All the cool kids are doing it, so why shouldn’t it? In February this year I figured I’d start a blog where I would fanwhore about Reina. The end result was anything but constant fanwhoring. Therefor I decided to do what the cool kids are doing, and get a .com domain, set up WordPress, design a theme, and get rolling under a new name!
Lo and behold, Wotakular.com was born. A witty combination of Wota and spectacular. Not so witty now that I think about it…
Anyways: update your bookmarks, your mother, your blogroll, your links, and your adblocker! From now on my ramblings about life, Japanese Idols and everything in between takes place at www.wotakular.com
In 2006 I swore I’d never like Koharu. In 2007 I was convinced I’d never like Koharu. In 2008 I could’ve sworn I said I’d never like Koharu. Mid-2009 I thought I love Koharu. And now, just a few months later I’m convinced I love Koharu. Love, the way I love idols. Wota love, as I discussed before. Not the other kind of love, that would be silly. Oh so sweet, but silly nevertheless.
This blogpost has no depth, no meaning, and no feeling. This blogpost isn’t there to provoke thoughts or feelings. This blogpost is here to remind me that in my ever-so-changing list of loved ones (wota love) Koharu has found a nice second place. I can’t help it, and even if I could I wouldn’t.
Koha, Crackaru, with your teeth that resemble that of a hare, your ever so crackalicious attitude… I love you. Right after Reina! She’ll always be number one. Just for the record.
With the release of a new Morning Musume PV a new time trial arises. A moment where I grab my stopwatch and watch 8 9 lovely girls dancing to what is to be reckoned the single of the year for Morning Musume. With the PV for Nanchatte Renai (NR, in short) Tsunku is taking a few steps back from SYO and goes back 3 singles to the visual style of Resonant Blue. This time with a less blueish feeling. And for a change each girl wears an outfit in the same black bottom/white top colour-scheme . The PV of NR takes place in one of Tsunku’s many abonanded warehouses, most probably situated in the shady parts of the Tokyo docklands.
As I did with the last 2 time trials I will briefly explain the rules. The numbers I present to you are undeniable facts. They are scientifically proven and do not reflect my personal opinion. However it is safe to say how Tsunku thinks about his girls. The timing has been done in miliseconds but rounded for my convenience. My convenience does not include Reina getting more screen time. The solo shots are CONTINUOUS solo shots. So for example; if Reina would be shown smiling in one shot, and then dancing with an extremely low depth of field that pretty much shows only Reina I count that as one shot.
Total PV time: 270 seconds.
Takahashi Ai: 34 seconds
Tanaka Reina: 23 seconds
Kusumi Koharu: 21 seconds
Michishige Sayumi: 17 seconds
Niigaki Risa: 15 seconds
Kamei Eri: 14 seconds
Jun Jun: 10 seconds
Mitsui Aika: 7 seconds
Lin Lin: 4 seconds
Amount of soloshots (Again, camera. Not crack. (With the exception of Koharu))
Takahashi Ai: 12 shots
Tanaka Reina: 12 shots
Niigaki Risa: 11 shots
Kusumi Koharu: 11 shots
Jun Jun: 10 shots
Michishige Sayumi: 10 shots
Mitsui Aika: 8 shots
Kamei Eri: 8 shots
Lin Lin: 4 shots
Conclusion:
It is recommended to brush your teeth at least twice a day.
On a more serious note; the rankingu once again didn’t change that much. The biggest surprise is the fact that both Koharu and Sayu got more screentime than Niigaki Risa. Interesting because for the last 2 PV’s Niigaki used to be a solid in third in terms of screentime. Risa declining in popularity? I doubt it. Sayu and Koharu just happened to get more solo lines. And although Eri her voice seems rather present in NR, this doesn’t automatically translates itself to more screentime.
Morning Musume’s 40th single is a great song that falls in line perfectly with the course Tsunku is sailing with Morning Musume. A more adult, and emotional Morning Musume. Does this mean a better Morning Musume? I’ll leave that up to you.
Feast your eyes lustily on the above video of Sayummy performing “It’s you”. I’m not too sure if I’m watching a Morning Musume concert or checking out the auditions for “Japans sluttiest popstar”. Whatever it is Sayummy is doing, she’s pulling it off rather nicely.
It was late in the afternoon as me and my two friends arrived in Sweden. I walked out the airplane and gazed into the distance, seeing nothing but trees, an airport terminal from the year 1642, and a security officer with a dog getting ready to sniff my non-drugs filled bags.
