Morning Musume's Newest Member: Oda Sakura

I'm a bit late, but congratulations to the newest member of Morning Musume: Oda Sakura!

I don't know very much about Oda Sakura, other than that she auditioned for S/mileage's New Member Audition, and did not make it through. Here's the video of her audition. Her singing starts just before the 1:30 mark, and it sounds like she's just imitating the S/mileage members' voices. It sounds like she's trying to force herself to sound cute. This is most likely the reason why she didn't make it into S/mileage.

Suugaku Joshi Gakuen Ep 12

It's the final episode. What does everyone think about math now?

Nina is confused why her sister, Machida Kina, is here. Kina explains that she's here to fight Nina. Kina explains to Kazuki and Sayuri that Nina came to this school to find Kina and find out what happened to her after she became Math Boss. Nina is still confused and Kina says that she wants to rule over all the mathematicians in the world. (What? Why?) Kina wants to wipe out all the math schools using her position as Math Boss, even this one. Kina didn't want any mathematician to get in her way of ruling the world.

Nina is in shock. The sister she knew would never act like this. She would be so happy and excited about math, but the person she's looking at has dead eyes. Kina says it looks like she has to fight Nina and destroy her. Nina accepts the challenge and will defeat this impostor. Kina is so confident that she'll win that she tells Nina that this will be her last battle.

Team Nina and Kina are in a classroom, where Kina explains that the book she's holding holds 1200 years of math history, including 20,000 math problems that have been unsolved during all those years. Kina says that she'll choose a random unsolved math problem and Nina accepts. The problem Kina chooses is "Clearly prove that 1 + 1 = 2". Kazuki comments saying that everyone knows that answer is correct, but how would you go about proving it.

Suugaku Joshi Gakuen Ep 11

This episode starts right away with the results of the second round of poker where Reiko has 3 queens, Nina has a pair of jacks, Sayuri has a pair of 9s, but Kazuki has a lonely 8. Reiko wins the second round. Team Nina feels very defeated at the moment. How can they win at this rate?

Nina knows that their approach of trying to win with 2 pairs is not working. She knows that they need Kazuki to pick a card that either matches Nina's or Sayuri's cards. Reiko discards one card. 

Nina then realizes that the suit of the card (hearts, spades, diamonds or clubs) is just as important as the denomination of the card. They would have the highest chance to get a flush if they all have cards from the same suit. Nina discards a 7 of spades and king of clubs. Nina then picks up 2 cards, from her face, it looks like she's got 2 cards from the same suit. Sayuri tries to figure out why Nina would discard both cards, and comes to the conclusion that Nina is aiming for a flush. Sayuri discards a 7 of diamonds and looks at Nina for reassurance. Nina nods and says to herself that they are going for a flush of hearts. Nina and Sayuri both stare down at Kazuki hoping he'll understand, but Kazuki ends up changing cards in panic.

Suugaku Joshi Gakuen Ep 10

3 more episodes left! Let's do this.

The episode starts out with Kazuki's monologue (it's been awhile since the last time an episode was introduced like this), where he talks about how time has flown, and that he's getting over his fear of math, but that everything is going to crash because of one girl. (Is he talking about the girl at the end of the last episode?)

The male teacher introduces a new transfer student whose name is Shirokane Reiko (played by Mano Erina, the only soloist in Hello! Project). She enters via red carpet put out for her by her assistant Meguro Yuu (played by Miyamoto Karin, one of the most well-known H!P eggs). Reiko has a very haughty, royalty type personality and way of speaking and says that she entered this school because of her love for math. Kazuki feels that Reiko wouldn't fit in with their class, and Reiko is already picking a fight with Nina through fiery eye contact, causing a thunderstorm to suddenly start. 

Reiko: Fear my flaming eyes!

