Renewal

This is the year I'll finally realise my dream of keeping up with a Hello!Project blog. I've tried for many years because I genuinely want to write about Hello!Project (and a few other idols). I mean, I have so many thoughts about H!P and no one close by to share them with. Even if there's hardly a single reader, just the organising of thoughts sprinkled with pictures and video is therapeutic (and then re-reading later for nostalgia, wondering what it was like at that time, ahh....)

Just life always got in the way.

Or stage fright?

No matter.

My love of idols, most particularly H!P is stronger than ever. I've collected so much of my H!P backlog in CDs this year. I've gotten back to keeping up with all the awesome radio shows and blogs fans translate for us. I'm reminded why I love the music and members so much. I don't dislike a single member anymore. Even Katsuta is entertaining now. Even though one of my favorite groups is going on hiatus, my favorite member in all H!P is staying to lead a new group. So many new members were added and though none of them have stolen my preference for Momo, Duu, Maachan, and Zukki, I'm excited for them nonetheless. Even the Kenshuusei are on my radar now that they have original songs and get more screen time on Up Front's YouTube channels. It's a great time to be an H!P fan. Heck, it's a great time to be an international fan. And now there's a member who speaks English again, woohoo!

So yup, I'm in the mood to blog again. Reviews of new stuff. Reviews of all the CDs I've procured (because my enjoyment just doesn't feel complete without carefully listening and reviewing.) Reviews of all the old J-Pop I've managed to procure (mostly 80's idols.) Introductions and thoughts on groups and members (for friends I've utterly confused or people who randomly stumbled upon H!P and want to learn more.) Fan Art. Thoughts on new events and essays on relevant topics. Ranking, always fun! I want to do them all!

For now I'll end with some general thoughts.

I wish for another new group to be added to Hello!Project in 2015. Nothing big, just three members would be perfect (unless C-ute disbands), and made up of Kenshuusei. Crouton, Murotan, Rikako, and Manakan have debuted now. So unless there's a 13th Gen of Morning Musume around the corner, I would really like to see Funakki in particular debut in a new group!

With the number of new additions to Morning Musume, though, I get the sinking feeling one of the 9th or 10th Gen will announce their graduation by the end of 2015 (or 2016 Winter.)

Angerme is an awful name. First I only saw "germ", then everyone started noticing "anger me" and I just can't unsee. Murotan was mean for S/mileage! Uggh, I hope a compilation album comes out with all the recent A-sides and they don't completely start over as Angerme.

Speaking of albums, can Juice=Juice get an album someday, too? At this rate they'll need a best of album with two discs to include all the A-sides and a new track or two. That's the main downside to all these double and triple A-sides... I love buying albums more than singles because I'm thrifty in that regard, and some of these "A-sides" aren't making it to albums (Even coupling albums. I'm looking at you, Morning Musume '14!)

Thank goodness, Berryz Box!

Am I really going to follow a group called "Country Girls? Why, H!P?

Going to Budokan and getting new members were high points for S/mileage, but between the name change and the music, they didn't really have that great a year, huh?

Well, I'm looking forward to next year's Hello!Project! Angerme can only get better from here (I hope) and all the newness has me pumped up!

Now if only Buono! could stay as well...

2013 Hopes and Predictions! And Agenda!

The Savior has come!

Almost two months late with this... kind of blows the whole point of such a post, huh? I even missed the Chinese New Year! I'm really really stubborn, though, so I'm still posting these thoughts that have been incubating for the past couple months! Even though current events decided to beat me to it, in one particular case.

Last year, two of my hopes/predictions came true (Morning Musume sold over 100,000 units with their 50th single and they held 11th generation auditions), three sort of came true (there was a ton of overseas activity, but no American versions of CDs released; Hello!Satoyama Life was a new show, but it replaced Hello!Pro Time; and I still found a lot of H!P songs fun and catchy, but the only really strange one besides the chicken suit song was Momo's exercise video), and two have already come true this year instead of last year (new indies group of trainees - with the Savior!! -  and a new webshow.)

I interpret this as not only H!P becoming more predictable - in a good way (predicting stuff and having it come true is somehow more satisfying than predicting nothing is going to happen and nothing happens) - but H!P being nice, too. No matter the ulterior motives (i.e. money) behind their agency's increased efforts at pleasing the fans, to me, it's still impressive and much appreciated.

So what about this year? Well, first of all...

I think we should be singing a dirge for Berryz Koubou, C-ute, and Buono! I think we'll at least get an announcement this year, possibly during the festival the first weekend of March. They will want an early announcement so Up-Front can milk as much as they can from the groups before they begin to de-materialize or disband completely. This is something I've been on Code Yellow for for over a year, and now with a large chunk in their twenties and all but one an adult, the possibility of at least one (but most likely, many more) wishing to move on from the idol phase of their career grows ever greater.

