2006: Def Diva
2007: GAM
2008: C-ute

When it happens, you can all call it the Rakuten Eagles Curse.

* Morning Musume doesn’t count since The Manpower was A) not intended for the baseball team, B) did not have Rakuten Eagles in the title and C) would ruin my theory.

My guesses as to how:

1 - Chisato Okai pulls out a knife in the middle of a concert and finally cuts a solo line. In who is debatable.

2 - Erika Umeda gets caught in a scandal and rocks the foundation of the unit - haha, yah right.

3 - Japan gets sick of teenage girls - haha, yah right.

4 - Airi becomes a full-time member of Buono. What something that could seriously happen?

5 - Either Maimi or Mai is getting pregnant, or both - and potentially with the same baby daddy.

Years from now, we may be talking about how brilliant Hello!Project was to turn Erina Mano into a soloist. It could be the decision that turned things around for the company.

As for today, on March 2, 2008 - it doesn’t look like the right thing to do.

And I really like Erina Mano, and not just for her looks.

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I watched Aya Matsuura’s 2007 Autumn ~Double Rainbow~ tour a few days ago. I have not watched an Aya Matsuura concert in a long time. I have had no reason to. She is no longer an artist that I greatly enjoy. In fact, whenever I watch her, I am just reminded of why I used to like her instead of why I currently like her.

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The facts may prove that this video is about Maimi Yajima and Natsumi Abe going into a ramen shop. This is what they tell me. I am under no certain terms to have to believe them. So I don’t. Let me tell you what this video is about.

Natsumi is sneaking Maimi into a club. I don’t blame her.

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While it has virtually melted away by now, we got out first snow storm of the season a few days ago. So to commemorate this great occasion, I dug deep into the VAULT to pull out some photos that include H!P and snow. There has definitely been a decline of these pictures, especially in photobooks. Eric Kamei even went to Canada and didn’t have a single picture of her near snow. What a travesty! One the one hand, it does make sense… It’s pretty hard to go around shooting in snow with a bikini on. However, it would definitely make for a memorable photo for all of those people complaining about bikini shots becoming “generic.”

But enough of that, onto the photos!

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