Berryz Koubou has disbanded

 

Yesterday was the final day for Berryz Koubou. They were active for 11 years, they released 36 singles, 7 collaboration singles, 8 albums, 3 best albums and 2 mini albums.  They had 26 concert tours in Japan and also had lives in Korea, Thailand, USA, Taiwan and France. They accomplished so much as idol group… One of Hello! Project’s few groups who has stayed around so long. They only lost one member and continued for so long with seven members, I think it is amazing.

I love so many of their songs, I was really happy to see the setlist of their last performance. The openign acts were Kobushi Factory, Country Girls and Juice=Juice performances… Honestly, I only really care for Country Girls out of these, they’re just so adorable!

1. Special Generation
2. ROCK Erotic
Opening VTR
3. Ai no Suki Suki Shisuu Joushouchuu
4. Tsukiatteru no ni Kataomoi
5. Yuuki wo Kudasai!
MC
6. 21ji Made no Cinderella
7. Romance wo Katatte
8. Himitsu no U•ta•hi•me
9. Massugu na Watashi
MC
10. Anata nashi de wa ikite yukenai (04-13-15 Kanjuku Complete Ver.)
11. Futsuu, Idol 10nen Yatterannai Desho!?
VTR
12. Yuke Yuke Monkey Dance
13. I’m so cool!
14. cha cha SING
MC
MC
15. Jiriri Kiteru
16. Nanchuu Koi wo Yatteruu YOU KNOW?
17. Maji Bomber!!
18. Yo no Naka Barairo
MC
19. Rival
20. Succhaka Mecchaka~
21. Icchoume Rock!
ENCORE
22. Bye Bye Mata ne
MC: Final Messages
23. Towa no Uta
SECOND ENCORE
24. Love together!

They performed some of my favorites, including ROCK Erotic, Himitsu no U.ta.hi.me, Maji Bomber!! and Icchoume Rock! I’m just missing Otakebi Boy WAO!! So far I’ve only seen the video of their performance of ‘Love  together!’ which was a very lovely but sad performance… The stage also looks so pretty, like a fairytale castle!

 

Outfits that most likely were worn while they were performing Maji Bomber!! I think, they reminds me of outfits they’ve worn before… But just look at that castle stage! So pretty!

They also wore these cheerleader outfits… So cute! I always appreciate outfits that include the member colors, these are really cute!

 

And there’s these adorable monkey outfits! Only Berryz Koubou would wear monkey outfits in their graduation concert, perfect!

 

These slightly confusing flower-y outfits. Still cute enough though, but they could have done better!

And there’s these beautiful princess dresses… Seven Cinderellas on stage! They look so cute!

After all, I think this looks like a great graduation concert and I can’t wait to see more footage of it! At the same time, it’s sad that Berryz won’t be active anymore but the girls already announced their future plans!

Saki and Chinami will both be advisors within Hello! Project, communicating between staff and members, a great way to stay in H!P behind the scenes I think. Maasa will be the play manager of Hello! Project acting club and will also continue acting herself. Momoko will be a full member of Country Girls, something that still seems kind of weird to me because of the age difference. Yurina will continue college and wants to pursue a career as model which seems perfect for her. Miyabi wants to continue singing and is also interested in studying fashion. Risako will take a break and think about her future, it wouldn’t surprise if she’d do something similar to Miyabi.

While it’s sad they’re leaving, I also think it was the right choice for them… You just can’t be an idol forever, and they’ll be able to continue whatever they want to do. I wish them all the best and hope to see them in the future!

~ Suu

 

 

Weekly News Update #15.5

Another week with lots of H!P news! Like I reported before, Morning Musume will be performing the theme song for the upcoming Pretty Cure movie ‘Eiga Precure All Stars: Haru no Carnival’!

Morning Musume also announced their next single! It will be their 58th single, the first one without Sayumi and the first one with 12th gen.

 

It’s a triple A-sides featuring the songs ‘Seishun Kozou ga Naiteru’, ‘Yuugure wa Ameagari’ and ‘Ima Koko Kara’, the last one being the theme song for the Pretty Cure movie. Looking at the pictures, the first picture reminds me of some outfits of the platinum era, they look a bit old… The girls do look really pretty though! I’m loving Ayumi’s new haircut! The second one reminds me a bit of Berryz Koubou’s Ryuusei Boy, the outfits don’t look great, the white ones of 12th gen look a lot better!

