Last week I touched briefly on the fact that I'm stark raving mad.  Er, rather, that I've become drawn into the pastel world of Hello!Project - well, okay, just Morning Musume so far, but I make no promises - at a much faster pace than anticipated.  Yeah, that sounds more professional.  I wrote at the end of my entry that I wanted to delve a bit deeper into what exactly I found attractive about these idols, and I've been thinking about how best to approach it.  Happily, I decided that the best way to go about it was to make more charts.  (I love charts.  Can you tell?)  Using the wonderful Wota Distractions tool (there's that W word again - I'd better get used to it) provided by Ray over at American Wota, I spent a slightly disturbing amount of time ranking the group's members.  I figured that taking a look at my favorites would provide a good starting point for further explorations.  So, without further ado, the overall member rankings!

Member Rankings (click me)

Takahashi Ai in first place surprises no one, I'm sure, and she's there for unique reasons that I'll get into later on, when I wrap this series of entries up.  The rest of my top five, interestingly enough, are all the past leaders of the group.  I suspect they uniformly occupy the highest slots because leading a group of idols, especially one as fluid as Morning Musume, is a job that takes an inordinate amount of charisma and courage, both toward one's fellow performers and to the audience who undoubtedly expects a strong person to fill the role.  Yoshizawa Hitomi and Iida Kaori both fit the bill, and their individual personalities were ones I really enjoyed as well.  Yossie's tough guy girl image was endearing from the moment I first saw her, and her ranking solidified like quick-drying cement once I watched the PV for "Mr. Moonlight."  God damn, can that girl pull off a yellow suit!  Kaorin, meanwhile, opted for the cool, collected image, broken up periodically by weird, space-cadet moments.  It was an odd combination, but she made it work.  Of course, the fact that she was also a stunning beauty didn't hurt either.  However, out of all the top five, I have particular respect for Nakazawa Yuko, whose persona was tough and self-sacrificing as MM's first leader.  I recently watched an old 1999 episode of Utaban featuring the group in its first-and-second-generation incarnation, where she explained flatly and without remorse how marriage was out of the question for her as an idol.  The way she said it - a simple but firm "dame desu" with great eye contact - really stuck with me.  Moreover, she led the group as its oldest member by far: she was 24 at its inception, and watching the early PVs one can see how the group gradually became younger and younger in focus, particularly once the fourth generation came on board.  By "I Wish," she stuck out like a sore thumb - yet there she was, giving it her best.  Tremendous respect.  Finally, Fujimoto Miki... well, she was technically a leader, but she didn't last long enough in that capacity for it to influence me.  She's at number five because of her incredible voice, which I really miss.

Slots six through ten are a little more varied as far as why they were chosen.  Ogawa Makoto cajoled herself all the way up to number six, and I'm not sure I can explain what it is I love about her.  Well, all right, yes I can.  Her upbeat personality shone through in PVs; her voice, while not really capable of much more than belting out the notes, was "honest" for lack of a better word; and did I mention that I love the way she looked in the "Chokkan 2" video with the bleached blond hair?  Seriously, bleach-blond Makoto > regular blond Makoto ("Ambitious," "Sexy Boy") > all other Makoto(s).  Basically, she seemed to make the most out of her talents, and I can appreciate that.
Yasuda Kei at number seven... hey, I've always liked rooting for the underdog, and Kei was definitely treated as such on television appearances and even (I believe, though I could be wrong) when it came to fan reception.  Yet she had a lovely voice, coupled with an unconventional attractiveness that made her stand out to me when I watched her old PVs.  "As for One Day," as much as I love the song, makes me somewhat sad because it's her last single with the group.
Number eight is the original Miracle Girl, Goto Maki.  For someone who continually annoys me when I watch "Love Machine" (Seriously, sweetheart, I know you're the new member and everything, but stop sticking your face in the camera every other shot.  I can't see Yuko behind your big-ass head.) she redeemed herself quite a bit in the singles that followed, and I came to realize that she really was talented enough to deserve her spotlight. This ranking is also helped by her solo career, which sadly I've only recently come to appreciate.  I have faith that she'll be back in some capacity, someday.
Spots nine and ten are taken up by two criminally underused performers in present-day Morning Musume: Kamei Eri and Niigaki Risa.  Both have great, slightly unconventional voices, and neither one gets as many lines as they deserve, although Risa does have her Athena and Robikerottsu side project these days.  Here's hoping they show their faces a bit more on upcoming singles.

I don't have much to say individually about the remainder of the rankings, although I find it amusing that Abe Natsumi is in the exact, neutral center, which I think is fitting.  I used the ranking tool without ever opting for a tie between the pairings it gave me; this forced the list to be clean and sequential, but it also means that some members are "higher" without really having much to quantify the position.  I'll sum up by saying that most of the ten girls in the 11-20 spots are ones that either haven't tapped into their full potential yet (Koharu, Aika, the pandas), or just members I don't tend to favor as much.  I have to admit I've come to like Kago Ai and Tsuji Nozomi much more than I used to.  The bottom five... well, Tanaka Reina's a decent singer, but I find her voice, and particularly her vibrato (which sounds forced much of the time), really annoying after extended listening.  Ishikawa Rika was gorgeous, granted, but for someone who could barely hold a tune, she sure got a lot of screen time in her PVs.  I'm just bitter, don't mind me.  Finally, Ishiguro Aya, Fukuda Asuka, and especially Ichii Sayaka (who I still can't recognize in the PVs!  Seriously, where is she?) were, in my mind, the members that "didn't make it" through the transformation that Morning Musume underwent starting with "Love Machine."  I have no problem with any of them, but they just weren't in the group long enough to leave any impressions on me.

Looking at the chart and all the words I just wrote about it, what overarching conclusions can I draw?  Oh, sure, there's the eye candy factor; I won't deny that.  But overall, I think the idols to whom I am most attracted are the ones that go above and beyond being "just a Morning Musume member."  I guess technically every one of them strives for that, but it's uniformly the leaders who have, in my opinion, seized their roles as all-around entertainers with both hands.  I think it's similar to the reason I was such a big Ayumi Hamasaki fan for years: she controls her image and sound, writes her own lyrics and does a fair amount of composition, and generally gives the impression that she knows exactly what she's doing.  It seems that it would be very easy, as a pop idol, to fall back on the image that your managers, agents, et cetera decide for you.  And I'm not saying that Yossie, or Kaori, or Yuko did anything different - certainly, given the way Hello!Project is run, their creative input was probably limited if it existed at all.  But to me, their long tenures with the group give me the impression that they thrived not only on the "star-maker machinery," but on their own inner strength as well.  Their careers seem to say to me that they enjoy what they do/did for a living; that even though their images are marketed, tested, and altered as necessary, it's their hard work that gets them through.  I find this idea to be very inspiring, and I think that might be the seed of it all.  My own work is as far from idol glitz as it gets, yet if I can increase my confidence and self-worth enough to know what I'm doing and where I want to go... well, if I'm going to throw myself squarely into the wota category, I might as well take some positive life lessons while I'm at it.  "You'll get a chance" indeed.

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Okay.  I think it's safe to say that I'm having something of an idol problem.  I would call Terminix, but I don't think fumigation will help.  Well, technically it might, I suppose, but gassing Sayumi Michishige would probably be frowned upon.  (Or not?  I kid, I kid.)  Anyway.  I've been meaning to write some entries about my understanding of pop idols, both from personal experience and from a more objective point of view, for a while now, but it's one of those things I've kept putting off.  Now that Morning Musume and Hello!Project are threatening to take over my life, I think it might be appropriate to move the entries up a bit in my list of priorities.  It's late now and I don't have quite the inclination to go in-depth just yet, so I'm gonna kick things off with a description of just why I think the phrase "take over my life" is accurate.

