NEW PB

So sorry that I haven't posted in forever on Charmy Disco, but that's because of school.

However, there's been some WONDERFUL news

On Rika's birthday, January 19th,

Rika's releasing her 11th solo photobook, Lucky!

This is what  her secret project's been and I for one am ecstatic. I own four of Rika's PBs and I hope to own more, but they've all been excellent. Rika's a pro in front of the camera and she has so much natural beauty that any photobook of hers is going to be wonderful. Plus, part of it will be in San Francisco; maybe there'll be some pics from her Mongolia trip?

All I know is that more Rika is always a wonderful thing!

Charmy's Special Project..???

Last week was the New York Anime Festival that Rika showed up at; I can't cover that, sadly, because I wasn't there. So if you haven't, go check out the thread in the Chuuch of Charmy on JPHiP; I swear, I've lived vicariously through that. Someday I'm going to meet Rika *determined*. 

Anyways, BEFORE that, Rika mentioned that she was in San Francisco, working on a special project of some kind. Now, this is exciting news, and therefore I'm speculating.

1. Photobook? 

Rika is THE photobook queen of H!P. In under ten years she's released ten solo photobooks, a concert photobook, a v-u-den photobook, a joint photobook with Sayumi, and a few other movie related ones (one with Mikitty and one for Sukeban Deka). In my mind, Rika is the ace of the PB world; she's not even THAT active of an idol anymore (doing a lot of non-idolly things) yet just last year she had her 10th PB released (the AMAZING 24 Twenty Four) and a solo DVD. For a 25-year-old idol, that's not bad at all!

However, she released the PB when she was 24 and thus the months of Rika doing a PB as a 25-year-old are slipping away. This special project could very well be a Photobook!

Rika's PBs are really really fun; she manages to have really beautiful photos as well as very silly ones to make each photobook just a joy to look through. 

Gorgeous Rika....

Goofy Rika XD

So I'd be really happy if a PB was in the works; I'll definitely have to buy it and/or pre-order it. 

2. Idol DVD?

Rika's released three solo DVDs that I am aware of (Rika's Alo-Hello, her Most Crisis in Hawaii DVD and the most recent one, Rika) and they're all fun. Rika's probably my least favorite, with my favorite being the Most Crisis in Hawaii DVD. Now, two of these have taken place in Hawaii and both the Alo-Hello and the Most Crisis DVDs were essentially Rika running around Hawaii doing things, which, considering it's Rika who has an abundance of personality and charm, is a blast to watch. I'd really like the idea of "Rika Ishikawa in America" or something like that, a DVD detailing her running around in San Francisco and then perhaps at the New York Anime Festival or just her day in New York. I think that would be a lot of fun, so I'd be up for that as well.

3. American Career?

Other than that, maybe Rika was there to gear up for something involving America; perhaps it's the H&A tour that Rika/management teased about at NYAF?

Anything that happens, IMO, is a good thing. I'd love to have anything Charmy related come out, ESPECIALLY if it's something I can see/read/watch/enjoy. So, yay for Charmy doing things!!!

Rika's Best Songs

In case this blog's existence and my previous posts in various places hasn't explained it enough, I love everything involving Rika. Rika is, to me, the perfect idol and I am never EVER ashamed to be a fan of hers. This goes by extension to one aspect of Rika that a lot of people criticize, and that's her singing. Now, I'm not going to pretend that Rika has the perfect vocal skills, because she doesn't. I WOULD go so far as to say that her voice is severely underrated, but  she's not a perfect vocalist. However, she has a unique voice that I find pleasing, and so I'm writing this post as a post of the top songs that I think Rika sounds excellent in. Now, I find her voice nice in most contexts. However, these are the songs that I think fit her unique voice really well. (I'll also post videos for some of them)

As For One Day

In my opinion this is one of Rika's best single songs within H!P. Rika's vocals in the beginning and ending of "ahh ame ga yanda" are almost haunting. Her voice gives it this fleeting, fragile-type of quality that really fits the melancholy tone of the song. While some people kind of complain about her being a lead, I really can't imagine any other member being able to sing Rika's opening/closing lines in a way that fits the song as well as Rika did. Maybe Aibon? But Rika's vocals are REALLY nice here, and really add a great deal to make this song work and be as good of a single as it was.

Dekiru Onna

This is one of the underrated/unappreciated B-Sides that really doesn't get the love it deserves, with other B-sides like Love&Peace getting the love from other members. Dekiru Onna is the B-Side to Ai Araba It's All Right and it's a really unique sounding, unusual song, which Rika does perfectly.

Rika's vocals in this minor (musically) song sound just gorgeous and haunting and she just gives it this lilt to make it amazing. Her first line gives me chills.

Omoide wa Kanata
In case you don't know (which is OK, considering this is a pretty Rika/v-u-den-enthusiast type of track), this is Rika's solo song from the last v-u-den single, where all of v-u-den got a solo as kind of a farewell thing. And, as expected from a song written for Rika, it is really tailor made for her, though not in the way that people might expect. It's probably as far from Rikaishite> Onna no Ko that you can get (in H!P, anyways), and it fits her surprisingly well. While Rika has a higher sounding voice, I actually think she's REALLY great with a rock sound, which is why I think Hangry&Angry has worked so well. Omoide wa Kanata and H&A aren't necessarily typical H!P, but it fits her well




^And goodness, I love this performance. Rika is a PIMP.


