<p>As of today, Hello! Project Mobile now accepts credit card payments. Before only fans with docomo, Soft Bank, or au as their phone carriers could subscribe, which was impossible outside of Japan. I haven't tried it yet, but this must mean overseas fans should now be able to? </p><p>A list of what the 400 and 700 yen subscriptions both include: </p>

• Tour Nikki - diaries released during concert tours
• Staff Nikki - information you can only get from staff
• Hello! Shot - photos of members posted every weekday
• Shop Photo - photos, which are sold at the official Hello! Project Shop, posted in large size
• Hello! Q&A - members answer questions sent in by fans (I believe these are the classic "Pocket Morning" questions)
• Duu Demo Ii Shashinkan - gallery of photos taken by Kudo Haruka
• Juice=Juice no Like=Like - gallery of photos taken by Juice=Juice members
• Tsubaki Factory no Hana Moyou - flower-related photos by Tsubaki Factory members
• Hello! Mail Magazine - Hello! Project Mobile's original mail magazine
• Hello! Gacha - receive one random photo a day
• Special content - such as occasional reports on projects (?)
• Hello! Movie - video content featuring members

<p>700 yen subscription only: </p>

• Hello! Radio - music player and the following original radio programs:
  • <i>Fukumura no Heya</i> - twice a month, hosted by Fukumura Mizuki
  • <i>Tonari no Yajiman Ka</i> - twice a month, hosted by Yajima Maimi
  • <i>Hello! Project Mobile Senden Kaigi</i> (<i>Publicity Meeting</i>) - every 25th of the month, featuring the Haro! Moba publicity staff Kudo, Ogata Haruna, Nonaka Miki, and Yanagawa Nanami

<p>Just something I ran across while looking around eBay that we don't have here but there isn't enough to go on to put it someplace proper, so I'll mention it here in the Forum for now. </p> <figure class="article-thumb tright show-info-icon" style="width: 180px"> <figcaption> </figcaption></figure><p>The item description claims it was available at Hello! Project 2015 WINTER, so my best guess is it's something like a DVD Magazine or DVD Pamphlet concerning the various new members performing for the first time there--though at least from what we can see of the disc, it doesn't seem to mention the new ANGERME members. </p> <div style="clear:both; margin: 0; padding: 0"></div> <figure class="article-thumb tright show-info-icon" style="width: 180px"> <figcaption> </figcaption></figure>EDIT: Google led me to one relevant result at JPLOP, an image saved from an old page of concert goods. Looks like there was a second disc for new ANGERME members and the new unit that wasn't yet called Kobushi Factory.

<p>I've ripped some videos from Single Vs I've purchased, and was curious how it compared to what was available on YouTube. The difference was quite a bit more than I expected given that they're the same resolution. The difference in bitrate explains some of it, but I'm still surprised at how much they differ. Even scaled down like below there are noticeable differences in color, saturation, sharpness. </p><p>These comparisons aren't exact to the frame; I just got the videos going in different players and used quick taps of the pause button to get them near sync. On the left, 37 MB MP4 downloaded from YouTube. On the right, DVD version I ripped to a 76 MB MP4 file. </p><p> </p>

<p>Man, whether it's Country Musume back in the day or Country Girls today, this group can't catch a break as its own thing. </p><p>Starts off with purely Country Musume members, but for major releases starts sharing members with Morning Musume to get some attention. </p><p>The modern auditions for the group go nowhere. </p><p>The group is resurrected as Country Girls, including a member with over a decade of experience in Berryz Koubou. As soon as that member graduates, the group returns to second-tier status where most of its members are primarily part of another group, and the other members are semi-retired. </p>

