A year ago, I had never met a Hello! Project fan before.  Somehow on Saturday I was surrounded by Hello! Project and AKB fans… well 9 other people – which felt like a lot!

Unfortunately I couldn’t stay as long as I have done at previous meets – I heard the rest of the evening entailed a transvestite bar, a strip club and massive withdrawals from bank accounts!

However, I did stay long enough for some epic karaoke… I’m pretty sure the room was close to trashed as we left.  Also heard a lot of AKB stuff… I think I’m warming to them.

Well there’s a brief report – but next time we post about our meets in the Hello! Project forums or pester ptom to make a post, consider coming – it’s a laugh and involves a lot of booze!

I had a long hard think all last evening whether I should make this post or not, but after very angrily sitting through a film which I had paid money (albeit not West End Cinema prices) to see, and which had been preceeded by Helen McCarthy giving a short lecture on the film, it did make me think “Did no one watch this before hand?”.

Maybe I should back-track and explain what I’m talking about - the Barbican screens “Japanimation” movies hosted by Helen McCarthy, a well known author in the anime and manga world.  This month, it had a one off showing of the Evangelion 1.0 movie, “You are (Not) alone” – a film I’ve wanted to see for a while, so, draging my poor boyfriend, we went to see it last night.  The evening started with a small lecture from Helen about the movie, more or less stating that it was a “nothing new” scenario, and that it had seemed to have been done to entice a new generation of Evangelion fans – fair enough, it’s a large anime franchise, why not?  The lecture had some interesting points to it, and she did point out a few themes from the original series that I’d missed out entirely (like the role of masculinity).   And then, the movie began.

As movies go, it wasn’t too bad – yes it did feel like seeing three episode of Evangelion TV series shoved together with slightly better animation and a few extra clips, and I was a bit disappointed how more or less whole chunks were word-for-word and sceen-for-sceen the same as the original.    There were a few nice twists away from the original, but it more or less provided very little new.  Maybe due to the fact that I had recently watched the TV series of EVA (when I say recently, Summer 2007) that it seemed such an anticlimax – especially since so many people had pestered me to see it.  The quality also wasn’t great – after getting accustomed to either going to the cinema to see 3d epics or watching blu-rays at home, both the audio and video quality were not to the best standards.  However, the film was not what disappointed me (at least directly) about the evening.

It was actually the subtitles – completely illegible if there was a very light background behind them (which there was, in the control rooms and in the hospital scenes and various other moments).  Whether this was the fault of (a) the source material, (b) the different screen being used or what I’m assuming is (c) no one bothering to check the film beforehand that (a) or (b) would effect the viewing, it was atrocious – I was sitting pretty far back, maybe it was better up front?  Still, in the area I was sitting, there was the comical “What did he say?” to start with, followed by the gradual joint huffs and puffs as whole sentences went untranslated.  Everyone in the back rows obviously exited together, all of whom seemed to be grumbling about the subtitles.

I’ve never come out of a viewing so angry before, and was quite ready to jump out of my seat and go home half way through, if my boyfriend hadn’t been there pacifying me.  Considering I had 10 years of anime fandom, 3 repeats of EVA and 1 and a half years of Japanese classes to try and fill the gaps, he had only three years of going out with an otaku to try and do so – we missed whole chunks of dialogue due to this.  I’m actually very glad now that I wasn’t able to get tickets to see Ponyo, because then I really would have lost my temper!  If I had seen this at my local cineworld in that quality, with those illegible subtitles, I would have demanded my money back!

I haven’t taken it lightly to post this – I hope if someone does read it who was involved in the showing, they will understand how much I appriciate their efforts to try and facilitate the UK anime fanbase and provide us with screenings, but at the same time, it would be nice if I could have enjoyed the film being able to understand it all.  It’s completely put me off going to the Barbican again to see the Japanimation line up.

Buono! – We Are Buono!

I’m actually stunned at the number of albums coming out over the next few months.  Considering that albums sell worse than singles, and all 4 major Hello! Project acts had at least one album last year, it’s a bit of a shock.  Not only are C-ute, Buono! and the over-due Berryz Kobo releasing new, original albums, Morning Musume are also bringing us fresh material (well I won’t complain – we had to wait two years before!).

