ULTRA SMART decision

Let me be clear about this. I wasn’t expecting this announcement. If you haven’t already heard, Mitsui Aika is graduating from Morning Musume effective on the earliest possible graduation stage. This means that in two weeks Mittsi is going to be graduating alongside Gaki-san. There are a couple of things that I want to say before I lose the burn to write about it and get boggled in my own graduation activities.

First and foremost,
I am a fan of Morning Musume, the group. I may love certain members and may not love other members but I am in love with the group. Considering the root of Mittsi’s problems, her leg injury, put her out of commission for months on end. There was a time when you wouldn’t even notice that she was a part of the group. She’s in promotional materials for AI BELIEVE, but she appeared in ? one concert? the final concert. After that she finally made a big comeback announcement. As far as I know her performing has been minimal since then. She’s there! But not 100% there. The dreaded foot injury is something that should ring a bell for those of us who follow C-ute. Kanna mysteriously disappeared for some time before being dropped (not graduated) from the group. When I had heard about Mittsi’s injury, I was hoping this wouldn’t be the case. But Mittsi appeared for promotional materials, songs, etc. She just couldn’t perform on stage!

But there was hope and she was recovering. I personally felt that she was going to break the precedent set forth by Kanna and really be the first true recovered Morning Musume girl. In light of this announcement, alas it was not to be. Months of being out of the public eye, rehabilitation and probably more importantly months of missed or incomplete rehearsal and practice… that’s all devastating to the career for any one. If Mittsi could’ve come out of this and remained relevant to the public eye, she should get a purple medal (get it? her color is purple).

For the group, I would imagine this was difficult for some of the newer girls when they might have had to re-learn formations for one member out. They might have had that planned out already so perhaps not as bad. But still, it lowers the group’s morale. There was actually a time, where Mittsi was so out of commission, we had a magazine image featuring the 11 girls of Morning Musume. Mittsi is of course #12…

I recall when fans first saw this, SOME didn’t notice that Mittsi wasn’t in it. In fact, I myself missed the fact that there were 11 girls and not 12 girls. There’s going to be an entire generation of fans that will be confused at first because they don’t see Mittsi there and see her elsewhere around the same time frame. There’s also going to be an entire generation of fans that will be massively confused at her appearance in promotional materials but her lack of appearance in other things. Granted, there will be fans who do proper research and many of us who are currently invested as fans know. But for the future fan that has yet to know, this will be a landmark of misplaced confusion. See Renai Hunter for a severe case.

She doesn't even get to DO THAT

I would say the most controversial thing about Mittsi’s graduation, is that she is being pushed into Gaki-san’s graduation concert. Today is May 4th and the upcoming graduation concert is May 18th. That’s two weeks. Certainly, two weeks is a very awkward time frame for re-organizing plans for the concerts as well as production schedule for graduation goods. However, really the most controversial thing would be that she is graduating at the end of the ULTRA SMART concert tour. The end of the ULTRA SMART concert tour has the special distinction of being called, ULTRA SMART Niigaki Risa Graduation Special.

Now yes, I am a big fan of Gaki-san. I would be lying if I said this doesn’t disturb me. On one hand, this is Gaki-san’s night. Takahashi led the charge on her concert and had everything personalized to her tastes. You can definitely see it. Gaki-san’s tour? Well, I can’t say that I feel that the tour was really made for her, so Gaki-san already lost out on that. Now the addition of Mittsi to the graduation agenda, kind of dampens this further. I’m glad that Mittsi gets a proper send-off. In fact, I’m glad that I’ll get to see two graduations! But I do feel salty about Gaki-san sharing her concert. It kind of reminds me of when JunJun and LinLin graduated with Kamei. I felt that was a bad match. In the end it turned out all right (to me at least). Perhaps it’ll turn out fine for Mittsi and Gaki-san. THEY BETTER HAVE MITSUI GRADUATE FIRST, THEN GAKI-SAN. Sorry… just thinking out loud.

Now depending on the area you’re from and the fan environment that you’re around, there’s going to be a mixed bag of reactions and comments. The fandom that I am around seems to be rather two sided. One side is an absolute bashfest of Mittsi and the other side are the defenders. To be honest, it doesn’t make me rage but it makes me … disappointed? I guess that would be the word. It makes me disappointed that Mittsi gets made fun of so much etc. The defenders, I seem to notice mainly because of the bashfest. Mittsi fans seem to be on the defense every now and then. It’s a product of the bashing that Mittsi gets, that we end up having such a schism in fandom. Not that I’m calling anyone out for being a fan of Mittsi or anything, I’d rather be calling out bashers. I just feel like I see this kind of divide here with Mittsi more than any other girl. I suppose the second girl to get this treatment would be Gaki-san, but it’s nowhere near as severe.

*sigh* So tl;dr, I’m disappointed that Mittsi gets the treatment she does. I personally don’t dislike her to the point that I would bash her. I’m not the kind of person to bash the girls for a group that I love and respect. But at the same time, I don’t jive with those kind of comments etc. It isn’t funny and it’s mostly uncalled for. My view on Mittsi is that she hasn’t had the time to shine on me. To be fair, with kyuukies coming in and the whirlwind of graduations etc, it’s hard. Initially, Mittsi was in my bottom ranking guaranteed. She’s now second to last. But during her time with Morning Musume, she’s proved herself to me. If anything, this entire process of health recovery (she isn’t the first girl to think of her health first) on top of her duties as a member of Morning Musume has been endearing.

Mitsui Aika, congratulations on your graduation. May you live a healthy life! Word on the streets are that she’s not graduating from Hello! Project so she may still yet be in the limelight! I know that you’ve truly enjoyed your time in Morning Musume and many adoring fans have enjoyed your presence as well! I respect your initial wishes to keep up with the group and I respect even more the fact that you’ve thought all of this through. Like I said, it’s been endearing. I’ll always remember you for being a trooper.

I’ll try my best to forget how you stole my dear Gaki-san’s night.

~Siggy, who is now so hype to see two graduations in one~

But I do have an update for the both of you! I have named my plan to see Gaki-san, Operation Good Building. Among my advisors, it has actually been codenamed オパレションいいびる (Operation Ii Biru) which is literally Operation Good Building. Props for who knows the origin of this name.

Unbelievably I’ve managed to raise over $2500 real money since I decided to partake in this operation back in January. If it were me, years ago, I would’ve never believed it. But now I can believe it. And I’m not going to let something silly like money (though one may argue how “silly” the reality of a lack of money really is) stop me from realizing my dreams.

