New Berryz Koubou Single To Be Released UPDATED

“Berryz Koubou are to release their 20th single on 2009-06-03, so far one part of the title has been revealed as it seems this will be a double a-side. The title is a reminiscint of Minimoni, let’s hope the song isn’t too weird!”

2009/06/03
Berryz工房
20thシングル
「青春バスガイド/TBD」(Seishun Bus Guide / To be Decided)
初回盤A(DVD付)：PKCP-5138 税込 1,680円
初回盤B(DVD付)：PKCP-5140 税込 1,680円
通常盤：PKCP-5142 税込 1,050円

Source: Totally Hello! Project

Wow it just seems like they finished they just finished their promotion for “Dakishimete Dakishimete” and now they are set to release a new single, not just a single, a double A-Side single! I can’t imagine what the other title could be, but from the first title “Seishun Bus Guide” I think it is going to be something vaguely similar to Mini Moni’s stuff or something H!P sounding, but it could also be one of those mature songs which Tsunku seems to have a liking for lately (Tsunku emo moment?).

Only time will tell, so for now we have to wait for more news from Hello! Project, and the radio rips, which will probably spring up around in a month or so. I hope they actually spread the girls out and not have Risako and Miyabi lead both, it would be great to have a Shimizu or Chinami lead single for a change (Tsunku, you do know that Shimizu is the only leader of a group to not lead most of the singles right?) I’ll update with more information when it becomes available.

Links to reserve singles (In Japanese, I’ll update the Upcoming Releases page with links from english shopping sites when they become available)

Regular

Limited A

Limited B

UPDATE 4/01: According to this website the title for the c/w is going to be “Rival“. We will have to wait for UFA confirmation on this, but it could be it, although it seems like a lame name in my opinion, they should have thought this through a bit more.

If this is indeed the name then we just need to get a confirmation that it is going to be a double-A side, there is still no official word on whether this is true or not, we could have the name of the A and B side for all we know. I am still hopeful that it could be a double A-side, it sounds like a great way to promote Alo-Hello Berryz Koubou, and a great way to have both an anime song and an H!P song on the same single. I’ll update if there is a confirmation.

H!P Releases April 1

• Mano Erina – ManoGuam

Only one release today, Mano Erina’s DVD release from her recent photobook, titled “ManoGuam” (no, it has nothing to do with wrestling). So the digest on Dohhh-Up has been up for some time, I was originally planning to do a post about the digest but I realized I should wait for the release to at least have something to write here. OK, first of all the digest really gives us a good idea of what we are going to see, Mano being Mano, playing the piano, shopping, going along on a drive with some guy, and of course bikini shots.

One thing I liked from the digest was when she just appears from behind some white curtains (Otome no Onori reference?), and also when she is in the ballpark (for reasons unknown, I guess it was open and free, and they used that to save some money). Mano looks great in a bikini, almost all of the shots of her in a bikini looks great, there are some where she has to force a smile while under some trees in an uncomfortable position which really killed the mood a bit, but overall I would say she did a good job.

If you are a fan of Mano Erina I would really recommend you get it, the link is in the Upcoming Releases page, as always. She really looked great in this PB and I really hope they give her some more PB opportunities in the future…..right after they give Chinami one of course. Here is the link to the digest on Dohhh-Up, which is around 1:40 in length, which is small but at least they give a good summary of what we can expect.

So if you have bought and are just waiting for it come then please watch the digest it won’t spoil anything, it’s like a small taste of what’s to come, and if you haven’t ordered it or don’t plan to buy it, then I recommend you watch the digest also, it really does a good job of showing everyone what comes on the DVD and how Mano’s personality is.

LINK

Elder Club Is Now Officially Graduated From Hello! Project

So officially today the elder club is no longer part of Hello! Project. This is more of a symbolic movement, they will still be active, but they will no longer be part of the Hello! Project family. This also marks the day that H!P’s official leadership goes to Morning Musume member Takahashi Ai, who along with Morning Musume’s leadership has her hands full for now. Takahashi Ai has done an incredible job as leader of Momusu so I am sure that Hello! Project is in good hands.