Suddenly, the male teacher calls for a class meeting during break time. Reiko announces that there are changes to the school regulations. Everyone in class doesn't understand what's going, including Mami. Reiko explains that there are things that she can't stand in this school, so she wants to get rid of them. Sayuri asks how is she even allowed to do this? Reiko is super rich because of her father's company and her father will do anything that she asks him to. Reiko says that she's studied up on the school before coming and has a list of things to be banned including dialects (which Nina uses quite often), saying that everyone needs to speak beautiful Japanese like her (although, Kazuki is quick to point out that she doesn't speak that beautifully). 

Suugaku Joshi Gakuen Ep 9

Let's keep on going!

This episode starts off with Nina wondering about what she saw last time concerning her older sister. Nina is sure that's it's her, but if it was why didn't her sister say anything to her. Nina decides to stop thinking about it or else she'll go crazy trying to figure it out. In the meantime, Mami is trying to get Kazuki and Sayuri to read this "romantic" novel that has a thief, a princess and a detective in it. She's in love with what she thinks is a romantic line, but Sayuri says it's just cheesy because Mami only reads detective novels, so she doesn't know what love is all about. Mami says that Sayuri never had a boyfriend so what does she know. Sayuri says that she just can't get one and points the finger at Mami saying that she's learning about love through books. Mami retaliates saying that she could get a boyfriend anytime she wanted to, but Sayuri doesn't think so. Nina tells them to cut it out.

The episode cuts to Mami reading her favourite part to Kazuki and Sayuri, but they are both sleeping. Right when she's about to get to the key part, the male teacher walks in with another guy. Mami completely falls for this new guy, named Imawaka, who is going to a be a student teacher. He introduces himself and asks everyone to call him "Waka-sama". That's just... wrong... Anyway, Mami gets up and removes her elastic to show off her long hair. This is a big case, Mami's heart has been stolen!

Suugaku Joshi Gakuen Ep 8

5 episodes left to watch and review! I wonder what math problems are waiting to be solved. :3

This episode starts out with Nina and Sayuri fighting. Supposedly, Sayuri threw the mentaiko bread to Nina, but it ended up flying out of the window instead. Sayuri was just trying to help, but Nina is upset with her. Sayuri ends up saying a whole bunch of mean things about Nina and Nina says Sayuri should apologize to the god of mentaiko. ^_^" (Even though her bread was safe and sound on the window ledge. @.@) Since Sayuri stormed off, Kazuki runs after her and ends up following Sayuri into the "Elite Area". Sayuri wants Nina to apologize to her, but doesn't at the same time since that would be so unlike Nina and Sayuri doesn't want to see that kind of Nina. (What complicated feelings, eh?)

Once Sayuri actually lifts her head and clears her mind a bit, she realizes that they are in forbidden territory, but Kazuki is confused. They try to leave, but get caught in the process by 3 elite students, who are Yotsuya Yuko (played by Hagiwara Mai from ºC-ute), Komaba Satoko (played by Nakajima Saki, also from ºC-ute) and Mita Tomoko (played by Okai Chisato, also from ºC-ute --> This means that all members from ºC-ute have been featured in Suugaku Joshi Gakuen!)

These elite students have classical music playing behind them and lift their glasses with their index finger one by one, saying how they don't permission to be in this special area of the school. Kazuki is still confused and Sayuri begins to explain that the school is divided into Inner Circle and Outer Circle. The elites are part of the Inner Circle and they are very rich (get all the nice stuff: teachers, classrooms, etc), and everyone else is part of the Outer Circle. Because Sayuri wasn't able to explain why they were in their area, Sayuri and Kazuki get tied up. Satoko talks about how Sayuri may be helpful to them for the Intramural Math Battle, which pits the Inner Circle vs the Outer Circle students. Whichever side wins will be able to have additional classrooms, etc. When the elites find out that Kazuki is the "dumb transfer student", they let him go and Kazuki is extremely upset. 

