Coming on the heels of their Seibu Dome concert announcement, the women of AKB48 have officially taken the music industry here under their control.
AKB48 have broken, what many felt was an unbreakable record.
Legendary rock band Mr. Children had previously lead all of Oricon chart history with the highest single weekly sales figure at 1,208,000. Mr. Children originally set the record by the way in 1996 with “Namonaki Uta”.
AKB48 broke this record with their current single “Everyday, Kachuusha” with first week sales of 1,334,000 making it the highest single sales for a week in Japanese music history.
The group also set a second and very important record by having 8 consecutive #1 weekly singles .The last female group to do this was Pink Lady 32 years ago.
Takahashi Minami released the following statement on their accomplishment
“It’s such a big honor for us (to break this record). Everyone knows that it’s all thanks to all of our fans.”
It makes no difference if you are a fan or not of this group, what they are accomplishing in this current era of record sales trends is impressive and deserves respect.
Congratulations to the members of AKB48, for breaking these prestigious records and for opening the media doors to look for fresh idol groups.
This day was going to come and it was only an issue of which Dome that the group would perform in first .Many believed it would be the Tokyo Dome, which for non-baseball events can hold 60,000 + fans.
Well AKB48 is not heading to the Tokyo Dome instead, they are heading over to near by Saitama for a three-day concert at the Seibu Dome. The Seibu Dome is a professional baseball stadium that seats 35,655 for baseball games and depending on how the stage is set up, you can get up to 50,000 [40,000 would be a good size crowd] for other events.
AKB48 will perform at the Seibu Dome as part of their upcoming nationwide tour events on July 22, 23, 24.
Coming on the heels of selling a million copies of their current single in two days and SKE48 transferring to Avex, these are happy times in the 48 family.
Nationwide Tour
July 22, 23, 24, -Saitama Seibu Dome.
August 1st – Fukuoka Palace Hotel & Hall
August 2nd – Kagoshima-shi Minbunka Hall
August 4th – Kouchi Kenritsu Kenmin Bunka Hall
August 8th – Tottori Yonago Convention Center
August 10th – Aomori Bunka Kaikan
August 12th – Sendai Sun Plaza
August 15th – Hiroshima ALSO Hall
August 17th – Niigata Kenminkaikan
August 19th – Hokkaido Nitori Bunka Hall
August 22nd – Toyama Aubade Hall
August 24th and 25th – Nagoya Kokusaikaigi Century Hall
August 29th – Shiga Kenritsu Geijutsu Theater Biwako Hall
August 30th and 31st – Kobe Kokusai Kaikan Kokusai Hall
When S/mileage first formed, there was a round a about hint that the group was unfinished .
This comes from a statement that Tsunku made at the time that the member’s lineup was not fixed, meaning the current lineup was not the final.
It was announced at S/mileage’s first year major debut anniversary that S/mileage will be holding generation two auditions.
First round of interviews and singing will start on June 4, around the same time that Morning Musume will be starting their auditions; now how will this work for the staff?
According to H!P officials any middle school or high school girl wanting to audition for Morning Musume can also audition for S/mileage .Audition winners will be placed in one of the two groups . S/mileage audition age range by the way is listed at 13-18 by May 1,2011 .
This brings up a very important and unanswered question ,will S/mileage have graduations now ?
Morning Musume`s new PV for their next single Only You has just been released and it continues the groups move into the right direction in terms of song quality. One of the things you will quickly notice is that Riho has become the #3 singer at least for this single and could possibly become the #2 lead behind Reina, once Ai-chan graduates.
Hard to say if Riho is being pushed up the ranks to fast, however she clearly will be one of the groups future aces, if they plan to keep this franchise moving forward over the next decade .As to their future ? As long as they are turning a profit with consistent sales, there is no reason why this group can`t someday see generation 20.
As for the video and song on first play it reminds me of the grown up long lost mature sister of Sexy Boy .The effects on Risa`s vocals are a nice touch and not overly done.
All in all this is a great song and PV, worth taking the time to support .
The reigning Queens of female idol genre are at it again, with an incredible opening day sales. AKB48`s new single “Everyday, Kachuusha“has sold a staggering 942,475 copies in one day. The margin of victory by AKB48 was also no less then impressive as the number two and three artists charted in at Team Amuse! 55,916 and TOKIO 9,570.
