12 posts from 2007

Quite self-explanatory, here's my 10 favorite Morning Musume PVs (including Sakura and Otome gumis) with some comments and a last honorable mention in the end.

01 - Joshi Kashimashi Monogatari
I remember quite clearly that this was the first PV to catch my attention on YouTube all the way back when I couldn't tell the members apart. That's because, after watching it more times than I cared to count, I had memorized all their names. And it was the perfect way to get to know their idol personae.
I love that every member gets their moment in the center, and that there's always at least 3 more people behind them all doing different things. That makes me gladly watch the PV many times, so I can pay attention to what each member is doing. It also helps that they don't move much, so when I'm trying to watch one of them I don't have to follow them around while they dance. And observing closely each member in this PV pays off, because there's hardly anything else out there that compares to it in the "Funny Faces per Second" department.
Oh, and my favorite part of it is right after they say Sayu doesn't need to use makeup, when Kaorin comes to the front and says "How nice, to be young...", Sayu answers "Yes!" and Yaguchi "Dammit~!"

02 - Mr. Moonlight
I think I can justify this PV's position with three screencaps.

It's also good to remember the impressive historical significance of this single & PV. It marks the beginning of the Konno era <3 She doesn't really do anything on it, though T_T

03 - I WISH
The "message" of this PV, if I can call it that, always amazed me. The beauty of the lyrics doesn't need any extra commentary, it's one of the best - if not THE best, I'd have a hard time choosing this or Ai Araba - in Morning Musume's discography. But it's the scenes in the PV that get my attention. First, there's a character introduction of sorts. Then, something starts going wrong with every one of them: Yasuda burns her clothes, Tsuji doesn't get paid, Yossie injures her head, etc. After that nonsense scene  when Maki, Yaguchi and Yossie do a kamehameha (?), they all go fight in front of the police. And then, they see Rika walking with her dog and smiling at them. So, they all make peace instantly while the song starts going "LIFE IS WONDERFUL!". Lesson we learned: Rika's smile is the way to world peace (???)

04 - Dance Suru no Da
I love the way this one was filmed. Or better, I love the way this version was, because I've seen two different ones, this and another with more "normal" camera angles. Oh, and I know this isn't an official PV, but I want it here.
What this camera does is give me exactly what I liked in JKM, although in a different way. With the screen split into two and the coreography not demanding the members to run all over the place, I can easily watch any one of them I want. And the parts with them playing around are pure gold <3 I especially liked when Tsuji and Kago appeared with the AIBO robot (the dog), because the name remembers me of Aibon. But that's just me and my weird sense of humor...

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05 - Sakura Mankai
This is the most beautiful thing to come from Hello! Project <3 I think if I took a random frame out of this PV, it's certain that whatever scene it contained would be wonderful and ready to be used as a wallpaper. Whoever divided Momusu in two groups was a complete genius... If it had been me, I'd put Sayu in Sakura and Yossie in Otome, because that would make more sense with the image I usually have of them, but the way it was ended working perfectly.
Hare Ame Nochi Suki had its beautiful moments too.
Especially Gaki with that hair. I predict she's joining Biyuden in their J-Rock invasion in 2008 *wishful thinking brought upon by Biyuden's recent revelation of a great wild side in the cover of a singles collection album I saw in MorningBerryz's blog*

06 - Morning Musume no Hyokkori Hyoutanjima
It's too much fun =D I read once somewhere that this PV and song was a little childish, but this is nothing for someone who appreciates MiniMoni. This is surely a PV from a time H!P had plenty of creativity around, this and Koko ni Iru ze! that comes just below in this list. There's little to say about it, though, only that I laugh a lot each time I see it. Especially when Yasuda is thrown into space, and when Ogawa/Yossie appear together Titanic-style.

07 - Koko ni Iru ze!
Another overall fun PV, but that doesn't really get me inspired to write... Just want to share one thought though...

08 - Souda! We're Alive
09 - The Peace!
10 - Renai Revolution 21
These are classic PVs, much has been said about them already and I don't really have much to add. I LOVE the giant M flag in Souda! We're Alive (I'm not even sure if I can call it a flag with that size), and the jumps. Those scenes with them stopped and the camera rotating around them don't do much for me, though. The strong point of The Peace! is so obvious it shouldn't need mentioning: the sheer craziness of it all. And two YAY!s for the sailor suits. Renai Revolution 21, I love its sci-fi style <3 and the hairstyles too <3 especially Aibon/Nono/Nacchi

Aruiteru
I like Aruiteru, and I really like its PV. Seriously. *watches the readership go away in disgust*
I wasn't around by the time this was released, so I haven't read it, but I saw one or other comment in some blogs that made me believe Aruiteru was mostly rejected by the English H!P community.  I like the song, it's the kind I'd hear when I'm tired and happy. The PV isn't Top 10 material, maybe Top 15. The first half of it is the cutest Close-up Version I've ever seen (there's almost only close ups...) and then there's the happy reunion around the campfire part <3 Ok, Mikitty went a little too far in her HAPPY! YAY! impression, since that's so far from her usual self in Momusu... But whatever. That's not a bad thing.

This is the first in a series of posts where I'll be taking a look at Morning Musume musicals. I'll go all the way from Love Century to Ribbon no Kishi, but I won't be including solo ventures of any one of the members, since I don't have them =) In other words, it'll be Love Century => Morning Town => Edokko Chushingura => HELP!! Atchii Chikyuu wo Samasunda => Ribbon no Kishi, totalling five posts. These give me a lot of work, so they'll be released in a very slow pace... Don't hold your breath waiting for the next one =P If I'm missing any musical done by any full line-up of Morning Musume, please tell me in the comments.
I'm not used to doing this kind of review, especially the story part, so if I'm talking too much, giving too much details on the story, or just boring you, give me a comment ^_^
My Japanese is enough for me to understand most of the dialogue and the story, but eventually, it fails. I do believe I've gotten the plot right though, or at least very close to that.
All that said, let's move on to what matters =)

This is a very impressive first try. Morning Musume was in a great line-up (up to 4th gen, Gocchin included), it has a great story, good songs, Ayaka, Mika and Inaba are all on it, and Aibon here is the cutest thing ever <3 I'll start by going over the whole story first.

*Note that the characters in the musical have the same name as the member who does them
*The screencaps always refer to the things described on the paragraphs before them.

Love Century is an amusement park, where Nacchi, Yossie, Rika, Kaorin, Yaguchi and Yossie work part-time as entertainers. Their job is to welcome guests, singing and dancing to the park's various theme music and using cute costumes. I particularly like Nacchi's cow one. Look at them doing their show here. Things aren't going very well though, as we quickly learn when most members - excluding Nacchi - don't feel like waving to the audience and saying "arigatou!" for much long after their performance - there's hardly any audience. But there's still one girl who loves them, and goes see their little show everyday: Aibon. A girl who also has her own problems. Health ones. Hospitalized with a complicated heart disease, she can only go out because she has an invaluable ally in the hospital: Yuuko. Seeing the way Aibon suffers with all the painful medical examinations, Yuuko ignores the rules and gives her a "liberty time", 30 minutes, when her condition is a little better. Watch the cutest thing ever express her sadness here. Good thing that there's Nono, a mischievous girl who got on the hospital for breaking a leg and passes her time annoying Yuuko and  playing with Aibon, so she doesn't feel lonely. Look at Nono bothering the other patients and Yuuko here. Her leg seems to be okay for me... Another important character is Gocchin, an ambitious girl who wants to follow a professional dancing career one day, preferably in New York. That's still a distant dream; daughter of a Ramen shop owner, she has no condition of travelling overseas.

