Recorded June 27nd, 2011. This week on NSK…. Eguchi Aimi goes mainstream, Idol Music At Work, Supergirls, VMAJs, AKB Blu-Ray Collection, New H!P Singles, Sayashi Riho Promotions and a discussion about Sakura no Shiori. Opening: Kuchibiru Furezu – no3b Closing: – Diva     [download]  

RESULTS BE IN, SON: Media Senbatsu: 01 Atsuko Maeda [139,822] 02 Oshima Yuko [122,843] 03 Kashiwagi Yuki [74,252] 04 Shinoda Mariko [60,539] 05 Watanabe Mayu [59,118] 06 Kojima Haruna [52,920] 07 Takahashi Minami [52,790] 08 Itano Tomomi [50,403] 09 Sashihara Rino [45,227] 10 Matsui Rena [36,929] 11 Miyazawa Sae [33,500] …

By S&M, I mean ‘Sleek & Minimalist’ of course. Despite ‘No Sleeves’ (also known as ‘No3b’) being the AKB subgroup with the best combination of strong voices, it’s always had a chip on its shoulder.  Ever since they were formed, they’ve only released 1-2 songs annually; which basically meant that …

Hayami Akari is an amazing member of Momoiro Clover.  She was easily the stand-out of the group— being tall, weird, and half-asian with short hair among her fellow shorter, full-japanese, long-haired members.  She held the coveted role of sub-leader and was the resident rapper of all their major releases. But …

There’s been talks about a new four-member subunit with Nakaya Sayaka, Nakata Chisato, Uchida Mayumi, and Tanabe Miku. While I’m in love with the prospect of Nakaya Sayaka being in a subgroup, I’m a little worried. Don’t get me wrong, I think these girls are long overdue for some attention …

I guess music industries are more internationally aware of each other than I thought. These girls called ‘Las Famosas Inalcanzables’, which roughly translates to ‘The Untouchable Superstars/Celebs’ performs a song called ‘Champú para Tus Ojos’, or ‘Shampoo for your Eyes’. This is easily the funniest thing I’ve seen all week: …

the short series featuring No3b and their new single have started to come out; kojima haruna’s is below. not exactly sure what’s going on, except the three girls are given tasks to fulfill and they go out and do them.  are they supernatural?  who are they?  what’s their purpose? without …

One of the toughest jobs has to be a Producer of an Idol Group. How some of these Producers get everyone to play nice is beyond me. Like any group or team, there is always ego involved. In just the case of something like a sports team, there are superstars …

something interesting came up on stage48, an english community-run forum. HMV had a survey of questions asked about akb48 members ranging from ‘which is your favorite team’ to ‘which member would you want to be’.  4,001 fans were surveyed, and 23% of them were females.  some results were typical, while …

i’m no expert on japanese culture.  i read manga and watched anime occasionally, but selectively.  my knowledge of japanese cinema boiled down to critically acclaimed old-timer directors like akira kurosawa and yasujiro ozu, campy pop films like ‘death note’ and ‘battle royale’, or recommended films like ‘nobody knows’ and ‘linda …