Tokyo Idol Festival Part 4

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Even more idols were added! Right now the current count on the TIF page is, get this, 82 separate groups/acts! There is a lot of stuff to cover, so I’m going to try my best to get these posts out as much as possible, which means that I’m putting some content I’ve been working on for Happy Disco on the backburner to try and focus on TIF.

Up’s Infinity

The thing about Up’s Infinity is that they’re not just an idol unit, but a rock band as well; perhaps closer to something like SCANDAL than like idol units? According to their TIF blurb they come from a TV show “Bandoru” (clearly a portmanteau of band and aidoru), and their TV show looks to be a mix of variety and documenting their journey of becoming a band even though they don’t have much experience in the music industry.

The latest four episodes are up HERE if you’re interested. Finding other videos is honestly tough, as searching Up’s Infinity gets very few results and Bandoru (in Japanese) is tough as well, so if you  know anything about them please leave a comment! Quite frankly, hearing some stuff from their digests on YouTube, I can’t say I’m TOO impressed, but maybe that’s part of the idolness of their group, the fact that they’re so new.

Still, if you prefer live instruments and bands to your standard idols, Up’s Infinity might be something you might be interested in, since they’re not the typical idol group.

Ayaman Japan

This is another non-traditional group but for different reasons! This actually started as an entertainment group and to this day there are 100 members of that group, that entertain at parties only if you know one of the members and that don’t get paid. However, back in 2010 three members started to make media appearances and they’ve started to release music. Three singles have been released so far, and the one that’s made the biggest splash was their first single, Poi Poi Poi Popoi Poi Popii.

Ayaman is almost the antithesis to the traditional idol group, with Poi Poi littered with sexually suggestive lyrics and scenes in the PV (featuring chanting S-E-X, featuring their breasts and humping statues). For all that idols are supposed to be pure and virginal, Ayaman Japan is almost the opposite, and I’d imagine if you were tired of the traditional idol image that Ayaman Japan might be a reprieve from that. According to this interesting article on Kotaku, “If AKB48 are idols you can meet,” leader Ayaman recently said on variety show Shabekuri 007, “we’re idols you can…” That last bit was bleeped out on television.”

If you’re looking for good idol music and singing, Ayaman Japan is not your best bet. However, I’m betting that their performance on the TIF stage is going to be one of the most interesting and unusual ones, and definitely something to check out.

Izukoneko

This is another one of those idols that is super hard to find information about, unfortunately. The only site that I could find is her Ameblo, without a major official site (as far as I can find) and without a Japanese wikipedia page. So if any of you guys are majorly into Izukoneko, please give me more information!

Izukoneko is a 17 year old soloist who it appears has done at least one anime songs. She made her debut in October. She’s done at least two singles; Rainy Irony is pretty pleasant to listen to (even though I half expected her to bring out Alanis Morissette in there).

At first I wasn’t super impressed by her presence in the Rainy Irony PV, but seeing a clip of her live (on her youtube izukoneko) she seems like one of those idols that excels live. I’d recommend giving Rainy Irony a try because it’s not really a typical idol sound (despite the ‘nyan nyan nyan’s in there, fitting her name).

OS*U

Standing for Osu Super Idol Unit, this group was formed near the end of 2010 and just performed their first solo show for 500 people and will be performing at Zepp Nagoya, so it looks like they’re gaining a bit of popularity, at least for being indie idols. They are local idols from the Aichi prefecture (which is also where SKE48 hails from) with fifteen members. Even though they’re relatively new they’ve released five indies level singles, so it looks like they’re a pretty active group. They also have two subgroups, Pop Star and Smile Star, that allows them to promote more.

Osu is a shopping area, but it can be said to be the Akihabara of Nagoya; it is a shopping district that has a good deal of electronics shopping,and the OS*U site proclaims it to be a land of idol, anime, maid and otaku culture. So if this is the case, it makes sense that at least one idol group would be formed there. After all, AKB48 is so big after being formed in Akihabara.

From what I’ve seen of their videos, they seem pretty unpolished and unafraid of fanservice (as shown in their Surfing Striker PV), and the sound of the Surfing Striker song doesn’t have the greatest audio mixing in the world (the girls’ voices are pretty quiet at parts). However, they seem cute, enthusiastic and like they’re having fun, which can really go a long way in the idol world.

So far not much stands out in the way of songs, concepts and themes, but they’re definitely not bad and are worth checking out.

Ogawa Mana

Here’s an idol you ought to know, if (like me) you enjoy the more obscure side of Tsunku’s idol pop. Back when I wrote my section on The Possible I gave a brief introduction to TNX, Tsunku’s label, and Nice Girl Project, the idol project on TNX. While The Possible was the most popular among TNX, another idol group, Canary Club, was fairly active for a while . Canary Club seems to have lost quite a few of its members (only four or five, looks like) and their last release was all the way back in 2010 (Daisukki, selling just shy of 2250), but back in the day Tsunku seemed to be attempting to make a star out of the front girl of Canary Club, Ogawa Mana.

Ogawa Mana has released only one single (Suppin Rock) and one album (1 Teenage Blues) but she really has done a lot more as a solo artist. Probably her most notable thing was being the voice actress for anime, Gokujou!! Mecha Mote Iinchou as main character Kitagami Mimi. This lead to a number of singles released under MM Gakuen Gasshoubu (the first two) and Kitagami Mimi with MM Gakuen Gasshoubu. The single probably most known to H!P fans is the last, Oshare My Dream, as that’s the single that had the Sugaya Risako solo, Elegant Girl. The songs for Ogawa Mana’s releases are written by Tsunku and are often pretty good, compared to his current H!P stuff, so she’s definitely worth checking out.

Another notable release was as a promotion for the brand COCOLULU, so she was the main singer for the unit COCO CREW.

I had honestly thought that with her switch back to Spacecraft as opposed to TNX/NGP that the idol world had heard the last from Ogawa Mana, but this appearance at TIF might say otherwise! She’s a cute girl with a pretty solid voice and a great presence, so it will definitely be interesting to see where her career goes from here! I definitely recommend checking out some of Canary Club’s stuff (I personally prefer Sweet & Toughness and Hitomi ga Kirakirara) and her anime songs (I love Mecha Mote I Love You).


^Canary Club, Ogawa Mana’s up in front in yellow

Okite Porsche

At first when I looked Okite Porsche up I was very very confused. He’s not an idol act but a man, according to wikipedia vocalist to new wave band Roman Porsche, and a guy who’s done work in movies and anime, as well. However, after a bit of investigation, he’s behind retro group Vanilla Beans and also has some connection to indies era Perfume, as well as being a fan of Berryz Koubou, apparently.

I still don’t quite know why he’s listed as a participant in TIF, but perhaps he’ll be performing a role as DJ (something he has experience in) or even doing MCs.

