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Monday 20 June 2016

I've fallen in love with Ishida Ayumi...

I've recently found myself becoming a fan of Ishida Ayumi after seeing her perform Naichau Kamo in the last concert tour. Skip to 25:00 to see it.


Okay the singings not perfect but way better than I was expecting given my experiance with Ayumi's voice. That performance though. I must have always known how good a dancer she was (it's all anyone can talk about basically) but I guess this is the first time I've been truly blown away by it. She seems to put her all into the performance like any true idol should and it's wonderful to witness.


 I've only recently noticed how pretty she is too (which is conveniant timing since she has a new photobook coming out). I always thought she was the average looking (and sometimes even ugly) one in Morning Musume. I was amazed by how gorgeous she looked in the Tokyo to Iu Katasumi MV (she was the best part of the MV in my opinion). I wondered when she became so beautiful but looking back at her pictures, it seems she was like that the whole time and I just didn't notice.


 What made this developement of me liking Ayumi even more surprising is that only a couple of months ago she was my least favorite member of Morning Musume. I don't know what I was thinking back then but this change has caused me a problem- It's completely messed up my morning musume member ranking. Every time I try to rank the members, I end up with a different result (always with Miki at the top however). I'm hoping the introduction of the 13th gen will make things start making sense again.



Sunday 19 June 2016

M.O.E M.O.E POWER BEAM!

M.O.E (Momoiro Otome Ensemble) is a British idol unit associated with the maid/butler cafe Maids of England. I became a fan of their's after reading this article on Pure Idol Heart.


I've wanted to write this post for awhile since M.O.E has quickly become one of my favorite Idol groups. I ran into a problem when it came to explaining why I like the group so much. I think I've figured it out now. My relationship with M.O.E is similar to how I imagine japanese fans view their idols. Idol fans who aren't from Japan sometimes have trouble understanding the Japanese Wota. Even though I'm just their fan I feel like I have a relationship with M.O.E. When Japanese wotas said stuff like this I often found it confusing since I don't get the same interactions with their idols that they have (they attend handshake events, talk to them on social media, see them on TV and much more wheras I only watch the MVs and concerts). Sure, I love my J-Idols and want them to succeed but I'm not nearly as dediacated as your average wota. So back to M.O.E, being able to follow them on social media, see them interact with each other and sometimes even interact with them myself makes me feel an attachment to them as a group I don't think I would have with a similar Japanese group.

I recomend that anyone reading this check out their Youtube channel. They have many videos about Miyuu and Nadeshiko's adventures in Japan (which are hilarious) as well as dance covers and the MV for their 1st Single.

I'd really encourage anyone reading this to check out their 1st Single which can be purchassed here.






Members of M.O.E

Miyuu Loid
The Robot

Kyoko Yonebayashi
Pretty! The other Robot

Momoko Piichi
The Little Sister.

Ami Mokaya
The Adventuress.

Nadeshiko Misaki
The Tsundere.

Maid Khao
 My favorite member! The Yakuza Lady.

Maid Yuka
 The shy one.

Former Member of M.O.E

Maid Shizuku 
The Head Maid.



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Miniature Garden~Update!

My favorite indie idol group has gone through plenty of changes since I last wrote about them. The lineup has changed considerably and the only orgional members left are Anzu and Kotona. So since I've gotten better at writing than back when I first wrote about these girls, let's take a look at their history.

Origional Lineup
-Sera Daichou, Miyabi Furukawa, Riina Hoshino, Anzu Lida, Katakura Kanna, Kotona Matsuo

 
1st Single- Egao no kyūseishu



 2nd Lineup- Sera Daichou (Blue), Miyabi Furukawa (Red), Riina Hoshino (Yellow), Anzu Lida (Orange), Katakura Kanna (Pink), Kotona Matsuo (Green), Misaki Kawami (NEW) (Purple)


   2nd single- O tenba jankushon



 3rd single- kakero!



 4th single- Mint / Acerola Notes




 New Lineup- Kotona Matsuo (Green), Anzu Lida (Orange), Miku Nagatsuma (NEW) (Pink), Maina Iwazawa (NEW) (Red), Ramu Takenouchi (NEW) (Yellow)


5th single- Ashita e no hanataba









Sunday 12 June 2016

Hello Pro KSS Ranking- June 2016

I seem to be a little obsessed with the KSS right now and even though I already wrote a post about them very recently, I figured I'd channel some of the anger I'm feeling over the lack of a 13th gen result (damn you H!P) into a nice blog post.
So without further ado, here is my ranking of the currant members of the Hello Project Kenshuusei (not including Tsubaki Factory).

21. Nakano Rion


Probably my least favorite H!P member right now. I'll start with her good points- she's cute and it was nice to see her slight improvement since joining (and she's young so there's time for her to get better). On to the bad, her singing and dancing still leaves a lot to be desired. More importantly (imo), she doesn't seem to have much charisma on stage. Like I said, she's cute but she almost exclusively looks like she's about to burst into tears. Despite being my least favorite member, she's not the one I want to debut the least, more on that later.
20. Ono Kotomi 


Okay, she's brand new so she has plenty of time to improve but her singing and dancing are pretty poor right now. She seems more confident on stage than Rion and is (imo) much cuter so that gives her the advantage for now. I'm interested to see where she goes from here but right now she's at the bottom of the ranking.

19. Ono Mizuho 

I feel kind of bad for putting Mizuho here. She's not all that bad really. I could see her debuting one day. She just bores me for some reason. She's pretty but not in an amazing way (I think her eyebrows look wierd but also kind of cute). She could rise in rank in the future but she just doesn't interest me right now.