As Aibon kept going to Love Century, she was eventually noticed by the girls, who one day called her after a presentation. Happy to have such a cute fan, Nacchi gladly teaches her some of their dance moves. And Aibon
performs the song using the cow hat <3<3<3 By then, Gocchin arrives with a Ramen order and sees part of the song. She clearly didn't like what she saw. Taking dancing very seriously, Gocchin can't stand the "stupid" moves from the girls' song. And they argue. Gladly, nothing comes out of it, and Gocchin goes back to her home, followed by Aibon. But the worst comes next. Heike, reporter, Kaorin's older sister, brings bad news: rumors say the park will be demolished and something else built on its place. She wants to make article on the park's situation, and to take a different angle on the topic, she wants its main topic to be "The strange girls who keep singing in the park with no guests". So, she asks each girl her reason to work there. They're pretty banal... Yossie is there because she hoped to be "discovered" by someone in the entertainment business; Rika started working because Yossie was also there; Kaorin and Yaguchi just want to have fun; Nacchi wants to "make people happy".

After a funny scene in the hospital with Nono and Yuuko, we find out that the park's imminent end was, indeed, true. That is, unless it starts raining 5 billion yen. Poor Yasuda, daughter of the park's current owner, is having some trouble dealing with all the debt collectors. Everything she wanted was to see the park her grandfather worked so hard to create going strong forever... The "solution" found to the problem shocks her. If that wasn't enough, we soon learn from a doctor talking to Yuuko that Aibon's condition is getting worse, and she has to do more exams. Without knowing any of that, Aibon is at Love Century, practicing her dance. Yasuda informs them of the park's fate, and they all get pretty down because of that... Until Yaguchi decides to take action. Always hyper, Yaguchi suggests the group just keep looking forward and prepare to do a super last show. And then, Inaba appears. Being a famous American dancer, Inaba comes with her companies Ayaka, Mika and Gocchin. I don't understand why they all went there. I guess it's just that Gocchin likes to argue with Kaorin. That's what they're always doing. Kaorin dared them to show how great that "serious dance" thing was, and so they did. Watch Inaba & co's. performance here. After that, everyone leaves, and the scene changes back to the hospital. And more Yuuko & Nono is always welcome =D Nono gets angry at Yuuko's polite request to leave the room, so she calls her an old hag, which Yuuko doesn't accept very well. Aibon  gets back to the hospital late and is reprimanded. And she has to do more exams T_T

Next day, Aibon goes to the park, and asks to participate in the encore of the day's show. And she does it with the cow set <3 Watch it here. Poor Aibon collapses at the end. And then, back to the hospital, but this time with an unexpected, weird transition performance by a lot of non-members and some girls I think might be Melon Kinenbi. Check it out here. This performance was quite surprising for me in the middle of the musical, it's not the style of everything else and I didn't see any good reason for it to exist. Unless impressing me was the objective, and it certainly worked. Anyway, back on topic... Aibon now needs a surgery, an expensive one. Yuuko decides to leave her job, and now we know why she liked Aibon so much, her sister had a similar disease. Nothing really special about it, but here's a link to Yuuko's solo where she reveals that, I thought it was worth uploading because I love her. To help pay for Aibon's surgery, it's decided that Love Century's last 5 shows are going to be for charity! After doing a deal with the park's owner, in which they'll receive 100 million yen to prepare a big show but will have to give back at least 150 million, they also get help from Heike to put an article about the show in the newspaper and from some hospital girls in setting up a site about it. But it doesn't work - seems like people just aren't interested in their childish music. Without much choice, they turn to Gocchin for help, and start training hard. Watch Gocchin make them suffer here. As expected, in the end, there's a big fight between Gocchin and the others, and she ends up leaving.

When the game looked lost, Inaba finds the show's site and decides to help, and from then own it's all happiness. Inaba only participates if Gocchin does it, so she's in; Yuuko wants to enter to help Aibon; Yasuda wants to say farewell to the park; Nono goes there because Aibon asked. Aibon's surgery is scheduled to the same day as the last show, and we have a last surprise: Nacchi's father is the owner of the hospital. He agrees to wait for the payment. When Heike publishes that Inaba is going to appear at Love Century, the public is guaranteed and the house for their last show is full =) With everything set, the final show finally starts, and it's Dance suru no da! =O And here I was expecting some more silly dances and costumes...  Here is their whole final show. After Dance! comes I WISH, with a special participation of Aibon's ghost, or something like that, since she is performing while supposedly having a surgery. The final show is a success, and after paying for the surgery and giving the money back to the park's owner there was still some extra money, which was lent to Gocchin so she could go to New York. Yuuko returns to her job. Aibon's surgery went well, she's having a fast recovery, and the musical closes with a beautiful scene where she tells Yuuko about her dreams of getting better, rebuilding Love Century, hiring her and dancing with everyone again <3 And then, it's time for a mini Morning Musume concert, with a tracklist of classics ^_^ Renai Revolution 21, Happy Summer Wedding, Koi no Dance Site and Love Machine. Finally, it ends with an all-characters performance of the theme song "Welcome to the Century Land", totalling 2h21min of pure awesomeness <3<3<3

