5. Koike Rina (Geinou)
Last Week: -
Total Weeks on Index: 1

I’m going to post some video clips from her gravure DVD at Pedolicious soon, so I’d been watching her again and realizing I really really really like her. A lot.

4. Tsugunaga Momoko (Pop Idol)
Last Week: 2
Total Weeks on Index: 8

Still very much in my wota heart and on my laptop’s screen, I loved her solo performance on the new Berryz concert DVD.

3. Amuro Namie (Pop Idol)
Last Week: 1
Total Weeks on Index: 3

I’m still enjoying Play, whose strengths continue to shine and perhaps even overshadow her magnificent last album.

2. Perfume (Idol Group)
Last Week: -
Total Weeks on Index: 1

Sometimes, I need to remind myself of how great groups are between their releases. I was absolutely loving Perfume’s Fan Service releases, back in early Spring - and their next single doesn’t come out for another couple of months. So I spent some time watching their PVs and the concert DVD and now I can’t wait for what’s coming next! Perfume released the best song and PV of last year - and nothing this year has yet to match “Electro World” - so my expectations are high.

1. Kawase Tomoko (Pop Idol)
Last Week: -
Total Weeks on Index: 1

The new Brilliant Green song is incredible, and the PV is very good… but the greatest revelation is just seeing Tommy being “herself”, for lack of a better description. We’ve gotten so used to her alternate personalities that it’s something of a relief to see Tommy without the overblown pop geek / rock rebel look. Of course, it’d be foolish to automatically assume this is the real Kawase Tomoko we see - but it seems less of a put-on, and has a quiet charm all its own.

And isn’t it great that the return of BuriGuri coincides with the release of the new Harry Potter movie and the final book? Okay, that’s kind of random, but it did occur to me since Tommy’s reportedly a fan of the series.

Recommended Links

• Kuitan 2 eps 1+2 (HamsapSukebe)
• Very Very Berryz Koubou (Wings of My Heart)
• 2007 桜満開 Berryz工房 ライブ~この感動は二度とない瞬間である!~ (MorningBerryz)
• [Album] Namie Amuro - PLAY (Beyond the Sea)
• [Album] Namie Amuro - PLAY (Gates of Heaven)
• Boystyle ’s kaisan, Perfume’s upskirt (Road to the Deep East)
• Perfume takes over AKB48 (Road to the Deep East)
• First look: the brilliant green - Stand by me (unchained)

5. Wada Akiko (Geinou)
Last Week: -
Total Weeks on Index: 1

Here in Hawaii, they just started airing episodes of Happy Family Plan again on KIKU and seeing Wada Akiko as a co-host was enough to remind me of how much I enjoy her as a geinou… Her performance in Kouhaku for the past two years - especially doing “Hey!” with m-flo - have been particularly memorable to me and she’s got a wonderful sense of humor about herself. For me, at least, in a theoretical quien es mas boinkable pair-up, half of the current Morning Musume line-up would lose to this wonderful woman.

Speaking of the other half…

4. Mitsui Aika (Pop Idol)
Last Week: -
Total Weeks on Index: 1

The new Morning Musume line-up’s first single seems like a good time to re-evaluate the individual idols, and Micchi’s stock has risen considerably for me. I think she’s just plain adorable and I really liked her hair in the group portrait on the official site. (Apparently I’m in the minority on that count.) I’d stopped downloading HaroMoni@ over a month ago - the conceit of idols listening to a baby doll made it unwatchable for me, so why bother even downloading it? - but reading MorningBerryz’s accounts of the Koharu / Micchi segments were enough to make me download what I’d been missing… just to watch the Koharu / Micchi segments, and that’s it. It was worth it, Micchi has been charming and fun and I already said adorable but I’ll say it again.

Oh, and I know she was shown off to better effect in “Egao Yes Nude” than in this single, but I’m only ready to declare my passion for her now. I hope they give her a solo photobook soon.