So my first steps in Sweden were ones in pouring rain. Rain that despite the fact that it felt wet, didn’t get me wet at all. I could feel the rain on my skin, but it didn’t make me wet. The rain here apperantly isn’t bothered to make your clothes wet. This was a nice experience. What wasn’t a nice experience was the chocolate filled with a soft liqourice filling. Like seriously, liqourice and chocolate do not make a great combination. In fact, it’s disgusting. Capital punishment for the inventor of the so called candy is what I say.
Of course, with my ever-so-positive attitude I headed for the bus. And sure enough a few minutes later the sun started to shines trough the clouds. On my way to Stockholm Central I spend my time playing “Guess the abbreviation” from numberplates with my friends. Being nerds we laughed about the number plates that contained “OMG”, “UDP” and “PXE”. Good times. The only bad feeling I got when an all too familair tune started playing on my mp3 player…
The ride from Stockholm Centralen to Melborgplatsen, the metro staton close to the Reina Star, went without any notable incidents and happenings. But boy was I surprised to find 9 people waiting for me and my friends there. Walking in the first thing said by Dran was “You must be Brian”. 10 points for that Dran. Well spotted. Was it my height or the Reina t-shirt I was wearing? I quickly gazed around and could recognize some faces from images posted before. A rather big guy with a ‘girugamesh’ t-shirt blurted out some incomprehensible English. Sswishbone spotted. Jaargilon was fast asleep, not knowing that the following day we’d be getting drunk on Delamore dew shots. But I’ll save that for later. Kalashnikov was easy to regocnize as well, with the hair and all. And of course Ichigo, our guide for the day. The check in person took about 30 minutes to arrive at the hostel, and the check in itself didn’t exactly go smooth either.
The crossing near the Reina Star hostel
That being said and done we headed of to a “park”. “Park” because it didn’t fit my image of trees and grassy fields. It had a fountain though, I’ll give you that. After we found a place me and my two friends headed towards a place to eat. We didn’t eat all day beside some shitty trainstation grub, so some warm food was more then welcome. I remembered that Krank mentioned the Max having good burgers, so logically that was the first place I’d spend my SEKS (Swedish Kronar) on.
In Holland pretty much every fast-food place has only foreigners working there, so I was pleasantly surprised to find one of the many loves of my life working behind the counter. Her pretty blond hair, blue eyes, and petite body did it’s magic. As she managed to sell the most expensive burger to me, combined with a refill gefor my drink. Well, I can tell you this. Krank was right. These burgers are way more better than any burger I’ve eaten before. It was meccha oishii. Thanks for the advice Krank! After my stomach started the digestion process we headed back to park. Some woterish conversation took place for about an hour. The evening would end for most of the wota. But not for me and my friends. We went to a club and found more lovely ladies there, willing to rub their asses against your crouch. I think she was 16 so I shouldn’t go into detail to much. Let’s just say we had a fun filled evening.
With my head feeling led-filled from last night we waited at the Reina Star for the other wota to pick us up. They didn’t appear, as the meeting place apperantly was Stockholm Central. Shit happens desu. With our “Ride everything for free” PT ticket we took bus 47 to Gronarlund. I’m not a big fan of themeparks, and I’ll never be either. We all had a good time, and many rides where being rode. Not by me though, I’m chickenshit when it comes down to stuff like that. It’s fine if you want to die in a rollercoaster, I’d rather die in a normal way thank you very much.
IchigoProject and Sswishbone in their death contraptions.
However; who needs rides when the level of cute girls is pretty much 100%. Everywhere I looked, scadly dressed girls parading with their bodies. We all loved it. The girls themselves didn’t seem to mind. Friendly smiles were returned. And many times I was gazed over by them just as much. However after a few hours, I was getting more bored and bored and there was little Hello! Projecterish conversation going on so we decided to leave the group in Gronarlund and explore some of the City. Our plan contained a massive loophole which was sleep. After waking up around 18:00 we headed to the centre of Stockholm to find a place to eat.
Ichigo, Sswishbone, Briliahaha10, and Jaargilon getting ready to face death.
They are Buono! I don't know who the guy on the right is though... but his expression was too good not to include it in this picture.
X5-2000 and Jaargilon obviously enjoying the ride. :P
Let’s say that the Kebabhouse is not a place where one would get his food. The place itself looks looks like shit, and the food followed in style by looking like shit, tasting like a shit, and just being shit in general. This place gets a thumbdown from the Wota Haute Cuisine Police. Having made a deal with Jaargilon to take him allong to our new favourite club we headed back to the Reina Star to see if he returned from Not-so-awesomeland yet. And what did we found there? The most cutest American i’ve ever seen.
