Summer has come and gone, and with it came and went avex’s latest installment of the perennial summer concert series called “a-nation”. For a-nation’s yearly run, fans are expected to be cooped up in a packed, sweaty outdoor arena for six or more hours, witnessing acts from the body of avex’s artist stable, from the wide-eyed understatement of Otsuka Ai to the amped-up sexiness of Koda Kumi, and everything in between (Tohoshinki! Tohoshinki! Tohoshinki!). Unfortunately, the concert in any form is prohibitively long for broadcast or even an all-inclusive DVD release, so numerous acts every year get snubbed in favor of…you guessed it…avex’s Queen Bee, Ayumi Hamasaki.

Rumors persist that Ayumi herself helped finance the first a-nation, but considering how (relatively) little idols under any sort of contract actually make, I seriously doubt this is true. Today, I can sort of imagine it. But in 2002, even with Ayumi at the peak of her cultural power, it seems far-fetched. These rumors, of course, become a chorus of justification when even die-hard fans wonder why Ayumi’s entire set list gets broadcast every year on television, while other artists are trimmed to one or two tracks or snubbed completely (Goto Maki this year, as well as alan). The same happens with the DVD release. This may seem like nothing to get riled up about until you’ve actually watched an a-nation concert and realize that Ayumi’s set literally constitutes a quarter or more of the entire concert. Add to this the unfair distribution of airtime, and she makes up half of the telecast.

It’s understandable, of course – Ayumi is and will be a legend, and is and will be avex’s biggest cash cow. Sure, her records may not sell as much as they used to, but no one’s records are selling as much as they used to. But her merchandise, concert tickets, and back catalog? avex continues to milk these for all they’re worth.

To be an Ayumi fan watching a-nation, I suddenly realize why so much hate is targeted at her. It has less to do with dislike for her talent and more to do with the fact that she is considered a “given”, being treated by many almost as necessary evil these days. To make an omelet, you have to break eggs – to hold a successful outdoor tour totaling at 6+ hours, you have to factor in about two hours worth of Ayumi. It’s not like she’s going to sing ‘Boys & Girls’ or ‘Evolution’ for these crowds – though for two years now she has performed ‘A Song for XX’, with this year’s performance seeming a stale and insincere attempt at recapturing the magic that just happened last year (I’ll be going into that in more detail on Dolorous Haze in a short while). She is in a constant state of flux and self-promotion, and therefore her newer offerings ‘Rule’ and ‘Sunrise ~LOVE is ALL~’ fall on the ears of a possibly heat-crazed audience who are more devoted to the idea of Ayumi Hamasaki rather than to her music or creative maturation (although I contend that, unless you count ‘Memorial address’ as a concept (and take ‘ANGEL’S SONG’ and ‘Greatful Days’ as extensions of that concept), Ayumi has yet to release a mature album).  a-nation has sometimes been the best showcase of her material, boasting outstanding performances such as the aforementioned ‘A Song for XX’ from 2008, which elevated her tenfold as a credible rock star in my eyes, and ‘HANABI ~episode II~’ from 2003. But lately it has become the low point in Ayumi’s performance year.

The predictability doesn’t help her. We know she will sing a song or two with her band and back-up singers. We know that her other upbeat songs with feature a retinue of 10+ dancers cluttering the stage and turning the production into a game of ‘Where’s Waldo?’. We know that Shu-ya will flail around arrhythmically, playing the role of an estranged lover while Ayumi croons a ballad or two. These are becoming tired, hackneyed elements, while other, friendlier elements such as the band/Ayumi rendition of ‘SURREAL’, the Arena Tours closing with ‘Boys & Girls’ to varying degress of opulence, and opening the concert with an unexpected track (‘Happy Ending’!?! ‘ourselves’!??! ‘Born to Be…’??! – all b-sides, all concert openers from 2003-2006) seem to have been lost to time.

It goes to show that some of us, as Ayumi fans, do like the persistance of change. We just wish it would apply to things like Shu-ya’s crap dancing and culling the constage dancer herd just a bit. This comes from someone who has often and notoriously lauded Ayumi’s dancers. But this year it became painfully clear that there are just too many of them, and their antics are truly beginning to take away from watching a concert by my favorite performer. This isn’t Morning Musume, this! Is! Ayumi!! *kicks Shu-ya down a well*

Anyway. After the jump I’ll take a quick look at each number from Ayumi’s a-nation 09 performance. On the whole, it’s a strong performance, but the weak points are definitely there.

