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Arihara Kanna leaves Hello!Project

by Aece McCloud on Jul.13, 2009, under Blogroll, Hello Project, Uncategorized

Former °C-ute member Arihara Kanna left the group months ago for what was reported to be a foot problem — a bunion, to be more precise. Well, today it was announced that she won’t be returning.

But is there more to the story? It should be taken as rumor, but we have some insider info that might shed some light on the situation.

It was announced today on the official Hello!Project website that original °C-ute member Arihara Kanna would be leaving H!P. Here’s the official statement:

————————————–

We would like to announce that Arihara Kanna is leaving °C-ute and Hello!Project as of 09.07.2009. Arihara worked hard after she joined Hello!Project in the 2004 audition, joined °C-ute in 2006, and as their member, she had a major debut the year after.

As you know, she stopped appearing on the stage since February this year, due to the bunion, and now she has decided to leave °C-ute and Hello!Project and return back to the life of a normal girl.

We are very sorry to bring such unexpected news, but we hope you will keep supporting °C-ute in the future.

————————————–

It was announced back in February 2009 that Kanna would be taking leave from all group activities due to hallux valgus, or bunion deformity. °C-ute immediately carried on without her, and she was absent from concerts and all °C-ute singles and photoshoots. Fans grew suspicious as the reported recovery time for hallux valgus is usually six to eight weeks, yet she has been gone for well over four months.

This is not official, but an inside source tells Hello!Online that there was more at play here. Firstly, it had been long rumored that Kanna had a boyfriend, which is forbidden in her contract. But our source also indicates that there were new images including Kanna that put Up-Front Agency management in a tough position.

These photos apparently surfaced just recently (within the last week or so). To be clear: we’re NOT referring to the previously-published magazine photos, but brand-new private photos.

[[[PLEASE NOTE: OUR SOURCE IS NOT 2CH, OR ANY OTHER WEBSITE.]]]

It’s possible UFA knew more about Kanna’s situation before the “bunion” story came out and quickly removed Kanna from the public eye.

So was there actually a bunion problem? Perhaps we’ll never know. What is certain is that Arihara Kanna’s time in Hello!Project has come to an abrupt end.

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Tsunku♂ Official Blog: Translations Special coverage from Anime Expo LA

by Aece McCloud on Jul.04, 2009, under Hello Project, Morning Musume, Uncategorized

Hello! Project supremo and all-around enigma Tsunku♂ is in Los Angeles to take part in Anime Expo. To celebrate, we bring you a special look inside the inner workings of a madman’s mind in the form of his official blog entries covering his time in LA. For now, he discusses his arrival, and his thoughts on day one of the con – more entries will be added as they’re posted. Enjoy!

2009-07-03
LA.

After 10 hours’ flying, I arrived safe in Los Angeles.

“The streets of LA”

I only got one meal on the plane. I was so tired, I slept through breakfast.

I thought I’d watch a bunch of movies, but I only saw one.

The seat and my ass didn’t get along, and now it’s hurting.

2009-07-03
Breakfast.

It was after 11 when I got to LA. By the time we drove to town, it was 12. Whew. I was starved. So we went straight to a Japanese restaurant. I wanted to eat a tonkatsu set, which I wouldn’t normally choose in Japan, so I ordered.

“The tonkatsu set I ate!”

“It was delicious pork!”

The rest of the staff had mixed udon an teriyaki chicken sets. Ginger fried pork sets.

“Mixed udon!”

“Teriyaki chicken!”

“Ginger fried pork set!”

Whew, the white rice was good. I wonder if they ship it in from Japan.

2009-07-03
Morning Musume.

Morning Musume are appearing at Anime Expo, so I’ve come to LA to supervise.

Today the members had a Q&A session, so they got to have a panel discussion with the American fans.

“The fans put their hands up to ask questions!”

It was just like with the Korean fans, everybody understood Japanese pretty well.

Amazing.

When the members were talking, the fans would react before the interpreter could speak.

2009-07-03
Cosplay.

So there were a lot of anime fans doing a lot of cosplay in the hall.

“A photo outside Anime Expo!”

“Anime Expo is full of cosplay!”

There was even a No Face.

“No Face”

“Naruto” is really popular. And Pokemon.

Also, Astro Boy and Gatchaman both really handsomely affected American animation.

“It sort of looks like Taisei in there…”

Morning Musume had a booth too, and it was really bustling!

“There was a Morning Musume sales corner too.”

“There were people everywhere!”

It’s still a weekday here, but the weekend starts tomorrow, so things are going to heat up. And it’s the American Independance Day, so the country is in a cheerful mood.

And I heard that there was a dance unit here that came from Japan. They like cosplay too, so they came all the way to LA just for this.

“They came all the way from Japan!”

That’s great.