It’s official lady and gentleman! I have booked my flight ticket for Japan. I am set to leave on the morning of May 14th, land in Japan sometime in the afternoon on the 15th. I’ll be spending the 15th to 23rd in Japan and make it back to the US on the 23rd due to the nonsensical time zone lapse.

Unfortunately, I was unable to procure a FC ticket for Gaki-san’s graduation concert. So I need to accelerate my plans to carefully acquire a ticket… but alas, that will come when the time comes.

So far the schedule is loosely decided as this:

May 13th – GRADUATE. Yes, no concert for me, but I will have my own graduation!

May 14th – Plane. This is the first time I’ll be on a plane since my childhood. I have no idea what to expect except that I’ll be excessively bored.

May 15th – Day 0, Settle. I’m going to arrive in Japan, settle down at home base and try to cope with possible jet lag and get my supplies, info, routes, yoyos strung, and everything in preparation for the week.

May 16th – Day 1, Test Run. First test run to get to Budoukan to make sure I can get there when it counts. Check out local sights like Akihabara! Spingear yoyo shop is there so I will definitely want to be ready to represent the yoyoing Gaki-san wota!

May 17th – Day 2, Test Run 2. Second test run to get to Budoukan.

May 18th – THE DAY. GAKI-SAN FOREVER

May 19th – 23rd – Free run. I’d like to hit other sites like the Gundam Park that will be opening in April, Tokyo Tower, Nagoya, Shibuya and other assorted places.

I’m really open to suggestions actually because I have no idea what I want to do since I’ve put so much thought into Gaki-san on the 18th. I do know that some of my fellow wota friends will be around and I’m looking forward to hanging with them. So if you’re going let me know so we can meet up and hang out in what will be arguably the trip of my lifetime!

Even if you’re not going, comment and let me know Tokyo area-wise anything cool that I should do / visit. I can’t promise it now, but I’d really like to blog all about it. You know me with the way I write, I may as well write a novel for just a week long trip. But I’ll try to be brief so I can enjoy Japan to the fullest. Or maybe I’ll wait until after. But then it won’t be fresh. Ah alas…

~Siggy, who loves Pyoko Pyoko Ultra the more he hears it~

Gaki-san is my favorite member of Morning Musume, of Hello! Project. After laying my Kago fandom to rest, Gaki-san is overwhelmingly the heart of my idol fandom. Needless to say, I didn’t know what to think when I read the news on Twitter. How does one react to news like that? To know that someone who you look forward to seeing and hearing will no longer be there is sad.

I wasn’t looking forward to the fact that after years of dodging bullets, the graduation has finally come. What’s more, apparently it was supposed to happen even earlier. Admittedly, I felt perhaps Gaki-san was meant to graduate with Takahashi. Perhaps that was part of the reason why Gaki-san was hesitant to write about how she felt about the graduation when Takahashi announced hers. We could speculate forever if Gaki-san was held back by her own will or if they urged her to hold back so that she could meet and train the 10th generation. But I’m not here to speculate, such things are not for me to question.

For whatever reason, Gaki-san didn’t graduate in late September with Takahashi. She’s now set to graduate some time in May. Soon after the announcement I was talking to a friend of mine and with my eyes closed, I had a sudden epiphany. For whatever reason, Gaki-san didn’t graduate in late September with Takahashi. She’s now set to graduate some time in May. I went online and looked up my school calendar and looked up the current schedule of Morning Musume’s spring tour. It occurred to me, somehow… somehow, it could be possible. Somehow, I might be able to see her before she graduated.

If indeed Gaki-san is set to graduate on the last concert of the spring tour on May 13th. That places her concert right after I finish school. As it stands it is mere days before my own graduation from school. Do I expect her to graduate on that day? No, however no additional information has been announced that deters me from the current target date.

I have looked forward to seeing Morning Musume live for the longest time. The first night, I frantically started thinking a lot. Is it really possible? Can I go? How much money would I need? What would I need? Where would I stay?

There are so many questions. There are so many things I need to prepare for. I’ve never been out of the country. I’ve never traveled a long distance by myself. I’ve never placed myself into a foreign country where I wasn’t semi-fluent in the language. There’s a lot to consider …

And yet as I was questioning myself at every turn, I realized something. I realized, I wasn’t saying no. I realized, I wasn’t telling myself I couldn’t do it. This time it was different, I was telling myself what do I need to do? What kind of problems would I run into?

At some point, I realized … I was thinking about going to a foreign country, alone, for the first time all for one girl. One girl, who I wouldn’t even talk to, possibly not even make full eye contact with. One girl, who at the end of the day would not know who I was. I was thinking about making one of the biggest decisions in my life all for Gaki-san.

And I thought for a moment … is this love? Now, of course not love, by the standard metric that is a relationship with a companion. But something different all together. The only way I can explain what I felt that night was, “is this love?”. If you are ever in the same situation that I described, think about it and let me know.

Long story short (which I never do on this blog), I entertained the idea of going to Japan to see Gaki-san one last time before she would graduate. When Morning Musume came to Anime Expo, they were on the opposite side of the country of me. I resolved I couldn’t go on day one. Did I regret it? Yes.

But as you read, that night I had a very different reaction. I didn’t say it was impossible. I was convincing myself that if Gaki-san meant that much to me, it could be possible. Well, what if it weren’t possible? I would never know unless I tried, wouldn’t I? What if I tried and couldn’t make it? Well, at least I knew I tried. What if I could have tried harder, wouldn’t I regret that I was so close? That was where I came up with my resolve. I didn’t want to be me years ago who didn’t even try to make Anime Expo happen. I didn’t want to give up before I even tried.

Sometimes life changes in the oddest ways. Some people find their calling in the most unforeseen hobbies. Other people find the love of their life in some freak accident. Morning Musume has a lot of meaning to me. I believe that this graduation is not meant to be a concert that will merely be recorded on DVD for fans to reminisce and future fans to see. If anything, Takahashi graduating first taught me one important thing and that’s the meaning of, AI Believe.

I believe that if this means as much to me as I believe it does, I will make it happen. I believe that I won’t let anything stop me from getting on a plane to Japan and getting into that concert hall. I believe that this graduation means so much more than just a step in my fandom. I believe I will make it to Japan to see Gaki-san graduate from the group that I have come to and will continue to hold dear to my heart.