Birthday events for Juice=Juice’s Yuka Miyazaki and ANGERME’s Rina Katsuta were announced. Both will hold two events at Tokyo FM Hall. Yuka will hold it on April 2nd, she will turn 21. Rina will hold it on April 6th, she will turn 17. I can’t believe Yuka’s already turning 21! She’s more than a year older than me!

 

Yuu Kikkawa announced a new single! It will be released on May 6th. It will apparently be the longest song in idol history, being ‘several tens  of minutes’ long. It will feature opera and musical style… I think it will be a very original release, I hope she pulls it off well!

That’s it for now!

~ Suu

Morning Musume will be collaborating with Pretty Cure

It was revealed that Morning Musume will be doing a collaboration with the magical girl anime Pretty Cure. They’ll be performing the theme song for the upcoming Pretty Cure movie ‘Eiga Precure All Stars: Haru no Carnival’, it will feature in the movie as the ending theme. It is the seventh Pretty Cure crossover movie.

 

The song is titled ‘Ima Koko Kara’, and will be released on a Pretty Cure single on March 11th. It’s the first time Morning Musume will be collaborating with Pretty Cure, Berryz Koubou did so before them.

Other than that, Haruna, Ayumi and Sakura will be appearing in the movie as fairy characters they designed themselves!

 

They’ll be doing their voices as well! I think this is a really exciting project for Morning Musume, especially since Pretty Cure is my #1 anime love! I hope it will be received well… The mascots they designed look super cute as well, especially Ayumi’s character! She also went with blue, while Haruna went with the yellow/honey/bee theme! Sakura’s has a sakura flower, and is a really cute bird!

I look forward to see their voice acting, I think it will be the first time for them to do so! That’s it for now!

~ Suu

Weekly News Update #15.4

Quite a bit of news this week!

ANGERME’s first single as a 9-member group ‘Taiki Bansei / Otome no Gyakushuu’ went on sale on february 4th! So far they have sold 37,622 copies in the first four days, and yesterday they ranked #1 for that day’s daily ranking! I think those are some great numbers… They surpassed the total sales of their last single by pretty much 8k in only four days. A great debut for 3rd gen and well, the new songs are great as well. I love Otome no Gyakushuu!

New information about Berryz Koubou’s last live performances has been revealed! On February 28th and March 1st they hold Berryz Koubou Matsuri lives. These lives are each four hours long, and they feature opening performances by the other H!P groups, performances of sub-units of which Berryz have been part and Berryz performances.

Their final concert of March 3rd has been titled Berryz Koubou Last Concert 2015 Berryz Koubou Ikube~.  I can’t wait to see the setlists for these concerts! Especially the matsuri lives. I’m also glad this probably means that Buono! will make an appearance!

There have also been some birthday events of C-ute members! On february 5th till 6th, and there will be one on february 8th. Maimi and Mai both have birthdays on february 7th, Maimi becoming 23 and Mai becoming 19. Saki turned 21 on february 5th.

It was also revealed that the name announcement for the new Kenshuusei unit was postponed. Probably a good decision since the whole group announcement was kind of surprising, they don’t seem very prepared… I hope they’ll reveal it soon though, or at least let us know when they’ll reveal it.

That’s it for now!

~Suu

Weekly News Update #15.3

Another week with lots of news! Quite a few things have happened, like the announcement of Country Girls’s debut I reported a few days ago. This will be on March 25th and I’m really looking forward to it! The girls are all so cute!

 

Berryz Koubou’s compilation album went on sale and sold 19,136 copies in the first week, ranking #5 on the oricon weekly album ranking. This seems like a great number for the first week, especially since albums usually don’t sell that much. They’ll probably sell over 20k in total after maybe one or two weeks. I bought the album myself and I still have to listen to it, but I love how pretty it looks! I also like most of their A-sides and B-sides so it was a great buy I think.

 

Morning Musume’s Sayashi Riho will be releasing a photobook and blu-ray DVD. The photobook is her fourth photobook and  will be released in March. The blu-ray DVD will be released on April 8th.

Morning Musume’s Makino Maria will be releasing her first solo Blu-ray DVD which available for pre-order. She is the first of 12th gen to release a solo DVD, but I assume the others will follow as well.

