Buono! Concert in Europe... again!

It has been 2 years now since Buono! announced their ill-fated trip to Stockholm to perform at the Japan Expo. Now, in early 2012, they're planning to make a second attempt at performing in Europe.

Back then I was pretty excited. It was to be the first time that any Hello! Project group was to perform outside of Asia. That was big news. Morning Musume were set to appear a few months later at Anime Expo, but the first would be Buono! And in Europe! I was determined to go.

Despite my parents insisting that I couldn't actually afford to go, I managed to convince them otherwise, and everything was booked. Flights, accomodation, Expo tickets. As time drew nearer, and our excitement grew exponentially with it, we were utterly distraught by the cancellation.

It didn't turn out too bad though. A group os us who had already paid for everything went anyway, and had a good time which became the first (and, unfortunately, only) Eurowota event. But even now that dejection in the wake of the cancellation announcement still haunts me.

And now that we have a second shot?

I... don't care.

It's not that I don't want to go. I do. But that sense of urgency that was there with the Stockholm visit just isn't there. I don't really feel like it's in any way imperative that I'm actually there.

So I'm not sure if I actually intend to go. With some pretty awesome book-keeping, I'm certain that I could pull it off. But I'm still holding out for Berryz to get invited to Japan Expo. It's a small hope, perhaps. But I know that if they do announce it after I've commited to going to see Buono, I won't have the money to see Berryz. And I'd be kicking myself from here to Calais if that happened.

Who knows. Maybe I'm holding out for something that will never happen. Maybe I'm a fool to do so.

It's still possible that I'll attend this concert. After all, I was initially very indifferent towards the idea of going to see Morning Musume at PJX. But when I did go I had a great time. Most fun I've ever had, if I'm honest. But at present, I'm very much sitting on the fence with this.

That said, for those of you who aren't sat on the fence, it's set to take place on the 12th of February, at Le Machine du Moulin Rouge, at the heart of Paris' entertainment districts.

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Buono!'s Zassou no Uta PV

Upon the creation of Buono!'s official YouTube channel, it seemed that the first order of business was the release of their newest PV, featured below.

The PV features the girls singing, dancing, and working, in a garage, surrounded by horribly "pimped" classic sportscars - complete with neon underlighting. It's a horrible mess. But at least it's pretty clear what they were trying to achieve. And, abominations against the world of automobiles aside, the PV is actually pretty decent.

The decision to set it in a garage was a weird one though. I guess there's something intricately sexy about girls who understand mechanics. Despite the stigma attatched to people who work in such places.

The song itself isn't the best that Buono! have ever released, and is by far one of the least memorable tunes. But at the same time, I've heard much worse come from H!P. So this song exists somewhere in the middleground between "interesting - awesome" and "interesting - rubbish".

All in all, a decent PV and a decent song, if slightly on the boring side.

Yet on a not-so-boring note... What is up with Miyabi's hair? She looks like Minni Mouse.

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Buono! on YouTube

Joining the ranks of Hello!Project artists who have gained their own YouTube channel are Buono!.

As with previous channels, it will no doubt become the main source of Buono! PVs on YouTube, as well as many other exclusive video bytes and promotional messages.

This is definitely a good sign. It shows us that Buono! are here to stay. But more importantly, it shows us that UP FRONT aren't as far off the ball as one might think at first glance. Piracy is a major problem for the music industry, and there was a time when any music videos posted on YouTube would be removed for copyright infringment, but the industy (UFW included) are beginning to turn their heads and realise that such draconian measures never work, and the best thing to do is to actually join in. By providing an official alternative to the dozens of PV uploaders already existing, they can still make money thanks to advertising. And, let's be honest, if you see two copies of the same PV on there, one uploaded by the official Buono! channel, and one uploaded by jimbob123, we're all more likely to go to the Buono! one, whether we realise it or not.

This is just one more step on the continuing road to embracing the internet, which was previously shunned. A trend that I feel will come to define the new decade.

Official Bouno! YouTube Channel

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Stockholm Japan Expo

A few days ago a rumour surfaced that the Stockholm Japan Expo was going to be cancelled, and when the site went offline it made us all incredibly worried. Then the official confirmation arrived around mid-day yesterday.

Dear Customer,

Unfortunately we have to inform you that Stockholm Japan Expo 2009 is cancelled.

There are several reasons for this, the financial change in world economy, severe competition from other festivals/concerts as well as poor ticket sale.

This means you will get your ticket purchase back by www.ticnet.se. More info about this will be announced on our website (www.japanexpo.se) next week.

We deeply apologize for the inconvenience it may have caused and hope that Stockholm Japan Expo will be feasible in the near future.

With sincere apologies,

SJX-Crew

Needless to say, I was angry. Angry that after paying for it all and investing so much money and stress on the fact that I was going to see Buono! perform live. Angry after this had been snatched away from me. I felt like I, and thousands of other people, had been lied to by the Prime Minister himself.

Now, I've had a little time to think and clear my head though. I feel a little calmer, although the reality of it all still hasn't fully sunk in yet.

It's clear that Buono! and UFA have nothing to do with the decision, and it's trully a shame that we're sending such a message to them of the European fans. After this, I'd be reluctant to have the girls perform in Europe any time soon. I'm sure UFA are probably thinking the same. But I really doubt that the girls had any intention to perform here before this, they were invited by the SJX organisers (in collaboration with NewNippon, I believe) to perform at the expo. Much the same way I imagine Morning Musume were invited to Anime Expo. UFA were promised a sum of money, and they agreed to have the girls pay LA and Stockholm a visit. I guess the hope then was to have this kickstart a western expansion by the agency and the talents.

