Durrr
I just came home from work and i am freaking tired. Also, i have noticed that i should post more often so anyway, letssa go!
Since Im in a reminiscing mood, I'll give ya a quick lowdown of the H!P news and my views about them. Note that i'm gonna list them as topics in no particular order since im very not sure when these events occur. So suck it up guys, it's for free!
OLD HELLO! PROJECT NEWS!!!!!
- S/mileage debuts~!Starting off as back up dancers in Mano Erina's PVs had gave Tsunku enough confidence that they will become a full fledged main H!P group. Tsunku gave them a task to collect 10,000 photos of smiles from ppl from the street and even recruited ppl online. It was even open to international fans so I admittedly participated as well. During their hunt for smiles, they released their last indie song, Otona ni Narutte Muzukashi. This song had TOTALLY changed my mind about them and made me give them alot of encouragement to debut. I think it was announced during a Erina's concert (not sure) that they finally succeed their 10,000 smiles and graduated from the H!P Eggs.
From then on, I had a large expectation for their first major single and PV to make sure my smile was worth it. And it did XD~! Their debut song, Yumemiru 15sai was a super catchy song that made my impression of them go higher. Then their hits came one after another, Ganbaranakutemo Eenende and Onaji Jikyū de Hataraku Tomodachi no Bijin Mama are great songs which now solidifies my impression of them as one of my favourite H!P groups. We'll see how they fair in my Best of H!P dood awards at the end of this year.
- Mano What?Not gonna mention much about Erina this year but a few noteworthy things about her had made me change my impression on her again.
Let's start off with her acting side of her career. She started this year with her own weekly show, Habun Esper. The plot involves Erina having psychic type powers and try to live in the normal outside world. The show mainly consist of herself solving everyday issues and at times, be part of a judging panel and a ... radio host? LOL At the least other H!P members come in each episode to also give their acting flair, mainly Morning Musume and S/mileage.
She also co-starred in a mobile show called, Death Game Park but i have yet to see other episodes than the first one. So i cant really comment more about that. But it did give her acting in a different direction. The more serious and hard type attitude, other than her usual cheery persona.
Now lets focus on her singing career. After looking at the attractive single cover of Onegai Dakara, it made me half expect her song to be good. More like, hoping to break her mould of bland singles so far. The PV came out and made me finally cheer for her fully now. Even though it is mostly her with the vocoder effect, i didnt care coz the overall song had went straight in to my heart. Onegai Dakara gets a major thumbs up!
Erina's latest song, Genkimono de Ikou! Had now added a great streak of better Mano Erina songs. The song has a full upbeat feel to it with brilliant instrumentals. The normal PV itself wasn't as exciting as her Director's Cut version. The DC version of the PV included drama parts which amuses me of the different scenarios you get to see. Mano Erina with a whip may set the hearts on fire for the weirdos with whip fetishes lol
- Berry C-ute~!!Lets talk about Berryz first since i've got not much to say about themm, sadly. Most of their songs this year are songs for the anime show, Inazuma Eleven. I have no idea what the anime is like but apparently the Berryz got the eding themes covered. The songs this year that got back into the Berryz mood this year was Otakebi Boy WAO and Maji Bomber. Maji bomber has the infectious chorus taht you cant ignore. GO AHEAD! TRY TO IGNORE IT! YOU CANT, CANT YOU?! HAR HAR HAR!!! anyways, the PV of both Otakebi Boy and Maji Bomber are fun to watch, more with the latter, coz Tokunaga's new look is interesting to see.
Speaking of newer look, Risako's look with her new collaboration with Ogawa Mana in the song, Elegant Girl made give her a thumbs up. Up until now, Risako's image was very iffy on me, especially in PVs and photobooks and stuff. Seeing her now in the PV for Elegant Girl instantly came to mind and say, "This look IS Risako Sugaya". her hairstyle is 'eregantly awesome!!' She looks like a anime character with a rich family background that is a skyrocketed her popularity in school, and you wish she was your girlfriend. Durrrrr!!