3. Li Chun (Pop Idol)
Last Week: -
Total Weeks on Index: 1

Now that she’s got a song with Morning Musume, I’m going to say JunJun’s my favorite in the current line-up. I’m not particularly caring if she’s a good singer or dancer or whatever - come on, my last number one favorite was Sayumi - but she’s just too darn cute and genki to ignore. She may not be as, um, incandescent as Micchi, but she’s got a poise and vulnerability that makes her feel like a quintessential idol.

2. Tsugunaga Momoko (Pop Idol)
Last Week: 1
Total Weeks on Index: 7

I’m still not over the wonderfulness of her photobook, while the new single and PV is around to pick up any slack that can occur in my wota enthusiasm. I really and truly hope that a second Momoko photobook follows up after Risako’s. The other Berryz may deserve some photobook love, too, but they can wait a little longer.

1. Amuro Namie (Pop Idol)
Last Week: -
Total Weeks on Index: 2

I finally got around to picking up my copy of Play at Hakubundo (along with the Berryz single and concert DVD… which I haven’t opened yet), and was stunned to see Namie wearing a freakin’ eyepatch on the back of the CD. There’s a diamond on it, which makes it classy I guess, but it just kind of caught me for a loop. - as did the album, as did Namie herself as I explored the album and DVD further.

I was surprised to find that Play is actually as good as, if not better than, Queen of Hip Pop as an album. If anything, the singles were strengthened, and the new material is mostly stronger than the new material on Queen. And while the videos on the DVD were generally not as exciting as the PVs for the singles to Queen, “Hide & Seek” by itself raised my appreciation of Namie to a whole new level. It’s an excellent reminder that a pop diva has to be a bit of a semiotician mad scientist, and she’s certainly been that in recent years.

Hopefully, I’ll be able to explore these thoughts in greater detail this week… But for reminding me that the world of pop music should hit you everywhere that matters - the heart, the groin, and the head - she was far and away the best thing in my wota universe this past week.

Recommended Links

• 10 Favorite Geinou Moments of 2005 (Cult of Pop 2.0)
• Morning Musume’s “Onna ni sachi are” (Wings of My Heart)
• First look: Morning Musume - Onna ni Sachi Are (unchained)
• Morning Musume - Onna ni Sachi Are PV out! (~ lurking in the shadows ~)
• Jpop Observations and thoughts by Alice
• HM@ 6/24/07-”The one with the luck of Pokupon, flower dance, & Aichan wins a copy of herself.” (MorningBerryz)
• All Hail Peach Girl! (Soap Bubble)
• I wonder could it be (Your Opinion Doesn’t Count)
• AMERICA…FUCK YEAH!!! (Your Opinion Doesn’t Count)
• [Album] PLAY - Namie Amuro (June 27, 2007) (J-POP WORLD)
• [DVD] Namie Amuro - PLAY (review) (Groove Heroine)

So, Iida Kaori’s pregnant. Ten weeks into it, and going to get married. This is the third H!P-related pregnancy this year, after Heike Michiyo’s and Tsuji Nozomi’s. Despite it being yet another shotgun wedding, this doesn’t feel at all scandalous. Neither did Michiyo’s, actually, though Kago Ai and Fujimoto Miki’s non-pregnancy sex news definitely did feel scandalous to some extent.

Part of it has to do with her age, certainly. And another part of it has to do with the amount of attention each of these events have gotten - Kago and Tsuji were both huge media-wise, Mikitty’s was medium, and Michiyo’s seems barely noticed.

However, I can’t help but think the idol persona each girl has taken factors into the reaction of media and fans. Tsuji and Kago will always appear as the sugar-rushed terrible twins of Morning Musume, while Mikitty had something of the rebel to her for a long while. The way they were treated reflected these angles. So what was Kaori’s persona about? Well, she had seniority and seriousness and clumsiness - she was the leader of Morning Musume for the longest time, and overshadowed by the younger, cuter girls. She was the artistic one who could play the guitar and was in love with Mediterranean culture. And she even sang about getting married in “Joshi Kashimashi” in an endearingly hopeful way.

