Quite self-explanatory, here's my 10 favorite Morning Musume PVs (including Sakura and Otome gumis) with some comments and a last honorable mention in the end.
01 - Joshi Kashimashi Monogatari
I remember quite clearly that this was the first PV to catch my attention on YouTube all the way back when I couldn't tell the members apart. That's because, after watching it more times than I cared to count, I had memorized all their names. And it was the perfect way to get to know their idol personae.
I love that every member gets their moment in the center, and that there's always at least 3 more people behind them all doing different things. That makes me gladly watch the PV many times, so I can pay attention to what each member is doing. It also helps that they don't move much, so when I'm trying to watch one of them I don't have to follow them around while they dance. And observing closely each member in this PV pays off, because there's hardly anything else out there that compares to it in the "Funny Faces per Second" department.
Oh, and my favorite part of it is right after they say Sayu doesn't need to use makeup, when Kaorin comes to the front and says "How nice, to be young...", Sayu answers "Yes!" and Yaguchi "Dammit~!"
02 - Mr. Moonlight
I think I can justify this PV's position with three screencaps.
03 - I WISH
The "message" of this PV, if I can call it that, always amazed me. The
beauty of the lyrics doesn't need any extra commentary, it's one of the
best - if not THE best, I'd have a hard time choosing this or Ai Araba
- in Morning Musume's discography. But it's the scenes in the PV that
get my attention. First, there's a character introduction of sorts.
Then, something starts going wrong with every one of them: Yasuda burns
her clothes, Tsuji doesn't get paid, Yossie injures her head, etc.
After that nonsense scene when Maki, Yaguchi and Yossie do a
kamehameha (?), they all go fight in front of the police. And then,
they see Rika walking with her dog and smiling at them. So, they all
make peace instantly while the song starts going "LIFE IS WONDERFUL!".
Lesson we learned: Rika's smile is the way to world peace (???)
04 - Dance Suru no Da
I love the way this one was filmed. Or better, I love the way this version was, because I've seen two different ones, this and another with more "normal" camera angles. Oh, and I know this isn't an official PV, but I want it here.
What this camera does is give me exactly what I liked in JKM, although in a different way. With the screen split into two and the coreography not demanding the members to run all over the place, I can easily watch any one of them I want. And the parts with them playing around are pure gold <3 I especially liked when Tsuji and Kago appeared with the AIBO robot (the dog), because the name remembers me of Aibon. But that's just me and my weird sense of humor...
05 - Sakura Mankai
This is the most beautiful thing to come from Hello! Project <3 I think if I took a random frame out of this PV, it's certain that whatever scene it contained would be wonderful and ready to be used as a wallpaper. Whoever divided Momusu in two groups was a complete genius... If it had been me, I'd put Sayu in Sakura and Yossie in Otome, because that would make more sense with the image I usually have of them, but the way it was ended working perfectly.
It's too much fun =D I read once somewhere that this PV and song was a little childish, but this is nothing for someone who appreciates MiniMoni. This is surely a PV from a time H!P had plenty of creativity around, this and Koko ni Iru ze! that comes just below in this list. There's little to say about it, though, only that I laugh a lot each time I see it. Especially when Yasuda is thrown into space, and when Ogawa/Yossie appear together Titanic-style.
Another overall fun PV, but that doesn't really get me inspired to write... Just want to share one thought though...
08 - Souda! We're Alive
09 - The Peace!
10 - Renai Revolution 21
These are classic PVs, much has been said about them already and I don't really have much to add. I LOVE the giant M flag in Souda! We're Alive (I'm not even sure if I can call it a flag with that size), and the jumps. Those scenes with them stopped and the camera rotating around them don't do much for me, though. The strong point of The Peace! is so obvious it shouldn't need mentioning: the sheer craziness of it all. And two YAY!s for the sailor suits. Renai Revolution 21, I love its sci-fi style <3 and the hairstyles too <3 especially Aibon/Nono/Nacchi
Aruiteru
I like Aruiteru, and I really like its PV. Seriously. *watches the readership go away in disgust*
I wasn't around by the time this was released, so I haven't read it, but I saw one or other comment in some blogs that made me believe Aruiteru was mostly rejected by the English H!P community. I like the song, it's the kind I'd hear when I'm tired and happy. The PV isn't Top 10 material, maybe Top 15. The first half of it is the cutest Close-up Version I've ever seen (there's almost only close ups...) and then there's the happy reunion around the campfire part <3 Ok, Mikitty went a little too far in her HAPPY! YAY! impression, since that's so far from her usual self in Momusu... But whatever. That's not a bad thing.
