Some Interesting Details On H!P’s New Album

Tsunku hinted a little while ago that Minimoni, Pucchimoni were being revived alongside some other units. Finally through looking at the tracklisting for the new H!P Happy Marriage album which is coming out soon, the details of the mystery units have been revealed. Take a look below:

1. Diamonds – High-King
2. Ai wa Katsu – °C-ute & Erina Mano
3. YES-YES-YES – Aa! [Tanaka Reina, Natsuyaki Miyabi, Suzuki Airi]
4. Tentou Chuu no Sanba – Shin Minimoni
5. Kimi ga iru dake de – Pucchimoni V
6. Heya to Y shirts to Watashi – Reina Tanaka
7. Mamotte Agetai – Risa Niigaki & Eri Kamei
8. Cosmos – Ai Takahashi
9. Mirai Yosouzu II – ZYX-α
10. ONLY YOU – Zoku V-U-Den
11. akai sweet pea – Tanpopo
12. For You… – Linlin
13. Kanpaku Sengen – Berryz Koubou & Erina Mano
14. Sekai wa futari no tame ni – Sayumi Michishige, Koharu Kusumi, Aika Mitsui, Junjun

So we now know that Aa!, ZYX and V-U-Den are returning but is this just a one-shot deal for the album or a more permanent return? It’s surprising to see Linlin getting a solo too but she does have a very good voice. I’m looking forward to hearing this album and in particular who exactly will be in the new V-U-Den.

Tsunku Reviving Tanpopo, Pucchimoni Plus More

Not content with reviving Minimoni, Tsunku has unveiled plans to also restart dormant units Tanpopo and Pucchimoni. No word on who’s involved in these units yet but all will be revealed during the H!P 2009 Summer Concert. He’s also hinted that other new units will also be unveiled. Stay tuned for more on this news.

Minimoni To Be Revived

It’s been announced on his blog that Tsunku plans on ressurrecting the much missed H!P unit Minimoni. Minimoni which disbanded in May 2004 was one of H!P’s most popular unit. Already one member has been chosen to be in the new incarnation namely Kanon Fukuda and the other 3 members will be announced soon. Will the new Minimoni be any good? We’ll soon find out.

The original Minimoni lineup

Goodbye Elder Club

Yesterday was the final day in Hello!Project for the Elder Club and their leaving marks the start of a new era with Ai Takahashi now in charge. What a big responsibility for Ai-chan but I’m sure she’ll do a great job. She’s been leader of Morning Musume for nearly 2 years and during that time there’s been practically no scandals. If you remember back in 2007, Ai-chan didn’t really want to be leader but I’ll go on record and say she’s been a remarkable leader and you can see that all the girls in MoMusu respect her a lot. Who cares if she doesn’t want to hog the limelight like some of the others.

But back to the Elder Club. We all know it’s not all doom and gloom with their leaving and we have information on what some of them are doing – Mari Yaguchi is busy with her show Yaguchi Hitori and back singing again, Yossie & Charmy are doing Hangry & Angry and Mai Satoda’s career has taken off by associating herself with Quiz Hexagon II but what about the rest? What will ex-members like Yuko Nakazawa, Abe Natsumi, Iida Kaori and all the rest do? I’ll be keeping my eye out and hope to find some good news on what paths they’re all taking.

Good luck to all of them and thanks for all the memories you’ve given me over the years by being in H!P.

Top 10 H!P Members

Over at Paul Thomas’ excellent Hello!Blog there’s a poll running at the moment where you can choose from the many groups and soloists who is your favourite top 10 members in H!P. For some it will take a while pondering and to select their favourites but for me it didn’t take that long. Here’s my selection below:

I think I’ve told my reasons in a previous post why Mikitty is no.1. Some people love her, some people hate her – she’s always been her own person and speaks her mind. She’s just honest and that’s another reason why I love her. Let’s not forget that she’s got a great singing voice too!

Sayu at no.2 is not only cute but she’s deceivingly intelligent with a good sense of humour. I like girls with humour. Her singing voice is improving a bit judging by her solo track on MM’s Platinum 9 album.

I’ll quickly go through the rest: Airi and Maimi have been my top duo in C-ute so they had to be in my top 10. Mano Erina is the top soloist in H!P right now and she is just so adorable. Risako is my only pick from Berryz. Yossie is an old fave from her MM days (when she was a comedy genius) and Mari is the woman that got me interested in H!P in the first place all those years ago so I’ve always had a soft spot for her. Rounding off the top 10 at no.9 is JunJun with her love for bananas and her deadpan humour and lastly the beautiful Aya Matsuura. I just haven’t been a fan of her past 3 albums I’m sorry to say (slow, plodding and dull) but I really liked her first couple of albums.

It’ll be interesting to see the results of the poll when it comes out.

Big News! – Buono! To Appear At Stockholm Japan Expo

As if the excitement about Morning Musume coming to LA wasn’t enough comes the news that will thrill H!P fans in Europe as Buono! have been confirmed to appear at the Stockholm Japan Expo on the 24th May. This will be the first time for any Hello!Project group to appear in Europe and they’re not just at the Expo to smile and shake hands with fans they will perform as well. This is brilliant news for everybody in Europe. Just like the LA Expo, I expect tickets to quickly sell out once word of their appearance makes the rounds on the internet. It’s only a short hop on an airline for many to go to Sweden.  Now if Buono! are coming to Sweden can we expect Berryz or even C-ute to come to the London or Paris Expo? Only time will tell but one thing’s for certain, Tsunku’s plan for world domination by H!P is well and truly underway!

New H!P Unit Frances & Aiko – Too Young Too Soon?

H!P have unveiled their newest unit – the Taiwanese duo of Frances & Aiko that were uncovered during the auditions that took place in the country. Frances is 8 years old and Aiko is only 6 years old. There’s no doubt that these two are incredibly cute but what the hell is UFA doing recruiting kids as young as this. One can argue that Mai Hagiwara was very young when she joined H!P so what difference does it make with these two. I just hope UFA see some sense and not make these two release anything soon. They’re way too young to be exposed to the harsh environment and punishing schedule of the Japanese idol industry. Give them time to develop properly and then we’ll see but don’t drop them into the deep end right now.

Mano Erina – Otome no Inori PV

Three weeks ago I mentioned that the young H!P soloist Mano Erina would be releasing her major debut single Otome no Inori on the 18th March and now the PV to that song has been released.

Firstly about the song itself which I absolutely love. It’s a nice ballady type tune with a wonderful piano melody which has a very soothing quality to it. The song suits her voice well. I can imagine the song being used for an anime.

The PV though is disappointing and low budget. It’s got her stuck in a room completely covered with tiles which are colored 2 shades of pink and a white grand piano. It showcases her piano playing skills and  she changes costumes a couple of times but that’s about it. She looks so adorable though in it and she flashes a beautiful smile towards the camera right at the end. Considering it’s her debut, UFA should have put out all the stops and made a much more exciting PV. It’s basically the same as Aya’s Chocolate Tamashii PV except she was in a room full of chocolate boxes. Very lazy by UFA.

Check out the PV below:

Notable 2009 1st Quarter Single/Album Releases

In this post I’ll give you the release dates of notable singles/albums of artists that you might be interested in purchasing/downloading right up to the middle of April:

25th February:
Ayumi Hamasaki’s double A-side single Rule/Sparkle comes out next week which is sure to be a big seller and go straight to No.1. On the same day the excellent Ami Suzuki releases her new single Reincarnation, Ai Otsuka with Bye Bye and misono who’s inconsistent at best with her songs releases her latest one Kyuukon. On the album side Tomoke Kawase releases 2 best of CD’s for her alter egos Tommy February6 and Tommy Heavenly6 named Strawberry Cream Soda Pop “Daydream” and Gothic Melting Ice Cream’s Darkness “Nightmare”. Quite a mouthful aren’t they!!

4th March:
The underrated Chinese female soloist alan finally releases her debut album called Voice of EARTH. I’m really looking forward to this one. I’ve no idea why she’s overlooked by Japanese music fans. Also coming out will be the first collaboration between siblings Koda Kumi and misono with their song It’s All Love plus AKB48 release 10 Nen Sakura. Hope that does as well as their last song Oogoe Diamond.

9th March:
AKB48 sub-unit No Sleeves release their 2nd single Tane.

14th March:
Hikaru Utada’s 2nd English album called This Is The One comes out. It’ll be interesting to see how this one fares in the US as Exodus bombed big style over there. I like her song Come Back To Me. I’m expecting good things from this album just as long as she doesn’t abandon the style that made Heart Station such a success.

18th March:
Plenty of good music coming out on this date including BoA’s Best&USA album plus another album simply called BoA. I think this is released on the 17th. An artist that I’ve started to get into lately Saori@destiny brings out her mini-album WOW WAR TECHNO. Morning Musume’s album Platinum 9 Disc also comes out. On the single side of things the highly anticipated new single by Namie Amuro called Wild/Dr will be released. I really like Namie so I can’t wait for this single from her.

25th March:
The big release for me this week is Perfume’s 14th single One Room Disco. I’m waiting in anticipation for the preview and PV to this song. Gackt’s latest song which is also the OP for tokusatsu TV show Kamen Rider Decade called Journey Through The Decade also comes out plus Ayumi Hamasaki’s 12th album NEXT LEVEL. That should be great. One of my favorites from old skool Morning Musume – Mari Yaguchi releases her single which I mentioned sometime ago called Seishun Boku. In addition to the above, Koda Kumi gives us a double whammy with 2 CD’s – one’s a remix album called Koda Kumi’s Driving Hits and the other is a compilation called Out Work & Collaborations Best. My wallet is going to be hit hard on this date!!!

April 8th:
alan comes out with yet another new single Kuon na Kawa

April 15th
The brilliant Girl Next Door after a busy end to 2008 with 4 singles and an album release their newest single Seeds of Dream. I really enjoyed their debut album.

Huge News – Morning Musume To Perform In The US!

This has come out of the blue but Morning Musume are coming to the US to perform at an anime and manga convention this coming Summer. Yes, you’ve read it right – they’ll be coming over to the Anime Expo event which is being held on July 2 – 5 in Anaheim, California.

This is going to start a ticket frenzy amongst fans who have been hoping and praying that one day H!P’s flagship group would come over to the US and now their dreams have come true. Some fans are going to be disappointed such will be the demand but I wouldn’t worry too much. The event will be such a success there’s no doubt that Morning Musume will come back again to the US and I reckon Berryz and C-ute will soon be following them. Now that they’re heading to the US, isn’t it time they look towards Europe and plan a concert there but maybe that’s on the cards.

Good luck to everyone hoping to grab a ticket!

Morning Musume