Tsuji getting pregnant seemed a bit rushed and made one question her intelligence yet again. The fact that her baby’s father was Ultraman just added another layer of juvenilia absurdity to the proceedings. Iida getting knocked up feels more like a couple of free spirits being perhaps a bit too free. In that way, I guess it’s closer in spirit to Ishiguro Aya’s shotgun wedding with Luna Sea’s Shinya - they’re both musicians, at least one person in each couple has a strong artistic streak (Shinya, in Ayappe’s case), and they were old enough that the notion of getting pregnant was just a case of adults doing what adults tend to do.

I’d been complaining that every time I felt ready to start on my look at the complete span of Morning Musume’s PVs, a scandal would make me stop and re-assess what I was writing. Now I can’t even watch “Morning Coffee” without thinking of the decade-long irony-in-the-making there. But maybe this is for the best, maybe these events indicate a new phase in what seemed to be a narrative grinding to a slow, painful halt.

The narrative that is Morning Musume’s decade of existence seemed pretty stable in recent years, defined by a calcification (what others would call a decline from the Golden Age), as there was a settling-in of the “super-idol” group as an institution of idols. Pop idols at their best are cultural events in the making; as time passed, Morning Musume was no longer an event but a sort of landmark. In a very strange way, I think the spate of scandals - starting with Mari’s, actually - and pregnancies is heralding a new way to look at Morning Musume and Hello! Project, a new post-idol phase where more and more of H!P’s mainstays seem to be re-evaluating their role as idols, even as newer girls come in to take their place. Tsuji came in as a child and is now facing these different rites of womanhood, but Iida started at only the tender age of fifteen, as well. Ten years in the spotlight as part of the hottest group in fin-de-millennium Japan is something of an achievement.

And let me say this: when she didn’t have that weird deer-in-the-headlights thing going on, Iida was one of the most beautiful of the Musumes. The best evidence of this is second gen Tanpopo, though her turn in “Joshi Kashimashi” (I’m thinking the part where she points at the camera) or even her smile during the start of the “Love Machine” PV is all evidence of this. There was something gentle about her, a lack of self-consciousness in her best moments, which gave her a distinct charm. She was never much for being glamorous, however, and (as crs pointed out a long while ago) began sticking out in a bad way as Morning Musume became more aggressively youthful in their choice of members. But on her own terms, she could be quite stunning.

When she didn’t have that weird deer-in-the-headlights thing going on, that is. Which, unfortunately, was there from the start and never truly went away. I’d like to say that clumsiness was part of her charm, but for her clumsiness was just clumsiness. But the moments of grace and sophistication she showed? Ahh, those were moments to conjure.

I do find it interesting that Tsunku seems really proud of Iida’s pregnancy, as opposed to his reaction to Tsuji which seemed more guarded - or at least, not as enthusiastic. Part of me suspects it’s because he knows both father and mother well, but also I think he’s made his peace with the notion that his Musume are becoming women with their own lives to lead. And speaking of the father, he looks kind freaky in the pictures I’d seen. Not bad freaky, but a little freaky. As others have pointed out, Tsuji landed the best (Ultra-)man looks-wise, which is in itself sort of amazing.

There are some lingering questions to consider. First, is Iida going to get a replacement for 10th anniversary Morning Musume? I don’t think so. If anything, I’d like to see a completely different line-up formed, preferably with Yuko in charge, for any future singles for the tenth anniversary. Second, will she return to H!P after this? I doubt it. She hadn’t been doing much lately, anyway, and hopefully won’t need the income. I think she’d be happier doing her paintings and taking care of little Johnson, a proper mix of domesticity and aesthetic refinement. (I’m also going to bet that the child will have a European name, or at least a European middle name.) Third, wouldn’t it be great if the two pregnant Musumes showed up on Utaban, along with Ayappe and Sayaka? I’m just fantasizing, but I think that’d be freakin’ wonderful.

