A Girl in Love's Victory

Go a little fart

Dig a little dee

Reach a little

Catch the Cat

so I wanted to make one of those heart locket gifs but it got glitched somehow and this is what I got. The skeleton appears. 

On Mizuki and Tsunku:

On her most recent young town Mizuki said Tsunku looks for girls who can follow the rules to join Momusu. Even the hosts are like “you do know he let Sato of all people in right?”

Hi there! I’d be more than happy to help out! Having seen multiple generations of Morning Musume myself, I do understand where you’re coming from— particularly watching the progression of ages, but to help put it in perspective, even in the earlier years of the group, there were members that occupied the age ranges of the current ones. For instance, Goto Maki joined Morning Musume at age 13, and Momusu’s current youngest member, Haga Akane, is that same age now. Aibon and Nono joined alongside Yossie and Charmy, and there was only three years’ difference between the oldest and youngest members of their generation, so in the grand scheme of things, the balance isn’t terribly off. With Harunan as the group’s current oldest member, she’s 8 years older than the youngest member. It’s not as drastic of a breadth between, say, Aibon and Yuko (15 years) but I still find that evaluating things in that perspective sort of helps make things not feel so terribly -off- in comparison to the older generations of the group.

In any case, I’ll try to help out in giving a good picture of the new members of the group! I’ll do 10th-12th gen, but let me know if you’d like more info on 9th, too! (… prepare for a novel. I am so sorry. Brevity is not my strong suit.)

10th gen.

Iikubo Haruna: As you’d mentioned already, Harunan is the oldest member of the group and is also one of the sub leaders of the group as a whole. She has experience in the entertainment industry prior to joining Momusu as a model and actress, and is still known for her model-like looks within the group. In person, she’s fairly soft-spoken, but when she gets comfortable, Harunan acts like a big goofball and is good for humor amongst the members. From my experience meeting her at a handshake event, she seems really sweet and modest. For a while, she had difficulty dancing on a comparable level as the other members. I feel like every now and then, she still struggles a bit with dancing smoothly (especially with the difficulty level of the newer songs), but she doesn’t stick out nearly as much as she did in her early days in the group. Vocally, I think she has a pretty voice. It’s a nice mid-pitch— her solo performance of “Koi Kana” is here if you’re able to watch it on NicoNico: http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm22889236 Also, adorably, Harunan wrote on her high school’s career choice questionnaire that Morning Musume member was her desired future career– she’s been a fan of the group ever since elementary school and even drew fanart of the members (and herself) growing up.

Ishida Ayumi: Ayumi is a lot of fun. She’s also had experience in the entertainment world before joining Momusu, as she was a member of the idol group Dorothy Little Happy. Known for her sharp dancing skills (she’s my personal favorite dancer of the group), she’s put in the front of many of the new formation dances because she really commands attention when she’s performing. She was even used as a dance replacement for Miyamoto Karin in one of Juice=Juice’s dance shot PVs when Karin was injured. She’s really focused and determined, and is known for devoting a lot of time to perfecting how she appears when she performs on stage. Personality-wise, she can be really boisterous and forward around the members, and has a penchant for bad jokes. She’s also a big fan of Suzuki Airi from C-ute, which I think is pretty adorable. After meeting her in person, she struck me as a pretty confident person. Vocally, she has a lower-pitched voice. I would place her singing sort of at the bottom amongst the 10th generation members, but her voice isn’t terrible. She can hold her own when she sings, and I do feel like they’re utilizing her vocal skills more in newer songs (she’s good at rapping and spoken parts, particularly), so I feel like she’s been improving since the start. You can hear solos of hers here (which is doubly adorable because the first of them was originally an Airi solo song): https://youtu.be/pW1BBT7o0kA 

Sato Masaki: I want to say that maybe Masaki was the one you’d heard the rumor about not liking Morning Musume before entering the group? Her mom was actually the one who is a huge wota of the group. In an interview, Masaki said that one of her friends from her hometown had joined an idol group that got fairly popular in Hokkaido (where she’s from), and when she saw them perform, she decided she wanted to be on stage like that. She went to several auditions and ended up getting into Morning Musume. So, it’s not quite that she disliked the group, but she didn’t know a whole lot about the idol world when she joined, in general. She said she didn’t pay much attention to even groups like AKB48 before. Prior to her audition, she only knew “LOVE Machine.” But before any of this leaves a bad taste in your mouth about Masaki, I do want to say that she’s really one of the most interesting idols the group’s ever seen. Heralded as a “genius” both for her cleverness (she plays dumb but is scarily smart, speaks in metaphors a lot) and for her musical aptitude, Masaki has a lot going for her. Her dancing is good, but her specialty is her “perfect pitch.” She has a higher-pitched voice but is a reliable singer, and I feel like her range has been expanding lately. She’s given a good amount of solo lines in recent songs, too, and she’s able to show off more than her energetic/high pitched singing (in their most recent single, you can really hear a more mature singing voice from her). Everything goes back to persona with this girl, though; she’s very energetic on stage, and is a bit of a maniac, personality-wise. She’s clingy with other members, plays the part of a spoiled kid well but as actually very conscientious of other members (particularly the newest members), and is full of energy even in handshakes and other speaking events. At the same handshake event I keep referencing, I remember all the girls seemed a bit tired (as this was after their concert had finished), but even during breaks they were given where the girls took a moment to drink water before the next round of handshakes started, Masaki was very attentive to the audience as they were waiting, and played games with people in their seats from where she was standing. When I got the chance to meet her, she was the one who made the biggest impression on me out of all the girls because of how present she was in the handshake (I told her that I saw her big smile during the concert even though I’m short and could barely see the stage lol, and she took one of her hands, gave me a GIANT CHEEKY GRIN, and stuck her finger into her cheek and was like, “Like this, right?!”). She’s also notorious for messing with fans during handshakes if she’s in the spirit… like she’s sprayed someone with perfume before (she loves good-smelling perfumes/has been known to just randomly smell people), she’s hidden underneath the handshake table… she’s a bit nuts.

