The Church of Maasa

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

2012-01-26T03:49:00.007Z

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

2012-01-13T00:38:00.000Z

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!

2012-01-03T00:07:00.003Z

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

2011-12-25T06:34:00.003Z

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

2011-11-22T03:55:00.001Z

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

2011-11-16T21:35:00.001Z

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...

2011-07-02T20:53:00.002+01:00

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.

Light Novel no Tanoshii Kakikata Released!

2011-03-02T22:22:00.002Z

Maasa's movie, first announced back in October 2009, today released on DVD. The movie managed, on its first day, to chart on Amazon's best sellers at #2 in the Comedy films section and #5 in the Romance section. The movie has proven to be incredibly popular, getting, on the whole, positive reviews and spreading across Japan to various theatres that weren't included in the initial run (and one such theatre extending its run beyond its original length).

My own copy of the Limited Edition shipped the day before, and is sitting in Germany right now waiting to be loaded onto a plane to the UK. Needless to say, I'm excited by the long wait to almost finally have it in my hands, as, I'm sure, are you all. Assuming you also ordered it. You did order it, didn't you?

Already, the beginning of the movie has appeared on YouTube, though the uploader doesn't show signs of uploading any more than the first 13 minutes, it still proves to be an entertaining watch.

I do feel guilty myself for watching it before my copy arrives. And it only makes me even more impatient for my own copy. But judging from the beginning, I'm expecting the movie to be pretty good - certainly to live up to my own expectations.

Though it does sadden me a little. It has been 18 months since we learned about the movie, and the fact that I'm now able to watch it represents for me the end of an era. Thanks to being the one (and there weren't many who did so) who reported every bit of news about the movie (either here or on H!O), the one who translated the official blog every day, and one of the many who were sure that this movie would be important and would lead to good things for Maasa... I've grown attatched to it. Despite having never read the original light novels, despite never having seen the movie, despite having never even heard of it until I saw the news that Maasa would be starring in this movie... I've been very much the go-to guy on affairs related to the movie (unless you knew someone who HAD read the original light novels or seen the movie.)

This levels the playing field. Upon seeing the movie, all of us will have an equal knowledge of what it is about and what happens. And the loss of the feeling of authority on the subject (however slight that authority was) is sad but inevitable. It may represent the end of an era for me, after the movie became an integral part of my life and my daily routine (especially from September to December when I was translating the blog every day). But today also represents the beginning of a new era for me. The post-movie era, if you will, where we can witness first-hand whether or not our predictions and hopes about the outcome of this movie come true.

With it announced this week that Maasa will also feature in Tanaka Reina's new stageplay (perhaps more on that as information develops), which makes it the tenth Gekidan Gekiharo produced by Hello! Project since 2007, it would appear that Maasa (who, at least since the Berryz Koubou in Bangkok concert, has said that her dream for the future is to do lots of acting) may yet be advancing towards her goal. But is this just coincidence or a direct result of the popularity of Ranobe?

Making Light Novel no Tanoshii Kakikata

2011-01-20T13:11:00.000Z

Last time I spoke about Colombia Records' plans to release two DVDs of the movie Light Novel no Tanoshii Kakikata which Maasa is starring in. I also mentioned that the more expensive of the two editions will contain a bonus disc featuring a 60-minute "making of" documentary.

Well, this time we have a new trailer to reveal, which shows you the kind of thing we're likely to see in this bonus making.

What I love about this preview is that they show a much more dynamic and fun set with all the interaction between the cast members. It's something we just didn't get with the Ranobeblog. And you can't help but feel that maybe, just maybe, new friends were made all round over the two months of filming.

Light Novel no DVD no Tanoshii Mikata

2010-12-27T22:26:00.000Z

Glorious news regarding the movie "Light Novel no Tanoshii Kakikata" starring Sudou Maasa which released in select cinemas at the start of December.

The movie was released in three or four theatres around the country including two catering for audiences in Tokyo and Osaka. After decent publicity including the release of the trailer back in July which racked up 40 thousand views in 3 days (and has gone on to over 130 thousand over the last 6 months), a promotional tie-in with Pizza Hut, as well as several events and TV mentions, the movie released to largely positive reviews.

Anyway, this time there's a DVD to be released, which was posted on the official Ranobe blog this morning.

It lets us know that Nippon Columbia will be publishing two versions of the movie on DVD, including one Limited Edition which will include a bonus disc containing the making-of documentary.

The pricing is a little steep for this kind of movie, with the regular edition coming in at nearly 4k yen, and the limited edition at 6k. The movie itself is only 80 minutes and the bonus footage is likely to be on the short side too, but for many people in Japan and abroad this will be the only way to actually see this movie, so it's definitely worth keeping an eye on. No self-respecting Maaist should be without, I think.

The DVDs will both go on sale at the start of March next year.

Maasa (and Berryz) conquering the USA

2010-12-19T19:42:00.000Z

It has now been announced by Shimizu Saki that Berryz Koubou will perform in Seattle. There, the Sakuracon will be held in April 22-24th, where hANGRY&ANGRY performed last year.

Even though I will not be present, I wish everyone in the USA and everyone going there to see them the most amazing performance (until they come to Europe, which is a dream of mine that will never die)! Let's wish for Berryz to have success in Seattle, and that they will be able become more known all over the world.

Mimi

So intense!

2010-11-13T17:57:00.000Z

Some of the latest stirrings in the Berryz world have come by the way of the second Alo-Hello!, due for release this Wednesday. The DVD hopefully promises to be as awesome as the first one, but with the added bikinis that were unfortunately missed out. With the way the 2011 calanders turned out, most notably the bikini-clad July/August page of the Berryz one, things looked pretty hopeful for a sexy AH2.

Then they released the covers for the PB and the DVD which only served to confirm the belief.

I must admit, I haven't yet decided which cover I prefer. The DVD has a much more eye-catching colourset, but I do find the poses and the deep blue look of the sky and ocean to be very appealing too.

Anyway, cue the entry of popular rag FRIDAY, courtesy of whom we are treated to a whole Smörgåsbord of delicious preview pics to choose from.

Of course, arguably the most important piece of news to come from this is in the form of Captain who we finally find in a bikini, putting all of the nay-sayers speculating that her parents wouldn't let her do a bikini photobook, or that she herself didn't want to, to shame.

But, of course, this is the Church of Maasa. So, in spite of L'Entente Cordiale, I'm going to leave it there and talk about Maasa.

And one thing I notice about Maasa's pic is that once again she can be seen wearing one of those skirt-type bikinis. I have no idea what the technical name for these is. I guess my teachers in school never imagined it would come up. But, and maybe it's just me, but I've noticed that Maasa seems to favour these. One simply has to look at her solo PB to note that most of the times she wore bikinis, it tended to be the same style.

Curiously, and maybe it's just because of how much time I've spent these last couple of months familiarising myself with it, the picture of herself on her own reminds me an awful lot of the character Yabusame Tsurugi from Light Novel no Tanoshii Kakikata - the same character which Maasa herself plays. There was a certain cover to one of the volumes of the light novel featuring Tsurugi at the beach in a swimsuit and, while Maasa isn't as well-endowed, shall we say, as her character's original light novel counterpart, the long black hair and dark bikini, everything, it all makes me flash back to that same image. I guess over the last couple of months especially I've found it increasingly easy to imagine Maasa in this role.

Anyway, I've got my pre-orders in. Have you?

The word of Maa

2010-11-10T03:05:00.000Z

Some of the biggest news to sweep the world recently is the revelation of the Berryz Koubou temporary blogs. Slated to only be around for the duration of the upcoming concert tour, these Serend blogs have been propelled to great following in just a few short days. Of course, the C-ute blogs were started much the same way, and have gone on past the originally intended activity period to become shining beacons for the fans involved. So it's wholly possible that such longevity might also be enjoyed by these Berryz blogs.

The first person to utilize this great tool of communication (not counting a few entries equating to little more than "testing 1-2-3") was the holy mother herself. A glorious step forward by our great pioneering holy one in the face of progress, allowing for never-before-seen level of communication, not just with or honourable brothers and sisters of the Church in God's own country, Japan, but also for the equally-honourable brothers and sisters abroad.

Maasa's new blog, as well as those pertaining to the other Berryz members, can all be found here.

I know, I know. Not all of us are capable of reading Japanese. It's a terrible state to be in when one can't even understand one's own god, but we all, in our own humble way, try our best to make sense of what we can and happily feast upon the interpretation of others. And, though my own skills in the holy leid are slight and my vocabulary limited by the small capacity of the various dictionaries I keep on hand at all times, I work hard to bring you as delicious a feast as I can muster. Applying the same skills I have used in translating the official Light Novel no Tanoshii Kakikata movie blog, I will endeavour to provide translations of the much more difficult (due to their slightly more colloquial nature) word of Maa.

I probably shan't post them here on the Church of Maasa proper, and for now they are all located in the Hello!Online Maasa thread, which I shall link at the end of this entry. Perhaps I shall find a more conveniant place to put them (where I won't be limited by the number of images allowed in a single post and Maasa's apparentl love for those same emoticons) but for now, they shall be located in that thread.

And thus she spake.

Eternity

2010-10-23T11:23:00.000+01:00

As mentioned before, during the time of the Church's Revolution, The Church of Maasa does not only support Maasa anymore, but also her fellow Hello! Project comrades and close friends. Also, one of our main goals is to spread the love for her and Hello! Project - which brings Eternity into it. Eternity is a Fangroup founded by ArielSoul and Risa/Misa on Hello! Online, with their main goal to spread the Hello! Project Love over the world.

Now they have invented this wonderful website Eternity, to make information and news accessable for everyone. Like the members of the Church, they use their own spare time to make Eternity work, which is why they needed help. I, among others, have lately advanced from a member to a member off the Emergency Staff, meaning that I have access to the News section etc.

The fact that I am an Eternity member as well as a fellow Maaist, I thought of the possibility of the two organizations to work together, the main reason for this post. I ask everyone to pay Eternity a visit, and think of becoming a member (it's free). Our current Goals are to spread News and gain members, but we also want to make Hello! Project more known international. Certain projects to do that (e.g. handing out leaflets) are currently being planned.

