• YA-KYIM respects KOME KOME CLUB - Kimi ga Iru Dake de
• Aoyama Thelma - Mamoritai Mono
• Hinouchi Emi - Kataomoi

All three are pretty boring. One of the girls in this bunch looks like a Morning Musume member and I think has sex in a library. Can you guess which one? Can you guess which Musume probably would have sex in a library? No, the answer isn’t “all of them.”

YA-KYIM respects KOME KOME CLUB - Kimi ga Iru Dake de

YA-KYIM’s latest samples/covers “Kimi ga Iru Dake de” by Kome Kome Club. I never heard the original song before, shows how much I know. YA-KYIM’s is a bland song and video and doesn’t have half of the charm that “Super☆Looper” did.

I am a little worried about YA-KYIM if they already have to use Kome Kome Club’s name (they are technically “YA-KYIM respects Kome Kome Club” in this). Then again, who is YA-KYIM to sell based on their own name?

I like the idea of “X respects Y” and wish it was required of all covers. Not for giving respect to the original artists, but I just want to see “Michishige Sayumi and Sugaya Risako respects W” to make fun comparisons. Who’d end up being the smoker and who’d end up being the pregnant one?

Risako for both . . .

While this video and song may be boring, I still have a crush on Yurie. I really like the third picture here. It’s straight out of a BoA video.

Aoyama Thelma - Mamoritai Mono

I’m still confused at how she sold so much with Soba ni iru ne. It must have been all the commercial tie-ins. It must have been SOULJA. It had to have been something besides Thelma! Someone give me a reason to like this girl!

Hinouchi Emi - Kataomoi

This video is pretty similar to “Mamoritai Mono.” Emi stands around and sings. There is a boring love story going on. I don’t care about it and don’t even want to screencap it.

Holy crap, she looks like Tanaka Reina. But I can look at her without the “ugggh” factor. Maybe I’ll just pretend Reina isn’t really Reina when I watch Morning Musume stuff from now on. I’ll pretend it’s Ueda Tatsuya! Ok Tatsuya looks more like Goto Maki. Whatever. Find me someone then.

The only thing I really learned is that Emi is one of those people that go to the library to “get some work done”; but when they get to the library, all they do is slack off.

I used to do this all the time. In fact, most of the time that I went to the library was to chat.

Emi starts to take off her clothes here and I’m not sure why. I always imagined freaky stuff goes on in a library after-hours. It’s a place where everyone is all courteous to each other. So naturally some people will get their thrills by defiling such a place.

But then Emi stares at the camera and looks extremely bored. Either she has done this before and the thrill is gone or she’s really disappointed with how things are going.

Where have I seen poses like this before? There goes Emi, LOOKING LIKE REINA again.

While this is really cute, I’m thinking, “it was a pleasure doing business with you.”

In the end, this video isn’t that interesting. But as it is with Yurie from YA-KYIM, I don’t give a what about how bad the video is because I like the song and have a big crush on Emi.

So here’s where I missed the ball this week:

The Titles

MiChi’s Chest, Hidemi Uematsu’s Chaos and Aira Mitsuki’s Face
HALCALI is not HALICALI and tommy heavenly6 needs to STOP
Ito Yuna Can’t Vogue, Fukuhara Miho is a Hippie and CHEMISTRY Doesn’t Deserve a Mention
More Video Talk: Buono, capsule, GIRL NEXT DOOR (Where A Sane Person Exists!)
No Sleeves and HANGRY & ANGRY: When New isn’t New and when New is WTF

I didn’t want to sit around thinking of titles for any of these posts; but I also didn’t want them to be too plain. These are just messy and not that witty. I should have just kept it simple or actually tried to think of some good titles.

Regarding No Sleeves

As Cat pointed out in a comment, the group New Sleeves isn’t new in my usage of the word “new.” I said this:

Ok, there is nothing really new about No Sleeves, besides this particular combination of Kojima Haruna, Takahashi Minami and Minegishi Minami.