As well as H!P releases, there are two nice additions – Melon Kinenbi’s new album which features last year’s collaboration singles, and talento Ai Kago is also releasing an (overdue?) album.  What’s exactly happened to Kago-chan since last summer is slightly mysterious, so I’m quite interested in hearing what her music, as one single isn’t much to go by – so, in order of release, let’s start the great album countdown of 2010.

I’d be lying if I said I was excited about this album, albiet that I’ve heard and really enjoyed some of their earlier album tracks before: Buono! seem to have lost a lot of that momentum they previously had.  Also the novelty of a sub-unit has rubbed off a bit, as they’ve been overshadowed by the revival of previous shuffles in 2009, as well as Guardians4 pushing for the lime-light.  With falling sales and a lack of mainstream excitement, it’s easy to over look that they are still a powerful group within Hello! Project – containing three of the most talented singers that came out of H!P kids.  Although they’re my, (do I dare to say it) favourite sub group ever to come out of Hello! Project – it would be nice to see them grow out of that Shugo Chara persona and evolve into a more mature group.  As the girls are now getting older, I could even see a V-U-DEN style working with them (there!  I said it!  I’m aghast with myself). 

However, with some cracking singles on this album (such as Bravo Bravo and My Boy), I’m sure many fans will have already pre-ordered this!  I’m hoping to find something a bit more fresh on this album.

Anticipation: Moderate
Expectation: High
Release Date: 3rd February

Melon Kinenbi – Melon’s Not Dead

Even the name of this album makes me smile!  It seems that this group, who were severely underused and underrated toward the end of the Elder Club era of Hello! Project have become pretty cool again.  Dropping out of Hello! Project and that idol image enabled them to release some awesome collaboration singles with rock bands in 2009.  Their new album features of all their collaboration singles which were released limited edition at Tower Records stores, plus new tracks, and a new collaboration with the BEAT CRUSADERS.  Although I doubt Melon’s will ever achieve the type of main stream success and recognition that some of their Elder Club colleagues had, it’s nice to see that they’re still active, and that they’re taking an approach they seem to want to.  This was a must for me from the release date!

Also, the album art… well it’s pretty crazy, and I’m not sure I exactly rate the stripy dresses the girls are wearing, but at the same time, I think it gets across the pop-rock persona of Melon’s pretty well!  It’s pretty interesting, and a lot better than the usual pouting idol shots we get on front covers.

Anticipation: High
Expectation: High
Release Date: 17th February

C-ute – Shocking 5

After what many fans called a terrible album last year, C-ute are back with their 5th original album, containing singles  BYE BYE BYE, EVERYDAY Zekkouchou!! and a remix of Shochuu Omimai Moshiagemasu as well as SHOCK.  C-ute haven’t been faring too well lately, and personally, I have always ranked them below Berryz for their lack of ability to push any singer forward other and Airi or Maimi – I also haven’t heard a really catchy track since “LALALA Shiawase no uta” – which is very disappointing, considering some of their indie tracks are more addictive than current singles.  Apparently there are two Airi solo’s on the album as well (I think fans are including SHOCK as one of them) – maybe C-ute fans are more forgiving as there are less of them – but if any Momusu member attempted that on an album these days, I think there’d be murders!

C-ute have reached a very criticle time as a group however – with 2 members leaving in a year and no replacements to be seen, this album and the success of various tracks could be what will pave the future of C-ute – whether it be continue to push Airi and Maimi in the mainstream singles, or to let the other three girls have a go.  At the same time, this album will mark the end of an era, containing the last singles with vocals from Kanna and Erika.

Anticipation: Low
Expectations: Moderate
Release Date: 24th February

Guardians4 feat. ShugoChara Egg & Buono! – Shugo Chara Album (Title Unknown)

Well this is a turn up for the books.  I’m not exactly sure what this album entails, but from the extract posted on H!O’s twitter feed, it looks like it has all the Guardian4 singles, the Shugo Chara Egg singles and b-sides and “Minna Daisuki” and “Kokoro no Tamago” by Buono! – no new material it seems?  Maybe I’m wrong, my Japanese reading is atrocious.  So would I buy it?  To be quite frank, out of all the new albums coming out, it wouldn’t be at the top of my list, but certainly something I’m considering taking up at a later date.  I’m interested in seeing the full track listing first though, as it looks more like a single collection of the less-rocky openings and endings for Shugo! Chara.

