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Buono! European Concert... Take 2

Sunday, 13th November 2011 23:45 | 16 Comments

So it looks like Buono! will be making an appearance in Europe afterall... it'll only have taken them nearly 3 years since their first scheduled appearance at the failed Stockholm Japan Expo 2009. Luckliy (well for me at least) this time around things are slightly more closer to home, in that country that me and CDevil love to frequent so often, France. Also, the date of the performance is extremely convinient for myself as I was already planning on heading to Paris for the 8th/9th of Feburary for the Music Bank K-Pop Festival, this'll save me from heading home and coming back at a later, I can find myself a nice cheap place to stay for a few nights and catch 2 events! Also, with my birthday coming up on the 16th it'll be a nice little birthday treat :D

The prospect of being able to see Buono! in concert is one of being looking forward to for a long time, the mix of the awesomeness of Momo, Miyabi and Airi and the amazingness of their concert performances is hopefully going to make this remember. Hopefully this time we won't have issues out of the control of H!P causing the dissapointment that was their Sweden appearance.

Also, there's news that Berryz Kobo will be making an appearance next June as well, about a 30 minute drive away from the gateway to Hell at AnimeNEXT. The liklihood of me making it out to the US is rather slim, but I'd really like to go to New Jersey and maybe find a Quick Stop? Snoogans!

TAGS [ Berryz Buono! ]
Posted Sunday, 13th November 2011 23:45 | 765 Reads | 0 Tweet Count | Leave a Comment

Sayuminglandoll

Tuesday, 18th October 2011 01:13 | 15 Comments

If there's a member of Hello! Project that's going to get me excited about a PB release, it's pretty much hands down going to be Sayu. I might winge (on the odd occasion) that she has bad skin but the bottom line is that she's been the one member that has consistently, from the start of my collection of H!P PBs, got me thinking "I NEED THAT PB!". There's been the occasion where I've been strapped for cash and haven't been able to buy it the moment it's been released, but unlike over members where I get the urge to spend some cash on their latest release but after awhile the need dies down, Sayu's books always stick in mind, I just have to have them.

So, it won't really come as a surprise then that I'm looking forward to her upcoming PB release next week. But it wasn't until I saw a preview of the cover a little earlier today that I really got excited about it.
The format that the majority of the Hello! Project PBs follow is fairly standard, if you've seen one you no what to expect with any of the others. But there's a few that break that exception, I'm thinking along the lines of Ayaya & Mikitty's PB or any of Aibon and Nono's PBs, something where the likes of a bikini doesn't crop up something where we're given that little bit more. And although I know I'm literally going by the cover of the book and I know that Sayu has even mentioned on her blog that there's shots of her in a bikini, I'm hoping that we see a bit more fun had... sure I'm not complain about seeing her in a bikini, hell I've literally just finished flicking through the latest Alo-Hello! 5 PB and chances are will flick through again by the end of the night seeing as it's sitting right in front of me, but come on look at the cover and tell me you don't want a book filled with photos that are as quirky/cute/original/sexy as this?


In a lot of respects the cover really does remind of Ayaya and Mikitty's joint book, you've got the same styled stripy background, the curved almost bouncy looking title font, the girls in the middle all bordered off and even the outfit Sayu is wearing looks like they hacked Ayaya's bunny outfit down to a boob tube, mini skirt and a pair of boots.


Am I going to be disappointed if this turns out to be regular affair? Not really, it's Sayu and I know I'm going to like it either way. But I will appreciate it more if they make it even slightly more quirkier than the rest of her releases.

Michisige Sayumi's 8th PB "Sayuminglandoll"


TAGS [ Ayaya Mikitty PB Sayumi ]
Posted Tuesday, 18th October 2011 01:13 | 1423 Reads | 0 Tweet Count | Leave a Comment

Japan Expo 2011

Sunday, 3rd July 2011 22:40 | 24 Comments

My plans for this years Japan Expo were very sketchy, based all around whether my wages cleared or not, unfortunatly they'd be clearing on the Friday of the weekend that the event was taking place. This as you can imagine was a major pain in the backside, not only for me but for CDevil who for pretty much everytime he asked me if I was coming my response was "maybe"... not particularly useful when you're going for the whole weekend and need to book a room (soz about that >_<").