Osaka Show Gangs

This is another group that has been around for a long time, but that has run under the radar! They’ve been around since 2006 and have remained pretty active since (having released a number of singles and a couple of albums). They currently have 10 members and, as their name implies, hail from Osaka. While I haven’t heard of them and finding much on them is a bit tricky, they seem pretty busy, at least according to their website. In fact, the more I find about them the more relevant they seem (since they’re appeared in indie events with groups I have heard of, BiS and Idol College. They also often wear modified yukata, as they have a theme of being like an energetic young woman at a festival. They label themselves as a dance and vocal unit, which is a label that tends to be used if they’re going for strong vocals and dance, and they deserve it. While the dance seems to be pretty decent, there are some really great vocalists among their rank, especially in their latest single, Poji Joshi Sengen, which is a REALLY good song. This actually may be one of my favorite songs of the new groups I’ve found. They have other good stuff (Osaka Wasshoi is very nice), but this song is great. The PV is much less so, but is pretty ambitious for such an indie group. Other than that, finding more is kind of hard, but they’re all energetic and with such good music they’re definitely a group to keep an eye out for.

Kaiketsu! Tropical Maru

Yet another group I didn’t know! Just a quick google search in English reveals that they’ve hit #4 on the indie charts once, but since #1 was AKBN0 I don’t know if that says that much. Called Kaitoro, they were formed in 2011 and are from the same company as AeLL, who is also coming to TIF (and I covered previously). They currently have 8 members who all have a specific “tropical fruit” and color with them (though, since one of them is strawberry, tropical is kind of used loosely here). They are also related to Tsunku in that it seems he had a hand in naming the group (and/or promoting them via Tsuntube). Their first live was only last November, and they have released two singles this year, Tropical Kiss and Here We Go!?. So they’re one of the relative newbies at TIF. So far, watching a couple of live videos on YouTube on their official channel, they appear to be pretty professional performers but the songs really don’t do much for me. Perhaps it’s since they came from the same company as AeLL, whose songs really didn’t do much for me? I do think the concept of having an image fruit is pretty cute, though, and the performances seem to be pretty strong for their relative inexperience. Still, while I’m not super impressed by their music yet, there’s really not that much from them yet, so it’ll be interesting to see how they do in a setting like TIF.

Disappointment: Gathering my thoughts on Otome Sensou

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If you’ve followed my blog even slightly you’ll know that Momoiro Clover has been my favorite idol group for some time now. I discovered them just as they were making their major debut and have been following them since. I’ve loved every single thing they’ve done since their release.

However, I am not crazy about Otome Sensou, their newest single song, and that’s kind of disappointing for me.

I just have to say that I don’t hate it. The song itself isn’t bad, though I don’t think it was written particularly well. There are elements of greatness, to be sure, but it’s not a very well written and arranged song in my opinion. The 7 minute song is too drawn out, has an empty arrangement in parts (the beginning of the first verse comes to mind, when it’s just fake-y sounding electronic piano and drums), and is kind of all over the parts. The build up of the song at the end is nice, but ultimately it leads back to the chorus which feels incredibly anti-climatic. You may disagree on how you think it was written; I know multiple people who would argue that it’s an incredibly well-written song and an excellent piece of music aside from it being idol music. However, there’s one problem that both I and other MomoClo fans have with it:

It doesn’t feel like Momoiro Clover Z.

MomoClo has changed over the years, from being an indie street idol group to being a group that had traditionally inspired idol costumes to being major debut Momoiro Clover to being Momoiro Clover Z. They always try new things, but they always feel like MomoClo. This doesn’t have the same energy that MomoClo is.

Others have mentioned that it’s experimental and good on MomoClo for trying it, which I agree. However, it’s probably not the best song for the A-Side, and while I appreciate people experimenting with groups this isn’t successful for me. I’m just really disappointed in how I feel about this single and what they tried to do with Otome Sensou, especially since I think the PV is one of their strongest yet.

So I’m pretty conflicted. On the one hand, I appreciate risk taking, but I think this song isn’t doing it very well. All in all, I’m disappointed, and sad to feel that way.

Tokyo Idol Festival 2012 Part 3

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A couple of things before I get started:

1. The TIF 2012 website just got updated! There’s a bit more information up, though not everything quite yet. However, it’s a lot more intuitive, with each act having a picture (or the promise of a picture), a short description and a link to their website.

2. Since some new acts were added recently I’m going to go in order of the TIF website, which means that a lot of the stuff I was planning on writing about will come later.

3. At the end of this series of posts, as an incentive for me to finish this year, I’m going to write a list of my recommended acts and go through the timetable, picking what I would go see.

Alice Juuban 

This is one of the most visually striking idol groups I’ve seen come from TIF! Where all the other idol groups are cute girls posing in one way or another, Alice Juuban are all wearing hockey masks and holding chainsaws. Their logo even has this! Self proclaimed Heavy Metal idol unit, this is a 10 member group (as indicated by their name!) that has a relatively older age range with the oldest member at 25 years old! They are all signed with Alice Project and are in other idol groups (i.e. two of the Alice Juuban girls are in another group, Prism, and all of the girls in another Alice Juuban group, Pureful, are in Alice Juuban as well) so it’s kind of the Alice Project supergroup.

Apparently they incorporate things like headbanging and even stage diving into their repertoire, so that makes the group pretty interesting. I have to admit, it takes a lot of guts to get your idol group to dive into a crowd of wota, so that’s pretty interesting. However, while I’m really enjoying their image and how they’re being marketed, the one thing that stands out as not being consistent is the music. The two songs I’ve listened to on their website, Skeleton Sky and Makenaide, are good songs and have metal elements to them such as heavy guitar and strong drum beats, but inherently feel really more like idol songs. This wouldn’t be a problem except for the fact that you have a group like Babymetal that really throws themselves into metal music, especially with their song Ii Ne.

Still, they have a really good image and I’m not saying their image is bad; in fact, if you prefer your idols with a bit of rock a la Passpo you might want to give Alice Juuban a look. However, in my opinion their music doesn’t quite live up to the hockey masks and chainsaws they pose with.

SKE48

Since this is a group that needs very little introduction I’m going to be brief about that and instead focus on my thoughts about SKE48 participating with TIF. However, since not everyone is a fan of the 48 groups, I’ll give them some explanation.

SKE48 is the first ‘sister’ group to the massively popular AKB48. Formed in 2008, they have a pretty similar set up to AKB. They’re “local idols” who perform mostly at their theater in Nagoya at the Sunshine Sakae (SaKaE, SKE). They have their own singles aside from AKB48, though Matsui Jurina and Matsui Rena (SKE’s front girls, not related) participate in AKB singles and other members participate in various undergirls songs .

As for how SKE is different from AKB, they are definitely lesser known than AKB (though more well known than HKT48 or even NMB48). SKE48 has a reputation for having strong dancing and athletic members that make watching PVs really fun to watch, as the choreography is pretty top notch. At one point SKE had PVs featuring a lot of extras (300+ in 1 2 3 4 Yoroshiku and 1000+ in Banzai Venus, I believe) though that’s no longer the case. Still, SKE48 has very high quality PVs, as evidenced by the lovely Kataomoi Finally, and really  high quality dance performance. I hesitate saying this, but while I love AKB48, I think overall the performances of SKE48 are stronger.

That being said, while I love SKE48 and think they’re a great group of girls, I don’t want them to participate at TIF. SKE48 is at this point arguably the second most popular idol act in Japan right now (second to AKB48) and they’ve become a very established act of their own, rather than just having popularity due to AKB48. A look at my most recent coverage of the AKB48 senbatsu election shows a lot of popularity for SKE48 members, so SKE’s sales aren’t based off of a loyalty towards AKB48.

