Airii~n Deshou?! Monthly Wrap Up (May 2011 Edition)

Welcome to the second edition of my monthly wrap up series. Because I post so often, I decided to make a mega post at the end of each month to highlight the month's noteworthy posts. This month I once again set an Airii~n Deshou?! post record at 75 posts. Though don't expect me to break that record for a third straight time. I start school again in a couple weeks so I'll be back to about one post a day.

• HelloPro! Time episode 2, episode 3 (English subbed), episode 4, and episode 5

I've all but given up hope on Hello! Morning ever returning, but HelloPro! Time has been entertaining every single week so I can't really complain. Episode 3 (Berryz documenting their trip to Seattle) was even subtitled into English by Hyakupa so you have no excuses to miss out!

• Saho Akari added to Up-Front Girls, then Sengoku Minami and Saho added to UFZS

 In early May, news broke that Saho would indeed stay within UFA and joined UFG at an event. However, the shuffling of former Eggs did not stop there. Saho, along with Minami would later be added to the k-pop dance cover group FZS, further blurring the line between what exactly UFZS and Up-Front Girls really is.

• Yajima Maimi and Nakajima Saki Solo Angles

Finishing out C-ute's 2010 Spring Concert solo angles are Leader and Nakky! If you didn't already know, these solo angles feature one group member per DVD. The camera focuses solely on that one member, so you get the complete staring-at-your-favorite-member experience!

• Contest #2 and #3

In May I held two more contests and gave away a C-ute poster and four Kikkawa Yuu trading cards. They will probably be the last contests for a while so you'll have to stay tuned for more opportunities to win stuff later.

• Kitahara Sayaka's first solo single radio rip

Sayaka-sama's Anime single aired on Japanese radio and also appeared as the ending theme for the Inazuma Eleven GO Anime.

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S/mileage on Sukkiri May 30, 2011

A short feature on the S/mileage event and audition news on the show Sukkiri.

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Momoiro Sparkling gets a weekly #6, has record low first week sales

The results for C-ute's Momoiro Sparkling sales are in and it's not good. They sold 18,172 copies and were the 6th highest selling single for the week.

The sales figure is a new low for C-ute, being slightly lower than Shock's first week. I always hate to see the groups I care about regress, but I at least hope that we don't have anymore songs like Momoiro Sparkling as singles. I think that they do melancholic and/or sexy songs a lot better than they do happy-go-lucky songs (just like Morning Musume).

But, the song isn't solely responsible for the low sales. C-ute and Berryz both does not get nearly enough promotion as they should. The only people who ever know about their singles are wota and any random person who happens to walk into a music store and see the single for sale. That really has to change if UFA wants sales to go up.

As a side note, AKB48 set a new Japanese record by selling 1,344,000 copies of their new single last week. It's the best first week any artist in Japanese history has ever had, so congrats to them.

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Reina, Maimi, Airi, Mai - Tanpopo live 720p HD

Here's a short download for today - Reina, Maimi, Airi and Mai singing Tanpopo's Tanpopo live on Uta no Rakuen on March 6th.

Airiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

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Contest #3 winners

It's now officially Monday which means contest #3 has just concluded!

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Will the S/mileage auditions go down as one of H!P's biggest mistakes?

It's been half a day since news broke. UFA will be holding auditions for the now 1-year-old group, S/mileage.

In his VTR message, Tsunku firmly stated that "S/mileage is missing something." If that didn't cause fans to be upset, his follow-up statement that a "S/mileage demotion is possible" certainly did. (Tokyograph). Even the girls themselves were visibly upset by the news.

Many fans, wota, and the current S/mileage members all disapprove of this shocking news. So then why would upper management think that this is a good idea?

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S/mileage's 1 year anniversary Niconico event

Yesterday in Japan S/mileage held an event to celebrate their one year anniversary of their major debut.

It went pretty much like a mini-concert; there was a couple of MCs and mostly singing their most popular songs. Of course there was also the now-well-known announcement that S/mileage will be getting a new member in the near future. This is a definite watch for all S/mileage fans!

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S/mileage to hold auditions

When the group was first formed, Tsunku did say that the line-up could change.. and, well, it's finally happening - a year after their major debut.

The following announcement was made at a S/mileage event:

 スマイレージ新メンバー募集！！6月土日を使って渋谷で面接します。中高生限定になります！詳細は公式サイトをご覧下さい！沢山のご参加お待ちしております！

Starra at JPM has a translation of it:

S/mileage are taking applications for a new member! There were be an interview in Shibuya in June. Middle school and high school students can apply! Please look at the official site for details! We are waiting for a lot of applications!

More information at S/mileage's website (in Japanese): http://s-mileage.jp/member-bosyu.shtml

This is definitely.. interesting. Certainly can't say I saw it coming.

Though to be honest, I don't think S/mileage really needs anything. Overall I'd say the group's talent is pretty evenly distributed and any additions is going to upset that balance. But oh well, it's going to bring excitement to the group, at least.

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Comments are now back to normal

I have no idea what Blogger did to screw things up this time, but the embedded comment box is back. Thanks to the planning I did for my April Fool's Day post, I had Airii~n Deshou?!'s HTML saved, so I just reverted back to AD?!'s April look and edited the fonts and colors back. If I forgot to change something around, feel free to tell me about it. Happy commenting!

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Airi's Meguru Haru PB making of (subbed) screenshots

Hyakupa once again shows why they're awesome by subtitling Airi's Meguru Haru photobook making of. They released it a couple of days ago, but I didn't have time to make a post until now.

Airi's beauty speaks for herself, so no comments this time!

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Berryz Koubou Ai no Dangan live gifs

Some random gifs from their Happy Music performance that I didn't want to cram into the download post.

I have no idea what this part of the dance is supposed to be about but I like it

Oh Captain, your hand <3

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Berryz Koubou - Happy Music Talk + Performance May 27, 2011

Today Berryz Koubou appeared on Happy Music to promote their Ai no Dangan single.

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Sayashi Riho's push to the front: How I see it

It's no secret that Sayashi Riho is right in the middle of things for just about everything that has to do with Morning Musume's Only you single. She's in the center of the PV's dance shot sequences,

is prominent and/or in the center of two out of the four CD covers,

and has more lines than any other 9th generation member.

But why Riho? Mizuki has more Hello! Project experience. Kanon has more personality. Erina has a more unique tone. Why is Riho pushed ahead of not only her fellow 9th generation members, but also ahead of some of her senpai members? Continue reading on to find out my thoughts.

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HelloPro! Time Episode 5 screenshots

This week there are just two cameramen - Reina and Chisato.

Cameraman Reina starts things off.

 

She's in Shibuya near Shibuya station getting her inner stalker on as she watches Mizuki and Kanon from afar before approaching them.

Say hi to Kanon

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Berryz Koubou Sakigake! Ongaku Banzuke Eight preview 720p HD

This video may be only 21 seconds long (it's a preview of the full Berryz appearance on the FujiTV show Sakigake! Ongaku Banzuke Eight that will air June 1st), but it is still full of action nonetheless.

We have an overprotective host (he loves him some Risako),

some Momoko groping (by a female host, don't worry),

and the legendary Momobutt attack.

I know what I'll be watching next week.

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Contest #3... here we go!

You may remember in my epic CDJapan package from not too long ago, I ordered all four editions of Kikkawa Yuu's debut single, and received four trading cards as a bonus. They are all the same and I definitely don't need the 3 extras so I'm giving them away for free!

That's right - this time you have three chances to win! The cards are really small (about 3.5in/8.9cm) so I'm making this contest the easiest one yet.

I've gotten many great entries in the past so I was sad that I couldn't pick one winner, so for the first card, I will give it away to someone who has entered in any of my other two contests before, but didn't win.

The second card I will give it away to someone that I think is awesome - either because of your contribution to the H!P community, this blog (by making intelligent comments or helping me in any way) or just someone that is cool in general.

For the third card I will just pick someone randomly.

So, if you want to enter just post here saying you want to! You have until Sunday, May 29th 11:59 PM United States Eastern Standard Time to post here if you want to enter. Good luck!

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The Melancholy of Fukuda Kanon

Kanyon cosplayed as one of my favorite Anime characters, Suzumiya Haruhi (from the Anime the Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi) and actually kinda sorta looks like Haruhi:

The "real" Haruhi:

Yay for cosplay that doesn't suck.

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Morning Musume - Only you 720p HD PV

The Only you PV also aired on M-ON! in HD, so here is a much higher quality version than the Youtube rip.

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Morning Musume's Only You full PV

From the official Morning Musume Youtube channel:

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Momoiro Sparkling debuts at #4

 

As you can see, 3rd place sold 9570, meaning C-ute sold about 8000 for their first day. They have really tough competition (lolwow at AKB selling almost 1 million copies in 1 day and Team Amuse selling 56k) so that's not bad. Kuraki Mai (#5) and the GazettE (#6) are right behind them and will be battling C-ute for the #4 spot so I'm hoping for a weekly top 5.

If you want to help C-ute out, you can buy Momoiro Sparkling at CDJapan.

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S/mileage Koi ni Booing Buu! Single V

On the single v is the normal PV, a close up version, and a making of.

S/mileage - Koi ni Booing Buu! P

S/mileage - Koi ni Booing Buu! (Close Up Ver.) PV

S/mileage - Koi ni Booing Buu! making of

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HelloPro! Time Episode 4 screenshots

Every week, these HelloPro! Time episodes have been nothing short of amazing. Can episode four continue that trend?

Because this week heavily features C-ute, we have a new temporary title. C-ute TIME!

The episode starts off with just Nakky and Maichan.

They talk to us for a while because they are waiting for the third member of their date to arrive. Maimi and Airi both have business to attend to, so that just leaves Chisato.

 

Chisato is always late to everything lol. There was a subtitled video about that very subject but I can't find it. Oh well.

With Chisato joining them, Nakky and Maichan can finally head off on their C-ute date in Odaiba.



Before entering their first destination, Chisato and Maichan decide to dance their way in.

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Let's request for Morning Musume to appear on Music Station!

Just like I asked you all to do for Maji Desu ka Ska!, I'm asking you to request that Music Station invite Morning Musume to perform on their show.

You see, Music Station is one of the most popular music shows in Japan. The fact that it is invitation only (you can't buy your way on air) also makes it one of the most respectable. So, an appearance there would help Morning Musume out greatly.

Here's how you can help. Go to Music Station's website here:

http://www.tv-asahi.co.jp/music/m-contents/request/

And you'll be brought to this page:

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Berryz Koubou's Ai no Dangan full PV screenshots + download link

Uploaded not too long ago to the official Berryz Koubou Youtube channel is the full promotional video of their new single, Ai no Dangan.



It's finally out!!

There were multiple instances where I shouted YES! while watching, which only means one thing: I love it.

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How to save pictures from websites without right clicking (Firefox)

I don't have time to post about anything else (HelloPro! Time #4 screenshot post is coming soon, I promise. If you don't want to wait, here is HPT4's download link) nor do I have anything quick that is ready to upload so here is a quick tutorial.

When I was writing the post on Yaguchi's marriage, I wanted to get the photo directly from the Oricon site that broke the news. If you go to that news article and try to right-click anywhere on the page, you are greeted with this:

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Morning Musume on J-MELO May 22, 2011 (subbed)

Morning Musume members Niigaki Risa and Mitsui Aika made a short appearance on the NHK World TV show J-MELO (complete with English subs) a couple of minutes ago.

They listened to a few foreign J-pop fans sing in Japanese and then they gave their thoughts on the performance.

The last fan that they watched looks really familiar.

Could that be H!O's Chobineko? The dozens of C-ute posters lead me to say yes. 

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Fukumura Mizuki's Greeting DVD

Sorry for the lateness! I had this done a couple of days ago, but the H!P Winter concerts took priority.

This is Mizuki's solo e-Hello DVD!

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Yaguchi is now a married woman

Late last year I reported that Yaguchi Mari could be getting married soon and it's finally happened.

Tokyograph has translated an article from Oricon which states they handed in their marriage papers early today.

Congratulations Yaguchi!

Read more at Tokyograph.

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Hello! Project 2011 Winter B-kkuri concert

B-kkuri concert version!

Same deal as yesterday - screenshots and my thoughts first.

- Rival was a cool way to open the show. Glad they gave some of the other members solo lines. Aichan did really well on her solo line.

- Kiss Me Aishiteru wasn't quite as hot as in A-gana because of less zooming, but here is one more gif to add to the KMA butt shaking collection:

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Happy Birthday Melisa!

Today, Melisa (one half of the ShimaShimaCombo blog and awesome friend of mine) turns 14!

In celebration, I subbed Nakky's solo from the H!P 2011 Winter Concert (the B-kkuri version).



Your card should come today~

誕生日おめでとう！
Tanjoubi omedetou Melisa!

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Hello! Project 2011 Winter A-gana concert

First I want to give a big thanks to the wota who uploaded the ISOs and Hidders for telling me about them. This is my encode of the A-gana Live Hello! Project 2011 Winter Concert DVD.

I will do a HD encode whenever the 80 GB Blu-ray torrent finishes, but I'm not expecting it to for another few weeks.

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