~Siggy, who almost teared up writing the last paragraph~

Ogawa Saki will be graduating from Hello! Project. That’s right, former Hello! Project Egg, S/mileage member, Oha-Star girl is all of a sudden going to graduate. Her last event will be on the 27th. This news comes hot on the trail of S/mileage’s auditions resulting in 5 new sub-members.

But that news is for another day.

I’ll admit that I have little interest in S/mileage. In my Hello! Project hierarchy Manoeri is at the very end followed closely by Berryz Koubou. S/mileage is a bit above Berryz as I do like some of S/mileage’s songs. But I have very little vested interest in S/mileage.

An exchange of tweets yesterday in regards to Ogawa Saki’s graduation led to my burning desire to write this blog post. The opinions I express here need not be the same way you should feel as many people may have a different outlook to it. But it is something that I wanted to get off of my chest.

First the facts, Ogawa Saki as far as I have heard has had no suspicious activity. Yet she is graduating within the week of her announcement. According to the official statement, she made the sweeping movement to secure her spot out back in May. The auditions were then “hastily” set underway in June.

It could be a big cover up in which she is getting kicked out immediately for some suspicious activity or it could be the truth that she wants to return to the life of a normal school girl. Whatever the case, she is leaving. This is arguably the fastest non-scandal related leave that I can recall.

Now you can be apathetic or devastated. Or you could be anything in between in light of this development. Once again, my disclaimer is that I am not greatly vested in S/mileage. Am I a fan? I suppose that depends on the terms and conditions that one abides by. I like their stuff, so I consider myself a casual fan at best. My interest for them is nowhere near the level of vested interest I have for Morning Musume.

This disclaimer is important. For the longest time I was greatly aware of Maeda Yuuka but I didn’t even know Wada Ayaka’s name. Ogawa Saki stuck out for me as I knew her elsewhere. She was on Oha Star along with Kusumi Koharu for some time. In fact, if I had to designate a favorite in S/mileage, it would be Ogawa Saki. But I don’t claim to know much about her. I am at best a passing by fan.

And for a passing fan, this news is disturbing to me. Today, it feels like you’re rooting the underdogs who will never win if you align yourself with any act that is not AKB or Korean. S/mileage is new, relatively speaking, and many see S/mileage as the light at the end of the tunnel for Hello! Project. For one of the girls to leave this group is big.

Consider that these four girls have been together for two years (nearly seven if you count how long they have actually known each other). That’s a very long time for girls to develop their chemistry as friends, rivals, co-members. I fear that this graduation could lower the girls’ morale. Even worse, it could affect the new sub-members who already have the impending doom of not being able to make the cut as a regular member.

Now today I tweeted my sadness in regards to Ogawa Saki’s graduation and in return I saw some tweets that I felt were rather controversial. At first, this tweeter conjectured that Ogawa Saki was the least popular member so it was no big deal. This tweeter then followed up with their opinion that it wasn’t a big deal since it is common for idol groups to lose members and that S/mileage’s stable line-up wasn’t really a big deal.

Here we have numerous fans sad to hear that their favorite girl is leaving. We have other fans so disapproving that they may consider giving up on the group. Then we have fans and other people who may not be fans who consider this no big deal. I’ve already stated why this is a big deal. But in reading this one tweeter’s tweets I thought of something else.

In the long run, idol groups lose members all the time. In the long run idol groups lose relevance, break up, disappear, etc. All of these things happen in the long run. But as fans how interested are we in the long run? If we know the inevitable fate of our favorite idol (whichever fate you please to select) what pleasure is there in following them?

I can’t speak for everyone, but I think as idol fans we are much invested in the short run. We cheer on our idols as they attempt to chart Oricon. We work hard everyday to inch ever closer to that stage where we watch them perform for what may seem to be an eternity. We congratulate them in the fleeting moment that is a handshake event.

To view Ogawa Saki’s leave as inevitable and not a big deal is to discount her achievements and time as an idol. Perhaps in the bigger picture it is true that we’ll all forget about it and think about it in passing months from now, maybe years from now if S/mileage remains. It is inevitable.

But just like the picture that embodies S/mileage’s efforts to debut, we can look at two pictures. We can look at the big picture and see where S/mileage is going. Or we can look at the small pictures and see the thousands of smiles they’ve touched and remember our joy when we made them one step closer to their dreams.

What I want to say is, take this to heart. Even if you aren’t a fan, this is not an everyday thing. It’s just like being told that you are joining three other girls to form a group after years of training. It’s like being told that you’re given the chance to make a debut. It’s like collecting the smiles of 10,000 people and putting them together to embody your hopes and dreams. It’s not an everyday thing. It’s an age of smiles.

~Siggy, who takes this to heart~

School’s out! Summer has come, which can only mean one thing. Heat, absolute heat. It’s a hallmark of summer. I will come out and say that I am a person paranoid of extreme temperatures and significant changes in temperature. In fact, I highly dislike summer. I have a multitude of reasons why.

It’s hot, it’s too hot.

And then when it rains, it hails instead or knocks out all your electronics because it’s a thunderstorm instead. Also there are too many tourists. I live in a city with 12 casinos! Just imagine the amount of tourists. What’s more, I live in a city next to the beach. Now I know what you’re thinking. “Why Siggy, why don’t you just go to the beach and have a nice day?”

“Why, I mean you can do all sorts of fun stuff at the beach like:

Surfing,
             

Lounging around, sun-tanning,
 

   

Well I hear what you’re saying. But I have to admit, I’ve been to the beach several times and there’s nothing like this there. What’s more I don’t like how the sand gets all over you. Now I won’t show you what my beach is actually like because I’m ashamed of it, so we’ll just say bye to the beach.

“Well Siggy, what about the water? You could go swimming in a pool, there’s no sand there!”

I could but I happen to also be hydrophobic. I’m afraid of large bodies of water and I can’t swim. What a terrible fate to live on an island and be unable to swim. Alas, such is my fate. Makes one wonder how I’ll be able to one day live the trip to Japan. But I’ll wait for when the time comes in regards to that.

Honestly, I don’t like the beach probably because I’m so used to it after living two blocks away from it for years. But I love my idols associated with the above. Who doesn’t? I mean, Airi and Takahashi  and ugh so good. As I had mentioned before I was interested in doing the Intlwota Summer Refreshment Program and here is my post sponsored by Intlwota. Read on for long long passages of text outlining the conspiracy about idols and summer.

Just kidding, read on for a fun summery article on something that I’ve noticed. Which really means it’s a conspiracy.