The Elder Club is still going to be with UFA, which is a relief to most fans because of the initial scare that they would simply leave them. This is a good move, simply because the slight lowering of sales and slight dip in reputation was dragging down everyone, hopefully this will help the Elder Club. The recent increase in releases and quality of PV’s in Hello! Project could mean something, but that is probably something else.

The Elder Club really helped shape Hello! Project to what it is today, and there is no doubt that UFA doesn’t plan on leaving them inactive, there are already plans for the Elder Club, such as an Iida Kaori mini concert (most likely fan club member only) in the works, and most likely there is going to release announcements in the near future from Matsuura Aya, Melon Kinenbi, Ongaku Gatas, and the other Soloists. But for now everyone has to get used to the idea that their releases won’t include the familiar Hello! Project logo, while sad it seemed necessary.

Elder Club it was great having you in Hello! Project, hope to see some release announcement soon, bye for now (although you are still technically in UFA). Up-Front, we Hello! Project fans expect to see something come out of this, so please don’t disappoint.

I’m posting a link to an emotional performance for new and old fans, this is the performance for “All For One and One For All” at the Graduation concert for the Elder Club, where all of H!P is performing together for the last time with the Elder Club. The link is at Dohhh-Up because I couldn’t find it on Youtube, but it should be nostalgic and great nonetheless. Here is the link:

LINK

Yorosen Replacement Coming April 2

“Every week 1 H!P member will have “journalistic” talks ranging from grown-up issues to advice about life. First week features Takahashi Ai and the wife of former Prime Minsiter Morihiro Hosokawa.”

Translation: sferris @Morning Central

Wow, since hearing about Yorosen being canceled many speculated about what could be replacing it, well here is the answer, it’s a kind of like a talk show, but here H!P members will be interviewing a “host”. It doesn’t sound and look that exciting but it is a better thing than nothing, I really hope they bring better guests, UFA and H!P have to really work hard to get rid of the wota image.

I am kind of optimistic though, they may start slow, but eventually they might make something good (I hope this new director is good, it looks to similar to Hello! Pro Hour, but with “hosts”). It looks like a 30 min show, because of the “1.00 – 1.30”, I really hope that it is H!P really need good time on air, not just a 5 min show about learning that airs late at night (Yorosen).

List of Guests (not sure about this, this might change, they are in order of appearance):
1. Takahashi Ai
2. Mitsui Aika
3. Natsuyaki Miyabi
4. Abe Natsumi
5. Satoda Mai

Source: ggliff @ Musume Central

EDIT: Not that big but the name of the show is Bijo Houdan (美女放談), and it will air every Thursday (in Japan) for 30 min. I still have mixed feelings about this, I mean if it is just a journalistic interview then why do they start with the most serious and mature members, they should really start with members like Momoko or Hagiwara Mai, those members we know that are going to ask cute and funny answers (although Takahashi can do that also).

Anyway I don’t think that H!F is going to sub this if it is just going to be a long interview (they are idols, not reporters), so let’s hope another sub group at least subs the first episode to get a chance to see what its like (hopefully H!F will do at least one episode). So let’s hope for an entertaining show, although there isn’t much to do with the former Prime Ministers wife, unless she does a memory queen battle with Takahashi or does a Gakikame style segment, which would be great, but extremely unlikely. Let’s hope for the best!

Random H!P Vol 4

Thank you for participating in the poll! It was a great success, 46 people voted and Michishige and Kamei battled it out during the week (Fujimoto seemed to loss some momentum when it was announced she was going to marry), but in the end Kamei won. I’ll post a picture of the winning girl on the side and I’ll try to change it some times during the week, until the other winner is announced next Saturday (let’s go Niigaki!). I hope we have the same turnout as we did before, so please vote, this week it’s the Gokkies turn, so if you like Takahashi, Gaki, Ogawa or Konkon then please vote!

