Hello! Project 2008 Winter ~Kettei! Haro☆Pro Award '08~

Hello Project 2008

Yeah...I'm on the friggin' box!!!

Ever since I walked out of Yokohama Arena, I knew the first thing I would do was order this DVD the moment I had the chance.  I pre-ordered it about a month ago...I wasn't going to take any chances of having a hard time finding the box-set later.  I knew it came out on Wednesday.  And since that day I have become increasingly anxious every day the package hasn't arrived.  Saturday it finally showed up.  Seeing Hello! Project in person was such a profound moment in my life.  Whatever anyone says about this DVD Box Set, positive or negative, I will always hold this particular performance dear to my heart.

I opened my package at work.  And I am not lying when I say I am on the box (the inner box that is)  When you fold out the inner box there is a good shot of the lower bowl of the arena.  Everyone I work with says it is easy to pick me out because they recognize my posture (lol!)  I remember being next to a security guard for most of the show, and I can see him perfectly!  I am just to his left, looking toward the rear stage. 

I will be reviewing this entire box-set this weekend, disc by disc.  I felt it was appropriate to start with Disc 3, since this was the show I went to...three times no less!

LOVE Machine ~ I really like the Eggs' outfits in this show.  Not too frilly with the cute blue neckerchiefs.  Kitahara Sayaka gets some nice close-ups (pre Milky-way), very cute!  But the cameras seem to focus on Manoeri and Nocchi.  I don't have a problem with this.  I love that Aika gets a good solo line here, and Nacchi gets her famous "Dancing All of the Night!" part.  I was mesmerized by the Elders' maid outfits the first time I saw them!  Wonderful Hearts' are wearing the outfits featured in Paul's Hello! Blog poll.

Auzora ga Itsumademo Tsuzuku You na Marai de Are! ~ I always enjoy the live versions of this song, and they usually do it as a chorus.  Not much else to say, it is a standard "good" performance of this song.  There was a quick pan near where I was sitting.  Arigatou Ohta-san for assisting me in getting those GREAT seats!  Fourteenth row, near the middle red aisle...AWESOME!

LALALA Shiawase no Uta ~ I've always liked this song, even the Kouhaku performance.  Even with the lame outfits (I agree with Paul at Hello! Blog), Maimi looks adorable.  There is a lot of "lip-synching" throughout this show.  It is very noticeable on DVD, but not so much in the Arena.  I was still "in the ether" at the show, so I thoroughly enjoyed this.

Tsukiattero no ni Kataomoi ~ Another song I enjoy alot more than the flak it gets on the blogs.  Yeah yeah, I know, the outfits don't match the song, but I think they all look sexy.  And it's a fun song nonetheless.  This doesn't sound lip-synched, and Risako hits all of her lines...good for her!  At the show they had their backs to me for most of this.

Jaja Uma Paradise ~ I swear v-u-den is Hello! Project's version of a Russ Meyer film!  Nothing but T&A for 3+ minutes!  This is not my favorite v-u-den song (The one I love is coming later)  But the "sexy" camerawork is nonstop in this sequence.  Hey, the three of them can pull it off!  After this song the girls announce their impending breakup.  It was anti-climactic, as everyone already knew the news by this time.  I was looking for the moment where Makoto "double-taked" at me, but they were focused on Rika at that time.  The strangest part about it was in all three shows the reaction to their break-up announcement sounded like a "Bronx Cheer"!

CK's resolve to attend next year's show just rose one level...

Ai Ai Daiko ~ Maeda Yuki seems so out of place in this concert.  I am not being critical of her talent either.  She is an amazing singer.  And of all of the performances I have seen her do, this might be the best one.  There is a certain "edginess" to this song that is very cool.  I remember thinking how "cool" this was at the time.  Excellent song!

16 sai no Koi Nante ~ I really like this performance, even if I don't really like the song all that much.  It had just been released when I was in Japan, but I never felt the desire to buy the single.  Maimi and Nacchi on stage together???  I adore both of them, and they both look irresistably cute.  I could watch this performance all day.