So you know how Wile E. Coyote, in the old cartoons, would get so absorbed in chasing the Road Runner that he could be tricked into running straight off of cliffs?  And how he wouldn't fall right away, but instead would just keep going for a few seconds in midair?  I think, in some demented 21st century, reckless-ambition-as-translated-into-enjoyment-of-pop-music way, I'm channeling him.  Yeah, I started off at a slow pace, listening to the ai no dai 6kan album last summer and enjoying it.  It was innocent enough.  Then came "onna ni sachi are," which I liked a whole lot more.  Hmm, more like a trot now.  Then came "mikan."  I bought this one.  Oh, sure, it was on iTunes and it's not like I imported it, but now I'm moving even faster.  Then came the complete PV collection on DVD.  I didn't buy this right away!  I almost held out!  But after watching a bunch of PVs on YouTube and Dohhh Up!, I realized I needed these videos in higher definition.  I threw it into my CDJapan order along with some other stuff.  Oh, and while I was browsing I figured a little more wouldn't hurt, so I also bought Rainbow 7 and Sexy 8 Beat, the group's two most recent albums, in that same order.  Full-on run now.  The goods arrived, and I spent a day watching the DVDs.  Then I watched them again.  I put them on in the background while making dinner one night.  I started gazing fondly at Rika Ishikawa in "AS FOR ONE DAY," and I don't even really like Rika.  I thought to myself how cute Li Chun and Qian Lin were in the extra "mikan" making-of footage that was included.  Picture the Coyote with his head parallel to the ground and his legs a blur behind him, going as fast as he can.  Yep, that's me.

Okay, present day.  Rainbow 7 is in my car CD player; I routinely roll down the window and blast "Osaka koi no uta" and/or the remix of "chokkan 2" as I drive through various metropolitan areas.  I enthusiastically sing along when I know the lyrics.  I'm going to give myself another day or two at most before I lose enough control to start shouting "HOW DO YOU LIKE THIS JAPAN?" and pumping my fist in the air while driving.  Sexy 8 Beat, meanwhile, has been ripped to my computer, where I can't get enough of "genki+" and those awesome harmonies at the beginning of the song.  Oh, and the Yossie solo track.  Oh, Yossie.  And tonight... tonight I was bored enough to do this:

Single Participation by Member

 

Single Participation Member Rankings

Yes, those are charts that I made, mostly from memory, because I was bored and I like organizing data.  (The type is small on the first chart, so click it again when it opens up for a full-size version.)  The first one lists every member and denotes all the singles that each one participated in.  The second one tallies up the first chart and ranks the members accordingly.  (I had a good laugh when I realized I forgot Kei at first.  Thanks again for the cards, Arashi!)  Statistically, I was surprised that there was a three-way tie for the most singles per member; I had assumed, before doing the actual count, that Kaorin would have come first by a long shot, for instance.  Also, when I look at the string of singles that Maki Goto was in, I find it awfully curious that she-- WAIT.  WAIT, WAIT, WAIT.  I'm making CHARTS?!  WHY AM I MAKING CHARTS?  WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME?

Yeah.  I've been running in midair for a while now.  I think I need one of those signs that I can hold up that says "Yipe!", because I've just had that cathartic moment of looking down - and now, hey, check it out, I'm plummeting downward.  Boom.

After I climb out of this Coyote-shaped... err, fox-shaped hole in the ground and get rid of all these stars floating around my head (hey, is that Makoto I see in one of them?), I'll write a little more on why I think these idols have managed to have such an effect on me.  It probably won't be anything groundbreaking, but I think it'll be a good thought exercise, at least.  Possibly it will carry some much-needed therapeutic value.  Ooh, damn, I feel dizzy.  Why won't these stars go away?  No, no, Makoto, I'm OK!  It's all right!  Go be with Yossie!  You two are such a perfect coup-- *faints*

