Let the summertime feel good singles continue as Happiness has released Wish. Unlike other units with summer swimsuits videos, Happiness has placed their swimsuits under their outfits and gone with the jeans, shorts and other summer outfits, giving a very classy feel to a video.
Sometimes less is more and Happiness pull off the less swimsuit revealing for more teenage flirts and makes it work for them, along with their strong suit dancing.
Overall, very solid work .You expects nothing less from an EXILE family unit.
History has been made by yet another 48 family unit.SKE48 new single “Pareo wa Emerald entered the Oricon Weekly charts at #1 with sales of 379,000. When you add these total sales to their recent single “Banzai Venus” SKE48 has now officially become the #2 national idol unit .NMB48 by the way is number 3 as they have a total debut sales figure of 218,000.
Maeda Atsuko remains the number one AKB48 soloist as “Flower” sold 177,000 copies.
In related news SKE48 as you are already aware the double Matsui`s will be on the AKB48 “Flying Get” single as Senbatsu members.
The question now is, is the fan base of the 48`s strong enough to push SKE 48 and AKB48 over 1 million in sales at the same time. If SKE48 continues on the pace they are on, this is a real possibility.
FullMooN.13
This is one band, which I have to balance a personal reason for sharing this band, with their story as a band.
FullMooN.13 [don`t use .13 when saying their name] is an all female Akihabara based Goth Loli rock band that musically at times will remind you of an female An Cafe . However that is were that relationship starts and ends, while they do have many influences they are in their own little world and have created their own style.
While the band looks like a Visual Kei band and has a fantasy world theme, this is not a Visual Kei band, they are Akiba Rock.
Each members costume represents a certain meaning, as their concept theme is that they are all moon princesses.
Their costumes represent the princesses Blue Moon, Pink Moon, Green Moon, Red Moon, and Yellow Moon.
As you can expect from an Akiba based band, they have an anime spin to their concept. and that is reflective in everything about them , starting with a full fantasy world history they have created with the members coming from the FullMooN.13 Kingdom a land of happiness ,music and peace ,before BlackMooN.13 over ran the kingdom. From this the princesses were put into a sleep until they awaken to find their sister Blue Moon who was on earth ,so that they could defend the kingdom through their magical music. Using the anime theme here, Blue Moon would be this band’s Sailor Moon in terms of importance.
They like any other unit are not without lineup changes and since their debut in 2008 they have had eight members with three princesses, who have fallen [graduated].
Despite being active for only a short time, they have performed in cities across Japan on tour, performed at several rock-pop festivals and are growing a cult like following.
In December 2009, they performed at a rock festival aired on Fuji TV and they currently have their own web show and have done a radio show as well as a PC game-ending theme.
To date FullMooN.13 have released 1 single, 1 album and a full length DVD
When you get past all the costume visuals and concept story, it still comes back to music .While having a typical raw, not heavily produced sound like all Indies have; this is a solid band.
Musically you will never mistake this band for the Gazette, nor are their fans asking them to be the Gazette. In their short time together as a band , they have come a long way and will only get better .FullMooN.13 in five years time will sound nothing like the band of today and I look forward to comparing the two bands at that time .
FullMooN.13 are not your everyday type idols and it`s not even fair to call them that as they may have idol and Visual Kei styles to them ,they beat to their own drum and are simply FullMooN.13 a experience all it`s own.
For a rocker like me, this band is fun live. Small Live houses sound systems stink, they are much better then the sound may show at times on these clips. Imagine performing in shoebox, this is what these lives are like.
[This track has an An Cafe feel to it all happy, crowd jumpy, and music breaks]
PASSPO☆ VIVI Natsu
This PV actually came out a few days ago but I was dealing with my own music related work and could not write about it then.
There is nothing bad, that I can say about this video, I am a big fan of the music being written for this group music and the group’s performances of the songs .Their live shows are their best suit .However if you are a fan of summertime swimsuit videos, then this is in your ballpark.
