MiChi’s Chest, Hidemi Uematsu’s Chaos and Aira Mitsuki’s Face
HALCALI is not HALICALI and tommy heavenly6 needs to STOP

Recommended reading. broomhead has ventured back to his blog after a small break to address some recent PVs. I think the most attractive part of his writing in these two recent entries is how straightforward it is–there’s no beating around the bush about what he does and doesn’t like. There are too many snarky one-liners to quote, so I’ll just leave it up to you, the reader, to go take a look at these posts. I think I have to say something about broomhead’s confusion on a particular group’s name, though:

I’ve always thought HALCALI’s name was HALICALI. I was pretty disappointed when I finally noticed the error of my ways. HALICALI just has a better ring to it, whereas HALCALI is boring. I’m trying to not let this disappointment cloud my impeccable judgment, but it is very difficult.

Impeccable judgement! Hahah… oh, sorry, right. Actually, I thought the same thing about HALCALI’s name for the longest time–it weirded me out when I realized there was no “i” there. Maybe we were thinking of cali≠gari?

Was Haromoni@ Ever Worth Watching? 

Heavens, there are a lot of big changes going on in the J-Pop world lately.  Like me, is anyone going through Haromoni@ withdrawals this weekend?  This is the first Sunday in a long time without a weekly Hello! Project television program.  So in honor of that here are the thoughts of my personal favorite Haromoni@ reviewer…

Broomhead theorizes how the final episode was a metaphor for the entire series.  Like most GakiKame segments, it included lots and lots of failures before any success.  Additionally he goes through each member and how the show didn’t work for their personalities.  The funny thing is as much as Broom bashed this show, it was his posts that got me into Haromoni@ in the first place.  He gives the ultimate answer to the question he has been asking us for the last 7 months.  But as much as he says the show is a travesty, failure and contributor to the regression of Morning Musume, I think deep down there is a little soft spot in Broom’s heart that will miss the show.

As sad as I am about it’s end, obviously Haromoni@ was NOT working.  Otherwise it wouldn’t have been cancelled.  I would love to see H!P come out with a new weekly series.  But for that to be a success they will really need to think about what it takes to attract people to the show, and make them care about the people in the group.

ikimono gakari - Little Psycho Girls Talking To Dolls

And I thought the PV for Ikimono gakari’s Planetarium was boring! In this post, broomhead sounds like a cynical old guy who doesn’t believe in fairytales anymore.

Or maybe he’s just more sane than I am.

Watch out for stalkers, stars and drugs. This PV is the Hollywood life baby!

In Defense of Idoling!!!  (True Life Seek)
Venturing outside the cozy borders of the Don Quijote Theater  (Aitakatta!)

Did I cause this?  First, Silverbolt posts an upload of a recent Idoling!!! concert DVD, then Pengie and I “innocently” poke fun at the group in recent posts.  All of the sudden Idoling!!! is a major topic here at IW.  If we aren’t careful, they just might become the biggest J-pop group in the West!

Broomhead comes to the defense of Idoling!!! by noting the comedic aspects of their shows.  He finds it ironic that anyone could be critical of their vocal abilities and still be a fan Hello! Project.  And ya know, when he puts it that way it makes total sense.  Broom has also embedded a video of a practical joke being played on one of the members.  Why don’t they do that on Haromoni@?

Cat violates the First Commandment of her blog, “Thou shalt not cover anything not associated with AKB48″.  The nice thing about this post is how Cat goes into it with such an open mind.  Overall she didn’t love the concert, but did find some things to like about the group. Ultimately she sees Idoling’s rightful place in the idol world.  But I was kinda bummed that she identified my favorite member (Yazawa Erika) as the chubby one.

So are Idoling!!! the real deal?  Or are they the “Sanjaya” of International Wota?

Ai Takahashi and Risa Niigaki Cannot Be Pink Lady
Not Much To Say About Kanna and A New TLS blog

It seems broomhead is not a fan of Takahashi and Niigaki as they portray Pink Lady. He has a clip of Ai and Risa, puts it up again a clip of the original Pink Lady (not the same song, though) and it seems that Ai and Risa just don’t compare. Though I don’t quite understand what the talk about “quality” is all about…

In a slightly older post, broomhead has some thoughts on Kanna’s non-scandal and has news of a new site…

True Life Seek Is An Utter Failure

Recommended reading. broomhead doesn’t seem to really think that True Life Seek is a failure–and I doubt that any of us do, either–but it is still healthy to take time out to think about the weaknesses of your blog (and your own habits as a blogger). He covers a few of his posts that suffered from small problems, and ends with another response-inspiring question: nobody’s perfect, so what are your own failures as a blogger?

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.

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

Cutie Party Survey

Recommended reading. broomhead’s a little late in responding to misa’s J-music survey from Cutie Party, but survey responses never go out of style, do they? Here’s more fodder for those who are keeping blogger profiles. XD

Sayaka Kitahara Photos

Recommended ogling. Our broomhead has a new theme at True Life Seek, and to test out a new gallery feature, he gives us a treat with some Sayaka eyecandy. I haven’t really paid much attention to Milky Way because… Well, because of Koharu, but Sayaka is quite cute. I may have to keep a closer eye on her (and refresh myself on how her voice sounds).

