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.

Will I keep up with Berikyuu? Probably not. I didn’t keep up with Musume Dokyu or Uta Doki. Too many files to download, too much to keep up with. It’s going to need to be some kind of show for me to follow it regularly.

But before I get to watching it - I have high hopes for Berikyuu.

Haromoni is not the same show it was when I started watching it on a weekly basis. Two months ago, the majority of the show consisted of the Musume girls watching videos. Now an episode of Haromoni is more about the girls themselves. In an ideal world, the show would be better due to the changes. It isn’t. It is true that the girls are acting out the majority of the videos. However, the videos are still boring, predictable and repetitive. It makes me wonder if they filmed a month’s worth of episodes at a time. It’s possible to get a hit using the same format and the same gags over and over, but more often it’ll be a miss.

Berikyuu will save me from this! It just HAS to. We are all starved for variety entertainment from the H!P Kids. DVDs of material only come by so often. Appearances on the music shows only come with releases. There has never really been a steady stream of variety material from the H!P Kids. I am of the belief that the majority of them can be great entertainers in these situations. But am I giving them the benefit of the doubt? The fact is that the Kids - unlike Morning Musume - haven’t have the chance to disappoint yet.

(more…)

In this round:
4. Kanna Arihara vs. 13. Saki Shimizu
5. JunJun vs. 12. Mai Hagiwara

(more…)

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.

(more…)

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.

(more…)

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.

(more…)

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.

(more…)

What an (un)fortunately named album.

Let’s be honest, the singing quality that comes from Hello!Project is not exactly stellar. This is true especially for one Koharu Kusumi. I can understand why some people do not care for her because her singing ability is lacking.

I choose not to go this route.

(more…)

Everyone on the (*DEAD LINK*) Internet is talking about how Hello!Project would or wouldn’t work in America. Well, it is way too hard to predict the music industry. Ah, but a prediction I will make. With the support it is getting now, even for much lesser known groups, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the idol industry around in 10 years. That means the middle-aged wota community will still exist in 10 years.

That means I’ll become one of them…

Oh god!

(more…)