We woke him up around 23:00, talked a bit, then headed of to the club. “You guys look drunk”, is what the bouncer said. “We’re not drunk” was our solid reply. So solid we were allowed in the club again. At first we just stood at a table, emptying our hearts about Hello! Project and what it means to us. As the alcohol level in the blood went up the conversations became more and more emotional. I’m lucky enough to have a good friend I can talk to on Skype about the wonders of Hello! Project. But nothing beats a face to face conversation about Hello! Project. At one point the alcohol level caused a turning point for the evening. Resulting in doing wotagei to the extreme. Romansu, Over Active Dolphin, PPPH. That’s what we introduced to the Swedes. So if you ever see a Swede wotagei’ing to clubmusic you know me and Jaargilon introduced it in Sweden. Just for the records right? The evening ended and we headed home. Jaargilon wasn’t exactly easy to move around so the decision was made to carry him to the Reina star… 6 blocks away. One street away from the Hostel we got into a conversation with a Lebanese guy and his idiotic looking friend. We talked about life, I got slapped in the face and slapped some one else in the face. All in good f un, of course. After I dumped Jaargilon in his bed I sang Tan Tan Ta~n for him. Causing him to fall asleep instantly. Lullaby GETS!
The following morning Jaargilon and “us” went to Stockholm Central again to drop him off at the other Hello! Online wota. Whilst me and my tomodachi decided to explore the city some more. Including crossing the long boring Bridge Krank mentioned earlier. Well, I can tell you this: It wasn’t boring at all! Best bridge ever. Took our spit around and about 7 seconds to hit the water below us. Awesome! The rest of the day was filled with spotting extremely hot girls, eating at an extremely fancy Pizzahut, and enjoying the lovely ladies that really are lovely.
The famous "Dog humps swan" statue.
View from the not-so-boring bridge.
Right now I’ve gotten to the point where I am now. Typing this blogpost in the Reinastar. This is my last night in Sweden, probably for the rest of my life. It was a blast to meet more Wota in real life. And I’ve learned some lessons that will stay with me for the rest of my life. If it wasn’t for Tokyo, Stockholm would be one of the cities I’d love to live in for a few years. If it wasn’t for the ladies it would be for the great atmosphere in general and the extremely beautiful scenery.
Stockholm, Hello! Online wota…it was fun.
See you guys later. Brian.
Hajimete no Keiken will be released tomorrow, but it’s already floating around the nets. The song itself is a lot more genki than her first record single “Otome No Inori”. Where ONI (Otome no Inori) was featuring melodramatic piano tunes with heavy enka inlfuences, HNK (Hajimete no Keiken) is a way more genki song with an upbeat tempo. Tsunku has done a good here. The Piano is ever so present, but placed in the background by strings that poop out a lovely melody.
The “3 word per line” refrain is really catchy, and easy to remember so be prepared to have the song stuck in your head for the rest of the day. During the bridge of the song the “3 word per line” refrain comes back, only then with less instruments guiding Mano her voice. At one point her voice is backed up by her whispering.
“Koi hatsu koi” is what what she whispers. For me, the most joyious moment in the song. I can imagine myself sitting, leaning against a tree while Erina leans against me from the left, placing her right hand on my shoulder and whispering “Koi hatsu koi” into my shy little ears.
The biggest surprise of all however is the b-side. A rock-and-rollesque parade with, not entirely unexpectly, the piano accompanied by rockerish guitars and a genki baseline. Mano Erina really nails the song with the monotone singing during verses, switching to melodic singing during the refrain. Again this song contains a whisper part, this time less provocating romantic thoughts. She sounds a bit cheeky, what makes sense considering she’s whispering “Nakimushi” meaning “crybaby”.
I am in love with internet-proclaimed Boring Mano Erina. This single contains two very interesting tracks produced by Tsunku that are complemented by Mano Erina. I’m going to give one a full 5/5.
Seishun Bus Guide, with my limited English and Japanese I can freely translate this to “Busguide for the youth”. So I am. And my oh my what a bus guide it is. Today the PV has been released on Dohhhup. The rays of ligh brought forward from the PV which graced my retina left behind a feeling of almost uncomfortable joy.
The PV itself starts out pretty simple. Momoko is pretty psyched about the whole trip, whilst you can clearly see the “love at first sight” in Risako her eyes. Wait, what? Love? In a PV? This is about food right? No it’s not. We’re talking about female love here. The kind of love that is very popular on websites that contain graphic images of naked people. Who are doing stuff. With each other. Luckily such images and the nakedness that comes with it is not featured in this PV.
We follow the girls on a gastronomical ride in a bus that eventually fly’s trough space, together with a fieldtripperish happening somewhere in between the PVC outfit shots. All this whilst they’re seemingly in love with the female guide. Every single girl, who are dressed up in boys school uniforms, are shown to be affectionate towards the guide. Who is female, just for the record.In the PV itself they wear 3 different costumes which is a nice change!
