H!P vs. AKB48 Round 2 ~Olé!~ March 2, 2008
Hi! Welcome to the second round of this fight! This time, I chose two songs which are similar in style, since they are both based in Flamenco, but different in “spirit” if that makes any sense… I will elaborate more on that part later, I promise.
Morning Musume - Iroppoi Jirettai vs. AKB48 - Cinderella wa Damasarenai: This time around, in the Blue Corner, we have the debut single of “The Ace”, which sold more copies than… well, everything else they’ve released since, actually. With a sexy dance and “come hither” lyrics, didn’t we all want to go to that Sexy Island this girls were so passionate about? and in the Red Corner, a song from Team K’s second stage, with a very strong feel to it. “Cinderella won’t be deceived” is a playful and mischievous number with a “Strong Girl” feeling to it and a simple but powerful choreography.
Morning Musume - Iroppoi Jirettai: “Sexy cupid, I’m impatient for more of your kisses” Ah, I have lots of memories of this song… This was the first single that Momusu released that made me care about them, after I had abandoned my fandom for many years (yes, I didn’t care about them through most of the Golden Era). What caught my eye was the sexiness of this song, and the choreography, with its complicated formations and that weird crouching thing they did during the “Sexy Island” part. Iroppoi Jirettai is a very good song, at least in my opinion, and it was backed up by a simple but effective PV. The live performances were good too (except for Koharu’s solo line…), but this song looked really weird when performed without the red and black dress, no? Maybe it’s just me… The main higlights were the whispered parts at the beggining and the strong chorus, and through the whole song there was a very distinct sexy vibe, I actually think this is the sexiest MM has been in the last few years, and it suited the girls perfectly. If you ask me, however, when Aichan graduates, nobody will be able to handle this song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6GkThPQcnY
“The hot beat of this Sexy Island”
AKB48 - Cinderella wa Damasarenai “When the morning comes, everything changes. Fall in love only with me, Olé!” I’m absolutely in love with this song, for many reasons, so I’ll go one by one and try to cover them all. First of all, the music itself is very faithful to real Flamenco songs, unlike IroJire, which has some salsa and other latin ryhtms to influence it, Cinderella is very flamenco, the use of castanets, clapping, guitars, the Olés, and the trumpets are all classics of this type of music, and I was glad to listen to all of them in this song (not that I’m spanish or anything, but in my hometown there’s plenty of this music anyway, so I should know). The second reason were the lyrics. They are absolutely brilliant (well, for an idol song, anyway), and they revolve around the concept of Cinderella lasting longer than eneryone expects, and that it’s HER choice to take off the glass slipper and have many guys looking for her. This is a sexy song too, but it’s a different type of sexy from IroJire. The girl in this song wants to enjoy the night as much as she possibly can, she wants to “learn the lesson” as the song says (wow, this is sounding way naughtier than I intended…) anyway, check out the translation here if you want to know what I really mean http://www.akb48-lyrics-paradise.co.nr/. The third reason was the dance, IroJire obviously has a more intrincate choreography, and its visually more appealing, but this simple clapping, swaying of the dress and jumping fits the music very well. These are my reasons, but of course, I encourage you to try the song out yourselves, or watch the performance.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hI2Vtd7w8z0&feature=related
“Please lend me your guidance, show me a night that I don’t know”
And the results? Well, I’m having a very hard time with this one, and like I said before, I’m in LOVE with Cinderella wa Damasarenai, but I think that in all fairness, Iroppoi Jirettai is the winner here. The song is very well composed, it has interesting influences of other types of music, the choreography is amazing, and I can’t refuse a sexy Morning Musume song, specially not one that was so well performed everytime and really made you want to stand up and dance with them. AKB was close though, and Cinderella is still a great song in its own right, so check it out 
A disclaimer: All translations come from www.projecthello.com or http://www.akb48-lyrics-paradise.co.nr/. They belong to the cool people who made them.
Sakura no Hanabira-tachi 2008 Single Review March 1, 2008
Well, I just want to look at the positive side of things, so I thought I would review this awesome single, because it deserves lots of attention! (so much that even buying 44 copies of it doesn’t sound crazy Just kidding…)
I guess that by now you all know that this is a remake of the first indie single of AKB48, which was only composed of Team A back in early 2006 when it was released.
This is a very special single, because it’s a classic song for the girls, and they are all very emotionally attached to it. Also, it was a huge starting point for them because even though it was only released as an indie, it managed to sell 46000 copies, which is amazing for a debut single, and it’s still their best selling single to date.
1. Sakura no Hanabiratachi 2008: The A-side is a very sweet almost ballad song. However, it’s not a sappy song or anything, but it has an upbeat tune and even a choreography to go with it! The lyrics are about graduation, and they’re very touching, they definitely make you go back and remember those nostalgic days when you were in high school and life wasn’t so complicated… Er, back to the song, I love the bell ringing at the beginning, and how the electric guitar kicks from there. This song doesn’t disappoint at all, and even though it’s been a little overplayed (like Aitakatta) it gets a whole new essence in this remake, because of the addition of the voices of Team B and Team K make it sound fuller and balance it very well. Also, the mix is much better in this version (maybe because it’s not indie anymore…) so the crystal clear harmonies and beautiful instrumental are very pleasing to the ear. To sum it up: A musically beautiful song, that will bring back good memories and will surely become a favorite in your collection as well. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddT3Z2RLUSk
2. Saigo no Seifuku: As a little rant, I think that Dear My Teacher (the original single’s B side) is fun enough in all of its naughty glory to deserve a remake… but this song probably works better with Sakura. It’s about the same topic (from what I can make out with my not so great japanese skills). This one is pretty peaceful, with a lovely flute and accoustic guitars that remind me of W’s Shiroi Iro wa Koibito no Iro. The girls sweet vocals blend really well, and even though nobody gets a solo, the groups of girls balance each other voices really well, and the harmonies are simply beautiful. Shortly put, an awesome B side, even worthy of being an A side of its own. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtiTh3k5cTc
3. Sakura no Hanabiratachi (Gakkou Mix): The mix begins with a very sweet piano intro, and then instead of electric guitars, there are some chimes and the piano is the only instrument through the first verse, after which a violin kicks in, and in the chorus some percussion is added as well. I know that my descirption sucks, but what I’m trying to say is that the instruments used in this mix are completely different from the original, and give this version a soaring feeling, very delicate and pretty. The girls voices can be heard clearly, because the background is almost only the piano, at least in the verses. The stronger percussion in the chorus helps it retain the strenght the original had thanks to the electric guitars, so this never really becomes a ballad. There’s a bridge with a flute and violins, and I’m about to cry… this is just *so* beautiful, you have no idea. I hadn’t been this moved by a song ever since I heard Sakamoto Maaya’s Bokutachi ga Koi o Suru Riyuu, and that was almost a year ago. Maybe this is a little biased because of how much of a fan I am, but everything in this mix just clicks with the original spirit of the song, while giving it a completely new air. The pizzicato and piano at the end sound beautiful, and are a lovely way to finish, even though I do miss the bell that rang in the original at the end.
Well, as you can see, I’m absolutely in love with this single, it’s absolutely beautiful, and will surely bring a smile to your face no matter what. This song is definitely timeless, and that’s just proven with this re release, which I hope has the same success of the first one. Saigo no Seifuku makes for one of the best C/W songs I’ve heard in my life, not losing in wuality or spirit to the A side, and the Gakkou Mix in all of its beautiful simplicity makes the Limited Edition B totally worth buying over the LImited A with its DVD and all.
Actually, I’m thinking of buying all of the editions if I can find them still available when I have money. Please consider (buying 44 copies) adding this wonderful single to your Jpop collection, it’s absolutely worth your money and your time, and I’m sure that it will earn a special place in your heart, so give it a try, and support the awesome girls who made this music happen!
“Edgy” AKB48, and now I guarantee you that it’s not just a media trick February 29, 2008
Ouch. Looks like there’s trouble in Don Quijote… With the re release of the Sakura no Hanabiratachi CDS, came lots of bad news. Well, just one, but a big one, the other ones I’ll discuss later.
You all heard me hyping about how cool it was to have a re release of this beautiful song, along with a wonderful story PV that’s pretty moving and sweet. Well, looks like the management of AKB didn’t have such “sweet” intentions about this. Turns out that if you bought the single at the AKB store in Akihabara, you would get a special poster of one of the girls, a random one (with the outfit of the Kouhaku performance. They looked pretty cool anyway…). So far, so good. I mean, we’ve seen this happen in other idol and Jpop groups, so it’s no big deal. Of course, considering how there are 44 possible girls, getting one of the girl you want through the traditional method is a tough deal, but life is like that. Then came the news: AKB would have a Spring Festival. That sounds pretty cool too, a good way to interact with the fans in a closer level, very nice… or at least that’s what we all thought… turns out that the festival didn’t have open tickets, or a raffle or anything. YOU HAD TO BUY ALL OF THE 44 POSTERS TO GET A TICKET FOR THE FESTIVAL.
Wow. This was the point where I was knocked off my feet. Do they really pretend to make this wotas pay 500 bucks to go to the Festival? That’s just… I don’t even know what to say…
Wait, I kind of do. This is just plain abusive. Now, in case ANY of you had any doubts left that AKB is for the fans, you just won’t think like that anymore, right? And that puzzles me, because even though I assumed that they were ok with their fans, and loved them/interacted with them/whatever, this shameless wallet squeezing is clearly aimed for the extreme wotas. Let’s face it, if you’re a casual fan, you won’t shell out $500 to see them in person or whatever. But this didn’t seem like a good strategy to me, because they lose to the younger fanbase. How can you appeal to “ordinary” (non-wota) people when you do things that encourage the obssesive fanboy-ism? And in AKBs case, this can be a bad thing.
Or maybe I’m just looking at part of the picture? And they just decided that the casual fans won’t give up all of their money for the group, so screw them and let’s go with just the super ultra wotas?