Onegai Miwaku no Target ~ It's been a year since last Winter's concert, and Melon Kinen-bi are still promoting the same single?  It's a good song and a good performance.  It's just too bad that they don't get more love and respect, which they totally deserve!  They really revved up the crowd in a major way!  Masae is my favorite in the group, but Megumi has never looked cuter!

Yattarouze! ~  I am trying to recognize the "soloist" potential in Manoeri.  The Egg that stands to me here is Sawada Yuri.  I think she is just as cute as Mano, and almost as cute as Nocchi, but nobody can be as "cute" as Noto Arisa, she has that market cornered!  Of the two Gatas singles at the time, I prefer this one.  BTW, Charmy seems "hidden" in Gatas.  I really hope H!P has something bigger for her in the near future.

Chance! ~  This is the exact same performance Koharu did during the Bon Kyu! Bomb concert.  I had not seen that performance when I saw this, so I enjoyed this at the arena, and the costume change "bit" was amazing to me.  But with the benefit of hindsight, I feel slightly ripped-off.  I really like Koharu and all of her goofiness.  But she should have had a new song to perform by this time.  So I guess I blame Tsunku.

Seishun! LOVE Lunch ~ I love both of Athena and Robikerottsu's singles, especially this one.  I was so excited to hear this song.  But it seems "sped-up".  I noticed it in the arena, and it is obvoius here.  Slightly disappointing, but I still hope we hear more from this unit.  They are extremely cute.

I Know ~ I was so happy to hear this song!  It is one my H!P favorites.  I still wish they had filmed the Saturday version where the microphone "disintegrated" in Aya's hands!  I adore Ayaya so much!  She is such a wonderful singer...a consummate professional...at 21 years old!!!  And I "had a ball" doing the "Oh Yeah" parts in the audience!  By the way, Ayaya looks incredibly sexy...is she wearing a Wonderbra???  And we get more of Ayaya's sexiness during the next MC segment.

CK's desire to attend next year's performance just rose another ten levels!

Danna Sama ~  This is who I should be drooling over, as I am close to Yuko in age.  Actually, Yuko looks like she could be related to me (she looks alot like my mother when she was younger)  She looks beautiful, and it's a nice song.

Iki wo Kasanemashou ~  As much as I love Abe Natsumi (she makes my top three in Ray's ranker), this song doesn't do too much for me.  Even at the concert, I was waiting for this song to end!  But her eyes are unbelievably pretty!!!  Another song I'll watch with the sound turned down.

Mikan ~ It's been over an hour, and finally we get Morning Musume!  The best thing about this song is the sexy outfits from the PV (which we will get to see again later).  Since the song is upbeat, it seems much shorter live than on the PV/Single.  BTW, it became obvious to me who I am most "in love with" in H!P.  I couldn't take my eyes off of Reina whenever she was on stage.  Aika and Eri stood out alot more than I noticed when I was there.  I am starting to gain alot more respect for Aika's talent.

In every MC segment, I am wondering if Mari is putting on weight...

Renai Rider ~   You only need to read my Cafe Buono! review to know how much I love this!  Nobody fills a pair of "short-shorts" quite like Airi!  And I love Momo's tartan skirt and badass jacket as well.  The only disappointing thing is that they skip the second verse, which is my favorite part of the song.

Inshouha Renoir no You ni ~ I really like this Elegies single.  Take a good look, bacause this is the only good look we will get of Ayaka and Atsuko.  They do a great job with this song too.  I look forward to the Elder's Club disc where hopefully they will get more attention.  This is part one of the elder's segment, followed by...

Otome no Shinrigaku ~  Shaking the cobwebs off of "2nd Morning"  Kei-chan and Marippe are very sexy here.  What a great "forgotten" song!  The last two song are concrete evidence the elders are still a great part of Hello! Project.  Give these girls more work for cryin' out loud!!!

Yuujou ~Kokoro no Busu niwa Naranee! ~ This is my favorite song of the night, and might be my all time favorite song period!  I can't describe the energy in the arena for this performance, it rivals Berryz' Yuujou Junjou oh Seishun! from last year.  And it come complete with a Takahashi crotch-shot closeup.  AWESOME!...

CK's desire to be at next years' performance just hit fever pitch! 