So something that makes me happy during summer is not being hot. I leave that to the girls. But really, aren’t there times when you say, “it’s too hot.” I say that everyday because I have no air conditioning and there’s no breeze until 2AM. It’s funny, I actually live in Atlantic City during the summer and I have no air conditioning. Imagine that, no AC in AC. So how else should we stay cool?

It’s a time honored tradition in summer to have cold refreshments. It happens year round, but something about summer makes the refreshments even more refreshing.

Ice Cream!

You remember that annoying truck that comes by your block and charges you ten times the amount that you could get it at Sam’s Club. Yeah, it’s amazing how they stay in business. Ice cream is nice and all, but I happen to be lactose intolerant. I bet you were expecting that weren’t you, after every single excuse (which wouldn’t be excuses if those earlier pictures were of my local beach) I had about not going swimming or to the beach. Well, since I can’t have ice cream there are other alternatives.

Like fruit!

Who doesn’t love fruit? My favorite happens to be Gaki-san oranges. I love me some Gaki-san oranges.

These treats are common and can be found at your local convenience store. But I’m sure you all have seen some other summery treats from Japan that are not the standard here in America. For example, shaved ice!

I don’t know about you but I didn’t have shaved ice until much later in life. Instead I had the inferior American version, a snow cone. Well, if you’ve never had shaved ice before, go have some. It’s a nice treat and quite different from ice cream, namely no milk.

So for this post I went down to the famous dessert shop, Fruity Yogurt. There are three locations in New Jersey and I went to the very first one founded in New Brunswick, where I go to school.

That’s not me by the way, that’s my roommate taking a photo opportunity. Despite it reading bubble tea & café, I don’t think anyone goes there for their bubble tea. Surprisingly there are more than five places to go for bubble tea in the span of several blocks. They are however most popular and unique for their frozen yogurt and more recently shaved ice!

The uniqueness of Fruity Yogurt is that you pay a flat rate based on the weight of your frozen yogurt, regardless of whatever flavors or toppings you have on it. In the case of shaved ice, you pay a flat amount for three different sizes. You get shaved ice to fill in the cup and then go to town on the toppings. And look at all those toppings! You can top your treat with fruit, nuts, even mochi! I quite like Fruity Yogurt, there’s so much variety in the spirit of creating your own dessert.

Behold Shaved Ice!

To the left is my shaved ice topped with mochi, pineapple, kiwi, mango, strawberries, red beans and passion yogurt pops. My roommate was rocking a lot of condensed milk and whipped cream on top of strawberries, red beans and some other stuff I can no longer clearly make out. Doesn’t it look great? Here’s a picture of the aftermath.

That brings me to my point, which has nothing to do with summer except for the aforementioned cold and ice. Besides all these obligated summery bikini and beach shots, I have noticed that there are quite a lot of photobook shots that involve our idols in extremely cold weather conditions.

You know what I’m talking about.

No, see these are the ones where they’re actually clothed to the point where they should be able to handle that weather. These are like the bikini shots of winter weather. Well you know except they’re not wearing bikinis. They’re wearing weather appropriate wear.

I’m talking about pictures like these. You can see them freezing and shaking with fear that this is what their life as an idol has led them to. Imagine that, “Freezing in a dress or a seifuku in the middle of nowhere, I never signed for this!”

It’s just all too convenient to let the idols frolic around in the sun. I suppose for every good thing there must be something to counteract it. The girls seem to be somewhat pampered. You got to give them some rough treatment from time to time. That’s what I think at least. But you know what, I think it’s refreshing to have these cold pictures too.

The fact that Airi’s new photobook has cold snowy pictures even though it was released in the spring-summer months suggests to me that I should take these as a refreshing breather. These should be a refresher in between bikini and casual pictures. Before of course, the bombshell that will just totally incinerate my eyes.

I meant that in a good way. I’m looking to be the proud owner of both of Airi’s two new photobooks very soon. It will be a glorious summer and I will need lots of cool refreshments, lest my nose start bleeding every other page.

~Siggy, who gets a lot of “I like your wallpaper” comments because of that last picture~

But alas, here I am once again showing a commitment to my blog. There happens to be a lot of happenings since the last time I updated. So let’s rewind a little bit.

• AKB48
  Those girls are at it again. Congratulations to all the records that you’ve all shattered. My interest in AKB remains mostly as it was for the past years. So I don’t have much more to say about them. I heard and saw the original Beginner PV recently and immediately felt as if I had heard it already. Though I think I did hear Beginner before, the sound is distinctly AKB so perhaps I am expecting too many different things from them. What’s more, I’ve seen/will be seeing more of them in dramas so who knows maybe I’ll have more to write about AKB some time soon.
• S/mileage
  That they will be having a new audition was admittedly unexpected. I have treaded lightly for some time now but this change of members will be a very exciting move. Every group beyond Morning Musume (even Mano Erina to some extent) has propagated small waves in the entertainment world for Hello! Project. I really look forward to see what the auditions will bring in. The way Tsunku-san described the member additions it seems akin to the original Berryz Koubou dynamic. Considering their challenge to SNSD, more members surely would make that viable.
  And can you imagine a bunch of legs being shooed into the audition room and then Tsunku-san checks all their legs out. Amusing thought…
• Morning Musume
  I actually quite like Only you and the B-side as well. It looks like September can’t come any sooner and I know I’m going to feel pretty sad to see a whole dynasty go away when Takahashi graduates. More on that if school doesn’t swallow me whole. Maybe I’ll just preempt it and write my graduation post a whole month ahead and time release it.

Now on to more pressing matters!

I am bored this summer. Really, I’m one of those people who have a million things to do but always say they’re bored. It’s possibly the feeling of getting bored of having so many things to do. And here is where I can test if anyone reads this (or more realistically anyone who will give feedback).

What can I do?

What would you like me to do on my blog? Something unrealistic, something outrageous? Should I write my thoughts on some topic that I have yet to touch? Should I blargh all over something everyone has already touched? My ability to write is contingent on ideas and motivation to do so. Unfortunately school has burned a lot of these two during the school year. I have a little bit of free time and would like to pick up by submitting myself to the people’s choice.

There was a time when I was interested in doing community surveys and or outreach. But I’m currently at a loss of if there is anything going on. International Wota’s Summer Refreshment program comes to mind, maybe I should partake in that? Albeit, I don’t technically qualify to partake in the official program.

So, in short, I’d like some suggestions as my ideas are becoming stagnant and/or too buried. I have so many drafts that I will probably never finish, or one day they’ll be finished when they’re long irrelevant. It is hard to write. I gave up writing in my own journal two years ago but I had small surges here and there on this blog. I’d like to keep going and I’d like some push to do so.

