Request: Yugin - Fate

Yeah, I'm currently looking for the single of the current opening song to Ainori, 'Fate' by Yugin. Anyone happen to have this? xDD
It's their debut single, or at least their major debut single. I've been searching for like, two days straight for this single (it came out yesterday, I basically spent almost all of yesterday evening searching), but I've pretty much only ended up with tons of Japanese ringtone sites and blogs talking about the PV...
Here's the short version used in Ainori- I can't find the full PV, I watched it on Youtube like two weeks ago but it disappeared...

(on a side note, Ainori is addicting. Seriously, it is. Sadly, AZN Television is spamming this drama Galileo for the next three weeks so there's no Ainori on American television. Guess it's motivation for me to watch the subs.)


I seriously don't know why I didn't pre-order this. I definitely meant to...even if I order it tomorrow, which I probably will, it'll take a while before it even ships in order to get it in stock (along with the other things in my order) and then it'll take forever to ship...

Honto no Jibun US release, again...

Ok, I talked with my friend, she looked at the Newtype article and says that it doesn't mention anything about a US release. There's an article (apparently it calls them "lovely ladies", haha) and a little box showing 'their latest single' according to Sarah (I'm assuming she's talking about Honto no Jibun), but it only says "Now available in Japan" or something along those lines.
I'm going to grab the issue this weekend at the book store (along with the February Shoujo Beat- it's a j-music special issue) just to make sure, but until then, or until an official source pops up stating that it really is going to be released in the US, I'm calling this just a RUMOR. (Damn.)

This isn't the first time I've seen this type of info pop up, there was this one guy that repeatedly added "info" about the supposed "release of the Morning Musume 10th Anniversary album into the US" onto the ThePPN Wiki article. Of course, that ended up being false (sadly)...


While I am considering this a rumor at this point, I wouldn't totally give up quite yet. You never know...

Honto no Jibun US release...maybe.

Honto no Jibun US Release

So, according to Hello! C-ute (someone added this info to ThePPN Wiki, which is where I first heard about this, then I spent about a half-hour searching online for more info), Honto no Jibun is being released in the US in February.
BUT.
I'm really skeptical about this. Apparently it's to promote the US release of the Shugo Chara anime. However...I can't find ANY INFORMATION AT ALL about Shugo Chara even being licensed in the first place. Even if it was licensed now, the anime wouldn't air for a while- so why would the theme song be released in February?
The only thing I can find that says ANYTHING about the anime being in the US is the English Wikipedia page, which categorizes the Shugo Chara article as "Cartoon Network" and "2008 Television Debuts", but it doesn't have any info about the actual licensing. The Cartoon Network site never mentions it, and a google search doesn't turn up an English official site or anything.
Also, I can't find anything official mentioning a US release of Honto no Jibun...

SO, is this all a total rumor? I want this to be true, haha. XD Except maybe the actual licensing of the anime, that can wait until it finishes in Japan, cause otherwise I'm worried the sub group will drop the series. D:


EDIT: I heard that this was apparently announced in this month's issue of Newtype USA, and I checked on the Newtype website and they do have a Buono article in the music section of the issue! I don't have access to the issue, there's no way I can get to a bookstore until the weekend (damn boarding school), BUT I'm calling up my friend who bought the issue when we went to Tokyo Kid last weekend. Hopefully she'll be home, I'll get her to check for me~

[scans] Japanese fashion magazine (or something) KERA vol. 112 (Nov. 2007)

I went to Tokyo Kid yesterday with a $150 gift certificate, and along with some manga and candy, I picked up a Japanese magazine they were selling. Typically they don't have any Japanese magazines, so I had no idea what this actually was, but Kamiki Aya was on the cover and there was a list of names on the right side of the cover which included Buono!- so I assumed it was a j-pop magazine and immediately bought it.
(Thinking back, if I had bothered to try and read the other stuff on the cover, I probably would have realized that this was like a fashion magazine instead. But then I probably would have bought it anyway because of Buono!, lol. xD)
So yeah, it's a fashion magazine. It's from November, I have no idea why it was still out there, but w/e. xD
I actually had a lot of fun looking through it even though I don't really care about fashion and stuff. Some of it was kinda crazy and weird, like who the hell would ACTUALLY wear some of this stuff. =P
So anyway, I decided to go through and scan a couple of pages- just the ones with people that I've actually heard of, haha. xD Basically, that means Kamiki Aya (who's on the cover), Buono!, and Shirota Yuu, who I didn't even notice was in the magazine at first (I totally don't know the kanji for his name so I didn't see it on the cover or ToC) but then I was flipping through and he was just like THERE. xD

So, yeah, here are the scans. Sorry for the not-so-good quality of some of them. I seriously don't know what's up with my scanner.











...I used to totally dislike Shirota Yuu. I think it's cause my very first introduction to Tenimyu (well, technically the live-action movie) was a picture of him playing Tezuka and of course I had the initial "EW IT LOOKS SO WEIRD IN LIVE-ACTION DDD:" reaction. And I still think he looks weird and nerdy as Tezuka. But after seeing pictures of him -not- playing Tezuka, he's not that bad. xD

Fuji Shuusuke & Tezuka Kunimitsu upcoming single!

Wow, I really need to check this site more often! I thought that site was old and wasn't updated anymore because they stopped listing the PoT CD releases in mid-2005 (all of the releases after that are listed on the Index Music site or w/e). But I looked on the main page of that site today and saw a news item just added today...
So then I checked the news page to see what type of news they showed, and guess what? ANOTHER NEW SINGLE! 8D

And GUESS WHAAAAT??
THIS IS THE 200TH PRINCE OF TENNIS CD!

★テニプリＣＤ記念すべき２００タイトル目発表！（1/4）

タイトル：未定（初回生産完全限定盤）
アーティスト：不二周助＆手塚国光
発売日：２００８年２月２９日（金）
品番：ＮＥＣＭ－１２１５６
価格：￥１，２００（税込）

My attempt at an English translation, I didn't really know the first line but after using an online translator, a dictionary, and some rewording, I think I got the main point across...>_>

* Tenipuri CD 200th title commemoration announcement! (1/4)

Title: TBA (first-press limited release)
Artist: Fuji Shuusuke & Tezuka Kunimitsu
Release date: 2008.02.29 (Friday)
Catalog number: NECM-12156
Price: 1,200 yen (including tax)

WHEE, another duet! So far there have been three duet singles- first was Type wa D! by Ooishi and Eiji from Seigaku, second was Rakuen e by Chinen and Rin from Higa, and third was TRICK, FAKE, or TRUTH by Yanagi and Niou from Rikkai. I guess this one's the fourth in the series...though unlike the previous singles' pairs, Tezuka and Fuji have never played doubles together.
Initially the release date confused me- first because I was like "what the hell? February 29th?" but then I realized it was a leap year this year. >> Second, because YET AGAIN it's a weird release day, but it's Friday this time.
So that initially confused me because there ISN'T any special event happening on the 29th (as far as I know), but then I realized-
IT'S THE LEAP YEAR.
Fuji's birthday is February 29th. So he only has one birthday every four years. (He was uberly pwned as soon as he was born, huh? xD) And since this is the leap year, he actually has a birthday this year!
SOOOOO he gets a single to celebrate not only the 200th seiyuu CD release, but also his birthday!

I don't know why Tezuka's involved. Cause TezuFuji's so uberly canon (but not really)?

Honestly, I'd think Ryoma should get the 200th CD. He hasn't had a CD in a while... (Never mind, forgot about Wonder Land back in September.)

I wonder what counts toward the 200 CD mark? Obviously the character singles and albums, but what about...
-radio CDs?
-soundtracks?
-musical soundtracks/Best Actor's Series?
-radio show theme songs not sung by characters (there's a set of like 4 of those that are listed on both CD Japan and the official site as PoT CDs)?
-opening/ending singles? (obviously the ones sung by the seiyuu are counted, but the others...?)
Obviously this isn't counting the rereleases...
I'm actually interested in this, I might try to figure it out this weekend.

Anyway. Yet another new Prince of Tennis single. Actually, there aren't that many coming up, it just seems like there are because of the overwhelming amount of re-releases coming out on February 27th...

Megane's - another new single!

