Thunder Shot Mk. II

I finally found some time to build this thing. Of course I didn't plan far ahead enough to think of buying a Tamiya track so the car is basically unusable. it looks nice though and the box pictures are pretty much worth the purchase alone.

This is a great picture and I wish they made posters of these. Maybe I'll blow up one to use for myself.

My plan for immediate gratification ruined as "some assembly required." The included postcard is very cute though and makes me want to buy another one of these.

I suck at models though, so the simple task of applying enamel somehow turned into a terrible ordeal involving scalpels, staples, vast quantities of paint thinner, and a mess that would make my middle school art teacher stick pencils in her arteries. Don't even get me started on the grease. On the bright side my digestive organs probably experience less abrasive friction now given the amount accidentally ingested.

Finished product. Racer Momoi will beat all comers!

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Momoi pilgrimage site: Akihabara

Tora no ana main store: topic in Momoi's Koko da yo, Enter, and other songs. Frequently has Momoi promotions in the display wiinow, although during the time we went, the current feature was Sakakibara Yui.

Hourin Park: Location of the playground structure Momoi posed on for the cover of the special edition Yume no baton.

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Momoi pilgrimage site: Inokashira Park

Visited the huge Inokashira park in Kichijoji the other day.

Exhibit A: Lake that Momoi and her horse companion rowed on.
http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/ax1513319

Exhibit B: The bridge from the infamous recorder scene.
http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/ax1651925

There was a big shrine in the park so a charm had to be made. Hmm can you guess which one?

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Some photos taken over Animelo weekend

Ikebukuro. This will be home for the duration of the trip to Japan.

There is lots to see and do. But since this is a Momoist/otaku blog, let's just skip all the other touristy stuff I did and get to the substance...

animate! 9 floors of stuff. Took a good 4-5 hours to look through it all.

k-books (lots of good used stuff and comiket items)

Only bought a few things...spent conservatively since if I want to waste money on things that should never see the light of day, there was still all of Akihabara and Nakano Broadway.

Spotted while heading toward Animelo on 8/30.

Was so excited to be walking toward Saitama Super Arena

The Arena.

Merchandise tables. Combo sets and wristbands were sold out unfortunately by the time I got there. Picked up 2 shirts, towels, and pamphlet.

Outside map. Momoists set up camp in the marked area the next day.

Crowd began to swell as time got closer.

Had a blast at the concert. Jaw dropped when trying to find the number marked on the ticket and then the realization they were direct stage-side seats. Damn this thing was long. A great time was had, but I learned my lesson this time. 2 ultra oranges, 2 pinks, and 2 neon sticks is NOT ENOUGH. Wanted to UO on so many good acts but blew my entire stash right out the door with Yukari.

Goods obtained from the concert. Managed to catch a streamer that got shot out of the cannon during the encore. Since the thing was right next to me, when it went off I thought something exploded and nearly ducked for cover.

8/31

Posing with another Momoist.

Huge group of Momoists hanging out in the lower food court while waiting for seating to open. It was the same reliable group that has been to every concert I've ever seen so far. They came from all over. Some big trips to see Momoi include travellers from Osaka, Aomori (8 hrs by train), and even Korea.

T-shirt present for Momoi. Everybody included their own personal message. Takayama Saki (actress of Momoi from Haruko Update) was also attending Animelo to support Momoi and showed up to sign the shirt and say hello to Momoists.

These seats were actually pretty good and you could get a clear view of the performers as well as the entire arena. The "not as lucky" comparison is only relative to day 1, but otherwise it was awesome.

Lesson learned from day 1: stock glowsticks!!! Used up 15 ultra oranges, 6 ultra pinks, 2 ultra greens, 4 red and blue glowing bracelets, and fully drained 6 AAA batteries for neon red and neon blue light sticks.

Picked up 2 MOSAIC.WAV shirts along the way.

Still in Japan right now this is concise to save time. If you want to see parts of day 2 including Momoi you can probably find some recorded segments on Nico or Youtube although I won't bother posting the links since they will be constantly deleted/reuploaded. Also consider visiting seiyuu3 for a more detailed description of other artist acts.

Visited Akiba and a few other famous Momoi spots and specific stores/buildings thanks to a local fan who took a full day off to play ad-hoc tour guide. Maybe will visit more Momoists in Kyoto and we have a Suara concert to go see on Saturday. Let's see how it goes.

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Yells ~It's a beautiful life~

The new Animelo theme song has come out this week. Since a version has begun floating around online I couldn't resist but preview it while I wait for my copy. The song is rather simple but I derived great enjoyment at the constant switching up of singers, which occurs much more frequently than the previous three Animelo theme songs. Aside from a slightly annoying pronunciation of "Yell", the song has quickly grown on me after multiple listening sessions, and I currently rank it somewhere above Generation A and below Outride.

This year, Momoi got to have three solo lines, slightly up from last year, and more noticeable thanks to more balanced artist rotation (though some still got more coverage than others). Meanwhile, Mizuki Nana, Arika, and most of JAM Project except Makkun got major cuts in their line count, possibly in favor of promoting some newer acts and also because of how many verses they had in previous years.

Unfortunately despite her increased role, Momoi does not appear much in the accompanying video since she was not present during the taping of the group session. The only Momoi footage was of her individual recording session, which is played during her solo segments. This is a shame because she appears in the video very sharply dressed and in perfect makeup, giving off an incredibly radiant smile that would have been sure to draw some attention from anyone getting their first exposure to Momoi in this video. One thing that Momoi is really good at is smiling. Also as consistent with last year's DVD reveal when responding to a comment by Yoffy, Momoi always records sitting down so it was interesting to see her posture again in contrast to other artists who did their singing while standing up.

Thoughts on other artists:
1. Best delivery goes to Suara, for her version of "立ち止まらずに歩こう" compared to everyone else who sang the same line.

2. Tanimiya looks WAYYYY different from what I expected him to look since he is usually so clean cut in cast pictures.

3. I almost didn't recognize Ishikawa Chiaki despite seeing her in person at AX last year, and almost missed it since she only got one solo line like Arika. She looks like she reverse aged 20 years.

4. Kitadani is awesome as usual and likes to acknowledge the camera. Yoffy still does his handwaving. I miss seeing Naonii do his neck twisty thing whenever he sings though...this was not the year he should have sat out now that I'm finally going to see it dammit!

5. I have no clue who the hell May'n is, why is she part of Animelo again? I guess I am ok with her though, based on the video.

6. It is going to be fun seeing how they are going to split this up between like 40 people on stage for each day. I also seriously cannot picture denpa singers like Shaori or MI~KO doing anything this poppy at all. My mind will be blown.

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Momoi international schedule updates

Momoi was added to Connichi 2008 officially this week by convention organizers on their message board. This will be the second year in a row that she will attend the convention in Kassel, Germany. If you are thinking about making the trip from other parts, halko-momoi.de has no shortage of friendly bilingual German Momoists willing to help you out.

Announced earlier this Month, Momoi and angela are performing with live bands in Taiwan at the Taipei City Hall Theatre on Saturday afternoon 9/28. It is the first time Momoi has performed with a band abroad. Momoi has also partnered with travel agency JTB again to offer another "official fanclub tour" which includes dinner with Momoi and sightseeing for a minimum of 20 people.

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3 days left until Momoi DVD release

It has been too long without a Momoi concert DVD release. Finally the week has arrived, causing me to think about it on a daily basis. COVER BEST LIVE in CLUB CITTA and Momo-i Sunday Early Morning Live @ Shibuya-AX come out this Friday, followed by the Feel So Easy CD single on the following Monday MONTH.

Toranoana also has updated their store page with a picture of the DVD jacket (including back cover!). The set list looks very exciting.

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An account of Momoist ongoings at Anime North 2008

So this post has been sitting for almost two months because I wanted to wait until I got a dress stand and glass case to show off a certain special item, but it looks like that is not happening soon. I figured I should probably post this before Animelo comes around or it will get outdated if I start posting about the next Momoi event and this STILL isn't up. On May 23-25 weekend, several Momoists made a trip to Ontario, Canada to see Momoi perform at Anime North. Specific names have been omitted for privacy reasons.

Arriving in Toronto on Friday morning, I and another fan (we drove up in a car from New York) met up with everyone at a hotel to drop off 1300 glowsticks packed in our trunk purchased with funds donated by various fans. In all, our little international group consisted of 7 members from Japan, 4 from US west coast, and 2 from US east coast. After settling down and swapping materials (Momoi doujinshi, call books, Hawaii DVD, posters, etc) we headed out to a nearby Canadian chain family restaurant Swiss Chalet for lunch. Some American fans had the idea to secretly arrange a surprise for the Japanese fans by inviting Momoi to the same lunch.

We finished our food a little earlier than expected, and Momoi showed up a little later than expected. These circumstances led to hilariously obvious attempts to stall for more time at the restaurant via repeated ordering of drinks. After what seemed like an eternity due to the stress, Momoi appeared in a conspicuous sweet lolita dress complete with ribbons, lace, and a rabbit ears hood. She arrived along with manager Mr. Suzuki, Mr. Sawa (I remember this guy because he was on the delivery signature for fanclub calendar), and one other guy who was filmed the whole event. After going around to thank each person, Momoi settled into the middle of our table of 13 where she received gifts from almost everyone, including Japanese fans who apparently keep a stash of presents and concert materials on hand just to be ready for the remote possibility of meeting her any time. We also pooled some money to get a gift for Mr. Suzuki for letting the whole thing happen even though Momoi's schedule was so packed. Although we would have been satisifed with just a few minutes of interaction, the whole thing went down way better than expected as Momoi spent a pretty long time with everyone at the restaurant.

After this, we headed to the con to pick up some volunteer passes (one fan had managed to contact AN staffers and explained our plans to distribute glowsticks and teach calls, so they ended up making us official con volunteers). An unexpected perk to being part of the fan club and also volunteering was that AN staff let us into the "Meet & Greet" event room before the scheduled time. We just decided to spend the entire duration of the session with Momoi. Since the area was very limited in size and only limited to about 60 people across ALL guests, there weren't many people there and only a few recognized Momoi. Because of that, we managed to hog Momoi all to ourselves without feeling guilty about preventing someone else from having a chance. Actually, every time someone not from the fan club came over, it was a big exciting event to see how Momoi would interact with them.

One such notable incident was when a young Mii cosplayer was spotted by Momoi in the room. Momoi pretty much flipped out when she saw this and ran over to the cosplayer screaming "MIITAN" and possibly freaking out the cosplayer's mom. Speaking excitedly in half broken English and half Japanese, Momoi tried to explain she was the Japanese voice actress for Mii, and jumped up and down exclaiming "pikohan magical" and other signature Mii phrases while trying to get the girl to follow suit. When the cosplayer had left, Momoi said she got so excited that a little girl did it with all the correct accessories.

Momoi spoke too soon, because minutes later when we were posing for a photo, she turned around to find the Mii cosplayer back, but this time carrying something Momoi did not anticipate: Popotan underwear (as see on TV). This caused Momoi to giggle uncontrollably, followed up by a literal anime-style spin and collapse. She launched herself at a nearby table that I was sitting at. She declared the popotan apparel to be awesome and insisted on taking pictures while holding it up. Momoi ended up signing and mock-wearing them.

It should be noted that Momoists who never got a chance to see an UNDER17 concert live owe this cosplayer a HUGE debt of gratitude, because she directly inspired Momoi to sing one of her most famous old songs the next day: Popotan! Holy shit I never thought I would ever hear that one live in post-UNDER17 times...

Thanks cosplayer whoever you are!

At this event, we would also meet some new fans who joined the fan club on location, and helped out with the concert call preparations later on.

Immeidately after, we staked out the plaza ballroom for an hour to fill in the front row for opening ceremonies and make sure Momoi got cheered when introduced. While waiting, we scoped out the stage for the concert which would be in the same room. Everyone had glowsticks ready that they wave for cheering when Momoi went on stage but we ended up breaking a few of them early when Momoi suddenly came out and sat in the front row with us while waiting to go on stage. Following protocol, Momoi got massively cheered anyway when announced to go on stage. AN was pretty generous to her and treated her like a major keynote speaker at the opening, so she had plenty of time to talk to the fans and describe her feelings about coming to Canada.

Following the opening ceremony, we had a quick makeshift dinner of hotdogs and headed to lineup at Momoi's Q&A panel. The turnout was decent.At the panel, Momoi squashed the rumor that she was under Avex's thumb in terms of image and said she enjoys controls her current style. She also talked a bit about her clothing and how she became interested in lolita fashion. She revealed that she wore the same outfit when touring Casa Loma earlier that morning since she felt it suited the setting, being a castle and all, and the swords in there "looked kind of scary." As the session drew to a close, Momoi helped out our Momoist call workshop by giving it a little publicity and asking everyone to attend it so they could learn how idol calls work in Japan. Momoi also apparently was not referencing the Knights who say NI in her Naito de Naito song (although she said her friend Nogawa Sakura is a big fan of Monty Python).

After the panel ended, we headed back to the hotels to plan for the next day. The fanclub began applying Momoi sticker labels to the huge pile of glowsticks with amazing efficiency finishing all 1300 in about an hour.

The next day, we hauled all the materials to ballroom in order to set up the Momoist call workshop. Attendance was quite sparse with only about 10 showing up although this grew gradually as the panel went on. However all participants were highly enthusiastic and not in the least embarassed to be learning and doing the calls with the rest of us. The steps were taught directly by a Japanese fan and subsequently translated by another west coast fanclub member and were pretty informative, going over concepts like rallying calls and tips on recognizing them, UO signals, meanings behind some hand gestures, song-specific chants, and even practicing on another member who acted as a stand-in for Momoi. For a (very basic) example of some of the things covered, you can see a few at the Momoi call website.

After we finished hosting the workshop, we stuck around to take some group photos with a few fans who had attended the workshop and then headed to lunch. Then we headed back to the stage area to measure out and cut streamers. These were basically long ribbons that we would throw towards the stage during the concert (but not long enough to hit Momoi), and materials to make them were brought courtesy of one fan had pointed out Momoi liked idol concerts with streamers and hoped to give her the same treatment.

Near the start of the concert, staff began showing up. We went over a basic explanation of what were were planning to do with the glowsticks so they cordoned off a section of the front for us and gave us a place backstage to stash all of our stuff and change into our concert gear. Once plaza ballroom doors opened, people began filing in. Several members were stationed at the door, with others patrolling the aisles to make sure everyone had working glowsticks (now we know why those glowsticks were cheap: about 10% of them were duds). I ended up filling my loading belt with returned or defective glowsticks as long as they still gave off some amount of light.

I won't go too much into the concert, as there is already a great summary of concert specifics (broken down by songs) at denpa no sekai written up by another fanclub member who was with us. I can say it was the most fun I had since Hawaii. My only complaint revolves around the bracelet system, since it was all the way at the other end of the convention center they should have just been letting people when the concert itself started instead of having them go back to get a bracelet (although they might have done this later and I just didn't know).

When it was over, Momoi said she would be giving autographs downstairs in half an hour. Since we had already monopolized Momoi most of the previous day, the fanclub decided to sit out the autograph session so anybody who became a new fan from the concert could have a slightly better chance to get in line for Momoi. As the crowd exited and began lining up at the stairs, we decided to take a break around the stage area instead before going backstage to retrieve our things. Momoi surprised everyone there by showing up backstage and thanked everyone again before leaving to host her autograph session at the merchandise table. We just in a group next to the autograph table to observe the line and see the interactions Momoi had with other fans.

Since that was the last Momoi event for the day and the last day for our con responsibilities, at night we did regular touristy things like visit downtown Toronto, check out Casa Loma, and eat at the rotating restaurant at the top of the CN tower. Apparently we hadn't considered the CN tower restaurant was supposed to be fairly ritzy so we all 13 of us went in still wearing t-shirts, Momoi wristbands, backpacks, glowstick holsters, otagei jackets, etc...much to the disdain of the waiters serving us who seemed clearly irritated.

On Sunday we attended an awards brunch since Momoi was supposed to be a guest there. Momoi noticed us from her table and came over several times to chat. No matter how many times she does this, it still impresses me that Momoi likes to establish such rapport from fans...having approached us first before we approached her (originally we had remained respectful distance and simply waved because we didn't want to interrupt her meal).

