From Philip September 17th, 2015
Hi mb,
(I added ‘magazine’ to ‘bomb’ in case you were worried this might be an exploding email!)
A~h in this day and age this magazine’s title can be quite the misleading name! =P I’m not even sure of what the inspiration could be for naming this publication as such ….? A really old slang term used here would have this word meaning to be something like “awesome!”
Just a very quick mail to send you an eBay link.
Almost $40! Don’t you wish you could have a time machine? Ideally one combined with an instant transportation device to rule out the need for air travel. It would be lovely to have some of these 1980s magazines. You are so fortunate to have those 1990s ones!
Gosh this is a really old issue!!!!! NoriP so cute here!! Wow forty dollars for a single issue?? There are some older issues which I’d glady pay this much for although I’ve not seen them for sale as of yet =/, hmm you may be able to guess which ones I imagine! ^^
XPhilip
From Philip August 27th, 2015
Hi there mb,
From Philip August 21st, 2015
Hi mb,
So cool!!!! You’ve collected so many of them!!!! My fave is got to be Kamei’s~♥ albeit I’m most biased about that! =P Aichan would be a close second although she may not be the most interesting of the group, and Oh you must get Sayu’s Alo-Hello’s too! ….she’s really adorable in them!!
From Philip August 20th, 2015
Hi mb,
From PHR August 13th, 2015
Hi MB!
YES, Rainbow Moon is exactly the kind of Amurochan I can approve of =D
It reminds me of Dreams Come True a bit. I’ll look for the album you
mentioned.
It’s the loveliest of ballads!~! It still amazes me just thinking of how young she was when she recorded this song and just the natural maturity of her voice not to mention her already impressive vocal range. Ohhhh Miwa is legendary!!!! My very first taste of DCT came with their single “Love Love Love” which I first heard while watching the wonderful drama “Aishiteiru to itte kure” with Toyokawa Etsushi who’s such an amazing actor! Got hooked from that song and then I collected quite a few of their albums during that time period, I haven’t kept up with DCT as of late but during the mid to late 90’s I was firmly in their fandom~♥ ^^.
Hum… Interesting thing you noticed about Mayuyu’s advices to Yukirin.
You know, they’re big friends, Mayuyu probably knows as much about
Yukirin as anyone else in AKB… if she thinks she must remind Yukirin
to wear underwear, well, Yukirin not wearing any underwear must be a
common ocurrence!
A~h! that would explain the frequency of candid photos they share together! =) A friend used to amusingly say that we should always remember to wear pretty underwear because…. “you never know!” =P For years though during my teens I used to believe that bras were optional when one was…. say just going nearby to market or someplace closeby, suffice to say I learned to hard way that that wasn’t a very smart way of thinking take for instance the freezer aisle and what “could” ensue atop xD.
I think the H!P girl with the funny running style was Nacchi. I don’t
know why, Nacchi just came to mind. I have to rewatch the sports
Mechaike… I’m sure she was slow, I’m not sure she was funny.
Mmmm…. Momo had an interesting form I think or maybe it just wasn’t athletic like say Konkon’s running form albeit no other H!P girl could top her when it came to long distance races. Kohachan was like lightning in the sprints but REALLY slow when it came to the long distance races….. funny seeing little Airiin passing her by lapping her! =O
The may-or-may-not-be-wearing-anything-under-here-shot is like a staple
of AKB photobooks, it had to be there in Sakura’s too =D Although it’s
being surpassed these days by the
really-not-wearing-anything-under-here-but-covering-anything-interesting-with-my-hands-shot,
originally from one of Acchan’s PBs but with great follow ups in other
girls’ PBs…
I guess it’s all about the mystery of it all…. like if one were to reveal too much then the excitement would surely end. I can just imagine the photographer saying “a little more to the right just a bit more and there! now I can’t see anything any longer!” ….it’d be really awkwardly uncomfortable being in front of an entire crew with bright lighting while you shed all of your clothing even if the actual shot were to be nudity free =O. Acchan’s PBs are all so well done ….of course it helps if you’re naturally gorgeous and photogenic like that~! =)
Oh, I was wondering how you get your TV shows since you don’t use
torrents. So there’s stores renting shows over there. See if you find
any Nogizakatte Doko episodes, they’re great =D Anything Nogizaka is
great. But I saw that someone else was already doing NGZ marketing to
you in comments these days, so I’ll just agree with him and spare you
the repetition, you should check them out sometime =D
Mmm ….oddly I haven’t seen their shows being rented there as of yet =/. Did manage to find a bit more of my fave SmapxSmap though albeit they didn’t have the really recent epidoses ….so much so that I had to ask the clerk there if their show was still being aired =P. He gave me a bit of an odd look, I wonder if only older fans rent their shows as Smap is indeed a mature group now but nonetheless amazing and I can’t imagine not being a fan of their like EVER! =)
Taka-san didn’t retire!! That would be so sad. He’s part of the
“Tunnels” comedy duo with… someone. I don’t know. They’re still doing
their weekly TV show that’s been airing one way or another for decades.
Now it’s called “Tunnels no Minnasan no Okage Deshita”, that’s where the
video I sent you with him and Mayuyu / Sasshi / Yuko is from. I don’t
watch it very often; I’ve no idea where to regularly get these shows if
they don’t have idols in them, even though I’d love to. But my image of
Japanese geinoukai just can’t handle missing Tunnels =D their show
ending is like Mechaike ending, or Downtown, or Tamori-san retiring.
Oh the Tunnels …..I’ve heard some of their music years ago, I thought it to be interesting at the time although I didn’t know of Taka-san back then so that could have turned out differently I suppose. U~n points all well taken =) ….the culture just wouldn’t be the same!! =(
I got Mikitty’s “cheri” PB yesterday! I just checked here, and it was
sent on July 8th; delivery estimate on July 16th, hey, that was exactly
my birthday =D but as I said, not surprised at all. You know, that’s
Brazil. Wait, maybe you don’t. The thing is, nothing works in Brazil,
but you still pay more money for the brokenness. Especially now that the
economy has finally gone to hell. Ivan guessed an exchange rate of 3 for
US dollars in one of his comments, but that’s very off already. The
official rate is closer to 3.60, but in practice if I buy something now
I just calculate things with 4, because there’s a lot of extra stuff
that gets thrown in there. About two years ago it was 2.5. The yen does
go down, but we’re going down faster, so it’s actually up for us. And my
salary doesn’t move a bit. Not that I’m complaining about it, but still.
My money is probably a few months away from being worth about half what
it was two years ago, at least from Amazon.co.jp‘s point of view. So I’m
changing my mind about buying much these days.
Happy belated Birthday!!!! Gosh that’s unbelievable that things would get delayed that badly =(. The economy is a strange thing to me, I have no real idea of how it all works globally …..money goes up and down contantly and likewise the market and its values and it’s all so seemingly out of anyone’s control although “someone” surely must be controlling it to some point I imagine.
And of course things take random amounts of time to be delivered unless
they’re the most expensive shipping option possible. Usually that’s DHL,
they get here from Japan in 1 week every time.
Odd thing about Amazon Japan is that they will only use DHL to ship here and YES they’re really pricey!! xD Quick but too pricey for sure.
Unfortunately I can’t comment too much on your latest posts except for
the Jurina one, because I can’t watch the videos yet =/ I can’t wait to
see them though, especially Ueto Aya on SMAPxSMAP =)
I’ve gotten a few more SmapXSmap thingies up since too, I can just watch their show endlessly =)! The older episodes with AKB were great ones in particular such as this little gem here from back in 2011:
I just love to watch Yuko~♥ eat! But really their little Smap questionare (sousenkyo) was so much fun and at the same time revealing ^^.
