JUICE=JUICE – DOWN TOWN / Ganbarenai yo If anyone is curious as to what motivated my recent four-and-a-half month hiatus from blogging, this single did. More to the point, the events leading up to this single being pushed back a month to facilitate the erasure of former member Sayuki Takagi from the single and the group going forward. All because...
MORNING MUSUME ’21 – 16th ~That’s J-POP~ The Fukumura Era of Morning Musume (2014-present) has been mostly frustrating for me personally for several reasons. From a production standpoint, their recordings have relied heavily on sounds and techniques established during the Michishige Era (2012-2014), even to this day. I’ve found the catalog during Fuku’s leadership to be spotty compared other eras,...
State of the Hello! Project Address With 2020 finally in our rearview mirror, we can look forward to a fresh start for all of the Hello! Project groups and idols going forward. 2020 was a strange and turbulent year that saw H!P wave goodbye to a slew of talented idols, many of whom seemed to leave well before their time....
One of the few nuggets of gold to come out of the shit-pile that was 2020 H!P was the series of solo recordings released on Youtube. These are my five favorites, and you’ll notice some of H!P’s best singers missing from the list. The success of these recordings, for me, depends heavily on song choice, and these five were the...
Karin Miyamoto to graduate Juice=Juice and Hello! Project. Juice=Juice ace Karin Miyamoto has announced her intention to graduate from the group and Hello! Project following completion of J=J’s Spring tour. Reasons given for wishing to leave the group were many and varied, including the desire to be a solo artist, interests in DIY craft-work and interior design, and getting in...
Here we go again. Mizuki Murota’s sudden announcement to graduate from Angerme after the group’s March 22 Hina Fes Premium concert has left fans stunned and confused, and wondering how many more important members the group can lose without losing their identity and high level of performance. Murota’s and Funaki’s departures will be the fourth and fifth in less than...
Musician and manga writer Mikito Tsurugi has adapted his 2014 autobiographical essay Ano Koro: Danshi Kashimashi Monogatari for the big screen, with a screenplay by Tominaga Masanori and starring Tori Matsuzaka (The Blood of Wolves) in the lead role. The movie In Those Days will follow Tsurugi’s challenging and life-changing events after failing his grad school entrance exam. Poor and...
Morning Musume – “KOKORO&KARADA / LOVEpedia / Ningen Kankei No way way” The most anticipated Morning Musume singles for me these days are those that debut a new generation. I’ve been less interested in the H!P flagship than all other H!P groups since Sayumi graduated, and that saddens me a bit. MM is the group that made me a J-idol...
BEYOOOOOND1St Announced just one month after their debut single dropped, the production schedule for BEYOOOOOND1St broke with J-idol conventions by hewing more closely to the 70s-80s rock system of rolling out a single to promote an impending new album, usually a month or so before its release. In an era where new idol groups are expected to have at least...
Rei Inoue is the sole member of Kobushi Factory who will remain with Hello! Project after KF disbands, so the speculation surrounding her future role in H!P is lively. The three most likely scenarios are: 1. solo career; 2. lead a new unit; 3. join an existing unit. I’ll avoid speculating on what I think Up Front will do —...
Well! Fukumura is graduating, but only at the END of this year - LOL!
Fukumura and her cahoots are doing everything they possibly can to prolong their idoling careers. There's a certain amount of…
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