Heaven in 9.04 minutes

Pigs are flying! Cows are singing! And sheep are…er…not bah-ing? How is it that I see more of JunLin than Ai-chan in the Pepper Keibu making? I’m talking about the Single V version not the interview clip in the Limited Edition A cd. Okay, so MAYBE I’m totally blaming the wrong people here and it’s entirely Ai’s fault for not being interesting enough and hence she didn’t get a lot of screen time in the DVD. But hey, shouldn’t the staff get her to do something at least? Grab her for a minute and ask her about what she’s doing at the moment or shove her a piece of prop and tell her to strike a pose. ANYTHING damn it! Geez, why am I so agitated about the lack of ‘love’? (pun fully intended) I’m not even the greatest Takitty fan. I guess I’m starting to like leader more these days. Apparently loyal supporters of Ai have been right all along. There IS something special about this young woman. Or else all the TakaGaki fanfics I’m reading has finally gotten to me XD

After ranting about the one thing that I’m unhappy about with the video, everything else was absolutely perfect. I love the random black and white effects, how they slotted in the images of the members dancing and the TakaGaki bits!!! Yes~~ (imitates Eri in EYN but failing miserably) Did you see how they were taking photos together (OMG those smiles) and playing air golf?!?!??! (goes into excited fangirl mode) After the lack of my fav CP in the RB pv (which made me a very unhappy hamroll) PK made up for it.

Risa squatting there while bunny was filming made me smile like a dork. Why is she so CUTEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE (Risa I mean :P) I wanted to grab her and run while she was playing around with Koha and Mittsui with the whole head-in-the-mouth game. And when she threw her head back and said ‘nai’ to Lin Lin’s claim that she had muscles XD And AGAIN when she and Reina were channeling some Cinderella dance moves. Finally, how could I not talk about her adorable facial expressions when she was with Jun Jun?

One observation I made, Koharu doesn’t care who she’s with or if the other person is older than her. She just does what she does. I’m suspecting this little lady was born without a fear / modest bone in her body :D

My liking for Reina actually went up a few notches after watching this. She can be funny when she isn’t acting cute or winking constantly.

Ai-chan is so adult-like and quiet. From 6.23 min, she was so cute just saying ganbarimasu *Sigh* And she was so pretty at 7.11 sec! (Well actually she was incredible gorgeous throughout) Her pronunciation of ‘finish’ was right on. Risa at 7.18 min with her ‘Art-o there’ while raising her right arm… Wha---t? Did she mean ‘outta there’? That was Sayumi in the background right? What I want to say here is, GAKI WAS SO COOL WHEN SHE DID THAT. It reminded me of her prince role in Cinderella. Why can’t they ship the DVD out already!!!! *wails*

Next is KameiShige (pushes Junx2 away from Eri) I think its obvious Sayumi is in love with said turtle. She CANNOT take her eyes away from her. Kame’s wave while waiting for Sayu to be done at 7.53 min was too adorable! And the whole part thereafter that was crazy good. Sayumi couldn’t stop giggling. I died when she covered her face with her hands and pressed against Eri’s side. That’s the sign of being in love :P

Oooh oooh I like the ending. That twist and slide move the girls did as they stood in a line…*swoons* All in all, I LOVE the current line-up. PLEASE don’t graduate anyone. It’ll be horrible breaking these girls up. Everyone gets along with each other and they are so close!

What Pepper? It's Bloody Hawt!!

The title makes no sense but I don't care. When did the close up versions of Pepper Keibu come out? Why was I out of the freaking loop? I'm typing as I watch because I can't wait to voice my thoughts. (Or type in this case)

DAMN DAMN DAMN DAMN DAMN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Close ups = Boring

That statement is history, gone, disappeared for good I tell ya! This was the order that I started watching the 4 versions. 4, that beat Resonant Blue which had 3 different versions, right? Anyway, as I was saying before I got side-tracked.

1. All


2. Ai + Eri + Lin2


3. Sayu + Reina + JJ


4. Risa + Koha + Aika (Gotta save the best for last)

Now for the thoughts that were screaming in my mind but I couldn't verbalize since I was in the lab. Lemme do this in a timeline format. God, I don't know how long I'm gonna spend on this.

1. Hey, they joined the girls doing different poses from the song. Great idea.


2. *Stunned silence* as I took in 9 girls flashing past on the screen while trying to keep a straight face. Letting too many people see you smiling stupidly at the monitor can't be a good thing.

I was originally intending to do this for all 3 close-up versions but decided to go with just the Gaki Koha Aika version in the end since I don't have a whole lotta time to write this. That and I'm incredibly biased towards Risa XD

Miracle Bean with Mittsui Ver.



0.09 Wahhhhhh Risa~~~~~~~~~~~ sexy move

0.12 Koha had a deer lost in headlights look :D

0.15 That blink was a nice touch Aika

0.22 Kawaii Mame-chan~~~~~

0.23 - 0.46 I was just staring at this point being mesmerized by all 3 girls. Yes, even Aika

0.47 OMG I absolutely died when Risa put her hands to her mouth with that adorable expression

1.01 Kakkoii Gaki-san

1.06 And cutness overload once again

1.21 I liked how Koha did her 'cool' pose here

1.26 - 1.30 *swoons* That voice... (ignore JJ please)

1.32 Did I see Koha raise one brow? Or maybe it was the blurry vid playing tricks on my eyes

1.38 -1.40 I liked Koha during this whole bit. Something about how she waves her hand

1.43 - 1.46 Risa likes to pout in this manner doesn't she. Not that I mind since she looks so cute when doing it :P

1.58 Why did Risa have her mouth open?!?! OMG that put pervy thoughts in my head *blushes*

2.18 How can a person twirl her finger so beautifully?

2.43 - 2.47 Aika did this whole part awesomely. It was so slick, especially when she did the arm slide and lowered her body so smoothly

2.48 - 3.05 Again I was just staring with my mouth hanging open

3.08 - 3.24 And I was still staring. I was totally lost in Risa's eyes when she was on the screen. That shimmering eye shadow....

3.25 - 3.45 My fav part of the song. No words, just drool on. Gahhhh...

4.05 - 4.14 Pepper Keibu yo~ *Bang!* (I'll gladly die by their hands...er...fingers?)


Leader Turtle with Panda #2 Ver.




Usagi 07 with Panda #1 Ver.




Everyone!



Later I found out these 3 x 3 x 3 PVs were on the Pepper Keibu event DVD? Maybe if UFA put these on the official single V instead of just the normal and close-up PV of all the girls sales would be significantly higher. Sometimes I don't know what the company is thinking. No, make that MOST of the time.

Best Day of the Year

It's finally the 20th of October. Today is Risa's birthday! I usually dislike Mondays but I'll make an exception for this one.

I bought all these bean snacks and the total bill came up to $20. Coincidence? It was just last week which means I bought them in October. $20 in October. Can you tell what I'm implying? I can related things in the strangest ways so don't mind me XD

I drew this. It was originally for the birthday project Lolli was planning. The idea was scrapped in the end but even if it wasn't, I wonder if I would have had the guts to mail this drawing to be complied as part of the present from her overseas fans. I mean, I'm no artist and you can tell from the shoddy work I'm no good at this. I did spend a considerable amount of time trying to perfect it though.

I also wrote a new fic titled 2010 (at JPH!P) for her birthday. Read it and comment please. As usual I couldn't spend too long on it (overlook the bad quality :P) as this is project week and I'm surprised I could manage to write anything at all.

Salt & Pepper

That was an unbelievably lame title, I admit that. It’s just that I never fail to think of salt and pepper whenever Pepper Keibu comes up. I’m not even that big on food so I have no idea why this is the case. Anyway, I’m somewhat cheesed off that MM’s 37th single only had 2 live performances. I miss the days where they were on virtually every programme to promote their new singles. There was Music Station, Utaban, PopJam and loads more that I can’t remember at the moment. Because HM got shortened and the whole concept of the show changed, MM didn’t even get to perform Pepper Keibu on HM@. At least I think they didn’t since I never got to see a video.


