The Unexpected Start of My Photo Collection

I'm sure most of you saw Ray's post on American Wota advertising a few things he's selling. I ended up buying GAM's Thanks Single V from him, and much to my surprise, he not only sent the DVD, but a couple of photos as well! Thanks, Ray!



I was especially happy about the Ayaya one since I was eyeing those anyway. I had originally planned on waiting a bit before starting to buy the official UFA photos (perhaps until I could figure out a good way to store them and still be able to easily look at them without having to shell out for an official album, if I could even find one...if anyone has any ideas, let me know), but I suppose you could say this is a sign that I should just jump right in. XD

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2008 Year-To-Date H!P Purchases

Alright, last catch-up post for merchandise. In this one is all the stuff I've bought since the beginning of the year.

• Maimi 2nd Photobook
• Risako 3rd Photobook
• Natsumi & Maimi 16sai no Koi Nante Single
• Fujimoto Miki 1st Album
• Buono! Renai Rider LE Single
• Morning Musume Sakura Gumi Hatsukouen ~Sakura Saku~ DVD
• Buono! Renai Rider Single V
• Matsuura Aya Live in Shanghai DVD

So there ya go.
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Zac and Souki Discuss Mikitty's Voice

Each time a new person is introduced, I'm going to go ahead and do a quick profile so the readers will know who I'm talking to. First off is Souki. I've known him for a good while, but only really became close friends with him in the last couple years or so. He is most definitely NOT a Hello! Project fan. He likes some of the songs I've thrown at him (Souda! We're Alive and Mr. Moonlight, as examples), but for the most part, he thinks it's pretty lame (he likes progressive rock, if that says anything). He and I actually spend a pretty decent amount of time discussing H!P and related matters, so there should be a lot of him on here. And about his screen name...I let everyone on here pick their own SNs for confidentiality's sake, and he chose CantSpellShotaWithoutHOT. Whatever, I guess... XD

I'll also be dating any conversations I post, to keep the progression of my H!P fandom in perspective.

In keeping with the spirit of my last post, this is me trying to convince Souki that Mikitty's voice is something special.

January 18th, 2008
CatchFiveBats: Fujimoto Miki's voice is awesome.
CatchFiveBats: Or, rather...I love her voice.
CantSpellShotaWithoutHOT: I'm noticing a pattern with J pop singers...
CantSpellShotaWithoutHOT: With the exception of Utada and Ayu...they sound very same-ish.
CantSpellShotaWithoutHOT: and Yasuko (lead singer of Japanese noisecore group Melt-Banana - why he said this, I don't know)
CantSpellShotaWithoutHOT: but she doesn't count.
CatchFiveBats: She's got a pretty original voice, in my opinion.
CatchFiveBats: Miki, that is.
CantSpellShotaWithoutHOT: I dunno, maybe I'm just not listening to female Jpop enough or something
CatchFiveBats: Well, of course you aren't.
CatchFiveBats: XD
CantSpellShotaWithoutHOT: but everything that isn't Ayu or Utada sounds very similar to me XD
CatchFiveBats: Miki's voice has a very different quality compared to Ayaya.
CatchFiveBats: For a fact.
CatchFiveBats: Ayaya's is much younger sounding.
CantSpellShotaWithoutHOT: And nasally
CatchFiveBats: That's the only difference I can put into words.
CatchFiveBats: There are others.
CatchFiveBats: Either way, I'm in love with Mikitty right now.
CantSpellShotaWithoutHOT: Mikitty?
CatchFiveBats: Fujimoto Miki.
CantSpellShotaWithoutHOT: Ah.
CantSpellShotaWithoutHOT: By Ayu, I referred to Ayumi Hamasaki, you know that right?
CatchFiveBats: Yes.
CatchFiveBats: But seriously, I'm infatuated with Mikitty's voice right now.
CatchFiveBats: You can thank Shabondama.
CatchFiveBats: But that songs just owns anyway.
CatchFiveBats: I've just noticed over the last couple days that she's really, really hot when she's singing.
CantSpellShotaWithoutHOT: Heh
CatchFiveBats: I think it's the first time I've been turned on by someone's musical ability.
CatchFiveBats: Or...whatever you want to call it.
CantSpellShotaWithoutHOT: Hahah
CantSpellShotaWithoutHOT: Usually it turns me on only when it's the one girl in the group full of guys.
CantSpellShotaWithoutHOT: Like Maki from HandMC.
CatchFiveBats: Ah.
CatchFiveBats: Yeah.
CatchFiveBats: I dunno, Mikitty is pretty tough to beat right now, in my mind.
CantSpellShotaWithoutHOT: Mmmm I'll hear it better tomorrow
CatchFiveBats: Yeah.
CantSpellShotaWithoutHOT: but yeah...it feels to me as though every Jpop singer has a very very similar voice
CantSpellShotaWithoutHOT: but
CantSpellShotaWithoutHOT: one thing's for sure...
CantSpellShotaWithoutHOT: when we go to Japan, we're going to a Maid cafe.
CatchFiveBats: We need to.
CantSpellShotaWithoutHOT: totally.


A few days later...