Birthday events for Morning Musume’s Oda Sakura and Berryz Koubou’s Tsugunaga Momoko have been announced. Sakura will hold two events on March 16th at Tokyo FM Hall, celebrating her 16th birthday. Momoko will hold two events on March 6th at Yamano Hall, celebrating her 23rd birthday.

 

It was revealed that ex-Morning Musume’s Miki Fujimoto is pregnant with her second child! She is currently four months pregnant and is completely healthy. She and Shoji Tomoharu had their first son Toranosuke in March 2012. Congratulations Miki! I hope she’ll continue to be healthy and will have a beautiful child!

The raffle winners for some of the performances for the upcoming Hina Fest have been revealed. Other than three solo performances, there’s now also three duet and three trio performances! This will be the first time Berryz Koubou won’t be in it because of their disbandment.

For the first performance, the solo performer is Morning Musume’s Maria. The duet performance is done by Morning Musume’s Akane and ANGERME’s Meimi. The trio performance is done by Morning Musume’s Riho, Kanon and ANGERME’s Ayaka. It’s a great opportunity for Maria I think, although I would have liked to see someone solo who has more vocal skills. Same goes for Akane, who is paired up with Meimi. As for the trio performance, I love Zukki, but Ayaka and Riho not that much… I’m hoping for good song choices!

For the second performance, the solo performer is Country Girls’ Mai. The duet performance is done by Morning Musume’s Haruka and ANGERME’s Mizuki. The trio performance is done by Morning Musume’s Haruna, Juice=Juice’s Akari and Country Girls’ Uta. A solo from Mai seems fun, she looks so cute! The duet performance I really look forward to, both girls are great singers! As for the third one… I wish they paired up Uta with other members, but oh well…

For the second performance, the solo performer is Morning Musume’s Mizuki. The duet performance is done by Morning Musume’s Ayumi and ANGERME’s Rikako. The trio performance is done by C-ute’s Saki, Juice=Juice’s Yuka and Sayuki. I don’t care much for Mizuki, but this duet sounds really interesting! I love both Ayumi and Rikako! As for the trio performance, it could be interesting with the right song!

Lots of Morning Musume and ANGERME, only one C-ute member got in sadly… Although they’re the most talented ones.

That was the news for this week and last one of January! I thought the new Kenshuusei unit would reveal their name in January, but I guess that’s not happening? Too bad! Well, that’s it for now!

~Suu

Country Girls major debut announced

It was announced that Country Girls’ upcoming single ‘Itooshikutte Gomen ne / Koi Dorobou’ will be their “debut” single after all, changing the release date to March 25th.

I think it’s great they get to debut so soon! The girls are really cute and I like their songs so far! The single will be released in four editions and will also include Berryz Koubou’s Momoko Tsugunaga.

That’s it for now.

~Suu

 

Weekly News Update #15.2

Let’s take a look at what has happened last week!

Yesterday Berryz Koubou’s final compilation album ‘Kanjuku Berryz Koubou The Final Completion Box’ went on sale. So far it ranked #4 and #5 on the daily Oricon Charts which isn’t really spectacular, but not bad either. This is my one and only Berryz purchase… I couldn’t resist the offer of having all the A-sides and basically all their songs (except album songs) on CD. I hope this album will bring some good sales, even though albums usually don’t sell as well as singles.

There has also been announced they’ll hold a special event before their disbandment. They’ll hold two of these events on March 2nd in the Tokyo Prince Hotel. Fans are able to win tickets for these events through a lottery, which can be joined by buying the compilation album or having concert tickets.

They also will release the DVD for their 2014 autumn tour on February 25th. Their last photobook has also been announced. It’ll include old and new photos, as well as interviews with all the members. It will be released on February 26th.

 

The covers for Morning Musume’s 2014 autumn tour have been released. The focus is mainly on Sayumi in her graduation dress which was expected since it was her graduation concert. I still think the logo for this concert is really pretty. The colors on the cover looks nice as well and all the members look rather cute! The DVD will go on sale on February 11th.

C-ute will have another Naruchika tour which will start on February 13th and end on March 8th. Nothing else about this tour has been revealed.

On January 30th C-ute’s Maimi will hold an event at the Hello! Project Shop. It’s a talk event and it’s called ‘100 question for Yajima Maimi’.

