30 Day Idol Challenge- Day 3

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It’s the third post I’ve made in a row! Wow!
Day 3: If you are a boy, who would be your girlfriend?

Now, obviously I could very easily say my idol favorite, Ishikawa Rika. I do think she would be the perfect girlfriend. She’s caring, funny, seems like a good person to be around, quirky, and the fact that she’s drop dead gorgeous doesn’t hurt. 

How can one woman be so beautiful? It’s enough to give me a complex

However, IMO this is the easy way out. I mean, she’s my favorite idol ever, and if I was a boy I have no doubt in my mind that I’d go for the cuter/feminine girls. I mean, that’s my idol type. I tend to go for the girly-girls. 
So, I was thinking “Hm, Rika’s too easy. Who else of my favorites would I like to go out with?” The highest girl on my ranking that I could think of is the AKB48 KKS Natori Wakana.
She’s cute, a fantastic singer, a really good performer, and is seriously brave. (Watch the 11th gen KKS special of Ariyoshi AKB Kyowaku (sp?); she picks up one snake, it bites her, and she picks the next one up) I LOVE Wakanyan so much, that even though I haven’t seen her in that much she’s my 3rd favorite idol ever (after Ishikawa Rika and Oota Aika). 
However, I don’t know THAT  MUCH about Wakanyan. I know that I adore her, but she still hasn’t really gotten enough exposure to show her personality. Granted, I think she’s shown herself to be really cute and great, but would I want to date someone I didn’t know that much about?
That’s when it hit me. The girl I’d want to date so much if I was a Japanese boy and had any chance in hell with her. 

The choice was obvious! My choice of girlfriend would be the lovely Iwasa Misaki, AKA Wasamin. Now, Wasamin’s totally an underdog; she’s not a frontrunner in AKB at all, not making it to the top 40 in the senbatsu elections, and her only big promotion has been a DVD with Komori Mika as well as her stint in Watarirouka Hashiritai 7. 

However, in the past six months or so I’ve gone from knowing next to nothing about her to being a huge Wasamin wota. Why? because she’s that fantastic.

The first place I knew of her was actually in my AKB Oshi Oota Aika’s birthday show. In that show, the message that was read for Lovetan’s birthday (by.. Sasshi, maybe? I forget) was by Wasamin, who said lovely things that ended up being something that further cemented Lovetan as my favorite. But even still, the sentiment was lovely and sincere, and I wanted to know more about her.

Wasamin really just seems to be this all around wonderful sweetheart. Many fans know her and love her for her voice, which is indeed fantastic. But to me, the things that have really endeared Wasamin to me have been her personality. She’s definitely not the outgoing type. However, she just seems to be one of the sweetest girls in all of AKB, with a lot of maturity. Also, one thing I’ve noticed is that even though she’s potentially one of the least popular girls in AKB, she always seems to be enthusiastic about the group. She also doesn’t try and conform to the group, and I mean that in a good way. How many idols actively sing enka in events, even though that’s not necessarily popular with wota? Enka’s not even my thing, and I’ve got to appreciate Wasamin going with what she likes. 


I’m also completely charmed by Wasamin in this vid. She’s just such a sweetheart, it’s unbelievable.

So yes. Even though I gave it a lot of thought, I’d TOTALLY want Wasamin as a girlfriend, with both Rika and Wakanyan as 2nd place.

30 Day Idol Challenge- Day 2

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Part two of the daily challenge that I started last post!

Day 2: The Idol you hate or dislike


Oh man, this is kind of tough. Like I’ve said, I’ve mainly  moved from the H!P fandom to the AKB fandom, and part of the reason I did that was because I love EVERYONE in AKB. Not even kidding. For this question I was thinking of putting Akimoto Sayaka, but then thought better of it. Thought about putting Itano Tomomi up there, but then realized I like her a lot. XD So, even though this girl is from a group I pay VERY LITTLE attention to, the answer is…



Tsugunaga Momoko.


Now, putting this is kind of hard for me, because Momo was actually my first favorite idol. I loved her back in 2008, when I first got into Berryz Koubou and idol fandom. However, lately she’s just been rubbing me the wrong way. I love cute idols, but Momoko really strikes me as just trying too hard. There’s a difference between trying to be cute but not taking it that seriously and finding humor in that (which is really part of why I’m a fan of both Ishikawa Rika and Sasaki Ayaka of Momoiro Clover) and just trying too hard but never finding humor. Momoko really strikes me as a bit of an attention whore and I don’t really find her schtick all that cute. 

