May 2009

11 Results Found

Meguru Koi no Kisetsu (Metal Version)

Saturday, 30th May 2009 23:09 | 49 Comments

So after a day of shopping in London (check out ptom.co.uk to see what I bought, new pointless blog I set up) I've returned to find an email with some MP3's attached of C-ute's Meguru Koi no Kisetsu, with the following message...

"Long-time lurker, love your site. Just finished an old-school metal type cover of Meguru Koi no Kisetsu, would be cool if you could tell people about it and maybe make it available for download. I've attached the mp3 and cover file.

My band's name is D-Class but it's really just me doing everything. Tell people that I'm taking requests for what song I should do next if they like it. Song's free to the public, anyone can and should enjoy."

So I opened them up and had a listen, whoah! It certainly fits in with the Iron Maiden DVD I've been watching this evening! What can I say? I'm impressed. I can imagine a huge group of Wota head banging along to this.
Hopefully D-Class will become less of a lurker as I'd love to hear some more songs like this, it really does put a big fat smile on my face every time I've listened to it. And if anyone has any requests post them in the comments section, I'm hoping D-Class will be checking them out. I've embed Meguru Koi no Kisetsu below along with instrumental for everyone to have a listen to and they can be downloaded if you click here.



TAGS [ C-ute Stuff ]
Posted Saturday, 30th May 2009 23:09 | 5721 Reads | 0 Tweet Count | Leave a Comment

Does Neo Magazine Suck Or Is It Just Me?

Wednesday, 27th May 2009 23:13 | 56 Comments

Neo Magazine, what is it with it and it's complete lack of coverage of anything even slightly H!P related?
Ok, I know I'm going to be biased I'm a huge fan of Hello! Project (did anyone guess that already?) but I feel that I have at least a slight justification for my rant.

First off for those that haven't heard of the magazine it's pretty much the only mainstream Asian entertainment magazine aimed at people into Anime, Manga and Asian Music and Film in the UK, it's a magazine that I've been buying on and off since it's first release and it's a magazine that I want so much to like, but I always find myself struggling with it so much. As to why, I'm finding that it's not really covering what I'm into that much any more and when it does the write ups aren't particularly great. There's only so many times I can turn to the News section and see photos of Tokyo Toys, only so many times I can flick through the reviews of Stuff and see Naruto and Bleach Cosplay items and sweets that I've been tucking into for years when I pop into London.
There's also the fact that it always seems behind, take for example this months issue, a feature on the Cutie Honey movie, now understandably they're covering the UK release and as such it's relevant, but the thing that I want from a magazine is something I don't know, perhaps a new slant on an old story, something. But I generally don't find it in there, I've had Cutie Honey for so long that I can't even remember who I've leant it to, it's been around that much. I guess perhaps I'm not the target audience? I mean I like Bleach, Naruto and the like but...

Anyway I'm drifting off of topic, kind of.
The general thing I find with Neo is how it sticks to the same few things, so if it's talking music it'll be JRock and it'll no doubt mention the same handful or artists and groups that they always do. Again not a bad thing, if they're touring the UK then why not, got to do all we can to promote these groups and get the awareness out there, but at the same time I'd love to see a bit of variation. Now again I know I'm biased but I personally feel that H!P for whatever reason doesn't get a look in, and for me I'm really curious as to know why? Is it purely accidental and they're not aware of them? Is it more of a concious effort and there not in there for a reason?
It's a hard one to call, could it be that they simply don't think that there's an audience for them over here and no one who reads the magazine would be interested in them? Perhaps what Chris mentions in an a previous post (Chris' Corner) has something to do with it? As much as Neo tries to stand the middle ground between the more mature side of the Japanese culture and the happy pop culture side, I feel that it doesn't really do such a great job it's generally to light, what we need is a magazine crossed between Neo and Bizarre. Perhaps the questions that H!P bring up aren't something that Neo want brought up in the magazine? *shrugs* I don't know it just seems odd that the only mentions that I've ever read in the magazine are so trivial (a little moan about UFA and the Kago incident and a brief review of Yo Yo Girl Cop) and now with the review of Rhythm Paradise.

Sitting on the train home flicking through it I came across the review and thought to myself "wicked there's got to be a Tsunku mention in there somewhere", nope, not a thing. You would of thought that with a Japanese music based game that's apparently SO original you would have mentioned the famous producer that helped with making it?
Now I know it's not really a biggy but I can't help but moan, this is after all a magazine about Japanese culture right? So why would a magazine reviewing a Japanese game where one of Japanese most well known music producers help produce alongside Nintendo not get a single mention? I know I'm making a big deal out of this, but if GAME feel the need to mention it in the product description how come Neo a magazine aimed at people into this kind of culture that would I imagine find this to be of at least some interest not mention it at all?
I don't know, it bugged me, rant over. Credit where credits due and all that...

TAGS [ Stuff Tsunku♂ ]
Posted Wednesday, 27th May 2009 23:13 | 10508 Reads | 0 Tweet Count | Leave a Comment

Seishun Bus Guide/Rival Full PVs

Wednesday, 27th May 2009 22:10 | 17 Comments

The :::Dohhh Up!::: server has always been slow, especially when there's a new PV up but I don't know if it was just me, but with the release of both of the PVs for Berryz Koubou's latest double A side single it seemed even worse than usual. With Seishun Bus Guide I was stuck for about 5 minutes with only the first 12 seconds loaded in and with Rival I wasn't even able to load the page in until I'd got home from work, damn those time-out errors. As much as it can add to the whole anticipation of sitting down and watching the video I'd really love for whoever's in charge of the server to beef it up a bit, pleeeeeease, it's a real pain sometimes.

So with Berryz having a double A side release my main worry was how this was going to affect the PVs for each? Could this be a case of H!P spreading the budget on one dance orientated PV over into two? It would be a damn shame if that was the case as Berryz seem to be having a good run with PVs lately, aside from Buono! they're PVs have to be some of the most entertaining and original compared to the other PVs that come out from other units. There's always more personality in their PVs and generally a little bit of tongue cheek as well. Both in my books are great points and really add to the overall outcome of a PV.
So starting with Seishun Bus Guide, I have to say I had my worries even before I heard the song or saw the PV, the name worried me and just conjured up images of what I can only describe as something a little childish. Although their songs and PVs are hardly the most mature lately they've all been great fun to listen to and watch, I guess the cause of my worry was that I had Minimoni Bus Guide on the brain when I heard the title and as much as I love Mini Moni they're unique in their sound and the thought of Berryz doing something similar actually quite worried me. But thankfully they're two completely different sounding songs.
As I said previously when I saw this up on :::Dohhh Up!::: I was straight on there trying to watch and although I only had the first 12 seconds loaded I can say that that brief amount that I had seen was probably the most excited I've been in a long while with a H!P release. First off it didn't start straight into the song, I'd watched only a fraction and the main focus of what I'd seen wasn't on the Berryz girls, an odd thing to get excited about I know surely they should always the main attraction right? But instead the focus is on the Bus Guide, from what I understand is TV announcer on TV Tokyo, Ooe Mariko.
Already this had my interest, unlike the other people that have starred in Berryz recent PVs odd vicious looking white office workers and bizarrely dressed 70's Germans, this was something that felt like it was more of an effort, not that I'm complaining about the other PVs they're awesome too, but this has to be a good PV as it's not purely something to purely push the unit if there's a current celebrity (I wonder how much of a celebrity a TV announcer can be? hmmm) in there. So sitting back I resisted the urge to watch the PV in sporadic bursts and sat back and waited for it to load in.
Obviously following the success of the amazing sexiness that oozed from the C-ute girls dressing up up in Reservoir Dog style suits in Forever Love the thought of doing the same with the Berryz girls seems kind of obvious here, but unfortunately I don't think they pull the look off anywhere near as well, but it does add a much needed element to the story line of the PV....yep, that's right a sodding H!P PV (excluding Buono! PVs of course) that has something that could be considered a story line!!! It's a very simple idea but it works in such a great way and in a way that I know is going to appeal so many fans, not only for the humour but because of the nature of it. Simply put all the girls have the hots for the Bus Guide, not overly complicated and in no way serious, it's just an excuse to have some humorous fun with the girls dressed up as guys as they try to impress and perv the woman they're all crushing on.
The thing that really had me laughing whilst watching this PV was when Yurina pulled out the SUPER CAMERA to take a quick snap, it reminded me of my first visit to Japan, walking outside Harajuku station and seeing an attractive girl sitting on the station platform in such a position where we got an eyeful straight up the tiny skirt she way wearing, me and Chris joked at the photo opportunity we were missing only to see a strange old Japanese guy come running up to the fence in front of us with his SUPER CAMERA snapping snapping away...if I'd only for a set of the prints ;p


