Magi-Kat’s Neighborhood

While going through some old posters in storage I came across my almost complete set of Momusu calendars dating from their 2000 calendar through 2007. The first Momusu calendar was released the previous year in 1999 and the short version of a long sad story is that while I ordered it for the record store that I was working at at the time and did have a copy for myself on hold while just waiting for the next payday...someone took it and purchased it on one of my days off. :O And it was the last copy! :( So while I am missing Momusu's first calendar for the year 1999, I do have the rest of them and I'll be posting them one at a time probably just up until 2004 as those released after that point are probably not rare in any sense as most likely every Momusu fan owns them as well.

They've all been rolled up all this time and without giving them enough time to flatten out once again they're not going to be completely flat in these photos although I did employ the help of a Smap book to help in holding the pages down on the last few months. I've been keeping the original wrappers to rehouse and protect my Japanese calendars when I put them into storage when the years up for each of them and while traditionally these style of wall calendars are intended to be the...tear each page off as the months expire...type of design, I've always preferred to keep all of the pages intact and attached by using a clamping type clip to hang them up instead. So in this way I just flip the months over and when the year's over I can easily roll the calendar back up and return them to their original packaging keeping them in their original form. I think the 2000 calendar has one of Momusu's coolest looking calendar covers ever! Gomaki sported her "original" kinpatsu (blonde) look for quite a brief period when she debuted in "Love Machine" and happily she's still wearing it in this calendar production. ^-^ Her look was simply striking and I remember how much she just stood out when I first got Momusu's "Love Machine" single back in late '99! Momusu would appear on an episode of SmapXSmap shortly afterwards and even Kimutaku dressed as "P-Chan" was wondering what happened to her wonderful "kinpatsu" look!

So much to love about this 8 member lineup!....Nacchi!, Yukosan, Sayaka!, Ayappe!, Marippe!, Gomaki!, Kaorin! and Keisan!

And the production efforts put into the earlier Momusu calendars is also notably of a larger scale. The more recent calendars seem to sport a particular outfit and the members are just paired together rounding out the calendar with a similar background, while like many things back in the "golden" age of Momusu so much more variety and personality was put into them and the creativity was at a premium as well I think. Here in January & February we have Ayappe, Nacchi and Keisan dressed elegantly in kimonos..... ...March & April gives us a group shot with a nice touch of an angelic aura... ...May & June even gives us props!...Yukosan, Kaorin, and Marippe along with..."rain"....kasa...raincoats...and a cute little dog! ^-^... ...July & August brings your wall a Summery feeling with blue skies...surfboard, ukulele, and cute & fun attire. Another thing to note is also the abundance of group shots. I've just always preferred group shots in their calendars versus the various pairings that Momusu calendars sport for the most part now....and that way every month has the entire group that you adore and love upon your wall...and not just some of the members. ^-^... ...But that being said, I had to give exception to that sentiment for September & October and admittedly this particular page of the calendar spent a good long portion of the year on display in my room back then! :P But who can blame me?...Gomaki was new and brought such an energy and special feeling to the group and let's face it, Gomaki and Sayaka as cheerleaders?!!!! What fan could've resisted that?!! \(^o^)/...ah the overall creativity was so much more back then when it came to Momusu's calendars!...if only UFA would go old school on us for the next calendar shoot, just for nostalgia's sake! ^-^... ...and lastly for the year 2000 we have November & December sporting a distinct wintery feeling...just looking at this page makes me feel cozy! ^-^ And yes!..we have another group shot! :)   

While my ventures into anime are quite modest escapes for me, over the years one seiyuu (voice actress) in particular has always been able to capture my attention. Sakurai Tomo (written as both: 桜井智　＆　櫻井智 the former being used earlier in her career while a switch in kanji was chosen for the latter part of her career) is best known for her work in anime (she has quite an impressive anime resume!) and radio dramas but she also released quite an extensive music catalog and interestingly her works can be found on several major labels including Pony Canyon, Warner Music Japan, Pioneer, and Victor who all represent large players in the market. Sakurai Tomo made her music debut in 1995 and her first album is titled "T-mode."

