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Alice Project

Discussion in 'The STAGE48 Idol Emporium' started by Sadia23, Apr 3, 2014.

  1. FruitPunchSamurai

    FruitPunchSamurai Kenkyuusei

    Joined:
    Jan 30, 2019
    Oshimen:
    Shihori Yukino
    Unfortunately it probably will be 2500 even after the virus blows over and restrictions get lifted since Pasela and Kleeblatts Inc are probably deep in the red. My Twitter feed had many places restaurants and live houses shutting down due to poor business and even with Live one and whatnot they probably are still short on funds. I think the decision to reopen was like you said, but also because the State of Emergency was lifted, and live houses can be somewhat safe places if proper measures are in place.

    Since only 40 people can come in, they are streaming the lives on YouTube just like WEST (no archive playback unfortunately)
    This one starts 7/1 18:00JST↓

    if the video does not show watch the video here

    I have a couple live one reports but the forum didn't save my drafts so I'll have to write them again.
     
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  2. AloNeko

    AloNeko Member

    Joined:
    Apr 10, 2015
    Hynggrr! And them warning already at new virus.. or?
     
  3. Oddball82

    Oddball82 Member

    Joined:
    Jun 18, 2017
    Oshimen:
    Hitomi Momose
    @FruitPunchSamurai

    yes I am also afraid that the price raising will be permanent and although I understand if they would do this for as long as the measures are in place I do wonder about the effects in the long run after the measures are lifted.
    I mean many fans who went every night now can't go every time because of the limited seating so they probably won't feel the financial effects of this. However what will these fans do when they can come every day again but still have to pay 1000 yen more then they used to? For some fans we are talking about 20 to 25 thousand yen more a month (and for some really hardcore fans maybe even more) and from what I have seen/noticed it are these regulars which provide the most stable part of income to the group. As a company I would be very very carefull to not scare those regulars away and implement later on a much lower (and depending on inflation maybe still temporarily) price rise. Or as alternative what some restaurants here in Europe are doing: A temporary corona surcharge.

    I wonder what you other people think about this?

    I also look forward to reading your liveone reports.

    PS: somewhat of a rude question for FPS: I saw you are going to see KJ this Saturday. You by chance wouldn't have a paypal account to which I can transfer some funds so you can get me chekis of Momomin and Saria do you? :p
     
  4. blurryeyes

    blurryeyes Kenkyuusei

    Joined:
    Jun 4, 2016
    8th Floor Alice Project behind plastic is on...

    if the video does not show watch the video here
     
  5. FruitPunchSamurai

    FruitPunchSamurai Kenkyuusei

    Joined:
    Jan 30, 2019
    Oshimen:
    Shihori Yukino
    So my first time back at KJ cafe in 3 months, although since it's not the 7F stage it doesn't really feel like it:

    So the price for weekdays has increased by 1000 yen, but for weekends it's increased by 500 yen (initially it was 2500 yen + 500 yen drink when you exchange your ticket, now it's 3500 paid all at once). More thoughts on that later.

    So in the end I was able to go to both the 3rd performance and 4th performance today (1st and 2nd were cerisier with tomorrow being the other way around). First off, you get assigned a seat when you buy your ticket, and there are 10 tables with 4 seats at them each numbered 1-40. Each seat is assigned randomly, and for each performance, the seat numbers are shuffled (ex. if you got #12, and your seat was in a table in the middle, the next performance will have seat #12 in a different spot). However, both me and an otaku acquaintance got the exact same seat for both performances; I had middle far left and he had far back right. It was okay for me since Shihori's spot is on the left side of the stage, but he's a Yurie fan and Yurie is right next to Shihori so it was pretty hard for him to see. No seat swapping is allowed. Before and after each performance, all the windows are opened and they have fans blowing air out of the room. After each unit is done their set, there is also an air exchange done.

    It went Slime Girls>Cadets>Steam>Armor>#10, and due to the air exchange only 4 songs get to be played with 1 for Slime and 2 for Cadets (weekends were normally 6 songs per KJ unit, 4 for cadets, and 2 for Slime Girls). On YouTube it's not very prominent, but I think the plastic curtain they have in front is quite bothersome. If it were a more transparent one, I think I'd be fine with it, but it makes everything look a little blurry. The biggest issue I think has to be the seating. First of all, it's random with no chance to adjust. Second, since the stage of 8F Grace Bali is mainly intended for wedding receptions, the stage is about 10cm off the ground. The nicest thing about 7F PARMS is that even if you aren't in the front row, the stage is about a meter or so above ground so even if people are in front, you can see every member somewhat well. I was in the middle row, but since the space between me and the person in front of me is about 1m, they're usually blocking my view. I feel kind of bad for the other guy since he had to look across the entire room just to see Yurie.

