Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Kimagure Pirate, err, Princess 8D

So, the radio rip for Morning Musume's newest single came out and I'm super excited! :D

Have a listen before we go on?



So, the first thing I thought with the instrumental was... Pirates!! I really adore the instrumental this time. It's update and it sounds kind of exotic. But why does it remind me of pirates? Well, in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turles IV for the Super Nintendo, there is background music that sounds familiar. I associated it with the pirate level, but it turns out really to be the train level:



I loved that game. :'D And yes, I've seen previews of the Xbox360 version, but I don't have that console. I prefere sticking to my handhelds anyway.

Back on topic, the vocal melodies don't impress me as much. Without the energetic backing track, it would seem as unremarkable to me as their latest two singles (I thought Nanchatte Renai was an improvement, though) and the chipmunk parts remind me of Egao YES Nude, which I also didn't like that much.

The older half of Morning Musume seems featured heavily as usual, with Eri playing a larger part than usual. That's good, but I kind of wish that the 8th generation would start getting at least one solo line in the newer singles. Aika got solo lines when she first became a member, and even though she's gotten better, she seems left out now. And I'm also one of those people that think LinLin should be one of the main vocals in all singles, accent or not.

Overall, though, this single looks like a turning point! Morning Musume is always changing their style, and while this single is still very familiar to the latest songs (I also get a bit of a pre-Aruiteru 2006 vibe with Kimagure as well), this could possibly be the signal of another shift.

I hope a new audition is announced soon, now that I've heard this. Fresh blood might infuse that youthful spark that the 3rd and 4th generations added to old school Morning Musume. Not that I don't find the current Momusu interesting. I think it's cool that almost all the members are college age like me, but if that means Momusu is going to continue with a mature image... I just want them to be weird and fun, like when I first fell in love with their music! (Please don't tell me that is Berryz' job, because even though Berryz did Yuke Yuke Monkey Dance last year, Berryz is catching up in age with Morning Musume and C-ute has been more mature than cute lately, too. Good music, just not as fun.)

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Momusu has touched American soil!

This afternoon I found out Morning Musume has finally landed in America for Anime Expo (which starts tomorrow/today... it's late XD)!!

This is a big day for American Hello!Project fans~ I feel sad that I can't be there, but I live on the other side of the country and I have trouble just affording going to university. >_> Despite the distance, though, I still feel excited!!!

People have been uploading videos of the Musume's arrival, like this one:




(lol orange for Eri support...)

Okay, so it's not like The Beatles coming to America (*shakes finger at American radio stations that only promote the same 10 songs every hour or so*... it's too bad Morning Musume couldn't have had more promotion here...) But! All those screaming fans surely made Morning Musume realize that there are people in America that know about them and do care passionately about them! Hopefully this reaction encourages more goodies for American fans (like maybe a full tour, more physical releases of their albums, T-shirts... action figures. XD)

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Hello~

Hello! I decided to start a blog on Hello!Project since I'm totally obsessed with it right now and don't have many people to talk to about it... so I'm going to talk to this text box. .___. (I only have one real life friend that likes it, and she lives thousands of miles away from me, and as for online, I'm kind of cautious when I post...)

Anyway! I've been a fan since 2006. I read about Morning Musume in Anime Insider back in 2004 or 2005, but the idea of so many girls in one group didn't appeal to me at first (and this was before I got DSL, so I couldn't sample music very easily, so I was only able to get Japanese music sold in the United States, like T.M.Revolution and Puffy AmiYumi. ...Though my friends would sometimes download anime music for me and I imported a Ranma 1/2 CD one time...)

Well, I got broadband in late 2005, and heard a W song on Japan-a-Radio in October 2005. "Ai no Imi wo Oishite!" It was sooo catchy and I tried to find more info on them... without much luck, because the letter W is hard to Google, and there is this 80's band with the name "Double You." I forgot about them until a friend showed me YouTube in February 2006. I found the music video and then I found W's other music videos and BAM!! I was totally won over. Then I found Minimoni and Morning Musume. By Fall 2006, I was pretty hooked on Hello!Project music, but only really in Momusu niche. I took the biggest leap in summer 2008, when I decided to watch every single Hello!Project music video I could find on YouTube. Now I scare people away because it's hard not to bring up my love for these idols in everyday conversation. But I've always been a scary nerd, so it's not too different, haha.

I was a big fan of W, especially Nono, but now my interests lie mostly in Buono! I also really like the current line-up of Morning Musume, except I find Takahashi kind of boring sometimes. I still like her voice, though!

Momoko is probably my current favorite in Hello!Project right now. But Miyabi is the most beautiful.


I rest my case.

(Thank you so much to the person that scanned and uploaded Buono's concert booklet to Hello!Online. <3)


Oh, and why the title of this blog? I like those two flavors... plus I'm a leprechaun!