More entries to come over the next few days. Stay tuned…

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Berryz Koubou “Rival” PV streaming video

by Aece McCloud on May.20, 2009, under Hello Project, Uncategorized

Berryz Koubou
Seishun Bus Guide / Rival
Release Date: June 23, 2009

Limited Edition A (PKCP-5138~9)

Limited Edition B (PKCP-5140~1)

Regular Edition (PKCP-5142)

To commemorate The 20th single from Berryz Koubou, this is a double A side release. Both limited editions come with a lottery card for a chance to attend a live Berryz Koubou event. They also come with a DVD; Version A has the PV for Seishun Bus Guide, and version B comes with the PV for Rival. Seishun Bus Guide is the theme song to the new TV Tokyo anime “Inazuma 11″.

Tracklist:
1. Seishun Bus Guide
2. Rival
3. Seishun Bus Guide (Instrumental)
4. Rival (Instrumental)

Via Dohhhup!

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New Singles for AKB48 & C-ute

by Aece McCloud on Apr.29, 2009, under Hello Project, Uncategorized

AKB48 are to release their 13th single on 2009-06-24 titled 涙サプライズ！, Namida Surprise. There is apparently some disatisfaction amongst AKB48 fans as to the members chosen to participate in this single, as I’m not too familiar with any members in particular I’ll have to wait and see what I think after a preview!

C-ute are also due to release a single on the same day titled 暑中お見舞い申し上げます, Shochuu Omimai Moshiagemasu. This is a cover of the song of the same name by 70s J-Pop group, Candies. Incidently SweetS also covered this song. I’m a little dubious as to how this will turn out as covers are often a little disapointing from Hello! Project – I wasn’t a particular fan of COVER YOU. It’s rumored Kanna will return in June so she may participate in this single.

If you remember, Kago Ai is also releasing her debut single on the same day as these two, we have a Kago VS C-ute VS AKB48situation! While I’d like Kago to do the best I feel it may turn out this way; AKB48, C-ute, Kago. I can’t honestly see Kago charting too high though I’d like to be pleasntly surprised. I don’t imagine she’ll have great promotion as her label is a little unknown.

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New Singles for AKB48 & C-ute (2009-06-24)

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J-Pop Producer Tsunku Perfects Music Games With Rhythm Heaven [Wired.com]

by Aece McCloud on Apr.11, 2009, under Aya Matsuura, Hello Project, Uncategorized

Rhythm Heaven, one of Japan’s hottest videogames, came from an unlikely collaboration between Nintendo and a high-profile Japanese music producer who set out on a quest to create a truly musical game.

Mitsuo Terada, a 40-year-old J-pop producer who goes by the Prince-like moniker “Tsunku♂,” is involved in most every aspect of the Japanese pop music scene. As a producer, he created the immensely popular girl group Morning Musume. As a songwriter and vocalist, he has released several albums, including a CD of Beatles covers.

Recently, he worked with Nintendo to createRhythm Heaven, the Nintendo DS game released this month in the United States after selling more than 1.5 million copies in Japan.

The music game is a perfect blend of addictive gameplay and catchy music that breaks the mold set by the incredibly popular Guitar Hero. Ditching realism for wackiness, Rhythm Heaven‘s songs are set to a series of 50 cartoon mini-games that can be devilishly difficult.

Wired.com had the opportunity to e-mail a few questions to Tsunku♂, who talks about videogame music hitting the charts, Japanese-American cultural crossovers and the challenge of creating a musically fulfilling game.

Wired.com: You started the group Morning Musume, which has been featured in several videogames. So you’ve had experience with games. Why did you decide to work on an original videogame with Nintendo?

Tsunku♂: My collaboration with Nintendo began with my submission of a game proposal. In Japan, with games that use rhythm and sound, it’s long been the case that the placement of accents and the timing of button-presses has had nothing to do with music. For someone like myself, whose work revolves around music, this has never seemed right, and I wrote up my proposal in hopes of doing away with this. I also felt that without Nintendo’s expertise, realizing my idea for a rhythm game would be impossible.

It wasn’t like I really knew anyone with Nintendo, either. It was a bit risky, but my staff just took our proposal and approached them directly. Then, after numerous meetings and dance classes, I was able to convey my idea to the software engineers, and slowly, it became a reality. Rhythm Tengoku for Game Boy Advance was completed as a result, and two years later we expanded the idea with Rhythm Heaven for Nintendo DS.

Wired.com: Tell me about the process of localizing Rhythm Heaven for an English-speaking audience. Many of the songs had to be changed. Were you involved in this process? What was the most challenging part of the game to localize?

Tsunku♂: I mainly work in producing and writing J-pop songs, but unfortunately, because the songs are in Japanese, even if an album sells 2 million copies in Japan, it would never make it to America. And that’s why the Grammys have never come calling [laughs]…. Rhythm games have always transcended nationality, though. Rhythm is something that can be learned without complex theories; it just takes practice and repetition. This is true for children, adults, men and women. This is why I thought a worldwide release of this title wasn’t just a pipe dream.