Friday rolled along and after getting up early and driving to the airport at 4 in the morning to drop Chris off for a flight to Germany my plan for the day was to do some work and crash into bed at a reasonable hour to catch up on the 5 hours of sleep I missed that morning... that was until Aqua decided to txt me at 7am saying that we should fly to Paris... this started our minds ticking. The cost of flying and the train was just too much for a day trip at such short notice and Aqua wasn't overly keen on getting the coach over, so that left one option, to drive!

So, with a couple of hours sleep in the evening, I left my house at 11pm to head over to Aqua's and then off to catch our ferry at 3.20am. For those of you that know me, my timing sucks, I'm late for most things, but for this I made sure that I'd be not only on time, but early! Unfortunatly for me I didn't take into consideration the possibilty that I could be stuck in traffic for just over 3 hours <_< SERIOUSLY who drives that late on a Friday night and why were they all driving down the same road as me?!
In the space of an hour I'd managed to move 1 mile, it was a mix of road works (merging 3 lanes into 1), the odd crash and peoples cars breaking down... there was at least 3 people who'd turned their engines off but had left their lights and radios on and so when it came to starting them back up and getting moving, they weren't going anywhere, IDIOTS! So, an hour before we were meant to be getting on the ferry and 15 minutes before we were supposed to be checking in, I pulled up outside Aqua's. The amusing thing was that neither of us were too concerned, she jumped in and we headed off.
First we pulled into the euro tunnel to see if we could make up for lost time and grab the next train over, but that was going to set us back £140 (one way), slightly more than the £30 (return) ticket we'd bought for the ferry. So, off we drove to the ferry. We wandered around a bit trying to see if we could find any information points that were open, but all we could find was a slightly drunk man who reaked of booze BUT he was helpful! He pointed us in the right direction and off we went. Pulling up at the check-in area for the ferry I rolled down my window, stuck my head out the car and said "can you help, we've missed our ferry", to which the reply I got back was "No problem, Mr Paul Thomas you can get on the next ferry"... I can't thank P&O Ferries enough for their pyschic members of staff and their helpfullness!!

6 hours later, we pulled into Japan Expo's car park and headed towards the entrance! My phones battery was in the red, I sent a couple of messages, tried to ring CDevil a couple of times and then it died and with no idea what peoples plans were or where to meet them, it left only one logical thing to do GO AND TRY TO WIN A TICKET FOR THE SIGNINGS!!!
This was initially met with some disappointment. We first came across the Dream Morning Musume booth and asked where the raffle was taking place for the signing. A sad look came back to us from the woman behind the counter, she then told us that "all the tickets had been given out at 10" <_<
So, with less spring in our step we headed to the h.NAOTO booth to check out the Hangry & Angry merchandise and to see about the their signing later that day. Here we were told that they weren't doing a signing on the Saturday... which they wasn't and which the schedule on the leaflets handed out showed... lol, my bad although I'm sure the web site said that it was h.NAOTO and Hangry and Angry signing.
The stall had some new merchandise and I have to say the new set of photos look AMAZING! There was also a large selection of clothes and I couldn't resist the urge to buy a funky looking shirt!