Being extremely impressed with Seishun Bus Guide, my thoughts went to Rival, how would this compete a good song and a highly entertaining PV? Surely H!P couldn't pull off two good songs with equally great PVs?...Do you know what, they can and they bloody well did!
And although this is more of a traditional H!P PV it takes a hint from the likes of previous singles like Yuke Yuke Monkey Dance and adds more to it than just your standard dance shots and close up sections. There's that humour in there that makes me think that I could sit down and rewatch these PVs over and over again and never get bored.
The song is a lot more upbeat and lively than Bus Guide and in my opinion the better sounding of the two, I like the cheery jumpyness of it, it's certainly a help of a lot more catchier.
As much as I love the song I again find myself drawn to the PV and how great it is, first off the girls look a hell of a lot better (even compared to when they were in their PVC space bus guide suits) the clothes worn seem to be in a similar style to those worn in their previous single, a lot more mature and fashionable than a monkey suit I guess....The only real complaint with the outfits worn is that Chinami didn't steal Risako's dress, a little short dress showing off Chinami's dress, it could have been the best PV ever!
But the wanting of a little bit more of Chinami's legs aside, there's not really any complaint I can say about this PV, infact the only thing I can say about it has to be one of the best compliments I could give a H!P PV, in that it reminds me a lot of a Buono! PV. The bright colours, the fun had by the girls, mad guitar playing and the cross between a pop and a more rockier sound.



CD Release Date : 03 - 06 - 09    DVD Release Date : 17 - 06 - 09


Now, the worry is which version to buy? It would have been a simple task to do if one of the PVs were of a poor quality, but with them both being up there what am I to do? It wouldn't be too much of a problem if they were a reasonable price, but at £12.90 each (from YesAsia) I'm finding it hard to justify spend £25 on two version of the same single with the only difference being the PV, I have to say that at the moment more so than ever being a H!P fan is very hard when it comes to spending your cash, come on you damn pound sort yourself and make these things reasonably priced again!!

Berryz Koubou - Seishun Bus Guide/Rival Regular Edition
CDJapan | YesAsia

Berryz Koubou - Seishun Bus Guide/Rival Limited A DVD Edition (Seishun Bus Guide PV)
CDJapan | YesAsia

Berryz Koubou - Seishun Bus Guide/Rival Limited B DVD Edition (Rival PV)
CDJapan | YesAsia

TAGS [ Berryz PV ]
Posted Wednesday, 27th May 2009 22:10 | 5257 Reads | 0 Tweet Count | Leave a Comment

Chris' Corner

Monday, 25th May 2009 20:48 | 75 Comments

Hello Hello Project fans The Chris here, it's been a while since I have taken the floor to talk to you all and offer my view on the world of fandom you all belong to.

Several complaints where made over my last post in regards to wanting to physically harm a member of H!P. Despite explaining that it wasn't meant literally, it was in fact what we call a turn of phrase, still people where upset. I apologise and assure people that I would not physically harm her in anyway. I would in fact much rather watch 10,000 rabid wild house cats do the job for me, or a small person sized meteor, or a falling tree, or a . . . . . . . . I could go on for days. Oh and for reference "Moon face" still has a moon face.

With that cleared up lets get down to several issues at hand.

Firstly the poll results. Again Eri Kamei did not finish first. As many of you are well aware I care very little for the world of H!P, indeed I fail to understand it for many reasons some of which I will discuss here shortly, but for Eri Kami not to be number one is simply wrong.
She is by far the most attractive member. I would like to see a more concerted effort next year on everyone's part to ensure she finishes in at least 2nd place next year. Please don't make me hack the database, let's try and do this fairly. We argued over this last time and I will not stand for it again.

