Kumai Yurina Has The Flu

One day after Chinami’s announcement that she had gotten sick it was announced that Kumai Yurina also has flu like symptoms and she will also miss the 11/7 Aichi Labor Hall and 11/8 Osaka Pension Hall concerts. With this announcement all of the Berryz Koubou members, officially, have caught the flu.

It was kind of expected to see all of the members of Berryz Koubou miss a concert or two when we got so many announcements in such a short time. Kumai and Chii looked like they were among the few who weren’t going to get sick, but in the end they all managed to get the flu.

Like Chinami I expect to see Kumai miss 5 days or so before she is back to good health and all of the other members seem to have gotten better so hopefully they take care to not catch it again.

Official H!P Announcement Regarding Kumai’s Flu

Get Well Soon Kuma-chan!

Kumai Yurina’s First Solo CM

Kumai Yurina was featured in her first solo CM for Base Ball Bears new album “(WHAT IS THE) LOVE & POP”. Kumai was probably picked for the commercial because of her name “Kumai” which sounds like “Kuma” (Japanese for “bear”).

Kumai also left a message on Base Ball Bear’s website:

“Love&POP contains many up-tempo songs, and the whole album conveys a lot of power.
My favorites are “Stairway Generation” and “Umi ni Naritai pt2! I had these on loop.
I’d definitely like to go to their concert as well.”

Translation: Hello! Online (from Base Ball Bear’s Site)

The commercial basically has Kumai biting a lemon that bursts blood, then she drops it to the ground (the text near the end says “Youth is disgusting”).

It’s somewhat confusing (I guess the lemon is a representation of youth) but Kumai looks really great in the CM, and I am really glad to see her getting attention.

H!P Releases July 25

• Kumai Yurina – FLOWERAGE (Photobook)   Amazon.jp

Only one release today, Kumai Yurina’s 2nd PB titled FLOWERAGE:

Kumai Yurina – FLOWERAGE, Kumai Yurina’s 2nd PB which features various shots of Kumai in bikini and casual clothes. Since there aren’t that many previews available I wasn’t really able to fully get the theme the photographer is trying to use, but from the few previews I have seen I am really impressed.

There are many shots of Kumai just being herself and having fun, for example this one:

It’s great to see her acting natural and having fun playing sports. Although she is one of Berryz Koubou’s best singers she is usually underpromoted, so I’m glad to see that they at least spent some time taking good pictures where we can see her act as herself.

There was also a video which was released on Dohhh-Up some days ago which shows a preview of the special Making Of DVD that will be released on 9/16 (as far as I know it is only available through this page and they are only taking orders until 8/14).

That preview shows us a bit more of what we can expect to find on the PB, including shots of her on a bed, the beach and on other locations. Although it’s a bit short in length we can get a bigger picture of what the PB contains and what we can expect to see.

Overall they did a great job with Kumai’s 2nd PB, the only thing that I would have liked to see was more promotion, since they announced the release of the PB too close to the release date I don’t think many people knew about it (not like Suzuki’s where she had a lot of chances to promote her’s).

Next release will be on 7/29 with Berryz Koubou’s concert DVD and Mano Erina’s Sekai wa Summer Party.

Kumai Yurina – FLOWERAGE Making Of Preview Released

A preview for Kumai Yurina’s 2nd PB FLOWERAGE has been released. I was really impressed by how pretty Kumai looks in the poses she did for the PB, she was always one of the cutest Berryz Koubou members and that really reflects on the shots.

My favorite part would have to be when Kumai was eating the ice cream, she looked really cute when she said it was sweet. The shots of her on the bed, the beach and near the pool were really good, I hope that we can see some previews of them soon.

I am really impressed by the quality and variety of shots and I will definitely take a look at the PB when it comes out.

The PB is set for release on 7/25.

Kumai Yurina’s Dohhh-UP FLOWERAGE Preview

EDIT: Youtube Link

Kumai Yurina – FLOWERAGE PB Cover Released

The cover for Kumai Yurina’s next PB titled FLOWERAGE has been released. I really like how the cover looks, mainly because Kumai looks incredibly pretty on it, and the flower she is wearing makes her look younger and it gives the cover a somewhat “fresh and spring” theme (I guess that is where FLOWERAGE comes from).

The title “FLOWERAGE” is easier to read compared to previous PB releases (it can be easily found without using a magnifying glass), although when I looked at it the first time I thought it was a flower magazine for some reason.

Kumai looks incredibly pretty and cute on the cover, maybe this PB can show UFA that not every PB cover has to have a bikini to look good. Hopefully some previews of the PB appear soon, since we are already close to the release date.

The release date is set for 7/25.

