First off, let me give a big congratulations to the 5 new (sub) members of Smileage: Nakanishi Kana (14), Kosuga Fuyuka (13), Takeuchi Akari (13), Katsuta Rina (13) and Tamura Meimi(12). Good job girls! Well, you can't celebrate yet. You still have a long way to go to become full members.
Yep, they aren't out of the water yet. These five have to survive the Smileage Fall tour before Tsunku judges which are worthy of becoming full-fledged members of Smileage / which get to return to the obscurity of egg-dom. I am really looking forward to seeing a 9 member Smileage on stage in September!!!
Now for my second piece of news. On Friday, August 12th Smileage held a Polaroid Picture Event to commemorate their last single as 4 members (only if you bought the 7000 box set about a month ago) so I headed out towards the Ginza area in the morning for my turn. I only signed up for one set, but looking around me I could see wota with 4-5 tickets. Now, don't get me wrong, I love the girls... but I knew I would be basically broke after Hawaii (the box set was COD last week) so there was no way I could order more than one. Well that and I thought I had work on the Friday, forgetting it was during my one-week summer holiday. The usual line up, check your name, get reminded of the rules of no touching (aww I was hoping for a quick handshake at least) and then the girls entered. We all waved enthusiastically (there were quite a few girls, many obviously in high school, in the morning session I went to) and then they started the picture taking process.
Before your turn you could choose a pose, so I kept it simple and said "Heart" so all five of us made a heart with our hands. I said a brief greeting before sitting down in the chair, a 3 in front 2 in back pattern. Saki and Kanon in the back, Yuuka and Dawa in the front. Before leaving, I waved to the girls as I picked up my bag then I was out giggling like a madwoman and shaking my polaroid. Now the picture is really tiny (it's a polaroid) so I can't really scan it and up it here but it came out well and although brief I was very glad to have the encounter I had with the girls.
The third piece of news happened last Sunday, August 7th... Hello Project Summer 2011 ~Nippon wa wow wow live~
I don't plan to go into too much detail, as it was basically your average group concert held twice a year. It was very enjoyable though, all the groups were top-form. I really like all groups new singles so it was great to see them in concert. The outfits C-ute wears are very girly and emphasize their member colors, and the song lives up to its name of being Happy. Berryz takes on the sexy role, performing in the sexy nightgowns they appear in the PV in brilliantly. Mano performs her single released in June well, and Musume (minus 2) does a great job on their new single with the long-ass title. I love the shiny gold outfits, especially on Ai-chan. They match the current light brown-color Ai has going for her hair.
The only thing I can say I noticed about the concert was that it was a complete Mano-fest. Including the fact that she was one of the "solo" singers of the day, Mano probably performed 5 songs basically by herself. I am not sure of the exact number, but I know she did two songs outside of the solo section, the "solo" song and then one or two of the group songs were her songs, performed mostly by her. It just seems... well a bit much. I don't mind Mano but it seems a bit like they are trying too hard to push her, considering she is the only solo act.
Kikkawa did perform as an opening singer (who knows what is up with her promotion since she is Universal but still doing lots with H!P) and did great. I really love her voice and hope she does well. It is hard to believe that she is getting her start at such an older age, but I think if she keeps working hard she will do great.
I am back to work as of tomorrow, so my next H!P escapade will be the Buono! concert on the 28th.