Anticipation: Low
Expectations: Moderate
Release Date: March 10th

Morning Musume – 10 My Me

It almost seems to quick for Morning Musume to be releasing another album, following relatively poor sales of the previous Platinum 9 Disc just last year.  I’m quite unsure what to expect from this album to be perfectly honest, and assuming it will be holding their three previous singles and Onna ga medatte naze ikenai which will be released in February.  Anticipating the album tracks is usually the most fun thing about these albums – there’s usually got to be a “kick ass” song on there which will be used as an opener, like SONGS, Genki+ or How do you like Japan?.  Following this, there’s usually a mish mash of ballads, fun pop and a bit of RnB.

But theres also the part of me that has seen Morning Musume pushing their die hard fans away for the mainstream.  All the reports I’ve heard of the relatively low sales at concert (although that could be more dependant on Hello! Project as a whole), may mean that this album could keep closer to the mainstream moody RnB and ballads.  A lack of fun concert songs like Guru Guru jump would really upset me, but the way things are going with Hello! Project, and the need to keep Morning Musume alive – it may be a necessity, if only just to keep the album in the top 20.

Then again, the name “10 My me” sounds a little more idolish than previous single titles, maybe it’s actually going to be an album which gives a bit more hope back to fans that Morning Musume haven’t reverted into a band more a-kin to their early singles.  To be quite honest however, as long as there’s not another Sayumi solo, I can’t see much I would dislike about this album in general.

Anticipation:  High
Expectations: Moderate
Release Date: 17th March

Ai Kago – Album Untitled

After remaining quiet for a while, Ai Kago has reemerged.  The first 6 months of last year seemed to be pretty busy for her, and I’ve made various comments left, right and centre about my feelings on that.  Her repeated scandal made me loose, near-enough, all intrest in her, until her single No Hesitation came out.  I began to gain a little respect for her, which was nice, as I’ve always, pre-2009, been fully supportive of Aibon, and felt that she had been let down buy UFA, her management and the people around her.  Based on her previous single, there’s little we can really place on expectations, but hopefully, her vocals may be slightly stronger than before.  Nothing more to do than wait and see here!

Expectations: None
Anticipation: Moderate
Release Date: March 24th

Berryz Kobu – 6th Otakebi

Really?  This is really Berryz 6th album – somehow the number 6th seems an epoch longer than the distance between 4th and 5th – but still – congratulations Berryz – you’re tying with Ayaya now with the most number of original albums released for a group in Hello! Project – and let’s be honest, you’re never going to surpass Morning Musume.  Enough of the waffle, this is the last in the 2 month album spree – and another one I’m looking forward too.  Obviously, the cards are still being held close about what will be on this album, other than an Inazuma 11 tie in song – but I’m hopping to see most songs from their double a-side bonanzer (I’m also hoping to see Dakishmete Dakishimete on there – one can always hope!).  All of their single of 2010 impressed me, not only in the bands ability to perform them, but it almost seemed as if tsunku had recreated a the golden era Morning Musume type songs in both style and arrangement.  It’s just a shame this music isn’t as popular as it used to be.

Berryz had a brilliant year in 2009, and to me, are still well in front of C-ute in many ways.  I feel they’re coming of age and really hope they can push forward more with 2010 – they’re singing the songs I want Morning Musume to sing, while their vocals are all becoming stronger!  They were my favourite H!P act of 2009, and sadly, I still don’t even own one of their albums!  This will change however, as it’s going right on my pre-order list.  I’m not too sure what to expect from the album tracks – I haven’t really paid attention to Berryz album tracks before… hopefully this will enlighten and surprise me.

Expectations: High
Anticipation: High
Release Date: 30th March

It feels like forever since I’ve done a single / pv review, although it was just back in December that I was briefly writing about Bravo Bravo, another Shugo Chara Party theme.  This time however, we have the “cute” side of  the Shugo Chara singles in “Going On! by Guardians4.