Ohh, except for the huge Sousenkyo guide. Lot to talk about there, but I
want to have a better look at it first. Deserves its own e-mail. I feel
like rewatching the election this weekend…
And Jurina. I wish I could say I’ve been waiting for seven years, but I
guess it’s more like four or five. Jurina is the oshi I find easiest to
choose from any of the groups =D By the way, they are: AKB – Paruru, SKE
– Jurina, NMB – Sayanee, HKT – Mio, NGZ – NOOOO, DON’T MAKE ME CHOOSE.
So, after I saw this post, I went to Amazon.co.jp. It’s been quite a
while since I’ve visited there. Immediately it recommended Jurina’s PB.
It was the first thing in the left of the first line of recommendations,
right there. In 5 minutes my cart includes the following items, almost
all on “pre-order” that I had no idea even existed: Jurina PB, Sakura
PB, election guide, Kotani Riho PB, Kawaei Rina PB, Hashimoto Nanami PB,
Takayanagi Akane PB, and a HKT history book. I think Amazon knows me
better than my parents =D I’m not buying anything now, but still. Love
Amazon.
Ehhhhh? no Mayuyu~♥ LOL =P! I really really adore Paruru too …..for me a lot of that comes from her being an introvert too which she revealed some time ago in an interview. So I can totally relate and I do like her looks and odd demeanor =P ….her voice YES Paruru’s wonderful! Mio is another adorable one! ….I can totally understand your visual attraction without question =). Un there is quite the string of Family48 shashinshuu being released now and into the next couple of months!!! like a lot of them!!
I’m so used to complaining about lack of PBs, I don’t know what to do
now. Let’s see, so Jurina is coming… Sakura, check. Kasai, check.
Lovetan is overdue… I’m guessing she’ll never get one, but nothing
that could stop me from complaining about it. OH WAIT, there’s still
Mio. Yeah, from now on I’m campaigning for Mio. SOMEBODY GIVE MIO A
PB!!!
I can sense a Mio PB in the works not too long from now =)!
Haha, that Mayuyu butt shot from her first PB that you used in the
second “VS” is a classic isn’t it. The photographer REALLY wanted to
make clear what he was going for with that shot. IIRC that’s actually a
two page shot, where one page is exclusively Mayuyu’s butt, while the
other doesn’t really have anything. Like he wanted to say, “This butt is
so awesome I can just put nothing here in the other page beside it,
nobody will notice, nobody will complain”. Or maybe there was something
else on the other page, and my brain was too distracted from ever
registering it? Hum, that coud have happened… I guess I’ll have to
recheck that bu… PB later, to make sure. Anyway, this post is another
video one I’m really looking forward to watching later =D Oh, I probably
won’t be on time to vote on the site, but I vote for Mayuyu.
Isn’t that the truth!!!!!!! I do have to admit that her behind is mesmerizing =)! Mind you girls tend to spend a lot of time thinking about their butts or at least worrying about them like if they’re sexy enough and you know a cute size and shape and all ^^.
Talk to you later!
~♥!
From Philp March 10th, 2015
Hi there,
You probably know of AKB48’s Ogasawara Mayu, but in case you don’t, I thought I’d share these most excellent (as Bill and Ted would say) gifs with you. I spotted her on an old AKBingo when she was in NMB48, and she was really funny, even without subtitles. I jotted down her name kanji, looked them up and then tried to make a name I could recognise out of them in the old NMB line-up, not realising I’d written the ‘ma’ kanji wrong, confusing it with a similar one pronounced ‘fuu’ (or ‘fu’). Nor did I predict that ‘Hara’ would change to ‘wara’. Anyway, I sought help and discovered the funny girl was Ogasawara Mayu. Her imitations are spot on, and I think she looks uncannily like Mayuyu in the final gif. I hope you enjoy! And I hope you’re having a good day so far. It must be late morning with you.
From Philip August 18th, 2015
Hi mb,
Hi Philip!
Hope your weather is not too hot and humid. It’s cool and raining here today. Typical British summer.
Ohhhh it is awfully hot here!!!!!!!!!!!!! And of coures humid!!!!!!!!!!!! I’d love to be in the UK now with that weather =)!!
♥mb
From Philip August 13th, 2015
Hi mb,
♥~mb ^^
From PHR July 22nd, 2015
Hi MB,
Let me now reply to your last reply =)
Of course your colleague at work started reading the articles in his
Playboy… What else would he do it with it? You know, you read all the
articles, then you seal it and keep it in a box forever. Such is the
life of the magazine. You did remind me now of one time I was reading
something about Steve Jobs, and it referred to a “Playboy interview” he
did, which made me very confused at the time. I didn’t even know Playboy
bothered carrying any text, much less carrying on an interview like
this. And the actual interview just blew my mind, it is really good.
Anyway, I can also say I read a Playboy article, and I didn’t even see
the rest of the magazine =D just got linked straight to the interview.
Haha I just don’t imagine one could take out such a publication these days in such an environment, I mean our lunch room was most relaxed back then and yet now days there’s so much sensitivity all around so nudity would definitely be out =P. Un I totally get the sealing up part as I tend to collect magazines mostly for their covers, sounds wacky I’m sure but it’s really what initially attracts my attention to them =). The Japanese weekly versions do have a lot of political articles too along with sports and big news in general plus it has a lot of sex articles and it’s interesting and sometimes a bit amusing to see what the male mind is being fed about sex. Do you remember that oddly creepy Steve Jobs doll from awhile back? Let’s just say it was bit too “life~like” and for some very questionable reasons I might add~! =O
I don’t know much about Jonishi Kei, except that the other AKB members
seem to think of her like she’s a goddess or something. By the end it
seemed almost like a running joke of the series, I think she was Top 3
in every single body part episode they did.
She has really gorgeous eyes! And her body is beautiful too of course!! Still I think I could stare @ Mayuyu for much longer (which doesn’t say anything really!) =P.
Donald Duck is a wimp because he’s a mage and because the AI is
terrible. Goofy is a bit better because he’s, well, whatever he is. I’m
not really sure. But he has a lot more defense, HP, and tons of item
slots to carry healing potions. Not much use attacking, as far as I can
tell, but he can distract enemies and take lots of damage. Donald uses
one or two spells, until he can’t anymore; and from then on he’s
useless. He just runs around the battlefield waiting to die.
Oh they’re like role playing characters with life stats and weapons, reminds me of how much I miss playing those as it’s been awhile =/. Last FF I really enjoyed as part X, although IX was probably the last memorable one for me as I loved those particular characters and the story. That sounds hilarious and sad at the same time for Donald! =O
Old ladies with blueish hair, how is that possible? The Simpsons must be
really big in Hawaii… Just kidding. I am surprised though, pretty
different from the old ladies around here.
It’s like some sort of dye reaction to white hair, I’m not really sure how it happens and if it’s actually the desired result of it all….and if it means anything it seems to be an oriental thing with the hair. Haha so amazing how long that animation has persevered!!
Oh, I don’t give much credit to the sign of maturity thing, to me the
only reason people say that is the hair cut is a sudden change that
makes them wake up and pay attention to what they’re seeing. Sakura
would look just as mature now with long hair as she would without,
simply because she started very young and that’s what happens when time
passes. But cutting her hair made people notice. On the other hand, when
someone like Sayanee starts off with the long hair but without the
childish image, and decides to go short, then people just say it “fits
her face better”. And if someone starts off young and with short hair,
and lets it grow, then the change takes so long it doesn’t have the same
impact. It’s funny that if they then cut their longer hair, then people
talk about it. Even though she’s just gone back to pretty much where she
was to start with. That would be Gocchin’s case.
I like your analysis and particularly when someone goes from short to long as I never thought of it that way as it is really so gradual that there’s no strong impact unlike when someone just suddenly goes shorter. Un Gomaki’s initial “Love Machine” kinpatsu look was her best!!! I remember even Kimutaku was a bit caught off guard and noticably disappointed when she next appeared on SmapxSmap and her hair was already dyed darked =(. I was just looking through some UTB issues from 2013 and Sakura’s hair is free flowing and tied up in ponytails in some pictorials but it’s still long, I wonder if she’ll opt for a longer style anytime soon…? Although I’m guessing not.