<p>Okay so I've nerded out about Vocaloid here before, but not I have an even better reason to. 'Aku no Musume' is part one of the oldest and most popular Vocaloid series ever. It's part of the Subseries "Story of Evil", and a major part of the overarching "Evilious Chronicles" series. It's so popular on its own that it's not even funny. If you know Vocaloid at all, you've at least heard OF Daughter of Evil. </p><p>This is a long post, but I really want to share at least the story of the musical because I really want to see how Reina handles Riliane's character. Read on and see why! 'v' (Spoilers below, obviously) </p><p>Princess Riliane (who Reina's playing) is a selfish, spoiled ruler of the kingdom Lucifenia. She executed people for small offences and taxed her struggling subjects, acting in a very "Marie Antoinette, let them eat cake" way, all of this seemingly because she's young and immature. </p><p>When Prince Kyle of the neighboring kingdom of Marlon breaks off their engagement for the sake of a green-haired peasant girl, Riliane enacts the "Green Hunting", the capture and execution of all Elphe women (who had green hair). As it turns out, Riliane's servant (secretly also her twin brother) knew where this girl, Michaela, was being kept. He was also in love with her, having accidentally met her before the dissolution of his sister's engagement and the Green Hunt. Riliane orders him to kill Michaela to prove himself to her. And he does, because he is utterly devoted to his sister. </p><p>This sparks a war with the Elphe people and a revolution of her own citizens. Riliane is unconcerned, and is occupied with her own fancies, such as snacks and horse riding lessons. She doesn't acknowledge the situation until the palace is under siege. Allen quickly switches clothing with her, to her confusion, and reveals their shared blood. She doesn't understand why he would take her place, and he remarks that she is an evil girl, but they share the same blood; thus he is evil too and will serve well as her replacement. He helps her escape through a secret passage, leading her to safety as he takes her place. </p><p>The story of Aku no Musume ends with "Riliane"'s execution as "Allen" watches from the crowd. In that moment Riliane breaks down as the crowd cheers her supposed death and she loses Allen. </p><p>Now this is the basic story. The full Evilious Chronicles reveal that <i>actually</i> Riliane was possessed by the Demon of Sin Pride and that's why she was so utterly uncaring. And in fact, Michaela was a lesbian and rejected Kyle, who only broke off his engagement to Riliane because the Demon of Lust was influencing <i>him</i> to want Michaela no matter what, oh and also later on the Demon of Pride moves on to Kyle once the Demon's Vessel is given to him after the war ends, and he sparks <i>another</i> war, etc, etc. </p><p>Oh, also, there's this whole reincarnation thing happening for pretty much everyone involved, and in the past the demons possessed their ancestors, and there's also this woman running around who's like a thousand years old and she has two demi-gods sealed inside her, and the spirit of Sloth keeps reincarnating itself as dead girls, giving itself amnesia, and thinking it's actually those girls all the while there's a genocidal god-scientist hell-bent on releasing a devastating virus on the world (for the third time, the gods are sick of having to move on to more worlds Seth, give it a rest). </p>

<p>2015 being the first real Tsunku-lite year of H!P, last year I looked at the song credits for the year to see who had the most in various categories. Now I've done the same for 2016, with the same basic rules. </p>

• Not counting cover songs for lyrics and composition, though if it's known to be a new arrangement I'll count that.
• If people share a credit, I'm splitting it. Two lyricists, each get credit for half of a song.
• Things like "Brass Arrangement" count as a shared Arrangement credit.
• No musical songs, just stuff from the more regular singles and albums--extras like the leftover old Country Girls song in Petit Best 17 are also included.

<p>Here are the people who got more than 1 in any given category. </p><p>Lyrics: </p>

• 12: Tsunku
• 6: Hoshibe Shou
• 4: Kodama Ameko
• 4: Miura Yoshiko
• 3: Tsuno Maisa
• 2: Fukuda Kanon
• 2: Maeyamada Kenichi
• 2: Nakajima Takui

<p>Tsunku still on top, and with more songs than last year. #2-4 are the same as last year, but with fewer songs and not in the same order. </p><p>Composition: </p>

• 12: Tsunku
• 8.5: Hoshibe Shou
• 3: Tsuno Maisa
• 2: Maeyamada Kenichi
• 2: Nakajima Takui
• 2: Sumikama Tomohiro

<p>Again Tsunku on top and with more songs than last year. Hoshibe about the same as last year. Nakajima Takui quite a bit down from last year's 6. It's worth noting that Hoshibe Shou's credits only started in the middle of 2015, so really his 2016 rate was quite lower. </p><p>Arrangement: </p>