Suugaku Joshi Gakuen Ep 7

I know that I'm really behind right now, but I'm slowly catching up one episode at a time, so let's go~

This episode starts off with Sayuri talking about how there are groups of first years that admire the older students such as the 4 girls from the Shibuya Police Squad who aspire to be like Mami, and the Gluttony girls who aspire to be like Fuyumi.

Nina also has her own fanclub called Team Nina, comprised of 3 girls named Hakkeijima Natsu, Daiba Aki and Maihama Haru. They look like 3 mini Ninas with the same clothes and hair and even eat Nina's favourite mentaiko bread too. They even try to imitate how Nina talks too. The male teacher notices the 3 and says that even though they admire Nina a lot, they should act like themselves, but Haru tells off the teacher in a Nina-esque way, getting praised by Natsu and Aki. The male teacher gives up and walks away. The 3 also have pictures of Nina that they walk around with. As they are heading to class, they end up noticing Nina just sleeping in the courtyard. Fangirl squee galore and debate whether they should talk to their most admired sempai.

The next day, Sayuri shows off her new smart phone. Kazuki replies saying that Sayuri loves to have new things. Nina doesn't care too much about it and Sayuri wonders why. The episode cuts to Team Nina where they are looking at their pictures of Nina and talking about her. They also wonder how can they get her cellphone number and email address. With their determination to get this information, they run over to Nina's class where they see Sayuri still trying to impress Nina with her smartphone and Nina is still not excited about it. Kazuki asks what kind of cellphone Nina uses, only to find out that she doesn't have one in the first place. Nina says that you don't need that fancy technology, but the truth comes out that she's just really bad with technology. She's had bad experiences where she can't seem to record her favourite shows or make photocopies. Everything seems to just "blow" up on her and stop working. ^_^" Kazuki and Sayuri can't stop laughing about it and dares to ask if she can use a computer. Nina says that once she touches a computer, it breaks. @.@ Team Nina can't believe that Nina knows nothing about how to use smart phones, tablets or even computers and says that Nina is so old-fashioned.

Suugaku Joshi Gakuen Ep 6

I actually watched this episode when it came out, but I didn't have the time to blog about it at the time. I'll try to stick to the main part of the episode and not any side conversations. So here we go~

In this episode, a new transfer student (that was seen at the end of the previous episode) appears named Harajuku Tomoko (played by Tsugunaga Momoko, the member who is known to have a burikko character from the group Berryz Koubou), who has a very frilly school uniform. She has her own footstep sound effects and she does Momoko's famous "Yurishite nyan~" move. 

Tomoko: Yurushite nyan~

She does this because she is "apologizing" that she is now the most beautiful and cutest girl in class, which gets Sayuri upset. She continues to say that she is a genius, despite coming from a normal high school, all while in her over-the-top cute voice and mannerisms. Kazuki notices that the way Tomoko acts and says things is just like Sayuri and comes to the conclusion that Tomoko is Sayuri's shorter double. ^_^" He then notices how pissed Sayuri is and freaks out and so does everyone else with Mami going "jiken yo".

Sayuri: A rival? Pshh. 

Mami: Jiken yo!

Tomoko pushes it to the max trying to get everyone to call her "Tomochi" like little puppies. She then says that she's "kawaii nyan~". Sayuri is just growling at her like a lion on the inside. The atmosphere is tense. 

Suugaku Joshi Gakuen Ep 5

My weekly dose of math in a j-drama. ^-^

This episode starts out with Kazuki reading a letter that he's writing to students at Edogawa high school about his time at this math school that he's in. He says that everyday of the 3 weeks he's been at this math school have been bright and he's met classmates that are very special to him. He also says that all the girls are cute, so he's been having fun everyday. But that's honestly not what's been happening (seeing flashbacks) and he wants to go back to his old school. 

Kazuki finds the male teacher and asks him to help him transfer to a super normal school. He can't handle all the math and the girls. The male teacher says that Kazuki should just find love, since he can freely love any girl while the male teacher can't. He also says that it would be a pain to transfer him to another school. 