You always talk about how you write in the middle of your thinking and
you won’t make any sense at all, but I can guarantee, you’ve been doing
great at writing like only you can, for close to a decade now 🙂
Aww thank you! However you’re much too kind! I’ve created some of the worst run-on sentences known to humankind I believe and yet in my mind it all makes perfect sense and that’s what’s scary =P!
=O you scanned Yui’s article… I love you! And Yui! And Mr. Children,
although not that much. I need to get their songs on my PC, I don’t have
any. And Luna Sea, I wanted to listen to Luna Sea these days and learned
I don’t have anything here. Anyway, I loved the article 😀 She looks as
pretty as she’s always been. Which is getting kinda scary now. I don’t
even remember how old she was, but I remember being very surprised at it
when I looked it up, and that was way back… and she’s still pretty. I
thought it’s interesting she likes variety TV programs, she should
participate in some so I can watch them.
~♥!! =) Ohhh start with “Kind of Love” and “Atomic Heart” for sure and from there any album is perfect to have! I went through a wild Luna Sea fan craze at one time, I mean i still love them but I haven’t purchased anything after their -best selection- Period album. I got into Ryuichi’s solo works too back then and it’s amazing how vastly different his songs are compared to anything Luna Sea ever did!! Like he had years and years of material that just wouldn’t work with the band and they were just waiting for his solo career to begin. He’s an amazing producer too I must say!! Always wonderful to keep up with your earliest of favorites and see how they’ve changed or have not changed over the years =).
Yeah, Henkka did mention he cut his hair. I still don’t believe it. The
Henkka I’ve followed all these years must still have the longest,
manliest, perfectest hair imaginable. How could it be any different?
It’s a conspiracy I say.
I was so shocked =O!!!!! I was like whyyyyyyyyy???
Haha, who was I kidding that I wouldn’t see your post on Sakura’s PB =)
Who knows when I’ll get it. Shipping things here is so efficient, I
always have multiple things lost in transit on the way here. Right now I
have one package from Amazon US that’s I’m thinking about 1 month old
with a computer science book, there’s one from Amazon JP with Kame’s
“DAYS” and Konkon’s “” that’s lost for about 2 months, and another
package with Mikitty’s “cheri” that is entering its 3rd week I think…
Anyway, you write “Sakura” in a post, I click it. No exceptions.
Actually don’t even need that much, I can also read “Most Adorable Girl”
and take the hint 😉
Gosh that’s really troublesome =/…. I wonder if customs is being really slow with processing them? Shipping things has so many speeds these days so I imagine it’s like…..okay send that one….leave that one on the shelf….send that one….leave that one and so on… =(. I was thinking that I’d take a bit of criticism for naming Fukakyon “The Most Beautiful Girl” and then likewise with Sakura’s post but happily I think everyone can figure those are not defining statements but rather personal ones ^^.
Take care,
=)~♥.
From Philip July 29th, 2015
Hi mb,
And likewise you’ve fully inspired~* me to expand my Family48 collection =)! It’s going to be so dated but I just may not be able to help myself from posting even about their older singles here which I’ll be seeing the extras on them for the very first time.
From Philip August 8th, 2015
HI mb,
From PHR July 20th, 2015
Hi MB!
Hum… Nice to see Tomochin is still around, but still, not my style. I
mean, even with Namie herself, the only thing I really liked was CAN YOU
CELEBRATE.
If I remember correctly that was the theme song for “Virgin Road”, a most memorable drama from way back and Amurochan was even featured in the credits visually while the song played during each episode which I thought was really cool as you don’t normally see that! Hmm I’m thinking you may like the earlier Amurochan as in before her R&B/Hip Hop days arrived?
A quick test, click play here:
While she was originally part of the Super Monkeys whom went on to form Max as they went solo also, this song above “Rainbow Moon” was a b-side from a very early single of theirs together and it’s just a lovely song!!! And you can readily hear the power and range in her vocals even as young as she was then! She was much more J-Poppy back then and if you can get your hands on her “Original Tracks Vol.1” (not to be confused with her “Dance Tracks vol.1” which has many of the same songs but they’re not the original J-Poppy versions) I think you’d like this album =)! And there was never a volume two btw as her style changed too much in order to allow another volume =P.
I must say though, that’s a pretty unique extra they included with the
LE. The water pistol she has on the PV, and this cover… Good start, good
start. Next time they should include the holder, belt and the red bikini
bottom. Now THAT’d be an amazing LE worth having, regardless of one’s
taste in music.
Un! I was so surprised by the water pistol being included as they hadn’t originally announced what the extra was going to be at the time of the pre-order so so fun that they included that! A~h! and dare I say that one “lucky” fan would receive an actual Tomochin~worn bikini bottom LOL ….I learned that sort of odd thing from Ivan recently as he seems to know a lot about underwear being sold =P.
BTW, any post in your blog where I can see these Berryz Koubou sandals
and beach ball?
Oh yes! Let’s see here, when you reach my BK Nostalgic member ranking the mini album set with the beach goodies is photographed there although till this day the beach ball has never been inflated:
https://morningberryz48.wordpress.com/2015/03/06/berryz-forever/
LOL at the upside down photo. I think it’s clear what happened there.
The photographer got caught on Sakura’s trap, and took that photo while
hanging upside down from a tree.
I always ponder the artistic message being sent by photos presented as such, or perhaps it was just done out of fun I wonder =P.
Now the one photo that really made me go “what’s going on there” is that
photo a bit after the second “upside down” one. You know, there’s the
second upside down, then a sideways shot of her looking back at the
camera, then boobs, and then she’s flipping up her skirt. I wonder what
instructions the photographer gave for that one. Was there some context
where this made sense, or was it really just, “Flip up your skirt while
I’ll take a photo from a bit of an angle so that nothing is seen but
much is implied”?
A very flirty Sakura moment and I wonder what she was truly thinking inside as she went along with the photographer’s direction?? Now you know why Mayuyu is “always” whispering to Yukirin to “never forget to wear your underwear…” =)!
I LOVE how the photographer was able to capture the uniqueness of
Sakura’s running style in a static photo. I didn’t think a photo could
do such a good job of expressing how amazing it is, but that second
photo of her running is just perfect.
That’s so coincidental that just the other day Denny here was mentioning the running style of Sakura and how it’s something to note! There’s a H!P girl whom runs just like that but I’m can’t remember whom it was ……most notable while watching their H!P Sportsfest discs which were so great!!
The Koike Rina inspired section is kinda boring. She didn’t quite get
the look right yet; by which I do literally mean “look”, her eyes look
more dead than sexy here. On the other hand, everybody does that in
their first PBs, so no big deal.
I guess Sakura is yet to learn the bedroom eyes thingy! Koike Rina is a master of this alluring look~♥!~! Still I wasn’t expecting to see her go that sexy in that sort of way …you know the I may or may not be wearing anything under here so I’ll just leave that to the imagination of yours! ^^
Ohh, the skirt photo is also the back cover. Good choice!
Speaking of PBs, I got my self-given birthday present this weekend =D
I’ve been seeing a lot of old H!P lately, and I started going after
their old PBs. I want to eventually have all of 6th gen and Takitty!
When I’m lucky I can find them used on Amazon for the awesome price of 1
YEN 😀 plus 1400 for shipping =( But still… half price for a H!P PB 😀
and they’re so incredibly in good condition… Amazon Japan has the same
“condition” rating for used items that the US Amazon uses, which goes:
“Like New” > “Very Good” > “Good” > “Acceptable” > don’t know if there’s
anything worse… The H!P PBs I find and buy even on “Good”, are in
waaaaaay better condition than everything I’ve ever bought used on
Amazon US. On US I think they’d all be rated “Like New”.