• 10: Hirata Shoichiro
• 7: Okubo Kaoru
• 4: Suzuki Shunsuke
• 3: Kikuya Tomoki
• 2: AKIRA
• 2: Hamada Pierre Yusuke
• 2: Nishikawa Susumu
• 1.5: DANCE☆MAN
• 1.5: Takegami Yoshinari

<p>Top two results from long-time frequent H!P arrangers, though both are quite a bit up from 2015. </p>

<p>Earlier today I noticed that the group Smile.dk did not in fact have the Smile.dk domain name, which struck me as a pretty embarrassing missed opportunity. This got me to wondering there were Hello! Project group names that could be made using unusual top-level domains, even though they don't tend to have the . built in. Some things I found: </p><p>.ni - Unfortunately it seems it's only possible to get this with things like .org.ni or .com.ni, so things like minimo.ni or petitmo.ni are right out. </p><p>.me - This one exists, and actually has a couple taken! MorningMusu.me is used by the JPLOP forums. ANGER.ME is also registered, but whoever did it is a boring person just trying to resell it. Still available: coconutsmusu.me, countrymusu.me, even icecreamusu.me for the real nut. These can be registered various places for various prices, but seems they can be found pretty cheap actually. </p><p>.bi - Seems like it might require some hoop-jumping, but .bi is available, so melonkinen.bi is possible. </p><p>.ge - Registration about $80/yr, but it doesn't seem like registration by individuals is allowed, so smilea.ge would be difficult. </p><p>.ls - Situation similar to .ne, so countrygir.ls isn't doable. </p>

<p>Last year there was a crazy three-month span with 0 singles or albums released. I hope we're not going to repeat that, but I can't help but notice the upcoming release list is dry. The only things I see listed are the wide release of Tsubaki Factory's album in a few days, and a musical soundtrack in a few weeks--both of which have already been sold at venues. </p>

<p>I don't really listen to the B-sides but I want to start. Which would you recomend? </p>

<p>For 1997-2014, if you looked at who wrote Hello! Project's songs, the answer would overwhelmingly be Tsunku. 2015 was the first Tsunku-lite year, so I was curious how much various people were responsible for this year. So I looked at the big three credits from this year's songs and summed them up. </p><p>It's possible someone doing this a slightly different way could end up with slightly different set of results. Rules I went by, including some nitpicky decisions: </p>

• Not counting cover songs for lyrics and composition, though if it's known to be a new arrangement I'll count that. In general no song duplications--(Nen'iri version) isn't gaining anyone any more credits.
• The last Berryz album had a lot of tracks from weird sources which might not have all been released before, but I'm counting "Love together!" as the only new new song.
• If people share a credit, I'm splitting it. So if there are three lyricists, they each get credited for a third of a song.
• Things like "English Lyrics", "Rap Lyrics", "Brass Arrangement" will also count as shared credits.

<p>Here are the people who got more than 1 in any given category. If you want to see more of the people who did very little and see a bit of the math, check this. </p><p>Lyrics: </p>

• 10.5: Tsunku
• 10: Kodama Ameko
• 5.5: Miura Yoshiko
• 5: Hoshibe Shou
• 4: Nakajima Takui
• 3.5: Tsunoda Takanori
• 2: Iijima Ken
• 2: Kondo Kaoru
• 2: SHOCK EYE

<p>Tsunku's role may be greatly diminished, but being the only person who does most of the songs for a whole group, he's still got a plurality. Kodama Ameko isn't far behind, though. </p><p>Composition: </p>

• 9: Tsunku
• 9: Hoshibe Shou
• 6: Nakajima Takui
• 2: Kato Yusuke
• 2: Kondo Kaoru
• 2: Oba Koji
• 2: Jean Luc Ponpon
• 2: Taisei
• 1.5: Kawanabe Hiroshi
• 1.5: KOUGA
• 1.5: Ueda Tadashi

<p>For the same reason he's high on lyrics, it makes sense Tsunku is high on composition too. But this time he only <i>ties</i> for first, which is especially surprising since Hoshibe's credits only begin in July. </p><p>Arrangement: </p>