Anyway, the thing is, japanese government itself cancelled the Festival, because they deemed it illegal to do that, it was against the Antimonopoly Act, so it had to be shut down. Ouch again. This isn’t a good turn of events. God knows I adore this group, but getting labeled as this is just plain bad. And unfair for the girls who are part of it too, as they aren’t guilty at all for the greed of the management (and I’m ready to bet that Akimoto Yasushi’s as well…)
So this just leaves lots of queston marks in my head. WTH is going on with my favorite group? Only recently I found out that tickets for the daily shows aren’t going to be sold at the theater everyday, like it’s been so far, but they are going to go through a lottery thing. Apparently, you send your e-mail adress, and they do some sort of mail drawing, so if yours was chosen, Good Luck! Now you probably get to have your seat go through another lottery system to finally know which row you can stand in, when you finally enter the theater. (I’m not sure if the seats are going to be assigned this way now, but AFAIK, nobody has said anything about it being any different with the new system. I guess we’ll just have to wait until March 1 to really see what’s going to happen…) I don’t know about you guys, but this just screams “UNFAIR” to me. Deciding based on sheer luck who gets to enter a concert and who doesn’t is a pretty crappy thing to do, and I find it almost disrespectful to the fans, who always lined up like at 4:00 am, because they loved this girls, and would do whatever was in their hands in order to see them. Of course, what I just wrote is what suddenly dawned on the management’s greedy brains: If they’ll do anything, then let’s have them do ANYTHING (and give up all of their money in the process)
I said earlier that I found it disrespectful, but it’s just for lack of a better word. I feel like the choices they are making are taking the group to a place where they will have a LOT of trouble getting out of. I mean, they are turning it into a group for freaks (it’s figurative speaking, I don’t mean to offend anyone by the use of this term, as I’m a pretty hardcore fan myself…), where casual fans just aren’t in the picture, because they aren’t willing to put themselves to the trouble of spending lots of money or crossing their fingers to get their email drawn in the lottery thing, so they will just lose interest really quickly.
Of course, I’m probably underestimating Akimoto, and we may be seeing JUST the tip of the Iceberg. Perhaps they’ll be going into nation wide tours with open tickets for the casual fans? Or they have some sort of side strategy to lure new audiences and hold on to the die-hard fans using the Stage Performances for it? The TV show seems to cater to all sorts of people, and it’s interesting enough to hook non-fans, or at least to pique their curiosity, so chances are that there are really 2 sides of the coin, and right now we’re just being shown one of them. That’s all I can come up with, because it seems pretty pointless to create a TV show, appear at Kouhaku, send members to all popular music or variety TV shows, if you’re just counting on a rather limited fanbase of people who would buy 44 copies of a CDS anyway just because they are obsessed enough with the group, Spring Festival or not.
I really don’t know what to make out of all this. I just hope that the girls won’t have to pay for their stupid management, like we’ve seen in H!P so many times… I will still support them as much as I can, no matter what, because I know that they are great at what they do, which is, being idols, and great entertainers, and I’m only crossing my fingers so that people don’t go into a wave of hatred towards them as a group because of this Festival crap. I have faith in Akimoto, though. I’m almost sure that he’s not stupid enough to cater exclusively to the wota fanbase if he has a chance of making the group even bigger with a larger and more diverse fanbase, and it seemed to be working so far! They are doing well on Oricon and everything… please… let this not be screwed up, we already have H!P for scandals…
Special Weekly Feature! H!P vs. AKB48! Fighting Pose wa Date ja nai!! February 26, 2008
Starting today, I would like to introduce you all to this new feature of Aitakatta!, called H!P vs. AKB48! Fighting Pose wa Date ja nai!!.
Before anyone flips out and claims that I’m just trying to say that AKB is way better than H!P, I’ll repeat for the nth time that I’ve been a H!P fan for a long time, and what I intend to do with this corner is letting all of you know a bit more of AKB’s music, and convince you that even though some songs are basically about the same kind of stuff, the differences between them are striking, and they can be both enjoyed in different ways.
Of course, not every week will feature H!P, if I find other Idol or Jpop songs that seem to be about the same thing, I’ll definitely feature them here. I just thought that this would be a fun idea, so let’s see how it goes from here.
Ok, so without further ado, let’s see this week’s songs:
Hello no Theme vs. AKB48: Ladies and gentlemen! In order to begin this corner properly, we’ll start with the very basics! In the blue corner, a song with many, many MANY years of experience, sung in every big concert of this big and poweful collective, with lyrics about how cool it is to do what they do in their idol life, and an upbeat tune with catchy choruses. In the red corner, the lively and rockish theme song of the girls of Don Quijote theater, with lyrics about how cool Akihabara is in general, and a moe~ request to their fans “Please remember all of our names, it’s a pinky promise, right?” It’s the battle of the Theme Songs this week!!!!
