Hello! Project's Station '25 ~YT · TV · Radio · Magazines~

[JonCC]

Dreams do come through if you are Tanimoto Ami and get to perform on Utacon:

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[Amped]

NHK Utacon 7.16.19

Tsubaki Factory performing "Koisuru Natsu no Hi" (1973)

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Tsubaki Factory backdancing for Yozakura Blues (Nagayama Yoko)

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air band Tsubaki Factory members

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Tsubaki Factory's Utacon performance + MCs
https://www.bilibili.com/video/av59486319

[Nayoko-Kihara]

Ami must have been dying from happiness on the inside. I hope we keep seeing groups on the show, even just for backup.

[Celedam]

Hello! Project Station #298 (17 Jul 2019)

MCs: Maria Makino & Kaede Kaga (Morning Musume. '19)



05:38~ "ENDLESS SKY" / Morning Musume. '19 (Live at Ueno Gakuen Hall on July 13)
14:00~ New member introductions (Live at Ueno Gakuen Hall on July 13)
25:13~ Hello! Kitchen: Ami Tanimoto & Yumeno Kishimoto (Tsubaki Factory) prepare pork kimchi somen

[Amped]

Young Magazine no.8 August 2019 issue cover girl Makino Maria, release is 7/19


https://yanmaga.jp/mym/2019/2019-8.html




https://yanmaga.jp/gravure/2019mym8cover.html

[Celedam]

UPCOMING #146 (18 Jul 2019)

MCs: Akari Takeuchi & Rina Katsuta (ANGERME)



04:58~ Sakura Oda (Morning Musume. '19) records the chorus for "Seishun Night"
11:15~ PINK CRES. announces their LIVE TOUR 2019 ~CONFUSION~
12:27~ Making the video for BEYOOOOONDS "Megane no Otoko no Ko"
21:30~ Akane Haga (Morning Musume. '19) sets her hair

[Nayoko-Kihara]

I was hoping for audition footage, but I'll take an Akane hair arrangement too.

Edit: The next LIVE Q&As with ANGERME confirmed.

Part 5 ft. Murota Mizuki & Kawamura Ayano, with special guests Ishida Ayumi and Nonaka Miki (Morning Musume).

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Part 6 ft. Kamikokuryo Moe & Kasahara Momona with special guests Takagi Sayuki and Miyamoto Karin (Juice=Juice).

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[da1suk1day0]

This is an older article from Bunshun Online (September 2018), but details how a broken-hearted gay man found Morning Musume through "Are you Happy?" and wrote about his journey in finding himself and his strength through listening to their music. Tsunku had also shared the article.

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Spoiler: show

As a gay man with a broken heart, why I still support Morning Musume
Incomparable explosive qualities and distant lyrics

I recently had my heart broken, and it wasn’t pretty.

To explain how intense it was, I had turned 29 thinking about no one but that person for about 2 years, and was just so casually dumped. This happened late at night while we drank to dawn, and yet while I felt like I was being enveloped by and lost in darkness, I somehow said “got it” coolly and went home.

Amongst gay men, the most common compliment is saying someone is “nonkeppoi” (“a guy who doesn’t seem gay”). It means “you seem to embody masculinity naturally,” which everyone seems to admire/thirst for in our world. When my relationship ended, I also wanted to end it like a good man.

But even that was impossible. On my way home I was helplessly drawn to the whispering between a straight couple reading at the magazine stand in the convenience store, the swings faintly glowing blue in the park at night, and the moon so small and seemingly cold. I suddenly felt like listening to aiko. The broken-hearted person crying inside of me wasn’t a “man,” but definitely a “woman” (definitely not the case that all gay men have that feeling).

I was listening to “Mikuni-eki.” That was the closest station to aiko’s university, and was actually my hometown. Aiko and I grew drinking the same water. Possibly, I may have not noticed it, but I may have become aiko, or so I thought. Maybe I was composing music in my sleep.

Completely immersed in those thoughts I got home, and thinking I had to do *something* as a sort of life-support I turned on the TV leaving the lights off. There were shows I had no recollection of recording, but all of them made me want to die of loneliness: onsen specials, fireworks displays…

I kept pressing “next” on the remote until I finally found a music program. I can probably watch this without feeling anything. I chose it thinking I’d be able to watch it light-heartedly, but that’s where I met my fate. That’s where I came across “Morning Musume ’18.”