A birthday event was announced for ANGERME’s Kanon Fukuda. She will hold two events on March 12th at Tokyo FM Hall.

More detailed information has been revealed about Country Girls upcoming single. Technically, it’s their fifth indie single and 12th single overall, but for Country Girls it’s their debut. It’s a double A-side with two songs; ‘Itooshikuta Gomen ne’ and ‘Koi Dorobou’. It will be released on January 31st.

That’s the news so far.

~ Suu

Favorite H!P songs of 2014

I decided to take a look at all the new songs the H!P groups released last year and pick some of my favorites! Some groups released quite a few more songs than others, which is basically because Morning Musume was the only group to release a new album… I picked a favorite for each group, a honorable mention and a least favorite! I’ll start with Morning Musume!

Morning Musume’s songs of 2014:
– Egao no Kimi wa Taiyou sa
– Kimi no Kawari wa Iyashinai
– What is LOVE?
– Toki wo Koe, Sora wo Koe
– Password is 0
– TIKI BUN
– Shabadaba doo~
– Mikaeri Bijin
– Asu wo Tsukuru no wa Kimi
– Kirari to Hikaru no Hoshi
– Koibito ni wa Zettai ni Shiraretakunai Shinjitsu
– Watashi wa Watashi Nanda
– Waraenai Hanashi
– Otona ni Nareba Otona ni Nareru

WINNER:

“Toki wo Koe, Sora wo Koe” was really one of MM’s most popular A-sides last year and I completely see why. It’s very different from anything they’ve released so far. The MV was also quite nice to look at and fits nicely with the song. Overall a very beautiful song, it shows that the group is capable of more different type of songs.

Honorable mention goes to “Kirari to Hikaru no Hoshi“, my favorite of their last album. Even though it’s a duet of Sakura and Riho, I really like the song and their singing actually goes together well in this one.

Least favorite goes to “Koibito ni wa Zettai ni Shiraretakunai Shinjitsu“. While I don’t hate the song, I do find it a bit boring and I do like all the other songs on the list more than this one.

Berryz Koubou’s songs of 2014:
– Otona na no yo!
– 1-oku 3-senman Sou Diet Oukoku
– Ai wa Itsumo Kimi no Naka ni
– Futsuu, Idol 10nen Yatterannai Desho!?
– Romance wo Katatte
– Towa no Uta
– Koiseyo!
– Onna no Ko ni Shika Wakannai Chodo ga Aru no

WINNER:

The winner for me is “Koiseyo!“, I like how it has a cool but also an upbeat feel! It’s a great song for Berryz, it fits them perfectly! My favorite is the chorus though, I just want to sing a long all the time. Definitely a winner for 2014 I think!

Honorable mention goes to “Towa no Uta“, I love the Buono!-ish sound of this song. I also think the girls look perfect in the MV of this song.

My least favorite goes to “Futsuu, Idol 10nen Yatterannai Desho!?“. While I do like the song and I appreciate the lyrics, I just don’t like it as much as the other songs. I also really dislike the horse noises.

C-ute’s songs of 2014:
– Kokoro no Sakebi wo Uta ni Shitemita
– Love take it all
– The Power
– Kanashiki Heaven (Single vers.)
– I miss you
– The Future

WINNER:

The winner for C-ute is “I miss you“. Listening to it more I’ve really started to appreciate more. I like the bit dark sound and the vocals fit nicely. It also really shows off C-ute’s skills I think. That said, looking back at the songs that C-ute released I’m a bit disappointed.

Honorable mention goes to “The Power“, it has an original sound and I do like it a bit. But that’s all I can say about it really.

Least favorite goes to “Love take it all“, it’s just very boring and not really something I would listen to a second time. It’s just quite bland and so was the MV for it.

ANGERME’s songs of 2014:
– Mystery Night!
– Eighteen Emotion
– Aa Susukino
– Chikyuu wa Kyou mo Ai wo Hagukumu
– Jojou Kumikyoku “Smile Fantasy”
– ONE DAY
– Ka~Tin Korunrun

WINNER: 

The winner is “Mystery Night!“! I just really, really love this song. The instrumental is so lovely! The concept was a bit too sexy for S/mileage I think, since they’re more cute than sexy. Even so, I really do love this, I’d love to see C-ute or Berryz cover this one!

