Shukan AKB 30th July Summary

Speedwagon and 9 AKB48 members in their dark red tracksuit are outside today in the Tokyo Dome area. Apparently there’ll be an AKB48 event coming up there soon. In this episode, all 9 members have to ride the Thunder Dolphin rollercoaster that goes through the LaQua building. None of the girls look pleased and Sasshi seems like she’s about to cry!

The first 4 members to go on the ride are Harugon, Akicha, Amina and Mocchi. They are fitted with a special helmet camera to film their reaction. There’s a challenge for them as well. A production team staffmember will go up with them in the rollercoaster and he’ll be sitting in the middle between the 4 girls (2 in front of the person and 2 behind). At various intervals in the ride he’ll flash them 3 Japanese hiragana/katakana characters on a piece of paper in his hand. At the end of the ride the 3 characters should make up a kanji word which they’ll have to write on a small whiteboard given to them. The ride goes smooth enough for the four and Mocchi loved it. The only one to get her answer wrong with the kanji word was Amina Sato!

This is where the dramatic stuff starts to happen as the 5 other members take to the coaster – Mikapon, Miichan, Sasshi, Sayaka and Moeno. Sasshi is shitting herself and crying. Miichan also looks very apprehensive and starts to cry. As they’re about to go on the ride, a production member tries to ease Miichan’s  fears but she has to back out for now. Once her helmet has been taken off she falls down to the floor. It’s getting too much for her. After 10 minutes to recover, Miichan although still scared plucks up the courage, puts her helmet back on and sits down in the rollercoaster car. Come on Sasshi & Miichan – you can do it! I know how they’re feeling – I’m not a fan of fast rides myself but with the right group of people with me (ones that can make me laugh) I’m fine. The camera pans to Sayaka who’s also looking nervous and then she starts crying. I was very surprised to see this.

Finally the ride gets away with Sayaka sobbing her eyes out. I really felt for her. It’s not the Sayaka I like to see. I’ve seen her cry before but not this hard. Mikapon – bless her heart is smiling away as the car reaches the peak of it’s height at 80 metres before careering down. Moeno also seems to be enjoying herself. As the ride starts to take hold with it’s fast bends, Sasshi and Miichan are closing their eyes. When the ride comes to an end, Sayaka is still crying but fair play to her she still remembered the characters that were being flashed at the intervals so she got the kanji word correct and so did Mikapon and Moeno. Sasshi and Miichan didn’t get it right but that’s because their eyes were closed at the wrong time.

Those that got the correct answer on the coaster now progress to another ride – The Tower Hacker. It’s a vertical ride up a tower 80m high before dropping you down at tremendous speed for a few seconds. The losers from the last round (Sasshi, Sato and Miichan) have to wear a white surgical mask around their mouths.  The first three members to go up the Tower Hacker is Moeno, Mikapon and Akicha. The camera shows that Sasshi, Sato and Miichan are on the kids version of the Tower Hacker which only goes up a couple of metres and back down again. There’s hardly any drop but they’re still screaming away like it’s one hell of a ride!!

There’s a chance though for a member to escape the ride if they get a question right which Moeno answers correctly so in the end it’s only Mikapon and Akicha that get to go up. In the gloom of the evening the girls ascend up 80 metres. Mikapon doesn’t look half as confident as she was on the rollercoaster. In fact she was really scared. Akicha was fine. After coming back down, there’s a twist as one of them will have to go up once more if they don’t answer the next question fired at them! This time Akicha gets the question correct so Mikapon has to take the ride all alone. Mikapon is a good sport, however much she disliked the ride.

The next 3 members going up the Tower Hacker is Harugon, Sayaka and Mocchi. Same rules again with a chance for a member to escape the ride. Harugon gets the first question right. The rest are laughing at Sayaka as her frustration is clear to see. Sayaka closes her eyes as the ride reaches the top and drops down. Once again she’s crying like a baby when the ride finishes. Mocchi finds it rather funny!

Will Sayaka get the chance to escape going up again on the 2nd question – the answer is a resounding no! Mocchi apologises to Sayaka for getting the answer right. Sayaka is crying hard as the ride ascends. Thankfully some members came in to console the poor girl once she stepped off the ride after it ended. I never thought I’d see the day when I saw Sayaka being terrified witless. I don’t think it’s entertainment when you prey on a person’s fears. I think Speedwagon rather enjoyed seeing her scared. That finished the main segment for this week’s episode.

