I do think staff want a specific image for Armor Girls, but there have been no candidates wanting to join Armor Girls since Saria and Mitsuki. Officially, exchanging your seat with someone else is against the rules they have written in the announcement blog, but many people do it, and I have a couple times. Selling your ticket to someone else is also against the rules but they don't have a way to check it nor do they really enforce it. It seems like staff has lightened up on that aspect of the rules. The biggest issue is that you need to find someone who's willing to trade, and that day I ended up at PARMS as one of the later ones to come in. The day before, when they debuted Love Wave, I was lucky to have a Satsuki oshi switch with me since we got the opposite sides (Satsuki is right, Shihori is left). I am willing to bet there's still another year of it being like this before things can become truly normal. The closest thing we've had to an improvement was PARMS seat capacity going from 80→100, and 8F Grace Bali going from 40→80 (or was it 60?). About the present rules changing, a few fans have speculated that it's likely due to talents not getting paid enough anymore, so that's likely the best the staff can do. Saying who your oshi is at the reception area is also very important as the tallies likely represent how much they get from ticket sales. Even estimating low at 20% per ticket, the current system is 3000 yen, so about 600 yen every time enters saying they came here for you. Liveone is likely their best earner with lives only being on the weekend. An hour of live one from 1 person nets them 1200 yen based on that estimate. It is kind of sad that there are times where some talents get nobody coming for them since then they get paid pretty much nothing, should that be the case. Also (another) state of emergency declaration is set for tomorrow, so maybe lives will get pushed back again.
Chiitan -『Just alive, almost successful』MV if the video does not show watch the video here this is an otter super kamikaze mascot with a turtle hat! In wwII you don't want this mascot on nazi side! Trust me! the violon at the end is a type of Hisao Sasaki arrangment. Mr.Sasaki did KJ High-Volt-Age!! Shown above too. I love his work! Everybody getting a song!!! Ushibuka Haiya Odori x KamenJoshi 4/17 show: if the video does not show watch the video here Set: (KamenJoshi with kimono) 1. Harara (2:22) 2. Amatsuchi (7:20) MC1: KamenJoshi (11:42) 3. Popping Summer (14:18) 4. Fanfare (20:13) MC2: Chiitan & Nagata Masaki (26:20) 5. Ushibuka Haiya Odori (with guess) (34:05) Song #5 i have little information what it represent but it's a fun time to watch. Ushibuka is i would like to guess a touristic friendly region hidden around here:
A couple of news items from me. Firstly at last I've managed to get a Twitter follow back from my oshimen : Secondly Mao tweeted that ANN News today carried a report about the group being involved in a trial to ventilate the air at live house venues (but at Shinjuku Head Power rather than PARMS), here's the video of it: [EDIT: video removed by uploader]
@FruitPunchSamurai ¥1200 for every hour a person stays on liveone? That is just 20%. Maybe it's me but I find that pretty low. I hope gifts have a much better percentage (atleast 70/80% for the member). On to some other news: Cerisier released a new single, in itself this probably doesn't interest everyone here but what is interesting is that with the new release the group is also finally available on Spotify! With this the only group that I follow but that isn't on Spotify is Kamen Joshi. How much chance would there be for them also to go on Spotify once their new album releases?
Got this amazing t-shirt in from my proxy on Friday, only Y1,280 on www.suruga-ya.jp down from Y3,500! Many sizes available! Search for: Tシャツ(女性アイドル) 仮面女子 KAMEN JOSHI Tシャツ ブラック(ホワイト) *They have the red version in some sizes too!
Tomoka posted a message video earlier today on her channel: if the video does not show watch the video here According to Nikkan Sports she's saying she's filed a lawsuit against the government regarding the collapse of the signboard which caused her injury: https://www.nikkansports.com/entertainment/news/202105110000163.html
So I just had a very long liveone chat with Saria-san, It was a lovely chat and it was a good while ago since I last talked to her. I stayed in her room for around 80 minutes. Last time we talked I asked her if she could ask management if sending a gift from overseas would be ok and to my surprise she remembered that and has asked this. And management said it was ok (although the same restrictions still apply, cosmetics only, 5000 yen max (although I believe it may be 5000 per item, but she couldn't explain that clearly, that is why I will keep it to 5000 max for the package) As I am having a long weekend this week I guess I will do some shopping Does anyone here have the adress of Kleeblatt for me? I found this adress on the site of alice-project but I have no idea if the translation is correct: 3-4-9 Higashiazabu, Minato-ku, Tokyo 106-0044 Anyway, other then talking about gifts, I did tell her what brand she would get as she was very curious, we also talked about a bunch of other stuff: - She was eating baby tomatoes so we talked a lot about tomatoes and various ways you can eat them. When I mentioned that I always see Japanese people drinking tomato juice in the plane she said she doesn't like tomato juice, she prefers orange juice. - Some of you may have seen this video a while ago: if the video does not show watch the video here The bathroom is still clean. - We also talked about various idols, she has a tendency to like idols with crazy hair, she like Okada Nana but also likes ex NMB member Kinoshita Momoka. When I told her that I know who she was she told me that I leveled up - I also follow (quite fanaticly) a talent called "Kazari" and the flow of the conversation made it so that I told Saria about it. Turns out she follows her on Instagram. It made Saria think that I have a liking for girls with short hair. I explained to her that I have no set preference as long as it looks good. - Tomorrow she has practice for the 15/16th live shows, it doesn't start early because she has to wake up at 10:00 - We also talked a bit about her parents (because of mothersday last sunday). Her father sends her occasionally a multi fruit drink (which she drinks every morning). Last year she bought her mother something for the lips from Channel (very expensive) but her mother doesn't use it, instead she has put it on display. Her parents are sometimes still scary to her, her father more then her mother. The chat wasn't busy this time (probably due to it being a weekday and very late) so this made talking (for both of us) a lot easier this time and, if I may be a bit selfish, a lot more enjoyable. It gave me a chance to see how she is in a one on one situation, still very energetic as always, and I had great fun talking to her.
Thank you for your report Oddball. It was a fun read for sure! I believe that is the correct address. Some throwback Sexy Rabbit (Steams/Armors - Sora/Hitomi days) if the video does not show watch the video here
Preordered the exclusive Village Vanguard version x 2 (for me & a friend) of the "MASK A RAID" CD... now the wait for release begins!
I'm not sure if the Village Vanguard edition comes with the preorder bonus, but there are some stores with preorder bonus of 2 pictures of KJ included with the CD (out of 120 different kinds). This works out to about 5 per member, and I recall an otaku aquaintence of mine heard from Waka that she had maybe 4 or 5 individual ones taken of her so there might be group ones as well.
^Yes I thought I read that the 120 bromide selection were with Mulan or Lammtarra store purchases?... I know Tower Records has a Kamen Joshi logo receipt. lol
Yeah Lammtarra was included, along with Tower Records (most Tower Records stopped the photo promo though because of stock...). There were a few other stores but I ended up preordering 5 copies from Lamtarra. But now I just saw Tower Records Akiba is still doing photo preorders, as well as doing a drawing for 25 posters that they'll have on display. https://twitter.com/TOWER_Akihabara/status/1397762053444575232 I might buy a CD there too if they're still doing the photo promotion. Shihori graduates on 6/6 with Riru graduating on 6/19 or 6/20. Supposedly PARMS might get closed or taken during June so all the promotion ceremonies will probably take place in July.
^^^ Thanks for the info FruitPunch! I'm sorry those graduations are fast approaching, but at least you got a little more time with your oshi...
LiveOne report chatting with Moa-chan (the -chan is on her request, I am not allowed to use -san anymore) Firstly I should apologize to my bank account, I stayed far longer then I originally planned but hey, the chat was doing absolutley GREAT and then our own @FruitPunchSamurai also came along and that made for what we here in The Netherlands call a "super gezellige" chat. On second thoughts, the yen is pretty weak at the moment compared to the Euro so screw my bank account I started my visit shortly after 02:30 (jst) and stayed till the end at around 04:45 so knowing Moa, she proably is awake again before I finish typing this. It was a very very long time ago that I visited Moa-chan her room. But when she tweeted that she would do Liveone starting from 02:30 I thought to jump in for a 30 minute visit. Contrary to usual her room wasn't very busy. Including me there were maybe just 3 people. Later on we even had a few one on one moments. Due to this much more relaxing atmosphere there was far more chance to really talk and also for her to find out how to say things in English because, as she said it, she is pretty nervous when she has limited time to come up with an English reply. She also was far more pro-active in talking and asking questions which always scores well with me. So what did we talk about? Actually a whole lot of subjects passed along. - First offcourse we talked about how we were actually doing. During this she was unpacking some bikini's/swimwear for, if I remember correctly, some upcoming photoshoots. She also dryfitted them over her t-shirt and I must say, the people at the shoots are lucky. She picked some very nice pieces. But she also promised to post some "sexy" pictures on twitter - We also talked about how she (and I) hope to be able to see each other again in real life sooner then later. I did tell her though that meeting her in real life can be quite scary due to her very powerful aura (atleast for me). She replied by sending her aura through the screen. In Pokemon terms "it was super effective" - Due to her having landed a succesful voice acting job on a computer game we talked about games and gundams. She isn't good with scary games. When I asked her if she played Biohazard/Resisdent Evil:Village she gave a very cute "scared" look. Also anyone ever lucky enough to watch a movie with her better not pick a scary movie. Charlie and the chocolate factory is her favorite. She wants a PS5 but I guess these are as hard to get in Japan as they are here in Europe. She has around 5 assembled gundams in her room and around 8 still in the box. - She asked me about a famous food here in The Netherlands. We really don't have something spectecular but we do have our version of pancakes which in Japan they call hotcakes. Difference is that we actually have restaurants that specialize in pancakes with all sorts of toppings. I remember seeing on YouTube a famous Japanese comedian try them in Amsterdam, the first thing he said was "That is not pancake, that is PIZZA!". She looked up some pictures and got hungry. Then I told her that we actually do have a world famous snack. Offcourse with this I meant "Stroopwafels". When she looked these up she said she wanted to eat them but by coincidence I told her that the best thing of Stroopwafels is that you can actually get original Dutch ones in Japan. She immediatley wanted to know where so I told her that there was a shop in Kobe run by a Dutchman (wafelhuis.com). So if we see her post some Stroopwafels on twitter in the future you know who to blame - Offcourse I also asked her if it was, as with Saria-san, ok to send her a gift. Actually we talked about this two times. On the first time she replied that she wants a letter because she wasn't sure if sending gifts was allowed although late one when I got her to understand that Saria asked staff and got the okay she turned around. About that letter though, she was very adamant and specific that she wanted a love-letter Now, I am sort of a weird writer when it comes to letters. I can take an hour to get a letter started in a way that satifies me but when I finally do get started my letters can turn out pretty long. However writing a love-letter to an idol is a very dangerous thing. One of the things I try to avoid at all costs when it comes to idols and talents is to fall in love. I admit the fantasy is nice but I am a realist enough that for me, living 10.000km away, this will never be more then that, a fantasy. Now are fantasies not a bad thing per se but when it comes to love they are usually quite painfull. And then comes the fact that it is very easy to fall in love with Moa, she just has that perfect combination of cute looks and idem personality. But she asked for a love-letter and I promised to do my best, so let's see if I can write her something that can make her hart go - She also asked me to watch the next episode of that program that Saria-san hosts (twitter @pri_tei) and give lots of comments (English was ok) because she would be a guest. I just looked it up and sadly the show is on a Tuesday at 20:00 jst or 13:00 cest which would make it start right when usually my break ends. So let's hope that my brake that day starts late. - Offcourse I gave her various compliments during the chat to which she replied in cute ways. There is probably more we talked about but it is just impossible for me to get into everything. But I must say that Moa-chan is the true definition of an idol. Sometimes I wonder how far she would have gone if she would be a member of one of the bigger groups. One of the nicest things that happend tonight was when we ended up (for a short while) with just the two of us. During this time I could see that she looked tired but when I asked her if she wanted to talk more she was very firm in saying "yes" because she said she had a great time and so did I. Actually to be honest, I think tonight was the best chat I ever had with her, she was just so accessible tonight and somewhere I just wished it would never end. But, even Moa needs a few hours of sleep so after well of 2+ hours of talking it was time to say goodbye. About her sleeptime: Actually she loves to sleep, she just has so much things to do (or wants to do) that her sleeptime suffers. In reality she would love to one day be able to sleep for 10 hours.
I'm glad you had fun talking to Moa for such a long time. Actually that was my fourth session in a row with her. She is the last remnant of the Armor Girls I knew, and so I decided to try and get out everything I wanted to say before I leave. At an earlier session I may have been taking my joking around a bit too far and so I made Shihori sad (while thankfully Moa and the Shihori/Moa fan involved didn't mind, I will not give details), and she hasn't been doing Live one lately, so I decided to spend time with Moa and do what I said earlier. I too end up writing letters that end up being more like a graduate thesis, and with Shihori they usually end up eventually being love letters... I'm going to go on a more serious note about the whole "falling in love with idols" thing because it's pretty obvious that I have and my take on the situation. This is generally called a "parasocial relationship", and it's a phenomenon that's slowly been being made more aware as far as I can tell. I'm not going to explain it here in detail since it's faster to look it up (and I think that Alice Project talents are ever so slightly different because you can get to know them pretty well on live one, but still). When I first got the courage to go visit Kamen Joshi 3 years ago, I only ever did it because I had thought Kamiya Erina was interesting, and her being cute was really secondary to it. And even after following them and learning more about them I never really felt that way, and logically I knew that it's more or less a fantasy. I didn't even see our