With us both now on a slight downer we aimlessly wandered around for a bit, until we came across the queues for the signing sessions where we soon found out that the tickets HADN'T already been given out, so in we both rushed. A quick look around showed some recognisable faces, the "tallest Japanese man in the world" and all the other Japanese Hangry & Angry fans that have shown up for all the other appearances were a few people in front, we waved said our hello's and as both of us are Yossie fans, were given some photo of her as gifts :D

On our first attempt neither of us won. The Japanese hadn't either, but had come up with the cunning plan to keep buying tickets to the event until they did, now that's dedication! We opted for the more sneaky tactic of licking out tickets and rubbing out the marks that said we'd already queued and jumping back in. By the time we'd got to the front CDevil had turned up and I'd swapped my ticket for his (it was blatantly obvious that I'd rubbed mine out lol) and we took our second attempts at getting a ticket. Aqua wasn't lucky with her go, but as for me I got lucky and pulled out a yellow ticket with a smiley face! And being the gentleman that he is, CDevil offered it to Aqua with the condition that she got him Rika's autograph... which as it happens was perfect as she was only after Yossie's.

The signing started, myself and CDevil had positioned ourselves infront of the railing and had a pretty good spot to fanboy over the girls. Aqua, Kuekan (who we bumped into a bit earlier) as well as all the Japanese fans all got in line ready to get their items signed. And then the girls came out, Yossie in jeans and a tshirt (she looked stunning with her long dyed blond hair) followed by Rika in a pair of really short jean shorts!... she wasn't just wearing those (if only XD) but that's all I could focus on, I'm guessing she probably had a tshirt on as well or something?
Although I hadn't gone up for a signing it was amazing seeing the girls again, CDevil had a moment of excitement when it came to Aqua's turn and she asked if Rika could sign the book to him as we saw her say his name. Aqua, also got the messaged personlised and Yossie wrote a little congrats for her upcoming birthday. I'm so jealous of these!


After the signing we managed to bump into Yossie and Rika (we wasn't attempting to stalk them or anything <_<) as they headed outside to their car, I got a little wave from Rika which made the whole trip worth it!!

Next up was the "Dream Morning Musume Conference & projection", which was... a bit... um... disapointing. Don't get me wrong by the end of it I loved it, but as I sat through it I did wonder WTF was going on. It started with a DVD of Dream Morning Musume performing a couple of songs. I know the title said that it was a projection, but come on! I can watch a DVD at home, infact I can do a better job of watching a DVD at home as I have the common sense to put VLC into full screen mode, so after sitting through (I think) 3 songs where we could also watch Norton Anti Virus do it's thing and see how strong the computer WiFi signal was the girls came out gave a little talk with the annoying "No Life" woman we then watched another few songs, luckily this time who ever was in charge of the PC had the common sense to fullscreen it this time!!
My only real complaint with this is that if I had wanted to watch a DVD I could do this at home, in a comfy chair with a cup of tea. But, it was fun, seeing everybody getting into it doing the little dances and the chants made it an amusing to watch. After this Rika and Yossie came back out and sung a performance of Ai wa Katsu the charity single released by Up Front Works. Again, much like the little wave this made the trip worth it, such a bonus seeing both of them out of character from their Hangry & Angry alter egos.

Once the event had finished we had an hour to spare, we said our goodbyes and went to grab some air. Here I bumped into one of the European organisers from last years European Hangry and Angry concerts we had a brief chat and on finding out that I'd only came down for the day told me how I'd "missed something awesome", which of course was their performance on the Friday. I'm truly gutted that I missed a live performance of their new single Reconquista, but luckily there's an upload on the Hangry & Angry YouTube Channel or you can watch it below. I'm loving the new outfits, gotta be their best look so far!


It was truly an amazing day, the mix of the unexpectedness of it and getting to see the girls was great, the more I get to see the Yossie and Rika the more I love them!

TAGS [ Dream Morning Musume Hangry and Angry Live Rika Yossie ]
Posted Sunday, 3rd July 2011 22:40 | 2730 Reads | 4 Tweet Count | Leave a Comment

H!P Latest Videos Android Widget

Monday, 23rd May 2011 01:07 | 29 Comments

I got my hands on an Android phone awhile ago and decided that it was about time to get my hands back into Java programming, I haven't really touched it for a good 3-4 years so in an attempt to make the re-learning process that little bit more fun for myself I decided that it would be best to set myself a project on something that interests me and a little bit more cheekily based on some code that I've already done for this site, but a little bit more importantly something that I'll actually use.