C-ute during the most of this year had made me want something more from them.
They started 2010 with a song that was very odd move by Tsunku. When I watched the actual PV, it made me think of the upcoming Airi bash from both non-Airi and Airi fans alike. This weird move is the single, SHOCK! Airi mainly sings the song. I think you misheard me. AIRI MAINLY SINGS THIS SONG. She covered all of the verses and the choruses with the rest of the group serving as back up. I could give a rant about this arrangement but the fans from various forums are much more entertaining to read. But what kills me about this is the song is not that good for me though. I wasnt as hooked with this song than say, Forever Love.
C-ute continued to release a lackluster song called Campus Life umare kite yokatta. This song didnt set my heart on fire either. My faith in C-ute for realeasing great songs had waned down, maybe even consider lower their rank in my top favourite H!P groups. This has nearly turned around with their latest song, Dance de Bakoon! A song that made me say, "FINALLY! A great C-ute song this year!" I love the rhythm and the verses in the song. And the choreography in the PV went really well with the chorus. This also upped my favourites in C-ute, mainly Maimi and Chisato. Both performed well in the song and PV. TOO CUTE, C-UTE~!!
- Good old Morning Musume~!This is a small Morning Musume OG corner where i know little about they're current activities but ill try to list some stuff of what they did this year:
- Koharu, now an OG, have a comfortable weekly spot in Oha Star and she has dyed her hair XD. some ppl dont like her new look, but i think it suits her, her and her loud personality.
- OGs comes back to Utaban with Momusu, which that OGs got most of the spotlight (noted that the MVP for the show was Junjun and Linlin). OGs appeared in the last episode of Utaban and had appeared in The Music Hour, promoting the song for the CM they did.
- Yossie participated in a fun run held here in Sydney in September. I had totally missed it coz i was busy with somethin else at the time. I just wanted to see her there, not to run though XD Durrrrr!!
- Tsuji cameo'd in S/mileage's --Bijin Mama PV. Also, news of her that another baby is on they way. DAYUM~!!
- Konno announced that she'll start her voice work for TV Tokyo next year. The type of work that she's gonna be in is still unclear but with her soft cute voice, im all ears listening to what she has to say.
- Maki Goto's mom had passed away early this year which had her music career stopped for a period. OGs participated to the wake. This was covered in photos and a few tv news clips. After she regains her confident to go back to her music career, she first made a Ustream performance and sang a few songs. I was watching it on ustream, made me like some of her songs now. Mainly Houseki and Eyes.
- Morning Musume UP! DOWN! and ALL AROUND!I cant think of any Morning Musume album that i've liked all the way through. Platinum 9 Disco came close though. But even albums during the golden days didnt get my solid thumbs up since there only some of the songs that i actually liked. This year, Morning Musume released their 10th album called 10 My Me. I started to listen to the album with an opened mind hoping that both Momusu and Tsunku can still push themselves to create an album without Koharu (save for a few songs released last year durrr). I fell in love with this album. Wait, to be more precise, I LOVE NAMIDACCHI. This song made me realise why i love love love Morning Musume in the first place and why I love their style of singing. This put the fun back into Morning Musume being more likeable. You cant help sing this with your buddies or chant together in a MM concert encore.
Which leads me to their Pika Pika concert tour. When I watched this concert, i can feel the energy in all of the songs they sang. The singles, their new songs in the 10 My Me album, the medley, HAR HAR HAR! FUN TIMES! GeN loves the encore this time. Though it had How do you like Japan agian, but this version is waaaay better. makes ya jump! And then the encore finishes off with Namidacchi and everybody agrees that this some made the entire concert floor jump and shout together. TOO MUCH FUN! Seeing the members go nuts while seeing gave me chills of joy everytime i watch it XD~! Members worth noting during this concert are Eri and Sayumi. Sayu looks soooooooooo good with her ponytail during the Medley and the white outfits during the Genki Pika Pika parts. Eri is soooooo extra bouncy (not the chest area fellas), more like, jumping around and stuff, especially during the encore songs.
