Nogizaka46 has landed a major sports sponsorship .Nogizaka46 song “Hidari Mune no Yuuki“, has been chosen as the official support song for “Sukapa! J League
2012″ [Professional Soccer League TV Broadcast].
The song will be used during the season broadcasts schedule and as part of the related commercials.
This is a special deal for Miyazawa Seira, whose father is Miyazawa Michel [French-Japanese], who is a retired player of the J-League for JEF United Ichihara playing in a total of 134 games and scoring 6 goals as a defender.
Seira said at the press conference “I want to do my best for my dad, and liven up everyone in the stadium.”
AKB48 are teaming up with SMAP`s Nakai Masahiro and actress Esumi Makiko as hosts for a new TBS music show. The untitled set to start in April TV show will
see the Senbatsu members joining Nakai and Esumi as MC for the new program. Each week AKB48 Senbatsu members will be show regulars with 2-3 serving as MC
Cheeky Parade is a new group under the Idol Street family of groups [SUPER☆GiRLS home base]
The members are
Top Row, left to right: Suzuki Yuriya, Shimazaki Rino
Middle Row, left to right: Watanabe Asami, Nagai Hina, Yamamoto Marin, Mizorogi Seran, Sekine Yuuna
Bottom Row, left to right: Kodakari Momoka, Suzuki Mariya
Their debut release will be titled “Cheeky Dreamer”
It was announced the other night on AKB48 All Night Nippon program, that there will be a season 3 of the drama. It`s also being reported that the show will be different from the first two seasons.
More details when they become available
As mentioned before, Doll☆Elements is a group directly related to Lovely★DOLL (Or 愛乙女★DOLL), as they are a unit made up of third generation research students to the main group. They made their debut performing songs such as "GO!!MY WISH!" and "LOVE&PEACE", which are originally Lovely★DOLL's songs.
The members are, in order of the picture from left to right: Tamechika Anna (為近あんな) aka Tamechan - Born October 29, 1992 Gonda Natsumi (権田夏海) aka Gonchan - Born June 13, 1991 Tonosaki Rika (外崎梨香) aka Rikapyon - Born April 22, 1992 Ayamori Aoi (綾森あおい) aka Aoidon, Donchan - Born August 13, 1993 Kojima Runa (小島瑠那) aka Runaruna, Runapon - Born October 31, 1994
This video was shown before, but there's only a few videos of this unit, unfortunately.
Oota Yuuki got mentioned is PIH Fresh 30 Idols post, but now I'm going to expand and tell you a little more about Oota Yuuki.
Oota Yuuki is a singer who lives in Tokyo. Her birthday is June 6, 1986. Her blood type is A. She's 156cm tall. Her hometown is Aichi prefecture. Her hobbies are carving, painting, and other arts.
She is signed to dream seed craft. (Is that a record label or company...?) She's been active since 2007. I think she is also a gravure model (???).
She seems to be a really energetic person, and she has a lot of fans (from what I can see from her performances). She also seems to have really solid singles. I like her voice. She performs live well live. My favorite song by Yuuki is DREAM MAKER.
Momoiro Clover z's sister group Shiritsu Ebisu Chuugaku (Ebichu for short) will be making their official debut this May on the 5th. Their single is called "Karikeiyaku no Cinderella" and will come in 3 types.
I'm so excited for Ebichu's debut! I wondered, after already having 6 indies singles, when they were going to debut officially.
This is just a short post announcing Ebichu's debut. Pure Idol Heart has never covered Ebichu before so I will have to make an official post about them later.
Because some of these groups have more videos then others I have split this post into A & B parts.
As with part one these groups will be revisited with solo profile features.
Pinafore has almost 120 videos on their YouTube Account
Pinafore is a maid café/ idol group from Pinafore Café and directly related to Melody Lien
Because of that they get added to part two
Because some of these groups have more videos then others I have split this post into A & B parts.
As with part one these groups will be revisited with solo profile features.
# 6 PIECE
PIECE is a new unit that has not released an original single yet; however you want to keep their YouTube channel handy as they have a number of little clips on the site.
The darlings of Pure Idol Heart [if you remember the earthquake story, you`ll get that remark] drop in on Pure Idol Heart to offer up a special mini live filmed on the 19th.
