K-Pop Fans, We Need to Talk.

You've become notorious for being cruel, shallow, and just plain horrible people.  I myself am a K-Pop fan, and a fair share of my friends (in the real world) are as well.  I've had it with this inexcusable behavior.  This is the reason why I prefer to call myself a fan of J-Pop over K-Pop.  You guys can really suck.  STOP IT!  This frustrated rant is brought to you by the fugly (at least on the inside. . . where it counts) T-ara fans.  [Summary: three members of Berryz Koubou as part of a SCRIPTED variety show (the host was there too) crashed a T-ara event.  They do the usual comedy-thing, but fans started yelling "Die!" + "You're not cute at all" and even calls about not ignoring them. WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!]  Stop being trolls who aren't actual trolls but just a bunch of sour grapes.  I don't want to be your friend and you are scaring away other fans.  Do you think I have any interest in learning more about T-ara now?  No!  I'm planning on never purchasing any music from T-ara again.  I don't want to deal with this sh*t.  I'm boycotting T-ara.  One of the reasons Hello Project started to die for me was because fans were being butt-heart that they aren't relevant anymore.  

I was pondering doing a 'State of the Project' post.  (Like the title I came up with?)  But I decided against it because I don't think I was going to bring up any new opinions, except my surprise in Berryz.  

I still find the music so-so.  However, I was surprised by how captivated I was by their performance.  They have a wonderful variety in personalities and looks.  I reminded me a bit of old Morning Musume.  I still don't think they'll make it because of the music and management.  While watching this performance I was struck with the thought that Miyabi has never been this beautiful.  Risako is still her sassy sex bomb self.  Momo has taken up Michishige's character (which is throughly entertaining).  All the other members bring their own elements into the mix.  If only I enjoyed the music, because I don't have the money to buy music I dislike.  I still love C-ute, by the way.  Morning Musume is like a foreign entity to me because I don't know 10th gen at all.  They should release more music or something so I can be more familiar.  If I find the latest concert to download I might do a review.  


The only K-Pop group where I follow their personalities, at least for girls, is Brown Eyed Girls.  The rest still seem to barbie for my taste.  I'm sorry they are all tall and too skinny [same reason why I've dumped MomoClo Z].


On the topic of not being cute.  Some male wota, whose dick doesn't seem to work right, threw a hissy fit about Amina's weight.  Well in this performance I thought she was much sexier than the two thin idols next to her.  





Here is Kyary Pamyu Pamyu's upcoming single:

The chorus sounds too repetitive, but we'll see.  She does a wonderful job with selling it.


Here is the preview for Tomochin's upcoming single:

I tend to like all of her songs, even the digital and B-sides.  So I like it but nothing too exciting.  She has proven that she can do a variety, based on how many she has released already, but it would be nice if she surprised me.  Akimoto should try something with dubstep.


Here is the full PV for Arashi's upcoming single:

Arashi is fine with low budget because they are great performers.  They are probably the funnest group to watch.  However, their singles have been sub-par in comparison to their 2010 hits.  2010 was the year I got into them, so I guess my expectations are too high.  Their latest album was good, but the one before it was better.  I just want to see more amazing singles like Troublemaker and Monster

Old Favorites & Recent Fascinations

BiS - Fresh Faced Idols?

The member in pigtails has left the group to be replaced by Yufu.

Most of you know by now that Japan and Korea are having an idol boom.  New groups are sprouting up and gaining attention every which way (sorry if that doesn't make sense to you it is a phrase I use. . . Midwest thing?).  One unit, BiS [Brand new Idol Society], has released their (major?) debut single and hit the Oricon charts.  (Another unit Kiss-My-Ft2, from JE, got the number one spot.  How is their name pronounced?  Kiss My Foot?)  They have an edgier image, rebelling against the idea that idols have to be clean and proper.  I saw them first through Pure Idol Heart and I responded well to the PV posted.  I checked them out on YouTube and I was intrigued.  However, I was a bit dumbfounded when I started watching their hit single:

I was shocked, but then I was distracted by some beautiful shots and realized they did a good job.  Nudity can be done tastefully and it reminded me of various paintings.  (My favorite place in LA is the Getty.  I went there twice while I was in LA for the first time.)  Once I regained myself I went wait, we are missing someone!  The member, which happens to be my favorite, is no longer in the group.  Which sucks if it was because of the nudity thing.  They found a replacement, but I'm bummed.  See I like variety in groups and now it feels like they are missing an element, and overly cute one.  I was a huge fan of t.A.T.u, still am but not as big.  They did a tribute to t.A.T.u. which was great.  But, my favorite has to be this one:

Anyway, with my favorite member gone I am a bit undecided if I should continue following them.  I will stick around to see how I like the new member, but she will be missed.  (Fortunately my second favorite, girl with short hair and extra piercings, is still there.)

Do I Still Care?

Hello Project has been luke-warm for me as of late, to none of your surprise.  Why do I keep bringing it up?  Because I still want to like and enjoy being a fan.  I want to keep one foot on each side of the river(?).  I got S/mileage's first album which was pretty good, mostly because I adored their singles.  Berryz Koubou still releases likable singles. . . I really like their latest at least.  C-ute has sooooo much potential.  (If only they had a different producer!)  Morning Musume has all those great new members!  Most of my disappointment falls on their producer Tsunku.  I mean, everything would be peachy if they had better music.  But who can blame him, he is distracted by the indie idols like Afilia Saga East.  Honestly, I've stopped caring about Morning Musume and S/mileage.  I'm paying them as much attention as Kiss-My-Ft2 and SNSD.  I've even deleted my tags on Tumblr for Hello Project and Morning Musume, which means I don't even want to look at pictures or videos of them.  I'm still rooting for C-ute.

Hello Project isn't the only idols I've deleted my tag on Tumblr for: Momoiro Clover.  The management just keeps pissing me off then Akari leaves and I've had it.  They aren't the same without Akari.  They look like a more miss-matched, older version of Tokyo Girls Style (who I am recently entranced by).

Oh, and I think Beckii Cruel's upcoming single sounds horrible and she isn't that good of a dancer (if you've watched her recent Morning Musume dance cover).

Rising Stars (the brighter side of things)
NMB48 (polished in very little time)
Tokyo Girls Style (avex is pulling through)
Hey Say Jump (their latest was a stupendous improvement)
Afilia Saga East (we'll see, seems a bit only fan service)
Super Girls (another we shall see case)

Recent Cravings 
I've been going through some odd obsessions.  I'm a DD when it comes to AKB48, so I shouldn't be so surprised when I jump from one member interest to another.  Today I was watching old footage of Ayaka Kikuchi, before she was fired.  All of a sudden I've missed Oshima's pervy cuteness.  Then there is Iwasa Misaki's powerhouse vocals.  I've changed my wallpaper to Kasai Tomomi.  Akimoto Sayaka's awesome~ness.  I'm literally all over the place.  Now I found some subtitled videos which has an adorable Takamina (I mean her hair and that hat are super flattering) and then Sasshi accidentally causing dirty jokes.  Why don't I dislike anyone within AKB48?  They have so many membersssss. . . oh yeah Haruka Ishida is the only one out of what is it now 75?


Am I Suffering From a K-Pop Phase?
I've been addicted to Nine Muses' No Playboy.  My friends and I want to learn the dance to HyunA's Bubble Pop.  I keep on hearing bollywood in my favorite Super Junior Korean singles.  I've been voting in Eat Your Kimchi polls.  I went through a huge K-drama stint while in Japan.  What is happening to me?

Can Happiness Be Considered a Girl Group?
If you've seen them perform or have watched one of their PVs you might of noticed that only two girls sing.  It almost feels like one center with a support singer and then a whole bunch of back up dancers.  I was looking forward to the group since   they were good dancers, but WTF is this?  I'm all for dancers getting a bigger spotlight, but can they not sing at all?  Their lead vocalist is spectacular!  I almost prefer her to go solo.  You see I adore Matsuda Seiko, an idol-soloist from way back.  For some reason I keep on seeking out her replacement or equal for today.  One of the candidates is Happiness' lead vocalist, the other is Acchan from AKB48.  What do you think?  I will post some videos after the jump to give you a better perspective.