That is an amaaaaaazing bargain!!!!!!! And for such wonderful pbs!~! Wah you’ve collected so many of them too! Kamei’s~♥ PBs are a must of course =P! But I needn’t tell you that! Happy belated birthday ~*~~* to you~♥! ^^
Utaban was amazing wasn’t it =) I love in this one when the wheel stops
on Takitty, she finishes her talk spot in one sentence, and then they
move on to Ogawa as if nothing had happened, by pushing their table to
the next spot.
It underlines that sentiment which went on for years that Aichan was somewhat bland in conversation according to her fellow members and then it spread to the fan perspective as well. It was right on cue no doubt there lol.
When they’re talking about Nochiuranatsumi, “What’s your blood type?
Matsuura: B! Nacchi: A! Gocchin: O!” PHR: LOL!
Blood types is really an important subject in Japan when it comes to compatibility so that was a hilarious moment for sure ….funny how after all of these years it seems that I’ll never forget the group name Nochiuranatsumi as odd as it seems ….didn’t even need to run to the CD shelves to find it first.
See when the host meets his guest for the first time by saying
“Dare???”, and then immediately after a simple introduction, compares
her with a Taiwanese masseusse? THAT’s Utaban.
Taka-san was so on his game during that episode!
See when Nacky says she likes how Rika “presents herself”, and the
screen quickly shows Rika in the bottom doing her samurai impersonation
from a bit earlier in the same episode, with the caption in the bottom
right saying “This is what you’re aiming for?”? THAT’s Utaban.
Utaban’s editing and animation were always the very best with its comedic timing for any situation or person. Gosh how little Nakki was along with her yet to be fellow C-ute co-workers!
See how Tsuji can’t even pronounce the name of her own song? THAT’s…
well, that’s just Tsuji. She was just as awesome when she wasn’t on
Utaban 🙂
Made me immediately think of their legendary Bakajo Test episode!!!!!!! Still one of the funniest and most ingenious ideas put into action to date! I know that AKB does similar episodes but H!P did it first and with hilarious results =). The whole Nacchi and Mt. Fuji bit still puzzles me to this day lol.
It’s not Utaban, but there’s another relatively new (a bit over a year
old now I think) music show that I could bet has some serious Utaban
staff working on it. It’s called UTAGE! It has a very different format
from Utaban; it’s all about covers of popular songs by a more or less
fixed set of regular members. It doesn’t have nearly as much talk
segments as Utaban did. It doesn’t have Taka-san; it’s hosted by
Nakai-kun and Mayuyu. But still… It has so much that feels like Utaban.
First of all, Yasuda is a regular, and she’s made fun of a lot. That’s
the most obvious Utaban thing. In fact, they’ve really gone all the way
with it once… The whole routine of 1) Yasuda finishes a performance, 2)
Nakai-kun makes fun of her, 3) Taka-san does his impression of the
difference between other member’s gentle dance moves and Yasuda’s fierce
style, 4) even the little text thing in the bottom right that says
what’s going on in the episode makes fun of her. Except that it wasn’t
Taka-san doing the impression, but the guy who did it was pretty good. I
have no idea who those guys are. It’s a four member group called
“Busaiku”, that look like they could be Johnnys, but they’re more on the
comedic side of things.
I’m thinking it’s the show with the GACKT guy whom I thought was actually him xD! And how he and Mayuyu have a sort of thing going on, I remember you telling me what a big fan she is! And Nakaikun makes for the perfect host no matter the occasion, he’s just so perfect for that role and he’s always been so charismatic in conversations. When I think of comedic Johnny’s I think of Kanjani8! There was this one introduction episode on some show years ago and I cracked up that I nearly had to go change afterwards =P! I posted it somewhere here but the videos probably gone from the Vox to WP transfer as I think it’s that old ….I should find that video!
Actually now that I think about it, they really
are Taka-san substitutes… Anyway, there’s a lot of little touches in
there that scream “Utaban!” to me. They’re starting to include comedians
in the show by inviting them to sing. They’re building inside jokes
everywhere, and they’re not afraid of referring to stuff that happened
months before. Like the crazy Gackt impersonator that Mayuyu won’t even
look straight at anymore, I think I sent you the video for that one
right? Oh, I’ll attach some photos of their last encounter here too. And
they have some interesting regular members there. See attached photo.
Easily the best show airing right now. And it’s got me thinking a lot
about old stuff and Utaban these days.
Haha oh yes!!!! UTAGE? I wonder if I could find rental discs which they sell at one of our local video stores here, I was going to visit them soon so I could look for some SmapxSmap episodes with favorite guests as I do from time to time.
It’s been a while since I’ve seen anything with Taka-san though. I don’t
have sources for comedy TV shows unfortunately =( not if they don’t
happen to have an idol guest. It’s one thing I want to look for next
time I go to my parents house and have internet access. I’ll go on a
hunt for any Tunnels (Taka-san) or Ninety Nine (Okamura, from Mechaike)
TV shows I can find. Probably on YouTube.
I wonder if her retired? It’d be a shame as he’s a natural born humorist!
Before I go, I’ll leave you with one video you absolutely HAVE to see.
There were a few (very few) times Taka-san interacted with AKB members.
This is one of them, and it has a lineup of three AKB members that makes
me think you’ll like it very much, if you haven’t seen it before:
Sasshi, Mayuyu and Yuko. Here you go:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uYnWB4WBfs
I’m sure you’ll already be paying plenty of attention to Yuko when you
watch this, but definitely do that, her reactions are the best 🙂 She
looks so natural there. Look at around 10 minutes, when the first guy
eating says “Shittori shiteru”, when she starts laughing and leans to
the side on Sasshi’s shoulder, that’s so cute ❤
There’s about 45 minutes there, rest is unrelated. Actually I don’t
really know what the rest is, since the version I have here in my PC is
cut to just the AKB. But the AKB part is definitely the same 🙂
Taka-san’s always been such great flirt with the girls hasn’t he!!! Gosh Sasshi and Yuko’s strong personalities or rather their outgoing~ness really overshadows Mayuyu so much =O. And you gotta love and respect Sasshi’s always honest answers to anything really as she steals the show here for sure I thought!
Take care, looking forward to your next posts 🙂
Pedro
PS: Whoa, I’ve just seen you’ve got an answer for my previous e-mail
while I was writing this. I’m totally going to read it, but I’ll leave
this message here for now because it’s getting late 😉 If I try reading
and replying to your reply right now I’m not getting to work tomorrow 😀
see you later
Funny we were typing replies at the very same time it seems!! Again I apologize for my really really late reply xD.
From Philip July 27th, 2015
Hi mb!
From Philip July 21st, 2015
Hi mb,
From Philip July 23rd, 2015
Hi mb,
From Philip July 21st, 2015 Enjoyed reading your replies! I guess the Nori-P single was just on cassette, then. If you don’t have it, then it’s definitely un-find-able! I found the photo of the single, by the way, just by doing an image search. As you point out, though, a cassette would be unplayable by now. Without checking, I think it appears on her Singles 1 CD, although you don’t get the goodies with it, of course. A~h I totally thought you had found a seller with this single!!! I searched for it for years back when I was finishing up my Sakai Noriko collection but never could find a single available copy. I haven’t searched in awhile though so maybe just maybe? Un as far as the music it’s readily available on her early single collection but wouldn’t it be wonderful to actually own this cassette! LOL some people must wonder what is a cassette tape LOL =P.