But Cat points out:

The girls of No Sleeves have been previously paired together, although not as a formal sub unit to release singles or anything.

For what it’s worth, I watched the two videos and this particular trio definitely has its merits. Kojima Haruna is some freaky mixture of Iida Kaori and Goto Maki. My only disappointment what that “Bye Bye Bye” wasn’t a cover of *NSYNC’s “Bye Bye Bye.” That would have won me over for good.

Regarding capsule

I’m starting to like “JUMPER” more and more, enough to forgive the video. I think my real problem with the video is that I don’t like Nakata Yasutaka being in music videos.

Posting on International Wota

Another week of nothing.

This week, I’m hoping to have posts about BoA, Bonnie Pink, Hinouchi Emi, Perfume and Rie fu, as well as whatever else I can fit in. I also hope to dive deeper into this whole ugly Aira Mitsuki thing. I got some comments that had some people agreeing with me, and that bothers me.

• No Sleeves - Relax
• HANGRY & ANGRY - Kill Me Kiss Me

No Sleeves – Relax

No Sleeves is a new unit from AKB48. Ok, there is nothing really new about No Sleeves, besides this particular combination of Kojima Haruna, Takahashi Minami and Minegishi Minami. Everything about this screams generic idol group. The song, the singing, their voices, the video, the “dancing,” the facial expressions and gestures, the puppy dog, all of it. It’s all been done before.

The video is very simple. They dance on a set. They lounge around, have a pillow fight and play with a dog.

It is boring. But I like it.

The faces and names are new, or at least packaged in a way that makes them seem new, and that is very significant. I had neither high nor low expectations. I knew very little about these three girls before going into this.

Basically, I like this group because it is new, even though I know there is nothing new about it.

I can’t justify the fact that I like a group for being new when it has nothing original or new about it. If No Sleeves gets promoted by their company and continues to have new videos and releases, maybe I’ll have a better understanding why I like No Sleeves. If not, a new new group, that doesn’t do anything new, will show up to replace them.

HANGRY & ANGRY – Kill Me Kiss Me

Ok well lol this is definitely NEW. The names and faces (Ishikawa Rika and Yoshizawa Hitomi) aren’t new but they are doing something totally different.

But does it work? Let’s put it this way. I didn’t know much about No Sleeves, so I had no preconceived notions of what they could and couldn’t pull off.

Hitomi pulls this off. Rika doesn’t.

This video is simple in that it is a bunch of close-ups and then a shot of the band “playing.”

Ok obviously Rika doesn’t play the guitar in this video, but she doesn’t even give off the appearance of playing one. How can I best describe it? She gracefully strokes the guitar. She bangs the guitar like a tambourine. In another video, this would be amazing. However, I don’t believe that the intended effect of this video was to have me sitting here laughing at how ridiculous Rika looks.

Well, ok, she looks ridiculously good. But, for once, that’s not that point.

Also, this is out of place. I know a lot of Rika and Hitomi fans have been waiting for this. Here wasn’t the time or place.

While it might seem that “knowing” Rika and Hitomi beforehand hurts the legitimacy of HANGRY & ANGRY, keep in mind something. I wouldn’t care about this group if it wasn’t Rika and Hitomi. If this were two random idols, I’d look at this video from the point of view that I saw No Sleeves. I’d watch it, be perplexed at a girl slapping a guitar like a tambourine and probably move on. The video for No Sleeves was nice, but it didn’t tap into any emotions like the bewilderment I feel after watching “Kill Me Kiss Me.”

What’s worrisome is that it appears HANGRY & ANGRY is being promoted to people that share my No Sleeves point of view. They don’t have the background knowledge of Rika and Hitomi. I don’t believe that this video does a good job of endearing these two to a new audience.

Ok, all of that probably won’t matter if people want the clothes.

