Musings on the Music of Hello Project

A space for Idol music without the idols. This will be a space for me to talk about the music of Hello Project and at times Up-Front artists as well. Instead of focusing on the idols, this will be a focus on the composers, arrangers, and lyricists of Hello Project. At times I will talk about the girls singing, at times I may post pictures of girls or discuss them as well. But the focus of the blog is music. Click the expand button in the top left to look at my thoughts by the category of their tags. This is largely a conversation between me and myself. I'm just exploring why I love songs with my inner dialog. This is an exploratory journey that you guys can watch if you want.

[hellopromusic]

BEYOOOOONDS - 眼鏡の男の子 Lyrics (作詞): Hoshibe Sho (星部ショウ) Compositions (作曲): Hoshibe Sho (星部ショウ) Arrangements (編曲): Okubo Kaoru (大久保薫) I think this is the first traditional Japanese + idol music song H!P has dropped in a while. I know for a fact its the last one I have heard since Doitsukoi by Kobushi Factory (which was another Hoshibe Shou song (although I did not know that back then). My Japanese culture knowledge is... limited and I'm not exactly sure how to place this song. It gives me major Ondo vibes, but it may just be mis-placed Meiji period music or something. I have no idea. I just know the music is familiar and very associated with traditional Japanese music. The main rhythm in both the percussion and the melody really gives me Ondo vibes. Ondou music examples (ondo is a style of folk music、its a kind of minya) This song is the debut song of the theater focused Beyooooonds, the super group made from 3 smaller groups. It has a a short drama paired with a song, its a great concept. The new group Beyooooonds is holding some of the future utahime's of H!P. Most notably, imo, Yamazaki Yuhane. If you like vocalists, pay attention to her... The lyrics for this song are so great, a cute little number about having a crush on a guy the protagonist knows nothing about and has not met. A typical H!P protagonist as she ends up not being with the guy who she fancies. She wanted to take his glasses off herself and see his naked face, but another girl does it first. Then when she sees the naked face (and the supposed girlfriend), she plays it off by saying he looked better with the glasses on. The aesthetics of the video are to die for. Its like Showa era Josei or shoujou manga. Straight up Flower Comics! ________________________ Song Structure 76 BPM Narration Drama Intro - 5 bars (1/2 bpm) Intro - 8 bars verse 1a - 8 bars verse 2a - 8 bars chorus 1a- 8 bars chorus 1b - 8 bars post chorus 8 bars - pump up - 8 bars rap - 8 bars verse 1b - 8 bars verse 2b - 8 bars chorus 2a - 8 bars chorus 2b - 8 bars silence - 1 bar bridge - 12 bars (1/2 bpm) chorus 3b - 8 bars re-loop 2 bars chorus 4a - 8 bars chorus 4b - 8 bars outro - 8 bars (starts with the carry over Jyan from the chorus) Bridge notes line 1 - bass A B E D G Line 2 - bass A C E A, B Eb, E B E, Eb D, A G B Line 3 - bass C, B Eb, E Eb D, G, Line 4 - bass A B C B C, A B C A B D E _____ Composition The melody is in a minor pentanoic scale of E. It consists of the notes (E G A B D E). I'm sure there is a Japanese name for this scale, because I've heard it so often, but I don't know it atm... So this song is amazing, the genius of Hoshibe Shou! Anyways, so the song goes through about 4 or 5 aesthetic changes. From Japanese folk music to idol pop and even R&B! OMG... So the song, composition-wise, is mostly just a simple bass line and a wonderfully rhythmic melody. It has the "matsuri beat" in the rhythm of the melody. That matsuri beat is so infectious. Its on the same level as some African beats. But its fantastic for sure. The bridge is the most spectacular composition feat, he starts with the pentatonic scale we have been in the whole song and he slips into western music scale and then back to the pentatonic all in the bridge. I think this song is a testament to the power of the basics. There is nothing that Shou does composition-wise that is super fancy (besides the bridge). Although I will admit that the song structure is quite complex with a variety of "sections" just thrown in because it suited Shou's fancy. Playing the song is easy. However, Shou's genius is shown by how he is arranging these simple parts in a way that is breath-taking. The bass and the melody are very simple. The bass line can be learned in seconds. But its the lyrics and the rhythm that give this song its life. _______ Arrangement This song had a nice variety of instrumentation because of the genre hopping it did. We start off with the synth shinobue, taiko, hyōshigi, and sanmisen. Then moves to a digitally produced sound. That keeps the bassline and the melody to create a journey that is fantastic.

[hellopromusic]

Jinsei Blues (人生Blues)

作詞：つんく　作曲：つんく　編曲：大久保薫

This continues a long tradition of "You can do it" songs from hello project. Its one of my favorite genres of idol song. Some of my other favorite songs in this genre include, Kobushi's Kore Kara Da and Angerme's Taiki Bansei. These songs tend to be released when I am going through a struggle and give me perspective. I often think the songwriters are talking to themselves when they write these songs, but even if they aren't, Jinsei Blues felt tailor made for me. I love the message, and showing the girls as non-idols always works for me. Just like Kobushi's Kore Kara Da, this has the girls in "non-idol situations." Its like, what would these girls be doing if they weren't idols? The general theme of Jinsei Blues is, if you are doing something difficult, do not quit, just keep showing up and trying to make a change. If you do that, you will eventually achieve your goal, so long as you do not quit. I once read that quitting means that you are no longer willing to hear people tell you no about whatever you are passionate about.

Despite this song having blues in the title, none of the song has blues as a genre in it. The blues in the title likely means "feeling down," not the american music art form. The intro sounds every bit like Irish dance music in my estimation. Irish dance music  is highly percussive, and the music is highly syncopated, much like Tsunku's new little ditty. The verses, just stay on the same chord, there really isn't musical movement until the chorus where Tsunku gives me that lovely circle of fourths I patiently wait for. In the choruses, the vocal parts are delivered like a rhythmic chant, its very similar to "are you happy." Since the song really doesn't have that much musical movement in it (chord changes,  dynamics, instrument addition and subtraction) the real flavor of the song is added with rhythm and syncopation. Its a great song.

There is this cool computer garbled talk effect that happens on the background vocals that I love, it occurs in the one word parts of the verse (Kowagaru na). For the third chorus Tsunku jumped in 2 beats early before the chorus with the first jinsei tte which is 6 beats instead of the normal 8 beats (2 measures). Also the bridge is only 7 measures instead of the normal 8, its all sorts of witchcraft in this song :)

Format of the Song (Numbers to the left represent the amount of measures in that part of the song)

Intro -  8 Irish Interlude 1 - 8

verse 1a -8 (Kowagaruna) verse 1b - 8 (Shinjou mo) pre chorus 1 -4 (waraette) (Move to another chord)

Jinsei tte 1 - 2 Chorus 1 a - 8 Chorus 1 a Jinsei tte - 1 Chorus 1 b - 8 Chorus 1 end -4 (Jinsei blues)

Irish Interlude 2 - 4 verse 2a -8 (ukareru shi) verse 2b - 8 (aijou mo) pre chorus 2 - 4 (waraette) (Move to another chord)

Jinsei tte 2 - 2 Chorus 2 a - 8 Chorus 2 a Jinsei tte - 1 Chorus 2 b - 8 Chorus end -4 (Jinsei blues) Chorus 2 breakdown 6

Bridge - 7

Jinsei tte 3 -  1 and a half (6 beats)  Chorus 3 a - 8 Chorus 3 Jinsei tte - 1 Chorus 3 b - 8 Chorus 3 end - 4

Irish Interlude 3 / Outro - 4

[hellopromusic]

H!P's Bollywood If They Could

Koi wa Accha Accha

Composition: Hoshibe Sho Lyrics: Kodama Ameko Arrangement: Hirata Shoichiro

So the combo of Hoshibe and Ameko is starting to be one of my favorite duos. They have done two of my all time favorite Angerme songs, marionette 37C degrees, and now Koi wa Accha Accha. I am so very pleased with this writing duo and I hope they stay an item. The song is clearly based on Bollywood type musicals, which have a long, varied, and entertaining history. Bollywood is of course a play on words, its the "Hollywood" of India. Bollywood is known for its grandiose musicals, with their accompanying dance routines and songs. I offer you two old school examples of Bollywood's style in Dola Re Dola and Mehndi Lagaau Kis Naam Ki.

The indisputable highlight for me in this song was hearing Ebi-chan's voice (Ise Layla). She has the voice of a Siren. I am so pleased! So this confirmation for me has me strongly debating whether to let her have my number 1 spot or allow it to remain Maa-chan (Sato Masaki) (who was my original and my only ever Oshimen...)

Anyways, on to the song. So the song has the tonal Center of Gb. I am not sure of key or anything, it may be based on an Indian mode or scale or something. But the notes I used in playing this song were Gb - Ab - A - B - Db - D - F - Gb. The song is 1-4-5, for the most part. Sometimes it stays on the same note, like traditional Indian music (like drones or ragas), but not for long. The pre-chorus is 6-7-4-5-1 tho.  

Structure:

Intro (2 bars) Music Break (4 bars) Half Chorus (5 bars)

Verse 1 (4 bars) Verse 2 (4 bars) Pre-chorus (5 bars) Chorus (9 bars) Breakdown (5 bars)

Verse 1 (4 bars) Verse 2 (4 bars) Pre-chorus (5 bars) Chorus (9 bars) Breakdown (5 bars) Bridge (5 bars) Pre-chorus (5 bars) Odoritai Long (2 bars) (Meter slows down)

Chorus (9 bars) (Meter returns) Chorus (9 bars)

I really would like you guys to pay special attention to the Indian instruments that are used in the song. I think they (likely Hirata Shoichiro) do a good job of sprinkling in those traditional Indian instruments like the tablas and the sitar. They have reeded instruments and others. I think you should really pay attention to those little additions.

[hellopromusic]

~Bring it on! I won't lose! ~

Up Up Girls (2) - Kakkate kinasai

Up Up Girls Kakko Nikki are the smoldering younger sisters of Up Up Girls Kakko Kari and Up Up Girls Pro Wrestle. They are content queens for their idolizers. They provide a lot of high quality content tailored for the wota, like dance covers, reaction vids, or streamed concerts for disposed wota... and this is in addition to the standard stuff like blogs. This particular song is very H!P-ish because King Tsunku handled the sound production. This number has that faux hip-hop feel Tsunku sometimes uses, like in Morning Musume's Cho Dai.

As expected of King Tsunku, he used an extra big shot of charm for this melody. Just like their visuals, Tsunku kept the melody simple and sophisticated. The melody dances around like a fiddler's bow...

Also, the dance routine in this song is one fantastic! There is this one reoccurring part where they act like marionettes being picked up by their puppet master. Its my favorite part, you might like it, too.

Its easy to ignore, but do not miss out on the intros and outros. They are so quiet and simple. Simplicity is divine. Take time and behold the divinity (how ironic when speaking of idols, but I digress).The wobbly synth is heaven.

[haropro-confessions]

On YouTube I saw two morning musume songs that ruru performed at her bday event. Now I see why she was not added into the group. If she was, then other members (excluding Sakura) would have no singing lines (especially mizuki and masaki). We all know well that she can sing and so if had been added to morning musume then the group would of become, sakura and ruru featuring backup dancers.

(This is the only one I could find on youtube from her bday event)

[hellopromusic]

This 1000x!

Danbara Ruru blew me away with her birthday performances, covering MM, Berryz, and C-ute in one take... by herself... Her vocals were on par with the originals. Thats saying a lot as they all had certified utahimes...

I have not been devoting enough attention to cheering this girl on... She just my creep into my top 3.

[hellopromusic]