So I wish Iida the best, of course, and should probably start a betting pool on who’ll get a scandal next.

(The title for this blog entry, by the way, is taken from a Pussy Galore song (download here) from Dial M for Motherfucker, one of the greatest albums of all time. Highly recommended listening.)

Recommended Links

• Morning Daughters to Morning Mothers (Cult of Pop 1.0)
• Johnson Graduates, So Why Am I Not Crying? (Cult of Pop 1.0)
• The Science of Hello! Project: Tanpopo’s Beauty Mirror (Cult of Pop 2.0)
• Tokuban with Morning Musume (Cult of Pop 2.0)
• W is for Wanton (American Wota)
• Kaorin too?! (Soap Bubble)
• Guess who’s pregnant? (Hotaru)
• Now it’s Johnson! (Stuck In A Pagoda With Motoko Aoyama)
• AruAru Iru Yo! - It’s All Sex With You People, Isn’t It… (Iroiro Aru Sa!)

More pictures from the photobook, as we all wait for full scans to surface on the interwebs. Again, if you like these shots, I humbly suggest you shell out some yen and get a copy - we all need to pay proper spiritual and financial homage to Princess Peach.

I like this shot, mostly because you get a nice view of her backside. If you actually want to see the curves of her butt, there’s some swimsuit shots that provide that, but I like the curve of her back, and her thighs, though the way her spine sticks out makes me want to feed her a sandwich or something…

I like how Momoko proves she can tie her own shoelaces here. She’s a big girl, now!

This shot is unintentionally funny in that it makes me think, “Momoko is so cute that she shits flowers!”

This bikinis probably the most revealing of her outfits in the photobook. Here she looks very confident and mature, reminding us she’s already fifteen. It also remind me that she and Shihono Ryo are less than six months apart age-wise, which for some reason is a cognitive disconnect I can never quite resolve to satisfaction in my head. Could Ryo have had Momoko’s career, or vice-versa? It’s difficult to imagine, perhaps because each are so well-suited to their specific niches in the idol world.

Another bikini shot, just because. I don’t object to the bikini shots in general, but the only one I really like is the pink one from the last set of scans I posted. This is good but not great; it’s only the idol inside the suit that makes it worthwhile.

This is a very nice shot of her in a nightgown. The pose is kind of sexy, but the smile makes it much more innocent, creating just the right wota tension between desire and admiration.

Unfortunately, this shot in the same outfit is unintentionally funny as well. For some reason, I find myself thinking that she’s trailing Gloria Swanson down the staircase or something. “I am big. It’s the photobooks that have gotten small.!”

5. AKB48 (Pop Idol Group
Last Week: -
Total Weeks on Index: 1

Bingo! Okay, the song hasn’t really had an impact on me just yet, but again I love the video. Human trafficking? A prison ship? Ahhh, how wonderful to have an idol group whose videos have bizarro plots running them! That said, I gotta learn the name of individual girls sooner or later. The “Love Raspberry Juice”-like prison boards should help in that respect, if they all didn’t blur in group shots anyways.

4. Yua Aida (AV Idol)
Last Week: -
Total Weeks on Index: 2

The newest Moodyz release for Yua Aida finally begins to push the envelope some and be more extreme… which at first dismayed me, as I didn’t want her to take the same route as Mozawa. However, Woman Teacher, Hard Rape, Gang Bang Fuck isn’t nearly as onerous as the title suggests. The trick is that Yua Aida isn’t much of an actress - she doesn’t make her “forced” sexual attacks seem all that plausible, especially since she winds up at her usual moan-and-groan pleasure princess routine halfway through a scene. As always, this release has a clear sense of Yua enjoying her work, which is what makes her true idol material.

