Your List of H!P / Related Goods That You Bought This Year! ~'24 version~

[kr0ed]

I bought the limited edition of Maeda Yuki's (anyone remember her?) first CD release in eleven years.

[erilaz]

Not H!P, but a member of our Up-Front family:



I found a used CD of Pepperland by Moritaka Chisato at Half Price Books this weekend. Love that expression on her face!

The album contains the original version of "Rock 'n' Roll Kenchōshozaichi", which mini-moni｡ covered ten years later.

[kr0ed]

One of her best albums imo, lyrics wise as well. Aoi Umi is a nice, honest and a bit sad ballad and my favorite off of that album!

[erilaz]

Another round of Yafuoku scores!



Morning Musume｡ Bromide Part 4, Nos. 30, 34, and 36 (2001)
Morning Musume｡ Summer-Autumn Event ’99 phone card (mint)
mini-moni｡ phone card (2001/2, mint)
Tanpopo button (2001, used and a bit scratched)



Kamei Eri – Eririn photobook (used, w/ DVD and Wani Books limited edition cover)



Heike Michiyo autographed shikishi
Sheki-Dol autographed shikishi (Ibuki, Ami, and Mami, 2001)
Kucchikomi autographed shikishi (circa 2001)

[erilaz]

ANGERME – Big Love (new, limited first press A, 2 CD+BD with bonus clearfile). I love the fact that the elegant 愛 calligraphy was done by Takechan!

When I picked up the package at FedEx Office today, one of the employees there was excited by the fact that it was from Tokyo.
"So cool!"
"Always."
"If you don't mind my asking, what did you get?"
I explained that it was a limited edition deluxe 2-CD and Blu-ray set by an idol group called ANGERME.
And the guy knew who I was talking about, because it turns out that he's a Hello! Project fan, too!

[Starra]

So I've been getting into buying more H!P CDs lately. Problem is that I'm poor and live in NZ, so shipping is expensive, and I usually have to rely on second-hand auction sites plus proxy services to find what I want.

Most are just run-of-the-mill releases, but these are what I believe to be the rarest in my collection so far:
-Kirari 10dai! Meisaku wo Yomou Roudoku CD, a radio drama compilation CD by Nakazawa Yuuko, Yaguchi Mari and Gotou Maki, which was released through the fanclub in 2007 and limited to 500 copies.
-Nakazawa Yuuko's Kikitai Koto CD, also released through the fanclub.
-The POCKY GIRLS & Venus Mousse drama CDs that were prizes for a promotional lottery. I think they were limited to only 1 or 2 thousand copies each?
-Some of the Hawaiian limited edition albums (the 3 H!P best ones, Maki's 2005 one, and 2 MM ones)
-Berryz Koubou's Kiritsu! Rei! Chakuseki! & Puritsuu! compilation radio CD boxsets, because I couldn't find either of them online to download lol
-A Pocky e-CD that's branded as being a Morning Musume thing from, like, 2001, but has no actual viewable MM stuff on it that I could find/get to work. But it's not designed to be looked at on Windows 10 so hey whatever I guess.
-Country Musume's 4 indies CDs (one (two?) have signatures)
-The DDI POCKET EDITION version of Taiyou to Ciscomoon's Tsuki to Taiyou single, which was a promotional edition that featured a different edit of the song with a spoken intro, as if it was recorded on an answering machine -- the song was used in CMs for the DDI POCKET cellphone service

I'm probably forgetting something, but there you go. One day I'll take good photos of my collection to show off (it's not very impressive).

Also, not H!P directly, but I finally managed to find a copy of ex Egg Maeda Irori's first solo album Arigatou, which was released exclusively through Tower Records in limited numbers.

The other OG CD I'm glad I found is Ootsuka Aina's only single Dreamer, which was a limited indies release. I'm always happy to come across rarer OG/pre-H!P debut releases, since in some ways I find those more interesting.

A few more I have, not sure how rare most of them are:
-Osaka Performance Doll (Inaba Atsuko's local idol group in the 90s)'s singles (4/5, I believe)
-SCK GIRLS (Sasaki Rikako's local idol group)'s ReGenerasion single (released following the 2011 Tohoku earthquake/tsunami, as many members lost their homes in the disaster)
-Rin (Sheki-Dol member Suenaga Mami)'s solo album Rinism, as well as her single Tsubasa no Yukue
-A whole bunch of THE Possible/Ciao Bella Cinquetti CDs (AFAIK the releases were never actually H!P even when the girls were still Eggs)
-Palette's Sekai ga Bokura wo Matteiru single, which features Maeda Yuuka on the second track (it's the theme song for a drama she was in, and she sings in the alternative version of the song)