beloved Miishan that way (I find it funny that Moa, Shihori, and almost everyone else I tell that to are surprised), and the closest up until now was probably Yurie and Hino, but when I saw their Top Otaku say how much they love them, I really stopped and wondered if I could say the same thing. And honestly, I didn't understand how someone could be a solo-oshi for someone, and how DD was the best way to describe me. However, that's completely different with Shihori. I was of the opinion that "Deciding your oshi by their looks will lead you to changing oshi in the end", so despite me thinking that Shihori was the prettiest member ever since I first saw her, I kept my distance. But a year and a half ago when I realized I had a crush on her and decided to get a bit closer, and the feeling is really different. I think there are a few things that one needs to understand (I'm sure we all have an idea of it, but just to make it clearer) and that's: Your relationship with the idol is dependent on money; if you don't pay then you can't interact with them. They interact with you because you pay them. Their job is to entertain you. You are not friends or lovers, you are their fan. They have a private life which they are not obliged to tell you about. All fans are equal. Even if you fall in love with them, you eventually have to accept that they will fall in love with someone else, get married, and have a family. That's just how humans are. This is a one-way street. Like above, it's a fantasy, and yeah, it will likely be very painful. Now granted, these are not all set in stone, and you do see idols dating fans secretly (and who are promptly fired upon discovery) which is a huge topic on the KJ Japanese message boards, but generally you'll have to stick to the above. Where does this relate to me? Well when I caught myself only taking chekis of Shihori and having a big stupid grin on my face whenever she was on stage made me realize that I was deeply in love with her, and honestly despite everything I said above I decided to support her that way (known as gachi-koi in the fandom, literally "in love for real") because that is the most enjoyment I have ever had in the idol hobby. Shihori is also my dream woman; her personality and looks are entirely my type, and its not everyday you find that. I do know that my feelings are one-sided and I do know that it's extremely difficult to love someone without them reciprocating, and as much as I try I don't think it's possible for humans to do it but that's besides the point. A story from one of my Shihori live ones: Shihori has had a few people fall in love with her on a similar level to me, but they all ended up leaving her for someone else because she's not "flirty"(?), or she doesn't give an experience that she's your girlfriend. She doesn't pretend to be your lover (although other members have said that she sort of does it), and that were she not to graduate, she believes that eventually I would follow suit (I don't believe I would because I think it's ironic that she'd say that considering that's how I ended up here). I think it's funny that she brought up Moa as a member that is more receptive to having people in love with her. Moving to Japan just to follow idols, falling in love with an idol, spending so much time on them, may have lots of people call me an idiot or even foolish. But I think that people that would call me that care a bit too much about something that doesn't concern them. I'm sorry that the above devolved into a rambling, philosophical mess of a blog since this is supposed to be a forum about our fun hobby, but it's quite a common thing in the idol fandoms that's pretty interesting if you take an outsider's look on it. It's funny that you say that it's very easy to fall in love with Moa because I think many people have the same opinion. I will admit that I have fantasized about dating Moa in the past a couple times... What surprises me is that she asked for a love letter from you. I've seen many letters addressed to her whenever I give mine, so I figure that she gets them alot from Moa oshi, but my image is that you're Saria's fan (or maybe DD is a much closer way to put it?) A more cynical side of me would say that she's trying to hook you in deeper and improve business by having you fall in love with her, but I certainly don't think that's the case with her and her personality. Should you fall in love with her, then you'll end up the reverse of Easter Girls' Nakamura Hanon, who is a self-described Moa oshi, but loves Saria (unless you also love Saria ). A funny story is there was a time when Easter Girls visited and Hanon was watching from up top and when Moa looked up and gave her a finger point, and a smile she had her penlight set to Saria's color instead of Moa's. Hanon quickly switched to purple, but was caught, and everyone poked fun at her during the MC portion. I really do hope you can watch the Pritei program since if I read correctly that is Saria's last time doing it. The contract most likely expires next month and they'll have a new idol doing it. I'll close this off with another lighter hearted Live one story. The main reason I had come into Moa's live one was because during an MC she said she really loved Steam Girls' new song Love Wave so much that she creeped out Mitsuki, and said that she'd gladly explain further on Live one. I went on Live one and asked her about that, and she said she loves how Shihori gets really into it during her singing parts and shows off, which is something I fully agree with. I went to Shihori's live one and told her that I did that and she got really cute and embarassed and said to stop doing that, and when I asked why she said "because it's embarassing" and you could totally hear her blushing in her voice. She also said that "This conversation's over." which is the first time I've ever had a member forcibly change a conversation on me.
^^ That was 2 fascinating reports... WOW! ...thanks a bunch guys! Always love learning more about Moa-chan & fan experiences & thoughts. Also Fruitpunch I find it interesting that "dating fans" is a huge topic on the Japanese KJ boards, is this due to suspicious fans, or hopeful fans?
My proxy got the new album in today....here is the "all songs" trailer... if the video does not show watch the video here
