23 year old Eiko Maeda, the oldest member in SKE48 has jumped ship to join the ranks of SDN48. Her final day with SKE48 was yesterday. Apparently she’s been in a short-lived idol group way back in 2002 called Seifuku Kojo Iinkai (can’t say I’ve heard of them) and was a well known gravure idol.
2 J-dramas which I really enjoyed watching in 2008 are coming back in 2010 with a 2nd season which has really gotten me excited.
The first is Code Blue about a bunch of young doctors that are dispatched to the scene of major accidents by helicopter. All of the lead cast including Yamapi, Erika Toda, Yui Aragaki, Manami Higa and Yosuke Asari will be returning. The 1st season achieved ratings of 15.9% followed by the special which aired in January of this year which got 23.1%. With those kinds of ratings it was pretty certain that a sequel would be made. I loved this gripping drama with the young doctors going through their own personal crisis over the course of the series. Season 2 airs in January.
The second is the terrorist drama Bloody Monday. This action suspense series followed a young computer hacker as he battles an organisation intent on releasing a deadly virus to wipe out the population of Tokyo. The lead actor Haruma Miura returns along with some other cast members. I’m surprised it didn’t return this year with a special as the 1st series did end on a bit of a cliffhanger with some of the terrorists escaping. This also comes back in January.
Another great drama that I liked – Liar Game is already airing it’s 2nd season in Japan although I haven’t managed to catch it yet but I will soon I hope. And before I forget, the pairing of Yukie Nakama and Abe Hiroshi will also be back in a 3rd movie to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the drama TRICK.
2010 is already shaping up to be a good one for me.
This week’s CDTV charts has now appeared on Youtube. This month has been really good for songs so I’m hoping that trend continues into December. First time I’ve seen this new idol group at no.18 called Momoiro Clover though they have released a single over the Summer. The group is associated with the Stardust Promotion Agency and they have a large stable of 8 – 18 year old girls in their “3B Junior” section. I’ll have to check out their previous single and their latest one properly.
Other songs that caught my eye was Double’s duet with Shota Shimizu, Maaya Sakamoto, Yusuke, Aya Kamiki with her Kamen Rider W theme, Exile and the no.1 song by Arashi. Kiyoshi Hikawa is back with another song at no.10 and I just find him annoying. His last song got on my nerves so much.
30- BIGBANG – “Koe wo Kikasete”
29- AKB48 – “RIVER”
28- clammbon feat. THA BLUE HERB – “Akari from HERE ～NO MUSIC, NO LIFE.～
27- THE BAWDIES – “IT’S TOO LATE”
26- MINMI – “Ashita Moshimo Kimi ga Inai…”
25- Yuna Ito – “Let it Go”
24- Kana Nishino – “Motto…”
23- monobright – “Kodoku no Taiyo”
22- Hekiyo Gakuen Setokai – “Treasure”
21- ONE☆DRAFT – “Wonderful Days”
20- Ikimonogakari – “YELL / Joyful”
19- fripSide – “only my railgun”
18- Momoiro Clover – “Mirai he Susume!”
17- Lil’B – “Tsunaidate”
16- KinKi Kids – “Swan Song”
15- Ken Hirai – “Boku wa Kimi ni Koi wo Suru”
14- Hilcrhyme – “Shunkashuto”
13- Kishidan – “Sayonara Sekai / Omae tattanda”
12- DOUBLE & Shota Shimizu – “Oyasumi no Kiss wo ~Good Night My Love~”
11- Maaya Sakamoto – “Magic Number”
10- Kiyoshi Hikawa – “Rokyoku Ichidai ~Debut 10 Shunen Kinen Tokubetsu Gentei Ban~”
9- KANJANI8 – “Kyu Jo Show!!”