From Philip July 20th, 2015
Hi mb,
Not sure, but she did release a children’s book many years later which I think I purchased from Amazon Japan as Cdjapan doesn’t typically stock storybooks however this children’s book also includes a CD with an original song by her which is sooooooooooo cute!! ^^ Ah hadn’t known about that before! =O
From Philip (A long time ago xD) Hi mb,
♥ mb. From PHR July 13th, 2015 Hi MB, I love that Mayuyu photo you put with the “I subscribe to Playboy for the articles”! You can really see how Mayuyu understands her fanbase, saying it with that grin when she’s about to take off her shirt. Indeed, Mayuyu, I will read the articles. Haha you may be the very first to get that tongue in cheek sort of joke =)! I remember I used to work with this guy at the record store a long while back and he had just bought the latest Playboy because he was in love with …..huh I can’t remember whom was on the cover now XD, anyway it was a celebrity and not a bunny girl but anyway he started reading it in our breakroom next to me after asking if I minded (LOL a sign of the times! I don’t think any workplace would allow Playboy to be openly visible in this day and age…. how we have become over sensitive LOL =P! So I didn’t mind and I totally thought he was going to first show me some nudity but to my surprise he actually began reading an article in the magazine =O…. I’ve never forgotten that and so YES! we must read the articles as well =)! Sakura’s navel is award winning among the AKB girls. There was this 21 episode long AKB TV show called “AKB Shirabe” that had 21 Tops on various things voted by the members themselves. And there was a whole series of different body parts they ranked spread out through the 21 episodes. Sakura was tied at 5th with Yukirin. Actually, the top was: 1st – Jonishi Kei (28 votes) 2nd – Matsuoka Natsumi (19 votes) 3rd – Matsui Jurina (17 votes) 4th – Yamamoto Sayaka (12 votes) 5th – Kashiwagi Yuki (10 votes) 5th – Miyawaki Sakura (10 votes) 7th – Watanabe Miyuki (8 votes) Sakura’s hair… T.T… I’ll talk a bit about that later. Ah that sounds like a fun series to get to know maybe not so commonly known things about the girls. Don’t really know Jonishi Kei but she must be like WoW! to receive the top votes amongst her peers. I can totally understand Jurina, Sayanee, Yukirin and of course Sakura! Milky has a beautiful body too of course! I was just looking at an older UTB + issue where Sakura’s hair was still long here: https://morningberryz48.wordpress.com/2013/04/11/hkt48/ I think late one night while Sakura was fast asleep, Haruppi cut her hair =P. Donald Duck and pants? I haven’t thought much about that, no. Recently, I’ve been wondering why he can’t use a shield, or something else that would help him to die less often. Maybe pants would help, didn’t think of that. I’m playing an RPG called Kingdom Hearts that has lots of Disney characters. And Donald dies really really often in it. He’s kinda useless. Maybe he’ll get better later on, I’m just beginning. I’ve always wanted to play that game for the Disney characters in it! Awww why is Donald Duck such a wimp in it?? =O Maybe if he had pants he’d be powerful LOL okay that makes absolutely no sense ^^. I don’t know Grimace. But the purple thing you posted reminds me a bit of Grimer, the purple sludge Pokemon. Take a look here: http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Grimer_(Pok%C3%A9mon) Oh Grimer could be like the evil twin of Grimace! Grimace is like this jolly mindless thing which doesn’t really do anything. I mean you have the Hamburgler doing his thing, Ronald calling the shots, that bird thing flying and then you have Grimace …..Hmm? Long blue hair in a bun… Wait, BLUE? And long? Are you trying to tell me you want to cosplay as Marge Simpson =P because that sounds great. Ohh wait, there’s Chidori with long blue hair! From Full Metal Panic! Much much better. Hahah oh no but I do like the Simpsons or I used to watch it a lot! Can’t believe it’s still on!!! Must be some sort of animated series record for longevity! I guess here we have older ladies with blueish hair so I thought that’s what I’m heading for eventually one day LOL and the bun it’s a must for some reason =P. Hum… I think the article about the short hair is just wrong. It goes on and on about how the usual for idols is long hair, and some expert idol watcher says that there would be only 1 or 2 short haired members in a group and they wouldn’t be center, until this recent “short hair boom” started… But well, think original Momusu. Nacchi, Fukuda Asuka and Yuuko had short hair, that’s majority. Then, second gen, Yaguchi and Ichii had short hair. Another majority. Third gen, Gocchin, short hair, and that’s 100% the gen. And so on, short is everywhere. Let’s go back to the roots now, going through covers of old idol music I have saved here. Onyanko? Lots of members with short hair. Also, lots of members in general, I’m getting lost here. Candies? It seems like they let their hair grow, it’s varying from cover to cover. Two of them grow it until it’s a bit over shoulder length, but not more than that. Third one is short throughout. Yamaguchi Momoe? Super short. Seikochan? Short, long, she’s all over the place. Un it’s like only a snapshot was taken into consideration as far as idol groups go, I could come up with CoCo from the late 80’s into the mid 90’s where only one member had short hair and she was never the center of attention sadly =(…. Miyamae Maki she’s really sweet but then my favorite is Rieko and hence the post here: https://morningberryz48.wordpress.com/2010/11/17/%E4%B8%89%E6%B5%A6%E7%90%86%E6%81%B5%E5%AD%90-an-anime-j-pop-voice-for-the-ages/ For me she was the original “anime” J-pop voice I fell in love with! I so wish I had been born earlier so that there would have been a tiny chance that I’d known who they were before they broke up! I mean I did start to fall in love with J-pop during my teens but I just didn’t have the resources to know of too many artists back then. Miura Rieko was so adorable and that voice OMG the cutest!! It always seemed to me that short hair ruled the land. My impression was that the “faces” of the groups always had short hair. Like Nacchi or Acchan. And if they didn’t have short hair, they’d cut it. So, although I didn’t secretly cry when Sakura cut her hair (I cried very loudly! Well, not really, I just vowed to loudly complain about it any time the subject of Sakura came up in your blog! SHE SHOULDN’T HAVE DONE IT DAMMIT) it was kinda expected that she’d cut it. Jurina, Sayanee, Aichan back in the day, all the centers do it. I still don’t know really why, some say it’s sign of maturity and if that’s indeed true then I’m one very immature girl who’s not cutting her hair anytime soon!!! =) So, I guess you can understand now my surprise at this article claiming that short hair was the exception and we’re in the middle of a short hair boom. Then there’s the chart. The girls’ position within the two axis is understandable, although there are a few strange choices (is that Paruru I’m seeing ranked in the “genki” side? Because that’s wrong). But it’s ok, overall. What I don’t get is, the names they gave to the quadrants. Like, how they wrote “Idol”, “CM Girl” and so on. Those seem totally arbitrary to me. I don’t know what “CM Girl” means; something to do with commercials, I’m sure, but I don’t see how being “genki / boyish” will help someone do well in CMs. And some of the members they chose are just wrong for the category too, like Ikoma Rina in “Model” or, well, I guess Sae better be very good at CMs because she apparently has no chance at anything else, just look how far to the top left she is. The chart is interesting and I actually didn’t understand how to relate to it completely until your description just now =). CM girl is quite containing for a label and no being boyish certainly doesn’t help I wouldn’t think, I mean what demographic are they selling to. You can’t bundle it all up that simply, it’d totally depend on each individual product being sold and the image needed to move it. I saw now the answer you put up in your blog to my previous message. BTW, I like what you did there 🙂 It’s convenient to have your answers in the middle of the messages like that. I’m a bit worried it might get confusing with time though. If you just keep adding things to this page, it’ll get very long and hard to find anything in it =P Try adding new answers at the top, before the older ones, so it’s easier when I go read your latest answers. Also, I won’t get notified when you update the page, so try sending a quick reply to my e-mail saying “Check the page!!” when you update it, or I’ll totally miss your answer =D Un I’ll e-mail each time =). I’m so happy that this works okay as I thought of it on a whim and then just went for it like it was going to work although I had no idea if it made any sense to message this way ^^. btw if you see any terrible typos don’t mind me as I’m firstly a terrible typist and secondly if I’m having two thoughts at the same time I may actually combine them into one terrible sentence which makes no sense at all =P…just a warning ^^. Ok, let me answer your answer! I didn’t literally print anything, I have your whole blog saved to one file that I then