Arashi’s "We can make it!" is a cover?!

This just blew my mind.
We can make it! is one of the two songs that got me into Arashi. I love the song and it has a really high playcount on my iPod.
I just found out today that it’s a cover. Apparently the original is “Love is All Around”, by some woman named Agnes Carlsson. Well.
So I immediately went onto Youtube to find the original. After a search of the artist + the title, I didn’t find any music video or anything. However, I found this:

Ohhh wow. xDD I’m only a casual fan of Arashi, I listen to their music but I don’t know any of their names or anything. (I can’t see myself ever getting into Johnny’s like I did with Hello! Project, one uber idol group is enough. X_x) Still though, it’s really amusing to have a girl’s song playing over a video of a guy group. xD And apparently the Arashi version added some parts, considering this video has to cut to audio from We can make it! in order to fit with the PV. xD

It’s always weird to find out that a song I listen to a lot is a cover, cause I always think of the one I heard first as the original. I kept almost referring to We can make it! as the original in this post…

Tezuka & Fuji – Koko de Bokura wa Deattashimatta cover + tracklist

TEZUKA ZOOOONNNEEEEEEE
But why is Fuji doing it too? xD Unless they’re in SYNCHRO! 8DD But they’re not a doubles pair so maybe not.

The tracklist was put up on Yesasia here:
1. Koko de Bokura wa Deattashimatta (Fuji & Tezuka)
2. Ryuusen no Michiyuki (Fuji)
3. Koko de Bokura wa Deattashimatta (SF to Karaoke)
4. Koko de Bokura wa Deattashimatta (KT to Karaoke)
5. Koko de Bokura wa Deattashimatta (instrumental)
6. Hitomi wo Tojite Kokoro no Mama Boku wa Kimi wo Omou ~200 Title Memorial Version~ (Fuji)

Ahaha, Fuji gets two solos but Tezuka doesn’t get any. Poor Tezuka. xD Anyway, there’s the title track and the b-side, and then the three instrumentals. SF stands for “Shuusuke Fuji” and KT stands for “Kunimitsu Tezuka”, so I’m assuming both of those versions only take away the vocals of one of the two and leave the other. Of course, track 5 is just the normal instrumental. As for #6, Hitomi wo Tojite etc (the title’s way too long xD) was Fuji’s first solo single, released under the BEST OF SEIGAKU PLAYERS series. Maybe it’s like a self-cover or something?

Four days until this release, I hope we get the full single right away. No one’s uploaded the full single of Kai’s Valentine Kiss yet…=(

Kinokuniya purchases

My friend went to NYC for a couple days this week (Wednesday-Friday I think- it was vacation week for the public schools, so she had it off while I was stuck at school) and so while she was there, she picked up a few things from Kinokuniya for me.

At first I was debating what to ask her to buy, I heard somewhere that they have Hello! Project photobooks but she isn’t a Hello! Project fan (she knows what Morning Musume is due to my random ranting, but that’s it) and I didn’t want her to have to ask about those since that would without a doubt be awkward for her. xD I also wanted something Prince of Tennis, but the only specific thing I could think of off the top of my head was the 30.5 illustration book and I didn’t know how expensive that would be…which would be necessary because I had to give her the cash beforehand.
So this is what I ended up with:

Prince of Tennis + Chinese drama adaptation = …this is going to take me some time to get used to.

So I wrote a couple of posts about the upcoming Prince of Tennis Chinese drama back when the news first came out. Here are the posts if you’re interested, but it’s really nothing more than basic information:
Prince of Tennis Chinese TV drama?!? (um, this one kinda contains a small rant about how the anime failed to follow canon, so spoilers for the Rikkai arc)
A bit more info on the Prince of Tennis Chinese TV drama

So, I was happy to wait like a year before it came out. But then I started getting impatient. XD A couple of weeks ago, I found that there was a page for it over on the DramaWiki (http://wiki.d-addicts.com/The_Prince_of_Tennis) and immediately got uber excited. However, back then, all it was was a list of cast members and roles, a picture of a couple of the regulars, and a link to a Chinese site. This was quite a problem. See, they changed the names.
So I was left with a cast list full of Chinese names, and honestly, reading about how Qin Jun Jie is playing “Long Ma” means nothing to me. XD And a trip to the official (I’m assuming) Chinese site didn’t help, though I identified Tezuka, Inui, and Ryoma in the pictures. xD
But!
I have no idea what motivated me to do this, but I checked the DramaWiki site again today, and yay! A summary was added, plus someone added links to the Wikipedia pages for each of the characters- so each Chinese name linked to the Wikipedia page for the character in their Japanese name! Now I can tell who’s who! xDD (The “Long Ma” guy I mentioned earlier is Ryoma, btw. I actually probably could have figured that out, with him being first in the cast list, but w/e…)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JUNJUN! <333333

Wow, Junjun turned 20 today! 20 is the age in Japan where you are considered an adult, and it’s a big thing.
I remember I was really surprised when I found out she was 19 a couple months or so ago- I had thought that I had heard that she was really young, so when I saw her birthday on ThePPN Wiki I was uber surprised. xD
So, yeah, happy birthday to Junjun, and I hope she had a great day today~ xD

Morning Musume ranking

I was actually planning on doing a Morning Musume ranking soon anyway, so this provided a great opportunity to actually do it.