Source of Cover for Kumai Yurina’s PB

Kumai Yurina’s 2nd PB “FLOWERAGE” Announced

少女から女性へと開花中。15歳最後のキラめきを詰め込んだ２年ぶりの写真集！

Berryz工房・熊井友理奈、2年ぶりのソロ写真集が登場!!　水着で、制服で、そして意外な服装で…ステージでは見られない「15歳の素顔」が満載の一冊です。元気な笑顔、スタイルのよさにも注目!　メイキングDVD付き。

Source: JBOOK (Link below)

Kumai Yurina’s 2nd PB titled Flowerage has been announced. When I first heard this I was really excited since she is among my top favorite Berryz Koubou members.

I have no idea what the theme could mean (I have a slight feeling that they are going to include a flower in some photo), but I’m glad they are still releasing PBs featuring Yurina.

There is no specific date but they are probably going to release it soon since they say the release date is 7/2009 (July 2009).

Announcement Of Kumai’s 2nd PB On JBOOK

Edit: According to this page from JBOOK, the release date is 7/27.

New Berryz Koubou Radio Show: “Tsuukai! Berryz Oukoku”

“Tsuukai! Berryz Oukoku” (Thrilling! Berryz Kingdom) starting 7/3/09, Sunday at 11 p.m. to 11:30, reruns on Fridays. It will broadcast on SKY PerfecTV! STAR digio 400ch.

Natsuyaki Miyabi and Kumai Yurina on the first episode. Quasi-regular is Sugaya Risako.
http://www.helloproject.com/news/0906301600_berryz.html

A new Berryz Koubou radio show has been announced titled “Tsuukai! Berryz Oukoku” which will start on 7/3 each Sunday at 11PM to 11:30 PM. There was some confusion about it being a radio or TV show, but a quick glance at the SKY PerfecTV channel list at Wikipedia has STAR Digio 400 as a radio show.

This radio show now gives everyone a part in a radio show: Beritsuu being made up of Shimizu, Maasa and Chinami, Momoko in Puri Puri Princess, and Tsuukai! Berryz Oukoku with Miyabi, Yurina and Risako.

Shugo Chara Egg To Be With Guardian 4 UPDATE

(Nakajima and Akari – top left, Kumai and Kanon – top right, Mitsui and Ayaka – bottom left, Risako and Yuuka- bottom left)

Credit: Nayok-Kihara @ H!O

So, it’s official Shugo Chara Egg is not over! They are being assigned as supporters to Guardian 4 (most likely), that probably means they will probably be backup dancers and provide harmonies when their assigned member is singing. Not much is known right now but I’ll update when I find out more, for now there is still Shugo Chara Egg.

Nakajima is paired with Akari Saho, Kumai is paired with Fukuda Kanon, Mitsui is paired with Ayaka Wada, and Risako is paired with Yuuka Maeda. They put the most popular egg (Yuuka Maeda) with the most popular choice for solo lines in a Berryz Koubou song (Sugaya Risako), hope they don’t get all of the lines though, I would really like to see them get the same number of lines.

The information is pretty much confirmed, but I’ll provide a link with the official confirmation when it becomes available. I can’t wait for the single, it’s going to be a great release, and if they include Shugo Chara Egg in the PV(most likely), then it’s going to be great.

UPDATE 4/02

The official website for this unit has opened up, click on the Guardian 4 logo to got to the official page (I’ll add it to the links on the side too), although not much is there. There is a discography link on the side which might mean they will release at least two singles, plus there are new pictures of the group and each member. If you want to just look at the pictures then go ahead, anyone can easily go through the page (for now, when they add more stuff it will be slightly harder), the only problem would be reading the profiles and links, but overall it is great for looking at member pictures (though there isn’t many).

New H!P Unit “Guardian 4″

The unit first single will be released on May 27th with the title “Omakase! Guardian” and it will become the new opening of Shugo Chara.

Source: Hello! Online

Shugo Chara Egg has been replaced by a new unit, Guardian 4, which is a good thing and a bad thing for some. The bad thing is that we won’t be seeing Shugo Chara Egg again (it was a temporary unit after all), the good thing is that we have a new unit with at least one member from each of the primary three groups. This is Mitsui and Nakajima’s second anime unit (the first one being Athena and Robikerettsu), I hope it goes well for Kumai who has a really great singing voice, Sugaya as we all know sings extremely well, which means she will probably be the leader.

Guardian 4 is taking over both opening and ending for the anime, so we will have to see what happens to Buono, they might stay because they are really popular, but for now there is no confirmation (they are going to the anime convention in Stockholm, so they might stay), Shugo Chara Egg fans…well…it was great while it lasted. I’ll update more as it is revealed.