BABY METAL is back with another release “Li Ne”
The video features the group in various group styles, from idol pop, to rap group, to their trade mark princesses of metal. As much as I love the PV, I really wished they had stayed with their heavy metal style of their first release.
With my objection cast to the side, this is a great song and PV, if you’re not a metal head and like to go clubbing or practice dance, this song is for you.
30 Fresh Faces is something that I have wanted to do for some time and that is present you the readers of this site with 30 idol groups or soloists that have never appeared on Pure Idol Heart.
Plans are underway for formal artist introduction posts after these previews. Each one of these artists have different levels of experience and in no way should they be compared to 48`s or H!P level idols ,if they were ,they would be in those groups . Instead these artists should be compared with the other artists in this series .
Regardless if an idol is performing in front of 50 or 5,000 ,they are deserving of our respect and support. If you’re a true fan of Idol genre , then a level of an artist ,should not matter to you if they bring you happiness in their performance.
So let’s get started
#1 first up is the charming Oota Yuuki
We have actually previewed groups on their label before , just never got around to Starmarie .Starmarie are with a bunch of pretty established Tokyo Indie Idol groups and soloists .
Momoko splits time as an idol singer and being a member of a rock band , and making Gravure books.
Of the two music genres ,she is more famous for writing the lyrics for the idol songs that she sings as an idol. She is also under the same record label as Starmarie
Sorry for the short notice; every Tuesday at 7PM Japan Standard Time, Houkago Princess has an 45 min internet show . The station is live broadcasting network .Another idol group show is now on. HouPri comes on next.
Click the red live program button to watch the station broadcasts .Program Guide is below it .At the end of each program there is about 15 minutes of Advertisements so shows can set up for their broadcast.
Indie Idol company Alice Project ,which handles a number of groups we have covered on this site ,is having a special continuous live USTREAM broadcast ,the broadcast started 9hrs ago ,I was unable at the time to let you know about it , due to other commitments.
It`s not your standard idols, sit around and chat type program. Instead this involves the groups trying to hatch quail eggs sold at supermarket. There is not really much to the broadcast the eggs and the brooder are the focus, twice a day a member from one of the groups will come in and roll the eggs over. The eggs get to listen to the groups songs all day as well.
Momoiro Clover Z “Mouretsu Uchuu Koukyoukyoku Dainana Gakushou ‘Mugen no Ai’”
Momoiro Clover Z recently released the video for their upcoming single “Mouretsu Uchuu Koukyoukyoku Dainana Gakushou ‘Mugen no Ai’”.
The video features the group in several CGI created backgrounds, riding space bicycles while wearing pirate costumes.
I have to say they make for some cute space pirates.
The full preview for Tokyo Girls' Style 9th single Rock you! / Onnaji Kimochi -YMCK REMIX was uploaded on avex track channel a few days ago. I love the grayish tint that the PV has to it. It's simple, fun, and the girls look fierce and tough sporting simple military themed outfits.This is hands down, one of Tokyo Girls' Style best singles. TGS has been flawless, releasing good single after good single consistently.
Remember UFZS, that new UFA kpop/jpop unit that was announced almost a whole year ago? Well, their back!
Up Up Girls (formerly UFZS) is a dance unit has consisting of former H!P Egg members Saho Akari, Furukawa Konatsu, Sekine Azusa, Mori Saki, Arai Manami, Satou Ayano, and Sengoku Minami.
They'll be having a new single called Going My ↑ I thought the girls had dreams to debut in Korea. I hope that remains true!
There is no release date yet, but you can hear a preview of it!
PASSPO☆ released their third single Kimi wa boku wo Suki ni naru on the Universal channel Today. The girls look pretty, the dance and outfits are great! I love how PASSPO☆ PV's are mainly outse too. it gives everything a fresh, bright feeling, I'm not completely feeling the song yet.
AKB48 “GIVE ME FIVE” entered Oricon at #1 with first day sales of 966,529 this is the third record breaking first day release for AKB48. Unless there is a down turn in sales, this will be the 6th consecutive and 7th single overall to sale one million copies.
We haven`t mentioned it in the past however Up-Front have several regional offices and spin off agencies such as Hello!Project.
Former Viyuden member Miyoshi Erika who is from Sapporo has transferred to Up-Front`s Sapporo office.
She will be playing on the Sapporo based Sapporo Cerbies futsal team and other regional activities along with Tokyo events.
Recently the videos for the AKB48 “GIVE ME FIVE” single have started to come out. Below is the videos for ”NEW SHIP” which is a story about JKT48 Melody transferring to a Japanese school by Special Girls A , and “Hitsujikai no Tabi” by Special Girls B.
“New Ship”
I think they did an ok job here with Melody from JKT48, in symbolizing that while the group maybe from outside Japan; they are a part of the 48 family.
PIH hasn't covered the avex 4 membered girl group BRIGHT that much.
BRIGHT has a new single coming out February 2nd. A preview for this single was posted in December of last year, but the full PV is finally out!
My background of BRIGHT
I got into BRIGHT by chance. I'm subscribed to many Japanese record companies on YouTube including avex (which BRIGHT is signed to). I saw them in my subscribers list, and it looked interesting. The song was "Feelin' You" and I immediately feel in love with the song and video. After discovering "Feelin' You", I loosely followed BRIGHT. I wouldn't call myself a huge fan of them. On my ipod, I only have 4 songs from them: Feelin' You, Ichi nen ni Kagetsu Hatsuka, Love ~Aru Ai no Katachi~, and Still... Really, it's only 2 singles if you subtract the B sides. BAD GIRL!!! Isn't really bad either~ I really need more of their songs.
BRIGHT is way underrated! The girls are so talented in singing and dancing. Nanaka's voice is beautiful! She can really hit the high notes; she has a wide range. My other favorite voice and member is Nagi! I like her short hair and her deep voice~
On to the video
It's obvious that Nanaka is the most popular member. It's basically her singing the whole thing while Meg, Nagi, and Mimi are stuck with the backup vocals. Even in other singles, Nanaka has always gotten more lines and attention. I hate when groups do this. Yes, Nagi has a really nice voice, but the other members are just as pretty and talented. It just makes me so mad! Isn't Nagi the leader? If anyone's going to get a solo song, it should be Nagi! (I need to write about how being the leader/captain in a group doesn't have any meaning.)
Anyways, besides the obvious Nanaka bias, all of the girls are flawless. Nagi's red hair looks gorgeous on her, and Meg's short hair suits her so well. Mi-mi has this beautiful chocolate brown shade of hair that I love and everybody just sparkles. Nanaka looks so breathtaking and stunning.
I love the outfits. They honestly remind of 2NE1 a little bit, and I don't know why. I also don't get the point of the little boy that is shown often. The song is the typical bright song. I like it, but I think that they could do better. Nanaka's voice, as I keep mentioning, is really good, but with her just singing, I just get tired of hearing it. I miss the voices of the other three members! I also wish they showed more of the dancing.
I give this single a 3.5/5. Compared to the other songs I have from BRIGHT, I just can't feel this one. BRIGHT songs generally take time for me to warm up to them, so I think I'll have to listen to it more. I could change my mind.
The video is out for Nogizaka46 remake of the AKB48 single “Aitakatta”.
The song is called “Aitakatta Kamo Shirenai”, there is not a lot of difference if my memory is correct between the two outside of it being a rocked out version of the song. The great one herself Maeda Atsuko makes a guest shot near the end.
Depending on which side of the fence you fall in this debate ,you`ll either like the song or find a reason not to ,either way the rocked out version is very good and the group sound good together.
SCANDAL is back with a new release “Harukaze”, the song is an excellent mix of vocals and soft rock .The ladies are also sporting new hairstyles and costumes.
“Harukaze” is currently the opening theme for the anime “BLEACH”
SDN48 have released a teaser for their final single “Makeoshimi Congratulation”.
Here is the brief 40 second clip, really not a lot to go on at this time with the preview
Just to remind you guys, LINQ is 22 member idol group in Fukuoka. They are fairly new, only debuting in April 2011. Their first indies single was "Calorie Nante" that came out in November of last year. They are signed to T-Palette records.
And now, their second indies single "Sakura Monogatari/Sakura Kajitsu" will be released on February 29th.
Sakura Monogatari
Sakura Kajitsu
Sakura Monogatari and Sakura Kajitsu are completely different than Calorie Nante. You ask yourself "Is this the same group?"