30 Day Idol Challenge- Day 1

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Anyone who reads this, hello! I’ve neglected this lovely blog for so long, mainly because of school. I love Happy Disco, but man the long posts I tend to do are a pain. So, to get myself back in blogging, I found this challenge at selective-hearing.com. I’ll be posting every single day about idols, and it shall be glorious.

Day 1: Your favorite Idol


Only one answer for me….

The lovely Ishikawa Rika.


I thought of a couple of other options; AKB48’s Oota Aika, for one. My Hello!Project fandom isn’t as strong as my AKB fandom is, nowadays, and Oota is my favorite there. However, when it comes to being an idol fan, no one lives up to Rika.


There are a million reasons why I love her, but it’s mainly her funny and sweet personality. She’s such a caring person, caring for her juniors and seniors at work alike. She’s always hilarious to watch. 


One thing that I personally love about her is that she’s really passionate about her work and loves to sing/perform. Even though I’m in the minority in that I love her voice, both recorded and live, regardless of how you feel about her singing voice she’s a wonderful and passionate performer.



Skip to five minutes in here. She’s not the greatest singer, but the level of emotion and passion she sings with is mindblowing.

I’ve somewhat moved on from the H!P fandom, sadly, but the one thing that hasn’t changed is how fantastic I find Rika.

Maji Desu ka Ska PV/Song Review!

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I liked writing my Onna to Otoko no Lullaby Game Review so I’m doing the same here.

Song: The song itself is good; REALLY good. I was deeply afraid that they’d be shoving the new girls into the sexy type and be like “Here, 12-year-old Zukkini! Sing about how tough being an adult is and how love sucks.” But they didn’t! They did an upbeat song that’s all happy and cute!
Though, is it just me or is this not THAT much like ska? I’m no expert on ska, but I’ve listened to some in the past and it didn’t sound that much like this. This is like, ska thrown in a blender with idol music to produce an upbeat idol song with a bit of ska style in there. But I’m not gonna complain because it’s way  better than a lot of the recent MM stuff. MM, please come back to being good. We like you good.

Costumes: Oh my goodness YES. Like Otoko to Onna, there are two costumes but both are good! There’s the colorful ones and then the black and white ones, and both look perfectly cute but not cheap looking! Yay!

And then there’s grandpa!Aika, who I’m obligated to adore because I adore Aika.

Dance: It’s cute and jumpy! There’s no full dance shot out yet so I can’t judge, but it looks very very cute so far. I’m amazed at how good 9th gen got at dancing this! The dance, while not the toughest one H!P’s ever had, it’s still a lot of work. And 9th gen did a really great job at being at the other girls’ level.

Art Direction: I really like this! It’s a simple PV, but it really shows that a simple PV does NOT have to look cheaply made. The giant Maji Desu ka Suka! hiragana/katakana were actually a fun feature, with the way that the members interacted with them. It was like a character itself. I actually really liked the relatively simple black and white background for the dance shot, because the girls really stood out with their colors.
The one thing about the close ups that annoyed me was that they gave Risa a brown jacket and a yellow background, which clashes like CRAZY to my eyes.

What were they thinking??

Consensus: Maji desu ka Ska! is a fun song with a cute PV. It’s not the best H!P’s ever done by far, but it’s a nice introduction to the 9th generation of Morning Musume as well as a bit of a throwback to the glory days of Morning Musume.

I’m so sorry you guys

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Just typing this in between studying to say I’ve missed Happy Disco.

Tbqh my idol fandom isn’t the same when I’m not writing this; I can watch a PV and be like “Oh that’s nice” without analyzing it deeply. But where’s the fun in that?

My idol fandom is in a weird place right now. I’m going to compare it to a marriage and say that we’ve just gotten past the giddy honeymoon phase. It’s at the point where if I’m not super interested in idols I’d quit; it’s way past the “ooh, this is new and shiny!” phase. I still love idols, don’t worry. It’s just less new and sparkly.

The real reason I haven’t posted in fff two months is because school is evil. I’m aiming to work in TV production in my future and my school doesn’t offer that as an option for classes. So I’m trying to figure out my future. In the meantime I was planning on studying abroad in Tokyo… and now there’s an abundance of natural disasters. At this point I’m 99% that those plans are cancelled so I’m trying to figure out some new plans so that I can see the world like I want to.

I’m planning on trying and posting more here, but it can’t be all the time until summer. Even then I’m hoping to have a job and an internship.

MAN REAL LIFE. It always screws up my internet fandoms.