The reason I cover Tokyo Idol Festival on my blog is because I really love how it showcases indie and otherwise lesser known idol groups. Some bigger name groups are there, yes (this year Idoling!!! and Super Girls look to be the biggest names), but they’re nowhere near as big as SKE48. My biggest concern is that passionate SKE fans will buy up tickets to TIF, leaving fans of the other groups difficulty in finding tickets, and then the audiences for other groups would be much more sparse. This could be totally unfounded and wrong, but I have to worry. Still, I hope this isn’t the case and that SKE fits in with the rest of TIF!

Oh Campee

A group I covered last year and that I’m pretty familiar with! I admit I mainly know about them from their one original song/PV, Happy Happy Birthday, which is pretty outdated; it came out in January 2011. Since then members have left and others have joined. One of the things that made Oh Campee pretty noticeable is that one of their members was black, but she’s (sadly) left the group. My personal favorite member, a girl I just called “eyebrows” (she had really great eyebrows) left too, so I’m disappointed.

Right now they’re a 10 member idol group from Himawari Theatre Group formed in 2010. Their only song (as far as I know) is Happy Happy Birthday. They’re a pretty lesser known group; the only videos on YouTube, for example, are Happy Happy Birthday, a short few second clip and an excerpt of their performance at TIF 2011. That vid in particular is interesting, because they sound like they are singing live, which is pretty impressive, even though their song catalogue might not be so impressive. They’re cute, but have nothing that really makes them stand out as a group.

Gal Doll

This is a Shibuya (in Tokyo) based three member idol group based off the Gal subculture. I’m not going to explain everything about gal/gyaru subculture right now, because it would ultimately take a while and it’s also not my area of expertise. However, basically it’s centered around fashion and is often characterized by dyed hair, makeup and sometimes tans. It’s its own separate subculture, so it makes sense that such a subculture would have its own idol group!

Gal Doll is a three member group with three girls: Juno (the one in yellow), Ryoka (pink) and Nanaho (Blue). The first thing that’s immediately noticeable is that their main website is a mobile site, which really would focus on a younger demographic. Finding information on singles they’ve released is proving slightly difficult with their mobile site and regular site (so if you have info about Gal Doll please share!!),but I found they did perform at the Shibuya event “Campus Summit” which is an event organized by student clubs. This event releases a CD every year, so at the very least Gal Doll is on that. They have one PV out to their song Loco*Girl ~Agepo yo Summer~ which is actually a pretty catchy dance track with a para para dance shot. The PV itself is low budget (featuring a lot of bikini fan service!) but definitely not the worst PV I’ve seen.

While the Gal image is not necessarily my favorite for an idol, the members all seem cute, energetic and fun, and if you like para para/eurobeat type music check them out. They’re releasing a DVD in July that has their first solo live events on it. While the only PV I’ve been able to see is Loco*Girl ~Agepo yo Summer~ I’d definitely be interested in seeing more of their stuff. All three girls seem to be into what they’re doing, having fun, and that makes them really fun to watch.

KNU

KNU originally was KNU23 (another group riding the AKB wave) but, much like one of my favorite idol groups MMJ, they removed the numbers and are just referred to as KNU now. Which makes looking them up online  a bit trickier, but it shows they’re trying to brand themselves beyond being another AKB.

Interestingly enough I found this Kotaku article HERE that mentions KNU. Apparently those three letters stand for “kyonyuu” meaning large breasts (though I saw on another site that it stands for “Keep it Natural Under 23”, and according to the article all the girls in the group have a G cup size or higher in Japanese sizing (which is actually around two cup sizes smaller than the American size, so a D in Japan is closer to a B in the US, I believe). They have 12 members and have been around since 2010, and while they’ve only been around for a short while they already have 21 former members!! They only seem to have an Ameba site, even though last year they were able to release a single with three songs, I Show It, Pops and Koi no Joushiki. Something of note for Tsunku fans, they actually appeared on his show, Tsuntube. While I’m not a huge fan of Tsunku for various reasons, I do like how he’s been promoting lesser known idols.

They also appeared in a video for the show MelodiX, which is an introduction that features quite a bit of breast fanservice (the camera going across all the members who are squeezing their breasts together). Part of me felt really uncomfortable about this, but I also felt like in a way they weren’t hiding the fact that they were a fanservice unit, but in fact embracing it. Still, they are a fanservice unit that doesn’t carry the “star power” of Ebisu Muscats or the utter ridiculousness of Sexy All Sisters.

The performances I’ve seen seem pretty unpolished, but finding recent videos of them is pretty tough. Their songs are pretty standard but aren’t very catchy and aren’t very memorable.


AKB48 Senbatsu Election Commentary

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So while I posted the actual numerical results for the AKB48 Senbatsu Election first day count, I know I’m absolutely late to that party right now as every blog seems to have a list up. I was thinking of posting something earlier, bu I stayed up until 7:30 AM watching the livestream and I needed to get a little sleep before I go to work today. So instead I’m going to give my thoughts on some of the notable things that happened this year.

Biggest winner of the night goes to SKE48?

If anything is going to convince me that SKE48 needs to not be in the Senbatsu election it’s this year’s results. A friend of mine suggested that SKE, NMB and HKT have their own separate one, and this year I tend to agree. While in the past SKE48 has mainly shown up with Matsui Jurina and Matsui Rena, this year SKE48 had a lot of members in the three groups (Undergirls, Next Girls and Future Girls). The biggest section of girls in SKE48 were in the Undergirls, which had an incredible 8 members among the sixteen girls in that ranking section. Watching this part live was actually incredible, as twitter erupted with people talking about SKE48. It was almost humorous how often the announcers were calling SKE.

Further, with so many girls ending up dropping rank, especially many Future Girls and Next Girls who were once Undergirls, this year has definitely seen the rise of SKE48, for better or worse. A good part of me wonders if this is organic (that is, more and more fans are getting an interest in SKE48) or if this is management pushing. I mean, SKE48 got to perform two songs at the election, Aishiteraburu and Banzai Venus (the first only senbatsu and the second all SKE48 members) whereas NMB48 and HKT48 only got one song, even though by this point NMB48 has had four singles and is certainly an established group within the 48 groups.

In any case, while I am conflicted about SKE48’s placements in the group, it’s a really great thing for their fans to see so many girls up there!

Oota Aika’s meteoric drop

OK, while this might not be major news for everyone, but Oota Aika is one of my all time favorite idols and is my AKB48 oshimen, so I’m going to talk about this. Basically, Aika has the biggest drop in this election, from 25 to 52. This is pretty major, especially considering the first election when she actually was able to get into the bottom of the senbatsu. She also lost over 3000 votes, so I’m wondering what happened.

Anyways, not gonna lie, over here tears were shed for Lovetan. She also had one of the most notable speeches (at the time it had the most +1s of any of the future girls speeches by far), and I can only hope that she’ll improve her rank next year because she’s really a sweet girl that deserves a higher rank.

Rise of NMB48… sort of?

While there were only five members of NMB48 that ranked and all of them were in Team N (thus, no Team M ace Jo Eriko), I think this is only the beginning for NMB48. While Yamada Nana, Fukumoto Aina and Ogasawara Mayu didn’t rank very highly, the relative high rank of Yamamoto Sayaka and my oshimen Watanabe Miyuki (I really can’t choose between her and Lovetan) really cements them for me as being the Jurina and Rena of NMB, that is the members that are essentially the aces of NMB and members that will most likely appear in AKB singles to come.

