Aina

We See Idols: WACK in the UK – Show Report

/ DAEMON / Leave a comment

It has been just over a week since WACK in the UK and, yes, I’m just now getting around to hitting the “Post” button on this piece. There are a couple of reasons for that. One is DayJob® which has been crazy busy and eaten up all my time since I got back to the US, primarily because I took almost a full week off to go to the aforementioned WACK in the UK. But DayJob® pays me money that allows me do things like travel to other countries and see idols, so I must give it my attention. The other reason is that what started off as a straight-up show report kept growing and morphing into what is really at least two if not three different articles. At Papermaiden’s suggestion, I will now focus on the show itself and get this thing published before WACK in the UK 2: Electric Boogaloo has come and gone.

ASP in the UK – Historical Photo

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Please No End to Aina the End

/ Homicidol Maniac

Cal’s favorite singer, Aina the End of BiSH fame, has always had at least a few toes in other musical waters. Her early solo work, which I do encourage you to check out, shows a young woman who can do just about anything she’d want to. Her more recent material, which I kind of regret only half-mentioning in passing in the Weekender a little while ago (but here you go), is great at showing off her chops; her first full studio album, THE END, is out in February, but she released the first single from it yesterday. Friends, we must do everything we can to protect this gift to humanity.

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Let’s Just Call It the Boss Single

/ Homicidol Maniac

In case it hasn’t been obvious, I’ve become a little bit of a BiSH skeptic over the past year or so — even my original support for the last single waned in retrospect. It grieves me, actually; my all-time idol top 10, regardless of whether it’s song-album-video-person-whatever, has BiSH all over it, and I remain an ardent supporter of the idea of BiSH and the incredible barrier-breaking potential that I think they have. This is why, even almost two years into a long run of mostly being disappointed by them, I get the giddies when they spin off new stuff, especially new stuff that appeals directly to my own biases!

That’s a split solo single for Aina — nothing new there — and the Captain herself. Continue reading →

Yui’s Solo Debut Is the Best Outcome of the WACK Thing

/ Homicidol Maniac

Hey, a couple of days late never hurt anybody. Folks have spilled a ton of tears and ink and whatnot over the WACK solo debut election results, which could not have been less surprising overall (my girl Chitti taking #1, just a tiny bit off expectation). For me, though, it was the awarding of a solo debut to the #16 finisher, Yui Ga Dokuson, that took the cake.

John with the overall details:

Well, WACK had their vote to determine who gets a solo debut release. The show was about two hours long on niconico. A couple twists and turns, pretty uneventful…… almost.

via WACK – Solo Debut Voting, A Bit Odd — Straight From Japan

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Shut up, Linkin Park: ‘iN THE END,’ It Matters a Little

/ Homicidol Maniac / 6 Comments

Wanna hear a really annoying story? I had planned out and prepared to record the not-really-her-last-concert-please-all-the-gods iN THE END free live being held by BiSH while they go into temporary stasis (I dare not call it a hiatus) with Aina, owner of the most liquid nitro voice in idol, taking a break to recover from surgery to remove vocal chord nodules.

I was prepped, had everything open, had Niconico ready to go, got the video launched, started to record just as the lights came up in whatever venue they’re in and … I was out of free trial on the recording software and would only be able to record in two-minute chunks, and there was no way I was doing that at 5:30 a.m., not even for you guys.

Edit: Someone uploaded the whole thing!

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Monday Match Game: Aina vs. Maina

/ Homicidol Maniac / 11 Comments

Welcome back to the Monday Match Game! Last week’s contest pitted two tiny, tiny heavyweights against each other in a showdown of shattered psyches. Yes, after a full day of voting, Mashiro (Zenkimi) defeated Mashiro (DEEP GIRL), taking full advantage of the fact that her competition was literally in the hospital while it all went down.

This week, it’s pint-sized power voices on point! In the red corner, the dynamic center of one of the hottest things in the history of idolcore; in the blue, the leading musical polymath whose seasonal work is taking a dance unit into the limelight.

That’s right, friends. In a test of pure power punchers, who’s it gonna be? Continue reading →