The announcement of new units all but says they are going to be replaced in the coming year or two, and even the name of Berryz' Spring tour makes me wonder if it's a big hint (looking for recruits? Maybe they just mean it as a friendly title for fans. But maybe one of the new trainee units, a tween-aged unit, will be called Berryz Koubou?)

And then there is college. I don't know about Chisa or Risako, but I'd be more surprised if Airi didn't go to university than if she quit the entertainment industry (at least temporarily) to continue her education. I don't think her absent-minded genius character is completely fake, nor do I think her love of school and pride in her academic skill disingenuous. No announcement has been made yet regarding her entering university  but she does graduate high school in a little over a month. What if... she will be studying abroad or going to a university that begins in the Fall? Like a Konkon/Makochan situation, where they graduated in the summer of 2006 to continue their post-secondary studies? And if Airi did study abroad, there would be no way for her to keep up her Hello!Project activities like Momo. Would C-ute and Buono! be able to survive without Airi? Especially with it unlikely that those groups would add new members (except as one-off revival units years later?)

So I think the H!P Kids time in H!P is coming to a close. I'm sure most of them will stay in Up-Front and still  occasionally work with H!P and be part of little groups like Yossie and Charmy's post-H!P groups. It won't be the end of everything (and if Airi does leave, I would not be surprised if she returned to the entertainment industry after getting her degree(s).)

There will be graduation announcements. Besides my reasoning behind the H!P Kids readying for departure (especially Airi), Sayu and S/mileage are the next girls to wait for. Maybe even a surprise 9th or 10th gen departure, but not likely (and it would make me really sad if any of the new girls left.) Sayu probably has until the end of the year at least. S/mileage is just a hunch. S/mileage is the group that makes no sense, so anymore could leave next. Common sense would say Kanyon (does she consume enough calories to take on the challenge of both H!P and university??), but I don't know. Honestly, I'd rather none of them graduate, but a graduation and an audition could get them more attention and maybe win back some old fans that left with Sakichy and Yuukarin.

S/mileage will probably have a third generation audition. Meimi mentioned in her blog that the current line-up may not last long (specifically mentioning third gen), but that could be her owns hopes and speculations rather than inside knowledge. Still, I think auditions would be a good idea. Too bad Fuu-chan won't ever be coming back (unless she was taken out of trainees last year for a surprise debut this year?) Even if S/mileage doesn't hold another audition, setting aside some trainees for S/mileage while other trainees debut in new units wouldn't be a bad idea either.

As for Morning Musume having auditions, it would be nice if they kept up yearly auditions, but the greater the number of new additions, the greater chance of a 9th or 10th gen leaving. Up-Front does not seem to like keeping the group over ten members for any length of time (and there's that oft-quoted Tsunku statement from years ago about the 10-member limit ideal.) And single member generations are best taken in moderation (I remember a lot of fan disappointment at Aika's audition due to her being the only member passing.) I would love more members, but not many graduations at the moment, and the current environment is not conducive for that at this time.

Now that Karin has a spot in Hello!Project, I hope Natsumi Taguchi finds a place soon, too. Much like how I thought "this girl would make a great H!P member" and "this girl looks interesting" when the first Egg pictures of Haruka Kudo were revealed, I saw something interesting in Taguchi's first pictures as a trainee. Both her name and her stature (even her expressions a little bit) remind me of Mari Yaguchi. Not that I expect her to be a Mari-clone (like I didn't expect Kanyon to be an Aibon-clone), but she's cute and has my interest, and now I really want to see where she ends up in Hello!Project history.

As for other trainees, I'm disappointed that Mogi left, but Mizuki Murota looks energetic and interesting, so it would be cool to see her debut in one of the new units. I also think Rie Kaneko should debut soon, too. Not just because she's the most senior trainee, but because I saw a screenshot of her glaring at the new Morning Musume and I think she needs a healthier way to manifest that rivalry. And she has a pretty cool looking nose.

I hope Hello!Project Station will not suck as bad as its first episode. The best things about that episode were Airi's face and Chii's "homerun" answer. Golf is boring enough as it is, but it makes for a terrible first theme! (And there's more than one part for the Golf episode??? Arrrrgh, I don't think I'm going to watch this...) Add some sketches to this variety show!

I'm still going to hope for a comic or series of animation shorts based on the H!P girls.

And finally, I hope Morning Musume is able to keep up their streak of Gold-certified singles. More fame (and money) should open up more opportunities for them, as it did for their predecessors.

So, those were my hopes and predictions!

As for what to look forward to from this blog, I still intend to finish the H!P 101 articles and reviews from last year (thanks to a friend, I've been getting the physical releases of albums I've been dreaming for for a long while!) There are articles planned and plenty of fanart to post. Occasionally I'll still post about non-H!P idols that catchy my eye (I just don't have as much time to experiment anymore, and, fearing burnout, I scaled back on what I follow/watch.)

I like having a blog since I don't really have anyone close to to talk about H!P with (except when I barf out a rambling one-sided conversation about it to friends and family then feel bad about it afterwards, feeling like I wasted their time...) But then I think about what I want to write and end up not writing it down! (I only use the computer once a week.) This day dreaming aspect of myself is something I need to discipline.

So despite this late start, please look forward to many more posts from me this year!

Gaki-san's Graduation

Risa's graduation. I'm actually really surprised it's this soon. What, is every finale of Morning Musume's concert tours going to end in a graduation ceremony from now on? Or at least until the 6th and 8th generations are all gone?

I'm not upset by this at all, of course. Adding and subtracting members is interesting and keeps things fresh. Gaki's been in the group for ten years when most members get what seems to bean average of four to six (yes, the clock's already ticking for the ninth generation members, who celebrated their first anniversary with the group at the beginning of the year.) Gaki has never ranked on my list of favorites and is always in the lower half of my Morning Musume rankings despite my love of her voice (she's great at reacting to the other members' shenanigans, but she isn't very entertaining to me when she's by herself.) Like with Yuuka, I'm glad that other girls that I like more will be able to shine in her place.

But I really will miss her voice so much. No one in Morning Musume, as far as I've heard, can pull off as smooth and soothing a voice as her. No one. Haruka's voice is deep and unique and cool-sounding. But it's not quite relaxing. Too much power. Zukki's deep voice has become absolutely dynamite, powerful yet smooth. But I don't know if she's ready for a ballad yet. Aika's voice is semi-deep, but not impressive lately and far from relaxing. Reina- Reina can sometimes pull off relaxing, but she's not deep by any means. So now instead of having a one-two punch with Gaki's vocals (and Aichan's 1 HIT KO vocals), Morning Musume is going to have to work together again. I really hope they use more than half the group in their singles after the chicken suit single. We can't tell anything about direction (lines-distribution wise) from generation-debut songs. "Maji desu ka Ska" taught us that. But really, even if they still keep three front girls (or four, with Sayumi), I hope they still have other voices even when the focus is on the front girl in the videos. People will complain at the music video, but at least the vocals will be stronger and varied and everyone gets to shine.

The other reason why I'll miss Gaki is completely stupid: now I'll have to omit her from future artworks I had planned, since some might be finished long after she graduates. I love these line-up changes, but they mess with my plans. I guess I'm afraid of showing my friends fanart of idols and they like a girl that has graduated and then aren't interested in the group anymore. Which is silly, but I already know I am silly.

Still, bring on the 11th generation!

And I think Aika should totally graduate next. She used to be my favorite, and I still think she's cute. But 6th gen are stronger members and someone has to graduate next, so it should probably be Aika in 2013. Though, who knows, 6th gen may really want out and Aika may yet prove herself again now that she's back in action and everything will turn out best for both the girls and the fans. I really hope so.

Mole Removal

So, Yuuka Maeda of S/mileage has officially left Hello!Project today. She has been my least favorite H!P member ever since S/mileage debuted as an official group. Even back when she was added to High-King and Shugo Chara Egg!, instinct told me I wouldn't be able to stand her.

So I should be happy that Holy Moley has left and I don't have to look at her lazy or withering smiles anymore when I watch S/mileage videos or look at their CD covers. I should be happy that she has made way for the vampire to become a front girl. Well, I am happy for that last part. But at the same time, there is an empty feeling. It's nice to see her absent in the newest Hello!Project images. But now...

Who am I going to despise in H!P?! Mai Hagiwara of C-ute used to be my least favorite. Now it's either her again or Rina Katsuta of neo-S/mileage. Even though Maimai's attitude annoys me a lot of times, sometimes she's really interesting and cute. But Maimai has to be my new least favorite (again) because Rinapu...

Well, Rinapu is boring. She's very content and seems to goof off if the other girls are involved. But she reminds me of a grandmother. I can't despise her. I may not be a fan, but she makes me want to walk her across the street or let her teach me knitting. Aika may have the "granny" voice among H!P, but Rinapu has the "grandma" aura." Aww... so Maimai it is then for the least favorite. I guess that means I don't despise anyone anymore.

Even with that out of the way, though, I'm worried for S/mileage. Yuuka was the most popular, and without her, I can see their supporters plummeting. I haven't bought any S/mileage releases yet, because I love other groups more, among other reasons. But now, I really want to find a way to support my little vampire so her group doesn't get axed just as she's starting out in it! C'mon, Meimei, charm the masses with your hyperness and fangs! (You might have to convert some people with a bite to the jugular...)

When the title for Yuuka's last photobook came out, "See You-karin", I really hoped that meant Karin was going to replace her, just to spite her for leaving. But sadly, that doesn't seem to be the case (Karin isn't in the next single's covers.) Oh well, I guess they can't be too mean since Yuuka's graduation was possibly a result of flunking school. It just sounds suspicious since the submember system was said to be a way for members to step down for a bit if they weren't doing too well in school, but I guess Sakichy and Yuukarin didn't want to hurt their pride like that.

I'll laugh and then cry if she turns up as a new ace for AKB48.

Karin for President in 2012

In 2010, I did a list of hopes and predictions for Hello!Project. Some of them came true over the past two years, like ninth generation auditions and I think I wished for happier music. Well, now I'll give my hopes and predictions for 2012, which seem more possible now after 2011, the year of change!

Karin. The Messiah comes in 2012.

1.) No one graduates. After a lot of changes, they need a bit more stability. They need to promote the members and make them known again, which is confusing if too many people leave the main groups in a short period of time. I don't want another relatively stable period like 2007-2010, though. Someone's got to at least announce their graduation, probably Gaki, Aika (she needs to re-define her character now to remain viable to the group, I think), or someone from Berryz Koubou or C-ute. And if there is a graduation at the end of year, that's fine, it's just I enjoy where H!P is at right now (especially Morning Musume) and I want to enjoy them in their current state for the greater part of 2012.

2.) If Berryz Koubou and/or C-ute split up, they'll at least keep Buono! These groups are aging fast and Berryz seems to be getting a lot of negative reactions from overseas fans (I don't know what Japanese fans think, but Berryz' sales are going down and down, if that's any indication.) But Buono! is a epic group and it would be safer than girls having "solo" careers under Up-Front only. Safety in numbers! I would really miss Chinami and Chisato, though...

3.) A new indies group of Eggs is formed to make a major debut in 2013. After refilling the Egg roster after weeding or debuting the older Eggs, H!P can spare two to eight (or more, but unlikely) to make a new group to test (especially if neo-Momusu and neo-S/mileage are a success, allowing for a bigger budget.) I have a feeling Karin might go solo in 2012, but being a front girl in a new group would be more interesting. (Save the next solo act for Jang!)

4.) Auditions for Morning Musume and/or S/mileage announced by the end of the year. They have to keep this up! Auditions are fun to watch, get fans interested and involved (look at all the audition blog and forum posts), and get media attention.

5.) One of H!P's groups gets a 100,000 seller single. Dream Morning Musume does not count, even though I wish them well. But if current Morning Musume or S/mileage achieves such sales, it will be a victory. And with Momusu's 50th single coming up, it just may be possible.

6.) Dolls or figurines are sold. I still want this! But not like that crazy-expensive Erina Mano figure. More like how Barbie has celebrity dolls or the Spice Girls had fashion dolls. I would totally collect my favorites (which means at least ten, but I just may go overboard!)

7.) They get a manga or 4-panel comic strip tie-in. AKB48 has had a couple, and now an anime is coming out in April. The Reinya anime was okay. H!P needs more! Crossovers reach a wider audience and are fun! Mizuki could draw it. I was about to suggest Airi, but the poor girl already has so much work to do already. But Mizuki needs to shine somehow, so I totally think they could use her art as a gimmick with an occasional comic strip.

8.) More overseas releases and events. The more American conventions they attend, the greater chance they'll stop by a city near me. And American CDs are cheaper than the Japan and Taiwan versions and sometimes the Korea version. This is totally selfish, I know. I like my physical media, but I have so many hobbies, I don't have enough money to get every release I want, and definitely not at Japan's prices (yeah, I'm a terrible fan because I spend way more money on Pokemon toys and games.)

9.) They get another show other than Hello!Pro Time. Even if it is a webshow, because Sayu's Ustream was pretty informative and cool. It sounds like at least Fan Club members will get this with the new Morning Musume members at the beginning of 2012. I would really like to see some sketch/variety again, though. H!P Time is fun in its own candid way, but I like seeing the girls define themselves in skits, too. I'm jealous of AKB48 and their half-dozen or more programs.

10.) They continue to make stranger concepts with catchy songs. They can still be cool and catchy with singles, but alternate between strange, cute, and cool. Catchy is the bottom line. But seriously, the new chicken suits are totally awesome. They're even cooler than the S/mileage piggies.


I'm crossing my fingers for an awesome 2012 for H!P!