Matsuda Seiko Performing on a Music Program

Happiness Dancing at a Concert

Happiness Performing on a Music Program

Acchan Performing her First Solo Single

New PV Spam

Something Mina Has Been Working On:

UPDATED: MOAR from the AKB family! + PVs

After the great news that Maeda Atsuko would have her first leading role in a film and release a solo single, I bet you are all pumped to see her have the lead for the Hana Kimi remake.  I've been wishing that they make a live-action adaption of Ouran High School Host Club (which they are), plus this!  AKB48 are reaching now to surpass Mr. Children in record sales; they surpassed a million copies on their second day.  This makes dealing with haters so much more worth it.  The opening theme will be AKB's 22nd single, but that isn't too surprising considering Acchan has a guaranteed spot in the top 5.  However, if she isn't center would that be weird. . . Anyway, there is even better news for AKB48 fans: Tojima Hana and Komatani Hitomi will be joining SDN48!!!!!


With all SDN's recent graduations, things weren't looking too good.  (You tend to get people that graduate early on, but still you hope they aren't jumping ship.)  They are both first generation members.  Tojima is very popular with overseas fans, like myself.

I'm under a bit of a time constraint with working, and me leaving on Monday.  So, I will just post some recent PVs and I'll try to review them later and update this post.


The outfits are cute, but I don't like the bubbles.  The close-up and dance-shot backgrounds are cute.  I didn't understand the point to the six part shots at the beginning.  So, I actually would prefer it if they did less editing, because the things they did looked cheap.  The jump shots and props were fun.  Except for some of the editing, this was a good Hello Project PV.  Typical Hello Project PVs: studio-only, dance shot+ close up shot, and no creativity (except for the girls making cute faces).
☆☆☆


The costumes really suit DiVA, but the pants for the silver. . . do not approve.  I do appreciate them doing a different angle (birds-eye ish), but I didn't love it.  I'm not usually a fan of black-figures but with the dancing it turned out well.  Now what were they holding, that made them switch outfits?  The night-time setting matched the song, but them holding something that glows didn't have a point to it.
☆☆☆☆


This is only one shot out of a PV, but I posted it anyway.  I'll just leave some comments.  I love the fact that they are doing something different and Mano looks great outside!  See what a change of setting and moving camera can do.  I wouldn't even mind that much if this was the entire PV.


Perfume always does a fabulous job.  I love the concept of taking pictures and making them coming alive by replacing them with video.
☆☆☆☆☆


Oh god.  When I saw the outfits I was concerned.  The problem with these is that they aren't flattering.  It flattens their chest and highlights curves in a negative way.  These only suit those who are tall and thin.  It made Risako's boobs smaller.  I don't like the changing colors and heart shapes.  Changing colors always look cheap to me; I hate it when people use them in opv and amv.  Some of the dancing is vulgar in my opinion.  The bike shots looked bad.  I do like the sectioned screens during the dance shots.  I did like having the girls dance in front of a screen of their close-up shot, it reminded me of concerts.  However, I didn't like the single close-ups on the screen during the dance-shot.
☆☆


Very pretty.
☆☆☆☆☆


I don't like the crystals and the mini poles at the front of the dance shot.  The short blonde hair isn't good on Takahashi.  Niigaki's hair finally looks good, but they still need to work on styling Aika's.  The group still shot looks odd with all the extra props.  I do not understand all the crystals.  If they took away all the extras I would like it more.  Adding doesn't make it better.  The girls look pretty and I prefer the white on white over the purple and red sets.  I would prefer a different oufit on different colors.  I just don't think they look as good.  Besides it is the same set with different color curtains.  They should of mixed up the outfits a bit more than 9th gen has shorts.  This didn't make me like the song than I already did.
☆☆


