A bit early this year, but time for some annual awards... For I sure love handing them out.
Music
Best music discovery - Wonder Girls, although this is a bit of a pity vote, since I only listen to 3 of their songs. I'm not sure I made any great music discoveries this year... I guess that's something I need to fix in 2009. I'm interested in finding more good music sung in Chinese
Best music rediscovery - Garbage. I finally gave a re-listen to my long-time favourite band (all my teen years, basically) and remembered how much I love them
Best new group of the year - Buono!. They officially debuted in 2007, but most of their releases have been in 2008, so there. The ultimate chipmunk vocal unit, they are cute and awesome and have cheerful songs
Hello! Project
Best Hello! Project single - Lotta Love Lotta Love (or Rottara Rottara). I instantly fell in love with it. It makes me happy and bouncy
Best new Hello! Project group - High-King, because I already mentioned Buono! above and this unit had another single I loved this year (c/w included). Great choreography that is so rare in H!P. I also liked seeing Yuuka get some spotlight and as a result, more people become interested in her/H!P Eggs. Too bad it was a temporary unit
Best Hello! Project Egg - Sengoku Minami.
During the past year her charm has just really won me over. Her smile is irresistible, and I'm not the only one who has noticed her
Best Berryz Kobo member - Tsugunaga Momoko. She is pretty much my favourite member in the entire H!P currently and this year has only strengthened her position. I'm loving her personality, her voice, and the PBs she released. Momo makes me smile even more than before, if that's possible, and I'm not getting tired of her at all. There's just nobody else like her
Best Morning Musume member - Tanaka Reina. While she isn't my favourite member in Morning Musume, she's the one I gained more respect for during the past year. I thought she was really good in High-King and realized that she has always been good and will always be
Best DVD release of the year - BC Concert Tour 2008 Spring - Berryz Kamen vs Cutty Ranger - I don't really remember much of it right now, but I remember liking it at the time and watching certain performances more than once. (Actually I liked the H!P Egg Shiba concert better, but I don't want everything to be about Eggs, kek)
Movies
I actually kept a list of all movies I watched this year and watched more movies than usual. I'm planning on writing about them separately on my LJ, so I don't feel like plunging into them right now.
Television
Best new series (in Finland) - Madmen. It only started a bit more than a month ago, and I skipped last week's episode because I felt I wasn't getting that phroarrr feeling from the show... But watching last night's episode brought my faith back and I think I'll keep watching now. In the end it's surprising how few new shows I've started watching this year.
Best continuing series (in Finland) - Lost. Usually I would avoid naming the same show again for two years in a row, but Lost season 4 was so damn good. If not Lost, Dexter season 2 was also amazing.
Best hospital series - ER, seasons 1 - 3. I started watching this show from the beginning and I was surprised to notice how much I remembered of it (I thought I'd only seen bits and pieces of it since I was so young when it was first aired here) and how funny the show is in addition to all the drama. Witty dialogue
Best new TV actress crush - Yunjin Kim/Sun from Lost. I've been watching Lost since it started, but only this year really got into Sun (probably because her character leveled up during Season 4)
Best new TV actor crush - I can't remember anyone... There's Faraday from Lost, but that was only a temp
Best reality series - Survivor: Micronesia. Best final 3 ever, best winner ever. Parvati <3 This season had so many blindsides, so much entertainment and classic moments that I'll probably watch it again when it's finally aired in Finland
Best Survivor contestant - Parvati. She's a shameless flirt and pwned everyone. Personalitywise not as entertaining as someone like Courtney from China, but I don't think it can be denied that she provided entertainment in Micronesia. (I haven't been watching Survivor Gabon for more than 4-5 episodes so I can't really say if there's someone more likeable there)
Best Big Brother contestant - Brigitte from BBAUS.
This girl just cracks me up. I think I have a thing for this type of female characters on reality tv: girls who seem really dumb/have poor common knowledge, but don't feel shame and turn out to be good judges of character (Brigitte could see through Nobbi for one). AND are hilarious in the process. Brigitte would say things like "I hate you" or "break a leg", but instead of finding it offensive I just ended up finding it hilarious. It really is quite strange. I really feel like watching this series of BBAUS again. I think it was really underrated and I'm sad that my first season of BBAUS turned out to be the last
Best America's Next Top Model contestant - Anya. I've actually stopped watching ANTM because it's so ridiculous, and I didn't see all of Anya's cycle... But I did love this girl for as long as I did watch it. She was just so genuinely sweet and funny and.. yes, a bit of an airhead. Other than that, she was fierce in all her pictures. If that show was really about crowning the best model she would've won, but I'm kind of glad she didn't so that she won't have to drag around the embarrasing crown of ANTM in her career
Idols, celebrities
Best gravure discovery - Sato Rika. I'm pretty sure I discovered her earlier, but I re-discovered her again this year thanks to Masa. She is THE cutest little gravure idol
Hottest Korean pretty boy of the year - T.O.P.
from Big Bang, he's a pimp and he loves it.
Most beautiful Japanese actress - Shibasaki Kou, and yes, I only made this category for her
Most beautiful western actress - Amy Adams. I'm not sure if she's the most beautiful, but I certainly fell for her in 2008. I love her hair, smile, and cuteness
Best personality in a western actor - James McAvoy.
Previously this category was for actresses, which is weird... But anyway, McAvoy is a charming Scottish lad who makes me laugh, even when I don't know what he's saying
Entertainment
Most addictive PC game - The Sims 2. There's no other game that fits my personality better, since it gives me free hands to do what I like
Most addictive PS2 game - Can't say I've been playing it much...
Best novel - Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë, not that there's much competition because I'm a lazy reader, but it's really a good book, okay...
And that's that. A bit lame. Oh well.