Sashihara Rino’s rise

This year saw a pretty big change, which was Sashihara Rino rising from #9 all the way up to #4. Member rankings change every year, but having a member climb that much when they’re already that high in the rankings really says a lot about Sasshi. Perhaps it was the boost from Sore Demo Suki Da yo (her solo single), or the fact that wota of other groups might be fond of Sasshi being a wota as well. She’s been getting a pretty solid push and it seems to be working. It will be interesting to see if Sasshi gets more screentime in PVs in the future than she has in the past, now that she’s firmly one of the top members.

Jurina and Rena’s switch

This was probably the biggest surprise for me of the evening. While Matsui Jurina and Matsui Rena have always both been popular members of SKE48, for the past two years Rena has gotten more and more popularity than Jurina, who was the original ace of SKE48. However, Jurina managed to take back her position as SKE48’s number one member after having quite a year so far of illness and joining AKB’s Team K. While I really like Rena, Jurina has always been the SKE48 ace to me, so it really feels to me like Jurina’s taking back her rightful place. Rena’s a great member, but Jurina is the ace of Team S.

Mayu and Yuki’s switch

This was the other major switch in rankings of the evening and in a way it’s very similar to Jurina and Rena’s situation. Mayu was the original ace of Team B and was the original member who got a push on that team. However, last year Kashiwagi Yuki gained a lot of popularity and was able to take the #3 spot in the elections. This year I was honestly not expecting to go back to Mayu, but perhaps hings like her solo single (Synchro Tokimeki) helped her reach the top. I like both members a lot, and Yukirin really seemed to be proud of Mayu, so it didn’t feel like there were any hard feelings.

Vote losses?

This year was kind of an interesting year, compared to the votes gained last year. For example, I was fairly confident that Oshima Yuko would take #1 again this year. Her popularity is really strong, and the fact that she won the election by over 36000 votes shows that her popularity isn’t going away this year. However, while she did gain over 100,000 votes this year, a major feat, she actually lost around 14,000 votes from last year, which is really odd. Mayuyu gained quite a few votes, but Yukirin actually lost about 3000. Since AKB48 certainly isn’t doing worse than last year (with Manatsu no Sounds Good’s amazing sales) it feels like there’s a change happening, and perhaps more and more people are discovering other members, changing oshimen from the top members, or just voting for different girls. With Mayu’s rise in votes and Yuko’s drop in votes, if things remain the same it might be a tough race for #1 member.

Of course, a lot of members gained votes or remained mostly the same. But these drops up in the top members as well as the drops with other members who ranked lower (Oota Aika lost 3000, Takajo Aki lost just under 8000, etc) are really interesting, and I think show just how interesting next year’s election really will be.

Tokyo Idol Festival 2012 Part 2

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Usa Usa Shoujo Club

For this segment I received the help from the amazing Mage, who is known on various boards and things as Em-El. He wrote a lot of information for me, so I’m extremely grateful for his assistance!

Currently, the group is a 12 member group; unfortunately, by the time TIF 2012 happens the most popular member, Rikako, will have graduated. This is because the group has a middle school concept, and rather than let the concept slide since Rikako’s enterring high school, she has to graduate. She won the fan vote for most popular member and is thus numbered 1 in the group and is the group’s leader, so it’s a shame she won’t be able to participate in TIF this year.

A lot has happened with the group since last year; they released a single (featuring two of their original songs, including their signature song Number One), and three of their subunits became bigger. There’s Zipcode (which features Rikako), Chu Ni (which was formed to do the theme song for a fairly unknown anime, Varieteens) and Rhymeberry, which has its own separate billing at TIF. They also have four elementary school girls known as NEXT, presumably to join the group when members leave or to become new members eventually.

They have over 100 videos on their YouTube channel (UsaUsaHeaven) that are well worth checking out. They are still quite indie and performing at small venues, but the videos I’ve checked out show a fairly solid performance standard. They seem to not have that much popularity, but the fact they released a single and keep pushing the indie groups forward suggests that Usa Usa is looking to move forward as an idol group, which is definitely a good thing.


^A digest of one of their performances including part of possibly the most adorable performance of AKB48’s Heavy Rotation I’ve ever seen.

Rhymeberry is one of the subgroups of Usa Usa Shoujo Club, and they look to be doing fairly well on their own. They’ve recently begun doing solo live events, and judging by the twitter followers they might be on the way to becoming more well known than the original group (Usa Usa Shoujo Club has 531 followers and Rhymeberry has 1356). The thing that sets Rhymeberry apart is that they are a hip hop unit, featuring three MCs and one DJ.

Now I’m not an expert on hip hop, so I can’t tell you how this compares to that genre as a whole. But some idol songs have rapping in them and this rap really blows that out of the water. These girls have gotten good at what they do and are IMO the most interesting part of Usa Usa Shoujo Club by far. They have energetic stage presence an are really fun for me to watch, even though I don’t listen to much hip hop on my own. This kind of reminds me of Babymetal, the subgroup of Sakura Gakuin. I like Sakura Gakuin on its own, but Babymetal really has a unique character that sets them apart as a group. Rhymeberry is the Babymetal to Usa Usa Shoujo Club; the original group is fine, but Rhymeberry really shines.

^my favorite song of theirs, Hey Brother, which I’m pretending is an Arrested Development reference.

AeLL

Another group I haven’t covered! They are actually a relatively new group, just formed in 2011. The group contains four members, including gravure idol Shinozaki Ai. Pronounced “yell,” they are an environmentally themed idol group, with the letters in the group name standing for “Activity Eco Life with Love,” making them like a permanent Ecomoni (the Morning Musume subgroup that was environment themed). I think these types of groups are kind of interesting because of how much energy goes into idol performances, but everything helps, I suppose! It actually seems like AeLL goes out with people and cleans up outside, so it’s good they’re encouraging others to help cleaning up outdoors.

They’ve released four singles since formation (including the first one, titled Ecology Monkeys). Vocally they’re pleasant to listen to, and the songs all seem to be mid-tempo fairly plain idol songs. None of the things I’ve listened to really stand out as being excellent, but none of them are really bad, either. They performed at last year’s TIF (appropriate to the theme of Eco & Smile) They’re pretty decent live for idols. Chu Chu Hareru Yeah is probably my favorite song, but I don’t really find most of their music interesting, to me.

Sakura Gakuin

This is a group that I really enjoy, and they’ve done quite a lot since their appearance at last year’s Tokyo Idol Festival!

Sakura Gakuin is at its heart a school themed group that has a good deal of subgroups (that are various school “clubs”). Since last year’s TIF they have switched labels to Universal Music Japan, which is a pretty good step. They’ve released two singles, Verishuvi and Tabidachi no Hi ni, as well as the album “Sakura Gakuin 2011 Nendo ~FRIENDS~” There have also been some recent line-up changes; in March the three eldest members, Muto Ayami (who was one of the more prominent front girls in Sakura Gakuin and in Twinklestars), Miyoshi Ayaka and Matsui Airi graduated, and they added three more girls to keep up the 12 member count.