Hi there! After some time of silence around here, because I had three exams last week and my parents were very persuasive when convincing me to study more, I guess I can gradually come back to the blog... There's still three more exams in January, but those are mostly math/physics, and that's not a big problem for me.
Keeping the tradition I plan to have, here's my Birthday Tribute to Kamei Eri =D She's 19 today, found that out on H!P Sauce. I'm no good with this birthday speech thing, so I'll just say "Otanjoubi Omedetou, Kamei-chan!" and "Do Elizabeth again when HM@ gets a News segment!". Here's some Kamei scenes I got from my collection of H!M screencaps, and three videos =)
This is a pretty different H!M segment, I haven't watched many episodes from 2005 yet so I'm not sure what this is about... Kamei enters a room with a not very friendly tough-style guy, who announces right away he doesn't like talking to people, and starts attacking Kamei for making him wait too long. The poor girl does her best to talk to this idiot. And then, he starts showing some unexpected items he carried in his bag... I'm not saying what happens in the end, watch it =)
Hum... Thinking about it now, maybe this video is a little sad to put in her birthday post... Oh well, the last one is happier.
Oh, and before I finish, I'm not sure if I'll be posting something again before Christmas, so here's my message to all of you, sent through Kamei =P
Thanks to H!P Sauce for remembering us all of Kei-chan in the right day (yesterday), especially since she's not much remembered these days. Although I could have made a simple "happy birthday" post, that wouldn't have me delayed one day for the party, I decided it'd be a nice opportunity to make a bigger tribute to this historical member <3 And is there anything better to show of her talent than her acting in the old HaroMoni Gekijou? Unfortunately for now I only have "Bus ga kuru made" screencaps, but it's when Kei-chan had her best characters anyway...
And to top it off, here's a clip of Obaachan in her best form ever =D Well, not really... I remember one episode with that dark think in the ground that when the characters went on they turned "evil"... Obaachan appeared with some hardcore makeup and props, and I think she did the dance there. I want to find that episode again and take some screencaps of that so bad >_< Anyway, this wouldn't be complete without a full video of her appearance in one of the skits, so here's one of my favorites, with a great chemistry between her and Nacchi, and an interesting twist with the appearance of another great older generation member: watch it here.
This is the first in a series of posts where I'll be taking a look at Morning Musume musicals. I'll go all the way from Love Century to Ribbon no Kishi, but I won't be including solo ventures of any one of the members, since I don't have them =) In other words, it'll be Love Century => Morning Town => Edokko Chushingura => HELP!! Atchii Chikyuu wo Samasunda => Ribbon no Kishi, totalling five posts. These give me a lot of work, so they'll be released in a very slow pace... Don't hold your breath waiting for the next one =P If I'm missing any musical done by any full line-up of Morning Musume, please tell me in the comments.
I'm not used to doing this kind of review, especially the story part, so if I'm talking too much, giving too much details on the story, or just boring you, give me a comment ^_^
My Japanese is enough for me to understand most of the dialogue and the story, but eventually, it fails. I do believe I've gotten the plot right though, or at least very close to that.
All that said, let's move on to what matters =)
This is a very impressive first try. Morning Musume was in a great line-up (up to 4th gen, Gocchin included), it has a great story, good songs, Ayaka, Mika and Inaba are all on it, and Aibon here is the cutest thing ever <3 I'll start by going over the whole story first.
*Note that the characters in the musical have the same name as the member who does them
*The screencaps always refer to the things described on the paragraphs before them.
Love Century is an amusement park, where Nacchi, Yossie, Rika, Kaorin, Yaguchi and Yossie work part-time as entertainers. Their job is to welcome guests, singing and dancing to the park's various theme music and using cute costumes. I particularly like Nacchi's cow one. Look at them doing their show here. Things aren't going very well though, as we quickly learn when most members - excluding Nacchi - don't feel like waving to the audience and saying "arigatou!" for much long after their performance - there's hardly any audience. But there's still one girl who loves them, and goes see their little show everyday: Aibon. A girl who also has her own problems. Health ones. Hospitalized with a complicated heart disease, she can only go out because she has an invaluable ally in the hospital: Yuuko. Seeing the way Aibon suffers with all the painful medical examinations, Yuuko ignores the rules and gives her a "liberty time", 30 minutes, when her condition is a little better. Watch the cutest thing ever express her sadness here. Good thing that there's Nono, a mischievous girl who got on the hospital for breaking a leg and passes her time annoying Yuuko and playing with Aibon, so she doesn't feel lonely. Look at Nono bothering the other patients and Yuuko here. Her leg seems to be okay for me... Another important character is Gocchin, an ambitious girl who wants to follow a professional dancing career one day, preferably in New York. That's still a distant dream; daughter of a Ramen shop owner, she has no condition of travelling overseas.
