[...V•O•T•E...] Week XXIII

Week of 11/8 – 11/15 (26 votes)

Well when I first posted up this poll, I kind of regretted it ’cause I thought it was pretty stupid, plus I just ended up paring up any two groups that I had thought would blend well together. I’ll try to make better polls from now on. xD

The best mash-up would be…?

1. Amuro Namie + Koda Kumi: 50% – 13 votes
2. 2NE1 + 4minute: 21minute: 15% – 4 votes
3. Utada Hikaru + Hamasaki Ayumi: 12% – 3 votes

Loser: Berryz Kobo + °C-ute / Brown Eyed Girls + 2PM: 4% – 1 vote

Morning Musume + AKB48: モー娘。48 /Wonder Girls + Girls’ Generation: Wonder Generation: 8% – 2 votes

I didn’t think people still liked Kuu, even when paired up with Amuro. Though you gotta admit, the idea of those two betches teaming up is just amayzun~ Since they do kind of share a similar style, I don’t think it would be awkward for either of their listeners.

One dream of mine since both 2NE1 and 4minute debuted was to see them on stage together. Since when they both debuted and were compared often for their wtf-y clothing and such, I was always trying to pick a favorite group. Still haven’t as of today. -o-

Of course, the J-Pop duo that everyone wishes for, Hikki and Ayu was in the poll, although it only received three votes. I’m still waiting for a duet. >:l

Losers this time were the two H!P Kids groups, probably ’cause seeing them together wouldn’t really be a big deal. BEG and 2PM also lost. See, I don’t even know why I put them together.

And wheres my Momosu+AKB48 mash-up Tsunku and AKB producer guy? >:\

[...V•O•T•E...] Week XXII

Week of 11/1 – 11/8 (26 votes)

Luckily, I didn’t get flamed for putting up such a “snarky” poll this time. Hey, it’s what came up in my mind atm(plus something I’ve always wanted to know), so I went ahead and did it. It didn’t take much logic on who would make it on the poll. I didn’t include ex-H!P girls(cause than that ugly-ass Korenaga[sp] Miki from Ongaku Gatas would have made it in, or H!P Eggs. My vote went to Shimizu.

Who’s the ugliest girl in H!P?

1. Linlin: 31% – 8 votes
2. Shimizu Saki: 23% – 6 votes
3. Nakajima Saki: 19% – 5 votes

Winner: Mitsui Aika(A.K.A FUG MONSTER >:o): 1% – 1 vote

Reina 4 votes, Erika 2 votes

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. Linlin is not that ugly!!! Well, I only put her in the poll ’cause I knew a lot of people considered her the ugliest Momosu member, but I never thought she would lose to Saki. <_<

Saki can look good at times, but she can really have her moments. Like at concerts. That lazy eyed+nose mole thing really shine when she sweats. :x

And I’m glad theres at least 4 people out there that can see past Reina’s winks and wonks and wanks(^-^’) and vote her over all the other girls. No ass, no chest, stick legs, yuck. xp

Srry, I dun see the ugly.

Best PV of the Year.

I won’t go about how amazing the song itself is(thats for a future review) but the PV for Brown Eyed Girls’ Sign is just absolute awesomeness.

It doesn’t even feature the girls that much, instead of an actor who plays the main role. The action, suspense, drama, scenario, EVERYTHING about this PV is just so amazing. <3

Although my absolute favorite thing, after the girls in the tanks of water of course(it is them in those tanks, a shame that they die though), is the way that when the guy is defending himself against the men, the girls like appear in flashes after he has fallen/behind him, etc… I just find it so mysterious and really makes you wonder if the guy actually sees them, seeing as he tries to save Ga-in near the end of the PV.

If you haven’t already seen the PV, I REALLY, REALLY recommend you see it, even if you aren’t a fan of K-Pop music(although you should be, it’s the best). IN HD!

AMAZING, RIGHT?

Yea, there’s no choreography in the PV, but thats what their live performances are for. The dance for this song is on its way to being as popular as the Abracadabra “saucy hip-move”.