My Try at a Critical Analysis

Plot: 4/5
It's a heartwarming story about a little girl overcoming her illness and the friends she makes along the way, what's there not to like? It's nothing epic, but it's beautiful and fitting for a lighthearted musical like this. Simple and likable characters; no introspective drama here, characters could be considered a little plain, but there's no need for more complex characters in this plot. They do their job very well. I was happy to see that the writers weren't on drugs when they wrote this *remembers Tokkaekko*, there's none of the craziness we often find in H!P stuff. This plot only doesn't get a perfect score because of the ending. I could see from a mile away that Inaba was going to save the day. Predictable. And then, after that, everything just started to go way too well. Not that I was waiting for a sad ending, and this wasn't a perfect happy ending too (Love Century was closed), but the way every other problem suddenly starts getting solved felt a little forced.
Final conclusion: This is a solid plot, even if a little simple, that ignores H!P's typical randomness to deliver a good overall experience.

Music: 3/5
The soundtrack is made mostly of generic musical stuff... There are some gems, like the songs played in all the performances at the park and the one during the weird transition to the hospital scenery after Aibon faints. Every main character gets a solo song, I believe... But many of them aren't very inspired, and should run a little longer. They're usually 1~2min stuff, and would be better off as normal speech; Yasuda's one especially. Aibon, Nono and Yuko are some good exceptions. Even Kaorin had a solo in an enka song, that I wasn't going to upload first but now I changed my mind. Here it is. The "bakayaro!" in the beginning is directed at Gocchin ^_^
Final conclusion: There's some great ones, and the others aren't that bad. But could have been better, if some of them were a little longer and more creative.

Actors: 4/5
It's what you'd expect from the members... They all had roles similar to what they always do. We have Aibon being cute, Nono as the mischievous girl, Yuuko wanting to kill Nono, Yaguchi as the funny one, and so on. Anyone who's watched some of those comedy skits knows what to expect. It gets a nine because there's nothing really extraordinary here, just the usual good stuff.
Final conclusion: They're as good as ever.

Scenery: 3/5
It's good, especially for a first try, but it gets so much better in the other musicals... Also, there was only one really interesting scenery transition, the hospital one. That will also get better. However, even if it's simple, it works. Also, it has nothing to do with scenery but I'll put here, character outfits are great. I especially liked the idea of the park's costumes, those were funny <3
Final conclusion: Decent, but nothing compared to what's coming in next musicals

Fun Factor: 5/5
This score is here just to make how much I enjoyed the musical count in the final score =)

Total: 3.8/5

This is a post about my favorite Japanese artists outside Hello! Project. I tried to organize them by the order I met them, but in some cases I'm not so sure, especially the first ones... I've only included groups I've been listening to for a while, some that I've been listening to more recently like a bunch of Johnny's, Gackt, ZARD and Every Little Thing I decided to leave for the future.
 

Do as Infinity
This was my very first Japanese group. Don't say bad things about them here. Anyway... Tomiko doesn't have, let's say, Hikki's vocal skills, but I love her voice, so just ignore that <3 I think half my Japanese vocabulary could have come from memorizing lyrics to songs from DAI... I don't listen to them much nowadays though, mainly because I have so many new things to try...
Recommended songs: Fukai Mori, Oasis, Heart, Tookumade

