Junjun wins. Although I wish they hadn’t cut her main solo part.

Ready, aim, Mediafire. Alternatively Megaupload.

Calling them v-u-den is still a bit like calling a Fruit Pastille an actual fruit. Even so I have to admit they make a good team.

Well I’ll be doing a Top Ten again just like I did last year. Last year’s was a hard one to judge. So many good songs. This year’s will be hard too although more because I’ll have to think of what to shove in to make the list up to ten. Anyway as all the singles that are going to be released have been now (or will have been by tomorrow at any rate) I’ve decided to have a public poll. Just what do you think has been the H!P single of the year? I’ve split double A-sides up as I figured we should go for a single track. I’ve included Buono as they are  H!P to all intents and purposes. I’ve not included Melon Kinenbi because they aren’t H!P anymore (and not because I couldn’t remember the names of their singles. Oh no.) So vote away and I’ll see just how much we disagree on everything.

Hello! Online have reported the tracklist for Mano’s first album so here it is.

1. Otome no Inori

2. OSOZAKI musume

3. Sekai Wa Summer Party

4. Itsumo Itsu demo

5. Lalala – SoSoSo

6. Hajimete no Keiken

7. Lucky Aura

8. Santa no Saxophone

9. Kono Mune no Tokimeki wo

10. Matsuge no Saki ni Kimi ga Iru

11. oyasuminasai

12. Mano Piano (Album ver.)

I’m glad to see the indies singles are included as I’ve not been able to get hold of them. Lucky Aura is my favourite song of hers so I’m very happy with that. Although to be honest I find Lalala Sososo a bit repetitive. Mind you seven out of twelve tracks are singles. It’s almost a best of. Of the new tracks obviously as I haven’t heard them yet I can’t give an opinion. I will say though that the title “Santa no Saxophone” does fill me with a certain amount of dread.

Had you ever thought that what a live performance of a single really needs to make it more interesting is tap dancing? No? Me neither. Why would you? You’d have to be insane to think such a thing. However someone involved with C-ute must certainly be insane (and yet on the other hand they are working with C-ute so they are also very very lucky). It’s a good job too as I can’t listen to Sakura Chirari now without hearing the tapping. In fact it’s so catchy that I decided to sub the performance. Then while I was at it I decided to show just why Tsunku wasn’t doing anything too different with the lyrics to Kimagure Princess. He has had prior form. So yes I also subbed a live performance of Massara Blue Jeans. If you hear the words “love me do” and immediately think of The Beatles you are wrong. The Beatles indeed. The very thought. Those lyrics totally belong to C-ute. As do the words “love me! Love me! Love me! Love me!” and the resulting thrusts. And to think that just a few short years ago I’d never even heard of C-ute or any other Hello! Project acts for that matter. Now when I think back it’s like some kind of scary Twilight Zone other reality. The stuff of nightmares.

Anyway both performances are from the ABC tour. It’s a great live show. I bought the dvd and watched it all the way through in one sitting. Something that doesn’t always happen with live dvd’s. Normally I need a break in the middle. C-ute are great to watch live.

The good thing about tap dancing is you really need to show the legs if you’re doing it.

Imagination? Well yes I have an imagination. But I can’t tell you what I’m thinking right now.

Very true.

Does anybody think my blog is really pervy? I hope so. I’d hate to think I’m wasting my time here.

A great song. True story.

H!F and SMF have jointly subbed this tv show where several celebrities have to hide for two hours in order to win 1,000,000 yen each. This particular show had Sigh Yummy as a contestant and Ishikawa Rika as one of the hunters. It also had Miki Fujimoto’s husband but frankly it could have had Shergar being ridden by Lord Lucan and I’d have still been paying no attention whatsoever due to being preoccupied checking out the IshiSayu duo. Anyway you can download from the tracker at AKB48 Online here. Although if you want to direct download I’d suggest going to Musume-Central.com.

The show takes place in a four level shopping mall with traps for the hunters and many strange hiding places. It’s quite an interesting concept I guess. However I’m mainly posting for one reason. Which is? It’s to say that I would happily spend the rest of my life in the dark as long as:

A. I was married to Sigh Yummy and

B. I had infra-red vision goggles…

It’s not usually much of a compliment to say that someone looks great in the dark. It’s a bit like saying someone has a good face for radio. However on this occasion I really mean it as a compliment. Sayu looks gorgeous! Is it wrong to find these pics somewhat erotic?

Anyway I’d like to take this opportunity while I’m posting to publicly apologise to the producers of Yorosen for one thing (and frankly an apology for one thing is one more than they deserve really)…

So she really does like trains? And here was I thinking that the boring subjects of Yorosen were entirely due to the behind-the-scenes staff. Sayu’s a train buff. Who’d have thought it? Well it makes my wotadom feel slightly less embarrassing. I mean sure I spend far too much on pictures, books and dvd’s of cute Japanese idols but Sigh Yummy likes trains so hey, who can criticise anyone else in this amazing and constantly surprising world?

What’s not so surprising is Rika’s approach to hunting…

Hunting for cute items is not really what she’s supposed to be doing but I’d happily watch her doing it for two hours.

Anyway it’s another interesting tv show sub from H!F/SMF. Now where can I buy infra-red goggles?

H!F have subbed C-ute’s Alo-Hello dvd. So it’s time for C-ute Hawaiian action. Did I spell “Hawaiian” right? Probably not. Anyway when the first scene in an hour and thirty-eight minute production is this…

You know it’s going to be a good one.

And there’s certainly no waiting around as the five members of the then soon to be 5-nin C-ute run off to the water-slides. Literally…

Like I said, it’s going to be a good one. And really there’s not a lot to say about the first five minutes. It’s C-ute on water-slides. It’s as you’d expect…

After that Nakki-chan announces it’s time for C-ute’s Hawaii tour branch manager contest. This basically involves lots of challenges pitting the members against each other. The first contest involves riding a banana boat while holding glasses of juice and then seeing who has the most juice left in their glass at the end. So it’s onwards to more water fun…

After the competition they then get to ride some more inflatables. So here we see Airi, Nakki-chan and Maimi bouncing along the waves…

And then here we see Airi, Nakki-chan and…huh?

Well there’s a turn up. The athletic, beautiful, long-haired, long-legged all-rounder fell off? What next? A drastic new haircut?

Nooooooooooooooooooooooo! Hmm…it’s a bit Single White Female between Maimi and Captain. Who’d have thought Maimi would be the one doing the copying? I hope Captain doesn’t have a dog. Or a boyfriend come to think of it. It looks like Maimi’s wearing high heels too. That’d be one in the eye for any partner of Shimizu’s. On a separate note isn’t Mano’s hair lovely and glossy? She’s been at the dog biscuits. But enough of that meeting of the H!P summit leaders, back to Hawaii. What’s next?

Without going into too much detail I never want Nakki-chan to make me a sandwich. She can do a lot of other things for me, and in another 88 days the list will grow to a lot more again, but making a sandwich is not on the list. Although she can keep hold of the whipped cream for 88 days or so and then use it.

I’d eat both of them and leave the sandwich.

After making sandwiches they then grab some random old surfer dude who happened to be passing by so that he could judge whose was the best. He is a very lucky random old surfer dude in one sense, however he also has to eat the sandwiches so maybe it’s yin and yang.

Help yourself? I’d eat Maimi and leave the sandwiches.

Help yourself? Well I’d…well you can take it as read for all of the first four.

So that’s the first four.

Help yourself? Well I’d…eat the sandwiches. Hey I may be sick but I’m not that sick. I’d wait for at least another year or two.

So after the sandwiches it’s 27 minutes and 5 seconds into the dvd. The relevance?

There’s your relevance. It’s a one-on-one pool battle. Who can reach the floating flag first? Some highlights…

I have to interrupt just to say, Maimi…really…wow. Just…WOW.