Chyeah, Megane's definitely isn't done yet, even though people said they were done after their third single. Odorimasen ka? Megane's was released December 22nd, and they've already announced their fifth single! So far it doesn't have a title, but it's set to be released March 16th.
The 16th is another weird release day, it's a Sunday, just like their last single. However, their last single was released on Sunday due to the Jump Festa- I don't know if there's anything going on that weekend for it to be released on a Sunday.
...
Actually, I looked it up, and sure enough, there is. The HUGE Prince of Tennis Live 100 Song Marathon concert, which features the top 100 character songs as chosen by the fans online, takes place on March 16th. I assume they're tying in the new Megane's single release.
The first DVD of the National Tournament Finals OVA is being released on the same day, I don't know what day of the week anime DVDs are usually released, but I'm pretty sure they're also going to tie the DVD release in to the event. I hope this marathon gets released on DVD, I know I'd definitely buy it.

With the release of their fifth single, the Megane's is the PoT seiyuu group with the most singles released. Both Aozu and Cap to Bin, the two Seigaku units, have released four singles each (three separate for each, and one double A-side where they each had a song). I don't think there have been any other groups that had more than one or two singles.

Hopefully this single is better than Odorimasen ka? Megane's (which Yesasia just renamed "Shall we dance? Megane's" for some reason), guess we'll have to see.

Morning Musume's upcoming single

Morning Musume is releasing their 36th single on March 5th. Like all of their recent singles (aka, starting with Aruiteru), it's coming in three versions- however, unlike their recent singles, according to CD Japan's upcoming artist newsmail the two limited editions BOTH come with bonus DVDs. No limited photobook, I guess.

I was planning on pre-ordering both limited editions, but I'm not sure since they're both kinda expensive- each one is $17 on Yesasia, as opposed to the limited edition A being like $17.75 and the limited edition B being like $13 or $14 or whatever the price is, I can't find an example on Yesasia cause they're all out of print.
It'll probably depend on the song itself, and the content of the DVDs...it was so much easier back when they only had one limited edition so I didn't even have to think about it- as soon as they announced a new single I just pre-ordered the limited edition right away...xD (Plus it was cheaper.)

Two tech-ish questions

ONE:
How do you rip audio from a Youtube video? I really want an mp3 of this video I found of Niigaki Risa (as Athena from that anime she's in) singing Koko ni Iruzee!:

Haha, I wish there was a better version though, without the extra stuff from the anime. Oh well.
I think I like this version the least out of the versions I've seen so far (Morning Musume's original and Tsuji Nozomi's cover), but I still would love to have this on my iPod. xD

Oh, and we're reading The Odyssey in English class, and every time I see "Athena" I think of Risa. And I keep getting Shouri no BIG WAVE!!! stuck in my head while I'm reading. Hello Project has taken over my brain...


TWO:
How do you make ringtones out of mp3s? I think all I have to do is cut the mp3 down to a short clip, but I don't know how to do that- is there a specific program I should use? Haha, I want Mikan as my ringtone...xD

So much hate lately...

...surrounding Morning Musume's performance on Kouhaku the other night! I was going to wait until this weekend to download it, due to the fact that I couldn't clear off enough space on my computer for the entire performance before I had to leave for school today. (gotta watch the other special year-end shows this weekend) But everyone's talking about H!P's performance...so I had to check it out on Youtube. Instead of doing homework, but I only have one subject left and a two-hour free tomorrow, so...

Ok, this is Berryz Koubou and C-ute's first ever Kouhaku performance, right? I honestly expected it to be a big cool thing, and this was kinda disappointing. Question, have they always put all H!P acts together in a medley? The only other Kouhaku performance I've seen was the 2005 performance, which I personally loved- but I'll touch more on that later.
I also think that LOVE Machine has definitely been over-performed lately. I love LOVE Machine, and I like seeing current Momusu perform older songs, but I think they should leave it for the concerts. I would have preferred that they sing Mikan...haven't they basically performed LOVE Machine at all of these big music shows?
I didn't like the transition things between songs. I mean, wait, what? The Peace...and then Renai Revolution at the end...um...?
I think the newer members should have had solo lines in LOVE Machine, I don't think any of the 8th gen did. But honestly, they shouldn't have been singing LOVE Machine in the first place. That song's old- I know it was their most popular single, but relying on stuff from the past isn't going to work. Did the rest of you guys catch the audience when they showed them during LOVE Machine? They were bored, like 'ok, just get this over with.' D: And honestly, I don't blame them! Morning Musume is different now, but they're still singing this song from 1999. Even the best songs get repetitive after a while.