My Poor Kanna’s Hand

broomhead has some Kanna eyecandy to share, though he’s a little disturbed with how her hand ended up. And of course, there’s the customary broomhead snark to go with it. My day is now complete… XD

Yuke Yuke Monkey Dance, AKA the greatest video in existance. (Renai Revolution 21)
Yuke Yuke Monkey Dance PV (★ Morning Musume Again ☆)
Monkies Like This (Shanimuni Paradise)
It was the best of times, it was the blurst of times (True Life Seek)
Yuke Yuke Monkey Fail…I mean, Dance - Berryz Koubou (ºAbsol-ute ºC-ute)
Going bananas for “Yuke Yuke Monkey Dance” (I couldn’t help myself…) (Kira Kira Bomb)

Recommended reading. Here’s the next set of ‘Yuke Yuke Monkey Dance’ responses. Like the first batch, feelings regarding the PV are very mixed.

Wendy at Renai Revolution 21 is loving the PV and relates the silliness of the PV to golden age Morning Musume. While I can understand where she’s coming from, I don’t quite agree with what she’s saying there, but that’s an argument for elsewhere.

yanki07 at Morning Musume Again is not a huge Berryz Koubou fan. Well, this is certainly an interesting release to take notice of them with… I don’t know if this is a good thing or bad thing. yanki07 likes the song, but the PV…. Not so much.

Tsukiki of Shanimuni Paradise has 2 PV reviews in this post. First up, she watched Kuroki Meisa’s ‘Like This’ PV and she wasn’t impressed. While she’s sexy and can dance, it seems the singing is subpar, which is a huge turn off for Tsukiki. Following it up, she reviews Berryz’s ‘Yuke Yuke Monkey Dance’, and it doesn’t fare much better. Tsukiki likes the line distribution in that everyone gets to sing, but feels there’s too much Risako overall. I feel horrible, and I don’t actually want this to happen, but Tsukiki really amused me with one line in her review:

God, Risako, please get into some really horrible scandal and leave H!P forever. PLEASE.

broomhead of True Like Seek has a detailed review of the PV and why it has disappointed him so greatly. The roles of Maasa and Chinami within Berryz is highly frustrating for him, and he is the first person I’ve seen who mentions how bad the monkey costume is to poor Yurina. I thought the same thing when I watched this PV.

These costumes are horrendous to Yurina. She sticks out wearing a monkey costume in a group of people wearing monkey costumes. Wow.

Amimi of ºAbsol-ute ºC-ute is another fan who is not getting into this PV. She’s more of C-ute fan (obviously), but even she’s complaining of the unfairness of the releases being given to Berryz. Her review is pretty thorough, and she does her best to try and find positives for each aspect of the release that she comments on.

To round up this set of reviews, Valentine at Kira Kira Bomb sandwiches the negative responses with a positive one. Here is one blogger who is absolutely LOVING the monkey suits… And the giant banana in the background.

Perfume Loves the World and Portal

Our own broomhead shares the PV for Perfume’s upcoming single, “love the world”, and promises a more in-depth review later. The PV itself is full of playful and mind-warping displays of recursion and iteration, as well as Rubik’s cube awesomeness, so it is no surprise that broomhead (and I) are absolutely in love with it. There is, however, no cake.

[Review] In response… (Our Second Blossoming)
Music I’m Attached To (True Life Seek)
Let our melody play on… (J-Riff)

Three bloggers have posted entries in response to a post on unchained about music that is important to a listener for purely emotional reasons. Second Blossoming talks about Do As Infinity, the first Japanese group he listened to, and goes on to detail some other artists and songs that are meaningful to him before touching on his recent interest in Hello! Project. broomhead offers lots of clips, commenting on why each one is important to him (or is at least on the list) before ending with a jab at Morning Musume and High-King. Finally, J-Riff explains how their own journey into jpop began, starting with popular artist Hamasaki Ayumi.

These are all great, well-thought-out responses, and it’s interesting to read what songs others associate with good (or bad) times. It’s also great to learn how people actually began listening to jpop, and how fondly everyone seems to think of that first artist or first song. Maybe these entries will inspire a little nostalgia of your own!

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…

I Want to Run Around Naked on a Deserted Island

Recommended reading. broomhead shares some thoughts on the graduated Coconut, Ayaka, while sharing his favourite Surprise English Lesson. I never really thought about it in context with her phrase, as broomhead so kindly points out, “Mari’s phrase is even better with the big giant card covering her shirt.”

His thoughts on Ayaka are definitely interesting and raise a good question: “who was the real star of Ayaka’s English Lesson”? Was it Ayaka, or was it Morning Musume…?

There Is Something Wrong With This Picture

Well? Can you see what it is? What might at first seem like your ordinary guy casually celebrating Marippe’s birthday, I am both shocked and appalled by the blasphemous… thing I see there that broomhead has kindly pointed out for us.

Geez, the nerve this guy has for defiling his holy Mari shrine…

Pefume City Has a RSS Feed! (and Love The World covers)

Broomhead of TLS shares the latest covers of Perfume’s new single “Love The World” as well as sharing the his joy of Perfume City changing to Wordpress. He also makes comparisons between the covers of “Love the World” and “Yuke Yuke Monkey Dance”.

Plus, his last point fills me with anticipation.

Perfume in Porno Graffiti’s Itai Tachiichi

Recommended reading–and no, it’s not what you think! broomhead has an excellent writeup on Perfume’s appearance in rock group Porno Graffiti’s latest PV, “Itai Tachiichi,” and how the collaboration is likely meant to boost sales and popularity of both acts, as opposed to boosting Perfume’s sales alone (the girls are holding their own by now, it seems). The commentary on the video itself is easy to read, and plenty of screencaps are offered for those seeking sweet, sweet Perfume eyecandy. Mmm, Kashiyuka.

I’m So So So Hot Hot

Recommended ogling. It looks like a heat wave passed through broomhead’s nick of the woods, and in order to get his mind off the heat, he turns to the pools and beaches of H!P photobooks. It’s arguable that these pictures would cool someone down though… XD