Category Archives: BZS1422

BZS1422 #121 (2014.11.09)

By | December 30, 2014

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November is the season of school festivals, and while Kumai-san regrets not being able to attend nearly any of the ones were held during her high school days, she’s happy that nowadays Berryz gets invited to perform at these festivals quite often. This lets them meet more people who don’t usually come to their concerts: at the latest such performance they did, there were what Kumai-san guesses were just these little kids from the nearby neighborhood. She waved to one of them, but they got embarrassed and instantly looked away. Kumai-san thought this was really cute.

We’re a couple of days away from the release of Berryz Koubou’s final single, so Chii asks Kumai-chan what she thinks are the highlights fans should pay special attention to on these songs. To start off, Kumai-san thinks “Romance wo Katatte” isn’t very Berryz-like — in a good way. To her it feels more like the type of song they usually get as B-sides or album songs, and it’s almost like the cute songs always went to S/mileage or °C-ute instead. The music video, too, shows them in more natural makeup than usual. So Kumai-san recommends checking out the music video, too: you’ll be able to see a more fresh Berryz Koubou.

Chii was surprised to learn what the title of the song. Coming right after the more intense song titles like “1oku 3zenman Sou Diet Oukoku” and “Futsuu, Idol 1nen Yatterannai Desho!?”, she was sure the next one was going to be something equally as crazy. Still, she’s happy they got to show a new side of themselves on their very last single.

As for “Towa no Uta,” Chii points out that in its music video they got to wear checkered outfits, just like they did in their debut single. Above all, though, the two think the lyrics are amazing, and Chii found herself becoming a bit sad during the shoot when she realized it was going to be their last music video.

Chii demonstrating the Towa no Uta outfits

Chii demonstrating the Towa no Uta outfits

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BZS1422 #120 (2014.11.02)

By | December 29, 2014

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November 3rd is Culture Day in Japan, and Chii asks Kumai-san what the word “culture” first brings to her mind. For Kumai-san, it’d have to be art. She doesn’t visit galleries or museums that much, but she does have a favorite style of art: trick art. A while back she actually had a blast visiting a trick art museum in Yokohama. Chii thinks she might like to go, too, and Kumai-san highly recommends it.

And speaking of art, on their recent trip to France Berryz got to visit the Palace of Versailles, which the two say is the very definition of art. This obviously gave them the chance to see some world-famous paintings up-close, and Chii remembers thinking to herself “ah, so this is what art is.

Berryz Koubou’s final concert tour just started a couple of weeks ago. Kumai-san points out that it’s actually their first autumn tour in four years, and above all it’s just been really, really fun. But she’s actually noticed her age catching up to her on this tour: sure, performing two concerts a day has always been tiring, but now it’s started to affect her in all sorts of new ways. Nowadays, performing concerts makes her whole body hurt — long gone are the days when she could dance without a care in the world like the Kenshuusei girls now.

Chii doesn’t experience any muscle pain or such, but she finds that she has to put in more time for mental preparation to be able to pull off the two performances a day — how you feel mentally also affects how you feel physically. Chii recommends that Kumai-san, too, instead of thinking “oh dear, I’ve gotten so old,” she should phrase it like “I sure have grown up!” It’s all about that positive mental attitude.

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BZS1422 #118 (2014.10.19)

By | December 21, 2014

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Halloween is coming up soon, and Kumai-san says she definitely wants to dress up as something this year. Chii points out that they have a Naruchika concert in Sapporo on October 31st this year, so they’re now making plans for that day. Just in the highly unlikely off-chance that not everyone managed to attend that concert, here’s what they missed:

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The hot topic in Chii’s mind right now is H!P and the new friends that have joined its fold; namely, the 12th generation of Morning Musume and the 3rd generation members of S/mileage (though many of them were already members of Kenshuusei, as Kumai-san points out.)

Chii claims she kind of predicted that Makino-chan would be joining Morning Musume. She remembers seeing her back during the summer Hello!Con, constantly making eye contact with her seniors and quite simply “shining” — Chii could already tell back then that Makino was an exceptional girl. Kumai-san noticed this, too, and says she has the kind of eyes that once you look at them, it’s impossible to look away. Chii points out that it’s rare for Kumai-san to say that kind of thing about anyone.