Next Paul's pillow, oh dear. I cannot possible understand what the purpose of this item is, I would like to point out that in Japan they are refereed to as "love pillows" although Paul chose to refer to it as a body pillow. It is wrong is in so very very many ways I cannot even begin to describe and don't get me started on Paul's comments . . . . . I open this up for discussion.

Ahhhhh and now the moment some of you have been waiting for since my last post. My take on the wonderful world of photobooks. After my last post I had lots of very intelligent comments from members of the community and I wish to discuss them further. You see it isn't the act of purchasing or owning photobooks (and photos for that matter) that I find strange. I collect Japanese design magazines, a very expensive interest and I have an unhealthy love of Japanese fashion (even more expensive). There is nothing wrong with being super in to something.
It is the denial of the sexual aspect of these books that I find strange. Perhaps as a fan you don't see it? However as a non-fan I find there to be a sexual undercurrent in all the photobooks I have looked at and I can assure you all that many if not all of the male Japanese fans buy them for that reason. I have spent enough time in Japan to know this believe me. Perhaps as Western fans there is an interest in the whole hobby from a cultural aspect, it is different from pop culture we are exposed to as a result buying photobooks is just simply an extension of this and no real thought goes in to it?
All I know is that I look at photobooks of Eri Kami for one reason and one reason only, she is hot and I want to see her in varying states of undress. I will look forward to the comments discussing this.

Next the monkey song, I have never hated something so much in all my life. For weeks Paul was playing varying clips and different PVs of this song. I literally couldn't take anymore. It is simply awful. We live in a world that has graced us with Miles Davis, Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles and so many talented musicians I could go on for days and what do I get to listen to every night for two weeks, the monkey song.
I could cry just thinking back about those days, it broke me.

Anyway with that out of the way I will say that I am sorry I didn't get to meet any of you in person in Sweden. I had got lots of photos of myself ready to sign as well . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

I would also like to take this opportunity to say what a thoroughly nice bunch of people the folks are over at the International Wota irc room that can be found on the Rizon network at irc.rizon.net / #wotachat. I was in there spying on Paul and I must say they where all very welcoming and pleasant.

I hope you have all enjoyed my point of view and not too much offence has been caused, if you wish to discuss any of the points raised I will try to respond in the comments below.

Until next time.

The Chris

TAGS [ Chris Kamei Stuff ]
Posted Monday, 25th May 2009 20:48 | 15992 Reads | 0 Tweet Count | Leave a Comment

A Crappy Week

Thursday, 21st May 2009 22:02 | 34 Comments

Ever had one of them weeks where things just don't go right? This is one of them weeks, hence the complete lack on any posts. I can't complain that it hasn't been uneventful, but unfortunately it's been all the ways that I'd gladly given anything for it to have been a completely quiet week with nothing going on. I've managed to lose a ton, a great friend, a whole heap of cash and sleep. I'm actually quite impressed (and to be honest a little scared) about my lack of sleep this week, the most I've had in one night is 3 hours, but each morning I've been oddly jumping up wide awake and ready for another day of fun filled work :(
And finally today to top it all off it looks like I won't be heading out to Sweden, I've just got off the phone with the people I booked it with and have cancelled everything. Not so much of a big deal as the main reason I was going was to see Buono! and with the Expo cancelled and Buono! obviously not coming over the only real incentive was the break and as much as I really need one work has to come first, which totally sucks! I'm slightly tempted to head down to the Expo in London this weekend, but I don't think I will, amongst other things I just don't think I'll have the time :(

But, and there is a but! All of this has put one thing in to perceptive for me, I need a break, I need to meet up with some like minded people, I need a good drink, I NEED TO GO TO THE LA ANIME EXPO 2009!!!!! After weeks (or is it months now?) or saying I'll wait and see how much I spend on my car, I'll wait and see if I'm moving, I'll wait and see what over excuse I've given, I've decided to fuck everything off and just go for it. So come next Wednesday I'll have everything booked and ready :)