Utada Hikaru
Utada is the eternal Queen of J-Pop for me, no one can convince me of the contrary <3 I can't stand Koda Kumi, and there's very few songs I listen to from Ayumi Hamasaki. I'm with Hikki all the way. I can't even tell how it all started, I don't remember anymore, but she's been my favorite for as long as I listen to J-Pop. I love her PVs, they're always creative and probably with large budgets... Only thing I could say against her is that I don't like her with short hair, and that her looks in her MTV Unplugged are the best ever in this Earth, but in the end, it's her writing and vocal talents that matter <3<3<3 And then SHE DID THE THEME FOR REBUILD OF EVANGELION!!! <3<3<3<3<3 The BEST of the anime world with the BEST of J-Pop world makes me VERY VERY MUCH HAPPY YAAAY! =DDD Anyway, better stop here or this is quickly going to turn into an evangelion blog...
Recommended songs: First Love, Sakura Drops, COLORS, Can you keep a secret?, Addicted to you

L'arc~en~Ciel
I stumbled on L'arc, like was the case with most of the first groups I found, by an anime. In this case, I never watched said anime, but I saw the opening. Driver's High, from GTO. From then on, it's been love. In fact, Japanese music for me has L'arc, Morning Musume and Utada Hikaru at the top, in an order I'll probably never figure out but keep trying anyway. I love hyde. I love how he acts cool but forgets his lyrics once every concert and sometimes says some funny stuff. I like every member of the band. Don't ask me why, I don't know, I probably have a mind crazier than Tsunku's, but I always associated L'arc with Hana Yori Dango. To be more specific, with the four main male characters in HYD. For me, hyde was like Tsukasa, Yukihiro was like Rui, tetsu was like Akira and ken was like Sojiro. I mean, that's how I imagined their personalities to be, back when I'd never seen them talking anywhere. I still think hyde remembers Tsukasa.
Recommended songs: Jojoushi, Flower, winter fall, Niji, Pieces

X-Japan
First it was all about Forever Love <3 That song made the X-1999 anime movie for me - I mean, it was the only thing I liked - and is still one of my favorite songs ever. I still prefer their slower songs. However, their visual kei look scared me. That made me ignore them for quite some time, but the day came when I had to recognize their brilliance. About the same day I got into Malice Mizer, but that's another story.
Recommended songs: Forever Love, Dahlia, Kurenai, Silent Jealousy, Tears

the Indigo
Found it through an anime. "Under the Blue Sky" was the ending theme in Mahou Tsukai Tai. Funny that, watching a little known anime I found a little known J-Pop group, and liked a lot both of them.  I'd love to be wrong, please someone tell me in the comments I'm not alone with the Indigo, but I've never seen it mentioned anywhere... I can't even find a higher quality picture to put up here, but small covers are all I have.  And it's such good music <3 All beautiful, calm songs, great to rest my mind <3 I wish I could find more PVs. Namoshirenu was also in another anime, Ai Yori Aoshi, but in that case I only like the song.
Recommended songs: Under the Blue Sky, Pain, Feel Like Makin' Love (suite mix), Toikake, Namoshirenu

Malice Mizer
It doesn't feel very right to write about Malice Mizer in an H!P blog. They're, for me, the most extreme opposites there could be. Not different, like apples and oranges, but extremes that can't get together, like electrons and positrons. H!P is almost happiness all around, and there's nothing of that in Mizer. There's only beautiful goth music. If I had found this at the same time I got into Phantom of the Opera, God knows what would be of my life today. Quite different. I think I'll never forget the one and only concert I've seen from them. Masterpiece.
Recommended songs: Syunikiss ~Nodo me no Aito~, Brise*, Au Revoir, Gekka no Yasoukyoku
*fans of FFVIII, notice the costumes

Southern All Stars
I first heard their Katte ni Sindbad in Uta Doki!, and was instantly convinced to look for more from them. Itoshi no Eri closed the deal (useless trivia: Wikipedia says Eririn got her name because her father loves this music). They're what I'm listening to the most right now. I still haven't got through 1/3 of their discography I guess, but I hardly find anything I don't like, so that should change very fast. I like how they're still around having success, and haven't really changed their style much. Love the pirate outfits in this PV. Glad to see age hasn't taken their humor.
Recommended songs: Tsunami, Katte ni Sindbad, Itoshi no Eri, Bye Bye My Love (U are the one)

