Random photobook DVDs (Yurina, Captain, Chisato, Risako)

Looking through my PC revealed a couple of PB-related ISOs as well as some encodes I did earlier so I went ahead and uploaded them for everyone to enjoy.

First up is Kumaicho's latest photobook, Kumasupo - or rather the DVD making of.

I'm not going to do a full screenshot walk through for each one, but here are some screenshots nonetheless.

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Chisato solo CD GET

Today Mr. Mailman had a gift.

Yay, it's Chisato's Romantic Ukare Mode single!

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How much HD space does one guy need?

So today another external hard drive that I bought came in.

This time it's a 2 TB Western Digital external. Amazon dropped the price on it (it used to be $120) but I got mine for $86, which is cheaper than what I paid for my first 1.5 TB external ($90) so I knew I had to buy it.

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jedimastertrunks5 soon will be no more

Today I got my second strike on my jedimastertrunks5 account, which got me thinking about my Youtube future.

I've been uploading for what seems like forever, but jedimastertrunks5 will be my last Youtube account. I will continue to upload on it as usual until it is inevitably suspended, but after that I'm done.

It's not the same as streaming video, but I post my encodes of PVs and DVDs on this blog from time to time so check back often if you are interested in that sort of thing.

When I started uploading a couple of years ago my goal was to gain at least one new fan that becomes interested in Hello! Project. I don't know if I accomplished that goal, but I sure did have fun along the way!

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Maji desu ka ska is a "genki" song

Watching the 9th gen segment on the latest Bijou Gaku episode above reveals that Morning Musume's new single is an upbeat song. Sounds like Morning Musume will be (at least for the time being) returning to the playful tunes of their past.

I'm hoping that with this single, Morning Musume can return to having a 50,000 first week and you can make that possible by buying it!

Each limited edition comes with a PV and an interview with the new members. Limited A = Mizuki, Limited B = Erina, Limited C = Riho, Limited D = Kanon.

Limited A: http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/detailview.html?KEY=EPCE-5765
Limited B: http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/detailview.html?KEY=EPCE-5767
Limited C: http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/detailview.html?KEY=EPCE-5769
Limited D: http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/detailview.html?KEY=EPCE-5771
Regular: http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/detailview.html?KEY=EPCE-5773

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Berryz Koubou's Heroine ni Narou ka PV

Uploaded yesterday to the official Berryz channel is Berryz's new PV.



Heroine is a song that I admittedly haven't been paying much attention to. It's a pretty good song, but I just have had so many other things in mind. Then I saw this PV and everything changed.

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Airi gets two new photobooks (plus a magazine shoot)

lol no I'm not joking. In celebration of turning 17 Airi will release her 6th photobook on April 23rd, her 7th on May 23rd, and will be on the cover of Up to Boy Magazine on April 23rd.

 

I can't wait.

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C-ute Kiss Me Aishiteru limited DVDs

From the limited A DVD is the Ball Chair Ver. and from the limited B DVD is the Metal Balloon Ver. Hooray for creative titles.

Both videos were encoded to 60 fps for extra HQ C-ute awesomeness

Ball Chair Version

Metal Balloon Version

As always, if you like those PVs and this single, support C-ute by buying this single.

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Updates are coming

It's been a while since I went almost a week without updating this blog. This time it was due to me feeling ill and not really having the energy to write a blog post. But, fear not, I'm not dead yet. I have a Midterm on Wednesday, but after that it'll be back to normal.

Until then, enjoy Kappa Airi.

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Fun with Japanese news with Kikkawa Yuu

A couple of random local Japanese news stations did small segments on the soon-to-debut Kikkawa Yuu (March 30th for those of you who forgot).

The first one is from a show called Sukkiri, which I believe is sort of like Good Morning America, except in Japanese. It shows Kikka singing for a while, then Kikka shows off some Valentine's deco-choco she made (just like in the Valentine's Day videos I showed you yesterday), and finally a handshake event.



The next two videos are from the same TV show (called Pon!), but aired on different days, so they have similar content but there is new things present in both.

The highlight of both is Kikka's... flexibility. Watch and you'll see.

In the last video, the hosts get to eat some chocolate from Yuu. Lucky.