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I’ve never been a person who makes big plans for New Year’s Day. I think I was out on the streets at midnight once, a few years ago, and I went for the company of friends more than any perceived importance of observing the day itself. Nope, I’m the kinda guy who’ll just sit at home and do nothing, and be happy for it. Maybe I’ll have a beer or something, play some more World of Warcraft, or spend some quality time with the boyfriend. But, I will admit that the new year does give me a decent prompt for blog writing. I think I’ll celebrate the occasion of incrementing a digit on the calendar by writing an entry on the most remarkable j-pop discoveries I’ve made this year. Some are genuinely brand-new finds; some represent a newly-vested interest in a group I’ve known about for a while. All are very important to me and are artists I hope to be listening to for a while. So let the sharing commence:

capsule - Sugarless GiRL

Yasutaka Nakata. Number one on my list is a name that may not be directly familiar. Nakata is the man who, at only 27 years old, is the producer for such luminary acts as capsule and Perfume. He has a number of intriguing side projects like COLTEMONIKHA, runs his own record label (contemode), and has recently produced varying amounts of work for artists such as Ami Suzuki (“FREE FREE” and “SUPER MUSIC MAKER”), Leah Dizon (remix of “koi shiyou” which, I should point out,  totally kicks the ass of the original), and MEG (her entire BEAM album, released earlier this month).

MEG - OK

In addition to his impressive list of collaborations, Nakata is also amazingly prolific: capsule alone had three full-length album releases in 2007. Nakata, in addition to production work, generally writes all the music and lyrics for his projects, and has even directed his own promotional videos in the past. If you’re looking for someone to really show you up as far as career accomplishments go (by the way, I’ll be 26 in February. Grumble.), Nakata’s your man! Oh, and did I mention that his genre of choice these days is insanely catchy, over-the-top vocodered electro music?  Yeah, this music pushes all my buttons, including ones I didn’t even know I had. Check out the samples, and if this is your thing as much as it is mine, don’t hesitate to check out the albums Sugarless GiRL, FLASH BACK, or FRUITS CLiPPER from capsule; Complete Best from Perfume; BEAM from MEG; or any release from COLTEMONIKHA.

Yuka Funakoshi - Morning Bird

Yuka Funakoshi. Interestingly, I discovered this artist from domestic channels. I first stumbled across Funakoshi’s music on eMusic, where customer reviews hailed her as being a “Western-style” Japanese pop artist. I was intrigued and purchased her album Silent Sun. What I found was a young woman with a gorgeous voice, self-composing and writing her own lyrics, and even playing keyboards (a prominent element in many of her songs). I’m not sure how “Western-style” she is, as that’s a term I find difficult to qualify, but I can say that she is a definite far cry from most other Japanese pop (as in popular) music.

Yuka Funakoshi - Silent Sunrise

Best of all, Funakoshi’s music is completely accessible: her albums are available not only on eMusic, but also on iTunes as well as Amazon’s MP3 Downloads store. I don't work for eMusic, but I should point out that if you don't mind paying $10 for a basic 30-track subscription (which can easily be canceled after the first month if you prefer it not to recur), they are by far the cheapest option. Anyway, corporate shilling aside, I didn’t fall head over heels for Funakoshi like I did for Yasutaka Nakata above, but her music is relaxing, intelligent, and very well-done overall. The albums of hers that I own are Silent Sun and Pool no Nioi no Natsu; both are highly recommended.

Morning Musume - mikan

Morning Musume. “But Fox, they’ve been around for years!” Yes indeed, and I’ve known of them for years as well – but 2007 is the year when I finally sat up and started to pay attention. Their July single “onna ni sachi are” grabbed me and held on tight for months afterward. The song was catchy, it was well-performed, and with just nine young women in the group I found it fairly easy to “get to know” all of them with regards to their various personae. Recent single “mikan,” while not as impressive to me, helped seal the deal, and while I don’t own any album releases yet, you can bet I’ll be buying the next one that comes out.

Morning Musume - onna ni sachi are

Of course, nobody told me that getting into one Hello! Project group means potentially-fatal levels of exposure to the entire idol milieu created by Tsunku and Co. (It probably doesn’t help that I read International Wota on a daily basis, of course.) It may be too late for me, I’m afraid, but you can still save yourself! Under no circumstances should you listen to the samples I’ve provided! Run… run far away… but y’know, I was nice enough to put the links right there for you, so…

 

Koharu Kusumi - Chance!