Hello no Theme (dl): I uploaded the Berryz version, because I honestly only have that and the 2002 shuffles version, which would be kind of pointless, because almost all of them are gone anyway. I’ve never been a fan of this song, personally. The music is just too generic for my taste. and the Hello dancing, Hello singing hello whatever gets on my nerves. But don’t let my personal opinion of the song affect your judgement, I’ve known lots of people who think that this bubbly number is perfect for H!P. Now with the 10th anniversary hype there are 2 more theme songs: Hello to You and another one I don’t even remember the title of. I like Hello to You the most out of this songs, but in all justice, Hello no Theme is the classic song that makes us all think of H!P (or at least that’s how it should be, for me it’s all about ALL FOR ONE AND ONE FOR ALL). Before I ramble/diss the song even more, I leave you all with a lovely Youtube performance of the H!P girls singing this in the latest H!P concert http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPGPhuo97zc
AKB48 (dl): In contrast to the above song, this one isn’t pure pop, but it has a bit of a rock feeling to it. The lyrics are kind of strange, as they are about various places in Akihabara, and how cool Akihabara (the district) is. The chorus is a winner, though, because it’s a shameless plug, just the way a theme song should be: “Akihabara48, come to see us, love us more than anyone else, ok, ok?” and other stuff along the lines, which I find very amusing. This is a lively number with an edge because of the rock parts. Nothing great, of course, but it’s very engaging and has been pushed as the theme song for a while now. Here’s a performance taken from last year’s concert tour, where Team A & Team K can be seen doing the rather simple choreography, but mostly interacting with the fans. It’s very cute, but kind of taken out of context without the previous songs from the concert. Still, here it is, for your viewing pleasure: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-vad45uAr0
And that’s it for the first fight! My personal opinion? AKB48’s AKB48 pwns Hello no Theme, but that’s just me, of course, and well… You just have to listen and watch for yourselves!
Youtube Special! February 26, 2008
Well, seeing how the lovely Andra was kind enough to comment in my Harunyan post, I decided to do this post for all of you people who, in spite of not commenting, enjoy checking out the special videos of the girls posted in Youtube. Right now, though, my priority is to give you the Maimai and Kojiharu videos, which should’ve been in their respective profiles, but I don’t remember what circumstance (probably my laziness :P) kept me from searching for them and posting them there, so here you have them!
1. Oshima Mai (Maimai) - Team A 4th Stage - Haru ga Kuru Made: Maimai is all kinds of awesome, and she proves it in this performance. This is a very sweet song about unrequited love, and its lovely tune reminds me a lot of Card Captor Sakura music… and of my childhood… Ahh! Good times!, anyway, Mai is pretty sad here, she seems about to cry, and she even wipes a tear from the corner of her eye. Of course, I don’t have a clue of what was she crying about, but maybe it was because the girl who sings here with her, Hoshino Michiru, graduated after this stage, so maybe she was sad because of that? Despite all of this, she truly shines here, and her sweet and soft voice fits the song perfectly. JUST WATCH THE DAMN THING ALREADY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Md4M4RjwofM
2. Oshima Mai: Private Princess: Well, that sounds like the name of an H-game right? It’s nothing like that, though. It’s just a gravure photoshoot for Maimai, Tomochin and Kasai Tomomi. They shoot little videos of themselves, and it’s pretty cute. I chose the first one, because there you can watch Mai’s l33t clarinet skills, and the last one, because she looks amazing in it! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkbvOpIEbTs http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWHwvFGB2I8
3. Kojima Haruna - Team A 3d Stage - Shinkirou: For your eyes only, this amazing duet where Kojiharu sings with Nakanishi Rina (we’ll definitely get into her later, because I freaking love her and her voice…) A very sweet song, and this version is fansubbed too, for you to understand the beautiful and sad lyrics. I love the harmonies here, and Rina’s angel voice is a perfect match for Kojiharu’s somewhat nasal vocals, and lower range. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvj0O8oW268
4. Kojima Haruna - Team A Stage 4 - Junai no Crescendo: I hate to recycle videos, but seriosuly, Harunyan is smoking here, if I may say so, without being gay or anything (I think XD). Her powerful voice works really well with this dramatic and sexy type of song, and she steals the spotlight from the other girls (and God knows how hard it is to outshine Miichan…) http://youtube.com/watch?v=ScECI1T-wkg&feature=related
5. Oshima Mai - Team A 3rd Stage - Bird: yes, this is Takamina’s song, but it’s also what made me fall for Maimai. You’ll notice her natural sexiness right away, she’s an unbelievable performer, and this prooves it! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EM5HAHM7ns8
That’s it for now! Enjoy!!!!
New Single! Sakura no hanabiratachi 2008 February 24, 2008
Yay! I’ve been waiting for this single forever. Sakura no hanabiratachi is a beautiful song, and it totally deserved a re-release so all of us who weren’t die hard fans in their indie stages can buy it! I’ll review the single in detail later, but right now, I’ll say just a few comments about it:
1. Story PVs FTW. Another Romance Irane would’ve seriously affected my mental stability. Yuko pwns this PV
2. Acchan x Yuko yuri FTW
3. Kasai and her infatuation with that blonde teacher were kind of creepy…
4. Minegishi looks awesome, and is positively inspiring during her parts
5. Yuka appears! Even for just one split second, that just made this PV worth my day!
6. Serious Maimai deprivation again 
7. Idols kissing statues = win. Although based on the way that Yuko and Acchan kiss the statue, I could go as far as saying that Acchan has probably kissed *real* people before, because you don’t usually do it from the front, but you tilt your head just like she does Yuko’s kiss was pretty cute, though, although not as… realistic (not that kissing a statue is realistic at all…)
8. This actually made me remember my high school graduation, and I felt really nostalgic about it, somehow.
9. The C/W song, Saigo no Seifuku, it’s a lovely lovely song in its own right. The performance in AKB1ji59fun was very pretty
10. The music doesn’t really sound different. There are some nice harmonies that weren’t on the original, but Team B is hardly seen (or heard)
I’ll do a proper review later, and post Youtube links or something. For now, in case your interested, http://www.hello-online.org/index.php?act=tracker&CODE=details&torrent=12189 <– Hello!Online tracker for the PV and Making of download. It’s totally worth your time, trust me.