With that amount of sales coming out of the gate ,the record books of idol history are open and a new page is about to be written as AKB48 continue their golden age run.
Edit
On day 2 AKB48 sold another 142,233 copies for [1,084,708 after 2 days]
What do you get, when you take three girls from Singapore and one from Malaysia, who love to sing, watch Japanese anime and have big dreams? The answer - a new idol-pop group from Singapore with dreams of making a name for themselves in the Akihabara world of anime and idols .
Sea☆A is the latest international idol group that is heading to Japan.
Sea☆A stands for `South East Asia Star Anime'. The star symbol represents their desire to become stars and the capital A has a double meaning, their love for Japanese anime and for active in Asia, reflecting on the groups desire to be active not only in Japan ,but across Asia.
Sea☆A who currently are the opening group for May`n Asian Tour will make their Japanese debut on August 10 with their first single "DREAM SHOOTER". “DREAM SHOOTER" by the way will be the ending theme for the anime “Card Fight! Vanguard”.
Sea☆A debut single will come in CD+DVD and CD-only editions and the DVD will feature the PV for "DREAM SHOOTER" and a coming to Japan documentary.
The members of Sea☆A are well prepared to be international stars as the girls can all speak Mandarin Chinese, Cantonese, English, Malay and Japanese.
As a group, the members enjoy a wide range of anime and list Akihabara, Shibuya and Harajuku as their first stops to visit in Japan.
The members of Sea☆A are
Estelle the youngest member and her special skills are singing, dancing
Beryl considered the group's beauty leader, while keeping things shy and modest
Wynnie the moe member and the member you would most likely find out cosplaying[From Malaysia]
Valerie the considered to be best figure member and the member who can reflect her voice the best in anime style.
Beryl -January 29, 1991
Valerie -February 14, 1991
Wynnie -July 10, 1989
Estelle -December 1, 1989
Home Page http://www.seaa.asia/
[By the way, if you wish to support them, they have support and website information in English]
Recently AKB48 member Sashihara Rino attempted a 200 post in 24 hour blog challenge .Not only did she accomplish this challenge ,she showed just how powerful the internet for and idol or group can be.
Once Rino reached her 130th post ,she sent out a request to her fans for help as she said that she was running out of content and was falling short of her goal. Thanks to her strong will and her fans, Rino passed her challenge and managed to gain 91 million page views and 810,000 comments in 24 hours. Currently there are just under 10,000 celebrities using Ameba as a blog host. Those numbers set by Rino have never been accomplished in the history of Ameba blog services.
If Rino can carry that force with her, who knows we maybe looking at a new #1 in the elections. Is Sashihara madness ready to move into the front girls of AKB? Only time can tell, however the sky seems to be the limit for this rising star.
This is a wow quality video and an impressive one at that .With Musume getting younger and the Berryz girls reaching their mature stage, the sexy group may now become Berryz.
Berryz “Ai no Dangan” is a pure win for music fans and for Berryz fans, their vocals blend perfectly with the music.
This solid piece of work will be hitting the stores on June 8 and will come in Limited Edition A (CD+DVD), Limited Edition B (CD-only), Limited Edition C (CD-only), and a regular version.
Former member of Morning Musume Yaguchi Mari has announced that she is getting married to former D-BOYS member Nakamura Masaya, who is three years younger then Mari.
The happy couple planned to get married in March; however, the Tohoku earthquake put plans to the side to perform charity work.
Nakamura has been active with his agency’s “WAE Charity Project” , while Yaguchi has been participating in charity events.
The couple will hold a press conference on the 22nd and the wedding is reported to be set for sometime in May, when Mari has a tour break.
On March 9, 2011, Ryo and I decided to add to this site the very charming idol group from Sendai known as Dorothy Little Happy. We made the decision to promote them in our regular rotation of groups, because there is a specialness about this group that you have to witness to understand and we think this unit can climb the idol ranks to national idol fame.
As you know on March 11, the tragic earthquake stuck Sendai, creating a number of difficulties, along with personal family losses to a member of this site, throwing everything in the air.
Throughout all those difficulties, one group that Ryo and myself worked hard to make sure to know they were safe, was Sendai`s Dorothy Little Happy. After not hearing anything from the group, the girls reported not long after the earthquake that they were all safe and would make a strong return.