Dream Musume First Album DoriMusu 1 – 4/20

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I’m a bad blogger, I know. Well, school’s back in the swing of things now, but I needed to post about this!

I’m sure the internet community knows already, but a group consisting of Nakazawa Yuko, Iida Kaori, Abe Natsumi, Yasuda Kei, Yaguchi Mari, Ishikawa Rika, Yoshizawa Hitomi, Ogawa Makoto, Fujimoto Miki and Kusumi Koharu called Dream Morning Musume has been formed and they’re releasing their first album! Many of us have known that there would be a tour featuring these OG members this spring, but now they’re adding an album and some fall tour dates.

My thoughts:

1. Group name is super appropriate. As a fan of these OG girls I can’t WAIT to see them in action. I’ve heard people take issue at the fact that they’re using the name “Morning Musume” when that should be just given to the current line up, but to me and to quite frankly the majority of Japan, THESE girls are Morning Musume, not the current line up. I love the current girls, don’t get me wrong, but not calling this group MM would be just wrong to me.
2. As a fan of these girls I’m super excited! My favorite idol still has a recording career, hell yes.
3. At first I did not want Koharu in this group, but now I’m getting closer to accepting it. I have nothing against Koharu, but she really doesn’t seem to fit the golden era-ness of this group. All these girls were in H!P in the 2001-2002 era that’s really memorable; Makoto fits in near the end of the golden era and Mikitty was a soloist. However, I’m kind of intrigued about how Koharu will fit in with this group. I don’t know if it WILL work, but I’m interested.
4. In that video I posted, Yuko going “I’m 37!!” is my favorite thing ever. Please keep it up, Yuko, I love you.
5. I’m not sure about the longevity of this group, but I certainly hope that there’s a good deal of longevity. I’ve heard rumors that H!P’s stated that this is in fact a temporary unit, but if that was the case then the title of their album “DoriMusu 1” (Dreams 1, haha, puns) would be insanely misleading. Still, Nacchi going “we’re going for the Newcomers award” makes me think that they might be here to stay, which I would be very very pleased with.

I can’t wait to get their new album DoriMusu 1, which is mostly covers but two new songs!

Obligatory 9th Gen Musume Post

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So, I woke up today to find out what had happened with the 9th generation of Morning Musume. I was originally thinking of staying awake to find out the results real time, but I was sleepy. So with that, I decided to go to sleep and wake up and find out which idols I’d need to learn about and support.

Now, before this I have watched the Bijo Gaku special and I decided really early on not to strongly support any girls or strongly dislike any girls. I knew if I did that that one way or another I’d end up disappointed and bitter and I really don’t want to feel like that about any of my idol groups.

So it’s been announced that Suzuki Kanon, Sayashi Riho, Ikuta Erina and the egg Fukumura Miyuki have been put into Morning Musume.

Kanon
Kanon is my immediate tentative favorite. She seemed funny in the auditions and when she started doing her audition acting part and just goes to lay on the ground to answer the phone. She immediately seems to have an abundance of personality. The fact she’s really cute also helps. I think if MM/H!P ever got themselves another TV show or TV appearances that she could really shine.

ALSO SHE’S FROM AICHI. I did a project about Aichi prefecture for Japanese class. I’m sold.

Riho
She was the favorite of a lot of fans on the internet; she already does have a solid amount of dance skill, she’s cute, and her singing wasn’t bad at all. She also seems kind of confident, but at the same time that could be a negative thing, because there’s a thin line between confident and smug. Anyways, she’s the 9th gen member that most people agree has the most potential, so I really can’t wait to see what she can do with the rest of MM.

Erina
I feel bad, but I didn’t really notice her that much in the auditions. I remember thinking she was cute and that I liked her, but I liked all of them. She really seems like she’s the underdog with the fans right now, but I do think she could have potential.

Mizuki
At first my reaction to the egg Mizuki making it in was:

because I was rooting for Sekine Azusa, my absolute favorite egg, to make it in. However, today I went back and listened to Watashi no Tamago to listen for Mizuki and she does have a really nice voice in Shugo Chara Egg. So I’m not that bitter, and I do like her; she’s up there with Kanon right now for favorite 9th gen.
… But Tsunku really should have added Sekkii. 

Top 10 (+2) Idol Holiday Songs

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Happy holidays, everyone! Since it’s almost Christmas for everyone and it’s the middle of the winter holiday season, I thought I’d make a list of my top ten winter/holiday/Christmas themed idol songs for Happy Disco.