One of the most interesting things about Sakura Gakuin is all the subgroups. Actually, most of the two albums (Message and Friends) are songs from the subunits. There’s Scoopers, which is might be over because Miyoshi Ayaka was one of the two members, but it was the “newspaper club.” There’s the Cooking Club “Mini Patissier” and the “Go home  club” Sleepiece (that performs in pajamas). However, the two most notable subgroups have actually debuted and have released singles.

Twinklestars is the Baton twirling club and the first one to release a single (though Dear Mr. Socrates, their first, was only at events and on the official website). They also have another single, Please! Please! Please!. The songs all have a pretty distinctive style and are all quite excellent. Last year I posted Dear Mr. Socrates’ pretty interesting PV on here, and while Please Please Please is a little bit less interesting because there’s no old man staring at them through a telescope. However, this group is energetic and very fun, and Please Please Please has lots of cute jumping around. Muto Ayami was in this, however I really hope they perform at TIF because their baton twirling and dancing is great. 🙂

The other notable subgroup is Babymetal. Actually, I think Babymetal might be at the place where they’re more famous than Sakura Gakuin is, because they have a very interesting premise of mixing idol music and metal music to create something completely new. While I enjoy all of Sakura Gakuin’s music and I’m quite fond of Twinklestars, in my opinion Babymetal really shines. All three members commit to the premise, despite being quite young (Moa and Yui are only 12!) and their live performances are very energetic. They’ve released one single so far, Babymetal x Kiba of Akiba (a collab single with a metal band, featuring songs Ii ne an Kimi to Anime ga Mitai ~answer for animation with you~), as well as a DVD for their most famous song, Doki Doki Morning which was released as a digital single. They’re releasing a new single in July, Headbanger, so that should be pretty exciting and hopefully something performed at TIF.

All in all, while I think that Sakura Gakuin is a great group and more people should pay attention to them, that the real winners are Twinklestars and Babymetal, and I have a feeling that Babymetal is going to get a lot more attention in the future as more people discover the unique sound. Even still, while Sakura Gakuin isn’t super popular right now, I think they’re on their way to gaining fans and they are the type of group to look out for.

The Possible

Oh The Possible, you’re still around? For people who aren’t up on Hello!Project history, back when Hello!Project still was the biggest force in the idol world, Tsunku decided that Morning Musume/Hello!Project needed rivals, and that he also wanted to have groups with more control (since he just produces Hello!Project, and UFA manages). So under his own company TNX he created Nice Girl Project. The Possible started as being in Hello!Project, as all of the then six members came from H!P Eggs. They moved to TNX with the promise of Nice Girl Project being rivals with Hello! Project and even some things that didn’t happen, such as yearly Hello!Project Nice Girl Project collab concerts.

Well, we know who won in that rivalry; even though Morning Musume is at a fraction of its once popularity, Nice Girl Project never really took off. The Possible had some singles, Canary Club (a larger group with younger members) did OK before moving away from TNX, their own eggs/kenshuusei and some other minor things. Still, The Possible is probably the biggest success of Nice Girl Project.

While The Possible hasn’t released any singles since 2010, I was surprised to find out that they released a mini album in August of last year commemorating their six years as a group and that they released an album in March of this year. While neither sold very well, I didn’t know they had started releasing things again. I don’t know if they’re going to pick up activity back to their original level; I lost interest in the group after my favorite member, Ohse Kaede left. However, The Possible is an interesting group of idol history and it will be interesting to see how they do at Tokyo Idol Festival 2012!! I particularly recommend some of their older things like Ijiwaru Crazy Love and Love Message; they’re some really great songs, if you like Tsunku at his best.

 

AKB48 2012 Senbatsu Election First Day Results + Commentary

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As AKB48 fans know, the 2012 Senbatsu election is in full force! The first day results just came out, and while these aren’t the final results (things are going to shift big time, like they always do) it’s interesting to get an idea of what’s changed in AKB and what’s stayed the same.

A couple of things to keep in mind:

1. This is only the first day, and a small percentage of the votes. Things will (hopefully) change.

2. Maeda Atsuko is not going to be in the election.

3. The election is set up differently; slots 1-16 are senbatsu, slots 17-32 are Undergirls, 33-48 are Next Girls and 49-64 are future girls. There also isn’t a distinction between media senbatsu (the most popular members) and regular senbatsu.

Here are the results (from Melos no Michi HERE). They will be compared with last year’s final results, found at Janakya Mottanai HERE because there’ve been some interesting shifts.

1. [AKB / K] Oshima Yuko (15,093)  (+1)
2. [AKB / B] Kashiwagi Yuki (12,654) (+1)
3. [AKB / B] Watanabe Mayu (11,329) (+2)
4. [AKB / A] Sashihara Rino (9,337) (+5)
5. [AKB / A] Takahashi Minami (8,955) (+2)
6. [AKB / A] Shinoda Mariko (8,619) (-2)
7. [SKE / S] Matsui Rena (8,460) (+3)
8. [SKE / S] Matsui Jurina (7,795) (+6)
9. [AKB / K] Itano Tomomi (6,595) (-1)
10. [AKB / K] Miyazawa Sae (6,280) (+1)
11. [AKB / A] Kojima Haruna (5,334)  (-5)
12. [AKB / K] Yokoyama Yui (4,301) (+7)
13. [AKB / A] Takajo Aki (3,661) (-1)
14. [AKB / K] Umeda Ayaka (3,484) (+8)
15. [AKB / K] Minegishi Minami (3,396) (=)
16. [AKB / B] Kitahara Rie (3,302)  (-3)

17. [AKB / B] Kasai Tomomi (3,227) (-1)
18. [NMB / N] Yamamoto Sayaka (3,218) (+10)
19. [NMB / N] Watanabe Miyuki (2,976) (NEW)
20. [SKE / KII] Takayanagi Akane (2,471) (+3)
21. [AKB / B] Sato Amina (2,392) (-3)
22. [AKB / 4] Shimazaki Haruka (2,340) (NEW but ranked in 2010)
22. [SKE / KII] Furukawa Airi (2,340) (NEW)
24. [SKE / KII] Hata Sawako (2,312) (+9)
25. [AKB / B] Masuda Yuka (2,182) (-5)
26. [SKE / S] Suda Akari (2,149) (+10)
27. [SKE / KII] Mukaida Manatsu (1,948) (NEW)
28. [SKE / S] Oya Masana (1,919) (+2)
29. [SKE / KII] Ogiso Shiori (1,788) (NEW)
30. [AKB / KKS] Muto Tomu (1,757) (NEW)
31. [NMB / N] Ogasawara Mayu (1,746) (NEW)

32. [AKB / K] Akimoto Sayaka (1,743) (-15)
33. [SKE / S] Yagami Kumi (1,671) (NEW)
34. [AKB / A] Kuramochi Asuka (1,653) (-13)
35. [SKE / S] Kizaki Yuria (1,624) (NEW)
36. [AKB / A] Nakaya Sayaka (1,348) (NEW)
37. [SKE / KII] Yakata Miki (1,345) (NEW)
38. [AKB / A] Nakagawa Haruka (1,244) (-14)
39. [SKE / KKS] Matsumura Kaori (1,194) (NEW)
40. [AKB / A] Nakata Chisato (1,188) (NEW)
41. [AKB / K] Fujie Reina (1,166) (-1)
42. [NMB / N] Yamada Nana (1,136) (NEW)
43. [AKB / B] Kobayashi Kana (1,110) (NEW)
44. [SKE / E] Kimoto Kanon (1,039) (NEW)
45. [AKB / A] Iwasa Misaki (1,023) (NEW)
46. [SKE / S] Hiramatsu Kanako (998) (NEW)
47. [AKB / 4] Yamauchi Suzuran (988) (NEW)
48. [AKB / B] Ishida Haruka (985) (NEW)