Momoi hosted a second panel that afternoon which, following the concert, which was understandbly much more packed than the last one and had people standing at the doors due to lack of room. The crowd was pretty lively, and Momoi joked around a lot with the audience: She suggested putting a glowstick should be in the Toronto museum since it marked a historic event. When asked if she had many boyfriends in middle school, she replied only in her imagination, and sometimes, she was the boyfriend (referring to times when she would play bishoujo games). When apologizing for her English being bad, she sang "Good Enough" impromptu as an example of what kind of English she knew. Momoi said a number of times how much she appreciated people coming from around the world to see her and invited everyone to visit Akihabara and come see her in Japan some day.

After the panel, we headed to catch Momoi at the charity auction. First auction item was one of the glowstick boxes, signed by Momoi and renamed the "Memory box" which was picked up for $40 by one of the new Momoists that we met earlier during the Meet & Greet. A T-Shirt signed by all the guests including Momoi went for $120. Momoi had also signed a copy of her "Halko Momoi Best Clip" DVD but due to technical difficulties with getting the DVD to play during the auction and time constraints, it was not auctioned off separately. Last item was Momoi's LOVE.EXE dress that she wore in her music video shown here:

I ended up winning it for $750, proceeds which I think went to a local childrens' hospital. The auctioneers decided to just throw in the signed DVD too since they didn't have any time left to auction it, and Momoi wrote some more stuff on the CD case. Then some staffer told me it was the highest charity bid so far in AN's short history so I'm glad at that at least for now, they can say Momoi was responsible for it.

The last activity of the day was Momoi's final autograph session in the afternoon. We had previously decided to sit this one out since the lines opened at the same time as the auction, and we wanted to cheer at the auction instead. So, we just did the same thing as last time and waited around the autograph table for Momoi to finish without being on line ourselves. The line had closed at that time due to the maximum capacity being reached anyway. However a nice staffer saw us and let us know that Momoi would go overtime and do some extra autographs for fanclub members so I got a Sunday Early Morning tour shirt signed. We met Momoi one last time at the staff exit to send her off (a fanclub member apparently had a really sharp eye for spotting Momoi).

After Momoi left, we decided we would spend the rest of the time doing a bit more sightseeing in Canada rather than spend it at a convention without Momoi, so our group squeezed together into three cars and headed for Niagara Falls. After enjoying the falls we headed up to the shops to see explore the shops. One last ditch effort was made to find Momoi again, as we had received information earlier that Momoi might be touring Niagara Falls so a small search party went down along the falls to stalk accidentally bump into Momoi while we kept browsing the stores. It proved unsuccessful however, so they eventually gave up after multiple passes. We had dinner at some jungle themed restaurant which had a cake with sparklers on it.

On Monday after a night's rest, I and the other east coast Momoist made the drive back to the States while West coast and Japan crew headed for the airport. It had been a great weekend jam packed with Momoi events almost nonstop. On our way back, as one final tribute to Momoi we stopped by Casa Loma in the morning to take this:

We stole the angle from Momoi's blog.

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Thundershot Mk.II pre-order

Since Thundershot Mk.II Momoi version preorders started, I have been looking around the web hoping to find somewhere that shipped overseas. A vendor finally turned up.

http://hobbyworld.aoshima-bk.co.jp/scripts/hw/seeke.aspx?seek_code=TAM08062001

They seem to be a small shop (Aoshima Bunka Kyozai) with an online page that only recently started supporting overseas customers. Their english version of the site is shady as hell and the credit card entry page isn't even encrypted but what the heck I took the plunge and ordered with them.

It isn't as cool as the pink chrome one depicted in TAMIYA's youtube video which seems to be something you can only get at events (or not at all?), but this one is cool too with the momoi wing stickers. Actually even just buying the box is worth it since it has such a cute picture of Momoi waving a checkered flag on it.

The car itself is pretty cheap, being only $9 if applying the pre-order discount. Total came out to $29 after including EMS shipping. The product is supposed to be released in early August. Hopefully the site is legit. I'll follow up if I actually get it that month.

Momoi liked toy cars ever since she was a kid. Once in primary school, Momoi thought it would be a great present for a gift exchange at her Christmas party. Unfortunately the other girl who got Momoi's present didn't like it at all and didn't even take it home. When Momoi saw it, she felt very alone when she realized her interests didn't fit in with normal girls.

Now, just by lending her name, she will help sell many of these cars, and maybe with the design more girls will start to like them too.

Update: HLJ is carrying it now!

Double-ordered to be safe. Maybe I will have two cars to race against each other :)

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Feel so Easy!

A new Momoi single "Feel So Easy!" has been listed on CDJapan
Feel so Easy! / Haruko Momoi

Comes with poster on pre-order. Release date is 8/27/08.

Apparently it is an opening theme to Mission-E which is airing next month, and is a second season to Code-E that came out last year. Both shows have Momoi in them as a secondary character.

I never finished the first season since it was kind of boring and Momoi didn't show up nearly enough. Maybe I should give the series another chance.

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Momoi talks about Akihabara stabbing incident

Momoi has published a fairly lengthy entry about her feelings about the tragic Akihabara stabbing incident. As most may know, Momoi, the Queen of Akiharaba, has a very special attachment to the place and has always talked about it fondly, even releasing a memoir about growing up alongside it. The latest crime has affected her very deeply.

I felt her latest entry on the topic was very good piece reflecting her frustration about what has happened, and it seems like something every Momoi fan should read.

The following is an unofficial quick translation. Standard disclaimer about claiming no affiliation with Momoi, no guarantee for accuracy, etc..

Now read on...

------

To readers of MOMOBURO,

I have many memories of Akihabara's main street. As a middle schooler, I would make friends with the arcade people and have conversations with the customers.

When I found CDs that I was looking for, I would impatiently open it in a nearby cafe to look at the lyrics card. Around the time I was a highschool student, I would ride the train by myself in the mornings to go see idol events. Waiting in front of the shuttered event doors, seeing my likeminded comrades it made me happy.

The promotional video for my debut CD was produced in Akihabara. It was very emotional to see my own songs streaming at Akihabara's storefront. At a modest event hall, seeing everyone singing and jumping to the music and the emotions swelling, at that moment I felt that without a doubt, this was the most fun place in the entire world.

And there were many many more other wonderful memories.

To me, every single leaf of the tree lined streets and the color of the roads evokes pleasant memories. Just from visiting it my heart became a more enjoyable place.

I became an adult, a singer, a seiyuu, and even recently a guest who was invited abroad. In Germany, a male anime fan told me "In my life, just once, I want to visit Akihabara." In Canada, a girl into Lolita fashion said to me, with difficulty in Japanese, and with sparkles in her eyes, "My dream is to go to Akihabara." For me, those words made me so happy, so proud; I said "Yes, let's meet next time in Akihabara!"

In that Akihabara, a great tragedy has happened.

Just like that, in the slightly chaotic shopping center where it should never have happened, it is now something that can never be taken back. The dead can not be returned. The scars of the injured can not be healed. Feelings that had not been felt until now are welling up.

In that place where I have smiled so much, I felt I could not anymore. In that location, that scene, that place which is so important to me, that place where listeners of my radio show surely call the "Holy Land", it is ironic that we are forced to say "give back everyone's yearning and joyful feelings!" Akihabara is a place that is very dear to me. It is a place that has become sad.

Thinking over and over as I trying to find way to reconcile these feelings, I only further realized my own powerlessness. But for people who loved Akihabara, those lives that were stolen away like that, I felt I couldn't just do nothing. So although it may have been a little conspicuous, I put my hands together in that place for those people who died, and I made a wish for their happiness in the next life from the bottom of my heart, and on the morning of the 9th, I made an offering of flowers.

When I arrived at Akihabara station, it looked like the weather was going to be rainy. At the mouth of Electric Town, I saw that many news vans were lined up there. Near the intersection of the incident, the scenery was different from the usual. Near there were many people with one atmosphere: they were wearing arm bands, carrying equipment, reporter types. Among that crowd, I saw that the shopping district had been set up with tents, under which there were flower altars. Upon seeing those, the reality of the situation slowly began to sink in. This place wasn't the usual main street. It had become a crime scene.

I drew closer to the flower altar, saying "excuse me" as I opened up a path. Having done that, one after another, those reporters were calling out to me. "Are you related to the victims, are you an acquaintance of the dead parties?".... Hearing the same thing repeated over and over, it was almost unbearable as I tried to ignore my annoyance at them. But I didn't say anything and I quickly brought my flowers to the altar and unwrapped them. As soon as I had done so, light shined from the immense number of camera flashes.

"Please don't take pictures," I asked, but even as I placed down the flowers to pray, the lights continued.

"Please stop taking pictures" I said, once again. After that, whenever there was a flash I pleaded "please don't take pictures" many times. In the end, I finally said it pretty loudly. I put my entire heart into that plea, but instead people only continued to interrupt with the sound of shutters and the light from flashes. I clasped my hands together and said "please stop" over and over, my tears were flowing out. Then I stopped saying anything.

I thought "for something so sad, can't I at least be allowed to pay my respects? I truly can't do anything. What should I do?" I said a short prayer, and though I wanted to run away, I realized I would regret it. So I turned around once again, and from the bottom of my heart, I was able to put my hands together. In that moment, even though there were flashes from people, I had already accepted it as something that I couldn't change. It was something that cannot be described with words...an extreme sadness that I had never felt until then. Even after that, they followed me, and labeled me as "grieving family" as they called out to me. I responded "No" and walked away. It was a very very unpleasant feeling.

Before the incident happened, when I met newspaper and magazine reporters in this place covering an event, they had been kind, principled, and overall just good people. When I thought my love for Akihabara could be made into a report, and transmitted to readers, and preserved into future generations, my heart would fill with gratitude. I thought about having a photo in the middle of an article, showing how much I love Akihabara with the biggest smile I had ever seen. But today, in the same place, facing those cameras, it was completely different from that time. My memories were steadily being turned upside down. It was very sorrowful.

Once, Akiba's pedestrian shopping district was supposed to be a fun place. There was a girl who came to hear her own songs, from early in the morning, carrying equipment to come sing, dreaming of becoming a singer. There were people performing tricks, and there were dancers too. And there were cosplayers too. But, those kinds of people have also been immediately warned, arrested, or taken in by police.

And yet, here and now, there are these big cameras and microphones preying on the emotionally wounded, and people who are arguing loudly about business on cellphones in a place where others are trying to bring flowers to the dead. And even though they are occupying the middle of the street, and their cars are parked in the middle of the road, not a word is said to them. There are policemen nearby, but none of them were in front of the altars paying any attention to it.

But even before the law, I really wish people would just be more considerate of others. I get a little lost, and just stare mindlessly at the scene. Gradually, the rain began to fall. The roads would be filled with people, there umbrellas colliding. It would be very troublesome. The stores are open, but in this kind of atmosphere nobody goes inside. I cry from the feeling of loneliness. It was the first time I shed tears in Akihabara for a reason other than happiness.

I really yearned for the fun I had in Akihabara with all the fans and their smiling faces. Boys and girls who came to my live, they always had such lovely smiling faces to cheer me up. On many TV programs, Akiba-kei otaku are portrayed as disgusting, and targets to be laughed at. I often receive requests like "I want to see Momoi and her fans appear together on variety programs and participate in stuff like Otagei Taikai," but I reject them. If we did appear on that kind of show, how would it be portrayed as? My fans, though they strike weird poses from time to time, and though they dance in funny ways, they always follow the rules, give and take seats courteously, clean up after any garbage, and are mannered ladies and gentlemen. In front of the media who block the way in front of this altar, which side do you think will be portrayed?

I opened my cellphone under the overhang of the UDX building. I didn't know any others within the same industry who felt the same way about Akihabara. Though I searched for blogs, the searching method was difficult so I didn't find any. I thought about updating my own blog too, but I was in a sloppy mood. At any rate, feeling lonely and wanting to meet someone who could understand, I went into a familiar store. I talked a little with the people in the store, and I did some autographs. There, I added "I love Akihabara" and postscript indicating my gratitude to Akihabara.

After that I went to a radio recording. During the program, I didn't talk about the incident. I felt, "to help those who have been hurt to begin healing, I had to provide an existence of encouragement" so I did a cheerful radio session.

Returning from work, I met with some otaku friends of mine, and we talked about the incident. At that time, my body wasn't feeling very good and though I was withering, I wanted to convey what it felt like to have no place to go, so I talked about it with all my might. My friend, shedding tears, listened to what I had to say. Thereafter, they said "I want you to put this in your blog. There are definitely people who feel the same way as you out there", so it is why I have written this.

Though it was sad, I think I somehow wanted to do it. Though I am far from perfect, I want to be a kind person to others. My words may not be eloquent and may be irritating, but I put in all of my heart to convey my feelings. People who love Akihabara and have been hurt like me, people who yearn for Akihabara, people who feel depressed, please, feel better. Akihabara stores, please, do your best. I will not diminish, and tomorrow, I will do my best in what I want to do.

Those who have injuries, I am praying for your recovery. Families and friends who have been hurt emotionally, I wish for those wounds to mend.

Thank you for reading this to the end,

2008/06/09, Night, Momoi Haruko

Posted by Paranda at 5:13 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBack

New Momoi DVDs and point system

A couple of interesting things have been added to Momoi's discography page. Two new DVDs are scheduled to be released on July 25th: Sunday Early Morning LIVE @ SHIBUYA AX recorded on 4/20/2008 and COVER BEST LIVE in CLUB CITTA, recorded on 6/24/2007.

The cost is 7560 yen per DVD, and each purchase will include one of 3 random photographs, a remix CD, and a special promotion postcard. If you buy both DVDs and apply to the promotional campaign with the postcards, you get an original T-shirt present. Additionally, you qualify to be randomly selected for an autograph (100 available) as well as an invitation to a private tea party (10 spots).

As part of the momo-i point club promotion, if you buy these DVDs through "mu-mo shop" by June 25th, you can earn 1 "momopo" for every 1000 yen you spend. These points can be used to redeem prizes such as momo-i point club telephone card set, with the most significant reward being a backstage invitation to the in-store release/minilive event if you can get 50 momo-i points.

Update:
CDJapan has started pre-orders. For overseas fans who do not have a way of buying them through mu-mo, please buy them here!

Cover Best Live In Club Citta [DVD+CD] / Haruko Momoi
Sunday Early Morning Live @Shibuya Ax [DVD+CD] / Haruko Momoi

You could use this coupon.

Note that these are affiliate links now so I also get some bonus points if you follow the links from this site :)

Posted by Paranda at 10:01 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

ENJOY WITH MOMOI IN HF: Sunday (part 2)

When the concert was over, Momoi set up a table for autographs. The crowd was much bigger this time, and you could see people who you would never expect scrambling to buy shirts, CDs, and fliers as souvenirs. Entire families were waiting ranging from small children to teenagers to musclebound tough guys to grandparents. Even Momoi's limo driver ended up joining the line. Ad-hoc interviews were also done on the spot by local newspapersch. Like the previous day, the fan club decided to wait off the line until everybody else could go. Japanese momoists were more interested in documenting the incongruous audience phenomenon, eagerly snapping pictures of "unlikely" fans. In the end, because of the larger crowd, Momoi was not able to sign things for us. That was ok though, as fanclub members would see Momoi again later at the closing dinner.

Nyol and I had a bit of a scare on the way back to the hotel though. He and I were the last ones to leave (around 4:30 PM) in order to help get cabs for everyone else. Unfortunately, the final cab was incredibly late because major roads had been closed for the parade. We spent a hellishly SLOW 45 minute ride back to the hotel nervously wondering if we were going to miss the dinner, at one point contemplating just walking the rest of the way. We ended up making it on time though, and it was nice of the cab driver to just stop the meter at $20 to prevent the fare from getting to ridiculous levels.

The dinner was a catered event in one of the hotel's conference rooms. Seating arrangements were groups of 6 - 8 at round tables, with Momoi having her own individual table/panel at the front of the room. Drinks were served by a minibar in the corner. Prior to starting the meal, everyone went around the room to touch glasses with Momoi and each other. The menu lineup was soup, steak and chicken cutlet, and a custard tart with fruit.

