According to a recent announcement by the official H!P site, Sayashi Riho is cleared and will be back in time for her PB event this week, she will also be able to participate in the Morning Musume Fall 2011 concert tour as well as the stage play.
Mitsui Aika unfortunately didn’t get cleared and still has a few more weeks of rest left from the advised 8 weeks, so she will be limited with her performances in the upcoming Morning Musume concert tour and stage play.
It’s great to hear that Riho is recovered and ready to come back to perform, especially in time for her 1st PB event since it would have been disappointing to see her miss out due to an injury, but the upcoming tour will be very important so I’m happy that she will be able to join in with the other members and give everything she has for Ai-chan’s last performances as a Momusu member.
Mitsui’s injury seems a bit slower in healing (most likely because it’s a bit more severe than Riho’s injury) but there is still time for her to heal since she still has a few more weeks of advised rest, and while we don’t know for sure how limited she will be at the concerts or how well the injury is healing I am still a bit glad to see that she will be able to attend the concert tour and won’t have to miss out on any days, just a few performances where she will probably have to sit down and sing.
Hopefully we get to hear good news about Mitsui’s injury in the next few weeks since it would be great to see her dance on at least one of Ai-chan’s final concerts, and while it doesn’t seem like it will be possible I do wish for her to recover soon.
The title for the stage play featuring various H!P artists has been changed from Ribbon~reborn~ to Ribbon~Inochi no Audition~.
I’m not sure if it’s Ribbon~Inochi no Audition~ or Reborn~Inochi no Audition~ since they used Katakana for the first part, but the new title for the play means something along the lines of Reborn~Life Audition~ which matches the description that was released when the play announced, and while we might not have that many details apart from what we already know it seems like this play will be very interesting.
As mentioned before this will be the first play for most of the 9th generation, although it will be fun to see who stands out since they all seem like they could do really well in the play. Apart from that Riho’s injury will most likely be healed by the time the play starts, but we’ll have to wait and see what the result for Mitsui’s checkup will be since her previous check up resulted in a longer healing time.
For now the play is starting to shape up to be a very interesting event since it includes quite a lot of H!P and UFA members, but I hope we get to see some previews or at least a promotion flier by next month.
According to the official H!P site, after her checkup Mitsui Aika has been advised by doctors to rest for 8 weeks. Sayashi Riho was also told to rest 6 weeks due to ischium nerve pain on her right side.
They will both miss the rest of the Hello! Project 2011 Summer tour.
As always injuries are one of the main concerns for fans and while both Mitsui and Riho will miss the rest of the tour it’s good to see that they will follow the doctors orders and rest to heal their injuries since their health is the top priority.
Mitsui’s left ankle bone fracture seems to need a bit more rest before healing, and while she did appear at events and concerts and sat down during the performances it seems that it’s for the best for her to miss the the remainder of the H!P tour to make sure her injury heals well.
Riho’s injuries are a bit more sever than I thought since I had the idea that she had only suffered a minor sprain, but it seems that she has ischium nerve pain, which according to Wikipedia is a fairly common lower hip bone injury caused by sudden movements during some sports although in this case it was due to the many hours of dancing that members need to due during performances.
Despite the reason for the injury, I wish both Mitsui and Riho a complete and fast recovery and hopefully after the 6 and 8 weeks they are both well healed and in perfect shape to perform once again.
Mitsui will need to rest 8 weeks and Riho will need to rest 6 weeks.
A stage play currently titled “Ribbon～reborn～” has been announced and it will feature various H!P artists.
The title is a temporary title and is subject to change but for now the following members will be participating in the play:
Niigaki Risa
Mitsui Aika
Fukumura Mizuki
Ikuta Erina
Sayashi Riho
Suzuki Kanon
Mori Saki & Sengoku Minami from Up Up Girls
Erika Miyoshi
Kudou Haruka from H!P eggs
Here is a short summary of the play translated by Sohee @ JPLOP:
Between “this world” and “that world” there is a world where 10 “new lives” have been prepared. The 10 people who have gathered are “historical super stars”. But, a 11th one who is a “nameless ordinary person” turns up. The great ones holds a “audition for being reborn”.
I really like that the cast line up so far since it seems like they picked random members for the play but regardless of that I’m real excited for this since this will be 9th gen’s first play (except for Riho) and I’m curious to see what their acting is like. Also in the Fashionable play Riho played a very minor role so hopefully we’ll see her in this play a little bit more and we can get an idea of what her acting is like. I’m also very surprised to see Erika Miyoshi in the line up since it’s been awhile since we’ve seen her so hopefully some of her fans can attend.
Hopefully more information is released soon, such as the characters and some promotion fliers/photos and a plot summary.
Mitsui Aika has been diagnosed with left ankle bone fracture.
After the Morning Musume concert this past weekend Aika complained of pain in her left foot, after which she went to the hospital where she was diagnosed with the injury on 5/9.
Mitsui will be out of events for at least 8 weeks where she will be examined again afterwards.