I really like the overall theme for Sakura Monogatari. The outfits, dance, and colors go perfectly with the song's mood and overall theme.I really like traditional-sounding songs like this. Sakura Kajitsu is a really catchy song. Though I can't say I'm a fan of the outfits.The simple backgrounds in these two PV's work, and I really like the overall theme for both!
Has the great one changed groups? No, lol Maeda is just doing a guest spot.
Maeda makes a guest appearance in the video for “Aitakatta Kamo Shirenai”
“Aitakatta Kamo Shirenai” is just a remake of the AKB48 single and video “Aitakatta” and Maeda makes a passing appearance and is just another of several recent supporting promotions by the groups.
In this video, you can see a live performance of Berryz Koubou's newest single "Be Genki! Naseba Naru!"
I think this song is something new from berryz, something we haven't heard of before! Everything is kind of boring, but when you get close to the chorus, it really picks up. I hope UFA does a good job with the PV because the recent singles from berryz have been medicore. C-ute also has a nice ballad single coming out that will be hard to beat! I love the outfits. The whole song reminds me a lot of Momoiro Clover z.
3 girl groups have up-coming auditions, or had auditions.
Vision factory girl group Fairies is holding auditions for the group. The age ranges are of 9 and 18 to apply.
I don't see the point of adding new members to Fairies. The group is still new, with only 2 singles out. Plus, they already have 7 talented members. I hope these auditions aren't a sign that somebody is graduating from the group. I'm also not happy with the age going down as low as 9.
So far, there are 8 final candidates for the Passpo☆ auditions. To see all 8 candidates, and their information, Click Here Fans can vote for their favorite member by buying Gachi Koi (Passpo☆'s 3rd single) and choosing who they want to join Passpo☆ by voting on the ticket. The results will be announced March 31st.
I don't understand why Passpo☆ is having auditions either. Only one member, Sakuma Kaho
Sakuma Kaho
has left the group. I think auditions for Passpo☆ are uneeded. They already have 9 members, which I think is more than enough! The group is also so young! When they lose 5 members, I can understand auditions, but they've only lost 1.
Girl group Idoling!!! had auditions for their 5th generation. There were 15 finalists total (click HERE to see them) and fans could vote by buying Idoling!!!'s recent single MAMORE!!! MAMORE!!! has already been released, but the new members haven't been announced yet, have they?
It's not unusual for Idoling!!! to have yearly auditions. Fonchi and Erika have graduated the group after all, and Idoling!!! likes to keep it's member count high.
2012 doesn't seem to be starting out a good year for member relations. There are too many unnecessary auditions, plus, we've lost some great members to graduations from a lot of groups. Plus, there are still more graduations to come (Sakura Gakuin), possibly Fairies too?
A 16 second CM preview for Momoiro Clover Z's ninth single Mouretsu Uchuu Koukyoukyoku Dainana Gakushou "Mugen no Ai" was uploaded on the Stardust digital channel today.
As always, Momoclo's video looks crazy, and extreme! It looks like a lot of effort was put into it.
Moretsu Uchuu and LOST CHILD (The B side) will be used for the anime Moretsy Uchuu Kaizoku.
FLOWER's second single, SAKURA Regret, is being released on the last day of this month, and now the full PV is streaming online!
Maaaan, if Still wasn't great enough, just look at this PV! The setting is so whimsical and magical, with the antique clocks being submerged in water which is scattered with Sakura. And when Reina - who looks GORGEOUS, by the way - walks up to that gigantic clock, the exposed gears just fit so well the branched out Sakura and the blue... Thing behind that. (Totally just ruined the moment right there -o-) The fantastical world continues as they dance with ease and perfection in a room full of (Once again) Sakura in an elegant castle-like place wearing beautiful purple (FAVOURITE COLOUR! <3) outfits, each girl being situated in a room with its own unique flair, (including wings, a crescent moon, and a full moon) and moving in slow motion and reverse as the Sakura petals "fly" back up again. And if that doesn't put you in awe, the non-vocalists dance with grace in water! I mean, just the way the water splashes with each move they make is truly something! And the song! It reminds me of a twist of traditional Japanese music during the instrumental, yet has a bit of a Spanish (I THINK Spanish is the right style...) aspect to it with the beautifully played guitar. Plus, Reina and Chiharu sing so beautifully, both in their solo lines and harmonizations. Even if the ballad style may seem repeated, taking into consideration that their debut single was also a ballad, this is just too good of a song AND too good of a PV to miss out on!
The third installment is here! XD I'd like to point out that VIC:CESS' PV is quite old of a PV, but I decided to review it because they're releasing a mini album soon, so this can sort of help with "deciphering" what they're all about before it's released. :P So let's get right to it! ne.ga.i.go.to - Negaigoto
Immediately when the song started, I started swaying along to the beat! XD The guitar adds a cool, edgy touch to the instrumental, and I like how the voices in the beginning are sung in a "fast" way. Uuugh, I can't explain it, but hopefully you get what I mean? Some of the instrumental reminds me a lot of Aki Urara by Morning Musume, which I don't mind at all since I'm in love with that song! The only part that distracts me about it is that some of the features of the music overpowers the other parts of it, like how the guitar and drums are louder than the other sounds. If those sounds were more balanced, I think I'd like the instrumental a lot more. The singing is well done (Or good at the least), but I can feel that there's emotion missing in their voices. I know that they can improve with that, as they keep on going, though! Also, some of the lines seem... "Choppy", if that's the right word. Like the transition to each syllable is "sudden" with each one and doesn't flow nicely. Which might be on purpose, but I just don't like that aspect of the song. With the shots in the beginning, (That is, the shots with each girl in front of a white background), I kind of felt awkward watching most of them because their eyes didn't match the rest of their facial expressions. They'd look, to be blunt, lifeless. But somehow, for me, the group shots seemed like an improvement from that, especially the second group shot. Maybe because when people are with them, they can open up more? That's just what I'm guessing. ^.^ The intro shots (And later, just simply the coloured shots) with the names seemed SOOOO awesome! The lighting, the camera positioning, the colours, the text placement, their facial expressions; EVERYTHING during that part was so simple but brilliant! Plus, they matched the song perfectly! The dance shots felt refreshing because it was like you could breathe in the fresh air that was lying in the scenery! So beautiful! <3 Now with the dance itself, I like watching it more than their close up shots. Reasons being that their facial expressions were genuine and natural, they seemed like they put in a lot of effort into their dancing, the choreography looks fun, the camera positioning had variation and wasn't the same throughout... And also, the fact that their outfits are suuuuper cute can help as well! :D The "wishing" shots at the end of the PV overlayed with the last shot of the dance looked sweet, and was a nice finish to the whole thing.
Overall, I give it 7.8/10; There were pros and cons to both the song and PV, but by this score, the pros outweighed the cons. ^.^ Springbell feat.MIKA- Puchohenzappu~Kodomo Shitsu~
The beginning of the song is soooooo adorable! I like the techno/dancey/club sound of the song and although I wish that voice wasn't autotuned, I have to admit, it adds a great touch to the song when it's edited like at 0:16. The rapping reminds me a lot of Doki Doki Morning from Baby Metal. ^.^; But I like it! Their rapping is very good and the pitch of their high voices makes it extremely irrestible. The autotuned voice throughout makes me disappointed, again, because I'm not really a big fan of autotune. Maybe I would like it more if that girl sang over top of an autotuned voice, but anyways~, like I said before, I like it when it's edited to go more with the beat of the music. Speaking of which, the instrumental isn't entirely complex sounding (As in I don't hear a lot of sound effects or instruments added to it for the most part) and stays pretty much constant, but that's entirely okay for me since it sounds too funky to dislike! So by the looks of the first 5 seconds, it looks like they are hanging out at an amusement park! It loooooks like it maaaaaay be a One Piece amusement park (Since I can see the characters and logos of it a lot), but maybe not... Uuuuugh, don't make fun of me if I'm wrong~! XDD I DON'T KNOW!!!! XD So besides that, the shots shown where they're simply just having fun is so simple, but enjoyable to watch! Especially when they're children since they can just go wild! :D And the grown ups might be even wilder than them. O.O But hey, all the better, right? The shots with the unit in the army shirts and singing the song had the potential to be boring to watch. But luckily, with their charisma, personalities, energy, happiness, gestures etc., they were just as fun to watch as the amusement park shots! To add, the scenery behind them was gorgeous! I'd love to go visit that place one day... Once I figure out what it is. >.<
Overall, I give it a 7.6/10; The song is very catchy, but the shots may have been too simple and plain. However, their charisma totally made up for it! VIC:CESS - Daybreak
