Hagiwara Mai Solo "Yuke! Genki-kun" and other randomness.

The other day a video was posted on youtube for Mai's solo song from the upcoming C-ute album "Dai nana sho - Utsukushikutte Gomen ne". Fair enough, the video is kind of random and not terribly exciting. But I am liking the song a lot and I find that Mai sounds, by her standards, impressively unannoying! In fact, I might even go as far as to say that, "I think her vocals sound great and really fit the song".

I can't find the video on the actual youtube uploader thingy, so here's a link.

In other Hello! Project news: 

Hair extensions are really quite fail-ish.
 

The harsh realities of the senpai/kouhai system are exposed.

Ishikawa Rika is still the photobook queen

My brain explodes from the awesomeness of RisakoxKyary.

A Wonky Change of Heart

You may remember that way back on day 2 of the '30 Hello! Project Idol Challenge' I selected Reina as an idol I disliked. Recently I have been unsure if this was the right decision. Sure, I still find Reina to be slightly powerless on stage but she has pretty much won me over as far as personality goes and her voice has improved a lot recently.

I often see people writing about how Reina's singing is whiny and how they wish she would go back to being the "old Reina". As far as I understand, Reina changed the way she sung around her joining to her later whiny tone because her style of singing was harmful to her throat. I think everyone can agree that her tone post Shabondama wasn't the most natural or pleasant. ("Sekushiiii Aiirann" anyone?) However, listening to new songs such as 'Silver no Udedokei', 'Kono Chikyuu blah blah blah' and the new Mobekimasu b-side 'Kacchoi Uta' I get the impression that Reina is finally figuring out how to use her voice to it's full potential. Its as if her voice has suddenly become more 3 dimensional. Her tone is warm and she has some nice vibrato going on. (Now if only Airi Suzuki would follow suit. Another great technical vocalist with an unfortunate lack of warmth.) In fact, I much prefer this Reina to the "Old Reina" everyone mourns.

It seems I will have to reconsider who my disliked idols are. Even Risako has won me over so I guess it all comes back to my original victim . . . . sorry Ayaya.

 Also, Reina is far overdue another photobook. Some of the shots in 'Very Reina' seem pretty interesting. Reina works well away from the bikini formula so I'd love to see a fashion orientated photobook from her soon.

30 Day Hello! Project Idol Challenge - Day 2

First of all, I hope it is okay not to do this every single day. I am not always near the computer! Anyhoo, moving on.

Day 2 - An Idol you Dislike

First off I would like to say that there aren't really any idols that I hate or strongly dislike and so I was pushed to choose here. There are many things I like about Reina but I chose her because I find her constant winking incredibly irritating and it seems to me that on stage she lacks a certain "oomph".