Pucchi Best 10: The Year of Many Groups

As the year draws close we remember all of the things that happened this year and look forward to what next year brings us. While, this is not my retrospective year end post, it will make up a portion of my look back as the Pucchi Best 10 album features one of the most shocking developments of the year. 

Surprisingly, Hello! Project is really reduced to nearly this few girls.

That’s right, it was a big deal when it was announced… what just before summer? I’m talking about the revival of the sub-groups. Read more for my retrospective (you can call it a review too) for the album.

Warning… this is actually legitimately a long post, what with my required background check and all. Though if you are familiar with the sub-groups you may opt to skim/skip through it. I just felt like taking that stroll down memory lane ^___^. Also, do read the alternate text for images, as they contain some extra commentary.

Kusumi Koharu Sotsugyou Shimasu

When I hear that (the title), I understand what it means. Because I know what  sotsugyou, (卒業) means. Literally, I was introduced to this Japanese word long before I even knew of Hello! Project. But ever since Hello! Project the word means so much more. It’s a phenomenon that every Hello! Project fan has to contend with. Yes, I’m talking about the almighty banhammer that UFA wields, graduation!

For those who don’t know what this particular “graduation” is you can read below for a brief explanation, otherwise I assume anyone reading this already knows what this is about and can simply read more for the full article.

Graduation: By definition is a process in which one receives acknowledgement and his/her/their status is changed. Students graduate from high school when they have finished their required coursework. In Hello! Project, the groups have a graduation method in which a member leaves the group, having run their course, to do other things, to go back to living a normal life. These graduations to the fans mean a lot, very much like a school graduation means a lot to the parents of their respective child(ren).

Meeting Kago Ai

In my current lifetime, I’ve had the chance to meet several people who mean something to a great number of people. What they do is what fascinates us to the point where we celebrate them. This is of course, a celebrity. There are all kinds of different celebrities in so many fields: sports, music, acting, writing, science, being but a fraction of the possibilities.

I have met several “celebrities” over the past years. When I went to Video Games Live, I had a short 2 minute conversation with Jason Hayes, the composer for the popular game, World of Warcraft. It’s funny, I noticed his badge and just initiated casual conversation. He was a very nice guy and he really wanted me to play the game so that I could listen to the music. But I still haven’t nor plan to get around to doing it. Really, Jason Hayes was not a celebrity for me. I didn’t know who he was before being introduced (looking at his badge). In this sense, celebrities are very subjective.

Last weekend, I had the pleasure of meeting for all intents and purposes, my first TRUE celebrity, the one and only…

Kago Ai, ( 加護亜依 )

Read on further for my thoughts and recap of the event. You may skip the next paragraph, as I assume you already are familiar with Aibon.

For those who may not know who Kago is, here’s a short rundown. Kago Ai joined the popular J-pop girl group, Morning Musume, at the young age of 12. She was a very popular member throughout the years until she graduated with fellow 4th generation Morning Musume member, Tsuji Nozomi, to continue singing together as W. In 2006, a scandal broke out revolving her smoking underage. This caused her to go under arrest and a subsequent scandal caused her to be fired altogether from Up-Front Agency (the agency managing Hello! Project). She has since returned to show business.

The Chronicles of Mitsuwa: Kago Ai Edition

So, this past Sunday was a landmark in my life. I met the one and only, Kago Ai. Not only that, I shook her hand!! But I’ll leave the thoughts and coverage for another post as it is way too much for what I may want to say.

I spent a good portion of my time there taking random footage for updates and memories. After about 2 hours of cutting and editing (and creative decisions) I produced a condensed 15 minutes (including credits) of the footage I got.

Halloween

Although yes, Halloween is well half a month past, I finally got the pictures. I wish I had more pictures but don’t really. Then again, I didn’t have that many more opportunities for pictures. Anyway, for Halloween I dressed up as a “wota”. For those who don’t know, you can consider a wota to be a fanboy. In particular, a fanboy of Japanese idols and/or music.

Hello! Store USA part 2

It should be no surprise that I was pleasantly surprised to find that the Nine Smile merchandise would come up during a time that wasn’t surprisingly inconvenient for me. Lol… I seriously wrote “surpris” 3 times in that sentence. At any rate, I camped out for the raid on Hello Store last week. Originally the plan was just to get 1 order. That ended up becoming 2 orders… Surprisingly, I got the second order first before the other one seems to even be near completion. I’m going by the information reflected in my Inbox. Not too long ago, I saw H!S tweeted that they’re bogged down on the high volume of orders. Well, I guess I have a while to go before my other order comes. For the spoils of war, read on!

Airi wants you to read on, she promises you won’t leave unhappy ^_~

Hello! STORE!!! USA

I wish I could say I knew it was coming, but I certainly didn’t. I was quite surprised at the announcement of Hello! Store USA a while back. But I was determined to check it out and buy something to support my favorite girls. So about a week ago, was the midnight opening (PST) of Hello! Store USA. And I waited for it… to 3am in EST…

Miracle in the Hole: Kusumi Koharu

If you’re reading this, you probably already know. Kusumi Koharu of the 7th generation of Morning Musume has been slated for graduation, come this December. This comes hot on the news of the eldest C-ute member, Umeda Erika, graduating next month. Well, I don’t really know what to think. I’ve had a complicated time with Koharu from her Iroppoi Jirettai debut to today.

Mediarite flow

I like variety. I really like variety. That’s why I have a variety of likes and dislikes. But I find myself very hypocritical in this sense. Because while I do like variety, change, and experimentation; there are lots of times where I am frustrated that someone/thing is changing beyond my likes.

The term “bootstrap” apparently means to start a calculation and use this result as a basis for the next calculation (which would’ve been impossible without the first calculation) and continue this until you are at the desired answer. At least this is what it means according to my Chemical Bonding professor. That’s one crazy guy man… At any rate, while I was sitting bored in class I thought of “Musical Bootstrapping”. And from there I just thought of a lot of stuff… but that’s typical of me. By the time I was nearly finished writing this, I just decided to change the name of the post to the current title to better reflect the subject at hand. It also has a nice ring to it that sounds like what I’m trying to convey. But “bootstrap” is too good of a term to pass up.

A lot of my preferences in music and entertainment come from this kind of bootstrapping. I want to call it bandwagoning but I really don’t know the “proper” term for it. It’s like when you wiki “Theodore Roosevelt” and you end up at “The Battle of Jabiim” (Star Wars event, for those who don’t know). Or like when you youtube “Morning Musume Joshi Kashimashi Monogatari” and somehow you end up watching a Pokemon battle from the latest episode of Pokemon Diamond and Pearl. All those intermediates between the beginning and the end are what sprout out to be my web of interests. And I am fascinated that this is the case with music.

Mitsuwa

This past Wednesday I was over at my friend’s place for a mini-vacation. While I was there I got the opportunity to go to the Mitsuwa Japanese marketplace in Fort Lee, New Jersey. Now you may be thinking this sounds suspiciously like something I’d write in a real blog. Well, it certainly does, but there’s one part of the trip that pertains to my hobbies/entertainment interests.