桜の花びらたちが はらはら。。。

June 27, 2008

桜の花びらたちが　はらはら。。。

I still like Hello!Project. I really do. But my interest in it…is not the same as it was a month ago, even a couple weeks ago. It could be getting old. I’ve mentioned in another entry that I get bored easily. Or it could be that I’m not satisfied with the current condition of Hello!Project, which is noticeable in a few very dissatisfied recent entries here. They often express a strange state of nostalgia that really never existed. You may also have noticed that I’ve taken on another interest: classic film and the actors/actresses from old Hollywood. But there’s more.

I’ve also found myself listening to more Johnnys, and even more AKB48. I don’t know why AKB48. Actually, no. I do. Their music is good. Even if they’re twice as provocative, and sell four times more sex than Hello!Project, I’ve really been catching on to their music. I also used to like Chocolove, but now I love Chocolove. And I couldn’t have loved it without…

Sayaka Akimoto.

I love Sayaka for one of the same reasons I love Yossie, Mako, Maimi, and Yurina: She has a lovely, deep, lets-not-take-helium-for-once singing voice. I don’t know much about her personality yet, or any other AKB48 members, but her version of “Chocolate” is the best of the three solos. [I also love her solo lines in “Ashita wa Ashita no Kimi ga Umareru” and “Mail no Namida.”]

Download Sayaka’s Version of Chocolate here.

I really don’t like the very high voices. There are a few exceptions: Mari, Kago, Nono, Chinami, and Eri. Look at all my least favorites: Koharu, Momoko, even C-ute (except Maimi) tends to annoy the hell out of me. I like kawaii, but it’s just too much. And by the looks of it, Hello!Project won’t be adding any more normal or deep voices anytime soon. If they do add anyone, it will just be more squeaky, whiny, so-high-it-makes-my-ears-bleed ones.

So Akimoto gets the AKB48 Awesome Award, okay?

Could that be why I’m choosing Johnnys and AKB48 over Hello!Project? Because they’ve become too cute and I don’t appreciate the singing? I still like Hello!Project, and Morning Musume is still the number one played artist on last.fm for me, but I listen to mostly the Golden-Era songs. And I often think about how funny it would be if there was a classic film version of Morning Musume. [Veronica Lake as Mari = WIN. And I can picture Lana Turner as Tsuji easily, for some reason. XD. Rita Hayworth would make a perfect Maki. I could go on, but…that will be another post, someday…maybe…]

But Hello!Project, regardless of the year, will always come back again. I’ll push my thoughts of “I don’t really like this anymore” to the side, and enjoy some Morning Musume or Berryz Koubou. And then I become bored again. It’s just the beginning of a downward spiral.

Once it’s all gone, what will I do with all the Hello!Project things I’ve bought? I know I’ll feel guilty for using so much of my and my parents’ money on things that I only enjoyed for a short time. Two photobooks, two albums, three singles, a single V, one essay/photo book, and a DVD. It’s probably around $300. It may not seem like much at first, but it’s money wasted. This is not to mention the countless hours and minutes that accumulate to days, months, spent just doing Hello!Project-related stuff. I was downloading music, watching videos, browsing through photobooks, watching Hello Morning, and so much more when I could have written a letter to a loved one, read a book, or studied.

A line from one of my favorite poems says: “The music won’t last.” Of course, the meaning is different in that poem and in this context, but the music really isn’t lasting anymore for me.

So I’ll move on. I’ll continue being a total wota (the word fits here) for old films, and my interest will grow in AKB48 and Johnnys. If I begin loving Hello!Project again, it will show. Don’t forget that I like it, because I’ll still write about Hello!Project here a lot. But expect more AKB48, and more film.

[Icons credit to Ogeecons. :D]

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