• 6.5: Suzuki Shunsuke
• 5: CMJK
• 4.5: Hirata Shoichiro
• 4: Okubo Kaoru
• 3: Hamada Pierre Yusuke
• 2: DANCE☆MAN
• 2: Nakamura Yoshinori
• 2: Jean Luc Ponpon
• 2: soundbreakers
• 1.5: Kato Yusuke
• 1.5: Nakajima Takui

<p>Most of the top 4 have been doing Hello! Project arrangements for years, but #2 CMJK is new. Also note the return of DANCE☆MAN after a nearly 6 year gap. </p>

<p>Hey there, everyone. I wanted to make a post where I could note any sales running for the holidays for others to catch good deals on. </p><p>CD Japan: Various discounts on various items; mostly more recent H!P stuff. </p><p>℃-ute </p>

• Arigato - Mugen no Yale - / Arashi wo Okosunda Exciting Fight! (10% Off): Limited A, Limited C, Limited D

<p>Morning Musume: </p>

• Seishun Kozo ga Naiteiru / Yugure wa Ameagari / Ima Koko Kara (40% Off): Limited A,Limited B, Limited C
• Oh my wish! / Sukatto My Heart / Imasugu Tobikomu Yuki (30% Off): Limited A, Limited C
• Morning Musume.'15 Concert Tour 2015 Haru ~Gradation~ (10%)
• Morning Musume. '14 SPECIAL EVENT IN Shinagawa (40%)

<p>ANGERME </p>

• Taiki Bansei / Otome no Gyakushu (40% Off): Limited A
• Nanakorobi Yaoki / Gashinshotan / Mahotsukai Sally (20% Off): Limited B

<p>Country Girls: </p>

• Wakatteirunoni Gomenne / Tamerai Summer Time (20% Off): Limited A, Limited C, Limited D

<p>Berryz Koubou: </p>

• Berryz Kobo NARUCHIKA 2015 in Bangkok (30%)

<p>LoVendoЯ: </p>

• Iinjyanai? / Futsu no Watashi Ganbare! (20% Off): Limited

<p>Other: </p>

• Hello! Project Hina Fest 2015 ~Mankai! The Girls' Festival~ (20% Off): C-ute Premium, ANGERME & Juice=Juice Premium Bluray, ANGERME & Juice=Juice Premium DVD, Morning Musume '15.
• Hello! Project 2015 WINTER (30%)
• The Girls Live Vol. 11 (20%)

<p>Hey guys. With H!P videos being blocked on YouTube for the last day or so, there was speculation that it was connected to YouTube Red. Now some confirmation. I have a couple Minimoni videos that are also currently blocked, and due to that received an email about an hour ago. Pasting it here: </p> <hr><p>Hi JoshuaJSlone, </p><p>We're writing because one or more of your videos is no longer viewable in the United States, due to a pre-existing claim by a copyright owner. Before we get to the details, please be assured that this change does not affect your account standing on YouTube, nor does it put your channel at risk of termination. In other words, this is not a "copyright strike." </p><p>Here's why this is happening: You may have heard that we recently announced YouTube Red - a new membership that offers fans more choice in how they watch their favorite videos with features like ad-free, background and offline viewing for a monthly fee. In order to deliver a great experience for fans who choose to pay for this offering, we are updating our contracts with all of our content partners. The new terms make it possible for us to share subscription revenues with creators, providing an additional revenue stream for them beyond ad-supported YouTube revenue. The overwhelming majority of videos on YouTube are accounted for in our agreements, but there are some partners who have asked for more time to think about their options. While we work with these partners to update their terms, we unfortunately can't make their claimed videos available in the US. </p><p>There are a few options that might be available to you. For example: </p>

   If you believe Content ID mistakenly identified content in your video, or if you have all the rights to use that content, you may be able to dispute the claim. Visit our help center for help understanding and addressing claims.
   If you've received an audio claim, you may be able to remove the song. You can also take advantage of the YouTube Audio Library -- royalty-free tracks you can use for free, forever, for any content you make (not just YouTube videos).

