It’s A Beautiful World: Kiss & Cry & Make Up

So Utada Hikaru’s new single is out.

…well, no, not really, I downloaded it early a la this lovely person. But I plan to purchase it anyway, so take that, people who are anal-retentive about supporting overseas artists!

(I lied about that. I’m sorry.)

But as I sit here and babble endlessly about the old download vs. buy controversy that had plagued the world ever since the Internet became mainstream and people started uploading albums and singles, I start to remember the real purpose for clicking the “Write” option on my blog console: I was going to review Utada’s not-yet-released single, “Beautiful World / Kiss & Cry”. And so it was.

If Only One Of Them Would Go Blonde

I have to say, examining this group photo, the black-haired girls definitely won out over the brown-haired girls. And Mittsi looks positively adorable with her little :3 face.

℃-ute: Catching Up To Berryz工房

Pictured is the limited edition cover of “めぐる恋の季節”, ℃-ute’s second (and latest) single. I posted a review of it some days ago, and now that the word of the first week sales is out, I’m more amazed than anything else. ℃-ute doesn’t even match up to Berryz工房 in terms of online fanbase, but in the real world they seem to be dramatically catching up to the latter group in terms of sales. 23,810 in just the first week, and debuting at #2 on the charts? Berryz工房 couldn’t have managed that if they tried with “Fighting Pose wa Date ja nai!”, much as I love that song.

Then again, could ℃-ute just be enjoying the success because of the landmarks Berryz工房 made before them (such as performing at Saitama, etc)? I personally believe ℃-ute has more talent vocally on their side, with Suzuki Airi singing solos quite often in their singles. I also think that their four indies singles contribute to their major releases’ sales (they didn’t just come out of nowhere to some devoted fans who attended their concerts before). All in all, Berryz工房 is looking more like an experimental group to me as time goes by: Tsunku learned from Berryz工房 and made sure he didn’t make any mistakes with ℃-ute. No matter how many extra forty copies goes to “Kokuhaku no Funsui Hiroba”’s name, ℃-ute is steadily catching up to their supposed ‘rival’ group, and as a ℃-ute (and Umeda Erika and Suzuki Airi and Yajima Maimi and Okai Chisato) fan, I couldn’t be more delighted.

(Though Hagiwara Mai looks totally stoned in that picture.)

ひろみ: The Only Tragedy H!P Has Ever Felt

There’s so much I could say about this girl, and yet, so much I can’t. More importantly, the date of her death went completely unnoticed by most blogs. I felt it was at least important to mention her.

Yanagihara Hiromi (柳原尋美), Country Musume first-gen, October 10, 1979—July 16th, 1999. The only tragedy Hello! Project has ever felt, and hopefully, the only one it will.

This post was made with regret that I had made this blog only the day after the anniversary of Hiromi’s untimely death. But if there’s anything that the passing of others has taught me, it is that although we initially feel the pain that accompanies loss, it fades over time, but though it fades, it is never truly forgotten. I spent a majority of July without thinking of Hiromi at all, until I was looking over the Country Musume article at Wiki thePPN and saw her name once more. I suddenly remembered the first time I was perusing H!P groups there and stumbled across her page. I felt I had some sort of duty to pay some kind of respect to her, even if I never met her, or heard her music. It’s the same way for me about my grandmother’s passing only a week before my birthday a few years ago. I can go an entire year without acknowledging that she is no longer in this world, but when the date of her death approaches, I remember.

I remember.

Mizuno Manabi: Expired?

Vulpi’s been going on about this seiyuu/idol for a while now. So finally, when I caught her in the act of listening to one of Mizuno Manabi’s singles, I asked her to send it to me, as I’ve been curious as to this thirty-year-old-probably-now-retired seiyuu. She gave me one word of advice: That Manabi sounds like Matsuura Aya and Tsuji Nozomi in one.

How right was she.

“Makeru monka” (which you can find up for download at V’s blog; she says she has a legitimate reason for uploading it: you won’t be able to buy it anywhere else!) is delightfully adorable, and Manabi really does have the so-called Ayaya/Non voice hybrid.