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S/mileage - Short Cut first week sales

For the first week, S/mileage's new single Short Cut has sold 20,492, which is an all-time high for the girls, narrowly beating Yume Miru 15's first week mark by a couple dozen copies.

They will have to do some massive selling to outsell their highest overall selling single (Bijin Mama at 29,000+), but this is a job well done nevertheless.

If you want to help Short Cut become S/mileage's best selling single of all time, you should buy it!

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Valentine's Day in Japan

is actually quite different from Valentine's Day here in the United States.

In Japan, February 14th is a day where girls give guys chocolate. A month later on March 14th (called White Day), the guys return the favor.

Another way the Japanese have changed the holiday is by setting distinct categories for the kind of chocolate that is given. Giri-Choco is obligation chocolates given co-workers, bosses, and those types of people. Honmei-Choco is chocolate given by girls to guys that they like. It's almost always handmade.

Aichan demonstrates Honmei-Choco

Here is a video of a Ciaela, a Canadian girl living in Japan, making Honmei-Choco for her Valentine's:

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Zassou no Uta Event V, Seishun no Serenade Single V

The Buono! Event V contains six PVs - a "Solo Beauty Ver." which is just a slightly zoomed out close up, and a "Live at the Garage Ver.", which is similar except the girls have old fashioned mics (as seen in the original PV) and a band behind them.

Airi Solo Beauty Version
Airi Live at the Garage Version

Miyabi Solo Beauty Version
Miyabi Live at the Garage Version

Momoko Solo Beauty Version
Momoko Live at the Garage Version:

And also Mano Erina's new single Seishun no Serenade Single V, which contains the normal PV, a close up version, and the making of.

Normal PV
Close Up Version
Making of

As always, you should buy the singles if you want to support these artists!

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10,000 views? Epic!

Between last night and today my blog has reached 10,000 views, yay!

I honestly never thought that I would even come close to reaching that mark when I first started. Originally this blog was just a place to store my random thoughts but I like what it's become.

To anyone reading this: what do you like the most about this blog? What do you want to see more of? Is there anything you don't like about it?

Here's to 10,000 more views!

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Buono! DVD Magazine Vol. 7 is awesome

Once again Buono! proves to me why they are one of my favorite Hello! Project groups of all time.

In this DVD magazine, Buono! spends the day doing various things in an amusement park before they head off to someone's house for a waffle making sleepover party.

Their first game is

Attraction 1: Laser Athletic Check!

The rules are simple.

You have 2 minutes to get through an obstacle course full of green lazers. Touch one and you get a 30 second penalty, which of course means if you touch four then it's game over.

It's harder than it sounds.

But of course Airi has no problem clearing it without touching a lazer and with plenty of time to spare. As expected of Airiiin.

I won't spoil the results of this game, but lets just say that this isn't a game for short people. It looked really, really fun though.

Next up is

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The nuances of PC building

It's been about six months since I built this computer and ever since that day, things have gone surprisingly well considering I'd never done anything as complicated as building a PC from scratch.

But still, problems existed.

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Chisato solo live goods coming soon to a store near you (kinda)

Just got an email from HelloStoreUSA (you know, that America based UFA sponsored online H!P store) mentioning that they will soon stock some new special order items - including stuff from Chisato's special solo live!

Who knows exactly what they will be selling (probably just photocards, though I can hope!), but if they stock Chisato's Romantic Ukare Mode solo CD I will seriously scream. I came so close to just giving in an paying like 3000yen for it on YJA, but if I can buy it from HSU then I am glad I waited.

HSU ships to most of the world, so no matter where you are, you can more than likely help support Chisato. They will begin selling the goods on Friday February the 11th at 9 PM US Eastern Time.

Do note that special order items (like Chisato's solo live goods) takes about 8 weeks to arrive to HSU's location and then takes another week or so to get to your house.

Happy shopping!

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S/mileage - Short Cut PVs + other single news

First let's get the "other single news" out of the way. It's been a week since Buono!'s Zassou no Uta single was released to the public, which means the first week sales are now published.

Zassou no Uta sold 13,390 copies, which is a little over a hundred higher than Our Songs's first week sales (13,220). It's not much of an increase, but it's an increase nonetheless so congrats to Buono! If you want to help Buono!'s new single in a year sell well, you can buy it here.

