Vs. Arashi! #138

Aired on: May 26th, 2011

Usually I don't watch the newer episodes as much, but I couldn't resist this episode. Not only the guest team were the Paradise Kiss film cast, the Plus One was Haruna Ai ♥. Even before the guests appeared, though, one of the best moments in this episodes appeared - Nino was wearing a simple looking jacket, which Aiba commented on, saying that it was too normal for Nino (who, admittedly, has been given a lot of embarrassingly garish outfits throughout this show) and said that they ought to exchange their jackets. Nino protested lightly at first, but gave in in the end. That's not all - Aiba's tee read the words "carnival", causing Sho to call him Carnival throughout the episode. ^^

Aimiya exchanging their jackets | Haruna Ai getting excited to see Osamu Mukai.

The first game was Cliff Climb, with Sakumoto representing Team Arashi. I really liked how Sho quoted my favourite (and everyone else's, haha) line from ParaKiss, and the exchange he had with aiba before they started. aiba asked him to take his shoes off, which he did, but then he was told that he had to put them back on before climbing XD. Both Sho and Jun failed completely in this game. Next is Dual Curling, with Nino, Haruna Ai, and Ohno representing arashi. They lost in this game, too, although it was an impressive match. Nino had a showdown with Osamu Mukai, and before they started Haruna danced to "Shoujo Jidai" for them, which was really cute.

Sho quoting ParaKiss | "Please wait while Sakurai-kun puts on his shoes..." XD

The third game was Kicking Sniper, where Nino mentioned that they were losing and that neither Jun nor Ohno seemed motivated. Aiba joined him and the two of them said that if they didn't do well, they'd have to do the Shoujo Jidai dance. This certainly brought out their motivation, as they managed to catch up to their gap in points in this game. Jun even got a perfect score (he really didn't want to do the Shoujo Jidai dance), but then Aimiya decided that he had to do it because he got a perfect. I love it when Aimiya bullies Jun XD. Jun decided that they should janken for it, and in the end it was Ohno and Nino that had to do the Shoujo Jidai dance with Haruna. Since he was safe, Jun went back to his DoS mode and enjoyed their embarrassment. Unfortunately, when the ParaKiss Team played, they immediately went back in the lead. Osamu Mukai was really good!

Jun forgot to press a button | Sakumoto being scolded

Jun being bullied by Aimiya | Ohmiya + Haruna Shoujo Jidai Dance

Because of all the Shoujo Jidai performances, there weren't enough time, and one of the games had to be cancelled. They skipped Pinball Runner and went to Bound Hockey as the last game. The ParaKiss didn't seem to be able to play this well at first, but they got the hang of it soon enough. Team Arashi had to get 400 points to catch up and win. They played well, but ended up with 50 points behind their goal, and lost. 

Thankfully for the Arashi members, they agreed on the MDA early on - it ended up being Haruna Ai, who did the Shoujo Jidai dance one last time before falling.

[vid credit: yuizaki-libra@LJ]

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Arashi no Shukudai-kun #032

Aired On: May 14th, 2007

This episode begins with Arashi slamming the guest box against the stage. Then they revealed that the guests are comedy duo Drunk Dragon - Tsukaji Muga and Suzuki Taku. Because Tsukaji likes shrimp, they requested for delicious and rare shrimp dishes as their homework for the audience. Aiba did the introductions, and first presented a salt-grilled lobster, which is a whole spiny lobster marinated in salt and meringue. The next dish was sakura shrimp, to be eaten fresh. Uhm. Well. All I can say is, this segment really didn't make me think that I could suddenly like seafood. These shrimp are called "sakura shrimp" because they were caught during April-May, when the sakura are supposed to bloom. Next is a soft cream mixed with spiny lobster, which surprisingly was enjoyed by Drunk Dragon. Finally, Aiba introduces his own recipes, including shrimp hot dog and choco-shrimp. Needless to say, they were kind of weird. :p They didn't like the hot dog, but seemed to love the choco-shrimp. 