Morning Musume ’18 “Guarantee your love, only for me more”
Me “That’s me…”

This was when they were performing their new song at the time, “Are you Happy?” Flooded in highly colored lights, their faces were the epitome of seriousness as they awaited their cue silently. I hadn’t a clue who anyone was, but it felt like their faces were saying, “we’re not joking, you know that?!” I felt like saying back, “no, I don’t…” sheepishly. However, I could feel their vigor and ability to take leadership with their strength in not caring what they looked like, and I suddenly started to feel the anticipation build up within me.

The song started suddenly with the center Makino Maria saying, “Are you happy?” with a decisive face. Zuu, zu zu, zuuzu! The beat rang like a heartbeat, and everyone started dancing at once.

The girls swung their head and arms around pretty violently. I was engrossed in their intense world view quickly. Sato Masaki started to whisper, “just me, more…” Then the others joined her in unison, swinging their arms together. “Just me, more… just me, more…” They finally completed the row as a group pointing their finger forward as they shouted that three times.

“Guarantee your love!!!”

I thought, “this is it…” in my pitch-black room. As soon as they finished I hurriedly looked up and binged their old videos on YouTube, and in the blink of an eye I was held captive by them.

Morning Musume: “the willful,” not “the chosen”

When I thought about it, I’ve never been a fan of idols until then because it felt like the “chosen women” would play the role of “woman” for “men.” The “woman” inside of me was always teased as “okamappoi” (“like a fruitcake/faggot”), so I’ve never been chosen nor appraised by anyone.

Whether the first round or just the document review, I was never able to show my “inner woman.” That woman within me couldn’t project herself onto an idol, nor could she have fun consuming it. To me, idols were residents in a world completely separate from mine.

However the “Morning Musume ’18” which I saw didn’t have the expression of “whether I was chosen or not,” but rather, “I don’t care if it’s for a man or for no one else out there, I will shout my femininity for myself.”

Tsunku’s said “I choose girls who have a strong will to change themselves through hard work” when he’s choosing members for Morning Musume If you look back to the start, the first generation embody that. Failing the ASAYAN audition, Morning Musume is “the five who weren’t chosen” who had to complete the mission of selling 50,000 CDs by hand to get their major debut. It wasn’t “whether or not I was chosen,” it was “choosing” their own path to get here.

Even now by adding the year after their name (’18), the group shows that they’re always looking to evolve. Rather than keeping with the obvious image of “born to be an idol” by recruiting that sort of presence, they continue to recruit girls who have a bit of a “diamond in the rough” feeling, and can polish those qualities through hard work.

For example, Iikubo Haruna (wearing brown in the “One Two Three” video) announced her graduation recently, and was known for her disjointed dancing style. But if you look at her now in “Are you Happy?” she’s become able to dance much better and show her best sides as only she can. There’s no question Iikubo has high production value in her performance and looks, and while it’s sad to see her graduate, the fact she was able to stoically continue to improve herself will make her shine no matter where she goes (tear).

Explosive lyrics that kick “men” to the ground

And you can tell how “not for men” Morning Musume is by looking at their lyrics.

For example, I want you to listen closely to “Are you Happy?” You can hear in the background someone yelling something, and that something is “loneliness!!!!”

You’d want to ask, “Um, are you all right?” but there’s a distance towards men that speaks my feelings for me.

Even outside of that in Morning Musume’s “EDM Era,” there’s a part in “Help me!!” (their first song to go #1 in that era) I want you to read:

Please help me
Not even a tear will come out
of my frail self
(Ha) (Ha) (Ha)
I can’t speak my truth (x2)
A nightingale that can’t speak (romaji: ienaichingeeru; a combination of ‘ienai’ and ‘naichingeeru’)

“Ienaichingeeru” in itself an excellent play on words, but look at the end of the song:

A sparkling girl, I’ll take off
A dawdling boy, don’t regret that

I’ll nab the glory from a pinch (tight spot)

Tsunku said this song was based on “loneliness in a big city and the positivity that’s right next to that loneliness,” and “ienaichingeeru” can either be an expression of the stupidly optimistic positivity or the loneliness that ends up burning you into ashes, or it could be both. In any case, within that chaos it opens the door to “women,” and you can feel the explosiveness of the lyrics as if it’s kicking the “man’s” perspective to the ground.