As for the changes to song lyrics in the American version, the staff in Japan translated the songs into English, staying as close as they could to the meaning of the Japanese. Then the staff at Nintendo of America localized them for an American audience, and the lyrics as they are now were completed. Our main concern, though, was maintaining the flow and emphasis in the songs that enable all of the game’s tapping and button-pressing. There would be no point in the game if we sacrificed the rhythmic gameplay just to make the meaning of the English and Japanese lyrics match, so we had the localizers take extra care with this.

Wired.com: There have been live performances of the “Fan Club” song from Rhythm Heaven in Japan. How did this come to be? The fans seem to really know the music and enjoy it — do you see this sort of crossover, of videogame music becoming popular outside the game, as something that will become more common in the future?

Tsunku♂: I’ve had one of the up-and-coming groups I’m producing perform the song live. Since the game’s release, when these girls perform the song at one of their concerts in Japan, the audience starts cheering and really gets into it, just like in the game. Things like this just happen naturally in Japan. Occasionally, a song or score from a game will become a hit, but there hasn’t been a truly nationwide hit from a game yet. Still, this song has been used in TV commercials, and it’s really gotten popular in Japan.

I think there will be increased potential for game music to cross over into the mainstream in the future, but avid fans usually don’t respond to gimmicks they feel are too contrived. The key is to start with as pure a game concept as possible, and give it the type of music that suits it best. If the fans respond well as a result, performing the song live in concert would be a natural next step. That sort of pattern seems ideal to me.

Wired.com: Are you surprised by how big a hit Rhythm Tengoku games have become in Japan?

Tsunku♂: It has been surprising, but I don’t think it was a coincidence. There’s a clear link between music, rhythm and play, and these things conspire together to draw the player into the game world naturally. This is what I think has made this game so enjoyable for people who don’t normally play games. That said, I never thought it would sell as well as it had. It’s been really overwhelming, in a good way.

Wired.com: Japanese pop music has not really breached the American consciousness in a way that Japanese games, comics and now movies have. Do you hope to make Japanese idol pop big in the United States? Does Rhythm Heaven play into that?

Tsunku♂: The barrier created by the Japanese language is a big one, and it’s very difficult to have a hit song in Japanese outside of Japan, even in places like China or any English-speaking country. There are melodies in J-pop that I feel are similar to the type of music European people are drawn to, sort of a “continental” type of melody. There are also songs with melodies featuring that bold lyrical style popularized by American Motown music.

I think there’s a real opportunity for J-pop to create a presence all its own using the recent trend in American R&B and pop music to drop the melody out of a chorus and feature a capella singing. J-pop can create the kind of rhythms and melodies Americans enjoy, so if we can get the word out, I think a hit wouldn’t be out of the question. After that, there’s just the problem of the lyrics. I’ll be happy if Rhythm Heaven can be a step toward making this a reality.

Photo: tsunku.net

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[Hello! Project] Elder Club 2009 Winter Concert Preview

by Aece McCloud on Mar.18, 2009, under Aya Matsuura, Blogroll, Introduction, Morning Musume, Uncategorized

Hello! Project will release their 2009 Winter concerts on DVD on March 25, 2009. Released in two discs, one features Wonderful Hearts’ 2009 Winter concert (”Hello! Project 2009 Winter Wonderful Hearts Kouen ~Kakumei Gannen~”) and the other features Elder Club’s 2009 Winter concert (”Hello! Project 2009 Winter Elder Club Kouen ~Thank you for your LOVE!~”).

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[Hello! Project] Elder Club 2009 Winter Concert Preview

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Tsunku.com now part of Tsunku.org ^_^

by Aece McCloud on Jun.18, 2008, under Aya Matsuura, Hello Project, Introduction, Morning Musume, Uncategorized

smile!

Really excited to add that the domain Tsunku.com is now part of Tsunku.org and can be used as a mirror to this blog. I have decided to keep the site permanent whether I am available or not; sooner or later it will be updated.

All those people who are getting updates through RSS feeds will have to wait as I am still in the process of fixing it. The software is recently upgraded to latest WordPress and I am still working on it.

I have also noticed that the blog doesn’t appear properly in older IE versions, thats because of big tag fonts. I will see what I can do about it, meanwhile you can use Firefox 3.0 (woot!) to browse the blog.

I wanted to write a long post but also still waiting on the next graduation decision, lets see what happens.

This is really crazy because a lot of things I have mentioned before are coming true!

God Bless Nihon!

Fujimoto Miki 5th photobook \’COEUR\’ Making DVD 1 of 2

Fujimoto Miki 5th photobook \’COEUR\’ Making DVD 2 of 2

(All links obtained by normal site searching.)

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