Gettin’ hungry now?

I definitely got hungry when saw these snaps where Berryz Kobo & C-ute girls are eating pizza and other snack stuff. Pictures are from brand new Photo Book “2008 Spring Document Berryz Kobo”. It’s published today and has lots of these kind of back stage pictures taken during Berryz & C-ute battle tour.

I’ve seen only three pages from this PB but as you might guess, I’ve pre-ordered it. Confusing thing is that YesAsia informs that this book has it’s release date in July 19. How it can be so when for example Amazon Japan states the date to be today, 4th of July?

Berryz Art - The real monkeys

Not a surprise that Berryz girls have been drawing monkeys this time. But did you know that Miya, Chinami and Maasa are all (Water) Monkeys according to Chinese horoscope. That means, they are all born in the Year of Monkey which was during period from 4th Feb 1992 to 22nd Jan 2003. So maybe that’s why they all can make so lively monkey faces.

Miya’s genki saru.

Yurina’s monkey couple.

The Monkey is the most versatile sign of the Chinese zodiac. Such people are often inventors, plotters, entertainers and the creative geniuses behind anything ingenious, including mischief. They have natural quick-wittedness which enables them to understand what is happening and then make a right decision.

In general, with their agile minds and multiple talents, monkey types can master any subject. They are reliable and honest people so that any secret is safe in their hands. These people are also honest in their dealings and are very good at problem-solving: knowing how to listen closely and work out solutions at the same time.

Then going deeper to Water Monkey’s characteristics.

Water Monkey is a cooperative but speculative Monkey. The “You scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours” sort of person. Yet, in spite of her dignified and worldly appearance, this type of Monkey takes offense easier than other Monkeys. She will have a secretive although kind nature, and can be deft and patient in the pursuit of her objectives.

Water mated with her native sign imparts to her greater sense of purpose. But she will know not to be too direct or obvious in showing her intentions. She can compromise with grace and will know how to work around barriers rather than waste her time and energy in knocking them down.

Water Monkey’s positive traits: Inventive, versatile, humorous, generous, intelligent, witty, lively, independent and charming.
Negative traits: Manipulative, opinionated, conceited, egotistical, capricious, superficial, meddling, careless and unfaithful.

Excerpts from Wikipedia and ChinaCulture

Do the Saru!

Rii has said that her favorite animal is monkey and that’s why she finds it so funny to make monkey facial expressions. If you have watched Rii’s Berryz Kobo DVD MAGAZINE 8 solo edition you know what I mean.

So these must be her lucky days because in BK’s latest PV Rii can play monkey as much as she wants to. She is even wearing monkey suit & make-up. You could say she looks cute but to be honest I prefer more Rii without that ugly brown saru outfit.

Talking about ourfits. In Yuke Yuke Monkey Dance PV Berryz girls have exceptional poor looking wardrobe. It’s not only monkey suits, it’s also those lamé hoodie + shirt + dress (or wahtever they are) outfits making girls look like bad decorated christmas trees or puffy sea buoys. I rarely criticize BK’s outfits but now I think it’s relevant. If this single’s target audience is children then I can understand outfits and all but for me this is too kiddy stuff. Does this mean that I’m a humorless person?

But that was only about outfits. The song itself is a good one, again. It’s a little bit wacky and extremely funny. I see it clearly as a follow-up to BK’s previous single Dschinghis Khan. Yuke Yuke is super catchy song and a good number for concerts. Lol! Seems that I love every new song Berryz are giving us.

First full lenght lq preview of Yuke Yuke Monkey Dance PV @ Dohhh UP!

It was four years from now

2004 was a very busy year for a Hello! Project’s rookie group Berryz Kobo. It was BK’s debut year still with 8 members. During that year BK released five singles (Anata Nashi de wa Ikite Yukenai, Fighting Pose wa Date ja nai!, Piriri to Yukou!, Happiness ~Koufuku Kangei!~ and Koi no Jubaku) plus their debut album 1st Cho Berryz.

Group’s youngest member Risako was only 10 years old when BK’s first single hit the stores on 3rd of March. At that time oldest member Captain Saki was twelve. What a bunch of talented kids they were even in that age.

Following scans are from various magazines published between spring and late summer 2004. Sweet Berryz memories. The begining of another success story.

Young Magazine 5 - 2004

Zappy 6 - 2004

Zappy 7 - 2004

Zappy 9 - 2004

Shonen Sunday 9 - 2004

Berryz Art - Oishii!

I havn’t posted these drawings made by Berryz Kobo girls for a while so now it’s about time to take a look for their most recent pictures.

This first drawing is from Chinami. I think they are having nice summer barbecue in dooryard. Do I see blue fish there? And is that girl with yellow mini skirt Chii herself??

Momoko tried cappuccino for the first time in her life. And she loved this milky coffee drink so much she made a drawing about it. Well, you can always ask how it can be possible that a 16 years old girl has not tasted cappuccino never before.

Kiss me! Kiss me! Kiss me!

Buono!s Kiss! Kiss! Kiss! Single V DVD is officially released today June 18th. I hope YesAsia is going to send it to me before the end of this week. It takes about one week to get it through but I’m so impatient that couldn’t fight agains my craving. With a little help from H!O tracker I got the whole thing a couple of days ago and already I have watched it through about five times.

This Single V is really worth of buying. It contains FOUR different versions of Kiss! Kiss! Kiss! plus Making of PV part 2. Besides original version there are Close Up, Dance Shot and Band Versions. The craziest version is of course the last one because there you can enjoy for example Momo’s ridiculous choreography with her red drumsticks. For God’s sake, give her a Tama drum set because she seems to like banging hard & loud.

Buono! - Kiss! Kiss! Kiss! (Band Ver) @ VEOH
Buono! - Kiss! Kiss! Kiss! (Making of) @ VEOH

Basket full of berries

A basket full of fresh sweet berries straight from the Berryz Field. I just love these kind of casual photographs where girls are off the sterile studio enviroments. As you can see the atmosphere there was more intimate and natural when these snaps were taken.

Her Holiness Saki-chan

I found this picture from one Japanese uploader today. There is something very saintly in this retouched photo of Berryz Kobo’s Saki Shimizu.

Rii’s making great progress

Berryz Kobo girls have been giving solo events for their fans recently. Also Rii had her own (I think it was on June 5th) and there she performed a couple of songs. Now when listening to Rii’s solo singing we can clearly hear that she has improved her singing skills a lot since the begining of Berryz. If you still say Rii can’t sing then you must be deaf.

During her event Rii sang:
Aya Matsuura’s Zutto Suki De Ii Desu Ka from 2005 and Berryz Kobo’s Tsukiatteru no ni Kataomoi from last year.

Rii making faces

I just wanted to brighten up your day by posting these screencaptures from my Berryz archives. There are so many cheerful moments you’ll find when browsing through old Berryz pictures and video clips.

This one with Rii and Chii gets me always laughing. Rii is super cute with her funny face expressions and Chii just looks curiously how Rii’s face is changing. This episode happened during their web chat event in 2005. At that time they were promoting their new single Nanchuu Koi Wo Yatteruu You Know?

Rii & Chii web chat clip @ YouTube: