Wota-kai!? Episode 2

The show has returned after the pilot proved more successful than we could have ever imagined!

Some scheduling issues got in the way last week. We had hoped to record and have it released by Monday last week, but Ren proved to be too busy on the recording day,  and following attempts to postpone the recording by a day or two proved to be unworkable. So we had to cede defeat and resume as normal the following weekend.

We are now starting to get the hang of it though, and we hope to gradually change the format and the way things work over the next few episodes to make this into the show we had in our minds when we created it.

The biggest such change right now is the introduction of a third member to the podcast. This member is our special guest, and will change every week, as new people are invited, or ask to be on the show. This is something I wanted to do from the very beginning, to help keep the show fresh with new opinions and personality. Especailly as both Ren and myself are Berryz fans above all else, so a Morning Musume fan or a S/mileage one would do well to balance out an episode. Though Ren and I both agreed that the first episode should just be the two of us, so we could find our feet first.

This time, our guest is magatsu17. I've known him since the days when I was in ICU-Subs. He joined quite late in the group's life, and none of the several projects he had timed for them ever actually saw the light of day. So, when we formed KIDS, he seemed like a good person to have do some temp work for us. So disillusioned were we all by ICU, that he was just happy to finally see a project he had worked so hard on actually released.

Episode 2 of the podcast can be found here. Alternatively, you can now listen to it below.

This week's topics include concerts of the past, and how they differ from the concerts of more recent years; whether UP FRONT are always up front about the reasons that members graduate; and whether or not Idols are negatively influenced by the media-percieved sexualization they are subjected to as young girls.

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Wota-kai!? Episode 1

This is something that we have both been thinking of doing for quite some time. But a recent conversation with Sazaki Ren proved to be the catalyst for turning it into reality.

For whatever reason, the conversation turned to a few ideas I had floating around in my head, including a few upgrades to this blog. And I told him about my idea for a regular H!P podcast. The reply was almost instantaneous. "Lets do it." What? That was fast. "I've been wanting to do something like this for a while myself."

And so an idea which I had been rolling around in my head for weeks, but lacked the drive to actually start, suddenly started. We decided on the format, the name, the recording date. And then suddenly it was Sunday, 1st of April, and I was sitting in front of a microphone recording this podcast.

Nerves definitely kicked in, and there was at least one false start. I think you can tell when listening to it that I really don't feel as comfortable at the start as I did later on in the show, but for our pilot episode, I can tell you that we both feel pretty proud of this.

You can download the podcast, which features Hello! Project music and discourse, as well as a news segment and discussion about topics which are relevant to modern H!P fandom, here. Alternatively, you can listen to it by using the widget below.

Of course, any and all feedback, suggestions and constructive criticism is welcome, and should be directed at my Twitter account, or, if you prefer, the comments section or a PM on H!O.

I should also point out that we are looking for guests to appear on the show, so if you would like to add your voice to the discussion, please also contact me via the above methods.

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