49. [AKB / B] Miyazaki Miho (970) (-22)
50. [AKB / A] Oya Shizuka (964) (-21)
51. [AKB / A] Katayama Haruka (955) (NEW)
52. [AKB / A] Ota Aika (912) (-27)
53. [AKB / 4] Nagao Mariya (818) (NEW)
54. [NMB / N] Fukumoto Aina (816) (NEW)
55. [AKB / A] Maeda Ami (810) (-18)
56. [AKB / 4] Oba Mina (786) (-21)
57. [AKB / A] Matsubara Natsumi (750) (NEW)
57. [SKE / S] Kinoshita Yukiko (750) (NEW)
59. [AKB / 4] Ichikawa Miori (702) (-20)
60. [AKB / K] Nonaka Misato (701) (NEW)
61. [AKB / K] Kikuchi Ayaka (653) (NEW)
62. [HKT / KKS] Eto Sayaka (641) (NEW)
63. [SKE / S] Nakanishi Yuka (618) (NEW)
64. [AKB / K] Tanabe Miku (616) (NEW)

Biggest winners of the day:

Sashihara Rino: while Sasshi only gained five places, when it’s that high up into #4 that’s a HUGE rise, especially when that means she beat out former #3 Shinoda Mariko, Takahashi Minami, Kojima Haruna, and Itano Tomomi. This is perhaps due to the influence of having a pretty successful solo single, Sore demo Suki da yo (which could show how Mayu has ascended to #3) and the fact that Sasshi loves idols, too.

Matsui Jurina: Last year it was looking as if Matsui Rena was going to come out ahead as being by far the most popular girl in SKE48. While that might still be the case, these preliminary results are making it seem like Jurina is moving up there.

Yokoyama Yui: Yui is one of the girls that management has been pushing, but really has gained favor with the fans. When she was a kenkyuusei member she was super popular with fans and none of the pushing has felt really false. That and her involvement with the subgroup Not Yet, Yui is doing very well!

Umeda Ayaka: This girl has been jumping up the rankings since her first showing. Last year she was center of the Undergirls single Dakishimecha Ikenai, and now she’s in the more restrictive senbatsu! At this point she’s the second most popular member of the unit DiVA and it’s looking like she keeps gaining fans.

SKE48: Once you get past the main senbatsu, a great deal of the new or rising members are in SKE48. While SKE48 had been doing well around the time of last year’s election, the popularity of their various singles including Pareo wa Emerald and Kataomoi Finally seem to have made their mark. So many members of the three teams and kenkyuusei are new to the ranking. In my opinion this shows that while AKB’s the big group in Japan, it’s sister groups are still quite popular.

NMB48 (especially Watanabe Miyuki): five members ranked from NMB48, and while that’s nowhere near how many members ranked from SKE48, the jump Yamamoto Sayaka made from middle of the undergirls to 18 is a pretty big jump. Watanabe Miyuki is also the highest ranked member who’s new to the ranking at 19. Again, this shows that NMB48’s popularity is rising, and also that the scandal that Miyuki was a part in didn’t hurt her too much; she’s less than 300 votes behind Sayaka, which is pretty impressive. Miyuki’s one of my top five idols of all time, too, so I’m personally quite pleased. But I think it’s reasonable to expect that next year even more NMB48 members will be ranking.

Today’s losers:

Oota Aika, Miyazaki Miho, Oya Shizuka, Maeda Ami and Ichikawa Miori: These are six girls who ranked fairly well in last year’s election; they were all in Undergirls, granted, but all above rank #40.  Now Myao’s at the top of these girls with rank #49, and Oota Aika had the biggest drop of the girls still ranking, sliding down 27 points. None of these girls have had any major backlash, at least none that I’m aware of, so it really seems like they are falling because the new members are pushing them out (on a personal note, Oota Aika’s my AKB48 oshimen, so I’m a bit saddened).

Komori Mika, Sato Sumire, Matsui Sakiko: these are three girls that ranked in the Undergirls last year and now are simply not on the list; this means they fell from being above rank #40 to now being below rank #64. Of note is the fact that all of these girls are in major AKB48 teams; Komorin and Suuchan in Team B and Sakippe in Team K.

So overall, this ranking shows the new popularity for SKE48 and NMB48 and their fans voting in the AKB48 election, which ends up shifting members from AKB48 teams down. This doesn’t necessarily mean that these girls are less popular than in previous years; it simply suggests that these new girls have a newfound popularity from last year.

Like I mentioned earlier, these are really just the first 10% of votes so things could shift around and some members could fall off the list. However, this is an interesting start, and I’ll be interested to see how it turns out in the end!

Tokyo Idol Festival 2012 Part 1

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Hey guys!

Sorry I haven’t been posting, but personal life took precedence for a while. But now I’m safe and sound back in the US. I know I’m going to miss Intl Wota like crazy (yes I haven’t been blogging for that long), but it’s excellent that the fun seems to be continuing over at Idolminded.

While I have a lot of thoughts about things like the Mitsui Aika graduation (that I will probably be posting shortly), one thing that didn’t escape my notice is that Tokyo Idol Festival just announced its preliminary 2012 lineup (if it’s anything like last year there will be some last minute additions). I have decided to make last year’s posts an annual thing and I’ll be posting about all the idol groups attending this year’s festival!

If I wrote about them at all last year I’ll be cross-referencing that so that we can know what’s been going on since last year and see what’s happened!

Full list of participants is here: http://www.idolfes.com/2012/ First impression is that I hope MMJ gets added this year; they are my indie idol love (Kyao is amazing!) so even though they’re based in Hiroshima I’d really like seeing them.

Idoling!!!

First on the list and I’d argue this is the biggest group performing at TIF. Their latest single Mamore!!! sold 56232 copies in the first week, hitting #2 on the weekly Oricon charts, so they’re certainly not hurting for sales. The case could be made that Super Girls are a bigger act, though.

Like always, Idoling!!! was formed by Fuji TV and appears on their self-titled TV show. They have been around since 2006 which makes them one of the older idol groups, but I feel like they haven’t gotten a huge break; they always feel like they’re on the cusp of being a bigger group but haven’t quite gotten to that level, and they’ve felt that way for years, at least since I’ve become aware of them. That could be my own perception, though, after my favorite member (Yazawa Erika) graduated in December I haven’t been paying them much attention.

I honestly don’t know if TIF is going to do much to increase Idoling!!!’s popularity and recognizability (like some of the smaller groups that come), but they are definitely one of the leading acts of TIF 2012.