And in related good news, Mozawa’s kira*kira release lightens up on all the nasty violent stuff. So maybe the S1 exodus wasn’t such a bad thing after all…

3. Nagase Miyu (Pop Idol)
Last Week: -
Total Weeks on Index: 2

Aha! Miyu is coming back after all! And she’s looking quite hot, to boot! I’m wondering if she was just waiting to finish her schooling, but a single and album will be coming our way this autumn. Many questions remain: Why did she dye her hair? Is she going to do rock or folk? Or will she give up the guitar and continue her previous solo path of R&B? While I wasn’t particularly thrilled with those two singles, I have to say that I’m very proud of how the Zone girls have diversified and pursued different sounds post-breakup. And really, why did she dye her hair?

Now again, if only Tomoka will return as well, I’d be sooo happy.

2. Shihono Ryo (Junior Idol)
Last Week: 3
Total Weeks on Index: 5

Did I already say I love the non-bikini shots in Seasons even more than the bikini shots? Well, I still do. Here’s another great one.

1. Tsugunaga Momoko (Pop Idol)
Last Week: 1
Total Weeks on Index: 6

I’m still in her thrall, and I’m in no rush to escape her terminatrix idol clutches. momo has been a complete joy to page through every time, I’m becoming addicted to Momoko and all her genkilicious pedolicious scrumptious idol goodness.

I am surprised that nobody’s posted full scans from the photobook yet - I keep thinking that every time I mention it, I’ll be proven wrong. Anyway, more scans from me soon enough, if this sad state of affairs continues. That said, the lack of full scans may be a way for the wota to encourage sales for the book: no freebies, you’ve gotta pay if you want a full taste of Princess Peach. (Of course, this assumes that all the wota have somehow agreed to this, which seems a bit of a stretch…)

Speaking of which, consider the guy who took the above picture. (Thanks to Craig for sharing that shot, though I know it pains him that this wota has so many copies and he’s still waiting for his one copy from YesAsia.) Five, six copies, I can understand. But this seems a tad… excessive. Then I remember the effect Momoko has on me, and I sorta kinda understand. Sorta.

Okay, not really. That could be a freaking Xbox 360 sitting there on his floor, and maybe a half dozen photobooks instead. But we each follow our own bliss, right?

Recommended Links

• AKB48 - BINGO! (hello!girl)
• AKB48’s “Keibetsu Shiteita Aijou” (Wings of My Heart)
• AKB48 - BINGO! (Japtard)
• New Yua Aida release (Barely 18 Movies)
• ex-ZONE Miyu Nagase’s comeback (Made in Paradise)
• Berryz Desu! (Hotaru)
• Momo in UP to boy (Hello!°C-ute)
• 桃子。 (MorningBerryz)

Why I had this dream about Saki, I don’t know. But I figured I’d share this because I don’t have dreams about idols very often. It isn’t the kind of dream that transforms my opinion of her, the way my dream of Mikitty did a couple years ago. If anything, I’m baffled since I can think of at least three other Berryz I’d rather dream about first. That said, the relatively chaste nature of all my idol dreams continues, which perhaps speaks volumes about my psyche…

Anyway, I hadn’t seen any torrents with full scans of the book, nor any blog entries with anything beyond preview shots. So to make up for this a little, I figured I’d share some pages, perhaps even persuade some of you to buy your own copies after taking in all this peachy goodness.

I like this shot because of her legs. They have a nice, chunky quality here which is accentuated by the grey socks and clunky shoes.

A beautiful shot of Momoko with her lacrosse stick. Actually, the best lacrosse shot has her jumping up in the air, which it turns out I didn’t scan but should have and may well do so in the near future.

Far and away, my favorite pictorial from this photobook is for this outfit. The bikini isn’t too showy, and the grey top adds a sense of modesty that I appreciate.

As a result, the outfit flatters her body while taking into account her age and idol persona.

While I can appreciate some of the other swimsuits in the photobook - and I do, believe me - this is the one I just enjoy without feeling critical in any matter. It’s just a very nice outfit worn by a very appealing idol.

If you want more selections from the photobook, drop a comment. Not that I need much encouragement, but a little never hurts, right?

Recommended Links

• Rooting for Berryz (Cult of Pop 1.0)
• My Dream of Fujimoto Miki (Cult of Pop 2.0)
• Welcome to the NBK: Berryz Kobo interview, August 2007 Kindai (There is never a wrong thread to post a Risako.)
• Momo in UP to boy (Hello!°C-ute)
• Kokuhaku no Funsui Hiroba - Dance Shot (Wings of My Heart)

5. Ookoshi Takayo (Pop Idol)
Last Week: -
Total Weeks on Index: 1

I managed to download Takayo’s EP and two PVs this week, and was just so happy to see her back. I must admit that her folk-rock approach hasn’t won me over completely, but her voice is as great as ever, she still does that wistful staring-in-the-distance thing great, and I’m willing to give the tracks time to grow on me. (If any group has generated a great deal of good will for future projects, it’s Zone.) I don’t mean for the number five slot to be reserved for Zone members, but it’d be nice if Tomoka finally re-surfaces as well…

4. Kijima Noriko (Gravure Idol)
Last Week: -
Total Weeks on Index: 1

At first, what attracted me to Noriko is how much she looks like a slightly older Shihono Ryo, but watching Norinori Dream I was also struck by some Tokumoto Kasumi-esque qualities as well. Now I’m just waiting for the point where the comparisons stop and she becomes an idol in her own right in my mind, the same way Kiri Sari started as a Yurina look-alike to me and then just became Kiri Sari. Actually, that should be happening pretty soon…

3. Shihono Ryo (Junior Idol)
Last Week: 2
Total Weeks on Index: 4

I’ve been poring over the Seasons photobook and really enjoying the non-swimsuit pictures a great deal. (It’s my second favorite Ryo book, with Record head-and-shoulders above all others.) This shot of Ryo has become my absolute favorite as of late, I not only like the uniform (great tie!) but also the way she looks, the convincingly quiet maturity in her demeanor. The transition to adulthood may take a while longer, but it’s going to be exciting to see her grow into it.

2. Natsuyaki Miyabi (Pop Idol)
Last Week: -
Total Weeks on Index: 4

One thing about poring through the Momoko photobook like it’s the Rosetta Stone of wota-dom is realizing just how good Miyabi’s book is as well. It’s taken a bit of time to get to me, but I’m finding more greatness in a wider selection of images in that book, which I guess proves just how subtle and quirky Miyabi is as a young idol. When it comes to photography and mastery of idol persona, Miyabi’s photobook wins hands down…

1. Tsugunaga Momoko (Pop Idol)
Last Week: 1
Total Weeks on Index: 5

… And when it comes to overall design of photobook and most appealing idol persona, that goes to Momoko and no one else.

Surprise! Who’d've thought it’d be Momoko at number one again? What? All of you? Well, have you seen her photobook? It’s freakin’ amazing! Either that, or I’m a deluded, obsessed fan. What? You think I’m a deluded and obsessed fan? All of you? Well, there may be something to that, actually…

I’ve devoted the last two posts to Momoko (as well as a good many stanzas of bad poetry over the years) and will post at least one more in this coming week. I can’t help it, she’s the idol who most drives my wota-hood - CJ has Tanaka, Zush has Miya, pengie has Anna, and I’ve got the peachy one. It would take way too much space - and more reflection than I can afford tonight - to explain this appeal. However, it must be stated: Momoko was the first idol to make me want to write poems. Momoko was the first idol to get a full-on birthday treatment when she turned the big one-four. Momoko was the first idol to make me want to add a Black Sabbath track to her photobook DVD. In a very real sense, she is a major inspiration, a fountain by which I can dip and taste and express my wota-ness with unbridled glee.

(I guess I should add that I don’t consider her the greatest idol or the one all others should be measured by - that goes to SweetS’ Haruna. She also isn’t the greatest of H!P Kids - that’s Megukami. They’re both retired, though, so whatever.)