January 21st, 2008
CatchFiveBats: ONE DEFINITE UNIQUE FEATURE OF FUJIMOTO MIKI'S VOICE:
CatchFiveBats: vibrato
CantSpellShotaWithoutHOT: One of the few with vibrato.
CatchFiveBats: Most of the notes she holds out are vibrato.
CatchFiveBats: Her voice is also a little lower than most others.
CatchFiveBats: And it's got a fairly unique timbre, but I doubt anyone would notice it unless they listened to J-Pop a lot.
CatchFiveBats: But the first two are definitely noticeable.
CatchFiveBats: All three of those traits combined = sex for my ears.
CantSpellShotaWithoutHOT: Then again...you don't really listen to a lot of Jpop....it's Momusu, Berryz, Matsuura Aya, and W or something or the other that is H!P.
CatchFiveBats: Well, yeah.
CatchFiveBats: I will say it doesn't vary too much musically.
CatchFiveBats: BUT
CatchFiveBats: There's a good variety of voices in all the members.
CantSpellShotaWithoutHOT: I'm not gonna pretend I'm a connoisseur or anything, but it just feels to me like her voice isn't that unique, if at all. Even by H!P standards.....
CantSpellShotaWithoutHOT: I dunno
CantSpellShotaWithoutHOT: it's like
CantSpellShotaWithoutHOT: I can't hear any given one individually for more than two seconds.
CantSpellShotaWithoutHOT: so they all wind up sounding extremely similar.
CatchFiveBats: Well...I will say that generally, within groups, H!P tends to release fairly similar songs in close proximity to each other (time-wise).
CatchFiveBats: But, if you start to separate the singles by 5 or 6, there's definite differences musically.
CantSpellShotaWithoutHOT: yeah, just like with anything
CatchFiveBats: And yeah, if you just listen to the single a-sides, you don't catch much.
CatchFiveBats: Voice-wise.
CatchFiveBats: But on b-sides and album-only tracks, you get a pretty good feel for how each member sounds.
CatchFiveBats: Also, watching the videos and paying attention to who sings what when helps you to identify voices too.
CantSpellShotaWithoutHOT: But if it's gonna be that subtle of a difference, that the only way I can tell it's Miki is by listening to the whole group endlessly....then she's still not all that unique sounding to me...
CatchFiveBats: Well, regardless, I think her voice is fantastic.
CantSpellShotaWithoutHOT: That's fine, I was just clarifying my view
CantSpellShotaWithoutHOT: XD
CantSpellShotaWithoutHOT: her voice IS good
CatchFiveBats: Maybe not super-unique, but there's something special about it that I really, really like.
CantSpellShotaWithoutHOT: Mmmm
CatchFiveBats: She does have a voice that stands out a little from the rest, though.
CatchFiveBats: If you're familiar with the rest, anyway.
CatchFiveBats: It's like people saying that all asians look the same.
CantSpellShotaWithoutHOT: Yeah
CatchFiveBats: You just have to gain a sense of familiarity with the group.
CatchFiveBats: Then you begin to be able to distinguish.
CantSpellShotaWithoutHOT: Yeah
CatchFiveBats: Whether it be members of Momusu, or members of the Japanese race.
CantSpellShotaWithoutHOT: I dunno, for me, for something to be honest-to-god unique, I have to know what it is from a mile away.
CatchFiveBats: You get my drift.
CantSpellShotaWithoutHOT: at least musically
CatchFiveBats: Yeah.
CantSpellShotaWithoutHOT: yeah
CantSpellShotaWithoutHOT: Like
CatchFiveBats: I get what you mean.
CatchFiveBats: And I'm not saying I disagree.
CantSpellShotaWithoutHOT: I know Akihito Okano ANYWHERE.
CantSpellShotaWithoutHOT: I know Ayu ANYWHERE.
CatchFiveBats: But, for me, right now, her voice is incredibly unique and special.
CantSpellShotaWithoutHOT: But I just can't spot Fujimoto Miki half the time.

Bit of an abrupt end, I know, but from that point the conversation had nothing to do with Miki.
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On the Return of Mikitty

As I'm sure you all know, news of Fujimoto Miki's return has surfaced on the web. According to Tokyograph, her new single is going to be of the kayokyoku genre. Wikipedia's entry on kayokyoku states it as a broadly defined type of popular music that excludes folk songs, children's songs, J-Pop, and enka...which really gives me no idea as to what this single is going to be. Tokyograph's article also stated that Horiuchi would be singing his version of the single in chanson style. I don't know if this means that Fujimoto's single will follow suit, but I would like to think that hers will be done in some other way, so as to differentiate Miki from her sempai. The only other information I've seen is that this release will be of a more mature style than Fujimoto's other work within H!P, which is both a blessing and a curse.

On the positive side, the reason I started to like Mikitty so much in the first place (and still my main reason for liking her) is her voice, and I think it would be interesting to see what she sounds like in a different musical environment. There's potential here for Miki to leave the pop idol world and become a professional vocalist, which she probably deserves more than idoldom anyway. On the other hand, I really enjoyed Miki's place within H!P, and if she doesn't jump back into the idol world, she'll probably either leave H!P altogether or end up much like other former Musume's, sitting on the shelf releasing forgettable solo work, which would be a real shame.

Of course, this is all speculation, and right now I think the best thing for her would be to stay within H!P and continue the solo work that she probably never should have left, while continuing to do GAM with Ayaya (if only to make me happy ;P). The truly sad thing about all of this is that we never got to see what kind of leader she could have been for Morning Musume (which is a discussion for a different post), but what's done is done, and there's no point worrying about the past when the future holds such wonderful prospects as the return of Mikitty. I'll be preordering this single the second it's available.

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