@ M! Countdown

@ Music Bank

I also have to mention a certain other PV that has caught my attention. Once again, we’ll ignore the great song that accompanies it and focus on the emotional, bitter-sweet video. Bom looks absolutely gorgeous and the storyline is pretty touching. The bit before the final chorus, where no music plays is also pretty breath-taking. Enjoy Bom’s solo song, You And I. ^-^

[...V•O•T•E...] Week XI – XXI

Weeks of 8/23 – 11/1 (124 votes)

Well, due to my “little” absence, the Koharu poll seemed to get an insane amount of votes(well, being there for 10 weeks straight, I wouldn’t expect any less). Anyway, I was a bit surprised by the results. Mostly in that I thought that the majority of my visitors were H!P stans. Well, I was wrong. Maybe I’m just full of K-Pop addicts…

How does Koharu’s graduation make you feel?

1. I really don’t care about this Koharu chick or Morning Musume. – 35% (44 votes)
2. Even though she wasn’t my favorite, I’m still very affected by it. – 29% (36 votes)
3. Absolutely heartbroken. She was my favorite and I’ll never feel the same towards Momosu ever again. – 18% (22 votes)
4. Reina should leave instead. – 9% (11 votes)
5. I’m glad she left. She was just a waste of space. – 6% (8 votes)
6. I’m still new to H!P, so I’m not quite sure what to feel. – 2% (3 votes)

Well, 44% of my readers aren’t Momosu fans. @-@ Bizarre. Since I mostly write on H!P stuff, I thought that poll choice would have been much lower. Personally, I’m part of the 29% that stated that even though she wasn’t a favorite, she was still a Momosu and her leaving still means something to us.

I can’t help but feel bad for those 18% that lost their favorite member. I mean, I can’t imagine myself liking Momosu as much as I do now if someone like Eri were to leave. How bad would that be? :x

And yay at those 11 people who agreed that Reina should have left instead!!!

Week of 7/05 – 7/12 (29 votes)

Guess the votes made a slight U-turn this week eh? I looked at the results around Thursday-ish and there were a lot of ties, but looking at it now, I’m quite surprised. O_O The ties are still there but at least now we have a clear winner. The first place member might not be surprising but last place kinda disappointed me.

Who’s your favorite Morning Musume member?

1. JunJun: 17% – 5 votes
2. Takahashi Ai/Kamei Eri/Kusumi Koharu: 14% – 4 votes
3. Niigaki Risa/Tanaka Erina/Mitsui Aika: 10% – 3 votes

Loser: LinLin: 3% – 1 vote

Sayumin finished with 2 votes, just 1 vote away from being the loser. It’s pretty awesome to see JunJun who’s an 8th gen member beat out everyone else. The second place finishers didn’t surprise me at all, nor did third place(my vote went to Eri, duh ;D). All in all, these votes were very American(duh). JunJun is uber popular in the states but if this poll were taken in Japan, I’m sure the results would be A LOT different. LinLin would still be last(unfortunately as she outperforms more than half of the rest of the group) and I doubt JunJun would ever beat out Reina or Ai.

I think I’ll go ahead and ask this same question for the two H!P Kids groups next…

The End of Momosu’s Longest Stable Lineup

Of course we all know what I’m talking about. The graduation of Kusumi Koharu from Morning Musume in December.

Honestly, even though I considered her one of the 4 possible “graduates” if there ever would be an announcement(along with Ai, Risa and JunLin[the "exchange students" thing]), it was still a total shocker for me waking up this morning.

I really am quite bummed out. She was never a favorite, actually, after Reina, she was my second least favorite member of the whole group(but she later got bumped up a spot, making Sayu second least) but I think it’s that I’ve(and I’m sure all Momosu fans) gotten so used to this 9-nin line-up and have considered them the most united members yet. Seeing one of them ago, especially the ever retarded Koha, is just so weird.

I can already picture Aika during the graduation ceremony telling her something about how she honored her as a rival or something. -o-

Well, nothing that can be done about it now. :\ Just enjoy the rest of her time in Momosu and wish her the best of luck as a model, which I actually think is a great profession for her. She really is quite beautiful(‘cept her smile is kinda ehh…) and being tall helps!

