More, More, More

I received a package with two albums from Taiwan in it a couple of days ago. Disclosed was Sonim’s 2003 album Hana and my coveted copy of retro Hello! Project subgroup Tanpopo’s only original album effort, TANPOPO 1. People acquainted with this blog should immediately recall how much I just absolutely love the first generation of Tanpopo, the 3nin lineup of Ishiguro Aya, Iida Kaori, and Yaguchi Mari. Generally I think I’m the only person in the Jpop “blogosphere” who prefers them over the second generation of Iida Kaori, Yaguchi Mari, Ishikawa Rika, and Kago Ai, but I would enjoy being proven wrong.

Tanpopo, to me, is a staple of how much Hello! Project has changed since its humble beginnings in the late 1990s. The original concept was to have a Morning Musume subgroup that put out more mature material in comparison to Momusu at the time. This would have worked wonders during Morning Musume’s “Tsunku is trying marijuana for the first time” era, or even right now, when we have groups like Berryz Koubou and ℃-ute running amok, but it would still have to be formed from current members of Morning Musume. If I had to pick anyone, it would be Michishige Sayumi (finally, a unit where she can cut it out with the cutesy vocals), Junjun, and Niigaki Risa. This hypothetical modern-day Tanpopo is purely going off aesthetics, though. If it had to be the choices of today’s management, you know Ai would be up there. From the promotion whores, we would be left with Reina. And, of course, Koharu.

Everyone Else Looks Dead, Basically?

The covers for both the regular and limited editions of Jpop lolicon sensation ℃-ute’s new single are out and on the Internet in decent quality. I am, predictably, less than pleased with the results.

Regular edition

Let’s highlight the various reasons why this edition of the cover doesn’t thrill me at all: First, there’s the fact that Ume is shoved all the way to my far right, a la the “Tokaikko Junjou” regular edition. I am not biased towards any one member in ℃-ute, not yet at least, but I’m on rather swell terms with Ume. You can blame two people I know — one of them is Vulpi who loves the girl, another is a person I am acquainted with who equally loves the girl and likes to post pictures of her often. I also like Ume’s general appearance. She’s the oldest member of ℃-ute, and is sexy enough to rival Maimi in that regard, she performs consistently, but I’ve never seen her get her due. She’s got an incredibly cute smile, too.

As a singer, her vocal talent is amazing. I never knew it before, but…thank god she got that solo track on ℃-ute’s album, even if it was as a “character” and the song was basically a rehashing of an old Hello! Project shuffle group’s single. Ume managed to shine through. Hopefully it helped her fanbase grow enough to the point where I won’t see her (and Kanna) be ℃-ute’s personal sentinels on the next single cover.

I Adore You, アイドル

Over the course of the months I’ve been blogging here on WordPress for, it seems I’ve been constantly obsessing and trying to discern the reasons some girls in Hello! Project are chosen as leads: to be in the front row of group pictures, get the most solo lines/precedence over group harmonies in songs, etc. This stems from both my fondness for girls who never take over a single or album song, or even make it into the middle row in a group photoshoot. This may come as no surprise to most of you, but I’ve realized through the handiness that is this monthly chart, that the wota basically control Hello! Project from the outside in.

Of course, that’s not all there is to it. Not one innocent wota is going to have a big effect on who goes where in this company, unless he’s like Densha Otoko, and that’s about the most unlikely thing to happen while I’m a Morning Musume fan. No, it takes thousands of wota showing their bona fide appreciation for a single idol, one who has managed to capture their hearts and minds in ways I cannot fathom in most cases, who gets the nudge forth by Up-Front Agency or whoever’s making decisions in H!P these days. Think Shibata Ayumi, Sugaya Risako, Suzuki Airi, Kusumi Koharu, Mano Erina, Ishikawa Rika, Takahashi Ai, or Tanaka Reina.

Musume Overview: Abe Natsumi Edition

When I was writing a list of the order I would review each “classic” Musume, I was quite amused to find that the topic of today’s entry, Abe Natsumi, is only a couple days younger than Kaori. This puts Abe at turning twenty-seven this year, and she doesn’t even look as if she’s aged a day in her lifetime.

Intriguingly, I knew her name before I even “met” the Morning Musume concept and was very surprised to find she had been a part of that. Of course, it was in reverse order (Natsumi Abe), and it still sounds so familiar to me in my mind. But Abe (I’ve never called her Natsumi or Nacchi, strangely), to put it broadly, was fantastic. She was the best singer out of her generation, and as such, she appropriately got many lines. Not enough to overshadow everyone else (Tsunku you need to quit while you’re ahead man), and even with the release of “Furusato” which was her song, I can’t muster the strenght to get pissed off about it. I just felt it was allowed, that she deserved it. Maybe because, in some way, all of the girls in that lineup shared the feeling of that song as one, only Abe was the voice of it. It’s become a Morning Musume classic and a standard for auditions nowadays, but I don’t think anyone will ever come close to matching Abe’s emotion in her original vocals.

Musume Overview: Iida Kaori Edition

Our next oldschool Musume came from Planet Claire. Or somewhere.

I love Iida Kaori. Everything about her seems so real, ever since she was a slightly awkward sixteen-year-old with the cast iron black bangs and goofy smile, to right now, a new mother who has a personality and track record that’s still well-liked by many Morning Musume and Hello! Project fans. She’s known as the member with her head up in the clouds, who waited for-freakin’-ever before she finally cut her hair, the woman with a crazy singing voice. And you know, as with all first generation members, I appreciate them most for the quality of their vocals, which were interesting and diverse back when they were a five-member group. This could be attributed to their reduced numbers, but then… Kaori’s has always been different and “unique”.

