HAPPY BIRTHDAY JUNJUN! <333333

Wow, Junjun turned 20 today! 20 is the age in Japan where you are considered an adult, and it's a big thing.
I remember I was really surprised when I found out she was 19 a couple months or so ago- I had thought that I had heard that she was really young, so when I saw her birthday on ThePPN Wiki I was uber surprised. xD
So, yeah, happy birthday to Junjun, and I hope she had a great day today~ xD

Morning Musume ranking

I was actually planning on doing a Morning Musume ranking soon anyway, so this provided a great opportunity to actually do it.



I didn't do the Berryz Koubou and C-ute ones, because while I FINALLY know their names (YESS) I don't actually know anything about them. Definitely not enough to rank them.

1. Junjun
Definitely my #1 right now, even though she's pretty new there's just something about her...
2. Reina
Reina's cute and has a good voice, but somehow her spot was just recently taken over by Junjun. xD
3. Aika
She's the only Musume younger than I am (only by a month), and I didn't like her at first but slowly I've grown to really like her.
4. Risa
I like her voice, and I'm glad that she has the Athena & Robikerottsu unit- though I don't think it'll be a permanent unit since it was created only for that anime.
5. Koharu
While she doesn't have the best voice in the group, I really like her solo singles. They're strangely addicting...
6. Ai
She has a really strong voice, and I think she would be great as a soloist. However, I can't help but feel like she's getting wayy too much attention in Momusu.
7. Sayumi
She's really cute, but she really doesn't have that good of a voice. She's definitely improved though, I saw a video of her singing Do it! Now with two other girls (I forget who, maybe Reina and Eri) and I couldn't stand her voice. X_x It's tolerable now.
8. Linlin
I don't really know much about her...
9. Eri
Sorry Eri fans, but I just don't like Eri that much...


Comparing it to the first Momusu ranking post I did, here, my opinions of most of the girls haven't changed that much. xD

Congrats, Kaori!

Iida Kaori from Morning Musume had a baby boy on January 22nd. This is the second child by a Hello! Project member (all the former H!P members that have had kids were out of H!P before they had the kid, I believe), the first being Tsuji Nozomi's baby girl Noa a couple months ago. I wish the best of luck to Kaori and her husband and baby. ^^
I guess they didn't want to reveal the name of the baby, but I really want to know...xD I kinda want to see pictures too~...

v-u-den breaking up

The Hello! Project official website has a new announcement, simply called "News from Hello! Project". The contents of the announcement?
v-u-den is disbanding on the final night of their concert tour in June.
Apparently it's because Okada Yui is turning 20, but I don't really see what that has to do with anything.

I'm really sad about this, they weren't my favorite group in H!P but I really loved their early singles- I haven't been as much of a fan of their latest singles but I still kept looking forward to each one. I just bought their Single Best 9 limited edition album...
Rika has Ongaku Gatas, so I'm not really worried about her that much. Hopefully this means Ongaku Gatas will be around for a while.
I can't help but wonder what's going to happen to Erika and Yui. Neither of them have anything else in Hello! Project. Maybe they'll be involved in an upcoming new unit. I really don't want to see them just sit around doing nothing like so many other members that left a group and haven't done anything since.

I hope for the best for all three of them, and while I'm definitely going to miss v-u-den, maybe something really good will come out of all this.

Cafe Buono!

Buono!'s official site now has a title for their upcoming album- Cafe Buono!.
The album will be released on February 20th in two different versions, a CD-only and a CD+DVD. According to the website, the DVD will include:
-Kokoro no Tamago (dance version)
-Renai Rider (dance version)
-jacket shoot making of
-something promoting Shugo Chara

I'm really looking forward to this, especially the Kokoro no Tamago video. I really wanted it to have a PV when their debut single was first released, but sadly only Honto no Jibun was released on the LE DVD/Single V.
Actually, the limited edition of this album is sitting in my Yesasia cart right now, but since I just made an order last week I have to wait a bit longer before I can order more stuff. >_<

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...

2008 predictions

Haha, I wrote a list out like two weeks ago, but forgot to post it here. Oops.
Thankfully, I remembered it now, otherwise it would have been too late! xD
Some of these are predictions, some are more wishful thinking on my part...xD;

2008 Predictions
-Morning Musume will release 3 or 4 singles and their 9th album. Their 9th album has gotta be coming up soon, they've already released three singles due to be on it, and there's a fourth being released in March.
-Morning Musume 9th gen auditions. I know the 8th gen hasn't been around for that long, but...
-Takahashi Ai graduates, becomes a solo artist. I'm kinda neutral on Takitty, I don't love her but I don't hate her either. I could totally see her graduating to become a solo artist at some point...she has a good voice, and because of that, she gets so many solos in Momusu. I want the others to get lots of lines too...xD
-Hello! Project Kids become uber popular, get a #1 single. I keep hearing people say that the Kids have taken over Hello! Project...I think it's just a matter of time before some H!P Kids group, whether Berryz, C-ute, or Buono, gets a #1 single.
-One of the Berryz gets a boyfriend and is kicked out of Berryz. Haha, I kinda want to see this happen...8D I barely even know their names (I'm learning! I swear I am!) so if one of them got kicked out, I wouldn't really care all thaaat much...
-Yaguchi Mari starts a solo career. Or at least does something, please! She's my favorite ex-Momusu, and I really want her to sing again.
-Yasuda Kei does nothing. Still. Damn.
-Goto Maki signs with a new record label and releases first single. Please? I really loved Goto...
-GAM comes back. Even for just one single. I was hoping that because of GAM, Miki would still have something to do even after she left Momusu, but now GAM's pretty inactive...
-As for the new units...Ongaku Gatas is permanent, and continues to release singles. Athena & Robikerottsu releases maybe another single after their upcoming one, then either actually breaks up or just fades into inactivity. Buono! keeps going until Shugo Chara ends, singing all the opening/ending themes, then moves onto another anime.


And just a couple of quick non-j-pop predictions...
-Prince of Tennis ends. This is the one prediction that I'd hate to come true the most. However, the end of PoT is obviously happening soon- it's so close, they're on singles 1, the very last match of the final round of the National Tournament. The author once said that he'd like to go through Ryoma's second and third years at Seigaku. I think at one point this would have worked- when Prince of Tennis was really really popular. However, now it's not, and so I think that he's just going to end it where it is rather than go on with the chance of cancellation.
-Mx0 gets an anime. PLEASEPLEASEPLEASEPLEASEPLEASE
-Sket Dance survives in Jump. YESS

Berryz Koubou cameo in Gintama! xD

I think it's supposed to be Berryz, at least.
So I've been watching Gintama yesterday and today to try and catch up with the subbed episodes. Gintama parodies billions of other anime/pop culture things, like the main character wants a Bankai (from Bleach), and in episode 62, Yamazaki (who's obsessed with badminton) plays a badminton match against someone from 'Hyoutei' complete with crazy moves, the rest of the 'Seigaku' and 'Hyoutei' players on the sidelines, and 'mada mada dane' at the end. (Prince of Tennis parody, if you couldn't figure it out. link to the video, it's hilarious) But I didn't think there was going to be anything involving Hello! Project...well, I was wrong. xD
Basically in this episode (episode 18), there's this guy that goes around stealing women's underwear and giving it to the lonely guys that aren't liked by girls...and he's currently having a speech about all the lonely guys and how they're 'begging for him to save them'. xD Complete with pictures of said 'lonely guys' doing random things, like painting big-boobed anime figures and, you guessed it, going to a Berryz Koubou handshake event. xD

The headband on the guy on the far left says "Switch OFF" which I think is supposed to be a parody of their Switch ON! 2005 tour. xD

Haha, I love Gintama. xD

Merry Christmas everyone~

Eep, I can't believe I forgot to post this earlier. I was going to post this before the family Christmas party, but it totally slipped my mind. =P
I totally didn't get anything j-pop related for Christmas, but I'm not surprised. I don't ask for imports or anything cause I don't think my family could handle going online and trying to figure out things like different versions and stuff. xD I used to get Puffy CDs from my family, but now I have all of their US CDs so there's nothing left for them to get me...
But I ended up with some anime stuff- I never go out and buy anime box sets because they're so expensive (yet I buy a Hello! Project concert box set for like $100...) so I pretty much just ask for them for Christmas. xD I got the first two Fullmetal Alchemist box sets, Naruto box sets 3 and 4 (I already have 3, but I accidentally put 3 in my wishlist instead of 5...;-;), and the 3rd Prince of Tennis box set...haha, this means I'm going to have a marathon once I finish the Prince of Tennis panel count. (so close!) And of course this marathon also includes the H!P 2007 Winter concerts and the Morning Musume ALL SINGLES COMPLETE DVD, which I haven't watched yet...
I -did- get a $150 gift certificate (WOW) to Tokyo Kid, which has j-pop, but I was looking closer at some of the CDs I have from there and I'm actually not 100% sure if they're the official releases. Wish I had a definite official copy to check. I dunno how I'm gonna spend the $150, haha. xD When I went a while ago at the start of the school year, they had the live-action Prince of Tennis movie, but when I went again with more money they didn't have it anymore. If they have it again, I'm definitely buying it. xD

ANYWAY. Since it's Christmas, I thought I'd share some of my favorite j-pop Christmas songs with you guys! I love all three of these songs so much~
Pucchi Moni - Pittari Shitai X'mas!
Haha, what kind of Hello! Project fan would I be if I didn't include this song? It's catchy and cute and so Hello! Project-ish. And it has Goto Maki. Who I miss soo much. =( I wish Pucchi Moni would come back, but I don't think that's happening anytime soon...
BENNIE K - The Christmas
When their album Japana-rhythm came out back in 2005, I listened to it all the way through, and I think this song ended up being one of my favorites, if not my actual favorite, on the album. It's really catchy, with both the singing and rap parts. I don't know why I still don't own this album, btw. xD
Way back in winter 2005, I had this as background music on my Gaia profile, and my friends who weren't at all into Japanese music loved it. =)
BoA - Meri Kuri
And of course, one of my favorite ballads from BoA. I don't usually like slow songs all that much, but this song has been a favorite of mine for a while. I own the Korean version of this single, but I like the Japanese version better because I can actually understand some of it and sing along. xD I was trying to sing along to one of her Korean songs the other day, and I was utterly failing, and I was reminded of like two/three years ago when I was failing at trying to sing Japanese songs. xD Now I can sing in Japanese just as easily as in English...


But, if you totally hate Christmas and winter for some reason, I also uploaded an uber summer song? I honestly don't know, I uploaded this for a friend and figured I'd just post it here, haha. xD
Megane's - Manatsu no Megane's
I find this song so uber amusing, pretty much just because it's the Megane's (which consists of Tezuka Kunimitsu, Inui Sadaharu, and Oshitari Yuushi from Prince of Tennis- their seiyuu are Okiayu Ryoutarou, Tsuda Kenjirou, and Hidenobu Kiuchi, respectively) singing an uber summer song. xD The title means "Megane's in Midsummer" or something along those lines. There are also some random lyrics in there like "tropical drink YES!! non-alcohol" (well I'd HOPE so, considering they're only 15), "POKER FACE" (haha I don't see what that has to do with summer), and I swear I can hear Tezuka saying "YUDAN SEZU NI IKOU!" right before the second chorus. =P
I like this song much better than their new single, btw, but I'll leave that for another post. xD


Sooo, enjoy, and I hope everyone had a nice Christmas! ^^

Upcoming releases

Ok, so there's lots of stuff coming out either in the next two weeks or around the beginning of 2008, so...

Let's start with Hello! Project:
-On January 16th, the duet between Abe Natsumi and Yajima Maimi, 16sai no Koi Nante, is being released. I just listened to a preview of it, and I don't think it's too bad. Probably not something that I'll listen to a lot, but it's not that bad either. And, btw, I don't really know who Yajima Maimi is. I swear I've gone over the names and faces of the Kids like 5 times since I started this blog. I have a horrible memory, I guess. ;-;
-Buono!, the group formed with three H!P Kids that sung the opening and ending for the anime Shugo Chara!, is releasing their second single and their first album in February- the 6th and the 20th, respectively. I believe their second single, Renai Rider, is going to be the new ending theme for Shugo Chara!, it's supposed to start airing soon so I'll be able to check it out before the single comes out. xD As for their album, I really thought they weren't going to be a permanent group, but I think an album usually signifies that they'll be around for at least a little while longer.
-Ongaku Gatas also has their first album coming out, 1st GOODSAL, on February 6th. I loved both of their singles, so I'll definitely have to order this one. I'm glad that they're getting an album, hopefully this means that they're a permanent group.
-Athena & Robikerottsu is releasing a second single on February 14th, Seishun LOVE Launch. I hope it's as catchy as their first. xD I can't wait for more Risa and Aika...and those two Kids that I can't even remember their names. ;-; God I suck.
-According to wiki.theppn.org (I haven't seen anything about these anywhere else), C-ute and v-u-den are getting new singles on February 27th. Both are still untitled. I probably won't end up buying either of these, sadly...;-; There's too much stuff out there, and I have too little money...
-And Berryz Koubou is apparently releasing a new single called Jingisukan on March 12th.

And on the other side of my blog, the other fandom I love...upcoming Prince of Tennis releases:
-This Saturday, at Jump Festa, three new Prince of Tennis CDs are being released. The first two are for the Prince of Tennis Musical- two new Best Actor's Series CDs, #9 and #10 in the series. 9 features Sanada and Yukimura. 10 is a special Extra Seigaku 3rd Cast Memorial CD- a memorial for the third cast of the Seigaku regulars, who graduated (I feel like I'm talking about Hello! Project now. =P) after this summer's Absolute King Rikkai feat. Rokkaku ~Second Service~ musical. The fourth cast debuted in the Progressive Match Higa feat. Rikkai musical, which started 8 days ago on December 12th. (sadly, I have yet to see photosets of the new Seigaku cast. I really really really need to see what the new cast looks like in character!)
The third CD being released at Jump Festa 2008 is a new Megane's single, their fourth. Originally it was just going to be called "Odorimasen ka?", meaning something like "Won't you dance?", but apparently they had to keep the tradition of having "Megane's" in the song title (their previous singles have been "Go Go Megane's", "Kira Kira Megane's", and "Manatsu no Megane's"), so they renamed it "Odorimasen ka? Megane's". =P According to the description on the official page, it has something to do with the National Tournament Finals OVA (which, by the way, is the LAST OVA SERIES and therefore THE LAST WE'LL SEE OF PRINCE OF TENNIS T_____T unless the manga keeps going after the Nationals, but that's pretty unlikely) and the amazing 100 song marathon that's taking place early 2008. It also says that apparently this song is a high tempo SALSA song. Oh dear lord. @_@
Oh, and they released the cover for it too: here. Ohhh wow, PoT cosplay's fun, but...@_____@ WHAT THE HELL
"Won't you also dance with these three people?" @_@
-After those three, looks like there's nothing else until February 14th (which is kinda strange cause there's been so much released lately, what with the Best of Rival Players for Shitenhouji and random other character songs). On 02.14, Kai Yuujirou, Higa Chuu's vice-captain (I think), is releasing his version of Valentine Kiss. It's the 5th year of this tradition, and he's the 6th person to sing it- so far we've had Atobe, Oshitari, Sanada, Shishido, and Ooishi.
-And of course, the massive rerelease thing on February 27th. @____@

-not music related, I know, but the 3rd and final volume of the Prince of Tennis National Tournament Semifinal OVA series is being released January 25th. After that, which wraps up the match against Shitenhouji (this DVD encompasses Tezuka vs Chitose in Doubles 1 (er...well Inui and Zaizen are there too, but they decided to just stand at the side so it's basically a single match. hey, playing singles in a doubles match makes more sense than Eiji playing doubles in a singles match. =P), and Ryoma vs Touyama Kintarou in that one-point match since the official match didn't make it to singles 1), the first volume of the National Tournament Finals OVA series is being released on March 16th. During the finals, Seigaku plays Rikkai for the second time, but this time for the National title rather than the Kantou Tournament title. I'm not sure what this DVD will have- the first DVD of both the original National Tournament OVA series and the Semifinal OVA series only had one episode, which was a prequel to the actual match. So maybe this DVD will have the special Yakiniku no Oujisama / Prince of BBQ story that was originally between the semifinals and the finals in the original manga? It was a 4 chapter thing that started off as a party for winning the semifinals but ended up as a 5-school yakiniku eating contest. =P (everyone lost, btw, and they set the yakiniku place on fire. xD) I hope we get to see it animated. It's not really a prequel-thing like the other first episodes, but since Seigaku's played Rikkai before, there was no introduction set of chapters or anything in the manga...unless they take the scenes of Rikkai vs that exchange student team (they were originally mixed in with the one-point match between Ryouma and Touyama) and make it into it's own episode.

[Scans] Morning Musume, Athena, and some manga covers

Explanation and music list

So, this is basically the scans post to go along with my recent orders that arrived on Friday. Sorry it's late, but scanning the two limited photobooks took forever, and I had a sleepover last night cause it's my birthday today (yay!).
I also didn't end up scanning the H!P 2007 Winter Live DVD Box, cause there's this 4-DVD case that's too big for my scanner and I was too lazy to figure out how to get it all. xD
I might end up scanning some more CDs soon cause I'm on winter break, but I can't make any promises. xD;;

EDIT: Sorry that the small versions of the preview images look crappy! In my earlier posts, I actually uploaded them to Blogger, but this time I uploaded them to Photobucket instead. Guess the site handles it differently. Just click the preview images for the full-quality version.


Morning Musume's latest single Mikan, normal edition. I scanned the photocard of Risa and included it in the .rar file.
Download the .rar file for the rest of the Mikan scans


Morning Musume's latest single Mikan, limited edition A which comes with a DVD. I scanned the photocard of Koharu and included it in the .rar file.
Download the .rar file for the rest of the Mikan limited edition A scans


Morning Musume's latest single Mikan, limited edition B which comes with a photobook. I scanned the photocard of Sayumi and I also scanned the photobook- both are included in the .rar file.
Download the .rar file for the rest of the Mikan limited edition B scans


Athena & Robikerottsu's first single, Shouri no BIG WAVE!!!, limited edition which comes with a photobook. I scanned the photobook and included it in the .rar file.
Download the .rar file for the rest of the Shouri no BIG WAVE!!! scans


I scanned the covers of the manga for my personal collection, so I thought I'd share them here too if anyone's interested. For SKET DANCE 1 and Prince of Tennis 40, it's just the one image so I didn't bother to upload a .rar file- just click on the preview image. The dust jackets just barely fit on my scanner- I didn't include the inside back flap because all it is is like a list of Jump tankoubon. For the Prince of Tennis Fanbook 40.5, the book's really thick, so the dust jacket was too big for my scanner. I scanned the inside flaps separately, so there's a .rar file for 40.5.

SKET DANCE 1 - Penki Kamen / Paint-Mask


Tennis no Oujisama / Prince of Tennis 40 - Tennis wo Wasureta Oujisama / The Prince Who Forgot Tennis


Tennis no Oujisama / Prince of Tennis 40.5 - Official Fanbook
Download the .rar file for the rest of the 40.5 scans

Buono!'s first album!

And here I thought Buono! would end up a one-shot group like so many others in H!P history. I guess the Kids are really starting to take over Hello! Project...xD;; I definitely didn't think this would be a permanent group, but I'm really happy. I absolutely loved their first single, so I hope their upcoming second single and first album are just as great.
I wonder if their new music will also be tied in to Shugo Chara? Haha, even though I usually hate shoujo manga/anime and almost all I read is Jump manga (with some other shounen manga from other magazines, but mostly Jump), I love Shugo Chara. xD

Their album is set to come out February 20th...yet another thing I have to pre-order. xD I have an order set to go on Yesasia that I was going to get with my birthday money, but maybe I have to cut it down a bit to save enough money to get some early 2008 releases. xD

Recent purchases

It took us 4 hours to get home yesterday from my school, which usually only takes one...and it was uber dangerous, too. D: I love snow, but not when I'm trying to get home on the highway...I got uber bored, so I ended up romanizing lyrics to some Prince of Tennis songs I had lyric scans for on my laptop. I would have done j-pop songs instead, but the only scans I had were for the Prince of Tennis ending singles WHITE LINE and Wonderful days. xD; I'll post the romanizations later...
Anyway, I think the two packages sitting on my bed when I got home actually kinda made up for the long drive. 8D

I love Kinokuniya. I used to get pissed because there isn't one nearby where I live, but I ordered Prince of Tennis volume 40 and the 40.5 Fanbook on Saturday, and it's already here! 8D I'm so used to Yesasia which takes forever to ship, so...I think in the future I should use Kinokuniya to buy books and stuff, otherwise they'll slow down Yesasia orders like it did with my latest order. >> Sadly, this strategy doesn't work with Hello! Project photobooks. I checked it out when I went to make the order with the Tenipuri books, and you can't get them from the New York stores. It redirects me to their Japan store site instead, which a) I can't navigate very well and b) the shipping would be hell anyway, and take a while. But Kinokuniya is good for manga, so...xD
And then, I FINALLY got my Yesasia order that I placed over a month ago. I'm still pissed that it took so long- it really should have shipped out once Mikan was released. It's all because Sket Dance took so long...but I think it was worth it. Three copies of Mikan (haha, I know, I'm an uber crazy fan), Shouri no BIG WAVE!! limited, Sket Dance volume 1, and the H!P 2007 Winter Live DVD Set.



