Monkeys, a giant and that sweet lovely girl
Buono! by fans

zush shares more fanart with us and it’s quite lovely. I was particularly tickled by the one titled “The Gentle Giant”. Can you guess who’s featured in that piece?

Berryz in South Korea - part 2
Berryz in South Korea

Zush shares some fan-taken photos of Berryz Koubou arriving in South Korea, with the last three showing the gang rehearsing on stage. I love what Saki’s wearing in the second snapshot, and the smile she adorns on her face is only ever trouble. Just what is she up to? Lets hope it involves spaceships and love-rainbows and other ridiculously epic shit.

An earlier post is the prologue to the above one, linking to a blog with more BK photos at the Seoul Gimpo airport, and there’s a video at the bottom turning those pictures into live motion. I must admit though, the footage looks terrifying, espcially when the cameraman starts running. It was like Maasa let off this nuclear fart, and everyone had to flee for their lives.

Zen Poem about Autumn - 10.000

Zush shares a Zen poem about autumn with us, which is quickly proceeded by plenty of early Berryz Koubou autumn dressed photos. Tis’ the season, and all that.

Half a decade of kakko-ii.com

Congratulations to Zush for making it through 5 years with his Kakko-ii site, which put simply is like a massive H!P archive, a blog page and a forum. I’ve been able to have fun with all three, and I wouldn’t change a thing for the world. Although you could say I’m a blogger retired, Zush’s place was my first ever job, and I’ll never forget how he helped me find my feet - along with Ray. As for the forum, so much to say. In short I met a few good net friends on there and during my ‘active period’ I had a lot of fun. Zush narrates the rise of his site to it’s current standing, discusses the blog aspect of the site, and also details some stats.

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.)

Slam that bass Baby!

Recommended ogling. zush shares screencaps from Part 2 of Buono!’s Making of Gachinko Ikou! from their latest Single V. I must say that Miya’s looing smashing in all of them. Also, where did this hat of Airi’s come from and why wasn’t she wearing it in the PV?

Three Days
Two Days
One Day

The countdown is winding down and zush has posts on the last days before it is Miyabi’s birthday.

“Three Days:” zush gives it up for Miyabi as she knocks his freaking socks off.

“Two Days:” Miyabi has crabs.

“One Day:” A ridiculous amount of Miyabi eyecandy. And really, who better to do that than zush? Most of these are of early Miya.

Miyabi’s 16th Birthday Countdown! - 8 days left (Last Forever)
Miyabi’s 16th Birthday Countdown! - 7 days left
Miyabi’s 16th Birthday Countdown! - 6 days left
Five Days (Berryz Kobo International)
Four Days

Of course, maiZe’s daily posts until Miyabi’s birthday continue at Last Forever. zush has also joined in on the fun at Berryz Kobo International. The days left on the countdowns don’t seem to sync, but who really cares?

With 8 days to go, maiZe looks at Miyabi in the “VERY BEAUTY” PV. At 7, lots of photos of Miya in the Making Of for “Gachinko de Ikou!” Lastly, at 6 days left, maiZe embeds a video of Miyabi performing “Pittari Shitai X’mas!” along with Tokunaga Chinami and Sudou Maasa.

At Berryz Kobo International, zush shares some poetry and photos in both of the entries. Like zush, I am very grateful Miyabi has taken off the monkey suit.

Miya rehearsing for CM + One important reminder
Sporty Berries

Recommended ogling. Our zush has a lot of screencaps of Miyabi from the Hello! Project DVD Magazine Vol. 15. I love Miya in this outfit. That hat is so cute on her! I need to watch this at some point. I love silly Miya!

Up next, zush gets ready for the Olympics which start up in a few days by posting photos of the Berryz girls from the 2006 H!P Sports Festival. The girls look so young (and cute, of course)!

Berryz Art - Natsu Matsuri
Yuke Yuke poster

Zush has more Berryz art to share with us. Here, he’s got a drawing by Maasa to celebrate the summer festival season.

Up next, zush has received his Yuke Yuke Monkey Dance promotional poster. I really wonder why these outfits never made it to the PV, for I love these outfits 100 times better than either of the outfits the girls actually wear in the PV. zush also hands out some awards to the girls based on their presence (can’t really use the word performance here.. XD) in the poster.

Umberllas, hearts and Cherry Stick

Our zush has received new UFA photos, and Miyabi is looking quite wonderful in them. I’m particularly loving Miya in the white shirt with red hearts. He’s also got a few Risako photos in this shipment…

I’ve seen the H!P Kid umbrella photos before, but I’m just noticing now that the black umbrella that Risako’s holding is a downer in her photos, while the red of Miya’s umbrella really brings her photos to life. However, Risako’s not letting her bleak looking umbrella get her down! She’s got a smile that could light up any room to offset the darkness.

Berryz Art - The real monkeys
Gettin’ hungry now?

zush has some Berryz art to show us. Now the monkeys he’s got here are monkeys that I can deal with. zush also gives a background into the Chinese horoscope sign that some Berryz members fall under - the Water Monkey.

Up next, zush has some photos from a new photobook which has just been released with backstage pictures from the Berryz vs. C-ute battle concert. There’s a C-ute sighting on BK International! And man, all that food looks really appetizing… What’s there to eat around here?

W.T.F.G. 須藤茉麻!!! (CK’s H!P Blog)
Do the Saru! (Berryz Kobo International)
Berryz Koubou Yuke Yuke Monkey Dance PV (Mayuge Beam!)
Berryz Kobo - Yuke Yuke Monkey Dance! (Wotaku Now!)
Yuke Yuke Monkey Dance PV (Let’s Laugh! Hello Project)
Yuke Yuke Monkey Dance Full PV (Hello!Blog)
I like monkeys too, Berryz! But.. (70%) (musical GAME)

Recommended reading. Berryz Koubou’s latest PV continues to be a hot topic as more bloggers chime in with their thoughts.

Chris of CK’s H!P Blog is concerned with the direction that Berryz Koubou seems to be taking. He associates this latest release with something that Koharu could do… That’s a scary thought for me. However, he takes solace in the fact that there are a lot of Maasa sightings in the PV. Though, if I were a big fan of a less ‘in the spotlight’ member, I’d be a little disgruntled that the PV she gets more screen time is one where she’s dressed up on a monkey costume. However, Chris finds Maasa cute in the monkey outfit, so I guess it’s working for him.

Our zush clues us into the fact (for those of us who didn’t know) that Risako’s favourite animal is a monkey. Do you think she enjoyed the theme of this single? zush is not at all impressed with the outfits for this PV, but he’s quite taken with the song itself.

James of Mayuge Beam! likes almost everything about this single… The one exception is the monkey outfits. In his eyes, Maasa and Chinami steal the show for this PV.

Shirow of Wotaku Now! is on the same wavelength as James, and also sees Maasa and Chinami as the stars of this PV. However, he is not in agreement regarding the monkey suits, for he LOVES them: “The monkey suits multiply the awesomeness by a thousand”.

Beth of Let’s Laugh! Hello Project is another fan who is enjoying this release. We seem to have quite a few bloggers in this batch who peg Maasa and Chinami as the top Berryz in this PV. Captain also caught her eye, possibly because of her “un-captain like-ness”. I’m not quite sure if that is something that should be taken as a compliment or an insult towards Captain… It really depends on how you feel like reading it. XD

Tom of Hello!Blog is loving the funny, laid-back feel of ‘Yuke Yuke Monkey Dance’, for he feels that H!P releases have been a tad too serious lately. Berryz is bringing back the fun to H!P in his eyes. Again, Maasa and Chinami are two of the standout performers for Tom, but he also sees Yurina sharing the spotlight in this PV.

Our freehummingbird of musical GAME is not quite impressed with the single, but I don’t quite get how this could rank in with 70% if the “PV is a stink bag”. The grading here was a little confusing to me because while the analysis of certain sections were almost completely negative (ex. fashion sense and choreography), they still got 70-75% grades.

It was four years from now

Recommended viewing. Our zush has some adorable scans of Berryz Koubou from their debut year, back in 2004. I’m hesitant to recommend this as ogling, but it’s definitely some nice eye candy. You can see how much these girls have grown up in the past 4 years, even though their latest release may be trying to bring their personal growth back to the level which it was at when they first formed the group.

Basket full of berries
Kiss me! Kiss me! Kiss me!

Recommended ogling. First up, our zush has wonderful photos of the Berryz girls lounging and hanging out. Lots of peace signs to be found here.

In the second post, zush promotes Buono!’s ‘Kiss!Kiss!Kiss!’ Single V. He gets around to posting screencaps before I had the chance to even get screencaps… But if you’re a fan of either Momoko, Miyabi or Airi, this Single V may just be your cup of tea. I nearly died of a Miya overload as I watched through the 4 - yes, 4! (lol… what’s with the number 4 tonight?) - versions of the PV… Not that I could ever get enough of Miya…

Her Holiness Saki-chan

Our zush found an interestingly retouched photo of Berryz Koubou’s Captain. She is absolutely glowing in this pic. XD Seriously though, she looks quite cute, if not somewhat pale.

Rii making faces
Rii’s making great progress

zush looks to brighten the day with some Risako media. In the first post, we get some screencaps of an adorably young Rii from the making of ‘Nanchuu Koi Wo Yatteruu You Know?’. I miss this old Risako who was endearingly awkward with  her funny teeth.

In the second post, zush has some audio clips of Risako from her solo event this month. While I would say Risako’s singing has improved some from when she was younger, I can’t quite agree with zush.

If you still say Rii can’t sing then you must be deaf.

I think I’m deaf… XD However, I am also slightly biased because one of her event songs was Ayaya’s ‘Zutto Suki De Ii Desu Ka’, and in my mind, NO ONE can live up to Ayaya’s delivery of that song (okay… maybe I’m more that just SLIGHTLY biased). So really, Rii was put at an unfair disadvantage in terms of bringing her status up in my eyes with this performance.