MUSIC JUMP

Don’t some artists get to perform in front of a live audience? Why didn’t MM get to do that this time? The Onna ni Sachi Are performance was a blast with fans/wota yelling and clapping. I want something like that instead of them singing to nobody in particular. The same thing happened for C-ute’s Namida no Iro. Which is a pity cus no one would know how awesome these songs were if they didn’t tune into the show. From what I gather, MJ isn’t the most popular music programme around.

Moving on, ooohhhh nice move there Risa. Hawt. Ai-chan was kinda loud in her first line. More hawt Risa action with the ‘whatever-you-call-that’ jerking thing and head tilt. Koharu’s looking pretty good herself. Gah….Gaki moving that butt *dies* Koharu’s ‘I’m-sticking-a-fingergun-in-ya-face’ pose was perfect. A balanced mix of genki and cool rolled into one.





MUSIC FIGHTER

Where is the freaking talk segment?! MF appearances are constantly entertaining to watch given that Sayumi and the female host (what’s her name again) have these little bickering episodes over who is cuter. This time there was none of that. All MM got was less than a minute of talk time which was wasted on screening parts of the RB PV and Reina informing people about her 1.1 cm gain in height. She could have at least said something more compelling and while she looked great in her photo, what does it have to do with growing taller? I'd much rather Kame or Ai-chan did the talking instead. Eri would surely be funny and Ai-chan deserves it after losing both solo lines in the song to the ex-yankii. Yes Sayumi, you are meccha meccha kawaii~~ Wasn't GakiShige adorable? Sayu looking straight at Risa and Gaki pointing madly back with that rubber faced expression :)

I like the shooting technique for this performance over MJ’s. Here you get a variety of shots including panned out ones which allow you to see where the other girls are and how they’re dancing. Hot Risa move detected! The dance break is the best part of the song. I’m guessing the camera was too close to Gaki-san as she didn’t extend her leg fully when she did the kick. Ai-chan was definitely the cutest one here. Eri was adorable as well but there were too little scenes of her.

Can't Love in a World Without Rain?

雨の降らない星では愛せないだろうか？(Ame no Furanai Hoshi de wa Aisenai Darou)

It's a pity this song wasn't released officially. I fell in love with it the first time I heard it. And it was a lousy low quality recording mind you. With visuals and in much better quality, the song is beautiful. And to prove it...

this.

The piano intro is awesome and so is the build up to the part where the orchestral comes in. All the girls are trying their darnest to look sad/touched/gentle (?) A few pull this off (Captain, Sayumi, Maimi). Sayumi especially. I wanna reach into the monitor and hug her whenever she appears on screen. I don’t know why but I wanna laugh when I see Risa do it. Jun Jun (what's with the face touching? XD) and Lin Lin sang their parts well. Lin Lin was the better singer here in my personal opinion. I thought it was funny when everyone was looking at her when she was singing. Again, Risa cracked me up with her over-emoting during the hand action bit XD

Yurina’s face zoomed in on the large screen was kinda awkward. I wonder how they decided on Miyabi's hand over her chest (I'm sorry for having p**** thoughts here when I shouldn't have) to focus on out of all the 50 (?) odd girls?

Fan-made OPV

Most of the pictures used in this I have never seen before. Great choices since all of them show off the closeness and great relations between the girls. Do I feel a tear emerging? I think I do *sniff*

You Know 2009 Will Be A Great Year - Part 2

Who would have thought the rest of the pages would get uploaded so soon? (Thanks to OnDiet @ JPM) I can't say I'm not happy about it though :P Let's go through this month by month shall we? I'm actually just looking for an excuse to gush about the calendar :D

MARCH & APRIL = GakiKame

Wooooooooooohooooooooooooooo~~~~~~~!!! One of my fav ships on my birthday month!! KameMame is a pairing I CANNOT resist. I think a big part of why I'm so into them is their radioshow. Have you read the translations that OnDiet so faithfully does? OMG I'm telling you, it's impossible for anyone to not fall in love with this Boke and Tsukomi after regular doses of hearing them together.