<p>The videos listed below are being affected by this. Each video title links to more information. </p>

   Minimoni Hinamatsuri! (PV) - ミニモニ。ひなまつり！
   Minimoni Telephone! Ring Ring Ring (PV) - ミニモニ。テレフォン！リンリンリン

<p>It's our goal to make as much great content as possible available to as many people as possible, so we're actively working with copyright owners to restore these videos in the US—for both ad-supported viewers and members of YouTube Red. We sincerely hope this is a temporary situation, and very much appreciate your patience. </p><p>- The YouTube Team </p>

<p>I noticed UP-FRONT LINK had a story about Tokyo Otaku Mode now selling H!P goods. They weren't a place I knew anything about, so I decided to check it out. I did learn a few things worth sharing. </p><p>They don't seem to have a <i>lot</i> of Hello! Project items available. It's not like they just have an H!P section of the store, but doing a search for Hello! Project there are currently only 17 results (+1 that is barely related). Still, it has some interesting stuff like pen lights, t-shirts, and towels from recent concerts. Or some things I didn't know existed, like a 24 page book containing the promo images for Taiki Bansei. </p><p>It may be a more convenient way to buy this stuff for those outside of Japan, but they still do mostly ship from Japan so shipping prices still suck. Testing with one of the pen lights, for example, there are three shipping options which come to $8.80, $12, or $18. It is actually possible to get free shipping--but you've got to buy at least $100 worth of items to qualify for it. </p><p>EDIT: Correction, they <i>do</i> have a Hello! Project section of sorts. Some of the items show a Hello! Project banner, which if clicked on takes you to a Hello! Project brand section with more results. Looks like they currently have 49 things listed. </p>

<p>While doing some searching for the Hina Fest pics I stumbled across a H!P collaboration with (I believe) a company called <i>gumi</i>. It's for, as far as I can tell, a ninja themed game called "忍ツク!" (Shinobu Tsuku!; <i>Shinobu Poke!</i>). At the booth, selected members of Hello! Project were cosplaying characters from the game and playing it as well. </p><p>Members who took part are Yajima Maimi, Hagiwara Mai, Fukuda Kanon, Iikubo Haruna, Uemura Akari, and Ozeki Mai. Maimi seems to be their leader from what I can garner from the text and the fact that her outfit is unique. </p><p>Other info can be seen here and more pictures and info can be seen here!! </p><p>Left to Right: Uemura Akari, Fukuda Kanon, Yajima Maimi, Iikubo Haruna, Hagiwara Mai, and Ozeki Mai </p>

<p>Searching around for who-knows-what the other day, I ran across what I thought was another Japanese Hello! Project wiki... but the further I looked the less it seemed that way, at least as we usually think of wikis. It seems like a regular site that just happens to be built on wiki software. I don't, for instance, see an obvious way to edit pages or log in, so maybe that's not possible for most people. BUT: Hellopedia it is. </p><p>(For the following I'm using Google Translate links.) </p><p>It's very different than something like our wiki. You won't find a lot of pages about singles themselves, but they have Episode pages that give anecdotes about members; here's Kudo Haruka's, for instance. Or a page specifically about stories of Kanazawa Tomoko as a tyrant. </p><p>There's other weird stuff that I don't know if is used by certain parts of the fandom or what, but see Bakuwara generation, a page about those born in 1998 and named after Katsuta Rina's nickname. </p><p>Or there's this Glossary page to help describe terms, from Center and Graduate to Bathing duty and 3 idiot. </p>

<p>I'd been thinking of making these charts for a while; the new audition seemed like a good excuse. The first one shows how many days of membership total each generation has accumulated. I am including sub-member time and Kosuga in with 2nd gen, but it doesn't really make much difference. The second shows the same information but as a percent of the group's total--just within the last week or so first generation has dipped under 50%. Given Kanon's graduation date and barring any other unknown departures, first gen should remain in the lead until late April 2016. </p>

<p>Today makes 10 years since the formation of ℃-ute. They become the fourth Hello! Project group to last this long, following Morning Musume, Melon Kinenbi, and Berryz Koubou. </p><p>And uhhh, maybe Country Musume if we count the long period where Satoda Mai was still listed as its single member. </p>

<p>So the Kobushi Factory and Tsubaki Factory members now have their official colors. I think it's interesting that they weren't done independently, so in a sense they are thinking of them as a larger "Factory" entity. There's no overlap in colors between the two, and Kobushi gets all the light colors so even if they're together for whatever reason there's a clear way to tell which people belong to which group. </p>