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And now, after painting my nails a lovely shade of violet, I’m free to give you all the following super-fast sort-of review:

I started watching Trinity Blood a few months back via Netflix, mostly because I thought–hey, I HAVE Netflix. I can watch all of those anime that I’ve been wanting to watch without forking out 40-80 bucks on them like I used to. Good for me!

Now, keep in mind I watched the first disc a good two years ago or so. I suppose it didn’t impress me much at the time because I didn’t continue (but more than likely I was simply distracted by another show). But the trouble with my personality is that once I start something, I absolutely have to finish watching (or reading) it. I can’t help myself. And it has to be truly…trulytrulytruly…bad for me to stop (after all, if it kind of sucks, I can always make fun of it later). And Trinity Blood isn’t bad. Just…vague.

Apparently the writer of this series (it was originally a series of light novels then a manga) died before it was ever finished so, of course, this means that the writers of the animation had to be as creative as possible about how they ended the story.

Apparently Father Abel (Abel Nightroad) found out his brother Cain (yes, you got it) was still alive (from his little sister, the empress of the Methusela …aka vampires-but-not-actually). This is apparently Bad Times. So first his brother kills him, but the cardinal (the main one…I forget her name) at the Vatican fixes all that (Abel is a special kind of Methusela…. I mean, aside from being a member of the royal family…except no one KNOWS that…so this regenerating thing works). They didn’t exactly explain why this is possible.

Anyway, at the end he re-confronts his brother and something-something-something Cain gets away and Abel is going to be searching him out to destroy him FOR ALL ENTERNITY….with the help of cute little baby Methusela who’s in love with Sister Esther (who turns out to be the princess of Albion…way to not hint at THAT, show).

Anyway, my real issue with Trinity Blood isn’t the story or the characters. I actually liked them all fairly well. It’s the fact that nothing is really explained. Being a relatively bright person (at times) I can make the connections, but there’s still a lot that you’re sitting around wondering about at the end. It’s a little exasperating.

Especially the sudden revelation about MARS and colonization projects, and I don’t even know WHAT that was about. *shrug* Thanks a lot, final episode.

I don’t know if the manga explains more or not. I still have volume one from a billion years ago, but I doubt that’ll do much to fill in the blank spots.

The wikipedia page on Trinity Blood actually explains everything so much better than the anime did (which is to say at ALL)– especially the Mars colonization and the Cruznik stuff….

NOW I see what was going on.

Oh, and did I mention that the nun with my name (my real name, that is) dies about halfway through the series? *sigh* Yeeaah.

Arena Tour 2009 ~NEXT LEVEL~ came to an end last week at Yoyogi, and as a tribute to that I thought I’d have a go at the MQ photos taken from the event. All I can say after having seen week after week of new photos from the tour is that it had better rock AT 2008 out of the water, because that was perhaps the most unsatisfying Ayumi concert I’ve ever watched. The costumes don’t bode well, but that’s sometimes a promising thing where actual performance merit is concerned.

Let’s get started.

Hi, The 80's. Come right in and make yourself at home.

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…I wanted to be witty with the title, but I think the title of the upcoming single does that for me. ‘You were…/BALLAD’ will be released on December 16th, comes the official news. Since this is Ayumi, and news comes in battalions, the fan community also learned today of a new book being released on November 14th (‘Ayumi Hamasaki Photo & Episode 2005-2009′) and the television airdate of her Arena Tour 2009 ~NEXT LEVEL~ (November 29th, on TBS). We go for months talking about the fact that calendar previews have not yet leaked (amidst news of the calendar release actually being pushed back…) and finally a boatload of news comes, all at once. The Arena Tour telecast and the new book are interesting and all, but NEW SINGLE ZOMG.