At this point I want to apologize for the inactiveness of the Church and will present you with another picspam♥

Bestieeeeees!

July / August -2011 Calendar Bikini Picture ♥

Again from the Calendar, in different Seifuku

Calendar Yukata Outfit (not from the Original Calendar) sooo lovely. Although I would have prefered her with bangs, the color of the Yukata suits her, feminine as well as strong, cute hairstyle as well. Thank you, stylist.

24th Single "Shining Power" Group Artist picture. Why did they give the exact same hairstyle to our holy one as in Tomodachi wa Tomodachi nanda? O__O

Again the Calendar's Seifuku. Isn't she lovely?

May Maasa be with you.

Maasa in Berryz' new set

2010-09-13T19:42:00.000+01:00

This latest picture set of Berryz has caused a lot of picture comments, bumps and fascination on Hello! Online, which made me think of sharing it here, because I personally am also very fascinated by this beauty. So please enjoy this picture in two versions:

May Maasa be with you, bringing light into darkness. And I'd like to ask a question which can easily be answered in comments: Which of the two versions do you prefer? The first one, with a mild light added to it which makes it glow softly, or the second, natural one (which was probably photoshopped too).

Love, Keksi*Choc

Berryz Koubou Summer Concert Tour 2010 ~Umi no Ie Otakebi House~ Ground Demo Rouka Demo Medatsu Kimi Performance

2010-08-22T16:49:00.001+01:00

There it is! Maasa's and Yurina's duet song, latest performance!

The costumes are... well. I think the designer didn't work very hard on that, they should've made better ones! But what do costumes matter when it comes to Maasa and Yurina? The plain outfits make themselves shine even more!

They do make a nice appearance on stage, clapping along with the crowd!

Look at Maasa's shining face at 0:17! She's having so much fun, its obvious. That's not a fake smile, guys!

I really like the "Background noises" Maasa and Yurina make while the other one is in center!

0:44 is definitely a nice scene, too! It looks like Maasa wants to poke Yurina? That would be a funny thing, right?

Now that Maasa has a lot of lines to sing, it's easy to hear that she improved again lately! She sounds very strong and more constant than before!

Love their smiling faces while doing the end-pose!! ♥♥♥

Also... here is something I made for JuuIchi!

Regarding the Light Novel Translations

2010-08-15T14:49:00.001+01:00

It was never my intention from the start to have those translations permanently hosted here alongside the rest of the Church of Maasa entries. It was far too messy, and just a temporary set up until I came up with a more efficient solution.

I have played around with various ideas over the last couple of weeks, most of which didn't work anywhere near as well as I'd hoped.

I had, for example, toyed with the idea of hosting them on the Church blog like they have been, but to provide the option to either choose to only see Church entries, or only see Ranobe translations. Or failing that, the ability to at least toggle the visibility of the translations on and off. In an ideal world, that would probably be the feature I'd be unveiling to you right now, but unfortunately I couldn't come up with a design for it that worked the way I wanted it to.

In the end, I have decided to move over all of the entries to a new blog, loosely modeled after the official blog.

The new blog is still entirely affiliated with the Church (think of it as a subsidary company and the Church being a parent company), but by actually having two seperate blogs instead of the one, it seemed to me to be far tidier and far more efficient.

To those who have been reading the translations and commenting on them, don't worry, as your comments have also been carried over to the new blog. In fact, I'm hoping that this will help reduce the number of spam comments recieved as well.

You can find the new translations at http://ranobeblog.blogspot.com/. I've also added a list of links at the top of the right sidebar here on the Church of the latest 5 entries on the blog.

Light Novel no Tanoshii Mikata

2010-07-22T11:32:00.007+01:00

Once again, big news on the movie front. We have both a movie trailer, and an official release date. All our previous information on the movie can be found in these posts. But this entry is about this great new footage we have. Interesting to note that we haven't actually had any footage whatsoever from the movie or the making process. So this is our first taste of the movie.

Maasa is looking very cool throughout the trailer. An awesome scene at the very start shows her making her way through a school hallway with all of the other students moving out of her way. Then followed by a clip of her beating someone up with (what would appear to be) a Kendo Bokutou. A very cool character. Contrasted by the way she appears in the other half of the trailer as she dates the classmate in order to gain inspiration for her book and, at times, looks quite awkward, but others you really see the Maasa we all know and love in her character.

Maasa of course looks great in all the costumes we see her in. Not to mention how well acted it seemed to be. I know some people had doubts as Maasa wasn't exactly known for extraordinary acting ability, but if we are just going off the trailer, I reckon that this will be a performance to remember.

The movie, featuring our own Maasa (as well as former H!P egg Noto Arisa) will release in theatres across Japan on the 4th of December. If you are in Japan for that week, I implore you to visit a nearby cinema and watch our Holy Mother on screen!

Birthday Pictures

2010-07-06T23:15:00.001+01:00

As my dear friend Garlix requested, I will give you another PicSpam!

Since I am not at home I have to search for all the pictures on the Internet, and may not be able to upload my favorite selection. My apologies for that!

Now, please enjoy!

(Symbolizing the alliance with the Captainist Party. Maasa obviously approves.)

Once, again, Happy Late Birthday!

They may not be rare, but they are still beautiful.

(This is not a question)

May Maasa be with you, bringing light into darkness.

Keksi*Choc

Happy birthday, Maasa!

2010-07-02T07:16:00.018+01:00

Brothers, Sisters, Comrades, the day has come! The greatest day of the year where kindness is given unto your fellow man, and you are rewarded with beauty given unto you by the Great Sudou Herself!

This day, July the third is the anniversary of the corporeal incarnation of the Maasa.

On this exact day, July the third, in the year of our Mama, two thousand ten, Maasa celebrates the 18th anniversary of Her birth.

At this time, I would like to lead a prayer with quote from the Maasaist Scripture, Genesis 1:1-1:6:

In the beginning Tsunku created the Hello! Project and the Kids.

And the Kids were without form, and a great mass. And the Spirit of Maa moved upon the face of the Workshop.

And Maasa said, "Let there be dvds!" and lo there were dvds.

And Maasa was in the dvds, and the dvds were good: And Tsunku divided the Workshop from the Kids.

And Tsunku called the Workshop Berryz, and the Kids C-ute. And the third of March was Berryz day.

And so it was so.

Happy birthday, Maasa!

May you continue to shine brilliantly, whether from the sidelines, from the back, or in the front.

I will end with a link to one of the greatest videos ever made: The Maasa version of Yuke Yuke Monkey Dance (uploaded to youtube by our own Dran).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggSBoWtwNlU

Pilgrimage to Mecca

2010-06-30T21:55:00.004+01:00

Brothers and sisters, today begins a great journey for many of our bretheren in Europe - not the least of which is our own high priest, Comrade Dran.

Though it is not a full Hajj - for they will not see the Holy Mama - it is still a momentous event for all those involved, for they will see Apostles and allies of the Holy Mama: Morning Musume.

During this time period, as well will be Maasa's birthday.

A five-day period of great joys and religious revelry!

Unto thee be a great journey, with peace and much enjoyment.

Viva Maasa!

Grand demo Rouka demo Medatsu Kimi

2010-06-23T18:27:00.001+01:00

The video for the first live performance of Grand demo Rouka demo Medatsu Kimi by Maasa and Yurina from Berryz Kobo's 6th Album 6th Otakebi is now available, so I thought of it as a duty to share it here.

It is from Berryz Koubou Festival ~Youkoso Otakebi Land e~, and we have to thank the YouTube user Hoshii66 for sharing it there.

Personally, I have been waiting for this performance like crazy, and I'm more than content with the result. I've always liked the MaaYuri combination, and the recorded version of the song was already awesome, but this is... brilliant. Sparkling. Their voices match so well!

Notice Maasa's stunning and true smile at 0:15! She seems happy during the whole performance. We all know that Maasa's true energy comes out at lives, more than recorded songs or PV's, and this is just one of the many proves.

Moving to the next topic: Maasa's outfit in Maji (or Honki) Bomber!

It rocks! Badass-punkrock-style for Maasa is a win! The shape of the trousers is a bit unusual, but none the less stylish. The words on the T-shirt also go more than well with it, and the dark colors suit her fierce glance. This is the cool Maasa we all love and admire!

Keksi*Choc (going to Chile for 6 weeks starting tomorrow)

EDIT: My apologies for the video being too big. I selected the smallest size that YouTube gave me, it doesn't seem to be small enough.

Redesigning the Church

2010-06-21T00:51:00.001+01:00

I've been telling myself for months now that the Church of Maasa's design needs a bit of an overhaul, but I'd never actually gotten around to doing anything about it. The old design was simple enough that it worked, but it also happened to be pretty ugly.

But Blogger have recently unveiled their new layout designer, and so this morning I spent a few hours playing around with various templates. Before long, I had unwittingly created a layout that worked quite well - the one which you see before you now.

All that remained was to replace the old header. Like the skin itself, the old header was incredibly simple, but also incredibly ugly. It was something that I'd just thrown together in an hour or so when I first made the blog. So that had to go too. Now, I'm no graphics designer - if I were, I would have done a better job the first time, so I enlisted the help of my friend Liamers who has long been my go-to guy for graphics. He made all the headers I've ever used on my other blog, Berryz Kyuuden. He also made many of the forum signitures which I've used over the years (though, incidentally, not the current "L♡VE" one, which was made by myself). I guess it's fair to say that he is one of the few people I trust to do a good job of something as important to me as this blog. And he did an excellent job, at that.

I've had a little feedback so far, and it's been entirely positive. The design is nicer on the eyes, and simply friendlier - a change which reflects the changing attitude of the Church from the totalitarian do-or-die to the more open accepting religion that we find ourselves a part of today. Fundamentalism is still very much an aspect of the Church, but at the same time, changing attitudes towards H!P and our alliances with the Captainist Party mean that we can no longer be solely about promoting Maaist Idealism through simple offense, but also through cooperation and collaboration. And we needed a new look which reflects this change for the better.

The reality is that changes are coming... They must come, and we all must share in bringing them.

Away

2010-06-07T22:44:00.004+01:00

It has recently come to the Church's attention that one of our great deacons, Keksi*Choc, known also as Mimi-Chama in some Hello! and Online circles, will soon depart for a pilgrimage to foreign lands (the exact locations of which will be kept secret).
She may be back later this month, or she may have to wait for several months.

Let us take a moment to pray to our Mama Deity that she has a safe and enjoyable trip.

As-Salamu Alaykum!

(This is probably more appropriate for the [terrestrial] head of the Church, but you guys are getting Garlix'd instead so nyeh.)

Release Dates no Tanoshii Kakikata!

2010-05-26T20:06:00.003+01:00

After half a year of no news whatsoever, we finally have been gifted with further information about Maasa's upcomming Movie, Light Novel no Tanoshii Kakikata in the form of a theatrical release date.

The movie, a theatrical adaption of a series of Light Novels of the same way, was announced last year and promised to make the story, which is all but unknown outside of Japan, more well-known - though the movie isn't actually being marketed to foreigners.

The movie is set to follow Tsurugi Yabusame, played by our very own Sudou Maasa, as the archetypal cool, tough girl with a distinctly more feminine side hidden underneath a whole more masculine facade. She is the strongest girl in school, but secretly writes award-winning romance Light Novels under a pen-name, but she struggles to write about experiences that she doesn't have herself. And so she seeks the aid of a male classmate, who discovered her secret by accident, to pretend to be her boyfriend so she can get inspiration for her next novel.

The cast lists were released gradually over several weeks in October, starting with the lone announcement that Maasa would be our leading girl, which is when this obscure movie adaption of a relatively obscure light novel came to the attention of our average western fans. But gradually an ensemble cast was revealed, including former Hello!Project Egg Noto Arisa and popular Seiyuu including Taketatsu Ayana (famous for her role as K-ON's Azusa) and Prince of Tennis heart-throb Sato Hisanori.

After the cast lists, we heard very little of the movie. Several months ago Maasa mentioned in an interview that she had acted in a movie and had enjoyed the experience, which gave us hint that filming had ended already and the movie had entered post-production. And the obi found attatched to a recent volume of the Light Novel advertised the new movie and greenlit it for a 2010 release, though we were fairly certain that it would be released this year even without official confirmation. But despite the slow news, interest was far from dead. Every couple of weeks the topic would be brought up in Hello!Online's Maasa thread as fans grew impatient - or perhaps hungry for more tidbits on when they can see our Idol working her magic on the big screen for the first time since she provided voice work for the Mini Moni movie.

Well, the long wait is over!

The long wait for more concrete news, that is. It turns out that my own predictions of a late Summer release were off, and the movie is instead slated to hit Japanese theatres in December.

This does mean that for us foreign fans, we would either have to go see the movie in Japan, or wait for a few months into 2011 for the DVD to be released. And even longer still if you'd rather wait for a subtitled release. ICU-Subs and Hyakupa Subs have both expressed marginal interest in fansubbing the movie, but neither have commited themselves to officially announcing their intentions.

We still have a long wait ahead of us, but at least now we have a date to look forward to, rather than blindly waiting patiently for something to happen.

The Church and the State

2010-05-24T21:02:00.001+01:00

There are many tools available to authoritive figures to maintain their goals or to achieve them, be it political or religious.

But the one that strikes true to the hearts of the people is Cooperation. Civilisation was built on the idea that more cooperation makes for a better society. Marx and Engels' Manifesto of the Communist Party refered to it is "Primitive Communism", and it was this virtue that became the guiding principle of political ideologies, not only among left-leaning Socialists and Liberals, but also among the rightist Conservative movement.

Society can't work unless it manages to put aside is petty differences and work together towards the greater good.

Only a few weeks ago, my country went through the most important General Election it's seen in thirteen years. And at the end, nobody had won. But the Liberals and Conservatives managed to put apart their own differences and work together to create a strong government in the national interest, despite coming from nominally opposing ideologies.

Not too long ago, the two opposing forces of the Church and the Party decided to end our long rivarly and conflict and form a Coalition of State and Church in order to allow both to co-exist against the proverbial Nuclear threat from the "Church of AKB", a term that you may remember I coined in an earlier message to it's members to refer to the loose organisation of fans, rather than a specific Church. An organisation which I have on multiple occasions likened to the Red Terror in the East, and the tense relationship between myself and leading AKB fans to the NATO-USSR relations of the Cold War years.

But it was through this, that we came to realise that the Captainist Party and the Church of Maasa aren't at all dissimiliar. We may use different words and methods, but the intentions are the same. We both wish for the exact same thing.

The Church is no longer the same cruel body that it was when I initially founded it, where Maasa was the One True Idol and fans of any other members were shunned as heretics and infidel. No, we are more open and forgiving than ever, just so long as the people support and worship Maasa, we care not wether they are also fans of other Idols, false or not. The Church has recieved two new Clergy members in recent weeks, Garlix, a leading member of the Captainist Party, and Keksi*Choc, who is one of the leading Miyabi fans as well as a self-proclaimed Prophet of Maasa.

Clearly we are entering something of a Rennaisance for the Church, where openness and community are just as important to the way we work as faith in the Holy Mother herself. We should continue to push for more support for Maasa, and continue to reform the Church into something that all Maasa fans can be proud to be part of.

Stamp

2010-05-24T16:44:00.001+01:00

I've created a stamp for this blog C:

Take a look:

Do you like it?
Please spread it on your blog /website / whatever ~
If I have time, I'll make more.
Spread the love. Spread Maaism ♥

All the best, Keksi*Choc

EDIT:
I've just noticed that this is the 30th post ♥ Horray~

Results from Hello!Blog's 2010 H!P ranking

2010-05-16T14:52:00.003+01:00

First, Berryz are #2 overall.

Maasa is on #17.

Not too good, but not a disaster either, right? She is generally one of the less-seen members... but I find it amazing that she won over Manoeri, Chisa, Nakki, Maimi and S/mileage's top-seller Kanyon!

Good job, Maasa~ Let's hope it will be better in 2011 <3

Everyone, give Mama your love!!!!

Okay~ Latest pictures~

2010-05-04T07:55:00.004+01:00

I have to keep myself from praisespam, so I ratherpicspam ♥♥
But since those pictures of the Goddess are published, I'm sure she has no objections ^w^

Where does the sudden appetite for watermelons come from? I really can't explain...

Oh, now I wasted my first post here for picspam, but for a fan, picspam never hurts, right? :>

That was the newest member of the team, Keksi*Choc~~

The Church and Revolution

2010-04-15T02:12:00.012+01:00

As promised to my "adoring fans" (let's just pretend), I have crafted historical documentation of the Church of Maasa's relationship to the Captainist Party.

It is a tale wrought with sorrow, oppression, and moving forward.*

Given my tendency toward verbosity, I cut out some points of historical analysis because I figured I rambled long enough already.

If, for some reason, anyone would like me to post the rest (ahaha), I'd be happy to.

*The Party is not to be held responsible for any misinterpretations of history that may be a result of the following text.

Many may wonder how I, an avowed Captainist, could declare myself loyal to the Church of Maasa. My political opponents scratch their heads, and many within the global Captainist movement question whether I have sold out. Indeed, often times these two beliefs are presented as irreconcilable. This, of course, is not the case.

A famous quote by one Mikhail Gorbachev reflects light on the situation. The facts of the quote were changed and subsequently misattributed to the sell-out politician in an effort to write out the Captainists from history. This is a philosophy that has been a guiding principle for us: “Maasa Sudou was the first Captainist. The first to seek a better life for idol-kind.”

“But, Comandante,” you may ask, “have you not always been an *enemy* of the Church?” No, of course not. I never saw a contradiction between the ideas that sustain me and the ideas of that symbol, of that extraordinary figure, Maasa Sudou.

It is true that we have had an unfortunate relationship with the Church in the past, but these events must be analyzed in their own historical contexts. When we first took the reigns of power, the Church of Maasa still acted as a force of reaction. It is well-known that Kran – predecessor to today’s head of the Church – allied himself with the writers of Yorosen and encouraged them to add in a most deplorable man in the list of Nakkyish Great Men – with ramifications at the expense of the idol class. Moreover, Kran worked closely in cooperation with reactionary elements across the net, blacklisting Captainists – even denouncing Captainism as a “vile and malignant way of life.”

It is in *this* context that we first took power, and it is here that our direct adversarial relationship with the Church began. Because, as you can see, the two worked oppositionally. The Church demanded more screentime and lines be given to Maasa. The Captainists argued that all of the background members of Berryz should be given an equal increase in exposure. Equal solos for equal work. Moreover, the forces of counter-revolution attempted to hide under the cloak of the Maasaist religion and even gain the moral high-ground!

All of this, of course, changed with the death of Kran McCarthy and the meeting known as “Sudou II,” known historically as the birth of Liberation Maasology. The Church’s shift from alliance with oppressors to alliance with the oppressed has shifted the Party’s stance to support for this more highly evolved ideology. Now, more than only advocating more lines, close-ups, and photobooks for Maasa, the Church has been shown to benefit others of the idol-class. This new union has been clearly advocated going as far back as the Song of Madayade, which said:

“Ano ko wa bijin de kanemochi”

“Urayamashii jinsei”

A clear example of both our Great Little Captain and the Maasa working together as one and mutually benefitting from the push for more solo lines.

The Church Expands!

2010-04-10T13:04:00.001+01:00

It's come to my attention that this blog doesn't get nearly the same amount of attention that I want to give it, or that it deserves. And so I have decided that it's time to go back and put my initial plans into action.

When I first created this blog, I was inspired by other worship blogs on the blogosphere, while at the same time pushed into action by the conversations in Hello!Online's Maasa thread, how that led to the creation of the Church is now documented in the Origins entry, the first post I made to the blog.

But when I created it, I had in mind a blog and a church which was community driven. A Church where it didn't rely on me to dictate everything, but to where the believers had choice. They could put forward their own ideas about what Maaism trully was. Where people of all walks of life could be brought together by their desire to create and their love for the Holy Mother. Even now, 18 months later, this idea still lingers in my mind as the goal I want to achieve.