While eating, Momoi would talk about various topics using her table microphone, such as her thoughts on the concert, the experience in Hawaii, and upcoming roles and events. She also broke into evil "ohohoho" laughs quite frequently. During the course of the dinner, her manager Suzuki also had a speech thanking everyone for the success of the trip. Due to nature of the room, the whole format was a little more reserved but fans were still free to call out at any time or go up to her table. Momoi remarked that she really thought it was great that everyone could get on stage, prompting Vesper to show Momoi footage of the final performance that he captured on camera.

When dessert was nearly finished, Mandi and I brought out our secret present which we had kept concealed from everyone: 21 ounces of customized pink M&M candies with "momo-i" and "moe is rock" printed on the shells, stored in a special "Sunday early morning" themed box. When Momoi opened it, she doubled back and did a crazy prolonged "UWAAAAAAAH! UWAAAAAAAH!! UWAAAAAAAAAAH!!! UWAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!" scream with her hands on her face. She was so excited, the entire room stopped to stare at her. We took this opportunity to reveal the second bonus as we also included smaller individually wrapped packs for everyone else in the room. It seemed to be pretty well received as everybody spent a lot of time taking pictures.

After this, Momoi decided to get a bit more interactive with fans with a series of activities. First she issued a question which will not be repeated here, but the answer could only have been obtained if one had the unusual foresight of looking up Momoi's skirt during the concert. There were no winners. The second activity was a round of bingo, with the first three winners getting special Hawaiian shoulder bags that Momoi bought from ABC. I ended up tying as the first bingo so I got to have one. Then, she made the rounds at the tables for about 15-20 minutes each for individual attention, chatting, posing, trying out gadgets, doing calligraphy, or autographing. This lasted until the end of the dinner around 9:30PM. When everything was done, Momoi gave a final thank you speech in tears.

From there, we each lined up at the door to receive a gift from Momoi and JTB: a large print of a group photograph we had taken earlier when everyone was on stage. Momoi signed and wrote thank you messages to each person as they picked up their copy. Even after leaving the conference room, things did not end though. The fans packed into the elevator to head back down to the lobby, while Momoi and staff stayed the outside. Even as we were near maximum capacity, Momoi suddenly started walking toward us as if to get into the elevator, then stopped, then started again. In what seemed to be a few moments of internal debate, she finally got a "ah what the hell, I'll give them what they want" look on her face and crammed herself into the elevator with us. Everybody cheered. Yet another service to fans, courtesy of Momoi.

In the second floor JTB lobby, to celebrate the end of a successful trip, we spent another 40 minutes getting individual pictures taken with Momoi. She was very accomodating to any type of photo a fan wanted to do, and posed in pretty much any position including mock strangling / slave-driving. Once everything was done, we escorted Momoi outside where she shook hands with everyone including non-fanclub members who didn't get to meet her at the dinner. By the end of the night I had lost track of how many times she had thanked fans. As a final send-off, the crowd brought out glowsticks and mass cheered her as she left for her limo, and didn't stop until she was well out of sight. It was a great feeling of unity even as we were creating a commotion at night in front of the hotel.

Oblivious to jet lag, I slept soundly that night fully satisfied with having been able to participate in this great event at Hawaii. Looking back, it may be the single best Momoi-related decision I ever made. It was an awesome experience, and I am glad to have shared it with the friendliest and most dedicated Momoists in the world. Now to do it all again in Canada!

Some other bonus pictures:

200 glowsticks that we brought for the concert. In all, fanclub members contributed for a total sum of over 800.

Special "Momoi edition" M&Ms.

500 flyers printed in NYC and shipped to Hawaii

Posted by Paranda at 7:58 AM | Comments (1)

ENJOY WITH MOMOI IN HF: Sunday (part 1)

Due to work, and also because I was contributing to a certain Momoi project, I was too busy to write anything. Finally I am going to finish this...

Sunday (early) morning, the fan club had plans to shoot a Romantic Summer video copying Seto no Hanayome's opening. Mandi and I arrived a bit late since we didn't get the details the previous night, but luckily Nyol called in to let us know the meeting place. As a huge HUGE surprise not previously disclosed, Momoi was also there and planned to be in the video.

Fans set up a ton of cameras on tripod, and we chose a little spot in the middle of the beach where we would do Romantic Summer otagei. Thanks to some generous fans who wanted to let Americans in front, I got shuffled up right next to Momoi. However, since I had only practiced Romantic Summer otagei two or three times ever (and there is currently no good reference of the motions on DVD), I didn't know 40% of the moves. The remaining 60% that I barely remembered was also promptly forgotten due to the mindbending effects of being within the Momoi sphere of influence. I felt a little guilty about wasting such a good position (since then, I have practiced it dozens of times and now can confidently say that I know it 100%). Luckily for me, once the music started, Momoi herself didn't remember the moves and just began cracking up while attempting to improvise. This lead everyone to abandon whatever routine they had memorized and just follow Momoi's lead. It was a little chaotic, with plenty of hilarious screw ups all of which were caught on camera. Some time in the middle of this, people in the water saw this whole spectacle and also started following along with motions, not knowing what it was for. It was a little chaotic but also amazing. The whole thing lasted maybe a few minutes, but it was a memory for a lifetime.

After our "performance", we toasted on the beach and just hung out for a little while. Momoi decided to eat her breakfast there and had some orange juice and a cinnamon bun. She also bought some beach shoes and jokingly said she was going to change into her swimsuit and go into the water. This turned out to not be a joke after all, as she ended up revealing a cute two piece much to the surprise of everyone. Since it was Hawaii, "it was natural to go swimming" she later said at an event in Japan when recalling the event. So we ended up having the privilege of going swimming with Momoi. We also took a bunch of pictures together on the beach to commemorate the time on the beach. After this Momoi left to go prepare for her concert, leaving us to roam as we pleased.

This was such an insane turn of events, my brain pretty much shut off and I can't remember anything else after (my order of events was probably wrong too). All I know was that when everything was over, it was already noon. I left with Nyol, mandi, Priz, and PantsGoblin to try some puka dog at Priz's suggestion. It was basically a huge roasted hot dog stuffed into an interestingly heated bun, but it was pretty good. Determined to be ready for the afternoon's concert, I asked Nyol to be my otagei teacher. And so, I learned the finer points of various movements during our lunch break. Having finally seen "Thundersnake" demonstrated fully, I knew I had to learn it.

After lunch, we spent some time going over DVDs in Nyol's room and practicing for calls until it was time to head to the convention center. I came armed with my newly signed power glove. Coverman also gave everyone a very cool sticky version of the flyers. I put one on my shirt.

For this concert, Momoi put on her classic sailor outfit. Delightfully, the exhibit hall was much more packed than the previous days and we managed to give out a lot more stuff to the crowd. There were also many kids who were totally enthusiastic about participating, which was nice. The songs played were:

Wonder momoi
21st Century
Romantic Summer
Figure ni Naritai
Naito de naito
LOVE.EXE
Yume no Baton

The concert went very well the second time, with much more participation and we had to hand out spare glowsticks midconcert as more and more people came up to the front.

Then it happened. During LOVE.EXE, suddenly Momoi called out to "come join me on stage." WHAT? This was completely surreal. Seconds later, we immediately peeled off from the front line and scrambled on one by one, preparing to do otagei on the same stage as our idol. Some people who learned about Momoi the same day even joined in. Many new Momoists were created in those moments. It was the first, and probably last time something like this would ever happen, and as the reality soaked in it was just complete euphoria while on that little platform. Momoi seemed to be immersed in it as well, as she threw herself into the center of the crowd on stage that was furiously waving "kecha" motions. In synchronized action, the cult of Momoi was kowtowing to its empress. We remained on stage for the rest of the concert, performing otagei with Momoi for Yume no baton as well as joining her for final stage photos.

Honolulu Festival Report

Posted by Paranda at 1:01 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

Momoi at AnimeNorth

Momoi announced she would be doing a con in Canada when she was in Hawaii. It finally became official.

Momoi announced as guest at AnimeNorth.