Kojima Haruna aka Harunyan, Kojiharu pt 2 February 18, 2008
Well, I need to take my mind off of a bunch of stuff, so I decided that I’ll do Kojiharu part 2 today!
6. BINGO! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzp6tTAYoF0 Haruna is pretty lovely in Bingo, she smiles, looks happy and doesn’t space out. What more could you ask of her?
I’m not really buying this mugshot… She looks like she’s about to fall asleep (And Takamina already fell asleep here, apparently)
Making her stand next to such a lively pair like Yuko and Tomochin doesn’t really seem like the best choice… She holds her own though, through most of this PV, at least
Harunyan and her perfect close-ups… *jealousy*
I don’t really know what to say about this… She looks awesome, as always, but there’s little more to it here, to be honest (not like BINGO! is a deep philosophical piece or anything… just… didn’t the other girls look happier? Even Takamina looked like she was having the time of her life…)
That’s much better! Shame that it wasn’t properly focused… but still, very cute, right? That’s all for BINGO!
7. Boku no Taiyou: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHKm9FhLo1M To make up for the lack of Harunyan screentime in Bingo, there’s Boku no Taiyou. This PV is about her. Seriously, though. Not that I complain about it, she totally owns the center position and looks positively lovely and radiant in both her close ups and the story part.
The PV almost begins with a close up of her, even with the weird outfit, she looks stunning
Cute! I don’t really get what she’s doing, but whatever, it looks cute anyway
I like how commited she is to look happy in this PV, it really works for her
She’s paired with Acchan, and they have great chemistry, like I said earlier in Acchan’s profile
Here we get a glimpse of Gloomy Harunyan again, but Acchan comes and cheers her up! It’s very cute.
I remember hearing Tyra Banks say once that models should be able to smile with their eyes. I, of course, dismissed it just anything else that comes out of Tyra’s mouth, but I think that that’s exactly what Kojiharu is doing here, smiling with her eyes.
I’m running out of ways to say that this pV is cute and the girls look happy, so I’ll just shut up for a while…
That camera looks kind of weird, right?
Ok, this is a bit much. People don’t usually go “OMG!!!! I’m so freaking happy!!! I just took a picture!!!”
Ew. Why does every outfit in this PV have to clash and visually hurt me so much? It’s like a bunch of little girls raided their mom’s wardrobe and threw everything in, regardless of color, shape, whatever…
More happiness…
aaaand… the final close up. Wow, that was a lot of screen time, seriously. I left a whole bunch of screencaps out, but I’m lazy, and you got the point so let it be.
8. Yuuhi wo Miteiru ka http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_rrSPsFs8M Double personality Haruna! She plays gloomy kid in some scenes and looks super happy in the rest of the PV. I don’t think I’ll comment much on these caps, my brain has gone kind of numb
“Hey you, you’re a lucky guy!” Ok, I’ll stop listening to GAM while I do these. I’ll go and play Shinkirou instead, to immerse myself in Kojiharu-ness
She looks more grown up here, right? She’s coming of age this year anyway, so she should look like that, but it makes me feel a bit nostalgic for the old “Sakura no Hanabiratachi” days…
She looks less happy than in the previosu PV, but you don’t need to be hysterical happy, and if anything, this kind of mood fits the “cheer up” gentle feel of this song better somehow
but she goes back to Gloom mode when nobody is seeing her! Or maybe she’s just… you know, spacing
Here she plays the reject girl, who stays on the side while the others chat and are happy
It’s a bit too much emo-ness for such a role
Or maybe she just went into zombie mode again?
But luckily, Mii-chan is here to pull her out of her depression/zombieness/whatever that was
And then she’s happy again! (Of course, I’d be happy too if I could hug Yuko like that…)
9. Romance Irane http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7HAsjhTfh4 Romance was Acchan and Haruna spamming all the way. But since it’s such a sucky PV (and my screencaps suck even more…) I won’t post many of them , sorry! She’s back to all her Risako-esque scowling she hadn’t done since Skirt, Hirari, BTW, but this time it fits with the lyrics and mood of the song
Badass Kojiharu!
Pixelated Kojiharu!
Scowling Kojiharu! She looks like she means some harm here…
And a close up!
Ok, we get it, you’re mad…
Sexy!
Even sexier… I’m impressed!