For those that know next to nothing about Rika and Hitomi, what do you think of this group? For the rest, watch this video and try to think of it as two people that aren’t Hitomi and Rika. Think of it as mostly unknowns – the way I looked at No Sleeves – and tell me how deep your interest in this group is.

• Buono - Rottara Rottara
• capsule - JUMPER
• GIRL NEXT DOOR - Jounetsu no Daishou

Buono - Rottara Rottara

The video is a TV performance with a few close-ups here and there. I guess that since H!P groups don’t go on shows like Utaban anymore, they have to pretend like they are on one. I can’t stand the fake applause. It is very colorful and Buono themselves never stop moving. Still, nothing actually happens and the video is pretty boring.

The song itself is nice. It’s all about the “Rottara Rottara” part and I don’t give a what about the song beyond that jingle. Luckily for me, it takes up a lot of the song. To go all K on this, I counted 50 Rottaras. That is a lotta love.

Click here to view the embedded video.

capsule - JUMPER

I’m not feeling this. The song is fine but the video… This video is too repetitive to be a 7 minute video. At one point, we get one person jumping. Then we get two people jumping. And to top it off, we get a person flipping. Variety.

Click here to view the embedded video.

GIRL NEXT DOOR - Jounetsu no Daishou

Finally. Finally, someone is in a video where all this crazy shit is going on, and they are actually freaked out by it.

So Chisa (like I actually knew that without looking it up) is pretty happy with a gift in-hand.

She walks up to one of the houses and goes straight in. Why don’t rich people lock their doors? No one is in the building - come to think of it, I didn’t see anyone in the town - so if she wanted to steal all this shit, she’d easily get away with it.

Instead, she’d rather see things in a mirror. It’s a girl hugging Chisa’s significant other. Man, look at the evil look this girl gives Chisa in the third picture. Ouch.

Naturally, Chisa flips out. Ok, maybe breaking the mirror was a bit extreme.

Of course, there is something hidden behind the full-length mirror. Is there ever a full-length mirror that is not hiding something behind it?

Chisa walks through the mirror (don’t do it!) and down a long hallway. After a long string of doorways, she finds herself outside. There is a garden in the back. Hey, maybe things will be normal after all.!

Aw hell, it’s a labyrinth. You know shit is going down now.

We see Frank, a midget and some old maid. I’m thinking to myself, “Run! Get the fuck out of there!” And much to my surprise (seriously this time), Chisa gets the hell out of there. I was expecting her to reach out and try to touch Frank in some symbolic gesture. But no, Chisa is acting sane.

Luckily for Chisa, there is a door nearby. Funny how that works out. She walks into this weird hallway where a bunch of shadows are having a Johnny’s practice session. Chisa’s shadow is about to become one of them so Chisa gets the hell out of there. Smart girl, but take your heels off when run.

Chisa gets out of there walks a catwalk and this apparently isn’t her first time on one either. Chisa looks really amazing in this part.

Eventually she walks through the wrong door and falls into the great abyss.

And the landing to the great abyss is not so forgiving.

So we learn that Chisa was not flipping out when she saw something in the mirror, she was actually rejected by her guy. The whole deal with the labyrinth and turning into a shadow was just a metaphor for the anguish that she was going through. And the fall that she took, well…

It’s sad, but it’s even sadder (for me) that the one person who acts normal in these surreal situations ends up being torn apart by her demons. Regardless, it’s a great video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

• Ito Yuna - Koi wa groovy x2
• CHEMISTRY - Koisuru Yuki Aisuru Sora
• Fukuhara Miho – LOVE ~winter song~

Ito Yuna – Koi wa Groovy x2

I’ve never listened to Ito Yuna before. I found out that she used to sell records. Those days seem to be behind her. Maybe I’m being unfair by paying attention to her only after she has fallen off the mountain. On the other hand, it’ll be fun watching her try to climb back up it.

So how do they plan to make Ito Yuna into an artist that sells again? Advertisement! If you can’t make sales off of Oricon, at least turn your PV into a commercial to get that cash.