8- Yusuke – “Ichyo”
7- Aya Kamiki w TAKUYA – “W-B-X ~W Boiled Extreme~”
6- Watari Roka Hashiri Tai – “Kanbeki Gu-No Ne”
5- Ikimonogakari – “Nakumonka”
4- Berryz Kobo – “Watashi no Mirai no Dannasama / Ryusei Boy”
3- SID – “one way”
2- EXILE – “The Generation ~Futatsu no Kuchibiru~”
1- Arashi – “My Girl”
Whilst I await this week’s CDTV Top 30 single charts (if it turns up on Youtube!) here’s a personal Top 20 J-pop song countdown for the week commencing 14/11/09 from a user on Youtube called RASC. He updates his own charts each week. It’s got a great selection of songs so check it out:
After the “predicted” list that I published last week, the official lineup of artists for Kouhaku is now out. There are 8 new artists appearing for the first time such as Arashi and Kaela Kimura. I’m ecstatic that AKB48 will be on the show too but there’s no place for Morning Musume. I’m disappointed that Namie Amuro isn’t going to appear. Performance order isn’t known yet. Here’s the list for you:
Red Team
aiko
Junko Akimoto
Ayaka
Angela Aki
Ikimono Gakari
Sayuri Ishikawa
AKB48
Ai Otsuka
GIRL NEXT DOOR
Miyuki Kawanaka
Kaela Kimura
Kumi Koda
Natsuko Godai
Sachiko Kobayashi
Fuyumi Sakamoto
Yoshimi Tendo
DREAMS COME TRUE
Mika Nakashima
Mitsuko Nakamura
Ayumi Hamasaki
Perfume
Ayaka Hirahara
Nana Mizuki
Kaori Mizumori
Akiko Wada
White Team
Arashi
ALICE
Hiroshi Itsuki
EXILE
NYC boys
Saburo Kitajima
Takeshi Kitayama
Kobukuro
Jero
SMAP
TVXQ
TOKIO
Hideaki Tokunaga
Kiyoshi Hikawa
FUNKY MONKEY BABYS
Masaharu Fukuyama
Akira Fuse
flumpool
Takashi Hosokawa
Porno Graffiti
Kenichi Mikawa
Shinichi Mori
Yusuke Kamiji
Yuzu
Remioromen
This is the 2nd of the alternative River PV’s that was made in New York. This one contains the rest of the members that wasn’t in the other PV directed by JX Carrera. This seems to be not quite as popular as the other one. It’s quite dull in comparison as it contains less colors but I like it better as it’s got my top 2 favorite members in Yuko and Takamina. Which one do you prefer: the original River PV, the JX Carrera one with all the face paint or this one by Mike Fox which has the girls following cryptic messages?
Many of you have no doubt heard about the 2 alternative River PV’s that was shot very quickly whilst AKB48 was in New York. 8 girls participated in the shoot for this one: Sae Miyazawa, Sayaka Akimoto, Erena Ono, Miho Miyazaki, Minami Minegeshi, Tomomi Itano, Takajo Aji and Sato Sumire. It’s a very simple and original PV and a lot of fans like it a lot but I still prefer the original. There’s another PV that was made too which I’m going to try and find. To watch how they made both PV’s, watch Nemousu TV episodes 5 and 6 which is what I’m about to do right now.
Popular SKE48 member 12 year old Jurina Matsui has been admitted to hospital with pneumonia. Nobody knows how serious it is but she could be out for some time in order to recover properly. I’ll update when I get more information. Get well soon Jurina.
EDIT: The good news is Jurina has been discharged from hospital and is now back home recovering. I hope it won’t be long before she’s back on screen again.
The PV to No Sleeves’ new single released next week is now up. A nice little video for what is arguably their best song to date. The girls looks amazing especially Kojima in her dress.
The company Verbatim are doing a promotional campaign with AKB48 in which you can download 4800 pictures featuring individual members.
These aren’t some crappy pictures with poor quality, they’re all high quality as I’ve been on the site myself to have a look. The only downside is the Verbatim watermark at the top left hand corner but that doesn’t bother me really. I’m sure there’s a way to get rid of it.
There are several folders within each members names containing childhood, backstage, blog, private, sports and other pictures. There’s bound to be something you’ll like there.
Happy downloading and here’s the URL for you: http://www.verbatim.jp/akb4800/
IXA Ready - Fist On! 