P Taiwan auditions. It seems as though pengie can’t find her initial pick, but still gives us her top four from the finalists thus far.

In the second post, pengie gives us her thoughts on C-ute’s upcoming single. Looking at a screencap of the girls in their outfits for this single (I am assuming that this is for a TV spot promoting the single), she takes a deeper look at what’s going on and speculates on Kanna’s future in the group. Much lulzing within.

ChanceChanceBoogie
Renai Revolution 21
Go go! Cutie Party

A few blogs formerly housed on vox have made the move over to wordpress. Max of ChanceChanceBoogie, Wendy of Renai Revolution 21 and Misa of Cutie Party have started anew and the blogs are looking quite snazzy.

Misa has one post in particular that I want to highlight with pics of the outfits for C-ute’s upcoming single ‘Edo no Temari Uta II’. Airi and Maimi have funny pink and red blob things on their heads, but I just really need to point out that Chisato’s looking really nice in these pics. Chisa, they better have given you some lines in this release!!! Recommended ogling.

C-ute Plugging Manoeri

Looks like C-ute are helping their fellow H!P member, Mano Erina, as she starts off her solo career. broomhead shares photos of the girls’ endorsing messages (at least I think that what they are… Well, they’re at least wearing ‘Erina’ shirts), and finds it unfair that Kanna’s new hairstyle is quite similar to that of Nocchi’s from Perfume. How can one resist such underhanded, but effective, tactics? XD

C-ute, Berryz, and MoMusu rankings

Slasha discovered Hello!Blog’s H!P poll and gets to ranking the girls of H!P’s 3 most successful groups. The reasoning behind the rankings aren’t very detailed, but there are some highly amusing quips which made this a fun read. I particularly enjoyed the write ups for Morning Musume’s Sayumi, and C-ute’s Hagiwara Mai.

And ha! No Miyabi chin jokes here!

I, unlike others, think that her long chin makes her prettier.

Airi’s Hole in One
I ♥ C-ute

Recommended viewing. Tom at Hello! Blog has some video embeds to share today. First up is a clip from Airi’s recently released (as in released today, the 25th) golfing DVD. His interest in Airi has been increasing lately, and with all her activity recently, it’s not all that surprising. Airi is quite adorable in the clip, no surprise there.

In his second post, Tom has a live performance of one of the few songs I actually really enjoyed from C-ute’s 3rd album. The girls are in their album cover outfits (which are adorable/hot), and ahhhh! There’s so much Chisato… She really needs to get a line on an official single one of these days.

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!

6gatsu no Kajitsu Previews
Cutie House 2nd Edition

Hello!°C-ute has updated with previews to the forthcoming Suzuki Airi photobook. There is also an entry with scans featuring Umeda Erika and Okai Chisato.

TLS JUNE Madness: This Finally Ends

Recommended reading. Our broomhead FINALLY completes the TLS [insert month here] Madness series with an exciting finale!

The suspense must have been killing all of you.
Or no one cared anymore about it. And with just cause.

I was part of the first group. LOL XD I really enjoyed this series by broomhead, even though he knocked Miya out in the early goings…

A babble about Suzuki Airi

Shirow muses over C-ute’s front girl and how she has grown over her nearly 6 years in Hello! Project. While not quite overtaking Maimi within his C-ute ranking, he is quite taken with the adorable Osuzu and has gone so far as blocking a friend on MSN for a week for insulting her. Some nice Airi eyecandy accompanies his thoughts.

Recommending reading. ºAbsol-ute ºC-ute is a new H!P blog by Amimi. She started it less than a week ago and already there’s a nice mix of news stories with commentary, a review on C-ute’s ‘Namida no Iro’ and an eyecandy post featuring Buono!.

Her latest entry is on Buono!’s  fourth single and I agree with Amimi in wishing for something along the lines of ‘Janakya Mottainai’.

The hair styles of Hello! Project
Up! Front Agency creates phsycopath
Two years of waiting for . . Ogawa Makoto

Actually Sakura Ichigo says she likes music from classical to heavy metal but in her blog there seem to be focus mostly on H!P artists. She has posted already three entries in June and they all are worth of checking.

I’ve never kept my eye on Hello! Project girls coiffure so it’s quite interesting to read SI’s remarks on those ever changing hair styles of various girls. Well, I must admit that there are TWO girls whose hair style changes I know very well and also those are mentioned in SI’s post.

In her second blog entry Sakura Ichigo talks about some evident things related to this so-called-Miya-scandal. SI is disappointed that those kissing scenes are even called as scandal. She makes a good point when saying:

“It is ethically wrong to fire a person because of their love interest. That kind of paragraph should be erased from their contract. It’s discrimination towards women. Girls should have basic human rights.”

Can’t agree more.

Lastly SI feels happy because Makoto is back to business and she wonders what kind of role H!P is offering for Mako now. Is Ongaku Gatas a good option? I think it could be. And I also hope that Makoto is going to be regular member in haromoni@ again.

Two Album Reviews In One Post! (I’m not dead…)

Hotaru reviews Buono!’s Café Buono! as well as C-ute’s 3rd Love Escalation.

For Café Buono! Hotaru isn’t too impressed with the song order of the album, but finds it to be okay overall. However, to say there were some “down right icky songs” was a shocker to me, but I’m biased and love this album to death. What I like in this review are the categories that Hotaru has. She breaks it down into Most fun song, most amusing song, prettiest song, most boring song (though this one almost killed me…) and worst song.

For 3rd Love Escalation, Hotaru is loving the Chisato moments, and I totally agree with her there. For categories here, she’s got best song, most fun son, most boring song and the strangest song.

3rd ~My love’s escalating~

Slasha gets around to reviewing C-ute’s 3rd album. It’s a short review and sweet review, though it looks like Slasha and I have very different tastes. XD One thing I fully agree on is the awesome outfits the girls don for the cover. So adorable!