Koharu Kusumi. “But Fox, she’s in Morning Musume. And she can’t sing for crap.” Well, dear imaginary reader, those were the exact reasons I ignored her solo releases under the Kirarin Revolution banner for so long. But hey, guess what popped up on the US iTunes store just recently? Why, nothing other than Ms. Kusumi’s second solo album, Kirarin Land. Fancy that. I was bored at the time, so I decided to give it a download. I expected the worst, since the short samples I heard of the tracks weren’t doing much to bring me around. Well, let’s just say that I listened to the entire album, straight through, twice in a row today – and that’s just today.

Koharu Kusumi - koi no mahou wa HABIBI no BI!

Tsukishima Kirari starring Kusumi Koharu

Koharu may not be able to sing very well (although she is slowly improving, it seems), but the beauty of the music on Kirarin Land is that nothing requires her to sing well. One track, “Konnichipa,” has Koharu hamming it up in a way that both showcases and somehow glorifies her lack of technical ability, to the point where I don’t think a more accomplished vocalist could pull it off quite as well. Other album tracks, like “koi no mahou wa HABIBI no BI!” (worth it just for the title) and “Ramutara” have her bouncing along, gleefully singing half-nonsense verses like no one’s listening, and it all works. It works shockingly well, actually. Seriously, buy this album. (This may be a little late for a truly justified addition to a “best of 2007” list, which isn’t really what this entry is anyway, but I still consider Koharu’s solo work an important discovery for me because it’s made me do a complete 180-degree turn in my perception of her.)

I listened to a lot of new and new-to-me music in 2007, and while I don’t exclusively listen to Japanese music (and also could compile a list of great English-language albums I bought this year), I can confidently say that the above-mentioned artists are the ones that kept me playing and replaying their songs well past the point of total memorization and into the depths of addiction. (Seriously, I listened to nothing but capsule during my work commute for a good two months.) Here’s hoping that 2008 will be as fruitful for my ears and as draining on my wallet.

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I like iTunes.  I can't really explain why, since I've tried lo-fi media management alternatives such as foobar2000 and the ubiquitous Winamp; hell, when I'm lazy I'll just open the file or folder I want to listen to in Media Player Classic.  It must be that consumer-friendly sheen on Apple's interface, or the neat Cover Flow view they've got going on.  Whatever it is, iTunes has become my music player of choice.  The iTunes Store, on the other paw, has largely been a superfluous element.  I've checked it out, sure, but in the end I can't justify paying $10 for an album's worth of low-quality DRM-ridden audio files.  People like to poo-poo those arguments, but DRM just sucks, and yes, I *can* hear that iTunes files are less than CD-quality.  I understand that iTunes has recently started offering higher-quality, DRM-free files for the same price, calling it "iTunes Plus."  This, I will admit, does tempt a bit, but one look at Amazon's own MP3 download service reveals I can get pretty much the same thing over there, except cheaper.  So what it boils down to is that I have no reason to use the iTunes Store whatsoever.  Nope.  None at all.

Oh, wait, there is one thing.  iTunes has this curious selection of music in its catalog.  It's weird stuff, man, and it's in some funky foreign language.  I think it's like Japanese or something!  I know, seriously right?  They're calling it "J-Pop."  Hahaha, "J-Pop."  ...

Allow me to now completely undermine whatever credibility I may have established in the first paragraph: the fact is that J-Pop on iTunes calls to me like sweet crack cocaine.  I mean, look at the cost effectiveness: $3 for a three-track digital single, or $15 with shipping to buy the physical CD?  Suddenly the audio quality argument becomes a hell of a lot less compelling, because I admittedly have to use headphones to discern it.  And DRM?  Well... I suppose owning an iPod doesn't afford me the right to complain too vehemently... but... but....!!

Well, I'm sure you can imagine how the internal argument went, so here it comes.  I spent $23 a few weeks ago to get Morning Musume's new single, "mikan," as well as their complete singles collection.  I now have 38 tracks of sugary Tsunku goodness in my iTunes' "Purchased" folder.  I am, to be perfectly honest, pretty happy with my purchase, which I should note also marks the first MoMusu stuff I have actually purchased, instead of listening to it via the blogosphere or on message boards.  Clearly, I've passed several points of no return in one spectacular shining leap.  And now, dear readers, I've come to blog about my newly-acquired bits of digital joy.  Indulge me as I cover releases that everyone else finished talking about months ago.  (Hey, I'm not the most punctual critter in the world.)

