It’s been a bit quiet this week with Her Royal Hotness in the leadup to the release of [COVER YOU]. (And in my case, that mean’s that tomorrow’s release of the new G’n'R album here in the States [exclusively through a big-box retailer but not Sprawl-Mart like some bands I could mention - sorry for the stray into the mothership's territory] is merely going to be a tideover until the new MoMusu CD arrives in my mailbox later this week.) If you can’t wait those extra few days for your copy to arrive in the mail or for the album to end up on US iTunes, Reina has seen fit to play three songs from the album on FIVE STARS this past week, and Hello! Online has the torrent of that episode.

But fan OPVs and other YouTube uploads have been popping up, like this one using footage from Alo! Hello (and elsewhere) but whose soundtrack isn’t identified by the creator or poster:

And then there’s another creative person who decided to do a bit of manga-ization of Reina, CGI style, and shows off the results in a short YouTube clip. (I’m reminded of an article a few months back about contact lenses that can make your pupils anime-sized.) It’s a bit freaky – so suffice it to say you’ve been warned in advance.

There’s also apparently been a little crate-digging going on, as someone else has shared a live performance of Aa! doing “First Kiss” on (I am presuming, since there’s no identification at the page itself) PopJam. Can you believe that this record was out SIX YEARS AGO?!?. Reina was pretty back then (but obviously with no indication of how sexy she’d become), but the real holy shit moment now, as then, was then nine-year-old Airi Suzuki singing her ass off.

Last week we mentioned that a translation of Reina’a new DVD was up on the torrents. If torrents aren’t your thing, the entire translation is on YouTube thanks to one enterprising fan. It’s in six parts, so start here.

If you ever wondered what would be a good thing to cook for Reina if the opportunity to have her over for dinner arose, her answer to this week’s Pocket Weekly question seems to suggest that a good ribeye steak would be perfect for Her Royal Hotness. (I usually rub mine with Montreal steak seasoning and then throw it on a Foreman grill for ten minutes.)

Left out of last week’s roundup – Vee has both of the covers of [COVER YOU] up at Pink Wota. Let’s just say my fellow Cancerian and favorite J-Pop blogger has my number near the end of the piece.

A belated (to us) short-but-sweet birthday tribute to Reina from Sekushii Island a new blog from a longtime fan, hosted by pengie of unchained. Believe me, I can ID with having to blog on the fly.

Recently:

• We’re Number 3! We’re Number 3! (Again!)
• Damn, That Took Long Enough…
• Caught, Can I Get A Witness?
• This is Getting Really F*cking Weird…
• Three Is The Magic Number…
• The Flagrant Mouse Abuse Continues…
• Make a Few Minutes for “Kaito Reinya”
• The One In Which We Finally Get a New Dialogue Before 2009 is History
• Eleven Days of Tanakachii, Part 11: The Grand Finale!
• Eleven Days of Tanakachii, Part 10