The biography page is surprisingly well informed, which leads me to believe either Right Gauge provided a very detailed resource sheet, or the author is a big Momoi fan who has read or at least skimmed Akihabalove in order to get certain details. Didn't catch the "Suicide Girls" slip though until it was pointed out by denpanosekai.

As a former Canadian citizen, I will of course be attending. Road trip to Toronto!!

If you are planning to go and would like to meet up with us friendly Momoists to do cool stuff (and learn otagei), please introduce yourself on the Momoi fan forums.

Posted by Paranda at 9:17 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

ENJOY WITH MOMOI IN HF: Saturday (part 2)

We had lunch at Teddy's Bigger Burgers. Suisei was especially enamored with the idea of eating the biggest burger on the menu, and kept repeating "MONSTER DOUBLE BURGER" in anticipation while waiting on line. He ended up getting the 18 ounce beast of a burger along with the combo drink and fries. I had the 9 ounce version of the burger, and which already seemed incredibly large to me. Somehow he managed to finish the whole thing and still be alive, probably because of all the exercise from doing otagei. I almost regret not being more adventurous and trying the same, but that is on my list for next year when Momoi comes to Hawaii again. I did have a delicious peanut butter shake though, that was so thick it was almost solid. While we were eating, the fan who cosplayed Jenny at the dinner on Friday came over to our table and brought out several Momoi pinky figures that he had made. Some pieces were very impressive given the level of detail, especially on the miniature keytars.

After lunch, the group split up with about half going swimming and the other half wanting to visit the anime and comic shops in town. Since I had gotten a lot of swimming done on Friday, I decided to go with the shop crew. Tenton and catsspat headed for the beach with one group of fans, while pantsgoblin, priz, mandi, and I went with the other. Mandi's friend, Candace, lived in the area so she kindly acted as tour guide for everyone. We moved in packs between the various stores including Mecha Hawaii and Toys n Joys, flash-mobbing the shop owners. Each visit was a scene in itself, with some 10-15 japanese guys rushing in, taking a ton of photos (espcially of the Momoi flyers that were pasted in any windows or stacked on the counters...they were very popular with the fans), buying lots of things, and leaving just as quickly as they went in. Thankfully Candace knew all of the owners and explained the situation to them pretty well. Since I now had a huge empty case that I used to transport 200 glowsticks and candies here, I figured I might as well use something to fill it up on the way back to NYC, so I got roughly $250 worth of figures that I had been putting off, but nothing too special to mention by name.

Once shopping was all done and we were heading back, some fans spotted a playground that they said looked similar to the one on Momoi's "Yume no baton" single cover so we all walked over there for pictures. Each person got a chance to copy Momoi's pose, and at the end we all posed for a big group picture on the construct. It was a sight to see: consider a large group of strange otaku carrying bags and bags of anime goods loitering near a playground. Good thing it was a Saturday and school was out. After posing, we hung around the curb across the street waiting for taxi pickup. There happened to be a store called Tamura's there. As expected, there is quite a bit of overlap between Momoists and Yukarifans so of course several fans had to comment on the name and take pictures of the store sign. I felt pretty vindicated for not being the only person who thought of that upon first glance. You can't get this kind of seiyuu geek company in the northeast.

After a few minutes of waiting, several cabs pulled up and we filled them in groups of 4 or 5 at a time. English speakers all shared a cab last in order to give directions to the drivers, though asopaso also came with us due to room constraints. The driver turned out to be some crazy guy who kept insisting on finding out where everybody lived, probably to distract us from the fact that he was taking the long way back to the hotel. He then started singing Sinatra's "New York New York", apparently prompted by learning that's where I was from. I figured this was going to be a quick joke, but he just kept going and going, belting out the whole song in its entirety. He also tried to make us guess the names and singers for what I assumed were contemporary American songs, but we didn't know any of them.

We finally returned to Pacific Beach, much later than everyone else, after the driver "mistakenly" brought us to the wrong hotel. Most cab drivers probably would have stopped the meter though, if they realized they went the wrong way, which is why I suspect his motiviations. Back in our rooms, Yuiichi came over to show us one of the custom photobooks he ordered back when the Momoi photobook promotion was going on:

For dinner, we regrouped to visit the only Anna Miller's restaurant outside of Japan. Somehow we managed to get seated for 17 people without prior reservations on a busy night, after only about 20 minutes of waiting. Yuuichi showed me an awesome Sunday Early Morning screensaver he put on his phone while in the lounge. The menu itself was pretty standard so I guess everyone just admires the uniforms. I had the French dip and tried one of their coconut custard pies which was pretty good. It was fun though, so time flew by pretty fast. Dinner lasted pretty late, all the way until at maybe 11PM or so. After a taxi ride back, I can't really remember what happened but I think I just went to sleep right away because I was so tired and we still had to get up tomorrow for the concert.

Sunday was definitely the most exciting out of all the days though, so I am looking forward to writing the report :)

Posted by Paranda at 2:41 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBack

ENJOY WITH MOMOI IN HF: Saturday (part 1)

Although there was a six hour time difference between New York and Hawaii, by Saturday I had been here for two days so I was finally beginning to adjust (waking up at 6AM as opposed to 3AM). I had breakfast at a normal time, which consisted of various teas and juices that I purchased for taste tests, and spam musubi, supposedly a local favorite. The rest of the morning was mostly spent rehearsing calls listed in the callbook for Momoi's concert. PantsGoblin has transcribed parts of the call book in his LJ post if you want to read those translations. At 10:30, we headed out for the venue, Hawaii Convention Center, to make our preparations.

The traffic was pretty slow, but we arrived on time and met up with the other fans in front of the exhibition hall, aptly named "Kamehameha I" (which became the butt of several obvious jokes). We waited near the street until Momoi arrived in her limo. She arrived in a brand new stage dress, with a traditional japanese top, poofy pink tutu, and white leggings that went down over her shoes.

After a brief welcome, we headed into the exhibition hall. A small booth had been set up for us to put our bags, so we set everything down and began sorting out the call books and glowsticks. Some fans even "suited up" with the equipment they pulled out from their bags. There were Momoi shirts, overcoats, power gloves, towels, stacked wristbands, stickers, both current Momoi and UNDER17 legacy merchandise, and one fan, Suisei, even had a glowstick bandolier and MOMO-I (in katakana) shaved into the back of his head.

While waiting in near the stage, one of the Japanese fans that I hadn't seen the night before asked if I was paranda. I talked a bit with him and found out he was Momoi news god, asopaso.com so we ended up taking a picture together as bloggers from the US and Japan. Apparently he wasn't able to make it for the first day so he and two other fans took a later flight over to see Momoi. I also asked him a bit about Thundershot since I kept hearing the term a lot, and he said it was a brand new otagei moveset named after the song. This helped me realize there was still a lot for me to learn regarding live concerts, and factored heavily into my later attempts to get another particular fan to teach me. Soon after this, the concert countdown began and we started hurrying around the floor to distribute glowsticks and callbooks. Unfortunately, the crowd wasn't very large, but there was enough for a good concert. Though most of the people there were fairly old tourists with probably no prior knowledge of Momoi, they were enthusiastic about trying out the waves and chants. We ended up giving away all of our books and most of the glowsticks.

I left my camera in my bag during this time as I fully intended to devote my full attention to the concert in person, and not to through a viewfinder. So, I am sad to say I have no pictures of my own of the concert, but luckily there is no shortage of footage from other attendees, and plenty of videos on Youtube.

The show began quickly. After announcing "Aloha Hawaii! Music start," Momoi jumped straight into the first song, GURA GURA. The last time I did GURA GURA was probably in January when the AX DVD came out so I was caught off guard just a little although now that I think about it, I probably should have expected that song to be played. I was much more prepared this time in general though, as I had gotten a lot more practice with calls since last summer. One thing I hadn't discovered until then about the power glove though: it is NOT a comfortable apparatus to be wearing or holding glowsticks with for an extended period of time.

