Public Service Announcement: Don't Worship False Idols

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!

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Yorishiku Sensei! ~Ping-Pong Master~

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.

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Happy....!

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!

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Maasa Photobook Previews!

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.

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Photobook Update!

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!

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A new religious holiday!

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".

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The answer to our prayers!

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?

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