Ayaka Kimura Graduates Hello! Project

Well, we all knew the day was coming. After being a ‘group’ for 4 years, also being one of the most under-used H!P members of all time, Ayaka Kimura took her final bow and announced her graduation. There will be no graduation concert or event of any kind – not that I’m surprised; think back on Hello Project’s squirming out of giving Makoto Ogawa her own graduation (though, at least she got something)

Her announcement tells us it she will be pursuing her dream of acting – the abrupt departure makes one wonder what the nature of this acting is – AV? I don’t want to say it, I doubt it’s true, but hey, it has to be said every time a girl leaves H!P it seems. My personal guess is maybe she’ll be pursuing acting in America, or star in something that requires the shedding of her idol image.

At this point. . . there’s little to nothing keeping me interested in H!P. The loss of Ayaka furthers that. The moment they lose Eririn, consider me history as far as H!P is concerned. Lest Maki make a miraculous return, I just honestly have nothing to enjoy in H!P anymore, especially considering my favorite girl in their flagship group is completely ignored despite being able to outsing and outdance one of their most undeserving (in my humble opinion) leads (read: Koha.)

I wish Ayaka the best of luck – she was always one of my favorites. She’s a gorgeous girl with lots of talent from what I’ve seen, so hopefully companies will be throwing themselves at her. You can do it, Ayarin!

Goto Maki’s Graduation – My Thoughts

Just months ago, before the release of Glass no Pumps, I had an ever flaming dislike of Maki Goto. Then, GnP was released, and that changed. God, did it change.

Since then Maki became my favorite H!P member, and the only member I actively followed. I suppose a long time Maki fan would look down on me for that – but before a release that called so much attention to it’s self, I figured she was just another H!P girl with a false cutesy act and squeaky voice. By the time I heard Suppin to Namida I decided “I should give her a chance.” and by GnP I was going “I have GOT to get to know this girl.” It was like seeing and hearing a completely different girl than before.

And now, I realize I had such little time knowing this girl, this girl who I quickly realized I was beginning to look up to as a talent, but yet it feels like losing an old friend when I read about her leaving H!P. I started finding the good in all her past releases, not to mention continuing to love her new style. Old and new, through and through, I loved everything Maki released.

In school, we have friends, and only when the time arrives do we realize that our school-time friendships do not last forever – college, pregnancy, marriage or lack thereof seems so far away, and you’re almost afraid to think of it. And never did I think Maki would graduate H!P before H!P bowed out all together.

I can only ask one thing, and that is that Maki continues an active singing career. After she has left H!P I have absolutely no one I actually feel is worth actively following.

I just hope Maki is happy in the end – she had often asked for more room for creativity, and now I hope she will have it. Maki is a talented girl and I know she has it in her to continue doing great – if she wants to. If she wants to settle down, then, well, good for her. In the very least, I can always cherish the music, music videos, lives, photos, everything she has had up until now.

I give Maki complete support in whatever she wants to do from now on. No matter how high or low sales are – I vow from now on to purchase anything she releases in the future that I can possibly get my hands on.

And on the less positive note…
What would a blog entry by me be if it didn’t include some form of bitching? Here’s what I’ll tell you – if idols were given any choice in their scheduling, image, music, or even able to write a lyric or two, they wouldn’t quit nearly as often. Maki wasn’t even really an idol anymore, it wouldn’t have hurt them in anyway to allow her any form of choice in matters. Maki has had so much experience in the business – if only they’d allowed her to turn down a live here or there, or maybe to co-write on a song (she’d asked to before)… I wish so many asian labels didn’t keep such a choke hold on their artists.

GO-MAKI  GODDESS MAKI

Konoha – Nightmare ~ Nice, but kind of…boring.

I’m not normally one to call a song boring, no matter how slow or ballad-like, or dull it is. I tend to prefer the songs another would say drag on or are too long-winded; my friends even often tease me about it.
This isn’t, in my opinion, a bad single at all. Konoha sounds better with each listen, but the first 2 or 3 left me rather un-impressed. I’m a pretty new Nightmare fan, I met a girl last year who loved them. That aside, I’ve listened to a handful of their songs, and have enjoyed all immensely, thus I downloaded this single quickly, and equally quickly decided I probably wouldn’t consider purchasing it (this is coming from the girl who spends all her spare money on jrock, while ignoring her jpop)

Jajauma Paradise PV ~ A Step in the Right Direction – but, no.

Let me start by saying that, in my own personal opinion, this PV isn’t bad; it’s simply incredibly dull. The actual editing, angles, clothing, and concept are all a step in the direction of a more modern feel to H!P videos.

(Right click > View Image for larger pics)

The dumbed down colors are lame, by a large margin, but I’m that’s just from the less than HQ rip. The girls, discounting Rika, all look amazing here. Yui should never stop with this hair style – it evens out her facial features and highly pronounced jaw and makes her face look more proportioned and symmetrical. Erika always rather reminded me of an animal of some kind; not really a bad thing, but she always had this kind of sad-puppy look to her. But the new, long, curly style makes her look like a model, she by far is the star of this PV. She has a gorgeous smile, and she rocks this baby-ish singing style, which is saying something considering I consider them the most vocally impaired non-H!P Kid group.