Honorable mention goes to “Chikyuu wa Kyou mo Ai wo Hagukumu“. I like the sound of this one, and that line really sticks in your head.

Least favorite goes to “Eighteen Emotion“, this song is just not memorable at all, and neither is the MV for it. I always kind of forget about it.

Juice=Juice’s songs of 2014:
– Hadaka no Hadaka no Hadaka no KISS
– Are Kore Shitai!
– Black Butterfly
– Kaze ni Fukarete
– Senobi
– Date ja nai yo Uchi no Jinsei wa

WINNER:

The winner for Juice=Juice is “Senobi“. I wasn’t really impressed with the songs Juice=Juice released this year, but I kind of started liking Senobi. It really stuck in my head… Especially the “Wow Wow Wow Wow” parts. I really do not like the MV for it though.

Honorable mention goes to “Date ja nai yo Uchi no Jinsei wa“. It’s a bit bland at some points but I really like the chorus.

Least favorite goes to “Black Butterfly“, it felt too similar to “Hadaka no Hadaka no Hadaka no KISS” and I didn’t really like that one either.

–

Those were all the songs the groups released last year. I think Morning Musume and Berryz Koubou had the best songs overall, while C-ute and Juice=Juice really missed out. I really hope that C-ute will get some better music this year, and I hope the same for Juice=Juice. Morning Musume had quite a few nice songs, but only a few really stood out I think. As for Berryz, they had some really great songs last year, it was hard to pick favorites! Unfortunately these are also their last songs. As for C-ute, I was quite disappointed this year, I really hope they’ll get some better releases this year, they need it. As for ANGERME, it already looks like they’re going in the right direction music-wise. Juice=Juice needs to get some more memorable and less generic songs… The only one I really remember is Senobi for 2014. Overall, there needs to be some improvement! That’s it for now!

~Suu

Hello! Project Member Ranking January ’15

This year I’ll do a ranking of Hello! Project members, every month! I hope to keep up with that. I’m using this site to do the ranking! Well, anyways, here are my results for January.

Morning Musume (MM)
Berryz Koubou (BK)
C-ute (C)
ANGERME (AM)
Juice =Juice (J=J)
Country Girls (CG)

1. Kanon Suzuki (MM)
2. Yurina Kumai (BK)
3. Airi Suzuki (C)
4. Risako Sugaya (BK)
5. Sakura Oda (MM)

First five are not surprising. Zukki will always be #1, and Yurina is my Berryz fave, and Airi my C-ute fave. Also, I love both Risako and Sakura, so~ 

6. Miyabi Natsuyaki (BK)
7. Momoko Tsugunaga (BK)
8. Maimi Yajima (C)
9. Haruka Kudou (MM)
10. Risa Yamaki (CG)

First three aren’t really surprising… Quite surprised about Haruka though, I really like her though, her voice is too cute! Even more surprised about Risa ranking so high! She’s adorable though…

11. Rikako Sasaki (AM)
12. Maasa Sudou (BK)
13. Saki Nakajima (C)
14. Erina Ikuta (MM)
15. Ayumi Ishida (MM)

Rikako scoring quite high, she’s the highest ranking ANGERME member! Not very surprising, since I don’t care much for most ANGERME members… As for the others girls, I expected to be about here on the list. I’ve been liking Ayumi more lately… She’s just so genuinely adorable!

16. Mai Hagiwara (C)
17. Miki Nonaka (MM)
18. Kanon Fukuda (AM)
19. Masaki Sato (MM)
20. Chinami Tokunaga (BK)

Mai is a bit lower than expected, but still okay. Miki is really cute, and can’t resist her english skills! Kanon is cute as always, still not sure if I like her personality that much. Haven’t seen much from Masaki lately, sometimes I like her, sometimes I don’t. As for Chinami, I do like her, I just like other members more!

21. Meimi Tamura (AM)
22. Yuka Miyazaki (J=J)
23. Uta Shimamura (CG)
24. Saki Shimizu (BK)
25.  Chisaki Morito (CG)

I like Meimi’s singing skills and I like her enthusiasm most of the time. Yuka is the highest ranking Juice=Juice member, I think she’s cute, but that’s also about it. Uta is adorable, but I don’t know much about her. As for Saki, I do like her, I feel like she should be a bit higher. Chisaki is adorable as well, but it’s the same as with Uta.