What do we learn from the PV? Well, if you wear GAP clothes, you can be as FUN and as GROOVY as Ito Yuna! This PV is similar to every GAP commercial from the late 90s. Except for the voguing.

Yes, you too will magically be able to start voguing after buying Ito Yuna singles and wearing GAP clothes. Unless you are Yuna herself, who can’t seem to get the arm movements down. The star of this PV is this guy to the left of Ito Yuna.

CHEMISTRY – Koisuru Yuki Aisuru Sora

This video is so boring.

No video because I don’t think anyone has uploaded it to the Internet. I don’t blame them.

Fukuhara Miho – LOVE ~winter song~

Oh I am not ready for the winter holidays takeover of all media forms. And I am going to place my frustration on Miho for making the most obnoxiously holiday sounding single of the year. I don’t know my holiday music but this sounds like one of those songs. They all sound the same.

The video seems to be promoting this hippie equality, which is good because hippie equality is good. However, Miho looks the part…

Ridiculous.

What the hell is that face?

• HALCALI - Long Kiss Good Bye
• Tommy heavenly6 - PAPERMOON

HALCALI - Long Kiss Good bye

I’ve always thought HALCALI’s name was HALICALI. I was pretty disappointed when I finally noticed the error of my ways. HALICALI just has a better ring to it, whereas HALCALI is boring. I’m trying to not let this disappointment cloud my impeccable judgment, but it is very difficult.

I’m not a huge HALCALI fan and I should point that out before going further. They’ve always been this quirky group. That’s fine, but I wasn’t feeling it. “Long Kiss Good Bye” is a little more relaxed and I’m enjoying it.

The video itself still shows HALCALI retains a bit of their quirkiness. But the clothes and their clashing colors and the camera effects seem more effective when the gimmick of the group isn’t “look how wacky we can be.”

Tommy heavenly6 - PAPERMOON

I’m fed up with Kawase Tomoko. I still haven’t heard anything about the brilliant green. Was I right about the b-side of “Ash Like Snow” being their swan song?

PAPERMOON is pretty much the same release as the last tommy heavenly6 single, “Ash Like Snow.”

They don’t sound that different.

There’s the red eye effect from “Ash Like Snow.”

There’s Tommy riding the motorcycle from “Ash Like Snow.”

The video is memorable, but not for the right reasons. The best parts are Elec making some suspect facial gestures and the tin man wailing away at his guitar during a drum solo.

I’m not sure if using the Wizard Of Oz characters means anything or if this was just another tommy quirk. I hope it means that Tomoko is at the end of her Tommy dream and is returning home soon. But there was no symbolic clicking of the shoes at the end of this video, so the nightmare continues!

Why am I so down on Tommy heavenly6? I mean, she’s trying something different, right? Except she’s been trying something different for years now, and I don’t think it’s working anymore. Tommy heavenly6 was better as the counterpart to Tommy february6, not her own persona. They were both characters of a pop and rock star. I’m not reading Tommy heavenly6 as a character anymore, but what Tomoko actually wants to be. If that’s the case, I’d rather she just declare the brilliant green dead once and for all. And definitely not use the brilliant green for Tommy heavenly6 releases.

So if that happens in the next few days, don’t say I didn’t warn you…

I’ve been watching just about every music posted at jpopsuki and have been keeping my eye on Yahoo! Music for any new videos posted. Hopefully, I’ll be able to keep up in posting about them. I’m going to be very behind for a while though.

That said, there are a lot of bad music videos. I like a music video when it either tells a story or looks cool. It doesn’t even have to tell a story well; if I can make up an interpretation, I’m happy. But a lot of music videos are 3 or 4 minutes of nothing that is easily forgettable.

MiChi – Promise

The video for “Promise” doesn’t tell a story, unless you want to read it as what goes on in MiChi’s chest (watch the first minute). And after we zoom in on MiChi’s chest, we get a bunch of balloons popping, neon lights flashing everywhere and MiChi holding a giant ball. It’s all pretty confusing but it looks cool and pretty much what I imagined happens around woman’s chest.