Idol College

Now this group has an interesting history! I didn’t cover them last year, but they’ve been around for a while. Idol College was originally B.L.T Idol College (aka the idol magazine that I’m sure most idol fans are at least somewhat aware of). They were formed in 2009 and had a few singles; however, on March 31, 2010 B.L.T. Idol College was disbanded and Idol College was born the next day with all new members. There are 7 full members and 4 what I think are akin to submembers; they’re still in the picture on the Idol College website, for example, but are listed differently on the wikipedia page.

Their stated theme on their website is that they’re bringing up the future generation of idols, so the name is kind of self-explanatory, that these girls are still learning to become idols.

Since their reformation they’ve released one album and were on a compilation album. From the schedule on their website it looks like they’re keeping pretty busy, so they’ll be interesting to see perform on the stage this year! Their PVs seem pretty basic, but they’re from their new album. However, their songs are pretty catchy! My personal favorite is Na.Ri.A.Ga.Ri. Often the original songs for indie idols can be not the best (considering they have a limited budget) but I’m enjoying what I hear of Idol College and wish them luck in the future!

Idol Street Sei

Idol Street Sei isn’t really a group but where Avex pulls members for its new idol groups. Street Sei is where Super Girls hails and the newly formed Cheeky Parade (however not Tokyo Girls Style). At Cheeky Parade’s announcement they also announced that there will be a new, 3rd generation of the Street Sei, so they might be performing at the festival.

I don’t have much else to say other than the fact that these girls have a high probability of being put into an avex group fairly soon, so if you’re the type that wants to support idols from the very beginning and you like Super Girls and Cheeky Parade then following one of the seven girls currently in the Street Sei might not be a bad idea!

Up Up Girls

Yes! A group I definitely enjoy! Technically the group is “Up Up Girls (temporary)” but I’ll just be referring to them as Up Up Girls. If you are a fan of Hello!Project you likely know of these girls because all seven of them are former Hello!Project Eggs. They were originally formed as UFZS and still use that name when they do KPop dance covers (they’ve performed various dances such as After School’s Bang at contest), but Up Up Girls is their regular idol group name.

They aren’t in Hello!Project anymore and instead are under Up Front; however, they perform fairly regularly (at least weekly, it seems) and they do mostly Hello!Project covers at their concerts. They’re also fairly active online, posting a lot of their stuff online. Only very recently they’ve started to release original singles and do non-cover songs. I have a personal interest in the group since I’ve been a fan of Sekine Azusa (orange member in the group) for a few years now and I’m very glad to see her shine in a group!

The group is full of great dancers and for the most part very good singing (I’m very biased towards Sekkii, but she’s a great singer!), so they’re definitely worthwhile to check out, especially if you like Hello!Project in some capacity.

Afilia Saga East

Another group I don’t have much experience with but that I know has their fair share of a fanbase! The big thing about the group is that all of them come from a line of maid cafes and they still work in the cafe, which would be pretty exciting if you happened to go to a cafe and meet one of your favorite members.

The cafe chain itself is set up kind of like a magic rpg/anime, where you gain certain points and levels for going to the different cafes and doing different things. There is a whole backstory that seems pretty complicated and this post on Pure Idol Heart explains things a lot more clearly than I could. Here

From what I’ve seen the group really does play up the “moe” aspect of being an idol and a maid cafe waitress. All the members have fantasy anime sounding names, such as Aria M Milvana and Rose Gardenfairy, and the music and costumes tend to be on the cutesy side. However, this is a big part of their charm and one reason that they have their fanbase. Shurastriker (who you might know from JPHiP) wrote on twitter the fact that the members interact directly with fans via twitter and blogs as being a reason for liking the group, as well as the fact that all the members have different characters but are all geeky.

The group also has a connection to Tsunku because he wrote one of the songs, Knee-High Egoist, which is not quite as moe as the other songs but a bit more sexy. The group seems to have a lot going for it, a clear theme that sets them apart from the rest and a fanbase of their own, and I can’t wait to see more about them in the future!


So far a really good group of five (even though I wouldn’t really count Street Sei as being a group). But if this is the level that Tokyo Idol Festival has this year it’s going to be a great time for anyone lucky enough to go!

Aso Natsuko LIVE (my first live idol event!)

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As I mentioned a while ago in my “State of the Wota Address” an idol I really really like, Aso Natsuko, decided to come to London, which is where I’m spending the current semester! So I immediately bought tickets to the convention, and embarked on my first idol live! It’s kind of hard to believe that even though I’m a really enthusiastic idol fan that I haven’t had the chance, but the past two days have more than made up for my lack.

The event was at a convention/thing called Hyper Japan; now I hesitate to call it a convention because it really doesn’t do panels or things. It’s basically a room with a lot of vendors (basically like a regular convention’s dealer’s room, but with more things, actual food and actual high profile companies).

Friday: I got there at about 3:30. Since I knew that the Nacchan live was at 7:30, I kept an eye on the stage and the seats there and wandered a bit. I ate takoyaki (my favorite food!) and went to the booth where they were selling Natsuko’s CDs and goods. I got some trading cards of hers. I was pleasantly surprised that they had a lot of AKB48 goods/photobooks as well! I was contemplating which one to get when I saw that the Watarirouka Hashiritai 7 spec book I’ve had my eye on was there. I had a small conversation with the guy who worked there about how I knew Nacchan, and he said she’d stopped by the shop after her rehearsal! He mentioned he didn’t know her before the convention, and seemed a bit surprised that I was legitimately into her before the con.

Her most recent album, Precious Tone, was there on sale for 35 pounds. I was thinking about it, but decided against it, because that’s kind of a lot. It’s a better deal than her most recent single, Lovely Girls’ Anthem, though! 25 pounds for a regular edition single!

I wandered around a bit and decided to sit down at the stage to watch a demonstration on wotagei…that ended up leaving me realizing I knew more about wotagei/wota culture than the people running it! It was kind of funny to see how they didn’t know what they were doing, but at the same time a bit sad. The one thing that puzzled me the most and keyed me in that the people running it didn’t really know what they were doing was that the final thing was done to K-On! music. Now, I love K-On!. For any of you who know it, I actually own a Tsumugi figure. It’s great. However, it’s not the choice I would have made…at all. I feel like it would have been better to choose a more standard wotagei choice, such as the quintessential wotagei song, Fujimoto Miki’s Romantic Ukare Mode. (Mikisama Mikisama oshio ki kibun nu!). Or do some of the AKB48 MIX, since AKB’s so popular.

I also found a travel brochure that had a map made by Mitsui Aika. No joke. She made a map of Shibuya that’s in a travel booklet.

I decided to stay and keep my seat (or gradually move closer to being front and center), which was a good idea, because multiple people came to the wotagei, decided to stay for the shamisen performance and stay for Nacchan’s performance. A couple were wota who seemed to come from Japan to see Nacchan; at first I was kind of excited, and wanted to talk to them about stuff (like, if they liked other idols, things like that). However, they were standoffish at best, definitely in their own world doing wotagei and whatnot.

Finally,when Nacchan performed, it was honestly better than I could have dreamed.

I liked her a lot in PVs, and her singing voice is particularly good (she sang completely live at this con and was completely amazing.) However, just the level of energy she had was mindblowing. She was energetic, really adorable (especially when speaking in English), and just overall better live than in any PV or any song. Just amazing stuff. Her singing was, as I said, all live and really good; about halfway through her voice started to give out, and I think that’s partially because she flew in earlier that day. But she was a trooper and kept up the good performance to the end!

