Hello!Spam :: 2022 ~Love and Peace~

[DonJuan]

^I don't hear it, but Koharu has no voice acting role in the show in general

^^ Mörning Musume It's burned into my head

[Shoujo Q]

That's pretty sweet for Kurumin, and a nice foot in the door should she want to pursue voice acting after her idol years.

Also sweet is MM's merch for JAPAN JAM 2022. I would actually wear this t-shirt in public. I kinda want one.

Oh man. I think I need one of these too.

[JPope]

This is interesting:



Guess who's not on Spotify?

[Vikitty]

Once upon a time a bit of their discography WAS on Spotify, but not the whole thing and it no longer is, at least on Spotify Canada. Maybe in Japan? Or maybe they still have exclusivity with Apple Music.

[kira]

I wish they were on Spotify, it makes it really hard to send music to my friends, since they prefer Spotify.

[DonJuan]

Once upon a time a bit of their discography WAS on Spotify, but not the whole thing and it no longer is, at least on Spotify Canada. Maybe in Japan? Or maybe they still have exclusivity with Apple Music.

That was Morning Musume Germany, the dude who uploaded their stuff illegally.

[Madara]

I was thinking about MM and their history with members who are great dancers and I came up with a list of the top 5, in chronological order:
Ai Takahashi (5th Gen)
Riho Sayashi (9th)
Ayumi Ishida (10th)
Kaede Kaga (13th)
Chisaki Morito (14th).

After that, I'd add Haruka Kudo, Maria Makino, Mizuki Fukumura and Erina Ikuta.

All of this begs the questions:

1) Why'd it take them so long to bring in a great dancer? Or, as the case may be, to nourish one?

2) Am I overlooking anyone?

[JPope]

Dance just wasn't a major part of any H!P group for the first 10 years or so. MM choreography was pretty simple and only really started to advance when the 5th/6th gens took over around the Platinum Era. I doubt they even considered Takahashi's dance skills when they selected her, and just got lucky in that respect. My guess is that 9th gen was the first audition where dance skills were consciously considered in any substantive way.

I think Sakura is a sneaky-good dancer.

[MejraThea]

After that, I'd add... Erina Ikuta.

Have things changed since I left?

[Madara]

After that, I'd add... Erina Ikuta.

Have things changed since I left?

O ye of little faith...

[JPope]

Here are a couple of really cool Takeuchi solo acoustic clips that I assume are from a recent birthday event. BTW, that's Kohei Dojima on guitar, the guy who wrote "Aisubeki Beki Human Life." He seems to be jumping into H!P with both feet if he's showing up at fan club events. Or maybe he's just an Anju wota.

Wasurete Ageru


Nana Korobi Ya Oki

[kira]

After that, I'd add... Erina Ikuta.

Have things changed since I left?

O ye of little faith...

I would say Erina's definitely improved a lot in that regard. But I also agree with jpope's assessment - dance ability wasn't much of a focus back before 9ki. It wasn't until then that Momusu really moved towards their formation dances.

[Madara]

Watching Masaki Sato's graduation concert and hearing them sing "Teenage Solution," it occurred to me that the majority of the members are 20 and over. So I did some checking and ten out of the 14 are indeed no longer teenagers. I think the last time that happened in MM was in 2010, when Aika and LinLin were the only teens in the group and then LinLin graduated. Does that sound right?

[DonJuan]

^^^ Take's singing is always great. He singing is so... unhysterical. Nobody would put her into the group of utahimes in H!P, but she's just great. People would probably name Moe in terms of singing before they name Takechan (out of Anju), but Take actually takes the hammer lines and high notes. We don't talk enough about her singing.

^ That sounds about correct.

[JPope]

I just had the same conversation about Take on Twitter. She's under-appreciated as a performer, both singing and dancing. I think part of it is that her personality is so strong that it's easier to miss how good she is, but mostly it's a result of being in the group that has always done the best job of featuring every member. Anju has always had multiple strong singers, but they've never been relied upon as heavily as most other H!P groups. If you're in Anju, you will see the spotlight.

[JPope]

Someone figured out that the neon-green trim from MM's Japan Jam outfits is a deconstructed "Musume" kanji.

[DonJuan]

Oh wow, that's really damn cute. I didn't expect them to actually think that far.

[Shoujo Q]

It was just the artist’s wishful thinking. The actual outfits have a ton more lines of yellow on them. It would have been cool though if it actually did spell something if you put them together though.

[Madara]

I finally watched the movie for which Morning Musume did the end song, “Eiga Precure All Stars: Haru no Carnival,” part of the long-running Pretty Cure franchise. The song is “Ima Koko Kara.” I didn’t realize they’d also put out a video of it, complete with clips from the movie, until I researched the song after watching the movie, so here it is, with four complete consecutive MM generations, 9th to 12th:

[DonJuan]

I remember how much I loved this song. Nowadays my fav from that single is Yuugure wa Ameagari, but Ima Koko Kara is also great.

[Madara]

I don't know if this topic was ever addressed in the dim, distant past when this forum began, but is there any connection between the Spice Girls' rise to success in 1996 and Tsunku's forming of Morning Musume in 1997?

I ask because of an intriguing article about the Spice Girls' history in The New York Times today and the question occurred to me as I read it:

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/28/arts ... power.html

[JPope]

I can't say with certainty, but I think Tsunku probably had Onyanko Club more in mind than Spice Girls when he formed Morning Musume.

[JPope]

Nowadays my fav from that single is Yuugure wa Ameagari

Yeah, Karin was great on that.

[Shoujo Q]

Onyanko Club was a big reason Morning Musume became the beast it is today. They were the first big idol group that did the multiple member with addition/withdrawal/subgroups. Even had their own tv show too. Of course they only lasted a few years thanks to Akimoto boinking a member and marrying her suspiciously a year after the group dissolved. (That’s hearsay)

But Japan has has their fair share of girl groups in the 80 and early 90s before Spice Girls were even a thing. It’s not a new and foreign concept to them. Johnny’s had the boys and Akimoto had the girls and then Akimoto couldn’t renew the girl spark Tsunku took over until Akimoto came back with a vengeance with AKB48.

Now idol groups are everywhere!

[MejraThea]

Nowadays my fav from that single is Yuugure wa Ameagari

Yeah, Karin was great on that.

[Zoe]

Remember that Morning Musume was a very different group in the beginning. A lot of how the group developed back then was very reactive to what was currently happening. Like the multiple generations thing happened because they needed more content as a feature on an audition show.

This is probably one of the best retrospectives: http://wotaintranslation.com/2018/07/18 ... -part-one/

[DonJuan]

Nowadays my fav from that single is Yuugure wa Ameagari

Yeah, Karin was great on that.

GASP you didn't!