Album Recommendations Series - Tsubaki Factory - first bloom Tsubaki Factory is an idol group in Hello!Project. They are the sister group to Kobushi Factory. They have 2 generations of members at the time of recording the album. As a unit they are the closest to the "stereotypical" idol group in terms of both sound and looks. Hello!Project has developed a reputation of idols that are "more than just cute." They generally have a bit of weirdness to them and often the protagonists in their songs are the type of girl who wasn't the most popular or cutest girl in class (even though the actual girls in H!P likely are the most beautiful girls in their class). A bit jealous, a bit insecure, but still beautiful, youthful, and full of dreams. Until very recently, Tsubaki Factory was the newest group in H!P, but that has changed with Beyooooonds. _______________________________________ My initial thought after listening to the album was, this album would have been an  amazing experience if I had not have obsessively listened to the singles that were on the album as they came out. 11 of the 18 songs were singles that I had heard before I listened to the album. So only 7 songs were "new experiences." To compare that to the latest Morning Musume album "Thank You, Too," only had 5 out of the 14 songs that were released as singles on that album. So it was a jarring experience to listening to songs I had a high familiarity with and then a group of songs that were completely new. My favorite song was Date no Hi, my least favorite new song was Happy Cracker. In my opinion, because Tsubaki is the most "vanilla" idol group in all of Hello!Project, this album is the most digestible album for non-wota (read normal people).  I think this would be a great album to get newer people involved in idols or into Hello!Project as a whole. The genres are varied and very accessible. However, its strengths are its weaknesses for the musically minded like myself. I felt that there was not enough stretching to make there be a real musical statement in the music. There are no standout "utahime" moments, or solos that were just breath-taking, or vocal harmonies that made me stop and say, "my god." The album was just so safe. For a first album I think  that it is a solid introduction to the group and a sturdy post in their discography. I just think they played it safe. I am becoming a huge fan of Hoshibe Shou, but it seems they are not going for his style on their album, he only composed two songs on the album (the same amount as Tsunku, KOUGA, and Nakajima Takui). I think this album may have one of the most diverse composer credit lists in the recent Hello!Project album releases. This has a "high" amount of outside producers (people who have no track record of consistently making music for Hello!Project) as well. I think that there is value both in: (1) diversity of a varied composer credit list; and (2) the consistency a small composer list can give. I wish the credits were more consistent so the project could have been more consistent and cohesive in theme. This is more of a nitpick than anything. If we include their whole discography KOUGA did their first single. That would make them the most represent composer in their original discography. _______________________________________ My favorite thing about the album was how much live instrumentation they used. There were synths a plenty and some fully produced songs here and there, but a good amount of this album had actual musicians playing actual music... according to the credits there were 7 songs that had 2 or more musicians playing real instruments. I appreciate that. Of course as a music lover, I would like that number to be closer to 100%. However, I still think the programmed songs are great as well. It is just an aural aesthetic. My least favorite thing about the album was how there was no show of vocal excellence from the girls (not in singing, not in speaking lines, not in vocal tone, it was all so generic). I feel like the girls contributed very little to the album. I think this was a good album, musically. However, it is like the voices could be changed and I would feel the same about the album. I wish Tsubaki would have shown me a bit more of their talent and personality through their vocal performance. I hate that this album does not sound like an album only Tsubaki could record. __________________________________________________ I give this album 4 stars. Some of the new songs needed to grow on me, but overall I really enjoyed the experience of listening to this album. I think other people will too. I think this album is worth spending your money on. I would highly likely recommend this album to others.

[aninactivebloggfgfgf]

An Open Letter to Tumblr about the Adult Content Ban and How it is Hurting Your Users:

Recently, Tumblr was removed from the Apple app store due to an incident involving child pornography. This incident is incredibly unfortunate, but it doesn’t stand alone. Tumblr was also removed from the app store due to the large influx of porn bots and pornographic spam, users claiming to be proud to be pedophiles, blatant Nazism, racists who are not deleted for sending hate and harassing users, and more. I myself reported someone for harassing me, but because I had blocked the person and couldn’t access the messages where they harassed me, they were still able to send me anonymous asks. Your support staff, with back doors to the website (presumably), claimed they could not access the messages, and I was left SOL. Many features on this website do nothing to actually protect your users from harassment, racism, homophobia, transphobia, Nazis, pedophiles, predators, porn bots, and more. 

You claim in your statement to us that you “have been working on these problems for a long time”. This is blatantly untrue. Please do not lie to us and patronize us. We’ve been here. We’ve seen you do nothing over, and over, and over again. 

We complained to you for months and months about the rampant porn bots, and you did nothing except add a report button on mobile which only reported sensitive content or spam at best. You could have addressed this problem with an effective algorithm, but you did not. We complained to you about being harassed and sent hate speech for being LGBT+, and you did nothing. We complained to you about blogs being randomly deleted, and sometimes you’ve restored them, other times you have not. We complained to you that there were people proudly claiming to be “Minor Attracted Persons”, or pedophiles, and you did nothing. We complained to you about people proudly claiming to be white supremacists, and you did nothing. All of these things are “against the community guidelines”, and yet over and over, you have not found effective ways to handle these problems or suppress the feeling of welcome that these users claim to get here. You have had a long time to work on these problems, but you haven’t addressed them. To say you have is untrue. 

 Multiple other social networking websites, such as Wordpress, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and others have effectively dealt with rampant pornography, racism, pedophilia, and other problems without causing massive issues for their users who are not misusing the platform. They are continuing to find new, effective ways to deal with these issues without causing problems for their userbase as a whole.  There is no reason that you are unable to do this effectively other than that you wanted to do it quickly. You have once again chosen your stock holders over your users. And we have had enough. 

You have already started to ban “Adult” content with a new algorithm. Here are screenshots of just a fraction of the posts you have flagged as containing adult content:

Your new system of simply tackling everything at once is not working. At all. And each of these screenshots is proof of your utter incompetence. None of these posts contain pornographic acts, “female nipples”, or any community violation of any kind. 

We, the users, have been asking you for months to deal with these problems - particularly, the porn bots and bots that spam. In order to block a bot from a side blog, I have to do it manually, even though they are in my side blog’s feed. This is a huge issue for mobile - only users. They keep cropping up in droves, taking over our posts and tricking google into making it look like a legitimate blog linked to a pornographic website. We have complained to you for months and months now, and your solution to simply “ban all adult content” is ineffective. I agree that children should not be able to access pornography - but this is not how you tackle a porn bot problem. Your system is utterly useless, allows for racists, pedophiles, porn bots, and Nazis to remain untouched. It also harms sex workers and real people who may use this website for some forms of adult content responsibly. Moreover, as seen above, it harms plenty of users who have in no way violated your terms of service.

 If you keep this up, you threaten your website and company as a whole. Many of us are backing up our blogs and planning places to go to. 

You already have a content filter for “sensitive” content (content inappropriate for younger viewers). You could have improved this, instead of attacking your entire user base. It seems to be a very lazy “solution”, if you could call it one at all, and one that harms your entire userbase.

If you are going to keep this filter in place and make Tumblr, a website that has never been known for being family friendly and has never claimed to be, you are going to lose millions of your users. We are already planning our exodus. It isn’t hard to follow. Censor us, and we will go somewhere else. That is not a threat. It is a promise. 

Sincerely, 

The users of your website. 

@staff @support

[aninactivebloggfgfgf]

They flagged this post immediately and I’ve submitted it for review… this is… quite a week.

[aninactivebloggfgfgf]

If you believe these words, reblog it, please. I want this to be right in their face because I couldn’t email them directly. 

[slimegalaxies]

@staff

[wingedcatninja]

@staff

[dancing-daydreamer]

@staff

[hellopromusic]

@staff @support

[dailyjidols]

sayumi michishige’s album sayuminglandoll ~tokyo~ is out today!    

[hellopromusic]

*sigh* Im such a liar, I said no idols, but Im reblogging because its the queen herself and I just wrote about the song these caps are from.