I didn’t do the Berryz Koubou and C-ute ones, because while I FINALLY know their names (YESS) I don’t actually know anything about them. Definitely not enough to rank them.

1. Junjun
Definitely my #1 right now, even though she’s pretty new there’s just something about her…
2. Reina
Reina’s cute and has a good voice, but somehow her spot was just recently taken over by Junjun. xD
3. Aika
She’s the only Musume younger than I am (only by a month), and I didn’t like her at first but slowly I’ve grown to really like her.
4. Risa
I like her voice, and I’m glad that she has the Athena & Robikerottsu unit- though I don’t think it’ll be a permanent unit since it was created only for that anime.
5. Koharu
While she doesn’t have the best voice in the group, I really like her solo singles. They’re strangely addicting…
6. Ai
She has a really strong voice, and I think she would be great as a soloist. However, I can’t help but feel like she’s getting wayy too much attention in Momusu.
7. Sayumi
She’s really cute, but she really doesn’t have that good of a voice. She’s definitely improved though, I saw a video of her singing Do it! Now with two other girls (I forget who, maybe Reina and Eri) and I couldn’t stand her voice. X_x It’s tolerable now.
8. Linlin
I don’t really know much about her…
9. Eri
Sorry Eri fans, but I just don’t like Eri that much…

Comparing it to the first Momusu ranking post I did, here, my opinions of most of the girls haven’t changed that much. xD

Fuji Shuusuke & Tezuka Kunimitsu special single title announced

You know, I really wish these songs had PVs so I’d actually have something to comment on. Plus a PV for Type wa D! would kick ass and have lots and lots of Golden Pair love! <333333 Cause right now, all it is is three basic posts: 1) “they announced a new single today!” 2) “they announced the title of the single today!” 3) “they put the cover up on their website!” xD
This post falls under the second category. If you couldn’t tell already.

タイトル：ここで僕らは出会ってしまった（初回生産完全限定盤）
アーティスト：不二周助＆手塚国光
発売日：２００８年２月２９日（金）
品番：ＮＥＣＭ－１２１５６
価格：￥１，２００（税込）

Title: Koko de Bokura wa Deatteshimatta (limited release)
Artist: Fuji Shuusuke & Tezuka Kunimitsu
Release date: 2008.02.29 (Friday)
Catalog code: NECM-12156
Price: 1200 yen (with tax)

“We met by chance here”, or something along those lines. YAY TEZUKA/FUJI LOVE SONG <333
I wonder what the song’s going to be like? I actually haven’t heard any of Tezuka’s solo songs, but I’ve listened to his songs with Aozu, and…what can I say? His voice just doesn’t fit with the others. Actually, it’s not as bad in WHITE LINE, but in Kakaeta Kiseki it’s really funny because it’s like “whee nice voices” and then BAM Tezuka’s is like, uber uber low. xD Which is why he only gets like two lines. Poor Tezuka. xD Then in GIGS, with Flower (why didn’t they ever get another single?) it’s not that bad because Sanada’s voice is uber low too. xD As for Megane’s, I can’t take that unit seriously because they’re so much crack, so…xD
I’m assuming that, like all the other duet singles, there will be a solo song from each of them…but I don’t know for sure.

I can’t wait to hear this single, it sounds pretty good. It’s apparently being used as the ending theme for the Tenipuri radio show this month, but I don’t think anyone’s ripped it or anything…

Megane’s’ 5th single title announced

Uh-oh. I get the feeling that this title is foreshadowing something…

タイトル：さよなら…眼鏡’ｓ（初回生産完全限定盤）
アーティスト：眼鏡’ｓ
発売日：２００８年３月１６日（日）
品番：ＮＥＣＭ－１００９８
価格：８００（税込）

Title: Sayonara…Megane’s (limited release)
Artist: Megane’s
Release date: 2008.03.16 (Sunday)
Code: NECM-10098
Price: 800 yen (including tax)

The Megane’s had a good run (5 singles is the most for any group in Prince of Tennis)…but it looks like it’s coming to an end. Well, it hasn’t been officially announced, but I mean, look at that title. xD;
I could be wrong, I guess, but the series is coming to an end soon (the manga is rumored to end in a couple of weeks, and then the anime isn’t that far behind)…I wouldn’t be all that surprised.

Congrats, Kaori!

Iida Kaori from Morning Musume had a baby boy on January 22nd. This is the second child by a Hello! Project member (all the former H!P members that have had kids were out of H!P before they had the kid, I believe), the first being Tsuji Nozomi’s baby girl Noa a couple months ago. I wish the best of luck to Kaori and her husband and baby. ^^
I guess they didn’t want to reveal the name of the baby, but I really want to know…xD I kinda want to see pictures too~…