Most interesting to me is the ‘C Side’, a song entitled ‘RED LINE ~for TA~’. We had already been told (I count myself among TA although I am not an official member, because god knows I would be an official member if I lived in Japan, and TA takes a few more hurdles than some other fan clubs, so even just having a friend in Nippon won’t get me in) that ‘NEXT LEVEL’ (the song, not the album) was written for us, so it just makes ‘RED LINE ~for TA~’ even more of a sweet gesture. From some other artists I might consider it a sappy bone being thrown to a dedicated fanbase that accounts for most of her sales, but I started to read Ayumi’s blog this year (thanks in no small part to Deli’s amazing translations over at gaijin-kanpai), and let me tell you: Ayumi Hamasaki is 100% hardcore. She seriously seems to have no other life beyond filling the role of “idol” above and beyond the call of duty. The sometimes long-winded, sometimes ridiculous, and sometimes almost-sad glimpses into her personal life are tempered by the knowledge that, of course, we are only being given a glimpse, but my cynicism has been tested by my favorite artists for years (most recently when Peter Hook acknowledged that he had forged and sold Ian Curtis’ autograph after the former Joy Division frontman’s suicide), and I can safely say that I don’t have a hint of cynicism when it comes to Ayumi. Therefore, I look forward to ‘RED LINE ~for TA~’, and I just hope that it’s as good as she would want it to be for us – that would, indeed, be the perfect single.

Obvious snark is snarky, as ‘BALLAD’ is not only a very unimaginative title but also was used by alan (another avex artist you should hear if you have not yet) earlier in 2009. Whatever. ‘You were…’ sounds like a classic Ayumi title and goes back to the ellipses nomenclature. Ayumi seems to abide by distinct WAYS of naming her songs, visually. This is useful because I’m assuming most of her fans do not actually speak English. The bold all-caps titles (‘GREEN’, ‘AUDIENCE’, ‘HANABI’, ‘NEVER EVER’, ‘WE WISH’, among many others) is set off by the all-lowercase titles (‘ourselves’, ‘ever free’, ‘teddy bear’, ‘glitter’, ‘fated’, ‘independent’, among many others). There is also the annoying, seemingly recent trend of ~let’s put stuff in tildes~ titles, as seen in newer offerings like ‘SUNRISE/SUNSET ~Love is All~’, ‘untitled ~for her~’, and this new ‘RED LINE ~for TA~’, but which actually predates Memorial address with ‘Love ~Destiny~’.

The ellipses, however, have always been in Ayumi’s visual nomenclature. From A Song for XX there were two ellipses titles (‘For my Dear…’ and ‘As If…’), from LOVEppears there was ‘Who…’, I am… was an ellipses ALBUM, and Secret gave us the most recent ellipsical offerings. I’m glad to see them return. For me, there has always been a mysterious, “lyrical question mark” effect with these titles, especially considering that for the prominent part of Ayumi’s catalog, the English-language titles have little to do with the song…or DO they? It isn’t until you immerse yourself in different translations and interpretations that some of the titles become soulfully resonant, such as with ‘Liar’, ‘SCAR’, ‘About you’, and ‘NEVER EVER’. Therefore, for songs like ‘Who…’ and ‘until that Day…’, an extra weight of responsibility seems to be thrust upon the audience to pay attention to the lyrics and solve the bit of a puzzle being thrown our way. At least, that’s how I’ve always seen it.

This is considering only that you actually care about and honor an artist’s visual nomenclature, which seems to be an especially popular gimmick in Japan. My mind goes immediately to Tomoko Kawase (Tommy, heavenly6 and february6, also of the brilliant green fame), whose songs have such colorfully impossible-to-retype-without-copypasta titles as ‘+Gothic Pink+’ and ‘ThE RoSe fraGranCe’. Yes, you could just call the song ‘The Rose Fragrance’, because that’s how we say it when we’re chatting about music, but considering that most of us have been weaned as J-Pop appreciators on the internet, who doesn’t imagine titles like ‘THE Manpower!!!’ with those three important exclamation marks? Would the new AKB48 single, ‘RIVER’, be as effective in lowercase? I actually posit that the song’s entire meaning would be distorted, all thanks to visual nomenclature. You listen to ‘RIVER’ and you hear a bold, declarative, all-caps statement. If the title had been ‘river’, it may have been a little confusing, even puzzling, to figure out why.

'Memorial address' back cover

Obtuse, maybe, but I do feel like this topic is relevant and that Ayumi has helped shape the face with her almost exclusively English language titling (the sole exceptions being ‘kanariya’ and ’sotsugyou shashin’ – even ‘HANABI’ and ‘HANABI ~episode II~’, as you can see by the inset scan, gets the romanji treatment, and how can any appreciator not understand that the capslock was an intentional and important part of the song’s very essence?