Honorable Mentions:
100kai no Kiss- Matsuura Aya



I love Ayaya, don’t get me wrong, and I want to put this song on the list. However, the song has nothing to do with winter or Christmas. It’s here because the PV features Ayaya dancing in “winter clothes” in front of a Christmas tree, and it’s snowing outside. But 100kai no Kiss is a fantastic song no matter the season, and the PV’s also wonderful.

1!2!3!4! Yoroshiku- SKE48

The PV to SKE48’s latest single is a treasure trove of interesting things and hilarity. Basically, there are guys dressed as Santa dancing in the background through parts of the PV. This song/PV gets the spot because the PV is WEIRD and Santa dancing in the background is the icing on the cake.



10. Manatsu no Christmas Rose- AKB48

This song is not quite Christmas-y enough to make higher on the list; it’s in the name and there are some references to Christmas-related things, but the fact that this seems to take place in “manatsu” (midsummer) means it’s not quite the quintessential idol Christmas song.

9. Aitai Lonely Christmas- C-ute



Now this makes the list! I actually really like this song, despite putting it down at #9. However, to me it doesn’t really convey the spirit of the season properly. I realize that in Japan Christmas as a holiday is more about spending time with your significant other, but singing about how your heart hurts is not a way to get into the holiday spirit. Therefore, while this is a good song I’d argue, one of the better offerings from recent H!P, it’s not quite what I’m looking for on this list.

8. Sexy Snow- W



This also isn’t quite fitting to the spirit of the season. However, with happier lyrics than Aitai Lonely Christmas, at least it fits in a bit better. This is more about romance in the winter season than about the holidays, but it’s a catchy and addicting song that fits onto this list well.

7. Marui Taiyou ~Winter Ver~ – T&C Bomber

This actually seems to be a bit more of a New Year’s song than a Christmas song, but it’s still a great song by one of the most underappreciated H!P groups of all time. Happy Winter!!!!

6. Seinaru Kane ga Hibiku Yoru – Tanpopo



This is a beautiful song by the original generation of Tanpopo! I was happy when five of the current H!P girls did covers of it; granted, none of them quite did it justice (though I still bought Maimi’s off iTunes), it’s nice that classic Hello!Project songs are still remembered. This is more of a traditional-sounding song (with the title mentioning “holy bells”), but it’s still a great song.

5. Yoyaku Shita Christmas- AKB48



For anyone who doesn’t follow AKB48 much, this song was a c/w song on the recent single, Chance no Junban. Now, at first I really didn’t like this song all that much; I thought it was slow and kind of boring. However, lately it’s really grown on me. It’s a sweet song about meeting someone on Christmas eve and the song and PV have pretty much everything; the bridge even contains the song Jingle Bells. The song’s slow and it isn’t really a normal, upbeat idol song but it’s sweet in its own right, as a little Christmas card from AKB48.

4. Christmas ga Ippai- AKB48



THIS is a more upbeat, Christmas-y song by AKB48’s Team K. At this point these Christmas songs have it all, and Christmas ga Ippai is no exception. The lyrics are very sweet and I do like how cute and upbeat the song is; it both makes it a better song and makes it more idol-y, which I always enjoy.

3. Oujisama to Yuki no Yoru- Tanpopo



This is probably my favorite song on this list, and it’s really a classic winter song for idol fans. As a song it definitely falls more into a winter than a holiday category and it’s really more about spending time with your sweetheart during the winter, but it’s a fantastic song, especially during this season.

2. Merry X’Mas to You- Matsuura Aya



This is actually not as known as a lot of the other songs on this list; it’s the B-side to Ayaya’s single ‘100kai no Kiss’ and I absolutely love this song. The lyrics are so simple (mostly just “Merry Christmas for you”) but it really shows off how beautiful Aya’s voice truly is; if anyone can pull this off in the idol world, it’s Ayaya. It’s a beautiful Christmas song that I think could easily go on any Christmas album. This might be an unknown to a lot of people, but to me it’s a keeper.

1. Pittari Shitai X’Mas- Pucchimoni



Could I really pick out any other song? It’s an H!P classic and it’s pure fun. The PV is just silly and the song itself isn’t serious at all, but it’s a fun, enjoyable Christmas song that is still a fan favorite.

Have a very happy holidays, Merry Christmas and have a wonderful winter season!!

Hello! Project Fankora Concert Review- pt 6

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Momoiro Kataomoi


Now we’re at the Mano Erina section. Oh ff. She’s doing Ayaya.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind ManoEri. I kind of like her, and she seems like a fine girl. However, why do they do this to us? I get that the whole point of the Fankora concert is that fans get to help pick songs that they want to hear again, but Mano Erina is no Matsuura Aya and whenever they have her perform these songs it’s a HUGE reminder.