First up, the three copies of Mikan. I love this song so much. xD Which is part of the reason I bought all three editions. The other part is because there were special photocards in each one, and I love stuff like that. xD
I'd share some more pics of the booklets and limited photobook and stuff, but I'm going to scan these later today, which is even better! 8D
And now...which photocards did I get??
SUSPENSE! xD











Risa, Koharu, and Sayumi.
If I could have chosen which I got, I would have chosen Reina, Junjun, and Risa, my current three favorite members. (or the group card, which I totally didn't know existed until like five minutes ago...?) I absolutely LOVE Reina, and I love how she looks in the promo pics for this single! She has some really nice shots in the limited photobook- I love her outfit and her hair and like EVERYTHING! @_@ Sadly, luck was not really on my side when I opened these last night.
I'm really happy I got Risa, though. =) She's my second favorite member, and I like her photocard.
Sayumi's cute too- she's not one of my favorite members, but I like her appearance in this single, so I'm fine with getting her card.
Koharu, however...don't get me wrong, I like Koharu, but...I don't really like her here. I just don't think she looks that good- and honestly, she's not very high on my member ranking, so...



Next up is the limited edition of Shouri no BIG WAVE!!, which came with a photobook. I actually had no idea it had a photobook until I opened it up and it came out...xD I totally never saw anywhere just what the limited edition actually had in it.
I love this song- it's really cute and upbeat, and the Engrish makes me laugh a bit. Though, as much as I love this song, I think I've had enough "OKEY-DOKEY!"s for a while. @_@
The photobook has some pictures of the four girls involved in this single- the two Momusu, Risa and Aika, and the two C-ute members, Nakajima Saki and Okai Chisato. Aika's really cute. xD And, I'm sorry, I still don't really know who Nakajima and Okai are. I had to look them up to find out which group they're in. ;-; I seriously need to get my act together and learn the names of all the H!P Kids already...


Then there's the H!P 2007 Winter Live DVD Box. I feel like such an uber crazy fan having this...it cost $100, but I think it's worth it- three concerts and a bonus backstage disc. It's my first H!P concert I've actually bought- I've thought about buying some other concerts in the past, but turned them down in favor of more music. I can't wait to sit down and have an H!P concert marathon...xD
What I really like about H!P concerts is that unlike concerts by a solo artist or a normal group (lol, as in like, one that stays the same rather than constantly changing), there's always new groups of people singing an old song. Like current Morning Musume singing a song like LOVE Machine- I love always being able to hear different people sing older songs like that. Compare that to a concert by someone like BoA- you don't really hear anything new when she sings her older songs, because it's still the same person singing it- just live instead of a studio recording.
Now if only they'd record some of these new versions in the studio and release them separately...xD


Last but not least, there's the three manga I ordered. Sket Dance 1, Prince of Tennis 40, and Prince of Tennis 40.5.
Sket Dance is a new manga in Shounen Jump, and it currently has 21 chapters. It's a random school comedy manga, and it's really funny. Most new manga hasn't been doing so well in Jump lately, but I hope Sket Dance survives- it's really cool and funny, definitely one of my favorite series in the magazine.

Prince of Tennis 40...oh this is so much crack. xD The title of the volume is "The Prince who Forgot Tennis"...you really wouldn't think there would be this much crack in a tennis manga, but there seriously is. Basically this volume starts out in the middle of the National Tournament finals with Tezuka's arm being UBER DEAD (xD) and Sanada winning...then Ryouma comes back with Momo, Atobe, and Oshitari (because, see, Ryouma didn't show up to the finals, so Atobe WITH HIS HANDY HELICOPTER THAT HE JUST SO HAPPENS TO HAVE AT THE TOURNAMENT takes Oshitari and Momo to go find Ryouma. Who knows why Oshitari went, he's absolutely pointless), and the rest of the team is uber excited ONLY TO FIND OUT THAT RYOUMA HAS AMNESIA AND DOESN'T REMEMBER TENNIS! DUN-DUN-DUN
Then Inui and Kaidou play doubles against Yanagi and Kirihara, and Inui gets uber beaten up and basically dies in the middle of the court after stopping Kaidou from going into devil mode. Which is an uber scary sight that I hope I never have to see again, btw.
I know, wtf, people actually can get sent to the hospital for playing TENNIS?
Inui wakes up, he has UBER UBER BANDAGES WRAPPED AROUND HIS ENTIRE BODY (ahahaha I love that panel), and then it switches to Fuji vs Niou.
Niou, with his Illusion or w/e it's called, apparently can turn into Tezuka. I DON'T KNOW HOW IT WORKS EITHER. I mean, he's not just using Tezuka's moves, Konomi's actually DRAWING TEZUKA instead of Niou. And then it turns out that, ZOMG KONOMI PUT AN ANIME FILLER EPISODE IN THE MIDDLE OF THIS MATCH FOR A FLASHBACK, and Fuji played Tezuka as a freshman. Angst happens. Then the volume ends.