Once the music started, every care melted away. Although we were only a small group of 20 something people lined up in the front rows, and there were many empty seats behind us, the excitement I felt was the same as it was at AX when the venue was packed. Doing calls at a live Momoi show is a fantastic experience that simply cannot be described accurately via a blog. A kind of herd mentality takes over, where you pretty much lose track of everything else and focus solely in having the best concert possible for yourself and for others around you. The familiar music, a single focused point of admiration for the singer on stage, and the interactive nature of the calls all work together to help the individual achieve perfect synergy within a hive mind of Momoists. I suppose many new fans are born during her live shows because this kind of feeling could permeate them so thoroughly, and the great thing about all the fans is that they are so eager to make sure that feeling spreads to everyone, regardless of whether you have been a hardcore fan for ten years, or you just came to see "hmm who is this Momoi person?" In fact, probably one of the best parts about the unconventional (non-otaku) audience at the Honolulu Festival was seeing all the little kids or 60 year old couples wave their glowsticks and get into the whole movement. This was incredible from our point of view. Momoi made sure to give special attention to children, often stopping directly in front of them and giving them a big smile and wave, or singing to them for extended times.

The full list of songs performed were:
GURA GURA
Tenbatsu! Angel Rabbie
Tondol Baby
Ai no medicine
Kujibiki Unbalance
Romantic Summer
LOVE.EXE

Between each song, Momoi would take time to do quick MCs aided by a translator, either talking about herself, or explaining to the audience about the fans glowstick distribution in the front and inviting everybody to join in at any time. Indeed, we had a nice reserve stash of glowsticks set up just in case anybody new suddenly felt like coming (there were plenty of opportunities to distribute these as well). She thanked her fans several times in these MCs, which made all of us feel very good. I suppose Momoi's fan-praise rhetoric is somewhat of a self fulfilling, because the more she does it, the more pumped everybody is about making sure all the good things Momoi says about her fans are true. That's some solid basics of business leadership right there.

Overall, the concert went very well. Momoi revealed later that she was feeling a little sick that day and had to extend the MCs to give her a little breathing time, but during the show, she definitely hid it well and did not let it affect her performance. Many new fans of all ages were created in that small but amazing window of time.

After the last song, we headed back to the booths to retrieve our things. The concert was short but very intense and everyone was exhausted. Much thanks goes to catsspat and tenton for thinking of bringing water to everybody. While we were resting, a Momoi merchandise table was set up near the exhibit hall entrance. Momoi was also there to meet all the fans and give autographs. There, she posed for several more pictures, and it was great seeing Momoi using one of our flyers for some of her PR shots. I also felt happy seeing so many people (who had ostensibly never known of Momoi before) line up to buy her T-shirts, CDs, and DVDs. Just from listening to some conversations, most people were really impressed with the whole thing. Of course, I also saw some people wearing AX t-shirts too so it looks like there are still more Momoists out there who came all the way from the mainland that we have yet to meet. One of the things that really stood out to me was that the Japanese fans who already had multiple autographs didn't get on line until the very end in order to ensure that any new fans would have a chance to get their own things signed. It really resonated with me then that these people are really serious about making sure Momoi can be appreciated by everyone, and it remains yet another positive lesson I take home from all of this.

As for my own stuff, I came back to the hotel that day with a second copy of Sunday Early Morning to support Momoi (and so I could use some of the stickers without feeling bad) plus a signed power glove. Momoi seemed very amused at seeing the original American version of the powerglove without the PAX logo. Mandi managed to get a picture of her reaction during the signing...

Following the concert and autograph session, we all waved to Momoi as she left the building. There was a great feeling of accomplishment, and an even better feeling that tomorrow...it would all happen again! For the time being, we then turned our attention to another pending and more immediate event: lunch.

Posted by Paranda at 2:18 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

ENJOY WITH MOMOI IN HF: Friday

I am now back in NYC after a thoroughly awesome trip. Sorry for the limited details while I was there, I was just too excited I couldn't write anything. Now that I am back, I will try and spend this weekend combing my brain to get the details out..

And yes, if you have read InsaneLampshade's Connichi report in Germany, it is completely true that Momoi's hand is the softest substance known in this universe, possibly deserving of scientific scrutiny. If you could hold a cloud, that is what it would be like. Queen of Akihbara indeed!

Contact with Tanaka from JTB (who was incredibly nice by the way) was made around 9AM. He provided Mandi and me with the pamphlets, badge, and maps that we would need for the following couple of days. He also mentioned that Momoi had already arrived and was hard at work practicing for the event tomorrow, but that the fans would show up later this afternoon. After that we couldn't concentrate on doing anything except anticipating everyone's arrival so we just wasted time at the beach. I bought my swim trunks the same day since it somehow never occurred to me to pack swim gear back in NYC. For lunch, we had curry udon since it is one of Momoi's favorite foods.

We met up with everyone else around 3PM in the Pacific Beach Hotel lobby. The fan club from Japan had just arrived and rested. While hanging around, we also got a chance to sign a special card that odessa brought for Takayama Saki, who played Momoi in the Haruko Update drama. After introductions, we went swimming at the beach to pass time until the main event: a welcome dinner at Beijing with Momoi. At around 6 PM, Momoi came in and waved to everyone. So many cameras went off at once I was almost blinded. Half the tour group even brought tripods to set up in the room and everyone had those handheld video recorders. She sat at our table with her manager Suzuki and an assistant manager whose name I forgot (even though he poured tea for me lol). She ordered a Blue Hawaii drink, so we basically followed her example. Another whole table of fans also cracked ultra-orange cyalume and put them in their beers. There was a big toast with Momoi thanking everyone for coming to Hawaii.

The dishes were: seafood soup, spring rolls, cashew chicken, BBQ pork and beef, fried rice with shrimp, and finally coconut gelatin for dessert. Momoi ended up eating only a little though, as her primary concern was giving as much attention to her fans as possible. After she finished appetizers, 90% of the time she was posing, commenting on photos, and moving between the three tables to chat up fans about whatever topics they wanted. During the middle of the dinner, Mandi showed Momoi the special fliers that fans made for her so she gave us her thanks for helping get them printed and distributed.

Other things of note were conversations about itasha, the ubiquitous ABC stoes, the adventures of "Hawaii Jenny", and a certain fan's Jenny cosplay (he pretended to be Sakunyan during a fake interview with Momoi at the table). I also learned that the photos from Momo-i quality were apparently from Hawaii when she visited many many years ago, and fans were making plans to go to the exact same places to take some pictures.

Because of all this, the dinner lasted hours. Near the end of the evening, Momoi tried to eat some more food but it was cold by then so she skipped to dessert after a few bites. After dinner was over, we went outside the restaurant to take group photos. Tanaka helped take pictures with everyone's cameras. Momoi also got a picture with the hostess at the door.

After an elevator ride down to the street, we stood around the corner to just talk some more (after blocking the elevator entrance by accident). At some point, Vesper pulled out a sukumizu for Momoi to wear. Although she obviously wouldn't wear it, she put it over herself in a mock pose. She also wrote on the front "Year 3, class 14, Momoi." and signed her name on the little tag inside. All this time, fans were going crazy with flash photos. However 20 people standing in a semi circle constantly taking pictures of a girl in the middle is a sight that attracts the curious, so our crowd ended up growing as passing tourists looked on in confusion. Some people asked for a photo with Momoi even though they weren't sure who she was, but the hype was just too strong for them to resist. Finally near 9:30PM, it was time to go. Momoi crossed the street while we (now including interested bystanders) all waved to her from the corner.

After this, we dispersed and began to prepare for the following day's concert.

Posted by Paranda at 12:43 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack

Well...

Had a good 2 concerts. Everything went well. Sorry for any confusion.

Posted by Paranda at 3:30 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack

Hawaii trip start

Haven't posted anything in forever due to work, but at last I am taking a vacation to see Momoi in Hawaii. Will update when something interesting happens.

Sitting in the airport now...

Also, this year's seiyuu awards were crap and any ceremony which considers HIrano Aya as the TOP female seiyuu in a lead role of 2008 has zero credibility to award anything to anyone ever again. This, and awarding best singers to multiple recipients for LS. WHAT? My head hurts.