Musume Overview: Ishiguro Aya Edition

Oh, Ayappe. Your smile can melt hearts.

Honestly, I have no idea how Ishiguro Aya ended up winning me over and becoming on-par with Goto freakin’ Maki in my idol singer ranking list. I downloaded “Morning Coffee” on a whim sometime in December 2007 (I think?), listened to it while checking out the color-coded lyrics at Project Hello since I knew absolutely nothing about this generation of Morning Musume at the time, and when I heard her first solo line in the song, kuchizuke mo dekinai hito, both my mind and the song came to a full stop. I wasn’t exactly expecting a girl with such a low register to appear out of nowhere and hit me in the face with her line (god, this makes it sound like I got mugged by Aya or something), as most of the girls in the song up to that point had been your usual feminine-sounding women. Admittedly, they could sing very well, but the way all of their voices were slightly similar just caused Aya’s vocals to stand out more to me. I think, up until hearing her, I had never really paid much attention to female singers with predominantly deep ranges.

So, in essence, it was the voice that sealed the deal regarding myself and Ayappe.

Musume Overview: Introduction & Nakazawa Yuko Edition

First, a quick index of the original Musume Overview series: Takahashi Ai, Niigaki Risa, Kamei Eri, Michishige Sayumi, Tanaka Reina, Kusumi Koharu, Li “Junjun” Chun, Qian “Linlin” Lin, Mitsui Aika.

Now: I promised I would cover the older generations of Morning Musume once I finished my member-by-member review of the current lineup. So, here you go. I’m only covering the generations from 1997 to 1999 in this session of Musume Overview, and after I finish this, I’ll move on to the fourth and fifth generations and assess Fujimoto Miki, the only graduated member of the sixth generation. Be aware, though, I’m a very biased person. :)

One thing I’m disappointed with continually are the people I’ve encountered who write off oldschool members such as Ichii Sayaka, Fukuda Asuka, Yasuda Kei, or Ishiguro Aya as “boring” or “ugly” and not at least act as if they’ve put some hours into getting to know who those members were. Granted, they are among the ranks of the all-time unpopular Musume (and are ironically some of my favorites), but they’re also all over their history, in things like aged Utaban appearances, PVs, and they all have made their impact upon Morning Musume. If you give any of the early releases like “Ai no Tane”, “Daite HOLD ON ME!”, or “Manatsu no Kousen” a listen, you’re bound to enjoy something about their harmonies, voices, etc. And if you have a personal vendetta against the “lame old crap”, well… I have to wonder why you’re even reading my blog right now.

I’m thinking maybe I can try to convince people of both the cons and pros of the era of Morning Musume which is arguably the least-noticed. I want to bring back some of the past to the blogging community. Not because I want to be recognized as having the “Best Blog Entry” or being “Best New Blog of 2007″, but because I’ve got some spare time and I’ll probably have a hell of a lot more to say about those girls than the current Musume.

As I mentioned, this is only going from 1997 to 1999. From oldest to youngest, I’m beginning with the first generation, those original five girls whose great chemistry and charming voices ultimately are to be credited for publicizing Terada Mitsuo’s pseudonym “Tsunku” and creating the legacy of Morning Musume which has lasted up to a decade, now. At the moment you might be thinking “wow, what a bunch of hyperbole”, but really, if there’s any musical group I think deserves its praises to be sung (pun intended), it’s the original Morning Musume who sang “Ai no Tane” in 1997 and sold 50,000 copies just to become a legitimate group.

…so, in essence, this is the “retro review” version of Musume Overview. KEWLIES AMIRITE?!

On A Resonantly Black Future

With the advent of the “Resonant Blue” radio rip from Tanaka Reina’s shared radio show FIVE STARS, I’ve been pretty geared up for a controversial new single, from the song to the cover to, most especially, the promotional video.

In truth, it’s actually a step up from the PV I was envisioning in my brain. A whole lot less annoying and pretentious, which is exactly my thoughts on the song when I heard it for the first time (still are, actually). Unfortunately, the production value is hideously nonexistent, so that’s a step down as well. I never knew a group could fail this much. And I was around when the news came out that Perfume took the big idol leap and made their blog subscriber-only.

Hi, Minnasan - The B.L.T. With A Side Of Junjun

To answer one commenter’s question: Yes, there are some things I still enjoy about H!P. :)

ファンタジー

Aoi♥Usagi is a good blog; I enjoy reading it from time-to-time. Well, recently, Aoi♥Usagi wrote a highly entertaining post detailing what changes she would make to the current units fronting Hello! Project (as well as ones in the background [Melon Kinenbi] and/or no longer with us [GAM]). And, well… What kind of person am I to resist jumping on the bandwagon and write some of my own thoughts? Instead of grudgewanky, this’ll probably end up wishful and have some lame passes at being funny, just for the hell of it. (I expect this post to say more about me than anything else in this blog put together could in six months.)

…keep in mind that when I use “you” a couple times in my writing, it’s referring solely to UFA/the big guys in charge of H!P. Not, like, you as in the reader reading this. Yeah.

Starting with the flagship unit, Morning Musume: