Kaito Reinya Episode 07 Subtitled Release

By: The Incredible He-Hulk



Episode 07. Quite funny.














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Kaito Reinya Episode 06 Subtitled Release

By: The Incredible He-Hulk


Episode 06 of Kaito Reinya arrives, and it's quite good.

Sorry for the slight delay with this week's release. C'est la vie...

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Hello! Project on Mezamashi TV Subtitled Release

By: The Incredible He-Hulk



The idol hobby is an act of observation. We look in on these girls lives. We witness their successes and failures, their ups and their downs, their careers and their lives. But what are the observers like? Who is watching the watchers…?

It is a rare occurrence to observe the wota—to observe the fans who observe our idols. And thanks to Mezamashi TV (Think Good Morning America), and announcer Karube Shin-ichi, you will get that chance. If you’ve never been to a H!P show, yourself, this is a quick little look into this micro-world that surrounds the world we all know so well.

ICU always picks videos that we believe are interesting, unique, important, or useful—Despite this video’s short size, a few of our members deemed to be so.

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Q & A with Aichan on the radio

By: Zabel

I'm gonna give ya a full translation of Aichan's appearance on the radio show Nack5 Fanky Friday from two days ago. I say full translation although I've shortened/paraphrased parts. The conversation was recorded over the phone and consisted of the host asking yes/no questions where Aichan was to answer yes or no in English. (often accompanied with a cute giggle)

Kobayashi: Is it hard being Morning Musume's leader.
Takahashi: Yes.
K: What kind of things do you have to do?
T: Organize the others, tell them important things. There's not that much to do, but I'm poor at speaking. I trip up when I speak so I have trouble getting across.

K: Since everyone's blood type (personality) is different, is it hard to organize them?
T: No.
K: Are their blood types (personalities) different?
T: They are, but it's not so hard.

K: Your new single is your 42nd. Can you name the titles of all 42?
T: Yes.
K: Do you sing songs from before you joined?
T: We do.
K: Which out of the previous 41 singles is your favorite.
T: I like Do it Now.
K: How about the early era?
T: I like Memory Seishun no Hikari.
K: Each member has her favorites, huh?
T: Yeah, some girls like the bright songs. I like the kind of dark emotional ones.

K: Does producer Tsunku give instruction in fine particulars?
T: Yes.
K: So he does?
T: Like on rhythm, or about speaking in concerts.
K: What does he say to you?
T: In the beginning he instructed me on rhythm a lot. I tended to go too fast. More recently it was about being a leader, and he taught me tsukkomi.
K: Would you say you are more boke than tsukkomi?
T: Neither I guess. Maybe boke.

K: So you like Takaraduka?
T: Yes.
K: Would you want to play the male or female role?
T: If my height wasn't a factor, the male role. Otherwise it would have to be the female role.

K: Are you bad at shopping by yourself?
T: No.
K: Are you the type who buys lots of stuff?
T: Yes.
K: Does shopping relieve stress for you?
T: It does.
K: What is something big you have bought recently?
T: Detergent. I like to buy a lot of it at once.

K: When you were a kid did you participate in Nodo Jiman?
T: Yes.
K: What were you good at singing?
T: Well I was in chorus so I did a lot of singing, and before that I went to karaoke a lot. I sang Nakamori Akina.
K: So you were good at singing.
T: I dunno about that, but I like singing.

K: Would you like to live leisurely in Fukui?
T: Yes.
K: When you are busy you don't get much sleep. Is that so?
T: I get sleep. But the trains in Tokyo come so fast. It's convenient, but in my home town a train comes only once every hour. Sometimes it's nice to live in a place like that where the pace is slow.
K: After you marry or retire, would you want to live in Fukui?
T: Yeah somewhere where it's laid back.

K: Do you often sing Morning Musume songs at karaoke?
T: Yes.
K: Are you best at singing the songs you like best?
T: Yeah, I sing the songs I like, and when I go out with my friends they ask me to sing (MM songs).
K: So your friends are going, "It's the real thing!"
T: Yeah. (laugh)

K: Should an idol need to update a blog every day?
T: No.
K: Do you blog?
T: I don't have one.
K: Do the others?
T: Morning Musume doesn't blog.
K: Because of company policy?
T: Probably. But I'd like to. For a time I did some blogging for a play, and I'd never had that experience before. It was fun.

K: Was it your mom who applied for your audition to Morning Musume?
T: No.
K: Did other members' moms apply for them?
T: I haven't really heard so. I think they applied themselves.

K: Do you pay attention to the charts when you release a single?
T: Yes.

K: Do you like umeshu better than beer?
T: Yes.

K: Because you're the leader, do you quarrel with the staff, etc on behalf of the others?
T: Yes.
K: Have you done so recently?
T: Well, recently, since there's a lot of members and we're girls, it was something along the lines of, "Be careful how you speak to them." If there's something bothering us, I'll tell them this is how we feel.
K: You must feel like you're the leader at such times.
T: Yeah, like if I don't say it, nothing will change.

K: As the leader do you know a lot of members' secrets?
T: No.
K: You don't know?
T: I don't know. I don't really ask them. Well, when giving advice a little, but I don't really know their secrets.
K: Are your own secrets known?
T: No.

K: Do you sing enka?
T: No. I haven't sung enka, but I'd like to try.
K: Do your parents sing enka?
T: My dad likes to sing Shima Uta. But that's not enka.
(cool dad! Shima Uta is a good tune)

K: Marriage is something you don't need to think about for now?
T: Yes.
K: The company probably tells you how you need to be mindful of the fans and things like that, huh?
T: Yeah, being a Morning Musume.
K: When would it be okay to get married?
T: After I graduate, probably any age would be okay.
K: But do you want to be in love? Are you now?
T: No.
K: Is there someone you'd like to be with?
T: Well I'd like to be, and the songs I sing have to do with love, but I'm not thinking of that now.

