The OG’s are back and in a brand new unit! I know I’ve mentioned Dream Morning Musume before, but there’s exciting news today! Not only was their spring tour confirmed, with 16 performances, but their fall tour has been announced expanding to 40 performances! There will also be a new album featuring covers of their old hits AND new songs!

SO EXCITED!

Members are:
1st Gen: Nakazawa Yuko, Iida Kaori, Abe Natsumi
2nd Gen: Yaguchi Mari, Yasuda Kei
4th Gen: Yoshizawa Hitomi, Ishikawa Rika
5th Gen: Ogawa Makoto
6th Gen: Fujimoto Miki
7th Gen: Kusumi Koharu

It’s too bad Tsuji couldn’t take part, she was planning to but since dropped out to take care of her newborn son. But who knows! Maybe in the fall?

Their official site is here.

Oh Jeez. I might be saving my $$$ to go to Japan this fall!

Via Morning Musume’s Hello!Project official profile comes this new pic of 9nin Musume!

Is it just me or has Reina lost a lot of weight recently?

I can’t wait to hear their first single together!

I’m talking about people complaining about certain girls in H!P groups being attention whores, or line hogs, or spotlight stealers or whatever else they want to call it.

The people making these comments are not thinking. At all. They just want to complain about their favorite member not getting enough lines or screen-time or what have you.

Well guess what?

THE GIRLS HAVE NO CONTROL OVER THIS!

Everything about everything is decided by Tsunku (in the case of H!P). He writes the music, decides who gets what line, who appears at the forefront of videos, etc. The popular girls are going to go up front, the better dancers are going to go up front, the girls with more seniority are going to get the most screen-time because they are the people that the average joe consumer identifies all the easier. This is the nature of idol business. He is selling a product, as much as you might not like to hear it, it is all about image and how much he can sell to you.

And this just brings to mind the rant Maki had a couple weeks back about how when she was in Morning Musume she had no control as an artist. YOU’RE NOT AN ARTIST AT 13 YEARS OLD! You know jack-shit about ANYTHING. I love Maki, I really do, and I really like her solo stuff under Avex, but that comment was really stupid. As long as she’s been in show business I still can’t believe she’s complaining about her artistic rights as a young teenager. She sounds incredibly naive. She should be thankful for the opportunity. Yes she worked hard, but it was Tsunku who put her there to begin with. There are lots of girls who would kill for the chance to be an idol, let alone one as popular as Maki was in Momusu.

Thank you for bearing with me, I just had to get that off my chest. And I really hope people will stop bitching about the forefront girls getting all the limelight when they have no control over it in the first place.

Takahashi Ai, current leader of Morning Musume and Hello!Project will graduate in the fall of this year. At almost a decade in the group, she is the longest serving member of Morning Musume, (along with remaining 4th Gen member Niigaki Risa) and the longest running member of Hello!Project.

It’s going to be weird to see her go. She’s been a major player in everything Hello!Project since she joined. I can’t say she’s ever been my favorite member, in terms of ranking members she’s always sat right in the middle for me. She’s talented as all get out and seems to have a lovely personality… I don’t know. Whatever the case, I will be sad to see her go.

This only makes me REALLY want to go to Japan this fall though. Dream Morning Musume will be touring, (the Original Graduates, Hitomi, Makoto, Tsuji, Koharu, Yuko, etc.), Buck-Tick tours every fall, and now Ai-chan will be graduating… I should take advantage of the fact that I’m near to the west coast and go.

Ikuta Erina

Sayashi Riho (YESSSSSSSSSSSSSS!)

and

Suzuki Kanon

Are the new 9th Gen members of Morning Musume.

Oh wait!! MORE NEWS!

Hello!Project Egg Fukumura Mizuki will also be joining 9th Gen!

ARGH! H!O come back online! I can’t keep up with twitter! Seriously, every 5 seconds 50 new posts are trending under Momusu’s 9th Gen announcements.

EDIT: According to H!O twitter, this is now official!

AWESOME! I look forward to this new chapter in Momusu history!

Kikkawa Yuu is being debuted as a solo artist, which I am totally PSYCHED for and the girl deserves it. She deserved to be in Morning Musume back when she auditioned for 8th Gen. I will totally be supporting the HELL out of her. Her first single is apparently titled “Sayonara Namida” (Goodbye Tears).

Here she is back when she was in MilkyWay with Koharu for the Kirarin Revolution anime:

http://www.youtube.com/v/wA-baCTi158?fs=1&hl=en_US

Arara! 9th Gen isn’t going to be announced until half way through the concert. That could be an hour or two away at least! I guess I’ll find out in the AM instead LOL!

This is her second child with her husband, actor Sugiura Taiyo. Apparently she was in labor for 12 hours! But the boy was born healthy and weighed 6 pounds 2 ounces, the same as her first child, Noa. They haven’t announced his name yet.

Congratulations to Nono! I’m so happy for her!

Over 9,000 girls applied, more than 8th gen! Of course, way down from Momusu’s heyday when like, 20,000+ girls would apply, but still pretty good! Here they are:

Ikuta Erina – The most mature looking of the 5. Pretty girl. Can dance well.

Suzuki Kanon – She was all smiles walking up to the camera. HAMMING it UP in the recording booth though, LOL! I guess she heard you can hear the smile and took it to heart.

Sayashi Riho – What a pretty girl! Holy shit! She can dance! AND SING! Definitely has the most talent out of the group.

Mogi Minami – Cute girl, she needs more confidence. Definitely the youngest emotionally. Cries a LOT. Of course, she’s only 11. She did a pretty good job of learning the dance though.

Otsuka Aina – Cute girl, cute voice. They didn’t show her much.

Part One and Part Two

Winners will be announced January 2, at the Hello! Project Winter Live Concert.

I hope Tsunku pics more than one girl, and I definitely hope Riho will be one of the ones he chooses. He tends to pick the underdog though so he can “polish” them into an image. Riho already has a lot of presence. Come to find out checking wiki, she’s already a known talent. Hmmm, I wonder if that will hinder or help her. And if not, if AKB48 will snap her up as they did with past finalists who didn’t win.

She doesn’t know if it is a boy or girl yet, but the baby is due in January. She says she will continue her work as much as her health and condition allow.

Good on her! She’s really becoming an idol mama now! I was actually wondering, a little while ago, if she would have any more kids, because, as a sister of 3 other sisters, I think it’s great to have siblings and not be an only child. It’s also great not to have too much of an age gap, that way the kids get along better.

I’m so happy for her! This is fantastic news!

Congratulations again!

In other news I received a large shipment from CDJapan at the beginning of the month and have been working my way through several new albums; Buck-Tick’s Mona Lisa Overdrive, Maki & Sweet Black, Aibon’s Jazz album and Kirakira Majocco Love, as well as Rebecca’s Single Collection. Expect reviews soon!