Another part of my frustration the past couple of weeks is the urge I've had to watch Ayaya's Alo Hello DVDs, for some reason one night a couple of weeks ago I just had to buy them, my mind was set on one thing and one thing alone, Aya in a bikini!! Having some CDJapan vouchers I decided what better way to spend them (along with copies of Buono!'s My Boy and Manoeri's otome no Inori). So I ordered them and I waited....and waited....and waited....and waited. And they eventually turned up this morning. The strange thing that I'm not totally sure about and has pissed me off a bit is the VAT charges I've had to pay on top, with the order coming in two separate shipments each under a total of £20 thanks to my vouchers I wasn't expecting to pay anything extra, but I don't know if this is correct or not, the shipping order (or whatever it's called) has a different value to that of that invoice. So although I paid 2200 Yen for one package I was charged as if I had spend 6900 Yen :S
But anyway, for the minute I don't care it's another thing to get put at the back of mind for the next few days, damn work! But, I am feeling a great relief, as I'm writing this I've put on Aya's 1st Alo Hello. Aya in tight short shorts running around the Hawaiian Hello! Project Store, suddenly things seems a lot better and I know things are going to get better the more I watch this, as I'm hoping that this DVD contains some making of footage of some of my favourite H!P photos, in particular Aya on the beach in that Kellogg's shirt *drools*



TAGS [ Ayaya Buono! Mano Erina Stuff ]
Posted Thursday, 21st May 2009 22:02 | 5120 Reads | 0 Tweet Count | Leave a Comment

3,2,1 BREAKIN'OUT OPV (Crap Ver.)

Friday, 15th May 2009 15:35 | 29 Comments

Finally I have proof that I do do something in work, as to how productive it is who's to say but at least I have something to show for the hour when I was sat bored doing a server install. Although I'm not entierly sure my boss would agree with me XD

All I can do is apologise, this is a bored stumble in the dark attempt whilst I figured out how to use Adobe Premiere. But then anything with Castle Grayskull, the dancing body of MC Hammer and the head of The Hoff in it has to be at least worth posting up right? Now where's my 390,000 Yen? ;p



TAGS [ Morning Musume PV Stuff ]
Posted Friday, 15th May 2009 15:35 | 15319 Reads | 0 Tweet Count | Leave a Comment

3,2,1 BREAKIN'OUT OPV Competition

Friday, 15th May 2009 01:13 | 63 Comments

With Hello Project's spread to the West things seem to always be getting that little bit more exciting...well aside from the Sweden thing...BOOOOO!!! But that aside we can't complain, the whole LA Expo is turning into quite the event to go to. What started off as just (lol, JUST) a Morning Musume performance has turned into something so much more.
With Tsunku not only attending the event but also taking part as a judge for the AX Idol Event, it's going to make so many dreams that us fans have come true, you'll get to see Morning Musume perform, actually get to meet them and get autographs, stand in front of Tsunku and let rip with your vocal talent (or lack of) and without the usual restraint the H!P auditions normally have, for a change us guys won't need to act as if it's a Saturday night and get dressed up in a favourite ladies clothes, we can head out like any regular day in our manly jeans and koha tshirt, lol no doubt in some cases it'll be more like black robe, ginger wig and mahoosive plastic sword ;p
But now with this 'Create a OPV' competition that they're having there's even more fun to look forward to as the announcement will be made at the Expo. I'd imagine that they'll turn the whole thing into a little event, get all the girls in a big TV, watch a few of the fan made OPVs throw some comments around about them and declare a winner. And the lucky winner gets a whole bundle of prizes, 390,000 Yen, s congrats message from the girls and for it to be featured on a future UFA release...I'm excited and I have zero chance of winning lol!