Berryz Koubou and C-ute got only small parts with their respective songs, and I think that wasn't really fair, especially for their first Kouhaku performance. They both performed a chorus from their latest single.
This was the first time I've heard Berryz' latest single, and I've already forgotten the tune and everything. Er...D: Yeah, not the best song I've heard from Berryz...
As for C-ute, I think their performance was done well, even though they got only a short bit. I guess I don't really know what else to say since I don't know much about C-ute, but I like the song and I didn't see anything wrong with their performance.

After that, there was a song with lots of "la la la"s. Er...what was this song? Never heard it before.


All in all, I'm disappointed with this performance, but I really don't think it was that horrible. Definitely could have been better. My suggestions? Momusu should sing a song OTHER than Love Machine, maybe Mikan. Berryz Koubou should sing a different song too, and C-ute should get more time and sing like a verse or something instead of just the chorus.


After I watched this, I decided to take a look back at one of my favorite H!P performances: the 2005 Kouhaku LOVE Machine performance. Actually, this was part of a medley with Ayaya's Ki ga Tsukeba Anata and DEF DIVA's Suki Sugite Baka Mitai, but...haha the LOVE Machine part is the reason this performance was great.

Now THIS is the type of performance I love to see. I watched this when it first came out, expecting just normal performances, and WOW. Wasn't expecting this. I actually have an mp3 of the entire medley on my iPod, and I listen to it a ton. It was GREAT to see every single past and present member of MM still in H!P singing this classic all together. I love how they started with the past members in the first verse, then the current members in the second verse, and then everyone together for the last set of choruses. I think I wrote an uber long blog post of this complete with screenshots WAY BACK THEN on my Gaia journal, haha.
...
Lol, omg, LOOK at this. I found it, but I dunno the settings on Gaia journals, so I dunno if everyone can see the post, not to mention the screenshot links were totally dead. So I'm reposting it here, I guess, with updated links. Now you guys get to see my first imporession of the 2005 Kouhaku performance. Screenshot spam much?
This is originally from January 11th, 2006.

Kouhaku 2005
If I remember correctly, it happens late December every year. And I just downloaded the Kouhaku 2005- or at least, the H!P part of it. It was a medley or something of that sort, with Aya Matsuura singing Ki ga Tsukeba Anata, DEF. DIVA singing Suki Sugite Baka Mitai, then Momusu singing LOVE Machine. Er, well, not Momusu exactly...but I'll get to that later. ^^

First off, Ayaya's performance. First it was just Ayaya singing, then a bit into it some members of H!P Kids started dancing- I believe it was 4 Berryz and 4 C-ute? With Berryz in blue outfits and C-ute in pink. Or maybe it was the other way around, I'm not very familiar with H!P Kids. Farther into it, all of a sudden the rest of H!P Kids came out along with....um...figures?... One of them was Domo- you know, . All in all, pretty good performance. I absolutely love the song. ^^

Next is DEF. DIVA's performance. DEF. DIVA is Aya Matsuura, Natsumi Abe, Maki Goto, and Rika Ishikawa. I don't really have too much to say about this one; just a pretty normal performance, nothing really special.

Last. LOVE Machine. Homg. This was awesome. It's not just Momusu performing. It's Momusu + all past members that are still in H!P. MARIPPE~!!!!!! Lemme do a quick run-down. There were 19 members in the performance, and there have been 22 different members of Momusu. If they aren't still in H!P, the name will be in italics. Format is this: Name (Current group/whatever)

First generation


Yuko Nakazawa (solo)

Natsumi Abe (solo, DEF. DIVA)

Kaori Iida (solo)

Aya Ishiguro (----)

Asuka Fukuda (----)

Second gen

Mari Yaguchi (solo...I think. I hope.)

Kei Yasuda (No clue, really. I suppose solo. She hasn't released anything yet, though she graduated back in 2003. She's still in H!P though.)