Something else I wanted to say, I’ll try to update the profile page more (I just got Ice Creamusume up this week), but I’ve been sidetracking a lot because I got bored and I started messing around with subbing programs. I’m barely learning but I have to start learning how to put effects…that’s the only problem I have right now (timing is no problem, but I have to practice more). Anyway this will be done purely out of fun, so there isn’t going to be that much activity from my part in the subbing area (because of my lack of Japanese and effect-making skills). The H!P birthday section is still underway but I’m still deciding the layout, so it will take some time…Oh and great news, my Platinum 9 DISC copy came today in the mail, so I will probably finish the review tommorrow.

OK, this weeks video is from kawaiirrhea (DJ Kirarin☆Snow, who is actually well known), basically this remix (If you aren’t familiar with DJ Kirarin☆Snow) involves putting two songs together by using instrumentals and vocal tracks from the songs, the end result is an entertaining song where we have the instrumental for a song with vocals from another song. This remix is from Morning Musume’s “Resonant Blue” and Berryz Koubou’s “Kokuhaku no Funsui Hiroba“…I know what you are thinking, but they actually match up a lot, which makes me wonder if Tsunku is using the same beat for all songs. Here is the video, and if you have any suggestions for next weeks video (remix or whatever H!P related) then please comment below. Video…Douzo~

Hello! Blog’s “Hello! Project 2009 Poll”

I thought I might as well post to reveal my current top ten and the reason why they are there (I know I have rankings on my About page too, but this one is for all of H!P, not just the groups, check out my “About” page if you want my rankings on each member of Morning Musume, Berryz Koubou and C-ute). If you can I encourage you to go and participate in the poll because now that JapanFiles is with Hello! Blog they can get a better idea of what we H!P fans think about the current H!P. OK, let’s start!

(This isn’t an absolute indicator of who wins over who, so the numbers are somewhat useless to me)

1. Niigaki Risa – She is my ultimate favorite in H!P, she has beauty, talent, and one of the reasons I like H!P, she gives her all when she goes on concerts and that too me is the makings of a leader (Sorry Takahashi, you’re a great leader but Niigaki wins this one). If you have seen Haromoni@ then you probably know that she acts like a mom most of the time (especially when Kusumi does something), thats what I like about her, she takes the subleader role seriously, she also is one of those girls with an extremely good singing voice (apart from Takahashi, LinLin, and Kamei). I really hope they start giving her more parts in songs (She had half a song with Sayu, Yowamushi, but I would like to see her have her own song).

2. Michishige Sayumi – She is pretty much an easy choice for second place, although she lacks singing skills (although she is improving a lot) she makes up for it in beauty and comedic skills. She was great on Haromoni@ and I loved to see her do her various sections. She got her own song on the last Momusu album, which is good, but I really don’t think it was right for her, she sounded somewhat forced, I hope they give her an H!P sounding song somewhere in the near future.

Wow, what a surprise Niigaki and Michishige are in the top two (hence the name for this blog), they are a great pair (so are Niigaki and Kamei, and Michishige and Kamei), but I prefer these two slightly more.

3. Tokunaga Chinami – You might be wondering what she is doing there in the top three, well since I recently (3 months ago) started to listen to more Berryz Koubou I started to watch their presentations on Music Fighter I started to notice Chinami a lot. She looks extremely pretty and I don’t see why Tsunku hasn’t given her a PB, she has really changed a lot and she is one of those girls in Berryz Koubou that stands out slightly more than the others (apart from Risako, Miyabi and Tokunaga). She is also a good comedian, watch Dschinghis Khan, or her closeup PV of Dakishimete Dakishimete near the end (I really liked the way she just starts to slightly laugh when the music ends and she stares at the camera with her smile wondering what to do next), there is also the digest from Sudou Maasa’s PV on Dohhh-Up where she just enters in the middle of the video and leaves slightly before the end while everyone is finishing up (I laughed about that for some time).

I hope she can have more times to shine with better parts in future songs, she has a great voice and I don’t see why she has to be stuck on the left side while Risako, Miyabi, and Momoko take all the spotlight, and to top it all of she is the only member who hasn’t been in a unit yet, come on Tsunku we need more Chinami!.

