MANO HANDSHAKE EVENT MANIA - DAY 1

This week Mano's newest single is released and as always there's tons of handshake events being held to pump the amount of sales. These events are usually a lot of fun because you get to talk to Mano and the H!P Egg members she usually is having as guests for a long time. I had been worried that they wouldn't have any for this single because of the new Oricon rule only counting a low amount of the CD event sales. However, it's 30% of the event sales up to 3,000 copies, so she can still sell 10,000 copies during her events. Definitely a good reason to keep having the handshake events. Plus, Mano seems to love doing these. She is always really into the events and gives her fans a lot of time to talk to her.

Today I went to the first day of six in total around Tokyo area filled with handshake events. It was held at Tower Records in Shinjuku and was only with Mano-chan. Since they had announced that they would start selling the CDs giving you tickets to the handshake event at 11 AM, I had to get up early to get there. When I arrived at 11:15, it turned out that not many people had been going there early and my two tickets I got for the handshakes was only no. 30 and 31 that had been sold so far! The handshake event wouldn't start until 6:30 PM, so I could go back home and catch some more sleep.

I got back to the shop right before it would start and waited next to where the event would take place. When Mano showed up she noticed me right away and I was the first one she waved to. Everytime she's having these events she waves at me when she's arriving and notices that I'm there. :D

The event started and I didn't go line up right away, instead I just stood there and watched the other people shaking her hand. I wanted to see how much time you got with her and I don't think I've never seen such a slow handshake event before! Every dude got to talk to her for like 10 seconds. No one really got pushed at all. You could just babble on and wait for Mano to reply to what you had to say.

After about 15 minutes I decided to line up, and wow, that line was surprisingly really long. The event was held at the 10th floor in the building and everyone got to line up in the staircase. I had to walk down all the way to below 7th floor and since the event was so slow it took almost 20 minutes before I got up to Mano. Today I had planned to tell her about my mom being born in the same city in Finland where Santa Claus lives, since Mano has some obsession about one day visiting Santa-san in Finland. The line I said to her was pretty long and I started stuttering, being unusually nervous. I said: 「サンタさんはフィンランドのロバニエミに住んでいます。僕のお母さんはそこで生まれましたよ。」. Too much for someone who never really speaks much Japanese, haha. Mano-chan replied with a 「おぉ～すごい～！本当ですか？」 and had a big smile on her face. :)

I went one more time and then said 「僕はオマリーといいます。覚えて下さい！」 (I'm called O'Malley, please remember it!). Mano's reply: 「オマリー？はい！」. Then I just said 「じゃ、明日ね？バイバイ！」 (See you tomorrow, bye-bye!). I decided to not loop today's event to save money for the events with the eggs instead, so there's more girls to meet if I'll take a loop going like 5-6 times. ^_^

Mano's outfit for the day from her blog:



















Tomorrow there's a mini live with Mano and S/mileage, of course with a handshake event afterwards. It will be held at Odaiba, which is a nice place so I'll probably spend the day there. After that there's also a radio show recording in Yoyogi which I think I'll try make it to as well.

オマリー

Same Shinkansen as Berryz - AGAIN \o/

After the Morning Musume concerts in Nagoya today, I took the Shinkansen back to Tokyo. When the train arrived at the platform I heard some wota started shouting and then I checked inside the closest car and there was Berryz Koubou! They were on their way back home after the Gekiharo final in Osaka. I saw that Maasa was looking out so I waved to her and she waved back :D. Then my friend told me that it was our train, which I hadn't realized until then, haha. We had to rush inside and ended up in the car behind them. Not much happened on the way back to Tokyo station. Me and my friend decided not to disturb them ^^;. I noticed though that Maasa, who was sitting alone, was watching TV through a small portable device. Yurina talked to Risako all the time and Momoko was focusing on reading some book(!). Chinami and Saki passed by us to go visit the toilet, heh.

When arriving at Shin-Yokohama station; Saki, Chinami, Yurina and Risako got off. Then Momoko, Maasa and Miyabi got off at Tokyo station just like me. All wota followed them on their way out, but no one tried to approach them or get their attention. Maasa was as expected wearing something really odd and awful. She's probably still getting her mom to pick her clothes XD. Momoko and Miyabi were wearing cuter clothes with Momo in a white top and Miyabi in a purple one (and a cute bun hairdo!).