MC ~ I don't know what the whole "ukii" bit was all about, but it was much funnier watching them screw up the same bit on Saturday night.  The "what the hell are you doing?" look Risa gave Ai that night was priceless!

Tokaikko Junjou ~  Jeez, is Hagitty becoming the pre-teen Diva!  They all seem to be enjoying themselves, especially Maimi.  Is this song supposed to be this cheerful?  C-ute really seems to be feeding off the crowd here, and "we" were really energetic for this!  I really like this song, so I enjoyed it alot.  The only thing that would've been cooler was if they did this in the outfits from the PV.

Special Generation ~  This is not one my favorite Berryz' songs, but I do get that it is a big fan favorite.  Like on "Kataomoi", Risako sounds much better than I have heard her in the past.  But I still don't believe that she should be one of the lead singers.  Yurina sounds much improved too.  Poor Maasa, I almost never saw her!  I'm glad she danced near me a couple of times at the show.

Narihajimeta Koi no BELL ~   It's interesting who the cameras focus on during this song.  We start with Yossie (the most important member), then to Konno (fan favorite), then Nocchi and Manoeri (the most important Eggs), then Charmy.  Thay Nocchi "fist-pump" was adorable, my heart is melting!  The rest of the members of Gatas seem like "extras" here.  In fact I don't think I have seen a closeup of Mika Mutou all night!  I still think Yuri is the underrated Gatas girl.  Watching Yossie here proves she could be a soloist.

Yeah! Meccha Holiday ~  "I @ yume dotto dotto surassho!...SURASSHO!!!"  That is all I need to say to tell you how awesome this is to see live!  Till the day I die I will sing the praises of how great Ayaya is.  I am relieved that she didn't sing Ne~e, only because if she had, I'm sure I would have dropped dead from RAPTURE in the middle of the arena!  MY GOD DO I ADORE HER!!!

Love & Peace! HERO ga Yattekita ~   This is the best Momusu performance of the night.  And do I love these costumes!  I've never seen Morning Musume wear outfits that showed off their posteriors as well as these!  I enjoyed the little kiss Sayu threw at Ai-chan.  In fact, Sayu performed very well in this entire show!  I forgot to mention how well Risa works the crowd during Mikan, she is up to her same antics here.  She wasn't one of my favorite Musumes at all until I went to Japan.  seeing her live totally changed my opinion of her!

Bon Kyu! Bon Kyu! BOMB Girl ~ I've already seen two versions of this on the fall tour DVD, so I'll just spend this song staring at the girls bottoms...Sorry, but these outfits are Uber-Sexy!

Koisuru Angel Heart ~   I love their chorus songs.  And Momusu, Berryz, C-ute, and v-u-den all sound great here.  This is a very sweet, almost tribute-style version of this song.  One of my favorites of v-u-den..."HAPPY!"...

Renai Revolution 21 ~   Another excessively played hit for the big Winter show.  As this was my first H!P concert ever, I was glad to hear some of Morning Musume's classics live, so I didn't mind at all.  Anyway, this is always a fun song to hear.  In my opinion it is sung alot for good reason.  It was obvious at this point the show was winding to a close.

**Now in the beginning of the final MC segment, Mari and Yuko say something that makes Nacchi cry, but I don't know what it was.  When I was there I thought Yuko was saying something about leaving H!P as well.  But on the DVD it sounds like it was something complimentary for Nacchi...I don't know.  Anyone???

ALL FOR ONE & ONE FOR ALL! ~ I was hoping they would end with this!  I figured I had a 50/50 shot, as they seem to end with this quite often.  The most painful thing to me is watching Yossie and Rika do the 4th gen. line without Kago and Tsuji.  Any why did 7th and 8th generation get skipped?  I know they didn't sing on the original.  But they have made many alterations to this song for the departed members.  Koharu, Aika, Jun Jun and Lin Lin deserve their moment too!

Quick summary:  I may be biased because I was there, but I love this show!  The cameras panned over where I was standing many times, and I'll depend on Rad to isolate the scenes where he can see us.  Now I have another three discs to watch.  Up next...Wonderful Hearts.

CK is shopping for his flight and hotel as we speak!             

CK in California