Obviously as I'm posting up here it's Hello! Project related app... well techincally it's not an app, it's a widget that'll happily sit on your home screen. It's a reworking of the video list at the top of the page and over at HelloStoreUSA, it does however work in a different way.
The widget shows the latest video uploads from Morning Musume, Berryz Koubou, C-ute, S/mileage, Manoeri and Buono! and send you a notification when a new video has been uploaded and just a little tap of the widget will play the latest video for the particular unit. It's not the worlds most exciting widget, but it does mean that i won't miss any uploads and it also means that I get to have a nice little widget with the H!P girls on it XD
If you want to check out the widget have a look in the Android Market and give it a little download :)
If you have any problems with it please let me know and I'll take a look, but fingers crossed it should just work.


If anyone has any ideas for any future Apps let me know as I'm keen to try and get some more H!P apps out there and if anyone wants to lend a hand again please get in touch, I am officially the worlds worst drawer so anyone who can would be useful ;)

TAGS [ App Berryz Hello!Project Japan Mano Erina Morning Musume PV S/mileage ]
Posted Monday, 23rd May 2011 01:07 | 2095 Reads | 5 Tweet Count | Leave a Comment

10th Generation Auditions Announced

Sunday, 8th May 2011 14:07 | 10 Comments

We've only had the 9th Generation of Morning Musume with us for 5 months, as a unit they're released just one single (with a 2nd one coming out next month) but, it looks like that soon we'll be seeing yet another generation of girls enter into the ranks of Morning Musume as today the announcement was made that the hunt is on for a 10th Generation girls to step up. Applicants are now being accepted at musume-audition.com from today, with it closing on June 10th.


I'm guessing, like most people, when I read this news I was shocked. Obvioulsy the introduction of a 10th gen was going to happen sooner or later, but we've barely had enough time to get to know the 9th gen and now we're told that another lot of girls will be joining up. I'm not saying it's a bad thing, additions to the unit (and obviously the graduations of current members) has always been what has kept the unit interesting, but I am however slightly curious as the reasons behind all of this.

Obviously we have Aichan's graduation coming up later this year, could this announcement be an indication that she might not be the only member to be graduating this year? The audition process is going to last a fair few months and I'd imagine we'd see the new members joining around the time that Ai graduates, so to lose another member would mean that the younger inexperienced 9th and 10th generations would dominate in numbers over the more experienced members, to be fair they'll do that anyway even if no one else graduates, but even if we presume that only one new member joins and one current member graduates, it would be a 3 to 5 ratio. As to whether that's a good or bad thing whose to say, fresh sounds, personalities and looks are always a good thing, but would something like that put too much work on the current older members?
And, not only that you've got the age gap. With the age restriction for the auditions being 10-17 it's going to bring the average age of the group down again and leave the likes of Gaki, Sayu, Reina and potentitally Mittsi depending if they recruit from the lower end of the range looking slightly out of place? And, also one thing I'm sure I'd never be able to get my head around is having a Morning Musume with the majority of members being younger than those in Berryz and C-ute.
There's always the possibility that it's just a good business decision, at a time when the country is recovering from such disaster it's always good to have a distraction that people can get behind and enjoy.

No matter what the reason is behind this sudden announcement, one things for sure, it's something that will no doubt get us all talking and excitied and even if it does turn out that we'll be seeing someone else graduation in the near future, it's never really a bad thing, we all love it really.

TAGS [ Auditions Morning Musume ]
Posted Sunday, 8th May 2011 14:07 | 1562 Reads | 0 Tweet Count | Leave a Comment

Hangry And Angry Attending Paris Japan Expo 2011

Wednesday, 4th May 2011 12:13 | 10 Comments

Yesterday, the Japan Expo in Paris updated their website with some more information about the surprise at h.NAOTO's fashion show, that of the appearance of both Hangry and Angry making an appearance.

As yet the only information that's been put out is that both Yossie and Charmy will be making an appearance at the main stage during the fashion show. There's no mention of whether they'll be any sort of performance/concert or signing with the girls (although h.NAOTO will be doing a signing) but I'm sure given some time and as the schedule for the event becomes available we'll be able to see what else the girls will be up to... as much as I can imagine h.NAOTO wanting them to coming along to help push the brand and get an interest in the fashion label, it seems a bit of a journey for them to just make an appearance at the fashion show? Even when Yossie made an appearance in LA she held a signing session, so fingers crossed at the very least we'll get another chance to go and say "Hi" and get something signed!
Hopefully, we'll see some sort of performance as I do really enjoy a good Hangry and Angry concert! And any reason to go and meet Yossie and Charmy again has to be a good one!

TAGS [ Hangry and Angry Rika Yossie ]
Posted Wednesday, 4th May 2011 12:13 | 1537 Reads | 2 Tweet Count | Leave a Comment

Koi ni Booing Buu! PV

Friday, 15th April 2011 13:56 | 11 Comments

When it comes to skills, making animal noises isn't any Japanese persons strong point. There's some that I'll let them have, a rooster does sound similar to a "kokekokko" and I could be persuaded to belive that a cute little kitten could make a sound like "nyaa nyaa", but at no point can I belive that a pig makes a noise like "buu!". Japan, sort your pig animal noise out!

After waking up one morning and discovering that I did indeed liked a S/mileage song (Onaji Jikyuu de Hataraku Tomodachi no Bijin Mama) I've been looking forward to hearing more songs from them, hoping that it could be that moment like I've had with both Berryz Koubou and C-ute when I realise what I've been missing out on for all this time. So, did S/mileage's latest single Koi ni Booing Buu open my eyes to the potential wonders of the unit? Well...

The concept of the song and the PV certainly appealed to my love of cuteness, an overly cute song, with a strange nose obsession going on, with pigs in the PV and with a cartoon-esque feel to it. Just the thought had me reminising over Koharu and her awesome Hana wo Pu~n! single with Hagiity.
The PV isn't the worlds greatest, but on the grand scale of the Hello! Project PV this is certainly pushing the limits of the norm. It's kind of what I'd imagine a Buono! PV would look like if they decided to get really childish and cute, everything has that overall feeling that a little bit more effort than usual has been put in and even though those little piggy noses and ears look like they cost as much as the Lady GaGa type outfits that Berryz were wearing in the Heroine ni Narouka! PV, they actually look good!
I've still yet to grow any sort of affection to any of the girls within the unit, even in this PV I'm still not totally convinced with them. They're certainly aren't giving me that vide that they're uncomfortable in front of the camera like they used to, but then with this being their 5th major single I'd hope that would be the case by now, but what I do get is this impression that the whole cuteness and interactions is staged. I know that's a silly thing to say as it obviously is, this is a music video and everything will have been planned out to a tee perfectly, but it's like when you watch a bad actor on the TV and you can tell that this is someone trying their hardest to act, but they just can't quite pull it off.

As for the song, well I'm still undecided. When I started this post I was going to be my usual self when it comes to S/mileage and just moan about how I don't like it, but I've had the song on repeat all morning and I just can't figure out whether I like it or not. My opinion literally changes with each listen, one listen and I'll love it and then next I won't. Very odd.
The intro to the song, sounds very promising and much how I described the PV as a Buono! type affair, the song starts off feeling very much the same, a very cute kiddy-fied Buono! song, but then the singing starts and it veers off. It does however get this feeling back when it comes to the chorus and I think it's the intro and the chorus that I'm liking with this song, the verses are lacking that something that these parts have, which is a shame as I'd of probably really liked otherwise. I'm going to keep listening to it and hope that it grows on me some more, but it's a shame that this is probably just going to be another S/mileage which I won't come back to.



CD Release Date : 27 - 04 - 11 DVD Release Date : 11 - 05 - 11

S/mileage - Koi ni Booing Boo! [Regular Edition]


S/mileage - Koi ni Booing Boo! [w/ DVD, Limited Edition / Type A]


S/mileage - Koi ni Booing Boo! [w/ DVD, Limited Edition / Type B]


S/mileage - Koi ni Booing Boo! [w/ DVD, Limited Edition / Type C]


S/mileage - Koi ni Booing Boo! [Limited Edition / Type D]


S/mileage - Single V "Koi ni Booing Boo!"


TAGS [ PV S/mileage ]
Posted Friday, 15th April 2011 13:56 | 1807 Reads | 0 Tweet Count | Leave a Comment

Maji Desu ka Ska! PV

Sunday, 12th April 2011 20:30 | 17 Comments

I've attempted to write this post a few times this weeks and am oddly finding it a struggle to finish, so I've scrapped all that I've previously wrote and am starting afresh and hopefully (and unlike all other attempts at this post) keeping it short and sweet.

It's been some time since I've REALLY been into a Morning Musume song (since about Pepper Keibu... and does that one really count?), but this release has been on a death loop pretty much the whole time I've been at home sat in front of my PC. Sure it's a little repeatitive, but that just makes it even more catchy! It's the kinda of happy, cheesey song I've been longing for.

And although the PV isn't anything new, it's somehow refreshing. The 9th Gen girls are all given a decent amount of lines and screen time and although Aichan is still the main focal point everyone else gets a decent amount of screen time. Ultimatly the PV is fun and energetic and it suits the song perfectly. Also, LOL at Mittsi as an old man, random!

In short, I fucking love Maji Desu ka Ska!.



TAGS [ Morning Musume PV ]
Posted Sunday, 12th April 2011 20:30 | 1552 Reads | 1 Tweet Count | Leave a Comment

*stretches* Time to Start Blogging Again

Friday, 1st April 2011 10:32 | 31 Comments

After months on inactivity on the blog, I thought it was about time to for once and for all start over and get back into the habit. Unfortunately this has also led to a sad realisation on my part, my interest has waned in Hello!Project as a whole. With sites like HelloOnline slowly becoming more AKB related along with the majority of the fans that I talk to, it was only a matter of time before I succumb to them too, and this is the main reason why I've been struggling to post.
A decline in H!P related purchases and an incline in AKB (and KPop, check my other site PTOM to see some of my KPop buys) I've finally thought screw it, let's just do it!
This site has been around for years and over this time I've put a lot of hours into creating features/polls that I've enjoyed doing and want to keep doing, so don't worry they will remain and I'm currently working on a poll that will be ready soon that is similar to the previous Hello!Project ones, but will focus on the AKB girls instead.

I've got a ton of posts that I've got ready to roll out, so over the next few days expect a bombardment of posts going through all my recent buys, time to start blogging more relevant to my interests, Hello!Blog is dead, long live AKBlog!

Just joking :P ...in case anyone missed it click here to see AKBlog



TAGS [ AKB ]
Posted Friday, 1st April 2011 10:32 | 1780 Reads | 2 Tweet Count | Leave a Comment

H!P YouTube Channel Aggregator

Wednesday, 12th January 2011 01:07 | 41 Comments

Ever since the move from :::Dohhh UP!::: to YouTube I've found it hard to keep track of the videos that have been uploaded.
For a start I'm not a big youtube fan, I don't generally browse it for videos and only ever go to the site if I'm linked by someone, and so you can imagine what it's like now that each unit has their own channel.
So, in an attempt to make life easier for myself (and anyone who has a similar problems...well, it would mean you'd have to remember to check this site on a regular basis so I don't know how useful it is LOL) I've thrown a little bar at the top of the site which pulls all of the uploaded videos from all of the official Hello! Project channels and grabs the latest 11, which are then playable by clicking on the thumbs.

Time to watch that S/mileage PV that I missed!! I'll even try to enjoy it ;)

TAGS [ Stuff ]
Posted Wednesday, 12th January 2011 01:07 | 2479 Reads | 2 Tweet Count | Leave a Comment

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