    As for the performance itself, I think all the members did quite well, it's almost as if they didn't even take a break for 3 months. Shihori's dance skills didn't get worse, like I thought they would, but I think that's to be expected of Alice Project's performance standards and training. Armor Girls was still a blast to watch with Momomin occasionally making an exaggerated facial expression, and Moa being extremely expressive like always. Ao joined the Armor Girls MC for the 3rd show; she'll be taking over the blue color (she was Easter Girls' blue member, and her name is synonymous with "blue" anyways). Waka, the original blue member, wanted to keep her color at first, but after watching Ao's graduation ceremony, she contacted staff and asked to have Ao take over the color. Ao joins Armor Girls on July 23, with both the 3rd showing and the 4th showing being a joining ceremony.

    Cheki time is quite weird. It is at most 30 minutes now. You have to buy cheki tickets right as you enter, or when they do an air exchange. When the performance ends you get a small window to buy them, but it's generally encouraged to buy them ahead of time. Two shot chekis require you to wear a face shield (which they sell for 500 yen, but it's basically just a sheet of plastic which you put the mask through, and even then you have to have a plastic curtain between you and the member), you can bring your own which is what I wanted to do but I forgot to buy one before coming. When you talk to the member as they sign, it's done behind a plastic curtain and you both need to wear a mask. It gets kind of difficult to hear them and they themselves sometimes have trouble hearing you. The staff also ask you to refrain from standing and chatting during cheki time, and would want you to sit during that time if you aren't lining up. Next is that they do chekis in groups of 2 units at once only. For today, they did Steam and Cadets first, and then when nobody wanted any more chekis, Steam Girls and the cadets left, and Armor Girls and Juban joined. In that case if you wanted a cheki with Steam Girls later on, you would have already missed your chance.

    @Oddball82
    I have no trouble with taking chekis on your behalf, but it's been about 6 years since I last used my paypal account and the login details are tied to my old phone so unfortunately I can't do transfers that way. I looked up shipping to Europe, and for shipping it's about 2500 yen for the minimum weight (500g) and that also gives you a tracking number. Chekis don't weigh much, but if I were to mail chekis somewhere, I'd use a bubble envelope and put them between two pieces of cardboard so that they don't risk getting bent (chekis that I ordered were sent in such a manner), but ideally would want to send as many chekis as possible. DM me either here or on Twitter and we can work out some details if you're still interested.

    I feel that the price increase is something that can't be helped, but certainly it means I'll be going less. The new system also leaves something to be desired because right now it's my first time back in 3 months and I'm just happy I can see Shihori, but going forward I don't really know if it's something that I could do extremely regularly like I did last year (I do still want chekis, but you can order them online starting next week, normal only with sign and name I think?). There is also the issue of lost revenue from chekis since people who would take multiple ones (ex. someone would take a two-shot, then a select, and a unit cheki all in one night = 6000 yen, if that person doesn't like masks, then a unit cheki can't be done anymore (all members wear masks), as well as select chekis are no longer being done, so it just turns into a solo cheki, 1000-2000yen). There are no longer any handshake events either (for obvious reasons). Even with a price increase, they're still struggling to put up revenue numbers like they did last year.

    Moa's birth fest last year was probably the most crowded I've ever seen PARMS, maybe aside from Miishan graduation ceremony. It wasn't sold out, so capacity wasn't hit, but I could barely move, so I'd say it was about 340-350 people. From ticket sales (2500 yen a ticket + 500 yen drink) alone that's over 1 million yen in one night. Right now it's 40 people only at 3500 yen, about 140,000 yen. PARMS last year generally averaged more than 50 people a performance (there were certainly times when not even 20 people attended a live, but those were generally Saturday 1st performances). Only time will tell what will happen going forward. For now, I'm going to be spending my paychecks at KJ cafe (although Tokyo has seen a rise in virus cases recently...).

    On a more positive note, Shihori cut her hair very short! And she looks real great!
    [​IMG][​IMG]
    Generally I prefer girls with long hair, and before she cut it she'd been saying she wanted to cut it really short for a while and she just needed staff permission, and I thought it wouldn't suit her, but it turned out great in my opinion. It must be tough since for members they can't change their hairstyle or color very drastically without staff permission since it could lead to fans quitting or going to other girls. The one thing I noticed is that Momomin and Shihori have basically swapped hairstyles from about 2 years ago, although Momomin now has her bangs off to the side. Harumi and Nanaka have also dyed their hair brown.

    I may have went overboard and got 6 chekis (3 wide, 3 normal), all Shihori, but I missed her and had a great time either way so I'm satisfied.

    Live one reports coming soon.
     
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  6. blurryeyes

    blurryeyes Kenkyuusei

    Joined:
    Jun 4, 2016
    Thank you for your report FruitPunch. Very informative and great Shihori chekis!

