12 posts tagged “concert”

Hello!

I won't be doing a review of Morning Musume's new PV, because it's just so awesome, so I'll post it here, and from my Buono! PV review, I hope you can know what I think about it.

 

 

1. Ame no Furanai Hoshi de wa Aisenai Darou?- This song just illustrated why the new H!P is so different from the old H!P. The newer girls sounded okay, but the second that the Elder Club started singing, it was appearent how much better singer singers they are. Their tone and their showmanship is amazing! The little dance that the eggs started off with was kinda cool, but essentially pointless. The camera work in this concert is just amazing! I love how they actually made an effort to get as many of the girls in close-up shots as possible, and the panning shots looked really good with how the girls were set up. Junlin sound amazing as usual, and they've only improved!

2. ManoPiano- Mano just frankly sucks. I'm sorry, but this song is really incredibally terrible and her vocal tone is really nasally and young. Is she really 17? 'Cause she sounds like she's 12. At most. Also, there are many parts where she seems to go quite flat. Why did they give her a solo carrer again?

3. Minna No Tamago- I didn't fully appreciate how short these girl were until seeing them standing on that stage. Yuuka is quite obviously the only one singing live. She manages to pull it off quite well, but you can tell even without looking that her microphone is on from the way that her voice sounds compared to the others. This was really cute, and because of the cutesy song, they have complete justification for sounding so young, but the 3 in the new unit have to sound much better to pull off any other song.

4. Come Together- The wotas seem really off beat in this song with their "OI's" for some reason. Maybe it's just me. When I saw the dance for this live, it's extremely obvious that it's way too easy for any of the girls. And while Misa is right (I admit defeat, Misa) that the majority of H!P aren't good dancers, this dance is still a piece of cake for them. Give them dances that challenge them, and they'll get better. The performance isn't really spectacular either. The wotas even seem to lose interest by the end. They sound about half as loud at the end as they did from the beginning.

5. Kenchana ~Daijoubu~- While I will admit she's talented in singing, and that she has a jazzy voice, her music isn't good for her voice, and the wotas can't get into it. It's too boring. It's too much of a difference from the loud dance music of the rest of H!P. And while the other elders sing soft songs, at least they come with some sort of beat.

6. Uwaki na Honey Pie- Now, that's better. I like how since they needed girls to harmonize behind her, they put in eggs, but still gave her all of the important stuff. The eggs match her well on stage for this situation. They really know how to back someone up! I can also appreciate the cowboy hat and boots, because weather it was intentional or not, they fit the whole country musume thing.

7. Kuyashi Namida Porori- Look at those wotas go! I really worship the light-stick wota who made light-sticks into the shape of her name! She looks really happy up there, and she looks happy to be retiring from idol-dom. It's long past time for her. I love her in H!P, and I just think she's a great entertainer, but I think she'll be much happier out of the idol bussiness. Even if she's just a TV personality, she won't be tied down by some of the harsher rules of it. She sings this song like the pro she is, and I love the way that she melts some of the notes at the end of the phrase. I highly doubt that if anyone else was doing this song, that I'd like it. It's also nice how she takes the ear things out at the end so she can hear the fans, not herself. That's a true idol.

8. Hapi Hapi Sunday- While Koharu was okay, as usual, she was totally outshined by those two little girls. They may not be quite good dancers or singers yet, they totally make up for it in their own way of just being energetic and cute! They seem so happy to be up there, that they totally outshine Koha who seems to just be doing her job. While these two aren't quite ready to do anything, I think they'll be very good if they take a few more years to devote to training with their new group, and then when all of those girls are 10 or so, and go through non-harsh but weekly or so training for 3 or 4 years, they're group could be very nice.

9. This Is Unmei- KICKS ASS! Not only is MK in the best shape ever, they also manage to get the wotas off their feet and screaming their hearts out for the first time in this concert. From the second they come out, I love how they really work the crowd as a whole, and some of the wotas wearing C-ute, Berryz, and Momusu shirts are just so into this throughout. This is why these girls deserved so much more than they've gotten, sales and music-wise. I also really like how the choreographer used the stage to have them yelling and pointing accross at eachother. It really looked very effective. The girls really looked like they were about to get into a major idol-argument. If there's one group that the H!P eggs and kids need to learn from, it's this one. I also like how when they said "jigoku" (hell) the whole place went black except for the bright red part of the stage they were standing on.

10. Forever Love- Even though I recognise that Berryz deserves more attention because they've been around longer, C-ute continually owns them. The lighting and their expressions work so well during this, but they still didn't steal the show. I think with time, they'll become a great group, but for now, they're doing just amazing!

11. Dakishimete x2- With this dance, it seems that Berryz is attempting to beat C-ute at their own game, and well, quite frankly it doesn't really work. While the singing is just fine, except for a certain Risako's, they don't put out the performance factor quite as well as C-ute does. They don't seem to be as confident, and they just don't own the stage like C-ute. They still do seem to be improving in both areas, though, so maybe having C-ute as a sort of rival is pushing them to do better.

12. Tanpopo- YAYS! More elders again! During this concert, I feel that I'm enjoying the elders 100x more than the younger girls. Maybe it's the vocal quality, or maybe it's their showmanship. First generation Tanpopo owns this. Their vocal quality is so nice. The second that the other 4 stepped on stage, you could feel that this song just wouldn't sound as good. And... as a side note, why is Risa holding her stomach like Kaorin did when she was pregnant? O.o

13. Baby ~KOI NI KNOCKOUT!~- Maybe it's the song, but the wotas are really pumped up for this one! The dance looks fantastic, and they all sound fantastic! I'm surprised that Kei can still dance like that! Yossie looks feirce in all of her close-ups. I really love this trio as pucchi moni. The energy just doesn't stop! Also, their voices fit this kind of music. Then again, Kei's voice fits all kinds of music. Speaking of Kei, her high note at the end was just great! And her face at the end... she must've been possesed by Yossie or something!

14. Chocolate Damashii- Ayaya sounds great here, as she always does and always will. It's kinda freaking me out how her earpiece is shiny. Are they trying to make it obvious or something? I hear no wotas chanting here, so it's either that the song is way too new, that the wotas are still in the process of finding a cheer, or she's just failing at working the wotas into a frenzy like she used to.

15. YEAH! Meccha Holiday- Does she really have a broken toe? The wotas here still aren't quite as worked up as if this had been 6 years ago, but they still are getting into it by this point. It's really funny that you can see some wotas doing the dance at points. She seems kinda boring at the beginning, but when the wotas start going nuts, you can hear her getting happier and more into it herself. She's very good at the dance now compared to when she did this when the single was released.

16. Egao ni Namida- I didn't really like this particular song. It just didn't really work for me. The dance and the way that it was sung just didn't seem good, instead they seemed kinda awkward at points. Anyways, why does she get 3 solo songs? -.-

17. Hare Ame Nochi Suki- This was a really good performance. While I still like the way that Aibon sings her parts, so I was sad that she wasn't there, it still was nice. By the way, why are they singing this song again? At this same concert two years ago they did exactly the same thing with this song: same people, same costumes, same song. They could've at least done Sakuragumi's other song, which they seem to like to forget exists at every recent oppourtunity to perform it. Also, the line changing with Aibon out would've been easier: you could've just stuck Nacchi into singing her part.

18. Ai No Sono ~Touch My Heart~- While I heavily perfer Otomegumi's 2nd single to this one, I still like this performance, but again, instead of a repeat of 2 years ago, could we have had their other single at least? Is it too much to ask? I liked the smooth transition between the groups, and the girls just started to pump the crowd up from the beginning. Nono's singing has improved slightly, but her dancing seems a little awkward, probably due to her long time off stage. (I wonder if her husband was there to see this?) They also manage to work the crowd quite well, but MK still owns everyone in that aspect.

19. Co.No.Mi.Chi.- Someone's slightly flat on the high note in the beginning. Otherwise, this is typical, cool Buono!. I love how quickly they move around the stage. Momoko sounds like she has a bit of a stuffy nose here, but she really seems to be doing her best to ignore it. She's probably the one who was flat. Still, they seemed to do very well here!

20. Debut! Lian Ai Deng Chang- I don't think that they were ready to debut this early, but I guess they did. They still seem quite awkward on stage, and their singing isn't the best. The dance really doesn't look very good either. With more practice, they might improve, but for now, they look like some kids at a school talent show.

21. Hitoshirezu Mune wo Kanaderu no Aki- This song is such a nice one. I love their singing on it. This is such a nice song for women about their age to sing. It's not extremely mature, but it's very slow and sophistocated piece. This song has such a nice melody, and the background music is made more to compliment it, not to match it. The chords at the end are so beautiful I could cry!

22. Magic of Love- These two look so great on stage together. Their personalities are good matches for eachother. This song fits so well with their voices. I think that both of them singing this song was meant to be. I love how they not only look like they love what they're doing, but how they also seem to be so into the song. They may be on the older end for H!P, but they're cetainly not on the end that seem disconnected to their music.

23. Screen- This was very similar to the version of this performed at the elders club concert, so just refer to that one.

