Kashiwagi Yuki's Controversial Eating Video?

What's the point of this video?

So, this video has been around for a little while now, and apparently this video was meant for the up-coming election. Like it wasn't clarified what the point of this video was, but it seems the majority think she's desperate for center this year (number 3 is really good spot though). I don't know if that was the intention of the video or not, but the video itself is quite disturbing. Like it's disturbing to the point of repulsion. I think everyone has seen their fair-share of fan-service, but Yuki-sama just took that and made a 180 with it, because this video was the most sexual thing I've ever seen an AKB idol do. The lighting, sounds, the stirring of the food, and the way she ate it...was just so...bad! Like I kept screaming, "Stop", at my scream because it was so awkwardly painful to watch my Oshimen do this (even if it is for attention, I still think it was taking it too far). Even the way it was edited...it feels like it was meant to be inappropriate. *Sigh*. This was just disturbing.

Side-note: I guess our idols just really enjoy food. You should see me when I eat strawberries...I go crazy for them. They are my forbidden fruit, if you know what I mean.

   

Asuka Kuramochi - "Itsumo Soba Ni"

I know the full PV hasn't been released yet, but this short version essentially tells us what the song will sound like.

I ordered this one~ "Friday 500 en Edition" - best cover in my opinion.

Asuka will be releasing her debut solo single on May 29th, and I am thoroughly excited for it. The song is so cute and totally fits Asuka's low-register voice. I really hope the B-side isn't as preppy as the A-side is, but it won't really matter because I still really like the A-side. It's definitely what the fans were expecting: a mid-tempo-preppy-ballad. I think we all knew it was going to be a ballad because Asuka does enjoy singing ballads herself, and her voice really suits them the best. An up-beat dance-track would sound weird with her voice and style. She really has this girl-next-door vibe (even though she's classified as a Hentai), and I think this song/PV works for her. The PV is really simple and pretty much reminds me of Yuki Kashiwagi's solo debut. Both were mid-tempo-ballad's with simple, yet, enjoyable PV's - French Kiss all the way. She's just enjoying summer, essentially, in the PV - she goes swimming (sort of...but boobs!), goes for a drive, and awkwardly stands and sings in front of many bushes. But I'm so happy that Asuka got a solo debut because that means she might release more solo song's in the future; I won't even care if she graduates from AKB48 because she's got a solo career now. My biggest disappointment with this single has to come with the voting ticket you get in this single. You get to vote on which magazine cover sells the most, and if you guess correctly, you get to spend a day with Asuka (I think you get to watch Horse Racing with her). Do you know how incredibly painful it is for me that I can't vote. Well, I can vote, but no point because I don't live in Japan! That lucky fan that does win the date with Asuka is forever in my "To-kill List" (not really, but I will hate that person for quite some time). There isn't a lot to this single, and I guess that's alright. I am happy though that every copy comes with the same song's (except for the CD+DVD one - one extra B-side - "Himawari"). I love different B-sides, but there's like 6 editions for this single, and all together, would be quite pricey. So, I only bought one copy, but I will buy the CD+DVD sooner or later. I was planning on buying every copy, but when I found out that there isn't a difference in any copies except for the CD+DVD one (song choices, the covers are different), I decided to be a little smarter and just order one copy for now and the other one later. I give Asuka's solo debut 4.1/5. Lovely song.

ENJOY! Side-note: I guess once the full version is out, I'll make a post, but no guarantee. And support Asuka on her solo debut! You can buy her debut solo single at CDJapan or YesAsia.

   

AKB48 - "Sayonara Crawl"

Bikini time!

Such a pretty cover! But I ordered Regular Edition Team B Version....

AKB is back, and back with their signature summer single - even though the senbatsu single is released in summer too. Anyways, this time AKB has gone flowery - which I love. The person directing this MV, Mika Ninagawa, is truly an amazing director and I love her work. So when I heard she was directing AKB's latest single, my first thought was, "It's going to be bright and colorful". It's her signature, apparently, and I happen to love it actually. Her style is really meant for summer PV's and you can just feel summer screaming at you with this PV. Even though I hate summer, I can't hate this PV; it's way too cute. I just really love everything in this PV. I love the way it opens up, when they are at the aquarium. I thought it was so cool and I've always wanted to go to one, so it was really nice seeing it, but it really had no point being there, because the transition to them being on the beach, was awful, but I guess I can let it go. There are four set's essentially. One being them in the ocean with all the petals and balloons; the other set is them at night in their festival-kimono's, eating cotton candy, and enjoying each other's time; there's one set with some members in white with a giant bush behind their backs and their looking at the camera and singing; and the last set is one where everyone is wearing white and there happens to be bed's, mirror's, and couches, all over this beach. I'm not including the scenes with them on the beach playing with a ball because I feel like it's just a filler for fans to see them run in bikini's. I think the whole PV is visually pleasing to watch, and I was relatively in a good mood watching this PV; it made me laugh and smile, and I kind of expect summer PV's to do that, so I was very happy over that. I think Mika Ninagawa did a great job at making this PV. I love their bikini's! I think the flower petal's everywhere is so cool and it really blends well together - good job, Mika Ninagawa!

This is the cover I ordered - five amazing members (OMG! Almost every 48-group is in this picture - just missing SNH48 and JKT48)

Now we can get into the song. Summer single's should be up-beat dance tracks essentially, and AKB accomplish that goal. Summer single's should be easy to dance to and sing to, and they sort of did a good job a that. I saw a live performance of "Sayonara Crawl", and I thought the dance was rather silly and not something I would see people wanting to imitate, and even in the PV, the dance wasn't a focus, unlike "Manatsu no Sounds Good" was last year. Apparently fans think this song is weak, in comparison to their other summer single's, but I actually love it. I do think "Manatsu no Sounds Good" is the best summer single from AKB, but I really love this song. It's filled with such high-energy, and it's super catchy, so I always have it on repeat. I think AKB did a great job this year, with their summer single, because let's be honest, "So Long!" was an awful Sakura-song. They didn't start the year of good and I think this song really fixed it for me - which is such a relief, you know. We can now move onto the lyrics of "Sayonara Crawl". I can't get over how sad the lyrics actually are. Here's like the most depressing part of the song, "Lonely crawl, I sort of feel like crying…I want to follow you no matter where you go…Lonely crawl, you’re my secret ambition. I watched the swim club practice from the other side of the fence. And was excited to jump in." The only good thing about this song is that it can interpreted! I relate to it! They talk about a boy - sorry anyone who's a Lesbian or a straight male - and anyone who's a straight female or a homosexual male, can actually relate to an AKB A-side! Do you know how revolutionary that is for me! A summer single, that I can relate to! Even though the PV is dedicated to that straight-male demographic, the lyrics don't (for men anyways).I shall stop talking about how excited I am about the lyrics and actually get to the point of the lyrics. I think this song is talking about a "summer crush", and if you're one of those people that have had one of those, you would know that when summer ends, you have to end thing's with that "summer crush", and I think that's why the song's lyrics are sad, but the actually song is so happy. "Summer crushes" can really make someone's summer so much better and you have so much fun, but it really is depressing when you two have to brake up because summer is over. I'm actually really pleased with the lyrics this time, even though I've never had a summer crush. Usually I'm only pleased with the Sakura-song's lyrics, but this one is really good. A lot of people have "summer crushes", and I think this song will relate to a lot of straight women and gay men. Good job, Akimoto-sensei! I'm so happy over this! I literally just did a post about how AKB's A-side's are not meant for any other demographic except for straight male's, and this song just exceeded my expectations! I shall give this song a 5/5! For a wonderful PV, catchy song, cute bikini's, and lovely lyrics.

ENJOY! Side-note: I don't really think screen-time was divided well. They really shouldn't have had this many senbatsu members.

   

My New Addiction - Photocard's/Photo's of Idols

Call me crazy, but I think I've become obsessed with this new addiction

I have a reason why I chose NU'EST

I've recently started to look over my, somewhat, new collection of albums, and I realize that a lot of the albums I have bought, did not come with a photocard or anything extra. I know it might be asking for a little too much, but I think those little extra's make someone's day - especially when you're an international fan and can't exactly walk into an AKB48 shop and just buy any photo/photocard you desire. What I sort of realized is that a lot of Ebay personal's sell photocard's/photo's, which is so nice of them, considering I will not buy 20 albums to just get Ren's photocard - I only need one album. Some fan's go to the extreme and literally keep buying until they get their desired photocard, and just sell whatever they don't want on Ebay - I'm not like that, and I definitely do not have the money for that. Well, what I recently found out is that many Ebay sellers actually make their own photocard's/photo's (they call them "wallet-size" card's too). Now, I found this so different because why would you make your own photocard's/photo's to sell? Like it just seemed like a waste of time to me, honestly, but as I looked over my CD collection, I realized how nice those extra's were. And I thought to myself, "I should buy one, to try it out". I actually bought NU'EST's photo's - only because the three photocard's I own are not of Ren or Beakho, so I really wanted something of them. When I got these photo's in the mail (there was 10), I was shocked at how high the quality was, for these photo's - they were the same size and texture as CDJapan's exclusive photo's you can get for First Press stuff. I really fell in love with these photo's, and then came my obsession. Because they weren't expensive (like 5 CDN dollars), I had to buy more, and now I just ordered another set of NU'EST photocard's - made by the seller him/herself. And I also bought some 4Minute photocard's for their newest release "What's Your Name?" - I bought this because when you buy 4Minute's latest, it come's with no extra's and I want a HyunA photocard; so I just bought it off Ebay. I'm not saying that buying this stuff is really all that good or anything, but for those who really want an extra something-something, a lot of Ebay sellers are willing to sell their own versions of photo's and photocard's, that might not even come in the real CD itself ("I Got A Boy" by SNSD had no photocard, but it seems everyone has photocard's from that CD - because someone on Ebay made a set of 9 from that CD release, and now the fan's have it because no official photocard's came with it). I, personally, love extra's and since I'm paying quite a lot for a CD, I would like something extra. Ebay sellers do a great job at making these photocard's and photo's and I think if you're interested, you should look some up on Ebay. I'm planning on buying more photocard's and photo's, but some are a little pricy (especially AKB photo's), so I'll choose carefully.

H!P Has Lot's of Homosexual Male Fans?

If you haven't read this, I consider you do - mostly because this will be a response post about it.

I was highly intrigued by this article (is it an article?) - because it really brought up a topic I've never dicussed before, let alone actually knew of. I don't live in Japan, and Canada has such a small percentage of Japanese people - most don't even live in my Province. And to hear this sort of point of view is so unique for me. I learned quite a lot from these people, who are speaking about the topic of Gay fans in H!P. First of all, I'd like to address the issue that Gay-fans don't like AKB and the 48-family - it caught me off guard, but as a gay-individual, I thought I can put my two cents in this (I'm a boy fyi). AKB, of course, caters to a straight male fan-base. Majority of their songs are song from a "man's" point of view, and it usually involves a straight-relationship. This is very common, and I believe all the fans know this already. The problem with this is that no one else can relate to it except for straight males. Which immediately turns off many homosexual fans (I'm not too sure about Lesbians though - because I've seen a growing amount of female fans for AKB). I, personally, cannot relate to many AKB-songs (well "RIVER" is an exception - and a lot of their B-sides are pretty good - like "Doremifa Onchi" - B-side to "Gingham Check"). AKB has many song's I can relate too actually, but not A-sides - A-sides are meant for that straight-male demographic (bikini's everywhere - sakura song's are good though). There are many exceptions to this theory, but I think the song's AKB has always promoted, are not for the gay-demographic. Let's bring up "Heavy Rotation" - everyone was so into it, and it's still their most well-known song, but the lyrics! They're awful for me - I can't relate at all. I came into AKB in 2009 (with "RIVER"). So AKB was so new and unique and I loved them, but as soon as "Heavy Rotation" become their signature song, I got such a turn off, and ever since, their A-side's are just hard to deal with. But I do let a lot slide because I do enjoy their music and I think they're very funny and relatable women. The other 48-families don't have this much of a problem though, just AKB48 - mind you, SKE48 had a song for the LGBT community, so that's one of my reasons for loving SKE48 so much ("Kataomoi Finally"). So, all in all, the theory is flawed for me, but I'm sure lot's of Gay-individuals do not like AKB so much.

