1.Yoona (SNSD)

If I thought the winding-down of promotions for The Boys was going to temper my Soshi obsession, I was wrong…thanks to SM’s relentless media barrage lined up for them, which somehow resulted in me sitting through 2+ hours watching Yoong host some KBS Awards show I would otherwise have had no interest in at all…

2.Yuri (SNSD)

Oh Yuri, Yuri, Kwon Yuri. How can one of the sexiest women in Korea also be one of the world’s dorkiest, derpiest tryhards? In the anime world, this is what you’d call a moe gap lawl

3.Jiyeon (T-ara)

I always wondered if my Jiyeon feelings would change once I saw her live in the flesh…yeah they did. They got worse :[ She’s gonna overtake Yuri at this rate >_>

4.IU

OMG she’s just so adorable *_* even when she falls on her ass www

5.Hara (KARA)

Plastic face alert…there’s just something really amusing about watching Hara buttdance when a bunch of footballers are trying to assemble a wall…Snickers ads are win. Oh, and she looks like Namie.

Under:
Seohyun (SNSD) – Sorry maknae, you came off as a bitch mom I’d never want to have on Dangerous Boys…
Suzy (Miss A) – IY2 is getting incredibly painful to watch…

Plus, they had Lady Gaga on! It was worth watching the show just to see her her manhandling Tamori lawl.

Setlist:
1.I Wish For You. EXILE
2.Rising Sun. EXILE
3.Everybody Go. Kis-My-Ft2
4.My Best Friend. Kuraki Mai
5.Laser Beam. Perfume
6.OVER. Hey!Say!JUMP
7.A winter fairy is melting a snowman. Kimura Kaela
8.T.W.L. Kanjani8
9.Monjai Beat. Kanjani8
10.Yasashiku naritai. Saito Kazuyoshi
11.Sexy.Honey.Bunny!. V6
12.HELLO. YUI
13.Birth. KAT-TUN
14.Tatoe Donna ni…. Nishino Kana
15.Esperanza. Nishino Kana
16.One More Time. Porno Graffitti
17.Apollo. Porno Graffitti
18.Ai o Tomenaide. Koda Kumi
19.Cutie Honey. Koda Kumi
20.Winter Rose. Tohoshinki
21.Why? (Keep Your Head Down). Tohoshinki
22.Aruite Ikou. Ikimonogakari
23.Joyful. Ikimonogakari
24.Boku no Hanbun. SMAP
25.Original Smile. SMAP
26.The Boys. Shojo Jidai
27.MR.TAXI. Shojo Jidai
28.Kazoku ni Narou yo Wedding ver. Fukuyama Masaharu
29.Kaze o Fuiteiru. AKB48
30.Everyday, Kachuusha. AKB48
31.Flying Get. AKB48
32.Eikou no Kakehashi. Yuzu
33.Shou. Yuzu
34.Winter Magic X’mas ver. KARA
35.Jet Coaster Love. KARA
36.Yasashii Ao. Ayaka
37.Hajimari no Toki. Ayaka
38.Zutto. aiko
39.Boyfriend. aiko
40.Flower. KinKi Kids
41.Negau Ijou no Koto Inoru Ijou no Koto. KinKi Kids
42.Mata Ashita… JUJU
43.AMBITIOUS JAPAN. TOKIO
44.Miageta Ryuusei. TOKIO
45.Lotus. Arashi
46.Happiness. Arashi
47.Meikyuu Love Song. Arashi
48.Chase. L’arc~en~Ciel
49.Niji. L’arc~en~Ciel
50.Marry The Night. Lady Gaga
51.Born This Way. Lady Gaga

So many memorable performances!
・It was pretty emotional watching Ayaka return to the stage and the tears in her eyes when she stepped up to talk to Tamori…it’s just ;_;
・Kuu-chan doing Cutie Honey :O Too bad she kept most of her clothes on this time
・Kaela’s song was just….weird.
・It seems like forever since I heard Apollo. Fond memories!
・Surprised that Perfume only got to perform 1 song…their outfits were awesome though
・aiko trying it on with inflatable snowmen? Legendary.
・I liked the performance order, with big-name artists scattered throughout instead of all being bunched up together at the end..kept the anticipation levels up
・My only complaint is the lack of rock acts on the bill – only Saito Kazuyoshi and he looked a bit lost haha
・Greatly amused by how Lady Gaga’s description of her fans as being good/nice monsters got translated to 礼儀正しい [polite] in Japanese lolwtf
・I have yet to hear a good performance of Miageta Ryuusei…Nagase always sounds like he can’t be arsed

MS Super Live 2011′s the best year-end music show so far and there’s only the drowsy Kohaku left now to usher in the new year!

