It’s times like these I wish I lived in Tokyo especially when I heard about this piece of news about Mariko Shinoda who will shortly be visiting Japanese homes as part of a campaign for internet provider So-Net Hikari. She’ll be telling those lucky enough to get a call from her all about their service and how to use the internet. Take a look at her yellow outfit below. If she came knocking on my house like that I’d get a big nose bleed!!
Well, this week’s Oricon charts are out and we finally have the complete weekly figures for Namida Surprise. They entered the charts at #2 with 104,180 copies sold so they’ve beaten their total for 10nen Sakura. What an achievement.
Sadly, Kago Ai’s comeback did not go that well and was a complete disaster which is a shame considering her single (both a and b-side) was good. It only sold 1,757 charting at #52.
No doubt the majority of those going to Anime Expo will either have arrived or be on their way over now to see the American debut of Morning Musume. It all kicks off tomorrow with a press junket featuring the group, the opening ceremony on the 2nd with a Q&A panel session and the concert scheduled to take place on July 3rd. It’s going to be nothing but a huge success and with the added bonus of Tsunku attending with Yossie as Hangry in tow it’ll be an event to be remembered. I’m sure that this will only be the beginning of H!P’s exposure to the West. I’ve got a hunch that Tsunku might have a special announcement to make at the Expo (maybe their European debut?). Who will win the Morning Musume 3-2-1 Breaking Out PV competition? For all of those attending, have a really good time and enjoy yourselves.
Across the Atlantic Ocean over in France, AKB48 will be the special guests of honour at the Paris Expo this coming weekend. I could have gone there but as I’ve said before I hope to see them in Tokyo when I’ll be going there in 2 weeks time. Though some fans are disappointed that the big guns aren’t coming over (if you don’t count Sayaka, Miichan or Meetan as one of them that is), everybody that is heading to Paris to see them please make some noise during their concert and show your appreciation to them.
I expected AKB48 to break the 100k barrier today but unfortunately it did not happen. They sold less than 2,924 copies which is way down on the strong figures they’ve had for the previous days. Tomorrow they’ll do it. I think today’s sales may also have prevented them from reaching #1 on the weekly chart.
Another quick update on Sunday sales for the single. Figures dropped significantly today and only 6,346 copies were sold which makes their grand total right now at 96,973 so only 3,027 to go before hitting 100k. Tomorrow it’s guaranteed that they’ll break it for only the 2nd time. Congratulations girls!
A slight improvement on yesterday’s sales figures with 15,607 being sold today which makes the grand total right now at 90,627. I’m wondering just how many they can sell before the charts come out – 150k in the first week perhaps? It’s not beyond them at all.
1. Fuyu No Kaidan (Winter Ghost Story) stars C-ute’s very own Maimi Yajima and one of the H!P eggs Kanon in this zombie flick. I don’t have any high expectations for this at all judging from the trailer but I’ll give it a chance just because Maimi’s in it.
2. Ultra Galaxy Legends:The Movie – the latest Ultraman movie has 50 ultramen trying to stop the evil Ultraman Belial from using 100 kaiju to conquer the galaxy.
3. Summer Wars – this cool looking anime about a teenage boy Kenji who receives a strange math problem on his mobile phone. By solving the problem he somehow manages to cause a parallel reality to collide with the Earth and it’s up to him to put everything back into order again.
4. Killer Virgin Road – this comedy starring the brilliant Juri Ueno looks good and it also features a glimpse of gravure idol Ayaka Komatsu. It’s released in Japan on 12th September.
5. Vampire Girl vs Frankenstein Girl – looking at the trailer, we can safely bet that this is going to be similar to the blood soaked fest that was The Machine Girl with ridiculously over the top gore.
A very quick update on 3rd day sales for Namida Surprise. Today 14,839 copies were sold putting the grand total at 75,020 and creeping ever closer to smashing the total for their last single in a week. With many handshaking events scheduled to take place over the coming week it’s a dead cert that when the Oricon Charts are published they’ll have sold well over 100k.
Today saw another 19,135 copies shifted for Namida Surprise putting the total after 2 days at 60,181. The group look well on target to hitting 100k for their first week. It’s just amazing how well they’re doing.
The latest AKBingo episode is now on Youtube. Links below:
Summary: Right at the start they briefly mention the elections for the next single. Today it’s a fashion Summer catwalk extravaganza judged by a camp fashion expert Koji Uematsu who has a reputation for dissing celebs if they have bad taste in fashion. The rest of the idol group is watching from the sidelines.
The first 4 to go on the catwalk will be dressed for a beach date with a sempai. First up is Tomomi Itano who looks gorgeous in a one piece blue dress with a hat. The judge praises her style. Next up is Minami Minegishi who’s in a white top with brown shorts. Her looks meets with universal disapproval from the judge and Miichan does not look happy. The third is Rena from SKE48 who looks so cute in a short navy skirt with marine style belt, white t-shirt and a jacket. Nothing but praise for Rena’s style. Last but not least is Takamina who is so funny. She really works it on the catwalk. She’s in a short white skirt, brown shoes, a pink bow on her head and a hoodie with pictures of bananas all over it. Miichan thinks she’ll get the “ugly vote” but she’s wrong. The judge says she’s semi-fashionable but says her outfit makes her look stupid! Out of the four it’s Itano he likes the most.
The next 4 will be dressed to go on a restaurant date with a rich guy. Mariko goes up first and looks really good in black loose shorts, a striped t-shirt and grey hoodie. The judge mentions she looks better than Takamina did in her banana hoodie! The second girl to wow the judge is Kojiharu and boy does she look totally amazing. A pinkish short skirt, white top with pink bag and shoes. Very sexy look and my favorite so far. The judge loves her look. Third is the beautiful Yuko Oshima who I thought looked wonderful in her blue jacket, flowered short dress with white shoes but the judge sees different and hates it. He doesn’t like the jacket or her dress. What the hell does this idiot know about women’s fashion anyway!! There was nothing wrong with how she looked. The Bad Boys tease Nonti about her size as she and Yuko go shopping together. Finally we have Sayaka who is lovely in a casual look with jeans, white top and sky blue shoes. It looks good on her but the Bad Boys and the judge does not like it whatsoever. He was beginning to become very irritating to me at this point. Useless judge! It was rather obvious that Kojiharu would win this contest. And that’s it for the main segment
There’s a performance of Namida Surprise before a preview of next week’s episode which is based on some of the members going to France to the expo in Paris. I think it’s like a role play situation in a French restaurant. Erepyon gets drenched in water by a French twat! How dare he do that to her!
This episode wasn’t as funny as last week’s but Takamina, Miichan, Yuko and Sayaka made it worth watching.
IXA Ready - Fist On! 