I put a lot of effort into getting my visual nomenclature right, especially where Ayumi Hamasaki and Hello!Project have been concerned, since they have made up the bulk of my blogging subject matter. If a song’s title is supposed to be all-lowercase, I actually feel a stab of split-second anger when I see someone misrepresent it elsewhere. Concession can be made for those that have no way of knowing until they’ve become more familiar with an artist’s work, but when the “artistic credibility” of J-Pop artists is brought as much into question as it already is, I feel it’s only in good taste to honor the morsels of creative effort we see. A song is and always has been the sum of its parts, and visual presentiation is just as important a part of the canon as lyrics, arrangement, and instrumentation. When a song invades my consciousness, at least, it does so on every sensory level that is possible. I may not be able to touch a song, taste it, or smell it, but memories will make their way into my brain and associate themselves, where those senses are concerned. As far as “seeing” a song, though, there is no doubt that I do have a flash of title whenever a song comes on, whether it be a complex string of kanji that I only know from years upon years of sight, not from actual understanding, or whether it be a simple English title with three little bread crumbs following it, the title itself pregnant with suspense as the song begins.

I love it. I’m glad to see it back.

God knows I’ll probably be crazy for it, because I am a bit love-blind when it comes to Ayumi Hamasaki. For instance: in the coming months I’ll be putting out my ‘Top Ten of J-Pop 2009′ and I will therein attempt to explain what makes ‘SUNRISE ~Love is All~’ such a great song to me while at the same time trying to understand what makes it so bad to its detractors. Ayumi Hamasaki’s fandom is one of the few I’ve been a (silent, at least where community is concerned) part of wherein even if you’re a fan, you’re expected to be a hater. This year’s summer single was ripped apart by fans, and I’m still trying to piece together why. I’ll do my best. That said, though, I hope that even if it isn’t all that great, ‘You were…’ will at least give us something to think about more than make snap judgments about.

For those wondering (and mostly because I wanted to document it), Ayumi’s Winter singles (known for being ‘wintery ballads’) arguably goes back to ‘M’, which was released in December of 2000 and is far and away one of her best selling singles of all time. The “modern era” of Winter singles are far more obvious: ‘Carols’, ‘Jewel’, ‘Together When…’ and ‘DAYS’ amongst them.

Last week I decided to perform a little experiment. Some of you who live in the USA may be at least vaguely aware of those pretentious, oft-times smugly self-satisfied commercials for KGB, a service that allows you to text any question to the number 542542 and receive an answer rapidly. It’s basically a pay-for-Google service for people without internet-enabled phones or friends with internet-enabled phones. It actually sounds ridankulous and I remember predicting the service’s financial collapse within months. But here it is, still around.

Since it IS a people-run Google service (essentially, though if Google itself had helped with development, no doubt it would be a lot smarter), I decided to put it to the test. I have to admit that I was spurred on by an entry to the train-wreck that is FandomSecrets on LJ, in which an anonymous fan claims to have texted “Kataang or Zutara?” to 542542 and received a witty and very human (not to mention very fan-centric) response. Having used KGB, I can now assume that this secret poster either happened to get THE ONLY KGB AGENT EVEN VAGUELY AWARE OF FANDOM, or is lying because it’s the internet.

Question #1:

Who is the best member of Hello!Project? (I figured this would provide great fodder for an article…I never assumed that the entire thing would turn into a THING)

Answer:

“The best member of Hello, is Project Akagumi.”

Um. No. I was understandably put off, because have I mentioned that it costs 99 cents per question? But oh well, I thought, at least it’s hilariously wrong and will make for a good mini-article.

Search up “best member of hello project” on Google and you’ll see how they arrived at this egregiously wrong answer, though. Hell, even I was only vaguely aware of Project Akagumi, myself (as opposed to Akagumi 4, but obviously that is now ancient history as pictures of Danielle Delauney and her Coconuts are now drawing “who the hell is this?” comments on a certain picboard) Considering the members of Project Akagumi, I’ll admit that the amalgam of all girls involved would be a helluva contender, but a strong case can be made for the amalgam made by Buono! or zyx-a if that’s what we’re talking about.

KGB FAIL.

Craving to see whether KGB agents would or could possibly fulfill my J-Pop queries accurately (or at least competently), I decided to try once more:

Question #2:

Who is the prettiest girl in Berryz Koubou?

My answer, fwiw. Though she is not without strong competition. I did say "prettiest", not "sexiest", "cutest", or "most rat-like"

Answer:

“On the World’s Prettiest Women site, Audrina Patridge is today’s prettiest woman. Yesterday Sarah Brightman was honored!”