Morning Musume - "mikan" single

I would like to start this review with a small statement.  I've read the blogging back-and-forth on Ai Takahashi's relative worth to Morning Musume.  I enjoyed it, and took the points on both sides to heart for some honest reflection.  However, I have my own rebuttal, taken from the "mikan" PV, as to why I still love Ms. Takahashi to death no matter what else happens:

Not the most erudite of explanations, but come ON, people.  How can you not love a smile like that?!  Ah, shameless bias; it's so good to me.

Anyway, I don't know enough about why this single apparently did badly in Japan, so I'm not going to dwell on that.  "mikan," for me personally, is a pretty solid if admittedly not memorable effort from the girls.  The lyrics are in the typical upbeat, "live life to your best~ <3" vein, but do throw a bone to English speakers like me with the "Oh yeah, you'll get a chance!" refrain.  One could say "You'll get a chance!" to sing along passably well to the chorus.  (Argh.  Bad fox!  Bad!  *whaps self with newspaper*)  The backing instrumentation is also pretty typical with its bouncy percussion and synth sparkles, but I should note that the instrumental version of this song actually fares well as listening material: the removal of the vocals exposes a bass line that normally runs in harmony with the main vocal melody, but which is pleasant to hear on its own and keeps the song from feeling "empty" as some pop instrumentals occasionally do.  Vocally, the girls are on point.  The song is not nearly as Ai Takahashi-centered as "onna ni sachi are" was (though she does have a part in nearly every chorus in addition to her solo lines), which gives some of the other girls, Reina Tanaka mostly, a chance to shine.  Reina does very well, and throws in a little extra punch near the end by shouting out her "Oh yeah, one time!" line (another cute moment in the video, thanks to Qian Lin who gestures excitedly at Reina while she performs it).  For the most part, all the other girls are given occasional solo lines, mostly singing together in the chorus.  For the next single, I want more Risa Niigaki, and damn it, I especially want to hear more from Aika Mitsui.  Her "ooki na oto de kyoku kiita~" solo line (her only solo line, actually) is probably the cutest thing in the song.  Incidentally, it's interesting how I can claim a song is "not memorable" and then write such a long-ass paragraph about it.  Basically, "mikan" fades from memory fairly quickly, to be frank, but while you're listening everything works like it should.  Moving on.

The b-side, "Bon Kyu! Bon Kyu! Bomb Girl," (click the link to listen via YouTube) is much more invigorating.  Bopping along with a swinging mixture of horns, drums on the off beat, and a jazzy bass line, the girls trade fast-paced lines, interject with extremely cute "Yeah!"s at various points, and get together to shout the title of the song over and over as a refrain.  The song is quite short at 3:16, but it's a tight three minutes and change that really kicks for the entirety of its length.  I'll listen to it twice when it comes up in my playlist, and it's got more plays than "mikan" does if iTunes is to be believed.  I'm not versed on the historical quality of Morning Musume b-sides, but in my opinion this one is pretty damn good and makes the single worth checking out even if you're not a fan of "mikan" itself.

In the end, as good as "Bon Kyu! Bon Kyu! Bomb Girl" is, nothing on this single has the singular attraction for me that "onna ni sachi are" by itself exhibited.  I had that song in my head for weeks, and "mikan" assuredly will not last nearly as long.  But as I said, I'm not dissatisfied with the $2.97 I spent for this single - you really can't beat that price for what would otherwise be an import item.  I continue to look forward to the group's next album release, which I will definitely be purchasing, physically or otherwise.