Most impressively, Masaki’s practically setting herself up as an audio engineer. The other members have commented on how she plays with music programs a lot to get a good sense of rhythms, notes, and beats. She plays piano and likes to compose original music and beats on her free time. At one point, when the 12th gen girls were being brought up to speed on Momusu choreography, one of their staff members sort of half-heartedly/jokingly suggested that Masaki could work with them to create a rhythm CD to help the girls practice and refine their rhythm. She literally went home and made it that night, brought it in the next day for the girls to start using. The 12th gen girls commented on how earnestly Masaki really looks after them and wants them to succeed.

I’m glad that you’re feeling better about it! I wonder if it might help to think about the reason why you like the group– because of the members, how they perform, their skills, the music, etc, etc. Like you’d said, it’s not like you like them because of something perverted or weird. I feel like it’s totally okay to like a group full of great performers who make you smile! Whether you’re 8 years old or 100, it’s really okay to like Momusu! （´ω｀）Okay, so onto the 9th gen!

Fukumura Mizuki: My personal top member in Morning Musume right now, and the current leader of the group. Fukuhime is another member who was a H!P Kenkyuusei/Egg; she joined the kenkyuusei in 2008, when she auditioned for Hello! Project in hopes of one day becoming a member of Momusu. Prior to joining Morning Musume, she was a part of the subunit Shugo Chara Egg!, was a back dancer for Mano Erina’s “Onegai Dakar” and “Haru no Arashi” PVs, and then in 2010, she participated in the 9th generation Morning Musume. Tsunku actually lied to Mizuki in late 2010, telling her she did not pass the third round of the auditions and surprised her completely at the concert when the other 9th generation members were announced— when she was called up to join them. You can see it at ~18:21 in this video: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xmad8k_110106-bijogaku-morning-musume-the-result-of-9th-generation-audition_shortfilms She’s loved Morning Musume for basically as long as she could remember, so she said this was her dream coming true. She is known for the “princess” vibes she gives off (her fans are a part of the “Mizukingdom,” a term she came up with herself!), and is often praised on her looks. She’s good at picking up choreography, so she keeps up well with the sharp dancers of the group. She also is able to play violin, and is talented at drawing. Among the members, she’s close with both Ikuta Erina and Ishida Ayumi (she claims Ayumi is both her rival and her boyfriend). While Sayu was in the group, Mizuki was often paired with her for songs (Suki da na kimi ga: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_vQRfe9gxY ; Aishuu Romantic https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlV_EA3ajrQ ) Overall, I really like Mizuki’s strong presence within the group. She brings a lot of femininity to the group, I feel, and it’ll be interesting seeing her develop as a leader. And, in person, she was really sweet— she’s known for her firm “Fukumura Lock” handshakes with fans, and I was happy I got to experience that while she kept pointing out my glowstick (I had a custom-designed pink Mizuki glowstick that was attached to my dress when I went to the handshake that she kept pointing at lol).

Ikuta Erina: Another subleader of Morning Musume in this one-leader-two-subleader system, Eripon is a bit of a wacky character. Popular for her extreme love of Niigaki Risa (she participated in Risa’s “bus tour” for fans… with other fans… http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xuzg1i_half-assed-ikuta-erina-ga-5-goshya-ni-niigaki-risa-bus-tour-in-shizuoka-2-shot_people ), she’s a very upfront member in a “this is me, this is how I am,” unapologetic kind of way. For this attitude, she’s regarded as a very cool member amongst other Hello! Project girls. She’s also admitted to being a fan of AKB48, and has been interested in Hello! Project ever since she heard about Minimoni. She likes to sing and claims that going to karaoke helps her with stress relief. Vocally, she has a mid-range voice; you can hear her singing a solo of ‘Suki Sugite Baka Mitai’ here— https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdPkxi91Za0 . Her dancing has improved a LOT since she first joined (and she can actually pull off some crazy athletic moves https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jc2Y2BNj_-Q ), so it’s been interesting seeing her improve as a performer over the years.

Sayashi Riho: And the center. Riho is a monster performer on stage— she stood out during her auditions because of her developed performance skills, and she was quickly put into a front girl position within the group. She’s veeeeery good at singing live, too, and keeping up her stamina in both dancing and singing simultaneously. I don’t feel compelled to give too many videos on Riho because it’s super easy to pick her out and hear her sing since she’s had solo lines for years now, but regardless, here’s a solo performance of hers that shows off how crazy talented she is— https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XD8EqAfDr2A . Personality-wise, she’s known for being extremely confident, even smug. At her announcement to fans as a new member, she said she was aiming for the leader position within the group. When I had my handshake with her, I made a comment to her that she was pretty much good at everything she does, and her response was basically, “Haha, I know! Hey thanks!” It gave me a laugh, and her adorably smug in-person personality actually made me like her even more.