40.5 is not, as you may think, half of a volume. xD It's the new fanbook, taking after 10.5 and 20.5 (no, it's not that they don't know how to count...30.5 was an artbook rather than a fanbook.). It has tons of information on all the players, and tons of other interesting pages that I'm sure would be much more interesting for me if I could understand any of it. Some of my favorite facts:
-Marui's favorite music is ORANGE RANGE. That's some good taste right there, huh? xD I started skimming to see if anyone else mentioned specific bands, but I got bored after getting halfway through and put it down. Eiji apparently loves idol groups, but he didn't specify H!P. I bet he has a collection somewhere, though. xD
-Ooishi's special skill outside of tennis is that he's able to tell whether a baby chick is a boy or a girl. Wtf, Ooishi. That's weird.
-Jirou carries Marui's wristband in his bag. STALKER
-Sanada carries around the "Sanada Family Rock". xDDDDD oh Sanada. A rock?? Why does his family even have a 'family rock' in the first place??



Haha, look at Inui. xD Who knows why he still wears his glasses. Can he even see with all those bandages? xD
(oh, and Koharu and Yuuji are there too- they hold the honor of being the ONLY EXPLICITLY STATED CANON GAY COUPLE in the series. <33 Now if only Konomi would just admit that the Golden Pair has sex behind the scenes...xD)



So, there we go. Scans and lyrics should be posted soon.

SHUFFLE GROUPS?!

I think I've had a half-written post about the lack of shuffle groups sitting on my desktop for like two weeks now. I've been planning on finishing that, but now I'm not 100% sure....
ARE SHUFFLE GROUPS COMING BACK?? <33
Take a look at this post from HPNH.
This certainly sounds like shuffle groups, though we'll have to see what exactly they're doing in their respective places they're going. I really hope this is the return of shuffle groups, which I really miss....maybe I'll finally finish up the shuffle unit post over the weekend. I have to rewrite like half of it, which is why I haven't finished it yet. xD;
Anyway, I can't wait for more information on this. I think my favorite group right now is the last one...it has my favorite current Morning Musume member, Reina, and my favorite former member, Mari. <33 I also like the group with the rest of the current Momusu- though I wish it had been shuffled around a bit more, I'd love to see just the newest Momusu (and Risa, who's probably my 2nd favorite current member) perform together.
If these are basically like shuffle groups, I think this is an interesting idea- I never considered the idea of there being more than 3 shuffle groups. xD Well, we'll see how everything turns out...

Ongaku Gatas - Yattarouze!

God, today's been crazy. My older stepsister and her husband and 14-month-old daughter (uber cute! <333) finally left after coming here for Thanksgiving, then there was the family tree-trimming party at my grandma's house, which we had to leave early from because my stepbrother who just got his drivers license accidentally fucking ran over our 13-week-old puppy. *sob* And now my mom's so pissed (she always hated my stepbrother) I think she's thinking of trying to divorce my stepdad! >_<
BUT PERSONAL ISSUES ASIDE...

I finally got around to watching Ongaku Gatas' new PV, Yattarouze!. I tried to watch it on Wednesday on Dohhh UP, but video streaming sites hate my computer. >_< So I downloaded it from Hello Online, but I never actually watched it until just now.

The PV starts out with a nice shot of Yossi kicking the ball, then cheering- and then it turns kinda weird as her and four other members fall through the field or something? xD
Anyway, I love Yossi's appearance in this PV. I think she looks awesome- definitely one of her best looks in my opinion.
It's still really nice to see more of Yossi and Konkon- I mean, since Yossi wasn't in a group before graduating, I figured she'd go the same way as Kei and Mari: not doing much of anything. And Konkon actually graduated from H!P about a year ago, so I thought I'd never hear anything from her again.
I still don't know any of the Eggs, although I think I'm starting to be able to kinda pick out Mano Erina...I've seen blog posts praising her, so I looked her up and I can kinda pick her out now.

When I first heard this song, I thought it was kinda weird, but after watching the PV fully, I like it. It's not as good as Nari Hajimeta Koi no BELL, but it's still pretty catchy...
I think the dance in the PV is a bit weird, but...xD Some H!P dances are...

I might snag the limited edition of this in my next Yesasia run, whenever that is. Probably in a while, cause my mom doesn't like that I've been getting so many packages lately. Especially when they come from a specific person rather than a company like Yesasia or CD Japan, which has happened quite a bit since I recently had this shopping spree on Livejournal. xD; I haven't bought anything in a week, but I still have 4 packages that I'm expecting...xD;;;; One with Seishun Gakuen Paradise and two Love Prince anthologies (which should have arrived by now, but I'll give it another week or so), one with all the stuff I bought from green-tea-river on LJ, which is lots of bromides, a pin, a couple of doujinshi, a shitajiki, and a card or two, one with my last Yesasia order which hasn't shipped out yet (dammit why is it taking so long for them to find Sket Dance volume 1?), and one with that CD Japan order which won't ship out until the Momusu PV collection DVD is released.
Though I guess it's kinda a good thing that the Yesasia order hasn't shipped out yet. Mom's really starting to get suspicious, so if I got like 3 packages in a week I'd probably be in trouble...



On a kinda related note, according to ThePPN wiki, Ongaku Gatas is having a tour early 2008! <3 I'm definitely picking up that DVD once it comes out...

Morning Musume + America = ...?