So, ideas anyone?

Zukki wants to hear your ideas too. She promises they’ll be heard and considered : D

~Siggy, who was told by his mother to go to sleep after she made him eat food at 2AM~

While sitting on the bus traveling back to the shore, I was being contemplative.  Have no idea why, but it tends to happen when I look outside windows in the dark while moving. Auto vehicles do that.

So what pray tell have I been contemplating about? I’ve been thinking about the word “がんばる”. For non-Japanese readers that word is “ganbaru”.

In the wake of the Great Touhoku Earthquake (I believe this is actually the title for the event), you might have heard this word being used a lot. It tends to be translated to a number of meanings, including some form of: do your best or hang in there. If you are a fan of Japanese culture, language, entertainment you have most definitely come across this phrase. I have recently been listening to Taku Takahashi’s radio show, TCY Radio, and have noticed that he has many cuts where international artists and DJs have their shout out to Japan. Most recently, many non Japanese DJs and artists have been shouting “ganbatte Japan” and in fact the whole country is enveloped with this phrase. For the devastated areas it is very much a time where this term applies.

There have been great efforts for charity and encouragement all over Japan. Johnny’s Entertainment had a huge event that brought out I believe all of the current talents of Johnny’s. Another example, my beloved Hello! Project for example. After the earthquake, many of the girls have been posting their words of relief and encouragement on their blogs. Even beyond Hello! Project, their agency, Up-Front Works had a large event in Yokohama. They also produced a big collaboration with many many artists under Up-Front and beyond Up-Front. If you haven’t seen it yet, take a moment to watch KAN’s 愛は勝つ performed by … many artists.

In my opinion, quite moving. You can see pretty much all of the girls in Hello! Project even the members of Dream Musume! I don’t believe the 9th generation of Morning Musume are there, but that’s ok. But even beyond that we have Makoto and Tsunku and his girls under Nice Girl Project. I even noticed Emyli in the shuffle among all the people I don’t actually know.

Ganbarou Nippon. It’s a very big message to the nation that just experienced one of the top 5 earthquakes in years. But in a rare occasion, I will turn the attention of this post to me. And how does this apply to me? I’ve been going through a lot lately. And I realize there are many times where I can do so much better.

With the addition and combination of the 9th generation members of Morning Musume, the Great Touhoku Earthquake, and the developments in my life I felt very compelled to think about the word, ganbarimasu, today. There are talks all throughout one’s life about doing one’s best. Many times, it’s merit. Other times, it’s fluff. But think about it. I want to really look into myself and find myself. Over this and next year, my transformation to the adult I hope to be will happen. This is the biggest crossroads that I have to pass in my life right now.

And so I thought on the bus today. And so I thought about my beloved idols and how they do their job. I’ll call it a job, because I have heard the distinction made before. I’ve seen many students fall through the cracks from lack of motivation, laziness, or some unforeseen circumstance. And of course I am guilty of one of these or all of these at some point.

But I think about it … though I am not at all qualified to judge on behalf of the idols. They are doing their best aren’t they? The 9th generation girls are doing their best to learn years worth of choreography and songs, on top of behavior and professionalism, on top of acting and talent, on top of their own lives as girls and students. That’s a lot. Does what I have on my plate stack up to what they have? No. They’re in the limelight already. But they’re doing their best.

And so, the first song to come up in my head here is not the 9th generation’s song, but the 5th generation’s song: Suki na senpai. It is a classic that has been sung by many a generation. But the key message here is the very last line of the song. がんばります！先輩！”Ganbarimasu! Senpai!”

So what am I doing with my life…? I need to learn a lesson from my idols and do the same thing they are. がんばります！

~Siggy, who you can imagine as doing the same pose as the amazingly cute Suzuki Kanon above, just nowhere near as cute~

Our eyes can also judge how wide people may appear to be…

You may see these pictures and perceive height and length. Well, some people call it length and width. Whichever you like. What we cannot readily perceive is depth. The third component which completes our perception. Take the below picture. It is a 2-dimensional image, after all you are most likely viewing this on your computer monitor or a mobile phone. The sense of depth that you have somehow tricked yourself into perceiving is due to optical subtleties such as foreground versus background or shadows.But what if we could indeed see these images in 3D without actually being the cameraman and taking these pictures ourselves? Read on for my take on the recent trend of 3D entertainment.

3D has been around for a while. During my elementary school years, I fondly remember a book called “Henry’s Gift” (or something like that). It was a book where every other page featured a seemingly nonsensical pattern of small images repeated over and over again on the large page. If the reader crossed their eyes and focused on the image they would see something special. If you haven’t done this before, look it up online (Henry’s Gift The Magic Eye). I will provide a sample below.

Once you use your “magic eye” to look at this image above, you should notice that parts of the image appear to “pop out”. Using such intricate optical illusions we can even create 3D images out of 2D images. Indeed other novel methods everyone should be familiar with are the anaglyph images where a viewer must use special red and blue glasses which appear to produce depth due to slight offset seen by each eye. That was the most popular way of inducing 3D images when I was young. It was a big deal then to have publications that rendered Mars’ actual topography using anagylph images. The technique remains today and there are 3D anaglyph videos that can be viewed on YouTube. They actually support it as an on/off effect and you can see the effect provided you have the special glasses of course. Off the top of my head I know there is an anaglyph video for Perfume’s Fushizen na Girl. That is an amazing video by the way, go watch it after you’re done reading this, mmm Nocchi~

Amusingly enough, Google had even produced an anaglyph filter for their internet browser, Google Chrome at one point. I remember using it but since I had no glasses it defeated the purpose. I do wonder if there were any depth effects that could be seen. Perhaps the menu bar would pop out? I’ll never know, in further updates the feature was coded out. And while I have provided an example of “cross-eye 3D”, I may as well provide an example of a 3D anaglyph image. Below is an image from the recent Rival Survival concert. The concert was quite a big deal as it was (that I am aware of) Morning Musume’s (and Hello! Project’s) first concert broadcasted to national television in 3D.

As a disclaimer, the concert wasn’t broadcasted in anaglyph format but rather a double image 3D format. This is a popular format where you simply have two images that are slightly shifted from each other. Special glasses can combine these two images into one featuring the perception of depth.

Several years ago we saw the emerging popularity of 3D animation entertainment, such as Toy Story. Today, I’m sure many have noticed there has been a “3D fever” going on. The popular movie, Avatar was the big catalyst for the current RealD 3D technology. Now every movie just has to be in 3D and those 15 second commercials burn an extra 1-2 seconds to say “NOW IN 3D!”. Anyone who has been to a movie theater or watched TV recently knows what I’m talking about.