    Have a ever mentioned I think Fue is cute! Cuz she is! lol Nobody ever talks about her and she was missing last time I did chekis there, but I was going through my top KJ girls today after watching them live, as it has changed quite a bit since Anna (and all the oldskool Jubans -Nanaka have left), & Sora & Misa of course. Fue wouldn't make my top 5 KJ current members but top 10 anyway. lol

    https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ea2aBo-U0AE7-hr?format=jpg&name=large
     
    Last edited: Jul 5, 2020
  7. FruitPunchSamurai

    FruitPunchSamurai Kenkyuusei

    Joined:
    Jan 30, 2019
    Oshimen:
    Shihori Yukino
    Hiyori Nakamoto graduation announcement.

    https://gamp.ameblo.jp/nakamoto-hiyori/entry-12609508387.html?__twitter_impression=true

    She says she's found a new dream and will need to quit being an idol in order to make it happen. She says she will not be joining any other agencies or doing anything in show business again so it's a complete retirement for her. I wasn't really expecting this from her, I was sure she was to become part of the next Armor Girls.

    The strongest image I have of her is that she stood out among the Slime Girls members I saw when I came back for the first time in a year, back in Dec 2018, and she quickly moved up to Slime Girls official center. She then moved up really quick to Cadets first row where I guess she got stuck. I think she had a lot of potential, and if things were normal I'd probably go to her graduation ceremony but with restricted entry I'll let her fans take the spots first.

    Hiyori graduates 7/26 with both performances being the ceremony.
     
    Last edited: Jul 7, 2020
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  8. Oddball82

    Oddball82 Member

    Joined:
    Jun 18, 2017
    Oshimen:
    Hitomi Momose
    Ok, let's see where to start.

    First of all yes, Shihori looks very cute with short hair, I first noticed it watching the live on youtube because I was wondering where she was :fear:
    Also, didn't she get a new kitten (named Suzu if I am not mistaken)?

    On the Hiyori Nakamoto graduation:
    Even though I am not really knowledgeable about the slime girls/cadets (but that is more due to there not being much info available on them) I do find it said when a girl graduates/quits before making it to one of the main groups. I know it's a given that not every girl will make it but still. With FPS saying she was going to be/aiming for Armor Girls I wonder if what I said before: about Armor Girls with Ao joining being "full" has anything to do with it? When someone graduates with a "new dream" (without telling what teh dream is) I always get a bad taste in my mouth, as if it is more a political correct thing to say instead of the true reason.

    Another thing I noticed:
    During the first few lives via youtube there was no blurring of the audience (and was in my opinion not needed as everyone was unrecognizeable anyway) but last weekend I noticed they put in a blurring effect which as a side effect also completly blurres the members legs, and as I like legs and they are a big part of the dance routine it makes me a bit :(

    @blurryeyes
    Fue has some good points yes. Actually a short while ago she changed her liveone profile picture which she shouldn't have done in my opinion as, again in my opinion, she had the best profile picture on liveone. I did forget that she followed me a few months ago on twitter (fishing for followbacks probably, which she succeeded in) and your post actually made me pay more attention to her tweets :^^;:

    Then let's go to this weeks chat with Momomin which I had last thursday:
    - It was a pretty special chat as she started very late at 23:30 (all times mentioned are Japanese times) where she normally starts at 2200 and stops at 2400
    - With that in my mind I didn't expect the chat to go on till 0100, actually it was pretty nice because at around 0040 I was on my last 20 points and she mentioned that the chat would end soon but knowing that she likes to end at a half hour or whole hour mark I told her that if she wanted to continu to chat till 0100 I would buy the extra points (the conversation this time was very very nice, with a good flow). In a teasing way she asked me what I wanted to do but I could tell that she wanted to continue as she clearly had a good time, so I bought a few extra points so we could end at 0100 (note: side effect of the covid-19 situation is that I have less chances to spend my money on other stuff so my available income for liveone is a bit more then usual, a good thing in a bad situation)
    - I asked her if she was already used to the new working schedule to which she said that she was. She didn't have much trouble with it because she can easily adapt to new schedules.
    - Chat was also special because she chatted while giving her legs the massage I mentioned before. As normally she quits the chat because she is going to give the massage it was nice to see a bit of that routine. She did say sorry a couple of times for doing it while chatting but I actually liked it. It made me feel getting a bit closer. The whole routine lasts about 40 to 50 minutes.
    - The next day (last friday) she had recording for the youtube channel. Normally they will record around 5 episodes on 1 day. When I mentioned that 5 was my lucky number (and answering her questions on why) I got to know her lucky number is 3, mainly because she finds it a cute number. When I told her that was true because 3 is part of the heart emoji I was rewarded with a good laughing reaction.