Hmm…Maimi who is the tallest member against Mai who is one of the shortest and who can’t swim. I wonder how that’ll turn out?

Following that bliss the swimming heaven continues with a 25 metres battle. However it’s not a straight swimming battle as each member draws a card that tells them either which swimming technique to use or what item they have to swim with…

I don’t think Airi will be winning this battle somehow. Mind you since she can’t swim neither will Maimai. She has to have Nakki-chan & Chisato alongside her for support…

Mind you it turns out that Airi can’t swim either. Still I don’t think there’s any danger of her drowning…

As for Nakki-chan well…

Damn right.

After that contest the next one is another 25 metres swim battle. This time there are no conditions and the members can race anyway they want. Of course the fact that two of them can’t swim kind of limits things for them.

I suddenly fancy a swim. Anyway the swim battle has one disqualification. It was a good call from the invisible referee and leads to one member who can swim being given last place behind two who can’t.

So leaving the pool behind it’s time for something called a ’scattered quiz’ on the beach. In other words there’s some capsules with questions in them buried in the sand. The first person to find and correctly answer three questions is the winner. Or to put it another way, ‘hey everyone run around the beach for a while’. It’s a good game…

What I love about that picture is Maimi hugging Chisato in the background. They’re all so happy. Unlike with Morning Musume where, despite the fact they always say they are like a family, you always get the feeling it’s a slightly dysfunctional one that argues behind closed doors a lot, with C-ute you really do get a sense of friendship. These girls have grown up together. They are always so supportive of each other. It’s just so heart-warming and lovely.

Even in the middle of Hawaii there’s always time for a Reggie Perrin impression…

The next competition is…frankly made irrelevant the moment they appear on screen looking like…

And so it’s time to take a break from the competitions and just have some fun in the bikinis pool.

Okay. I’ll just find my passport.

I don’t know what they are doing but it sure looks like fun. Passport…passport…now where is it?

Maimi’s taking over from Kanna. Leader’s prerogative I guess. You wouldn’t think members would have to keep leaving just to get a good fingering (I should add that’s entirely the belief of ‘The Chris’ over at Hello!Blog).

Now for an editing balls-up competition. Can you spot the mistake?

Please send your answers to the “there’s one at the top but five at the bottom then one at the top again” competition. P.O. Box 8765, Hawaii.

Well just over an hour into the dvd and it’s time to do some…

Yes the girls get to dry off in the sun while I get to dry the saliva off my pants with a paper towel. So the rules…

It’s fun to watch the members trying to communicate in English but not as much fun as them messing about in bikinis. Mind you Nakki-chan found another way to communicate. Something used for communication since the time of the cavemen…

No not kanji. A drawing.

After the shopping it’s time for C-ute to reflect on their experience. It was certainly one full of fun…

Told you.

After that the branch manager winner is announced and then that’s the end of the fun. Except it isn’t. For there is still twelve minutes of the dvd left. So what’s left exactly? Well there is a bedroom scene with all five members. No it’s nothing like that but I won’t give anything away. Let’s just say it’s nothing to do with any thoughts The Chris might have about what the C-ute members get up to in their spare time…unfortunately.

Then for the final seven minutes it’s ‘making of’ time. Well it’s more bikini fun so who’s complaining? Not me that’s for sure…

And so as the sun sets on this dvd it’s time to say sayonara to our fabulous five or alternatively start watching the whole thing from the beginning again. Something you may be tempted to do. In the past year or so all three main H!P groups have been to Hawaii. I honestly think this C-ute trip was the best to watch. The members are all having so much fun. They are clearly enjoying their first time there. Morning Musume and Berryz Koubou had fun too of course but with C-ute the element of competition made it interesting to watch while at the same time the close bonds between the members shone through at all times. There was a lot of laughter for all five members and it really was like the best family holiday you could ever wish for. It’s a pure joy. Every member came across really well. Every member played their part. Except Umeda obviously. However I have to say I never really thought of her at all while watching this. The five remaining members are still such a tight unit that even the loss of Umeda and Kanna in the space of a few months can’t impede them. Like I said, pure joy. Ten out of ten. Well maybe that should be five out of five.