After the Berryz girls had left in their car, my friend told me that MM would arrive soon as well. So we got back into the station and waited for them. As one already could tell, Risa had already got off the train at Shin-Yokohama, but the rest of the members were still there. While walking out there was at least 20, maybe 30, guards around them protecting them from the wota to get too close. The MM girls also attracted a much bigger crowd than Berryz, so it was understandable. One wota tried to approach Koharu but got caught by a couple of the guards who threw him back with Koha laughing at him and saying something I couldn't hear, but it was probably in the lines with "Tough luck, mister" ^^. My friend, who is a Aichan wota, said "oyasumi" to her without getting too close and she actually responded to him with a "oyasumi" as well. The MM girls showing a high level of professionalism, as always. Compared to Berryz they were all really calm with the situation. Girls like Risako and Saki always freak out when they are in a public area, lol.


Today's song to be stuck on my mind after the concerts: "Sakura Mankai", with Aichan's solo line "kesshin wa mou katai no yo, tsuiteku...". So beautiful.

PS. JunJun needs to check her diet. She is starting to become awkwardly overweight for being an idol. XD

オマリー

Latest 2ch gossip!

オマリーが黄色Tシャツを着ている
"O'Malley wore a yellow T-shirt!"

Comment: O'Rly?


梅さんに替わる新メンバー その名はオマリー！
"O'Malley will be the new member replacing Ume-san!"

Comment: Unnecessary.


オマリーが町田から急行乗ってきた
"O'Malley changed to express train in Machida."

Comment: Now this freaks me out!


オマリー

C-ute Cutie Circuit 2009 ～EVERYDAY 絶好調!!～

こんばんは！

I just got back from the release events, pretty damn pleased! The set list could've been better, but the girls were entertaining so it was a lot of fun!

1. EVERYDAY Zekkochou
2. Go Go Go!
MC - Game
3. Darling I LOVE YOU
4. Yes! Shiawase
5. Amai Wana

At the first handshake event I only said to Erika that I'm her fan and that I come from Sweden. I got a properly pronounced "Thank you!" (not "san kyu!") as a reply. Then the staff pushed me through the rest of the girls so I didnt really get time to say much to them. Mai was last and she was already so tired that she missed my hand when she was going to shake it, so she was just squeezing my fingertips. :D

For the second event I noticed right away that you got even less time with the girls, so I decided to just say thanks to all of them. But when I came up to Erika and had told her that I had fun yesterday and today and thanking her for it for then letting go, the guy in front of me was still busy with Maimi so I ended up looking back at Erika and laughing over my stupdity for not been trying to talk for her a bit longer. We just waved to each other for a couple of seconds and said "bai bai", lol.

Then when I got to Airi, they gave me more time again. I just said "arigatou gozaimasu!", then Airi replies with "Oh! Hello! Nice too meet you, sir!" hahaha. I got so surprised that I just said "hello, thank you!" back to her, haha. Then next was Chisato who shouted out "Oh, hello! Thank you!" with me replying the same and she then saying "thanks for coming!". Mai who was standing alone waiting for me overheard it and said "Yes! Thank you very much!". At this point I couldn't hold back from laughing and ended up saying nothing to Mai, just a "bye bye!" to both her and Chisato after I had calmed down a bit. This part made this one of the best handshake events I've been to so far because it all came so sudden after the girls not really saying anything at the first event. Sometimes this have happened before, with the girls being pretty stiff at the first event for then being so excited when they meet me the next time. I want to wonder if they actually talk about me between the events, based on how different their reactions tend to be the second time, lol.

Afterwards I felt a bit down though for missing my opportunity to say something good to Erika. Now I really have to start working on that fanmail I have planned to send her...

オマリー

WHOA! Miyamoto Karin pwnage!!

My friend just sent me this mic recording of the egg Miyamoto Karin singing C-ute's song Aishiteru Aishiteru together with Takeuchi Akari at this week's Shinjin Kouen concerts.