4. Kamei Eri – She is Kamei, the goofy and cute Kamei. She really shined a lot on Haromoni/Haromoni@, and I really liked how she reacted when she succeded in finishing a Gakikame theater segment. She has a decent amount of lines and she is in the top five Tsunku uses a lot more, which is good, but she can honestly sing better than Kusumi (no surprise there, watch Sono Bamen de Bibichaikenaijan and look for Kamei and Kusumi’s lines, she nails the perfect tone each time, Kusumi, on the other hand, did her anime voice…Kamei Wins!) She has a great voice and she tries her hardest to learn her lines perfectly, and she is really funny also, which is a plus for me, and she gets along extremely well with both Sayu and Niigaki which makes her a top on my list.

5. Kumai Yurina – Her voice is one of her best qualities (apart from her looks), she is almost always one of the girls who gets a good part of lines in a song because of it. She stands out a lot (because of her height, and it doesn’t help that both of H!P’s shortest members are in Berryz Koubou too), which is good because she is noticed more. She is extremely cute and I really would like to see her in the spotlight more often (after Chinami that is). Let’s hope for more Kumai lines, Berryz Koubou really need to change the Risako concentrated singles they have been releasing, I get it Tsunku, Risako can sing and she’s cute too, now we need to focus on the other girls.

6. ReiRei – Wow, bet you didn’t see that coming, a member from Ice Creamusume places higher in a ranking than Takahashi Ai, well I have some reasons. First of all she has an extremely good singing voice (not better than her, but she is a great singer nonetheless), her first line in the Ame..fill in the blank..darou song was one of the best I’ve heard. Second, she has a slightly dreamy look in her face all the time which is cute, she looks great and she instantly became one of my favorite in Ice Creamusume (along with Youko). I hope they start bringing in Ice Creamusume to the H!P concerts after their studying break (they are definitely still in H!P, but they are taking somewhat of a break for exams in May), we need more ReiRei in H!P.

7. Takahashi Ai – She is in the bottom four because I wanted to go through my most favorites first and then go through the other top girls. She has an incredible voice and she will certainly go far as a singer, she also is one of the most popular Musume’s, which might have to do with her voice and beauty. Not much I can make out of that, if you’ve seen her in Morning Musume you know that she is one of the the most talented (if not the best) at singing, that explains itself good.

8. Kusumi Koharu – If you’ve read my reviews of Kusumi single releases then you might be surprised about why she is there in my top ten. I constantly complain about her voice, which is true to some extent, right now she is not the best at singing because she does her anime voice when she sings. If you have listened to her early work (Ex: Balalaika), then you know that she has talent and can sing, but somewhere along the line someone must have suggested that she raise her voice tone a little, leading us to the present where she does an annoying teenage voice everytime she sings. With the end of her anime she might stop doing that, there is some proof in Guruguru Jump where she does a normal voice, which means that good singer Kusumi is somewhere in there, and I really hope she starts using her normal voice more. She’s also cute, not Michishige cute, but still cute.

9. Suzuki Airi – I would have placed her higher but she doesn’t really make that great of an impact to move any of the other girls. She is an extremely good singer being one of the top picks, along with Yajima, for song lines. I placed her in the top ten because I recently started noticing her after I saw a subtitled Making of co*no*mi*chi, when she started doing impressions of other members. It was really funny because of the looks she got from Momoko and Miyabi, which were always “Huh?” looks. She also has a cute look, but it’s like Kusumi, it’s just not that much, also it looks like she tries her hardest in all of the PV’s which is always a good sign she cares about the fans.

10. Mano Erina – She would go higher, but like Takahashi I wanted to put the overall favorites first, she has an extremely soft and mellow voice which combined with her piano talent make her one of the top reasons why she is a good soloist. She is also one of the few H!P members which can play an instrument while she sings, which helps her and Tsunku out because there isn’t a need for heavy beats or additional sound effects to make the song. She is also extremely cute, I’m really looking forward to seeing “ManoGuam” (no, it’s not a wrestling dvd, it’s about her trip for her PB, at least I think so). I also like the look she has when she sings, which is almost always calm and soothing, which combined with her eyes kind of make you feel the emotion of the music. I would really like to hear her sing an H!P sounding song at least once to see if she could pull it of though, just to change it up a bit.