Hehe, I thought that the song was gonna start out slow, so I put the volume up, but then got surprised by the sudden opening. ^.^; Anyways, moving on~. Within the first second, I knew that it reminded me of para para. I'm not really a big fan of that kind of style, and this song is no different. But for those that like this particular style, I think that the instrumental is well done and sticks to the style, so you probably won't be disappointed. The voices, however, are another story for me. I thought they saved the song for me! I couldn't hear any flaw in each voice that sang. They had power, individuality, vibrato, emotion, and just a punch in general! And the composition is very awesome, as well. Sigh, I just wish that it had a different instrumental... Still am not a fan of para para. >.< As the video started with the girls walking, I was somehow enticed by the shots because the camera placement was for each girl was brilliant and the scenery helped a lot. I actually wish that more of these scenes were shown in the video, but oh well. The monochrome solo shots were pure awesomeness. I can't really describe why, because they were just good that they leave me speechless, but I'll try my best. I like how each girl's shot is "assigned" their own colour throughout the music video, which can really help someone if they're learning about the girls and their names. But the part I like most about these was that you could see each girl's own flair and style that they carried. The girl that especially stood out to me was the one that I think was the lead singer; She had a patterned shirt, medium-length, wavy hair, black leggings, maaaybe gladiator sandals. She was just a STAR! All the others were fantastic, too, but man, I wouldn't mind if she went solo. :O The black and white dance scenes were pretty, though the lack of colour depresses me a little. Luckily, the colour splash effect in those shots helped a little, but I still wish they were shot in full colour. :/ The choreography started off slowly, but alas, rejoice, for after that slow bit the dance during the instrumental picks up and they show off their awesome dancing skills. They stay united in their dancing, they put the greatest effort into their dancing, their facial expressions match the song... And their outfits and looks also help. ;) Still, at some parts of the song, it was slow once again. I wish that they had better choreography, but this dance still looks good enough.
Overall, I give it an 8.9/10; The instrumental STILL ticks me off and the lack of a variety of shots made it lose some points. But seriously, these girls are multi-talented, and so their talent makes this video a win for me. Alice Juban - Skeleton Sky
Honestly, I was kind of shocked by the opening. I thought it'd be more of a metal-like song due to the title. It was more of a "pure rock" sound, which I didn't really like this time around, (probably because it was slow and sounded depressing) but the instruments were played well. The part when the vocals came in I enjoyed a lot because their voices were relaxing and could stand out against the simple background music. I was hoping the whole song would be like that, but theeeeen my wishes were put down, as they continued with the rock sound. Sigh, oh well. At least the voices still sound great and emotional throughout the song! ^.^b (Although they were still overpowered by the instruments for the most part, but let me stay in the moment~.) I found it cute how the girls were fooling around in the beginning while they were working on their messages, pictures etc. Definitely shows off their personalities well and that they're fun-loving girls! Then, when the music kicks in again, the shots where they're merely just standing or staying still, I loved a lot. What makes me love these shots is the placement of the girls, the lack of surrounding "props" and whatnot (Which makes them stand out), the scenery (Which look peaceful)... And once more, their pretty outfits! When they finally showed their pictures, it made me want to smile since you could really see their personalities shine one more time. The group shots were interesting, as well, since the camera wasn't just standing still and moved around a little. Also, the placement of the girls HERE added to the enjoyment in this shot, as well as the girls themselves moving around a little aaaaaand their outfits' colour scheme matching each other and the setting. (If you haven't figured it out already, I love fashion. :O) The video ended in a cute way with all of them showing off their pictures in a straight line, therefore ending an overall cute video and song! YAY!
Overall, I give it an 8.3/10; The song, besides the vocals, still isn't catching on to me, but the video really made the girls shine without having to shoot a variety of shots. Like last time, these were all great videos and I wouldn't mind watching or listening to them again. Please share your own thoughts below and thanks for reading!