Click here to grab the mp3 file.

It's simply amazing. The girl joined H!P last year and is only 10 years old.

Pay attention to the fans reactions when she sings the high-pitchd "meccha-meccha-meccha!" part. XD So damn adorable!

オマリー

梅田えりか～～マックス！マックス！

The radio show with Erika today costed me over 5,000 yen and a bad sunburn. First I had to get to Yokohama, where I got lost finding my way to the Studio Seagull Y150 at the Yokohama 150 park. I jumped into a cab with a lost driver who didn't really get where I wanted to go either. I ended uppaying 1,800 yen for that fare!! After that, to even enter the area where they had to radio studio, you had to pay a 2,400 yen entrance fee O_O. Luckily I at least knew how to make it back to the tran station after the show!

During the show Erika talked with the host about their new single, and while announcing the names of the songs for the A and B side before they were played, Erika forgot the names of them hahaha. She also got the audience to do her "Umeda Erika~~! Makkusu! Makkusu!" (Makkusu = Max), by shouting it and a pose she came up with it. I'm still not sure why or when she started with this, but it's funny so whatever! Then she took a photo with the staff, wearing the "Tanemaru" mascot headband and holding a couple of plushtoys. I'm still waiting eagerly for the radio show to update their blog with the photo, but it looks like they are saving them for private use >_<. She looked really cute while posing with the the plushtoys so I really really want that photo. Oh well, maybe it will be uploaded somewhere later this weekend...

When the show was over and Erika leaving I was heading for the smoking area and then I got to see Erika walking with the staff through the festival area out to the car. I was pretty damn close to them and it felt pretty awkward. Like you know, seeing your idol walk around as any other human being in public and actually being so close to her. I waved to her but she only gave me a smile back, doh! Tomorrow is the release events for C-ute's single and I still haven't decided on what to say to Erika. I think I'm just gonna introduce me as her fan and save all personal gratitude to a mail I'll write to her later on instead. ^^;;

>>> Click to download audio recording of the radio show <<<

オマリー

IMPORTANT INFO ABOUT THE BANNER CONTEST

Please read this post if you have tried or planned to attend the banner contest for a Chinami photobook.

For some reason I haven't been able to receive mails to the address I asked you to send your contributions to. I now ask everyone to send it using any of follow:

- E-mail: omari-blog@hush.com
- Hello!Online: Private message to user "gordiesama"

I'm deeply sorry for this. Because some people might not see this in time I'll extend the deadline to send in your applications to 4th of October 11:59 PM JPT.

オマリー

やったー！ I get to go!

YAY! After all trouble I just got the result from the lottery telling me that I won tickets for both of the release events on Saturday. I'm glad that this drama is finally over and that it ended up well. Now let's just hope that I actually get the chance to say something to Erika during the handshake events. Usually they are very fast because you get pushed so you can't really say anything to the girls. I'm still keeping my hopes up for a handshake event like tomorrow after her radioshow or somewhere else. Otherwise I'll have to somehow write a letter to her so that I can properly thank her for her time in H!P and give her my best wishes for whatever she will take on in the future.

オマリー

C-ute release event application - UPDATE

When I woke up today I went to check H!P's official site to see if there was any news regarding the application for C-ute's relase events this week that I couldn't apply for yesterday because the site was down. There was a news article up on the site saying that they had extended the time to 3 PM today. While reading it the time was 2.50 PM and I needed my friend to apply for the events for me because he can apply for it from his computer with a cell phone emulator, which goes much faster than doing it from your phone. Then my friend wasn't at home!! I tried calling him but he had forgot to bring his cell phone.... I could see the time pass by to after 3 PM and I was even more devastated then yesterday. This is the last time to meet my favourite C-ute member Erika in person and I would miss it just because of first not applying in time, waiting to the last hour and then for being lazy and sleeping through the whole day to miss my 2nd chance...

THEN NOW, my friend came online on MSN telling me that he managed to apply for the events before he went out!! So now I'll just wait have to wait for the result of the lottery to see if I get to go. It should be announced tomorrow.