Finally, a second H!P Egg concert released on DVD! I can't skip this chance to write another review on my favourite fandom topic, H!P Eggs. I'll try to both write some general things about the concert and look into the members one by one, by taking also my old opinions into consideration. I'm curious to find out how my opinions have changed, the girls have improved, or if I've made any predictions back in the day that now make sense (or the opposite!).
First of all, the setlist for this concert was pretty damn good:
- ＪＵＭＰ 全員
- ラブ＆ピ～ス！ＨＥＲＯがやって来たっ。 能登・田中・仙石・吉川・古川・森・北原・古峰・和田・前田（ゆ）・福田・佐保・岡井・関根・小川・前田（い）・新井
- 印象派ルノアールのように 能登・吉川・関根・小川
- ＳＨＡＬＬ ＷＥ ＬＯＶＥ？ 田中・仙石・北原
- デート日和 古川・佐保
- 行く！ZYX FLY HIGH 古峰・和田・岡井・前田（い）・新井
- 恋はひっぱりだこ 森・福田
- １００回のＫＩＳＳ 前田（ゆ）
- ＥＶＥＲＹＤＡＹ ＹＥＡＨ！片思い 岡井・前田（い）・新井
- 色っぽい女～ＳＥＸＹＢＡＢＹ～ 田中・北原・古峰
- ロマンチック浮かれモード 吉川・関根
- 大阪 恋の歌 古川・森・前田（ゆ）・福田・佐保・小川
- １７の夏 和田
- 手を握って歩きたい 能登・仙石・譜久村・金子・竹内
- 浮気なハニーパイ
- ザ☆ピ～ス！
- BYE BYE またね
JUMP and Love&Peace! are both high energy songs that will get the crowd going, followed by two 'sexy' songs. Most notably there's only one ballad, which is great news to me as a bit of a ballad hater (I just prefer songs with energy and some beat). Romantic Ukare Mode is a H!P concert classic that never fails, and BYE BYE Mata Ne a great ending song, since it brings a tear to my eye, and I hear I'm not the only one. There are quite a few cute, fun songs to boot. Nothing wrong with the setlist, really.
Generally speaking the Eggs have improved vocally and as performers significantly since the first H!P Egg concert. Most noticeable are "the little ones" who seemed to be a bit lost on stage still at the first concert. But they are by no means the only ones who have got better. Honestly, there were times when these girls didn't seem any less talented than the current Morning Musume. Egg fans have a reason to be proud and non-Egg fans have a reason to be worried, since they may get utterly charmed by some of these girls in the near future.
Time to finally start the member by member babble. Man, taking these screencaps took way too much time. Let's start with the newbies, aka FRESH MEAT!
Takeuchi Akari
I thought that there was no way that H!P Eggs could get cuter once I'd seen the likes of Fukuda Kanon and Maeda Yuuka. And then little Takechan came along. She really is too adorable! I was surprised to see in the concert backstage videos how relaxed and at ease she already seems to be around other Eggs. Heck, she doesn't mind if others play with her cheeks. (Seems like I'm not the only who finds her adorable, huh?) The cameras also seem to interest her, since whenever one was around and she noticed it, she'd approach it or at least curiously look at it - like a little puppy learning her surroundings.
Kaneko Rie
For some reason, Ricchan makes me giggle. During the concert she sometimes has the funniest expressions. Based only on her picture I thought that she wouldn't be someone I'd notice easily, but on the contrary, she stood out to me instantly. There's just something very funny about her. She'll make a great source for gifs and screencaps...
Fukumura Mizuki
I find this girl very, very pretty. I also find it adorable that she cried after the Shiba concert (I believe this clip is only on dohhhup, not the bonus video that came with the concert). Somehow the teary eyes made her even prettier. But that's all for now, I don't really know her all that well yet.
All in all, these three new members are a great addition to H!P Eggs. They're quite different from each other, and all likeable in their own way. They also seem to have settled in nicely. Hopefully little Miyamoto Karin has received as warm a welcome. And now onto more experienced Eggs...
Previously I had commented on her nice 'clear' singing voice and how I had liked her for no obvious reason. Well, I still like her (although possibly less than before, for no obvious reason), and her voice turned out to be even better in the Shiba concert. It was funny how Akari was paired with Konatsu in a Date Biyori performance. It was like watching two opposites: Akari with her mild expressions and Konatsu with her over-the-top faces. But I think she did well enough. Overall, she doesn't seem to stand out too much, though. I wish her luck with Shugo Chara Egg - it's likely that she'll be the least popular one of the four.
Tanaka Anri
The previous time I was impressed with her performance skills. I'm afraid to say that this time, while she did as well as in the first concert DVD, the other Eggs have been working hard and reached her level or even surpassed her. However, she seems to have a very likeable personality, both big sister-like and goofy. I have to admit that a lot of the time I'm unable to concentrate on anything else that she does because I've noticed that her teeth are so off-focus that it looks like she only has one front tooth, right in the middle. It's really distracting. I'm not usually an ass about teeth but this one really bothers me... Ok, time to move on to the next person.
Noto Arisa
I've said earlier that Asuna doesn't seem to be a natural idol, and that still holds true. I think she might be the only Egg that hasn't improved noticeably since the first concert DVD. She still dances with a serious expression on her face and doesn't seem to be 100% into the performance. At least her voice seems to be nice, just like her sister's, but not as strong. In the end, she's not very memorable compared to other Eggs.
Wada Ayaka
Dawa is one of my new top favourites, although I've always liked her. Her physical awkwardness, ditzy personality and cute face result in one adorably loveable package. Her solo performance in the concert was too cute, her angry expression in the backstage video too awesome for mere mortals. And her voice isn't bad, either. If she one day grows out of her awkward phase, I might actually feel a bit sad for a little while. Until I get used to it.
