Channel-Ai Community Blog - JPop reviews, articles

Title: you Product Code: AVCD-30892/3 Release Date: 2005/12/07 Debut Ranking: #1 Label: avex trax

After Koda Kumi’s sudden explosive popularity with the release of her best album compilation BEST ~first things~, avex trax launched a new project to further elevate the popularity of this artist at a much higher level. This project consisted to the release of 12 singles, one per week with 12 different covers with Kumi sporting outfits from different countries around the world. Nine singles out of twelve were limited to 50,000 copies which automatically made these singles into collectibles for any Kumi fan.

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Title: Everlasting Release Date: 06/01/18 Label: avex trax Oricon Debut Rank: 4

Pop princess BoA released her 18th and first single of 2006, “Everlasting”, on January 18th. After the less-than-successful fall singles “make a secret” and “Dakishimeru” (“Holding You”), many speculated about the quality and potential success of this new single. The jacket photos show an overjoyed BoA smiling in front of pastel-colored flowers. As for the PV, it appears that the director attempted to create symbolism, but whether or not it worked is open to interpretation. With its debut at number 3 on both the Oricon Daily and Weekly charts, it seems that BoA is caught up in a sales slump due to many possible factors: lack of interest, lack of promotion, lack of quality, or simply the announcement of a new album, “OUTGROW”, that came too early, discouraging single sales. Whatever the case may be, shall we look at the songs?

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Sometimes I feel like my body doesn't belong to me. What's happening to me?

This dorama is about a girl who was diagnosed with a disease called “Spinocerebellar Degeneration” when she was 15 years old, and was able to continue her life until her death at the age of 25 years old.

The plot is based on the true story of a Japanese girl named Kito Aya, who had the same disease. She kept writing in her diary to remember her experiences until she could no longer hold a pen. Aya simply wished to live until the end of her life, and the purpose of writing in the diary was to remind herself to not give up. She shed tears many times, at the same time encompassed by the rich love and support from her family, friends, and boyfriend. Her diary “1 Litre of Tears” was published after her death, because of its inspiring and courageous message of

“Just being alive is such a lovely and wonderful thing.”

So far, over 18,000,000 copies of her diary have been sold.

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Title: Bold&Delicious/Pride ISBN: AVCD-30892/3 Release date: 2005/11/30 Debut Ranking: #1 Label: avex trax

Around a little more than two months after the release of “HEAVEN”, Ayumi Hamasaki surprised her fans and released her 38th single which was recorded and filmed in New York. It was titled “Bold&Delicious” and was released only one month prior to her eighth studio album.

This single has created quite a lot of commotion amongst fans of Japanese Pop and Hamasaki alike. It has a very different feel from her previous releases, it sounds rather urban and daring. The music itself sounds rather “American” and this fact was emphasized especially since both of her promotional videos were filmed in New York. Ayu herself admitted in a magazine interview, GirlPop, that she herself did not know how her fans would react to the release of this single. In a way, she released this single as if to test the people’s reactions and to surprise the public with something unexpected.

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	Saki Shimizu Birthday: 1991-11-22 Birthplace: Tokyo Blood type: O * Leader
	Momoko Tsugunaga Birthday: 1992-03-06 Birthplace: Tokyo Blood type: O
	Chinami Tokunaga Birthday: 1992-05-22 Birthplace: Kanagawa Blood type: O
	Maasa Sudou Birthday: 1992-07-03 Birthplace: Tokyo Blood type: O
	Miyabi Natsuyaki Birthday: 1992-08-25 Birthplace: Chiba Blood type: O
	Yurina Kumai Birthday: 1993-08-03 Birthplace: Kanagawa Blood type: B
	Risako Sugaya Birthday: 1994-04-04 Birthplace: Kanagawa Blood type: A
	Maiha Ishimura Birthday: 1992-11-20 Birthplace: Chiba Blood type: O * Graduated as of October 2nd, 2005.

Berryz Koubou (or sometimes BerryZ Koubou or Berryz Kobo) is the current Hello! Project kids group. It now consists of 7 members: Saki Shimizu (leader, 14), Momoko Tsugunaga (14), Chinami Tokunaga (14), Maasa Sudou (14), Miyabi Natsuyaki (14), Yurina Kumai (13), and Risako Sugaya (12). The former member is Maiha Ishimura (13), who “graduated”, left, in October 2005 to focus on her schoolwork.

Berryz Koubou (which translates to Berryz Workshop) was announced as the newest Hello! Project kids unit in early 2004. They were originally going to constantly rotate member of the Hello! Project kids into this unit, but this didn’t happen and the remaining Hello! Project kids formed their own group, °C-ute (although, °C-ute hasn’t released any singles).

Berryz Koubou is said to be Hello! Projects newest Morning Musume and will grow up very strong, vocally. So far, Berryz has released 9 singles, 2 albums, and a mini-album is coming in early December. This article will mainly focus on their singles, although a complete discography will be included. Sometime later, I’ll post articles on their albums!

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