Meanwhile, I have a solo radio show with Erika to attend tomorrow and there have been tons of handshake events with Mano and eggs announced for next week! I've never heard about Erika having any solo radio show that the public can watch live and I didn't believe Mano would have anymore public handshake events because they changed the Oricon rule so CD event sales doesn't count. The day is saved!

オマリー

Noto Arisa is no longer a part of Hello! Project

The leader of Hello! Pro Egg, Noto Arisa, has today graduated from the eggs and Hello! Project at their Shinjin Kouen concerts in Yokohama. I've been feeling sad over this because Noto is a really good idol whom I've always hoped would get a chance to be in a bigger act. However, by attending the show today it made me realize that not much will change for her. Nocchi will no longer be a part of H!P, but she will still be in the Up-Front Agency as an Up-Front Egg. She will also stay in Gatas Brilhantes and Ongaku Gatas. We just won't get to see her at the Eggs events anymore. That is not necessarily a bad thing taking in consideration that she's turning 21 this year and should probably fit better in a different environment, with most of the eggs being around 12-16 years old.

The graduation wasn't made into a big deal either. No songs were added on the set list. After it was over all girls left the stage and Nocchi came back and held a speech thanking the fans for their support and asking them to keep on supporting all other girls for her. She also told us about what she will be doing from now on which involves voice-acting, manga drawing (which I find great that an idol is interested in) and other things like the usual as stageplays and etc. It would be great if she could score a big role in a popular anime and then get to even release some music. Nocchi is an Otaku herself and she have always wanted to work with anime related things.

Thanks for your time in H!P and good luck with everything you take on in the future, Nocchi. Your career as a H!P member was flawless and if anything prevented you from getting to be a part of bigger projects it was only a lousy management.

オマリー

WHAT THE!!! Couldn't apply for C-ute's rel. event - Good job Up-Front!

Today was the last day to apply for C-ute's release events for their new single this weekend. I have waited until the last day because at their concerts today you got a lottery ticket for a signed poster for every copy of the CD that you purchased. Then when I get back home with 15 copies of the single and one hour left to apply for the events the site is down!! Hundreds of people had planned to apply for it after the concerts today just like me and then also missed their chance to do so before the site went down. I am beyond pissed right now. 15,750 yen wasted on nothing. Awesome.

オマリー

Make me a banner - Win a Chinami photobook!

That's right. I want a banner. The one who contributes with the coolest one will get a copy of Tokunaga Chinami's new photobook. I won't put up any requirements for how it should look like except throwing out some hints that "ハンシンデンシャがイチバンやー！" would be a cool phrase to squeeze in somewhere and it besides that could feature something more about the legendary "オマリー" and personalized by hints you can find here in the blog. And oh, my favourite members would be Risa, Captain, Erika, Mano and Saaya (Eggs). I like the size of my current banner, whatever that is.

The runner-up will receive a H!P CD from my Korean Lucky Bag.

One shall send as many banners to attend the contest as one wish to gordokaba@idol-chatter.com before Sunday September 27th 11:59 PM Japanese Time. Good luck gals.

オマリー

Risa's favourite snack!

In a recent GAKIKAME radio show, Risa told us about her favourite snack that can only be bought in Korea. Luckily I have some Korean friends that were thinking about me when they heard about it.



This snack sure helps me keep up the beer drinking.


Edit: Quick review!

As my guts told me Risa is not really to be trusted. I can imagine girls and especially za beangirl liking this. It has a very sweet taste with the Korean spicy aftertaste. Tastes Ok, but a bit too sweet if you ask me. As a snack I'd give it a 4.5/10.

Stay toon for more H!P girls food recommendations reviews.

オマリー

Nine Smile report - An awesome show with a less awesome ending

I'm sure you've all heard about it by now. Koharu is leaving Morning Musume and Hello! Project. There's no real info why or what she's gonna do in the future. I really want to believe she didn't make the decision to leave. All why's should be sent to Tsunku.

To me it makes sense though. The other day I was questioning her future in the group since the Kirarin era is over. In the current MM, with their different approach music wise Koharu haven't felt as a good fit. Her genki and childish character going straight to mature slash cool slash sexy music. She's already 17 but it's asking for too much to expect her to grow out of the Kirarin role and handle the new environment. Either Tsunku or Koharu herself realized it won't work and decided to end things here. Anyway, I'll miss Koharu a lot, for sure. But idol comes and goes so lets move on to reviewing the actual concert tour.

Until song #11 on the set list, I was extremely pleased. That was when they started performing "Aki Urara", a song I guess we would have to expect to be there. Then there was some more lame songs like "Dekkai Uchuu ni Ai ga Aru", which was saved though with the girls using like cardboard cutout smilies like the ones in the tour logo. Risa was hiding her face behind it and I couldn't help myself from laughing. I don't approve of the encore songs, as in SONGS and Love Machine. Overall I'm more than satisfied though. Some songs I was extremely happy to see performed today:

+ Genki+ - One of my absolute favourite MM songs, and I finally got to see it live!
+ Haru Beautiful Everyday - A damn adorable duo, without overexaggerating
+ Kioku no Meiro - This song is so great it should have been saved for being released as an A side
+ Sakura Manaki - Seriously? I would never even dream about them performing this beyond awesome song
+ Yuujou ~Kokoro no Busu ni Naranee!~ - And on top of SK, of course an Otore Gumi song! At this point of the concert I was in a place greater than heaven
+ The God Damn Awesome Medley - Further comments unnecessary
+ Joshi Kashimashi Monogatari - A new version with the current lineup, yay's!

The whole set list can be found here.

As mentioned before, I had first row center block for the opening concert. It was just as awesome as anyone would imagine. I've had between 2nd and 5th row many times, but that's uncomparable to having 1st. If you ever would get the chance to see the girls live and you can afford a first row ticket... dude, go for it. It's worth all money you can invest in it. Probably more.

I'd give this concert a 8.5/10 in awesomeness. By far the best MM tour I've got to see live so far. Leaving some room for improvement with the recent singles performed all being appealing to me.

Regarding the new single "Kimagure Princess", I don't know what to say about it. I'm unfortunately not sure if it's appealing to me at all. FYI they turn around and pretend to rub their butts while singing the "Sexy princess!" part. The "O_o" emoticon suits well here.

Now back to drinking and try forget about Koharu soon leaving. Over and out and stay toon!

オマリー

BERRYZ BUS TOUR ｷﾀ━━━━━━(ﾟ∀ﾟ)━━━━━━ !!!!!

I got to know that I will get to go to Berryz bus tour WOHOOOO!!! Only 800 people got a ticket for this so I'm really thrilled. After them cancelling the handshake events for Berryz Fan no Tsudoi earlier this year and me not have been able to attend any release events with the girls yet it's gonna be so awesome to actually get to meet the group and join them and the wota for all cool events during this weekend in the end of October.

For the 61,800(!!) yen ticket, you get something like this:

- 8-shot photo; you together with all members of Berryz Koubou.
- At least one long and good handshake event.
- A mini live concert.
- A couple of other cool events together with the girls.

I'll be going together with mc4mass from H!O. I think it works like them putting us in a bus with a bunch of other wota, driving us from Tokyo out to the location of the tour, this time being in Gunma Prefecture. It should be a two-day tour, IIRC.

So now what pose should I ask to get to do with the girls during the 8-shot? I've got to come up with something better than the piece signs or something lame bs like that. Please, do help me out here!

And oh, I also need to send an e-mail to their radio show Beritsuu! and ask Saki-chan to dye her hair back to black again so she looks good in my photo...

ドナルド・マクドナルド

(Ronarudo Makudonarudo)


If you want to you could pronounce the Japanese name for Ronald McDonald as Ronaldo. That's how they roll here so. I guess that makes sense. Mr Luis Nazário de Lima aka Ronaldo sure has paid a few visits too many to McD. Luckily he's back in the Brazilian league now so we don't have to see him in the big games in Europe anymore.