Many difficulties faced Dorothy Little Happy as they worked to be able to make their strong return. I am happy to say that recently Dorothy Little Happy made their strong return and are doing an active schedule again, and we will be telling you about the adventures of Dorothy Little Happy, just as we had planed before the earthquake in the weeks, months and years to come.
As Ryo wrote in their earlier preview, when we got a tip on this group, we had to check them out .In our free time, we like to go find underground idols or bands across the country, that we feel can be something special in this industry or for our selfish enjoyment.
Dorothy Little Happy are a special bunch of idols worth getting to know ,it is unknown at this time if these girls will reach national idol fame ,however they are a shining light to a region hard hit by the earthquake.
As a way to bring them back to this site, I am presenting a special spotlight on Dorothy Little Happy. In this first spotlight, we return to a time before the earthquake, with a mini live event and a in-store live crowd MC event, which will start to unlock the doors to this adorable group of idols. At the end is the debut feature we wrote on March 9, 2011.
Please enjoy this spotlight feature as we start to add Dorothy Little Happy to our regular group coverage.
DLH OUTDOOR MINI LIVE EVENT
This mini live starts with another group doing an MC to help promote DLH.
“AeLL” (pronounced ‘yell’), is a new idol unit that features Gravure idol Shinozaki Ai together with leader Nishi Erika, Tanaka Kumi and Shijo Haruna.
The name AeLL stands for “Activity eco Life with Love” and the group`s theme is environmental idols. Along with working to reach such goals as appearances on “Music Station” and “Kohaku”, the group promotes environmental issues and plan to take part in cleaning trips such as a Mt.Fuji clean up.
The members are good friends and have wanted to become an idol group for sometime, and at a recent live they started to cry as they performed their recently release debut single “Ecology Monkeys/Chu! Chu! Hareru yeah“.
AeLL hope to one day become international idols and have opened a Facebook account to reach out to fans around the world.
AeLL have a distribution deal with Tower Records online , Shinseido ,Amazon and others for the sales of their releases.
Idoling!!!,℃-ute, 9nine, SUPER☆GiRLS, AeLL, Live Event
Idol groups Idoling!!!, ℃-ute, 9nine, SUPER☆GiRLS, AeLL are coming together to perform on the same stage for two nights only as part of a fashion event called “Japan Girls Meeting 2011”. As part of the event, the groups will perform on stage in individual mini lives. The live event will from May 21 to 22 at the Tokyo EPSON Shinagawa Aqua Stadium.
AeLL will be featured in a separate post, so please look forward to it.
Because AKB48 is so active, that PIH needs a fulltime staff just to cover AKB48, lol so here is news round up of some main AKB48 news.
It`s getting time for their next round of member elections and their official election guidebook has sold 75,000 copies in one week taking the number one spot.
In related news the Senbatsu elections will be broadcast live in 70 movie theaters across the nation, this is double the number of screens from the last election.
Starting May 24 moviegoers /AKB fans can view a special broadcast called “Minogashita Kimi-tachi he” ~ AKB48 Group Zenkouen~“. “Minogashita Kimi-tachi he” ~ AKB48 Group Zenkouen~“is a collection of 19 AKB48 concerts and one will be broadcast each day until June 12, minus the June 9th election day.
This concert broadcast by the way is the longest consecutive broadcast of a concert, in Japanese cinema entertainment history.
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Watanabe Mayu`s solo photobook sold 45,000 copies in the first week.
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AKB48 and it`s sister units have started doing their own theater lives in Singapore ,and for their first lives fans from Singapore ,Malaysia and other regional nations flew in to take part. You can expect the 48`s popularity to rise in the Singapore, Malaysia area with these monthly concerts, along with the fatigue for the girls. Related shops also opened in the city. AKB48 also has shops in other countries such as Hong Kong, making the group a truly Asian franchise.
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In more serious news, some stalker/organized crime member created a security risk for the members of AKB48
On May 15, AKB48 went up to Sapporo, Hokkaido to do a fan event as part of the event local television crews were invited to do a five-minute clip on the event.