Overall I like these ten more than the other girls,I do still like the other members as well, just not that much. I encourage you to go to Hello! Blogs site to vote in the poll, let’s show UFA we International H!P fans care about them! If you want to comment on your favorites or argue in their favor, please go ahead and comment. The link to Hello! Blog’s site is on the right, under the “Blogs” section, go and vote!

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.

Mano Erina 2nd Single – Hajimete no Keiken UPDATED

“Recently debuted soloist Mano Erina will release her 2nd single this May, so far there is no release date however the Single V is already listed on Fujisan.

シングルＶ「はじめての経験」
真野恵里菜

メーカー:(株)キャニオンレコード
発売日:2009-06-03
規格コード: HKBN-50114
価格（円）: 1575

The title; はじめての経験, transliterates as Hajime no Keiken which means “First Experience”

Source Totally Hello! Project

Wow, she just released her single, which is still ranking high, and now she is about to release another one. It seems Tsunku is eager to release singles really fast, this is one among many, now we just need a new C-ute single announcement and everyone is going to have a single in the waiting.

I hope she tries to do something more faster, I loved Otome no Inori but it was slow (I’m still using it to go to sleep). I hope they really put effort into these multiple singles that are being announced every week or so, we need something well thought out, not another Pepper Keibu (which only had one change, 10 seconds of remixed violins). Anyway wait for the single to be released sometime in May, I’ll update when more news is revealed.

Edit (3/27): I won’t move this post up because it’s still in the top 5 posts, anyway there is new information. The release date is May 20 (5/20) for the singles, the Single V is going to be released on June 3 (6/03). They are following the trend of releasing four versions again, if she sells good again this might become something they do regularly (even though it looks like it already).

Something I wanted to point out, there was a rumor going around that this release was going to be a triple-A side (on JPM I think, or some other forum, probably 2ch), that turned out to be false, it is going to be a normal single just like Otome no Inori. Here is some information on the singles plus links (in Japanese, from the fujisan website) so you can check them out for yourself, I’ll update with links from CDJapan and YesAsia when they become available:

Regular Edition
はじめての経験
真野恵里菜
発売元: (株)キャニオンレコード
発売日:2009-05-20
規格コード: HKCN-50083
日本国内価格（円）: 1050
Regular Edition

Limited Edition A, DVD
はじめての経験
真野恵里菜≪ＤＶＤ付初回生産
発売元: (株)キャニオンレコード
発売日:2009-05-20
規格コード: HKCN-50079
日本国内価格（円）: 1680
Limited Edition A

Limited Edition B
はじめての経験
真野恵里菜≪初回生産限定盤Ｂ
発売元: (株)キャニオンレコード
発売日:2009-05-20
規格コード: HKCN-50081
日本国内価格（円）: 1470
Limited Edition B

Limited Edition C
はじめての経験
真野恵里菜≪初回生産限定盤Ｃ
発売元: (株)キャニオンレコード
発売日:2009-05-20
規格コード: HKCN-50082
日本国内価格（円）: 1050
Limited Edition C

Single V
シングルＶ「はじめての経験」
真野恵里菜

メーカー: (株)キャニオンレコード
発売日:2009-06-03
規格コード: HKBN-50114
価格（円）: 1575
Single-V

H!P Releases March 25

• Hello! Project – 2009 Winter Wonderful Hearts Koen – Kakumei Gannen – / Elder Club Koen – Thank you for your LOVE! – (DVD)
• Mano Erina – Otome no Inori (Single-V)
• Mari Yaguchi – Seishun Boku / Seishun Ore (Single+DVD)
• Hello! Project – Best Shot Vol.17 (Photobook)

This comes a bit late because I had to finish a report for a class and I didn’t have that much time left, so without further ado let’s see what was released today/yesterday:

The long awaited DVD of the elder club graduation, Hello! Project – 2009 Winter Wonderful Hearts Koen – Kakumei Gannen – / Elder Club Koen – Thank you for your LOVE!, it was an emotional concert for most of the older fans out there, it was another concert for younger fans, but overall it was a mark of change in H!P that everything is not going to be the same (it technically is, they just changed names, but that’s not the symbolic meaning). This was the last presentation of the members that made H!P what it was in its high point, it was more than a bunch of girls with a high school education singing along to pop music with a metrosexual guys voice, it was a group of girls with a desire to sing, mostly about happy summer weddings, love revolutions, sexy boys, and other themes (mostly dealing with love and happiness).