EDIT: Well, I’ll post the Youtube videos anyway
Team A Stage 4 - Junai no Crescendo: I hate to recycle videos, but seriosuly, Harunyan is smoking here, if I may say so, without being gay or anything (I think XD). Her powerful voice works really well with this dramatic and sexy type of song, and she steals the spotlight from the other girls (and God knows how hard it is to outshine Miichan…) http://youtube.com/watch?v=ScECI1T-wkg&feature=related
Team A 3d Stage - Shinkirou: For your eyes only, this amazing duet where Kojiharu sings with Nakanishi Rina (we’ll definitely get into her later, because I freaking love her and her voice…) A very sweet song, and this version is fansubbed too, for you to understand the beautiful and sad lyrics. I love the harmonies here, and Rina’s angel voice is a perfect match for Kojiharu’s somewhat nasal vocals, and lower range. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvj0O8oW268
Kojima Haruna aka Harunyan, Kojiharu pt 1 February 17, 2008
So, we return to regular shcedule! Yay! I’m thinking of making a special “corner” every week, but if I do come around to that, I’ll tell you all later
The next member I’m going to profile is Kojima Haruna!
Kojima Haruna, nicknamed Harunyan but whom I like to call Kojiharu, is probably one of the most popular AKB members (but I like Maimai more, so she HAD to go first). She is very attractive, but she seems to be kind of oblivious to this fact, and her clumsy and spacy personality makes for a good combination with this. I’ve noticed that overseas fans are very inclined to like her, and I think that’s because of her kind of universal sex appeal: She has full lips, long legs and beautiful expressive eyes, and also, she’s very recognizable because of her ears, but I think they’re cute too.
Haruna has been featured in all of the singles, and in stages she is sure to be seen in a great unit. She’s not that much of a dancer, really, but she’s very good with her facial impressions, which gives a special kind of impact to her performances. As far as her singing goes, she’s a very powerful singer, but she has a terribly nasal voice, so if you hate this type of thing, she might probably not appeal all that much to you, voice-wise of course.
1. Sakura no Hanabiratachi: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6XHLUwJMek I didn’t pay a lot of attention to Haruna in this PV, to be honest. I like her hair style, though, and the lolita look she sported here is something that she has definitely lost as she grew up, but its still very charming here.
Zombie Harunyan (TM) She tends to space out a lot, but that’s her character I guess, it’s amusing, specially on interviews and the such
I love Harunyan’s smile, it’s her best feature IMO, and that’s saying a lot, because she’s very beautiful (or vary beauty lol) in her own way
Here she is, apparently recording. I like how her hair looks when it’s pulled back like that. She doesn’t do that anymore
Haruna and Hana appear together a lot in this PV, I won’t complain because Hana is one of my favorites, but what happened to them? Are they not so close anymore? Hmm… I must look that gossip up :D Here they are sharing iPod, that’s so cute!
The black hair gives her a completely different look from the one she has now, but this “ordinary” Harunyan is very appealing somehow, in a raw, unpolished kind of way…
Aww… don’t cry Nyan-nyan, we all love you!
2. Skirt Hirari http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zc5mKEgl9kY When I first saw this PV, Harunyan was probably the first one I noticed, because of her ears, of course XD. She scowls a lot through this PV, it kind of reminds me of the attitude Risako used to have in early Berryz PVs.
“What are you looking at?” I like her hurt attitude, but it doesn’t really fit this song’s mood, right? Maybe she thought that was sexy…
She reminds me of Iida Kaori in a way, they both have the same type of spacy personality that can make them look a bit “deer in the headlights” sometimes (specially when they are trying to look sexy…)
I don’t think that Haruna fails at sexy, though. She is when she isn’t trying so hard, and that’s something I really like about her, her natural sex-appeal
Like here, I don’t know exactly how to explain it, but this cap is just what I’m talking about
However, her lack of different poses kind of disappoints me in this PV
She shouldn’t fall behind here, she’s got a more consistent singing than Acchan, for example, but she’s totally outshined by her.
O_O Ok, don’t kill me now…
Uh… so anyway, thankfully she doesn’t channel Risako anymore until Romance, Irane. But that PV sucked anyway, so we won’t care, right?
3. Aitakatta: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwFvpkiNOVU Harunyan’s smile is everywhere! which can’t be a bad thing, but otherwise, she’s pretty much a background girl here
That’s Harunyan on the left, and on the right SUPER AWESOME MM reject Umeda Ayaka-chan! Ok, I’ll focus, because this is supposed to be about Kojiharu anyway… She seems to be on the first row through all of the dance parts of this PV, and that’s pretty much it
And this is her part, she’s with Tomochin, taking care of Yuko and Takamina’s bags
Here they are again… Wow, I can’t believe that there wasn’t a single close up of her in the whole PV! I hate her a bit less for all her Boku no Taiyou close-up whoring after this…
4. Seifuku ga Jama o Suru http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_1ObyG2-1Y Kojiharu is one of the main girls in this PV, she was an obvious choice, considering how pretty she is and all. She appears on a street looking kind of puzzled or worried or just… you know, spacing XD
She’s very photogenic, I haven’t got a bad screencap or picture of her yet, even when she’s in the background
I love how she looks like she’s just about to kill Maimai. AKB girls can be quite scary at times, no?