The single Promise is fantastic. “Promise” isn’t a bad song, but the real attraction is the third and fourth songs off of the single. She covers Avril Lavigne’s “sk8er boi” and has a remix of her song “Fuck You And Your Money.” Ok, the songs themselves aren’t very good, but that’s not the point.

Hidemi Uematsu – Trauma

The only trauma I felt was sitting through this whole video

Ok this video isn’t bad but I needed to drop that line. The video is really chaotic, filled with fast scenes and distorted images. Whenever I can see something, it is usually exaggerated body movements by Hidemi. Because of this, it’s tough to say what is going besides chaos; but that is appropriate for the song. Still, I don’t think I’ll be watching it that much in the future. It’s intriguing, but I’ll end up with a headache if I watch it too much.

Aira Mitsuki – Robot Honey

Just like “Promise,” “Robot Honey” is about nothing. Aira does a robot dance around a bunch of drawings and CGI graphics. I have no idea what is going on but I keep watching it to try to figure it out. It doesn’t hurt that I like the song.

I was thrown back by the close-ups of Aira though. I can’t recall getting a good look at Aira’s face in a video before. tranquilla once pointed out this strategy with STEPHANIE. Her face has been hidden as much as possible. I think I see why… She even looks like STEPHANIE a bit. Then again, I remember an entry at Radiant Dawn (unfortunately the photo is dead now) that had a really good picture of Aira, so I’m guessing this is more of a makeup/haircut issue.

I never tried used a Yahoo video; so if it doesn’t work, watch it on youtube.

In this video, Beyoncé plays role reversal. I think it is well done as it isn’t over-the-top. If you saw this video under “normal” circumstances – which, for Beyoncé, would mean the guy being the guy and Beyoncé being the girl – you probably wouldn’t blink twice. That’s good for a song like this. The single difference is that Beyoncé is playing “the guy” and the guy is playing “the girl.”

And yes, this release does imply that there are gender-specific roles that we are all following, but it’s not annoying in the way that Katy Perry does it.

I read about Beyoncé describing the video as a Freaky Friday situation. I don’t think that that is the best way to describe it. It’s more a dream sequence. There is no indication that either side is aware of the roles being reversed. After the roles are brought back to “normal,” the guy is unaware of the previous events. It’s for the best. By the end of the video, the guy is exactly the prototype that is described in the lyrics of the song.

It’s not a strict role reversal. In body, Beyoncé is still a woman in this video. There are no stereotypical changes to indicate otherwise; we even get a bra shot of Beyoncé to drive this point home. In personality, she is the “man” of the relationship. I like that this is the route that was taken. I just feel that Beyoncé dressing up like a man and acting out some of the lyrics (”Drink beer with the guys/And chase after girls”) would carry less weight and come off as a joke. That’s not to say that a woman pretending to be a man and behaving like one can’t present the double standard. In this video and under the circumstance of it being a Beyoncé video, it makes more sense for the situation to be a woman being a woman and behaving like a man. Who would ever be able to suspend their disbelief and pretend Beyoncé is a man? I saw Dreamgirls, she ain’t that good of an actress!

The video is not really that adventurous. It may be out of the ordinary for Beyoncé, but it’s still pretty tame. In fact, Ciara had “Like A Boy” last year and that was a lot more in-your-face than this. Both condemn the double standard and aren’t really condoning the role reversal. For me, the video for Beyoncé’s single stands out a lot more as it establishes a tragic relationship between two people.

It’s nice to see Beyoncé try something new. But I hope she doesn’t go crazy and start trying this type of video/music exclusively. She’s not going to make another “Crazy In Love” because there just can’t be another “Crazy In Love,” but another “Irreplaceable” is doable.