In the following segment, Tsukaji talked about things he didn't like about Suzuki, the first of which Tsukaji didn't like Suzuki's impromptu changes in their routines. When they talked about the audience's image of them, it was said that Suzuki had the image of someone who'd be extorted for money, so he revealed that he's strong. He then made a demonstration with Aiba pretending to be a thug. He did pretty well when Aiba went for him without without weapons, but when they tried a demonstration where Aiba used a weapon, Suzuki didn't manage to fight Aiba off. Ohno took over Aiba's place, and the same happened. So Suzuki declared that there's no way he could win if his opponent has a weapon. All in all, a pretty amusing episode!

[vid credit: Nyan-chan]

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"Scene"～君と僕の見ている風景～ DOME+

The cover for the Dome DVD is out on Johnny's.net. The contents are also listed, along with the title of the new PV/single, which would be included in the DVD. (I wonder if the single would still have an LE version, now, and what it would include if it did? Since the PV and making is already in the DVD...?)  The new song is called ｢まだ見ぬ世界へ｣ (Mada Minu Sekai e).

The LE version will run for 306 mins, while the RE runs for 210 mins. So glad I've pre-ordered the LE!

On a totally unrelated note, I really ought to work harder on my Shukudai-kun rewatch project... ^^;; After all this time, I'm still at episode 31!

Also, (1) for Malaysians who want to pre-order Nippon no Arashi, they could do so at Kinokuniya KLCC, and (2) I know that I haven't been posting about Japanese magazines bargain buys lately - that's because instead of doing monthly bargains, the Japanese books department have decided to hold one major bargain sale together with English & Chinese books, and so are saving the mags until then. Will update when the major bargain sale is announced, of course. Here, and also at this tumblr account, where the updates may be a bit faster since it's easier to update there.

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Himitsu no Arashi-chan #126

Aired On: April 14th, 2011

I know that not everybody is happy with the VIP Limousine, since not all of the members are in the episodes now. This isn't really a deterrent for me; sure, it's fun to see all of the members together, but I enjoyed their older shows (like Mago Mago Arashi) where they paired up for different assignments. And, I guess part of it is also because even though I have a Sho-bias, I love Arashi for being Arashi - that is, I like all of the members and so wouldn't boycott particular episodes just because my bias isn't in it. I suppose it's different for everyone? Anyway, this episode is Sakumiya, so I do get to see Sho-kun. (^_^) The guest this time is model/actress Takei Emi, who gets to go with Sho and Nino on a Korean date.

They first take her to a Korean grocery store in Shin-Okubo. I'm not sure if they underestimated the fangirls or what, because the place was swarming with them. (Hey, isn't that another fun thing about the VIP Limousine? Stalking them? Haha) Anyway, they tried some sort of Korean melon, which was hard and not too sweet. Sounds like my kind of fruit! Then they took her to a cafe where a lot of ikemen Koreans worked. She seemed to enjoy herself a lot here, but so did Sho and Nino. They introduced three ikemen, and, er, Sho, and she had to choose the one closest to her idea of an ikemen (which she had drawn out earlier). Unsurprisingly, Sho lost. ^^;; Throughout this they talked about her 10 VIP points, which are basically just trivia about her - one of which stated she wanted to go on a date in school uniform. So Sakumiya indulged her, of course. In school uniforms, they headed to a Korean fortune teller. Takei-san had always wanted to be married at 23, but the fortune teller said that she won't. Finally, they take her out for yakiniku, which she loves.

The theater part, I didn't really enjoy as much as the VIP Limousine, but I guess Sho's proposal was funny. If anyone tried that on me I'd have laughed and laughed and laughed at them. *not very romantic* Nino's, on the hand, was really cute. And very creepy. Ahaha.

Maybe I'm just seeing things that aren't there, but I can't help but think that Sakumiya seemed to be leaning away from her.

Of course, filming outdoors come with challenges... wonder if they anticipated this crowd.

Which is the most ikemen of them all?

In school uniform. Wish that Nino's wearing a gakuran too.