Eri is ALWAYS doing little random actions or saying weird stuff that exasperates Risa. Yet its precisely these that will make you laugh your head off and go "this girl is so adorable!" Gaki-san is the level-headed one who is probably rolling her eyes or something at the side. Pity we can't see their interactions live. I was hoping they would make a DVD of the radioshow. Heck, they could leave a camera rolling in the booth they record the show while the 2 just sit in their chairs and I would still buy it. I'm that desperate for their stuff.

Examples of classic GakiKame conversations. All credit goes to OnDiet. Without her awesomeness, I wouldn't have the chance to know so much about what goes on during the show. The content below is basically copied from the original one that OnDiet wrote but I did change it a little here and there to make some parts more clear.

Episode: GAKIKAME #077 (20th September 2008 )

Segment: Personality test
Question: Who "uses" you the most
Results: Risa - Your family often make use of you, Eri - You're a person who is a little immature. Often "used" by juniors.
Resulting conversation:

What the hell is that! It says that I'm immature?
Yup. It said a little immature, but for Kame its not just a little immature.
Really? That has gotta be a lie.
It says immature people, thats you isn't it!
But during important times I don't behave immaturely!

Segment: Insides stories corner
Topic: Cinderella the Musical 2008
Resulting conversation:

Gakisan was funny during the conclusion's ad lib (the musical). She said really cruel things to Portia.

Yeah I did. I said something like.. ah.. where was it again? Ah! During the ball room dance scene, Kame said "My dream.." Ah wait..Kame you should say it here as Portia.

What was the line again? (As Portia) "You know what I wanna be right? Wise Attorney." (Its an actual line from Cinderella, where Portia wants to be the princess)

(As Prince) "Its good to have big dreams. But I think you're being too ambitious." It's still okay till here. But I was trying to control myself from saying what I really wanted to say. I controlled myself till the last 2 performances from saying...

(As Portia) : "You know what I wanna be right? Wise Attorney."

(As Prince) "Its good to have big dreams. But I think you should stop being so half-hearted when doing things."

Yes! She said that! And I didn't expect Gakisan to say that to me!

Yeah. Since this time round it was ad libbed, the prince didn't really get the chance to say it out the previous times. And also Kame's 'Wise Attorney' makes me feel a little like "ahh?". Yeah.. so that was what I always wanted to tell Kame.. So I finally did it in the end. That was really fun.

Segment: Letter corner

Resulting conversation:

This is GAKIKAME's day (refering to how they were in the same booth from the beginning to the end when usually they record individually)

Yeah.. a GAKIKAME day..we spent today together isn't it..

Yeah. Please take care of me, Gakisan!

Please take care of me too. Yay ~

Yay ~ Man..I don't wanna do this (Acting all high tension with Kame)

My nose is itchy

You don't have to say it out..at that..*cuts off* [If you listen clearly at this part, you'll be able to hear the sound of Eri blowing her nose interrupting Gakisan]

Stop doing that!

Segment: Ending talk

Topic: Announcement of GakiKame ending

Resulting conversation:

And I have a bad news here..

Eh? There isn't!

There is..even though Kame is trying to make a false accusation here.

What? I don't know anything ~

Even though its something that we don't really want to hear, but I have to announce it..

Humph.

Be quiet! Hush!

*cries*

This is something everyone must know...Ignore Kame's voice (Eri was 'crying' in the background)

Oi ~

*ignores* The next GAKIKAME episode will be the final episode.

K : Eh?

Don't "eh" me! You knew about this too! If you only know about it now then its really pathetic (As in the DJ don't even know her show is going to end) *laughs*

*laughs*

We knew about it sometime before..and it was like a big fall for us too..(As in a big disappointment)

Its going to end? *still acting like she don't know anything*

I've already said that you knew it beforehand! Although we really had fun during GAKIKAME

*laughs*

Now you see why I adore them so much? It's just one episode and it's filled to the brim with GakiKame goodness. I could go on but that would mean I would never get around to talking about the other months XD

Back to the calendar, both of the girls are soooooooooooo pretty. Look at the bottom pics. Going from left to right, I like the 1st pic, 2nd pic, 3rd, 4th, 5th....9th. Noticed I named all of them? :D But they really are all so beautiful! *Sigh* Risa and Eri....