There is another direction that I hope Beyoncé doesn’t take. “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)” was released alongside of “If I Were A Boy” and it is rubbish without its video. The video for that isn’t that great either. Dance shots are pretty boring to me; that said, the dance is crazy. But without the video, “Single Ladies” is entirely forgettable.

Anyways, let’s play “Make A Statement!”

Mutou Mika is a genius.

True! Think about it. Remember when Mutou graduated and people actually cared. They wrote entries about it! Do you think her individual graduation would have mattered as much if she was lumped in with big names like Ishikawa Rika and Tsuji Nozomi?

I’m so happy that there are still opportunities to talk about Mutou.

Everything else is gonna be a lie. Cause I feel like lying tonight.

There isn’t a day that goes by where I don’t think about all the girls that are graduating from Hello! Project.

Ok, that’s a lie.

Before today, I can’t tell you the last time that the name “Iida Kaori” popped into my head. I haven’t given thought to Miyosh Erikai and Okada Yui since v-u-den broke up. I didn’t know Yasuda Kei was still working. I can’t even do an entry contemplating on the future for all of these girls; I don’t even know what the hell they are doing in the present.

It’s not that I don’t care about them. Or is it…

I’m as big of a fan of all of those idols as I ever was.

Ok, that’s a lie.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying The Peace sucks. I still listen to the old music - although Miley Cyrus gets more play these days…

I’m devastated by the news.

My nose is growing.

I don’t give a damn about them graduating.

Even if TLS can venture into “omgz non-stop insulting of H!P,” this is a lie.

I love attempting analogies or anecdotes. I really do suck at them. So I need to keep making shitty analogies in the hopes that, one day, I’ll make a good one.

When I was growing up, one of my friends was Chuck. Chuck and I spent a lot of time together. We’d always look for each other when we had free time. But kids drift away from each other and that is what me and Chuck did.

Every now and then, I like to know what Chuck is up to. It’s not like it is a daily ritual for me to sit around and think, “I wonder what Chuck is doing right now…” But you still like to know what your old friends are doing, and hope that they are doing well.

I spent a lot of time watching Abe Natsumi, Ishikawa Rika, Yoshizawa Hitomi and the rest of them. I don’t now though. And I’d be lying if I said their departure from Hello! Project is breaking my heart. I am indifferent to it. I really don’t know what’s different today that from a few days ago, when they were all employed under the H!P umbrella. A few concerts a year that I didn’t watch get canceled? How many Elder Club concerts were there?

Chuck and I shared a past; we don’t share a present or a future.

And that’s just how it is with me and most of the former Elder Club girls.

These are the covers to Koda Kumi’s TABOO and I LOVE the middle one.

I mean it is awful. It is rotten. It is an acceptable black dress thrown off by frills that just don’t quite fit. It is fabric hanging off of bling and not the other way around. It is an unflattering and sexual facial expression that is anything - and everything - but pretty. It’s got elbows bending all sorts of ways but correctly. It’s just generally uncomfortable to look at.

And those are exactly the reasons why I’m loving Koda.

Leah Dizon followed Koda Kumi’s advice and is pregnant and getting married. Of course this has to be a big shock and scandal.

Leah is was an underdog. It may not seem like a Japanese pop star is an underdog, but her story fits it. From my top notch investigative reporting, Leah was doing odd jobs and modeling gigs until she made it big via the Internet. I don’t believe that there are many Japanese pop stars who used to work in American go go bars - or at least started off in the go go bar and not the other way around. She got into the industry at age 20, which is, absurdly, a shockingly late start.

Granted, Leah Dizon’s talents are were questionable. Based on what I’ve seen and reactions from other bloggers reviewing her singles: she’s not a great vocalist, she can’t dance and her personality is not that particularly interesting. For me, Leah is was noteworthy because of her underdog status. She shouldn’t be an idol. Every time she moved and opened her mouth, those suspicions were confirmed.