I don't like any of the guys, or the song that much.  I do like the variety of shots, angles, outfits, and pans.
☆☆☆


Why are they at a foreign college?  I guess a lot of people travel abroad but. . . I don't like the bimbo cheerleaders.  I like the close up shorts of them singing and some of the group shots outside, but I'm not sure about anything else.
☆☆☆


I'm not a huge fan of this single.  I find the contrast between the new and old backgrounds odd.  There were quite a couple of things that confused me.  However the dance shot and the close-ups were good.  Why is Yukirin keep on trying to seduce me?  Nice, in Aki-cha's temptress shot she just twirled. . . very sexy.  They are pretty adorable.
☆☆☆


I like the positive messages.
☆☆☆☆


Little trivia, but they didn't finish filming this PV because of the earthquake, which is too bad because I love everything about this PV.  Perfume is just perfection.  I adore the orange accents and the flowing fabric.  You don't need to over-edit, or tons of different things to make a good PV.
☆☆☆☆☆

Mina's Single Reviews! + MOAR

I've just got my shipment of Momoclo's and Arashi's latest singles, so I thought I would do a little single review post.  I will be reviewing (just one type if there are multiple versions) the following artist: Berryz Koubou, No Sleeves, Arashi, Not Yet, Momoiro Clover.  After that, I will talk about my dating escapades from AKB48's dating sim and the new unit from AKB, DiVA.  After the jump I'll spam some macros I've made.  Enjoy!

Berryz工房 - ヒロインになろうか!
1. ヒロインになろうか!
This is a strong song coming from Berryz Koubou.  The only thing I don't care for is the autotune.  Everything else is good.  However, I am slightly bored by Berryz Koubou with this single.  I like it, but I don't love it.
☆☆☆☆
2. ヒーロー現る!
This reminds me of Buono! more than Berryz Koubou.  When I first heard it I didn't like it, but I've grown to like it.
☆☆☆

ノースリーブス - Answer (Takahashi Ver.)
1. Answer
I pretty much had the same reaction to this song that I did with Berryz'.  I sounds like typical no3b, which isn't bad in itself.  I just like either development or the illusion of variety.  The PV for this song helped it a lot, and now I love.
☆☆☆☆
2. モノズキ1号
Meh, but I like it okay.
☆☆☆
3. 愛しさのアクセル
Now, I love this stage song.
☆☆☆☆☆

Not Yet - 週末Not yet (Type C)
1. 週末Not yet
Wow, am I just never impressed anymore when I hear a song for the first time.  I was excited to hear of this new unit, but then I heard the song.  It has definitely grown on it and watching it performed has sold it to me.  I just am not a usual fan for this style of pop.
☆☆☆☆
2. ひらひら
I am not going to say the same thing over and over again.
☆☆☆☆☆
3. 泣きながら微笑んで　(Not yet ver.)
I don't know if I like this solo song as a quartet, maybe a duet, wait a minute. . . Okay, I prefer it when Oshima isn't singing or when all four are singing.  I am just so used to this song being sung by Oshima that when it is her plus other people it sounds weird to me.
☆☆☆☆

嵐 - Lotus
1. Lotus
Arashi has been either hit or okay with their singles recently.  This reminds me of Monster, which I adore.  The one thing I have to say is that the RE of their singles is pretty cheap looking.  I'll probably not purchase any more of their RE singles.
☆☆☆☆☆
2. ever
I like it because it makes me picture them performing it in concert.
☆☆☆☆
3. Boom Boom
I don't think I can take any song seriously with 'boom boom' in the lyrics.
☆☆☆

ももいろクローバー - ミライボウル
1. ミライボウル
They have done it again!  Since they've gone major I haven't disliked or been disappointed by a single single.  I've been listening to this song a lot ever since the PV came out and I'm still not sick of it yet.  Unfortunately I don't know what they are going to do about their traditional rap sections when their rapper has graduated.
☆☆☆☆☆
2. Chai Maxx
They have a productivity similar to AKB48; their singles include more than one title-song worthy track.  What adds to this song, for me, is the dance.  I have a new song to be addicted to!
☆☆☆☆☆
3. 全力少女
Good job.
☆☆☆☆

♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪

My AKB-Type! - Discovering Who Is Your Better Romantic Match!
I do have preferences when it comes to AKB48 and idols in general, but I am typically a DD (dare demo = likes everyone) person.  I've been playing my copy of the Dating Sim PSP game that AKB48 released and noticed something: just because I like you as an idol doesn't mean we'll have a fun date.  I've also noticed girls that I've never paid too much attention to.