Hmmm… maybe she thought that the song was about being evil and killing people? I never noticed all of her evil glances in this PV before 
Close up! She didn’t have any solo lines, but she still got plenty of close ups… she always does. Damn you, pretty Haruna!
I feel lonely just looking at this…
5. Keibetsu Shiteita Aijou: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLIenqQ2jzs I love Kojiharu in this PV, she’s awesome!
I love the frizzy hair. I don’t know why, though, I just think that it fits her character here. So gloomy…
Gloomy Harunyan and her chapstick
I like how intense her performance is here, very different from the usual Haruna in a way…
This is one of the most brilliant scenes…. the yellow light fits the dull feeling very well.
Harunyan is perfect for this role, somehow
I love it (that’s why there are so many screencaps of it…)
Sweet Lord! WordPress hates me so much today, I’ve been at this the whole day and keep failing… anyway, expect the second part whenever I have free time this week XD
Just a quick something that crossed my path February 15, 2008
I found in the Coconuts Crazy blog a post about the groups that “failed” at impressing the author. I really liked the post for many reasons, so I’ll post a link (http://coconutscrazy.wordpress.com/2008/01/18/how-did-you-fail/ it’s a post from January, but it’s still very well written and full of nice pictures and downloads), and the reason why I’m posting this here is because I found all of the affirmations about AKB48 very interesting. I’ll say in advance that I don’t intend to raise an argument, or blindly defend the group I like, I just really found these comments very interesting and I had never thought about it like this before. So with this disclaimer made and everything (hopefully) cleared up, I’ll start: Quoting straight from Coconuts Crazy
“Hate
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A Hello! Project Clone Copy
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A = Morning Musume
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K = Berryz Koubou
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B = C-ute
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[it should really be switched]
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AKB48 Seed = Hello Pro Egg
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A group full of Losers from the Morning Musume audition
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Seifuku ga Jama wo Suru promotes sex and prostitution”
1. A Hello!Project clone: Hmm… isn’t that the million dollar question? Is AKB48, created by Akimoto Yasushi who was the first to create a huge idol group (Onyanko Club) and come up with concepts such as member shuffling, graduations, idols who host TV shows etc, a copy of H!P, created by Tsunku some 10 years after Onyanko Club’s disbandment? I’m a fan of both H!P and AKB, and I honestly don’t believe that either of this is a true statement, for many reasons, but the main one is the fact that I’m sure that they are completely different concepts: H!P aims for the mainstream crowd (and fails, ending up with just the wotas) while AKB48 was a concept created FOR the fans. “Idols you can go and meet” is HIGHLY different from the whole H!P is unapproachable for the fans. This was made very clear IMO with the simple fact that MM only recently started doing handshake events, when its popularity started declining, it turned to the wotas. AKB, however, has always had a very close relationship with the fans. They even had a special events where the girls “orienteered” (that’s a sport BTW) with their fans, and they take pics with them, sign stuff personally, know them by name at the theater and stuff like that. I’m not saying that H!P approach to their fans is wrong, I’m just stating that from the conception of the group itself, its radically different already. I could go on about many more reasons, but of course, that’s not the point, really…
2. A= Morning Musume: Ugh. This one was admittedly a low blow for me XD specially because I find the comparison brilliant, I would’ve never thought of it myself! Wow! Anyway, this might be more true than I would like it to be, except for the fact that there’s some kind of… intrinsec difference that I can’t quite put into words. Sure, MM and Team A have had the same number of members at some point, but… MM has members with personalities that kind of “fit” a stereotype (again, no offense intended, I love MM, I have loved them ever since I was like 12 years old…). Like, Rika was the cute one, Mari was the girl with a lot of spunk, Yuko was the yankii, Kei was the ugly, Yossie was the tomboy, Aibon and Nono were the mischievous kids and I could go on, but I think that you all get my point. I’m not going to say that the AKB girls have completely awesome and super complex personalities or anything like that, because it wouldn’t be true, but somehow… they are the exact opposite of just that, of that complexity that is the whole “idol” concept in a way. Akimoto said that what he tryed to create AKB for was for the group to resemble a classroom, some will be smart, some will be super cute and popular, others will be the underdogs… And I think that he succeeded, specially with Team A. They really make you feel like you could know the, like they are just normal girls. It’s not that they don’t have anything special going on for them, because they are performers and idols, after all, and this means that they are conscious of what their act has to be like in order to get liked, but because of their low-profile nature they can loosen up a bit more. Also, because the theater is really small and they kind of know the fans after performing everyday, this helps to create a “closer” atmosphere. I don’t know if anything I’ve written here makes sense to any of you, but I tired my best to explain XD
3. K=Berryz Koubou: No, no, no, no. If you said K=Melon Kinenbi, I would think about it. Maybe is my general numbness when it comes to H!P lately, but I seriously hate seeing Berryz fail the way they are doing now. A song about Genghis Kan? WTF is up with that? And WTF is up with Yurina? It’s like she hasn’t progressed but instead she took like 30 steps back! (She’s my favorite member so I know she can do better than that). But enough of my whining, I can do that later in my H!P mini blog. Team K is fucking awesome. And I won’t be told otherwise. Period. Berryz admittedly lack some kind of… diversity of character nowadays (and they specially lack good songs nowadays kthxbye). Sure, Risako is cute, Miyabi is… well, she’s Miyabi (kind of an Aichan type, right?), Momoko is spunky! So I like her because of that, Yurina is awesome, but needs more screentime/lines/voice training, and the other girls are cool too, just… they don’t leave as much of an impact, right? Team K is nothing like that. I mean, Team K makes you freaking look their way, they are so damn cool, and so damn sassy! Sure, some of them are like dead fish on stage (Oku, Matsubara…) but the rest of the girls make up for it! Big time! Ok, now I sound like I hate Berryz… I don’t, they’re a solid group, and they have a very particular style which I like a lot, they’re my second favorite H!P unit right after Momusu, but this is just… It’s like comparing oranges and apples to me. Team K is very cool, but Berryz have (uncool songs and) a different style of songs and of performing as a unit. I disagree with this, but I’m afraid I wasn’t able to explain my POV correctly. Oh well.