Rika… well, Rika looks a bit tired, to be honest. It may just be the lighting, which her being very, very tan could have simply washed her out, but I see bags under her eyes, and the short hair still fails to do her any favors. The cute act has become such a habit for her, that she really seems far too practiced next to the other two. The other two aren’t used to playing the role, so it comes across much more natural, but you can almost see Rika calculating each move before it comes. She also has a rather annoying habit of raising her eyebrows for long periods of time when she does the cute thing; she looks very shocked for most of the PV.

Onegai Miwaku no TARGET (with a twist)

I am trying to the best of my ability not to have a coronary over this. Someone, anyone, get a doctor, please!

Please, UFA, Tsunku, Mr. Doctor-kun-senpai-san, what the fuck is trying to be accomplished by splashing four black men on the cover of a single released by a Japanese all-female pop group? My only deduction from all this is that it’s all Kisaki’s The Mafia(Kisaki’s) The Yakuza AKB48’s the terrorists fault. Innocent jpop listeners, the Japanese public! YOU! That wota over there! Your copy of this CD will have anthrax within it!

Tape your windows and doors closed! It’s just been reported that they’re going to be sending out AKB48 in hoards as soldiers. They’re said to be incredibly vicious, feasting on the small and scant of their own kind!

This cracktastic entry brought to you by a very, very bored, very, very spaztastic Angela. Oh, and don’t worry. I like AKB48. andI’mnotonlysayingthattoavoidtheirclutchesreally.

Music Fair 21 07.07.28

Ah, Music Fair. Main reason, I admit, to watching and reviewing this, is that OMGWTFBBQ KEI. Kei <3 Kei <3 Keeeei <3

We haven’t seen her in so long, it’s pathetic Say what you want about her looks, but she’s one of the best talents to grace H!P

I anticipate that I will be continuously let down by performances containing such members as Koharu.

01. UFO

I actually know this song, thanks to one of my friends. I forget who it’s by; one of those female duos famous in the 70’s (and she’s going to kill me for forgetting the name.) Anyway, the opening, with the falling lights gets you revved up for something big. Too bad that’s ruined once the lighrs come back; god, those costumes make me wanna barf. Osaka Koi no Uta meets Iroppoi meets Happy SummerWedding. As you can see in the second cap, the pandas are standing next to two of my most adored H!P members. The newbies automatically go up 5 points in my book. Click pics to view fullsize

I’ll give this performances one good comment as far as how it appears; Maki looks smokin’. Not that we expect any thing else.

02. Natsu chu omimai moushiagemasu

Eh, could have been better. This trio deserved a rockish song or something. Something a little less… cute. The opening was all over the place with off notes, not something I usually see from these three. Got better as it went along. Too short, but enjoyable. I’d also like to remind you all that Ms. Goto is a goddess.

03. Nai Nai 16

It seems someone decided to construct the most incredibly annoying, both vocally and otherwise, trio conceivable. Takahashi’s voice is inoffensive. Not os much at all to the other two. All three of my least favorite ex-MM members in all MM history, paired with my least favorite current member. UFA is aware of how the other two sound, having Takahashi’s mic impossibly loud over the others. A pretty transparent attempt to cover the other two.

04. Choo Choo Train

Kind of lame that it’s so short (16 seconds) but, a nice, energetic interlude of Berryz doing what they do best: Dancing. Berryz are probably among the best dancers in H!P. I dunno about C-ute, they haven’t been given any extensive choreography as of yet.  I must say, most Berryz members are much more consistant singing live than Momusu.  C-ute were also impressive singing Meguru on… was it popjam?  Either way, more to the kids, I suppose.

05. 17 sai

Oh dear God… what has possessed me when my favorite perf so far is of my two second least favorite members of MM. Even more so, the two with the most annoying voices (in my humble opinion) These two got, so far, the funnest song. Listening again, vocals aren’t too good, but they both sound better than usual. They’re just so cute. You just wanna eat them all up. This can’t be healthy.

Annnd on to the Momusu songs~ Skipping the rest of the oldies, sorry.  You’ll have to watch for yourself.

09. The Weakest Rendition of Renai Revolution Ever

This “wowah”s are going to give me a fucking aneurysm.   It’s quite sad to see how vocally inadequite current MM is.  I really, really hope the pandas get more lines in the future.  They’re the only ones with a chance.

Let us pray to god above that they work.

Nono makes a no-no … but is it really so bad?

4th gen has officially shown its’self to be the most dysfuntional gen.

Bou (Gu) Leaves Antique Cafe

Let me say, I got into the jrock scene fairly late, so I hadn’t witnessed a member leaving a band I listened to, as basically all the bands were very solid (Dir en grey) and had just been around for quite a while.

That said I didn’t know how I’d react. I guess now I do.

Welcome to Strawberry Pie Blog

Or, just drop the blog and call it strawberry pie. I don’t really mind either way.
This blog is run by Angela, yes, the same Angela from Sakuranbo.

Strawberry Pie is the redheaded step child of the j-music blog Sakuranbo!.
Sakuranbo was closed down simply because of writers block, and also because the blog became a jpop blog, or more, a Hello! Project blog.
This was, of course, never the intention. Strawberry Blog, also named after a food and a song, is meant to remain fairly balanced, though more jrock leaning.

Look forward to entries and please, do comment, and plug.  I really want to find my old audience again.