Well, everyone's talking about this right now. I don't think I've ever really seen a debate like this in the j-pop fandom- the anime fandom, sure, but not the j-pop fandom. I guess it's cause I haven't been part of the blogosphere or anything for too long...but anyway.
I'm going to follow the crowd and be unoriginal and write a post about my opinions to the idea of Morning Musume coming over to America! 8D

I'd LOVE it if Morning Musume came to America. Honestly, it would be like a dream come true. To hear Morning Musume on the radio, to be able to buy their albums without paying like $30 + shipping, to even maybe get the chance to go to a concert...and if everyone knew about Morning Musume, I wouldn't be the considered the freaky girl at school who listens to weird Japanese music anymore. 8D Now that would be cool. I have a couple of kids at school who also like anime, but when it comes to j-pop (and especially H!P), all I have is the j-pop blogosphere. Oh how I'd love to have friends who I could actively chat with about this stuff. xD
HOWEVER, I'm trying to be realistic about this...and so I'm not exactly sure if they'd actually do really well.

Now, I haven't listened to the radio in years- well, I've listened to a couple of stations in the morning cause my roommate at school wakes up to the radio in the morning, but it's not like the popular music station or anything, so...
I haven't watched MTV or VH1 or any music station, either. However, from what I -do- know about popular music these days, it's that there isn't ANYTHING like Morning Musume. Pop used to be popular, back in the days of boy bands like NSYNC and solo girl singers like Britney Spears. But now I don't think anything like that's popular- so Morning Musume would be totally different than most of the stuff that's on the radio. Now, for me that's definitely not a bad thing. I don't like American music, so having more pop music like Morning Musume on the radio would actually get me to listen to the radio sometimes. However, for most American music fans, I'm not sure if that would be a good change- people aren't really used to that. It would be different, definitely- but I'm not sure whether it would be considered a good thing. I know a lot of people who love rap music, so if all of a sudden a Morning Musume song came on the radio after some popular rap song, I'm pretty sure they'd turn it off.

I guess this kinda also ties in with tours and sales- they have fans in the US already, but would they really be able to become popular with the people that don't already know them or watch anime? I want to say yes- but I'm really not quite sure. They'd get some fans- but I'm not sure if it would really be enough for it to really be worthwhile to come to America.

However, I think it would be a great idea to come to America for something like an anime convention. At an anime convention, they don't have to worry about the language barrier or anything, since everyone there obviously knows anime and everything. That would give the already-existing fans a chance to actually see them in concert, and also draw in more people to the fandom- they have a much better chance with anime fans than with your typical American who just listens to the radio everyday. And for the record, if Morning Musume ever goes to an anime convention, I'M THERE. 8D Unless it's on the west coast, then I'm screwed since I live in Massachusetts...>_<
I'm not exactly sure how all this stuff works, but maybe they could release their 10th anniversary album in America- just to start off, since it's all their singles (which, in my opinion, are their best songs), and see what happens with that. And if that's popular, then they could go ahead and try releasing more albums and maybe come for a tour or something.
I think putting Momusu on US iTunes is a good start. Now, I personally refuse to buy songs from iTunes- if I'm willing to pay for a song, I'll buy the physical copy, thank you very much. >_< But so many people use iTunes for all their music- so making H!P music available on US iTunes was definitely a good idea. It's much easier (and cheaper) for non-hardcore fans to buy a song on iTunes rather than import an album from Japan.

I don't believe they could just all of a sudden come to America, tour, release an album, and just become popular just like that. If it's not like American music (which it's not, obviously), then they can't just break into the market right away- but if they start small, maybe they could possibly get enough attention to get on the radio and become popular.
I know that a lot of people have strong opinions either way- either saying that Morning Musume would totally work in America, or that they would fail and they shouldn't even try. I'm kind of in the middle of this- I don't want to totally rule out the possibility of them coming to America, since I think they could have a chance, but I don't want to be overly optimistic and say that they'll definitely become a huge hit.


I do think that there are other artists in Japan who could become huge hits in America- but I think I'll save that for later. ;)

New stuff, yay!

Well, I'm kinda procrastinating my homework right now, so I took the time to put together two orders, one on CDJapan and one on Yesasia...
So this is what I ended up getting:
Athena & Robikerottsu - Shouri no BIG WAVE!!! (limited edition)
Morning Musume - Mikan (normal edition)
Morning Musume - Mikan (limited edition A)
Morning Musume - Mikan (limited edition B)
Hello! Project 2007 Winter Live DVD Box (limited)
SKET DANCE volume 1
The Morning Musume. All Singles Complete Zen 35 Kyoku - 10th Anniversary (limited)
Megane's - Manatsu no Megane's (limited)
Kawamura Takashi - C'mon every burning (limited)
As soon as I heard about the Athena single, I knew I had to get it- I mean, it's Risa and Aika and two H!P Kids...
I actually ended up getting all three versions of Mikan. I was looking on Yesasia, and for each of them it said the first press came with a randomly selected photocard. I love the photocards, so I figured it's definitely worth it to buy all three, not to mention it's my favorite Morning Musume song in a while, so...
And as for the box set, who could turn that down? I mean, it's THREE concerts- the normal concert and the Wonderful Hearts/Elder Club concerts that are usually only released to the fanclub.
Then there's SKET DANCE volume 1, one of the newest Shounen Jump series- I absolutely love it, so when I heard the first volume was out I had to buy it. xD
Since I bought the Momusu 10th anniversary CD, it only makes sense to buy the DVD that goes along with it- it includes all of their PVs, including an alternate version of Mikan and something to do with LOVE Machine...
Then there are the two PoT character singles. At first it started off with me looking for something cheap to randomly add to the CD Japan order (I put the Momusu DVD in a separate order on CD Japan because I didn't want it to hold back the other stuff since it's coming out later) because if I hit 5000 yen I'd get a 500 yen coupon, and I ended up with Manatsu no Megane's. Then I found out about Taka's new single, which actually includes a b-side (which is rare for PoT singles, usually it's just the title track, an instrumental, and maybe a track with random talk from the seiyuu) and stuff, so...xD;