view in my PC =D the point being, I can generate this file once, copy it at work where I have a decent connection, and then at home I just open it without using my connection. It has all the images and everything. Oh I was way off! Amazing how you can view a webpage like this! Haha yup there may be a “few” images here and there on “occasion.” =) Yes, I saw the “new” UTB+ style. It does seem like they’re going for more content. Not quite turning it into BUBKA, but still… I guess it’s a good idea. UTB itself is the most photo-centric magazine I’ve seen, as I said, it’s basically a PB. They can probably get a different market by doing this, but it makes sense they wouldn’t do this in the main magazine, since they already have a reputation there of being about great photos. I didn’t think of it that way at first but it makes perfect sense. I mean otherwise it was like having a secondary magazine which was pretty much the same as the primary one. The new UTB + doesn’t have the size or glossy covers of UTB anymore, my first time seeing the new version is with of course Sakura as Covergirl, surprise!!! =P Oh, can you scan what FLASH is saying about Horie Yui, I’d love to see that 😀 She’s my original oshi actually. Before I knew idols existed. A lot of my basic Japanese, especially grammar, I learned when I spent a summer vacation without an Internet connection, and watched this concert with all the seiyuus from the Love Hina anime singing songs from that. I found a subtitled version of that, and it had all the songs in romaji and English. I made a past time of going through the whole concert, finding words that repeated in more than one song and figuring out the meaning of them, because, well, nothing much to do. Anyway, the result of that was I learned quite a bit of Japanese and got obsessed with Yui for a while. When I first saw Momusu my reaction was pretty much “Oh, it’s like the Love Hina concert”. I never found much of Yui’s solo career though. Anime she has worked in, easy to find. The music from her solo career, initially difficult but then when I started getting more into Japanese music, turned easy as I got to know more sources. But I’ve never found any of her solo concerts. Which reminds me, I can just buy one now. I’ll check how much that costs tomorrow. Oh I did a similar thing with Mr.Children songs way back when! My Grandmother used to help me read their lyrics and when you understand songs like ES~theme of es and Innocent World it just makes you love them more! Sakurai~san is such an amazing lyricist! And of course musician! And song writer! And they’re still my most favorite band in the world till this day! I have a lot of memories, nostalgia with them~♥ ^^. 
I don’t think Milky has any love/hate thing with fellow members, I say she’s doing just fine. I’ve only heard this from Derek, when he was talking about his impressions from her victory in the last Janken. From what I remember, his main points were that other members didn’t seem very happy that Milky won the Janken, and they left early leaving her alone at the stage, and the show didn’t even let her sit down at the throne for more than a few seconds at the end. That’s not what I saw though. The other members seemed happy enough, and they didn’t leave early at all; they left at the right time, after the MC closed up the show. I also think the ending was a bit rushed; it seemed like they ran out of time. Anyway, the other members were all leaving already, but Milky just stood there in the stage waving to the fans. You can see she talking a bit with some staff, most likely telling her to get off the stage already, and there’s also a point where Takamina is going off stage behind all the other members, looks back to the stage, notices that Milky was left behind, and then she calls her attention with a “Congratulations Milky!” and when Milky looks at her, does a gesture with her hands that clearly says “COME!”. But Milky decides she just won the damn thing so she’ll do whatever she wants, and still stops to sit down at the throne for a bit. And then she finally left. Very late. I’m so relieved to know that!! I’m not very familiar with her relationships within the group so I was taken aback at the notion of there being any unpleasantness amongst the girls in such a way. Un I totally see that now with Takamina, she’s truly the mother to everyone and like the glue holding much of it together ^^. My take? This says nothing about Milky’s relationship with other members, but it says very bad things about Milky’s attitude to work. When the MC says the show is over, and the general leader says the show is over, I think the message is very clear. The show is over. Get off the damn stage. But that’s not what she did. I don’t admire that. It does look disrespectful and especially if she’s ignoring staff and Takamina that way, I mean there’s always time restraints and schedules to meet so everyone should listen and follow what is best =). I’m attaching a screenshot, you can see Takamina doing her “Come on” to Milky in the back 🙂 well, kind of. A gif would be better for that, but I don’t know how to do one. At least you can see Milky “left behind” on stage. 
Haha Henkka once tried to teach me how to create a gif and I never figured it out =P. And can you believe he cut his hair?? I was shocked =O! Oh, I’m totally OK with extra sexy photo shoots. Not what I was expecting from Sakura, but I’ll gratefully take anything I can get. I suspect you’re still refraining from viewing the Sakura shashinshuu post? A little teaser would be that there’s a little section of the book which is very “Koike Rina” gravure like ^^. From: PHR July 10th, 2015 Hi MB, I figured out how I can read your blog now =) It’s a bit like printing. I connect from work into an external server where I print your latest posts into a PDF file, that I then encrypt and send right back to myself. Crazy but works pretty well. Then I can read your posts at home, with all the pretty pictures you upload in them. Did you know that if you try printing one of your blog’s posts, it usually takes about 66 pages? Because it keeps printing the sidebar aaaall the way to the end. Except for your second post on Sakura, where you actually beat your own sidebar to the end and got to 75 pages of awesome. And that was just the second post in a four part series… Anybody ever told you how awesome you are to do all of this? Ehhhh you printed the entire page?? OMG please don’t get into trouble by using too much paper there!! =O You’re like a genius at computer/internet stuff!!… amongst many other things!! Oh do all of the photos appear as they would with a pc screen? I mean with the layout of all of those little caps and stuff as they’re supposed to be uniform like for the most part. I’ve gotten back into scanning a lot more recently and hopefully with blogging in general….. work permitting. (sigh….) It’s so sad that we all had to grow up and get jobs xD! I think I’m going to keep printing the sidebar though, I’d miss seeing the Pinky and the Brain picture at the top if I found a way not to print it. It’s so inspirational. Wait for tonight; because you must not rush. Do your homework. Prepare yourself. And when tonight comes… go for nothing less than trying to take over the world! I remember we were once speaking about Pinky & the Brain awhile back, good memories of this awesome series as it always made me laugh and smile no matter what =). So really you inspired me to put that P & B pic up there! Anyway, that solves most of the problem of how to visit your website using a work connection without ever directly visiting your website. The only question left is, how am I going to comment? I figured I’d just send you e-mails. Ultimately you’d get notifications of my comments through e-mail anyway, so I’m hoping it’s not that much different from what you’d normally be doing. If you use a different email address for blog comment notifications just mention it and I’ll start sending them there instead. Ohhhh that’s where the idea for this page came to mind! As you e-mail me I’m going to edit them into this page as text instead of comments and that way I can reply super easily by just editing in my thoughts right below your text…. is this too odd? I thought it’d all become part of the blog in this little secret spot ^^. And please keep using my e-mail. Ok, so first on to the C-ute post, and how Airiin doesn’t turn me on that much anymore… that’s getting ahead of myself though. Ehhhhh?? Hum… My Pulp Fiction… I don’t know if I had something like that with movies. If I’m in doubt at this, I’ll say it hasn’t happened yet. I could name an anime (Evangelion), or a game (Final Fantasy VI)… I’d have serious trouble with music unless we really narrowed it down. For example, for mind blowing idol songs (and PVs, whole package really) I still can’t believe I’ve heard/seen, I’ll always go for AKB’s Keibetsu Shiteita Aijou’s beautiful treatment of bullying and RIVER’s amazing spin of the classic “cheer up, don’t give up” theme of idol songs into an ode to competition with military imaginery thrown on top, because why not. And it all gets funny when you consider RIVER was written by the same mind and performed by some of the same people as no3b’s Relax!, which is the total opposite. But that’s