Just Because This Skater Is Japanese Doesn't Mean ANYTHING.

Since the skating season gets underway in a few tiny weeks I'd like to say a few things, but mostly I feel sullen and although Japanese Pop normally gets me out of my occasional fits of the blues and is what I most often turn to, sometimes I decide rather to go with it and appreciate silence.

This is how I feel right now, and I remember when I first saw the program. Mollie and I were sitting on the couch in our old dorm and I was forcing her through the Cup of Russia 2005. We watched this girl, who I often forgot existed back before she won the World Championships in 2007 . Miki Ando is often criticized for her lack of expression in performance, but I think it's because they keep choreographing her in sassy or sexy numbers. I think she has a talent for quiet sadness.



American skater Rachael Flatt has a similar style that I'm excited about seeing this year, but she also opens her mouth like a muppet when she does footwork so we'll have to see.

Edit: I often don't hear people talk about things being "endearing" or they use the word incorrectly to mean that something is "sweet" and slightly annoying, instead of something that I see as to be "dear" or showing a sense of gentle affection. How Miki Ando holds her hands next to the side of her face in her spiral sequence, or how they delicately sweep over her collarbone a bit shyly. That is endearing.

As her desperation grew, so did her perverse nature.

Result: You suck and have no confidence, jackass. :( :( :(

At work the fad of the month is enneagrams, little nine tiered personality types that apparently tell you how you cope and what kind of person you are. I sort of think figuring out what of the nine I am is silly, because YOU CAN NEVER HOPE TO GRASP THE SOURCE OF MY POWER, but whatever because at least it isn't vampire novels. Lee and I took tests online tonight to see what we "were" and I got four and five.

Type Four

The Individualist
The introspective, romantic type. Fours are self-aware, sensitive, and reserved. They are emotionally honest, creative, and personal, but can also be moody and self-conscious. Withholding themselves from others due to feeling vulnerable and defective, they can also feel disdainful and exempt from ordinary ways of living. They typically have problems with melancholy, self-indulgence, and self-pity. At their Best: inspired and highly creative, they are able to renew themselves and transform their experiences.

Type Five
The Investigator
The perceptive, cerebral type. Fives are alert, insightful, and curious. They are able to concentrate and focus on developing complex ideas and skills. Independent, innovative, and inventive, they can also become preoccupied with their thoughts and imaginary constructs. They become detached, yet high-strung and intense. They typically have problems with eccentricity, nihilism, and isolation. At their Best: visionary pioneers, often ahead of their time, and able to see the world in an entirely new way.

Shocku.

KOHARU KUSUMI IS LEAVING HELLO!PROJECT

In terms of shock level for a normal person, 1 being "this is a diet coke!" and 10 being "Michael Jackson Died!", this rates about a 12 in my fandom.

This girl IS Hello!Project right now. She has the most subunits, the most successful solo career, and despite not being able to sing worth a damn, is probably one of the biggest money makers for Morning Musume ever. She isn't on my top ten favorites list although maybe she should have been, but it's like.. the Beatles without Paul, if the Beatles wore a lot of sequins and had a dance track.

Here are some of my favorite things of Koharu's. Her personality is huge. I will truly miss enjoying her idol work:

A Time To Be Sullen

I didn't realize that the Seishun Bus Guide close up videos were such a treasure trove of angst and lower lips. It's like the director said, "You were adopted".... "get the camera..."

Sullenlove: Fetish or No?

Worst Admission Ever.

MORNING MUSUME IS BETTER THAN EVERYTHING.

So I link them often enough that you wouldn't know, but like many Morning Musume fans I've been slowing falling off the fanwagon since THE ADVENT OF DEPRESSING ASS R&B SINGLES. I won't count Mikan, since that is a happy song that I treasure, but in terms of the last five singles here is where I stand:

1) Resonant Blue: Yes all around. The only time I've ever been attracted to Takahashi Ai was when I saw her on a treadmill staring me down in the video.
2) Naichau Kamo: Yes to the lyrics. Fuck no to the arrangement. The dance was also much too simple and I hate crying in the rain music videos.
3) Blah Blah Oibito: I don't even know the title to this song. It bores me that much.
4) Onna Blah Blah: Again.
5) Nanchatte Renai: Better and I don't think it sounds like #3, despite the fact that liking this single is the most unfavorable opinion on the internet ever and will probably get my non-existant fanclub membership shredded.
.....

But fuck all that cause the new single is AWESOME and has single handedly renewed my FANDOM which you know is pretty intense if you've ever been a part of a fandom:



Originally: Visually I fell in love with Morning Musume, because of the way each girl had a clearly defined personality, vibrant clothing, and incredible cheerfulness that I found so refreshing when I was 20 and angstful.

But I fell in love with the music, because it was like nothing I'd heard in the West before. I enjoyed really out there singles with different styles, not irony not trying for irony, or over production disguised as talent. The producers knew the girl's strengths and weaknesses and let them hit some bad notes, or arranged songs that made no sense at all, but are so fucking addictive that I probably listen to them a few times a day: As for One Day, Sukina Sempai, The Peace, Renai Revolution, Love Machine.

Kimagure Princess seems like a turn back to my beloved Momusu of the past: there are chipmunk voices, I can't figure out the count, I'd be embarrassed to have my friends hear it in the car, "sexy" is mispronounced repeatedly. I've already mentioned not really being a fan, but I also need to say that Takahashi Ai sounds like a goddamn goddess about to rip out my still beating heart on the first chorus. I'd let her.

Thanks Tsunku, for not producing yet another depressing R&B dance track. I feel like it's my first time fangirling.