There’ll be a lack of updates for the next 2 and a half weeks as I’ll be off to the airport tomorrow before flying off to Japan on Wednesday. Chances are I won’t have much time to do anything on this blog as I’ll be doing touristy stuff during the day and drinking with friends during the evening. I’ll be back on April 9th when normal service will be resumed.
See you then!
Continuing from last week’s episode, it’s DANSPO Part 2!!!
1. Sae with Yuko (bar scenario)
Sae is a smooth talking barman chatting up Yuko and making her a cocktail in a bar. The members are going crazy for Sae especially Kasai and Kuramochi. She’s nearly in tears and think Sae is so cool. Has Kasai got a thing for girls in boys clothes or something? Sae score: a hugely impressive 17 out of 20.
2. Mayuyu with Takamina (samurai scenario)
Takamina is a young apprentice with Mayuyu as an old samurai master. I could hear a few of the girls shout kawaii at Mayuyu. She was OK. Mayuyu score: 8 out of 20.
3. Tomochin with Acchan (school scenario)
Acchan is the schoolgirl waiting for Tomochin as a boy. Tomochin I believe could pass as a boy. Sashi and Kitahara were impressed enough. Tomochin score: 15 out of 20.
and finally we have
4. Nito Moeno with Yuko (comedy scenario)
Yuko is the schoolgirl who tries to lift a piece of wood blocking her way with Moeno as a carpenter with stubble around the face who swings the wood around his head narrowly missing Yuko’s head as per a comedy scenario. Both girls were desperately trying to keep a straight face. The 20 members watching were also laughing. Moeno really got a low score: 3 out of 20.
Sae is the winner. Nachu butts in as a sumo wrestler in a painfully unfunny segment.
Promo for AKB48’s 2nd best album, something to do with them being photographed in bikinis, 3 ties they’ve designed and then we have the PV for SKE48’s 2nd single Aozora Kataomoi. No live performance at all on this show.
More promos for the new AKBingo book and Watarirouka’s single Akkanbe Bashi (no.1 again for the 2nd day in a row on the Oricon Daily Rankings!!).
This week’s episode wasn’t as good as last week’s. Even though Sae was great as a barman, I think Rena was just outstanding in the previous episode.
Next week: Shojiki shouji with Mariko and Maachan.
There’s a couple of new TV shows coming up soon featuring both AKB48 and SKE48. The first one called Ariyoshi AKB Kyowakoku is set to start on the 29th March on TBS every Monday at 1.25am. The guy from Nemousu TV (Ariyoshi Hiroiki) will appear with 1 popular AKB48 member each week to give the idol group a set of projects to do and present them in order to please him. 5 kenkyuusei members will be on location to do them. If Ariyoshi isn’t pleased with how the girls do their projects, they have endure some kind of punishment. It sounds like an interesting show so I guess I’ll tune in to this.
SKE48 meanwhile have 2 new shows but these will only be short programmes, and I mean really short programmes…….like 2 mins long! The first Shitte Kaiketsu! SKEtto Net will have 3 members per episode delivering information about things like consumer issues, disaster prevention, the environment and health. It’ll only air in the Nagoya area from April onwards.
The 2nd show they’ll appear is Dera SKE ~ Yoake Mae no Kuni tori 48ban Shoubu. This 2 min show which will be on TBS every Monday to Wednesday from 5th April between 2 – 4am has the girls split into 2 teams – Team Jurina and Team Rena. Each episode will have them answering questions to do with the prefectures in Japan. The team that wins ‘gains’ that prefecture, and battle for country domination.
As for Watariirouka’s new single Akkanbe Bashi which was released yesterday I’m afraid I’m gonna have to eat humble pie!! I said in my initial post about the single that they would never be able to reach 10k in the first week. Well believe it or not they’ve broken that figure in the first day of release and even gone to no.1 in the Oricon Daily Rankings which is a hell of an achievement, even beating Arashi! I know Arashi’s single has been out for over 2 weeks already but I’m still happy for the girls even though I dislike the song. The actual sales figures were 11,159 copies. If they keep this momentum up there’s a good chance of being no.1 at the end of the week. Well done!
We begin at Rappappa HQ where we see the return of Shibuya and Black along with Torigoya. 4 underlings are asking that Rappappa should do something to which Shibuya replies “what do you mean by that”. They also ask when is Yuko returning but they have no answer. Torigoya says Sado has gone to “that place” to focus on destroying Maeda herself.
Team Hormone are eating as usual in their classroom. Sashi’s nose still hasn’t healed properly but Kitahara has gotten over her trauma from last week and is eating meat again with Daruma contemplating on the rooftop. Erena is in the process of putting thumbtacks in Maeda’s shoes when Nezumi scares her making Erena drop the tacks. She tells her that if she wants to beat Maeda she has to follow her rules.