“The woman inside of you, isn’t that the real you?”

After I binged Morning Musume’s old videos, I felt like it was necessary for me to use their shockwaves as my tailwind in my life. The essence of Morning Musume is in their explosiveness, I think. There’s an awesomeness in songs like “Summer Night Town,” “Love Machine,” “Help me!!,” and “Are you Happy?” that makes you question, “what’s the matter?” No matter the era, these girls are always deadly serious.

It felt like they asked me, “the ‘woman’ inside you, isn’t that the real you? Why don’t you live more confidently?” Having kept a lid on it throughout puberty, I’ve finally been able to release the “woman” in me and open up about my being gay. But this woman, I’ve ignored her again as I was lost in love. I always thought it was important to be chosen by someone.

But the “woman” inside of me helped me realize again through meeting Morning Musume ’18 that I’m not meant to be anyone’s, and I’m meant to live for myself. She’s definitely a part of me. When I was able to realize that, I became able to love myself and sobbed instantly. I was also able to see the trivialness in a broken heart. Come to think of it, that guy who dumped me, if you really think about it isn’t he a complete dud? Aren’t there much better men out there!? What the heck!? There has to be!?!?

Even though Morning Musume may have had some negative explosions and press with Yoshizawa’s drunk hit-and-run, I want Morning Musume to share in the happiness and courage I found in that same explosive vector that showed their deadly serious faces saying, “we’re serious, you know that…!?”

It’s unnecessary for me to be chosen by anyone, nor to be praised. Like Morning Musume ’18, I’m also going to keep yelling. “Loneliness!!!”

[Nayoko-Kihara]

It's always a good time reading about the different ways people discover and fall in love with them. Even better that they gave him a confidence boost in the process.

Edit: A new Hello! Project show on BS SKY PerfecTV! called "Hello Pro! TOKYO Sanpo" (ハロプロ！TOKYO散歩) was listed in a new BS SKY guide. Starts August 28th at 22:30 p.m. Members will tour locations recommended for tourists with a guide. Special lecturers will appear, there will be quizzes. Learning while having fun. 1st episode is about the VR and aquarium experiences at Sunshine Ikebukuro, ft. Nonaka, Ichioka, Shimakura.
https://www.bs-sptv.com/program/5335/

(Sounds boring, but I hope I'm wrong. Still though; I really just want a show with studio performances.)

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[Amped]

Today, Kobushi Factory Nomura Minami and Inoue Rei were on location to begin work as regulars for the new AbemaTV program dedicated to the J League soccer team "FC Machida Zelvia" in Tokyo. They went around the team's stadium on opening game.




https://twitter.com/zerutsuku/status/10 ... 0932119552

The first episode starts 3/7 @ 9pm on the official FC Machida Zelvia AbemaTV channel
https://abema.tv/channels/special-plus/ ... rnHrcr7xKH

Announced a few days ago on 6/20, Kobushi Factory announced on AbemaTV that they will be in charge of singing FC Machida Zelvia's 30th Anniversary cheer song and they will be recording it.

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AbemaTV video interview #1 - Talking about being honored to sing the cheer song

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interview video #2 - Kobushi Factory didn't realize that staff had already been using some of FC Machida Zelvia's previous cheer songs in the openings of their Hall Concert tour

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interview video #3

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In June, Zelvia FC show asked Upfront Chief Director Hashimoto Shin to have Kobushi Factory sing their cheer song


Revealed on this month's episode of FC Machida Zelvia AbemaTV (region blocked) episode #5 (split into clips for youtube)

Upfront Chief Director Hashimoto Shin reveals the title of the cheer song "Yes! We are family" to Kobushi members and they listen to a demo of the song.


Then the Zelvia FC show played the early demo tape (no Kobushi singing yet) of the Machida Zelvia official support song "Yes! We are family (tentative title)".


Composition by Hoshibe Sho


Next episode is 8/22, Kobushi Factory recording the cheer song

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full clips
https://www.bilibili.com/video/av60122566