Unlike NHK’s Kohaku, there was no songlist released prior to FNS Kayousai so there was definitely a heightened sense of excitement over what songs the artists involved would be performing – we were promised 81 stages in total with 61 of them being collaborations, amongst them a purported ‘dream’ collab between SPEED and AKB48. Surely the show would turn out to be a night of awesome performances, celebrating the best of classic and modern Jpop? Well, it didn’t turn out quite that way.

First of all, the list of songs performed on FNS Kayousai 2011:

1.Ai wa Katsu. Ai wa Katsu Singers
2.Everybody Go. Kis-My-Ft2
3.Suteki na Nichiyoubi (Gyu Gyu Good Day). Ashida Mana
4.Koigokoro. miwa x Aikawa Nase x Nakagawa Shoko
5.441. Aikawa Nanase x miwa x Nakagawa Shoko
6.Boku no Kimochi. WaT & Tanimura Shinji (Alice) & Kousetsu Minami (Kaguya Hime)
7.HERO. Fairies
8.Jounetsu no Mariachi. Hikawa Kiyoshi
9.Seibotachi no Lullaby. Iwasaki Hiromi & Hirahara Ayaka
10.Kagayakinagara. Tokunaga Hideaki & Takanohana Koji
11.Kowarekake no Radio. Tokunaga Hideaki & ATSUSHI (EXILE)
12.SEXY ZONE. SEXY ZONE
13.Sexy.Honey.Bunny.! V6
14.Body & Soul. SPEED x AKB48
15.White Love. SPEED x AKB48
16.Maru.Maru.Mori.Mori!. Ashida Mana & Suzuki Fuku x AKB48
17.Jet Coaster Love. KARA
18.Odoru Ponpokorin. B.B.QUEENS x Ishikawa Rika x Yoshizawa Hitomi x AKB48 x Ashida Mana x Suzuki Fuku
19.Winter Magic. KARA
20.okey-dokey. SKE48 x AKB48
21.Ai no Memory. Matsuzaki Shigeru & Fuse Akira
22.Kaze wa Fuiteiru. AKB48
23.Kimi wa Bara yori Utsukushii. Fuse Akira & Matsuzaki Shigeru
24.Mata Ashita. JUJU x Kiyozuka Shinya
25.Rhapsody in Blue. Kiyozuka Shinya
26.Itoshiki hibi yo. Hirai Ken x Kiyozuka Shinya
27.Kimitte. Kuraki Mai x Nishino Kana x BoA
28.Strong Heart. BoA x Kuraki Mai x Nishino Kana
29.Meri Kuri. Nishino Kana x BoA x Kuraki Mai
30.I Wish For You. EXILE x Go Hiromi
31.FIGHTERS. 3rd Gen J Soul Brothers
32.Rising Sun. EXILE x 3rd Gen J Soul Brothers x E-Girls
33.LOVE Machine. Dream Morning Musume x Morning Musume
34.Renai Revolition 21. Dream Morning Musume x Morning Musume
35.BELIEVE IN LOVE. Watase Maki (Lindberg) x Moritaka Chisato
36.my sweet darlin’. Dohmoto Tsuyoshi (KinKi Kids) x Yaida Hitomi x Le Velvets