Recommended Links

• Idol Of The Week #2: Noriko Kijima (The Exhausted Cutie)
• Natsu Natsu Mini Berryz Merchandise (Wings of My Heart)
• 夏焼雅ファストソロ写真集。 (MorningBerryz)
• Momoko’s 1st solo shashinshuu. (MorningBerryz)

(On a complete tangent, I’m surprised nobody’s posted up scans of the entire photobook yet on Hello!Online or Jpopsuki. I may have to scan some of my favorite images here if a full set doesn’t appear soon…)

Technically, it didn’t have any photos as stunning or as impressive as the best in Miyabi’s photobook. (I still have that one image of her in the striped top and red shorts as my wallpaper, and it still takes my breath away.) This speaks volumes for Miyabi’s ability to project her idol persona in a more precise, practiced fashion than others, such as Momoko and Risako, who seem more naturally attuned to being idols. Momoko seems more effortless, but also much more compelling in how she woos her fan base.

Some of the quirks in designing the book - decisions to make it mo’ momo, I guess - help make it distinctive, though not always in a good way. The fumetti interludes that pop throughout the book - Momoko in a frilly white and pink outfit, traveling through the woods - are an interesting decision, gesturing towards some larger narrative without actually delivering on such a promise. It’s playful, though, reminiscent somewhat of the 50W book from Tsujikago, and should appeal to fans who love Momoko for her genki-ness. The decision to post the words “momo / momoko tsugunaga / photo book” throughout the book - it seems to pop up every few pages - is an intriguing style choice, as if anybody would be looking at these pictures and wondering who it is or where it came from.

While some of the shots were boring or cliched, Momoko herself never is. Her smile wins me over, her more dramatic moments convince me (well, more than others, at least), and I find myself lingering over every page even as a part of my brain picks its nits and demands better. My favorite pictorials are from the beginning of the book: the lacrosse outfit, the red bikini with the grey top, and the yellow dress that she wears on the cover. I wasn’t all that eager to see her in swimsuits, but the outfits and the shots were generally cute. And while the pink princess birthday pictorial initially horrified me when I first saw previews of it, I’m now warming up to them as showing another side of the peachy one’s complex, saccharine-infused persona.

I’ll be writing more about this in the coming weeks, when I get around to catching up on everything the H!P Kids have been up to in the past year. The news of a second Risako book, though, makes me hopeful for another Momoko book before the end of the year. And yeah, I wouldn’t be entirely opposed to her doing something a little more Garo Aida next time around… but something more Kiri Sari than Irie Saaya, if you know what I mean.

Recommended Links

• Five Momoko Moments: Favorite PV Sequences (Cult of Pop 2.0)
• Momoko’s 1st solo shashinshuu. (MorningBerryz)
• Momo’s photo book ! (Zush’s blog)
• More Lethal Weapons (There is never a wrong thread to post a Risako.)
• Much ado about Momo (Your Opinion Doesn’t Count)
• [Media Site] Momoko on MIDTOWN TV (International Wota)

I won’t be getting my Momoko photobook until the end of the week (fingers crossed!), so I couldn’t resist downloading and watching the Making Of clip that’s already available online.

However, there was something… not right… about the clip. It didn’t capture the spirit of Momoko as I understood her, it didn’t reveal the Momoko I know and love.

So I made a short version to display my own vision of a Momoko video. Download here, it’s about 15 MB.

5. Nagase Miyu (Pop Idol)
Last Week: -
Total Weeks on Index: 1

I recently downloaded a clip of Zone’s performance of “True Blue” on Music Station, the last one with Takayo before she went to college. (Now that I think of it, I probably have a non-HD version of it on one of my hard drives, but whatever.) Anyway, watching it a few times got me to thinking about the Zone girls again. Takayo released some solo material recently, Maiko’s got Maria, Mizuho’s been spotted in college, and Tomoka formed that international supergroup (okay, so that was just a stupid rumor). But what I really wanted to know was, Why aren’t we seeing more of Miyu? Last summer she performed back-up vocals duty for Tube, and… that was it. I no longer cry much when watching Zone clips (well, “Egao Biyori” still gets to me), but I really want to see more of Miyu whether it’s rock or R&B (though I’d much prefer rock, of course).

