Captain's "SAKI" Image Video preview

Uploaded to the official Berryz Koubou channel earlier today was a two minute preview clip of Captain's upcoming IV DVD titled SAKI.



This DVD is not to be confused with the DVD that will be packaged with Captain's 1st photobook. The difference between SAKI and the DVD that will come with the photobook is that the latter will be about 15 minutes and will feature nothing more than a making of the photobook. The former will contain the making of as well as 40 or so extra minutes of footage of Captain doing random activities in whatever city the photobook was shot in, as well as an ending interview.

I honestly don't mind if this is another virtual date/staring into the camera type IV DVD. We've never really seen Captain like this; it's only natural to stare.

The preview starts with Captain peeking out from a column.

Seems pretty tame so far. You can see what looks like a standard swimsuit. Then Captain steps out.

We've kinda seen Captain in a swimsuit before, but there is something quite nice about seeing her doing gravure work. Must be the awesome body.

Next we are given some nice closeup shots.

And finally some more full body shots.

Captain appears to be admiring some plants.

 Oh look, you interrupted her.

But all is good.

Next we take a trip outside.

Hide-and-seek in the woods with Captain.

 Admiring the sunshine.

That is such a lovely look on Captain's face.

Here we get a look at another one of her outfits while she walks along the sidewalk.

Oh hello there.

 Sup?

A typical Captain smile. Actually I just realized something. Captain has an excellent smile. Probably one of my favorites in Hello! Project.

She also can make some of the cutest facial expressions.

Now onto the climax of the preview. It starts off pretty normal. Just Captain in a nice dress on the beach.

 She does a brief stretch,

 and stands up to feel the wind. Nothing special right?

oh my god

moar

 this is going to be a great dvd

Captain then walks around the beach for a while, strutting her stuff.

 Unlike most first H!P IVs (and really H!P IVs in general), the cameraman isn't afraid to show off all of Captain's features. I would like to congratulate that person.

 And finally my favorite shot of the bunch.

Just in case you didn't have enough hotness, here is a bonus gif (not made by me)

And there you have it. A very generous preview of what is to come when this DVD releases January 12th.

I haven't bought a photobook since Sayu's Love Letter released in 2008, but I think I'll have to cave in and buy this one if I can scrape together some money. After all, Captain did hold the #1 spot in favorite Hello! Project member ranking for a while. And in the three years that I've been a fan I can't remember a single time where she's dropped out of my top three.

While the actual photobook can be purchased from regular Japanese online stores, unfortunately, this IV DVD can only be purchased from one of UFA's partner stores, e-LineUP, which (to my knowledge) doesn't ship abroad. So then how can foreign fans like me buy this DVD?

There are quite a few online companies that specialize in helping remedy this exact situation. My website of choice is Celga. I've used them for a couple of years now and I find them to be the best as far as price and service goes.

There is also ohta (Japanese wota guy who started his business on ebay. Can be expensive but it's nice to support a fellow fan), JIGS (never tried them but prices seem to be okay), and Rinkya (probably the most professional of the bunch, but also the most expensive) to name a few.

The service works as follows:

1. Celga buys the item for you
2. UFA store ships it to Celga's address in Japan
3. Celga ships it from their address in Japan to your house

It's a pretty simple process, but it can get to be expensive. The DVD may only cost 3000 yen (about $34), but after you pay for shipping x2 (from e-lineUP to Celga Japan, then from Celga Japan to you), as well as random other fees (you have to pay for their service), it will end up costing about 6000 yen (about $64).

But still, it's not that expensive. Concert DVDs are about 4000 yen and after shipping from whatever online store you buy it from, it'll end up being about $50. This is a special DVD for a special occasion (Captain's first PB!) and it's unlikely this DVD will ever be sold anywhere else, so I'd say it's worth it.

Whatever you decide to do, you'd better hurry. Orders are only accepted from e-LineUP until the 10th.

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Morning Musume 9th Gen Preview

On this week's episode of Bijou Gaku (you know, that pretty awesome H!P television show), a rather short collection of clips was shown of some of the girls that applied to be a part of Morning Musume's 9th generation.

Throughout the show, a couple of girls are shown singing,

but I wasn't too impressed by what I heard.

What I did like was the randomness of the rest of the clips. For example, my favorite of the bunch was backflip-chan.

For whatever reason, she was shown doing a pretty awesome backflip.

Coming in second place for me was hyper girl with banana belt.

And my last favorite was awesome face girl.

For the remainder of the TV spot, a couple more girls are shown as the narrator talks.

Me likey auditioner #919

Linlin auditions again, lol

Hopefully we'll find out who the winner(s) are at the end of Morning Musume's Fall concert. Until then, all we can do is wait (and in my case, hope that an Egg or two makes the cut).

I'm not going to keep the above video up for long (for copyright reasons), so here is a download link to my encode of the 9th gen preview from Bijou Gaku: http://www.mediafire.com/?5vvn59qrq3laeod

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My second ever HelloStoreUSA order

Thanks to Raffi, I was reminded of HSU's Black Friday sale before it ended and was able to make it out with a couple of nice photosets.

When HSU was first announced sometime last year, I had my doubts about it. Sure, I was happy, but I just expected it to be an American version of CDJapan or Yesasia - a site that offers H!P CDs and DVDs for sale to foreign fans. And I'm not saying that's bad; it just wasn't something that made me ecstatic since I had been buying that stuff from Japanese stores for years.

This is one of the times where I am glad that I was wrong. HSU offers so much more than CDs and DVDs. They have things like member T-shirts, towels, and DVD Magazines, which aren't even sold in regular Japanese stores. Instead of an "American CDJapan", they are more like an official American UFA store, which is quite awesome.

This is only my second purchase (well, third if you count buying a CD from JapanFiles) and oddly enough, both times I've bought photosets.

Now before I actually begin with the photocards, I'd just like to say that my post office is ghetto.

The package arrived torn at the bottom, which was taped up with some dirty tape. Thanks post office. >_>

Fortunately nothing was damaged. Good job HSU with the packaging.

Anyway, here is my first ever Melon Kinenbi photocards. Masae is pretty cool and they were only $1 for the set (they are 2L size), so it was an easy decision.

The only other 2L sized photos that I ordered. I don't really like photos this big because they have to go in a bigger folder, separate from all of my other photos due to the size. But still, the Maichan photo on the right is my favorite of the bunch.

Next is a Buono! Bravo Bravo set.

I'm also not really a fan of those horizontal photos because when I put them in my photoalbum, I have to turn the album sideways to view them properly. But I'm not really complaining. It's pretty much the only way to have a group shot.

Manoeri time. I'm liking the pink backgrounds. It's a nice change from the usual white.

Shock Cutie Circuit photos part one. My three favorites~

The rest of the set.

And finally, here is an alternative Shock Cutie Circuit set with them wearing the single outfits, part one.

The others. Not really liking Maimi's hair in this one. I like her short hair, but this particular style is too boyish for my tastes.

And that's it. The total cost with shipping was $21 for 6 photosets (24 photos total). That's a pretty amazing deal considering I paid $9 shipped for three zoku v-u-den photos when HSU first launched.

Now I just need a S/mileage photoset to have at least one photo of all of the current H!P members.

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Aitai Lonely Christmas debuts at #6

No huge surprise here. Sandaime J Soul Brothers ranked higher than I would have guessed, but I honestly don't know anything about them.

If J Soul Brothers is consistent with their sales, C-ute will probably end up at #6 for the whole week. I doubt they will outsell Sid, T.M Revolution, or Yuzu (and definitely not Kinki Kids).

But what matters more are total sales. The first day estimated sales are a little over 9000 (lol). That's good for C-ute. If those numbers are accurate, then Aitai has a good chance of selling well.

Of course, you don't have to leave things to chance. You can do your part and buy it!

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The best news all year

...is that Buono! will release a new single!

I must say that I had my doubts. After not releasing much of anything this year and then almost suddenly having a concert in the Summer, I expected a disbanding announcement. Thankfully no such news as announced. Some hope was restored.

Then, it was announced that Buono! would have a new Winter tour. That disproved any notions of disbandment completely (or at least for another couple of months).

The only thing left was to have Buono! to start releasing singles again. That would be hard evidence that Buono! isn't going anywhere anytime soon.

Finally it has happened. And it is the best news all year.

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