37.Kibun Soukai. Moritaka Chisato x Watase Maki
38.Donna Toki mo. Dohmoto Koichi (KinKi Kids) x Anne x Makihara Noriyuki
39.Woman “W no Higeki yori”. Hirai Ken x Yakushimaru Hiroko
40.Kiyoshi no Soran Bushi. Hikawa Kiyoshi x Gospellers
41.Mr.Taxi. Shojo Jidai
42.Imouto. Minami Kousetsu x Arashi x Matsushita Nao
43.LA VIE EN ROSE. Kikkawa Koji x Osawa Yoshiyuki
44.Dynamite ga 150ton. Kobayashi Akira x Nagase Tomoya x Takeda Shinji
45.Soshite Boku wa Tohou ni Kureru. Osawa Yoshiyuki x Kikkawa Koji
46.Atsuki Kokoro ni. Kobayashi Akira x Suzuki Masayuki
47.Ohisama~Taisetsu na Anata e~. Hirahara Ayaka x Takarazaku Revue
48.Koibito. Suzuki Masayuki x Takarazuka Revue
49.Ringo no Hana. Makihara Noriyuki x Takarazuka Revue
50.It’s you. LOVE PSYCHEDELICO
51.Egao ni Kanpai. Go Hiromi x Condors
52.Why? (Keep Your Head Down). Tohoshinki
53.Meikyuu Love Song. Arashi x Hakase Taro x Miyamoto Emiri
54.Jounetsu Tairiku. Hakase Taro
55.Inochi no Saigo no Hitoshizuku. KinKi Kids x Hakase Taro x Miyamoto Emiri
56.WHITE BREATH. T.M.Revolution x Asakura Daisuke x Gekidan Sujaku
57.HOT LIMIT. T.M.Revolution x Asakura Daisuke x Gekidan Sujaku
58.HIGH PRESSURE. T.M.Revolution x Asakura Daisuke x Gekidan Sujaku
59.Matsuken Maharaja. Matsudaira Ken
60.Everyday, Kachuusha. AKB48 x SKE48
61.Natsuiro. Tanimura Shinji x Yuzu
62.Fuyu no Inazuma. Tanimura Shinji x Yuzu
63.Eikou no Kakehashi. Tanimura Shinji x Yuzu x Segi Takamasa
64.Champion. Tanimura Shinji x Yuzu x Segi Takamasa
65.Ryuusei no Saddle. Kubota Toshinobu x Matsushita Nao
66.Dynamite. SMAP x Kubota Toshinobu
67.TIME Shower ni Utarete. Kubota Toshinobu x SMAP
68.Ganbarimashou. SMAP
69.Furui Kioku. Wada Akiko x Takeda Shinji x Oshio Kotaro
70.Ano Kane o Narasu no wa Anata. Wada Akiko x Tokunaga Hideaki
71.Sorafune. TOKIO x Kikkawa Koji
72.Miageta Ryuusei. TOKIO
73.Ano Natsu o Wasurenai. AKB48
74.Super Lover~I need you tonight~. w-inds. x SPEED
75.Egao no manma. BEGIN x Akashiya Sanma x SMAP
76.Pieces of a Dream. CHEMISTRY x Fuse Akira
77.Hey Wa. Yuzu x Miyamoto Emiri x Hanai Yuki x VOJA
78.Stand By Me. Ben E.King x AI x JUJU x VOJA
79.Towa ni. Gospellers x Tohoshinki x Le Velvets
80.Kazoku ni narou yo. Fukuyama Masaharu
81.Boku no Hanbun. SMAP

Brief comments:
・there appears to have been zero thought put into the order of songs performed 曲順 + カオス were thrown up a lot on Twitter throughout the night. Switching from idol (AKB) to old man songs (Matsuzaki/Fuse) and then back to AKB was not the brightest idea.
・too much seen of certain acts (AKB, SMAP) and too little of others (Fukuyama Masaharu, CHEMISTRY)
・too many mismatched collaborations…Fuse Akira’s fumbling vocal on PIECES OF A DREAM made me weep
・camera work was often questionable; I’m not even an SKE48 fan but it was pretty silly how Okey-Dokey featured zero close-up shots
・and wtf at camera panning at Mana-chan during KARA’s song. Yeah I know Japan’s darling is a huge fangirl and all but…it’s rather rude to cut away from the people on stage to show a kid dancing >_>
・some performances were really facepalm-worthy…Nagase Tomoya & Yamaguchi Tatsuya weren’t in tune at all during Miageta Ryuusei which is a shame since I love that song. And the less said about Matsuken Maharaja the better…
・I think Hikawa Kiyoshi + Gospellers was my fave performance of the night haha.
・it was great hearing some classic Jpop (Soshite Boku wa…, Kibun Soukai, Imouto) but you do have to wonder what the heck was the point of all the collaborations…

Well, after Best Hits Kayousai and now FNS we’re 2 down with 2 more to go in terms of the annual year-end Jpop music festivals I tend to watch. M-Ste Super Live coming on 23rd December and then we wrap up the year with Kohaku. Otanoshimini~ (I hope)…

1.Yoona (SNSD)

Yoong may have missed a good chunk of Soshi’s performances thanks to Gayseuk screwing up the Love Rain filming schedule, but every time she steps on that stage I just want to bang my head against a brick wall. In a good way. I honestly don’t think anyone out there has the capacity to knock Yoona off the top of my list, at least for the next couple of months…

2.Yuri (SNSD)

As long as the promotional blitz continues, Yuri will be near the top of this list. Though I kinda forgot she was a girl with all her Manyul outfits…

3.Jiyeon (T-ara)

asdhsl;’gkl my brain just couldn’t compute how hot Jiyeon was in the Cry Cry video. I didn’t even notice what the song sounded like at all…the assassin look suits her so well ;_;

4.Seohyun (SNSD)

Asides from the fact that she needs a personality transplant, Seohyun is the epitome of perfection. Or maybe, just the perfect nagging wife :/

5.Suzy (Miss A)

I never actually thought that much of Suzy throughout all those months of Miss A’s Good-bye Baby promotions but now that I’m watching IY2…her fresh-facedness, her cute pout OH GODZ WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO ME.

Bubbling under:
Krystal Jung (f(x)) – Sorry Jung Junior…I kinda forgot about your existence this month…

Yeah I’m totally a Koreaboo now.

1.Yoona (SNSD)

*inhaler where* And she was such a darling on Running Man, kicking maknae squarely in the stomach.

2.Yuri (SNSD)

Soshi comebacks and performances are my favourite times for Yuri-watching, for there is no place she looks more awesome than on stage.

3.Seohyun (SNSD)

Omg maknae, you’re messing up my biases big time :[ Why do you have to look so hawt for this comeback asdfghjkl;

4.Kang Min Kyung (Davichi)

Ahhhh she's got the face of an angel. And the voice of a superior being...

5.Krystal Jung (f(x))

Happy 17th birthday to the far superior Jung [^o^]/ …just kidding ㅋㅋㅋ

Bubbling under:
Jiyeon (T-ara) – I just realized how darn hot she looks in Roly Poly.
Tomatsu Haruka – I was not impressed with the photobook. At all.

1.seen my schoolgirl crush turn gay (Hiya Darren Hayes)
2.got all excited when someone I had a thing for, actually admitted to batting for the other team (Hiya Portia de Rossi)
3.seen all my obsessions turn 30+ and get married (Hey there Andrea Corr, Chiba Saeko)
4.seen stars bearing babies for ugly old men for the sake of money and status (Hello there Isabella Leong)

Nothing surprises me any more! And Sphere seems so mild in comparison…and hey, even if Yoona announced tomorrow she was getting married to a Himalayan ex-monk I would feel nothing but happiness.

If you really wanted to blame anyone for the whole mess, then you can point your finger straight at MuRay. My kneejerk reaction when the scandal first broke was that they should come clean and then proceed with an action plan based on the public response, but I then remembered this is Japan & more specifically, the crazy world of wotaku that we’re dealing with. It’s not out of the realms of impossibility to have a few hundred nutcases marching through the hallowed asphalt roads of Akiba while burning effigies of the Sphere girls…

MuRay can’t exactly say they didn’t know what they were getting themselves into when they started Sphere up – having cultivated the typical idol image for the girls over the years, they should have set up guidelines that would ensure that that ‘image’ would be maintained. Pure as snow, virginal girls who belong to nobody but the (dirty, deluded) fans? Then heavens, forbid them from dating until they’re past their sell-by date – write it into their contracts if you have to! Instead, you give them leeway to manage their personal relationships and then expect nobody to ever find out, or that the girls should have to make sacrifices when things go awry? Naive. MuRay’s attempt at cleaning up their own trail of faeces is rather amusing though, and only time will tell how effective their move to shut Mr.Stalker(s) up has been.