DO NOT WANT. YOU GOT YOUR PORNY-LOOKING AMERICAN ACTRESS IN MY IDOLS. (also check out my terrible rushed Photoshop wut)

At this point, I got sort of pissed off.

Interjectory Message to KGB:

That’s twice you haven’t actually answered my questions, kgb. That’s a shame.

KGB’s response was to give me one free credit. Obviously they get this stuff a lot. So I wanted to make it count.

Question #3:

What is a “wota”?

Answer:

According to urban dictionary, a wota is a person who, although not Japanese, loves cute teen Japanese pop singers.

Not entirely accurate where etymology is concerned, but definitely true to the Western conceptualization and reclamation of the term.

I’ll give you this one, KBG.

But I will certainly not be asking you any J-Pop questions in the future. However, when I need to settle a bar bet about crappy old movie trivia, I’ll….wait, no I won’t. I have a fucking Blackberry and I’ll just USE GOOGLE. FOR FREE.

What a stupid service.

I’ve been a casual listener of AKB48 for abut two years or so – I started with ‘Seifuku ga Jama wo Suru’ (which casual listeners didn’t??) and quickly found other favorites in ‘BINGO!’, ‘Aitakatta!’, and ‘Skirt, Hirari’ (like everyone else). I liked ‘Baby Baby Baby’ and the recent ‘Namida Surprise’ and ‘Iiwake Maybe’, but I’ve just never loved AKB48 enough to make a major effort, you know? I knew I liked Kojima Haruna, Sae Miyazawa, Yuko Oshima, and Atsuko Maeda, but I’ll admit that I based my conclusions (aside from Maeda, who is actually an awesome vocalist and the first one I ever noticed in that capacity) on Hello!Island’s eyecandy posts and lots and lots of bikini shot “research”. Having said such, there are two major reasons I love Yuko. OK. Moving on.

I just never really thought I had the wherewithal to memorize girls, teams, and all the information required to be a proper AKB fan. So I’ve been content to just kind of sit back and say “yeah, this song is good! THEY ARE ALSO VERY VERY HOT.” I followed the SDN48 transition (in which another of my favored idols, Megumi Ohori, was shafted from AKB48 proper), and the 2009 group re-arrangements with blinking confusion. I thought “how can I possibly keep up with all this, much less jump in NOW and then sort it all out?”

I fail to remember, at times like these, that I did the exact same thing with Hello!Project. When I became a fan, the Gokkies were in their prime and the Rokkies were just entering the game. OH THAT FUJIMOTO MIKI. OH THAT TANAKA REINA. But I did my research, and it was a loooooong uphill battle before I was able to recognize without fail every short-lived girl (much less come to love some of them dearly, like Sayaka Ichii), an even longer battle before I could recognize voices. But I did. If I could do it with H!P, I can certainly do with with AKB48, right?

And why this sudden urge to do so?

THIS SONG.

Maybe it’s the Winter of My H!P Discontent taking hold (though I am thoroughly and completely in love with Berryz’ new song and c/w, and Buono! continues to win), but the injection of pure idol joy I got from the first minute of AKB48’s ‘RIVER’ PV filled me more than any other J-Pop release this year. I know that feeling. It’s the feeling that makes me want to get up and DO stuff, ACCOMPLISH things, be awesome! It’s been lacking in Morning Musume singles, though I felt it in a slightly insincere way from ‘3.2.1.Breakin’ Out!’. I just haven’t FELT it for too long. Buono! gave it to me for 2008, but for 2009 I’ve been searching, trying to find my footing in K-Pop, with SNSD and others. I never really got my legs in K-Pop. Though I love the groups, the whole scene is still too foreign to me. When AKB48 begin singing and dancing to ‘RIVER’, I take a deep breath and think “this is what I love about J-Pop.”

AKB48 have helped me get my Idol Groove Back. I will now be embarking upon the Great Adventure of going beyond the role of casual fan, listener, and thigh admirer. I will become a new AKB wota. *adds necessary category to Pink Wota archive* Thank you, AKB48, and may you continue to look smoking hot in bikinis.

At least AKB48 doesn't fuck around when it comes to bikini shots, you know. MOMUSU, I'M LOOKING AT YOU. And JunJun.

Grab a drink, this one has a game included.

You know, let’s build our own little “Morning Musume Drinking Game” right here and now. It would probably come in useful during some as-yet-unknown wota gathering during which we (in my dreams, at least) watch a bunch of videos and get shitfaced.

DA VIDEO:

DA REVIEW:

All I’ll say is, if I’ve left even ONE of you audiating ‘Kimagure Princess’ with MY WORDS in your head now, I’ve done my job. And shut up, Wordpress, audiating is too a word. Audiate. Audiation. I call shenanigans on your spell-checker.

I’m sort of drunk right now and it feels awesome.

Here, have some delicious Koharu cake, which is far more awesome a departure for her than this single is:

*singing* SEKUSHII.ASS.SHOT!

…pending confirmation, that is.

Oricon released the official list of “invited” teams for the 60th Annual Kouhaku Utagassen, to be broadcast on New Year’s Eve 2009. Among seminal favorites such as Every Little Thing, Kaela Kimura, and Ayaka, the Red Team looks like it has a few surprises in store for us. Idol fans especially will be delighted with the inclusion of AKB48, Perfume, and…that’s right, folks, MORNING MUSUME. Maybe they really did manage to make that “comeback” impact they wanted to make after a shitty 2007 and 2008. Good for them. Also of note to me is the late performance of Ayumi Hamasaki…she records her Countdown Live concert special on the same night, and as such has traditionally performed within the first few artists on Kouhaku. But, this being the 60th Anniversary Special and all, no doubt some consideration was given. (note: the list is in alphabetical order, as I was humiliated to find out…heh…surprise, I don’t know the Japanese alphabet even after lessons I’ve given up on :P I JUST GOT EXCITED. So…yeah, that will probably change) All-in-all, the Red Team is just chock full of goodness. Namie Amuro, Koda Kumi, Ai Otsuka, Shiina Ringo (SHIINA RINGO), Angela Aki, Ikimonogakari…wow. What a night.

Moving over the the White Team, things look a little more traditional (for Kouhaku, at least): w-inds., SMAP, TOKIO…but wait. We also have delicious Tohoshinki action, and for some goddamned reason AAA (what the HELL, I thought you had to be popular to perform on Kouhaku. People in Japan still know AAA are alive?) Also, Hirai Ken, which promises sexy, sexy fun.

All-in-all, I tend to get bored easily during Kouhaku broadcasts (at least since 2005 omg Wada Akiko omg OG Musume), but this one seems to be setting us up for something special, maybe a bit more of a nod toward modern themes and trends. And Ayumi’s late performance date indicates a lot, in my eyes. Especially the fact that she is AGAIN aligned against TOKIO (some of you may remember her 7-year romance with TOKIO man Tomoyo which ended in 2007…) (ETA: Again, the whole performance order =/= this list comes into question, but I wouldn’t doubt that she’ll be placed against TOKIO again. More interesting would be to see Ayumi squared off with Tohoshinki, whom she has been relentlessly fangirling and pimping this year).

Now, Red Team has been historically weak on Kouhaku in recent years, owing no doubt to the huge popularity of Johnny’s acts amongst the audience. But I think they’re onto something with the eclectic and electrifying line-up on the Red Team. Could we be looking at the first Red Team victory since 2004? I know I’ll be “watching” even if I can’t vote, even if it’s hours later.

For the record, this year will tie Ayumi Hamasaki and Morning Musume at 11 Kouhaku performances each. I think that’s somehow fitting.

Below the cut is a translated list of the Red and White Teams:

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…sounds like the title of an old poem. I’d make a reference to an obscure-yet-tragic-yet-campy figure who may have written said poem, but I’m not going to kid myself that anyone would want me to do that. Actually, it sounds more like the title of a Snow Patrol song. Tell me I’m not right. And, just as I typed that, my iTunes began playing ‘Wow’ by Snow Patrol, as if Snow Patrol were specifically responding to my statement. Hey, you guys deserved that.

So, I’ve been holding out on reviewing pretty much anything Morning Musume related, as I’ve made my feelings on their recent songs all too clear and figured I should just stay out of it and let everyone enjoy things. That said, I still very much enjoy looking at them. So, in the grand tradition of Not Writing Anything of Intellectual Virtue (which I am all for – I consider it a blogging version of punk, somehow) begun with its first few entries, Pink Wota will now sink its teeth into the promo images for Morning Musume’s ‘NINE SMILE’ tour…paying specific attention to the elements of the sets.

Best Tour Logo EVAR, btw

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