The two have high hopes for Haga-san, too, considering her Kenshuusei past.

Next up is Ogata-san, or the “Mao-chan of H!P” as Chii puts it. The two talk about how there haven’t been that many girls in H!P so far who’ve had something they could say they were really good at, and they think especially Ogata-san’s figure skating is a first. No one in Berryz has any talent like that; some would say they played the piano or were good at swimming back when they were still kids, but these days, they have nothing. “So I really feel thankful from the bottom of my heart for having been able to join Berryz Koubou,” Chii sums up.

And then there’s my rival: Nonaka-san.” With this girl having lived in the States, Chii says Nonaka-san is pretty much on the same level of English proficiency as her. But in all seriousness, Chii heard Nonaka-san’s self-introduction at Budokan and she thought her English was so good, she had no idea what she was even saying. She found her to be in a completely different league altogether, and thus she considers her to be a serious rival.

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BZS1422 #117 (2014.10.12)

By | December 11, 2014

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Berryz Koubou’s autumn concert tour is beginning soon, and Chii asks her co-host for her take on it. Kumai-san hints that this tour might have quite a lot of songs on the setlist they’ve never performed before, and like °C-ute on their recent tours, the members got to have more input as to what songs to actually include in it — in fact, they spent an entire day in a meeting where they planned for it. Chii recommends that fans make sure to prepare by listening to songs by Berryz that they’ve been neglecting to listen to lately.

Chii notes that their script says they should use this spot in the show to talk about their private lives as of late. Kumai-san isn’t sure what she’s been up to, and when asked if she’s even been practicing her cooking like she was supposed to, Kumai-san is quick to reply that she hasn’t. “There’s literally nothing going on in my life lately,” she sums up.

Chii reveals that there was recently a cockroach incident at their house. Chii tried to spray it to death immediately upon discovery in their kitchen, but it managed to escape — the worst possible outcome according to Chii. The next day her little sister went there to have something to drink and the cockroach appeared again right at her feet. She sprayed it, but somehow it managed to escape once again.

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Chii’s illustration of the criminal in question

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BZS1422 #116 (2014.10.05)

By | December 5, 2014

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While last week Chii said that autumn is the season of good appetite, she now claims that it is also the season of sports. Thus, she asks Kumai-san if she has been exercising as of late, and Kumai-san answers that she hasn’t been doing any whatsoever. Besides dancing the closest she’s gotten to exercise has been walking up escalators, and she’s now noticed a major decline in her physical strength due to her lack of trying. This, however, has prompted her to become interested in starting up yoga. She talks about her friend having started it and how it’s supposed to have all kinds of health benefits, but then admits she hasn’t actually tried it herself as of yet.

Meanwhile, even though Chii finally bought a pair of running shoes back in September and promised she’d begin her new hobby soon, she reveals that she still hasn’t gone running — only walking. What’s more is that Chii used those shoes on only a total of two walks, and since then they’ve been sitting in their box. Again. Kumai-san is in disbelief hearing this. Chii adds even further insult to injury and reveals that one of those walks she did take wasn’t really a walk for the sake of exercise: she just went shopping in Harajuku and Shibuya while wearing them.

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BZS1422 #115 (2014.09.28)

By | November 14, 2014

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This is the last broadcast of September and autumn is fast approaching. And since autumn is (apparently) the season of good appetite, Chii asks Kumai-san if there’s anything she finds “gourmet” about herself. Kumai-san says she’s not good at resisting seasonal limited editions when it comes to food. Chii asks if Kumai-san’s answer has anything to do with her being gourmet or not, and points out that the staff is laughing at her answer. Kumai-san protests by saying that she’s sitting next to the most gourmet person in the world and Chii agrees that her presence does raise the bar.