Kazuki is moping again until a girl named Yuri (played by Suzuki Airi from ºC-ute) comes up to him and says "Hi" and asks if he's gotten used to the school yet. She then says some math stuff that he doesn't understand. But then she says that she thinks she's fallen in love with him and that she'll love him (Aishiteruzo~). Kazuki is in shock. Nina comes in and notices this and says that if Yuri likes him, then they should just go out, but Kazuki will still be Nina's servant during school hours. 

Kazuki then stalks Yuri to find out what she's saying about him. The other girls are giddy with her for confessing her love. Sayuri finds it gross that Kazuki is just staring. Kazuki asks who Yuri is and Sayuri says that she's Uehara Yuri and she has a cute angel character. Kazuki makes a pun about Yuri being cute (because she's from the group ºC-ute, he also did this with Mami in episode 2). Sayuri tells Kazuki to be careful because Yuri is so pure and will go out with him, but might throw him out if she confesses to some other person. 

The male teacher calls for homeroom and says that he's going to switch up the assigned seating to freshen up a bit later on in the day.

Suugaku Joshi Gakuen Ep 4

Onwards to a review of episode 4!

In episode 4, it starts out with Nina freaking out because she can't find her mentaiko bread and accuses Kazuki of stealing it (ah yes, the Kazuki accusations never end). Of course, Kazuki didn't do it and they both end up yelling at each other until Aoyama Iroha (played by Kikkawa Yuu, Hello! Project Egg graduate and is now currently a soloist under Universal Music Japan, but still part of Up-Front, the company in charge of Hello! Project), who is the head of the Morality Squad, tells them to stop fighting like kids and that Kazuki should cut his hair because it's not manly and supposedly long hair on a man is against the school rules. Kazuki is scared and freaked out, but Nina continues to be angry and badmouths Iroha. 

Kazuki is so mad at Nina that he heads over to the old school building, and notices Sayuri in the building. He tries to creep away, but steps on some leaves and Sayuri notices him, but didn't notice that she noticed and  keeps walking. Sayuri had eaten some of Nina's mentaiko bread and it gave her a stomach ache, causing her to need to do a #2 and she finds it too un-idol-like, which is why she is at the old school building, so she can do her business without anyone knowing. Kazuki ends up writing a whole bunch of mean things on the blackboard about Nina to vent out his anger. Kazuki, in the classroom, and Sayuri, in the washroom, both hear the sound of a window breaking. 

The next day, the class is assembled to bring up the fact that a window had been broken in the old school building, an indication that it must have been vandalized. Two girls quickly point out that Sayuri and Kazuki were both at the old school building. Mami senses that this is a case and decides to handle it, until Iroha gets the other 2 members of the Morality Squad to drag Mami out. Iroha, who is now in charge, asks Sayuri and Kazuki why there were at the old school building, but neither one of them want to say why because Sayuri doesn't want anyone to know that an "idol" like herself uses the washroom, even more so does a #2. Kazuki doesn't want to say anything because he technically did do some vandalism and doesn't want anyone to find out what he wrote on the blackboard. Iroha assumes their silence as being guilty. Nina stands up for them saying that there was no way that they did it. Kazuki and Sayuri both appreciate the sentiment, but they are in this predicament because of Nina. ^_^"  So, Sayuri and Kazuki are both placed in separate enclosed rooms and are forced upon the "Prisoner's Dilemma", where accusing the other will cause them less consequences than staying silent. 

Suugaku Joshi Gakuen Ep 3

Hello hello~

It's been awhile since my last blog post. University is starting to get busy as it is soon the season of midterms and I have many lab reports to write this semester. @.@

Onwards to the math drama that makes me happy! There is barely any math in this episode, but I guess it's made up for by the characters featured being some of my favourites in Hello! Project. 