As Aibon kept going to Love Century, she was eventually noticed by the girls, who one day called her after a presentation. Happy to have such a cute fan, Nacchi gladly teaches her some of their dance moves. And Aibon
performs the song using the cow hat <3<3<3 By then, Gocchin arrives with a Ramen order and sees part of the song. She clearly didn't like what she saw. Taking dancing very seriously, Gocchin can't stand the "stupid" moves from the girls' song. And they argue. Gladly, nothing comes out of it, and Gocchin goes back to her home, followed by Aibon. But the worst comes next. Heike, reporter, Kaorin's older sister, brings bad news: rumors say the park will be demolished and something else built on its place. She wants to make article on the park's situation, and to take a different angle on the topic, she wants its main topic to be "The strange girls who keep singing in the park with no guests". So, she asks each girl her reason to work there. They're pretty banal... Yossie is there because she hoped to be "discovered" by someone in the entertainment business; Rika started working because Yossie was also there; Kaorin and Yaguchi just want to have fun; Nacchi wants to "make people happy".
After a funny scene in the hospital with Nono and Yuuko, we find out that the park's imminent end was, indeed, true. That is, unless it starts raining 5 billion yen. Poor Yasuda, daughter of the park's current owner, is having some trouble dealing with all the debt collectors. Everything she wanted was to see the park her grandfather worked so hard to create going strong forever... The "solution" found to the problem shocks her. If that wasn't enough, we soon learn from a doctor talking to Yuuko that Aibon's condition is getting worse, and she has to do more exams. Without knowing any of that, Aibon is at Love Century, practicing her dance. Yasuda informs them of the park's fate, and they all get pretty down because of that... Until Yaguchi decides to take action. Always hyper, Yaguchi suggests the group just keep looking forward and prepare to do a super last show. And then, Inaba appears. Being a famous American dancer, Inaba comes with her companies Ayaka, Mika and Gocchin. I don't understand why they all went there. I guess it's just that Gocchin likes to argue with Kaorin. That's what they're always doing. Kaorin dared them to show how great that "serious dance" thing was, and so they did. Watch Inaba & co's. performance here. After that, everyone leaves, and the scene changes back to the hospital. And more Yuuko & Nono is always welcome =D Nono gets angry at Yuuko's polite request to leave the room, so she calls her an old hag, which Yuuko doesn't accept very well. Aibon gets back to the hospital late and is reprimanded. And she has to do more exams T_T
Next day, Aibon goes to the park, and asks to participate in the encore of the day's show. And she does it with the cow set <3 Watch it here. Poor Aibon collapses at the end. And then, back to the hospital, but this time with an unexpected, weird transition performance by a lot of non-members and some girls I think might be Melon Kinenbi. Check it out here. This performance was quite surprising for me in the middle of the musical, it's not the style of everything else and I didn't see any good reason for it to exist. Unless impressing me was the objective, and it certainly worked. Anyway, back on topic... Aibon now needs a surgery, an expensive one. Yuuko decides to leave her job, and now we know why she liked Aibon so much, her sister had a similar disease. Nothing really special about it, but here's a link to Yuuko's solo where she reveals that, I thought it was worth uploading because I love her. To help pay for Aibon's surgery, it's decided that Love Century's last 5 shows are going to be for charity! After doing a deal with the park's owner, in which they'll receive 100 million yen to prepare a big show but will have to give back at least 150 million, they also get help from Heike to put an article about the show in the newspaper and from some hospital girls in setting up a site about it. But it doesn't work - seems like people just aren't interested in their childish music. Without much choice, they turn to Gocchin for help, and start training hard. Watch Gocchin make them suffer here. As expected, in the end, there's a big fight between Gocchin and the others, and she ends up leaving.