AAA 3rd Anniversary Live Outfits // Urata!!! // Other weird outfits
How much does Raid disagree with Japan?
SQS #006

Raid’s latest post features plenty of cotume photos from AAA’s 3rd Anniversary Live DVD, and Raid unleashes some praise for the choices, and a little bit of that snark too. Shuta and Nissy look tasty-tastic in those tie printed t-shirts, and as Raid himself points out, Chiaki looks terrifying throughout. Oh, and I couldn’t agree more on the assessment of the before and after analysis on Hidaka’s haircut. He really did look like a pot smoking hippie didn’t he?

An earlier entry sees Raid pitting his opinions against general Japan - as he nicely puts it - coming out with various dialogues on the current top charting singles. Much of the analysis on the singles are done really well, I must admit, because without getting slowed down by the detail of each song, Raid manages to pursue the heart of his opinions with confident prose. I only wish I had it in me to review quite like this, because the writing appears easy. I can tell you, it is not. This one’s an enjoyable read.

And last but not least we have Raid’s 6th SQS segment, this time featuring a recent Arashi photoshoot. Matsujun’s still got it - that tarted up geek look. Keep on living the dream Matsu.

‘BEST FICTION’ breaks the million barrier!.

Recommended reading. Stop the freakin’ presses! (Wait, this is post-print culture. Never mind.) Courtesy of Namie News Network’s UH+, we hear that Best Fiction album has now sold over a million copies, the first time she’s managed this feat in a decade. A decade! Click on the link for more information - and congratulations to Amuro Namie for this hard-earned achievement!

Charts: Southern All Stars takes #1

As always, Tokyograph keeps track of the Oricons, noting movements in the top ten of albums and singles. As far as singles go, Southern All Stars are the clear winner and have even set a new record. With albums, Amuro Namie’s Best Fiction continues to dominate - I may be biased, but isn’t it time to declare her the ruling diva of Avex?

I Almost Looked Like A Fool (True Life Seek)
Love the world #1 at Oricon charts! (Perfume City)
Perfume at No. 1 again (contemode LiveJournal community)

Our own Broomhead, ekuseru of Perfume City, and the contemode LiveJournal community put their two cents in on love the world hitting #1 on the Oricon Daily Charts.

Broomhead’s conclusions from the news make for an interesting read while ekuseru’s #1 mention includes the screencap from the Oricon website. One of the comments on the contemode community discussion makes note of the same single Broomhead thought would overtake Perfume and says there’s hope for Perfume to take weekly #1. I’d definitely like to see that happen.

A little aside: Tsume Tsume Tsume by MAXIMUM THE HORMONE and Berryz’s Monkey Dance are 2 and 3 respectively. Yay MTH.

Tokyograph- EXILE Dominates Music Sales for First Half of ‘08

Wiki- 2008 Oricon Top 100 Singles- Half Year

Wiki- 2008 Oricon Top 100 Albums- Half Year

Tokyograph summarizes the Oricon half year charts for 2008, noting that EXILE ranks in first for total sales. Other top sellers were Kobukuro, KAT-TUN, Hikaru Utada, and Hideaki Tokunaga. I’ve also linked the ppn articles with the charts for top singles and albums in case you’re interested.

Oricon Sales + “Last Friends” Soundtrack

Here’s the latest sales figures and weekly rankings for the Heart Station album and “Prisoner of Love” single, as well as the release of the Last Friends soundtrack.