24. Suki Na Sempai- This is the second time that they've sung this song and that they've said it's their last time performing together. With how they're always together, and their great chemistry on stage, somehow I doubt it. This song sounds so much better than it did 7 years ago when they first sung it together. They seem so happy to be together on stage and singing. This is the generation that seems to be the one most likely to reunite later.

25. Romantic Ukare Mode- Miki's improved so much since she first joined H!P, that I would usually have a problem with her singing this. Of course, She sounds great as usual, but she doesn't really seem to be as happy singing cute songs, for which the reason is quite obvious: she's older and probably knew that she would soon be a married woman.

26. Kachoiize Japan- While Biyuuden still sucks at singing, they seem to have gotten better here. I liked the starting set up for this. And while they didn't take the usual Biyuuden wears skimpy stuff route, they chose the show off their boobs one, which is equally effective. They make a great group, to the point where it just seems like they became inactive, not broke-up. I love the way that while the Kids are there, they're there to compliment, not take over.

27. Naichau Kamo- I don't really even want to comment on this since this was also a repeat and the members aren't graduating.

28. Resonant Blue- Resonant Blue sounds good when it's just Morning Musume. While adding other girls in doesn't change the sound, it's kind of really pointless on a song with line distribution like this one. This is a good performance, and I think by now the girls can do this in their sleep, and it looks like they're doing just that. It seems so rehearsed, and not in a good way. This song has to seem spontaneous and kind of like a fit, similar to Shabondama.

29. Namida no Iro- These costumes look just fabulous on stage. Also, Airi's hair appears to be channeling Tracy Turnblad's here. It's even puffier than earlier! The C-ute girls dance just wonderfully during the dance break and generally just own. They seem to be way more into this than Morning Musume, but I can see how considering that they are a lot younger than Morning Musume, and that this is the first song in a while.

30. MADAYADE- Berryz really shouldn't have sung this one instead of something else. I don't know why, but Madayade just doesn't look good the way that they performed it, and for some reason, they just don't seem on top of their game. I can't say that I don't like Berryz, but they were definately given the wrong songs and the wrong expectations for this show.

31. Morning Coffee- I love how the first generation is singing their exclusive 1st generation song. Their voices make such beautiful music in the harmonizing on this song. I love how they sing it. The harmonizing can't be done nearly as well by anyone except the first generation. They also seem like a very close generation. I think that they seem to enchant when they're singing, whereas the other H!P members pump them up. There's something to be said for good old performing, not just acting hyper on a stage.

32. Koko ni Iruzee- This is the other side of Morning Musume: Hyper and fun. The way that they all burst onto stage like that is surprising, and then they go straight into the song. I've always loved the lives of this song because of the enthusiasm that goes into it. While some Morning Musume songs are insanely hyper like this one, this one really seems to be the most fun of them to perform. They just look like they're having fun doing such a crazy dance! Also, when Makoto says "I'm here!", you can really tell how good she's gotten at english. She seems to be a pro at that line. It's also kinda funny how you can see Ai really quickly kick her leg over Makoto's head while she's singing! I can kick my leg over someone's head who's taller than me, but she seems to do it so effortlessly and fast that it's hard to notice!

33. Love Machine- JunLin own the "Oo's" at the beginning: they're the only two I've seen sing them where you can hear their voice over the back-up. Iida does her priceless "Deiyaa" face, and all of Morning Musume performs together one last time before their next anniversary rolls around. I love how they don't seem bored with this song, even after preforming it close to 500 times!

34. Michi Naru Mirai He- I skipped over this for no appearent reason.

MC: Graduation- This really made me cry! It was so emotional. I started bawling when Yuko and Ai traded letters! I think that it was just so emotional!

35. ALL FOR ONE & ONE FOR ALL- This is such a perfect ending, I can't describe it! I think that this song is such a great way to see how H!P has changed over the years. I love how they're singing the "H!P Anthem" one last time as it was meant to be sung, in the order that H!P was built up, before the moment has to be over.

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Your Bawling Blogger.

-Midori

Hello!

Wut? H!P revolution? And to think I just had a 1-hour lecture about the Russian Revolution today.

1. Resonant Blue - all- YES!!! My wish came true! I really liked how the other girls really were back-up, but they complemented the song nicely with the dance during the dance break. The leads sound great as usual.
2. LALALA Shiawase no Uta - all except Shugo Chara Egg- This is always 100x more fun the more people that do it, so it was fun, but really, I'm sick of this song already. Why did they mention that SCE wasn't joining in? I didn't notice the eggs at all in either of these songs...
3. Minna no Tamago - Shugo Chara Egg- NOOOOOOO! They all sound like 2-year-olds! NEXT!!!
4. Happy☆Happy Sunday - What? I listened to this and Koharu was live and my ears didn't bleed? Wo0T! This shows that if she tries to sing like the 16-year-old she is, and not the 3-year-old she wants to be, she may have something there, no matter how small.
5. Tan Tan Taan! - Milky Way- YAY MILKY WAY!!! Too bad they're not going to be around much longer. Again, the other two totally outshine Koha.
6. FOREVER LOVE - ºC-ute- This. Was. Intense. My god does C-ute need to get more exposure.

7. Meguru Koi no Kisetsu - ºC-ute, Tanaka Reina and Mitsui Aika- Okay, I'm sorry, but I really don't like this combo. It sucked.
8. MADAYADE - Berryz koubou- They sounded feirce, but I couldn't stand to look at them, so it really wasn't a stand-out perfromance for me.
9. Koi no Jubaku - This was actually a nice combo, but I still think that it could've been better.
10. Lalala Sososo - Mano Erina- I skipped it, and on the one line I did hear, she sounded as young as Koha usually does, which isn't good. At all.
11. Rottara Rottara - Buono!- BUONO ROX MY MULTI-COLORED TOE SOCKS!!!
12. Naichau Kamo - Morning Musume- I like this live, and they all sounded amazing, so I don't really have any comments.
13. Mikan - Niigaki Risa, Kamei Eri, Michishige Sayumi, Kusumi Koharu, Mitsui Aika, Junjun, Linlin, Yajima Maimi, Sugaya Risako- I really didn't care about this performance. It didn't stand out, Risako somehow managed to get so many lines that so many other girls could've sung so much better, etc.
14. Jingisukan - All- Umm... this wasn't fun or exciting for me, and this song has never really been my favorite, so...
15. Shiroi TOKYO - Nigaki Risa, Yajima Maimi, Tokunaga Chinami, Nakajima Saki, Hagiwara Mai, Mano Erina- This was actually much better than I thought it would be. Besides the fact that it had a really nasally and as young as the original group.

16. Natsu Doki Lip Stick - Yajima Maimi, Kikkawa Yuu, Maeda Yuuka, Fukada Kanon, Sekine Azusa, Ogawa Saki- This was all Maimi, no eggs. Maimi just owns this song. I'm sorry eggs, but Maimi owns everyone in every way everytime she sings this.
17. Baka Ni Shinaide - Shimizu Saki, Natsuyaki Miyabi, Kumai Yurina, Sugaya Risako- This was feirce. I didn't like the dance for the music, but it was actually fun to watch. A good follow up song to Natsu Doki Lip Stick.
18. Mr.Moonlight Ai no Big band - Takahashi Ai, Umeda Erika, Tokunaga Chinami, Nakajima Saki, Okai Chisato, Arihara Kanna, Saho Akari, Sekine Azusa- There's only one thing to say: Ai-chan is pimpn'.
19. Soku Dakishimede - ℃-ute- This has vastly improved since C-ute first sang it. Again, these girls need a lot more credit than they get.

20. Gyagu 100kai bun Aishite Kudasai - Berryz Koubou- The sad part about this, is while I like how it was sung, it really pisses me off that they don't sound at all different or improved in any way, and this shows just that.
21. Darling I LOVE YOU - Berryz Koubou, ・℃-ute- The one at the battle concert was better. Hands down.
22. Take off is now! - Takahashi Ai, Nigaki Risa, Tanaka Reina- I LOVE THIS SONG LIVE! It's so much fiercer live and it's just so much better all around live. It's always exciting to watch, and that dance is just kickass at the beginning and end.
23. Renai Revolution 21 - Morning Musume- I just skipped this I was so sick of it.
24. Guru Guru JUMP - All- I LOVE JUNJUN AND LINLIN!!! THEY OWN MY WOTA'D OUT SOUL!!! They just own this! They're really moving up in the world, with solos at a major concert! YAY!!!
25. Ame no Furanai Hoshi dewa Aisenai darou - All- The JunLin bits sound great, but if all the really good singers got solos, why did Risako get one instead of say, Miyabi, Momoko, Captian, or some other Berryz girl? (Not meant to offend Risako fans, but she sucks compared to Miyabi and Momoko in singing. I must say though that she has a great stage presence.)
26. Go Girl Koi no victory - All- I skipped this. Why do I hate this song? I don't know, but I do.

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Overall: 8/10

-Midori

Hihi~!

I'm finally back!

NONO'S BAAAAAAAAAACK!!! (And is opening a mommy blog like I predicted!)