But I will forget about that now and just think about this weekend :)

Posted by Paranda at 4:53 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack

Hawaii event times posted

Honolulu Festival has dedicated an entire page to Momoi's upcoming performance this March. It looks like she is going to get a bit more special treatment than I had previously thought. There will be two half-hour sessions in the Hawaii Convention Center on 3/15 and 3/16. Holding it indoors is good news for cyalume plans.

http://www.honolulufestival.com/eng/momoi.php

Very strangely however, they referred to her main fan base as otaku, and worse, translated "アニメおたく" as "anime-obsessed males". The english version of the article seems to emphasize the gender aspect way too much. That just sounds so unflattering for something supposed to be a fluff piece. Momoi's content is enjoyed by everyone, and that article is framing it in a poor context. Also, parts of it appear to be copied word for word from Wikipedia.

Posted by Paranda at 3:56 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Sunday Early Morning

Notice: from now until the markets become a little more calm (HAHAHAHAHA), Momoi updates will probably only happen on Sundays (conveniently fitting the post title) because work is taking up literally 100% of my waking time during the weekday. And probably taking away sleep time as well.

So now, here's an update: A few weeks ago, Momoi hinted on her blog that the Sunday Early Morning PV may be uploaded to a video site. On Monday, Avex followed up by releasing the Sunday Early Morning PV to Nico Video. It is possibly the best Momoi PV ever made.

The singing is supposedly entirely in English, but I can't tell what is being said. The song was written and composed by Momoi, and arranged by MISSILE CHEWBACCA.

Watch it:
http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/ax2160014

Updated with brain hotel's YT link:
http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=Gu8CFNETKHw

Shakugan no Shana (see Nico version for awesome subtitles)

Posted by Paranda at 2:28 PM | Comments (9) | TrackBack

m.m.m. exchange rate reminder

When I posted the fanclub guide in early November last year, the exchange rate was 114. It's now hovering around 106, the lowest it has been since 2005. This means R-G will probably get 102 or 103. Heads up for anyone planning on joining the Momoi fanclub, sending $60 will NO LONGER cover your entrance fees. Try to send around $65.

Posted by Paranda at 8:50 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Sunday early morning and BEST CLIP

Avex has posted more details on Momoi's upcoming album and video collection. The new album, Sunday Early Morning, will be released March 5th for 3360 yen with the following tracks:

1. Sunday early morning
2. Romantic summer
3. Good morning!
4. Enter!
5. Party!
6. Lumica
7. 21 Seiki
8. High Energy
9. RADIO DAYS RADIO NIGHTS
10. Naito de naito
11. Ima anata ga suki
12. Thunder Shot!
13. Get Wild (cover)

Some of the tracks have been widely released before through Avex singles, but a good portion of them are either from special releases like Naito de naito or the Toranoana CDs, or entirely new. The album is also notable for being the first original Momoi album to date that is not branded as a "Best of" collection. On the video side, Momoi's BEST CLIP DVD will be released on the same day. First pressing will receive a 16 page booklet. The following music is featured on the disc:

1. Sunday early morning (new)
2. Saigo no Rock
3. Yume no baton
4. 21 Seiki
5. Lumica
6. Chuo Line
7. Romantic Summer (live clip)
8. LOVE.EXE (see Momo-i quality LIVE IN Stellar Ball, disc 1 at 1:00:55 if you don't remember what this is)

The collection also includes promotional bits, mostly video from Toranoana shop windows, TV spots, Making of, and so on. A bonus for German Momoi fans is the inclusion of a behinds the scenes video from Connichi 2007.

1. Lumica (store promo)
2. High Energy (store promo)
3. Cover Densha (making of)
4. Chuo Line (making of)
5. Sunday early morning (making of)
6. momo-i quality (TV spot)
7. Cover Densha (TV spot)
8. 21 Seiki (TV spot)
9. Lumica (TV spot)
10. Connichi2007 (off shot)

Momoi will be heavily promoting these releases through several mini-lives and events scheduled in March (with one break in between to go to Hawaii). If you are in Japan that month, you could probably attend them. See the avex event page for more details.

Posted by Paranda at 10:48 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

Right Gauge has a Momoi page

http://rg-music.com/momoi/

Right Gauge launched Momoi's site earlier this week. There are some good pictures, a schedule, and m.m.m. info. There is also a handy RSS link that you can use so you don't miss any posts.

Posted by Paranda at 1:35 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

AX DVD arrived

Much thanks to the incredibly generous guy at Web-Rider who volunteered to get the DVDs for some fans. Since he picked up everything straight from Comiket, the package included some VERY SPECIAL BONUS items...notably, an autographed DVD cover and an autographed photo!

Since I am a bit short on time, I skimmed over it once so far, but I will be watching it over more carefully for the next few days. It's very interesting though, as the entire thing is shot "documentary style" with the concerts and events all blended together in chronological order rather than separating the DVD into "concert" and "extras" sections. If you ever watched those I'VE videos that follow the crew around while they shoot a video in the US but also go to restaurants and tour famous places, it's kind of like that.

Posted by Paranda at 3:27 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack

Momoi Calendar 2008

12 reasons to join m.m.m. by 2009 if you haven't already.

Right Gauge sent out Momoi's annual photo calendar to fanclub members as a New Year's gift. Package was sent on New Year's Day according to the postmark. Thanks RG!!

Unless foreign memberships get special treatment for air mail, some poor guy seems to have hand addressed envelopes for over a thousand members.

Included are 12 photos and a New Year's message from Momoi.

And my own favorite picture from the set... HEIL SISTER B!

Posted by Paranda at 5:46 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack

Vote for Momoi in the Seiyuu Awards

Momoi has made the nominees list for three categories for this year's seiyuu awards, so please help her win at least one! If you aren't sure how to vote, you can follow the very helpful instructions posted by j1m0ne.

The three categories that Momoi are eligible for are Best Lead Actress, Best Singer, Best Personality.

Incidentally, according to Yui-nyan, who was also nominated for the song category and was very surprised about it, Momoi suggested they both attend a recent Prism Ark event in goth loli. Yui had to buy some clothes since she didn't have any. Momoi seems to be getting into the whole fashion, since she was also wearing something like that on her nico videos. The hat makes yet another appearance. Pictures at Yui's blog.

Posted by Paranda at 5:21 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

Happy Early B-day to Momoi

Posting now because on the 14th I will probably be dead or dying from the piled up work to do before year-end. Momoi turns 30 in 1.5 days!

Also Animelo 2007 was amazing. 1. Ushiroyuubi duet with Momoi and Minami. 2. Momoi belts out a solo segment and also does drumrolls for Arika during Outride. 3. JAM PROJECT + truckloads of pyro. Everyone did a fantastic job. Buy if you haven't already.

Felt bad for Minorin though, who had such good performances but messed up at the end of her segment for Generation-A both times. Maybe she was nervous or hurt her voice earlier somehow.

Lastly for today, the first wave of Kawaii JeNny dolls became available for preorder a few hours earlier, and did not sell out yet. If we assume demand will be around the same for future releases, I guess the chances of getting a Sister B just might be realistic in January. Then again, there are 3 dolls this time and may have divided up the number of crazy people. Will post a reminder in January if I live.

Posted by Paranda at 7:11 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Sister B dolls to be sold in limited quantities

Momoi fans may be pleased to know that Licca Castle will be selling 1000 Sister B dolls, available for pre-order on January 15th. 20 buyers will also receive a Kawaii JeNny DVD vol. 2 as a gift. Orders are 6000 yen each. Although Licca does not accept sales from foreigners directly, doll collecting is very popular so there are many online companies that you can ask to pre-order for you, assuming the dolls do not sell out instantly. The "Sweets Angels" dolls will also be available on 12/12 if you want those too.

Posted by Paranda at 2:23 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Momoi Hawaii Tour now officially open to public

Momoi has posted the tour details and sign up link on her blog. She has stated that non-fanclub members are able to sign up for the tour. However, fanclub members will get a planned exclusive dinner with her.

The applicaiton deadline in 12/29. The trip is quite expensive, but hey you get to spend 5 days with Momoi!

Posted by Paranda at 5:22 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

Momoi + Nogawa JeNny cosplay

You can't have a doll show without cosplay can you? Momoi and Sakunyan pose as their respective characters in Kawaii! JeNny.

Features Momoi socking a dude in the face.
http://www.famitsu.com/anime/news/1212045_1558.html

Posted by Paranda at 1:02 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack