AKS needed Shinoda Mariko to win the second Janken Tournament. While it may seem a little crazy to make a statement like this while AKB is still super successful and the Janken was well received, here’s why Shinoda Mariko winning the second Janken Taikai was actually the best thing that …

08.24.2011 – AKBINGO! #149 [Link] This week’s ‘AKBINGO!’ introduced a brand new segment, ‘Ikemen Gakuen’!  AKB members were dressed as different archetypes of preppy schoolboy “Ikemen”, which basically translates to “hot guys”.  The hosts will present questions, and the students of Ikemen Gakuen are to write down and present their …

The landscape of H!P is changing, and I would say, for the better. ‘Buono!’ practically turned the world upside-down with their album ‘Partenza’, and Morning Musume’s double-A side songs both sound promising. C-ute is following suit with ‘Sekaiichi Happy no Onna no Ko’, which translates to ‘The World’s Happiest Girl’; …

By now that we’ve all heard the challenge PASSPO☆ set before themselves. Be number one next month or else team sub-leader Yukki will go bald. Initially I was extremely uninterested in the news. They had accomplished the feat earlier this year and while it was pretty big news then, I …

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: …