(All photos were found on the H!O picboard)

First, links to the news reports:

http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=4JE3e2WLmEk&fmt=22

http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=tT2GanQNvFU&fmt=22

Setlist:

MC (Makoto and Yaguchi Mari)- An MC right off the bat? >.< No way!!! I'll watch the MCs for this concert if someone subs it because it's a special concert.
01. Ame no Furanai Hoshi dewa Aisenaidarou? (Morning Musume, Berryz Koubou, C-ute and Mano Erina -> Everyone)- YAYS!!! This song= LOVE!!! And the Elders Club will help sing it! And JunLin solos at such a big concert! *faints*
02. Manopiano (Mano Erina)- I'm probably going to skip this. I don't really like her solo stuff. If they had Ogawa Mana push her off stage and blast out Suppin Rock, my opinion might be different.
03. Shugo Chara Egg (Minna no Tamago!)- They're trying to promote while getting them out of the way early. Good thing I probably won't have to hear too much Wada Ayaka. Maybe.
04. Come Together (Ongaku Gatas)- No. Just no. Have them sing their 1st single. It's so much better!
MC (Makoto, Yaguchi Mari, Yoshizawa Hitomi, Ishikawa Rika and Mano Erina)- Again, I'll watch the MC's if they're subbed for this one.
05. Kenchana ~Daijoubu~ (Maeda Yuki)- I don't really like Enka, but since this is her last H!P concert, I'll watch it.
06. Uwaki na Honey Pie (Satoda Mai with Korenaga Miki, Noto Arisa, Sengoku Minami and Sawada Yuri)- Country Musume + Eggs= ? I don't really know what to expect with this, but the pictures posted make it seem like this song is all Mai with the eggs back-up dancing. (She's wearing pink while the eggs are all wearing silver, and are all behind her.)
07. Kuyashi Namida Porori (Nakazawa Yuko)- Same as Yuki, I don't like her music, but I'll listen to her in her last H!P concert.
08. Happy☆Happy Sunday (Tskishima Kirari feat. Kusumi Koharu with Kitahara Sayaka and Kikkawa Yuu)- Also, there are two very special guests as back-up dancers. Can you guess who they are? Scroll down to find out! I'm excited about this! Sayaka and Yuu helping Koha with her new solo single? YES! (Put those two in a group with that girl who sang with Linlin and Airi this summer already!)
09. This is Unmei (Melon Kinenbi)- My favorite Melon Kinenbi song because of how into it everyone gets! I can't wait to see this!
MC (Morning Musume)- Meh.
10. FOREVER LOVE (C-ute)- I love this song, but give them a new single to sing already! They kick ass!
11. Dakishimete Dakishimete (Berryz Koubou)- I can't wait to hear their new single, but somehow I can predict myself not liking it too much.
12. Tanpopo (Iida Karoi and Yaguchi Mari -> Iida Kaori, Yaguchi Mari, Shibata Ayumi, Ishikawa Rika, Konno Asami, Niigaki Risa)- This will be great! 1st gen. Tanpopo and other Tanpopo girls joining later! I love 1st generation Tanpopo, but since this is the Elder Club girls' last concert, wouldn't Last Kiss be more apropriate?
13. BABY! Koi ni KNOCK OUT! (Yasuda Kei, Yoshizawa Hitomi and Ogawa Makoto)- As close to old school Pucchi Moni as possible! This will be intense. (Watch out for Kei-chan surprising us with another totally unexpected kick-ass preformance!
MC (Makoto and Yaguchi Mari)- ...
14. Chocolate Tamashii (Matsuura Aya)- This is a song that I'm quickly warming up to. I can't wait to see it.
MC (Matsuura Aya)- Another MC so soon?
15. Yeah! Meccha Holiday (Matsuura Aya)- This will be really funny. The pictures show that she's still really into this dance!
16. Egao ni Namida ~THANK YOU! MY DEAR FRIENDS~ (Matsuura Aya with Melon Kinenbi, Ongaku Gatas Eggs, Berryz Koubou, C-ute, Hello! Project Eggs)- Ayaya gets 3 solos, and everyone else barely gets one or two shuffle groups?
MC (Shimizu Saki, Kumai Yurina and Sugaya Risako)- Not gonna watch this one...
17. Hare Ame Nochi Suki (Morning Musume Sakura Gumi)- Last time they reunited at one of these concerts they did this song. Can't they do Sakura Mankai?
18. Ai no Sono ~Touch My Heart~ (Morning Musume Otome Gumi)- Same as with Sakura Gumi. Why not their 2nd single for once?
19. co.no.mi.chi (Buono!)- L-O-V-E LOVELY Miyabi! Or something along those lines. I love Buono to death, so I'll really love this. Expect extreme fangirling when I see this.
MC (Makoto and Yaguchi Mari)- Another with just these two?
20. Debut! Koisuru Kado ni wa Fuku Kitaru (Ice-cream Musume)- I didn't know that they'd be here! I'm excited to see how they'll do compared to the rest! 
MC (Ice-cream Musume and Linlin)- A must watch MC for me! Linlin and the new group! I love Linlin!
21. Hitoshirezu Mune wo Kanaderu Yoru no Aki (Puripuri Pink)- This was a very good choice to preform at this concert! I'm excited to see it.
22. Magic of Love (Inaba Atsuko and Maeda Yuki)- This will be really good! I can't wait to see some of the best singers in H!P do a duet of such a well-made song! I wish that Tsunku could still write songs as good as this one.
23. Screen (Abe Natsumi)- I like this song. I can't wait to see it live.
MC (Tsuji Nozomi and Abe Natsumi)- This MC is on almost every news clip. I want to see what Nono's saying!
24. Suki na Senpai (Morning Musume's 5th Generation)- Aww... A 5th gen. reunion with the 5th generation's song before half of them leave for good. These girls always seem to be such good friends. I'm sure this will be a sad preformance.
25. Romantic Ukare Mode (Fujimoto Miki)- The original wota-ing song. Good choice.
26. Kacchoii ze! JAPAN (Biyuuden with Berryz Koubou, C-ute and Hello! Project Eggs)- This is always fun when it's a big group effort! I hope the Makoto gets to play his awesome drum solo again!
MC
27. Naichau Kamo (Morning Musume)- <3. That is all.
28. Resonant Blue (Morning Musume)- Morning Musume is singing some good songs for this!
29. Namida no Iro (C-ute)- Not my favorite C-ute single by far. Will I watch it? I don't know.
30. MADAYADE (Berryz Koubou)- I'm going to watch this to see how the dance looks with new costumes on. 
31. Morning Coffee (Morning Musume's 1st Generation)- A fitting end to such a somber concert. They're ending it with how it began: The first generation.

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Now for the pictospam!

 

I just love this picture. I don't know why, but I do.

 

Nono returns and she looks as good as ever! By the way, she now has her own mommy blog, which has a really cute photo of her and a sleeping Noa on it!

 

Her phone is really funny!!! I love it's insane over-rhinestoned look. XP She still looks really skinny, and she still looks good in a costume like this one! It's amazing!

 

I just had to write a comment like that with Reina's pose. She looks like she's about to throw a fit while Ai screams to the audience, the eggs look like they're crouching down to hide, and the other two girls are just there...

 

No, acutally what's going on is: The Wonderful Hearts leaders read notes that their groups wrote to the graduating Elders Club girls. This must have been such a sad moment for them. Some of Ai's friends are graduating, and the other two were probably mentored by the Elders Club.

 

This is most of the graduating girls. Again, the leaders read notes to the Wonderful Hearts girls and the audience.

 

Yuuko hands Ai a note. This is also the more ceremonial version of Ai becoming leader of Hello!Project.

 

And finally, the answer to my earlier question! The two girls who dressed as Kira*Pika and Koha for the new star auditions appeared! While they didn't pass, Tsunku said he had other plans for them, and I guess that this is the part of those new plans.

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-Midori

Hi!

I know everyone on wotachat knows this was coming, but you didn't know what it was, so here we go!

Oh, and...

IIDA'S BACK!

Edit: We have audio of her and a certain Mari yaguchi singing Tanpopo!

 

1. I WISH / Nakazawa Yuko, Abe Natsumi, Iida Kaori, Yaguchi Mari, Ishikawa RIka, Yoshizawa Hitomi, Konno Asami, Ogawa Makoto, Fujimoto Miki- This will be really great: a great song to start a final concert off with! And it will be done with great singers too!
2. I Know / all- Where did this come from? I like it though. It's good to start off with an energetic song in any concert.
Opening Movie- Opening movie? This sounds interesting! I can't wait to see it. Maybe it's a history of H!P and the Elders Club members
MC
3. Juunen Ai / Nakazawa Yuko, Abe Natsumi, Iida Kaori, Yasuda Kei- The oldest, most well respected Momusu members minus Yaguchi singing one of the bad 10th anniversary b-sides? Why not Itoshiki Tomo e or Bokura ga Ikiru my Asia?

4. Screen / Abe Natsumi- I've heard that this was amazing, so I'll be looking forward to it.
5. Koi no Telephone GOAL / Abe Natsumi- It's great to hear that she'll be singing one of her older songs, so we can see how she's improved, how she's changed, and look back at when she first flew solo.
MC
6. Lalala•Sososo / Mano Erina- Why is she here? Does she transcend all concert unit boundaries?
7. Give Me Up / Melon Kinenbi- Give Me Up? I've never heard of this MKB song... maybe it will be a post-H!P single? Maybe it's just an album track...
8. Kenchana ~Daijoubu~ / Maeda Yuki- I don't really like enka thank you very much... (No matter how talented she is, I just don't like Enka.)
9. BABY! Koi ni KNOCK OUT! / Yasuda Kei, Yoshizawa Hitomi, Ogawa Makoto- 2 classic Pucchi Moni members, and a 3rd generation one! This will be really fun!
MC
10. 100kai no Kiss / Matsuura Aya- Ayaya doesn't get an old and a new, she gets an old and an old... for now.
11. Yeah! Meccha Holiday / Matsuura Aya- I want to see how this will go now that she's a lot older.
12. Tanpopo (Single version) / Iida Kaori, Yaguchi Mari, Ishikawa Rika, Shibata Ayumi, Konno Asami- Why couldn't they have just had Iida, Yaguchi, and Rika? The world may never know. (No matter how much I hate Rika's singing, I only like 1st and 2nd generation Tanpopo.)
13. Agekai ni Dakarete / Iida Kaori- KAORI~!!! I LOVE YOU!!! She actually gets a solo? I don't mind though, she's one of my favorite MM members, simple because of her hilarious personality. Also, it's great that she's able to perform! She'll always be one of the funniest Morning Musume members in my mind. (Along with W and Kei)
14. This is Unmei / Melon Kinenbi- I <3 this song! Thank god they're not singing Akai Freesia! "That's not Melon Kinenbi, that's a solo with back-up!" -Me listening to Akai Freesia for the first time
15. Ai ~Suite Room~ / Viyuden- Biyuuden temporarily reunites... for one song, anyways... and it's not exactly my favorite of their's either.
16. Boogie Train 03 / Fujimoto Miki- It's good to see that she's singing a fun song, not a ballad. The question is if the H!P kids back-up dancers will be there or not.
17. Kuyashi Namida Porori / Nakazawa Yuko- Yuko gets a solo too? This is turning out to be one awesome concert!
MC
18. Magic of Love / Inaba Atsuko, Maeda Yuki- Ooo! An old Taiyou to Ciscomoon song! I can't wait to hear it sung by these two! I'm really excited now...
19. Aoi Sports Car no Otoko / Iida Kaori, Yaguchi Mari, Inaba Atsuko, Melon Kinenbi, Miyoshi Erika, Okada Yui- Why are the 2 Biyuuden back-up girls in here? I want to see a 7-nin version of this again! Anyways, I hope that they do the original dance, 'cause it was funny to watch.
20. Thanks! / GAM (Chorus dancers: Inaba, Maeda, Melon, Miyoshi, Okada)- WOW! A GAM temporary-one-song-reunion too! COOL! I can't wait for this!
21. Kizuna / Matsuura Aya (Chorus: Fujimoto, Inaba, Melon, Miyoshi, Okada)- I'm a little excited for this. Otherwise, I don't really have any reaction to it.
MC
22. Come Together / Ongaku Gatas- NO. Just no. I don't really want them to sing this song. It seems like one of those songs that was meant to fail if preformed live.
23. Narihajimeta Koi no BELL / Ongaku Gatas- Now I'm liking it again.
24. Love Machine / all- I am so surprised. How did I know that this was going to be on the setlist?
Encore
25. MM OG Medley:
• Morning Coffee / Nakazawa, Abe, Iida, Yasuda, Yaguchi
• Manatsu no Kousen / Nakazawa, Abe, Iida, Yasuda, Yaguchi
• Ai Araba IT'S ALL RIGHT / MM OG
• The Peace! / MM OG
• LOVE Machine / MM OG

-First of all: I know LOVE Machine was a hit, and I know that Tsunku likes to make them sing it, but twice in one concert seems way too much. I'm not particularly fond of any of these songs, so I'm a little disappointed. I like the member line up for the first two songs though.
25. Koisuru Angel Heart / all, except Matsuura- That's right! She broke her toe... or maybe this was planned before that happened for no particular reason whatsoever. I don't know weather to be excited about this song or not.
MC
26. Never Forget / all- A perfect song to end a final concert tour. It's a great song, and it was written for Morning Musume's 1st graduate. It's rather fitting.

MC

-----

Overall, I'm much more excited for this than I am for the Wonderful Hearts concert.

The only thing I'm extremely pissed about is that Love Machine, the most over performed Momusu song in history, is perfromed, TWICE!

-Midori

Hello!

The first two concerts of this year's wonderful hearts winter has come and gone, and the first pictures have come up! That means that I'll start my costume reviews here!

By the way, since SCE wore there single costumes on stage, and I think I've already expressed how cute they look to an adequite level, I will skip them.

 

Berryz's costumes for Madayade

Key points:

• These look exactly the same as the ones from the PV, except with added rhinestones.
• Miyabi's new haircut is channeling Ai's.
• These costumes have those annoying, hideous collars that just bug me.
• The company didn't even bother to remake these. It seems rather cheap.

Overall rating: 3/5; A cheap, easy concert costume, but it doesn't look too good.

Blood Alcohol Level: 0.00, but they may have been having bad hangovers, and decided to be lazy about designing and making the costumes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Berryz Koubou Opening costumes

Key Points:

• These actually look nice if you don't look at the leg warmers.
• That poof of fluff on head is actually a semi-reasonable size. But, I'd prefer a simple green headband.
• I like the "B" for Berryz, so those who are new to the fandom, or who only know Morning Musume can know the difference between the kids groups.
• If the dress was less shiny, and there wasn't those weird see-through leg warmers, and maybe boots instead, I might like these a lot better.
• It appears that there was another drunk tyrade around the fluff/boa store.

Overall Rating: 4/5; It's the fluff and the leg-warmers' fault.

Blood Alcohol Level: When designing the dress: 0.00;

When putting the fluff on: 0.08

 

 

Morning Musume Opening Outfits:

Key Points:

• Good design shape-wise, but the stripes make these horrid.
• Too... Many... Feathers... (Why costume department, why?)
• They also have fluff. Fluff and feathers together = automatic annoyance.

Overall Rating: 4/5; The stripes and the feathers/fluff just... umm...

Blood Alcohol Level: When desiging: 0.04, accounting for the stripes

When adding fluff: 0.09; fluff and feathers anyone?

 

Buono

Key Points:

• Again, reused PV costumes.
• They're cute, but they're not on a level of awesomeness or coolness that I'm used to seeing from Buono.

Overall Rating: 4.5/5; Too cute for Buono

Blood Alcohol Level: 0.00

 

 

 

 

C-ute

Key Points:

• What is it with these reused PV costumes?
• I like these so much!
• They may not be the best costumes to wear on stage though.

Overall Rating: 4.9/5; The pants, jackets boots, and ties all blend into the background, which isn't a good thing on a stage.

Blood Alcohol Level: 0.00

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reina and Aika (Meguru Kisetsu)

Key Points:

• C-ute is still in their Forever love costumes... They aren't really apropriate for this song.
• What the hell is up with Reina and Aika's costumes? They look like British elementary school boys.

Overall Rating: 2/5; cute, but unflattering and a weird concept

Blood Alcohol Level: Whatever they needed to want to dress them up in old fashion school boys' clothes.

 

ManoEri

Key Points:

• Looks suspisciously like the dress she wore at the summer concert...
• Also looks like a kid's piano recital dress with more rhinestones. This is a pop concert, not a piano recital, costume department!
• Give her costumes more variety. I'm getting bored of white dresses.
• Cowboy boots? What's up with the costume department putting cowboy boots with perfectly good dresses?

Overall Rating: 3.5/5; Good, but the cowboy boots and the non-original costuming concept brought this way down.

Blood Alcohol Level: 0.00, but again, the costume department has reached new levels of lazy with this concert. >.>

 

 

 

Milkyway- Tan Tan Ta~n

Key Points:

• Koha looks like she's wearing a really-weird, fetish drivin cosplay. It's just trashy. Also, for some reason those colors with the angel wings remind me of Victoria's Secrect, which doesn't help. I still like the idea because the jacket's kinda cute.
• The other two girls were victims of more laziness.

Overall Rating: 3/5; Victims of laziness and fetish-filled minds of designers of Koha's part.

Blood Alcohol Level: 0.00 for the eggies, 0.12 for Koha

 

 

ManoEri Finale Costume and Eggs

Key Points:

• Mano eri's head piece looks like a shower cap from here. Otherwise, the sleeves are way too poofy. And that cape! I can't handle that cape anymore!
• The eggs look like they just reused old costumes from the 2005 winter concert. Really. They do. I know they didn't, but I think that they just took one of the sweater vests, some skirts, and shirts, and made enough for the eggs.

Overall Rating: 3.5/5 (Mano) the sleeves and cape are so annoying and look bad. 4/5 (Eggs) Simple yet effective, but they seem to be another group of victims of laziness.