The following is a list of the events she will miss:
Even though Mitsui will be out for a about 2 months I am glad to see that the injury she was diagnosed with isn’t major and that she will hopefully be able to perform once again soon after she gets a chance to rest up.
As was mentioned before Mitsui will attend the events but she won’t be able to do any dancing or anything similar in order to rest up, which is a relief since that means that she will be able to appear without having to miss out on the events that are planned.
It seems that Mitsui hasn’t had the best of luck when it comes to injuries (she has had quite a few in the past years) but she always comes back with full force and gives fans a chance to see her great personality, and most likely this will be one of those times as well so I look forward to hearing about her recovery and how she is doing in the next few weeks.
Hopefully we get an update from the members or H!P once she is better.
Mitsui Aika will have her first solo FC event titled Aika no ANNEX Event ~Pastel Color Days~.
Fukumura Mizuki, Ikuta Erina, Sayashi Riho, and Suzuki Kanon will be guests at the event.
I’m somewhat surprised to see that Mitsui will have a solo event, but since most of the other members have already had a chance to enjoy their own and since she is the only member of the 8th generation currently in Momusu it seems like a great way for Aika fans to enjoy a solo event of their own.
The title is a reference to her blog, which is a nice touch since fans most likely already read her blog and will most likely look forward to the event even more since the theme will be focused on her.
Since it is a solo event it seems that Mitsui might need some help in order to play contests and other interactions so I’m glad to see that members of the 9th generation event will be attending since Mitsui will be able to sing with them and to have contests along with other events that are usually done at solo events.
Hopefully Aika and 9th generation fans attend the event since it seems like a great way to spend the day.
The event will take place on 6/6 and 6/9 at 18:00 and 19:45.
Sayumi, Reina, and Aika’s Bus FC Bus Tour on 5/28 which was scheduled to go to Chiba, Boso will now instead go to Shizuoka, Tokai and it will be titled Morning Days~Happy Holiday~ Sayu, Reina, Aika Fanclub Tour in Tokai.
The destination was changed over concern of safety over aftershocks and side effects of the recent earthquakes.
I’m glad to see that they have decided to change the destination for this bus tour since safety of all the fans who will attend the event as well as the safety of each one of the members is very important, and while some fans might be a bit disappointed it’s great to see that they only changed the destination and didn’t cancel the event.
Most fans probably won’t care that much since an event with Sayu, Reina, and Mitsui in any place seems to be a fans dream come true, but I hope we can get fan reports about the event to see if everything went smoothly once it happens.
Most likely staff is busy planning out interesting events for fans to enjoy in the new destination so hopefully many fans are looking forward to the new destination and the event.
Details about Michishige Sayumi, Tanaka Reina and Mitsui Aika’s FC Bus Tour have been released.
The title for the bus tour has been revealed to be ~ Morning Days Happy Holiday ~ Michishige Sayumi, Tanaka Reina, Mistui Aika Fan Club Tour in Bousou.
The title is really interesting since it refers to a school theme with the “holiday” mention, and on the promotional poster, we get to see the drawing of a school bus where the initials of each girl are written on, and the whole theme is really ineteresting and will definitly attract fans to find out more about this event.
Also, this being the first event of Aika with the remaining 6th generation members, it will most probably attarct the curiosity of some fans to see how Aika will react with the other 2 girls, and get to see them interact.
Tanaka Reina and Morning Musume’s manger announced that Michishige Sayumi, Tanaka Reina and Mitsui Aika will be holding a fanclub tour.
I’m surprised and somewhat confused as to why they announced one for these Sayu, Reina and Aika. With 9th gen still be new to the group I was thinking that UFA might want to concentrate on promoting 9th gen a bit more. Also instead of promoting a new member with an older member they chose three of the old members. For example instead of doing a tour with these three they could’ve done a tour with Reina, Aika and Ikuta Erina and grow the fanbase for 9th gen. Regardless of that I’m glad that Sayu, Reina and Aika are getting a chance to do a bus tour.
Hopefully all fans in Japan are available to attend and enjoy their trip with Sayu, Reina and Aika.
This is the first edition of H!P releases I have done in quite some time, so I decided to change the layout a bit and try out a few things. The post will be done on the day the good is released (sometimes a day after, like today), which means that it might be a day after it’s release in some countries, and I do this mainly to get the Oricon ranking as well as some previews which might be uploaded after it’s released.
If possible please comment below with any comments about how to improve this section or any other things you would like to see.
There are four releases today: 3 editions of Mano Erina’s 9th single Seishun no Serenade and Mitsui Aika’s 1st PB.
Mano Erina “Seishun no Serenade”
From left to right: Regular, Limited A, Limited B
Mano Erina’s 9th single titled Seishun no Serenade (Eng: Youth’s Serenade) which debuted on the Oricon at #11.
First of all I wanted to mention the ranking, from what I understand this is the first time a Mano release has been ranked out of the top #10 at it’s debut (only singles, not albums) which is really disappointing since this single had a lot of potential with two great songs and great PV, but as we all know Oricon rankings aren’t everything and a single should be liked by it’s content not by its ranking on a chart.
That being said this single turned out to be an amazing release with a great variety of songs and themes for each one, the main song Seishun no Serenade featured a more cool sound that had an upbeat ballad sound while the b-side 21 Seikiteki Renai Jijou had a happier sound although it had a very simple and basic theme.
The regular cover features a picture of Mano smiling in a white dress, the Limited A cover feature an angelic picture of Mano looking at the camera while the sunlight beams behind her, and the Limited B cover features Mano biting her tongue while wearing a black dress.
From the covers I would say that Limited A and B are my favorites simply because Mano looks gorgeous in the Limited A shot and because the Limited B cover shows us Mano’s fun side while she bites her tongue in a cute way, and even though they all have similar outfits I really liked how each cover had a different look that set them apart from the others.
Seishun no Serenade
The a-side has a ballad sound with upbeat lyrics and a catchy beat, in a way I would describe it as a teenage ballad with happy lyrics and an uplifting sound since most of the song has that feeling, and for the most part the song follows the same pattern with the great instrumental and lyrics, except for one part.
The bridge seems to be out of place with the rest of the song, which is somewhat distracting since the song is calm and happy when it suddenly changes for a few seconds, and despite being somewhat distracting I have to admit that it did lead into the second part of the song well since the “Se-i-shu-n!” seemed to pump everyone up.
As for the PV it has a school theme featuring Mano dancing along with 4 Eggs in a classroom, her walking around the school looking for a piano, a shot of her singing while sitting down in a desk, and a close-up of her singing to the camera, and while most of the PV didn’t have that much variety I did love the way Mano looked in each shot.
21 Seikiteki Renai Jijou
Video uploaded by: digij
The first impression when I first listened to the song was that it was very happy compared to the a-side, but apart from the happy intro and the chorus the song seemed to have a very basic theme with few changes throughout the song, but since it wasn’t the full song I don’t really know if the entire song goes on like this.
Despite the basic theme the b-side has a happy sound that contrasts well with the a-side, and while it might be a bit basic to called an amazing addition to the single it is still a great addition since it balances out the sound of the single with an upbeat song.
Overall the single is an amazing release since it has an impressive a-side along with a cute b-side and while both songs have a few small faults (a-side has a different sound for the bridge, the b-side is simple) I loved everything about this single since the covers had unique and cute images, the songs were great, and the PV had an interesting theme.
Unfortunately UFA doesn’t seem to think that Mano needs promotion for her singles (like Berryz Koubou or other H!P groups), and even though they seem to finally be trying out new strategies with Kikka and her debut single (which has a different song on each edition) they somehow only practice new promotion strategies with newer groups while leaving the others behind (basically a new promotion strategy with each new artist/group).
Hopefully UFA promotes her next release well since the ranking spots for this single has been nothing short of shocking compared to her previous releases (it debuted at #11, and today it’s at #16) and realistically Mano could be doing a lot better if she had better promotion since she has the looks and the talent to be an amazing idol if given the chance.
Mitsui Aika “Aika” PB
Mitsui Aika’s 1st PB release.
As many of you might have noticed there weren’t that many previews for Mitsui’s PB during the past few days and even after the PB was released there was only one scan of the PB released, so I will add a few images from the Making Of DVD along with the scan and cover so that everyone has a clearer idea of what is included.
First the cover, it features Aika in a red bikini while looking at the camera along with “Aika” in red Kanji, and despite it being a bit simple it looks amazing since we get to see Aika in a completely different way than her usual self in Momusu.
The brown hair really stands out in the picture but I really like the way Aika looks in the picture since the bikini looks amazing on her and also because the dark background makes her stand out even more, which is always a great advantage since it makes her stand out from among the rest of the PBs.
Here are the few previews that were released: a picture from a magazine (I think it’s UTB) as well as a scan from the PB of Mitsui running on the beach, and for the most part they give us a different look at the PB since we get to see Mitsui in another pose while wearing the red bikini as well as a picture of Mitsui laughing while running on the beach in a blue bikini.
As I mentioned above there aren’t that many previews of the actual PB available so I decided to add a few screen caps of the DVD (source: Aewen) so that fans get a clearer idea of what outfits are in the PB and what locations to expect if they buy their copy.
The screen caps feature many different casual and bikini shots of Mitsui smiling or simply looking at the camera and while they are not the actual PB shots I was pretty impressed with the amount of poses and outfits that we get to see since it seems that we will get to see Mitsui in a more mature way, and since she recently turned 18 it fits perfectly with her trying out a new more grown up look.
Overall from what I saw in the few PB shots and the screen caps I was very impressed since Aika looks amazing in all of them, there was a clear abundance of bikini previews but I really liked the way Aika posed in each picture since we get to see a more mature side, and since she will be the senpai for four new members and she just turned 18 it’s the perfect way to introduce the grown-up Aika to everyone.
Here are some links to buy the products from sites that count on the Oricon, please support your favorite H!P artist!
Mano Erina
Seishun no Serenade (Single)
Mano Erina
Seishun no Serenade (Single+DVD) Limited A
Mano Erina
Seishun no Serenade (Single+DVD) Limited B
Hello!SayuNii 