2nd Oct 2008
Out of my great love for AKB Team B member Hirajima Natsumi, aka Nacchan, I recently started up a worship blog dedicated to her, called Summer Sea. The blog’s name comes from the meaning of the kanji characters for her first name, which literally read “natsu” and “umi”, or “summer” and “sea,” respectively. She plays on this fact when she introduces herself using the phrase, “Sparkling greatly like the summer ocean!” (She’s also got “Ganbarinacchan!”, and that’s just pwnage.) So far I’ve been posting mostly pictures and vlogs taken by Nacchan or other AKB members, though I’ve posted a performance video as well, and there will be more soon enough. I hope you’ll all check it out, because this girl deserves your attention.
I also started up a new Youtube account in August, Ganbarinacchan, where I’ve started uploading all of Nacchan’s vlogs from AKB48’s official site, in addition to any other video related to Nacchan or Team B that I may want to upload. (My first upload to this account was a clip of Nacchan doing various tricks (and singing!) on a unicycle in an episode of AKB48+10.) Now when you search Nacchan’s name on Youtube, there are plenty of results. I’ll finish uploading her vlogs soon, so check it out! The wonderful crack of Nacchan’s superior form of intelligence ought to be shared with the world.
Aside from all of this Nacchan love, I’ve got some stuff going on with Wings of My Heart, too. This blog is in need of some serious revamping, and that’s exactly what it’s going to get, very soon. Look out for the upcoming changes, and the new entries that’ll come with them! I, for one, am rather excited about it. =D
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16th Sep 2008
By now, we all know the news that BoA is set to debut in the U.S. Her debut single is called “Eat You Up”, and she has both a Korean and an English version, with different music videos for each. There are previews for both already on Youtube, so now’s as good a time as any to take a look at what she’s putting out there and make some guesses about how she’s going to fare here.
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14th Sep 2008
If you’ve been paying attention, this will surely come as a surprise to you. After all, I’ve been so uninterested in H!P these days, that me suddenly wanting to review the new Berryz album is the last thing even I expected. But here’s the thing: earlier tonight, I was listing to myself the songs from the album that I like, and I found myself naming song after song. While I’m not into the entire album, nor have I fully listened to every song, to be entirely honest, there are a number of songs on the album that I actually like. I feel pretty good being able to say that, with the way I’ve felt about the latest Berryz songs. It’s also great because some of these songs are actually unusually mature for Berryz, and I’d been praying for something more mature by them after all of the immature, kiddie singles they’ve done recently. My wish was actually answered, so I should at least be able to be happy about that, and I kind of am.
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25th Aug 2008
I challenge any of you to give me a reason to keep caring about idols.
I just spent a week at a camp called Camp Rock (in no way affiliated with the Disney Channel movie). For a week I spent my time on music: listening to music, learning music, singing music, and performing music. I got to live my passion for music, singing and performing, without worrying about scandals, or anything else that makes the idol experience a more draining one than an entertaining one far too often. Even the break from attraction was welcome, because I got to forget about that constant longing for a significant other that I’m usually faced with. It was the happiest I’ve been in a long time, and the things that led to that happiness were so simple. Back from camp, the world of idols just looks less and less appealing. Though as much as I want to resist, god, the boys are still hot. But I look at Kikuji down there, and this all becomes quite depressing.
So since there’s plenty of other music out there that doesn’t leave me tearing my hair out in frustration, it’s going to take one hell of a reason to keep me excited about the idol world. I still know the feelings of watching them on stage, and I know that it’s still art and music and performing and there’s passion there, and that’s a beautiful thing, but the fact is that I can have all of that without the stresses of the idol world, and that’s a pretty tempting alternative. Since that alternative is present to all of us, what is it that does make us remain idol fans through all of this? What makes you stay an idol fan? Tell me, because I want to know.
I apologize for all of the negativity about the idol world on this blog recently, but this is a genuine question, and I’ll be curious to see what answers I can get.
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14th Aug 2008
I don’t even feel up for writing this now, but I feel like I have to be timely about responding to it on my blog. But what the hell is the difference, in reality? Kikuchi Ayaka is gone, no longer a member of AKB48. She has all the time in the world now. And I have all the time in the world to miss her.
She had a boyfriend scandal. A purikura picture of her and a boy was leaked to the internet. She kept being absent from shows, and now they’ve announced it that she has been fired. I’m glad I don’t have to sit here waiting and wondering anymore, but at least I was happier then. She hadn’t been kicked out. Now she has, and I’m fucking PISSED. Today was a good day. I bought tickets to Dir en grey’s upcoming concert here in November, I bought my pass for Fan Expo (the convention that CN Anime is a part of), and I didn’t get in trouble for being late for work in order to purchase those tickets. Then I discovered this news and my happy mood flew out the window. I’m obviously still happy that I’m seeing Dir en grey live again (something I’ll be blogging about at Pillow Fight, thank god), but this is really fucking upsetting. I’ve been through this already. Megukami. I’m done with going through this shit. It makes me wish that I wasn’t an idol fan, because this always fucking happens in the idol world, and it’s STUPID. I don’t give a fuck if Kikuji has a boyfriend. I’m happy for her. She’s a great idol and I want to see much more of her. She’s one of my favourite members of my favourite team in AKB48. But now she’s not even a member of the group anymore.
Her picture’s been taken down at the theatre. This photo, along with the way they’re erasing all traces of her existence from their website, puts the lyrics to Against All Odds in my head: There’s just an empty space. There’s nothing left here to remind me, just a memory of your face.
Haachan, Ayarin, Mikachii, Mikipomu B! B! B! WASSHOI!
Hold on to your radio rips of Wasshoi B, because it’s never going to sound the same again.
I fucking miss you, Kikuji. I hope you’ll still go for sleepovers at Nacchan’s.
