It's finally the 31st of October, HALLOWEEN: the day where the spirits awaken and the dead walk amongst the living ... ok well maybe not - But it gave me a nice excuse for some Photoshop fun!
There are two links for each picture. B/A contains a before and after side by side comparison of the pictures I used and Large are full sized versions (1030x1330pixels - less than 1MB each).

The girls are split into 3 groups of characters. First up are the vixens of forbidden magic and enchanting spells... WITCHES ~

KAMEI ERI & MITSUI AIKA
THE WICKED WITCH & THE GOOD WITCH


B/A Large - B/A Large

The second group takes inspiration from Alice Through The Looking Glass, where Alice deals with the QUEENS OF THE CHESSBOARD, frivolous, nonsensical women.

KUSUMI KOHARU & LINLIN
THE WHITE QUEEN & THE RED QUEEN


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The third group of characters take inspiration from the Elements: Chilling ICE, Electrifying LIGHTNING & Burning FIRE.

NIIGAKI RISA
TANAKA REINA & MICHISHIGE SAYUMI
THE ICE MAIDEN
THE LIGHTNING WARRIOR & THE FIRE PRINCESS

B/A Large


B/A Large - B/A Large

The final pair is the antithesis of good and evil. The greatest good and the darkest evil: DEMONS & ANGELS.

TAKAHASHI AI & JUNJUN
THE DEMON & THE ANGEL


B/A Large - B/A Large

So there we have it. Morning Musume in their 2008 Halloween costumes. I hope you all like my work, it took quite a while all up I guess (cause there were 9 to do *lol*), but I really enjoyed it. If you want to post these pics on other sites that's fine, but please give a link back to Stardust for credit. Also I have to give my own credit, I used TON of brushes that I picked up from deviantart so here are all thing things I used: CREDIT.
Please leave a comment letting me know what you think. I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts ^_^ HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Halloween is tomorrow! So here is my last sneak peek (I'm trying to create a buzz, I don't think it's working ^_^ lol). I'm revealing all the characters, which hopefully some of you will find exciting. Like I said earlier, nothing TOO ghoulish. Enjoy!

PREVIEW: Satoda Mai (who is quickly become the most successful H!P members ... well until she graduates) has a new Xmas single coming out soon titled Mou Sugu Christmas where she is joined by comedian Fuji and singer misono (collectively known as the duo Goda Kyodai).

The single goes on sale the 12th of November and is limited to 30,000 copies so get in fast if you want to nab this one.

REVIEWS: Whooo~ Weekly review time again. I actually really enjoy doing these reviews because it's totally opened my perspective on the Japanese music industry. A lot of the time I used to let true gems slip past me but now I pretty much listen to all the popular new releases each week so I'm discovering lots of new artists and songs I like. It's great fun!

36ºC WaT

36ºC is WaT’s first single in a while (since April to be exact), and it’s a ballad which so many of their songs are. I do enjoy some of WaT’s tracks but 36ºC is more of the same stuff that we’ve all heard before. The boy’s voices are on the high side, which some will find detracts from the song; personally I’m used to their whiney voices and it’s the only thing they really have going for them for uniqueness atm considering their music lately has been *yawn* a tad boring.
This being said, it isn’t as horrible as I may have made out. It does have a charm to it, it’s a sweet song and not a total disaster. Fans of WaT who drool over their soppy ballads will likely come rushing from the shadows to grasp their copy. I have tried to like WaT. Wentz and Teppai are undoubtedly very endearing guys with nice personalities, but yeah … it’s just not happening for me.
Raid has a scintillating little fantasy post on his blog pertaining to the PV for 36ºC. Check it out for some tear jerkingly sweet boy on boy fanfic (sad or happy tears – will depend on the reader lol). It’s probably the most entertaining thing about this single, unfortunately.

Rating: 6/10

Ame ga Furu Sakamoto Maaya

Popular Seiyuu Sakamoto Maaya releases her 17th single this week with Ame ga Furu, a sweet ballad with a fresh, interesting sound to it.
One thing I have to note straight away is Sakamoto’s vocals. I’m so used to Seiyuu’s having very high pitched, squeaky voices and while Sakamoto’s are high, she could be a standalone singer, her voice is really very good.
There are some nice attempts to turn this song from a plain ballad to something a little different in the way of an upbeat, interesting chorus which definitely helps the song.
Personally, it really isn’t the genre of song I can picture myself going back to too often, but I can’t deny that it’s pretty good. I like how it has a very distinct autumn sound to it, it’s really nice to hear.

Rating: 7/10

Musekinin Hero Kanjani8

I have to admit I don’t listen to much Kanjani8, so I have to ask ... are they usually this crazy? This song has a lot of crazy, comedic elements – refreshingly not taking itself too seriously. The JaJaJaJa~n chorus parts are catchy and the whole song is a fun little adventure
The instrumental is pretty cool, with a nice rocky touch and the guys have a lot of fun with little shouts and random phrases throughout.
I’m not certain about replay value, I tend to think for fans it would have quite a bit, but perhaps not so much for non-fans. For a song like this you really need to have some investment in the guys and their personalities, I think. I still enjoyed it, but perhaps not as much as Kanjani8 fans would have.

Rating: 7.5/10

Nihon no Mikata -Nevada Kara Kimashita- Yazima Beauty Salon

Oh dear lord - MY EYES! Yazima Beauty Salon (Yajima Biyoushitsu) is trio comprised of DJ OZMA and comedic duo Tunnels (Kinashi Noritake / Ishibashi Takaaki) playing the roles of a former nude Las Vegas showgirl Margaret Camellia and her two daughters, Naomi and Strawberry.
The scariest thing about this is not the hideous wigs, nor the tight showgirl outfits, it’s not even the big guy with hairy armpits playing 11yr old Strawberry … the scariest thing is that the song is actually pretty good *hides under rock*. It’s quite a funny, catchy tune and for a comedic song it ticks all the right boxes.
This song needs the PV to get the full impacts, it’s hilarious! Enjoy:

*lol* I crack up every time Strawberry is on screen. Too funny!

So there we have it. An original, yet slightly disturbing idea and they’ve come up with a surprisingly good release. I almost want to dress up in drag and frolic around town singing this song! Don't give me that look ... I said almost! -_-

Rating: 9/10 ... What? It's FABULOUS darlings!

Fujimoto Miki is featured in the latest edition of J-BLUES, which gives us a nice look at one of the many events held for her latest single Okitegami. These events were held weekly, helping the single chart for over 20 weeks (which must be close to a record for H!P).

lol at Miki's pink slippers :p I guess if she has to stand throughout the whole handshake portion of the event, she should at least be comfortable ;)

I really loved Okitegami, but it was released SOOO long ago. I'd like a new single soon, though I don't know how realistic that is. Miki's working hard on GREASE at the moment and the SingleV for Okitegami is only just being released now (o.O), so it might still be quite a wait away. Fingers crossed it's not too far away.

ORICON ROUNDUP

Quiz! Hexagon, the popular variety show, has scored the no.1 album this week with We Love Hexagon. The album features Pabo (with Country Musume's Satoda Mai), Shuuchishin, misono and other celebrities on the show, collectively known as the Hexagon All Stars. The show's popularity soared the album to the top of the charts with a whopping 270K sold.
Last week's no.1 Expressions dropped down to second after a 3 week reign at no.1. Takeuchi Mariya's best-of has now garnered close to 600K in sales.

Hey! Say! JUMP unsurprisingly leap frogged their way past any opposition, easily taking the top spot on the singles chart with 211K. Mayonaka no Shadow Boy continues their string of no.1 singles since their debut (4th) and their first week sales are up over 50K from their previous single.
Fukuyama Masaharu sold over 110K to take second position while AKB48 has eclipsed their previous singles' first week sales to take 3rd with 48K.
Tohoshinki, who held the top spot last week with Jumon -MIROTIC-, had a huge fall to no.25 only managing to sell 5K in their second week.

CHARTS:

Singles:

01 Mayonsaka no Shadow Boy Hey! Say! JUMP 211,322
02 Sou ~new love new world~ Fukuyama Masaharu 110,598
03 Oogoe Diamond AKB48 48,258
04 Shiawase ni Narou mihimaru GT 15,002
05 Kirei à La Mode Nakagawa Shouko 13,758
06 The Birthday ~Ti Amo~ EXILE 13,584
07 Vanilla Salt Horie Yui 13,099
08 Akai Ito Aragaki Yui 12,776
09 Hyakunen no Kodoku GARNET CROW 12,344
10 Itsuka Lee Byung-Hun 12,293

Albums:

01 WE LOVE HEXAGON Hexagon All Stars 270,310
02 Expressions Takeuchi Mariya 82,733
03 Akuma no Koori (Black Ice) AC/DC 19,246
04 12 Love Stories Dohzi-T 17,061
05 SHAKALABBITS SHAKALABBITS 14,672

Another little preview of my Halloween Morning Musume Mission, for those who enjoyed the first sneak peek:

Mouths/lips this time (gotta shake it up a little). These are the other 4 girls, so now each of the members have been previewed. As you probably guessed I've finished them all now and I'm pretty happy with how they turned out. Hopefully everyone will enjoy them. Remember to pop online on Oct 31st to have a look and leave me a comment letting me know what you think.

Thanks friends,
Mars.

PREVIEW: The PVs of Berryz Koubou's MADAYADE and Buono!'s Lotta Love, Lotta Love were released tonight and I have them embedded for your viewing pleasure :D

Now, Berryz' PV features the girls in a work setting, as interns of some sort. They are pretty incompetent as work assistants which is as far as the storyline goes, but it's the closest thing H!P has had to a story PV in a while so it's a nice addition. One gripe I have is that the PV looks a bit cheap. The setting looks less like an office, and more like a stage made up to try to look like an office.
Outfit wise, I've made my comments on those before. They don't get much better. The dance looks pretty stupid to be honest, although it does have its moments.
The best scenes are by far the end where the girls are mucking around. Very cute!
All in all, not a great PV but a huge step up from Monkey Dance which had a horrible PV.

Amazingly Buono's PV also has a premise, a recording on an old music show from the 60s. That explains the disgustingly cute outfits and the cheapo background. That being said, I still don't like the outfits and I never will.
The dance in this song is pretty good and the song is great. There are closeup shots which are nice but the dance section of the PV is the best bit imo. The crazy camera angles with the dimmed lights and silhouettes makes for a great dance interlude.
For a danceshot + closeup PV this one is pretty good. It would have been nice to get a different approach but, perhaps a short dramatic intro of the girls getting ready for their performance or something; That would have been a nice addition. It's still good, though.

H!P seems to be on a news vacation so I'm forced to do a pic spam post :p I was having a look at some recent pics and it totally struck me how grown up Hagitty is looking lately. Sure I noticed her growth spurt and all, but her recent Kanna mature haircut really made me notice the transformation she's made since C-ute's debut last year.

Early 2007



Late 2008
(click for high res)

It's kinda cool watching these girls grow up and mature into beautiful young women. Hagitty was always the tiny, short girl, and now she's totally rocketing up in height. I laughed at Nakki complaining about Mai growing in a recent C-ute DVD mag, not wanting her to grow taller than her; I think she's probably surpassed poor Saki now >.< The scary thing is that she is only 12, she still has a lot of growing to go!! :} Watch out Yurina!

When I began my blog 3 months ago I didn't expect that it would even last this long let alone get the nice attention it has. I started it on a total whim and before I knew it I had lots of kind regular readers and nice comments and support. Thanks so much to everyone who reads this blog, even if you don't comment, just seeing all the hits each day is really rewarding.

To show my thanks, I have an extra special treat for my dedicated readers, for Halloween!

All Hallows Eve, or Halloween as it is commonly known, is right around the corner (31st of October) and I've decided to put my Photoshop skills to the test to create some wonderfully made up Musume members ;)
Each of the 9 Morning Musume members will be decked out in special costumes, purely for Halloween Fun. While I did originally plan to do some more ghoulish characters, they just ended up too horrifying (Junjun with skin peeling off her face is not a pretty sight), thus everyone will be very glamorous characters.
I have a little sneak peek above, I wonder if you can make out who those five girls are (very likely for all the Musume fans lol) but what about their costumes? We'll see ;)

Stay tuned, I'm putting in a lot of hard effort into this so I hope you all enjoy it! 5 more sleeps ^_^

By 'tomorrow' I meant today (it was like 3am) ;) ... so here are my reviews for this week's new releases: Hey!Say!JUMP's Mayonaka no SHADOW BOY; AKB48's newest single Oogoe DIAMOND; Mihimaru GT's Shiawase ni Naro; and Nakagawa Shouko's Kirei À La Mode!

My blog's been up since July now and I'm getting to the point where I'm starting to review new singles from artists for the 2nd or 3rd time even, and it's quite interesting to compare. This is the 2nd single I'm reviewing of Hey!Say!JUMP's while Shokotan is popping those singles out, her 3rd in the latter half of this year.

Mayonaka no SHADOW BOY Hey!Say!JUMP

I wasn’t too impressed with Hey!Say!JUMP’s last single Your Seed / Bouken Rider, but Mayonaka no SHADOW BOY is actually quite good.
The song has a funky beat with a hint of an Arabian flair, which I always enjoy. It doesn't overpower the song, it isn't an Arabian style song, but it has certain moments which keep give it a really unique sound. The verses are quite catchy, thanks to some girl named ‘Cherry’ (I think) … actually I have no idea who Cherry is but they refer to her/it often and it’s catchy. The chorus lifts really nicely and is set apart from the rest of the song. The boys also take their shot at English giving a ‘Shadow’ or two, not too bad.
It’s not amazing enough to hook me onto the group but it’s definitely a top notch track and to be honest, I wasn’t expecting much of anything; A nice surprise.

Rating: 8.5/10

Oogoe DIAMOND AKB48

AKB48 have been a bit quiet on the Single front this year. This is their 3rd real single of the year (they had some digital one a little while back), but their first since February. I haven’t overly enjoyed AKB48 ‘s singles since maybe BINGO! but for me, Oogoe DIAMOND is quite a *gem* ^_^ ~
The chorus is what wins this single over: it’s extremely catchy, enjoyable and easy to pick up. The instrumental is also really fun and has some nice moments. Vocally I have to say that AKB48 has a lot of decent singers, I’m not certain how many actually lead in this single but they all sound pretty good.
It's a good track and I really enjoy this style from AKB48.

Rating: 8.5/10

Shiawase ni Naro mihimaru GT

While we’re on the subject of quiet years, I’ve been waiting 6 months for a new mihimaru GT single and finally we’re here (I didn’t count that SOFFert collab, didn’t like it much). Praise hiroko! :D Shiawase ni Naro is a ballad but with mihimaru GT’s distinctive style; It’s a ballad with a twist of GT ;)
The not-quite-but-almost rap verses are really great from hiroko, who is just incredible. She rocks my socks, majorly. miyake’s obligatory rap is also very nice and his beats really make this the great song that it is. Then we come to the chorus which is just beautiful. I really love how hiroko sings it, especially the 'Shiawase ni narou' line , so cute ^_^ ~ This song could melt even the blackest of hearts! :p
Did I mention I love hiroko? ... :)

Rating: Song ~ 9/10; Hiroko ~ 11/10

Kirei À La Mode Shouko Nakagawa

Shouko is kind of a hit and miss artist for me. She has a good single, then a couple of bad ones, then a great one, then a bad one … the cycle just keeps continuing. Her last single Tsuzuku Sekai was a good song so, you guessed it, Kirei À La Mode isn’t.
This song isn’t necessarily bad and it does have its charms. The chorus is quite cute, I’ll give it that but the song as a whole just kind of drags on. It honestly almost put me to sleep, though I am pretty tired atm. No, I’m pretty sure it’s the song.
Better luck next time Shokotan.

Rating: 6/10

Before I get to the new C-ute mag scans I just want to say sorry for my lack of posts recently; I've been mia the past week or so, not doing as many posts as usual (especially after the big Elder Club grad) but I've been a bit sick so I haven't been on the computer much, let alone having the patience to sit through headaches to write long posts :p BUT ... I will have my reviews for this week up tomorrow hopefully. I'll be reviewing AKB48, Hey! Say! JUMP, Mihimaru GT and Nakagawa Shouko. Look forward to it! ^_^

OK! Onto the scans (click the full scans to get HQ images):

C-ute Museum Vol.28 features C-ute in all things spooky and gory, playing around with Halloween props.

I don't have any translations, I assume they're talking about what they enjoy about Halloween. Kanna looks particularly cute in her HUGE witches hat and Chisa with her broom terrorising poor Erika *mwa ha ha!*
Also some scans from a few days ago from Kindai, featuring Hagitty, Erika and Airi. I don't see Mai and Erika paired together too often and they look really cute ^_^ Erika needs to watch out but; At the rate Mai is growing, she'll be as tall as her soon!
Airi sends us all a message "Do your best and make your dreams come true!" - Couldn't have put it better myself Airi. I shall do that! :D



Yajima Maimi features in the upcoming UptoBoy issue and wow! ... wow wow wow ... there is nothing else to say.

She is just so incredibly stunning. Some really awesome pics in this photo shoot, a true beauty!