Friday’s performance was a 50-60 minute live and chat, so the host asked her a couple of questions about things like how she can manage studying and being a singer/TV host. A lot of the questions were a bit boring, and the translator was definitely not the best (though, it was kind of funny when Nacchan understood one of the questions in English and basically went “I got this” and answered). I’m lucky that I understand some Japanese, and got her full meaning!

She sang a lot of her songs ,some I knew but others I didn’t know as well. But it was fun to shout at the songs I know, specifically Perfect Area Complete and Diamond Star.

At the end of the concert there was a small rock-paper-scissors contest with the audience and Nacchan to win some autographed mugs. I sadly didn’t win one, and was kind of jealous of the audience members who did; I also think that only the Japanese wota and I realized how lucky the fans were because they all got to shake her hand! Especially since that’s an event you normally have to buy things to get into!

But man, that event was so amazing. As I’ve mentioned on Happy Disco before, I think idols are really great in how they  can bring up your mood and just make you happier. And while that’s still the case, it’s just amazing how much that’s amplified by seeing idols you like IN PERSON. The whole concert had a ton of energy and was ridiculously fun.

And then I went and spent a lot of money and bought her album, Precious Tone. Which is the other major point of being an idol fan, which is that your money is totally vulnerable to them. But it worked out great because it came with a big poster, a poster I would have spent money on buying alone. So that was good!

Saturday, I woke up a bit late and hurried to get to the event. Luckily (??) there was a massive line to get in, so I didn’t miss anything. I walked around a bit moe, but then ended up waiting for the event. This one was a bit shorter, but actually had a lot of great songs, and no weirdly awkward talk moments.

Some of the songs played on Saturday (honestly, Friday’s live is a bit more of a blur): Lovely Girls’ Anthem, Programming for Non-Fiction, Eureka Baby, Diamond Star, Perfect Area Complete, and, at the host’s request, a spontaneous performance of one of my favorite songs by her, More More Lovers!! Saturday’s performance was just as energetic, even better vocals, and she was still amazing.

I knew that an hour after her live performance ended she was going to be doing a signing so I went and hung around that booth until I realized she was there (missed her coming in, was too busy looking at AKB48 stuff, whoops!) and that the line was already massive. I got in line and was anxiously trying to remember Japanese. I had a few things I really wanted to say…which I didn’t remember. When I got to the front of the line I was SO starstruck that I only managed to get out “the concert today was very fun” and to thank her profusely. She seemed really happy, though, and smiled while I got out what I wanted to say in Japanese. She thanked me multiple times as she signed my items (the Precious Tone album booklet and the poster), and asked me to come see her again, both in Japanese and in English (“See you next time! Come see me again!”) I know she says that to a lot of people, but when she said it to me it seemed so earnest that I kind of wonder if she noticed me in the concerts, since I was way up front for both of them. Even still, I hope I’ll get a chance to see Nacchan again!

Even though I had fun at the concert, the biggest surprise came in the autograph line, when a few people in front of me asked to get a picture with Nacchan. I was surprised that it was allowed, because I know that two-shots are actually fairly rare in Japan and then are usually two shot events. Once I saw this I whipped out my camera and asked the staff for a picture, too, and so….

All in all, best experience ever.

 

 

 

Momoiro Clover Z – Mouretsu Uchuu Koukyoukyoku Dainana Gakushou “Mugen no Ai” PV

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With a title like that, it’s easy to need to shorten the name. I usually have shortened the title of the song to “Mugen no Ai” which translates to “Eternal Love” and it seems to be the shortened title that lots of MomoClo fans accept, at least on YouTube when I’ve searched for the name before.

However, this might only be referred to as “that really really really amazing PV of amazing” or something around those lines.

Momoiro Clover Z

Oh. My. God.

Outfits: The thing I love about these outfits is that they look really well made; when you think of the words “space pirates” it’s easy to think of something REALLY cheesy or childish. Something like, say, the Morning Musume no Hyokkori Hyoutanjima PV. Now mind that was meant to look like that, but that’s just an easy comparison that can be made when you think of JPop meeting pirates. Or the outfits could look really cheap like this, which is just as bad in this case.

OK, maybe I just want a picture of Tobias Funke on my blog. Because of reasons.

However, the outfits here are really well crafted in that they look cool but you don’t feel second-hand embarrassment for MomoClo for wearing them. Another thing I appreciate is that the outfits are clearly crafted to suit each girl individually, as opposed to just being one cookie cutter outfit that was made five times. For example, Sasaki Ayaka’s outfit has a skirt trimmed with lace while others wear shorts. It’s details like this that make you think that MomoClo’s staff works really hard.

Dance: I’ve seen live performances of this song before, and while this dance is definitely not one of Momoiro Clover’s strongest in terms of choreography, IMO, the things they showed in the PV are really good. Moreover, even if it’s not their most difficult dance, all the girls completely ace the dance. It shows that even though I’d say dance is one of Momoiro Clover’s strongest points, that it’s definitely not the only thing that sets them apart as an idol group.

Song: Again, I’ve heard the song before this. But really, this might just be up there now as my favorite Momoiro Clover song. Which is actually saying a LOT, considering that I love this group more than most idol groups. This song is legitimately epic and catchy.

PV in general: Overall, the effects are great, it looks beautiful (it’s the first PV I really feel like I need to see on a big screen in HD), and it’s just incredibly well made. The thing I love most about this PV and really about Momoiro Clover in general is that they really go all out to do their best. They don’t just phone it in, make a so-so PV and call it a day because they have a fairly sizable fanbase at this point. Everything I see from Momoiro Clover is really high quality, which is why I’m proud to be their fan and support them. And I hope that you guys do, too!

State of the Wota Address

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Hey all,

So. I’ve been bad. And haven’t posted. Basically, I’ve been really busy, having the time of my life in London! And while I haven’t forgotten about idols and I’m still crazy into them like always, updating Happy Disco comes after my goings on here in London.

So, here’s a quick update before I start posting more regularly again!

-In London, I found a store, Japan Centre, that sells Japanese magazines, though it mostly sells food/general goods. So now I have a giant poster on my wall of SKE48.

-I recently had my first major encounter discussing my wotadom with someone who’s Japanese/Indonesian; I’m staying with a host family, and another student is staying with us. She’s both Japanese and Indonesian, and while she lives in Indonesia she follows a lot of Japanese stuff. And, so, when she saw my SKE48 poster, it was kind of interesting, haha. She says she likes JKT48 because they’re Indonesian, but she was impressed by Momoiro Clover. Which made me so proud.

– I’m kind of back into Hello!Project now? S/Mileage is my jam. 2nd Gen S/Mileage in particular; Meimi, Akari, Rina and Kana are all fantastic girls. I might write about this soon.

-Biggest for me…. I’m seeing my first idol live soon! I was waiting for the tube one day and I saw a poster for a convention here. I didn’t think much of it, until I realized “…wait, is that Nacchan?” Yes, I’m seeing the lovely Aso Natsuko! I haven’t mentioned her much, but she does a lot of anime openings, most of them written by Hyadain, who’s my favorite idol music writer at the moment. And she’s going to be here! So I’m definitely going to be writing a blog about my experience, but I’m totally pumped to see a performance of Perfect Area Complete!!