Blood Alcohol Level: 0.10 (Mano) Arabian nights/superhero cape/idol? What?

-I should really change this to laziness level.

 

 

Other girls finale costumes

Key Points:

• All the costumes look way too big. Either all the girls went into an unneeded fast acting weight-loss program at once, or these weren't fitted before they went on stage to preform!
• I like these designs, but the fact that they're huge just ruins it for me.
• The things on their heads are distracting yet again. Why can't they just go for a normal old headband or hair clips?
• The boots also look huge on the girls. Boots are supposed to be tight.
• Why does it seem that the superhero capes just ruin these for me?
• Someone has already pointed this out, but none of the groups are in their normal colors: Morning Musume is is Pink, which C-ute usually wears, C-ute is in blue, which Berryz usually wears, and Berryz is wearing yellow.

Overall Rating: 4/5; The idea was there, but the hideous superhero capes and unfitted look looks trashy.

Blood Alcohol Level Laziness Level: Off the charts. These could've been so good, but they didn't even bother to fit the costumes before the girls went out on stage. (Or at least it looks that way.)

 

For the concert outfits, the designers have reached a new level of laziness. Before this post is over, though, we have an early review of the Nai chau Kamo costumes, which are sizzling hot!

 

 

Nai Chau Kamo:

These are pure perfection. I just love them.

Key Points:

• They fit the song, and the cool feel of it. These really look somewhat like I was hoping they would.
• The colors, Red, white, and black just look great together. I don't know why, but they seem good for this song.
• The jackets and glovlets are just badass. They look amazing with the black under them.
• The boots are awesome. I want a pair now.
• The fishnets and short skirts along with the high lace-up boots are pure win in the eyes of all male wotas that see these.
• The sequins on the black aren't overdone, and they're placed in good places, so they complement the costumes nicely and don't look like they've been placed on last minute to make the costume department not seem lazy. *cough*Madayadecostumes*cough*

Overall Rating: 6/5; These are love.

Blood Alcohol Level: 0.07; They had to be slightly drunk to even think of getting these on ready in the midst of a lazy streak.

So, the costume department wasn't drunk this time, but they were lazy. I can't wait to see the Nai Chau Kamo PV now. These costumes just kick ass.

-Midori

Hello!

I saw this on Hello!Online, so I had to post it.

Umm... Also, as usual, I'll be giving my reactions to it.

Wonderful Hearts Kouen ~Kakumei Gannen~

-1st, the title means something about a revolution. I'm guessing there will be a wonderful hearts revolution this year, so that should be accurate. (Damn Euro and making me think of the French Revolution!)

Okay! Now for the concert.

1. Resonant Blue - all- I'm not too excited about this. Resonant Blue should be a Morning Musume song exclusively. I can hope that the leads don't get any lines stolen, and everyone else will stay in the background, right?
2. LALALA Shiawase no Uta - all except Shugo Chara Egg- This song is too catchy and annoying to sing at a major concert event AGAIN! Please no.
Member VTR- This better be as good as the Cutie Ranger & Berryz Kamen one...
MC - all- I skip MC's unless it involves Inaba Atsuko's impressions, or Afro Atsuko. Next!
3. Minna no Tamago - Shugo Chara Egg- God, please get Wada Ayaka out of hearing range. NOW! Otherwise, I'm excited for this.
4. Happy☆Happy Sunday - Kusumi Koharu- I won't even attempt to listen to this, Next!
5. Tan Tan Taan! - Milky Way- My one love in the Kirarin Revolution Universe is ready for action! This one will be one of the ones I'll love for sure. (Unless there is unexpected and severe line re-shuffling.)
MC - Berryz Koubou- No Atsuko, no watch.
6. FOREVER LOVE - ºC-ute- Can't wait to see this live!!! This is going to be one to look forward to this time!
7. Meguru Koi no Kisetsu - ºC-ute, Tanaka Reina and Mitsui Aika- I have no idea where Reina and Aika got into that mix, but this will sure end up being fun and energetic if the choreographers play their cards right.
MC - ºC-ute- You know what I'll say, so I'll shut up now.
8. MADAYADE - Berryz koubou- As long as they're not wearing the PV dresses on stage, I'm fine with it. I hope that Risako lipsyncs and that Miya and Momo continue to own all.
9. Koi no Jubaku - Shimizu Saki, Sudou Maasa, Kumai Yurina, Tokunaga Chinami, Sugaya Risako, Kamei Eri, Michishige Sayumi- This hasn't been preformed in a while! It's interesting that they're shuffling Morning Musume and H!P Kids members around fotr this concert. I'm starting to wonder why...
MC - Mano Erina, Kamei Eri, Michishige Sayumi
10. Lalala Sososo - Mano Erina- I can wait for this. I don't really care for her solo stuff, so I'll probably sleep through it.
11. Rottara Rottara - Buono!- My love, a.k.a. Buono! Maybe they're live band will show up too! I love Buono to death, so I can't wait for this!
12. Naichau Kamo - Morning Musume- The highly anticipated new Morning Musume single! This will be so kickass live, I can just feel it! I can't wait to see this, and I just feel that this will be a great dance with great costumes too! I can't wait to see this, and right after Buono, too~!
13. Mikan - Niigaki Risa, Kamei Eri, Michishige Sayumi, Kusumi Koharu, Mitsui Aika, Junjun, Linlin, Yajima Maimi, Sugaya Risako- If you're going to preform a recent Morning musume single, at least do something like, say, Pepper Keibu, which is a whole year newer, and sold a whole lot better.
14. Jingisukan - All- I think if this was just Berryz, I would be 100x more excited about it.
MC - Kusumi Koharu, Mitsui Aika, JunJun- JUNJUN! Now, where's Linlin? ... Anyone?
15. Shiroi TOKYO - Nigaki Risa, Yajima Maimi, Tokunaga Chinami, Nakajima Saki, Hagiwara Mai, Mano Erina- I want to see how this works out now that the girls are older, but I wish that it was the original ZYX, not a random mix of people. Of course, I excuse the replacement of Mari, because she isn't participating in the concert.
16. Natsu Doki Lip Stick - Yajima Maimi, Kikkawa Yuu, Maeda Yuuka, Fukada Kanon, Sekine Azusa, Ogawa Saki- LOTS OF EGGS! I want to see this, and see how well those eggs dance. Can they keep up with Maimi?
17. Baka Ni Shinaide - Shimizu Saki, Natsuyaki Miyabi, Kumai Yurina, Sugaya Risako- I haven't heard this, so I want to now! I like everyone in this group except for Risako, so I'll definately look forward to it.
18. Mr.Moonlight Ai no Big band - Takahashi Ai, Umeda Erika, Tokunaga Chinami, Nakajima Saki, Okai Chisato, Arihara Kanna, Saho Akari, Sekine Azusa- The one the only Ai Takahashi with some girls from the one and only C-ute, and some eggs sprinkled in for good measure. It seems like they're trying to adjust the eggs to preform with the big guns of Wonderful Hearts. This could be good or bad depending on how you look at it. I just know how much Ai will own this, and hopefully she enters looking totally pimptastic like she did at the spring MM concert. That would make my day.
MC - Takahashi Ai, Nigaki Risa, Tanaka Reina
19. Soku Dakishimede - ℃-ute- I don't think I've heard this, so I'm excited to hear the girls be awesome again!
20. Gyagu 100kai bun Aishite Kudasai - Berryz Koubou- Hmm... I think this song is more suited for a much younger Berryz, but we'll see how they handle it.
21. Darling I LOVE YOU - Berryz Koubou, ・℃-ute- I sort of like this song, but I don't really think they can beat the battle concert performance of this. It will be interesting to watch.
22. Take off is now! - Takahashi Ai, Nigaki Risa, Tanaka Reina- I'm excited to hear this one! I've heard a recording of it from the fall tour, and I can't wait to see how it ends up!
23. Renai Revolution 21 - Morning Musume- Again? At least it's not Love Machine. It seems to be popping up almost as much, and that makes it go lower and lower on my favorite MM singles list.
24. Guru Guru JUMP - All- Never heard it, but it seems like it will be energetic, so I can't wait to see how it turns out.
25. Ame no Furanai Hoshi dewa Aisenai darou - All- Must. Hear. JunLin solos again. live. They are my love in Wonderful Hearts concerts. By the way, where has Linlin been this entire concert?
MC - All
26. Go Girl Koi no victory - All- One of my least favorite Morning Musume singles, this won't end the concert on a good note for me.

Overall, I'm pretty apathetic about this concert. I don't know weather to care or not. I'll probably be more focused on the Elder Club concert for once. There's way to many overused songs in this setlist, or songs that I'm just not excited about anymore.

-Midori

Hello!

Since a lot of people have been commenting, I've been more motivated to get off my lazy butt and actually write stuff! I've just watched parts of the new C-ute concert, and I saw the cutest thing: a skit almost entirely in English!

At the beginning, the English is very good, and I can understand it all, but towards the last minute or so, it gets a little sketchy...