We love underdogs. I think that it is safe to say that most people consider themselves underdogs in one aspect of their lives. I also think most people have been told at lease once that they can’t succeed. It’s easy to sympathize with characters who famously overcome these hurdles.

Underdogs also try things that most people are afraid to. I think this is why they get respected by ordinary people. I think that most people don’t put themselves in a situation to fail. This means that most people won’t be put in a situation to succeed either.

Did Leah have connections that gave her an edge over others? Sure that’s possible, who knows? That’s all speculation. All I can tell is that Leah worked hard to get to a position that was very unlikely.

Now I’m not saying Leah Dizon’s career is over. You just never know with these things. How long Leah Dizon was going to stick around is debatable anyways. She was pretty much a novelty act. No one was expecting her to go on and release 40 singles or top the charts anytime soon. I’d say two albums, five singles and four photobooks is pretty good for someone who was dancing in bars three or four years ago.

Anyways, I wanna see where I stand next to Raid. So let’s see whether or not I like or dislike the things that Raid dislikes about jpop.

Convoluted, isn’t it?

1. I dislike Hamasaki Ayumi (most of the time).

I don’t really care for Ayumi, but the key here “most of the time.” I think it is impossible for someone to be sincere and be unable to find least one Ayumi single, album, remix, hairstyle or face that they don’t like. She has to have over 100 music releases and at least 3 different faces that she’s rocked.

I’m assuming the problem is that Ayumi’s label as the “queen of jpop” somehow makes her invulnerable to criticism or making a bad single. This is rubbish though. Of course she can do stuff that sucks.

2. I dislike artistes with no personality.

I agree with Raid here. I love a strong and well-defined personality in the entertainment industry. It does bother me when a celebrity sticks with one personality throughout their career though.

3. I dislike Tamori’s hosting style.

I don’t pay attention to Music Station.

4. I dislike virginal idol figures.

Definitely! I dislike that all idols have to be virginal figures. Like Raid, I roll my eyes at the responses idols give when it comes to relationships. Lots of idol personalities are unrealistic, so it’s not the insincerity of it all that bothers me. It just bothers me that eliminating openly skanky behavior limits the fun.

5. I dislike media politics.

Raid’s problem was that stars get blacklisted for making “inappropriate comments.” I agree that the media backlash is stupid and needs to stop. Eliminating controversial and stupid comments makes the entertainment world boring. Idols making inappropriate comments is funny. Blacklisting and boycotting them prevents more of this fun.

6. I dislike Nakashima Mika.

She scares me too.

7. I dislike the JE monopolization of Music Station.

Again, I don’t pay attention to Music Station. However, I can easily understand Raid’s frustration. I see the problem as not being that Music Station is all about JE boy bands but that they don’t admit that they are a Johnny’s commercial.

8. I dislike fans who can’t take criticism of their favorite stars.

Well of course I’m with Raid here, although the proper thing to say would be “I dislike when fans can’t take criticism of their favorite stars.” Doesn’t perfectionism set standards way too high for these stars? Look, they are going to do stuff that sucks. I think that criticizing makes you appreciate what you do like all the more. If you “like everything,” then I’m assuming that you are deceiving yourself.

9. I dislike OS (overseas) versions and their buyers.

Whatever.

10. I dislike fans who claim to be a certain artiste’s “NUMBER ONE FAN!!1!!!” and then NOT BUY ANYTHING from said artiste.

I think it is perfectly acceptable for someone to be a “true fan” of anything without actually purchasing goods from the source. There is a lot of elitism that goes around in fandoms - and showing off your merchandise and knowledge is a good example of it.

Buying shit doesn’t make you a “true fan.” What the hell is a “true fan?” Calling yourself the “number one fan” of anything screams of self-importance. Comparing how “real” of a fan you are against how “real” someone else is is pretty much bullshit. What exactly would define someone as more of a fan than someone else? Goods purchased? Knowledge? Public affection?

Knowledge? Please. That’s a joke. It’s not like we are taking exams here.

Public affection? Perhaps. But what if your fandom is a very personal experience? What if you are shy? Hooting and hollering about your fandom says a lot about your personality, but not how “real” of fan you are.

I have one DVD boxset of the TV shows The Shield and of The Office respectively. I love The Shield a hell of a lot more than I care for The Office. But since I own one copy of the Shield and one copy of The Office, does this mean that I am an equal fan of The Shield as I am of The Office? Goods purchased doesn’t define a “real” fan.

There is an emotional attachment that has nothing to do with items being purchased. I see no way to quantify this attachment. If it is there, it’s there.

Now, to come clean. I am guilty of having an account at dvdaf.com. I have shown off my goods. I never said that I’m not infallible though - even if it is a well-known fact. I understand the feeling behind showing off your goods. I understand how good it feels to make someone jealous that you have something they want. But just because I bought goods doesn’t mean that I am a better fan than someone else. It just means that I decided to buy something.

At the end of the day, if you want to buy something, buy it. Just don’t act like you are special because you bought something. Unless you bought Berryz Koubou’s Yuke Yuke Monkey Dance. Then you are special.

No really. Idols don’t live long lives in the spotlight. Rika is 23. Hitomi is 23. They are getting UP THERE.

At least Haromoni is only 4 minutes now!

If that were the case, her bottom wouldn’t be white.

This is the PV to “Planetarium” from ikimono gakari. Raid has told me it is a good song. pengie has written up an entry on it, calling it “beautiful.”

I’m not really taken by the song.

But the PV. The PV has that right mix of seeming normal while being absolutely absurd. That is beautiful.

Damn it must be a full moon. That window is way too bright.

We start out with a sweet mother-daughter moment. Wait, this isn’t sweet at all.

Ashley: Mommy, can you talk with me, please?
Mother (awkwardly): It’s time to go to bed Ashley. Do you remember? You must clean up all your toys tomorrow from the morning. Okay?
Ashley: Ok…

Ashley just got shut down. What a ruthless, cold-hearted mother. Look at the emotion in Ashley’s eyes. Don’t see any? Me neither.

Forget that though, what the hell did she even say? “Clean up all your toys tomorrow from the morning?”
That is actually a smart technique to parenting. Instead of trying to reason with or beat your kids, just confuse them until they can’t muster up a response.

Poor, dejected Ashley. The human world has shunned her, so she turns to her doll - and does an awful job at voicing said doll. Don’t become a ventriloquist dear.

Ashley: We’re gonna move again.
Doll: Hurry up and sleep or your mom is going to get mad at you.
Ashley: Do you think I’m going to get friends at Next Town?
Doll: You’re gonna be ok Ashley. I’m going to be your best friend forever.

I wonder what population of Next Town is?

That doll is lying. Oh, it may say that it will be Ashley’s BFF. Once some Yamapi doll comes along - poorly voiced by Ashley - this doll will be ditching Ashley. We all know how that goes.

Wait a second… What is that light in the window? Aww how cute. Our little Ashley has her very own creepy stalker hanging by her window. And she was afraid of not being able to make friends!

Well, now it’s time to go to sleep, end the story and watch the band sing their son… wait…

Ahh! The doll is alive!

I hate it when dolls come alive just after you fall asleep. Why is that??

Ahh, it’s so creepy watching them walk. What kind of PV is this?

Ashley wakes up to see the dolls throwing a concert for her. Inexplicably, she doesn’t get the hell out of there. If I woke up and saw my dolls rocking the acoustic guitar, I’d scream bloody murder.

I guess it doesn’t matter if she – like a sane, rational person – ran out. We all know how this story goes. The dolls come alive and kill everyone. Nobody believes Ashley that the dolls are alive. Some rogue doll tells Ashley that she needs to read a spell to return the cursed dolls to their pre-murderous rage state.

Why is it that dolls can sing songs but never wake up the parents?

Oh, that’s right. Because Ashley is insane and the dolls aren’t singing at all…