4. B= C-ute: I seriously don’t know about this. I don’t care about Team B or C-ute. *shrugs* Sure, I haven’t seen anything at all of Team B, and I have only seen C-ute PVs, but I don’t know what to say. I have personal issues with C-ute (that deal with Megukami) but I’m looking forward for Team Bs original stage and the DVD release of its first stage (which I’m sure CAN’T rock as much as Team K’s but whatever…) and I’m not really looking forward to anything C-ute related (except for a Megukami comeback? or perhaps another Tokaikko?) So, I guess Team B has more potential in my eyes XD
5. I didn’t get that switched thing XD So moving on… AKBSeed = H!P Eggs: I really believed that this was true at first sight. And since I’m not too much into the Eggs, I wasn’t too into the SEEDs by default. But there’s a difference, the SEEDs get to perform with the main girls in every stage. The Eggs don’t, but I think that the basic concept might be the same. I’m still mad at the fact that it’s been like 7 years already, and the Eggs haven’t moved into something better (And no, Ongaku Gatas doesn’t necessarily count for something better… Just listen to that album of theirs, ’nuff said)
6. This actually made me a bit mad. A group of losers from the H!P auditions? No offense, but I would listen to Umeda Ayaka’s voice over Koharu’s ANY day. (hell, I would listen to Fran Drescher’s voice instead of Koharu’s… at least she doesn’t sing…). And besides, a group of losers? There are approximately 48 girls in the group of which only 2 are H!P rejects. And they aren’t even in a duo to call them a group XD. Besides, as sad as it might sound, and as much as I hate to bring up this whole subject again, Isn’t Koda Kumi (a loser from H!P) doing a lot better than Gocchin? Sure, she screwed up with her amniotic fluid comment, but Gocchin isn’t even in the freaking map! So being a loser form a H!P audition makes you bad? as a singer? entertainer? idol? whatever? Tsunku is freaking mental, and we all know it. He rejected Kashiwagi Yuki, and yet she’s a very good singer and a cute girl. He rejected Umeda Ayaka in teh Lucky Seven auditions, and that girl has one of the most beautiful voices I’ve heard in my life, and she seriously KICKS ass at dancing. So yeah, this was the only statement that I was entirely sure I would disagree with the first moment I read it.
7. Seifuku promotes sex and prostitution: I think that there’s nothing wrong about sex, whether it’s promoting it, doing it whatever. That’s my personal view though, and everyone is entitled to have their own, and that’s completely respectable. That said, I don’t really feel that Seifuku promotes prostitution. This is a touchy subject, because I’ve always been of the opinion that music, TV, movies and whichever other form of art, are not meant to be for educational purposes. Necessarily, that is. I always get in huge fights because my dad thinks that music corrupts the young people, and I disagree. I have the same opinion about Seifuku, but I feel that we probably shouldn’t be taking this subject as a matter of taste and personal choice or whatever but more of a cultural concept. Enjo kosai happens in Japan, sure it’s not something particularly common, but it happens. We have the same kind of problem in my country, girls sell themselves for extra money to buy brand stuff (and while I’m okay with sex, I HATE the idea of prostitution, I must say, just to avoid misinterpratations…), and while people don’t approve it, its something that exists, and it can’t be ignored. It shouldn’t be, either, because covering up the issues doesn’t exactly make them go away. That said, I don’t think that the director of the PV (because the lyrics are about sex, but they have nothing to do with prostitution) had a sick plan or anything. They just decided that a song about such a touchy topic would be popular, because young people like to be told the truth, the truth that their parents don’t talk about, but that in turn makes music kind of educational in a way, doesn’t it? Ok, before I digress even more, I’ll just say that it creeps me out to see Erena in this PV, she was freaking 12 at the time!
So yeah, that wraps it up. I hope I didn’t sound like a hurt wota, I really tried to look at things as objectively as possible, because like I said, I’m a fan of H!P as well, and I just enjoy reading different opinions and thoughts of others about my favorite groups. It gets me thinking
