True Life Seek

First, let me point out that I am not well-versed in LGBT issues in Japan (and other countries). If anyone can recommend me anything to read, I’d appreciate it.

This started off as a review for Koda Kumi’s “TABOO” PV. I’ll have to get into that review another day. The focus shifted more towards the prevalence, or lack thereof, of LGBT personalities in the Japanese entertainment world. I can’t think of many LGBT idols/celebrities or situations where the intent wasn’t exploitation, be it fanservice or for comedic effect. The sincerity behind Goto Maki starring in Yubi (2006) was legit, but that movie had plenty of problems (which I’ll save for another day). I’m willing to claim ignorance as I haven’t seen enough or don’t know enough Japanese pop culture history, even after all these years, to fully understand the situation here. I am just reacting to what I have seen so far, perhaps for reference. And for now, I’m saying that it is not “normal,” or acceptable, for idols to be LGBT.

And that doesn’t sit very well with me.

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted on September 24th, 2008 by broomhead. Filed under Article, Idols.
Tags: AKB48, Aoki Sayaka, Arihara Kanna, Berryz Koubou, DEKOBOKO17, Goto Maki, Hey! Say! Jump!, Koda Kumi, LGBT, Morning Musume, Music Fighter, Nakai Masahiro, Nakazawa Yuko, sex, sexual identity, Suzuki Airi, TABOO, Takahashi Ai, Utaban, Vulpi, Wonder Girls, Yubi, °C-ute

There were not many Ai Kago reactions after all.

Buono’s Kiss!Kiss!Kiss! PV was released and can be viewed at some boys blog. I haven’t watched it yet so I don’t have any opinion. I just like that, after 2 previous singles, it’s possible to label this PV as “Typical Buono.”

There are more reviews for Perfume’s GAME. Shanimuni Paradise and boylikesmusicPerfume. It pains me to see that neither of them enjoy “take me take me” as much as I do. I will freely admit that I’m liking this song because it was made for the exact reasons Shanimuni points out:

If there was ever fan service in a song…….

They had an album called Fan Service, they are not above this!

I do enjoy that GAME is getting reactions to Perfume across the blogs. It’ll take some time to win over more fans and there are some who simply won’t pay attention to this group at all. This is slowly changing.

Posted on the Hello!Online tracker was Morning Musume’s appearance on Utaban. I am going to review this for TLS later on today as I have some fun comments for it. But real quick, this is a combination of mainstream Japan’s opinion of Morning Musume (Utaban doesn’t care about Momusu anymore) and an episode of Haromoni (boring rubbish as we watch Momusu watch other people do nothing). I would recommend watching this but it really is no different from the last few years of Morning Musume on these shows.

As for Airi Suzuki’s third photobook (from strawberrie)…

Aika. Kanna. Junjun.

Posted on April 25th, 2008 by broomhead. Filed under Links, The Rest.
Tags: Ai Kago, Aika Mitsui, Airi Suzuki, A~chan, Buono, C-ute, Haromoni, Hello!Project, Junjun, Kanna Arihara, Kashiyuka, Morning Musume, Nocchi, Perfume, Utaban