Morning Musume - Morning Musume All Singles Complete ~10th Anniversary~

I'll keep this short, despite the fact that there are 35 tracks on this beast of a collection.  (Or maybe because there are 35 tracks, and I've already written a substantial amount.)  I can think of no more succinct way to express myself than to say that I am enthralled by this collection.  Man, the music I've been missing over these past years.  I don't mean to oversell the group (heh, look what kind of audience I'm writing for), but as a person who has not-so-secretly treasured what I term "shiny pop music" for many years now, this collection pretty much hits me in all my weak spots at once.  I've already taken a look at Morning Musume's earliest singles off their First Time album, but hearing everything between that and "onna ni sachi are" is like a really cool and completely engrossing history lesson.  Within the span of two hours, one can hear the various vocalists of the group enter, grow up, and make their departures, sometimes all in the space of a few tracks.  Just hearing how many different girls sing on these tracks makes the group's longevity all the more incredible.  And I haven't even touched on the actual quality of the tracks themselves.  Suffice it to say that almost all of these tracks are clever, catchy, and memorable.  Several are genuine achievements in pop music.  I am proud to own all of them.

I mentioned the whole "point of no return" thing either, right?  Well, one of those points I zoomed by was the idea that I can hold back on buying more of this group's music.  Clearly this is not the case, and I expect to be hunting down and purchasing the physical albums very soon.  Music this good deserves to be heard in its full splendor.

(This blog post is a little lo-fi and doesn't really make use of, well, any markup features of Vox.  I apologize for this, but I had the urge to write, and I felt that getting my thoughts down was better than stalling and putting off the blog for yet another three months.  I do have the intention of writing more frequently, since I think a few people actually read this aside from myself when I post something!)

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Over the past weeks, as I've kept up with my daily reading of various j-pop and H!P related blogs, it's been hard to avoid the announcement of Morning Musume's new single collection.  As a new sacrificial lamb to Tsunku's unholy altar MM fan, thanks to recent single "onna ni sachi are" which I briefly wrote about last month, this new compilation has me interested.  Of course, with the announcement also comes the much-discussed cover photo.  In case you haven't seen it:

*GLARE*

I've heard all the comments, rumors, hatred, adulation, and most other things in between with regards to this cover, so I'll keep my own observations brief (plus, you know, I have a real entry to start at some point):
1) Yes, it's just like the "LOVE MACHINE" cover.  I don't really mind.
2) Risa Niigaki (top row, second from left) does not look happy.  Not that I can blame her, with that hair.  Woof.

There's obviously been quite a number of comparisons drawn to the "golden age" of Morning Musume, both in the composition of the photo and with regards to the actual group members.  I've been reading them all with interest, but the fact is that I have next to no knowledge when it comes to MoMusu of days gone by.  I've heard "LOVE MACHINE," as well as a couple other songs from that general period such as "koi no DANCE SITE" and "renai REVOLUTION 21," but I only know them out of context; the best comment I've been able to make about those songs has been "wow, they sure sounded different back then!"  I've decided to be a good little wota-in-training and go about changing that, by rolling up my sleeves and starting from the beginning.  Enter First Time, the group's debut album, released waaaay back in 1998.

First Time

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Since it’s been said that the truth will set you free, I’d like to get it out of the way right now: I am a 25-year old man who enjoys the music of Morning Musume.  Let me pause for a second while freedom sets in.

Hmm.  Maybe it takes a while.  Well, uh, in the meantime, let me elaborate a bit and say that this is a very recent musical interest.  I’ve known of MoMusu and the vast sea of cuteness that is Hello!Project for years now, but had never really paid it too much attention in the past.  In fact, if you’d asked me a year ago, I probably wouldn’t have been able to name any current or former members of the group.  Exceptions are Ai Kago, who distinctly annoyed the shit out of me (in retrospect this most likely goes for Nozomi Tsuji too, except that I probably couldn’t have told them apart then); conversely, Hitomi Yoshizawa left a positive impression on me because of her tomboy character and distinctive voice; she’s stood out from the group as a result, enough that I regretted her recent graduation. 