For now, Sphere are trucking on with their latest single charting decently (handily fuelled by squid ink) but I still get the feeling that this whole Tom-H@ck business will bring the group’s demise around quicker than perhaps intended. Toyosaki and Takagaki are hardly spring chickens in idol terms and you can only do this whole prancing about like a headless chicken thing for so long before you realise that in 30 years’ time, your grandkids will be looking back at tapes of your performances and burying their embarrassed little heads in their hands upon realising that Grandma’s the one in the pink polka-dotted skirt!

Honestly, all I wish is for all four individuals to be successful at whatever they do, both on a professional and personal level. I’m not sure that’s possible under MuRay in the long run though. If you didn’t already know, I’ve secretly hoped for ages that Tomatsu would switch to an agency that maximises her potential & exploits her voice acting ability better; it’s really not fun seeing her waste her talent and effort on a show as cringeworthy as Nekogami Yaoyorozu…

I wonder now how MuRay will handle that second-gen group that they recruited and are presumably grooming ahead of a (supposed) launch in 2012. One can only hope that they straighten out their approach to prevent another LOL fallout like this happening.

Oh well, enough rambling. If I sound incoherent, I blame it on the fact that it’s 1am in the morning :P

PS please don’t ask me if I’m worried about how the girls feel…I wouldn’t have a clue how they feel, I don’t even know them. Really, fans should stop acting like they ‘understand’ how the girls feel & behave – what makes you think that the image they present publicly is anything like what they truly are in private anyway?

PSS Takagaki pics, I wanna see!

My honest reaction to the whole affair (holds plastic disclaimer card up: IF TRUE) is a hearty HURRAH! Both seiyuu are amongst my favourites and obviously people know that I’m a huge Tomatsu fan & wish for the best in everything for her. And of course, Miyu is an improvement on that one (fugly, sorry) actor she’d been linked with previously :P

As for the implications on either party’s career – I don’t think it’ll have much of a bearing in the long run to be honest. Everyone has short memories these days & the furore will only last as long as it takes for the next ‘humiliating’ purikura to emerge. Besides, Tomatsu already has an army of mindless haters so having a few more wouldn’t make much of a difference I don’t think.

Also, decent publicity ahead of her next photobook release…2 more weeks to go!

追加：Now it’s Aki’s turn with Tom-H@ck…how entertaining this circus is!

・Biggest news is of course, Yoona’s casting in upcoming drama Love Rain alongside heartthrob Jang Keun Suk. Hype is already building up due to the reputation of the production team involved (Winter Sonata & Autumn in My Heart) and I really do hope the show launches Yoong’s acting career into stratosphere. Of course, the chances of me surviving watching the show up until the end are pretty close to zero given my tolerance level for melodramatic Korean dramas..

・Comeback when? Rumours over potential tracklistings, album titles, concepts, release dates…nothing’s set in stone yet but the hype machine is pretty much in overdrive already. We do get the occasional glimpse of what might come via random Twitter pics like the one above (PV making?) and err…the leak of the Korean version of Mr.Taxi…which in all honestly, sounds a bit crap.

・Big Brothers was for the most part, incredibly dull. The two highlights(?) were SeoHyun struggling through a cover of Taylor Swift’s Speak Now (playing guitar at the same time) and Taeyeon + Tiffany’s reenactment of their childish fight over…a case of indigestion. Seriously, highly anti-climactic. I really want a copy of Taengoo’s horror book though! It’d be hilarious if she kill Fany off in the story through indigestion…

・The number of UFO replies the girls have been pumping out this week – mind-boggling. I love reading those things since they’re really candid and in-the-moment: you just never know what random answer you’re going to get from them. Except comeback spoilers, of course…

・Greatly looking forward to the broadcasts of Running Man in a week or two. Kinda feel sorry that Fany was at home eating pizza and teaching English to dear SooYoung while the others were away filming though (just what was SoonKyu doing though?)

・Yoona’s new UFO profile pic is so…argh, I just die everytime she does that pose =_=

・Woongjin Coway auction…I’d wish it was open to overseas fans too, except the chances of me landing any item are pretty close to 0.000000000%. Damn those Koreans and their spending power…

・For this week’s batch of magazine features, this particular Yuri pic from Cosmopolitan was the one that caught my eye. There’s just something incredibly seductive about the way she looks (that shoulder!!)…is there any wonder Korean mothers wouldn’t mind having Yuri as their son’s wife hrhrhr

Though of course, Yoong’s InStyle shoot was oh-so-lovely too…

・And last but not least, happy birthday to dear Hyoyeon!