When you really think about it the transition from seiyuu to vocalist seems like a natural venture but while in general all seiyuu have voices that can easily captivate an audience it does not necessarily guarantee a well projected voice in music as well. I've always thought of the talent that voice actors/actresses embody to be quite remarkable as their ability to portray an on screen personality with such convincing feelings and nuances seems to always convincingly connect them with that particular character in a way that the viewer could possibly see the two as one in the same. And then there usually comes the day that an anime fan will finally see the seiyuu behind their favorite anime features and on some accounts perhaps a bit of the fantasy of the seiyuu and on screen character's marriage can be diluted a bit..but really how is a person in real terms supposed to mirror that of a perfectly drawn anime dream character? While this intention may have never been the point, it's really just a nice daydream of sorts to imagine your favorite wide eyed anime characters as having these captivating voices in...um reel ("real") life. Sakurai Tomo however is a bit different in this regard, and while okay she isn't a perfect translation of anime perfection brought to life she does have a remarkable charm and personality about her which embodies much of what is loved in the genre. Viewing her "Tomo Natsu '96" concert is somewhat like watching what an anime character would be like on stage if one had the ability to bring one to life...and really this isn't an exaggeration as her excelled vibrant demeanor and charisma are not unlike the charm that attracts fans to their favorite on screen animated characters both in a physical and audio sense. My Sakurai Tomo collection consists of twelve of her albums a single.... ...and two concert releases. Unfortunately the majority of her music releases are now out of print and her "Tomo Natsu '96" live was never re-released to DVD to my knowledge....I would just love to present a few performances from this aforementioned concert in particular as it really is one of the most entertaining, energetic and cute performances that I've seen over the past 15+ years of collecting J-Pop.....it's just so sad that it's not available on DVD. And just like any other idol, Tomochan has her share of shashinshuus as well....the one above is titled "Ripple." Sakurai Tomo's voice may be best known for her voice acting roles and she as a singer is a perfect extension of this but in some regards her musical vocals even more impressive as her musical genres include everything from cute J-Pop, rock, jazz, and adult contemporary. Here are just a few of my favorites which can be found on her albums "Cherry" (VICL-762) and "Can-D~Musical Selection~" (WPC7-10018)....for if I were to include much more of my favorites this post could go on forever. :P

I've finally been able to complete my Harukachan shashinshuu collection as after months of searching I found a auction seller in Japan who had a copy of Harukachan's "Haru Card" trading card book which was published by Wani Books back in 2000 and has remained quite a rarity as far as availability. Her two earlier shashinshuus are also out of print but usually show up on auctions pretty regularly.

Harukachan's pb collection is a rather modest one as she only released four shashinshuus and "Haru Card" being a trading card book has only a little of its contents dedicated to photo shoot pages while a larger portion is actually a thick cardboard "page" which is hollowed with four pockets which house the trading card set. Her shashinshuu "3" is the most creative of the releases as it contains bonus items including 4 trading cards, message card, and photograph along with a 3 year span of Harukachan photos. Her shashinshuu "18" though is possibly the best shot and with a more mature Harukachan...the camera loves her even more it seems!  Suenaga Haruka nearly single handedly brought the world of the gravure idol to prominence and she's possibly even been on more idol magazine covers than Britney has been on less than flattering scandal rags front pages. :P....I'm afraid it's really close but while Harukachan is celebrated as one of idol's cutest, Britney is...well Britney. The moral to learn here is perhaps this...too much paparazzi = really bad things! :O Harukachan is also well known in the world of commercials, advertising, and has also appeared in dramas, movies, and the popular Go! Go Sentai Boukenger series where she starred as...appropriately, the Pink Ranger. ^-^ The complete "Haru Card" collection is comprised of a total of 60 cards and each card book came with four random trading card packs which contained 7 cards each. 9 special cards which feature golden colored signature writing are also part of the 60 card set and I'm not sure if it's just pure luck but all 28 cards that were included in my pb had no duplicates to my delight. ^-^ I've scanned all 28 cards below and on the backs of each card is either a portion of a larger photo which can be put together to form a larger image if one has enough consecutive card numbers in a section of the card collection while a few other cards feature an additional regular photo on their backs. The front two pages of the card book has a complete listing of every card in the set and while I see no real way of ever completing the 60 card set at least I know what the images look like but more or less I think I've gotten by pure luck the card images that I would've wanted had I actually been able to choose them myself instead of receiving them in the random manner which card sets are usually presented as such was the case here. Harukachan's so cute in all of these card photos and I'm sorry that the clarity may not be the best as these standard sized cards' images are a bit enlarged here. ^-^  

My mom found this issue of duet while in Hokkaido and this is the first time I've heard of this publication and for only 560 yen it's quite impressive as in addition to being quite thick with 188 pages it also includes a two sided pull out poster (this month features Yamashita Tomohisa/ Ohno Satoshi & Ikuta Toma), countless various features on music releases, shows, idol news, interviews as well as a thick glossy 2 sided card which features Hey! say! BEST & Hey Say! 7.

But of course it's Arashi on the cover which makes this magazine most collectible for me and what a great looking cover it is! I just wanted to share scans of my favorite artists from this issue which follow: First Arashi...Matsujun's got a perm!...