So, for those that haven't seen it yet, the Official Morning Musume MySpace page can be found here, there's also a link to a ton of material to work with to make the OPV which can be found here, there's 82 video clips for you to download and have a mess around with, ranging from group dances, individual dances and random clips of the girls pretending to fall over :S
Now personally I struggle with using Photoshop to do anything creative, so the thought of creating a PV pretty much freaks me out. Not so much the editing, I've got rough idea how you do it and in a worse case scenario I'll invite my mate round who writes and films short films to show me how it's done, but I'll certainly struggle with the whole background thing, again removing the green (no idea what the technical term is) is a straight forward(ish) task but what to put in the background, my drawing talents aren't particularly great and my animations skills are worse, so I've no idea what I'll knock up...but I really want to knock up something. As that saying goes "it's not the winning, it's the taking part"



TAGS [ Morning Musume PV Tsunku♂ ]
Posted Friday, 15th May 2009 01:13 | 7947 Reads | 0 Tweet Count | Leave a Comment

Omakase Guardian Full PV

Thursday, 14th May 2009 02:13 | 37 Comments

Ever since we stopped getting releases from Athena & Robikerots I've felt a gap missing, I loved the unit the songs were great as were the PVs but specifically I loved the members within the unit. Specifically I was loving seeing more of both Mittsi and Nakki and when the anime came to an end and the unit was no more I have to admit to being a little upset, sure they'll be around in both of their units but they won't receive as much attention as they would do within this smaller unit and they're two members that I'd love H!P to give more attention to (PBs!! they both need PBs!!!) so obviously I've been looking forward to watching the PV to this release.
Outside of Buono! the releases for Shugo Chara! Anime haven't been great, don't get me wrong they haven't been bad just comparatively to Buono!'s release. Shugo Chara Egg!'s release were OK, but the PVs left me hoping for a bit more. And I think with Guardians 4 we're that step closer to finding something to match the power that is Buono!
Much like Shugo Chara Eggs release the style of music is pretty much the complete opposite to what we'd expect from a Buono! release, it's a lot more childishly fun sounding compared to the others more matured pop/rock sound.
Omakase! Guardian is straight away a catchy song with a tune that's repetitive in a great way and had me humming along on my first listen and with the line of great voices within the unit it all adds to a great sounding song, plus we get some super cute "YAYs" throughout :)

I can imagine that some people are going to be to keen on the PV for this release, it's totally cheesy and cheap. We have what looks like a Lego stadium which the camera zooms in on, we then get close up shots of the girls dancing/singing/cheering within a similar looking location to the section zoomed in on by the camera, so there's nothing particularly fancy about it. But I'm a big fan of cheesiness in all it's forms so I'm loving this PV, from the tacky looking stadium to the amusing cheers scenes, I LOVE IT!
The dance shots aren't that great but the outfits worn really make up for these sections and give me a great opportunity to oggle Mittsi who's just looking too good lately, weighing up the short hair against the long extensions she's had lately and it's quite a tough choice to decide on which I prefer as she's able to pull off both amazingly well, I'm thinking short though certainly within this PV it totally suits her.



CD Release Date : 27 - 05 - 09    DVD Release Date : 10 - 06 - 09


Guardians 4 - Omakase Guardian Regular Edition
CDJapan | YesAsia

Guardians 4 - Omakase Guardian Limited Edition With DVD
CDJapan | YesAsia

Guardians 4 - Omakase Guardian Single V
CDJapan | YesAsia

TAGS [ Guardians 4 PV ]
Posted Thursday, 14th May 2009 02:13 | 8001 Reads | 0 Tweet Count | Leave a Comment

This here's the Rubber Duck, you gotta copy on me Love Machine?

Tuesday, 12th May 2009 11:05 | 39 Comments

After writing the post about the H!P Trucker Caps I was quietly confident with me not really being a hat person and not been overly taken with any of the designs, that I'd be passing on them. But me being the weak willed person I am when it comes to anything H!P related I caved when Gina messaged me saying she could get me one from a friend in Japan.
So I'm now the proud owner of a Miyabi cap and not only that but my first piece of actual Miyabi merchandise. Aside from the odd photo with her in, either Berryz or Buono! related, I don't actually own anything of hers. It actually got me thinking that I really do need to start expanding my collection outside of the members that I always buy, it's obviously a tough choice to make as getting merchandise from your favourite members always comes first.
I'm not sure if I'll wear the cap, I still don't think think that hats in general suit me but with the sun coming out more and more who knows I might end up wearing it? But if I don't it looks really cool sitting on my table in my bedroom :)