A shocking announcement during the Fankora HP concert. Tsunku gives us the sad news of Eri graduating at the end of this year. Due to a harmful skin condition, she chose not to continue to do more activities in the future. AND ALSO,Junjun and Linlin are going back to china, so they're graduating as well! GAWD! After reading the news for the first time, I couldnt believe it. I was like, pacing around in my house saying, "no way.... nowaaaaay..... NO WAAAAAAY~!!!" Seeing the pic of Morning Musume and their sad looks made me sad too, awwwwwww. In a lighter note, Tsunku realises the big draw back about the mass graduation, that leaves five members left. So he announces the official 9th GeNeration auditions. This is something that we all wished for ages but at the price of losing three of the most funniest members in Momusu. Recent news that the auditions had finished the second stage and begins narrowing down more in the third stage. I'm now anticipating with glee XD
Eri is now getting the most attention by UFA now coz of her gradutation. She is now busy releasing more and more photobooks, one of herself, one with her fellow 6th GeN members. I guess UFA figured to go all out as a great big send off for Eri, which in a way is kinda neat. She has released alot of PBs this year. The down side of this is that junjun and Linlin arent getting much attention in terms of "last great thing" they can release. Actually, nothing at all : \
but hey! more news! A new single from Morning Musume is gonna release soon and ANOTHER ALBUM to be released in December. OH WAIT! i forgot to review Seishun Collection! well here's my review: "Fun but Meh" durrrr! It doesnt matter coz Momusu's upcoming new single, Onna to Otoko no Lullaby Game is much more better. The moment i heard the concert rip, it gave me chills on my skin and gave me large thumping in my heart by just hearing the instrumentals. The PV for it was an even better experience coz it draw me in back to the old Morning Musume style of PV making. Meaning, colorful backgrounds and colourful outfits and the fun to imitate choreography. This is easily my favourite PV this year, with Yumemiru 15sai coming second XD
The new album is called Fantasy! Juuichi and recently, the songlist was revealed but no information of which members sings what:
- Seishun Collection
- Onna to Otoko no Lullaby Game
- Bravo!
- Sungoi My Birthday
- Otome Gokoro to Nanto Yara
- Ichi Kara Juu Made Aishite Hoshii
- Denwa de ne
- Fantasy ga Hajimaru
- I’m Lucky girl
- Itoshiku Kurushii Kono Yoru ni
- Ai no Honoo
11 songs for the 11th album. Fitting, no? I'm having high expectations for this album since all of the recent songs from H!P greatly improved and more likeable for me personally. Especially I'm having so much fun relistening to 10 My Me and rewatching the Pika Pika concert. Tsunku truly upped his game this year!
So there you have it, dood! My input of some of the H!P stuff that occurred this year. Alot of ups and downs and all arounds, makes ya dizzy by just thinking back. Ah wait, lemme just quickly say a couple of minor H!P things as well:
- Is Tsunku giving H!P a torture ride? This year, he got Risa, Erina, Nakky, Aika starr in horror movie titles and most likely get their characters killed LOL
- Alo-hello 4 DID happen to release this year. but it was VERY DISAPPOINTING!
- BLOGS FOR EVERYONE IN BERRYZ! durrrrrr
- GeN can has some S/mileage first album~!
Yep thats all. Stay tuned at the end of December when i'll revive my podcast, Hello! Dood and announce my Hello! Dood Awards for 2010. Unitl then, enjoy the rest of the year~!!!!
reminiscing time is finally over,
- GeN
Front Cover
Back Cover
Discs 1 and 2
Front Cover of the lyrics booklet
Card that covers both the album and booklet
Inside of the back cover of the album is a small booklet with three different poses of the members mimicking the Morning Coffee single cover
Front Cover
Back cover
Inside the album
Inside the lyric booklet
It came with a photocard.
