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.

In this round:

3. Aika Mitsui vs. 14. Erika Umeda
6. Ayaka Kimura vs. 11. Sayaka Kitahara

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It’s been a week of negativity here at TLS. Looking over the history of the Japanese music industry, I realized that there are many, many ugly endings. American Idol disappointed by sending off one Colton Berry. We’ve also seen lots of blinking and death by snakebites.

And as amazing as it sounds, the negativity ends with this week’s episode of Haromoni.

After hitting rock bottom, the only direction one can go is up. Well, I guess you could linger around rock bottom, but most people will elevate, even if only a tiny bit. This is the situation we find Haromoni in this week. Last week’s episode was so bad that I think it’ll be impossible for me not to enjoy this week’s episode more.

Plus, I have a new theory on why this show doesn’t work, but more on that later.

(more…)

Paul Thomas is a TLS HERO! I’ve been holding off rankings for a while. But I have no reason not to now.

Also, I know that Paul is going to do rankings based on everyone voting in his poll. However, I am interested in my rankings compared to other International Wota bloggers. Therefore, I’ve figured out which bloggers have the closest rankings to me.

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Without International Wota, I wouldn’t have been able to put this piece together. Thanks to this site, I benefit from being able to take in different perspectives. I think our opinions can only become strong when they are challenged.

The majority of our little community does not look upon Lalala Shiawase no Uta favorably. However, it is not an unanimous objection. Cutieparty really likes it and Fields of maiZe of berryZ doesn’t hate it. I’m sure that more people will join their side as time goes on. It’s nearly impossible to have an unanimous decision on International Wota with all the opinions coming from all different backgrounds.

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When a group like Berryz Koubou or C-ute releases a single, the goal isn’t to make good music but music that will sell. It would be nice for both to be true. It is not always going to happen though. These two groups are on the verge of releasing singles that, based on their own merits, cannot possible sell well. That is just based on the music. People will buy these singles though. They will buy them because they “support” their group.

What a wacky world we live in.

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A few weeks before the 58th Kouhaku aired, I had a conversation about what was probably going to happen on it. What I wanted from the show was very simple. No Love Machine. I figured that there is no good reason to remind people that the 8 members who performed that song were all long gone. However, I got a surprising counterargument and I conceded, Morning Musume should perform Love Machine at Kouhaku.

But it was still boring.

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