MAY & JUNE = KohaMittsui + Pandas

I like their boots. The primary colors suit their young ages (discount the fact that JJ is almost an adult). The dresses are cute, showing off their playful side. An overall fun picture that I like. The bottom right pics of the group hug are probably my fav shots on this page.

JULY & AUGUST = ReinaAika


I'm beginning to like Aika more recently. She seems like a fun person who is nice at the same time. The cap works on her. Her outfit is a little strange but no major complaints there since she still comes across looking very pleasing. Am I the only one who thinks that Reina's smile is kinda forced? It's like she doesn't really wanna be there. It could be a bad day for her or maybe it's her new way of smiling.


NOVEMBER & DECEMBER = Rainbow Pinku


Possibly my other most fav page. The browns and orange mesh well together giving off a warm and comfortable vibe. It surprised me that UFA would allocate Koha with the mature look but it suits her well. I always felt Koharu had a rather mature face/features for her age. Apparently the company agrees. There is no question that Sayumi looks good. When does she not? I like their pose. It's close but not too awkward. The bottom pics are even better. Crazy Koha and Sayu :) I love the kissing shots.

Takahashi Ai in Lead Role

Ai-chan~~~!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now, Takitty isn’t really in my top 3 in terms of Momosu rankings. Nonetheless, I’ve always found her to be the best singer, a great dancer (though not as excellent as Kamei) and incredibly pretty in a non-threatening way. Oh and she definitely looks darn cool and drool worthy when she’s dressed up as a guy :D IMO, she beats the socks off any JE member by a mile.

When I first heard news that Ai-chan landed the female starring role in a “dorama” on primetime TV, I was over the moon. You don’t know how long I’ve been wishing for something like this to happen. Of course I would be even more delighted if it was Gaki-san who got it. Except that I’m somewhat of a practical person, meaning I don’t dream of the unattainable (most times anyway) so I understand that Risa getting a big role in any drama is almost impossible. If UFA play their cards right, we should be seeing Reina, Eri or Koharu follow Ai’s lead in time to come.

The plot reminds me of ‘Young Kindaichi’, where detective skills are required to solve various mystifying cases. Ai’s role is of a cheerful, energetic and athletic high schooler who accompanies the young 15 year old prodigy who graduated from a prestigious American university. I think there is about a 6 to 7 year age between these 2 in real life. After viewing the clip below, I don’t have any doubts that Ai can pull this off. The guy looks old for his age and so much bigger @@ I don’t know why I noticed his bushy brows. Isn’t that rare in a society where guys pluck their brows really finely?

Anyway, back to the drama. With a good character/role coupled with adequate acting skills (which Ai-chan does possess by the way), this might just open the door to non-wota fans getting into H!P. I’ve nothing against wotas, in fact I kinda admire them for daring to do some of the stuff they do. It’s just that I would like more of the general public to see that MM is much more than simply another idol group who can’t do anything aside from appealing to old men by flashing some skin. Stop brushing MM or any of the other H!P groups off damn it! These girls have the whole package. They are gorgeous, talented (let’s not include Sayu or Koha in this category but hey, they make up for it in other ways), are nice, fun and bursting with interesting personalities (at least when they get the chance to show it off).

2009 January is many months away and already I can’t wait for the year to end. I want to witness Ai-chan in all her cute, youthful and endearing glory as Mizuhara Kana. Ten full episodes of Q.E.D. 証明終了 (Q.E.D Shoumei Shuuryou) FTW!!

Something I Seemed to have Forgotten

I always thought the first fanfic I would post on my shiny new blog would be my own. But alas that was not to be as I stumbled upon a fic that I like a lot at the moment. In fact, I'm still feeling the tingling sensations after reading it.

The pairing is one that I used to like very much. No, let me rephrase that. It was a pairing I was once CRAZY over. And the 2 are Niigaki Risa (my dear NiNi) and Tanaka Reina (07). Those who know me from my early days in the H!P fandom should still remember how much I loved the young yankii back in the day. There was even a period where I posted frantically in both their threads. The amount of talk going on in Tanakacchi's thread was so substantial that the administrators had to remind us time and again to stop deviating and going off topic.