She also doesn’t look too bad for somebody who constantly takes pictures of herself with her cellphone at the age of thirty… But as V said, Manabi is well-past the usual age limit for idols. Not that I’m hoping she’ll ever break into the music business again and become incredibly famous and no longer another obscure talent on my list. Of course not. *whistles unconvincingly*

While I’m At It: Thoughts On LinLin & JunJun

We all know the amazing controversy that initially surrounded the Chinese Two Top when they were added to the eighth generation roster of Morning Musume, right? How the fan community’s general reaction was mixed: One half were supportive of Tsunku’s decision to begin his expansion into Asia, the others were angry and didn’t know what to think (or something; hell if I know).

I have to admit, when Vulpi first told me the news, I was a little upset. After all, Morning Musume had once been billed as the “daughters of Japan”, and now that there were two Chinese (Chinese!) girls, they were no longer the all-Japanese girl group they once had been. I felt it was a disrespect to the fans.

But over time, I slowly grew into the new members. Hell, I can even say that JunJun is in my top 20 as far as Musume go. Yet there is one thing I still cannot stand about the Chinese Two Top…

Their nicknames.

“Their nicknames? Yoshimi, that’s such a silly hang-up,” you say. But I disagree. Oh, do I ever disagree. They’re easily the two most uninspired nicknames in the history of Morning Musume. Honestly, I can’t even call them nicknames — they’re essentially the girls’ forenames repeated twice. And considering that a few Asians can’t pronounce the “L” sound very well, LinLin’s name becomes RinRin. Don’t get me started on “Chun = Jun”.

I created my own personal nicknames for them. It started with Jun’s name: I took a good, analyzing look at it. “Li Chun”, or “Ree Jun”. Simply put, “Region”.

Then I looked at Qian Lin’s, or RinRin’s name. “Kwan”.

Whether or not these will become on-par with another blogger’s “Her Royal Hotness” (used to describe Reina, of course), I am unsure. All I know is I seriously prefer these to any repeated junk H!P or the other Musume came up with.

Also, pseudo-related!

I’m going to refrain from posting my unnecessary thoughts on “Onna ni Sachi Are” and just cover their outfits. What the hell is this? Sayu’s head is literally being devoured by flora, nevermind that we already had our dosage of crazy Big Bird headdresses in the “Onna ni Sachi Are” PV.

I’m starting to see a pattern in Mittsi’s facial expressions. And it is Not Good.

Takitty looks frightened and awkward. Probably because, as with Sayu, there is flora devoring the side of her head.

Quite the opposite, Niigaki is practically beaming with joy here. I suppose it’s because she’s managed to sprout a rose on the top of her head. She always seemed like the green thumb of Morning Musume, anyway.

I have to say, Eririn looks the cutest out of all of them. That scarf is just…perfection.

Reina is totally, and utterly, awkward. I suppose she’s not used to be thrown into frilly red dresses for photoshoots.

Koharu is a real trooper. Unfortunately, she has only managed two rose petals to come out of her head. Perhaps she could use some of Niigaki’s lessons.

Region’s cheery…? She’s really the plainest-looking out of the bunch.

And, finally, Kwan. This is the first photograph of her I’ve seen that’s actually flattering. She looked horrible in the recent group photo, so…yeah.

[NOTE: The links are all defunct and I was too stupid at the time to not think to save the images and upload them to my own hosting space. Use your imaginations, people.]

LOVEマシーン: Addictive As Hell

So I recently downloaded “LOVEマシーン”. For the kana-impaired out there, that’s Morning Musume’s (arguably) most famous single “LOVE Machine”. Usually when I listen to a song a few times on headphones, I start to like it, because with my decrepit dial-up plan, I have no such access to PVs.

No wonder this song was so popular back in 1999. It’s addictive as a frozen hell. I bet the first release went something like this…

…lol, blog?

This is all Vulpi’s fault.

Anyway, hello world! I’m just another psycho who decided to randomly make a blog. My interests include long walks on the beach, pina coladas, Japanese pop music, Hello! Project, AKB48 (to an extent…), Ute Manami, Goto Maki, ℃-ute, Berryz工房, Morning Musume…

Mostly, you’ll find me writing long, in-depth essays on the current state of world affairs, Jpop, and Japanese trends. Which are all connected.

Somehow.

Totally.

(Also, I totes have a name. It is Yoshimi. …Well, no, that’s a nickname because I’m not actually Asian at all, but my nickname “name” is Citrus. At any rate, Citrus works, Yoshimi works, Cit works, Citrumaru works…hell, even calling me “Yossha” is fine.)