オマリー

Nine Smile - Expectations and goods list

Tomorrow is the start of Morning Musume's fall tour. I have to say that a lot my interest for the group have been taken over by other H!P acts. But after finally getting to meet them in person in August and being rather pleased with the previous single they caught my interest again and are back on the top as my favourite idol act. So I'm really looking forward to this tour, especially since it looks so promising and all with the girls for once looking all cheery and cute again. My favourite MM years would be around -04 to -07 and I'd like things to go back to how it used to be. I got tired of the serious music already after Resonant Blue last year.

Anyway, the goods list just was uploaded on the official site. Browsing it through quick I'm glad to see how colorful and happy the girls are in all photos. I'm loving the official logo for the tour, but I probably won't be getting any of the solo shirts. I've also had to cut in on goods expenses in general to be able to afford going to all events. The solo muffler towels look cute but I can't imagine me wiping my face with it, as how you're supposed to use it. It's a bit too detailed for being a normal towel and I'd preferred if they had just used the design for normal microfibre towels. What's tempting me right now is the group T-shirt and the visual book. I'll also be looking forward to see the two DVD mags, even though I won't waste any money on them.

I'll be attending the four concerts they kick off the tour with tomorrow and on Sunday. For the first concert me and my Korean room mate got insanely lucky, receiving my first fanclub tickets ever that we were going to share and getting assigned FIRST ROW(!). It's even in the middle block! I've never had first row at a Musume concert or any H!P concert at all so it's gonna be above awesome. Now just hoping that the set list will satisfy me. I'll probably come with some report from the tour, posting it either here or at Idol-Chatter.

オマリー

O'Malley's First Blog Post ～はじめてのブログる！～

Haro!

The other day I came to the conclusion that I have too much random stuff to talk about when it comes to Japan and Hello! Project. Stuff that would be unsuitable to post at the more serious blog project at Idol-Chatter.com. So I decided to start this! For the serious, in-depth posts I recommend you to head over to Idol-Chatter, and well, for the rest, we'll take it here, hehe.

O'Malley wa... dare?

A short presentation:

I'm a Swedish dude currently doing all I can to try spend as much time as possible in Japan. All to get to see my beloved idols, preferably every day. Because of the way I make my living and my zero interest in getting a work or start studying in Japan I can only take 3 months trips on a tourist visa before I have to leave the country and come back again to renew it. I'm staying at my Japanese friend's place in central Tokyo. Someone who I have to thank a lot for constantly helping me out with all struggles to get closer to the girls. If I hadn't met him I would probably still not be a H!P fanclub member and not even have attended any release events yet (you need a Japanese cell phone subscription for that).

Basically I attend most H!P events I'm able to go to that doesn't require me to take a hella expensive Shinkansen or night-bus trip to get there. Luckily there's stuff going on every week in Tokyo. It doesn't matter if it's Morning Musume, H!P Kids, Mano or the Eggs, all get equal love. I'm called a "DD" harowota. "DD" standing for ｢誰でも大好き」 [daredemo daisuki] = one who loves anyone. A DD wota supports all groups and their girls.

Why are you called "O'Malley"? That ain't a Swedish name!

It all started out with some 2ch (JP message board) Berryz wota referring to me as ｢オマリー」. O'Malley being a famous American baseball player in Japan during the 90's that they believe I resemble in terms of looks. I decided to play along and asked my friend to get me a baseball jersey with this dude's name on it that I started wearing for concerts and other events. More people then started calling me O'Malley in person (or as they pronounce it, "Omari~"), which was cool because then I didn't have to introduce myself with my real name as I'd rather try stay anonymous in the wota circle.

O'Malley call!

Later on, after a Mano concert, while waiting for a handshake event with her they were showing PVs on the big screen. Hajimete no Keiken was running and suddenly I heard some people shouting out "RO-MA-N-SU!" and I checked behind me and saw a bunch of people doing wotagei to the video. I stood up and joined them while realizing that right away I had all 2,200 eyes on me, since I was on the 3rd row and we were only maybe 4-5 guys standing up and dancing. After finishing a lot of people started cheeering on me and clapping their hands (going; "Woooh!! Omari~!, Omari~!, Omari~!"). An audio fanrecording of the happening can be found here.


With this blog, please have zero expectations of the content and the quality of it. But please stay toon for moar random rambling!

オマリー