[hellopromusic]

I wrote this guide with it to be a simple guide to self-radicalize future wotas. If you disagree with me, please make a better graphic, I just want to make it easy as possible for new people to get involved. 

If you are just getting into Hello Project, things can be overwhelming. So I am writing a mini-guide on my recommendations for how to get involved with the groups. In short you pick a group, then pick a girl, then cheer her on with every release, seeing her struggles and her successes.

So start with youtube and just watch like three or four videos for each group. After you decide you like a groups aesthetic, its probably best to get right into the dvd magazines to start seeing the group's personality and to see the chemistry the different girls have with each other. 

A dvd magazine is a video that is about an hour long that has the girls doing something other than music, it may be back stage conversations, or on stage MC's, it could be athletic competitions, it could be punishment games, or the girls going on a vacation, or the girls eating food, etc.... dvd magazines are also the cheapest video you can buy, but if you ask around in communities, you may find people who will loan you a copy or make you a copy of their dvd magazine if you don't have money. Check the Hello!Project wiki for what the latest dvd magazine for your group is.  After watching dvd magazines, its way easier to identify the girls in the group because you see them for extended periods of time, unlike the cuts in a music video. In my opinion, the best way to really start engaging in the community is to pick one or two girls who you want to cheer on and then watch their growth. Check out their member blogs and any photobooks they may have. Cheering on the idols and watching their growth is probably the most rewarding part of being a fan of an idol. After you pick your favorite members, then you can start learning about the other things they do, and all the devious ways Hello!project has devised to part you from your money. But I would not suggest spending any money on a group until you know at least half of it's member's names and colors. Also do not forget about the Kenshuusei (there is a Tokyo and a Hokkaido Kenshuusei), it can be especially rewarding to watch their journeys.

Before you spend any money, become involved in the English fan communities. There are many, and the community may be dispersed, but do not become discouraged, you are not alone. In my opinion, you should spend a lot of time at the Hello!Project Wiki, its good, detailed, and has immaculate English records of what things Hello!Project releases. If you like forums you can check out hello!online, jplop, mm-bbs, or JPHiP. for news on H!P you can check out Hello Project News Service.  For images, tumblr is still pretty active. The Hello!Project twitter community is quite active. There are app-based communities like discord and amino. You can join the discord channels Hello Project Fans, here, and Hello Project Chat, here. There are translation sites like wota in translation, project blog, project hello, and hello project radio.

When you are ready to spend money there are a lot of ways to do it. You can spend money on music, live performances, videos, merchandising, or pictures. Hello Project releases music both physically and digitally (sometimes only digitally) in single and album formats. Main benefit of albums is they have new songs you have never heard recorded, main benefit of the singles is you get instrumental versions of the songs (which are fantastic! You SHOULD listen to them!). Petit Best is also an annual sampler of that years’ Hello Project music, so its an album that collects some releases for all the groups into one CD. Petit Best will sometimes be the only way to get the digital releases on CD. Each group has a number of live performances they do a year, seasonal tours (spring and autumn) along with summer and winter hello project concert tour with all of Hello!Project together, and an annual Hina-fest (notable for its random shuffle units). In addition they do other live performances for Fanclub members throughout the year. In my opinion as a music wota, the live performances are really some of the best content Hello!Project produces. There are many videos that are released including concert videos, dvd magazines, fan club videos, gravure videos (IV) for individuals and groups (every member does a gravure video as an introduction, but as time goes on they may do gravure videos that are not related to photobooks, and generally photobook making of dvds are a great way to get to know the idols themselves. Merchandising is some of the hardest stuff to get your hands on as an overseas fan, in general you have to get lucky online or attend their overseas shows. Hello project sells pictures of the idols in a variety of formats, most are available in limited quantities online.

Anyways, I hope this helps someone, as I am still learning about how to be a fan in this community as I type. Good luck and may your oshi become a center in her group... Amen, lol.

[exyrottiv-deactivated20221217]

ANGERME’S 7TH GENERATION MEMBERS ANNOUNCED

伊勢鈴蘭  Ise Reira (auditionee from the 2018 ONLY YOU audition)

太田遥香  Oota Haruka (from H!P Kenshuusei Hokkaido)

[hellopromusic]

Lovely lovely, great news for Angerme. (Pic from core2quad at Hello online forums)

[hellopromusic]

Loneliness Tokyo

Sayu: Am I still cute today? Me: Yes my love, of course you are...

SAYUUUUUUUUUUU! Minishige!

SAAAAAYUUUUUUUU!

Whew..... SaYuuuUUUUUUuuU!

After earnestly attempting to write an objective review of the music in this video, I have simply given in to the urge to fanboy about Michishige Sayumi. This song is run of the mill Tsunku EDM (read:great). The kind of song I could easily listen to 40 more times. I think the song is about the loneliness you can feel when trying to chase after your dreams. I think the protagonist may have had a lover they left behind to come to Tokyo. I think this song is explaining to that lover that it sucks being here, and everything is hard. But given that, the protagonist can't run away from this situation, because this is where her dream lies... But I have not seriously looked at the lyrics, so I may be wrong.

I just friggen love Sayu in this video. Its literally just Sayu walking down the street and in like more than a dozen different outfits. My favorite is the one with the glasses and the hat (by the way). But she was not just walking, she was working as well. I mean she was working the camera, working the sidewalk, serving up face, posing, teasing, enticing... Bish was working. Like its literally nothing but her walking around, but her fashion sense, posing, and the background settings just make watching this a HIGHLY pleasant experience for me.

I wish I could produce an idol like her. I wish I could pick the music, pick the wardrobe, pick the lyrics, and then say... Sayu... breathe life into my creation.... *pensively looks away*

Naturally, I do not need to explain Sayu's greatness to anyone reading this, but I will unequivocally state that Sayu is one of the greatest to have ever been an idol. Sayu's appeal is multifaceted. Of course one of the reasons Sayu appeals to so many wotas (read: me) is because they can see she is a filthy lolicon, just like them, lol... The biggest difference is she has direct access to her prey. The proverbial wolf in sheep's clothing. There are so many accounts of her attacks and attempted attacks on her victims that are documented on camera... I can only imagine what went on behind the scenes. Gotta love Sayu... well at least I love Sayu.

However, I suppose the main reason wotas love Sayu is that she has abnormal levels of cuteness. She also has retained her cuteness as she aged, she is pushing up on 30 and her cuteness has only increased. Sayu is the forever cute idol. She literally looks like a doll. She may be one of the most objectively cute women I have seen in my life. She is not my sexual preference, but she sure is cute... Her cuteness creates a moe in me. On one hand she seems so useless, like she can't do anything but be cute, but on the other hand her effort is so high.

