Category Archives: J-Pop

Considerably Morning Musume’s most important release since the start Onna Ni Sache Are, Maji desu ka SKA is Morning Musume’s first single to include the th generation.  From it’s name, I was expecting something up-beat and along the lines of Koko ni Iruzee, and it hasn’t been off the mark.

There’s nothing of the previous moody 9-8 nin feel about it… well except for maybe the fact Ai is centre and her and Reina and still devouring most the lines and that the costumes remind me of “Nai Chau Kamo” – however a medicine easily swallowed, as everyone get’s lots of camera time in the new PV and has solo lines ~ you can’t have it all, and it’s also difficult for fans to outright accept a new generation.  We only have about 6 more months of Ai left in Momusu as well – so I think it’s more than acceptable that one of Momusu’s most memoriable and performance-wise, strongest leader get’s a few more solo lines.

But onto the single – well, I wouldn’t particulary call it a master-piece classic which will score a #1 hit, but it is, for me, a step towards the “Golden Era” Momusu which a lot of fans constantly complain about missing.  Although it doesn’t have the production values of the previous songs, the video is quirky and energetic.

One thing I do get sick of is people complaining about the production of PVs – a realization that has probably hit me more recently when I was going through a lot of files on my computer with my boyfriend, who commented that SNSD’s “Visual Dreams” looked “really cheap” – I think we sometimes bash Momusu and H!P in general a bit too much for their blue-screen PVs, when in fact, bands like Arashi and SNSD get away with it all the time – if you stick an interesting enough dance, or a popular enough group in front of it, blue-screen PVs are a great alternative to having to pay the story boarder, director and anyone else involved with making big budget numbers.  I’m not disagreeing that some H!P videos in the recent years lack imagination and are lazy and cheap – but tarring all PVs with the same brush is unacceptable – but that’s for another time.

So after that small rant, the point I’m trying to get across with the PV is that it’s simple and effective – it’s playful.  As my Japanese teach says, “Recognition is most important!” – here she’s talking about Kanji, but it can also be applied to the remembers of homogenous idol groups, and making sure Erina, Riho, Zukki and Fuku get as much airtime as possible is also important.  Not only that but these girls really make the song – it’s fast energetic pace and playful nature is something which has been missing from a Momusu A-side since… well, Mikan.

And as soon as I say Mikan, here’s where the trouble begins.  You see Mikan is probably one of the most popular live songs in recent years, but the sales absolutely tanked.  After that, we’ve been subjected to three years of moody singles – so is this a risk too far?

Hopefully not – it’s time for Momusu to push forward into a new era, and this single definetly has the push to do it!

It’s funny how some things never change.  Almost two years ago we were sitting here, thinking we may not ever hear Yuuko, Nacchi and Kaori belt out Morning Coffee again, and more recently, it also looked like Koharu was leaving the Hello! Project bandwagon to become a model… but once again, everyone (well, everyone who still works for UFA and has nothing better to do) has come back to Momusu.

And regardless of the current line-up’s struggle against their AKB rivals, the classic Morning Musume line up (less some, plus some) seems to always fall back on it’s feet.

What’s most impressive about the latest announcement of Dream Morning Musume (comprismising of Yuuko Nakagawa, Kaori Iida, Natsumi Abe, Kei Yasuda, Mari Yaguchi, Rika Ishikawa, Hitomi Yoshizawa, Makoto Ogawa, Miki Fujimoto and Koharu Kusumi) isn’t so much their debut tour, nor their album, but more that in a matter of days of officially announcing their formation, they also annouced a 40 date tour this autumn.  It also seems like tsunku is setting this unit up for the long-run as their debut album is called Dream (1), taking on the numerical sequence of Hello! Project albums.

Rumours about the group were circulating before the triple graduation – however, I think everyone expected it to be similar to the Elder Club style, rather than an album producing unit.  I imagine this has been an idea in the making for a while, given HANGRY & ANGRY‘s inactivity, and the annoucment that Tsuji would not be participating due to the birth of her son (which makes me wonder if it was planned before she was pregnant).

I’m looking forward to how the new album will sound.  Hopefully new vocal arrangments of all the songs will be made – as much as Nacchi is the voice of Morning Musume, I’d love to hear a fresh take on many of the singles.  In particular, Mikan will be interesting to listen to ~ I remember that when it was announced that Kaori’s son had died, Yuuko used lyrics from this song to help describe her feelings towards her friend and life in general.

I’m also interested to see how the group has gelled.  We all know the rumors that Mikitty and Charmy didn’t get on, Nacchi has diva tendencies and Koharu was only really a Musume along side Makoto and Mikitty.  They’ll also be an age gap of 19 years between Koharu and Yuuko.

Now hopefuly, they’ll still be together when I finally get my backside to Japan