Following up from my obsession of PARTY TIME, Guardians4 is becoming a bit of a guilty pleasure of mine – if some of my friends found out that this group is making me warm to Mitsui, I may be kicked out of certain circles.  It’s also countering my pig-ignorance of knowing who no one is in either C-ute or Berryz unless they’re in Buono!  The group all sound pretty good together as well, unlike some ill-fated subunits.  Although I find it a little disheartening that they’re not really doing anything as daring as Buono!’s singles, it’s nice to have some light-hearted-ness added back into Hello! Project while some groups, Morning Musume especially, are heading down a more mature route with their singles.

Unfortunately, I can’t see myself doing the same death-loop tactic with this song as I did with the previous single.  It’s a little too childish and synthy for my liking, and shows how dividing lines up equally can make a pretty predictable song – I’m not saying it’s bad, I just find it slightly boring compared to some of their previous attempts!  Maybe it’s the slightly slower tempo, or simply the lack of punch.  Shugo Chara openings, also, sound more than slightly predictable since Buono! vacated their role - the chorus will have something to do with Shugo Chara (like an attack chant or in this case “Watashi no Heart Unlock”) and be pretty catchy, the verusus with dwindle a little and the whole thing will be pretty upbeat.

What doesn’t help this, more-or-less, unoriginal song is that the PV is the usual Hello! Project “let’s not bother to try and add any kind of direction or narrative – cute girls dancing around with some close ups” – although I have to say, my favourite part of the pv is the posing with the fruit and vegetables, although why Mitsui, Risako and Nakki get quite traditional vegetables and Kumina gets a pineapple, I don’t quite understand!  There’s also people dressed up as animals!  Yes, other people (kind of!) in a H!P PV?!?! The dance is also… well pretty crap in the instrumentals between the chorus and the verses.  I’m starting to think I’d like the song better if I hadn’t of seen the PV first.

Put the song back into perspective however, it’s a pretty decent anisong - and it’s also hard to follow up such a great song as Party Time, I just hope their next single packs a bit more punch to it!  It’s just a shame that Hello! Project sometimes lacks the consistancy of having more than 2 or 3 decent singles in a row at the moment.

Going on is released on the 20th January and c/w Arigato ~ Ookiku Kansha by Shugo Chara Egg. Check my twitter feed on the 20th to see if it’s on iTunes UK if you’re too lazy to check yourself!

I almost forgot to mention one of the coolest things which happened to me over the Christmas period.  I won 2 limited edition BLEACH boxsets from a UK Anime Network twitter competition!

I haven’t won many prizes in my life, and I wont pretend that re-tweeting something on twitter required much skill or effort from me – but this is by far the best thing I’ve ever won!  And a good excuse to start watching BLEACH again.  The quality in these boxsets is really nice – manga have really turned into a superior DVD distributer!  Even better, I found this out on boxing day.  The weirdest thing of all though… the BLEACH boxset #1 was limited edition #84 ~ the same number as the Ai no Dai 6 Kan limited edition trading card I got ~ both of which arrived on the same day… I think I may have a new lucky number!

Thanks a load to UK Anime Network who put on the competition!  This really made my day – now to stop my brother from stealing them…

I’ve been holding off for a while now, and did have good intentions of putting in a very large CD order with one of my favourite online stores after Christmas, but e-bay has got the better of me.

You see, being a Geography graduate, I’m very into recycling – okay, that’s a lie – I love buying second-hand Japanese CDs as they’re dirt cheap compared to the originals!  What more, lovely e-bay sellers seem to take much better care of their CDs than I do, and I’ve received many still with their OBI, no cracks in the case, and even had a few sealed limited edition.

So, for less than half the price (and with much faster, cheaper shipping in some cases – although I did receive one CD in a white paper bag), I have filled out a large amount of my Hello! Project back catalogue:

 

• Aya Matsuura – First Kiss
• Aya Matsuura – T.W.O.
• Maki Goto – Making Gold
• Maki Goto – Paint it Gold
• Morning Musume – No.5
• Morning Musume – Ai no Dai 6 Kan
• And more on the way…

Then, the DVD buying started… well it beats watching it in poor youtube quality or going back to watch your favourite clip to find it’s been pulled:

• Hello! Project Winter 2002
• Hello! Project Winter 2003
• Hello! Project Winter 2004
• Hello! Project Winter 2005
• Morning Musume – Rainbow 7 Tour

You can probably see a pattern emerging, but I’ve been more or less buying up what I can – my rule is, if it’s under £10 then it’s a bargain!  I’ve even been able to get hold of a couple of nifty photo cards and limited edition CDs.

    

(Please excuse the terrible quality of the pictures, I still haven’t quite worked out how to use my camera)

Anywho, maybe I’ll one day work out how to make stills from DVDs without a big fuss, but it is among my plans to post about the concerts.

It’s also nice, as my Morning Musume CD collection is now only missing 3 of the 9 original albums (and I even have the 7.5 mini in the post already).  I’m also quite pleased I’ve got my hands on some Ayaya and Gomaki albums – as they’re 2 of my favourite former H!P vocalists.

And as I’m, well, I wouldn’t go as far as a nice person, but more an encouraging fan, here’s the wonderful shop that’s supplied me with a lot of this H!P stuff.  How long before I have to delete my e-bay account to stop myself from buying stuff?

So in we welcome 2010, and a new year is a fresh start for some.  While some people start making the insane resolutions that they’ll lose 20 kilo’s, not buy anything unnecessary and never drink / smoke / eat chocolate again, after years of trying to do such things myself, I realise they’re impossible.

But, New Year’s is a great time for a clear out, which made me realise something myself – as I deleted 12 drafts from my blog: I need to start finishing what I start.  I hate deleting my drafts, but not half as much as I hate being disorganised, and although some posts had had hours of work on them, I knew in the back of my mind that they’d never quite be finished.

So while we’re on the subject, I’ll bullet point them, delete the waffle and get to what I want to say:

• 2009, although sad due to Koharu’s graduation, ended with 4 great H!P singles: Ryusei Boy, Party Time, Love x Peace = Paradise and Bravo Bravo
• My favourite single of 2009 was B’z Ichibu to Zenbu / DIVE
• My favourite album of 2009 was Perfume’s Traingle
• My favourite H!P single was Guardian4’s Party Time – I deathlooped it to hell
• My favourite H!P album was Morning Musume’s Platinum 9 Disc, as long as I skip past it’s you
• My favourite anime of 2009 was Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

And now my resolution: to start finishing some of these posts!  I don’t have as much time as I used to ~ but I do have some new gizmo’s which will hopefully start helping me out!  And thanks to the support of my friends, my blog also seems to have gained a bit of notice recently – which reminds me, I really need to sort my blog roll out.

But here’s to a better 2010, more H!P goodness, and hopefully, more posts!

The Verdict

Now we have fresh recorded material from the “new” shuffle groups, I thought it would be a good time to speak about the tracks contributed to Petit Best 10 by them. 

• Pucchi Moni V – Pira!  Otome no Negai
• Tanpopo# – Umbrella
• Aa! – Yume to Genjitsu
• Shin Mini Moni - Pen Pen Kyoudai
• High-King – DESTINY LOVE

Pucchi Moni V – Pira! Otome no Negai

I had to delete and rewrite what I originally wrote about this song, because I was being a bit too harsh.  The problem with this song, is the problem which is still haunting Hello! Project – you can’t have tsunku in control of everything if he still wants to write songs that sound like they’ve come out of the 90’s and are only fit to enter Eurovision.  I’m not saying this song is bad, it just feels very dated, the original Pucchi Moni line up could have sung this and it would still sound old – it reminds me of “Scat Man” in places – now I’m just showing my age.  And as for the current line up, well I have my doubts – ManoEri would have been better in Tanpopo, and MaiMai still hasn’t got the richness in her voice to really carry on the Petit Moni image… I’ve always thought of Petit Moni as the rough-edge of Hello! Project, watch Kei, Yossie and Makoto’s performance of Baby Koi Ni Knockout from the concerts earlier this year and maybe you’ll understand the image I was thinking of for this group.
Song: Poor
Line-Up Legacy: Weak

Tanpopo# – Umbrella

This is a bit more like it.  For a start, there’s a strong leader in Eri, and it sounds like the upbeat Tanpopo style they had toward the end of their original run.  Like Pucchi Moni’s song, theres a lot of synths and although this track has a strong vocal line up, it’s nothing more than a good album filler in my opinion, and is a bit bland.