Seeing her try so hard strengthens the moe in me. Like clearly, she is no ballet dancer, she is no opera singer. However, everyday she is giving her all to give her fans the best that she has. When I see her effort, I end up respecting her more than an idol who "just" has natural talent and wants to be praised because of what god gave her. An idol like that hasn't worked for anything, they haven't sacrificed anything. Sayu has sacrificed her life to be an idol, and once she left, she found she did not know how to live a life where she was not an idol. I'm sure she found that she could not be a normal person, she spent more than half her life as an idol and all of her adult years as an idol.

Thank you for your service Sayumi~

[moonlightselene]

WonderWorld! Project First Auditions

~Shining Stars~ Auditions are currently open!

WonderWorld! Project is a Hello!Project English Dub project which hopes to unite the world in song!  We are unique because our members choose most of the songs they wish to participate in with a few exceptions (being debut singles and other special releases).

These Auditions will stay open for a month unless production feels we need an extension so that we at WW!PRo can see if you can learn a chosen song and record it within a certain time period.  There will be no organizing of groups and subgroups within WW!Pro at the moment, so anyone’s voice at any singing level is accepted! Don’t be afraid to let us hear your voice! There’s no judging here!

This is WW!Pro’s first set of auditions, and we are really excited to have others join our small family!  There are only a few things you need to do in order to audition:

Record yourself singing the first chorus and verse of Juice=Juice’s Wonderful World (English Ver.)

You will need a Discord in order to interact with other members of the group and get important information from Production, so if you don’t already have one, please make one!

Post your audition and fill out the information on this Google Docs Sheet.

It’s as simple as that! Good luck to all who audition! (*•̀ᴗ•́*)و ̑̑

[hellopromusic]

H!P All Stars - 憧れのStress-free

Akogare no Stress-free Lyrics and Composition: Tsunku Arrangement: Hirata Shoichiro Music Video: Nomura Toru

Normally I do not engage in idol talk, but I always make exceptions when I'm moved. So this video was great because it showed the members of H!P in a way that shows the popularity of the members and a slice of personality for them. The whole video is a collection of Solo Shots (one red background, one blue background) that were put together in a manic fashion. This girls on screen correspond to the girls singing in the song. Since its the HP all stars, the singing lines are generally split up by group, so one group sings this line, another sings this line, you can see who is singing by what solo shots are on the screen. In general, the groups do not mix when they sing, but not all members sing at once. So 5 girls from MM may sing at one time, but its not a mix of 3 MM and 2 Angerme girls on screen at once. Its pretty cool. I think Dawa and Fuku-hime are the only ones to get a solo line, and they are the leader and sub-leader of hello project respectively. If you focus on the center of the screen, you can see who the "most popular" girls are in each group. The  closer to the middle of the screen, the more popular, except probably Maa-chan who is not represented as such. So fan favorites like Ayacho, Kumikkyo, Hama-chan, kiki-chan, etc got big pictures and were near the center. This gives you a general ranking of the popularity of the girls. If she is off in the corner, she is probably an acquired taste. But if you study those solo shots, my oshis were SHINING! I was Love love LOVING Akane's solo shots, they were almost as charming as Maa-chan's but not quite... I am excite!

Biggest thing in this video is how this is the first single that Beyonds participated in. So It feels good looking at these girls who have been patiently waiting to debut. They look so nice here, but I am waiting until they get more mature as a group to really cheer for them, but I'm patiently waiting for them to blossom.

General Thoughts

Surf Rock + Baroque = WTF. Just how in the world did Tsunku mix the two genres? Why would he even try... this song is another really good example of songs you will only hear in H!P. So surf rock is a style of rock that emerged with the electric guitar. This is probably one of the most popular surf rock songs. The sound of the guitars and the space between the notes... yes, this IS my aural image of the surf rock sound... and baroque is a period of "classical music" that is highly distinct...

Song Structure

Okay disclaimer time. I am no music major or performer, so my musical vocabulary to talk about some of the things Tsunku does is limited. He does not often write typical songs, so I do not have the correct vocabulary for the variety of parts he has in this song. I have just chosen to name the parts of the song as follows and whenever I want to mention a part of a song, just know that is what I'm talking about.

Lead In - 1 bar Intro - 8 bars 1st Verse -  8 bars Chorus -stress 8 bars 2nd Verse - 8 bars Part A (Peace) - 8 bars Part B (Naritai) - 6 bars Baroque Bridge - 10 bars 3rd Verse - 8 bars True Chorus (Fuku-Hime) - 2 bars  True Bridge - 20 bars

1st Verse -  8 bars Chorus -stress 8 bars 2nd Verse - 8 bars Part A (Peace) - 8 bars Part B (Noritai) - 6 bars Baroque Bridge - 10 bars 3rd Verse - 8 bars True Chorus (Dawa) - 2 bars  Outro 10 bars

Lyrics

Its hard for me to tell what this song is about without me translating it. I do not want to translate it at the moment, so I think that I will just be in the dark about this song until I translate it. However, it seems to be a song about the stress in young women's lives. They stress other bring to them, and the stress that they put on themselves. I think the protagonist wishes that they lived in a stress free time like when they were a child, but alas, no such luck.

Arrangement 

So the sounds in this songs seem to be keyboard, drums, guitars, bass. A very stripped down small combo sound. I generally favor this sound over the very large, tons of sonic layers, sound. Its probably a symptom of my Jazz preferences. I think the most understated part of this song may be the bassline. Tsunku is known to be a fan of "funky" basslines, and in this song he really gives the song a lot of bounce with his basslines in the verses. In the intro, the bassline is very typical of surf rock, but after the intro the bassline gets very groovy baby. It is, of course, very plain in the Baroque Bridge, because its baroque-like. But outside of the baroque bridge the bassline is really worth noticing.

The True bridge is quite "ProTool-y" in that its like a EDM breakdown-y type thing. No emulations of live instrumentation like the other parts of the song. It certainly is a different experience.

I think I have clearly stated that I am a very very helpless circle of fifths addict and would do anything to "get my fix." Tsunku serves up a really nice version of it first 4 bars of the baroque bridge. Here is an example of legit baroque music played on piano. Of course the voice is one melody (and harmony) and the keyboards play another melody and the bass is the slope that serves as the base for us to descend the beautiful circle of fifths slide.

