C-ute: June 12, 2017.... the day J-Pop officially died.... sob, sob.....

 Today at work heard a pair of women saying 'Did you know today is so and so's birthday?'. Didn't know who they were talking about but hearing that made me think of today's date which is June 12th. It's one of the saddest dates in J-Pop history or at least it is for Nao as it's the second anniversary of my #1 group disbanding as they held their farewell concert on this date in 2017. Needless to say I had to leave work early, finally had to move from my prone position as I ran out of boxes of Kleenex and could have sworn there was a case of them....
 This is post #205 for C-ute so there's really nothing more I can say about them, their group posts were never overly popular so perhaps now would be a good time to view them. No group has stepped up to take their place as my fave J-Pop group, Nogi's songs have really dipped the past three years. Thought Juice=Juice had a chance to slide into C-ute's position and for a while their songs were almost as good. But their last three singles have dipped also, they're better than Nogi's but not as good as their 2013-16 peak. Can actually say that about so many current groups, though I still like SKE, NMB, Morning Musume, etc. their songs just aren't as good as they once were.
 Am playing "Chou Wonderful" at the moment, their fine album from 2011 and as terrific as their singles are the album cuts are almost as good. Had planned on keeping up with doing C-ute posts after their disbandment but there's not much left that hasn't been posted but will make a vow right now to have a few in the future. Perhaps the 'Singles Series' needs to be revived, this is actually one of them and you'll find out more as the post goes on.

 Maimi finished third on my 'All Time Top Twenty Faves' list, hope that wasn't too low. For five years or so have said she's the #1 most beautiful woman in the history of the world and still think that way, perhaps even more so these days. She's someone I can do a post about with new activities, have been working on one which hopefully will be done soon. Have about 35 new pics but hoping for a few more, she did a long break in March and April.

 Have watched C-ute's final concert many times, at least twenty I bet and the show was held at the Saitama Super Arena in front of 32,000+ fans. But will admit I've never watched the final two songs on the DVD, think it may leave me a bit choked up but will get to it before the Grim Reaper comes calling. These pics are some from that final concert and also have their last Hello Project DVD Magazine. Have had it for over a year but haven't watched it yet but will soon and have a post for it, think it takes place the final two or so days of their existence.

 As mentioned above this is also a 'Singles Series' post and think it's the 21st one. They never get many views or at least compared to Nogi posts but to me they're among the best ones I've ever done, there is a tag at the bottom if you want to view more of them. The selection for today is "Crazy Kanzen na Otona" but it's not the first post for the single.
 It was one of the first posts in the series but have a fabulous spread for it which has never been posted so knew a post like this needed to be done. Like almost every C-ute single it hit the top five, #3 to be exact and like most singles it sold a tad over 60,000 copies. Such a crime they never had a number one single but were quite the bridesmaids as they hit the second position five times.... few could be my bride any day of the week....

 The song came out on April 3, 2013 and was their 21st single. The gals had the cover of the first issue of IDOL which is a mag I know nothing about, couldn't have been in existence for too long as I've never posted any pics from it before. The spread was for the single, it could be their best group spread ever and perhaps their largest at 23 pics.

 Another reason for this post is a video I found, it's been on YT for years so I'm knocking my head against the wall wondering how it was missed? The day "Crazy Kanzen na Otona" came out they held an event for it at the Ikebukuro Sunshine City Fountain Square in Tokyo. Besides performing the new single C-ute also sang many other tunes, just watched it and as usual what an enjoyable show.
 The gals broke down a bit in tears when it was announced they would be holding their first ever solo Budokan concert that September. Seems right around then is when they started going from semi popular to very popular or at least in the Hello Project circles, their single sales never sold a fraction of what they deserved. Have a few pics from the performance and if there's any fans out there recommend viewing the video after of the show which is almost 42 minutes long.