K: Do you check on other female idol groups?
T: Yes.
K: There's quite a lot of them even in your own company. Are you friends with them, and do you check on them?
T: Well I'm the eldest in Hello! Project and the leader of the whole body, so well, you know, they're my juniors so I notice them.
K: The eldest, huh?
T: 23.
K: When I was a 1st year student in college, a female 4th year student thought of herself as an old lady and I thought that was silly. But do you feel that way?
T: Well yes, I'm the eldest even in Morning Musume, so I get that treatment. It was that way from age 20. So I don't really feel I'm young.
K: In that case, when you graduate you'll become very young again.
T: Is that so? (laugh)

K: Do you go to graduated Morning Musume members for advice?
T: Yes.
K: Is there one of them you're particularly close to?
T: I see Yoshizawa now and then and she gives me advice.

K: Is producer Tsunku a genius?
T: Yes.
K: What impresses you about him?
T: He has all these groups, not just Morning Musume, and makes so many songs. The melody is different each time. It thought it was amazing how he got the idea for Kimagure Princess by looking at his daughter's butt.
K: He has kept making so many songs.
T: He's really great. And not just singles, but songs for albums too. More songs than you can count.
K: Do you feel like you want to become like him?
T: I can't be like him. I can't beat him.

K: Are you ignorant about politics and economics?
T: Yes.
K: But are you interested in it?
T: I'm interested, but I joined Morning Musume in junior high school not knowing those things. It would have been nice to have studied them more.
K: But for instance, do you care about like how the highway will become free of charge if they win the election, or like receiving financial aid for giving birth, and things like that?
T: Well I was impressed when the highway toll went to 1000 yen. (laugh)

K: If you have a daughter in the future, would you want her to enter a Morning Musume audition?
T: Yes.
K: You wouldn't want her to stay away?
T: Well, it's tough and stressful, but I know the good things about being Morning Musume. I'd kind of like to see that.

K: Have you ever received an expensive present from a fan?
T: Yes.

K: Is Morning Musume a dream job?
T: Yes.

K: But do you have quarrels with the other members?
T: Yes.

K: Are you the weakest at quarreling?
T: No, I guess.

K: The day after tomorrow is Valentine's Day. Will you give lots of chocolates?
T: Yes.


That's the interview. Did you learn anything new about our Lovely Commander? ^^

Possibly today I should be putting a sub of the recent On-ryu guest appearance (Ai, Risa, Linlin) on the Hello! Online tracker, so keep an eye out for that.

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Dai 10 Dan - Cutie Land 2 Subtitled Release

By: The Incredible He-Hulk


An ICU-Subs & Hello!Fansubs Inter-group Collaboration Project.



I love poetry, and a glass of scotch, and, of course, I love Hello! Project fansubs. I’m sure you’re exactly like me (Except for the poetry and the scotch), so I bet when you see a new H!F release you’re excited, right? Sure you are. And, I bet you’re excited when you see a new ICU release, right? You betcha. So, what happens when you see that H!F and ICU did a project together…?

You very well might be freaking out now. Don’t worry, no one will blame you. This is kind of a big deal.

It’s always very interesting and insightful to see how another group works and compare it to how you choose to do projects. You might think that two groups (who do things differently) working together would lead to conflicts over project decisions, but this certainly was not the case. This project was about as smooth a bit of sailing as one could ask for. Both groups had a lot of fun working on this together, and that easily makes a project like this worth all the hard work and makes the fruits of that work twice as rewarding.
===================================================


And now a few words about the release itself…

What we have here is a very special release. A fan club event release. A celebration of everyone’s favorite holday, Christmas, with everyone’s favorite hyphenated idol grou, C-ute. Now, you might be asking, “He-Hulk, why do a Christmas release now? Christmas is over.”
Well, my friend, I think the best way to explain it is to quote the immortal words of everyone’s favorite Van Halen lead vocalist, Gary Cherone:

“Christmas always goes too fast
It's up to us make it last
And all I want for Christmas is C-ute”

Ok, I might be slightly paraphrasing the classic Extreme Christmas song, “Christmas Time Again,” but the point is still made. What is your favorite holiday? Christmas, of course. And what is your favorite thing ever? Cute idols, of course. So, if you could enjoy both of those things all year long, wouldn’t you be a fool not to do so? Yes. Yes you would be. And, not that we need another reason, but all C-ute fans of course remember that Maimi, Mai and Saki all were born in Febuary, so, if you think about it, February, in a manner of speaking, is actually Christmas for C-ute fans.

The “Cutie Land” is Cute’s yearly FC event. It’s always a little bit of everything, and this year is no different. Part 1 is a 40 minute stage play. This performance is actually a sequel to C-ute’s very first stage play. 2007’s” Keru no wa C-ute.” Therefore, all the characters from that play are carried over to this play, and the storyline picks up where the previous play left off. It’s a FanClub exclusive treat for all of C-ute’s biggest fans. And, if you haven’t actually seen the first play, don’t worry; ICU and H!F have watched it and have your back. We’ve gone through this release and put in a few Editor’s Notes where needed to explain some of the background details of the first play, and, of course, made sure to notify you before hand if a note is going to be a really big spoiler to the events in the first play, just in case you ever want to watch it yourself. truthfully though, take note that the first play is three years old and has never been translated into English, so most of you probably won’t ever watch it, and therefore virtually no one should be worried about spoilers, anyway.

Next up in this release is the infamous counting of the fan vote for which C-ute skit would carry over into the future. The vote was between “Cutie Girls” “MC Chisa MC Kappa, and DJ MaiMai,” and a few other classic C-ute skits. I won’t spoil the results for you, but real fans actually did vote in this, and it means a lot to the girls to know which of their bits the fans like best, so it’s fun to watch, no doubt.

Finally, the video is rounded out with a C-ute mini live where all the girls dress up in the most awesome Santa Claus suits around. It’s a treat just to watch them perform for their biggest fans, and they give their all since events like these means a lot to them.

When you add everything together you have a jam packed 90 minutes of idol bliss. You can’t beat C-ute (don’t try!), and you definitely can’t beat C-ute doing a show for their Fan Club, since they are the queens of such events. And, when you combine it with Christmas, Santa suits, and C-ute’s biggest fans, you have a release that is definitely worthy of two fansub groups coming together to bring it all to you.

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Kaito Reinya Episode 05 Subtitled Release

By: The Incredible He-Hulk

Episode 05 of the seminal series.

Sorry about the slight delay in releasing it. The video was ready last night (thanks to all the awesome ICU members who work on it so quickly and efficiently each week), but I got crushed by the east coast snow storm and lost power all day so I couldn’t upload it until today.