After the five minute live clip, the media ended their broadcasts as agreed to, with the exception of one person. An 18 yr old man , who had entered the venue with counterfeit press id`s and a video camera ,continued to keep filming .The man took great care to film every part of the event ,including the line set up , conducting interviews with members .
AKB48 security took notice of the man and stopped him for questioning .The man gave officials a suspected phone number claiming that the number was that of his boss.
Both AKB48 and local police believe the man is part of an organized crime gang, who was sent to film the event, for sale of illegal DVD copies of the event.
The man and the situation are currently under police investigation, to determine if he is just an invented wota or a member of organized crime gang.
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AKB48 will be the MC`s for MTV `s Video Aid Japan event on June 25.
Performers will include EXILE, Lady Gaga, Monkey Majik, Nishino Kana, SHINee, and Tokio Hotel.
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Rounding out the recent AKB48 news of interest
On May 17 AKB48 was selected to be the official spokeswomen for the Japanese Red Cross Society! Earthquake relief.
Due to AKB48`s efforts to raise money including their parent company donating 220 million yen and the members of AKB48 collecting 187.3 billion yen through their charity work and personal donations. AKB48 was selected by the Japan Red Cross to be the agency's recovery campaign voice.
AKB48 song “Boku ni Dekiru Koto” is currently being used in official Red Cross commercials promoting awareness and recovery needs.
Member Takahashi Minami told the press gathered at the event the following. “If we can join forces one by one, there will always be lives we can save.” In addition to becoming representatives, the group become honorary members. AKB48 plan to continue leading the earthquake recovery charge.
Late last year when I presented PASSPO☆ to the readers of this site, I did so with the hopes that readers would see in them, what I saw in their live events, their specialness, and view them as worthy of being covered. I am happy that the readers of this site have taken to this group, so that I may share this bit of history on this site with you.
PASSPO☆ for the next reported weekly rankings [Chart for May 16] will enter the charts at #1 with one-week sales of 43,000.
This marks the first time that an female Idol group has had a debut single enter the weekly charts at #1 since the group Kiroro accomplished this achievement in 1998. The sales of 43,000 was also a shot across the female idol genre world, that the Indie Idol Underground is full of fresh groups, who are hungry for a major label record company to give them a chance.
How far will PASSPO☆ fly as a new major idol group and will more groups from the Indie Idol Underground rise up to join them, only time will tell.
If this debut is any sign of things to come, then we can safely say that PASSPO☆ will be a major player in the idol wars.
Flight Captain Negishi Ai had the following words of thanks to their fans.
“I’m so happy that we had such a nice takeoff.” “We’re truly grateful to our passengers. From now on, we’ll do our best to not forget our rookie attitudes as we hold onto our aspirations and ride this updraft.”
Passpo Getting #1 News
[If the video gets deleted no worries ,I have a copy, you can download]
Given the recent earthquake, the nation is looking for many things to have hope in and throughout history one thing that has always brought hope is Idols.
Idols are everything that is good in a way ,they offer smiles ,laughter ,music ,comedy , but more importantly, they offer hope .Hope to young girls who dream of becoming idols.
Hello!Project has announced the following news.
Morning Musume is taking applications for the 10th generation auditions and are looking for girls who love bright songs and have pride in their smiles!
Girls who are between the ages of 10-17 can start filling out paperwork until June 13 ,to audition to become the 10th generation of Morning Musume.
They are taking applications by mail ,mobile ,PC .
No word if EGGS will allowed to join ,given the success of Fuku-chan , one EGG should be with every generation to help the fresh idols adjust to idol life .
Music Previews: Afilia Saga East, C-ute, Gacharic Spin
In this preview, we have idols and rock.
First up are the darlings of Afilia as Afilia Saga East start promotions of their new album. I have to say, not sure, what I enjoyed the most in this PV, the fact that Afilia is as cute as ever, the song being good or the girls trying to fly on witch brooms. Ok learning to fly won me over, well the entire package did. This group just keeps getting better.
C-ute have released the PV for their new single “Momoiro Sparkling”
This single has the typical H!P sound and may take a few spins to pull in mainstream fans. Overall it`s a summer upbeat type song with lots of C-ute goodness.
Up and coming female rock band Gacharic Spin will be releasing their first mini album “Virgin-A” and have recently released the single “Lost Angel” .