One of the notable things in this song is the amount of space in the song. Its a fairly open song with so much space in between the notes and the phrasings of the instrumentation. Its not this huge cacophony of sound. Its likely because so few elements were used to make the song and the genre of the song lent itself to leaving spaces and openess between the instruments. Its so great, its like a grilled cheese sandwich, the lack of things competing for your taste buds allows you to really taste what the cheese, bread, and butter bring to the eating experience... In a way that they may be lost or not as noticeable in eating a fully dressed burger. Anyways, I just think that the keyboards play the most chilled part in the background part of the song. Ever so often, just popping in on 1 to give us some color to the song. The rhythm guitar is just chugging along, lol. The lead guitar is like a drizzle of dressing that just shows up every so often and just gives us a sweet simple guitar lick to chew on, then disappears. Then that main guitar riff that starts the song off in the lead in is playfully withheld from us listeners.

The vocal part in general is two part harmony. But in times is gets more complex (Part A Peace) and more simple (True Chorus). In my opinion, its standard H!P fare (which I like a lot), but I think that its hard to notice how much flavor H!P give to songs without listening to instruments. Maa-chan already told the people they need to listen to more instrumentals... On the other hand, the harmonizing parts of the vocals are not shabby. The youtuber “Hello Factory” has a channel full of extractions of the isolated vocal and chorus versions of H!P songs. Please like and subscribe to them if you like what they are doing. You can find their channel here. Just listen to the harmonies in this song, aren't they just splendid? Listen to the Vocal Version and the Chorus Version。Its actually more nuanced and has more parts than I realized on first listen. The harmonization is so beautiful... man H!P is certainly for music wota.

All in all. I think its songs like this that make it worthwhile to be a Tsunku wota. All of his stuff is good, but from time to time he will give you something you can only hear from Tsunku. This is one of those songs.

[hellopromusic]

Visit Original Link

Kasa wo sasu Senpai

I love Maro (Fukuda Kannon). For additional readings on Maro, please read any of her articles on Wota in Translation.

This is such a Maro-esque song. In fact, it evokes the types of feelings that fuel my love hate relationship with Maro. I’m always perplexed that such a selfish, broken, inconsiderate, conceited, narcissistic girl could engender me with this huge sense of moe feelings. I want to protect her, because I know the aforementioned character traits grew out of some trauma or unfulfillment in her younger life. I have a moe because I know under it all, she is just a normal girl that needs love and most of all at her age, acceptance. I find her physically attractive, I love her voice, and think she is such a great idol, but her self-loathing gets in the way of that sometimes. Her attention seeking behavior because of her self-loathing was unfortunate. Where her feelings of self-loathing come from, I may never know, and its none of my business, but since I like her, I think about it from time to time. Anyways Maro left Angerme and embarked on a journey to become a lyricist. She penned her graduation song, Watashi, and I have been paying close attention to the songs she wrote since then… because I’m a filthy wota and will support her as long as I can.

Anyways the lyrics seem like something straight out of a page of Maro’s life. I have made the English version of the lyrics gender neutral because in my mind I ship Maro and Ayacho. In my mind Ayacho is the one holding the umbrella… and Maro is crushed. Oh course, its not real, but let a man have his daydreams :)

Here is the english version of the lyrics. This is not a translation, its an English style interpretation of the Japanese Lrics.

Country Girls - Sempai’s Umbrella

Intro

Who is that girl that Sempai is holding the umbrella for?

Verse 1

My heart started beating so fast when I saw those two getting along so well Beating so fast that even my dummy of a Sempai could notice I bet Sempai told her she was cute when she was laughing at those jokes just like a little sister I bet that Sempai is telling her all sorts of things like that

Chorus 1

Who is that girl that Sempai is holding the umbrella for? I have lost that cute smile you praised me for Just like you did not notice my rain, you did not notice me quietly running away from this scene… I bet they did not notice me at all I’m such a useless girl

Verse 2

My chest got so tight when you greeted me the next day with no expression like nothing happened Despite the start of all these peculiar rain showers, my heart has not caught up with June’s rainy season My “rain rain go away” window charm is supposed to be constantly preventing these rainy days

Chorus 2

Why didn’t the blossom of my love close after Sempai closed that umbrella… I wonder what kind of girl was walking with Sempai? She has to be an amazing girl… Yea, I understand that, but understanding how amazing she must be makes my chest hurt And yet even so, I think its a little like me to be hurt… I’m such a useless girl

Chorus 3

Who is that girl that Sempai is holding the umbrella for? I have lost that cute smile you praised me for Just like you did not notice my rain, you did not notice me quietly running away from this scene… I bet they did not notice me at all I’m such a useless girl

The music is such a simple composition (it suits Maro’s simplistic writing style, simple is not bad imo), but it suits this song so well. Its generic H!P, but a bit more melancholy than regular idol music. I love melancholy, unrequited love, drama, all that crap, so naturally I love this song, lol.

I find the second chorus to have especially great song writing. Its different from the first and has the best line in my opinion. My favorite line in the whole song is its third line, it evokes such a sense of hopelessness. Its like recognizing that in the competition, there never was any competition to begin with. That sort of sad moment creates a BURNING moe inside of me, like Maro… its okay, great things await you in the future, its okay… its okay.

[hellopromusic]

Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, its just another idol song...

Umeboshi Onigiri perfectly describes this song. A quick glance would have you think its a plain dish, but one only needs a couple bites to be transported to a whole new world.

If something starts out "unremarkable", when it becomes "remarkable," that moment has a more lasting impression. Playing with expectations leads to delightful moments. If you have ever eaten Onigiri, you know the rice is too bland on its own, but at the same time, the filling is too flavorful on its own. However, if you eat Onigiri from top to bottom, at first you only get rice. As you go further down, you get nori mixed in the bites as well... then and as you eat further you stumble upon a bit of the filling. At last, the bottom is nothing but rice and nori. That is this song, in a walnut shell.

This song works so brilliantly to me because the verses are so bland, that the dance solo (bridge) stands out like a guy walking around Walmart in a bespoke Armani suit. For the majority of the video, the background coloring on the set is standard white light. However, in the dance solo, the lighting has this tasogare, dusky kind of “sun in the sky” feeling on he set, to let you know the flavor here is going to be stronger. The verses are so generically typical, so closely adhering to the "idol guidebook" that its almost as if they are mocking other idol groups or something. Like, at H!P we can do "run of the mill" typical idol stuff, too, we can cram a bunch of pretty girls on stage, too. We will give you guys a "safe" song, a "safe" routine" with "safe" little outfits, just like other idol groups. In the end, however, in true Tsunku fashion, the song ends up being so much more nuanced than most idol pop (for example with lyrics that appear to be Tsunku talking to his self about what he has accomplished over these 20 years), so much more layered than idol pop (for example the subtle vocal harmonies in the verses), and to have much deeper meaning than most idol pop (for example the impending transfer of the H!P leader torch from Ayacho to Fuku-chan).