Anata ni Aitai
This is being sort of a cheat, but. It's Rika's solo song from the Ribbon no Kishi musical. I'm cheating mainly because I'm not just going from her voice, but her performance as well, which I feel is justified because of the fact it's a musical performance.
Rika's vocals are really surprisingly good, because she has to sing low and try to be a convincing male character (which she does, again, surprisingly well, considering she's the feminine member). However, her performance is really what makes her shine. See those tears in her eyes? The emotion she shows in her voice and in her song? Rika's REALLY amazing at performing with emotion, which is why I think she does so well in Anata ni Aitai and Ribbon no Kishi.


(Song starts at around 1:30)

This post will be continued shortly; I have a few more songs I want to cover :)

Miki Said What Now?

Earlier today I saw a link in the Rika thread on Hello!Online to a TokyoHive page.

Miki Apparently Didn't Like Rika in MM

Now everyone knows of the Charmikitty tension; how Miki never really seemed to like Rika, or so it seemed. However, I thought that despite the two of them having a rivalry that it didn't really come down to a real dislike.

How could Miki POSSIBLY not like this?

Actually, it didn't surprise me all that much. According to TokyoHive, Miki said it like a funny story and that they're friends now. Still, I never got a feeling of dislike from Rika or even Miki; maybe Miki kept it secret? Doesn't seem likely. Or maybe Rika's THAT sweet/friendly of a person (which I don't doubt one bit).

                                   

I just like this picture.

What Miki said she didn't like about Rika was a tiny bit surprising; she said mainly it was because that Rika was fastidious and acted like the group's mother. But I thought that was pretty commonly accepted; Rika was passionate about things, and liked to help out her juniors and do everything in her power to make MoMusu the best it can be. That isn't new information. However, I thought the only people who got annoyed at that were people like Aibon (who made Rika cry when Rika was trying to help) and Konno (who said so on Utaban and scarred my impression of her). I guess Miki got annoyed, too?

I don't know. I think Rika's motherliness that Miki is criticizing is one of Rika's most endearing traits and one of the things that makes me a fan of hers; she's a real sweetheart who cares about everyone, including her juniors, and wants to make the best show she can. There's nothing wrong with that.

My favorite Rika OPV is...

So, when I started Charmy Disco I was all "OH MAN I'LL HAVE MORE TO TALK ABOUT HERE THAN ON HAPPY DISCO". But that hasn't really happened yet. So. You'll have to make do with my absolute #1 favorite Rika OPV; I love how well it's put together and I've watched it multiple times because I just like it that much.



It's by a user on YouTube, RoumanCeSoiree who did this in 2006 and didn't do anything else, which is a real shame because this is one of my favorites. It has a lot of memorable moments in Rika history; Rika "going ganguro" in the H!M skit corner, "Trance Charmy", Rika with her famous wota Kagaku on Utaban (who was a producer of the show who's focal point was how much he loved Rika), etc. There are a few clips from PVs in there, but most of it's behind the scenes things and things from TV shows showing off the goofy and loveable Rika that the fans of her love.

So yeah, enjoy~

"It's Rika Time"- Serenyty is jealous

Note: I found these pics on JPHiP.com. If you like Rika, visit there, because it's amaazing.

Lately Rika's been doing dinner shows that have the cutest names to me; "It's Rika Time"? "Chu! Rika Party~" So adorable. It's at this point I am insanely jealous of all the Japanese wota out there who get to go to these dinner shows in a fairly small venue and eat dinner and watch nothing but Rika. The price tag for these events is pretty steep, but it definitely seems worth it.

Sooo at this point I'm hoping that when I study abroad (in about a year and a half, I think; I'm aiming for the second semester of my junior year) that Rika will still be doing these and I can go and it will be amazing.

Also, I don't know if everyone got them, but there are a lot of pictures of two-shots (pictures of fans posing with Rika), so if I got one of those I'm pretty positive I would cry of happiness. No joke.

Still, it seems pretty nice, these two-shots. The one thing that makes me infinitely confused is why no one has Rika do the "Gucha~" pose with them, which is holding the thumb and index finger in kind of an L shape next to your face. That's what I'd personally get if I was getting a two-shot with her. 

Ah, well. I can always hope, and I'm REALLY hoping hard that I'll be able to go to one of these kinds of events when I'm in Japan.

Rika is Making an Appearance at the New York Anime Festival

I woke up this morning and, like most mornings, checked my email and my usual Japanese news sources; it's a bit of a habit now, because I know that most news in Japan pertaining to idols will be announced while I am asleep. And this morning, I was surprised to see a couple emails in my inbox with Rika's name on them.

Turns out that Rika is the special guest at the New York Anime Festival as Angry this October.

I immediately started to look up airfare before I realized I couldn't afford it.

Now, I REALLY want to go. I really do, and I'm actually asking my parents if going would be OK and if they'd help me do it. However, my chances of going are quite frankly quite slim. I am an unemployed college student, so deciding to go to a convention in the middle of the fall (when I have classes) about a month and a half away is not very feasible, especially since this is in one of the most expensive cities in the world.

Dropping $1000 (though I want to soooo much) on seeing Rika, when the only thing really confirmed about her appearance is that she'll be appearing at one or two panels isn't really possible for me. However, I'm keeping my eyes open and my fingers crossed and hopefully something will pop up and Rika will do autographs or something.

.... I REALLY want to go. Mmmmphhhhh.