26. Mizuki Fukumura (MM)
27. Tomoko Kanazawa (J=J)
28. Akari Uemura (J=J)
29. Chisato Okai (C)
30. Haruna Ogata (MM)

I like Mizuki, but she doesn’t really stand out to me. I like Tomoko and Akari as well, just like others better. As for Chisato, I don’t know, like with Captain I feel like she should be a little bit higher. She’s definitely my least favorite C-ute member but I do appreciate her performance skills. Don’t know much about Haruna.

31. Mai Ozeki (CG)
32. Haruna Iikubo (MM)
33. Manaka Inaba (CG)
34. Maho Aikawa (AM)
35. Riho Sayashi (MM)

Mai and Manaka are both quite cute, but I don’t know much about them. As for Haruna, I kind of like her most of the time, but not that much. I don’t know much about Maho. As for Riho, I just can’t really stand that smug smile and her live singing skills always kind of ruin her for me… Especially since she’s the lead singer.

36. Akane Haga (MM)
37. Mizuki Murota (AM)
38. Ayaka Wada (AM)
39. Maria Makino (MM)
40. Rina Katsuta (AM)

I guess now are the members I either don’t know much about and don’t really stand out to me, or the ones I just don’t like. I never liked Ayaka that much, her voice kind of annoys me. Rina just doesn’t really stand out to me.

41. Karin Miyamoto (J=J)
42. Kana Nakanishi (AM)
43. Akari Takeuchi (AM)
44. Sayuki Takagi (J=J)
45. Aika Mitsui (ignored her in the ranking, since she’s not active or anything)

My least favorite members at last. Not much to say about them.

Conclusion: As expected Juice=Juice and ANGERME are ranking quite low. Of these two groups I don’t like most members a lot, so it’s kind of hard to get into the groups. I’ll try paying more attention to ANGERME because of 3rd gen, but other than that I don’t really care much for them.

Seeing the rankings of Country Girls I’m actually pretty excited for the group! When the new members we’re announced I wasn’t very excited at first… They all looked a bit well, bland with the outfits and everything. But looking closer now, they’re all looking adorable! I hope we get more information about their first single soon!

C-ute and Berryz are both ranking quite high mostly. Although I haven’t liked Berryz as a group for quite some time, I always liked the members. I’m really going to miss them when they disband… As for C-ute, I hope they’ll get some better music in the future.

Morning Musume is a bit all over the place. 12th gen is a bit hard to rank since I still don’t know that much about them. That’s the ranking for now!

~ Suu

 

New ANGERME MV previews

Previews of the MVs of ANGERME’s upcoming single have been revealed on OHA!4 NEWS LIVE. Last week the first live performance of the song Taiki Bansei was revealed, and everyone seems to love it. While I do like the song a lot, I was quite surprised by the overly enthusiastic reactions! None of the members have any solo lines, except Ayaka and Mizuki at one point.

The live performance was quite fun to watch. The group looks great with nine members, the new members add a lot of energy! I haven’t heard any previews of the other song so far, but it was supposed to be a bit dark/mysterious…

Taking a look at the previews!

https://dailymotion.com/video/x2eawbk

The first thing to say about the Taiki Bansei MV is that Meimi’s hair looks absolutely horrible… I thought the shortcut was cute, but they need to style it well. Other than that, it’s not a very special MV I think. The dancing background looks a little boring. I do think the close-ups with the flag background looks nice. It adds some color! Most disappointing I think is the lack of color overall in this MV, while the song is very upbeat and energetic, the outfits and setting (except the flag) don’t really match that. I wish they’d done something more colorful. Other than that it still does look nice.

The MV for Otome no Gyakushuu looks a lot better! I get the dark mysterious feel from it. The MV reminds me a bit of Berryz Koubou’s Aa, yo ga Akeru, but better. The outfits are a bit simple but they look nice. I also love the song so far! Can’t wait to see the full MV! It looks really nice…

Overall, I’m looking forward to this release. It’s nice seeing the group with the new members, the songs sound good and the Otome no Gyakushuu MV looks really interesting! I might get more interested in the group if they continue like this! That’s it for now!

~Suu