Tsunku has really been experimenting with counterpoint these days (Tsubaki Factory's Date no Hi also had a bit of counterpoint in its verses). Please pay close attention to the harmonies the strings have together in the dance solo (bridge) before the piano comes back in. The dance solo part is the Umeboshi deep inside the Onigiri. In fact, this wota would listen to this song, just for that little morsel.

What do you guys think about H!P 55? Would you like H!P as much if the girls were bundled up like this, instead of the discreet groups they are in now (sonically, visually, and personality-wise)?

Omake: Here is a video with just the dance solo... I... certainly have not obsessively been watching it...

[hellopromusic]

Itoshima Distance 

Lyrics: Mari-Joe Composition: Hoshibe Sho  Arrangement, Keyboard, Programming: Okubo Kaoru  Violin, Viola: Muroya Kouichiro  Alto and Tenor Saxophone: Takegami Yoshinari  Chorus: ANGERME, M!ho  

I'm using the another version because I feel it evokes the feel of the song better. Its very date like and has imagery from Kyushuuu, including a lot of things mentioned in the lyrics. Read the lyrics, then watch the video... this really is great stuff.

History

This song was in the the debut single of 4th generation member Kamikokuryo Moe and the last single to feature 2nd generation member Tamura Meimi.

As Itoshima is a city in Fukuoka Prefecture, the lyrics "suitou to" (好いとうと) and "yaken" (やけん) in "Itoshima Distance" are of the local Hakata dialect.

Some Landmarks in the Song

Kego Park 

Cosmos are Autumn flowers that bloom at Nokoshima Island 

Tenjin is a busy downtown section of Fukuoka City 

This is a song that came out when I had gone back to school and was not hardcore into H!P. I first heard it like a year ago. The outfits for the video and the music really cemented this song as one I would love forever. It was also one of the songs that helped relieve my "Tsunku stepping down" tension as I discovered Sho could make great songs as well. He can not replicate that "Tsunku" flavor, but Sho's songs were really good. Sho has blessed Angerme with some great songs, between him and Takui Angerme's post "Exclusively - Tsunku" discography is very nice.

Anyways this song makes me nostalgic for a place I've never been. Making me long to do activities I've never done, and drive in my car with a lover I've yet to meet. This could have been a super sexy kayokyoku song if it were slowed down a bit and they switched up the instrumentation. Mari-Joe's lyrics are great, but to get that kayo feel, there needs to be less words, but that’s neither here nor there... my pipe dreams, lol.

Song structure

The song is in f minor. The BPM is 120, and the time signature is 4/4. 

Intro Pre-verse 1 - Song's melodic theme Verse A1 - Doushita no Verse B1 - Chotto Matte Pre-Chorus 1 - Itsumo Chorus A1 - Suitou to Chorus B1 - Suitou to Pre-Verse 2 - Slutty Sax solo Verse A2 Verse B2 Pre-chorus 2 Chorus A2 Chorus B2 Bridge - Teasing Sax solo Chorus A3 Chorus B3 Pre-verse 3 - Song's melodic theme Outro

Lyrics

This song embodies too little too late. The protagonist in this song is a girl getting broken up with... Its that kind of sad song. So on a car ride home, the boyfriend breaks up with the protagonist and as they ride home. Her mind is filled with regret and denial. She remembers only the good times and likely has no recollection of the things that made the boyfriend want to break up. She believes in her heart of hearts that if the boyfriend remembers the goodtimes, he will choose her again.

I'm not sure if they live in Fukuoka City and are traveling to Itoshima, or the other way around. But  I, personally, love the image of a country girl being impressed by going to the big city and have a date, a little udon, some karaoke, like its a big deal. Then going home feeling like she was a city slicker and wanting to shake the country life. So I'm voting for them living in Itoshima. However all the Japanse fans seem to say they are on a trip to Itoshima, but in the end, it doesn't matter.

One of my favorite lines is when she talks about how she has looked through the car window so many times, seeing beautiful things, showing the window was a conduit for joy. But now in the reflection of the same window she now sees a person she loves, but doesn't recognize... oh its poetic. Its like, she associates so many good memories with the window, I guess they take trips often. But now, currently, at the moment, the window is a conduit for pain.

Composition and Arrangement

Instruments in the track are the piano, bongos, saxophone, strings, guitar, bass guitar. To paraphrase the great Maa-chan, You should give the instrumentals a listen from time to time. This one is great.

In this song I have less "oh that part was great" and its just overall a top tier song in my mind. I like all the parts and every section has at least 2 or 3 things I like. I would be here all day listing them. But if I had to pick a crowning moment of awesome, its the melody in the verses. It ebbs and flows like the waves crashing on an Itoshiman beach... That 7th and 8th bar in each of the two verses... just yes... Then they lead to that perfect rhythm on  "Itsumo." These guys are playing for keeps. I'm a huge fan of singing naturals in melodies, they give this sort tension that I love prolonging. Well in this melody they sprinkle a couple in for the music wotas like me. Probably my favorite use of it is in the chorus when they are singing the natural 3rd on Omoidashite (the "i") and Ano Machi parts (the "ma"). This is an example of "if the song was slower and had less lyrics" I would have loved it more. That natural 3rd could have been so much more satisfying, but instead its just (a very welcome) part of a vocal movement in the melody.

The song is sonically spacious. It feels as if there are only like 3 instruments playing at a time, so its not over crowded with musical ideas. The most prominent feature is the bassline that is just throbbing with sass. Sometimes there is more, but it just feel open like a trio and I appreciate that openess.

I don't think I've ever really talked about my musical foundation, but I come to music from (largely) Jazz and Video Game Music. My Jazz roots give me an affinity for live musicians in both performance and recording. I love lots of programmed stuff (ie. VGM), but a composition really shines when its played by live musicians. Which is why contemporary VGM is at a kind of apex for me (but that’s a conversation for another time). Anyways, whenever a Hello!Project song uses live musicians to record a part, it really makes me stand up and listen. In this song, Takegami Yoshinari came and laid down some sax solos for the song and it really shines because of it. It might be the most distinguishing sonic factor of the song. I heard other fans complain when Tsunku uses the same "sax riff" in multiple songs, well this one is all original and bespoke for the song. I'm sure H!P usually shys away from live musicians because its more expensive to tour with musicians and playing tracks for the girls lets them get used to the same musical experience. Anyways, even if its just in recording, I appreciate the live musicians in my pop music. Another reason to love H!P.