We are in a point in time where 3D may be finally hitting mainstream. Most people were amazed by Avatar and are ready to adopt 3D. But there are still quite a lot of people who are skeptical, who think it’s a gimmick. I for one have thought of it as a gimmick up until I had seen Avatar. Then I seriously thought of it as a gimmick. The number of options and content is still growing. And in order for it to grow there must be some kind of demand. I have read reports about disappointing sales on 3DTVs, so this does not look like it’s panning out well. That being said, technology always grows. I expect to see 3D become close to mainstream or at least luxury that people will consider in the next several years. I don’t know how my eyes will handle prolonged exposure to stereoscopic 3D, but I’m willing to try.

Consider this, Nintendo’s new portable system, the Nintendo 3DS is going to be out in a mere week if not less in Japan. This system’s main drawing point is that it features a screen which displays stereoscopic 3D without the need for special eyewear. Think about this for a moment, you can now look at a two dimensional screen much like the screen that you’re reading this with and perceive depth without the need for any goofy or hip eyewear. Needless to say, the interest in the system is very high and many people who have experienced it at trade shows and special events have testified that the system’s 3D capabilities are on par with RealD 3D.

I’m pretty excited and you know what a lot of people in Japan are too. I don’t know exact numbers but 3DS is definitely on spot to having a huge release in Japan. I can only imagine what it’ll be like in America when it comes over next month. But what is this kind of discussion doing on my non-gaming blog? Do these men look familiar to you?

Yeah that’s Arashi, the current super popular Johnny’s group, advertising for Nintendo’s new system. As a comparison, Utada was Nintendo’s spokeswoman for the DS. Utada is big, but Arashi at this point is huge. I won’t get into the current idol war but needless to say the 3DS affects the idol world. Not only do we have idols advertising. But we will most certainly have idols being displayed on 3D on the 3DS. The 3DS will even have 3D television capabilities one way or another. Imagine that, Morning Musume in 3D on the 3DS. I’m sure AKB will jump on that ship too. I know some gravure idols have already struck a deal. It’s only a matter of time for us to see how the current idols can use this new technology to stay on the market.

I for one am quite excited. I have always been a fan of growing technologies and in this day and age it is definitely a must for businesses to play with technology the right way. Blogs, streaming shows, YouTube, you name it, in the past year or two these technologies have played very pivotal roles in the idol world. Look at Chisato who has her OWN solo event, no single member in Hello! Project can even lay claim to this for themselves. AKB owns almost half of the top blog rankings in Ameba. And many groups have streamed their concerts or events and have had wonderfully high viewership. What will 3D hold for us? Morning Musume’s first 3D concert is only a tap on the water. Up-Front knows that with that big concert there would definitely be attention on them. What better way to deliver than with 3D? I don’t know how many people watched it but it was the beginning. I expect to see a lot more from 3D technologies in the next year. And since it is Japan, I expect to see idols driving the technology to the forefront.

~Siggy, who wants to watch Rival Survival in 3D なう~

I mentioned in my previous post that I have nosebleeds that seem to precede major events.

And I quote from Tokyograph:

Idol group Momoiro Clover held an in-store event in Chiba on Sunday, and member and sub-leader Akari Hayami (15) unexpectedly announced in front of the 500 fans in attendance that she is leaving the group in April.

I’m not even a fan of Momoiro Clover (haven’t listened to them yet). And my nose called her resignation.

Needless to say, I will tweet out when my nose bleeds so all of you can brace yourselves for the next big development!

~Siggy, who wonders what would it be like if he were to Takahashi’s graduation concert, would he have a major nosebleed to coincide with her actual graduation?~

I’m going out on a limb and saying that this generation is definitely going to be stronger than 8th generation. No offense to Mittsi fans out there but Zukki has already captured my heart with her smile.

Oh wait… no that’s old news. The above would have totally been the topic of this post had I had one in the pipeline. Unfortunately, priority in news has delayed my impressions of the 9th generation. Let’s rewind the clocks a bit. Last night I had a nosebleed. It just came out of nowhere, like I can’t make this stuff up. No one punched me, no one landed a football on me. It just starts. In the past I have related nosebleeds to premonitions or reactions to major events.

I usually read all my tweets and Facebook updates before I go to sleep. I went to sleep comparatively earlier than usual (somewhere around 1 AM) because I wanted some rest after bleeding. I wake up somewhere around 10AM and check my tweets. I usually check my tweets at my bed with my TweetDeck for Android app which extends a yellow bar from the last read update so you can see how much you have ahead of you. For some reason or another the bar was extremely long, over twice the length that I was used to seeing from just one normal sleeping period. Color me surprised, I should have known why.

Takahashi Ai, the current leader of Morning Musume and Hello! Project has announced her graduation. She will be graduating at the end of Morning Musume’s fall tour. After going through the past couple of graduation announcements the shock factor really did not shock me as much this time. But at first, reading those words seemed so matter of fact. I almost felt if it wasn’t real yet I knew very much so it was real.

Read onwards for my feelings on this and a completely unnecessary but interesting analysis.

First and foremost, congratulations to Takahashi on her graduation. Even though we have essentially 9+ months to go before she will leave Morning Musume and Hello! Project, let’s take the moment now to congratulate her. According to her she was asked to start thinking about her own time to graduate when Kamei’s (and I would assume JunJun’s and LinLin’s as well) graduation was being talked about. And since the 9th generation girls have now been selected and announced on the first day of the 2010 Winter Hello! Project concert, I guess now seemed as good as time as any for Takahashi.

So the topic at hand is Takahashi’s graduation:

• Retrospective – A retrospective of Takahashi Ai
• Connections – Some interesting observations
• Until Then – We should appreciate her until she graduates!
• Post Career – What will become of Takahashi after graduation?
• After Morning – What will become of Morning Musume after Takahashi graduates?
• TRAP – Will Batman escape the Joker’s trap?

I couldn’t find how to hyperlink my own text within the post so you may simply read on or if you would like a particular section, search for the respective headings above with a “~” preceding the heading.

~Retrospective

Takahashi Ai was selected out of a competitive number of applicants to be one of four girls that would be the 5th generation of Morning Musume way back in August 2001. Her obvious strength when she was chosen was her exceptional singing ability. Indeed, she got quite the attention among her 5th generation cohort. She was selected to be Yaguchi’s successor to Minimoni (a detail that very early on influenced my opinions on Takahashi). Farther along her tenure she was typically one of the centers for most songs along with Tanaka Reina and Fujimoto Miki.