getting off track. I can’t really think of The movie right now that did it for me. There’s a lot of greats out there, but I don’t know. The old Japanese bureaucrat who after years of hard work gets diagnosed with cancer (or whatever it was…), starts doubting how he lived his life, and trying it make it meaningful somehow, will probably haunt me forever. That’s “Ikiru” by Akira Kurosawa. It’s hard to recomment it, or better, to put it up as showing “all that a movie can do and be”, when it’s an old black and white slow paced Japanese movie… might I add, it’s slow paced in the way only old black and white Japanese movies seem to know how to be… damn, it takes a while here and there… but I like it =) Let’s see… Clockwork Orange is perfect, but it’s so creepy. Another one that made a huge impression but I don’t really look forward to watching a dozen times. I think I don’t really have one Movie. Un! With the “Pulp Fiction” idea you really could apply it to just about any experience as it being that sort of ultimate personal discovery…. when you say to yourself “wow so that’s what it’s capable of!” My game isn’t too far off either to yours as I’d just go one later with FFVII …. I actually purchased the Playstation specifically for this game!!! A friend had convinced me totally that I would need to have this game and I totally bought in literally …. so many hours with this one game… late nights ….after work… before work….. between meals and sleeping! Music videos would be a difficult choice! I do love the idea of “Gingham Check” but then there’s the Yuko♥ bias so I’d probably need to disqualify myself immediately!! =P Oh speaking of black & white films I did enjoy The Seven Samurai a lot!! It was amusing when the film took a break, the DVD that is when a “Intermission” screen actually popped up and ran for a few minutes =). I really should watch more Kurosawa Akira films as he’s said to be very iconic and ground breaking in the film genre. Airiin in UTB, I think that was the last UTB I got… Before Amazon decided that magazines should be sold to Brazil with an unhealthy dose of taxes on top, and the price of everything doubled. It’s weird, they did it especifically to the “zasshi” category. “Book”, “comic”, “mook”, they’re all still tax free. It does cut off most idol magazines though, except for G the Television, which for some reason Amazon considers a “mook”… nonsense, since if you just put it side by side with UTB, they’re obviously the same format. But they call UTB “zasshi”. Ivan had mentioned this ridiculous tax =( before. That is some interesting splicing of published media as far as categories goes. UTB continues to be one of the very finest idol publications in terms of both content and presentation for sure….interestingly its sister magazine UTB+ has undergone a facelift lately as it has shrunk a bit and lost its all glossy covers as it used to be rather a mirror image of UTB itself for awhile there. Getting to your order of <3… LOL you weren’t kidding about a heavy bias on Airiin visuals for this post. A year or two back C-ute pretty much meant Airi to me, but since then I really like Maimai and Nacky. It’s pretty much a tie for me. Maimai / Nacky, then Airi, then Maimi / Chisato. But in any case, I like all of them. I totally agree C-ute is the H!P flagship right now. MMmm… yup I “sort” of went a bit gaga over Airiin during those pvs! =) It must have something to do with her seducing the camera eye time and time again! Maimi & Nakki are the second tier for me although for years Airiin and Maimi were a true tie. Airiin is such a ham♥…. how can one not adore her ^^. And to be honest, I don’t think that is so strange. Morning Musume doesn’t really have any longevity, it just cheats with all the auditions and graduations. Longevity is SMAP. On the top for years, and so stable I didn’t even know they once had a sixth member until I saw some post of yours long ago =) And if I’ve got to pick one thing I want to see in this idol world, it’s definitely a female SMAP. I doubt it’s going to be C-ute, but someone has got to make it. AKB has done one step in the right direction, by basically ignoring scandals for the senior members for a while now, and no matter what some fans might say, if they keep that policy going for a few more years, it’ll turn into the way things work. And maybe in a decade or two we can actually have a married member in a female idol group, and the female SMAP turns viable. The problem with AKB is, they built this culture that there’s idol group work and personal work that makes no sense at all. When Kimutaku starts getting tons of dorama work, thousands of fans start watching, and that’s it. No hard feelings. As a bonus, sometimes people like me show up, who have no idea about SMAP but start watching Kimutaku doramas and find themselves thrown into the SMAP fandom. Same thing with Hana Yori Dango and Arashi. It’s good personally for the people doing the work, and it’s good for the group. But AKB and its fans don’t get that, not in enough numbers. When Acchan starts getting dorama work, even her fans who watch it and like it still qualify it with a “but it’s too bad she’s too busy now for doing the theater / AKBINGO! / whatever AKB stuff she “should” be doing” disclaimer when they talk about it. As if Acchan and other members getting tons of outside work wasn’t exactly what AKB needs to stay relevant. I sometimes wonder if Mori kicks himself every so often that he left SMAP at such a musical height of their popularity only to witness their brand going to the next level with media supremacy…. top rated t.v. show…. dramas…. and beyond! There was a time when I never would have imagined Momusu falling like they have, they used to be my idol world in a nutshell and everything else was secondary by far. Un that’s a very solid point about the culture surrounding AKB vs. other top groups like ARASHI/SMAP, funny how it works like that and unfortunate for female idols in general whom are part of popular groups. A person’s brand should be encouraged by fans alike to grow into every possible corner of entertainment…. that much more to ♥~. On the other hand, all C-ute has to do to stay relevant to me is keep being the best performers in the business. There’s Perfume too, but they’re different. C-ute keeps getting cooler and cooler but they’re still idols. After all these years I still end up turning to H!P when I actually want to listen to something, save for the few favorites in AKB. And C-ute is the only current H!P group I know. So, they always win. Happy to know that C-ute is on your radar! Their dancing abilities too have gotten up to the SPEED tier I think, they’re amazing live which is where the true professionals shine. One thing about AKB is that I so wish that they’d always have true live performances with their voices given a chance. Over to Maggy’s Hot Summer Reads. Yes, MB, they’re Hot Summer Reads. No need to explain yourself, since for some reason, summer seems to be all year long in gravure photo shoots. I’ve never heard “hapa”, I’ve heard “haafu”. But the highlight of this post, really, goes to the cat. What. is. that. And I see in the title how it says “Wan Nyan Paradise Returns”… so there was a previous one. Like, it’s a whole series. And they even give it color pages, so it’s clearly a big feature for the magazine. Or maybe it’s a full color magazine, I don’t know. I like the cat on the right with the… what’s that? Horned sheep that are too cute to be actual goats, but sure look like it? Haha I just thought I’d better explain a tiny bit as some may be thinking HEY that’s a really old magazine and it wasn’t even released during this summer =P! It’s been hot soooo hot! =( I’ve wondered if “hapa” is a Hawaii term? …..not really sure. During my intermediate to high school days it was often times that the hapa girls got so much attention from the guys! I on the other hand was rather common I think as there are sooooo many Japanese girls everywhere here. It’s taken from an actual kitty loving blog, haha cats can have this really pleased look about themselves ne~♥. It’s like a sheep/ram hybrid lol…. kidding =P! Over to Mayuyu’s post. Don’t forget skirts! They’re also curtains, sort of. They have similar psychological effects to those you’ve identified on the curtain-like tops. A~h I had not even thought about that how funny! Oh I think I was way more comfortable with the our tops being like curtains with that style of bikini…. not so much with skirts lol!!! The cover for FLASH here is so bad. So noisy. Maggy’s FRIDAY from the previous post is like at the limit of noisy to me, but this one is just ridiculous. And Mayuyu is literally left to the side in the cover. It’s like they started by putting Mayuyu’s photo front and center, like it should be… but then they decided there was too much they had to say about this magazine, so they moved her as far to the side as they could, and filled everywhere else with kanji… OH WAIT. That’s Horie Yui they’re talking about there, at about Mayuyu’s eye height. “Legend of the Seiyuu world”, no doubt about it. “First appearance in a weekly magazine”, what do they mean by that??? Very curious. I love that pose in the last photo here, lying down looking at the camera like that ❤ Un Flash regularly has these types of covers with headlines and features to entice the reader at the expense of their featured idol/celebrity. That sounds a bit odd at first…. hmm if you’re curious I could scan those page(s) in? That one’s most cute!.. and Mayuyu is even hiding her curtains from everyone there =P…. love her smile!