Apparently willing to go a little further than her bandmates Miyabi and Momoko (who only learned a couple of riffs to “open” their Buono! performances), Massa Sudou decided to pick up an acoustic, learn some chords, and work on a very nice solo acoustic version of one of Berryz’ best singles, “Munasawagi Scarlet”.

Get this girl a nice Les Paul Custom and some Stooges and Kiss albums – it’s time she went on to the next level!

First, to Miyabi Natsuyaki of Berryz Koubou and Buono! (one of whose shirts inspired this blog’s name), who turns 17 today…

Then to Megumi Ohori of AKB48 (well, until October, anyway) and subject of our sister worship blog My Sweet Meetan, who turns 26…

…and finally to Elvis Costello, who turns 55 today.

Paul at Hello!Blog has done it again with his annual desire to combine his love of Hello! Project with some mad coding skills. This time around, the survey incorporates all of Hello! Project, including the Elder Club, making for what should be some rather interesting results. Here’s the “tall” version of my survey graphic (the long version I’m going to use as the basis for a future header).

Now I get to explain myself again… Read the rest of this entry »

BERRYZ KOUBOU
5 (FIVE)
(Piccolo Town/King)
Available on CD, CD/DVD, and iTunes Japan
Rating:

Five albums. That’s how long Berryz Koubou has been with us so far. OK, technically, one of those “albums”, 3 Natsu Natsu Mini Berryz, was actually a six-song mini-album, but it was numbered not much differently than a full-length release), but that makes then the only Hello! Project group other than Morning Musume to have more than four studio albums in their discography, and ties them with Aya Matsuura for number of studio releases released in their career to date – only Ayaya has been in the music business for a few years longer than Berryz, who only started making records in early 2004.

Berryz Koubou albums have been enjoyable yet imperfect affairs. Their debut long-player, 1st Cho Berryz (the only Berryz album to have the original 8-nin lineup) was a very good start, but their sophomore release, Dai 2 Seichouki didn’t have much memorable material besides its five previously released A-sides, all of which were recorded after founding member Mahia Ishimura left the group. The aforementioned 3 Natsu Natsu Mini Berryz, despite the inclusion of the band’s first mature-sounding single “Jiriri Kiteru”, is more notable for the three covers of summer-themed Hello! Project songs by various subclusters of the group (including fan favorite Risako Sugaya doing a fine solo turn on Aya Matsuura’s “Yeah! Meccha Holiday”). Last year’s 4th Ai no Nanchara Shisu was their best long-player since their debut, although I have to admit that the album’s closing two tracks, while OK, seem anti-climactic.

Thirteen months to the day their last album came out, Berryz Koubou released 5 (FIVE), and with it they manage to maintain the personal best they established on 4th Ai and then some.
Read the rest of this entry »

Happy Birthday to Miyabi Natsuyaki of Berryz Koubou and Buono!

She’s 16!

P.S. Hey, Miyabi, look who you share your birthday with! How badass is this?