Morning Musume., Arashi, SMAP, WaT, EXILE, ET-KING, and Mr.Children? People with actual talent should have the honour of going.

TOKIO and KUBOKURO? Man, talk about being b*itched slapped twice!

Ayumi, Namie, Ikimono Gakari, Aqua Timez, Keala, chatmonchy, alan, Angela Aki, Perfume, and Ai! The Red Team alone should win from that.

^I'm sorry but I don't know about the others you listed but Arashi, SMAP, EXILE, and Mr. Children ARE talent. :irked I don't know where you've been but Kouhaku has lost its prestigious A LONG TIME AGO. Now the show is just about finding whoever to perform on the show.

I have to say that I take rather large offense to your implication that industry legends like SMAP and Mr.Children don't have the "actual talent" to "have the honour" of going to Kouhaku. Furthermore, I'd even be as forward as to say that you are either horridly unfamiliar with the Japanese music industry and lack an incredibly elementary perception of its history over the past decade-and-a-half, or you have no idea which characteristics about each of those artists whom you insulted with your comment make them so undoubtedly worthy of being invited to Kouhaku. Let's face it, people have been anxiously waiting for over thirteen years to see Mr.Children perform at the Utagassen, and for very good reason as they so blatantly turn down each invitation which they most certainly receive each year.

Naivete is understandable, yes. But you would do well to do some research on the artists whom you claim to not have the "honour" of being invited to Kouhaku Utagassen before making such rudely incorrect statements.

wowowowowow!!!!!! awesome!!!
so its really red team for girls and white for boys.... 0___0
coool!!!

omg alan is gonna be there with ayu and momusu woo hoo !

[/QUOTE]


It's obvious that you don't know much about Japanese music. :rolleyes All of those groups are quite talented in their own ways. And seriously, you wouldn't even be allowed into Japan if you said that Mr. Children were untalented. :)

I also find it extremely amusing that in one post you manage to call Morning Musume untalented and then praise Perfume for their talent. lol, I like Perfume, but I would never consider them to have more talent then Morning Musume since Perfume is really more of a computer than an actual singing group...

Exactly. If it were all about prestige you wouldn't see alan, Kaela, chatmonchy, ikimonogatari, Perfume, etc etc on there. I'm not saying those groups are bad or anything, I like them - but they are far from prestigious.

No joke. I'm so insulted, it's almost beyond words. Totally offensive, really. I adore Mr.Children just about as much as I love Ayu herself. I'd even go as far to say Sakurai-san's lyrics helped me out of some real dark times, like Ayu's. So for someone to call them untalented actually hurts.

And Aqua Timez would be on the Red Team. Just because they have mayuko doesn't place them on the Red Team, if you followed Kouhaku whatsoever. They would be on the White Team because the lead vocal is male. That actually wouldn't even take all that much research, either. It's on the first page of this thread.

^Quite ironic that you guys are discussing talent. I was thinking of ayu's performance for the past 2 kouhaku and the renditions for jewel and together when were really pitchy. Obviously i'm not saying that ayu doesn't have talent but i don't want the public to give her a hard time being invited to kouhaku and not being able to deliver a worthy performance. We all know she's capable of it and i hope she wears a smashing dress like the one for jewel :luv2

^They have been pitchy. But I really wonder how much the deafness factors into that. And any sort of nasty winter cold that might come around. Her material is worthy of being performed at Kouhaku, I'd say. My favorite performance of hers at the Kouhaku was in 2004 -- Moments. It was fantastic. Dearest in 2001 came in at a close second, though. ;P

It's sad to hear that Kouhaku lost its prestige a long time ago (I don't follow music events). What did it used to be like?

It's always been the same show, it's just that its popularity throughout the nation has been on a steady decline. I've always seen it as prestigious. It's certainly the most prestigious event that artists are invited to, at least it's considered so among those in the industry. It's right there with the prestige of being nominated at the Grand Record Taishou--they go a little bit hand-in-hand. Not necessarily that either one affects the other, but that it's a bit of a big deal to be invited at the Kouhaku and nominated at the Taishou.

If that makes any sense. Haha. Sorry if I rambled. XD

If i'm not wrong 2004 broke the boys' winning streak of 3 years :P Yeah i liked that moments performance very much too. I would prefer that ayu doesn't perform the same song at the corresponding CDL like she did for 07-08. It makes that performance seem a little more special like the Jewel and Moments one. Special dress and song.

I would watch kouhaku over half-baked singaporean countdown programmes anytime. But i don't have the NHK channel so that's impossible.

That's true. She re-performed fairyland with that nasty outfit. -_-

Luckily there's a channel that shows Kouhaku every year where I am, so it's totally tradition for me. ;P

I want to watch Kouhaku. Too bad I don't have the proper channels. :(

Perfume and Kimura Kaela!! :luv2

Amazing lineup. The Red Team better win this year.

Maybe saying honour towards Mr.Children wasn't the best thing but I'm standing by comments towards the others. The groups that I listed are the ones I find no enjoyment in their music. It's all my personal opinion. There's no reason to jump down someone's throat over one personal comment. I don't expect people to agree with me but going in the manner that you are going in is unacceptable.

I can see how that offended you. If someone something like that about Ayu, I would be. What I wouldn't do is make assumptions and act like my opinion is the definite answer. There's no point or satisfaction won in attacking someone the way you 2 have. Seriously, get over your damn selves.

My mistake on putting Aqua Timez under the Red Team. I was excitied to find that they would be attending Kouhaku.

Yes I find Perfume more talented than Morning Musume. I've heard A~chan and Nocchi sing without any electric distortions of any sort. Nocchi's singing ability is average but A~chan has a very pretty voice. I haven't heard Kashiyuka so I can't comment there.

^kudos to you for standing up for yourself :D:D:D

and i can't wait to watch kouhaku this year~~~ ayu's performance better not be mirrorcle world, that's all i'm saying. haha.

And you need to be more careful. Making statements like certain artists don't have this or that based on nothing but the fact that their music isn't your taste, is very presumptuous of you and in very bad taste.

Crystal Kay is not my taste, AT ALL. But I would never say that she didn't deserve to be somewhere because of it.

It's sort of an ignorant statement, and they sort of had every right to tell you straight. You have to remember that your post ceases to be about personal opinion because you based a very concrete statement on nothing more than what you think, which is not enough. They were not attacking you, they were correcting you. You should be thankful that you had competent people reply to you, or else this would have gotten a lot uglier.


Anyway...I'm actually excited to see this year's Kouhaku. It's been so long since ive seen one.

emiko, I love you.

Yum!Fruit_Salad!, though my personal opinion may be that you are disgustingly undereducated about the Japanese music industry and that your opinion is largely skewed about what constitutes "talent" in artists such as Mr.Children, SMAP and whatnot, the 3 of us didn't "attack" you as you so aptly put it. As for me, I was correcting what sounded like a factually-based statement founded upon purely vapid preferences. Regardless, let's let bygones be bygones. But do watch how you refer to other artists and their "talents" in the future.