We Europeans haven't gained anything, nor have we lost anything short of an oppertunity. The Battle for Britain is clearly much further off than we had thought.

The biggest consolodation that I have found in the cancellation is that I will no longer have to perform wotagei for Buono! I said I wanted to learn and perform wotagei for them, and I still have that dream. But if there's one thing I've learned from my practice, it's that Buono! are a difficult group to learn the wotagei to. Their music isn't exactly traditional J-Pop, and I've had a little trouble differentiating between who is actually singing and when - particularly Miyabi and Airi, as when singing as part of Buono! the two have very similiar voices. I really don't think I'm ready for them.

Had the group been Berryz Koubou instead, I probably wouldn't have that sense of relief, as I'm much more confident when it comes to Berryz songs which are much more familiar to me, and the voices I can tell apart in an instant.

I had bought myself a happi coat specifically for this concert though, and I will regret that I won't be able to use it.

Despite this, I know many of us have still got money invested in visiting Stockholm as non-refundable and are still planning on visiting. I'm one of these people. And I look forward to meeting any fellow fans and wota who will make the pilgrimage, even if the prophets are gone. I'm confident that we will have a wonderful time regardless, after all... Stockholm is supposed to be a wonderful city and the Swedes a wonderful people.

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Buono! at the Stockholm Japan Expo!

Well, I'm sure everyone and their grandmother knows about this now. But I've been a little pre-occupied with college, and with Maasa's photobook news lately. And I wanted to talk about it myself.

So, it's been confirmed that everyone's favourite 3-nin Hello!Project group will be paying us Europe fans a little visit in May at the Stockholm Japan Expo. This will be the first time a Hello!Project group has performed in Europe. It'll also be the first time a Hello!Project group has performed in the west. Sure, there have been fanclub concerts in Hawaii by Morning Musume and Ayaya, but as those were fanclub-only (and you can't join the fanclub without a Japanese address) they don't count.

I was a tad annoyed when I heard Morning Musume would be attending Anime Expo in the US. How dare they visit the US before Europe! There's no way I would have been able to pay to fly to CA and see Morning Musume, it would probably end up cheaper for me to fly out to Japan and see them actually in concert. So there was no way I was attending that.

And then this came along! Buono! in Europe? I pretty much forgot all about AX, I'd much rather see Buono! than I would Morning Musume (keeping in mind that I got into H!P through MM and have been a fan for 2+ years). I'm very much looking forward to hearing about AX, but I'm also very much looking forward to telling you all about SJE. That's right. I plan to attend. My parents took a little convincing to let me fly abroad for the first time on my own, but hey! They're going to France and leaving me behind in June, so it's fair right? Except for my brother, who can't attend SJE because it happens to fall right in the middle of his exams.... Not that he could actually afford to go anyway.

But yeah, I'm in the process of booking my flights right now. I'll be there for about a week, I hope. So if anyone has any reccomendations on things to do while I'm there, or wants to meet up with some fellow wota at the Expo, then drop me a message. We can arrange something, right?

Praised be Maasa for delivering H!P to Europe before the US!

UPDATE: Expo Ticket and flights have been booked, accomodation to go. See you guys there!

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Buono! - Gachinko de Ikou

The PV for Buono!'s new single (that will make 4!) has been released on Dohhhup! So this post is dedicated to that video - which you can find at the top of this post.

The video starts out with the three girls sitting around a table in a darkened room wearing khaki-coloured suits. I guess this is supposed to create the look of a poker ring, and it does that just fine once you get past the fact that they are staring at a tower of Jenga blocks. The music finally begins with clips from that Dance Shot. And they've put away those old suits for something much more fitting to the Buono! image.

And it is here, for the first time, we get to see clearly Miyabi's new hair! I'm not sure if it was just for this PV, but I'd like to think that she'll keep it like this. Miyabi hasn't had her hair red since about 2004, and even then, it was closer to brown than it was to red. But this is a beautifuly redder colour. I'd even compare it with Kasumi from the Dead or Alive video game series, if they'd used a colour like that in the movie then the actress might have actually looked like Kasumi.

The song, itself, is fairly typical for this group. Very genki and catchy. When I heard the radio rips for the full song i listened to it all day, no joke. And those little yells in the background, "Sou da! Sou da!", really go a long way to making this a great song. You wouldn't believe it, but after you hear those you just think "This is a really fun song!"

I'll admit, I've liked all of Buono!'s songs from the moment I heard them, and it really doesn't end here as this was an instant favourite.

All I can really say is that if you enjoyed Buono!'s previous singles, then you'll like this. If you don't like them (shame on you!), then you probably won't like this much either.

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Edo no Temari Uta II

Well, it seems that the latest C-ute single, Edo no Temari Uta II, is finally out. Have you all ordered it yet?

The song is really interesting, at first I really didn't like it, I thought it was a little too removed from their previous work, but I'm listening to it right now as I type and it really isn't so bad. It's still quite a mature song but does have a sound a little more consistent with a lot of other Hello!Project songs being released at the moment, such as High-King's Cinderella/Complex.

The one problem I have with this song is length, the A-Side only lasts for about 2:30, so it's a very short song - by H!P standards, anyway. So it reaches the end and leaves you thinking, "Was that it? That only lasted for about 10 seconds!"

The Coupling song, Wasuretakunai Natsu, is a much longer song in comparison - twice the length of the A-side. Wasuretakunai Natsu has a very differant sound. However it does sound rather familiar, as it's nothing new. The song sounds very similiar to alot of H!P songs and, sure, while it is differant, it certainly does have the same feel and will leave you thinking, "Haven't Buono! already sung this before?"

Anyway, here is the song Edo no Temari Uta II for your enjoyment.

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