Sayaka Ichii (----)

Third gen

Maki Goto (solo, DEF. DIVA)

Fourth gen

Hitomi Yoshizawa (Morning Musume)

Ai Kago (W)

Nozomi Tsuji (W)

Rika Ishikawa (DEF. DIVA, v-u-den)

Fifth gen


Ai Takahashi (Morning Musume)

Asami Konno (Morning Musume)

Risa Niigaki (Morning Musume)

Makoto Ogawa (Morning Musume)

Sixth gen

Sayumi Michishige (Morning Musume)

Eri Kamei (Morning Musume)

Reina Tanaka (Morning Musume)

Miki Fujimoto (Morning Musume; used to be a solo artist but put that on hold while in Momusu)


Seventh gen

Koharu Kusumi (Morning Musume)



Kinda sad that I know all that, actually.

So anyway. First they start off with Kaorin, Kei, and Yuko rising from under the stage, and then they show Marippe, Aibon, and Nono doing the same on the other side. That's the beginning part, with the 'oooohhh's and stuff. Then they go behind the ball that's in the back, and as the music starts going faster, the ball kinda drops down to reveal all of them, plus Gocchin, Charmy, and Nacchi (they kinda had to change from their DEF. DIVA outfits. ). So they sing up to the end of the first chorus, then the rest of the girls (Yossui, Mako, Risa, Takitty, Konkon, Sayu, Reina, Eririn, Mikitty, and Koha; basically the current Momusu) come in behind them in these red outfits. They look really pretty...I think Hitomi looks especially pretty.

Hitomi

That isn't to say the others aren't, though. So then, the current Momusu does the second verse and chorus. Then they perform a chorus with two members singing at a time- one past and one current.

Reina and Nacchi




Gocchin and Takitty (they don't appear at the same time, though, so I needed two screenshots. )

Gocchin

Takitty



Mako and Marippe (my favorite, for hopefully obvious reasons.)

Mako and Marippe



Then, confetti bursts out, the H!P Kids come running out, the characters all come out, and basically it's just cuteness. ^^ At the very end, the last line, 'love machine', is said by Koharu. ^^

Y'know, I thought I'd never get a chance to see Marippe and Koharu perform together. Seeing as Marippe left in April, and Koharu didn't come in until later. But hey! It happened!



More screenshots! (Ayaya deserves a few. ^^)




Ayaya

Ayaya and Kids

Cute

Berryz

Ayaya and Kids (2)

random characters



Just kinda saving as a halfway point. It's almost midnight and I need to get to bed; I'll finish the screenshots later.

For the record, I never finished it. For all the times I look back on these old posts and go "WOAH I'VE TOTALLY CHANGED", there's always something that makes me realize I'm still basically the same as I was before. xD
Hmm, I wonder if this means I have more screenshots buried on my desktop computer somewhere? I'll have to check back on that when I go home for the weekend...

I just listened to Jaja Uma Paradise, and...

...all I can say is, what the hell. xD;; I really liked Koisuru Angel Heart, so I thought this would be good too...but I don't like this song...
Yes, I know I'm uber late listening to this song. I have an uber backup of music on my computer because I was uber lazy last year so typically music doesn't make it onto my iTunes until at least a couple of weeks after it's released, unless it's Momusu, then I stick it on as soon as it comes out. xD


On another note, Yesasia finally added the Prince of Tennis re-releases- I was kinda worried for a bit that they wouldn't add them and that I'd have to buy from CD Japan. No offense to CD Japan users, it's a good site, but I put together a tentative order there with some of the upcoming re-releases and a couple of H!P CDs, and it told me shipping would be like $50. What the hell.
Yesasia has free shipping. 8D Even though the prices are a little higher, the free shipping should make up for it.
So now that Yesasia added the re-releases, I don't have to worry about that stuff...

I had to cut down on some of the stuff in this order I'm planning to make uber soon in order to insure that I have enough money for both the re-releases and Anime Boston, which is coming up in March. (Haha, this year it's during spring break, so I can go the entire weekend and not have to worry about homework and studying!) Oh well, I think in the end it'll be worth it. If only I had a job, then I wouldn't have to worry as much about money...I always get lots of money in December cause of my birthday and Christmas, but then I typically spend it all before summer starts. xD;; Then I'm screwed until December again...


I dunno, this post was kinda random, but I'm just like hanging out on my last day of break and I don't really have anything long enough to devote a full post to...