If you hope to see the entire H!P family as a whole (except for Kago, who can be seen in any gravure site or your local court accused of adultery, or Goto who can be found releasing digital singles with other artists) singing those songs that made us smile, then this is your last chance, I highly recommend it to fans of the golden age and earlier generations.

Next up, Mano Erina – Otome no Inori (Single-V), not much I can say about this, I really liked the single, it really showed Mano’s voice almost naturally without the hard beats and voice processing that are characteristic of some H!P songs, I have heard that the Close-Up ver is hypnotic, with the slow music, Mano’s cute face and almost 6 min of staring time I bet it is.

Next, Mari Yaguchi – Seishun Boku / Seishun Ore (Single+DVD), the c/w release with a group of old men with hair problems, it also marks the first release of a PV with an idol dancing in a Windows screen saver (check it out in the Yaguchi category, I did a post about it). The song overall is good, not the Yaguchi we all know, it’s the release of a new Mature Yaguchi, and whats more mature than standing in the middle of a set with a Chihuahua dog above your name in the background. I would recommend this for Yaguchi fans, not that much for new fans that want to hear Yaguchi for the first time, I would point you to some Morning Musume or Mini Moni PVs such as Osaka Koi no Uta or something Yaguchi heavy for that.

Finally, Hello! Project – Best Shot Vol.17 (Photobook), I have no idea what it is, but from H!O I got information that the DVD included scenes from various H!P artists who all have PB’s so most likely it is a compilation of images of these artists. The DVD most likely also includes scenes from the Making Of’s from each PV, so if you were undecided on what PB to buy because you liked various artists, then this is the PB for you.

Like always the links to buy are in the Upcoming releases page, I’m also going to start from now on to move posts that I update to the front of the page, so if you see a post from some days back with “UPDATE” in the title check out the information near the bottom, it might be small news, or it might be some big news like confirmation of something or a change to a certain product. Next release is going to be Mano’s DVD “ManoGuam” so I’ll probably take a look before I post something about it to give everyone a good image about what it contains.

Alo-Hello! Berryz Koubou Announced UPDATED

And in a surprising twist we now have an Alo-Hello! announced for Berryz Koubou! I usually thought it was reserved for Morning Musume members, but I am extremely excited to see what they are going to do (and because it has Chinami).

Morning Musume (as a group) has had about three, and some other members have had various other Alo-Hello’s like Yaguchi and Tsuji, and they usually do pretty interesting and entertaining stuff in that hour and minutes they have, so I hope they follow in the footsteps of the previous one and make it interesting and new. I’m really waiting for the release date, and I hope H!F (Hello! Fansubs) does the subtitles, because they already have a lot of Alo-Hello subbing experience and they release really fast.

The link to the product is below and you can check it out if you can read Japanese, it’s available up for preorder now in that page, so if you know Japanese go pre order it, 3000 Yen (roughly $30) sounds really cheap. The release date is June 10, so we still have some time to go, but at least it is announced early enough to make Berryz Koubou fans speculate and wonder, and possibly buy more as release time nears.

LINK

UPDATED 3/25 It’s going to include a PB, not that big a post so I decided to update this one. Anyway the PB is going to be obviously the Berryz Koubou girls in bikinis and the basic Hawaii clothes that Morning Musume used on their trip, so it’s closer to a Chinami PB (Or Yumai, Shimizu, Natsuyaki PB) but still they won’t give her a PB. Hope they get good feedback on how the other girls that don’t have PB’s look so that they finally decide to release a solo PB for the other 4 that don’t have one. The only link that is available at this time to buy is from a Japanese site so if you can read it go and have a look for yourself and reserve your copy.

LINK