Words can’t describe the completely awesomeness of the PV. So I’ll just list the focus points in a nuttshell, ending with the PV itself. After that it’s up to you to draw your conclusions. My conclusion consists of just one word. Win. Nothing more, nothing less. The PV is win.
Focus Points:
Berryz wearing boys school uniforms
The sexy PVC outfits
Momoko… she… uhm… never mind
Yurina with her big-ass Papparazi lens, that somehow returns multiple times
The caring nature of the girls when Guide-sama falls
Everything else that I forgot to mention because of the sheer awesomeness of the PV
Guide-sama her captivating eyes...
...captures the heart of Loliko
Where are you going with that hand, Risako?
Somehow I really like these shots.
"Oi, Miyabi! Piss off. She's mine"
Team Berryz GO!
Saki does nothing to hide her astonishment upon seeing Yurina her big, long, white telelens.
The world is changing around us. Morning Musume has reached a number one spot in the Oricon Daily charts, and Upfront Work has hired a new marketing director. They have released greenscreen footage of the girls dancing to 3,2,1 Breaking Out. Including a shortened version of the song. Besides the fact that this is pretty much the first time a musiclabel has done this; they also made it a contest to see who can create the coolest of coolest OPV using the supplied footage. The fact they’ve collaborated with Myspace rather than Youtube has struck me somewhat with odd, but this might be due to the fact that I’m linking Myspace with 12 to 16 year old teenagers. Most probably the target audience for Upfront.
Hello-online has explained the rules of the competion here.
Thank you new marketing director-sama for thinking outside of the the box. You have my respect!
Did you know reinareinareina has been moved to www.wotakular.com? Read moar about Aikawa Kozue there!
Original post:
A few weeks ago I ran into a youtube user that goes by the name of xxxayu3. She dances to well known J-pop tunes. Berryz, Morning Musume, C-ute. She danced to it. Big time. Alone, or with her friends or cat. The way fate deals the cards is peculiar, as CK decided to create a ‘dance off‘ between xxxayu3 and Cuca around the same time I learned about Xxxayu3. Both very enthusiastic dancers, but Cuca bites xxxayu3 dust when it comes down to everything. Sure Cuca might be ‘cute’ and all. But xxxayu3 beats her hands down.
I’d even go as far to say that I’m a fan of her videos. Almost daily I eagerly F5 her Nico Nico Douga list to see if she posted any new videos. The dancing is just beyond genki, and every video feature little aberrations that makes it even more interesting to watch. Of course, as a fan you want information. And information I found. Together with a good friend we consulted the all-mighty Internets and discovered some pretty fun facts about her, that every Kozue fan will appreciate.
That’s right, her name is Aikawa Kozue. Well, it’s her stage name. Or at least she writes so on her blog. As for now I’ll post a translation of her questionaire that can be found on her blog, together with some random information.
Name: Aikawa Kozue (愛川こずえ)
Age: 17
Bloodgroup: A
She…
has been admitted to the hospital before.
had surgery
has never broken any bones
has never donated any blood
enjoys shabushabu
does not know what escargots are
has never done shoplifting (such an idol in the making!)
has never beat a girl
has beaten a man
is unemployed
has not traveled abroad
has played the guitar. (For one week and stopped)
does not play the violin or piano.
wears glasses
does not enjoy opera
may, or may not have been on TV.
doesn’t go to pachinko
has been to Hokkaido (To visit a chocolate factory)
has never been to Okinawa, Shikoku, Osaka or Nagoya
never ran up an escalator in the opposite direction
never ran a full marathon
has never driven a car
has never lost 10kg’s or more. (Which is understandable)
never saved over 10.000 yen
never paid for something over 10.000 yen
has never done anything the entire night until sunrise
doesn’t wear earrings
has received love letters
believes in love at first sight. (Or experienced it)
does not believe in horoscopes
has never been beaten by a teacher
has finished first in competitions
has never yelled at someone else their offspring
has never offered her seat to a pregnant woman. (No pregnant woman in Japan anyway)
has never fallen from a height over 2 meters.
is, or has been, class president
had a foreign boyfriend (Who she dumped)
has no tattoo
has been flirted with
has never initiated flirting
has been to Disneyland
doesn’t surf
didn’t drop out of school
has confessed her love to a boy
is not lesbian.
doesn’t smoke
has never drank in her life
has never seen a ghost
never beat a teacher
has never had food poisoning
Posted by .Brian 
Posted by .Brian 
Posted by .Brian 