And final day of the term means another report card and it doesn’t look too different from the last one – just a couple of grades swapped here and there but generally, I’m an all-round good student!! …I think D:

But yeah I’ll never get an S for 学習態度 (learning attitude) cos I just don’t try hard enough, preferring to go with the flow and just cross whatever bridge I arrive at whenever I arrive at it. That, and I spent the last couple of weeks spamming Jetpack Joyride & Temple Run during lessons…sorry 先生!

After the 修了式 (end-of-term ceremony) the entire class went for an Italian buffet lunch followed by a karaoke session for the few crazies amongst us, where I once again failed to sing The Garden of Everything properly (I blame my cold + my duet partner’s lack of practise).

Ah well, time to do some packing now – will be going home for a week to attend a wedding! またね、東京！

・It’s been a really great few days for Yoong fans in particular:

Chuseok week saw the airing of a bunch of Soshi-related TV specials, one of which was MBC’s Star Charity Auction. Hooboy, 6.7million won for one of Yoona’s Genie outfits? I wouldn’t mind biting…if I was rolling around in money that is. Especially as she actually wore it and danced around a bit on the show as well…I bet the guy who put in the winning bid is hugging the shirt to bed every night.

After a couple of weeks’ worth of teaser videos and photos, the Eider ads with Lee Min Ho finally made their debut. To be honest, the making of video made much more of an impact than the actual ad itself. And yeah, Yoong’s abs just blow my mind in a phwoooarrrghhh I can’t breathehahaghgh kinda way. Min Ho’s no slouch either…I wonder if Yoona took any interest in the fact that he looks like a younger version of KimuTaku…

THOSE ABS. MY EYES, THEY BURN.

・Swiftly moving on…

The digest version of SUMMER SONIC 2011 makes me feel incredibly aggrieved that I didn’t cough up the 15,000yen for a ticket so I could hike over to Makuhari to see thunder terrific thighs and colossal cleavage.

KBS Love Request was the most important TV show of the week for Soshi though. Carrying on from the blood donation drive event on 7th September, we got to see Soshi and SuJu sharing some love with two ill fans. The girls (sans SooYoung) performed 3 songs including Complete, Hoot and Gee, as well as sharing a stage with SuJu at the end…after seeing last week’s video message from SooYoung using Complete as a BGM, I just don’t think I can listen to it without blubbering now oh godz. ANDDD MOST IMPORTANTLY!!

EVERYONE SAW WHAT U DID THAR FANY.

Last but not least is the new Vita500 app, available for free on both Android and iOS phones. At first it was only made available for Android phones so I had to make do with mere Youtube videos but iPhone users were allowed into the club sometime earlier today and I wasted no time in getting Yoona dancing around on my table.

Yeah, the app’s a bit borked at times but who cares? You get your own mini Soshi member waltzing around right in front of your eyes!

・Skipped watching Strong Heart & Dalgona thanks to my broken down laptop (doubt I’d be able to understand a thing anyway…)

・The shots of Sica from the Ceci photoshoot…I’d really rather not mention LOL. I had nightmares after seeing the pictures last night ^^; SeoHyun’s from Vogue were pretty awesome, though she looked more like Yuri than herself at times…

・Read the interviews with Soshi from the Japanese mobile fansite…
Q：japan1stツアーで一番記憶に残っている事は？(for Taeyeon)
Q：日本ツアー中一番思い出に残っている事は？ (for Tiffany)
And lmfao at both answering ‘when SooYoung fell off the stage’. You horrible monsters you.

I’ve only really been following SNSD’s fortunes for about 3-4 months and already I’m exhausted & struggling to keep up with the amount of news, TV shows and stuff that seems to come out on an almost daily basis. On the one hand, it’s great that I can get to see so much of the girls through live performances and TV shows but honestly, I’ve no idea how much I can take before I get sick of seeing their faces. Ahh, I can only imagine what it’s like for fans of the juggernaut that is AKB48 and all its regional sister groups as well as the sub-groups…