If you ask me now, I can't really explain why or how my love for Reina diminished so significantly. Perhaps it was after she started winking incessantly, or maybe it was due to her obvious lack of yankii-ness and explosion of the cute image that I don’t enjoy seeing her portray.

Even so, reading Omame’s ‘Burning’ brought back memories of my adoration for this pairing. And so I wanted to share this with other Gaki-san fans (if anyone at all is reading my blog) as GakiReina or ReiKi (I just came up with this) is not impossible and is actually rather enjoyable and refreshing. Thus, thank you for the great read Omame-san. I also find the little banner you did for the fic irresistible. Nicely chosen pics and I can’t help but be mesmerized by the mood/emotion channeled by both girls.

BURNING

You Know 2009 Will Be A Great Year

I love Risa loads and adore Morning Musume tremendously as a whole. However, I have long given up on having nice MM calendars for a while now. With UFA’s infamous reputation, they almost always manage to screw things up in some way or another. Nevertheless, when I saw the cover for the 2009 calendar I felt a surge of renewed hope. After all, the girls have an actual, real backdrop this time instead of simply standing in front of a green screen.

I don’t know if ampedechoz over at JPM was the original up-loader or did he get the pictures from someone else. Nonetheless, bless him for giving the fans an early preview. Now I know I didn’t order this one in vain. I’m expecting sales to shoot up considerably with this leak. I mean how can one, especially a MM fan resist buying 7/8 huge poster-like sheets with 6 incredibly gorgeous girls in full color? (I’m not gonna specify who the 6 are).

From the looks of the 4 preview pics, Ai-chan is placed with the pandas for the months of January and February. I’m guessing the others will be split into TanaKamei (do I hear ecstatic screaming everywhere by joyous worshippers of this pairing?), GakiShige and KohaMittsui. I’m disappointed that there won’t be TakaGaki or GakiKame but in any case I’m contented with having GakiShige. November and December has GoRokkies (YAY!), loving those Ugg boots by the way. Sayumi looks incredible and Reina ain’t so bad. Eri has this expression I can’t decipher while Ai looks cute in that hat. Risa is…well she is…I don’t know how to say this except that this hairstyle isn’t the best she has had. The spontaneous shots at the bottom of each page are a nice touch and they show you how close the girls are.

I'm annoyed and sad that photos are given out with every purchase of MM DVD Mag 19 (which includes footage of the making) or the calendar itself. Why am I not living in Japan?!?!?

I. Can’t. Wait. for my calendar to arrive.

The Beginning...

I've been toying with the idea of starting a blog for my H!P fandom for a long time but have never gotten around to actually doing it. Since this is the 20th year that the world has been blessed with the existence of Niigaki Risa, I figured it will be a good time to start.



Lets get the mandatory 'about me' post outta the way first.



P R O F I L E

Nickname: lil_hamz (as most commonly known in the H!P community)

Birthdate: 3rd April

Location: That little red dot (if you know, you know)



Fav. MM members: Niigaki Risa, Kusumi Koharu (note that other than Gaki-san, the others tend to change, A LOT)

Fav. MM songs: Ai Araba IT'S ALL RIGHT, Iroppoi Jirettai, Egao Yes Nude, Kanashimi Twilight, Onna ni Sachi Are, Resonant Blue

Fav. MM Ships: TakaGaki, GakiKame (aka KameMame), KameiShige, GakiShige



Fav. Berryz Koubou members: Tsugunaga Momoko, Natsuyaki Miyabi

Fav. Berryz Koubou songs: Koi no Jubaku, Special Generation, Jiriri Kiteru, Munasawagi Scarlet, Ah Merry-go-round, Real Love



Fav. C-ute members: Suzuki Airi, Yajima Maimi

Fav. C-ute songs: Tokaikko Junjo, Namida no Iro



Crediting issue: If there are any pictures anywhere on this blog that belong to you and I have failed to credit you appropriately, please do know that I am terribly apologetic and did not do so on purpose. I might for forgotten/lost the source where I originally obtained it. If it's any consolation, I must admire/like your work very much to post it here. Thank you once again for your understanding.