Now onto S/mileage.

Recently I made a couple of modifications to this custom PC I built to make it faster (more on that in a later blog post) and wanted to test it out.

The result are some nice looking encodes of the PVs from S/mileage's new single Short Cut. These encodes are not the same as the ones that I uploaded to Youtube - these look significantly better. And thanks to the tweaks and additions that I made, they were done in half the time it normally would take me.

So, if you like Short Cut then download these PVs and tell me what you think about the quality.

Short Cut Dance Shot Version (from the Limited A DVD)

Short Cut Image Scene Version (from the Limited B DVD)

Short Cut Salon Dream Version (from the Limited C DVD)

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Moar OhMyGoshCaptainWithLongHair

UFA uploaded new Berryz Koubou profile pictures to the official site, which features Captain with hair down to her shoulders.

And clicking to the individual member profiles gives us a closer look at Captain's new hairstyle.

OH MY CAPTAIN

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Spending a day with Nakky

Nakajima's eLineUP solo DVD Hidamari is out, so rejoice Nakky fans.

As expected, there are no swimsuit or gravure scenes in this DVD, just pure Nakky.

It starts out a little creepy.

The camera stares at a sleeping Nakky for 20 seconds silently before her alarm clock rings.

Oh noes, Nakky is late for her date with you

She magically gets dressed in her seifuku and checks herself out in the mirror.

She's hot and she knows it

Finally some music begins to play as Nakky walks down a trail somewhere. This is where the virtual date stuff begins. You get to stare at Nakky as the camera follows her everywhere, as if you were right next to her. I'm sure Nakky fans will enjoy it.

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Kanna photobook pictures (plus bonus Captain)

Earlier this year I bought a couple of photobook related items. The first of which most of you already knew about. Shortly after it was announced, I knew that I must own Captain's first solo DVD. Though expensive, it was completely worth it to me because, well, it's Captain! But I'll get to that later in this post.

The other purchase that I made was of Kanna's first photobook. The previews were great, but that was only part of the reason why I bought it.

That's right, it's autographed by Kanna herself. After seeing that for sale, I knew I had to own it. And now I do.

Even though there aren't any scans of the full photobook (yet), I'm not going to do it. I suck at scanning anyway. Instead, I took pictures (of varying quality) of every page. If you want to see the pictures in HQ, then buy it (or at least wait until someone scans it).

I think this is my favorite photobook ever (at least out of the ones I've actually owned). It has a nice balance between hot/sexy/holy crap YES shots and casual shots, though it leans towards the former (and I'm certainly not complaining).

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News, news, and more news

Over the past few days there have been a huge amount of new news in the Hello! Project world. Instead of multiple small posts, here is one big post with most of the news.

• Morning Musume's 45th Single Announced

Wow, 45 singles already? Titled Maji Desu ka Suka!, it will release on March 23rd and will be 9th Gen's first single. I ordered three of the limited editions as soon as I could and I hope that everyone will do their best to support the new Morning Musume and give the 9th Gen a nice warm welcome.

• New Aichan solo DVD announced, PB to likely follow

On April 20th, a new Aichan Solo DVD will be released and probably a week or so before (or maybe even on the same date), a photobook will probably release as well. Unless they try and squeeze another photobook in (which did happen with Eri), this will be Aichan's last as a member of Morning Musume. I, for one am honored to see the legendary Aibutt one last time.

• Morning Musume OG are back

We already knew they would be doing a tour together, but what was recently announced is that they will be releasing an album on April 20th and that during the course of 2011 they will perform 57 concerts. The group is called Dream Morning Musume and former Musume members Koharu, Ogawa Makoto, Mikitty, Yossie, Rika, Abe, Yaguchi, Keichan, Kaori, and Yuko make up the group. Great news for all OG fans.

• C-ute's 6th Album announced

It will release on the same day as Morning Musume's 45th single (3/23). 7 of the 11 songs will be completely new so C-ute fans have a lot to look forward to. I think C-ute's albums have gone significantly downhill ever since their awesome third album, so I hope that "Chou Wonderful! 6" will break that trend.

