'nuki notes episode 1

Since I get one view/month, and I tend to get my information from other blogs around the net(meaning any new info I'd post is basically a rehash of something you've already read) I figured I'd try to mix in reviews / random thoughts with a bunch of H!P and Johnny's news.

First off, KAT-TUN is going wild to start 2009, and I couldn't be happier. They are definitely my favourite Johnny's act(by a pretty wide margin), the majority of their singles seen to have an edgier / heavier feel to them. I thought that last year KAT-TUN was really off compared to 2006(obviously they were everywhere for their debut), but even compared to '07(even with Jin gone for a few months). I liked LIPS and DUES, but I feel they kind of dropped the ball for the rest of the year. I also have this kind of ambivalence towards Arashi(mostly because I don't like MatsuJun), so the fact that Johnny's basically poured all their marketing into them to end 07 didn't help.

Good news though, KAT-TUN's bouncing back. Kame and Maru both star in their own respective doramas(which I haven't actually seen yet, I've been super busy), and both feature a KAT-TUN single as the theme. First off is the 2/11 release of One Drop(theme for Kame's Kami no Shizuka) followed by the 3/11 release of Rescue(theme for dorama of the same name starring Maru' and costarring Masuda from NEWS). I just saw the HEYx3 perf. for One Drop, and I thought it was pretty good(KAT-TUN was on with Kinky which had their new single drop this week).

Secondly, I just wanted to mention that I'm going to start blogging Q.E.D episodes(and maybe Rescue if I have time) starting the end of the week. I've only seen the first episode, but seriously Ai is simply amazing. Kind of disappointed with the ratings so far, I was hoping it would have a pretty broad appeal(and maybe reinvigorate sales of Naichau Kamo...), but its still a great show.

To finally end this ridiculous post, I watched two concert DVDs in the past week, KAT-TUN's Queen of Pirates tour(from this summer) and Morning Musumes fall'08 live. I don't know if I'll actually blog those fully, but let me just say that both were pretty great, KAT-TUN as always put on a fantastic show. As for MM, I thought this was one of their better concerts(of this generation), they actually showed a lot of energy and jump(vs. Spring 08, which was one of their weakest performances ever IMO). Biggest problem though? No Shabondama...uhhhh right.

~nuki

Kamo, Kamo, Kamo! or... why I think Momosu has a fantastic '09 in store!

Seriously, as amazing as the girls looked in Pepper Keibu, I just wasn't feeling it. As someone that's just recently become versed Momosu's history, I could kind of understand the general 'blahhhhhh' feeling floating around the blogospheres with regards to H!P's biggest act. Enough of that though, heres my mini-breakdown:

Great: Ai-chans performance was UNBELIEVABLE. I recently saw a post off of INTLWOTA where CHANCECHANCEBOOGIEwas giving their take on who in the current MM is ready for a solo career. He made some good points for and against Takitty, but having recently watched her performance on the dorama Q.E.D., I'm in awe at how amazing she is.

Good: Where to start with the good...I thought the PV was a step up over Resonant Blue, I thought there were tons of great close-ups of the girls(in the rain no less), and the outfits were fantastic(as opposed to Resonant Blue where Tsunku decided to hide Gaki's gorgeous legs...). Reina gave a pretty awesome performance(as support for Ai-chan), Gaki was gorgeous as usual, and everyones new favourite hotty JunX2(lol) gave us some great eye-candy.

Bad: While the song and video were absolutely fantastic, not everyone survived unscathed...firstly, although I love the fact that Ai-chan got tons of lines, the split was pretty slanted, I would've liked to see Kamei + Gaki get some more. On the subject of lines...Oh Sayu...you always complain you don't get enough lines, but honestly...anytime Sayu has to sing a line solo I just cringe inside. I used to think Koha had some of the weakest solos(and she has her moments) but this single cemented Sayu as worst vocalist on Momosu...ho hum, at least shes cute.

Weird: I don't know what happend, but the girls all look like they can actually act now...their faces during the rain scenes had some real emotion, as opposed to the 'this is my angry face' we've seen so often before. Maybe Ai-chan brought back some tips from her Q.E.D. experience...And finally, with regards to the girls hair styles: Ai-chan's hair has been all over the place in the last 6 months, short and stylish through the Resonant Blue / C/C.Complex, long during the Q.E.D press conferences and somewhere in between here. Last but not least, I thought it was funny to see Reina in both haircuts(side-tail and bunny-cut) within a few seconds during the video(~2:10 in the video).

Overall: Great start for Momosu in 2009, they've continued to evolve their style into an older/more mature sound, heres hoping we see a nice hit on Oricon :P