And so it comes to me now that perhaps it's time to throw open the doors to the Cathedral and let the people inside.

I posted an advertisement on, what I felt was the best place for it, the Hello!Online Maasa thread. The very place where the Church was born. And in this advertisement I said that I was looking for willing writers to take up positions of authority within the Church and help contribute to the blog. Response was fairly disconcerting. There were many people who said that they would love to join, but lacked the free time or the confidence in their English to do so. There are some promising results, however.

Garlix, who you would know if you read his first post on the blog Do You Read the Bible, decided that despite limitations to the time he can spend writing he would help out. He serves us now, not only as a member of the Clergy, but also as an Ambassador to the Captain Party, which you may remember the earlier post L'Entente Cordiale brought an end to a year of hostilities between the Church and the Party.

So please, continue to contribute and comment, everyone. In the name of Maasa, we can only grow stronger.

Do You Read the Bible?

2010-04-10T00:45:00.005+01:00

Well there's this passage I got memorized. Ezekiel 25:17:

The path of the righteous idol is beset on all sides by the scandals of the selfish and the tyranny of evil press. Blessed is she who, in the name of Tsunku and good music, shepherds the weak singers through PVs of darkness, for she is truly her sister's keeper and the finder of lost solos. And I will arm-wrestle thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to stalk and scandalize my group-mates. And you will know my name is Sudou when I lay my vengeance upon thee.

Maasa Matsuri fast approaching

2010-02-22T23:39:00.000Z

Despite what AKB radicals may have you believe, we Maaists are actually a civilized and cultured people. And so today, I'd like us to celebrate that.

If you remember, March marks not only the beginning of Spring, but also the first anniversary of Maasa's photobook. We celebrated it last year with Maasa Matsuri, and I'd like to continue the now-tradition into the new decade. But rather than having it restricted to a single day (that is the 11th), I suggest that Maasa Matsuri become a long holiday. March 3 was the day that the photobook was announced, if I recall. So lets have the fortnight before the 11th mark the beginning of our culture festival.

"Culture festival", I hear you wonder? Well, we'll use this fortnight to expand and share our culture. We can prove to the non-believers that we aren't simply insane cultists, and we can enjoy the wonderful content that every one of us is capable of producing. So I urge you to spread the word throughout the world and create new and exciting content for the Church.

"What kind of content?" Anything you want. If you are good at writing stories, perhaps you could share with us any Maasa related stories you have written or are writing. Maybe you are a performer, and can perform a song in her honor. If you are an artist, don't feel left out, we'd love to see your art too. Anything goes. Draw on your talent and skills. That is the basis for all art and culture.

So lets show our support for Maasa and fill the internet with wonderful things. And if you do have something to share, be sure to post in the comments or something. I'd love to see what everyone can do.

Naturally I will also have fun with this. In the spirit of the Church, I've written a little anthem which celebrates our mother and the Church. It's sung to the tune of God Save the Queen.

    Long live our Holy Mother
    Long may her words inspire
    Long live Maasa
    May you be prosperous
    Mighty and glorious
    Long to watch over us
    O, Divine Maasa

    O, Children of Maasa rise
    For our threatened faith
    We'll answer the call
    We'll fight them in the streets
    Or where e'er they challenge us
    On thee our freedom rests
    Long live Maasa

    Thy choicest gifts in store
    On her be pleased to pour
    Long may she reign
    May she defend our rights
    May we serve with all our might
    And sing with heart and voice
    O, Divine Maasa

Got your own idea for a Church anthem? A song you think would work better or is more fitting? Better lyricist? Drop me a message too, I would love to see. The Church is, of course, a community. And we should work together to create a religion that we can be proud of.

L'Entente Cordiale

2010-01-28T15:33:00.000Z

Recently the Church was approached by a delegation from our old enemy - the Captainist Party. The delegation (id est, The Garlix) and I came to an agreement that both must cease all rivalries if both are to survive.

The history of conflict goes back to before the formation of the Church. Attempts to get Maasa's title changed from "2nd Berryz Tower" to "World's Strongest Idol" was met by much resistence from Captain supporters who claimed that she was far stronger than Maasa. Debates and arguements went on for days, both sides attacking the other with propoganda and fighting amongst themselves. It was from this time of turmoil and tension that two organisations rose to claim responsibility. One was the proposal and formation of the Church of Maasa - a church with faith in Maasa as our Holy Mother and One True Idol. The other was the rise to prominance of the Captainist Party - a political organisation which puts a Captainist spin on Communist theology.

Although the initial conflict ended in the Church's favour with the title of World's Strongest Idol rightly given to Maasa, they two groups seized whatever opportunity they could to assert their own superiority over the other.

However, we both came to the unanimous agreement that it would be in the interests of all involved to cease hostilities and to come together in order to strengthen our defence of the status quo against the increasing threat of invasion from the AKB hordes. An enemy shared leads to a friendship shared.

This alliance, which I am calling L'Entente Cordiale after the Anglo-Franco treaty signed in the early 20th Century which brought about an end to centuries of fighting between the two empires, comes despite the anti-religion tendency of Communist bodies. Perhaps because of the number of Maaists, or at least Maasa fans, within the Party. While it might be against our code to Idolise anyone other than Maasa, in the spirit of the Entente those who choose to support Captain rather than Maasa shall not be mistreated for their beliefs. In the face of the AKB terror, both east and west, both Church and State, both Maa and Captain must remain strong and unified.

Brothers. Sisters. Comrades.

Viva l'Entente Cordiale!

Cast Lists no Tanoshii Kakikata!

2009-10-31T22:09:00.005Z

More news on the movie front! Since the last post, more and more cast members have been announced every so often. And now the cast list on the official website is complete, I thought I'd share the news about who Maasa will be co-starring alongside.

Atae Yakumo					Sato Hisanori
Yabusame Tsurugi					Sudou Maasa
Ichigo Yuuna					Taketatsu Ayana
Atae Kokona					Noto Arisa
Atae Marumi					Kouda Mariko
Atae Koyuri					Igarashi Reiko
Ishikiri Kiyomaro					Suzuki Hiroki

Some of you may recognise those names. Both Sato Hisanori and Suzuki Hiroki have starred in Prince of Tennis musicals. Taketatsu Ayana is a voice actress famous for starring in the anime K-ON!, Noto Arisa is a former Hello!Project Egg - now having left H!P but continues to work for UFA, mostly as an actress. And Kouda Mariko is another voice actress and singer who has starred in various anime.

This is quite an ensemble cast. No big names, but there's someone acting in this for everybody. Especially for fans of Prince of Tennis and Berryz Koubou, as we have here our two lead cast members Sudou Maasa and Sato Hisanori who are playing each other's love interest in this movie.

I'm still not sure how I'll react to this relationship, but a cast that can interest Harowota, Ani-otaku and PoT fangirls... It sounds like we're in for quite a ride.

http://ranobe.jp/cast.html

Light Novel no Tanoshii Kakikata!

2009-10-10T17:33:00.002+01:00

Well, I don't think any of us could have predicted this. I, like many I am sure, woke up this morning to the wonderful news that Maasa had scored an acting role in an upcomming Live Action adaption of the anime Light Novel no Tanoshii Kakikata. But not just any acting role, a starring role!

That's right, Maasa shall be playing the role of Tsurugi Yabusame, the lead female role in this movie. The character is described as the beautiful classmate who happens to be the strongest girl in school. She, however, has long desired to be 「可愛い女の子」, a "cute girl". Since Junior High School, Tsurugi has taken to writing light novels and her first won her a newcommer's writer's award. However, fearful of her strict father, she keeps her identity hidden by publishing the books using the penname "Mio Himemiya".

Tsurugi Yabusame gets writer's block, however, when writing about something she has no experience with herself, such is the case with her new light novel - a romantic comedy. Her classmate, Yakumo Atae (pictured) is one person who knows of her secret. Yakumo's cousin, who happens to be Tsurugi's editor, suggests that the two start dating so that she can get experience with romance and finish writing.

So far Maasa has been the first and only person cast for the movie. But it's rather incredible. Maasa does bear a slight resemblance to the girl, but she doesn't exactly have much history as an actress - and to suddenly be thrown in to the lead role, it's incredible.

If the movie works out well it could serve to promote Maasa in Berryz, and Berryz as a group to new fans. We're all holding our breath hoping for something wonderful.

There is no official release date yet, but from what I understand it's slated for release in 2010. Let's keep an eye out for more updates, and it'll be curious to see the actor who Maasa is to become romantically involved with.

That itself will prove delicate. To somehow create a believable relationship between the two characters without going far enough to upset wota like myself.

http://ranobe.jp/index.html

Berryz Koubou 2007 Summer ~ Maasa Camera! ~

2009-09-25T17:00:00.000+01:00

Time to bring back some normality to this blog after a shamefully long period of inactivity. Let's return to Maasa herself with the most awesome picspam the Church has never seen!

Let us turn back the pages to Summer 2007. My interest in H!P is developing to the next level as I shift from YouTube to H!P Forums. We're right in the middle of Berryz Koubou's concert tour, one that would later go on to become my own personal favourite concert - although at the time Berryz Koubou and C-ute were still very much unknown to me - and would, a year later, become the namesake of my first blog. Berryz Koubou 2007 Summer Concert Tour ~ Welcome! Berryz Kyuuden ~

During this tour each of the girls was given a digital camera (a fairly cheap one at that!) which they would then use to take pictures of anything they felt like. These picture's would then be printed in the tour's coupling photobook. It's a wonderful idea. None of the girls in Berryz keep a blog, as far as I'm aware. This is a shame, because I'd love to follow Maasa's Idol blog - learn what she did that day, what she ate, and see blurry images that may or may not slightly resemble the food talked about in the entry. Sometimes I wish I could get away with such simple blogging.

Today we're going to take a look at the pictures Maasa took. I know, there are some really great shots of Maasa taken by other members too, and maybe later I'll do a part deux and show some of those, but for now we'll just take a look at Maasa's own camerawork, because it's essentially Maasa's image diary of the tour. A blog with pictures.

So lets get things started!