~! Over to Sakura, part 1. lol, I wonder if I have enough to say about Sakura to last for four comments… Just kidding, I could go on for a while. Interesting how you opened the first post. I thought the “One Sakura to rule them all” title was obviously a reference to Lord of the Rings =P So I read “in reference to the media” and went “HUH? Ohhh… that’s what she’s ruling!” When I saw the title, I was thinking more in terms of, you know, rule the other rings, maybe the world… But yeah, she did get all the magazines with her first PB right. It’s like suddenly everyone mistyped Sayaka and invited Sakura to the photoshoot. Except no, just PB promotion. I’m not complaining though. PBs are still perfectly tax free, so I’m getting this as soon as the month turns around again and I have the money. Because I keep all purchases to Month, 1st. Really easy to budget that way. Anyway, Sakura photoshoots are always welcome! But BUBKA is weird. It was my absolute favorite, but the photoshoots are kind of weak. And apparently they’re still doing it; look at those last Mion shots, the background is white, she’s dressed in white, and she is white. All I see is white. But it was my favorite magazine to read. I ignored half of it, which wasn’t talking about idols, but it always had the best interviews and commentary. And I can’t wait to get back to this post later to see what they’re exorcising Ikuta for. But there’s three more Sakuras to go first. I’ve just been seeing so much Sakura~♥ everywhere and she’s Covergirl~ing just about every top publication now =). I do love the Lord of the Rings series as well as the Hobbit trilogy too!!!! As I was typing that title I suddenly hit with the thought of Sakura and the media as of late and well actually for awhile now. And then the news of her very first shashinshuu…. a bit overdue I think! Haha my scanner may be washing out the image a bit too LOL… although we do tend to be very fair skinned well a lot of us anyway… I actually had a tan when I was little as I used to frequent the beaches here back then but then I faded again and now I seem to just turn red from the sun so I stay away as much as possible. ‘Exorcising Ikuta…..’ hmm….. I think Philip was asking about that very article too let’s see….. Over to Sakura, part 2. Ohh, I have this one. One thing I always wondered when I was getting these magazines was, where is Yukirin? And Kojiharu? Because somehow I had the feeling that they were everywhere in gravure before, but then I don’t think I ever got a magazine with Kojiharu, and Yukirin there’s only this and another FLASH special with NMB members. =o Kojimako was there? I forgot this photoshoot somehow… I think she’s being phased out and now even I am forgetting her. She reminds me of Lovetan in a way. Same cute, happy exterior masking the most pessimist idol you could think of. Flash really does the idol world justice when they’re particularly in love with you! I like their special issues as there’s just sooooo many cute articles always and your favorites are always accounted for and very present. I love her top there with the gold lettering!!! So cute! I’m not very familiar with her though. I think first place for the Janken costume should go to Mio’s devil costume. Then Tano with the cowgirl one. Then the Two Towers, I have to agree with the general opinion there. They were great. And then when they went up against each other, Sayanee won, and Takamina took out the part of her costume written “Tokyo” and gave it to Sayanee to take to the finals, that was interesting. It’s amazing how AKB can make a janken tournament really worthy of the Budokan. The Janken Tournament has really become so much greater than just the janken battles themselves and particularly YES with their costumes and just how much is put into them! What’s with Milky’s love/hate thing with fellow members and some fans alike it seems?… I’ve never particularly been a fan of hers so I’ve only read things about her here and there but nothing conclusive other than some rivalries which seem to be most natural and especially with the size and competitiveness of Family48. Used to be a time when Budoukan was such a difficult place to perform at, I mean The Beatles and the like made this place legendary and more and more it’s much more accessible it seems. AKB48 though cannot be denied of their worthiness!!!!! Over to Sakura, part 3. Humm… I think the “think of something deep” and the “make the reader want you” photos are basically the same instructions, except in the former you look away from the camera, in the latter you look into it. Sakura’s black & white floral dress is sooooo beautiful here!!!! I so want that dress too!!! Not that I could make it look half as good =P! It’s so pretty though! Sakura appears so confident and natural in her photo shoots, yes it’s her camera flirting abilities~*!! And there’s the best thing about G, they’ve always covered a lot of Nogizaka! And also what I like about Nogizaka itself, which is that even the smaller 1st gen members are still strongly featured in their TV show and show up here and there in magazines. Inoue had a big start, at the very beginning of the group, but then somehow she slipped up and never got senbatsu again. She was still showing up in the show though, even if in the “once or twice a month” category. In AKB she’d be doing nothing and would’ve graduated a year ago in frustration. In a way, the group and their TV show is a lot more like a H!P group with 48 resources than an actual 48 group. Whole thing seems much more focused and stable. I’m still in denial that Sakura grew up every time I see a photoshoot of her. It’s always like, “Wait, what? I’m pretty sure that was supposed to be a child. I’m getting old at that rate too, aren’t I?” Ummm….. a tiny warning about Sakura. She “may” have grown up even further into the next realm in her first shashinshuu and something tells me that Ivan is not going to like her anymore, that just being based on his reactions to idols whom do extra sexy photo shoots … it seems to turn him off. For me it’s more like Whoa…Sakura! ^^ Over to Sakura, part 4. Ohh, you have Sakura’s PB already. You’re lucky. I’m going to skip that post when you do it because I don’t want to see it until I get one. I was going to begin scanning today but I may need to do that tomorrow I think as it usually takes between 3 1/2 to 4 hours depending on its thickness and size. Sakura’s is in between normal and small and yet it’s quite thick!! UTB should really just drop the pretense of tiny interviews and turn into a monthly PB already. That’s pretty much how I see them. Best gravure photo shoots out there today! UTB has really set the standard dating way back when they were one of the very few magazines to feature a full sized, flat spine and all glossy publication (except for just a tiny mid portion of each issue with features and news). Plus they used to have trading cards!!!!!! Miss those!!!!!! AKB trading cards would be wonderful for a magazine to offer! I hope you don’t mind me sending you this big e-mail instead of commenting on the appropriate posts in your blog. It’s probably hard to follow with me talking about different posts and random thoughts I have in the middle of reading them, but then again, they’d be just as random if I had done them in the comments section =) I will make more focused comments in the future instead of letting half a dozen posts accumulate. Unless you upload half a dozen posts in a row, you can’t blame me then =D Haha it’s totally okay =)! This blog wouldn’t even exist anymore today if it weren’t for you!!! I owe so much to you for helping me so much throughout the years! Ok, I’m going back to reading Ikuta’s article on BUBKA. I hope you’re doing well, and I look forward to commenting on your posts again. Take care, =).
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モーニングBerryz48...the morning after..... "Always wear protection before reading…(^q^)." 
Enjoyed reading your replies! I guess the Nori-P single was just on cassette, then. If you don’t have it, then it’s definitely un-find-able! I found the photo of the single, by the way, just by doing an image search. As you point out, though, a cassette would be unplayable by now. Without checking, I think it appears on her Singles 1 CD, although you don’t get the goodies with it, of course.
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Ah sorry I’d confused you XD, as this page isn’t really for comments here but rather me pasting in our e-mails and e-mail replies as I respond directly into your e-mail messages =). I’ll be doing that directly into the page/post above by editing them in instead of using this comments section. So each time we e-mail replies/messages to one another I’ll just be adding them into the text above at the very top so the newer messages don’t get buried by the older ones. I just edited in your response here to the text above and replied there ^^.
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