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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