First thing I notice on this page is the cute picture of Maasa about to take a bite into a watermelon. That's right. A picture, not only of food but also of the idol taking a bite into said food. We're off to a good start, that's top class Idol blog material right there!

We also have a photo beside that of Maasa putting her hair up in the dressing rooms. Not entirely sure how you manage to take a photo of yourself with a brush in one hand and the other holding the hair up, but Maasa is clearly capable of anything. I wonder how long it takes Maasa to do her hair and makeup. I'm no expert on either of those things, and I'm the kind of lazy long haired bum who combs it in the morning and that's it for the day. Even as a long-haired guy my hair only takes a minute to do, but you know what girls are like, right? I'm sure even Captain finds a way to take 40 minutes in the morning on her hair.

Moving down the page we see some more typical photos including one featuring nothing but... candy in plastic bags? One for each member? Baked by Maasa's mother? Mhm... I'd love to try Mama's mama's cooking. Alas, I fear I never shall. Not in this life anyway. To the right of that picture we have our first Chu! pic. Momoko is assaulting Maasa with her lips. I'm not sure if Maasa looks more terrified or more exhausted. Let the girl get her sleep, Momo.

To the upper left of that pic we can see Maasa sitting looking at, what appears to be, a photo of herself. Hard to tell from the angle, but I'm certain it's herself. So Maasa hates the sound of her own voice, but has no reservations about admiring her own beauty? Heck, I would too if I was her. Any guesses on what her shirt says though? "Make Up Milano"? I don't know what that means. It doesn't even look like engrish just... random words thrown against a picture (also random).

Actually, that's an interesting observations about the clothes. It really showcases just how long this tour and preparing for it lasts by the number of different outfits. No doubt they have at least one change of clothes, not counting the actual concert costumes, when doing the concerts since they sweat alot and it'd probably be nice to change into some clean clothes after 2 hours dancing. I think on this page alone we can see Maasa wearing at least 5 different shirts and whatnot? Does that mean 5 different days?

Finally, I'd like to talk about that random Momoko photo. The one where she's holding up her camera to god only knows what. Maybe the Church of Momo will write a fanblog about her camera and we'll find out what she was taking a picture of? Does the Church of Momo even exist? I've seen a single mention of it in one forum user's signature, but other than that there doesn't seem to be any trace of any degree of organised religion based around Momoko. And that's not a hint to go and create an infidel church.

A new page, one that seems even more interesting than the last! And the first thing I notice is the picture in the top right. It looks suspiciously like the same photobook Maasa was looking at on the previous page. Proof that she was looking at pictures of herself! Either that or she was looking at Miyabi, but I can see no concievable reason why she's looking at a picture of Miyabi when she is on the page beside it. Why would you?

As for the picture below it, I'm not entirely sure what that is. I see tiny monitors, presumably showing what each of the cameras is recording. So what is that machine she's at? The lighting? The controls for which camera is shown on the big screen at the back of the stage? Why Maasa is covering, not only the behind the scenes work of the director but also dancing and singing at the same time on stage is beyond me, but simply incredible that she can somehow do both jobs at once. That's what it means to be a Maaist, to have an Idol who never ceases to amaze.

And then... Oh my god. What happened to Chinami and Miyabi's make up in the two photos on the left hand side of that row. Where they putting it on while the bus was moving? Lucky Maasa managed to pull through unscathed, but wow, that was quite a bumpy ride back there.

Next up we have a picture by Maasa featuring herself with Miyabi and Yurina. Good news for those Miyabi fans is that she seems to have fixed her makeup. Maasa is striking a reverse Peace hand gesture - one popularised by Winston Churchill during the second World War as a "V for Victory" - clearly showing off the fact that while Miyabi's makeup was ruined, Maasa pulled through and made it to the concert venue unharmed. Good for you, Maasa!

On the next row theres a peculiar, but cute, picture of Momoko sleeping on the bus. What's that in her hands? A plush toy? Interesting that Momoko takes such a thing on her concert tours, I wonder what it means.

Looking down to the bottom we see a few humourous pictures with Chinami and Captain, but what more interests me is the picture between them. A set of water bottles. Each identical, each with a straw poking out a hole in the cap. What I find interesting is the fact that each pair of bottles has a label - the name of each of the Berryz members. When you think about it it makes sense, greater efficiency than having bottled water laying around the dressing rooms and means the girls don't have to ask themselves where they left their water and which one was their own. Personally I would prefer chilled water, those are bound to get to room temperature pretty quick just sitting there, but I guess water is still water and it was cool at some point.

Another page! We're about halfway there now!

This time the first thing we notice is Maasa attacking Risako the same way Momoko did so back at the start. Is this really the kind of stuff that goes on backstage at concerts? How awesome would be to actually see what these girls are like off camera. Oh well, once again it's something we'll never see.

Next up we have a ton of photos around it featuring Maasa and Chinami. Those two are hilarious. Maasa will always be the grand master of pulling funny faces, but where Maasa looks insane and, sometimes, murderous, Chinami sometimes still manages to look adorable when pulling these faces. These two must be a lot of fun in a print club photo booth. What's up with the monobrow though? There's that one big shot of the two of them with monobrow, Chinami looks terrifying. The monobrow, the crazy expression, the red skin... Maybe Chinami is actually the devil to Maasa's god?

Looking further down theres a taller photo with Maasa wearing a green costume, Maasa looks pretty short in this picture, don't you think? It looks like someone chopped off her legs. Or... wait a second. Isn't that Yurina's costume? Why is Maasa wearing that? Interesting that Maasa can just walk into the dressing room, grab Yurina's costume and put it on. I wonder if Yurina knows Maasa stole it? It'd be hilarious for them to turn up on stage in eachothers' costumes. In fact, haven't they done that before? I'm sure I've seen a picture of Yurina and Momoko on stage wearing each other's Berryz Kamen outfits.

Finally I notice another picture to the left of Momoko sleeping again. This time restong on Maasa's shoulder it seems. Maasa isn't a pillow, Momoko, back off! All she ever seems to do in Maasa's photos is sleep, what's up with that?

This will be a shorter page to talk about, I think. It's mostly typical Japanese Idol photos of food and the girls eating said food.

But straight away one of those pictures catches my eye. One of Maasa feeding Miyabi. How wonderfully selfless of Maasa, taking time out to feed the kids by hand. It's a cute image which just serves to reinforce that motherly figure Maasa serves as for the rest of Berryz. But the picture does beg the question, why can't Miyabi feed herself? Looks like she's abusing Maasa's good nature for her own selfish gain. Does she want Maasa to chew the food for her too?

...Actually, that's kinda kinky, if not a tad disgusting.

This time we see the girls on a plane. Looks like a pretty cheap fight at that. I wonder where they are going and why on earth our girls are only in Economy class? No expense spared here at UP-FRONT.

I love the pictures of Maasa on the plane. She really looks good with her hair down. I know that the way she puts her hair up is one of those things that have become associated with her - indeed, all of the girls of Berryz have little characitures of themselves which they frequently draw on their photocards and Maasa's features that "trademark hairstyle", as it were. But despite that, Maasa looks really cute when she lets her hair down. Perhaps something UFW have noticed since her hair has been down alot lately in recent PVs - although recently she's looked quite sexy with her hair like that.

There's another photo on this page which makes me laugh out loud every time I see it. At the bottom we see Maasa, Yurina and Miyabi with... things stuck to their faces. I have no idea what they are or what is going on, but it's hilarious. Also interesting to note that the 3... things are in the same colour that corresponds to the girl it's stuck to. Does that mean off camera the other girls are all sitting there with random coloured objects attatched to their faces? That's quite a scene!

This is a great page. There's so much going on. Where to begin?

The top of the page seems like a good place. We have a whole row of idol camera poses, including one rather interesting one of Captain. Looks like she's trying to eat her own finger off. Have you ever tried to do that? It takes an incredible level of willpower to bite your finger off - it's much easier to do it to someone else, assuming they don't struggle too hard anyway. Where was I going with that? Ah yes. You know, I'm not sure what it is about the picture, wether it's the face she's making or a combination of the camera angle and lighting, but doesn't Captain look a couple years younger in that photo?

Below it there's a cute picture of Maasa and Miyabi. It looks like a game of Chicken which Maasa won. Maasa went in for the kiss and Miyabi had to look away to stop herself from laughing. Therefore Maasa won.

...not sure if that's good or not, to be honest.

Next up there's a big picture of Momoko giving a funny, yet cute face to the camera and-- Oh my god what is that!?

Miyabi's head appears to be in the bottom of shot. It took me a minute or two to even register what it was. I thought it was just Momoko's arm or something poking into shot until a noticed the eyes. That's a terrifying photo! Really, why does Miyabi feel the need to shoot into frame with those bug eyes? She looks like a fish! A fish with a nose, no less. Terrifying.

And so, I think I shall end here. This entry has taken a long time to write. It was incredibly entertaining to write it, however, and I hope you found it as enjoyable to read as I did. I could have just posted all the pics, but I thought it'd be more entertaining to give my own commentary on it. Thank you for reading, lets end with the last page - Maasa's personal favourite shot.

Message to the Church of AKB

2009-09-20T00:37:00.000+01:00

AKB48 Worshippers,

We have been watching you, and we believe that your ideals directly conflict with our own in such a way that is unacceptable. Your false and heretical worship, your persecution and suppression of the true way - the Maaist way, have all led to this. We can not allow you to continue such pursuits, and as such I am writing this message in the hopes of persuading you back to the true path before it is too late.

AKB48 have long been my personal enemy and stand very much in the way of this Church's ideals and beliefs. We follow a tradition of monotheism and adherence to the words of Maasa, "I'm am Maasa your idol, thou shall have no other idols before me," is one of the most sacred laws of Maaism. AKB promote idols and ideals, a word that arguably has it's roots in the word "Idol", different to this. Because of this heresy these so-called Idols and their fans have strayed from the path and have dissapointed Maasa.

Members of the Church of AKB, a term coined by myself to describe those fans who commited themselves to worshipping the heretical teachings of those residing atop the Tower of Evil in Akihabara's Don Quijote store, who have strayed can still repent. Maasa forgives. Maasa saves. Maasa asks only for your faith and loyalty. And so I put it to you, would you rather live a life of damnation in the hands of AKB? Or repent and live your life in the protection of Our Holy Matriarch?