To begin with, Chii always takes pictures of the delicious meals she has at restaurant so she doesn’t forget about them. Also, she used to collect business cards from restaurants as well. (She was influenced by their ex-manager who was apparently very gourmet themselves, but she got bored of it at some point.) They agree that Berryz is pretty gourmet overall as a group, but Kumai-san insists that Chii is definitely no. 1 — even when they go to restaurants together, Chii will tell Kumai-san which sauce goes best with which food. Chii is also very picky about her soy sauce: she’s very adamant about only using soy sauce that’s housed in an air-tight bottle.

Kumai-san suggests that Chii ought to get some sort of a certification. “What, like a Gourmet Master certification?“, Chii asks. She doesn’t like the idea because she figures if someone was a qualified Gourmet Master, they’d probably get fat very quickly. Chii mentions there’s actually a person on the staff of BZS1422 who’s kind of plump. Kumai-san laughs and one-ups Chii by saying there’s even a member in Berryz Koubou who suddenly gained a lot of weight, too.

How about becoming a certified Soy Sauce Sommelier?“, Kumai-san asks.

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BZS1422 #114 (2014.09.21)

By | November 12, 2014

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Kumai-san begins by talking about having a cake smeared on her face on her last birthday. It was the first time in her life she’d experienced it and she discovered that having cake all over her face made the task of breathing much harder. It was something she’d wanted to experience at least once in her life, but she can now safely say that it wasn’t very pleasant.

Chii looks back on their Tanabata Live and says she felt a huge sense of accomplishment in pulling it off successfully since Berryz had a larger than usual role in its planning. This among other things made her feel like she’s really grown up some, but adds that on the flip side, she still feels like a complete newbie when it comes to doing BZS1422. Even now she feels really nervous on the days leading up to the recording, and earlier today, she still hadn’t come up with material for a corner on the show even when arriving at the studio to record — luckily, she just found out that they don’t actually have that specific corner on the show today.

September 10th & 11th

Since this is actually the first time they’re recording BZS1422 after Berryz Koubou’s concerts with °C-ute at Budokan on September 10th and 11th, they want to talk about that now. Kumai-san says she had so much fun it felt like the concerts were over in a flash, and Chii says she was probably more nervous on °C-ute no Hi even though Berryz only appeared for a couple of songs, and that her nervousness continued even afterwards when they were just watching °C-ute’s performance backstage.

blog, Kumai Yurina, Natsuyaki Miyabi, Sugaya Risako, Tokunaga Chinami-488564

Kumai-san was watching °C-ute’s dress rehearsal in the audience when she realized that when the performing artists walk on the middle runway stage, they’re actually really, really close to the audience — she could even see Maimi’s sweat! It made Kumai-san feel embarrassed thinking about how she, too, could be seen so up close. Chii says this is the first time in years that she properly watched a full °C-ute concert live, and the first thing that struck her about it was how much movement there was compared to Berryz; °C-ute’s choreographies looked a lot more intense to her.

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BZS1422 #113 (2014.09.14)

By | October 26, 2014

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Like Meimei and Take-chan on SS1422, Chii and Kumai-san begin by talking about the Respect for the Aged Day. Kumai-san says she hasn’t gotten to see her grandparents a lot recently so she’s thinking about shooting them an email on this occasion. She says her grandpa is using a lot of emoticons in his emails as of late, and he tends to pick the really cute ones: it won’t be just a single “♪”, but more like two or three, etc.

Chii visited her grandparents the other day and they treated her to a meal. They have a teppanyaki grill at home and instead of eating themselves, they just kept bringing Chii more and more delicious meat for her to have which once again made her realize just how kind they are. Kumai-san says they must find their granddaughter adorable, and Chii says she is really thankful. As one way of showing her gratitude, Chii always waves to them in their 2nd floor seats when they’ve come over to see Berryz in concert, and her grandma will respond by excitedly waving both her hands at her.

Chii notes that a year ago they were extremely busy doing the “Warera Jeanne” musical — they’d be practicing from 10 in the morning until 9 in the evening. Kumai-san adds that because they were practicing below ground they didn’t even know how it looked outside which made it even tougher. Chii says that they were so busy, she doesn’t have many memories of that time period: it was an endless repetition of sleep, practice, sleep, practice, sleep… with the occasional radio appearance.

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