This whole skit seems like they took all the english that they'd learned in school and put it together into one big blow out!

 

Also, as a bonus, this concert continues the recent tradition of C-ute performing their more mature singles in rediculous frilly dresses! I'll go through the history of this new phenominon for 2008! (With a Momusu example or two?)

Tokkaiko Junjou- Winter 2008 (Wonderful Hearts)

 

Namida no Iro (C-ute summer tour and H!P summer 2008)

 

 

Momusu extra! Resonant blue (Summer 2008)

 

----------

Enough videospam for 'ya?

-Midori

Hello again! I'm cranking out posts again. >.< Anyhow, The Generations: the 1st will be up sometime within the next week or so, so please keep an eye out for that. Now, on to the review!!!

Note: Since I've already shared my thoughts costume-wise, I'll break it up into singing and performance instead.

-------------------------

Resonant Blue- Starting off with a bang much? This was an amazing performance, and Ai and Reina sounded lovely! Risa was also great in the few lines she got. The only lipsyncer here (for this whole concert. This fact is based off of some direct mic recordings that sufaced) is Koha, and since I can't stand her live anyway, I have no problem with that.

Performance: 5/5

Singing: 4.5/5

Onna ni Sachi Are- Again, everyone sounds great except Koha, who I'm still wondering why she can't even sound good when she's lipsyncing... The dance is great as per usual with this song, and everyones manic happy expressions at the beginning don't deter from the badassness of this song. Koha kind of did ruin this for me though because she sounds very whiny and immature. She's using her "OMG! I'm a hyper annoying anime character" voice again. My theory about this is, that just like Miley Cyrus is afraid she'll be a lot less popular if she drops Hannah Montana, Koharu thinks that the kids won't come to see her and Morning Musume live if she doesn't always sound like the annoying anime character she plays. I wish I could smack her every time she sings a line from a mature, good MM song in her Kirari voice. Aika sounds rather out of breath during her solos, and even though it sounds a slightly bad, I at least trust her to put forth the effort to sing live and work her hardest.

Performance: 5/5

Singing: 4/5

Egao YES Nude- Let me start off saying that the choice to have them sing this song in those dresses was one of the worst. It just looked horrid. This performance made me want to forget Koha ever existed. She's just so annoying in such a mature song! Aika shows us why she was picked again, with so much improvement singing her lines since last year. Again everyone sounds fantastic, and I'm starting to convince myself that maybe UFA finally hired a better vocal coach, or is having ten times as much vocal training for the girls. Just as I thought Ai couldn't improve, she did, and Sayu's improved for the first time in her 5 years with the group. Is something going on here?

Performance: 4.5/5

Singing: 5/5 (From this point on, I'll ignore Koha existed when I determine this number, otherwise, we wouldn't get much higher than a 4 in anything.)

Iroppoi Jirettai- The dancing at the beginning seemed very messy compared to how it was just a few short years ago. The singing was good all around, but Junjun and Linlin were amazing in the little part they had. Not much else to say about this one.

Osaka Koi no Uta- Unlike a few people, I actually like Aika's opening monolouge. Hopefully, she'll get to say it enough times that others might like it too. Unlike the previous song, the dancing is sharp and rehearsed. The singing is again the stand-out feature as the girls sound very good, and only slightly tired. It would be nice if Reina didn't sound like she was whining the whole time, but it was still good and in tune.

Performance: 5/5

Singing: 4.5/5

Kanashimi Twilight- This song opened with a bang as usual, but I'm still not a fan of the wota's "Oi!"-ing during the music transitions. Reina used a non-whiny voice, and was I ever blown away by how awesome she sounded! This song seemed faster than usual, not that I minded. Aika's vocals were also more mature, and more amazing. When Reina and Aika use mature voices, they can't be beat. (Except maybe by the one and only Ai Takahashi.) The thing that Ai did that made her performance beat the rest, was that she did some incredible acting while singing. Her face told a story, she wasn't just singing, she was expressing the song with her whole body.

Performance: 5/5

Singing: 5/5

Ambitious!- Again, Junjun and Linlin and their amazingly deep voices sounded great. Their energy was great for this song being after Kanashimi Twilight. This is the point where I'll point out, that whenever Koha has a duet line with anyone, you can barely hear her, and instead, the other person isn't only louder, but they also sound so much better.

Performance: 4/5

Singing: 4.5/5

Roman My Dear Boy: Reina goes back to her annoying whiny voice, which immediately makes the song go downhill. I think that this song would have been amazing if they put some of the more mature, deep voices to the front like Junjun or Linlin. It just doesn't sound right otherwise. The english lines are only slightly better than usual. This song luckily has very little Koha, which saves it from being a total disaster.

Performance: 3.5/5

Singing: 3/5

Do it! Now- This has always been a Takahashi dominated song. She owns it, and I'm very pleased that she is able to have a mostly her solo of this song. It's what makes this performance great. The one thing I have to say is that she sounds like she's rushing it at the beginning. The transition to Mr. Moonlight at the end works, but it's really awkward.

Performance: 5/5

Singing: 5/5

Mr. Moonlight ~Ai no Big Band~- One of the most unique Momusu songs style-wise, I was extremely worried how this song would be without the champion of it, Yossie. The creepy clapping hands in the background made me even more worried, but as soon as Ai came in looking totally pimp-tastic (which is probably the best single moment in the entire concert), I felt extremely relieved. While she simply can't ever own this song like Yossie, she does an admirable job trying too, and I strongly believe that she is the best choice out of any of the current line up, or the line-up before Yossie was there to be the pimp in this song. Even though she isn't very manly, she can still sound manly, and certantly act manly when she needs to. This is practically her time to shine now that Yossie's gone. Before anyone asks, the docked point is due to the rest of the girls barely singing, and instead, almost all the back up was recorded.

Performance: 5/5

Singing: 4/5

Furusato- I really like the piano as backup instead of the normal weird electronic back-up track. The piano complements Sayu's voice amazingly well, and I must say, for the first time in my H!P fandom, I'm genuinely impressed by Sayu. This performance shows how much she's improved. While she's still shakey at some parts, she sounds lovely overall, and before I heard/saw this, I would've never belived anyone when they said, "Sayu has the ability to sing decently." I'm so proud of her and how much she improved. I didn't think it when the setlist first came out, but she deserved this solo more than anyone because of her vast improvement. Congrats Sayu, for the first time in my two short years of H!P fandom, I can say, I'm slightly a fan of you.

Performance: 4/5

Singing: 3.5/5

Namida (etc.)- I forgot the whole titles if you're wondering about this and the Ambitious song. Eri sounds lovely in her opening words, and I see why she's deserving of more singing time lately. There isn't much else to say besides that she sounds lovely.

Performance: 4/5

Singing: 4/5

Memory Seishun no Hikari- This song was a solo by Reina. Again, a newly mixed back-up track was used. This isn't meant to offend any Reina fans, but if she tryed harder to sound less whiny and more mature, this could've been golden, but because she didn't, this performance was frankly quite bad.

Performance: 4.5/5

Singing: 3.5/5

Manatsu no Kousen- I'm not a huge fan of this song, but the amazing singing job from Risa won me over. It just couldn't have been better. She's the perfect girl to sing this song, and I personally LOVE her version of this song. Now I see why she is on the top of almost everyone's lists of MoMusu girls they love. The harmonization later in this makes it even better, if that's possible.

Performance: 5/5

Singing:5/5

AS FOR ONE DAY- Sayu does a great job capturing the spirit of the opening monolouge, and for that, she gains even more of my fandom. The dresses look fabulous for the song, and Eri's lost and disoriented look is simply amazing. (Did UFA hire a new acting coach too?) This song sounds so amazing when Charmy doesn't get a big chunk of the lines. Overall, this is a good, solid performance.

Performance: 5/5

Singing: 5/5

 

Summer Night Town- I skipped over this after the first few seconds. It made me realize how this particular song could never be topped by any other group of people.

Perf/Singing- unavaliable

Hyokkori Hyoutan Jima- Skipped. I wasn't in the mood to see the pandas being humiliated by singing just about the only Morning Musume single that Koharu's voice works for.

Perf/Singing- unavaliable

Morning Coffee- Like in Summer Night Town, I was nervous as to weather or not the newer girls could pull this song off, but they did it beautifully, the harmonizations between the girls went beautifully, and showed that these girls are great harmonizers. At times, their voices didn't blend very well (it sounded as if Risako had come to haunt them), and Reina again sounded whiny, along with Eri and Sayu sounding very young. The solos in this song were not good. At all. (With the exception of Risa's and Ai's) But, once again, harmonizing saved the song.

Performance: 4/5

Singing: 3/5

Medley A- Daite HOLD ON ME started this medley with the explosive rap section, and while the Nee Waratte face wasn't half as funny as Iida's, the singing was great, and this song made them sound a lot like the original group. Chokkan 2 brought back the punch in the medley. The energy was just amazing at this point. Sexy Boy with it's parapara section brought the intensity down a little, but the vocals shined through as great. They barely seemed tired. Joshi Kashimashi Monogatari was fun, because they let a different girl do it every night, and it seemed a surprise to the girls as to who the lucky one would be. (It's probably more acting though) They brought back the cutesy love songs with Go Girl ~Koi no Victory~, a great way to finish a great medley!