Girls I've Finished The Game With:
Tomomi Kasai
Tomomi Itano
Manami Oku
Sayaka Nakaya
Aika Ota

Aika Ota - My First Love
I finished the game for the first time with her, and I was quite pleased by it.  My tension went up once we got to the video.  She was the first 'discovery-moment' member for AKB48 and has been a favorite since.  (She is my wallpaper right now.)

Amina Sato - My Failed Romances
Whenever I'm with her I become happy.  I first played it with the aim to finish with her, but I seem to fail every time.  I either end up with someone else, or I accidentally say something that upsets her.  She always make me food which I find funny because I always would adore her even if she couldn't cook.

Mayumi Uchida - My Weak Spot
I've been interested in her even before the shuffle, but I never thought she was my type.  However, what began as a way to just go on a date (in the meantime) has turned into a traditional date.  Every time I play we go on a date, and I am still not bored by it.  Maybe we are just meant to be.

Erena Ono and Manami Oku - My Cute Flings
I went out with both of them because they are graduating or have graduated, and they are similar (at least in appearance).  I think they are extremely cute, but I just don't have the passion for them.

Sayaka Nakaya - Surprise Chemistry
She was also someone I went out with just for kicks, but I couldn't resist her.  I ended up finishing it with her.  Her short haircut is great.

Minami Takahashi - Stalker
For some reason she keeps on trying to go on a date with me and I am never interested.  I never thought I would be so. . . not interested in her, but during the game I am.  She has more than once sneaked up on me.

Haruka Ishida - The One I Couldn't Shake Off
After the rumors surfaced about her I decided to make her a victim.  You have to go on dates, and you can't always go out with the same person.  Plus, if you are nice or not that nice to a girl other girls won't go out with you.  Therefore, I thought I should go out with someone to completely reject so I wouldn't lose anyone but said girl.  Of course I mess up and accidentally lead her on.  I had to break it off on the second date.  After that game I never went out with her again in case I did it a second time.

Reina Fujie - Potential Mistress Character
One time we went shopping together.  I like her, but I don't like her enough to go on more than two or three dates together.  I just see her as the girl I would spoil if I was a rich guy.

Okay Dates:
Haruka Katayama
Tomomi Itano
Tomomi Kasai
Asuka Kuramochi
Ami Maeda
Tomomi Nakatsuka
Yuko Oshima

Members Without Sparks:
Moeno Itano
Sayaka Akimoto
Rumi Yonezawa
Mayu Watanabe
Mariko Shinoda
Haruna Kojima
Ayaka Kikuchi
Chisato Nakata
Ayaka Umeda
Mika Komori
Mariya Suzuki
Natsumi Hirajima

DiVA vs. DIVA - What Will Happen To AKB's Popular New Single Format?
In both Beginner and Sakura no Ki ni Narou there was the same format: senbatsu, undergirls, and then DIVA or MINT.  DIVA gave an opportunity to girls that didn't fit in to either senbatsu or undergirls to still get featured.  It also gave vocals to some of AKB48's strongest, and more under appreciated, vocalists.

I am thrilled that DiVA is a unit.  There are only a few questions or issues that I think of.  Will there be anymore MINT song?  If yes, what will be the other coupling track?  Theatre girls?

DIVA focuses on Sayaka, Ayaka, Yuka, and Asuka.  There are three more singers included on the tracks: Misaki Iwasa, Amina Sato, and Natsuki Sato.  Do they lose the most out of this?  The other girls have sub-groups, but these three might not get featured as much in a different unit.  Just something to think about.