Oh no, I just imagined seeing 8-nin Momosu lined up and having to see Aika right after Reina w/o no freakishly tall Koha in between. :(

If anything good comes out of it, it means that other members may get more line as Koha has been center in certain singles(Resonant Blue, Mikan…). I certainly see more Aika love once Koha leaves. Also, maybe Tsunku will start considering a Momosu audition? It’s about time…

But since Momosu will be an 8-nin lineup(and since having two centers with an even numbered member count is so much easier for dancing formations, etc…) it could mean that Ai and Reina will get EVEN MORE lines than the normal.

I wonder who will take Koha’s spot in live Resonant Blue performances? Aika please. ^-^

So, how does Koha’s graduation make you feel?

• Was she your favorite member and her announcement made you totally bummed?
• Were you just like me(not your favorite member) but still feel bummed out?
• Or did this not affect you in any way?

Comment with your thoughts~

And for old times sake, heres that infamous scene when Momosu visited Koha’s school, congratulating her as the winner of the audition:

Keeping you all up to ~DATE~

Well first of all, I wanna say that as of right now, the blog has reached 48,760 “attendees”!!! Just a bit more and we’ll be at half of 100k! Wow! Never would have thought I’d see those numbers about a year ago when the blog first started off. Expect a gift, as always, when the 50k are reached!

In other news, the sidebar has been totally “pimped” out with new gadgets. Let’s go over them shall we?

- Poll & Vodpod widget: I changed the Vodpod widgets style to “floating”, now showing the three most recently uploaded videos. I think it looks a bit nicer, even if it stretched the sidebar more.

The polls(yay it’s back!) are now much prettier as I’ve begun to use WordPress’ custom poll maker. New styles will be made randomly, when I get tired of it or to match a new blog theme. This week’s poll won’t count in the vote [...V•O•T•E...] series btw.

- “FOLLOW ME” widget: Scrolling further down, you can see that I went ahead and added various sites where I’m also active in which you can follow/stalk/friend me.

In order clockwise starting with upper-left: deviantART, Facebook, Gaia Online, Last.fm, LiveJoruanl, MySpace, twitter and Vodpod.

Don’t be afraid to add me, I accept all requests and follow people back on twitter+last.fm. ;D

- “SUBSCRIBE” widget: So in order for you guys to have easier access to my updates and such, I added various ways for you all to subscribe to my updates.

Pretty huh? @-@ Anyway, the first(gray) button is your typical subscribe button using Live Bookmarks, My Yahoo, Google, etc… The second button is to subscribe using FeedBurner which gives you lots more options and applications for subscribing. The third button is to subscribe via e-mail! That way whenever I post something new, you’ll receive an e-mail with the post. Quite nifty I must say.

0 READERS SO FAR BUT LET’S TRY TO RAISE THAT UP!!!

!!!SUBSCRIBE!!!

So yea, apart from that, the Upcoming Reviews page will be flooded with what I have to review next once the poll finished up. Also, the Yearly Rankings have finally been updated to include recent releases so check that out to see how everything has been so far.

Lastly, the 100 Reasons will now me 50 Reasons ’cause no matter how much I try, not even my hate for Reina can conjure 100 well thought reasons. “The 50 Reasons why K-Pop is better than J-Pop” has also been added so take a look!

Momosu’s B-Side Collection Cover Out!

And I am surprised. We all know why right? Duh, ’cause Aibons on it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We see the current Momosu in the innermost part with the graduated members on the outside in an order I don’t quite understand. Also, it seems that the graduated member’s pics are of them wearing the outfit for the last single they were featured in. I thought that was pretty nice.

Not a gorgeous cover in any way but still wins simply because it has everyone in it. Although it does remind me of something(s)…

Hello! Investigations: B-sides from 3/4 of 2009

Unlike the a-sides that we find in H!P releases, which usually range from the most infectious, perfect thing in existence to at least listenable, it’s the b-sides that usually end up surprising me in one way or another, whether for good or bad.

That’s why I wanna take ALL OF THE B-SIDES RELEASED SO FAR IN 2009 and classify them according to their quality.

Featured will be the b-sides of:

• Morning Musume。
• Berryz Kobo
• °C-ute
• Buono!
• Mano Erina
• Shugo Chara! groups (Guardians 4 and Shugo Chara Egg!)