This might be my favorite episode yet, so enjoy!


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Kaito Reinya Episode 04 Subtitled Release

By: The Incredible He-Hulk



The secrets of Reinya's box are revealed (less awesome than it sounds), as we march ever closer to the realization of the Reinya's ultimate goal to break up marriages and become the ultimate thief.

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Kaito Reinya Episode 03 Subtitled Release

By: The Incredible He-Hulk

Episode 03 of everyone's favorite anime.

Learn the true origin of Reinya's lethal cat-burglar skills, the name of her favorite soap opera, and more in this weeks outrageous episode!


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Kaito Reinya Episode 02 Subtitled Release

By: The Incredible He-Hulk


Episode two of the seminal series.

I really hope the police catch Reinya. Then they could wrap up the series and save us from having to translate the rest of these...

Seriously though, this episode is easily twice as funny as the last one. So, if you liked episode one, you'll love episode two.

I know I really enjoyed it. Plus, I mean, it's Reina, right? Reina!!

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Kaito Reinya Episode 01 Subtitled Release

By: The Incredible He-Hulk



Look! Up in the sky! It’s a cat! It’s a hot air balloon (powered by a girl furiously pumping bicycle pedals)! It’s Kaito Reinya!

Kaito Reinya is the story of a girl who, by day, works as a convenience store clerk in a shop next to the town police station, and, by night, works as a cat burgler victimizing the same hapless police she serves food to during the day.

Oh, and it’s also a gigantic Tanaka Reina and Hello! Project reference (right down to H!P songs being in the sound track) and a 4 minute advertisement for ramen. But you already knew all that, didn’t you?

The show stars Tanaka Reina (obviously) and Noto Arisa.

It’s already getting panned by anime snobs, but, I mean, as idol fans we don't care for those people, anyway, right? So who cares what they think.
Truth be told, this is adorable, irreverent, and rather funny, especially for anyone who likes Reina, since she plays herself here, or rather what Tanaka Reina would be like if she were the ultimate ramen thief. This gets a confident thumbs-up from me. It’s cute to see one of our girls immortalized in cartoon form, and all H!P fans should give this a watch. If this is popular, who knows, maybe someday we’ll get a Sudou Maasa cartoon that’s an ad for Gold’s Gym and she keeps stealing weight benches!

ICU-Subs will be doing all 12 episodes. We hope to have each week’s episode done within a day, or so, of it airing on Japanese TV.

Enjoy!

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Tsugunaga Momoko - Momo OK Dual Subtitles/Dual Audio Release

By: The Incredible He-Hulk


An ICU-Subs & Hyakupa Inter-group Collaboration Project.


A new year brings about new possibilities. After all, new possibilities and opportunities are what the tradition of New Year’s Resolutions are all about. But if I had been told that the year 2010 held the possibility of a double-sized collaborative project between two H!P sub groups, I’m not sure I would have believed it. And yet, here we are.

This release was a rather interesting experience. Working with people who do the same type of sofk as you, but does it differently than you is always an experience worth having. It gives you an idea of what you do well, and what you could possibly do better. And, it teaches you that compromises oftentimes are just as satisfying as going your own way.

For this project we broke the tasks up along audio track lines. The fine fellows at Hyakupa handled the translation of the main audio track and we at ICU-Subs handled the commentary track translation.
I’m sure that 99% of you could care less about this next observation (you’re all probably screaming “Momo!!!” at the top of your lungs, right now), but this division of labor led to some rather interesting insights in to just how another sub group complete a project and what choices they make when working on their craft. Watching one audio track’s translation and then the other immediately afterwards shows me that all the H!P sub groups are different and you’ll get a slightly different experience from each of them. Not necessarily better or worse; just different. Each group’s work is distinct. It’s rather fascinating, to be honest.

And now a few words about the release itself…

If you’re going to double the groups, you need to double the fun, right? Well, Momoko is so lively, spunky, over the top, and borderline crazy, that she’s like two idols in one. And, if you’re going to double the groups, you need to double the content, right? Well, you’re not just getting an hour of Momo being Momo; you’re getting a second hour of Momo talking a mile a minute about what Momo being Momo is all about.
It’s a super-sized serving of idol craziness from H!P’s craziest idol.

No doubt about it, Momoko is a great idol (with a utterly unique skill set), whose talents work best when employed as a second fiddle. Momoko is an idol who makes other great idols even greater and pulls lesser idols along with her into relevance. She is the vital cog in Berryz Koubou because her massive personality encourages the other Berryz personalities to shine. By being over the top, ridiculous, silly and envelope pushing, she forces the other girls to raise their games and play along. Berryz just wouldn't work right without Momo.

In Momoko's second solo DVD, Momo Ok, we get Momo at her most manic, and her most self-centered.
We learn, without a doubt, that she is a jealous little idol. Momo is convinced she should be mentioned in the same breath as the all-time idol greats. Now, this is obviously partially a gag on her part, but any serious Momo fan can recount the impressive number of times Momoko has challenged other idols, compared herself directly to other idols, and talked smack about other idols. And she spends a large part of the video doing just that. No spoilers, but one idol is squarely in Momo's cross hairs for the duration of the main audio track. It's a totally awesome ride, baby.

And then there's the commentary track. Usually, for a solo DVD commentary, your star idol will always, always be accompanied by a wing-idol. This serves two very vital purposes: First, encouraging the main idol to talk by having someone to bounce conversation off of so as to prevent dead silence for portions of the commentary, and secondly, it's to give the main idol someone to talk about her DVD with so she just isn't rambling about herself, by herself, the entire time like a psycho.
Shockingly, H!P, for whatever reason, decided to just not bother with a wing-idol for Momoko this time, and the result of that decision is an utterly stupefying, mind-bending, rambling trip through the mind of Momoko that will leave you a twisted shell of your former self by the end of it. I'm not kidding. Make sure you drink a lot of fluids because you will swear you must be high on peyote.

Combined these two hours with Momoko are perhaps the most astoundingly bizarre that you will ever spend watching idols and the experience definitely earns my highest recommendation. It’s like idol crack, Jack.

And finally, in order to accommodate everyone on the freaking planet, we’ve decided to release this in four different formats. 404p XviD, 404p H264, 720p XviD and 720p H264. This is probably the only time you will see something like this, but we both do our own releases differently and we wanted every H!P fan to be happy. So, pick your poison.

Remember, because of the dual-audio/dual-subtitle track nature of this release, it is in a MKV shell. In order to manipulate this video and view it in it’s optimum state, I recommend having either the K-Lite codec pack, or the CCCP codec pack installed on your system and using Media Player Classic which comes built in to each codec pack.
http://www.free-codecs.com/download/K_Lite_Codec_Pack.htm
http://cccp-project.net/
These releases also work perfectly well with the VLC media player, although I do not personally recommend watching this using VLC unless you have no other alternative.

These files have been tested on a variety of machines with a variety of different codec installations. They work without issue. So, if you are having any problems viewing this release, it’s probably you and your system that are the problem, not Momo. XD

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London Hearts 12-01-09

By: Zabel

I feel a bit bad that I haven't blogged anything about Aichan in awhile. Will the Love Goddess forgive me while I blog about Sayu again instead? The evil bunny appeared on London Hearts with Yasuda Kei for another round of Women Ranking Each Other this week. I'll summarize the parts where either or both of them spoke. As always, please forgive any faults in the translation.

The host, Atsushi, after first introducing Nishikawa, who has been away from the show for half a year, introduces Sayumi observing that her hat is cute. Sayu replies, "Yes, ridiculously cute." Then Yasuda is introduced and Atsushi is curious how well they know each other.

Atsushi: Was there any overlap? (in the time you spent in Momusu)
Yasuda: She joined just when I was graduating.
Michishige: Yes.
Atsushi: So there wasn't.
Michishige: I pretty much just know her face.
(laughter)
Yasuda: I'm your senior!
Ryou: Dr. Nishikawa looks a bit surprised.
Nishikawa: So this is how she is?
(laughter)
Atsushi: Recently we've had this kind of girl join us.
Nishikawa: This should be fun!
(laughter)
Atsushi: Should be fun. What'll happen? Prepare yourself.



The theme is 知れば知るほどいい女 or "Women who are better the more you get to know them." Suzanne is selected by lottery to give her rankings, and her #1 pick is Dark Lord Sugita of all people! Atsushi will be making fun of her for that.

On Misono's turn, the hosts recall how when they were eating out together (from the episode two weeks ago when they stalked Hamada Brittney) Misono announced, "I'm going to take a poop." You didn't need to tell us that, they say. (Thereafter Atsushi refers to her as 'Miss Poop') Misono laughs saying her true friends and fans accept her knowing everything about her. This is where Sayu chimes in coldly, "I don't think I wanna know any more about her." Misono replies that it's about time Sayu accept reality and the results of the surveys. Misono put Sayu at #10.

Atsushi: So putting her at #10 means you definitely won't lose to her?
Misono: If I lose to her I don't wanna come on this show again.
(laughter)
Atsushi: Michishige, you won't lose to Misono?
Michishige: Lately my cuteness has been escalating.
(laughter)
Atsushi: Your cuteness is escalating?
Michishige: Inside of me I think it should be maintaining the status quo, but it's not stopping.
(laughter)
Atsushi: Not stopping. Your cuteness is not stopping.
Aoki: Wow.



Suzanne ranks Yasuda at #7. Yasuda is relieved because last time she was on the show, Suzanne was chosen to give rankings that time too, and she and everyone wrote things like, "Yasuda is more or less...[negative reasons]." Atsushi says, this time Suzanne has a decent reason, right? Suzanne says yes, Yasuda is a very good person, but I don't know much more about her image beyond that. (laughter) Same situation as last time.

Yasuda tries to defend herself but boy oh boy does she choose the wrong words to say!

Yasuda: My juniors really adore me, and my peers really like me.
Atsushi: Your juniors adore you?
Yamada: They do!
Atsushi: Michishige, where did you rank Yasuda?
Michishige: #10.
(laughter)
Yasuda: Ehh?!
Atsushi: The more you know her...but don't you know her the best out of everyone here?
Yasuda: She knows me the best!
Michishige: I may know her the best, but I've never thought of her as a good woman.
(laughter)
Yasuda: Ehh?! Hey!
Ryou: That girl.
Yasuda: I know how to support a man, and I'm really good at keeping peace among the members.
Michishige: Is that a good woman...or a useful woman?
(laughter)
Yasuda: Hey. (slapping Michishige on the shoulder)
Atsushi: Useful?
Yasuda: How mean.



Suzanne's #10 rank is Michishige. She says that from seeing Sayu in the past she thought of her as a considerate person, but since her TV image is so extreme most viewers are probably thinking, "Is she okay??" Even Suzanne's mother phoned Suzanne to ask what's wrong with Michishige lol. Atsushi says, so even your parents are worried about her. Sayu says, there's no need to worry at all.

Also, continues Suzanne, because Sayu keeps calling herself cute it has the reverse effect on her image. Dr. Nishikawa chimes in.

Nishikawa: It's a gag, right? Calling herself cute.
(laughter)
Michishige: It's not a gag. It's not a gag.
Atsushi: Do you think it's a gag?
Nishikawa: It's to make us laugh. She tells rather funny jokes.
(laughter)
Michishige: No, that's wrong!
Nishikawa: They're funny, they're funny.

Suzanne's rankings:

1. Sugita Kaoru
2. Kokushou Sayuri
3. Aoki Sayaka
4. Suzanne
5. Misono
6. Torii Miyuki
7. Yasuda Kei
8. Haruna Ai.
9. Nishikawa Ayako
10. Michishige Sayumi

The actual rankings are announced. Yasuda is excited to rank as high as #5, but Sayumi is surprised.　When Atsushi remarks on her surprise Sayu explains using the expression もう大概にしてほしいですね, which translates to something like "I want them to stay within reason" or "Let's not get carried away now." While everyone laughs Yasuda can be heard saying, "I want you to stay within reason." Atsushi says he never used such an expression when he was 20.

Yasuda has both a positive reason and a negative reason read on her behalf:

- Positive reason: In spite of having been a national idol, she is well-liked among the masses.
- Negative reason: Although she was a Morning Musume, the things in her room and the things that she buys reek of poverty.

Misono beats Sayumi after all. Sayumi's response: "This has become tiresome." (laughter)



It comes down to a contest between Michishige and Sugita for worst position. Sugita says that perhaps Michishige and herself are similar types. Perhaps she, Sugita, herself is extremely cute. (laughter) Atsushi says that you can't attach the nickname 魔王 (Dark Lord; Demon Lord) to a person who is extremely cute.

While Michishige faces the possiblity of a double-whammy, Suzanne faces the possiblity of a penalty of 30,000 yen for her ranking being so far off! Suzanne had predicted Sugita at #1 but Sugita is in danger of getting #10... And does! Sugita offers to pay half of the penalty slapped on Suzanne.

Reasons for Michishige at #9:
- She hasn't yet got anything to show for as a woman.
- The more you get to know her you'd realize she is a woman who can love nobody but herself.
- Somewhere in her heart she thinks of her Hello! Projects seniors as fools.

To that second reason Sayumi says that she would return love to a guy who loved her, but that she has so far never experienced giving love, an admission which draws muffled laughs from the other women.

To the third reason Yasuda nods and adds that it's not just in her heart; she goes right out and says it! Sayumi says, "I'm not thinking fools of them. I just speak the truth."

Then Nishikawa tells how she was recently reading a weekly publication that had a survey of women most hated by women in 2009. Sayumi was listed there which made her curious. Now meeting Sayu for the first time she understands why. Of course she was reading it in the first place because she, Nishikawa herself, was on the list.

Actual rankings:

1. Kokushou Sayuri
2. Suzanne
3. Torii Miyuki
4. Aoki Sayaka
5. Yasuda Kei
6. Misono
7. Haruna Ai
8. Nishikawa Ayako
9. Michishige Sayumi
10. Sugita Kaoru

Well that's the show, or the Sayumi and Yasuda parts anyhow. Hope ya enjoyed the read! I kinda wanted to sub it so you could enjoy the nonstop funniness in its entirety, but for various reasons this episode wasn't a good candidate for subbing; there were numerous references in it to past shows and missing contexts that are difficult to deal with in a fansub aimed at non-regular viewers. (Also, my typesetting/encoding partner in crime has been busy lately)

As we have seen, Sayumi's notoriety continues to escalate right along with her cuteness. On Quiz All For One we saw her make dodgy comments about Nakazawa Yuko, and on this show she was downright mean to Yasuda Kei, her senior by 9 years. She is, however, just the right sort for a show like London Hearts. Nearly every utterance out of her mouth has the host and everyone laughing.

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Berryz Koubou First Fan Club Tour in Hawaii 2009 Subtitled Release

**** Please read my comments before downloading. This is a very unique release and requires specific instructions on how to watch it in order for it to be enjoyed to it’s fullest. ****

What do we want from our idols? For them to make us smile? Sure. For them to make us forget our troubles? Absolutely. But somewhere between the realistic and the foolish there are things we want much more. Things we don’t readily admit to. We want them to be honest. We want them to be authentic. Selfishly, we want to see joy in their eyes and on their faces, and for once know that it was put their by us. And, most importantly of all, we want to be told by them, that we, the fans, matter—not just to the business, but to the idols themselves.

Berryz Koubou First Fan Club Tour in Hawaii is a very special video. In it, the Berryz are filled with a remarkable amount of love—for each other, for being idols, and for their fans. Whether it’s how they always feel and just aren’t ever quite confident enough to express it, or there was just something in the tropical air that weekend, during this two day trip with their most hardcore fans the Berryz Koubou are nearly blissful.
Every event during the trip was planned by the girls themselves, so everything you’ll see here is a “thank you” of sorts. They play embarrassing games, play games with the fans, make fun of each other, perform a concert of classics, they even rank themselves. And then there are the letters…

You see, for this event each member wrote a letter. It’s a letter addressed to the other members and to the fans, and it represents our idol’s true feelings. If you’ve watched this video raw, you’ve seen that H!P, in their infinite wisdom, told you that girls wrote these letters, showed video of the girls reading them, but decided not to allow fans who weren’t in attendance that day to hear what the girl’s actually said and did not include the recitations of the letters in the video.
But once a secret is known by more than one person, it will never stay hidden. In attendance that day was an ICU-Spy. With pen and paper in hand, he recorded everything each girl wrote in her letter, word for word. ICU-Subs has taken these letters, translated them, and put them into finely crafted, mock-hand written letters from the girls, and made these letters a part of this release.
Yes, that’s right, our English translation includes things the original DVD does not, and is actually a more complete experience than the original DVD release that the Japanese Fanclub got. I believe this to be a first for any fansub of anything, ever. (Don’t hold me to that.)

I won’t spoil anything that’s in the letters—except to say, bring tissues—but to maximize your enjoyment of this release, I ask you not to read the letters until you are instructed to do so by the video. Just watch the video as normal and when the time is right an Editor’s Note will pop up and tell you to go read the letters. Read them, cry, and then return to the video and hit play. Trust me when I say that the letters are more impactful when read in the moment.
Additionally, I want to reiterate that these letters ARE authentic. Everything that is in them was written down by a fan in attendance. Nothing has been added to them and nothing has been altered. Only what the girls said when reading their letters is found in our letters, and they are accurate transcripts of what the girl’s told the fans that day.

I consider this to be our most accomplished, thorough, and complete release, and I am very proud of it. We spent lots of time on the aesthetic of the video and the letters to make them look and feel just right—to be something special. And, we spent lots of time crafting the translation of the video and letters to convey not just the brute language, but the essence of the girl’s personalities and the emotion in their words. Because of all that hard work and the results of it, this release is a very special one and makes it my favorite ICU-Subs release so far. I hope you will find this to be so, as well.

click here to grab the release.

This release is the sister release of our Berryz Alo-Hello. These two releases combine to form a complete set of the girls experiences in Hawaii. You can find the Alo-Hello on the tracker, as well.

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C-ute Alo-Hello! Preview Subtitled Release

A translated teaser for all the C-ute fans anticipating this release. After seeing this, I know I’m excited!

Anyhow, this preview also serves as notice that ICU-Subs are going to subtitle this C-ute Alo-Hello. The H!P Kids are, after all, ICU-Subs’ domaine d'expertise. We will begin working on it when it hits. We learned a lot of valuable lessons doing our release of the Berryz Alo-Hello, so releasing something of the same valeur should only take a few weeks this time.

Look forward to it.

click here to grab the release.

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London Hearts 09-10-20 (part 3/3)

By: Zabel

A summary of the most recent London Hearts continued. Apologies if any of my translations are off.












Misono doesn't cheat herself, but she has an unusual attitude about being cheated on. It's not the being cheated on that she dislikes, but when a man tries to hide it. She gives an example of a boyfriend who cheated on her and said nothing about it for 6 months when she knew all along. Fundamentally, she doesn't mind her man having another girlfriend. In her own words, she doesn't mind being "number two".

Misono's way of thinking is hard for the others to swallow, especially Tsuji and Suzanne. There aren't many women who are okay with being number two. "That's why when I write it in lyrics I don't get a response", she laments. "That's why my songs aren't selling." XD Sugita wonders, but isn't that cruel to the woman who is his number one? Misono's response? It's best when all three of us get along.

Here, Aota jumps in with one of a number of bizarre analogies she tries to make throughout the evening. Something about how you can't divide up a pizza while making a pizza delivery. Even the host is scratching his head. "This is your most confusing example yet!" Then Brittney starts talking about how Misono's is the PM system. Misono protests Brittney trying to make any comparisons with her.

But the big shocker comes when Michishige suddenly announces that she totally understand what Misono is saying and that she wants to be cheated on herself! You read that right. Sayumi says that she wants to be cheated on. She says she wants to feel sad being alone and imagining her guy being with another girl. Not quite the same thing Misono was saying though.

Sugimoto suggests that the two of them are cut out to be mistresses. They only see what they want to see and ignore the rest. Sugita adds that they love themselves the most. Atsushi: "So you like to picture yourself worrying that the man might be cheating?" Michishige: "Yes. I would be cute doing that."



















Sayu doesn't speak again until her name comes up at #3. There's a lot of funniness in between which I'm gonna skip, but the ranking for Sugimoto is particularly amusing. She gets #4, so only negative reasons:

"She would say something clever like, 'Cheating is the spice by which one comes to know true love', while doing it." Which is in fact close to what she actually said! Except she used the word 'essence'.
"If the man were to start cheating she would reply with a big grin, 'So that's how it is.'"

Next comes Sayumi. Reasons:

"She would do it without malice saying, 'He likes me so it can't be helped.'" (translation might be bad)
"She would be fine with cheating herself but would never allow her boyfriend to cheat." They got it backwards, Sayu says.
"She would think it's natural for many men to be serving her."

That last one makes the host think of Kano Kyoko. And then:

Atsushi: So they think you'd find it natural to have men serving you?
Michishige: But I've been called cute all the time since I was little. Everyone around me has called me cute. It's really everyday stuff.
Atsushi: It's common.
Michishige: Yes, so I thought how nice it would be to some day find one of them who I love.
Sugita: While you go on thinking that, you'll stop being cute, and then after everyone distances themselves from you you'll feel betrayed.
(laughter)
Atsushi: What do you think of that idea? (directed at Michishige)
Michishige: It's twisted.
(laughter)
Sugita: I speak from experience.
(laughter)
Atsushi: From experience.
Sugita: It's not twisted.
Tsuji: But my opinion is that if she keeps being called cute, she'll become un-cute instead.
Atsushi: What do you mean?
Tsuji: Like, you're probably cutest when your love is unrequited. So you set that person as a goal and you become pretty instead, and you keep getting called cute, and then when you've become a princess you're not cute anymore.
Atsushi: Your senior is telling you that it's bad to just keep being told you're cute.
Michishige: But I am told.
(laughter)












Finally, the worst two are Hamada and Aota. Brittney keeps denying that she's a cheater. Aota doesn't even try lol. The host concludes by observing that London Hearts increasingly has people on who he can't understand.

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London Hearts 09-10-20 (part 2/3)

By: Zabel

Sayu did say that her judgements are precise, but it occurred to me that her rankings of the other women really have been close to the mark. Perhaps if Sayu is ever called up to the front she could have a decent chance at winning the 1,000,000 yen =D It's just her rankings of herself that are the problem lol.

Okay, I decided to continue writing about Michishige's 3rd and Tsuji's 1st appearance on London Hearts.

Continuing with her rankings, Brittney places Misono at #5. Atsushi asks, but doesn't Misono have the image of being dedicated? Yes, Brittney says, it's the women who say they are dedicated who would be weak to the advances of men. Sugita points out that Brittney claimed earlier to be dedicated herself. "But I'm dedicated for real", answers Brittney. (ガチで一途なんですよ)

Misono defends herself saying that 1. She doesn't tell lies, 2. She has never once dated a man who pursued her; she does the pursuing herself, and 3. When she is dating a man she will live together with him, making cheating impossible. Brittney: "That IS impossible!" Atsushi: "Hey, you would cheat after all! You'd cheat for real." (ガチで浮気するんだよ)　It's a pretty funny exchange in which Brittney appears as if to be taking advice on how to cheat on men (including from Sugita) while insisting that she never would.

Skipping ahead to Brittney's pick for #1 most likely to cheat...Michishige.












Hamada: When she gets told she is very cute, Michishige would happily cheat.
Michishige: But I've gotten used to hearing that I'm cute since I was little; it's everyday stuff. So that--
Atsushi: That's no big deal?
Michishige: That isn't enough to sway my heart.
Sugita: But cute girls like her--I was cute when I was young so I know--after they stop being cute they're in a hurry to cheat.
(laughter)
Michishige: Yuck.
Sugita: She may go around cheating to try to confirm for herself that she is still cute and that she has still 'got it'.
Sugimoto: That happens a lot, huh.
Atsushi: Ah, I see. Getting with men to confirm it.
Michishige: What a twisted way of thinking.
(laughter)
(Mo-musu bomb)
Atsushi: Yeah, you don't want to be like that.
Michishige: I don't want to be like that.
Atsushi: You would just keep getting cuter, right?
Michishige: Right, I've had confidence that I am cute, and recently that confidence has turned to conviction.
(laughter)
Atsushi: Wow, conviction?
Michishige: Yes, conviction.
Atsushi: What do you think, Tsuji?
Tsuji: Well she's always gone around calling herself cute, but after today I might have to apologize to everyone for her.
(laughter)

In the second half of the program the host gives the actual results of a survey taken by 100 men and reads some of the comments men wrote about the women. These were the results:

#10 Aoki Sayaka
#9 Tsuji Nozomi
#8 Misono
#7 Torii Miyuki
#6 Suzanne
#5 Sugita Kaoru
#4 Sugimoto Aya
#3 Michishige Sayumi
#2 Hamada Brittney
#1 Aota Noriko

Aoki gets #10 just as Sayumi predicted. What Sayu said about her being at level 0 in womanliness is still bothering her. "Am I even lower than Brittney?", she asks Sayumi.

Tsuji is ranked #9. Reasons:

"She is fixated on her husband so no one else could distract her."
"She wouldn't do anything to ruin how happy she seems to be."
"Having established a 'Mama Doll' image she couldn't cheat even if she wanted to."

Brittney tries to insist again that Tsuji would cheat in order to make her man jealous, using the word パコル again. Atsushi wants her to stop using that dirty word.

Misono gets #8. She is so elated that she throws her paper in the flowers. XD There's a lot that happens during Misono's turn so I'll cover it next time.

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London Hearts 09-10-20 (pt 1?)

By: Zabel

As some of you may know, I'm a fan of Michishige Sayumi, and also a fan of the TV show London Hearts, so when the the one is a guest on the other I don't miss it. The last time Sayu appeared on Women Ranking Each Other I subbed it to English, but since I don't feel like doing so this time a blog post will do.

Tsuji Nozomi (who I've always been a fan of as well) was a guest for the first time this week. Tsuji says that she watched Sayu's previous appearances on the show and was surprised because Sayu isn't normally like that. She's not normally so poison-tongued because she doesn't want to be hated, Sayu explains. Then why be hated here? "Here is where I get back", she replies. (get back at the world for the stresses in her life). Non and Sayu both say that they didn't talk much when they were in Morning Musume together because they didn't get along well.

Do they get along well today? Sort of, although we never do find out where they ranked each other.












The theme is "Women likely to cheat on a man". Homeless comic artist, Hamada Brittney, is selected to give her rankings, and immediately reaches for the 1,000,000 yen. (if her rankings accurately predict how men rank the women, she wins the cash) She says she has confidence in her rankings because この面子ググってきたんです-- she's been researching everyone on Google (literally "I've been Googling these faces").

Brittney is funny because she is so unconvincing. She puts herself at #10 claiming that Gyaru don't cheat, it's the girls who look cute and pure who do, according to Brittney. No one believes her after that talk about PM's (playmates) from last time. The word パコル (screw; sleep with), another Brittney memo from last time, comes up several times today too. Well, asks Atsushi, what does the public think? If they try going out with me they'll know, answers Brittney. No way, replies Atsushi. Who wants to end up in Friday magazine with a picture of himself next to you? XD

Brittney's rankings:

10. Hamada Brittney
9. Sugita Kaoru
8. Sugimoto Aya
7. Aoki Sayaka
6. Tsuji Nozomi
5. Misono
4. Torii Miyuki
3. Aota Noriko
2. Suzanne
1. Michishige Sayumi

Some of the women's views on cheating are surprising to say the least. Sugimoto shocks and confuses everyone when she says that cheating is a play or "essence" that cultivates love between the man she really loves. Her ultimate hope is to be held by another man in front of the man she loves. In order to reach the heights of eroticism. Atsushi makes a joke here about climbing...not Everest but 'Ero-best'.

When Atsushi asks if any of the younger ladies feel this way, Misono raises her hand declaring that she is okay with cheating; how else does the man have a basis of comparison for realizing her good points? More on that from Misono later...

Tsuji understands where Misono is coming from BUT she isn't ok with cheating at all. She doesn't even like her man putting heart marks in phone mail to anyone but herself, and she cried when he performed a kissing scene in a play (her husband is an actor). Sugimoto says that she used to be like Tsuji when she was younger, and maybe Tsuji will become like her when she gets older. (yikes, let's hope not) "Will Tsuji climb Ero-best too?", Atsushi asks.

There's a consensus with negative spin that Aoki isn't capable of cheating. Sugimoto says that Aoki can't understand the world of pleasure until she seeks it. Aota Noriko says that Aoki has never had it (a sexual climax), leaving Atsushi rubbing his eyes at how unfit for TV Aota is. Michishige put Aoki at #10 because she's not at the level in womanliness where she even can cheat. What level in terms of Dragon Quest would that be? Level 0, says Sayumi. (Dragon Quest music plays) Aoki asserts that she is at level 42. (Dragon Quest level-up music)

Sayumi continues to dis Aoki after having given her the best ranking, and Tsuji remarks that Sayu sure has grown. Sayu's judgement is cool, Atsushi says. My judgement is precise, Sayu says :D












Brittney on Tsuji...She thinks that Tsuji is the type who would retaliate by cheating herself if she were to find out that her husband is cheating, or if he's being cold to her. Tsuji says there's no way he would cheat; he turned her down 3 times before they started dating. Also, she has him come home every evening to ask what to make for dinner. Sayu chimes in saying that Tsuji isn't capable of doing two things at the same time very well; if she were to cheat she wouldn't be able to hide it. Has Sayu always felt that way about Tsuji? Yes, answers Sayu, and she feels refreshed to have said it.

Shoot, this is starting to get long. And the most shocking revelation that comes out of Sayu's mouth is later on in the program! What should I do? Break this up into parts, or just get back to Ichigo?

In case I don't continue, I won't leave you in suspense about the outcome. Non will get ranked #9, Sayu #3. Not that these rankings mean a whole lot, as many of the women have clearly had far more experience in such matters than the bunny, yet somehow ranked better. Even Sugita, who admits on the show to having cheated many times, got a better ranking.

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Ichigo ichie 10/15

By: Zabel

There is one thing that has not changed in 6 years -- I love Aichan.

Here's a rundown of her show this week.


Ichigo ichie 10/15


- Aichan read the Circle of Magic series in a week, one volume every two days. Then lent it to Mitsui.

- For this concert tour and its rehearsals, Aichan has been sweating literally. They don't turn the air conditioning on during the fall or else the audience is too cold, so it has been hot for the girls, especially the ones wearing hats.

- Aichan's recommendation is Sendai Shirou Monogatari (仙台四郎物語), starring Korokke, and also Fujimoto Miki, who sings two musical numbers. If she thought that Sanma play she talked about last week was long, this one was four and a half hours including breaks. Mitsui, Linlin, and a manager watched with her. The story is about a historical figure, and the spoken accents were hard enough for Aichan to follow, but for Linlin more or less impossible, to say nothing of the impersonations that the lead is famous for.

- A listener recommends Takaraduka's rendition of the opera Aida, by Kimura Shinji who produced Ribon no Kishi the Musical, and Kai Masato who wrote the music. Aichan has seen it but can't remember it.

- Lovely has been listening to a lot of 30H!3 lately.

- Last time she got together with her, Ishikawa Rika asked, "Was I scary?", to which Aichan replied, "Yes, you were scary."

- Aichan doesn't do karaoke often, but recently she went with her sister and mom. She tried to sing BoA featuring Crystal Kay and VERBAL. The three of them (not the Takahashi's) can sing English very well, which makes Aichan want to improve her own English.

- When she was in L.A. it made her happy whenever she saw 3,2,1 Breakin' Out playing on the Anime Expo TV channel.

- In the "Teach me, Aichan" (教えて愛ちゃん) corner Aichan is asked how she relaxes on her days off. She likes to read magazine with aroma burning, but mostly she likes to go out to see plays. If she can't get a ticket for a play, she goes shopping instead.

- English lesson review: "Would you say that more slowly, please?"

- Asked to name something she can boast about, Aichan answers (half-jokingly since it isn't much of a boast) that she has tons of clothes, so many that she can't stuff any more into her sister's closet.

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Tsugunaga Momoko "Momo Only" Subtitle Release

Tsugnaga Momoko is a very special idol. In a sea of unique personalities and styles Momoko is H!P’s Lion Fish—Even when compared to the menagerie, she remains highly unusual, and thus oddly fascinating.

Momoko combines the usual button cuteness and constant pleasantness of your average idol with something more; Momoko is actually a Momoko wota. She aspires to be the personification of the idol fantasy. To be the only idol any wota could ever need. And if she occasionally descends into self-parody because of it, so much the better. In fact, it’s clearly intentional. Watch as Momoko claims every failure as victory. Watch as she turns embarrassment into personal achievement. Watch as she denies all her vices. And know that it is all part of the show.

No H!P idol works as hard as Momoko to fascinate or entertain. So, even though Momoko is not my favorite idol ever, or even my favorite current idol, there’s no other girl I’d rather watch in a solo DVD. If you give this release a try, I think you’ll agree.

Release includes both the main video and the extra "making of" track from the same DVD that chronicles the shooting of her Momo no Mi photobook.
========================================

This release is a bit of a format experiment for the group. Normally our releases are encoded at 720x400 just to simplify things and ensure that everyone viewing it gets the same experience. However, this release has been encoded at 720x480 with the anamorphic tags left intact. This means it will display at 853x480 when you view it.

So basically, I’d like to know if people would prefer this format for future releases or if they’d rather just keep rocking at 720x400. Feedback on this specific subject would be welcome.

click here to grab the release.

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Ichigo roundup: 10-1 & 10-8

By: Zabel

I've been feeling better :) Still having some trouble staying motivated, though, and also I started fansubbing again, which is a new demand on my attention. Anyway, here's a selective rundown of the last two Ichigo ichie shows.


Ichigo ichie 10/1


- Aichan has been eating bread in the morning. Ideally, she would eat scrambled eggs, sausage, and yogurt.

- The theme of Kimagure Princess is "butt". Tsunku came up with that when he was looking at his own kid's butt.

- Aichan became a fan of Takaraduka star, Mizu Natsuki, when she saw her cool performance in Hououden (鳳凰伝), a dramatic role in which she dies in a climactic fight scene.

- When a listener recommends Evangelion, Aichan says that her sister and even her father is a fan. Her sister is into boys' anime such as Gundam.

- Aichan has been collecting candles lately. Traditionally she has always collected Takaraduka merchandise.

- Hokushou Kairi, a Takaraduka member who came to see her in Ribon no Kishi, became friendly with her and has given her lots of pictures.

- Aichan watches foreign dramas on TV with the intent to study English. If what's on the channel is dubbed rather than subbed she'll change the channel until she finds one with subtitles.


Ichigo ichie 10/8


- Sanma's advice to Aichan as to how not to stumble when speaking, when the topic was raised by a listener on Youngtown, was to act. Aichan stumbles because she is nervous.

- Aichan went with Sayumi and a manager to see Sanma perform in Warushawa no Hana, a long 3 1/2 hour play without a break. She was impressed with how the dialogue seemed real as if unscripted, and the story had her in tears by the end. When she talked with Sanma afterwards, he asked her, apparently joking, to send a long e-mail of her impressions, and Aichan complied.

- A listener recommends The Nightmare Before Christmas, which she has already seen, and which Ogawa Makoto loves. Aichan likes the song sung by the three little prankster kids.

- Aichan always acquires Halloween goods around Halloween. She still has a pumpkin she got last year.

- On the Morning Musume All Single Coupling Collection, Aichan particularly likes Popcorn Rap, Koi ha Rock & Roll, Wasurerannai, Housekibako, KoiING, Nebou Desu Deeto nanoni, Yowamushi, 3-2-1 Breakin' Out, Akiurara, Subete ha Ai no Chikara. Basically all of them.

- When they were learning Popcorn Rap 5th gen was new and everyone was unfamiliar with their voices, so when Iida heard the part Aichan sang she was like, "Who is that?" Aichan was shocked and worried that her voice may be weird at the time, but now she can laugh at the memory.

- A listener wishes her body was as flexible as Aichan's. Aichan says that since her hip joints are stiff, she puts her feet together to do a stretch that resembles a Yoga pose. ("Yoga Teleport!" lol)

- There will be a new corner on Ichigo ichie, "Teach me, Aichan". She'll be answering questions about herself and other members.

- Aichan re-reads her fan letters in the bath. Recently Aichan was moved by a divorced fan who was cheered up by her singing.

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