    [quick in between: One of the good things about Momomin knowing a bit English but not everything is that sometimes it takes a while for a joke to hit home to which she always gives a good reaction]

    - She is still worried about her skin and is seeing a dermatoligist for advice. Personally I don't think it is all that bad but I know that for an Idol their skin is like a treasure so I understand her being worried fast.
    - One of the best points about the chat: She, without given a reason to, asked me how the injury on my thumb was healing (which is going very well). It is things like these that convinces me that I have chosen the right Kami-oshi. She doesn't have to remember this kind of stuff but the fact she does and even asks about it makes, I honestly admitt it, my heart flutter a bit:inlove:
    - It was just the two of us for 95% of the time, there weren't much people coming by (maybe 4) with the longest staying for about 5 minutes. She told me that these short stays were normal. I can understand this as I think most people had to wake up early to get to work the next day.
    - I told her that I had watchd the Armor Girls live performance and thanked her/them for doing my favorite "les champs elysee" which caused us to have a nice chat about that song and which in turn caused her to sing it almost completly which in turn prompted me to send a "ooh a personal performance, it really is a lucky day" comment which sparked a huge laugh and smile. She told me that that reaction was very interesting. Now I wonder though: I know with me being a stupid honest direct Dutchy but with probably an above knowledge about Japanese culture, how different is it for her to be chatting with me (exclusive of the language and duration) compared to Japanese fans? What do I bring that makes her say that I am fun to chat with? I wonder about this because there is one other thing I noticed:
    - When someone says goodbye she usually says something short in return or, if she happend to be distracted at that moment, nothing at all. However, when I say goodbye, (even if I leave before she ends the session) then usually saying goodbye takes us up to two minutes. I mentioned this when I started with Liveone about being worried of being to special of a fan or something (for whatever reason) but I can't help the feeling that, atleast in Liveone, I am treated a little bit better then others. Not that I am worried in a negative way towards Momomin acting like this, I admitt it feels nice but more on how other fans see me. But then again, most of the time (not just this time) it is just me and Momomin in chat so that could explain it a bit.
    - We talked about planning things (just the general idea of, so don't get any worries/weird ideas about me/her breaking any rules :p). When I told her that the people of my country are famous for being planners and gave an example of a family bbq that was already planned a month ago for coming august (15th) she got real genki but as time was also up we made a promiss to talk about bbq's next time and she told me to absolutely not forget about it. As she never did this before I better not forget :lol:.
     
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  9. AloNeko

    AloNeko Member

    Joined:
    Apr 10, 2015
    Good or cool story? No, it is both... thhaaaaaaaaaaaanks!
     
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  10. Oddball82

    Oddball82 Member

    Joined:
    Jun 18, 2017
    Oshimen:
    Hitomi Momose
    Momomin graduates on September 5th :(

    https://gamp.ameblo.jp/momose-hitomi/entry-12610988526.html?__twitter_impression=true

    I should feel sad right now but I feel surprisingly calm, probably because I know I will still speak with her a few times on liveone.
    Honestly I am not even that surprised. Her moving to a new appartment makes a lot of sence right now plus I don't consider myself naive, every Idol graduates one day and with Momomin being 24 and an idol for almost 9 years she will graduate at a very acceptable time.

    The only thing(s) I am sad about right now is that I missed her birthday (even though that wasn't my fault) and that I won't see, in person, her perform again.
     
    Last edited: Jul 15, 2020
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  11. FruitPunchSamurai

    FruitPunchSamurai Kenkyuusei

    Joined:
    Jan 30, 2019
    Oshimen:
    Shihori Yukino
    Sad news. Earlier on my jog I was wondering how long Momomin will keep going since after her goal last year of going to Juban (which she changed her mind about), she didn't have any other clear goals. I thought she would still have at least a year or two left in her, so I'm personally surprised that she announced her graduation.

    I've always liked Momomin even if she isn't my favorite, and whenever I came for a cheki with her she always was very warm and friendly. I did she her perform years ago at my very first KJ live, but I was truly introduced to her through Chocomeshi channel when she hijacked Nanaka's original channel. I initially watched it for Nanaka, but I came to like Momomin while watching it and would watch it for her.

    Here are some Momomin anecdotes that are a little rare since a lot of this is from content that isn't translated:
    • Momomin's first experience in love was back in kindergarten (or elementary school, I don't remember which exactly) where she gave a boy she liked chocolate for Valentine's Day, only to find it thrown into the trash can unopened later in the day (she told this story on Kanon Mori's Harajuku KJ live stream back in 2016, and on the YouTube talk show streams which they don't do anymore, sadly).
    • On a different episode of the 2016 Kanon Mori live stream show, they talked about how Momomin gained weight (in her words, it was because she was finally able to eat 3 proper meals a day). During this time period fans would go to Mayu (Momomin's very close to Mayu, they were in the same units for years) for chekis and say, "Momomin sure gained weight". I thought it was really funny when the co-host of the live stream show called Momomin "fatty" and she shot him a death glare, and proceeded to turn to the camera, smiled, and said "Don't worry, I'll lose it all." By the time of early 2018, she did in fact lose quite a bit of weight and focused a lot on her appearance which leads us to the pretty girl we have today.
    • A joke in the past (and sometimes very rarely these days) is that she resembles Japanese comedian Ayumu Kato (you might know him as the "Impossibru Guy"). They aired a KJ documentary many years ago back when she was still a cadet, and they did that joke there (Momomin was so embarassed she tried hiding the sides of her face with her hair). I think this documentary is still on YouTube. One of my early chekis with her was doing the pose of the comedian together (she gave me a sour look when I requested it lol), and I told her the joke was really mean since she's cute, and she gave me the half doubting "Oh really?" but thanked me anyways.
    • Momomin is 100% okay with insects and bugs. I think she had a cockroach as a pet, and would let it crawl on her, you can see this on Chocomeshi or on the old Milk Punch videos back when it was Erina's channel. However, she is the exact opposite with squishy things like lizards and frogs, and will freak out with them.
    • Probably my favorite YouTube content involving Momomin is the "I Can Fly" combo of her, Misa, and Erina. They used to do content together before each girl had their own YouTube channel, and would occasionally do content together after Erina Channel, Chocomeshi, and Pink Crackerz was established. I was unable to get a cheki of them with Erina, which I'm kind of sad about. Example:
      if the video does not show watch the video here
    • Back in late 2018, Momomin (who is self-described as not being very good at dancing) was promoted to first row, and Misa (while both of them have lots of fans, Misa had way more fans and was in KJ longer) was demoted to second row. As a Misa fan I was kind of sad (Misa herself felt down about it), but Momomin being put in front was well received; she herself was very happy. There haven't been KJ performances since March, but I think Momomin is back in the 2nd row.
    • I remember reading one Western fan's KJ blog about how she has a Momomin cheki where Momomin laughed so hard she had a big smile in it; looking at my own and other peoples' chekis, it's quite rare for Momomin to have a full smile, usually she has a cool model face on so if you have a cheki like that, you've got something very rare (I don't think I have one but I have many rare Momomin pictures from photoshoots).
    Yes, Shihori's dad brought home a kitten from one of his coworkers' cats having babies, so she has a new member of the family named Suzu. She wanted to call it "Mugi" (which means wheat) since she really likes beer and thought the new kitten had a color similar to it.

    There are other things I'd like to touch upon but it's getting late so I'll bring it up later.
     
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  12. blurryeyes

    blurryeyes Kenkyuusei

    Joined:
    Jun 4, 2016
    I really enjoyed reading every ones thoughts/stories here very much!

    Oh man...other golden era star of KJ graduating.:cold: Now only Nanaka, Moa, Yuuka, & Mayu are left...
    I am saddened about this news from Momomin, and not sure by her blog what her next step will be, I remember she wanted to be a model. I like that she mentioned foreign fans!
    She graduates on my birthday.:^^;:

    Some memories about Momomin.
    "Let's Momomin"
    When I first got into Kamen Joshi years ago, Hitomi was in my top 3, only outmatched by Anna #1 & Moa#2. When I first saw them live she really caught my eye with her bright blonde hair, even being all the way in the back. When we went to the hand-shake event after the show, she hit my hands so hard with her famous "hi-touch" (raised high over her head)... I was shocked & wasn't even expecting it, because I was the only one she did that to that day! This was the first time an idol harmed me lol! That first trip I got to see Armor Girls again after the weekend KJ lives on a Monday night, and they wouldn't let them leave until I said goodbye to all of them after I was buying goodies at buppan. Moa was not there so I was so excited to talk to Hitomi again & rushed thru the other members lol. Misa COULD NOT WAIT to see me rev up because she knew Hitomi's English was poor at the time, & she got such a KICK out of watching Hitomi struggle with me! lol
    Hitomi has since always remained in my Top 10 members for Kamen Joshi. And even though she is more beautiful than ever, I can't help put love those platinum blonde bob-cut days. I have a couple chekis with her...this is my favorite (2016), check out the smile. :approve:
    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Jul 16, 2020
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  13. AloNeko

    AloNeko Member

    Joined:
    Apr 10, 2015
    Hmm... Are someone else from KJ/AP go to model?
    Model career? Isn´t that even less free than ... where her ... ?

    Ah ... Anna&Moa... hmm... Where is that great Anna is and Moa is her least ok... say her IS LEAST OK!!
     
  14. Oddball82

    Oddball82 Member

    Joined:
    Jun 18, 2017
    Oshimen:
    Hitomi Momose
    So I have just spoken to Momomin on Liveone (actually I tried to do it last wednesday to but the connection in the hotel I was staying at was very bad) and offcourse I asked her a few questions and I will try to recall it as good as I can.

