[Rumour] New Hello! Pro Egg Unit

Well, here’s some exciting news! A rumored new unit made up of members from Hello! Pro Egg which will provide the new opening for the anime Shugo Chara. Apparently Buono! will still sing the ending theme.

The members of the unit haven’t been announced yet although their are two speculative groupings that have surfaced on 2ch (and therefore should be taken with more than a pinch of salt):

Group 1:

• Maeda Yuuka
• Saho Akari
• Wada Ayaka
• Komine Momoko

Group 2:

• Ogawa Saki
• Sainen Mia
• Wada Ayaka
• Komine Momoko
• Arai Minami
• Maeda Yuuka
• Saho Akari

So it’s quite likely that Maeda Yuuka will be in the group, which is pleasing, I liked her in High-King. Apparently the announcement will be made at a Shugo Chara event next month on 2008-09-20. It’s also rumored that the members who make up this group will be promoted to full member status (in other words graduate from Hello! Pro Egg).

Must stress the details of this rumor are very, very sketchy. Though I’m excited I’d have rather seen SI*NA given the anime opening or at least something, add them to the official website already UFA! Anyway, more details will follow when available!

Haromoni@ To End On 2008-09-28?

There are rumors flying around that Morning Musume’s television program Haromoni@ will cease airing on 2008-09-28. These rumors come from a Japanese blog that apparently has ties to the entertainment industry and therefore should not be completely disregarded. I think it would be better to wait for some sort of official statement before deciding that the show is dead and buried however.

The blog states that TV Tokyo will not announce the end of the show but it will be announced in various newspapers closer to the time.

I’m not really fan of Haromoni@ as I find the Moutube segments more than a little tedious and the animal ears thing was just plain silly from the outset, it doesn’t fit with the mature image Morning Musume has recently been portraying.

If the show does come to an end I hope there’s something else in the pipeline for Morning Musume or even better a show featuring more of the members of Hello! Project. I don’t however want to see a show dominated by Berryz Koubou / C-ute.

Hello! Project News Round-Up

Well, I go to work for 7 hours and come home and a whole lot of stuff seems to have gone down in Hello! Project land!

Firstly, Mano Erina will release her debut indie single on 2008-06-29 (next Sunday), at a handshake event, the single will retail for 800Yen. Shortly after this event the single will be available to fan-club members and sold through a few online retailers to Japan only customers so that means if you want it, you’re going to have to ask a friend in Japan to get it for you or try your luck with auction websites. The single will be called Mano Piano and will feature Mano accompanying herself on piano, a Hello! Project first I believe! Pictured above is the single cover.

In other news, Iida Kaori will return to show business from her maternity leave on July 7th to take part in an environmental event, I’m not sure if she’ll be resuming full activities after this but this her first public appearance since giving birth.

Yajima Maimi will have her own radio show entitled C-ute Yajima Maimi no I My Me <3 Maimi~ on FM PORT from 23:00 – 00:00 JST.

Tsuji Nozmi made an appearance at Nakazawa Yuko’s recent birthday concert which apparently surprised Yuko herself, Tsuji sang happy birthday and presented Nakazawa with a cake which and then proceeded to cheekily blow the candles out. This is also Tsuji’s first public appearance since giving birth.

The rumors of Goto Maki signing with Avex have intensified with UFA removing Goto’s profile from their artist database and several newspapers reporting that the official announcement of Goto’s contract with Avex will be made on 2008-06-22. Time will tell. Edit: Just read this topic, the news is too fast and too exciting for me to update constantly!!