SharanQ
As should be expected, I got to know SharanQ through Tsunku and Morning Musume. Never really cared to look for them, until I watched the original ASAYAN audition, and got to that conclusion most wotas probably had once in their life. That is, that Freud would've been very interested in meeting Tsunku. Quite a crazy man, with an unique mind and reasoning style. Like saying only that Nacchi "holds the mic very well" and then passing her immediately without more comments. But still a genius with lots of talent. So I decided to search for SharanQ stuff. Only found YouTube videos and a 2006 concert though, and Tsunku is already showing some age side effects on the latter. Still good though, will watch it throughly when I have time. Just looked at my favorite songs until now. I like the weird keyboard player, err... *goes at theppn* Taisei, that's the one. He wears a nice pair of horns in the concert footage I've already seen. Hatake's hair style is also interesting, my mother saw him when I was watching an ASAYAN episode and thought he was she. I can't really blame her. Anyway, I love them now, and I'm looking for more old stuff... Current Tsunku singing iiwake just doesn't do it for me, he's lost half the coolness. That adds a different feel to the song, which isn't bad for itself, could grow on me... But not yet.
Recommended songs: iiwake, Zurui Onna, 上・京・物・語, Single Bed

PS - I've just finished posting this and noticed that I forgot Luna Sea, but I'm too lazy to write about them now. So, yeah, they're on my favorites too...

Taken from Hello Non-Pro Hour, read here. Well, there's nothing to say these are really shuffle units, but let's dream.  They're groups who will be doing something, whatever that might be. Some comments on each of them::

2/11/08 Sapporo
Nakazawa Yuko, Abe Natsumi, Aya Matsuura, and Melon Kinenbi

I'm sure this one will be my favorite right away. Yasuda should be here though. I don't care for Melon Kinenbi, but they will fit well in this group. As I'm looking through all the names, this looks like it'll be the adult group... I think they should do a ballad with 80% vocals from Yuko/Nacchi/Ayaya.

2/17/08 Osaka
Nigakii Risa, Kusumi Koharu, Mitsui Aika, Jun Jun, and Lin Lin

I have hope Gaki and Jun Jun will save this one for me. I'm afraid this might have a childish song with mainly Koha/Mitsui vocals, little chance I'd like that. History says you can't expect Gaki to have much of the spotlight in anything -_- This is the group I'm not sure if I'll like.

2/23/08 Fukuoka
Yoshizawa Hitomi, Konno Asami, Shimizu Saki, Tokunaga Chinami, Sudou Maasa, Kumai Yurina, and Sugaya Risako

Yossie and KonKon. That alone does it for me. Also some Berryz girls I can recognize, but no Momoko, so nothing to say on that. I'll like this one no matter what, but I'm waiting for the Berryz ones to surprise me and maybe make this a perfect shuffle.

3/1/08 Tokyo
v-u-den, Ayaka Kimura, Mai Satoda, and Maeda Yuki

I don't know about this one. Well, it has Ayaka. But Rika will be in the spotlight anyway, so that will not save this for me. I don't know most of them, so I'll just have to wait and see what happens...

3/2/08 Tokyo
Inaba Atsuko and Berryz Koubou

Inaba and Kids? Who was the idiot who made this up? Put poor Inaba in the Elders unit, for God's sake! What's the deal with mixing Elders and Kids? It's obvious they should be doing completely different kinds of music... Or is that just me? Anyway, I have nothing against both of them, and it looks like this is the one Momoko is in, so I'm looking forward to it. But Inaba is wasted here.

3/8/08 Nagoya
Yasuda Kei, Yaguchi Mari, and °C-ute

Another "God knows what they're smoking" unit... Yaguchi and Kids, nothing new about that, but why Yasuda? Send her to that first group, come on -_-

3/9/08 Nagoya
Yasuda Kei, Yaguchi Mari, Takahashi Ai, Kamei Eri, Michishige Sayumi, and Tanaka Reina

Ohhh, I love this <3 Many of my favorite members together, this can probably work perfectly <3 I only think someone should remember whoever will be organizing this groups that Yasuda isn't doing much lately and Kamei can sing, so Aichan should have, at most, 50% of the lines. Or some fans could get angry.

Things have been silent around here lately, first because of my exam this last Sunday, and now something else came up. I recently - yesterday - started playing Shin Megami Tensei Persona 3, a great RPG for the PS2, something that doesn't appear very frequently. Good RPGs are rare nowadays... Anyway, until I finish it I probably won't do anything H!P-related, so I should be away for a week or so.

See you all later~

I thought of doing a post with my favorite parts of the Alo/Love Hello DVDs I've already watched (Konno Asami, Takahashi Ai, Abe Natsumi, Yaguchi Mari, Niigaki Risa, Michishige Sayumi, Tanaka Reina), and from that I got to this to 3. Konkon was disqualified, her Alo! Hello will get a full post one of these days. If anyone hasn't seen them already, I've uploaded them to Veoh for you to watch, except Sayu's one that was already on YouTube.

03 - Gaki
This one really surprised me... Gaki-san was just walking in the beach and this Argentinian starts talking to her. Now, Argentina is a neighbor country, I've already met some people from there traveling, and they're nice and open people, but going talk to a stranger who's being filmed with no specific reason... She looked amused by the surprise. I always found interesting how Japanese people never seemed to notice them during those Haromoni@ episodes when they were just walking on the street and doing stupid deliveries. They used to put the camera in front of the girls, so you could see the people behind, and I used to try to find someone looking or following them, but never happened....

02 - Sayu
This is Sayu's solo version of Aruiteru. No matter what most probably think of her singing ability, I think it's cute <3 I also like her Namida ga Tomaranai Houkago performance in the Hong Kong Fan Club Tour. It's a pretty long bridge...

01 - Kamei
Unfortunately, there was a problem in a certain part of the video and I had to cut it, I think my download was corrupted. Lost some seconds in the beginning, please bear with it.
Poor Kamei... She looked so afraid going up those stairs... I wonder why she didn't just give up right there? It's obvious this place isn't going to be good business, even if it's the cheapest she could find. Oh, probably because if she did that this great segment wouldn't exist... Kamei, ganbatte! God, who could stay in this place? That lock isn't helping it look any more hospitable. And she gets impressed by how few things there are in the room. Looks like it's back to looking for another place to stay, but she takes some sad-looking photos before that.

Honorable Mention
Reina's was the first one I watched... It's a good thing this shopkeeper is a nice guy, he knows a little Japanese and they could communicate well... I like when she's surprised because the machine opens =D

Shabondama performance taken from the Odore! Morning Curry 2006 tour. For some reason, it took me a whole year and Aika's recommendation for me to find this gem. She chose this as her favorite performance, and now I'm starting to like her more. We have something in common. Anyway... I love Kamei here. Impressive dancing skills. She really got into the music, this isn't kawaii Kame-chan. I particularly like her look in this part:

I don't like to say this, but Shabondama's monologue still has to be Rika. Kamei is not there yet. Nothing can be perfect... Now, let me go hunt this concert in H-O...

Just finished watching Ongaku Gatas' new PV, "Yattarouze!". Some first impressions on it:

• The beginning and the ending of this PV really surprised me. They're actually in their uniforms, playing soccer! Why didn't anyone think of that before?
• But it seems that they didn't like the idea too much, since they gave up on it and made it just small sections.
• I don't have a clue about what's going on, and I don't think there's much for me to understand as in a "story" for this PV. They're playing... and then they're falling... and dancing in a forest with other costumes... what, uniforms again? falling from the sky? =/
  
• But I don't really care for all that story thing, since I can see Konkon in most shots <3 Yaaay!
  
• I think the shots are well distributed, it's only my vision that focus on Konkon. Not that I can actually recognize any of the Eggs... *no offense intended to their fans*
  
• I'm curious to see what will be the reaction to all the use of CG in the background here.
• I like the costumes <3 Although I'm still waiting a PV with the uniforms.
• Really like the music. Their definitely keeping the quality.
• I may be getting used to Rika.