Hello! Project Station #102

Hello! Pro Station Episode #102 Contents
MC: Katsuta Rina & Natsuyaki Miyabi
◆ ANGERME - Otome no Gyakushuu  (Dance Shot) PV
◆ Country Girls Major Debut Announcement
◆ Hamaura Ayano Interview Part 2
◆ ANGERME - Taikibansei Dance Lesson
◆ Q&A Corner
◆ Nakajima Saki Hair Arrange

    The 102nd episode of Hello! Pro Station kicks off with the Dance Shot PV for ANGERME's song, "Otome no Gyakushuu". I love this song and I love this PV, but I've talked about this many times elsewhere, so I'll just skip the usual praise here. The dance is great and the choreography is rather unique for Hello! Project. Many fans notice that there is dance recycling in a lot of PVs (For all Hello! Project groups too, not just ANGERME/S/mileage) but there is little of that here. The dance matches the song and video well and the break in the bridge (Which is unfortunately where this video cuts) is a unique touch. Also, I wrote this after I saw the episode so I know now what the Thriller-esque hand poses I mention in other posts are supposed to represent... well.... more on that later. I like this Dance Shot PV more than Taikibansei's as it shows more of the dance proper without typical PV-style editing and cuts. Taikibansei's was edited much like the normal promotion version, but without the close-ups. This one is pure dance without too much fancy editing which is what a proper dance shot should be.

    Our hosts for this episode are Natsuyaki Miyabi of Berryz Koubou and ANGERME's Katsuta Rina. They are an interesting pairing and I can't help but comment on Miyabi's sweater which is pretty cool with its wax seal design. It apparently is a topic worth discussing as the two do mention it and clothes in general. Lots to talk about here, Miyabi is a fan of "Otome no Gyakushuu" (aren't we all?) and Rina mentions that the dance moves are meant to be tree stances, that's right, tree stances. I would never had thought trees, I thought monster/zombie/whatever and I'm fairly certain a lot of other people did too. I guess that can be forgiven, but they are meant to be trees apparently! Anyhow, this is Miyabi's last hosting on Hello! Pro Station, so get the most out of it! Only mere days left as of this posting till Berryz Koubou ceases operations...

    Next we have the Country Girls major debut announcement. Momoko reads a message from Satoda Mai and messes up a couple times along the way! This was probably the best part, especially the first time as she re-reads the whole message assuming probably that the mistake would be edited out; no such luck! Well, to the details of the announcement, Country Girls will have their major debut on March 25th and their previously announced indie debut has been cancelled in favor of the major one. Everyone seemed really shocked, not the least of which were the fans, and quite a bit of tears flowed.

    We get the second half of the interview with Hamaura Ayano. More of her time with the Kenkyuusei and her experiences recording and training with them. There is some interesting insights here and more than a few funny/interesting anecdotes, but I personally don't feel too much regarding her personality. Perhaps when the unnamed group debuts I'll revisit this to see an early side of her character, for now though, I'll just move along....

    This is all followed by.....Taikibansei dance lessons led by Wada Ayaka! It's in interesting segment and feature's Morning Musume 15's Sayashi Riho, Ishida Ayumi and the 12th Generation members. This is worth noting as there has been so little Morning Musume present in recent Hello! Project stations. Other than that little novelty, I don't think this segment was really all that necessary. Then again, it seems to have replaced the kanji lesson this week so I can't really complain... Everyone catches onto the dance really quickly and the new members are very skilled if I do say so myself. Hope we see more from them in the coming weeks!

    The Q&A segment follows, but I found this one not as interesting as most. Maybe this is just me. Our hosts did a good job though and sadly this will be the last time we'll ever see Miyabi host Hello! Pro Station.  More promotion for the new ANGERME single (out as of this posting) and we get a final goodbye to Miyabi and move onto the final segment....

    A hair arrange from Nakajima Saki! Yeah, I actually don't care too much for these segments. The last time we say Saki though she teased her hair in a crazy fashion that made the 80s jealous! This time is just a little more boring, but perhaps you wanted to mimic one of her braids, I don't know. Anyhow, watch and enjoy!