Now this doesn’t make ManoEri bad, persay, that just makes her NOT Ayaya, who was one of the highest selling and most beloved H!P acts of all time. Ayaya was also one of the best singers and performers of H!P history, which is not something that we can say about Mano Erina. The difference is huge, and is seen like crazy in this performance.
ManoEri gets REALLY pitchy here. Like, not a little; it was pretty easy for me to discern how off pitch she was. Her energy level was also not as strong as it could be, even though that’s the type of song this is. To me, I can tell she’s trying her best, but it’s just not there.
Basically, my final verdict is that if you are unfamiliar with the original version or ADORE ManoEri, you’ll probably like this; it’s a good song and ManoEri’s pretty cute. However, as a fan of the original and a fan of Ayaya’s, this just sounds like a poorly done knock-off; having a weak voice sing a song by the best voice of H!P’s history is not really the best idea ever.
On a separate note, this concert’s really making me dislike Momoko a lot. I know she has a ton of fans, but man, the way that she keeps dancing on the sidelines is just annoying as hell to me. There’s a difference between dancing/jumping along on the sidelines and doing what Momoko is doing, which is holding a fake microphone and going out of her way to draw attention to herself. Drawing attention to yourself is fine, but this is not the time/place for Momoko to do so, during a ManoEri performance.

Haru no Arashi


This isn’t one of my favorite ManoEri songs ever, but I like it better than Onegai Dakara, so that’s good.

ManoEri’s voice is really not the best this concert, is it? It’s all over the place in this performance, even clashing with the background; are those just supporting vocals or are they doing the thing where they play the actual song in the back? All I know is that there’s some really iffy clashing of vocals here, and it’s not very pretty. Mano Erina’s not the worst vocalist H!P has to offer; far from it. However, it’s times like these where I have to wonder about her legitimacy as a soloist.

I mean, ManoEri’s not as bad a vocalist as H!P’s had, and she seems like a sweet girl. But I honestly don’t know what Tsunku/UFA found so compelling in her that they decided to make her the one soloist in H!P. Her vocals here are iffy at best and she never seems too energetic. Her performances thus far aren’t too compelling. She was fine back when she was in Gatas, but I don’t know how strong she is without a group to support her.
To her credit, she does get pretty fierce here and I can tell she’s getting into it, which is usually the thing I like most in idols. I don’t know; I guess if you’re her fan, you’ll like it, and if you don’t particularly care about ManoEri, like me, you’ll probably wonder why she’s a soloist, like me.

New PBs AKA Serenyty will be very happy and poor

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Sorry I haven’t updated in over two weeks; finals decided to be really tough on me. But I made it through it and I plan on writing more.

First up, the other day Kamei Eri, JunJun and LinLin graduated from Morning Musume. Now, I’m no particular fan of either of these girls; I liked them, but they weren’t necessarily my favorites. But they will definitely be missed from Morning Musume, and I know the first performance or appearance I see without them will be very saddening. No matter how high these girls are on your list, graduations are always very sad, at least to me, and I know I’ll miss these girls; I can only hope that JunJun and LinLin stay in the business.

However, recently there’s been some happier news!

Ex-Morning Musume member Ishikawa Rika, AKA my #1 favorite idol forever is releasing her 11th solo photobook! It’s called Lucky and she’s releasing it on her birthday, January 19th 2011. As a big fan and supporter of Rika, this is wonderful news, and I plan on buying/pre-ordering it soon. Rika’s proven to be a favorite with photobooks, considering she already has 10 of them under her belt, so they’re always really fun and really good. 
And finally, probably more exciting for me…
Mitsui Aika is FINALLY releasing a photobook!!!

I LOVE Aika. Mittsi’s one of my favorite idols and I’ve always wanted her to get a photobook. Aika has actually wanted one of her own for a long time as well, often mentioning it in her New Year’s wishes and things like this. She’s releasing her photobook on January 26th and she also gets a solo DVD as well.
I’m really excited; honestly, Aika has more fans than a lot of people give her credit for, and she really deserves to get some kind of a push. I hope this moves up her sales some and helps her gain some fans!
Rika hasn’t posted any previews of any sort, but on the Up Front channel there’s a preview of Aika’s DVD; already it’s getting some buzz because Aika definitely has cleavage that people haven’t really noticed before.

So yay, two excellent releases for the month of January!