Sekine Azusa
Sekkii surprised me last time with her stage presence and she certainly didn't let me down this time, either. Moreover, it was not only her stage presence that was good, but her singing, as well! I'd say she is easily one of the best Eggs vocally. It's hard to believe that she's only 12 years old. She's such a natural on stage and also looks older than her age. This girl is really quite awesome.
Irorin continues to be radient and cute. In addition, her singing voice is quite good. I was surprised. (I feel like I'm praising everyone's singing, but they really were better than I'd expected!) She really seems to have been born to do this - it was almost scary how she was able to put on a mature expression during Iku! ZYX FLY HIGH. Young promise indeed.
Fukuda Kanon
Kanon was great vocally and with her stage presence, as usual. I'm looking forward to seeing her in Shugo Chara Egg, should be fun to see her in a proper unit (I'm aware that there is already some footage of this, but I need more). The performance with Kanon and Morisaki was pretty awesome: it was the two H!P fangirls/bloggers representing. Singing Berryz, too (Morisaki is a huge Momoko fan). Good times!
Furukawa Konatsu
Manami has definitely changed from the first new face concert. She used to look completely lost on stage, forget to smile and such. Now she's cheerful, cute, and can sing well enough. One of my favourite bits from the backstage bonus video was by her, a weird little dance (with Konatsu standing behind her). She's still a bit quiet and there's room to improve, but I was really impressed by her nevertheless.
Sengoku Minami
Sengoku in SHALL WE LOVE? = death! As my friend Stryfe said, "she could seduce a rock". She's a very attractive performer: she moves well, she has a great smile and sparkling eyes, and she sings well enough (even if she might be one of the weaker vocalists in Eggs. It's hard to tell sometimes). Her hair is great, too, and adds to her attractiveness. She has definitely become one of my favourite Eggs. Very charismatic.
Komine Momoka
She might be one of my least favourite vocalists among the Eggs (just because it doesn't sound like her voice flows freely - I don't really know how to explain, but it sounds weird). However, I like her personality. She's still a weirdo who tries hard to be a good idol, just like I've previously thought. She didn't stand out to me that much this time, though. Maybe when I watch the concert for the 3rd time.
Ogawa Saki
Little Sakichy is still an impressive performer for someone her age (12), but sometimes the push she gets feels a bit redundant. I guess I'm just bothered that she got pretty much the same lines in Osaka Koi no Uta as last time when they could've shuffled it or even had another song. Osaka Koi no Uta was one of the best performances in the first new face concert. In this one, at least during the first viewing, it was one of the least exciting ones (but I did like it better watching it for the 2nd time). It's a bit horrible, but I feel like I'm already getting bored of her. I guess still, after over a year, I don't understand why she is the one being promoted so hard... I think I will only understand why once she is actually put into a group or turned into a solo act. Seeing her in that different kind of context, promoting her own songs, might do the trick.
Kitahara Sayaka
I feel like I've made some wrong predictions when I've called Saya one of the 'beauty Eggs' in the past. Maybe it's the teeth, maybe it's the shorter hair, but her looks aren't that special to me right now. However, her character has impressed me - she seems to have a gutsy, tomboyish personality, also evident in her role in Kirarin. Her voice stands out a lot. It's quite "raw" and strong and you can usually distinguish it even if there were several people singing. I think her singing needs more control, but if she succeeds in that, she'll be fun to listen to in the future. Oh, and she has killer abs.
Definitely one of the best singers among Eggs who has improved her performing in general, too. Earlier I've felt a bit iffy about her, but I think I'm finally starting to like her and notice her presence. She's not really a 'happy happy joy joy' girl like most of the rest, which should be taken into consideration. Strangely enough, she has felt a bit like an outsider to me when it comes to Eggs. Maybe it's because she auditioned for Morning Musume, I don't know. But it helped to see her smile and perform with Sekine in this concert. I'm also grateful for every Egg who's over 16 years old, HEH.
Maeda Yuuka
I would write a nice conclusion here, but this post has already taken way too much time (why do I feel like I always end my posts like this). So instead I'll just tell everyone to go watch this DVD if they haven't already. It's really quite enjoyable and everyone is really cute. So go go go!
This is not a serious post, so please don't take it seriously. :3
I don't know if it was the same everywhere for H!P fandom, but at least at the places I hang out at, a fun period seemed to be when the three 6th gen members Eri, Sayu and Reina weren't 18 yet, and everyone seemed to be looking forward to their birthdays and having fun counting down to the days when they'd be 'legal' by western standards (the ones widely used on the Internet). You know, a harmless bit of fun. But for a while it's been pretty quiet, hasn't it? Seems like there haven't been any exciting 18th birthdays for a good while. However, fear not! There are currently quite a few sweet sixteens/seventeens that should make the next year or two either fun or agonizing (depending on how you view it).
(I guess I should mention that at my home forum, it's against the rules to say pervy things about H!P members under the age of 18. That's why fans have to wait until the 18th bd to open their floodgates, which makes for some hilarious 18th birthday parties...)
So here it is, the best of "not a giiiiirl, not yet a wooomaaan" in Hello! Project/TNX!
Aina Hashimoto (The Possible)
Age: 16
What makes Hashimon stand out? Well, besides the cute singing voice... her chest. If you haven't noticed the size of it (especially if you've seen her bikini pictures), you must be blind. By Japanese standards, she is very well endowed. There's no way around it. Doesn't help that much like Yui Okada of ex-Viyuden, she is not afraid of showing off her goods. However, if it wasn't for her chest I wouldn't be including her here... So I suppose I'm mentioning in my opinion the least exciting one first. But I can see her becoming a valuable bikini-idol for TNX.