I think we all know which is the better choice, don't we?

Repent, lost children, and feel the warmth of Maasa's embrace.

Happy Maasa Day!

2009-07-03T20:25:00.000+01:00

That time has finally come. July 3rd. Maasa Day - also referred to by Charmy_Renai as Awesome Day.

How did you folks celebrate our favourite religious holiday?

This is what I did.

Yesterday, when it turned midnight on the 3rd in Japan, I counted down the last 10 seconds to Maasa's birthday - everyone in IRC was pretty confused by it, except those who had seen me talking about how Maasa's birthday was only a few hours away all morning. Yeah. I'm a Maaist through and through, and people damn well know it.

10.
9.
...
2.
1.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAASA! And a HAPPY AWESOME DAY to everyone.

Brilhantes10 and I, as though we had read eachother's minds and been planning to do this for hours (I had, anyway!) suddenly hit our IRC "Now Playing" and we both were listening to Berryz Koubou's TODAY IS MY BIRTHDAY from the first album 1st Chou Berryz. Wise men think alike, I always say.

My next goal was to bake a cake. I had deliberated for days on end about what kind of cake to make. Sponge cake with icing? Chocolate cake? In the end, after a suggestion from ginaRAWR, I went for what seemed like the most appropriate. Because Maasa is a Berryz member and her colour is blue, I went for a blueberry cheesecake. Genius, no?

So I had bought the necissary ingredients a couple days in advance. And I got to work! Well, okay. I suck at baking, so I had my mother to guide me - not to mention Maasa herself.

In the end I think it came out quite well. And the blueberries tasted great! It may not look all that good, but it tasted better than it looks, I assure you.

Cheesecake filled with blueberries and topped with even more blueberries. Lovely.

So tell me how you celebrated this awesome day! Post in the comments.

And I shall leave you with Maa's blessing, may we continue to support her over the coming year as we have in the past, and may Maa continue to guide and protect us as she has done til now.

Sorry for the inconvenience...

2009-05-14T19:35:00.000+01:00

I'm just writing a quick entry here to inform my readers and followers that, in light of Anime Expo's teaming with UFI to bring you an official MM OPV contest (more on which I'll write about in my other blog) and the apparent lack of interest in the Church's contest, Project Evangelion will be postponed indefinitely.

Sorry for any inconveniences caused. Regular blogging to continue soon.

Project Evangelion : Convert the Masses

2009-04-13T12:31:00.000+01:00

I thought I would give something a try. Something I've never even attempted before. A competition! Henceforth known as Project Evangelion. The point of this, of course, is to increase faith in Maasa and the Church.

So, first of all. What are we competing? This is a video contest. Primarily an OPV one, but if you have another interesting idea in mind then go for it. The idea is simple, create a good Maasa video, send it in and the best will be decided by a panel of judges. These judges will be a small number (perhaps 5) of faithful men who will, unfortunately be barred from submiting a video in the interest of fairness.

Keep in mind that the video must be Maasa-centric in some way. A Berryz Koubou OPV will not be considered. A Maasa OPV which features clips or pictures of her with other members is acceptable. But remember that Maasa is the center of attention! Also the video should, in some way or another, advertise the Church of Maasa. Not necissarily this blog, but the faith in Maasa as a religious figure. As the Idol. Multiple entries are allowed, should you wish to do so.

So what is the prize? Well, I did originally plan on giving away to the winner a copy of Maasa's photobook. But another photobook contest after The Incredible He-Hulk's sig contest would be a bad choice. So I have decided to do something simpler. The winner will recieve a gift-voucher redeemable for $20 at YesAsia. If I get a big enough response to the contest, I may upgrade that prize. But for the time being that is where it stands.

Entries should be sent to contest@berryzkyuuden.com before June 15th. This gives you two months to work with, and the winner will be announced and their prize awarded before or on Maasa's Birthday (July 3rd). Your email should contain the link (DirectDownload or Video Stream only) to the video, it's title and also please indicate your Display name in the email subject. Valid email address is required, as the winners gift-code will be sent to the email adress you submitted the video with.

If you have no interest in entering into the contest, but would like to judge entries. Drop me an email too.

Lastly, although I can't enter the contest since I am hosting and judging, I thought I'd make an OPV anyway...

Public Service Announcement: Don't Worship False Idols

2009-04-08T13:33:00.000+01:00

Many believe that Maasa, in times long past, gave us these words; "I am Maasa your Idol. Thou shall worship no other Idol before me." It's debatable, but we do believe that these words were later adapted for use by later religions.

Well, my brothers and sisters, I have a confession to make. I wasn't always the monotheist that the Church requires me to be. They were darker times than these, in a place known as Musume-Central where a battle of Survival raged between Yajima Maimi and Suzuki Airi. I supported Maimi, of course. But support was much greater for Airi than for Maimi. We were fighting a losing battle, but did not give face. We fought on and the battle drew out for several days until we were finally overcome. But we knew we had fought the good fight. And, brace yourselves, this is where my treachery happened. In the middle of everything, I began to preach about The Golden Maimi and how, in the afterlife, we would be greatly rewarded for standing by her to the end - and of course that redemption was still a choice for the Airi supporters.

So my message to you, brothers, is don't get caught up in the moment. Think carefully about which Idol you choose to worship. And in the end, if you have thought long and hard, you will come to the conclusion that Maasa is the only true idol. Those who would have you believe otherwise are heratics willing to start a Holy War between two or more idols.

Take that anti-religious pretender Sougisou, for example, he and his communist support for Shimizu Saki would have Maasa's titles stripped and her supporters destroyed! Fear not, however, because only the true prevail. Now take Murr, who commited slander and other acts of Heresy in the name of her false idol - Niigaki Risa. Ever since tensions have been high between myself and those few supporters of that cult. However, I can't lose my own integrity. Not again. We must stand tall and proud, and do our best to peacefully convert these cultists back to the light. The worship of their false and obscure idols is dangerous. A danger to society, to themselves, and to us.

We do not wish for a holy war, brothers! But should one break out, you can sleep soundly knowing that it is us who will become one with Maasa - the greatest honour known to man.

And a message to the non-believers: Join us. We are the true way. Swear your loyalty to the Church and to Maasa and you shall never look back. Just look at how happy Tokunaga Chinami was when she first joined the Church!

Yorishiku Sensei! ~Ping-Pong Master~

2009-03-22T16:21:00.000Z

This week was, I believe, the penultimate week of Yorosen. But more importantly, it was Maasa's week of Yorosen. I was dissapointed that they were making us wait till now to see Maasa teach Table Tennis, but it seems they saved the best for last after all!

Maasa was great, and gave us lots to laugh about with her reactions, etc. So here's the Yorosen a la Maa-highlights entry!

A few seconds in, and we're off. Maasa's runs into the room yelling "Alright!" and swinging that racket around with. Regular watchers of the show know that one of the biggest joys of the week is to see what kind of outfit the sensei will be dressed in. And Maasa's is definately one of the cutest so far - with the white shorts, dark t-shirt with those heart and star accessories. Did I mention that her hair is looking extra pretty today? Well now I have. Don't you forget it.

Maasa asks the question you didn't even know you'd been pondering for the last 6 months... When are we gonna see some ping pong? Well here Maasa asks the question for us - the Messiah with the answers before we even ask the question.

Maasa tells us how we should hold the racket, either using the "Handshake" or "Pen-holder" method. Personally I'd play with the handshake, it seems easier. But Captain does play very well during her matches with the other method. She also reminds Momoko not to stick her pinky up while holding it. That's right, Momo! Keep it down, you don't want to see Maasa when she's pissed off.

After handing out the rackets - and handing Risako a worn-out one - Risako tries to steal Maasa's racket. That's a sin, Risako! Don't do it! Maasa's racket is the forbidden fruit, touch it and you'll damn mankind forever.

After a brief struggle, Risako gets it, and Maasa - "The ping pong master" - is left with the worn out one. What have you done, Risako!?

You tell her, Maasa! I tried to warn her, but she wouldn't listen.

Maasa then proceeds to talk about Fukuhara Ai, a famous Japanese ping pong player, who plays the game at a national level. It seems that Captain knows a bit about ping pong, as she manages to get the nickname "Crybaby Ai" out before even Maasa-sensei does. Impressive. But this won't win you the war, Captain. Maasa won't lose to you!

Yurina looks soo tall standing beside the table. It makes me laugh.

We see two episodes of games between each of the girls. But all of that was unimportant, because Maasa was the seed on the bracket, everything was building up to her entry into the field. And in the 4th episode, definately the best battle in the whole week, we see Captain versus Maasa - perhaps the two best players in Berryz. And be warned. This is not for the faint of heart. Maasa's yelling can be pretty intimidating.

It starts off badly. Maasa is soon 3 points down. But if I know my Maasa, she'll pull through... Pull through, dammit!

I was right, Maasa gets back into the game! Now the real battle begins! Maasa's coming for you, Captain. And she'll stop at nothing in her quest for domination.

Look at her celebrate! Chinami points out that this is a pretty intense match, and she's right. No wonder it gets an entire episode to itself. She's still 1 point down at the moment (the score at the bottom has yet to update) But that's ground Maasa can still cover. She has to, for our sake!

She did it! This image captures the exact moment of victory over Captain. Once again, Maasa has defeated her arch-nemesis. I wonder what those pretenders have to say about this defeat! But it was a good battle, and really, I suspect it could have just as easily come out in Saki's favour instead. They are both skilled, and I think they would probably do well at a regional-level.

I could go on and do the Chinami one, but to be honest, it'd be fairly anti-climatic to do so. Chinami vs Maasa was a match that moved so slow that it's hard to keep up with what happened. Even her opponents Yurina and Maasa were confused. Seems it was either her tactic, or it was the way she happened to be playing. But after such an intense and fast-paced fight like Captain's, it's pretty boring in comparison.

Happy....!

2009-03-11T18:04:00.001Z

Well, this series of posts on Maasa's PB seems to be finally drawing to a near close. As I don't have the PB yet, I can't comment on it, and I'll post the last in the series (a review of the photobook) when I see it. But for now, I'll announce the name of the holiday we have all (hopefully) been celebrating today.

There were many great suggestions, and some not-so great, but I feel that I have made a good choice, and had I put a poll up asking you to pick from the final three or whatever, you may have picked it too. Actually, when I first put out the call for name suggestions, I had a poll in mind as the deciding factor, but alas we have found the one downside to UFA/Maasa's aggressive publicity campaign for the photobook... Time was in short supply. There wasn't enough time to get in suggestions, pick the top 3 and then poll you all on which you like best, as we only had about 9 days to work with between the announcement of the photobook and now.

And now, without further ado, the name of the holiday: Maasa Matsuri! As suggested by Kurisu.

This was my favourite, and although the others were good too, I found this was the easiest to remember and it just rolls off the tongue. Also, the word matsuri, in case anyone didn't know, is translated to "festival" in english. Festivals can have a wide range of ways to celebrate, right? And not to mention that festivals are fun! Besides... Everyone loves a bit of aliteration.

Another one that did interest me was the idea of naming March 2nd as Photobook Proclamation Day, as suggested by 20000. This has an interesting ring to it, and interestingly sounds like a complete contrast to Maasa Matsuri where it has a much more serious sound and much more religious/politicaly themed. So that name gets the honourable mention, and I have a good mind to make that one official too. What do the rest of you think?

Anyway, the photobook is out today, and Maasa Matsuri is upon us. How have you guys been celebrating? Or how do you plan on celebrating? Like any festival worth it's money, I'll probably eat lots of food, drink and, to add that Maasa touch to it, have a Berryz concert marathon. Expect me to be up at 5am watching Berryz Koubou 2005 Aki ~Switch On!~ or something. If you have a blog, how about writing over the next couple of days about the photobook and about how you spent Maasa Matsuri? Be sure to leave a link in the comments, as I'd love to read them. Or you could simply share with us about it in the comments section itself, should you feel so inclined.

Also, I hear that, not only has Maasa's photobook been on the top-sellers on amazon since it was announced, it has actually sold out. I expect a new photobook is already in the works, my friends!

Maasa Photobook Previews!

2009-03-09T19:01:00.000Z

It seems my predictions and theories about UFA's promotional tactics concerning Maasa's new photobook are ringing true more than ever. Last time I mentioned that they seem to be using lightning-quick promotion. With the space between announcing and release at just over a week, every few days we get a new taste of what is to come, so we never get bored of the news. Scroll back an entry if you're interested in reading more into that theory.

But it seems I was right. Just as we were all getting used to seeing what the cover looks like, something happened. TWO videos appear on Dohhhup! The first is a video of Maasa talking about her new photobook, complete with other Berryz members popping in and basking in the beauty contained in it's glossy pages. The second video being a preview of the Making-Of DVD which contains some pretty interesting footage itself.

Let's talk about them one at a time, shall we?

I'll talk about the Making-Of preview afterwards, simply because in this one we get to see very little of the photobook itself. The waiting is worth it, trust me.

The first thing we see is Maasa, and rightly so. She instantly starts talking about her new release, and with a wonderful "Jan!" we are shown the cover of the photobook. I just said that it was starting to lose it's wow factor, right? Well, it's all just as fresh as before when the thing is actually being held in Maasa's hands. What I wouldn't give to be that photobook, huh?

She then decides to show us the inside. Is this it? The moment of truth? Well, she holds it up to the camera, skims through it, and we get to see the top third of about 3 pages. Not quite what we were hoping for. And Maasa lets out an "ahhhh!" which quite simply reminds me of someone teasing their kid with a candy bar, but pulling it away at the last minute. My friend used to do that to random dogs. It seems that we're not gonna get it that easy, huh? Oh well, we're good Maasa-ists! We can take it!

Or so we thought. She then starts talking about the photobook and waving the thing around in the camera. Is she doing this on purpose?

Then, we hear a voice. A voice belonging to her. Tsugunaga Momoko-chan. She takes the photobook and starts looking through it herself. Due to the way she hold it at first, we get to see brief glimpses of... well, nothing. But it's just about the most we've seen from this so far! Then she lifts it up and we see nothing but the cover again. Damn. She then proceeds to start exclaiming how cute or sexy the pictures are. We, the viewers, of course don't get to see what all the fuss is about. Damn her. When it was Maasa we could take it. But now Momoko's teasing us too? This is too much!

It was about here that I noticed something though. If you look behind Momoko at Maasa (which I'm sure you were all doing anyway!) you can see Maasa do nothing but fidget the whole time. She can't keep still! She's clearly as excited about this photobook and showing it off as the rest of us. I wonder if idols with several photobooks still get as excited as that around release time?

All of a sudden, Tokunaga Chinami-chan appears in the room. And Momoko exclaims about something being incredibly cute, and decides to show us the picture! Finally, some results! Not quite, she covers up Maasa's face with her hand. Is this to shield us from the mind-melting sheer beauty of Maasa? Or is she just trying to get our god-damned hopes up... because it worked! Chinami then goes to show us another picture, but is stopped by Maasa and Momoko. Damn. Nice try, Chinami!

From here on we hear more of the girls' commentary on the photobook, but I can't really tell you what all that's about as my Japanese is limited at best. But since the subject matter is Maasa, it's always interesting. Take their word for it.

Next up is the Making-Of preview. This starts off with footage of Maasa in a red dress with a hairband as she picks out some fruit. I must confess a sin here. The hairstyle she's wearing at this time is one that I hate. Always have hated that look. Even Maasa, who has been noted for being able to pull off any look (no matter what horrible costumes UFA give her) no problem. This one is pushing the boundary. But I appologise for such blasphemy, it's not appropriate for me to say such things about our holy matriarch Maasa. So let's move on.

The following scene we see Maasa holding a hose and wearing what appears to be a pair of dungarees. Maasa as a working woman, we see her washing a van and playing with the soap bubbles. That explains it. Maasa always was the kind of girl to take charge. If something needs done, she'll make sure it gets done. Although really, she just had to ask a couple Maasa-ists to do the job, we'd have done it for her, and even let her take the credit. Actually, how do we know that this isn't exactly what happened? Congratulations to the people who did the job for her! Maasa and the Church are forever indebted to your kindness. May you be rewarded greatly for your good and holy deeds.

The following clips are even better. Maasa in a red bikini, playing at the pool. Who said clichés had to be boring? Maasa's enjoying herself, so why should we commit, what can only be described as, herasy and complain? That's what I thought.

But by far the best costume in this whole video, is a few clips further in, we see Maasa standing by a set of lockers and the one following. I'll let you see for yourself what she is wearing. But needless to say, that is the face of beauty.

Maasa is the face of beauty.

Photobook Update!

2009-03-05T17:33:00.000Z

That's right. The Photobook cover has surfaced at last! And what a fine cover it is. I sense a slight change in tactics with this photobook. Normally with Hello!Project photobooks they are announced weeks in advance and as the release day moves slowly closer we get more and more teasers, just to keep us interested. But with this, announced 1-2 weeks before release, everything is moving much faster. The announcement came on the 2nd, here we are 3 days later and the cover is here.

But it doesn't end there! Some sites are now taking pre-orders for the book. At the moment, Maasa's photobook currently resides in the #5 spot on Amazon's Top-Sellers for the Books category. Maybe we can further launch that to first place before release.

The page for the PB at Amazon.co.jp can be found here: Amazon

Such a relentless offensive on UFA's part, especially when compared with previous releases. These tactics are proving very effective, I imagine. Things are moving so fast we don't have time to get used to the idea of Maa having her photobook. It'll take a long time for this to become "old news", I reckon.

And remember we have a holiday planned for the release date of March 11th. If you haven't already, read this entry and suggest a name for the holiday!

A new religious holiday!

2009-03-04T13:51:00.000Z

With Maasa's first photobook bordering on release, and because it's such a monumental occasion for the Church and for Hello!Project alike, I have decided to declare it's release date, 11th March, a holiday! A day used to celebrate, not just the release of the photobook, but to celebrate Maasa and all the hard work she has done for us. Besides, any excuse for a drink is a good one, right?

Now, this is where this entry should hopefully get interesting. All good holidays deserve a good name, right? So this is your chance as readers and followers to participate in the way the Church works. I've decided to let you, the readers, decide on the name of the holiday. So, what I want you to do is come up with your best names for the day and ask your friends too! After all, the more choices we have the more likely we are to get a really great one, right? Right!

Of course, there is always a distinct possibility that noone will come up with an idea, in which case I'll have to think of a name myself. But that'd just about defeat the point of this entire post, so let's not have it come to that.

Anyway, on the topic of the photobook, it's not confirmed, but the rumour is spreading that this is a preview of the photobook:

EDIT: It appears to have surfaced that this is not Maasa, but apparently an idol called Risa Yoshiki. I'll leave the picture here due to the sheer resemblance to Maasa and as a "what Maasa's PB could look like".

The answer to our prayers!

2009-03-02T13:46:00.001Z

We've waited, and we've hoped, for far too long. Now it's Maasa's time. According to the Official Photobook schedule (here) a new photobook is due to be released on the 11th of March. A photobook with the interesting title "maasa".

A wise man once said "If you truly want something, then you shall have it" and "Anything can be achieved if you want it enough"... or maybe I just made them up, which would make me the wise man. Anyway, that wise man's words ring true here. We've been hoping for a photobook for a long time and it's finally coming, after this I have no idea what we'll hope for. Co-starring in a drama? Her second photobook? The skies the limit with this girl. Actually, if she wants to go into orbit, you let her. There is no limit.

Unfortunately there is nothing to show at the moment as the photobook has been just announced. We know of it's existance, it's name, and release date. But rest assured, the Church will provide, and I shall share previews with you once they become available.

I know Maasa has been gaining in popularity lately, especially over 2008 where she became a regular show-stealer in the second season of Berikyuu. And according to Hello!Project Store sales rankings on H!O, Maasa did well for herself last year. But I can't help but wonder if that was the reason behind her getting a photobook, wether she hung the managers by their toes in a dungeon and tortured them until they gave the green light, or wether this is a result of her recent weight-loss... Or a combination of the above. Makes you wonder, doesn't it?

Symbolism

2009-02-24T18:54:00.000Z

After a conversation on wotachat, I decided to alter the Church of Maasa a bit, I hope the changes will please whoever reads this and will show in future posts. One of the most obvious changes at the moment, though, would be the theme. A slight change in colours, which I think is a little more pleasing to the eye than the old white and blue theme, and a new banner. The banner is simple, but contains a bit of symbolism, so I thought I'd devote this brief entry to talking about what this all means.

Now, the banner as a whole shows an image of the Japanese sun early in the morning. Using a sunrise was quite important for two reasons, the second of which I'll go into shortly, but the first reason was a simple one. This is all about Maasa, a Japanese Idol, who, like most Japanese Idols, comes from Japan. And what other name is Japan famous for? That's right. It's the Land of the Rising Sun. In fact, I hear that name is what the Japanese name for their own country 「日本」 ("Nihon") translates to; the first character referring to the sun, and the second character meaning "root" or "origin". The sun already has some sort of spiritual and cultural significance which can be adapted for the Church's use.

Now, the first thing you probably notice when you look at it is the symbol (which has been adopted as the symbol of the Church) which has been conspicuously placed on top of the image. I looked across a lot of ancient imagery such as this one, and in the end decided to adapt this for the Church symbol. Now, I'll assume you have no knowledge at all about this symbol or where it comes from and explain all that to you now. This is a Lauburu, or Basque Cross. The shape is the same, but I have changed the colour to red. Why red? For one, the colour is eye-catching, which is why lots of different political groups adopted the colour red. Communists and Nazi's alike used the colour because if you fly your flags and symbols around as propoganda, you want it to catch alot of people's attention, and red serves this purpose much better than most other colours. I'm pretty sure that the image on the right there is distracting you right now as you read this, and will stick in your mind for some time after you leave this page. At least, that's what I'd hope, because if that's the case, it has served it's purpose as a religious symbol well. The other main reason is because it is almost reminiscant of the National Flag of Japan and, like that flag, of the sun itself. We've come full circle, haven't we? Please excuse that terrible pun, it was unintended. Honest.

Now, you may or may not have noticed the Lauburu's resemblance to a Swastika. And in fact, it could be considered a Swastika, or at least a distant cousin of one. And, like swastikas, is generally used as a symbol of luck and prosperity. The Lauburu is a symbol fairly unique to Basque Country, and by the 16th Century were used unsparingly as decoration in Basque. The meaning of the symbol itself is quite disputed, wether each head represents each of the classic elements (Air, Water, Fire and Earth) or Life, Spirit, Consiousness and Form (is also one of the theories). People also believe the direction of the image (note that the Church uses a right-facing) denotes different meanings, albeit the right-facing lauburu signifying life and the left-facing with death. It has also been said to be a solar symbol.

This takes me back to the sunrise. With the right-facing lauburu said to signify life, and as a solar symbol, it matches up with the same spiritual significance of the sunrise in cultures around the world. The sun was worshipped by cults and ancient pagan religions as a symbol of life, as the sun provides life to everything on this planet. And by putting the symbol of the Church (and by extension of Maasa) inside the rising sun, the whole image symbolises the rise of the Church.

Happy Valentines from Maasa

2009-02-15T22:21:00.000Z

A tad late, but a Happy Valentines day from Maasa. It's the thought that counts, right? And Maasa thought to give us all some chocolates. Go on, accept them! Maasa wouldn't poison them... She gives the poison ones to the AKB fans, silly.

And actually, this picture showcases quite well something I've been meaning to talk about for a while.

It was reported on the Yorosen blog several weeks ago that Maasa had lost weight recently. We weren't really sure about what that really meant, and then the pictures started coming out and it all became clear. I don't think Maasa really needed to lose weight, she wasn't fat, maybe a little chubby - but that was cute! But even so, who can deny that Maasa is now looking more stunning than ever... Maybe she's in love?

You can see there that she was still very pretty., and wasn't overweight in any way. But when you compare the two pictures, which are only a short few months apart in time difference, you can see she is looking alot slimmer. She almost seems an entirely different person. But don't worry, I'm sure she could still throw E. Honda to the ground without breaking a sweat. She's still the strongest Idol in the world, and you know it.

Maasa has Everything we want...

2009-01-19T19:32:00.000Z

In fact, some might say that this picspam also has everything we want. Would they be right? You decide.

Don't you agree now?

PS: I have added a little text box to the side of the page called "Quote of the week", which will feature a different fact each week, similiar to the facts used in the BBC show Top Gear when introducing The Stig. Have any ideas for facts? Drop me a message.

The Reincarnate Theory

2009-01-16T17:45:00.000Z

First off, my appologies again for not updating the site in over a month. As I posted on my other blog, I had the flu through most of December and was too ill to even think about writing. But here I am again, fit as a fiddle (almost), and sharing with the Church the first of a number of different theories about the world in which we live, and the deity we worship, Sudou Maasa.

The first theory is the Reincarnate Theory - those who believe that Maasa, though physically only an adolescent, is indeed spiritually most ancient. They believe that Maasa reincarnates in a new body after death, much the same way as the Tibetans view their own Spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama. This being the case, an ancient line of Maasa can be traced back through millennia. The theory, however, is fairly recent and lacks substantial evidence for officials to research such a lineage, and because records are non-existent, to even attempt to do so would be nigh impossible.

Faith, however, is defined as "belief in spite of no evidence". And even though the theory has been impossible to prove (or disprove), there are those that cling to it as fact. In fact, the mystery sorounding the facts of the story is somewhat alluring, which is probably what drove many Maasa believers to rally behind it.

The theory itself does leave many blanks due to lack of information, the age of the original Maasa, or indeed the universe itself, remains a mystery. This has led to some believers taking up certain beliefs from other theories too, including science's Theory of Evolution and Big Bang. With evolution in mind, it is possible that the original Maasa may not have even been a modern human, but rather a lesser evolved form of man. Some tribal leaders, including the original Maasa, may have thought of herself as someone with divine-right to lead the tribe, and other members of the tribe believe she was a god. Some pro-Maasa scientists have theorised that when the original leader died, the tribe would appoint a new leader and god, this could have developed into the Reincarnation theory at some point in history when religion became more central and organised.

The current Maasa is probably the reason the Church has become known, however. Previous incarnations were probably not so well-known, and of course she herself wouldn't know of her spiritual legacy. But now that she has a role where all of Japan knows of her, or atleast of Berryz Koubou, the beliefs themselves have gotten some publicity. After all, who wouldn't want to believe that such a girl was indeed some form of divine spirit?

Here's to the Crazy One!

2008-12-12T10:38:00.000Z

A post inspired by Shirow's OPV, Think Different. (Which itself, it seems, was inspired by a 1997 ad-campaign by Apple co.)

I love this. And thought I'd post about it for all you Maasa followers, using my own mini pic spam version. Enjoy. There will be similiarities and differences. Be sure to check out both.

Here's to the crazy ones,

the misfits,

the rebels,

the trouble-makers,

the round-pegs in the square-holes,

the ones who see things differently.

They're not fond of rules and have no respect for the status quo.

You can quote them,

disagree with them,

glorify

or vilify them.

But the only thing you can't do is ignore them,

because they change things.

They push the human race forward.

And while some may see them as the crazy ones,

we see genius.

Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world

are the ones who do.

Think Different.
Think Maasa.

So, Shirow put together his OPV a while ago, and here's my own pic spam version. I think both have great choice of pics, and the more Maasa the better. This was incredibly fun to make, it almost makes me wish I'd done a video like Shirow had. Oh well. He had the ideo first.

Origins

2008-11-30T17:02:00.000Z

In this, the first post of this blog, I'll try to explain a little about the blog and where the idea came from.

I tend to frequent Maasa's discussion thread over at Hello!Online, in fact it's one of the only threads on the forum I ever post in. There's a bit of a community developed in there. There are several members who frequent it. I don't know any these people, but I've become familiar with many of them, I understand their personality and character, and I would hope that they feel the same way about me. But because we have this little "community", there are some in-jokes and such that people who aren't a part of the discussion miss out on. I wonder if the other members' threads are the same.

But anyway, the whole thing started some time ago when the subtitle of the Maasa thread was "2nd Berryz Tower". Most people didn't like this. It kind of implies that Maasa is second-rate, so we tried to get that changed to something more appropriate. We decided that "World's Strongest Idol" was a good one, because it's fairly common knowledge that Maasa is strong, after a certain arm-wrestling tournament and a grip and pull test in the DVD Magazines. This and Maasa's build leads to frequent references to her having herculean strength or something of the sort. So it was agreed and the subtitle was changed. But a pretender and Captain-supporter (terms I will likely use often) by the name of sougisou disputed this title. Claiming that it should instead go to Captain.

This eventually led to me posting this;

"Now who do I speak to about starting the Church of Maasa. Once we're a church and religion, it means we're no longer a cult, right? And therefore Maasa doesn't have to bear any of the negative connotations that come with such a term.

I think that the first thing the church should do is to declare July 3rd, Maasa's Birthday, a religious holiday. And when the clock hits midnight in Japan, all followers over the world must then proceed to sing "Happy Birthday" to Maasa.

Who is with me!?"

And everything happened from there. Including the start of a rivalry between me (and anyone who supports the Church) and those fools from the Captain thread who would revoke Maasa's title.

Thanks for reading, please support this blog, and of course Maasa.

Oh, and as an added aside... On the topic I opened this entry with, I started talking about the kind of "community" there is in the Maasa thread. Well, The Incredible He-Hulk posted this message in the thread shortly after my post above. I think it sums the thread up pretty well.

"Oh, and who else believes that the Maasa thread is obviously the best thread in the H!O forum? Where else would a discussion about which grade an idol is in morph into a discussion about the relative strengths of various Berryz in martial disciplines, and ultimately into a proposal to form some sort of religious order based upon the Herculean strength of the world's strongest idol? No. Other. Thread. That’s where."