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Friday, March 30, 2012

S/mileage Rank


S/MILEAGE RANKER

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Music Video Mini-Reviews: Hello! Project

I'm starting a new series. I'm going to review every music video Hello! Project has ever released! Ambitious,  I know. But I'm going to start from the beginning and work my way towards the current stuff. Most of these videos I have seen, but some of them I have not. Some of them I've seen but haven't paid close attention to, but either way you'll get a new perspective from me, and I may find out things that I never even knew!

I plan on doing several a day. Remember that I have a life, so I can't promise a steady schedule or anything. Anyway, enough talk, let's get started!


Morning Musume - Ai no Tane


Oh gosh, we're starting all the way back in the 90's! Morning Musume -- the girls who couldn't pass the audition to be the lead singer of Sharam Q, and were given a small opportunity to make their own group. Next thing you know, it's the greatest idol group in Japan of all time, and after 15 years, it's still around!

Granted, Momusu is not as popular nowadays as they were in their earlier days. The goal for this demo single was to sell 50,000 copies. They could have sold more if they had more copies available, I'm sure. These days, they sell around 40,000 on average. Sad, but at least their still around.

I love listening to this song. It gives me a happy, calming feeling. A feeling of new beginnings and peace or something cheesy like that.

The lyrics are a little hard to explain. It's basically about getting rid of all your worries, and looking toward your future with a positive attitude.

"I want to scatter the seeds of love"


The video basically consists of three things: 1.) Their singing in a field of flowers, 2.) singing at various places throughout the town, and 3.) blowing bubbles in an empty field.

The thing I didn't really like about this video is that even though the vocals and lyrics were so happy, the singers in the video just seemed... dull. There's pretty much no emotion coming from them whatsoever. This is a bit disappointing, but I'll cut them some slack since it was their first single.

Overall, it's a decent video for a 90's debut. I rate it 6/10.


Heike Michiyo - GET

This is the girl who actually won the previously mentioned contest. However, do to the fact that Tsunku (the mastermind behind H!P) focused more on Morning Musume, she never actually became the lead singer of Sharam Q. Instead, she became a soloist under Hello! Project. Sadly, despite her exceptional voice, she never became as famous as Momusu. However, there are still people like me that appreciate her voice and the songs she put out during her career.

This is one of my favorites of hers. Apparently, this was the song that all the finalists at to sing at the last round of the competition. It made a nice little single that showed off her talent.

There's not a lot to say about this video. She sings the song in different locations, the most prominent to me being 1.) she sings behind some weird wire fence, and 2.) in a white/blue room with a fuzzy boa around her neck.

This video to me is just meh. It's quality isn't very good so you can't really see what's going on, but even then there's not much to see. Great song, but very crappy video. I give it a 4/10.

That's all for today. Goodbye.

Friday, March 23, 2012

Shugo Chara! Review: Part 1

I would just like to make it known that I have finally finished watching... the first half of Shugo Chara. XD Ep. 1-26. It's pretty good so far! I used to hate the Amuto pairing, but now I think they're a better match than Tadamu. Normally I hate when people pair up the main character with the bad boy simply BECAUSE he's a bad boy, as if there's something wrong with being a good kid (hello, I freaking love the goody-goody dudes!). Buuutttt Ikuto looks like a good guy, really, he's just perverted. I hate perverts, so I could really do without that aspect but whatevs.

Aside from couples, I was really sad when Kukai graduated... :'( I hope he comes back later because I love him!!! I actually like him better than Tadase now. To be honest, I now only like Tadase when he starts raving about ruling the world (because I'm always falling out of my chair laughing). And then I almost cried when "Nadeshiko" (so awkward...) flew to Europe. Amu was so sad I was like "NOOOOO, AMU, COME HERE!!! I WANT TO HUG YOU!!!!!"

I really liked how the plot started thickening between episodes 21-23, but I didn't like that just an episode  later all we got was a re-cap episode and it's basically like the whole series started over again. Of course, I'm sure that's what they were going for: re-capping and evolving for an easy transition to the next stage in the series. However, it's just very anti-climactic and I feel like I didn't learn anything. I still have no idea what the embryo is, or what the Humpty Lock is for, or why Utau and Ikuto are being used by Easter (heck, I really am not sure what Easter is after, anyway). Explain things to me, please! Fillers are good sometimes, but I need to know these things now!

When I first started watching Shugo Chara a long time ago, I expected it to be a lot like Tokyo Mew Mew. What I found was completely different, yet still enjoyable. Though there are things that tick me off about this show, I always end up coming back for more (the openings and endings being by Hello! Project groups helps, too). I hope the series continues to improve, and I can't wait to watch more!

On a side note, I just figured out that there is a Shugo Chara musical starring... Maeda Yuuka!!!! I need to see this, but I need to finish the anime first! That's another reason why I'm rushing to finish the anime, because I want to see Yuuka-chan act! (P.S., we miss you, Yuuka!)

From here on out I plan to review the past Shugo Chara episodes after every 3 episodes (to correspond with the DVDs) so look forward to more frequent, in-depth reviews!
If there is another anime you want me to review, feel free to request it! Also I'll be trying even harder to keep up with Hello! Project so you may see some posts about them from here-to-there.

Friday, March 2, 2012

"Pyocopyoco Ultra" Cover!

I would just like to make it clear that I still hate the chicken costumes. XD But this song is so fun and catchy, I decided to record it. I only had like 20 minutes to record so I had to go really quick, but I think I did pretty good for only doing one run-through. What do you think?