Song: Good
Line Up Legacy: Great

Aa! – Yume to Genjitsu

Considering that Aa! only had one single before, it’s hard to make a call on what this group should sound like.  Put that together with the fact that I was never a great fan of “First Kiss”, I was expecting Aa!’s come back to be similar to High-King, but, it’s less like modern RnB and closer to a retro 80’s remake.  As Aa! contains 2 of the strongest vocalists in H!P outside of Morning Musume (Miyabi and Airi) you can’t go too wrong – and this is a fairly decent track, better than the twaddle they were given for the Champloo album.

Song: Great
Line Up Legacy: Great

Shin Mini Moni - Pen Pen Kyoudai

Well this is a group who definitely do what they say on the label – they’ve got the fun and the young-ness down to a T.  Everyone’s vocals sound a lot better here as well as opposed to their “live” performances.  Although the track’s catchy, it’s not as good as previous Mini Moni tracks, and I also don’t know who anyone is in the group other than Lin Lin, whose voice stands out in quality above the others.

Song: Okay
Line Up: Weak

High-King – DESTINY LOVE

This song really isn’t my cup of tea.  It’s not a bad song, I just don’t really, personally, enjoy it.  It’s too slow and sounds like a RnB album song.  Also, High-King once again is mainly depending on Ai and Reina’s vocals.  It must be really difficult, not only being in the same group as one of them, but both!  Saki and Maimi have a lot of potential, it’s just a shame they didn’t shuffle Ai and Reina apart.

Song: Boring

What each individual is looking for in these groups will more or less determine whether you like them or not.  After being introduced to Morning Musume, shuffles and subgroups quickly followed, rather than the other full-time groups.  In these new groups, I was looking at a little blast of the past glory these shuffles had – let’s not forget that Pucchi Moni had 1,000,000+ seller with Chokotto Love.  So obviously, some groups leave you feeling a bit short-changed - Pucchi Moni to be exact.  I just can’t see ManoEri ever being able to pull off the kind of routine as her predecessors.  Her image as a solo artist is completely different to that of what I’ve always thought a member of Pucchi Moni should have – a bit of edge and imperfection.

And then there’s the good stuff.  Mini Moni have potential, they just weren’t given the best of songs.  Tanpopo are also doing well, and the group works well together, despite the fact all members were chosen as they all had a kanji that looks like # in their name.  Aa! have potential, but if you put Miyabi and Airi in a group with a random third person, you’ll find it hard to go wrong.  High-King pretty much stand alone, even though I dislike their song.  So overall, other than Pucchi Moni, the other sub-groups are pretty solid, and hopefully, if Pucchi Moni perform a classic at their upcoming shuffle concert, maybe they’ll change my mind too!

The main thing is, the new shuffles are producing new material ~ it may not make the Oricon, but it’s still great for us H!P fans who enjoy seeing our favourite members forming different acts, a little different from their full time image.

Buono!’s new PV has come ou on Dohhh! Up today, after the teaser was released just over a month ago.  Buono! have gone back to that rockier style they’ve had in previous singles such as “Renai Rider”, however, this song sounds a little closer to an American punk-pop style you wouldn’t be surprised hearing the All American Rejects or Avril Lavigne singing.

At the moment, I’m loving the song (although I’m desperately trying to work out who Pati is), but in the same breath, it’s no Renai Rider.  The part of the song that’s really grabbing me at the moment is the pre-chorus - maybe because there aren’t enough solo lines in the song.  The video is pretty cool, juxtaposing “rocker” Buono! against cheerleader Buono!, although as usual the dance to this song seems to be flailing your legs and arms about wildly in time to the music – well at least it looks a lot more natural than some other H!P dances.

Bravo Bravo is the ending to Shugo Chara Party and will be released on the 16th of December.

The first full album from former 4th Generation Morning Musume and Hello! Project members Hitomi Yoshizawa (Hangry) and Rika Ishikawa (Angry) moves the duo up a notch from their Mini album, introducing the girls to a world of synths and more crazy vocals.

1. Mr Monkey
2. Top Secret
3. Sadistic Dance
4. Lady Madonna
5. Doubt
6. Angelia (crash berlin version)
7. Shake Me
8. Kill Me Kiss Me (crash berlin version)
9. GIZA GIZA (crash berlin version)
10. THE PEACE! (H&A Death Tracks)