[vid credit: ANJ]

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Dome DVD (yay!) and New Album Announced!

As usual, it had to happen when I was at work, so by the time I'm home and on Typepad everyone else already knows. XP I was at the sales floor, and when I got back to the office I checked my e-mail to find Shi-chan on gchat, saying something like "DOME  DVD OUT ON JUNE 15TH, NEW ALBUM BEAUTIFUL WORLD OUT ON JULY 6TH! WE ARE GOING TO BE SO BROKE!" My brain almost broke from the news.

Like almost everyone else, I had expected a Dome DVD but kind of gave up on that when April came and went without any announcements. Then this happened, and with the album announcement on top of that (which, okay, Shi-chan and I have both anticipated) is just too much of a good thing at once. I love it. Not the fact that I'm going to be broke, but the fact that there will be yet another DVD to flail over with other Arashians, and another album to play on repeat for a couple of weeks. ^^;;

Anyway, the DVD will be of the Fukuoka concert - I was really hoping for Tokyo Dome, but the LE  (6,900円) comes with a documentary, so hopefully there will be some Tokyo Dome bits there? (Really wants to see Oh-chan's birthday again) And solo interviews! Can't wait. ^_^

The first press release of the album, Beautiful World, (3,200円) will include 7 new songs and 5 solos, and the currently released singles not in BnMF, of course. That should be everything from To be free, onwards? *checks CD rack* Yup. To be free, Love Rainbow, Dear Snow, 果てない空, and Lotus.

I'm super excited about both and hopeful for concert announcements :D

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stuff bought (not so) recently

Since I haven't posted anything on my typepad for the last couple of months, here are pics of things I've recently got during that time :D

5x10 (my fav of all the totes!) and Time totes.
Actually I love totes in general, and Arashi totes are just <3 of course! 

DVD of Aiba's pornbutai "Kimi to Miru Sen no Yume", which is beautiful. Love it!
And Lotus LE, which I've yet to open, since I downloaded it before receiving my copy. ^^;;

Android AU pamphlet/booklet.
Usually I don't buy them, but I made an exception for this.
Because I love the CMs so much. And this booklet is gorgeous.
Also the Arashi Meets Manga special from Asahi Shimbun, which, of course, is a must have.
Because I love the manga listed almost as much, or more, than I love Arashi. 

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Arashi no Shukudai-kun #010

Aired On: December 4th, 2006

The guest in this episode is Sugita Kaoru, who've worked with Arashi on 24hr TV before. Jun had cried during that time, and she said that her opinion of him became more favourable after that. Her homework to Arashi/the audience is to research on various foods that uses collagen (according to my sister it doesn't really work, but from what I've seen in variety shows Japanese women really love food with collagen?). Aiba became the presenter, while he and Sho went around testing food with three women. There was a really funny scene when Aiba smeared collagen sashimi over one of the women's faces, lol.

During the image section of the show, like in the previous couple of episodes, the conversation gets interesting. Sugita-san admitted to having a bad image, and said that she was called the King of Love Hotels when she was younger. This led to them talking about love hotels, and when Ohno seemed a little too interested, Nino joked that he (Ohno) was aiming to be the 2nd generation King of Love Hotels. ^^ Ogura-san asked Sugita-san to give advice to Arashi as a veteran and older woman, and she said that she hoped they don't get trapped by a bad woman. She even gave advice on romance, Sugita Kaoru Style - catch their attention with your eyes, attack when they're weak, and aim for people who seem like they've broken down. In order words, the timing has to be perfect? XP

 In the experiments corner (or, like Shi-chan says, the continuation of A no Arashi), Sho and Aiba try to find out if it would be faster to travel on ice by foot or by bicycle. They were supposed to complete one lap on a skating rink, with Sho walking on foot and Aiba riding a bicycle. Aiba kept falling down, so Sho won the race. Conclusion: please walk over ice instead of riding bicycles.

This is another one of those episodes that I can't play on my Mac, so there're no screen caps. :/

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