As I continue to bugger about with subbing programmes I decided to sub what to me is Country Musume’s best song, Iroppoi Onna Sexy Baby. This time I’ve figured out (with kind help from ggliff at Musume-Central) how to do more than one set of subs. So here is the pv with English and romaji subs. You can direct d/l here and here.

I have to say that as well as loving the song I also love the pv. All the members look great. Toda Rinne looks really cute with her hair bunched, Ishikawa Rika looks as beautiful as she ever looked, little Kimura Asami looks adorable and Satoda Mai has her usual strong presence. The pv also has Rika in glasses and a sexy business suit and the others get to dress up too. Add to that the sexy dance moves and the sexy clothes they’re wearing during those sexy dance moves and we have a pv that’s…well it begins with “s”, has four letters and ends in “exy”.

Carlsberg Hello! Project don’t do holidays. But if they did they’d be the best damn holidays in the world!

Okay first of all an explanation. I’d been looking to find a subbed version of W’s excellent Koi no Vacance single and couldn’t find one anywhere. I’d also been wondering recently how hard it is to add subtitles to a video. You can see where this is leading. I have to admit I suck. I tried several different programmes and simply couldn’t work out how to add a second set of subs. So there’s no romaji. Yes this is horrendously basic. At the same time having ripped the pv myself from my dvd of W’s early pv collection W no Eizo no Sekai Vol. 1 the quality of picture is good.

Anyway I was going to keep the pv sub to myself. It’s hardly up to a subbing groups standards. I don’t think H!F have anything to worry about from me. But then I realised that my next blog post would be my 350th. I’ve also recently just passed the 250,000 hits mark (mainly because of people arriving here looking for something entirely different to what they found no doubt). I’d like to celebrate with my thoughts on C-ute’s Alo-Hello pb but Yes-you’ll-get-it-eventually-Asia haven’t sent it yet. I could also have celebrated with my thoughts on my first ever Junjun t-shirt but sadly the slip came through the letterbox today telling me it’ll be delivered when the customs charge has been paid. Bloody Government. If they can show me somewhere in the UK where I can buy a Junjun shirt I’d happily keep the money in this country. So instead I figured this would make a good 350th post. And so ladies, gentlemen…and miscellaneous I present you with a very basic sub of a great song and pv. You can direct download here or here if you wish. The subbed version of the dance shot is available here. It may well have already been subbed. I don’t know. I looked but couldn’t find. And to be honest I was hoping to sub something of Mano’s instead but couldn’t find any translations for her songs. So instead it’s back to a time when Kago wasn’t a byword for skank and Tsuji…didn’t look any different to how she looks now except now she has really big hair. I hope you enjoy…

Double Kago. Lock up your fathers.

How I love that pv. It’s just so much fun!

Tonight for the first time ever I actually watched a close-up live dvd from beginning to end. I do have Buono’s Hybrid Punch dvd but I haven’t even thought of watching the second disc of close-ups. Yet for Nakki-chan…well I could stand to watch an hour and ten minutes of Nakki stalker action from the ABC tour. It’s a strange experience. Sure the girl is cute. Very cute. No I mean REALLY STUPENDOUSLY CUTE. Even so it’s still strange to spend over an hour not looking at anyone else. Then again watching the normal ABC live dvd I spent most of my time looking at her anyway so wtf.

Having watched this solo version of the concert I’ve decided to show those of you who have never experienced the delights of a solo close-up just what you have been missing. So here is Nakki-chan singing Aishiteru Aishiteru with the unseen Umeda Erika (as Kanna was otherwise unavailable seeing as she had a foot problem. Although she’s probably the one who was filming the Suzuki Airi close-up version of this concert. If not she’s probably watched it about 50 times by now anyway).