18. Yokogawa Yumei 


Her singing is pretty terrible. I just had to get that out of the way. In her defense, she is super pretty. Like one of the prettiest idols I've ever seen. I feel a little bad for her since she's 17 and I don't see her ever really debuting...
 
17. Hashimoto Nagisa


From this point onwards I pretty much like all the members and want them to debut. Nagisa is pretty and a cool performer. To be honest, the only reason she's so low on the list is that she's getting old for a kenshuusei (18) and I'm starting to loose hope of ever seeing her debut.

16. Kasahara Momona

Super cute. Not the best singer but she seems to have gotten pretty confident on stage. She's one of those rare idols who can pull off both the cutsy and the sexy songs (which is shocking when you remember she's only 12 years old!).

15. Ichioka Reina

I have to be honest, I sometimes forget Reina even exists. I mean, I like her. She is one of the most beautiful idols I've ever seen and is a pretty good performer to boot. I think at least for me, she fades into the background sometimes which may be why she hasn't been promoted to a main group yet.

14. Yonemura Kirara

Another cutie. Her singing needs some work but she's only a baby so I can forgive her. She doesn't seem nervous on stage at all. I don't know much about her yet but how could you not love her? Just look at her!

13. Shimano Momoko

I flip flop a lot on Momoko. I like her a lot despite her bellow average singing. She always has a bright smile on her face when performing. I'm not sure about her haircut, sometimes it looks super cute (like in the picture above) but sometimes she looks a bit like an old lady.

12. Inoue Hikaru

She's still a great performer and she's starting to look more like an idol. I like her and would like for her to join a group because she has a lot of talent to contribute but I don't really have much to say about her other than that.

11. Onoda Saori

She's really cute and despite me not liking her performance at the 2016 test event, I respect her for choosing a song she knew would be challenging for her. Sometimes I thinks she's a little too cute like she's an alien or something (which is wierd because I am a hoge fan of Hamaura Ayano who she is similar in that respect). I'm a little sad that S/mileage changed it's image when it became ANGERME because I really think she fits S/mileage's image.

10. Akiyama Mao 


Since the test event I've grown to like her a lot more. She's looking a lot cuter recently and I've come to appreciate her singing a lot more. I can definately see her in ANGERME someday soon.

9. Horie Kizuki

She used to be in my top 4... What happened? Well basically the 25th gen joined. She's still a great performer and is pretty in an unconventional way. I really want her to debut but I'm kinda losing hope of that now she's 17...

8. Kaga Kaede

I was not a fan of her test performance but like with Saori, I respect her for picking a song she wouldn't normally be chosen for. She's as cute and talented as always. Unfortunatly the awesomness that is the 25th gen has pushed her down a bit in ranking.

7. Noguchi Kurumi 

When I first saw her picture I didn't think I would be a fan. I didn't think she was very pretty and just didn't stand out among the 25th gen. Then I saw her performance of Toki Wo Koe Sora Wo Koe and I just fell in love. Her voice was so soft and pretty; completely different from what I was expecting. It's still not perfect (which is why she is only 7th on this list) but she's only been a member for 4 months so she has plenty of time to improve. 

6. Kanatsu Mizuki

She's improved so much in one year. It's a wonderful feeling when you see a girl become a true idol. She still has improvments to make but I have full confidence she will given the progress she's made so far. Did I mention that she's adorable? Just look at her!

5. Kodama Sakiko

Tomato-chan! She is destined to be a superstar! Her singing still needs some work but she is not fazed by that. She knows how to win over a crowd. H!P needs more charismatic (not just talented though that helps too) performers like her.

4. Kiyono Momohime

The little cutie herself. She seems poised to take the ace position in any group (but I'm hoping for Morning Musume). I haven't seen star powers like her's since Miyamoto Karin. Some people have criticized her for having a somewhat squeaky voice but come on, she's eleven years old! She's been a member for 4 months and is already one of the KKS's biggest stars.

3. Danbara Ruru 

I always liked her for her talent but her 2016 test performance made me realise how much she needs to debut. She was always super talented but nowadays she's looking more and more like an idol. I just want to see her perform more. I could totally see her in ANGERME since she has that unconventional cutness that ANGERME seems to go for.

2. Maeda Kokoro

Another unconventional cutie! She's not as talented vocally as Ruru but there's just something lovable about her. She has the appearance of a sweet young lady but then you find out she has a blackbelt in karate. I can see her debuting in ANGERME or Morning Musume.

1. Takase Kurumi

Ah the perfect Kenshuusei herself. I've already made it clear how much I love this girl but it looks like I'm going to do it all over again. She's a great singer who can work both the sexy and the cute songs. She is seriously cute. She seems to be poised to become the drama queen of H!P since before even debuting she has plenty of acting experiance and it seems to be really important to her. She's got ambition too, she has said she dreams of joining Morning Musume and going to Kouhaku (this would be my dream come true). I know Morning Musume has this thing of going for the less polished girls because it is more interesting to watch girl grow into idols but (and I'm aware I'm biassed here) Kurumi is different. She's not like some members (Ai-chan, Sakura) who are added for their wild vocal talent but aren't particularly good on the talking/character aspect of being an idol (not to put down any of these girls, they are great additions to the group and have wonderful personalities). Kurumi has the talent and she also has the superstar charisma to bring in new fans. That's rare and I hope H!P take notice of that.