Episode 3 features Ookubo Fuyumi (played by Berryz Koubou member Sudou Maasa) and the Gluttony girls (played by the rest of Morning Musume's 9th gen: Fukumura Mizuki, Ikuta Erina, and Suzuki Kanon). The whole episode is about how Nina wants some tonkotsu ramen, but Fuyumi and the Gluttony girls buy all of it (and eat all of it) and so it ends up being sold out. Nina tries to buy the ramen earlier the next day, but she is still in the same situation. She challenges Fuyumi to a battle (for the tonkotsu ramen) which Fuyumi accepts, but one of the Gluttony girls fakes a stomach ache, causing Fuyumi to unintentionally avoid the battle for the day. Fuyumi is upset when she finds out that the girl was faking her stomach ache and then talks about a secret plan being set in motion.

The day after, Nina tries to get tonkotsu ramen, but it is no longer on the menu. The cafeteria lady says that they've changed their menu to a nationwide tour of ramen tasting, where 40+ different ramens from all over Japan will be available in the cafeteria and it was all Fuyumi's idea. Nina is pissed because she just wants her tonkotsu ramen, and re-challenges Fuyumi, who accepts without hesitation. Fuyumi states the terms of the battle as a race, where the first one to reach the cafeteria from the roof wins. Kazuki doesn't think this challenge to be particularly difficult, nor does he think that Fuyumi is particularly fast. Sayuri quickly corrects him saying that Fuyumi cannot be underestimated and since the goal is the cafeteria, Fuyumi will know all the shortcuts to get there as she does it every day to try and get the best foods. 

Suugaku Joshi Gakuen Ep 2

Hello hello~

The 2nd episode of Suugaku Joshi Gakuen aired yesterday! I watched it twice (without subs though ^_^") and I'm a little disappointed with the situation they came up with for this episode. You'll see what I mean.

In this episode, a new girl is introduced named Shibuya Mami (played by Yajima Maimi, the leader of Morning Musume's younger sister group, ºC-ute). She is a fanatic about everything to do with detectives and solving crimes and walks around with handcuffs in her pocket. @.@ Her famous line is "Taiho shichauzo~", which roughly translates to "I'll arrest you~". 

The situation for this week's episode is the following: a math test that was suppose to be given out that day is missing and was most likely stolen. Mami finds out that the last person to be in the teacher's office was Kazuki and since everyone knows Kazuki hates math, he would have the most motive to steal the tests. Kazuki, who was entranced by Mami while she accused him, is shocked that he is yet again accused of something he didn't do. An important detail to note is that only the test questions were stolen and not the answer key. If someone really wanted to cheat, they would either steal both or if they could only steal one item, then it would most likely be the answer key. So even though you could work out the test problems ahead of time, you might not necessarily get the right answers and in Kazuki's case, he wouldn't be benefiting much from this.

Suugaku Joshi Gakuen Ep 1

Hey everyone!

So a new drama featuring Hello!Project members recently came out called "Suugaku Joshi Gakuen". The drama is about a transfer student named Satou Kazuki, who hates math, but is accidentally transferred to an elite math school, which seems to be only filled with female students. ^_^"

In this first episode, you get a taste for the 2 female leads: Niina (played by Tanaka Reina, 6th generation Morning Musume member) and Sayuri (played by Michishige Sayumi, 6th generation Morning Musume member). Niina is extremely "my pace" and you find out that she's trying to become the Suugaku Banchou in order to figure out where her sister is (who disappeared after becoming Suugaku Banchou). Sayuri is a haughty student who dislikes Niina and wants everything to go her way. She claims to be the best mathematician in the class, but is eating her words (or losing her skirt) after Niina wins a math battle against her.

Majide suka ska! + New fanpage

Hey everyone!

I've finally done a new video after all these months. >.< It's my first Momusu cover and I hope to do more covers from other H!P groups. Enjoy!

What I uploaded was my 10th and last take. I had only done the dance completely 3 times before and the rest of the time, I messed up somewhere in the middle.

As you can tell from the pic, I was so sweaty from doing this dance so many times that I had to get a towel to wipe myself off. ^_^"