Age: 16
Miyabi has really become increasingly attractive as time has gone by. She has always been a cool type of girl, but it seems to have evolved into something more. She's dangerous now, definitely someone to keep an eye on! I hope there won't be any more stalking scandals before she actually turns 18... And I hope that she keeps having awesome hairstyles. I think she also benefits from being in Buono! because of their awesome outfits (hotpants, short skirts, rock/punk-inspired clothes, and what fangirl can forget her once being dressed in a suit all handsome).
Age: 16
Most of the time Koharu is her goofy ol' self, but when she tries to be cool and mature, I'd say she can pull it off. Because of this I expect more and more people to add her 18th birthday on their list of birthdays to look forward to. Heh.
Minami Sengoku (H!P Egg; Ongaku Gatas)
Age: 17
There's no way she wouldn't make this list. Sengoku has a very flirty air about her, especially on stage... But I think her eyes have that special sparkle even when she's interviewed, appears in backstage videos and such. A combination of those wicked eyes, a great smile and great hair, and you get a dangerously attractive little package. I can't wait until I can start shamelessly converting more guys to become her fans. I've already had some success, but it's not enough!
Erina Mano (solo)
Age: 17
I actually don't find anything but extreme cuteness in this girl. So while I wouldn't be excited about her 18th birthday, I can imagine that some guys might be. The thing is, because of her air of innocence and inexperience as a performer, even if her birthday is only 6 months away she seems more 'loli' type to me than the others I've mentioned... And as a result she'd not cater for the taste of the guys that I'm friends with. But to anyone who likes the innocent type, she'd be perfect... So I suppose I'll throw her in here anyway.
Maimi Yajima (C-ute)
Age: 16
Maimi has a lot of things going for her. She's one of the all-time prettiest Hello! Project members, she looks good in a swimsuit, she can dance her butt off and looks good in hotpants. And all this while having a sweet personality, too. I'm not surprised to hear from guys who have fallen for her, but I think in two years it'll be even better (assuming she'll still be out there). Definitely one of the girls to look forward to.
So these are the girls I chose to feature, but among Berryz, C-ute, H!P Eggs, SINA and The Possible, there are also several others aged 16-17:
Maasa Sudo (16), Konatsu Furukawa (16), Erika Umeda (17), Chinami Tokunaga (16), Yuu Kikkawa (16), Kaede Oose (17), Anri Tanaka (17), Ai Suma (16), Nana Nakayama (16), Linlin (17), Momoko Tsugunaga (16), Yuri Sawada (16), Saki Shimizu (16), Yurika Akiyama (16)...
I only chose the ones who I can see attracting the most attention in this regard. For example, Momo is one of my favourite members, but she is so "never-changing" that I don't really see any guy having a field party over her 18th birthday. Heh.
Since I've mentioned it everywhere, might as well post it here, too!
In tonight's episode of Finland's Idol, a girl sang our dear Koharu Kusumi's song Koi*Kana (as well as a Finnish song by PMMP), and made it through to the next round!
I have to admit, I was prepared to get embarrassed by her, but she had such a beautiful personality that she completely won me over. She was the perfect person in my opinion to represent us crazy Japan fans.
I've uploaded a video of her audition on youtube, so check it out!
You may also see two of her pictures here.
I'm not sure if she has enough talent to make it much further in the competition, but she definitely has the attitude and charm! Maybe this time they'll let someone different in the semifinals just to see if the audience will like her? If that happens, she has my vote.
I return from the dead to wonder about the Hello! Project audition in Taiwan. I'm quite shocked that the entire audition process seems to have got almost zero attention by the English-speaking fan community. Sure, it made news headlines when it was announced, and now that the winners have been chosen, there have been a couple of blog entries revealing the winners. But for example, at my home forum, nobody ever mentioned that there's an actual television show in Taiwan for the audition. I only found out two days ago when I found pictures of the winners at a Japanese site! I looked up the show on youtube/tudou and spent the entire weekend catching up on the show.
I guess the lack of interest on the audition show is what's shocking to me. Here we basically get a Taiwanese version of Asayan and nobody's interested? What the heck? Isn't this kind of juicy audition drama what everyone's been missing? Or is it just not good enough because it's in Chinese? I don't understand a word of Chinese (well, I understand 'thank you', but that is literally everything), but watching these girls perform needs no translation. It actually reminded me of when I first got into Hello! Project and didn't understand a word of Japanese. Regardless of the language barrier, the personalities and cuteness of the girls stood out to me back then... And the same happened with these girls from Taiwan. Ah, I don't know... Are foreign H!P fans getting lazy? Or maybe just the majority of fans in general aren't interested in auditions... But I've always loved them, so I guess that's why I don't understand why there have been so few reports on this.
Anyway, I'd love to babble about the girls who won the audition, but I haven't found trustworthy romaji versions of their names (if anyone can read Chinese, I'd very much appreciate them). The Stardust H!P blog had some names, but the blogger was unsure of them herself/himself... So until reliable versions come up, I guess I'll refer to them with the nicknames that I've given to them. Heh.
First, "Sayulite" (her nickname given on the show seems to be Lightbulb). She was my favourite from the moment she first walked on stage. I nicknamed her Sayulite because some of her expressions reminded me of Sayumi from Morning Musume. When interviewed, she seems lost in her own world and it takes a while for her to come up with a reply... And her replies seem to be strange/funny, since everyone cracks up at them. Even I get amused and I don't even know what she's saying. Her character is definitely what I first loved about her... But later on, she also turned out to be quite a decent singer (in H!P standards) with a cute voice, and she can play the piano, as well. Not to mention that her Japanese pronunciation is pretty good, and she is attractive. This girl is definitely someone I want to see more of in the future!
If you want to see Lightbulb for yourself, you might like to check this youtube link. :D
"Umedalite" (...Erika Umeda of C-ute. She doesn't really look like her, but she did in her winner picture). This girl can't sing to save her life... But she seems to be fun enough and I quite like her looks, even if she seems to look completely different on different days! (Just look at the three pics above.) I like her much more after going through her picture album. What can I say, I'm easy to please.
All in all, I'm happy with Tsunku's choices and will probably try to support these girls in the future, if I can only afford it. I also really enjoyed watching the auditions... Some of the performances were legendary, from their awfulness (unicycling girl singing Ayaya horribly) to their greatness (there was some impressive dancing in there). I do recommend watching this show to anyone who has the time and likes cute girls.
The show's name in Chinese: 早安家族New Star
I've been so uninspired to write about anything, but now there are some things I'd like to discuss. It's going to be a random entry, so bear with me!
First of all, there were the news of now ex-H!P Egg Erina Mano graduating from Ongaku Gatas and finishing her training in H!P Eggs, to pursue a solo career. I was naturally thrilled by this piece of news, not really as a Manoeri fan but as an Egg fan (since Manoeri wasn't one of my favourite Eggs personally, but I can see the potential in her). Well, it's way too early in my opinion to guess what her future career will be like, since we don't even know for sure if she's going to be a singing idol or perhaps go for acting instead. It would be a first, eh? A bit farfetched perhaps, but we really don't know, do we. Every time I see her do the opening for Berikyuu I can't help but think how much she looks like an actress from some drama series, which is why I brought up the idea of her going for acting, but looks aren't - - well, actually looks ARE everything in this business. But nevermind.
Out of curiousity, I dug up the first comment of mine on Manoeri that I could find. And it said "I think she's really cute..." I think that must have been most fans' initial reaction, since she seemed to become so popular (relatively, we are talking about Eggs you know) in such a short span of time. The picture above on the left has the first picture of Manoeri that was ever available to us (and also what I commented on as being 'really cute'), and on the right Manoeri now. But let's move on to our next topic.
So, our next topic is Sayaka Kitahara as Noeru on Kirarin Revolution - well, mainly in the live action clips on Oha Star, since I don't watch the anime. Her character is a tomboy sporty girl, which I had no idea about before I started watching, so I was very pleasantly surprised. The role seems to fit her perfectly and makes her seem very cool. I'm surprised I haven't seen that many screencaps of her around (I took these ones myself), and it makes me fear that fanboys (who usually take the caps) aren't that excited about her tomboyish role. But I think girls are very open and even inclined to like this kind of image (just look at Yossi's success... and hell, I'm buying it) so maybe Sayaka has a chance to gain more female fans. Or maybe I'm reading too much into it. Either way I think everyone who's curious should head towards Hello! Online and grab at least one of these clips to hear Sayaka's tomboy voice and see her tough girl attitude!
Pictures from top to bottom:
1. Simply Sayaka as Noeru
2. Noeru is too cool to shake hands with random dudes. (Who knows where that hand has been)
3. Noeru meets tambourine
Her character's story seems to be that Kirari is determined to have Noeru join her as an idol, but Noeru isn't as excited about the idea. But in the end she gives in to it, after noticing that being an idol is also hard work (like sports).
I guess that's enough about Sayaka...
Then for something a little different. About a month ago, at JPH!P (the forum I go to and moderate) we started a "girl of the week" feature in the H!P Girls Threads section. Now it's not a huge feature thing, just that a certain member's thread gets stickified for a week and people are encouraged to post special comments and such in her thread. And especially visit threads they usually don't. So anyway, I actually noticed that this little feature has helped me to start paying special attention to certain members, even after their week is over. I'm mainly talking about Reina Tanaka and Risa Niigaki here.
To a smaller extent the same thing happened with Risa; during her week there was a conversation in her thread about her difficult early days in Morning Musume and current leader potential, which me notice her a bit more than usual, too. (There wasn't much new information for me in the conversation, but sometimes a mere reminder works wonders.)
I really haven't been paying attention individually to several H!P members, so I'm really looking forward to more "girls of the week" who I might end up appreciating in a whole new way. I realize that fans who are only interested in supporting a few particular members aren't going to benefit from something like this, but to anyone who wants to be a fan of the whole Hello!Project, it is beneficial to sometimes take the time to pay attention to each and every girl separately.
I'm going to end this post with one random wish: I want H!P Sports Festival back!!
I'm just saying, the common courtesy is to not direct-link to Japanese uploaders on foreign sites, and there are good reasons for it!
#1 If Japanese website hosts notice a lot of foreign traffic on their site, they're likely to BAN FOREIGN IPs. Then none of us outside Japan will be able to access the site! There are several sources outside Japan for Hello! Project & other idol pictures these days, most JPOP forums have some kind of a picture forum... So you should encourage other foreign fans to use those sources instead of everyone attacking the original Japanese source!
#2 To those people who sometimes spend hours looking for new uploaders, it sucks to see someone just provide links to fans who'd never bother seeing the trouble for it themselves. No offence but if a fan is too lazy to make the effort, maybe they're not supposed to find the original source! They're also not likely to share their findings with the rest of the community, so what's the point in giving the link to them??
#3 Some people argue that Japanese fans should take the foreign fans into account, too. Why?? What exactly do they owe to us? If anything, WE owe to THEM for making most pics and videos available. We should show some respect to them by not killing their fricking bandwidth! Uploader links belong to 2ch, to the Japanese community. If someone's too lazy to go and look for them there or wherever, they don't deserve access. That's what I think. And language difference is no excuse: when I started I didn't know crap. It's not difficult to find your fav members name, go to 2ch, search it there, and start looking for links.
I'm just so angry because one of my favourite uploaders just went down, and when I googled the name of the uploader to see if it changed address, I discovered that some English-speaking asshole had linked it on their website (along with other Japanese uploaders). THANKS A LOT!
I'm rising back from the dead with a little fan post about Ongaku Gatas! I was going to make a post about the Ongaku Gatas DVD Pamphlet in particular, however, I'm visiting my parents so I don't currently have access to it (much like I don't have access to all my pictures), and I've only watched it once. So I'll just try to come up with some general stuff, instead.
Speking of the mix of members, there's Asami Konno who is the ultimate underdog in Momusu's history (she was officially given that role by Tsunku in the 5th generation audition - maybe she never would've been as popular had she not been marketed that way since day 1). She's the intelligent and adorable one. Then there's Mai Satoda, the Country Musume girl who seems to have gained some popularity for herself with regular TV appearances. The best vocalist in the group and has a funny, outgoing personality as well. Then there's a past Momusu lead member, Rika Ishikawa. A charming, pink-loving girl with a body to die for and one of the most unique voices you'll hear. And, of course, the captain, (ex?)tomboy Hitomi Yoshizawa, with a great sense of humour, a low voice, and lots of confidence. Of course these members were basically chosen because they are all in Gatas Brilhantes H.P., but taking into account their character and fanbase, what a great range of members, and a lot of experience for the Eggs to learn from!
Of course, as a H!P Egg fan, I'd like to take a bit closer look at them. Miki Korenaga has now been promoted to an official H!P member, so she's no longer an Egg, but since this is her first time in a unit that releases music, I'll include her here anyway.
Korekore is not very idol-like, you see. Even now that she's more experienced with all the girly idol stuff, she comes off as a very "normal", awkward girl, not as someone who sings and dances as a part of her job. I think it's understandable that she hasn't been given solo lines in the singles so far, and I think she's happy with it, as well. In a TV interview she mentioned it being unnerving to have her solo lines recorded for the Ongaku Gatas album (you can hear her in Koi uranai doori ni wa naranai wa). Before that, she had been asked if she thought being in the recording studio was fun, and a thoughtful silence followed. Hehe~ Koretty fans shouldn't be that upset if she doesn't get to lead in this group, because I doubt it's something she'd even want herself. But it's definitely good that she has been chosen to be in this group, to represent someone who is really good at futsal, but also very down-to-earth and easy to relate to those of us who weren't born to be J-pop idols...
And Mucchi also has quite a cute nose. Well, all of her face is cute, but her nose in particular. Actually nearly all Eggs in Ongaku Gatas have brilliant noses, so round and cute (Mucchi, Manoeri, Nocchi). But the point is that thanks to her personality and looks, she is quite adorable and likeable. I don't expect her to wow me with talent in performing and all the usual idol stuff, but she's great for the underdog fans. I'm glad this unit has people like Mucchi and Korekore.
Lookswise, I find her beautiful. I think she has adorable eyes and I've never seen dimples like hers before. I'm a bit surprised that she doesn't seem that popular among the Japanese wota. Maybe her personality doesn't interest them? It's all speculation.
When it comes to personality, I think she might be the most "normal" in the whole unit. That means lacking the awkwardness of Mucchi and Korekore, but also lacking the humour of Yossi, and hyperness of Nocchi. Because of this she doesn't stand out too much, but I think it's fine. I'm very curious to see her on stage again (DVD, I still haven't been to Japan) because I love her smile. Her tone of voice seems cute, too.
Random info: on 2ch, someone said she was 'ero' which stands for 'erotic', so at least I'm not the only one who thinks she has some special attractiveness about her...
Manoeri is not the strongest singer, and perhaps not the strongest performer, but there is something charming about her. Is it just the clumsiness? I don't know, I doubt it. I think she also has a genuine sparkle in her eye that makes her enjoyable to watch. Genuine effort. She hasn't completely brainwashed me yet, but I can see why people like her, and I look forward to being convinced by her in the future.
So to me, Nocchi has a winning personality, and it also shows on stage. I'm very curious to see her in Ongaku Gatas concert, whenever that gets released on DVD. Her singing voice seems so cute, too. In any case, this girl is doing a great job.
So that concludes my fandom post full of praise! Now let's see how many months it'll take for my next post to be made.
I couldn't think of a theme for a new post, but then I realized that the year's about to end. Of course it's time to hand out some awards!
Music
Best music discovery - F.I.R., a Taiwanese rock band with beautiful female vocals and strong ballads
Best music rediscovery - Yaida Hitomi, a Japanese female artist with joyful pop-rock songs and a unique voice
Best new group of the year - So Nyuh Shi Dae, a Korean pop girlgroup with 9 talented and crazy members
Best SNSD member of the year - Jessica (I only made this category so that I'd get to name her, so nevermind me. Any Asian pop idol who can quote Shakespeare deserves an award)
Hello! Project
Best Hello! Project single - Egao YES! Nude. Restored my faith in Morning Musume's singles; a catchy tune with sexy lyrics and a sexy video (even if not all the members are sexy)
Best new Hello! Project group - Ongaku Gatas, a group that combines past talent and cuteness with future talent and cuteness, in members such as Ishikawa Rika and Mano Erina. This group makes me smile
Best Hello! Project Egg - Ogawa Saki. She isn't my favourite Egg, but has convinced me/changed my opinion about her the most during the year. At the beginning of the year I thought she was a cute kid, but nothing special; now I know that she's a pretty good singer (in H!P terms) and performer for such a young little girl, and incredibly cute. She's charming and definitely someone to pay attention to, if she chooses to stay in this business
Best Berryz Kobo member - Natsuyaki Miyabi. Again, not my favourite member (my favourite is Momoko), but Miyabi is the member I started liking more than before the most, if that makes sense. Suddenly she was more charismatic to me than before (even if some people have said the opposite), and I became more interested in her
Best Morning Musume member - Kusumi Koharu. I'm feeling her miracle power, and she's the only Morning Musume member who has really fascinated me during the past year. I wanted Linlin to be that, but since I haven't watched any Momusu videos at all (except for some PVs and performances), it's hard for me to get to know the new members.
Best DVD release of the year - The shinjin kouen DVD, featuring Momusu 8th gen, Kanna, THE Possible and H!P Eggs. I'm a H!P Egg fan, so naturally this was something I was really excited to see, and I've actually watched this concert more than once (I usually don't do that).
Movies
*these aren't movies that were released this year, since I don't go to movies
Best psychological thriller - A Tale of Two Sisters. A Korean mindfuck movie, which I recommend to anyone who likes the genre
Best action movie - Infernal Affairs - actually, I don't know if this counts as an action movie, but it's a great movie in any case. Chinese, made me fall for Tony Leung
Best drama movie - Mezon do Himiko. Not too serious, has some hilarious moments, as well... But still touching, and has Shibasaki Kou
Television
Best new series (in Finland) - Dexter. A delightfully disturbing series about a serial killer who works for the police. Every episode was brilliant to me, which can't be said for every series I watch
Best continuing series (in Finland) - Lost. Yes, I be loyal to a series that I can say I'm a real fan of, since I've actually even bought the seasons on DVD. Every new season of Lost is at first difficult for me to follow, but after a few episodes the show starts to feel just as exciting as ever.
Best finished series (in Finland) - HBO's OZ. Yup, I watched the whole series as late Monday night reruns on Finnish TV, and it finished some time this fall. Hands down one of the best series I've ever seen. Great cast, great storylines, never a boring episode. There were some events in the show that I didn't like, but it just made me think "well, it's Oz. Shit happens." I'm happy that not everybody I liked died. lol
Best hospital series - Grey's Anatomy (3rd season). Just because it's the hospital series I watched the most. I think some of the storylines are a bit... Out there (like Meredith's afterlife experiences), but it's still an enjoyable series with some fun moments and good drama. I love Addison! I hope her spin-off series will be aired here, too. I've heard some bad things about Grey's 4th season, anyway.
Best new TV actress crush - Elizabeth Mitchell/Juliet from Lost. I was so convinced that I wouldn't fall for her, but I did. She's amazing.
Best new TV actor crush - Henry Ian Cusick/Desmond from Lost. He's hot (especially the accent).
Best reality series - Survivor: China. Actually, I haven't finished watching it, but I know who won and all. Some great casting and the most likeable final two ever (at least in my opinion). A pretty good season of Survivor, if I may say.
Best Survivor contestant - Courtney. Not because she 'played the best', but because she had the shiniest personality. She was absolutely hilarious and I just hope that I'll see her again one day in something. It's weird how she seemed to be both bitchy and loveable. Brutally honest, but in a funny way. Oh and she's very cute ^__^
Best Big Brother contestant - Nicky from BBUK. Not that many choices this year, to be honest, what a crappy year for Big Brother. Anyway, Nicky because she was so serious and unfunny that it actually made her funny. I found her rather adorable because of it, too. I don't think she deserved the boos that she got when she left the house. Then again, those vile beasts boo at anyone these days, it's just not special anymore.
Best America's Next Top Model contestant - Heather, both for looks and entertainment. I love her type of beauty, I love it that she's a geek, I love it that she's socially awkward but takes gorgeous pictures. But she also offered some of the funniest confessionals/narrational parts in the show. So shamelessly Heather, I love her. Heather was the star of Cycle 9 for me, no doubt.
Idols, celebrities
Best gravure discovery - Sugimoto Yumi. Cute dimples, gorgeous face, great body, needs more bum shots
Hottest Korean pretty boy of the year - G-Dragon from Big Bang, though maybe it's unfair to give an award to someone I first saw in late November (or was it early December) this year...
Most beautiful Japanese actress - Shibasaki Kou, and yes, I only made this category for her
Most beautiful western actress - Evangeline Lilly; love her eyes, freckles and smile
Best personality in a western actress - Kristen Bell. I've found out that she's a lot of fun and kind of crazy. Loving it. It makes me want to see more of her, in acting, behind the screen, photos, anything
Entertainment
Most addictive PC game - The Sims 2. See the family tree of my favourite family below
Most addictive PS2 game - Final Fantasy X. Yes, I'm late...
Best novel - The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot; I have to say this one because it made me cry twice, heh.
I would've added more pictures, but this post is already long and it would take a LOT of time.. Spare me...
I haven't previously been into Korean pop at all, probably just because I hadn't bumped into anything interesting enough. But some days ago the lovely tama-chan linked me to SNSD's music video and I decided to check them out! And now I'm hooked.
The leader and the oldest member of the group, but somehow also the one who seems the most child-minded: TaeYeon. I'm just plain addicted to her cuteness, although the first thing that impressed me about her was her voice. She's the best singer in the group and has a very strong voice - it's weird to think that such a powerful voice belongs to such a cute girl. I love her goofy personality and she's definitely one I want to see more of in the future. Her smile is amazing, too.
The definition of 'dream girl': Yuri
'Dream girl' may sound like a really cheesy and tacky description, but it fits Yuri so well. She looks like a kind, sweet girl, and she very much seems like one, too. She's the kind of girl that others describe as someone who does everything from her heart. But in all her 'perfection', Yuri still isn't boring, either. When hanging out with the other SNSD members, she can be just as funny as them. I think she's too flawless to ever become my number one favourite, but I really do like her a lot.
Tiffany
I couldn't think of a definition for Tiffany because I'm not quite sure why I like her. She actually seems a bit weird to me, but I can't explain that, either! One thing I have noticed is that whenever there's a camera around, Tiffany makes sure to smile to it. But not in an attentionwhore way - I'd say more in a courteous 'hello, how do you do' kind of way. She just seems like a very friendly and likeable girl, but yeah... Weird, too. I have to mention that she also has a beautiful singing voice and that I like her eyebrows. (No, really!)
They advertise SeoHyun as the young and awkward one, but YoonA is the most youthful to me. She sometimes just looks so damn young, but I think her spirit is also very young and 'fresh'. She has sort of child-like enthusiasm that I find endearing. This girl is also always cheerful and has a lovely smile on stage. She seems so innocent and happy. YoonA is just very likeable.
(On the right in the picture) I was wondering why she was the first one I liked in the group, but then I watched their Into the new world music video again and remembered that SeoHyun danced ballet in it. Now how lovely and graceful was that. SeoHyun is very cute and likeable, but she hasn't really stood out to me that much when I've watched the Go to School show of SNSD. But I like her singing voice and I look forward to seeing more of her in the future.
Jessica
I saved Jessica for last out of my favourites because she's the one I have the most to say about. First of all, I think she might be my favourite because to me her personality is the most fascinating. She may come off as bossy and such, but she also seems to have a very vulnerable side to her. Like if someone's missing from practice, she's the one who starts asking "where is she? What is she doing? Why is she doing this to us? We need to practice!" So she's someone who wants to work hard and expects nothing less from the other group members. In performances, she really gives her all no matter how tired she is (here I'm referring to a School of Rock performance after which she collapsed on the ground drenched in sweat and with a painful expression on her face; but on stage she was smiling and you couldn't tell that anything was wrong).
But at the same time, she's the one who is likely to bawl her eyes out when she realizes she may have offended someone (like when she suspected that HyoYeon was skipping practice for fun, and she wasn't) or has to say goodbye to staff members she has grown attached to. So this combination of a tough surface, but a very caring personality in there is fascinating to me. It's easy at first to dismiss her as a 'bossy, mean girl', but I think she's really anything but that. If anything she's just trying to be professional and that's why wants to guide the other girls to the right direction.
Ok so that put aside, Jessica is also the one whose voice I learned to recognize first because it's kind of nasal and soft. I wasn't sure I'd love it at first, but now that I like the chick in general, her voice is really cool to me, too. And you can tell that she's been training for years and years because she is a good singer. Another thing that sets her apart from the others for me is that she's the only one that I find 'hot'... It doesn't really mean I find her prettier than the rest (because I don't), but for some odd reason, she's the only one that I'm attracted to in that way. Heh.
And then the part I've been waiting to write: In defence of Jessica
So there are rumours of Jessica having dated several Korean boy group members, what a slut, huh? According to the fans of those boy group members, yes. But because I find that kind of fans fucking annoying, here's what I've got to say.
Firstly, I saw pictures of a guy and a girl making out online and a claim that it was Jessica and some Kpop dude. The comments were by the fans of that guy, and they were basically like "it doesn't even look like him, oh and Jessica is such a slut/bitch/cunt". Oddly enough none of them noted that the girl looked nothing like Jessica, either! I had only known the group for one day and even I could tell it wasn't her. But despite everything, Jessica got the blame. Ok, whatever suits your irrational way of thinking.
Then the whole 'slut' part. Have you ever heard the words "it takes two to tango"? I don't know if Jessica has dated all or any of the guys that she supposedly has, but if she had - do you really, REALLY put all the blame on her? That she just evilly manipulated those poor, innocent guys to go out with her? Give me a break... What is wrong with fangirls, seriously? It just pisses me off so much that guys are still allowed to date anyone and as many girls as they like and get away with it, but when a girl (supposedly) does it, she's the evil slut/bitch/witch. I've always hated it that girls and women just can't support each other in these things, but instead turn into jealous and bitter idiots willing to forgive anything that a guy does and blame the girl.
Also, if you think that word doesn't get around in guy circles, you're wrong. If Jessica had dated any of those guys, I bet you that the other guys would've known about it - but they still (supposedly) decided to date her. So I am asking you - what does that say about your dear little innocent boy group members? To me this kind of situation would sound more like they were using her and talking about their experiences behind her back, but maybe that's just me having heard too many guy conversations on IRC. But these fangirls, if they think that the guys in these boybands are some kind of pure angels, they're just plain wrong. And Jessica is no angel either. I don't know any of the guys she supposedly has dated, and I don't really know Jessica, but I don't even need to to be able to say that young people are interested in sex and if they want to make out with someone and get the opportunity to do so, they will! Goddamnit.
I think that was all for now...
I'd also like to give a shout-out to those members that I didn't write about this time: HyoYeon, SooYoung and Sunny. I truly do like everyone in SNSD, but I just didn't have the patience to write about everyone this time. (I hope I wrote everyone's names correctly...)
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misty_dreams said:
Hi~ The names of Ice Creamusme in pingyin (the Chinese version of roomaji), the girls names are here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_Creamusume. Wu... read more
on Taiwan Hello! Project Audition - Under the radar?! -
kawaiigrl1995 said:
[this is good]Thanks for helping me with the info on the projects! I love j-pop and I hate being out of the... read more
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shirenu said:
I'm not actually 100% sure it's true. I remember hearing that it was mentioned by the MC, Makoto, at Elder... read more
on Taiwan Hello! Project Audition - Under the radar?!
Oops, sorry the last post was messy @_@I used bulletin-points but then it didn't post apparently...hope you can read it! read more
on Taiwan Hello! Project Audition - Under the radar?!