The Manpower- The vocals by the girls are strong, and they sound like they're trying hard to sing with deeper voices. This song sounds great, but the dresses aren't the best.

Performance: 4/5

Singing: 4.5/5

Shabondama- Reina went to 2003, and just belted out that opening line. And it sounded amazing.They sound so pissed when they sing this during this particular performance. Maybe they're singing to the costume designers for all the wrongs that have been done to them in the past. Takahashi shows off why she can belt better that most japanese singers, and the only one who ruins this song is again, Koharu, who sounds like a nassally, annoying 5th grade girl times 1000. Let's just say, it couldn't get any better than this.

Performance: 5/5

Singing: 5/5

 

Medley B- The 8th generation gives a strong start to I WISH, and makes me want another Junjun/Linlin solo song. The skirt transformation thing was really cool looking, but it made the outfits look worse. The transition to Happy Summer Wedding was fast and awkward, and the actual song wasn't sung too well. Koi no Dance Site brought better dresses and better singing. Just a side note: Eri's sexy beam will never own Yagu's. I loved the dance section transtition to Souda! When the song came, it was energetic as ever, but the singing sounded slightly tired. The ending was sudden, shoking, and really fun.

Performance: 4/5

Singing: 3.5/5

Medley C- This was a 2 song medley, so it was awkward to consider as a medley. The start was cool with them walking in, and then, as if there was no slow down, coming out in their new costumes. The singing was energetic and good, and the dance transition was simply the best. It wasn't the best singing, but it was energetic, and the dancing was great.

Performance: 5/5

Singing: 4/5

Koko ni Iruzee!- Reina sounds really young and annoying here. Don't get me wrong, I love Reina's singing, but only when she's using her mature, adult voice. The singing overall sounds very tired and exhausted, proving that this is a song only to be sung at the beginning of a set. Overall, it's still energetic, and most of the singing is still good.

Performance- 4/5

Singing- 4/5

Mikan- In my opinion, Mikan never sounds very good live, but this is certantly the best they've done. They sound tired as usual when they sing this song, but somehow, they all manage to stay energetic and on time.

Performance: 4.5/5

Singing: 4/5

Aruiteru- The soft song at the end of a long and very hard set. They all seem relieved and their voices are back to relaxed levels. This is a very good performance of this song, and I can't wait to see them top this set.

Performance: 5/5

Singing: 5/5

Ai Araba IT'S ALL RIGHT!- They seem rejuvinated during the encore. Their voices are crisp and solid, and they barely look sweaty. It's so cute when they hug each other. The way the costumes cordinate to the colors of the original PV make this performance so much cuter.

Performance:5/5

Singing: 4/5

Love Machine- Ah, the most over sung Morning Musume song ever is back to haunt me. The JunLin team start it off with Risa doing the Deiya! Part. Again, no one Momusu member will ever beat Iida's expressions. They seem rather bored with this song as a whole, and can anyone blame them?

Performance: 3.5/5

Singing: 4.5/5

---------------------

Overall, the 5th generation owned this concert. I wish this was a tour where they did more barely heard album songs, but that obviously wasn't gonna happen. Oh well, at least there wasn't any Koha solos. This time.

-Midori

Hello again!

What I mean by the title, is that when Berryz and C-ute's concert was announced, it was described as a battle concert. Immediately, I thought the theme would be Berryz Koubou VS. C-ute in an all out battle. I was wrong. It was Berryz and C-ute together fighting against a common, power-rangers monster-of-the-day type of enemy, though that isn't to say I didn't enjoy this concert. In fact, I loved it to death! It was one of the few H!P concerts that actually had a recurring theme throughout, and it was a fun, exciting theme. The VTRs were actually good, and they were a lot of fun. I had fun watching the girls see the monster, than summon their friends in a way reminiscent of Sailor Moon, and do a dramatic pose/meet-up scene.

Stage Set-up: 5/5

Concept: 5 (Bonus)

(Costume reviews and song reviews will be done as they come)

On to the music!

Introduction/Darling I Love You

The intro was so over dramatic for such a hyper song, but fit the general mode of the concert.

Darling I Love You was a generally good performance, though some of the girls were off at times, or their voices just didn't blend great with the others (Volume or otherwise) and it made parts of the song sound rather bad. The dance was cute and pretty together. I'd never heard this song before this concert, and I don't know if I'd buy it, but this is still a very good, high energy version of it.

Costumes: 3.5/5 The fluffy dresses are cute, but they're badly accesorized, and only fit the first song in the set.

Performance: 4/5 The dancing and energy was great, but the singing was sketchy at points.

 

 

Special Generation

I don't know if anyone who's reviewed the concert has mentioned this, but those powder-puffy skirts go terrible with this song. The combo of the dress colors (Berryz wearing blue, C-ute in pink) made me remember the winter version of this. The voices in this still don't blend the best, but the singing is much better overall. I love how the two groups do parts of the choreography back to back, so you couldn't see the other group, and the X shape at the end was really cool. The formations in the song looked amazing from above with the different dress colors.

Performance: 4.5/5

Ooki na Ai de Motanashite

The beginning formation with the alternating blue and pink is again a good choice, and it looked great. The hand movements were really together, and the over all performance shows how much these two groups have improved since they did this at the 2007 winter concert. The eggs and their low costume budget come in here, and that becomes rather distracting on the C-ute side of things where the costumes don't match. The ending is really cute, and the singing in this song was the most confident and nice sounding yet!

Warning: This post may contain content that may insult Risako and madden her fans. This isn't meant to do so, but there's a high chance it will.

Performance: 5/5

VTR

This was the single most awesome VTR ever featured in any H!P concert. That's all there is to say. (The Erika/Chisato part was total win)

Overall: 6/5

 

 

Namida no Iro

I liked these costumes much better than the PV ones, though they're very similar. This live made me have a whole new respect for the dance, which I didn't like when I saw the PV. Maybe it's the lighting. All the dancing is simply amazing, and the singing is great, but most of it is lipsynced from what I can see.

Costumes: 5/5

Performance: 3.5/5 (Partially lip-synced)

Munasawagi Scarlet

This was the first Berryz single I listened to. I like it, and this performance is no exception. The singing is much more mature than when the song first came out, and the dancing is good and confident. The costumes are just how I like them: rather normal and non-idolish. They fit the song much better than the original ones did. The only problem I have with the costumes is song specific. Where they picked up part of their gouches in the original dance, they now have no fabric to hold onto, leading to a really awkward-looking dance move.

From here on out is where I agree with maiZe, that Miyabi just keeps singing well, and Risako, well, just sucks at singing. Risako sounds terrible from now on out, and, frankly, I would like to see someone besides her get lines, someone who can sing consistantly great live. (Again, not to insult Risako and/or her fans)Pr

Performance: 4.9/5

Costumes: 5/5

LALALA Shiawase no Uta

This song has never really been one of my favorites, but it's still a good performance, no matter how terrible the costumes are for it. I love the costumes, but they portray the opposite of the song. Overall, the singing is very good, and this is live, compared to Namida no Iro. That doesn't mean it's bad though, in fact, this song sounds more full of energy when it's live. The dance was the main point-docker, as it was off at some points.

Performance: 4.5/5

Dschinghis Khan

This perfomance was all Berryz in my eyes. For some reason, they just seemed to be having a lot of fun singing this, compared to C-ute's almost forced-looking beginning dance. Risako really sounds off during some of the group parts, but during her solo parts, she gets slightly better.

Performance: 4/5

Tokkaiko Junjou

How can I hate any performance of this song? I can't. Even the fluffly fairy version of it. Everything is perfect again with this song, and Maimai looks and sounds so grown up. Airi's vocals are amazing during this, and I think she sounds better and better as it goes on. The dance is awesome as always, and the amazing sound of their voices blending is something that they have as an advantage over Berryz. In Berryz, someone is always louder than everyone else, as if it's their solo, but in C-ute, they all sound the same volume, and their voices work really well together, as if all seven girls are really just one.

Performance: 5/5

Tsukiatteru no ni Kataomoi

I want to deny this song ever existed, so I skipped it.

Very Beauty

Very Beauty is by far my favorit Berryz song, and after reading maiZe's review, I wasn't looking forward to this, though, even if Risako butchers her parts of this great song, I couldn't wait for Airi's lines. It went just as maiZe said, Risako looking slightly drunk when she walked to the center stage and generally sounding more nassaly and annoying than ever. On the otherhand, Airi sounded like she was born to sing this. If this is ever sung by Airi and Miyabi, or all of Buono!, I think I'd die of happiness.

Risako Performance: 1/5

Airi Performance: 5/5

Bokura no Kagayaki

I've never really liked this song, and while this was a good, solid performance, I still don't like the song. I don't have much to add to that.

Performance: 3/5

Sayonara Hageshiki Koi

This started off very hyper, but the vocals sounded rather young. Overall, though, I really liked this performance. All the girls sounded great, and the dance was cool. I think that this performance, again, wasn't among the best in this concert energy-wise, but the vocals and the overall dancing was great.

