02.20.06
Kanjani8 – Funky Town Osaka release info
Kanjani8
F.T.O.
1.大阪レイニーブルース (Osaka Rainy Blues)
2.好きやねん、大阪。 (Sukiyanen, Osaka.)
3.桜援歌 (Oh!ENKA)
4.無限大 (Mugendai)
5.大阪ロマネスク (Osaka Romanesque)
6.Funky Town Osaka
7.Heat is on
8.ONE
9.それでイイんじゃない (Sore de ii jyanai)
10.カーニバル (Carnival)
11.太陽の子供 (Taiyou no kodomo)
12.果テナキ空 (Hatenaki sora)
13.君だけが (Kimi dake ga)
14.悲しい恋 (Kanashii koi)
15.ミセテクレ (Misetekure)
Release Date:2006/03/15
First Press DVD includes backstage footage of the『Spirits!!』DVD. The highly anticipated Osaka Romanesque has been recorded on CD, and the album includes hit singles “Osaka Rainy Blues”, “Sukiyanen, Osaka” to complete the mix.
This K8 album is out on the same day as Hinoi Team’s SUPER EURO PARTY~ I think all the idol groups are gearing up for summer tour season by releasing albums! YAY! Spring and Autumn are always the bumper release periods.
02.11.06
SOLAN HAPPIES – ODORE! Soran Para Para release info
ソーランはっぴぃずと猫ひろし
踊れ！ソーランパラパラ”
01.踊れ！ソーランパラパラ
02.踊れ！ソーランパラパラ（カラオケ）
From: Toshiba-EMI
Mio Tachibana’s (sister of Keita Tachibana from w-inds.) group SOLAN HAPPIES is debuting April 12!! The idea behind this new girl group is Solan Para Para. According to Made in Paradise , Solan Para Para is the kind that Japanese middle school girls do in school during free periods. Unlike the ‘real’ Para Para, it doesn’t emphasise style or precision. Sounds like a bad idea to me.
Seems as though they are copying Hinoi Team! Instead of KORIKKI, they are getting another comedian to debut work with SOLAN HAPPIES. Personally I don’t like 猫ひろし (Nekohiroshi) , he keeps going “Nyaaa” in the most irritating fashion.
REISU’s take on the issue:
It’s quite interesting to analyse what VF’s doing now. Putting out SOLAN HAPPIES is really quite an unexpected move, considering they don’t seem too bothered on sustaining SOLAN HAPPIES’ long term success. I mean, having them copy marketing strategies from another group automatically has them labelled as second rate copycats, which rather sadly seems to be the case now. Yet, it seems as though VF has been planning for Mio’s debut for a while now, since we heard this news from a while back. So we shall await their debut in April! Meanwhile, Mio, please brush up on your parapara-ing.
Actually, there is a new element of marketing in the whole SOLAN HAPPIES plan… And that is the fact that all the girls are top models in their respective magazines. The thinking is probably this: put four wildly popular pre-teen idols together in a group and we’ll be able to pool the adoring fangirls from all FOUR chuugakusei fashion magazines.
My analysis is that the focus isn’t so much on the music since there is only one song on the single. It won’t rake in much revenue either since it’s going for 600 yen, which is about half the price of usual singles. As with most idol music, sales will most probably be modest, or even low.
I guess VF and Toshiba (the record company) are banking on the girls’ IDOL QUALITY as well as the herd mentality of the young Japanese readers of the four big middle school fashion mags ie. “I adore this model, therefore I will buy anything she releases and do anything to imitate her.”
While Hinochi (through KORIKKI) is now trying to appeal to a larger audience ie. girls and young children instead of just idol otaku, SOLAN HAPPIES is quite happy with gaining limited success among the middle school girls. Wonder how long this group will last.