Now we can get into this theory that Male-Gay-Individuals really like H!P. I got into H!P in 2006, with
C-ute's debut indie song, "Massara Blue Jeans". I found Morning Musume in 2007, if you're curious. And I love every group in H!P - always have. H!P is a wonder company with wonderful members/staff. There's really no reason to hate H!P, in my opinion. My fav member from H!P was always Konno Asami, and Konno Asami has always been open-minded about homosexuals - she's mentioned on her blog before and has said in an interview, that homosexuals are just like everyone else. The main argument was that their song's cater more to a gay-fanbase, more than anything else, and I'd have to agree/disagree. Morning Musume's song's are just gender neutral  It really doesn't matter what gender you are or what gender you love, their song's are like an open-book; they can relate to anyone, technically. I can't really think of song in Morning Musume's discography that directly say's, "A man loves me for blah blah blah". But a lot of their song's mention a woman's point of view (as does many H!P song's from many H!P group's). And even though it is a stereotype that gay men understand women better, I relate to it very well. My mind is pretty much like a woman's. I grew up with no dad (so, a single-mother), and all my friends, since birth, have been women - I kind of grew up in a woman's world. It really is easy for me to identify with Morning Musume's songs - "Kimagure Princess" was my jam, once upon a time. I think Morning Musume and H!P, in general, are not afraid to cater to many different fans. AKB on the other hand is. Could you imagine AKB doing a song like "Kataomoi Finally"? Like most would find it so misplaced in AKB's discography. Tsunku, I hope, wants more fans for his groups and to attract more fans, would be to open your song's to interpretation. When song's are always about the same thing, you won't attract a certain group. Though, I guess we could bring up sales. AKB is million sellers, while Morning Musume, or any other H!P group, are not (at the moment). There is consequences, I believe. AKB sticks to pleasing the majority - gay-individuals are so little, when comparing demography for straight people. H!P wants to please everyone - which doesn't always work - as we can see via sells. As a final overall note: I'm a huge fan of both AKB and Morning Musume, but it has nothing to do with me being gay. Music is for everyone, no matter what your sexual orientation is. But I will say: lyrics are important, and can make a huge difference for fans - especially fans who can understand the lyrics/care about what a song is saying. I think this article was really fascinating, and I would love to talk to more H!P fans that are gay too. I really didn't know about this, to be honest, and I think it's so unique to analyze. I gave my two cents, and I hope it can shed some light on this rather unique debate. But just remember: everyone has their own taste in music, and sexual orientation really shouldn't play a role, but when they make it so obvious - AKB48 - it makes for a good debate about why fans enjoy/hate them and why gay-individuals enjoy H!P so much.

Kyary Pamyu Pamyu - "Invader Invader"

Dub-step plus Kyary?

I thought since her single will be released tomorrow, why not review her new single, "Invader Invader". And I'm pretty sure the most intriguing thing about this new release is the dub-step Kyary decided to use in her music. I'm not really sure what the fans are thinking about this song, but for myself, I love it. I love everything Kyary has released - there really isn't a song I hate - some I prefer over others, but any song is good. I actually really love the B-side more, to be honest. "Point of View" is so fricken' cute! It really reminds me of a children's anime I use to watch when I was younger. I really love this song! But since her main-title song is "Invader Invader", I'll talk more about it. The song follows the same formula as any other Kyary song, so if you're already a huge fan of her's, then there is no way you would initially hate this song, because this song isn't anything new - musically speaking - but I'm sure the dub-step will confuse a lot of people. I actually didn't know this song was going to have dub-step in it, and it honestly threw my off when it started to play. It felt so misplaced, but oddly, the dub-step adds to this song. And it adds to this song because her voice isn't mixed in with the dub-step. So, you still hear Kyary singing normally, but the dub-step adds more to the dance and the beat of the song. Which is actually really nice - and the dub-step is actually throughout the song, and not just one random place (like a dance section - "Face" by NU'EST does that - if you wanted an example). But there is a dub-step dance section though - so there is some similarity. "Invader Invader's" MV is really simple though...simple in terms of cheap. I think her PV's started to become cheap after "Fashion Monster"  - but to be honest, that was the only other cheap PV (I loved the rest). So, I'm not sure why this PV is so cheap looking, but I'll put it to the side, because Kyary's single's actually don't come with a DVD, so you really don't get to own the PV when you buy it - so her PV's are really just optional (to watch). I hope Kyary doesn't do this dup-step thing next time, but for a one-time use, I don't mind it. I still prefer "Point of View", but it's alright. 4.1/5.

ENJOY! Side-note: It really is a boring PV.

   

Milky Bunny Is Still Relevant In Japanese Fashion

My fav model is still relevant! she really has made a name for herself since her debut in the fashion business. Even though she graduated from PopTeen in 2008, she clearly is still noticeable in the Japanese fashion blog's and whatnot's. I'm just so proud of her, even though she's listed as number 10 on the list, she's still someone who's on the Top 10. She may be getting a divorce, she may have a son, she may even have plastic surgery done, but clearly people are starting to not care so much anymore. I'm immensely happy, and I follow her fashion all the time - most of her clothes I can't wear - do you know how expensive her clothes are? Well I don't wear them because I don't have the body she has, but I follow her style all the time. Though I gotta admit, Lolita/Gyaru style requires a lot of attention. You gotta pay close attention to the color of the year and the length for the year - sometime's short dresses are in, and sometime's they are not. And I love that belts around the waist aren't so popular in Japan - I see that way too much here in North America. I love that Tsubasa has gone full Lolita this past year! She looks super cute! Here's that list I mentioned - only shows the Top 10 though. Kyary is number 1? Do people really dress like her in Japan? I doubt it, but I think her fashion is just really unique and intriguing to see.