Hello! Pro Radio

BZS1422 #118 (2014.10.19)

By Henkka | December 21, 2014

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bzs1422new

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:

halloween501046

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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SS1422 #100 (2014.12.14)

By Lurkette | December 16, 2014

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Special Guests?

Meimi got her wish last week, and this week, Kananan is getting her wish of two very special guests joining them in the studio for their 100th broadcast.

Kananan: I’m pretty cute, but these two surpass even me in cuteness, and while it is honestly killing me inside, I will greet them with a smile as best I can.

Japan’s top 3 beauties

Of course, she’s referring to the other two of the three top beauties in Japan, Takechan and Rinapuu, who introduce themselves in their most adorable voices. Meimi starts to speak in the same adorable voice but then she remembers that she is not one of the three top beauties and goes back to normal. Takechan interrupts with a high-pitched, “Wait a minute!” but Meimi tells her to speak up because she can’t understand her. Takechan just yells louder in the same pitch and we get nowhere.

Meimi: But wait, what’s wrong?
Kananan: What?
Rinapuu: What?
Takechan: What?
Meimi: Wait, I’m not talking to all of you. Takeuchi Akari-chan, why did you say, “wait a minute”?
Takechan: Oh, yeah, well, it’s just a fun show.

Meimi begins to get frustrated as the the three top beauties ramble on about nothing and asks them to speak so that the listeners can actually understand what’s going on, what is wrong with you guys. Takechan sees no problem here. Kananan says that the only thing wrong so far has been her thinking that she was the cutest in the group when in reality it’s Rinapuu, obviously. Meimi says she’s starting to feel like a babysitter, which only makes the other three get louder. Rinapuu points out that before they promised that they’d come on really strong this show and they’re doing just that. Meimi pleads that the promise is less important than showing some unity and cohesiveness with the script, instead of the weird insanity that the show is currently, but the others argue that the charm of 2nd gen is their weird insanity. They urge Meimi to play along and have fun but she is too concerned about the state of the show to let loose. Ugh, this is why you will never be a top beauty, Meimi.

Song: S/mileage – Aa Susukino

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Itsudemo! Kannon Smile #2 (2014.12.09)

By Hotaru | December 15, 2014

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Kanon starts the radio show discussing the new 12th generation members. Starting out in Morning Musume takes a lot of individual manpower, Kanon thinks. There are lots of times when all you can feel is sleepiness and pain and don’t necessarily want to let their Senpai know. Also, she mentions that there’s four of them; so thats four different personalities they need to build for themselves, she explains. With that Kanon moves on to giving her impression of each of the 12th Generation members.

Ogata Haruna is a 1st year in high school, the same as Kanon. She proceeds saying that it is easy to see that she isn’t experienced and that she feels like she’s little different from the other three. But definitely gives a “From here on out I’ll do my best” type of feeling. Nonaka Miki also has a similar hardworking feel to her; when she says things like “Otsukaresama Deshita” she says it to everyone. Kanon thinks Haga Akane is really cute; after all she is only 12. Apparently Haga-chan says things almost excessively polite like “Thank you very very much for today, from now on I’ll do my best!”. Kanon thinks its cute that she says things so politely (again, being 12 and all). She thinks Makino Maria has a very “True to myself no matter what” feeling about her and that you can see her trying her best. She concludes this section by saying that while she doesn’t know the four very well yet, she thinks they will be able to work together and make for a good group as they transform into Morning Musume ‘15.

12th Gen Cuties!

Song: Morning Musume ‘14 – Otona ni Nareba, Otona ni Nareru

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SS1422 #99 (2014.12.07)

By Lurkette | December 15, 2014

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There is a very brief introduction to the show by Meimi and we immediately go right into a song because we have things to do today! Out of all the requests that the 2nd gen members have been supplying to the radio station staff, one of them got her wish! But first, music.

Song: S/mileage – Eighteen Emotion

Tamura Theater: The Lion King Special
Gekidan Tamura, in which Tamura Meimi acts out scripts sent in by the listeners and covers her favorite theater topics

Meimi starts us out with some facts about The Lion King, the musical. I’m sure most of you could guess that it is based on the 1994 Disney film of the same name, but the musical has been in production since 1997, it is the fourth-longest running Broadway show in history and still running, and it is the highest grossing Broadway production of all time. The Japanese adaption has been running since 1998 by Gekidanshiki, Meimi’s beloved theater company. Meimi first saw the musical on a field trip and was impressed by how packed it was even having run so long, and, as a special treat, Meimi got to sit down and talk with the current actor in the role of Simba, Minami Akito! Woo! If The Lion King inside a radio broadcast booth with a Japanese pop idol sounds familiar, there’s a reason.

Anyway, cut to Meimi and Mr. Minami. Meimi takes a minute to fangirl and thank the staff and the actor and Gekidanshiki for letting her sit down and speak with him. She reveals that she has seen The Lion King musical at least 4 times and has seen over 20 different Gekidanshiki productions, to which Minami responds with: “Wow.”