AND I also bought a couple of doujinshi yesterday...someone was selling Seishun Gakuen Paradise by Kodaka Kazuma for $2, so of course I bought that, and she was also selling some other doujinshi for cheap prices so I got two anthologies, Ground Smash 2 and Love Prince 4.

AND the girl who runs (well, at this point, it should be 'ran') doujinstar.com is selling all her Prince of Tennis stuff- all of it. SOOOO of course I had to get some, right?
New Season Set 1 Birthday Card Akutagawa Jirou
Eiji Pin
Bromide Set 2: Summertime/Oceanside: Golden Pair
Bromide Season 4: Sakura: Jirou
Bromide Season 5: Festival/Costume: Eiji
Bromide Season 5: Festival/Costume: Momo/Kaidou
Bromide Season 7: White Day Presents: Eiji
Bromide Season 8: School: Golden Pair
Bromide Season 10: Fashion Prince: Golden Pair
Databook 20.5
Love Prince 1 + 2
I ordered all this stuff a bit more than a week ago, but it's not going to be shipped until she puts the last batch of her stuff up for sale- I'm waiting until the end just in case I want anything from the third batch of stuff. xD

EDIT: ooh hey even more stuff! don't feel like making a new post, so...
AAND someone else on the garagesalejapan LJ community just put up some CDs including W's two albums (the first press of the second one) and Berryz Koubou's first two albums (again, the second album was the first press edition) so I just had to grab some of them. I ended up buying the two W albums and the second Berryz album~
Seriously, with shipping it ended up being $33.13. That's basically how much one album is on Yesasia.
I'm having lots of fun with this Livejournal community...

Morning Musume - Mikan PV OUT!! <333

WHEE

watch it on Dohhh UP!

Ok, I LOVE this song. I don't usually absolutely LOVE a song after one listen. There are some songs that I like after the first listen, but I don't really LOVE a song until I've listened to it a couple of times.
I LOVE this song. After watching the PV once.

I mean, I love all of Morning Musume's singles. Except some of their early ones (a couple of pre-LOVE Machine singles like Memory Seishun no Hikari and Furusato), but w/e. That's totally besides the point, they had kinda a different style back then.
But lately, their songs have taken a few listens before I really start liking the songs. When I got back into j-pop after not paying attention to it for a couple of months (this was...about April-ish I think, cause the Kanashimi Twilight PV was out, but the single wasn't), I downloaded Egao YES Nude, and thought it was...different from Momusu's usual style. I like it now, but it's not really my favorite of their songs...
Kanashimi Twilight was great, but again, I didn't really like it after I watched the PV once. It really took a couple more listens before I actually liked it. And again, it doesn't really seem...Momusu-ish to me.
Onna ni Sachi Are had more of a dance-style to it, which not only was totally different from the previous singles, but it was something that I don't think I've ever heard before in a Momusu single. I mean, maybe there was a song like it on an album or as a b-side or something, I dunno. To be perfectly honest, I tend not to listen to b-sides/album songs very much. ^^;;; I liked Onna ni Sachi Are on the first listen, but not really like...'zomg this song is great', like I thought when I first heard Golden Age Momusu songs.

Mikan, however...
Wow. This song really reminds me of the Golden Age of Momusu- like Koko ni Iruzee!, as I've seen other people say. It's really pop-ish and cute, and it's totally different from their last couple of singles, which seemed almost like experiments in other styles of music. This song, however, takes them back to what worked in 2003-ish.
The music video, while not really loading correctly on my computer and freezing every couple of seconds (grr >_<), was...well, I didn't think it was anything too special, but it's good. And the baby pictures are so cute! <33
I think Takahashi Ai looked better with long hair. >_<
Linlin reminds me so much of Ayaka in a couple of scenes in the PV...xDD; Am I the only one that thinks they look similar?
And I really like Junjun. At first, I saw a picture of her that wasn't really a good picture, and I didn't think she'd be that good as a Momusu member. However, I think she looks nice in this PV, so...<3

I know Momusu hasn't been doing too well lately- at least, compared to Golden Age and everything. But I really think this song will do well~ <33

I might buy both limited editions of this single. I've never done that before- I really don't like the idea of two limited editions for a CD. >_< I mean, before, you didn't really know what would come with a limited edition of a Momusu single. It could be photocards (like Chokkan 2 and SEXY BOY), it could be a DVD (like Ambitious!), or it could be a photobook (like Rainbow 7), or maybe something else (yeah, those are the only ones that came with a CD I got). But then they started releasing two limited editions for a single, one with a DVD and one with a photobook. I don't like having to choose. xD If possible, I might seriously get both limited editions. Not sure yet, though...