Maasa Runs Races, Smacks Girls and Isn't Afraid of Anything

Our Heavenly Mother recently starred as the latest "rival" in the H!P-laiden J-drama called "Suugaku♥Joshi Gakuen," and was awesome, as one should expect her to be.

A basic TL;DR of Maasa--er, I'm sorry, Fuyumi events:

• She eats ramen. Like a boss. (I personally kinda found this scene a little offensive considering she is one of the few full figured girls in the company, and is the leader of a group called the Gluttony Girls? Come on.)
• She challenges Nina (Tanaka Reina). Like a boss.
• Changes the menu. Like a boss.

She continues to do some pretty boss-like things, such as stealing fruit from Sayuri (Michishige Sayumi), pushing Kazuki (Sakurada Dori), becoming Maasa Sumou, and slapping the Kyuukies like they're newborn babies. I seriously cannot stress the wonder of this drama. And I highly suggest you watch it. Sadly, there are no .gifs from the episode yet; but I can guarantee you the one of her slapping the Kyuukies will be the first in existence.

If you want a look at the episode, you can see screenshots here, and watch an unsubbed version of Lesson 3 here. A hard-subbed version, courtesy of MM-BBS, will most likely be available within a few days.

Photo courtesy of lovemusic at Hello! Online. Thanks for the screenshots!

Minecraft and Idol Fandom

Yep, I'm going to talk about a Sandbox Game on a Idol related Blog, but there is a good reason for it.

Just a quick explanation on what Minecraft is, it is a Sandbox Game where you obtain resources, craft various Items, build things like Houses and Railways and it comes with a addiction factor of 11 on a scale of 0 -10 and that high addiction factor is where the connection to Idol Fandom is.

Flying to Japan takes a long time especially when you remember the extra time wasted at various Airports and so its no surprise I had nothing better to do on the way to the Land of Berryz and H!P than play Minecraft (which thanks to its basic Graphics runs fine even on my ancient and by now replaced Laptop).

Unfortunately some random Guy started asking stupid questions about it and I quickly found myself in a situation where I had to justify my addiction. Justifying the addiction to Idols is something many struggle with as the general public is often not enlightened enough to understand it.

That situation got me thinking on how one can justify being addicted to Maasa, Berryz, H!P or just Japanese Idols in general to some random person?

Of course one could choose the not really successful but simple way: "It's either this or Crack, your choice". My Mom didn't really appreciate that one lol (just for the record, I got nothing to do with Drugs).

And thats where Minecraft comes in useful for a hopeless Idol addict, like Crack it got millions around the World addicted and with Minecraft just being a harmless Game and due to its popularity pretty much everyone will know someone who is addicted to it, so the next time someone asks stupid questions about your Idol addiction, just tell them that it is indeed entirely harmless and normal to be addicted to Idols, just like the Minecraft addicts they are likely to know are harmless as well.

Welcome to 2012!

This year, according to the Maaist calander, will be AM 21. 

Things have gone pretty well in the last year, don't you think? Perhaps not as eventful for the Church as previous ones, but we should not forget that Maasa has been very busy. "Idolness over Idleness", as it were.

Between the singles, albums and concerts, Maasa managed to continue to pursue her dream to be an actress. We had the DVD release of Ranobe, opening her big screen debut of the previous year up to thousands of new fans whom, for whatever reason, were unable to witness it in the cinemas during it's extended run at select theatres.

Aside from that, we've seen her feature alongside Tanaka Reina in her stageplay, as well as featuring alongside other Berryz and C-ute members in the first ever joint Berikyuu stage play. She was then given a supporting role in the movie Ousama Game, with Kumai Yurina and Suzuki Airi taking the leads. 

And then there's the upcoming drama, Suugaku♥Joshi Gakuen, which is due to air in just over a week.

All in all, Maasa and the Church are both ready to pounce on the opportunities of the coming year. Are you?

Carpe diem.

Enter Another New Face, and a Blessed Holiday

Today, on this December 25, a new person enters the ranks of the blessed clergy of the Church of Maasa.

My name is Haru, I've been a fan of Maasa for but a short time -- reformed from the Cathedral of Miyabi, and still somewhat a believer. but fully I am devoted to our Heavenly Mother Maasa.