Shukan AKB News – No Sleeves’ new single Kimishika is out next week (4th August) and another plug for the Tokyo Dome AKB48 event.

Next week: more hijinks around the Tokyo Dome area.

AKB600SEC – Rino Sashihara Episode

If your like myself then you’ve been glued to these AKB600SEC episodes which have been shown over the past month. Some have been good, others have been dull but last night’s one featuring Rino Sashihara was awesome. Sashihara is an ideal friend/boyfriend for wotas as she’s one herself. We all know about her doing the wotagei dance on an old episode of AKBingo. In Sasshi’s episode we see her with Mikapon going shopping around Ikebukuro. Whilst Mikapon can spend a long time looking at clothes, Sasshi looks incredibly bored. She’s the type of girl that knows what she wants before entering a shop so she doesn’t have to waste her time rummaging around clothes pegs. That wasn’t why this episode is so good though – it’s when she goes to the “MaiDreaming” maid cafe that the fun really begins. Sasshi really gets into the spirit of things here – joining in the silly games they do and doing her wotagei dance moves sitting down. Mikapon seems totally embarassed at what she has to do here (wear cute rabbit ears on her head!) and her face is priceless as she looks at Sasshi enjoying in her element. I love Sasshi, she would be so much fun to hang out with.

Take a look at her episode, it’s really worth checking out.

AKBingo 28th July 2010 Summary

In a change from what was previewed last week, we’re in the studio for another round of Dodgeball Punishment! The teams are split into 2 teams of 6. The teams are:

White Team – Yuko, Kasai, Yukirin, Kojima, Sae and a new face to AKBingo – Team K’s Rumi Yonezawa.

Pink Team – Tomochin, Erepyon, Amina Sato, Takamina, Acchan and Miichan

The first out is Takamina. Her punishment involves her having to eat a large wasp or something that looks like one. The rest of the girls are squealing in disgust at her meal. Kiyoto plays a trick on Takamina making it look like they’re alive on the plate. She smacks him and gives him a good long hard stare and saying that it wasn’t cool at all!! She ate the ‘thing’ pretty well with no complaints.

The 2nd girl to be eliminated is Yukirin. A white powder is put inside a makeshift box with a circular hole in it. The powder is put in the box with the hole closed. The powder which turns to smoke apparently has a potent smell which is disgusting. The hole in the box is opened and Sata hits the side of the box hard sending a puff of smoke direct into Yukirin’s face. Her face tells it all – not a nice aroma at all. Sata has some fun in aiming some smoke in the rest of the girls faces making them scatter all over the studio floor!!

Miichan is the next to go out. She’s made to look like the character Kiyoto played in the news skits with Mariko last year on AKBingo – a drunken news announcer named Hosan complete with a tie around the head, glasses with red nose and cheeks. As Miichan is revelling in playing the fool, Kiyoto sneaks up behind her and smacks her on the head! Very funny!

The next out is Tomomi Kasai. She has to do her punishment outside the studios! She’s ordered to stand outside a coffee shop near some benches with numerous people sitting down and say “Koma desu”. What’s the meaning behind this? Two women sitting on a bench behind Kasai whilst she’s doing this strange routine is laughing a lot. Sata spots this and orders Kasai to turn around and do the routine again for the women. Kasai is so embarrased. One final humiliation for Kasai to do this “Koma desu” whilst turning 360 degrees. Poor Chiyuu! The girls in the studio are beside themselves with laughter.

The 5th girl taken out of the game is Erepyon. I still can’t get used to her new hairstyle. Kiyoto is acting like a retard tourist with a camera taking photos of Erepyon posing in front of a large touristy backdrop picture. Sata plonks her down on a white fluffy chair and spins her round 10 times before asking her to pose again afterwards. Erepyon crashes into the backdrop picture before attempting to pose but each time she falls over.

A football penalty kick batsu is on the cards for Rumi Yonesawa who’s eliminated. Kiyoto is acting like the penalty taker who has to flick a marshmallow? into Rumi’s mouth on the goal-line. He flicks it a bit too hard on his first go resulting in the marshmallow hitting Rumi direct on the nose. The 2nd go goes exactly the same as the first. Eventually he gets a marshmallow inside Rumi’s mouth!