TAGS [ Miyabi ]
Posted Tuesday, 12th May 2009 11:05 | 5237 Reads | 0 Tweet Count | Leave a Comment

Shouganai Yumeoibito Full PV

Saturday, 9th May 2009 16:13 | 24 Comments

I have to say that I'm fairly excited about this single, which is a very nice surprise as with the past few Morning Musume releases (with the exception of Pepper Keibu) I've been left disappointed, with the PV and to a certain extent the songs themselves. In most cases the songs have grown on me and I've had to admit that I've liked them. The packaging is also something else that I've taken a real dislike to lately, I'm a fan of extras I like that something extra that they throw in for the fans and when that extra is a piss poor version of a PV that I'm not overly keen on the begin with I tend to become annoyed. You may have noticed that I haven't posted about my copy of Naichau Kamo and that's mainly because I didn't want to make a post that was going to consist mainly of me moaning...that and the fact that I've only recently installed my scanner on my new laptop lol.

So why am I excited? Well, I'm not going to get straight to the point and that's the PV. I think it's still far from the kind of PV that I'd like to see, it's still slightly on the boring side, but it's different and anything different is always good, well, I say it's different it's not particularly it's just that it features less dance shots and more random shots. It's not going to surprise me when I get copies in the post to find a version of the PV that I would have normally expected. I'm still waiting for that Morning Musume PV that's going to blow my socks off, in comparison this one made me sit up and take notice but that's about it.
It goes without saying that the girls look good throughout with the dance section being particularly good, the outfits look amazingly sexy I'm love Koha in those boots and Mittsi with the hair extensions.
There's the added bonus that I found that I didn't have to give the song a few listens to get into it, it's certainly a different sound to their most recent singles and one that I really like. I wouldn't say that it's catchy or even that it stuck in my head at any point but it was a very enjoyable listen and a song that I know I'll be coming back to over and over again to listen to on my trips into work of a morning.

But it's when I look through the versions of this release that it gets me back on my usual downer when it comes to their releases lately and that's the lack of a decent Limited version. Well I say that, I know I'm jumping the gun as I've no idea what features on either of the Limited DVDs but I've yet to come across a Limited Release with 2 DVDs that I've really liked, maybe with this release I will? I certainly feel a lot better about this release, the PV, the song and the covers all make this look really appealing, so who knows maybe the DVDs will be of a decent quality and give us something other than just a couple of average PVs?
Oh, and whilst I have it on my mind, the covers of these CDs, WOW! Aside from the fact that there's just so much leg on display how good do they look? All in all, I have to say that I'm really looking forward to this release, which makes me very very happy!

And those people lucky enough to live in the US now have the added bonus of being able to order the single in it's Regular Edition CD format from JapanFiles, although the price is only slightly cheaper than getting it from YesAsia (by about a dollar) I'm guessing the delivery time should be quicker and the simple show of support could mean that more releases are released through them, which can only be a good thing.



CD Release Date : 13 - 05 - 09    DVD Release Date : 20 - 05 - 09


Morning Musume - Shouganai Yumeoibito Regular Edition
Amazon | CDJapan | JapanFiles | YesAsia

Morning Musume - Shouganai Yumeoibito Limited A Edition With DVD
Amazon | CDJapan | YesAsia

Morning Musume - Shouganai Yumeoibito Limited B Edition With DVD
Amazon | CDJapan | YesAsia

Morning Musume - Shouganai Yumeoibito Single V
Amazon | CDJapan | YesAsia

TAGS [ Morning Musume PV ]
Posted Saturday, 9th May 2009 16:13 | 5207 Reads | 0 Tweet Count | Leave a Comment