Around when Yossie left is when I finally heard a full MoMusu album - their sixth, ai no dai 6kan - and to my surprise, I took to it.  Then I started to really take to it.  It was a slow process, but eventually I started to hum “LEMON-iro to MILK TEA” to myself at random points during the day, and since the proceedings don't get much more saccharine than a song like that, clearly I'd reached the point of no return.  Okay, so it’s the present day and I’m officially ready to open myself to more of this group’s music.  But with Yossie gone, who will be my idol among idols?  Who am I going to latch onto and develop a big gay crush on now?

Morning Musume - onna ni sachi are

Well, the group’s newest single “onna ni sachi are,” released on July 25th, not only kicks down the door to my cerebellum and bellows “I’m comin’ in, bitch!”; it also answers that last question very, very securely.

Why HELLO there.

Ai Takahashi.  Oh man, where do I start?  I previously recognized her name purely because she’s been in the group for so long, but otherwise I never took much notice of her… if I’d known what she sounded like, maybe that would have been different, but oh well.  Now she leads the group, and in this song and PV she seizes the role.  From what various other message board denizens say, this is sort of a dramatic character shift for Takahashi, who is normally quiet and reserved.  Maybe some of her “normal” persona is still evident, since she’s really not vamping it up to the extreme that the costumes/headdresses/etc. of the video might allow for.  Instead, Ai is merely content to take the lion’s share of the vocals (coincidentally, she sings beautifully), dance her ass off, and direct a smolderingly reproachful gaze toward the camera in her close-ups.  Works for me, since she does all of the above so very well…

What, you wanna argue about it?

Vocally, “onna ni sachi are” is a little like "Ai Takahashi plus eight girls that happened to be in the studio that day" rather than an evenly-split group, but in fairness those remaining eight do make a very nice showing, audibly and visually.  My preferences led me to especially note Koharu Kusumi, who is managing to look more and more stunning every time I see her (not a small feat for a 15-year-old).  She’s got a fair share of solo lines in this song, and while her voice isn’t the best, I enjoy it nonetheless - especially the way she hits the "asahi yo noboreeee" part at the end of the first chorus.  Close runners-up are Eri Kamei and second-newest member Aika Mitsui: the former gets mention purely because of her solo line near the end of the song, which she really hits out of the park (I love the multiple shots of her hands while she performs it), while the latter delivers a simple but surprisingly deliberate performance in her dancing and in her pair of solo lines, enough to intrigue me as to her untapped potential.

Koharu Kusumi

Eri Kamei

Aika Mitsui

“Onna ni Sachi Are” is also the debut single for Morning Musume’s two new Chinese members, Li Chun (a.k.a. JunJun, who incidentally looks like she wants to kill someone in the below still) and Qian Lin (a.k.a. LinLin).  The pair don’t make the biggest splash here, but they fit in well, hold their own on the singing front, and as brand new talent make me excited to hear more in the future.

JunJun

LinLin

The song itself is uptempo with a hard beat, a canvas that plays an interesting foil to the surprisingly bitter lyrics (which you can find here).  The video is very simple and, uh, yellow and feathery (in case you didn't notice), alternating between dance sequences, closeups during solo lines, and brief shots of all the girls mouthing “baka!” at the camera with a gamut of emotions running from pouty to enraged to dominatrix-lite (that’d be Takahashi).  Yeah, it’s a little on the cheap side, but it’s simple, surprisingly addictive, and does what it has to do to burn these girls into my brain, which is obviously the whole point.

Takitty allows herself a smile... (wait, what did I call her? Oh boy. No saving me now.)

I’ve had this song on my hard drive for about a month now, and have been listening to it very frequently over that month, only now finding the time to sit down and write about it.  This isn’t a proper single review, as I neither own the single nor have heard its b-side, but the reason I’m writing about this one song anyway is because this is the first Morning Musume song that’s stuck to me so persistently and over such a long period.  It single-handedly has vitalized my interest in this group to the point where I’m greatly anticipating their next single, and maybe an album in the not-too-distant future.  It also has me looking to the past, since I’ve heard so many reminisce about MoMusu’s golden age and former star members; logically, if I like this song so much, there’s gotta be more where that came from, and I’m very excited about what I might discover.

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