This is a group that will need to take time to grow on you if you have never heard of them before .Don`t count them short as they are making a name for themselves among female rock band fans and in the JRock genre.
Guitarist TOMO-ZO use to be the lead guitarist for Eu-Phoria while bassist F CHOPPER KOGA was a member of THE PINK PANDA. These two are a great team, complete with guitar spins
Special Music Preview: Morning Musume, AKBN0, Daisy x Daisy
This is a special edition of Music Preview .In this preview we have a concert cut of Morning Musume`s 46th single, AKBN0 Single Debut and Daisy x Daisy PV. Just a little note the Daisy x Daisy PV is a little different then the one I had planed to use ,so I went to plan B and this version includes Spanish Subtitles .
First up is a concert rip of Morning Musume`s 46th single “Only You” This has the makings of a really good single, looking forward to hearing a clean radio cut.
Next up is a new idol unit; just a year old AKBN0 and their debut single .AKBN0 it seems has created a bit of a hostile fan response in English first fan bases of AKB48. Many regard them as a rip-off of AKB48 or some classless idols, because they offer " 30 minute live event dates" to their wotas or because they sing covers from AKB48 and H!P. This comes mainly from not understanding the concept of AKBN0 http://www.megaupload.com/?d=GVHX78LB
This single entered the Oricon Charts at 28
Last is Daisy x Daisy. Daisy x Daisy is actually Kondo Mika and was originally a group, until it split up and she kept the name as a solo artist.
Her first major solo single as Daisy x Daisy was released a few months ago and is called “HOLY SHINE” for the anime “FAIRY TAIL.
When I previewed PASSPO☆ debut major single, I said to myself if this single could reach 20-25,000 for the sales cycle it would be a good start to their major career. Well not only did they pass my hopeful sales goal they captured a #1 daily Oricon ranking.
For the Oricon rankings dated 2011 05/02 PASSPO☆ entered the daily rankings at # 1 with sales of 20,516. #2 was MBLAQ at 9,648.
Congratulations PASSPO☆ and welcome to the major idol wars.
If you have not taken the time to check out this fast rising idol unit, you should .If not you just might miss the next big thing in the industry.
The mastermind of the 48`s franchise and idol legends Onyanko Club Akimoto Yasushi is continuing his long planned nationwide franchise campaign by adding a new unit to Hakata Fukuoka .The new unit is called “HKT48” (“HAKATA48”) . Auditions for this new unit started May 1.
The group already has a web site, so you can get ready to follow the newest idols in the 48 franchise. With Akimoto`s desires expressed long before AKB48 visited Los Angeles to expand his brand into the six major cities in Japan and possibly into Major International cities , adding Fukuoka to the list , makes his dream one step closer to reality.
Music Previews: SUPER☆GiRLS, AKB48, Yui, Maeda Atsuko, Perfume, GIRL NEXT DOOR.
I was asked if I could do more of the previews as I did the other day, this time I have a mix of audio and video previews from a number of stars and genres
So let us get right to it.
PV`s
First up is SUPER☆GiRLS .SUPER☆GiRLS have their second single coming out on June 15 called “MAX! Otomegokoro/Happy GO Lucky! ~Happy☆Lucky de GO! ~“
“MAX! Otomegokoro will be the theme song for the Ito Yogurt CMs “Koi☆Mizugi” and “Koi☆Yokui“ .While Happy GO Lucky!~Happy☆Lucky de GO!~ will be the ending theme song to the anime “Pretty Rhythm Aurora Dream“.
Next is the full PV for Yui`s new single the movie theme song “HELLO~Paradise Kiss~“.I have to say almost didn`t recognize Yui in this one and she spent a lot of time with her costume team as she has 9 different outfits.
SINGLE PREVIEWS
The coupling tracks to AKB48`s new single have started to come out and this one, I am not sure how I feel about it. It`s different from what AKB48 brings each week.
The song is called “Kore Kara Wonderland“
Next is Maeda Atsuko’s solo debut “Flower“
Next is Perfume’s Laser Beam
Last is the just released album by GIRL NEXT DOOR “Destination”
[Note Photo is not related to the CD Cover ,just like the style of it]
Coming soon previews from some really nice and very talented guys and girls from my career genre Visual Kei and mainstream JRock ,so be looking out for it .
