Silicon World

Well, Sims 3 has been released, and my brother and I have, as usual, made virtual versions of ourselves to mess around with.  He went the sports superstar route, while I became a famous author.  For me, at least, it’s pretty close to real life.  Except for the being famous bit.  I’ve only had one thing published so far, so I’ve got quite a ways to go in that department.

What does this have to do with J-Pop, you ask?  Plenty.  First of all, you can import music into the game by putting it in a particular sub-folder of the game’s files.  Just like the first two games.

More importantly, like the first two games, you can create custom Sims.  Some wonderful, wonderful person has made Sims of Morning Musume.  All of the current lineup is available, and apparently IchbnB1 intends to continue making H!P Sims, because since yesterday, he’s also made Miki Fujimoto.  Personally, I hope he makes all of H!P, but I’d settle for the remaining members (past and present) of Morning Musume.

The likenesses are pretty good really, with Sayumi’s being the most faithful to her real-life counterpart, but as I said, there’s not really a bad one to be found among them.  What really impressed me, however, were some of the outfits.  Reina, in particular, has a selection of outfits from her Very Reina photobook (the red dress, and the purple and gold bikini) which look stunning and virtually identical to the ones Reina actually wore.

So, yeah, awesome stuff.  Oh, and I totally married Risa Niigaki last night (and my brother plans on proposing to Ai-chan tonight). *squee!*

Oh, I did manage to find one more MM Simmaker on the Sims 3 website.  So far, they’ve made Mari and Yossy (including a Mr. Moonlight formalwear option!), with hopefully more to come.

Anyone who is thinking of getting Sims 3, now you have another reason to do so – collecting Morning Musume Sims!

Kill Me Kiss Me PV

The PV for Kill Me Kiss Me is up on Hangry & Angry’s MySpace, along with an update declaring a simultaneous US and Japanese release for their mini-album on November 19.  November’s going to be a good month for me, I think.  Ace of Base, my all-time favorite band, has reformed and is releasing a new version of one of their earliest singles and a remix album as a prelude to their brand new album next year, and an H!P-related group is finally releasing something in the USA.

But for now, let’s talk about the KMKM PV.  It has an interesting goth rock look interspersed with almost-Batman-esque displays of dialogue and the band’s name in the background.  The song, of course, rocks, and it’s nice to see the video do the same.  What really sells the video, though, is Yossy and Rika themselves.

Like with most H!P stuff, I watched it first with my brother, because he too is a fan, though not active in online fandom as he spends most of his time playing video games.  He made a couple of very interesting comments on the girls while watching that I have to say that I agree with completely.  Firstly, he said that Yossy has the eyes for this type of music.  For someone named Hitomi, this is a particularly amusing revelation.  But he’s right.  She completely sells the Hangry hardcore “rock chick” vibe here.

Secondly, he said that Rika was channeling Drusilla.  For those of you who don’t watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Drusilla was a former nun driven crazy by a vampire before being turned into one herself.  Now while I don’t see Rika biting people’s necks anytime in the near future, he’s right again.  She totally has the same “Psychotic Calmness” as Drusilla, that total unpredictability of a truely insane person, the proverbial quiet one you have to watch.  Whether she’s slinging her mascot around by its tail or hugging it sweetly and singing in an almost Charmy way, there’s just no telling what the girl will do next.  And for those of us who have seen her in both her Charmy and V-u-den sekushi moods, this really should come as no surprise.  The girl has acting range, and it shows.

The only thing I’m a bit iffy about is the stereotypical almost-punk-lesbian vibe the two seem to be generating in their almost kisses and when Rika briefly cups Yossy’s breast.  I have nothing against lesbianism, it just seems a bit cliched and predictable that the two punk rock girls are “together” like that.  Having said that, though, they do seem to hint at it with just the right amount of tease, stopping short of an actual kiss or not lingering very long on the “cuppage”.  It’ll be interesting to see how they decide to pursue this in future PVs.

Overall though, I liked it.  It was a rocking song with a rocking PV, and a very worthy debut from the world of H!P into the western world.

Kill Me Kiss Me Thrills Me

According to Hello!Online, Hitomi Yoshizawa and Rika Ishikawa have formed a new two-member unit called Hangry & Angry, (Yossy and Rika, respectively). They say it’s a unit, but from the sound, I want to call them a band rather than a group or a unit. They just have an awesome rock band kind of sound.

In an unprecedented move, the band have also set up an Official MySpace page, where you can listen to their first single, “Kill Me Kiss Me”. I love this song. Just this morning when I woke up and was making my bed, I was listening to Shabondama and Kanashimi Twilight, and wondering if H!P would be doing anything more hard rock-ish in the future. I guess I now have my answer.

Overall, I’m very optimistic. Hangry & Angry is the closest to Henkka’s H!P Killer Bitch Unit as I think we’re ever likely to get, and it looks and sounds like great fun. I’m looking forward to this quite a bit…