But I have been spending too much money, so I'm not really buying much at the moment. Though there are currently only two H!P CDs I'd love to get my hands on, since they have never been posted online:
-The Sora ga Aru CD, which I'm never going to find and that's okay (no it isn't)
-Berryz Koubou's Kiritsu! Rei! Chakuseki! Kagai Jugyou Hen radio CD, which was released when the group was pretty new in 2005 (maybe even 2004?) and limited to 500 copies as a prize for a stamp rally thingy at an event

I've at least seen a listing for the Kagai Jugyou Hen CD, but nothing on the Sora ga Aru CD. These are the only two H!P CDs with new/unique content that haven't surfaced online. Outside of CDs, there's also MM's Renai Revolution 21 LP, since that contains an exclusive instrumental of Inspiration!, but I have no fucking idea what I'm doing with records, and I lack the money to buy stuff to rip them. The record itself is easily available, however.

My dream is to own a complete collection of H!P/related CD because having a completionist brain sucks like that, but I live off government money, so that's never going to happen.

PS I've discovered that I absolutely love the aesthetics of 8cm CDs and their cases. They're really neat. They're rectangular! The CDs are tiny! Sure, they're inefficient and can't hold much data, but they're still awesome to look at.

[erilaz]

^ WOW! Congratulations! That's some super-rare stuff there! The vast majority of those I've never even heard of, much less seen for sale.

-Country Musume's 4 indies CDs (one (two?) have signatures)

Those are some of the very few things in your list that I have in my own collection. I have autographed copies of Yukigeshiki and Hokkaidou Shalala, which I found at a wonderful little shop in Jinbouchou that specializes in Japanese oldies, called Tacto (タクト). That's where I also found my ¥315 autographed copies of Heike Michiyo's GET, Sotsugyou, and scene. Unfortunately, when I visited the shop on my last trip to Japan (already eight years ago!), it was a shadow of its former self, with the CD section severely reduced to make room for used books. They're still in business, though, which is a good thing. The shop is a short walk from Budoukan, which makes it a great place to visit when you've already bought your concert goods and are waiting for hours to go inside for the show.

A few more I have, not sure how rare most of them are:
-Osaka Performance Doll (Inaba Atsuko's local idol group in the 90s)'s singles (4/5, I believe)

I'll admit that I haven't actively searched for these much, but at least most of them seem to be hard to find. The only one I have is Suteki ni Naritai, which I likewise found at Tacto.

PS I've discovered that I absolutely love the aesthetics of 8cm CDs and their cases.

I'm such a sucker for those things myself! I once bought a nearly complete collection of ZARD 8cm CD singles just because they were available and cheap.

[Starra]

Ooh, if I ever find myself in Japan again (I wish!) I'll try to remember to check it out. I do want to own more older H!P stuff, mainly Yuuko's, but I'm also keen on Maeda Yuki's (haven't found a good bundle of her CDs online to snag yet), Miyoshi Chinatsu's (lol), Heike's (I own her 8cm CDs but not the older stuff!), Taiyou to Ciscomoon's and, honestly? Anything else I'm missing tbh.

I think OPD's singles were indie releases, so I can't imagine there are too many copies of them still in existence.

I need to actually visit a physical Book-off (if they're still around) next time, too. And Tower Records.

[erilaz]

^ I have all of Heike's singles on Warner and Zetima, but her post-H!P indie singles as "Michiyo" are really hard to find. I got "unaffected" new from CD Japan back in 2007, but "Ran・RUN・Ran" (which was only sold at live shows and events) continues to elude me.

I think OPD's singles were indie releases, so I can't imagine there are too many copies of them still in existence.

Actually, all of their singles were on Epic/Sony Records, so very much a major label. That doesn't mean they're easy to find nowadays, though! At least some of them show up on Yafuoku, but shipping and proxy fees end up making them cost more than I'm willing to pay.

I need to actually visit a physical Book-off (if they're still around) next time, too.

I love BOOK-OFF so much, and it broke my heart when their huge Shibuya store closed (I bought 31 CDs, 8 DVDs, and 3 photobooks there on my last visit to Japan). But they still have their Kawasaki More's store, which is excellent, and I've even found plenty of good stuff at several of their smaller stores, some of which still exist.

[Starra]

I would love to own all of her Michiyo stuff! I have unaffected and 2/3 albums (JECICA and Fantasia) and have seen listings for the other (Koimizuki) but it's pretty expensive. Ran RUN Ran is definitely super rare, though.

I'd also like to eventually find Ishii Rika's solo works, but most of those were only sold at live events, and I think all but one/two releases are indie anyway.

Then you get OGs like Kobayashi Azusa, whose CDs are also super rare/limited save for, like, one or two.

They're not priorities either, so I'm not gonna spend heaps on them, but it would be nice to own them. Especially ones that aren't available online at all -- and most of Ishii's aren't.