And I want more Akina, too. But I didn’t download any new Folder5 clips this week, so it’s Miyu in the five spot.

4. Chocolove (Pop Group)
Last Week: -
Total Weeks on Index: 1

Come on, how can anyone not love this? Three idols get gunned down, and it turns out they live anyway because they bleed chocolate. I laugh every time I watch this - which has provoked some concern for those who think I’ve become bloodthirsty about my idols. It’s ridiculous and yet somehow… sublime. Or maybe just sublimely ridiculous.

Freud would have a field day with this. Gun? Phallic. So chocolate…? Um…

The sad part is, I don’t particularly care for the song yet, nor can I name any of the girls in this AKB48 subgroup. (Or any girl in AKB48, for that matter.) But if they keep doing such overblown videos, I’ll become an actual fan of theirs and not just an admirer of their dubious marketing decisions.

3. Maria Ozawa (AV Idol)
Last Week: -
Total Weeks on Index: 1

I just finished a Mozawa torrent flood which just about completes my collection of her S1 releases, and found myself enjoying - as opposed to “enjoying” - her work in those earlier, more innocent days. Innocent meaning the worse that’d happen is five or six guys waiting to take their turn with her, as opposed to the violent gang rapes going down in her current DAS videos.

Mozawa’s an interesting case as far as AV idols go, in that her S1 performances played on a tension between reluctance and capitulation to her desires. Sometimes she seemed to just be going through the motions - not out of coercion, but just not really getting into the sex - and then it’s like a switch is flipped and she gets really into it. It’s a shift worth keeping an eye out for, as it’s something she seemed to turn into part of her style on purpose. Then there’d be times when her love of performance - a certain playfulness, or a melodramatic flair - takes center stage and the usual AV lust gives way to something more open and sunny and genki. Too bad she decided to hide those qualities in her recent work. But hopefully we’ll see more of it again, and soon.

2. Shihono Ryo (Junior Idol)
Last Week: -
Total Weeks on Index: 3

I was looking through her photobook 15’s Way To Grow Up again and admiring just how great it is. I do worry sometimes about how much her appeal is tied into her junior idol / U15 status. (Which is why I’ve been watching some Kijima Noriko lately as well, for compare-and-contrast purposes.) I’m not saying that the minute she turns 16 (or 18 or 20) that her work will take on a sudden change. But part of her mystique is certainly built into the way she’s molded her identity as a U15 idol, with that mix of youthful innocence, nascent sexuality, and forbidden temptation. I’m sure she’ll prove herself, but this is going to bear considerably more thought.

And research.

1. Tsugunaga Momoko (Pop Idol)
Last Week: -
Total Weeks on Index: 4

It comes out this week. This. Week. Don’t tell me you’re not waiting eagerly for this. Even if you’re not, I don’t care - this is something I’ve been clamoring for since I became a hardcore Berryz fan. My joy knows no bounds. No. Bounds. And just when Berryz have released another great (as opposed to merely good) single! With this photobook, the single, and the concert DVD all leeching great amounts of money from my bank accounts, this is a great month to be a Berryz fan.

Special props to Suika at MM-BBS who suggests what an ideal Momoko photobook would contain: “I want to see shots of her in a frilly party dress stomping down buildings in Tokyo, the heads of Yuko and Ayaya in one hand.” (And why isn’t Suika blogging anymore? I miss Melon Pop like a long lost sibling.)

Recommended Links

• Death by Chocolate (Story’s Goo Blog)
• Review - Ashita wa Ashita no Kimi ga Umareru (Totally Hello! Project)
• Chocolove - WTF?! (hello!girl)
• Zone’s Miyu Returns! Sort Of… (American Wota)
• Lookin’ back - part 4 (Zush’s Blog)
• Momo’s Got It Covered (Some Boys! Blog)
• Oh, That’s Just Peachy - Or, Kd Is Sometimes Craig (Iroiro Aru Sa!)