• Seishun no Serenade 1st week sales

are 11,802. It's Manoeri's lowest selling single, but it still has a legitimate shot at surpassing Onegai Dakara's overall sales. It sucks that her sales are getting lower, but as long as she keeps making good music (I quite like this song) then sales don't really matter.

• Eri/Jun/Lin Graduation concert to get a Blu-Ray release

Blu-ray DVDs have become pretty standard with H!P releases now so I'm not surprised. It will also release on 3/30. March is gonna be a great month.

• Sayu is next

to have an e-LineUP solo DVD. I just wish there were PBs attached to these things. But oh well, at least many members are getting the spotlight.

• Morning Musume 9th Gen FC Event

There will be two dates, first on the 6th and then on the 11th, the 9th gen will be formally introduced to the fanclub members and hopefully they'll get to hear them sing. Merchandise usually follows events and this one is no different. FC members will have a chance to purchase 9th gen's first set of goods.

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C-ute - Kiss Me Aishiteru PV

Once again, the official Youtube channels prove themselves useful as the PV of C-ute's new single has been uploaded.



I love it. UFA has been pretty creative as of late. This PV still follows the normal pattern of dance in a random area, mix in some close ups and call it a day, but the way it's presented makes all the difference.

The first thing I noticed was the outfits. They are like a hotter version of the Dance de Bakoon! outfits. I approve. They make the PV so much hotter.

Onto the girls themselves, I love each and every one of their hairstyles. I really think that they all looked their absolute best here. Nakky wins the most unique award and looks amazing.

Speaking of unique, I also love the other random elements of the PV. Sitting in a bowl shaped chair wearing headphones holding a glass apple? Awesome.

Though I wonder where exactly they filmed this at. It honestly looks like an insane asylum. The close up shots in a room with padded walls didn't exactly help stray me from that thought lol.

As for the song, Kiss Me Aishiteru has the most important element of a song done right: its catchy. Even if you don't like the song, you can't deny that the repeated "ne" and "please" lines are catchy. I really like how they had each girl sing them in rapid fire. Those two simple lines add so much to the song.

Like usual, the dance seems to be interesting. I'll hold off complete judgment until a dance shot emerges, but it looks pretty hot to me.

The only disappointment about this PV is that it was released right after the two Buono! PVs. They were so great any PV pales in comparison. But still, Kiss Me Aishiteru is another excellent PV for C-ute and I can't wait for the dance shot.

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Buono! - JUICY HE@RT PV

The second of six songs on Buono!'s first single in a year, JUICY HE@RT now has a PV that you can view on the official Buono! channel.



First of all I must give props to UFA for not only putting multiple songs on a non-double A side single (its pretty common for other companies to do, but UFA rarely does it) but also giving us two great PVs to ogle over.

I stand by my initial feelings that Zassou no Uta is one of the best Buono! PVs I've ever seen, but JUICY HE@RT is also pretty good. I think I like the Zassou PV better and the JUICY HE@RT song more.

With a huge yacht and two luxury cars (plus the expensive looking cars from Zassou no Uta), this may just be the most expensive Buono! PV ever made. Unless they are from Tsunku's personal collection, lol.

There are some nice things going on in this PV, but overall it just seems to be lacking something. Maybe I'm just too used to seeing dancing in every H!P PV.

Though I'm sure that the single v (or at least the event v, if there is one) will be packed full of interesting variations of the two PVs. Personally, I'd like to see JUICY HE@RT: Dancing on Top of Expensive Cars Ver. and Zassou no Uta: Let's All Get Our Hair Done Like Miya Ver.

On a serious note, I hope that there will be dance shots for both, and I rather liked the close up with the other two members in the background (@ like 2:58 in this PV). I'd like to see a special close up version using those shots or something.

Fans seemed to be disappointed after seeing and hearing Zassou no Uta because they were expecting something extravagant from Buono!'s "comeback" single, but I think that this single is as good as the sum of its parts. Zassou no Uta's PV, the JUICY HE@RT song, and the third song on this single, Runaway Train, are all excellent examples of why I love Buono! and Hello! Project. 3 great songs + 2 great PVs = best Buono! single ever. Hands down. I've already got my orders in.

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