Almost 10 years later, Takahashi Ai is now the leader of Morning Musume and the entirety of Hello! Project as well. Second to her is fellow 5th generation member (and only remaining other than Takahashi herself), Niigaki Risa, who functions as the current sub-leader of Morning Musume. Both girls hold the record for being the longest serving members at over 9 years, a feat that has long eclipsed the previous record held by Iida Kaori. Takahashi herself has also been the longest serving leader at over 3 years.

She has certainly been one of the most, if not most accomplished members of Morning Musume. Simply by the time she has spent: she has released more photobooks than any member (this is soon to be contested), more than likely has more solo lines than any single member, and she has been an active member during some of the largest phase changes of Hello! Project history. Takahashi Ai early on showed great potential and Up-Front Agency certainly saw it.

This is most certainly why you could hear Takahashi from the very beginning. While Goto Maki and Abe Natsumi were still fighting it out for center, Takahashi was being molded carefully to become the next regular center. Look no further than Hello! Project News. Ishikawa Rika was regularly paired with Nakazawa Yuko (who had already graduated) for a short news segment every week on Morning Musume’s TV show, Hello! Morning. Dedicated airtime meant a better chance to be noticed and this is something that any idol would want. When the 5th generation joined, Takahashi was brought in as a regular for the news segment. This was early in her career so she was not yet seasoned at speaking (one might argue this might still be the case given her tendency to slip on her own words) or the small little details of being an idol. But the news segment was a great little training ground for her to get used to things and more importantly show her character. It’s no wonder why many fans know her as “Lovely” as we could see her lovely personality develop much faster than the other girls who were given less opportunities.

Takahashi had a fair share of lines early on. Tsunku even had her as his partner for his song, Love ~since 1999~. Formerly, (if I’m not mistaken) Tsunku had done this song with Hamasaki Ayumi. Back in the late 90s and early 2000s this was a pretty big deal. So for Takahashi to effectively replace or complement Ayu’s position even was worthy of attention. As mentioned earlier she was selected as Yaguchi’s replacement in Minimoni even though she was technically slightly over the height limit. Exceptions were being made for an exceptional idol.

To be fair, there are many people out there who say she has a lack of personality due to her being relatively quiet. In my opinion as a result, the other 5th generation girls got their chance to show their personalities. It was a good balance and I would argue that Takahashi’s quietness at times was a good thing for the sake of the group. To say she has a lack of personality however, is to ignore her contributions as well as her experiences as an idol. She has been a lovely little newscaster, thieving little cat-burglar, songstress of all sorts, and even acted in multiple dramas and musicals. To say she has no personality is to deny her accomplishments, talent and versatility as an entertainer. And to remember Takahashi we must remember what she brought and continues to bring to the table.

~Connections

Here is the namesake to this post. Originally, I had planned merely to write a conspiracy post in regards to Takahashi’s graduation. But she has been a vital part of Morning Musume for so long it would not do her justice if I didn’t just give her my all, hence the rest of the post. I want to make some interesting observations that are purely speculative and perhaps coincidental or too paranoid to be real observations. The possibility that they may be planned is purely coincidental much like any curses that fandoms have developed, such as the LOVE Machine curse.

• Takahashi is only now graduating. She could have had a chance at graduating at any time during her tenure. Goto Maki, being one of the most popular members and vocally developed, graduated very early within 3 years of her debut.
• Nakazawa (2001), Iida (2005), Yaguchi* (2005), Yoshizawa (2007), Fujimoto (2007)* are all previous leaders that have graduated. Exceptions being Yaguchi and Fujimoto who have both stepped down from their position. Among all graduations it is actually somewhat rare for leaders to graduate and there is usually a long period before the NEXT leader graduates.
• Takahashi’s graduation is announced during the biggest turnover period for Morning Musume, that is less than 1 month after Kamei Eri, JunJun and LinLin have graduated as well as literally a week after 4 girls have been announced to be added into Morning Musume.
• Fourth generation’s model of graduating: A pair (Tsuji and Kago), followed by the arguably more popular (Ishikawa), and finally the last member (Yoshizawa). The 5th generation girls also seem to follow this pattern wherein Konno and Ogawa were graduated together as a pair, Takahashi will graduate by herself as the most popular member of her generation, Gaki-san will (presumably) graduate afterwards. Of course, the exception here is that Ogawa can technically be considered to graduate after Konno due to participating in Ribbon no Kishi.

• Takahashi will graduate four years after Yoshizawa Hitomi’s graduation. If we followed the leader graduation pattern we would expect a long time (2 years minimum) after Takahashi graduates for the next leader to graduate. This doesn’t hold true for any non-leader members however. So it wouldn’t be a surprise under this model for any of the other non-leaders to graduate.

Well this section didn’t turn out to be much at all. It was 1AM and all my other conspiracy theories had too many flaws in them to be reported so unfortunately I don’t have much here. But I gave it a lot of thought! And what do you know none of them have to do directly with Takahashi. Shows where my priorities are in seeking some kind of link.

~Until Then

It would be too early to start crying now. Takahashi still has well over half a year (a whole semester and a half practically to grab my attention away from schoolwork) before she graduates. Fans should not only reminisce on the past but celebrate her now. She will be doing her best through these next months! More importantly for the group, she will most certainly be working with the 9th generation girls on their debut and general career.

It is a given that she will be a key figure in the next several singles. Though the 9th generation may surprise us and make for a more even line distribution. It’s fully possible that Takahashi may get one last photobook while she’s still a member. Seeing as Fantasy Juuichi has only recently come out, it is possible for an album release while Takahashi is still in Morning Musume. The timing would be very narrow depending on the number of singles and how training on the 9th generation girls go. In which case, the 12th album may be released after Takahashi graduates, but she would certainly have a good contribution to it if only just in singles.

As leader of Morning Musume and Hello! Project she certainly holds to that title as one of the top performers in Hello! Project. We should expect 3 singles before she graduates and these will be excellent. They simply have to be. No pressure on 9th generation but you don’t have the time to not be awesome. Just Do it Now!

Musically speaking, I was not completely impressed with Fantasy Juuichi. However, single releases are still quality and as always I expect quality from Morning Musume, the flagship group of Hello! Project. Takahashi will show why Morning Musume is the flagship group and how time and time again they remain very high on my list of music.