As Maeda is washing her hands outside and thinking they’re covered in blood, Daruma comes along and gives her a big hug insisting she’s not alone. It falls on deaf ears with Maeda pushing her away before walking off. Sado gets a call to say that Yuko has collaped at the hospital and goes to visit her. As Maeda enters her classroom, Erena is there to issue a one-on-one challenge to her. She wants to resolve everything concerning her big sister. Maeda is wondering who her big sister could be? Then it hits her that Erena is Takamina’s little sister. As Maeda is about to follow Erena out of the classroom, the whole of Team Hormone after a pep talk by Sashi wants to accompany her. Maeda wants to do this alone but you can see that she’s thankful of their support.
Yuko wakes up to a tearful Sado at her bedside. She grabs Sado and tells her not to be hesitant as it makes her look weak. Maeda arrives at the location of her fight with Erena only to walk into a trap by rival school Yabakune. They surround her and get ready to strike. Erena is on the school rooftop when Daruma comes up asking what’s Maeda ever done to her. Erena tells her everything about Takamina, her sister and how Maeda killed her.
As Yabakune begin their assault on Maeda, we see flashbacks on Maeda and Takamina’s friendship and how they took care of one gang together. However Takamina insisted that they should stop fighting. She wanted to become a nurse (at least we know why Maeda is working at the hospital – probably repenting for Takamina’s death by following her chosen career). Also we finally know the significance of the wrist bracelets that Maeda’s carrying. They were a sign of an oath between herself and Takamina to stop fighting, study together and get serious.
Yabakune is getting the upper hand on Maeda and she looks a beaten girl. Nezumi enjoying every second of it. The full background to Takamina’s death is played out – she was trying to protect Maeda and she got destroyed by the gang that she had defeated with Maeda before. Daruma tries to tell Erena that Maeda is suffering Takamina’s death as much as she is but Erena explains that she is now experiencing the same punishment that her sister did. Daruma calls her an idiot before storming off.
More flashbacks as Maeda looks on Takamina’s lifeless body at the hospital. She thinks her death is all her fault. As we come back to the present and the final blow is about to be struck on Maeda by Yabakune, an unexpected ally comes to her rescue…….Sado!!! Sado’s words reminds Maeda of the same ones that Takamina had told her previously. It fires her up and both Sado and Maeda clean house on Yabakune with a lot of them fleeing except the President. Maeda delivers a crushing KO on her.
The aftermath sees Daruma arriving and Maeda is now ready to accept her and the others as her friends. She’s put her past troubles behind her and is now free. As Sado is leaving, she tells Maeda that she’s going to be her next opponent. She’s doing it for her sick president who’s in hospital fighting a disease. The penny drops for Maeda who she’s referring to – Yuko. The final scene sees Maeda visiting Yuko at hospital.
What a great episode. Good to see what went down with Maeda and Takamina in the past and how close they were. It seems to me that it was Takamina that was calling the shots in their friendship with Maeda hanging on to her every word. It’s just a shame that she’s dead. What a bunch of wimps Yabakune were – all tough when ganging up on one person but as soon as Sado and Maeda starting banging heads they’re running away like cowards. Some hammy acting to be had by the Yabakune President.
Next episode: Sado vs Maeda and the return of Gekikara – YES!!!
The all conquering Arashi were deposed from the top of the charts this week dropping to no.2 to be replaced at the top by Yusuke with his song Lion. It’s not too bad a song though I would have much preferred to see Ikimono gakari hitting the top spot with Nostalgia. They entered the charts at no.3. T-Pistonz+KMC is at no.4 with an interesting little song which apparently is a tie-in with an anime.
A quiet week for new entries in the Top 10 with only 3 songs but there were plenty outside it. The pick of the bunch being Salyu at no.14 and Love at no.23. AKB48 in their 4th week of sales dropped to no.11 and shifted another 5,264 copies of Sakura no Shiori bringing their grand total to 355,860.
The chart rundown in full:
30 Kim Yonja – Saikai
29 OLDCODEX – Blue
28 Theatre Book – Uragiri no Yuuyake
27 Toshimi Tagawa – Kita no Minatoeki
26 Chiaki Kuriyama – Ryuusei no Namida
25 Lien Shinsengumi – Hontou ni Boku de Ii n Desu Ka
24 fripside – Level 5 ~judgelight~
23 Love – Watashi Aumono
22 D – Kaze ga Mekkuru Page
21 Hiroshi Itsuki – Oshiroibana
20 Anzen Chitai – Aoi Bara / Wine Red no Kokoro (2010 Version)
19 Mai Kuraki – Eien Yori Nagaku / Drive me crazy
18 School Food Punishment – future nova / after laughter
17 Fuyumi Sakamoto – Mata Kimi ni Koishiteru / Asia no Kaizoku
16 Eisaku Okawa – Ano Hi no Kimi wo Kouru Uta
15 Kii Kitano – Sakura Saku
14 Salyu – Atarashii YES
13 Yoshimi Tendo – Jinsei Michizure
12 Miwa – Don’t Cry Anymore
11 AKB48 – Sakura no Shiori
10 KAT-TUN – LOVE YOURSELF ~Kimi ga Kirai na Kimi ga Suki~
09 Berryz Kobo – Otakebi Boy WAO! / Tomodachi wa Tomodachi Nanda!
08 SID – Sleep
07 Hannya, Fruit Punch – Onara wa Zukashikunai yo / Pirameki Taisou
06 Kana Nishino – Best Friend
05 Hey! Say! JUMP – Hitomi no Screen
04 T-Pistonz+KMC – Natte Nakou ze!
03 Ikimono-gakari – Nostalgia
02 ARASHI – Troublemaker
01 Yusuke – Lion
RASC hasn’t posted his usual Top 30 videos this week so I had to look for an alternative instead which is this one below. Hopefully RASC will upload his countdown before the end of the week.
Tonight I managed to take a look at a movie that Sayaka participated in which was released in Japan in May 2009 – Super Gore Girl.
Super Gore Girl is set in the suburbs of a major city, where a certain group of students reign over their catholic girls school with an iron fist. Corpses of nuns are left to rot and hang in the school corridors! Despite the outward appearance of beauty and grace, students of the school are quite proud to be aggressive and violent in the fight against evil. Looking for a more quiet and peaceful experience than her new classmates, freshman Sachiko joins the silent bible reading club headed by senior Yukie (Sayaka Akimoto), but the school’s harsh, dictatorial leadership system soon gets in the way of their studies. When the oppressive student council suddenly passes down the order to suspend Yukie’s department indefinitely, the club decide to fight back with their secret stash of guns! After the student council are defeated, they call in for reinforcements – a group of male students dressed in army garb who have machine guns at their disposal to quell the rebellion.
Super Gore Girl is a very misleading title to be honest, it’s more of a super lame short movie. It only lasts for 43 mins. There’s hardly any gore in it except for a 5 minute spell. Sayaka is the only good thing about it to be honest. I don’t know if it’s just me but I’m sure her voice has been dubbed over with somebody else’s. It sounds different and softer than her usual tone. Sayaka is so cool in this movie – like a female version of Dirty Harry as she dodges bullets and takes aim like a real pro with a gun in her hand. The last 10 mins which feature her blasting away the male students with a massive high powered rifle is great to see. The trailer for the movie more or less shows you the major action scenes for the movie which isn’t a lot.
I’d really only recommend this to hardcore AKB48 fans otherwise I just wouldn’t bother. I’m sure given the proper role, Sayaka would make a fantastic kick ass action star.
Perfume will release a new single on the 14th April called Natural ni Koishite and the song will be a tie-in with a CM for Natural Beauty Basic. It seems they’re changing their music style a little bit for the new song too.
EDIT: The full PV came out yesterday so I’ve changed the preview to the PV.
The opening finds Torigoya locked in a chicken coop, begging Sado to get her out as she’s terrified of the chickens around her. Sado is nearby and listening to her pleas. Something happens and Sado rushes to the coop to see a lot of feathers flying. As she opens and enters the coop there’s no sign of Torigoya until she appears behind her. It looks like she’s been transformed into a human chicken with her look!
Daruma enters her classroom at school, trying to forget what Maeda told her before about not being friends. She tries to act normal in front of her but Maeda is having none of it. She stands up and leaves the classroom. Later Team Hormone and Daruma are anxiously awaiting more meat to arrive to eat by Rie Kitahara. As her character runs in the school corridor a meat package drops on the floor with a hand snatching it away. Trying to find out who did that, she encounters Torigoya who puts a hand to her head and says “I saw it” before whispering something in her ear. There’s a look of shock on Kitahara’s face. As she enters the classroom in a trance-like state as the others are eating she recoils in terror shouting “bugs bugs bugs”. Daruma finds a chicken feather on her shoulder. Sashi suspects it’s Torigoya.
Maeda is reading on the rooftop but finds her book has been tampered with – the word MURDERER has been scrawled on the pages inside. She turns round to see Erena glaring at her before walking away. Maeda follows her but she’s disappeared. A feather falls from the ceiling. Maeda picks it up and there is Torigoya in her face. Torigoya employs the same technique used on Kitahara. It seems she’s a mind reader of some sort as we see images of Maeda in a hospital watching doctors trying to save somebody’s life. She whispers “scapegoat” to Maeda’s ear. Maeda collapses on the floor after this experience.