The strings are live as well by Muroya Kouichiro. A lot of the string's "emotion" that’s in this song are much better live, as opposed to synthesized. The way the notes are blended and stretched... these are the benefits of live musicians (not decrying programmed music, just highlighting the benefits of live musicians). The harmonies the violin and the viola play could be replicated with a synth (keyboard), but the uniform technique for both parts they play could not be replicated on the keyboard. For example, all throughout the songs the strings have these quick Glissandos to end the phrases where they start on one note and finish like a 3rd or a 5th lower in the span of one beat. In the first verse listen to the strings while Kanonon sings "Oshiyoseru," it does what I'm talking about. That sort of flourish is all throughout the song in the strings and it a bit difficult to synthesize, you only get those flairs from live musicians. The drums are programmed, but having a live percussionist would have pushed this to the max for me. But this is pop music and they are trying to appeal to the masses, not aural slutz like me, lol.

Also a word on M!ho, she has been featured on many a Sho song (not that she works exclusively with him or anything), and she makes an appearance in the background of many parts of this song including the Pre-verse (usually singing the "Ah"s and "Ooh"s). I think tonally, no one could match her in Angerme. In addition, M!ho is a professional, and it was probably MUCH quicker and easier to have her do those other harmonies. M!ho's vocal control is much stronger than any of the girls in the group (save probably Meimei).

Anyways, this review is just more of my fanboy ramblings...  My guilty pleasure...

Omake!

Found this thread on a Matome. DISCLAIMER: I'm no professional translate, if you see I made a mistake instead of ridiculing me, help me get better! I've left the Japanese for those who can read it, and those that can't have to suffer through my translations guwahaha~ Also this was translated after I wrote my review, so any similarities are coincidental.

48: 名無し募集中。。。＠＼(^o^)／

A song about a woman from Kyushuu's countryside (around Kumamoto?) who left Fukuoka city with a guy to go on a date in Itoshima, huh?

I suppose that in old school Enka there was often a situation where a woman from Northern Japan was leaving Tokyo and I wonder if we are in a period where women are leaving Fukuoka City.

九州の田舎（熊本あたり？）から福岡に出てきたな女が彼と糸島にデートしてたという歌だな 昔の演歌は北国から東京に出て来た女と相場が決まってたが 福岡に出て来た女というのが時代かなと思う

87: 名無し募集中。。。＠＼(^o^)／

>>48 At the moment there likely are a lot of Kyushuu women leaving Fukuoka city 今福岡に出てくる九州の女って多いらしいな

________________________________

96: 名無し募集中。。。＠＼(^o^)／

Even though its a song about Itoshima, somehow they didn't say the names of any of Itoshima's places... Kego Park and Nokoshima Island are right by Fukuoka City

糸島の歌なのに同地の地名が出てこないってどういうことだ？ 警固公園や能古島は隣りの福岡市だぞ

115: 名無し募集中。。。＠＼(^o^)／

>>96

This couple lives in Fukuoka and often was driving to Itoshima The protagonist remembered this retrospection of when they were enroute to Kego Park, Nokoshima Island, etc...

このカップルは福岡在住で糸島までよくドライブしていた その回想の途中に警固公園や能古島も行っていたことを思い出した

148: 名無し募集中。。。＠＼(^o^)／

>>115

If thats the case, even though they traveled to Kego park and Nokoshima Island, it would have been good if they would of incorporated Keya no Ooto (in itoshima), Marutaike Park (in itoshima, they also have an illumination event as well), or Meoto Iwa into the song.

だったら芥屋の大門、丸田池公園、夫婦岩を盛り込めばいいのに

__________________________

97: 名無し募集中。。。＠＼(^o^)／

Doesn't this song give more the impression of pop from the late 80's early 90's more than what they call Kayokyoku.

歌謡曲というよりは80年代末期から90年代初頭のポップスって印象

____________________________________________

267: 名無し募集中。。。＠＼(^o^)／

As opposed to Akina, isn't this closer to that area before Shouno Mayo, Kubota Saki, etc...? 明菜より前の庄野真代とか久保田早紀とかあの辺じゃないかね？

(Not gonna lie, I'm so excited I found some new Artists to research! Kubota Saki looks like BAE ver. 1.2.0)

[hp-index-blog]

Links

these will be updated as often as possible. Additions and suggestions are welcome!

Blogs

blog!project Dedicated on translating various active and OG Hello!Project members blogs. Maintained by various translators, owned by mm.bbs.org.

Nonaka Miki Blog Translations on tumblr.

Kamikokuryou Moe Blog Translations on tumblr.

filled with fun and happiness on tumblr Makino Maria translations.

Nantonaku translations Blog translations for Michishige Sayumi, Niigaki Risa, Mitsui Aika, Iikubo Haruna and Fukumura Mizuki. Maintained by InvisNantoka.

Matome

Wota in translation Site dedicated to translated matome sites and some other related articles. Maintained by Henkka.

Morning Matome Site with different matome translations.

Radio shows

ainogundan on twitter Translation of different radio snippets from the weekly H!P radio shows. Also has other content and related translations.

Hello! Pro Radio Longer and detailed translations of weekly H!P radio shows. Maintained by Henkka.

Videos

Natonaku fansubs an active Hello!Project fansub group (one of the few remaining :( )

Skoban on youtube Translations of radio snippets or events related to H!P.

Reina Studio on youtube 6ki video subs.

aidoru!online torrent site which includes lots of Hello!Project subbed material.

Miscellaneous

UP-FRONT Link Official UF facebook page, where content aimed towards international fans is posted, including concert summaries or greetings in English or subbed. Nonaka Miki appears often!

Weekly Hello! Q&A Translations of the fanclub-exclusive weekly questions to the H!P members (it used to be the Pocket Morning app). Hosted on the Hello!Online homepage, maintained by Rokun.

projecthello Lyrics translations. Also includes original Japanese text and romaji, plus color coding. Maintained by various translators, owned by mm.bbs.org.

IceCream & My Jiggly on twitter Source for many Hello!Project related translations. Maintained by Skoban.

Hello! News service Not strictly a translation twitter, but gives brief translations of H!P news.

No longer maintained

IceCream & My Jiggly Source for many Hello!Project related translations. Owned by Skoban.

Kiwi Musume Lyrics translations (but still very useful!). Owned by Kiwi Musume.

I hate yakiniku (also Youtube and Dailymotion) Various H!P related translations.

Country Girls Bot on twitter Translation of blog snippets from Country Girls, Juice=Juice and ANGERME.

Ogata Haruna Blog Translations on tumblr.

xxholic25xx on youtube Some MaDuu subs.