And trust me, I have faith in Takahashi, I have a coin with “In Takahashi we trust”, on it. So until she graduates I will certainly cherish her. Her presence in Morning Musume is something that can’t be easily replaced (no one can of course be replaced). So here *whips out a bottle of Arizona Green Tea* here’s to Takahashi and presumably 9-10, maybe 11 more months of the Takahashi administration. かんぱい！

~After Morning

Hello! Project graduates historically have a somewhat varied success rate. While they are by their own rights successful (and this is up for debate), some girls’ careers disappear to obscurity (see Yasuda Kei) or disappear to motherhood. Though some have found the balance between the two. For Takahashi being that she will have been in Morning Musume for 10 years, she certainly has a lot of experience. A solo career would be nice, though lack of promotion under UFA and fragmentation from fans would make me worry that it would shrivel up much like other UFA soloists (a la Abe Natsumi). Acting could be an option as she has some experience to work with. Working with musicals has been an option for many graduates and is something Takahashi has experience with, having worked with Takarazuka on more than one occasion, so this could be another outlet for her to work on. The sky is the limit for Takahashi and I look forward to seeing what she will do in the future outside of Morning Musume.

At times I have considered Morning Musume to be a stepping point for many an idol. Tsunku gives them the opportunity to learn and practice in a controlled environment. Finally they think about graduation and their own future. That is from which the idol is allowed to grow into their own. Case in point, Goto Maki and her criticism of Tsunku’s controlling behavior in Hello! Project. I would imagine she has much more freedom now that she is under Avex Trax. This is the time where we will really see Takahashi’s aspirations take form. Just imagine how Tsunku feels letting go of Takahashi Ai!!!   

The night is darkest before dawn. And the morning after Takahashi graduates will indeed be something to behold. The most immediate change of course will be that Morning Musume will be minus one member. Not only one member, but a member that has participated greatly in many previous songs. I can only presume the lines to be shared can be re-distributed to allow for 9th generation to sing. Actually if lines were actually shuffled that would be interesting and possibly fair. Imagine that… UFA being fair.

Gaki-san will take the role of leader and following tradition this would make Michishige Sayumi, sub-leader. Morning Musume will be down to 8 members which means that they will use even numbered formations, after almost a full year of doing odd numbered formations (five and nine). Additional members-wise, the likelihood that tenth generation would be added so soon after 9th generation is in my opinion extremely unlikely. Morning Musume is at a very strange place right now and such a move would seem unsafe, both in terms of entertainment and business. But who am I to make the decisions, someone could always surprise me.

Now that the graduation hammer has been wielded several times in the past year or so, it would seem likely that my dear Gaki-san is next. Even as early as in the picture above, WAY back during Yoshizawa’s graduation concert, Gaki-san already knew the plan. She already knew that GakiKame would be broken by Kamei graduating. She already knew that Takahashi was going to get her own graduation and that Gaki-san wouldn’t be able to graduate as a pair with Takahashi. I’d argue this is a move to control the breakdown of Morning Musume’s old and new members as well as an economical move. After Takahashi graduates we would be at half old and half new members, the way I presumed it would’ve been after Tsunku added new members. I was half right…

Look at how sad she is, you can see it in her eyes. However, shortly after she realized something. The picture below summarizes her thoughts and her own words today.

Takahashi and Gaki-san have long since been the next generation close pair (much like Tsuji and Kago, though in a different way). It pains me to see them being separated. However, they have spent a long time together and their closeness certainly has shown throughout the years. I will miss this duo. Yes, my favorite is Gaki-san so I am certainly looking forward to the Gaki-san administration. But it is a bittersweet victory for Gaki-san as she is losing Takahashi. Alas…

  It is a while from now, so let’s sleep on it while we cheer on Morning Musume.

~TRAP

I want to take a moment to reminisce on my own personal history with Takahashi as a fan. Takahashi has certainly been one of the most controversial members during my time as a fan. My first favorite had been Kago before realizing she had already graduated. I had noticed Takahashi very early on because of exposure to Minimoni. Her voice had always been strong to my ears. When I settled on Gaki-san as my favorite, Takahashi still amused me. Remember the 2004 New Years Hello! Morning special? I fell in love with the girl who had a stomachache and laughed at the monkey. What a strange thought.

At a time when I was not head over heels for Morning Musume, the forum that I frequented had many complaints about Takahashi. My peers around me constantly disliked Takahashi’s constant center position in songs. They even called her Troll Takahashi or some portmanteau of the sort, Trollhashi perhaps? I no longer recall because it was such a long time ago. As something of a kind of peer pressure, I suppose I caved in and started to think badly of Takahashi. This compounded with my love for other members would certainly be believable.

However my begrudging her, I realized was not because of what she took away from other members. It was because of the stable sound that Morning Musume developed from having at times too much Takahashi. When I was just starting out, the sheer variety in music from Morning Musume was staggering. There were so many members and so many different sounds throughout the years. And to all of a sudden have a single voice essentially dominating it was a staggering change to what I believed was dynamic. In that sense, Takahashi brought to the group one of the elements that made many fans, especially me, become rather complacent.

To be fair, Takahashi did not completely dominate the songs. The fact that I was caught up and now a fan of present and upcoming releases made her presence all the more prominent and acknowledged. Over time I realized my begrudging her was some sick and twisted way of really saying I loved her contribution to the music of Morning Musume. I would be lying if I didn’t say at times I disliked her earlier in my fandom. But I would also be lying if I said I dislike her now. No other girl of Morning Musume shares this distinction. That is, I have either liked a member from the start or developed my own liking of them over time. There has never been a member who has been unfortunate enough for me to almost completely drop them into the pits of low ranking from a favorable starting position only to find themselves back up to the top. Takahashi Ai has this unique trip through my fandom for me.

As far as I can remember the number of times I have used “Aichan” to refer to her are possibly countable with my fingers and toes. As a personal acknowledgement of my fandom over Takahashi I continue to call her with her given family name. And despite it being her wish for all to call her “Aichan”, I will continue to call her Takahashi as a reminder of the over six years I have spent watching over her, liking her, disliking her, loving her. Takahashi has done a lot for the group and she has certainly been one of my favorite entertainers ever since I got into Japanese pop music. I appreciate her presence and countless hours of entertainment she has provided me. And for that I thank her. I look forward to what the future holds for her and will continue to support her in the future.

As for … Batman escaping Joker’s trap, you’ll just have to tune in next time. Same Bat-time, same Bat-channel.

~Siggy, who misses black hair Takahashi~