img20090819111452

I’ve decided that I need to devote some time on this blog to mindless-yet-delightful gushing about the woman who made me love Momusu in the first place: Yoshizawa Hitomi.

Yossy. Yocchan. Yoshimi. Pimp of all. Riida. Ishikawa’s “dah-ring”. Michishige’s Prince Charming.

Mr FRIGGIN Moonlight.

I love this woman.

But that is nothing new. If you’re new to this blog, it might be. If you’ve read this blog for a bit, it’s a Legolas statement (ie. incredibly obvious… An example from The Two Towers “this forest is old…very old.”).

I think I will probably need to restrain myself from overloading you with a simple picspam, cause goodness knows there are too many good shots of her. I’ll try to actually write something coherent beneath all the inevitable keyboard-mashery that ensues when I see pics of her.

Try.
I promise nothing.

Read the rest of this entry »

No wonder she is confused…

I really wish I wasn’t so obsessive about listening to radio rips of new singles and then playing them over and over again until the pv has much less impact than if I’d JUST WAITED…

But such is me. And now Kimagure Princess is getting the tiniest bit old. Which is odd because it was Resonant Blue style instant-love when I heard it. Considering all the slower stuff we’re getting lately from Momusu, I didn’t think that the new single would be this bouncy.

vlcsnap-07530

Is bouncy the word I’m looking for?

Read the rest of this entry »

img20090527032115This pic continues to be my favourite incarnation of Goto thus far. I love that minx hair style, that odd mix of overalls with a leopard-print jacket and the fact that she is outdoors, not draped over some velvet couch covered in pearls. This strikes me as down-to-earth sophisticated, which I much prefer.

Since her mini-album has been released I decided to watch her ‘Unrecorded’ segments on youtube (see her recording ‘Fly Away’, also personally my fave episode here). She wears this coat a lot during the shows.

What I expected to like about it was seeing her in real life, being like the Goto she was in H!P. Granted, I don’t know a whole lot about who she was in H!P because I had no interest in her when she was in Momusu, or when she was a soloist. Well, some interest, but very little. I’ve always been more interested in the person Goto than the idol Gocchin. So I was delighted to see that ‘Unrecorded’ was that kind of show. I liked just seeing her do the job. She got up early, slurped down her Starbucks treats and went about her day not as if she was “super delighted” to be there, but as if this was (is) her job and so she’ll keep going, even when she inevitably got tired. I did get a sense that she enjoyed it, but she didn’t have to pretend as though she did to entertain me. My Japanese is still in its infancy, but from the bits I understood, and what I observed, she seemed fulfilled and determined. I loved seeing her that way. Seeing her scribbling down lyrics and choosing the look she wanted to present in her photoshoots (as was my limited understanding) was so different than any backstage moment H!P has ever given me.

Avex is a bit of mysterious place for me, but my impression of it in regards to people like Koda Kumi has really made me think about the person Goto Maki.

I sorta feel like we all need to get to know her all over again.

Read the rest of this entry »

4819223_bigthumbStrangely, I’m not happy about this.
I’d describe it as rather a sinking feeling.

I’ve never hated Koharu, or as I’ve dubbed her forever ‘nut-job’. I don’t hate any of the H!P girls, even Winky who annoys the living hell out of me. I’ve just never been a fan of hers. I’ve never really thought she could sing very well, if at all, and I couldn’t stand any of her solo ventures. With all the crack-tastic concert behaviour, you’d think she would have become endearing to me, but not really, no.

This picture reminds me of her early days when she was simply adorable; those were the days when she’d sit on Yossy’s knee and piss off Miki with her excited bouncy innocence. Obviously, any idol has to grow up, but I never got as attached to her Kira….rin(???) persona.

Read the rest of this entry »

img20070129170656Alright, my frisky kittens, from what I can observe in my stats here at Itsumo Genki, a great deal of what people search for is ‘jailbait’ and other such nonsense when they happen to find this place. While that is hilarious, if not terribly sad, that is not exactly what this place is about.

But since I’m feeling indulgent and a little bit frisky myself, I’ve decided to just give in to the maniacs out there who love this stuff (cause who doesn’t, let’s be honest here) and devote an entire pic spam to the dirty, dirty moments we get from those grope-y rascals in H!P.

Starting with Bunny-Ishikawa’s tush here.

Got a good look?

Ok. On we go.

Read the rest of this entry »

vlcsnap-08097

So we’ve reached the final installment (for the singles anyway) of my dance series.

[Part One]
[Part Two]

As I’ve mentioned, capping these old pvs is a real delight. And since we’re moving backwards here, I think towards the beginning of Momusu’s career, the dancing becomes just a fun addition to an already wonderful pv. Case and point: every single song I’ll be talking about in this post. With their member change-ups the image always evolved, but once they settled on optimistic-genki the trend continued for quite awhile, giving us some of the funnest (yes, I said funnest) and most addictive songs in their history.vlcsnap-06209

Admittedly, since their older pvs focused more on (gasp!) a plot or a bunch of hilarious randomness from the girls, the dances aren’t so heavily featured. So if this reads more like pv reviews, you’ll have to excuse me. As with “Joshi…”, really any cap is gold.

So on we go.

Read the rest of this entry »

vlcsnap-1828329

So we arrive at part two of my cap-fest regarding Morning Musume’s dances (part one is here). I loved watching these pvs again. This dancing thing began as a top ten and then morphed into a gushing fest, but now it’s gone on to have two parts because there is too much that is completely awesome about Momusu dancing. These routines have been done so often that you forget how awesome they actually are. When you rewatch the old pvs and see them dancing their hearts out for (arguably) the first time, you get the coreography at its freshest. I’ve never seen some of these done better than in those original dance-shot moments. That’s why I am a fan of the dance pvs and I don’t mind a lack of close-ups. One thing I discovered in my capping frenzy is that you don’t need a whole lot of set to do something amazing with a pv you just need good editing, a couple costumes and girls who don’t take themselves too seriously.

I love this group…

Read the rest of this entry »

Sayaka0002Go here.

Finally!

After watching so many of Morning Musume’s old pvs, I’ve become very interested in what she was like. Sayaka is beautiful and adorable from what I’ve seen, but since basically none of the Hello Mornings from her years in the group have been subbed (and my listening skills are still in the development stage), I have no idea what her personality was like.

I remember liking her acting in Pinchrunner, so it will be cool to see her act in other things.

Overall I can’t say much except “Sweet!” and “YAY!” and “I’m looking forward to it!” I don’t know if she’ll return to singing or not, but either way, I’m happy about this.

vlcsnap-1131372

Chuu~~!

~Isilie

vlcsnap-1133305I’ve been watching a lot of concerts lately, some newer, quite a few older. I always forget how quickly a Momusu concert pulls me in and makes me happy within the first three numbers. There is something infectious about their energy, whether the OG members are present or not. vlcsnap-1133196Watching all these performances made me want to post about dances. Naturally I stuck to pvs only, so only the singles. And that is because if I even touched on my favourite concert performances, we’d be here all year.

I cap enough already.

Read the rest of this entry »

img20080304183202059

So long, Kanna and Erika. Live long and prosper.

Read the rest of this entry »