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3rd Aug 2008
THE Possible’s latest single, “Ijiwaru Crazy Love” (Mean Crazy Love), will be released in a few days, but the PV has already been released. It’s their second major single, and they’ve finally ditched the instruments they were pretending to play for the last three singles and gone back to normal idol dancing. I, for one, am happy about this. The instruments had worn out of their usefulness by their first major single, but they were still there anyway. Ijiwaru is the follow-up to “Kaze no Uwasa” and its promise that I’d been waiting for, and while it’s a fairly cheap PV, admittedly, I am not disappointed. The song and dance are both cool and sexy, the girls look hot, and the lights and random dancing guy in the PV are both cool touches. There’s an almost R&B-like feel to this single, and the girls pulled it off well. I’m impressed.
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31st Jul 2008
Picture credit to the maihaman gallery
I haven’t reviewed anything by THE Possible since “Kaze no Uwasa” last fall. Before that, I recapped everything THE Possible had done so far, and I think such recapping could still be helpful to anyone trying to get into the group. There aren’t a whole lot of blogs that cover them, and people just don’t hear about them enough to care. I’d like to do my part in trying to change that. So instead of just reviewing their latest single, “Ijiwaru Crazy Love”, I’m going to first recap everything they’ve done since Kaze no Uwasa, so we’re all up to speed. If you want to read the previous installments of this little series, as well as my review of Kaze no Uwasa, just hit up THE Possible’s category.
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13th Jul 2008
These song title mash-ups are fun, though the above sounds rather painful. Not quite something I’d enjoy. Anyway, more single previews are out! This time around we have THE Possible’s “Ijiwaru Crazy Love” (or “Mean Crazy Love”) and C-ute’s “Edo no Temari Uta II”. In Posshi’s case, we have a short preview of both song and PV, and in the latter case we have an almost full and rather HQ preview of the song. While I’m here, I should mention how the last two singles I looked at the previews of turned out. Perfume’s “Love the world” isn’t my favourite song or PV by them, but I’m not too upset by that, because you can’t like every single by an artist, and this is only the first time Perfume has disappointed me. Plus, I like the B-side (”edge”) quite a bit, and I don’t dislike Love the world, I’m just a little bored by it. Meanwhile, I’m loving Hey! Say! JUMP’s “Your Seed”. The song sounds better and better to me every day, the Music Station performance was AWESOME, and the PV is alright. Not an amazing PV, but I enjoy it enough. Does this mean I’d enjoy cheap H!P PVs more if I were attracted to girls? Maybe, but those PVs are REALLY cheap. HSJ’s at least looks like some thought was put into it. Anyway, the new previews:
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7th Jul 2008
9nine,
AKB48,
Berryz Koubou,
C-ute,
Dong Bang Shin Ki,
Epik High,
Goto Maki,
Harenchi Punch,
Hello! Project,
Hey! Say! JUMP,
High-King,
Johnny's,
Jpop,
Kamiki Ryunosuke,
Kim Heechul,
Kpop,
Kusumi Koharu,
Morning Musume,
Murakami Megumi,
Perfume,
Personal,
SM Entertainment,
Super Junior,
Super Junior China,
Suzuki Airi,
THE Possible,
TNX,
Viyuuden
My brain has been going a little bit crazy as of late. A combination of not getting out enough and wrapping myself up in a lot of fiction and idol worship, I’d say. Even though I went out to the Pride Parade, Wonderland, and downtown last weekend, I guess the rest of the week’s routine of going to my summer job and spending the rest of my day on the internet has been a bit boring for me. I feel the need to get out as many of my thoughts as possible as a way of dealing with this stir-craziness, so here are my current thoughts on a bunch of fandoms, the things that are making me excited, and the things that are just plain pissing me off.
AKB48’s Shibuya AX concert is being released on a three-disc set…for $160. I was so excited when I heard about the DVD release of this concert, because I was waiting for some info on it for quite awhile. It’s AKB’s first big concert (as opposed to a stage) to feature Team B, Labu-tan is in Hone Hone Waltz, and Meetan is randomly performing Blue Rose in a bikini. How could I resist? Well, now I can. 16800 yen. That’s actually more like $180 when you consider that that’s roughly $168 and you add in shipping. What the fuck is going on here??? The worst part is that they perform virtually every song they had up until March of this year, from Team A stages 1-4, K stages 1-3, and both Himawari stages. This goes beyond my beloved Kinjirareta Futari; this has Rio no Kakumei, for the love of god. And SEISHUN GIRLS. My heart weeps with happiness at the idea of these songs being performed in a big concert, and yet it also weeps with the knowledge that I will never be able to feel okay with myself after spending that kind of money on an idol concert boxed set, so I’m obviously not going to be buying it anytime soon. This sucks, man. Yeah, I can download the concert online, but it still sucks.
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5th Jul 2008
The seasons have changed seven times now since Megukami left Hello! Project. One more season and it’ll be two years since she left, which is CRAZY. It still feels like just the other day that I was trying to write an entry on the one year anniversary of her departure, and eventually gave up for one reason or another. Even the time last summer when I scanned a bunch of An Cafe pictures and compared Bou’s departure from the band to Megukami’s situation feels pretty recent. Time seems to pass more and more quickly as I get older. I still remember crying when I found out she’d left, how I ranted to my best friend when we went dog walking that night, how it felt to open up my copy of Cutie Queen Vol. 1 when it arrived a week or so later and see “C-ute is” and think, “More like ‘C-ute was’.” It really took the first entire year after she left to get over the initial bitterness and hurt; now, while it bothers me less on a regular basis, it still leaves me with a feeling of sadness whenever I think about her and what may have been. And I still don’t quite enjoy C-ute the same way I did before. I don’t think I ever will.
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