Hello!Project 2009 Poll Results Continued

Saturday, 2nd May 2009 02:10 | 181 Comments

First up, apologise for the delay in posting about this, it took quite awhile longer than I had originally intended.
Have you ever had one of them moments where you overlook the most obvious thing? Well when I first started splitting everything off by country and gender, I was doing it by hand. I'd totalled up the results and began forming the images, you can probably guess how long it was taking to do, organising that many images by hand...killer. It wasn't until the start of the week (I think) when it suddenly occurred to me that the code I use to generate the images for the individual users can be altered to display the individual countries and gender. I have no idea why this idea didn't cross my mind earlier, it's not like it's anything unusual as it's what I've done in the past polls. I guess the fact that the individual results only show 10 votes rather than the whole thing...oh well, after realising this it took me a night to get them all up and displaying. Don't I feel like an idiot :S
The other problem I've had is how to actually display these results, because there's so many of them it was so hard to organise them in away which didn't take up that much room and was easily comparable to theo ther results. In the end I created one HUGE image, you won't be able to see them all on the screen in one go, but it's the best I could do, lol the scroll bar is your friend ;p

So the first thing to look at in a little bit more detail is how the sex is split up through the age ranges. I only realised once I had put the up the poll that I had intended in looking a bit deeper into the whole age range aspect of the poll, and instead of doing via a range to offer actually selected a specific age, as although these results tell us the range I'd really love to see which actual age features the largest fan base. Oh well, something for me to do on the next poll.


Comparing the results of this year age range and sex against last years (Poll Results Continued), it's good to see that not much has actually changed (lol, sorry the graph isn't as attractive as last years). The female fan base is still larger than male and after seeing these last year the surprise of this isn't as much, in fact I was anticipating that this would happen, it's not like much will change in a year.
The results are extremely similar, with the teen range being the most popular and with the girls being in the majority within that range, followed by the 20's with the guys just taking the lead in this area. I wonder if this was reflected at Hangry and Angry's appearance and in the upcoming Morning Musume appearance in LA?


Moving onto the countries, I'm still surprised to see that the poll spans so many countries. It's good to see that this year that this year that it's spanned over into the asian countries as it really gives us a chance to compare the results. Previous results have had votes from countries such as China etc, but not in as much quantity. Again, I have to thank Kelly for posting it up on the forums and writing instructions on how it all works. I'm still a little disappointed with the Japanese votes, as I'd really of loved to get a more as that's where most of the fans reside, but I can't complain 102 votes is certainly impressive and gives us a good idea of how they vote.


If you click on the image above you'll be taken to a more readable image (the image itself is fairly large so you made need to be patient whilst it downloads as it's just under 6mb).
Because of how large the end image would have been I decided to limit the amount of countries shown in the image above to those with over 100 votes, if anyone wants to see a country not shown, just leave a comment and I'll generate the image and upload it for you.
For the most part I find the results to be fairly unsurprising, with Aichan coming out top in the majority of the results. The most interesting result I think has to be the UKs with Junjun and Linlin coming out on top. I can say that I totally wasn't expecting that. Lol, is Gina building up an army of UK based Junjun fans ;p
There's been some talk in the previous post about the results (Hello!Project 2009 Poll Results) as to how accurate these results are and as to whether there was multiple votes. The only thing I can say with this is that I do my very best to ensure that all multiple votes are removed from the final results, that's not to say that some can't slip through. And I'd just like to explain how I sort through these results. In an attempt to try and limit multiple votes I use the email addresses as a basis of validating and limiting votes. By storing the email address I'm able to limit it to one vote per address, and then with the sending out of the image codes I can then keep track as to which address is valid any bounce backs are then removed from the final results. And a search is then done pulling up any multiple posts from the same machine and any glaringly obvious multiple votes are again removed. So although the results might not be 100% accurate I can assure I do my best to make sure they are as accurate as possible.
I'm actually really pleased to look through all of the country and gender results and see that the Top 10 for all of them don't just contain Morning Members, sure they take up most of the top 10 but it's really great to see that some of the other members are appearing in there to, most noticeably Airi, Miyabi and Maimi it's good to see that the fan base is supporting all the units.

Right, that's it for me, I'm off to bed. Been a long day and I'm sure I've managed to catch the piggy flu, I feel like complete crap. Let's just hope I don't start snorting :S

TAGS [ Hello!Project Stuff ]
Posted Saturday, 2nd May 2009 02:10 | 48553 Reads | 0 Tweet Count | Leave a Comment