If VIVI Natsu were, being released on any date then when AKB48 are releasing their single, this single would be a number one single.
It`s just a shame that this unit will have to live in the shadow of AKB48 on release day as this single deserves to shine on it1s own.
Defiantly from a music standpoint one of my favorites for the year. The unit that opens up for them at lives, who I am going to preview Pre-Dia, is not far behind.
Berryz Koubou is back with a mature sound and PV. Their new single “Aa Yo Ga Akeru” The girls are in pink dresses and give a tour of a home. It`s a very simple PV, that you come to expect from H!P . It`s nice and cute but not one that you will stand out months from now. From the looks of things, they reused the same location that they shot the Buono! video.
I know that many fans of H!P feel very strongly about this video and song ,some even calling it Berryz best work of the year. Honestly, I am having a hard time getting into this song. With so many fresh units and Indies out with songs ,I feel more exited about what non-H!P & non 48 units are putting out right now.
It`s a good ,solid song , not sure it`s Tsunku`s best work for Berryz .
Very sorry to spring this on you in short notice , but if readers are up you can watch Dorothy Little Happy on USTREAM in just a few minutes 5 minutes 20:00 JST
Now that AKB48 has full control of the teen and adult idol fans, they are turning their attention to taking over the youngest of your family member’s .I present to you their newest sub unit BABY GAMBA.
BABY GAMBA is made up of Nakaya Sayaka and Tanabe Miku and the two AKB48 members will be a part of the Avex music family.
On September 14, the unit will release their debut single “Ee Janaika”and will be a children’s theme song.
Nakaya spoke about the unit at the presentation press conference saying the following:
“I am happy that BABY GAMBA will be viewed by children and will be performing this dance. Of course, adults are welcome! Please try this dance! ”
Tanabe said the following “In this work, you can see us in a new light unlike in AKB. We will make our appearance if as we were characters [from the book]. There are also a lot of cute costumes as well!” As to the dance, she followed up by saying, “It was easy to learn it and boys and girls of all ages can dance to it cutely. It’s perfect for a sports day at a kindergarten and elementary school.”
BABY GAMBA is inspired by the 1972 children’s book “Boukenshatachi: Gamba to 15 hiki no Nakama” that features a mouse named Gamba and his friends battling weasels.
BABY GAMBA will feature many of the books themes in their PV.
What do you do if you are the number one female idol unit in Japan to top all your achievements? You release an 18-minute epic high budget music video for a single.
AKB48`s “Flying Get” music video will be an 18 minute martial arts fight film spectacular that would make any fan of that genre proud .
The ladies will dress out in their best film costumes and go head to head with swords to prove who is the strongest fighter, oh also at some point in the middle of this martial arts brawl for all will be a performance video.
This epic video news is making the media rounds, as once again AKB48 takes over the music and media market, something they do about every 30 seconds on an average day.
You would think that as much as this unit is in the news from dramas to product ads, their star power would burn out. Fortunately, for AKB48 fans there seems to be no end to their star power. All the idol world revolves around this force of idol power and no one is willing to rise up to face them for the top spot, so why not make an 18 minute epic music video ,who is going to tell you that you can`t.
Please enjoy the previews below.
In completely unrelated PV news, AKB48 fans that are baseball fans have started putting the group in baseball games as a team. The games range from realistic simulations to the more anime style games. Is there no place safe from their grip, lol.
For the first time in history an AKB48 sub unit will be adding non AKB48 .The group who I believe could break away completely from AKB48 and have a major impact career ,DiVA is adding generation two members.
Applicants will be between 18 and 23 and must have dance experience, no raw trainees in this audition. The audition will last three rounds with the final round consisting of performing in front of the members of DiVA. Everyone who passes will become Office48 agency members and members of DiVA. No word if this will open the door to AKB48 membership for the winners.
Who knows maybe DiVA will become a super idol group of it`s own ,with multiple teams .Why not with HKT48 forming Akimoto already has over 200 girls in his empire ,what’s 30-48 more right .