By now, our Heavenly Mother has probably finished her celebrations of Christmas (as it is almost 16:00, 4:00 PM for the Americans, in Japan as I write this blog) and is enjoying a cozy afternoon and evening with her family. Perhaps her group mates have surprised her with gifts as well. Being a teenage girl, I'm sure she received things like lotions and soaps and clothing, and of course something cute. And living in the technological world, she may have even gotten a new cell phone, or laptop. And of course, being the otaku she is, I'm sure she received some manga as well.

My friends, I hope you enjoy the Christmas season with warmth in your heart, and remember that wherever you may be this holiday season, Maasa will be with you.

Amen.

Most biased review ever

Recently two Dvds where released, the H!P Summer Concert Dvds Wow Wow and Yeah Yeah.

In  the Yeah Yeah Dvd we get treated to a Solo Performance by the Holy Godmother Maasa herself.

What Song is it then? One that would fit Maasa according to stereotypes?

Oh no, it is the hyper funny S/mileage song ○○ Ganbaranakutemo Eenende!!.

Watch it here on Youtube

Now what happens if you pair a song that is designed to be funny and fit the cutesy voices of Kanon and co with Maasa? The result is plain awesomeness, yes, you read that right, the voice of Maasa actually adds to the Entertainment value of that song, so H!P did the exact right thing by letting Maasa sing that particular song. It is perfection done right or as we call it here, perfection done the Maasa way, perfect pitch control, perfect expression, perfect everything.
And by the way, the rest of the Dvds are pretty awesome as well.
And if you want to do the exact right thing, please buy the Dvds, they are as usual available from cdjapan and every other decent Onlineshop.

New Face

Some time has passed since someone from the Church voiced their opinion here, so out with the old and in with the new, except of course we would never get rid of the old, as a Church we believe everything is eternal, so of course People like Dran will still be here, but also a new face, Nao-kun.

Nao-kun? who is that?

A couple years ago in a location slightly west of Dran Nao-kun was sitting in front of a box and not sure what do on a boring rainy Sunday afternoon, turns out that box was a PC and Nao-kun stumbled over a Morning Musume Video on Youtube that the Church had planted there as a trap to test the loyalty of its followers.

Initially Nao-kun gave in to the temptation of Morning Musume, but then saw the light and focused all attention to Berryz Koubou, the one and only true Idol Unit to ever grace this Planet Earth we happen to be on as well as the Universe this Earth is trapped in until the great Maasa decides that all Evil has been extinguished and will take us away to the real Universe.

How do we win over those Evil things and how far has Nao-kun progressed in defeating them? While the revelation of the full list has not happened yet a selection can be found below:

Under no circumstances shall anything ever take priority over Berryz.

Traveling 52500 miles in a 27 month period for Berryz shall be considered normal.

The use of the only Wardrobe to store noting but Hello Project Merchandise shall also be considered normal.

All Walls need to be covered by Berryz Posters, Towels, Calendars, Visual Screens and similar items.

Maaism is not just a religion, it is also the cradle, path and destination of life which shall always be chosen as any other path leads to Doom.

Either way, that crazy Maadict known as Nao-kun is looking forward to bring you the occasional sensible but usually just "slightly" biased update through the Church of Maasa from whatever corner of the Planet Berryz Koubou is currently at.

On this day...

Nineteen years ago today the Great Mother experienced her first moments in the world. And we reached the official start date for the lesser-known Maaist dating system, which today becomes AMV (or AM for short) 20.

And so the Church wishes a happy Birthday to the Holy Mother, Maasa, and a happy Awesome Day to the people. 

Just how are you all celebrating? I shall celebrate today with the consumption of good food and alcohol. A feast for the coming year, as it were. Perhaps you are the same. Perhaps you have grander ideas. Do share.

I know that one honourable Maaist is providing the service of a brief timeline of the history of Maasa in Hello! Project. It is no small undertaking, but he has catalogued much information and many pictures as diligently as one could possibly hope to ask. You can find this fine reliquary here.

May Maasa continue to watch over you in the coming year, and may you continue to watch over her.