Wow

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SS1422 #98 (2014.11.30)

By Lurkette | December 13, 2014

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The Year’s End

The show today gets off to a rocky start as Kananan accidentally introduces Takechan as “Takeda,” and they cry as they realize there is only one month left in 2014. But that’s okay, Kananan wants it to be over soon anyway. They also realize that the ending of the year means that S/mileage will officially be 9 members, however, and that is a very strange feeling. Kananan says that they’ve done a handful of jobs already as 9, but she’s so used to seeing S/mileage as 6 that it’s taking some getting used to. It’s only 3 new people but it feels like so many. It’s surreal for them to think that it will be a permanent change come next year. Then Kananan gets a little morbid.

Kananan: I do want it to be over… but I keep getting older every year and I’m going to die and no it’s too soon! I don’t want to die!
Takechan: It’s a little early for that.
Kananan: No! I don’t want to die…
Takechan: You’re still only 17, though.
Kananan: I have so many things I still want to do…
Takechan: You can still do them!

In any case, they’ll be doing Hello!Con rehearsals until the year ends.

Remember when I posted that picture of a super cute and girly Takeda? Yeah, this is more like it.

So this week, as is the case in the last week of every month, is Power-up Week, or Pair-up Week, or Pears-world Week, or something. Kananan can’t read it. Anyway, that means that two people who submitted messages and letters to the show will be drawn to receive autographed Smile Fantasy posters. The first name drawn is Higu, who writes that they have just started to like S/mileage. They were watching the 3rd gen announcement on Hello!Sta and then went back to watch some older S/mileage videos and found that they had a lot of fun watching 2nd gen. The last time they paid attention to S/mileage was during Samui ne., and they’re shocked at how much better everyone has gotten in their last single at singing and dancing and being expressive. Right now they’re taking college entrance exams so they want S/mileage to have fun in their place. The second name drawn is Miyuki, who drew pictures of AMeRiKa in their member colors in place of a letter. Congrats to the two of them.

Song: C-ute – Aitai Lonely Christmas

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SS1422 #97 (2014.11.23)

By Lurkette | December 12, 2014

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Christmas time is here

November 23 is Labor Thanksgiving Day in Japan, which is the day of this broadcast, but more importantly, Christmas is only a month away, yay! As Takechan glosses over the more current holidays, they go straight into talking about Christmas for this year. Takechan and Kananan joke briefly about their romantic plans for the holiday, since Japan doesn’t really have the religious factor for Christmas and it is celebrated largely as a holiday for couples, and then Kananan says she plans on having a Christmas party at her house.

Takechan really wants to go out and see Christmas lights… but only on her way home or through the window of a car driving by to avoid having to be the only single person in a cluster of boyfriends and girlfriends. Kananan concurs, as she really wants to go out and look at the lights but the last time she tried that she felt so bad about herself by going alone and being surrounded by couples that she left after a few minutes. They probably will not end up going out to see any at all.

30740639_624 Japan has some really impressive holiday lights… but yeah, it’s awkward going alone

However, something else important happens on Christmas and that is Santa. Kananan and Takechan drop some not so subtle hints about something they both want for Christmas, or at least who they want things from.

Kananan: Christmas also means that Santa comes, doesn’t it?
Takechan: It sure does.
Kananan: And I was thinking, hey, wouldn’t he come to the radio station as well?
Takechan: Definitely he would.
Kananan: I mean getting presents is lots of fun…
Takechan: Yeah, we’d just walk into the studio and… oooh! Santa has come!
Kananan: Yes, look at all our presents!
Takechan: We’ll be waiting.
Kananan: Please.

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BZS1422 #117 (2014.10.12)

By Henkka | December 11, 2014

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bzs1422new

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.

Chii’s illustration of the criminal in question

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Trattoria Buono! #88 (2014.12.06)

By Skoban | December 10, 2014

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♪ Buono! – Baketsu no Mizu ♪

Momoko announces that December 6th is ‘Oto no Hi‘, which roughly translates to ‘Sound Day’. She asks the others: do they have any sounds that they like? Or dislike, like a blackboard being scratched, which turns out to be something that the girls unanimously dislike. Momoko herself loves the sound of running streams.

Miyabi: The ones that play when you’re in the washroom?
Momoko: Don’t equate it with an otohime! They’re different!
Miyabi: They’re different?
Momoko: Stop it, don’t relate idols with washrooms.

Airi hails from Chiba, and she enjoys the chirping of crickets on summer nights. She loves how beautiful the evening sky gets during summer and autumn, and when she goes outside, she hears the crickets chirping. Fellow Chiba resident Momoko understands, while Saitama representative Miyabi isn’t familiar with it at all.

Miyabi professes to liking the background music that’s playing while they speak.

Miyabi: This kind of unknown song…
Momoko: So for Miya, it’s because it’s unknown?
Miyabi: This unknown song, with its unknown singer.
Momoko: There’s no vocals though.

Even though the current background music is just an instrumental, it creates a cafe mood. When Miyabi hears a song sung by a foreign artiste she doesn’t know, she just enjoys listening to the singer’s voice, though she doesn’t actually go through the effort of looking up the singer. Basically, she likes music she’s unfamiliar with. At cafes, music like that helps her relax. Recently she’s been turning on such background music-type songs when she goes to sleep, which she finds calms her down. Momoko and Airi find this action pretty stylish.

Momoko: In Miya’s case, her bedroom is a cafe.

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