Performance: 4/5

That's the Power

The costumes are something that I've never seen in any H!P concert since Coconuts Musume in 2000: schoolgirls. They're cute over all, and fit the theme of transforming superheroes. (Magical girls anyone?) The song is very B-sideish, and the english lines are really awkward sounding. I didn't really like this, but maybe I just didn't hear enough of it.

Performance: 4/5

Costumes: 4.5/5

Do Don Ga Don Ondou

Not only does the title remind me of Odoru11, the opening notes and the general gist of the song do too. I don't like this song, or the dance, it's too traditional japanese (in the musical sense) for me, but I still like the fact that Erika gets a big solo for herself even though she's often pushed to the back of everything. She should get more oppourtunities to do stuff in H!P singing-wise, she's more talented than some of the girls who get more lines than her. (Please, Tsunku, I know you don't read this, but let Erika sing more!!!)

I like how she thanked the audience in her singing at the end.^^

Performance: 3.75/5

Honto no Jibun/Renai Rider

I'm pretty sure everyone knows Buono is awesome, and by far my favorite H!P kids group. I didn't like this Honto no Jibun at first, but now I love it. These outfits are really cute, and I like how they work for both Buono songs in the set. The singing is great, and the only fault I have with this entire set is that it's really short by my standards of Buono awareness. Buono needs two things: to be made a permenant group (After Biyuuden, H!P doesn't have any trio groups besides them, and to boot, they sell as well, if not better sometimes than the other H!P kids groups.) and to get a tour.

Performance: 5/5

Costumes: 5/5

Natsu Doki Lipstick

I've never really been a huge fan of Maimi, but she really owns this song. After seeing this, I don't want want anyone else to sing this song. Even though her voice is hard on my ears, it still fits this high-energy dance piece. Also, even though I'm a girl and straight, I'd admit that if I was a guy, and saw that dance danced that well, I'd be totally turned on.

Performance: 4.5/5

Massara Blue Jeans

This song is one I always, habitually skip over during concerts. That's my only reason for skipping it. I'll just put something about the costumes here:

Shiny x1000

Costumes: 4.9/5

Jiriri Kiteru

I can't say how much I love this song. It was the 3rd Berryz song I really love. The color contrast in the costumes is again amazing, and the overall dancing and Miyabi's singing makes up for Risako. The blend in this song again is really painful to the ears for some reason. It sounds a lot like they just reverted their singing ability back to 3 years ago. Hmm... This is probably one of the works performances vocally in the entire concert for no appearent reason. They all just sound really off. One thing I do like though is the awesome choreography and formations used throughout this. The rotating X was really cool, and looked great.

Performance: 3/5

Jump

JUMP! A song that's a rare case where it's better live than the recorded version. Maybe because they let loose live, but are bored singing the same thing over and over in the recording studio. Whatever the case, It's a really fun song. You can tell who does the dance more from who jumps higher. They all sound exhasuted when they're singing, but overall, it's pretty good, and Erika's solo line is AMAZING!!! You can feel the energy during this.

Performance: 4.5/5

Yuujou Junjou oh Seishun

I've only heard this live. It's a song where I love the general singing parts, but I don't like the instrumental only parts. They're just not the best ever. This performance is even more energetic that JUMP and it really made me wonder how these girls keep going. Overall, this is great, and a lot of fun, overall, the main complaint I have is Momoko. I love her Buono voice to death, but here, she's pure helium.

Performance: 4.9/5

MC

This is the only MC I'll review, because it's the most fun. It gets back to the plot of fighting the monster, and is basically a skit, not to say it's bad though. It may be cheesy, and it leads to a song, the same one that was just in the VTR, but it's still fun.

Warera! Berryz Kamen

A song that really fits the super hero theme. It's a lot like the Sailor Moon theme song, but it's much, much better. This takes place during the battle, I guess, and they sing to eventually defeat the generic monster, but it's still fun, and even though we heard this playing during the VTR, this version of the song was better and involved some acting here and there. It's a lot of fun to watch the girls sing something that mactches their costumes, and of course, the badly animated monster blow up.

Performance: 6/5

Sakura Chirari

I have no idea who put this song to these outfits, but it's really awkward. This song never grew on me, and I'm still not a fan of it. The repetitive dance is a little boring, and I don't like it too much. The song is predictable, and the wotas jumping in the front row seem much more energetic than the girls on stage. (The wotas really stole the show energy wise) It seems as if they're lipsyncing through the whole thing to me, but threre aren't many good shots that would help me tell.

Performance: 3/5

---------------------------

That was a long review. After I get back, be sure to look for a review of the Morning Musume concert too!

-Midori

HELLO!

Thanks everyone for the comments. I'll go away from my nail obsession for at least this post, and I'll try to tell everyone what I think of the costumes for Morning Musume's spring tour, since I can't review the concert until the DVD comes out. ^^'

***By the way, for the extra look into what I think was going on in a designer's head, I will put an "alcohol level" indicator up, AKA how drunk I'd believe someone to be when designing the outfit.

Before you read this, you should be warned: This was written after a long plane ride, and I may go extremely insane at any point, so if this becomes non-sensical, please don't ask.

(In no particular order, and for no particular girl, unless the costumes are significantly different)

 

Hair: Check.

Make-up: Check.

 

 

 

 

 

Shirt: Check.

 

 

 

 

 

Pants/Skirt: Check.

 

 

 

Cowboy Boots: Check.

What's up with UFA's costume people liking to ruin perfectly good costumes with cowboy boots? Maybe they're in style? The world may never know.

(Other instances I can recall: Jiriri Kiteru)

 

 

Fluffy Osterage Butt Thingy [of doom]: Check... (Me. -.-)

I can survive the cowboy boots, but this is rediculous. Don't get me wrong, I love these outfits, but I really like it when the H!P girls can wear something extemely normal without the costume department going on a drunk tyrade around the costume area with feather/fluff boas.

 

 

Overall: 4.5/5, One normal outfit without a side of feathers, please.

Alcohol level: Barely drunk

Love the jewelry and the hair! Then again, the designers got a little overboard on Reina's hair acessory, but it's still kinda cool.

The tops are nice with the color, true to the original live costumes: yellow, blue, and red, and all 3 are used in the same way. Even though these aren't the same style as the sailor-collered originals, I like how they made these with the red ties (at least seemingly) covered by a folded over piece of cloth. I'm guessing it was made that way so this costume could have layers over it.

The shorts are... unique. The buttons and stars along with the under-layer's layer of blue and white stripes looks really sailor-ish!

The boots are ones that are very... piratey. I wouldn't like them with any other outfit, but they work here.

Overall: 4.75/5, I love these!!! My problem is the weird concept of 2-layer shorts.

Alcohol level: Completely sober

Extra note: This was after Aika was sick, so the bandages on her stomach aren't part of the costume. ^^' It's good she recovered well.

 

These are classy, city-girl outfits. I like everything about these outfits, except the return of the attack of the giant flowers. It's great to see Morning Musume in long pants after so long.

I can't wait to see these ones in movement, but in the event videos and the pictures, Morning Musume as a whole always looks really confident. It's a really good look for Resonant Blue in concert: It has the colors of the PV outfits making it cool yet idol-ish for the other songs they do in this set.

Overall: 4.99/5, (The pants are tucked in!!!)

Alcohol level: pretty sober

 

Just a note: Reina looks intense in this picture.

Again, the jewelry is spot-on! I'd like these, but all of the roman themed stuff on the costumes, along with the clashing boots just doesn't work for me.

I can't really look at these without thinking that one of the girls is just going to yell "THIS IS SPARTA!!!" during an MC wearing these. While these are great for the innumerable jokes we could probably make, they just aren't good for the songs that they're worn for, and I doubt they'll ever be good for any set Momusu will ever sing.

Overall: 2.5/5, I can has matching costumes?

Alcohol level: Somewhere between sober and drunk.

 

 

These are... unique.

I love all the color, and the dresses look like the party dresses that were worn for Mr.Moonlight when it was performed in the good old days.

The only complaint I really have is that all the crazy patterns, frills, bright colors, hair pieces, excessive fabric, the boots, and Ai's entire ensemble makes all of Morning Musume look like they just came from Munchin Land or Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory's factory.

I like quite a few of these, but they're hit and miss. Takahashi's should have waited 'till the Cinderella musical.

Overall: 3.5/5

Alcohol Level: somewhere between drunk and sober

 

ATTACK OF THE EXCESSIVE FABRIC!!!

I love the latinish style of dresses that are always designed for Iroppoi Jiretai's lives in concert, but the color, and the seemingly extra 2 yards of fabric makes these look impractical and wierd. The pattern on them up close is also kind of... ugly.

Now, I could put a rant here about how I'm sick of seeing the exact same style of dress every time this song's sung, but I won't.

Overall: 4/5

Alcohol Level: Sober (Possibly)

 

These are all I'm doing for now.

Again, thank you for supporting my blog. *Bows*

-Midori