She finds herself in the school’s medical room where the creepy nurse is filming her body before she wakes up. Daruma visits her and says she fainted in the corridor. Maeda is haunted by her own voice saying “you killed her”. Even her reflection in the mirror is mocking her which makes her try and smash it with a chair. Torigoya has really messed up her mind.
Torigoya reports back to Sado on what she’s done to Maeda with Sado thinking that this time she’s finished for good. It’s Sado’s turn to be used by Torigoya’s mind tricks when she touches one of her objects. Sado tries to stop her but is told “try to be more obedient”. Nezumi drops by on Sado. It seems it’s been her that has been supplying Sado with information on Maeda’s past and that Torigoya could exploit it. Nezumi also has something interesting to say about Yuko.
Maeda is locked away in her bedroom, looking terrified with one of her wristbands covered in blood and seeing images of Takamina’s dead body in the morgue.
At school, Team Hormone are trying to get Kitahara to eat meat once more. She explains what Torigoya did to her and how she whispered “larva” in her ears. Everytime she sees meat it looked like larva to her. She had an incident in the past when she swallowed a larva by mistake and she hates thinking about them now.
Maeda gets a message on her mobile with the words “welcome back” repeated over and over until in the end it says “welcome back to the park where you killed that girl”. She gets up and leaves with Daruma trying to follow but she cuts her off saying “why don’t you get it?”.
Yuko is visited by Sado at the hospital who apologies for the slap she gave her. Yuko tries to make light of it with Sado informing her of Gekikara’s defeat. Yuko thinks it’s her turn now to try and defeat Maeda until Sado tells her that Torigoya has been awakened. Yuko is not pleased about this at all. She’s furious because Torigoya is fearsome and gets inside your head. Not only can she see your memories but words are her prime weapon. By whispering in your ear, you can see nightmares from your past that you don’t want to see. Sado insists that Maeda should be broken.
At the very spot that Takamina died, Maeda is confronted once more by Torigoya. She takes Maeda’s wristbands and sees the moment of Takamina’s death. She further inflicts psychological punishment on Maeda’s already fragile mind. She starts to see Takamina but it’s all a trick. However, though, the trick backfires as Torigoya screams in agony with the images coming out of Maeda’s mind.
We see that Nezumi’s grand plan is coming along nicely – telling Sado that Yuko and Maeda spent an afternoon together and that Yuko has plans on Maeda being the next heir to Rappappa. All lies of course but Sado has fallen for it – hook, line and sinker. She asks Yuko if it was true that she did hang out with Maeda. She remains silent. Sado informs Yuko that she won’t hand over Rappappa to Maeda.
Meanwhile, Torigoya has recovered and is back to her old self again but this doesn’t stop Maeda attacking her whilst defenceless. Nezumi is watching. She reports back to rival school Yabakune that they should beat Maeda and with all 4 queens now defeated Maji High is theirs for the taking but if they’re going to attack now is the time to strike. Yabakune gather together to psych themselves up for the upcoming battle. Nezumi is walking the streets, laughing away and hoping that both camps kill each other. Erena is following Maeda and Yuko collapses in her hospital room.
Another top notch episode. Kojima’s character Torigoya was interesting. The other queens have relied on their strength as their main weapon but Torigoya’s is using her psychological tricks to destroy her victim’s minds to make them weak. It was brutal to see Maeda beating Torigoya in an unprovoked attack. With 3 episodes of the series left to go, we’re at the beginning of the end as Nezumi’s master plan is coming to fruition at last. What twists and turns are we likely to see before the final episode?
Next Episode: Yabakune are on the warpath and more on the Maeda/Takamina friendship.
The Mainichi News reported that 3 teenage boy fans of AKB48 went to the location where the group were filming Majisuka Gakuen and stole 8 items from the set. The alleged incident happened during December last year. Police eventually found out about them, arrested the trio to which they admitted everything. The 3 from Hino, Tokyo found out the location of the school used for the drama from Yuko Oshima’s blog. A signboard, cushions and some coats that were to be used by some of the girls were nabbed by the trio. They planned to sell the items.
I’m actually planning myself to visit the location of the school when I return to Tokyo in less than 2 weeks time. Even though I know filming for Majisuka Gakuen has finished, I hope I can have a nice stroll around the old school if possible.
It seems that AKB48’s Erena Ono is starring in a movie that will change the perception of how fans see her. Everybody knows that Erepyon is a cute girl-next-door loli but in a movie called Sankaku in which she has one of the leading roles she’ll be a part of a love triangle between a man and 2 sisters. Erepyon will play the younger sister and judging by the trailer you’ll see below she’ll be walking around in her underwear and whispering sweet nothings in the man’s ear!! Apparently she also has a daring bathing scene!
Yuko Oshima has a tiny role as a waitress. The trailer makes the movie look interesting enough.
IXA Ready - Fist On! 