The b-sides:

1. Yowamushi
2. Aki Urara
3. Subete wa Ai no Chikara
   
4. 3,2,1 BREAKIN’ OUT!
5. Sono Subete no Ai ni
6. Go Go Go!
7. Amai Wana
8. Zansho Omimai Moshiagemasu
9. Muteki no ∞ Power
10. Warp!
11. Kirai Suki Daikirai
12. Nakimushi ・ Yowamushi
13. Mizuiro Omoi
14. Jasmine Tea
15. Summer Has Come!
16. Itsuka Doko ka de.
17. Wonderland ni Tsuretette

♠The Listenable♠

1. Yowamushi
2. Aki Urara
3. 3,2,1 BREAKIN’ OUT!
4. Zansho Omimai Moshiagemasu
5. Muteki no ∞ Power
6. Warp!
7. Kirai Suki Daikirai
8. Mizuiro Omoi

What can we learn from this? Well, Buono! makes dang good b-sides.  Momosu has also had a strong year of b-sides, only one of them not making it on the list. By listenable I mean songs that one would actually take time to listen and not immediately “next-ing”. This is usually because the song is either catchy or posses some kind of unique trait that sets it apart from the rest of the b-sides in their discography.

♠The Strange♠

1. Sono Subete no Ai ni
2. Nakimushi ・ Yowamushi
3. Summer Has Come!
4. Itsuka Doko ka de.

Berryz is simply here because that song is a ballad. That fact alone makes it strange. Apart from that, it isn’t a particularly good one but Tsunku must see something in it if he names an entire concert after it. Mano’s track is just wtf all around with the layered vocals and stuff. Guadrians 4 tracks stumped me however. They sound so generic but yet not enough to make them entirely bad. Strange because their a-sides tend to be on the verge of generic-ness.

♠The Fataly Generic♠

1. Subete wa Ai no Chikara
2. Go Go Go!
3. Amai Wana
4. Jasmine Tea
5. Wonderland ni Tsuretette

Seems C-ute hasn’t had very good b-sides. Actually their a-sides haven’t been the best this year either. Momosu’s song just suffers from lack of anything that makes it special, plus it has annoying vocals. Mano’s song is just terribly, terribly boring while SCE!’s track is one of the most generic, cutesy pop, anime songs I’ve heard in a VERY long time.

Well, there we have it. It seems b-sides this year have been in Buono!’s and Momosu’s favor(considering that Subete wa Ai no Chikara is a bonus track for the special editions) while Erina’s stuff has been very varied. Here’s hoping Tsunku kicks it up a notch. Hmm, it could be the hectic amount of releases that causes the loss of quality.

Morning Musume。’s Kimagure Princess Radio Rip! (Updated w/ cover)

All I can say is WOW. Adding this to their recent singles(Naichau Kamo, SYO, Nanchatte Renai) and Momosu’s had the best combo of a-sides in a VERY long time.

Seriously, this song is good. It seems Tsunku finally dropped the synth+orchestra style and gave Momosu one HECK of an upbeat, catchy, oriental sounding fierce song. Think Odore! Morning Curry meets absolute ownage.

The vocals are real wtf-y too. Really high pitched and rapid. It’s AWESOME.

AND OMG. Wanna know who gets the most lines? AI AND ERI!!! And yea, Reina’s there too but I think Eri out-lines her. ;D Everyone sings in such a unique and different way that I don’t really care how much I hate Reina, this song just wins so hard.

THANK YOU TSUNKU!!!

Update: A cover’s out!

Still can’t believe Eri gets so many lines. And wtf is Koha doing all the way down there with Ai? She like isn’t even in the song. -_-

[...V•O•T•E...] Week X

Week of 8/16 – 8/23 (15 votes)

Unfortunately this time around, due to technical difficulties, the number of voters was the lowest yet so it resulted in a mix of ties, leaving only one true winner while having the rest tie up for both 2nd and 3rd.

The best voice in J-Pop is? (Final)

1. alan: 33% – 5 votes
2. ayaka / KOKIA / Utada Hikaru: 13% – 2 votes
3. Fukuhara Miho / Hamasaki Ayumi / BONNIE PINK / Onitsuka Chihiro: 11% – 2 votes

Honestly, no surprise here. alan has huge popularity internet-wise on the west side so seeing her leave everyone else in the dust is no surprise. Plus, the girl has got some real lungs in here. I mean, we’ve all hear her wail right? Jeez I hope so.

Polls will be down until the stretching glitch gets fixed.