    - She deicided to graduate a pretty good while ago
    - Basicly she wants a start over in her life, her moving is also a little bit part of this in order to refresh her life. (if I am not mistaken this is a concept that is also present in the Shinto faith, and seeing Momomin goes to shrines to pray from time to time I can see why she did this)
    - She didn't tell other members beforehand but, if I understood it correctly, she did gave them subtle hints about her not being there at the upcoming one man live.
    - She can not keep her twitter and instagram account as these are owned by the company. She might start again in the future but not immediatly after graduating (the way she spoke of this gave me the feeling that there might be a rule about this)
    - On a personal note: She did think of me when she deicided to announce her graduation and she wil remember me for a long time (offcourse that is also something that can be said just to be polite, the way she said it and her expression during it gave me the feeling she ment it)
    - Most interesting thing she said after I asked if her Alice10 goal had anything to with her decision:
    A little bit, BUT, she no longer sees any benefit in joining Alice10.
    I found this excellent food for thought and I think she might be right. From what I can tell the biggest thought of benefit of joining Alice10 is getting more exposure and thus more fans (and with that voting system, more income)
    However with the rise of social media, youtube and liveone there are so much more ways to make a name for yourself.
    I could use myself becoming a Momomin fan as an example of what youtube can do for an idol and as such, maybe, just maybe I might even have subconsiously contributed to that thought.
    - After her graduation she first wants to enjoy her freedom and if possible travel a bit.


    All in all it is what I expected and already thought of for some time:
    Momomin has enough of the restrictions on her life that comes with being an idol and longs for the freedom to do what she wants to do.
    I noticed this the last couple of months during our chats (staying at home due to corona but with restrictions might have had an accelerating effect). Every time we talked about things she could do or wanted to do she had to say that it wasn't allowed and she was visibly annoyed by it. It made me realize that her graduation probably might come more sooner then later. Personally I wasn't expected it this fast but more after the re-opening of the parms theater.
    In a weird way I am thankfull though that it is now during the corona crisis as this means that the chance of her graduation being broadcasted on YouTube are pretty high and seeing it would mean very much to me because, and I told this to Momomin to, thanks to LiveOne Momomin got to be a unique idol in the way that she is the Idol I got to know best and on a very personal level (LiveOne offers in that way a unique idol experience) and that I won't just loose an idol but also a friend.

    Some shorts:
    - The cockroach pet was a joke
    - It's especially frogs with which she isn't good
    - The valentine's chocolate in trashcan thing happend in elementary school
    - Her nails hurt because she cut them to short, judging by the reaction of someone else in chat this happens often.
     
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  15. blurryeyes

    blurryeyes Kenkyuusei

    Joined:
    Jun 4, 2016
    *With the few of us that still remain active on this forum, I am hoping that after Hitomi's graduation, you are still actively with us Oddball82, I know it can be hard to find a new oshi after holding one so dear.

    Also I meant to mention I received my Easter Girls (Classics) CD & Misa & Sora graduation BDs a couple weeks back... I felt the need to say that I am super glad to finally get to see the graduations in full as well as both girls had very cool set lists & emotional roller-coasters! I had special moments with both those girls when meeting them in person over the years & you all know how much Sora captivated me even with her short tenure, I was hoping she was part of Kamen Joshi's future...

    But I do have a gripe and that is that these BDs don't even have the 5-point auto-camera anymore.:hmm: Mao's birthday fest '19 (that I was at) still had 3 point auto camera, which was still pretty good (but not even a month prior to Misa's graduation) & these 2 more recent BDs only had 2 shots. Far away & the same shot close up (like they are doing on their recent streams) & for the Up-price you are paying for these now that is worse than ever. Also, every time I order the BDs they come 2 to a case stacked on top of each other (as I usually order 2 at at a time) rather than in 1 individual case for each! Talk about cheaping out! It's because of this, not including the One-Mans (which are of course pro-shot), I have to reconsider buying any more of these except for the most important events going forward, stuff like Hitomi's graduation, or any of the other favorites birthdays/graduations because it seems like a premium for the absolute worst product they have produced yet. For me, it feels like Kamen Joshi's budget got cut in half when they introduced Cerisier, and everything has gotten cheaper, & with worst distribution (no retail, no new music CDs in their online shop, & no digital releases) ever since!:asdfgh: I love this group so I wish the quality of their product was back to their previous standards.:(
    [​IMG]
    ^2nd BD in spare case.
     
    Last edited: Jul 29, 2020
  16. FruitPunchSamurai

    FruitPunchSamurai Kenkyuusei

    Joined:
    Jan 30, 2019
    Oshimen:
    Shihori Yukino
    @blurryeyes
    Yes, I definitely think production quality has gone down quite a bit. A lot of otaku share your feelings too, and sometimes I see their gripes flow on my timeline. I remember looking at my Hino graduation DVD and thought that they really should've had a handycam person taking the shots since sometimes the auto-cam wouldn't capture certain bits of the performance, as well as barely being able to see members' faces and expressions. I am glad that for her final boat ride at least they used a handycam (albeit it was on the 2nd floor of PARMS). The new song releases from each unit all have a CD associated with them, but only sold at PARMS itself (except for Shanimuni Dash, that has no release on CD or even MV!), and the CD itself is barebones in terms of packaging.

    There was an incident in December (?) last year where someone got too close to the stage and I think his penlight or something hit Moa in the leg (she didn't notice) and he got chewed out really bad by Mayu's Top Otaku. After that, there had to be a barrier in front of the stage of about 1m where you couldn't come closer. At that point there is plenty of space to have someone with a camera taking closeups and I'm real disappointed they stopped.

    Some other parts where Alice Project has been "dropping" in quality is members' blogs. While it doesn't seem like a big deal, up until early 2019, members were required to write a blog post every day, as well as write a blog post on the paid mobile site. There was a point where staff probably told them that it's okay not to do it anymore, and honestly from their perspective it definitely does take lots of time, but it does give fans reasons to follow them on social media, and keeps them in fans' minds alot. I know Yurie was writing her blog every day until the end of April, and now the only member who writes their blog every day is Satsuki, and I'm surprised she does. Due to her popularity, she might have to do it as part of her job unlike the other members. I hope it's not the case, but I feel like it's a case of the management being "how little effort can we spent and otaku will not complain". It may also be compounded by the fact that Japanese fans don't openly complain a lot, except for maybe Twitter. From a business perspective, this coronavirus thing isn't helping, and as much as I don't want to think about it, I'm amazed that Alice Project hasn't gone under (I think Live One is helping with that, along with them owning their own venue in Osaka, and that the company president is allegedly an extremely rich ex-host).


    On a different note, here are a few Live One reports from June (and Shihori’s from early July).

    Riru:

    So during the break period, Riru decided to do a question and answer project (as most members did); I thought she was just going to reply to my tweet, but she answered everyone’s questions through a video, including mine. I asked her “What do you think of Shihori?” and she answered in depth, I was pretty surprised but I decided to visit her live one as thanks.
    • Riru remembered who I was because I would do the “mabudachi” cheki quite a bit last year (Yurie, Fue, Riru).

    • Riru noticed I had switched oshi from Yurie to Shihori, but unlike Yurie (who was sad at first) Fue and Satsuki (who were pretty surprised about me switching), Riru realized that there must’ve been some reason for me to switch and was not really surprised.

    • Riru’s oshimen is Shihori too, and so we talked about her for a bit. At countdown 2019→2020 Riru said that her goal is to have pretty legs, from which I decided to create the “pretty legs” cheki of Riru and Shihori, but Riru herself said that her legs don’t compare to Shihori’s (she even agreed with me when I said that Shihori’s legs were godlike, hahaha). In short the answer to my question on Twitter was that for Riru, Shihori is like a big sister to her as well as her oshimen.

    • Near the beginning of the year, Riru injured herself and took a month or two off, and she was pretty happy to hear that I thought Alice Juban felt like something was missing without her; she does a really cool dance during the solo part of Super Straight and during the break period I think Seri was the one doing it and even though Seri did it well, I think that spot is more suited for Riru.
    She did live one for an hour, but I think I was in there for 45 minutes.


    Yurie:

    On a whim I decided to join Yurie’s live one since Shihori had done only one Live one session for June.
    • Yurie changed her twitter picture to a bottle of vinegar (there’s a pun since vinegar sounds like oshi in Japanese but I don’t feel like explaining it) since she had gained 6kg over the break period so she’ll return it to normal when she loses weight. Weight gain has been a consistent worry for Yurie herself, even since last year, and while I think she’s fine as she is (it might be rude to say it, but I can tell she gained weight...) Kamen Joshi is often known as the idol group with fat legs, according to the members themselves.

    • She’s already accepted that I have switched to Shihori from her, although when I said that I’d change my profile picture to a cheki of her and Shihori for a little bit of support, she jokingly was like “That’s cheating on her, you know?”, with a little sharpness to her words. I also jokingly said that going to her live one felt like meeting with an ex-girlfriend (even though neither of them were my girlfriend of course), and she played along with it.

    Mao:

    I joined one Maopi live one for a couple minutes, but the connection was unstable on both ends so I wasn’t able to really talk to her, so I left after she cut the connection and gave up.

    Shihori:

    Her first live one of July was right after the reopening live, and she showed off her new haircut. She also did one the next day, but hasn't done them since.

    • She spent most of June as a “housewife” in her words. Cooking, cleaning, laundry, and taking care of the kids, although in her case the "kids" she’s taking care of is her family's cat. She was also helping out with taking care of her niece and nephew, picking them up from daycare and stuff and buying them snacks. Apparently she tends to dote on them and buys them snacks if they ask.

    • She got permission to cut her hair from staff relatively quickly, and a lot of people were joking that she cut her hair due to getting heartbroken, but she said she cut it due to seeing people on Instagram with fashion she liked and the fashion she wears and how they all had short hair, so she decided to try it out.

    • Since it's her first time ever in her life doing short hair, sometimes she would be surprised whenever she looked in the mirror and be like "who is this?" but she's getting used to it.

    • I can't really remember much anymore but I do remember gushing over her new hairstyle a lot and complimenting her. She ended the live one sessions fairly quickly since she had been waiting for her parents to come home and go to dinner with them.

    With PARMS re-re-opening, I've been reluctant to head into members' live one due to me wanting to use that on chekis and in case Shihori is doing live one. With Tokyo coronavirus cases increasing again I feel like August might see another closure depending on what happens, but as it stands August first half tickets are on sale.

    Monday normally is a PARMS performance, but they swapped with cerisier due to the coronavirus schedule change, so for KJ it was a day off and I was really bummed out since it was my birthday and really wanted to meet Shihori, but on the 25th during cheki time she told me she'd do Live One (which she did), and I ended up staying for two hours (originally planned for 60minutes, but I was having too much fun).

    I'll write that Live One report later, as well as my thoughts on what @Oddball82 has said about cadets and Alice Juban, but here's a little bit on Hiyori Nakamoto graduation. According to an otaku acquaintance who went to the final Hiyori photoshoot, she decided to quit because of coronavirus and finalized her decision before the break period. Apparently she returned to being an otaku herself (on her days off and before becoming an idol sometimes she'd go to other groups' lives).
     
    Last edited: Jul 28, 2020
    • Informative Informative x 1
  17. blurryeyes

    blurryeyes Kenkyuusei

    Joined:
    Jun 4, 2016
    Thanks for this very impressive post FruitPunch!
    Some quick points about what you said:
    I am glad to see I am not alone in my sentiment of the decline in quality.
    I am glad you made us aware about the barrier - when things hopefully return to normal I will be interested to see if that returns.
    That's interesting about Mine Satsuki, I mean we know she is more popular in part due to her gravure ventures, but never seems to really crack the top 3 in "Otaku Satisfaction" polls.
    About the possibility of Alice Project going under - I have heard a few things over the years about their ownership, and that the man in charge is indeed wealthy.
    Thank you for the LiveOne stories, I am sorry Maopi's didn't work out.
    Funny about Kamen Joshi's legs, back in the "Plume" era of Armor Girls, if you lined them all up and took a picture from the waistdown and removed the coloring, I think it would be tough to tell who's legs are who's! lol
    Happy belated birthday!:ome:

    Very honest about Hiyori's graduation reason.

    If you ever feel motivated to buy any extra of the recent Alice Project CD releases, I would gladly paypal you for them. I don't know when they will let Americans in Japan again. and with the online store not carrying them, no more iTunes, I don't have any options for getting any of the music released after 2017. Basically anything AFTER songs like "Sexy Rabbit,""Kappa Rock" etc. and all the other sub group releases of that time.

    Examples: I don't have studio recordings of A10 "My Men", KJ "Love Love Sabae", KJ "Sokai Batoru", KJ + Ultras "Sakkā ōen uta kachūsha", AG "My Life," Kohosei “dainamaito ni hi o tsukero!", SG "Color Day," AG "parewedorondo" or even EG "peparoni uesutan" ...

    Probably more than just those, but truly would be interested in buying any! No worries if it's too much to ask of course, just figured I'd put it out there in case you happen to pass by the merch table sometime & felt generous lol. :cool:
     
    • Like Like x 1
  18. blurryeyes

    blurryeyes Kenkyuusei

    Joined:
    Jun 4, 2016
  19. FruitPunchSamurai

    FruitPunchSamurai Kenkyuusei

    Joined:
    Jan 30, 2019
    Oshimen:
    Shihori Yukino
    Thanks for the birthday wish. I think the current merch table is pretty small right now so I'm not sure if CDs are being sold. If PARMS lives start again (there have been non-Alice Project events going on in the 7F floor) I'll give it a check but I don't have paypal set up here yet.

    I'm not too surprised since they said it was just a test at the beginning of it. I wonder if they plan to do a paid viewing model with better quality, as the camera set up is still there. Fun fact: the blurring of the lower half of the screen was done not with special effects, but with several layers of plastic wrap.

    And they talked about it on the radio show on Tuesday, but for September's solo live they will be releasing 3 new songs as KJ. More thoughts on that later.
     
    • Informative Informative x 1
  20. blurryeyes

    blurryeyes Kenkyuusei

    Joined:
    Jun 4, 2016
    Thanks buddy, I appreciate your time & consideration!:approve:
    Very cool news about the 3 new KJ songs!!!:cool:
     

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