Tomochin is the next out but she question the decision. Enter Shizuka Ooya as one of the judges who starts sniffing around Tomochin before saying OUT. This was great to watch. Tomochin has to endure her face being painted. She gets dressed like a clown complete with clothes and a pair of glasses and she gets to bang a small drum. Is this a Japanese character from an anime, manga or dorama?

The final punishment from this segment goes to Amina Sato. She has to eat a hot meal whilst being electrocuted. Sata finds it hilarious hearing Amina saying that it hurts to be shocked. As she’s about to put something in her mouth and knowing full well she’s going to get shocked she chucks the hot food item in Kiyoto’s face!

At the end of the game, it’s the White Team that prevails as Yuko, Kojima and Sae remain with Acchan the only survivor from the Pink Team. The MVP was Kasai for her antics outside the coffee shop!

Next up is Takamina’s progress with her rakugo training in which she has to be ready for the 3rd August No Sleeves event at the Blitz in Yokohama. There’s a lot for her to remember as she’s got a big script. She does a rehearsal in front of the entire AKBingo production team and they then give her their opinion on how she did. I don’t think they were that impressed which only piles more pressure on Takamina. The stress is starting to show with a few tears shed. I’m sure Takamina will be OK by the time the event comes around.

Finally, we have a brilliant PV for the song Lucky Seven which is off AKB48’s new CD single. It’s got a pirates theme with a pirate ship set. We only see the edited version of the PV. I really love the song.

This was such a fantastic episode with many funny bits in it. Next week we’ve got the Shojiki Shougi episode between Mayuyu and Sasshi which was advertised to be shown this week.

AKB48 – Heavy Rotation PV

I’d better warn everybody that earlier uploads of this PV on Youtube have been taken down very quickly and this might be the case with this one as well so definitely take a look before it’s too late.

Well what’s to say about this amazing PV. It’s their sexiest PV to date that’s for sure and a lot of fun to watch. Pure fanservice!! I suspect many will need to have a cold shower after watching. There might not be a storyline for the PV but who’s complaining when you’ve got the senbatsu members larking about with each other in their lingerie! Highlights for me include Yuko stripping off right at the start plus Rena and Jurina sharing a bathtub!!

EDIT: I’ve had to replace the original Youtube video with another one (LQ version) as it was taken down. I doubt this one will survive more than a couple of hours.

UPDATE: I’ve changed the video yet again. This one’s a bit more HQ than the other.

And for those that want to download the PV, get it here:

http://www.mediafire.com/?7neof317ik7e4ql

Scandal – Namida no Regret PV

The awesome 4-piece female band Scandal released their 7th major single this week with Namida no Regret. It’s their first ever original ballad and it’s a belter of a track with a pretty good PV to accompany the song. It might not be the best song they’ve put out as a single and I do prefer their upbeat tunes but it’s still a solid release. I don’t know how long the PV will stay up on Youtube so watch it now before it’s taken down.

Oricon Top 30 Charts – Week 30

30 azusa – i Love
29 Haruka Morishima (Shizuka Ito) – Kimi no Hitomi ni Koishiteru
28 Triple Booking – Yamato Nadeshiko Education
27 Fuyumi Sakamoto – Mata Kimi ni Koishiteru / Asia no Kaizoku
26 Goro Kagami – Katakoi Shigure
25 T-Pistonz+KMC – GOOD Kitaa! / Genki ni Narii yo!
24 Ryo (Supercell) feat Miku Hatsune / KZ (Livetune) feat Miku Hatsune – Kocchi Muite Baby / yellow
23 Stardust Revue – Yume e no Chizu
22 AKB48 – Ponytail to Shushu
21 SKE48 – Gomen ne, Summer
20 Hexagon All Stars & Tsubasa – Bokura ni wa Tsubasa ga Aru ~Oozora e~
19 ACIDMAN – DEAR FREEDOM
18 Koda Kumi – Gossip Candy
17 Kyosuke Himuro – BANG THE BEAT / Safe And Sound
16 Berryz Kobo – Maji Bomber!!
15 CRAZY KEN BAND – 1107
14 Ayahi Takagaki – Kimi ga Iru Basho
13 Musubi (Hayami Saori), Tsukiumi (Inoue Marina), Kusano (Hanazawa Kana), Matsu (Endo Aya) – Hakuyoku no Seiyaku ~Pure Engagement~ / Onnaji Kimochi
12 Becky – Emerald / Korokoro Magokoro
11 Sasaki Nozomi – Kamu to Funyan feat. Astro
10 BoA – Woo Weekend
09 Minori Chihara – Freedom Dreamer
08 Kaibutsu-kun (Taro Kaibutsu) – Yukai Tsuukai Kaibutsu-kun
07 Choshinsei – Evidence of Luv / Get Wild
06 Megumi Hayashibara – Shuuketsu no Sadame
05 Ayumi Hamasaki – MOON / blossom
04 ARASHI – To Be Free
03 Ketsumeishi – Ofutari Summer
02 the Gazette – SHIVER
01 Team Dragon from AKB48 – Kokoro no Hane

AKB48 Metal Cover Album – WTF!!!

I think I’ve heard it all now – metal group STUDIO BURNING (never heard of them before) are going to cover some AKB48 songs in their own unique way. The CD album titled JKB48 will cover 7 songs in total. Before you think that this is a bootleg of some sorts it isn’t – it’s an official cover album! It’s all set to be released on August 14th. I did have some reservations when I first read about this but I went to STUDIO BURNING’s website to hear some samples from this upcoming album and guess what……..it’s not so bad after all, in fact I really really liked it!!!

Have a listen for yourselves right here:

http://www.studio-burning.com/disco.html

What do you think? Good? Bad?

Team Dragon from AKB48 – Kokoro no Hane PV

You’ve probably heard the comments on some forums regarding this PV about the flying squirrels part near the end which begs me to ask what’s the story for the strange concept behind this PV. Don’t get me wrong, I like the PV and the song itself very much – it’s looks great especially the CGI parts but I just want to know if there’s a storyline attached to the PV? This single will go straight to no.1 in the Oricon Charts come this Wednesday but I’m not sure how much it’s sold overall. Guess we’ll find out soon.

Pepsi Strong Shot – Japan’s Newest Energy Drink

I wasn’t expecting Pepsi Japan to put out another new drink this Summer after the Baobab flavour was unveiled last month but they have and this time it’s a new drink that supposed to keep you going if your energy is lacking. Pepsi Strong Shot has more caffeine in it’s contents and gives a warning at the top of the can that you must let 15 seconds pass after opening the can before consuming as it’s contains extra carbonation. I don’t know what the consequences would be if you just opened and chugged it down before 15 seconds – your brain might explode ???!!!! The taste is supposed to be like your average can of pepsi except this one has more fizz.

Shukan AKB 23rd July 2010 Summary

Girls Talk II is the subject of this week’s episode with the chit-chat between members taking place in the Garden Cafe & Restaurant “Raphael” which is close to Shibuya.

The first to arrive in the place is Jurina Matsui who looks cool in her clothes. As she heads to the table allocated to the chat she isn’t sure where to sit – she think middle seat but eventually decides on the right hand side seat. I’m not sure if she’s used to dining in such a relatively posh place.

The 2nd member to land at Raphael is Sayaka Akimoto who’s in a nice summery dress. She elects to sit on the left hand side seat and the last member to turn up is Acchan in a short black leather coat and a short yellow one piece dress. She sits in the middle.

Now I have no idea what the three were blathering on about which makes these kind of episodes frustrating for me. I can pick up a word or two but that’s about it. They order some spaghetti to eat. All of a sudden a surprise guest turns up – Tomochin! They continued to talk amongst each other and I know that One Piece came into their conversation but for the majority of the time I didn’t have a clue what they were saying.

I really thought that Jurina might be overwhelmed being with her seniors but she looked at ease and completely relaxed in their company. It was annoying seeing the reflection of the camerman in the glass behind the talking members!

Shukan AKB News: the same announcement that was shown on AKBingo about their new single Heavy Rotation is shown.

To close the show, each member says something about the dinner and chat they had. It wasn’t a great episode to be honest, in fact I think these chats are dull and pointless. I’m hoping next week’s show will be an improvement.