True Life Seek

A few weeks before the 58th Kouhaku aired, I had a conversation about what was probably going to happen on it. What I wanted from the show was very simple. No Love Machine. I figured that there is no good reason to remind people that the 8 members who performed that song were all long gone. However, I got a surprising counterargument and I conceded, Morning Musume should perform Love Machine at Kouhaku.

But it was still boring.

My reasoning for no Love Machine was that Morning Musume, as a group, need to distance themselves from the past. Even with their 10th Anniversary, I think distancing themselves from the old era could only be beneficial. There are two messages that could be sent and I think the wrong one is being put forth.

The right message would be: “On this, our 10th anniversary, let us look forward to the next 10 years.” Who knows if they will really last another 10 years, that’s not what I want to focus on. The point is to focus on the future. They can’t ignore the past completely, especially with products like the Complete Singles DVD, but they also can’t rely on the past, or at least they shouldn’t.

Fans, both hardcore and causal, love making comparisons. I know I do. We have our Favorites, Top 10 PVs, Top Whatever. But here lies the problem. Every single time Morning Musume performs Love Machine, Renai Revolution 21 or the Peace, people are going to compare. The fact is that they will always prefer the versions prior to the 5th generation joining. What a disservice to continually commit against your current members of Morning Musume.

This brings us to the opposite message, one that Morning Musume has consistently sent out, and not just in the 10th anniversary run. This is very simple: “Morning Musume is not as good as it used to be.” I do love when Morning Musume and other H!P acts cover older H!P songs in concerts. In concerts. On a show like Kouhaku or another television appearance, I do not. Yet, this message is put forth every time Morning Musume goes on a show like this.

Don’t look at the wota reactions, they are biased. Look at the variety/interview appearances (or lack thereof). Look at the reactions to them performing and being on these shows. Look at all the Internet reactions. How many times am I going to read “Sayumi Michishige can’t sing” or “Koharu Kusumi is no Maki Goto?” I don’t blame anyone for thinking like that. What else are they supposed to consider? They are constantly being told through these performances that this group’s peak was then. Today’s group isn’t following the footsteps but trying to fill them.

By performing Mikan or Onna ni Sachi Are, you at least showcase what the group consists of today. Some may not consider that they have much to offer. At least they will have to come to that conclusion through their own reasoning and not through basic comparison.

But like I said, I was wrong. I still feel all of what I previously thought is true, but only to an extent. The sad reality is that, to be on a show like Kouhaku, they need to rely on the past.

I was told that it’d be like The Beach Boys not performing California Girls (haha I wonder who I had this conversation with) if Morning Musume were not to do Love Machine. It does make sense. The fact is that the public only cares about Morning Musume if they are doing the songs the public knows. This is unfortunate, but UFA/Tsunku/etc. have only themselves to blame. As I pointed out, for years now, they’ve made it pretty apparent that 1999-2001 Morning Musume was far superior than any other period. Remember the 2005 Kouhaku, the one that everyone likes? Why do you like it? I’m going to guess it’s because the headliners of it were the O.G.

I had to get that out of the way to point out that I can’t fault Morning Musume for performing Love Machine at the 58th Kouhaku. They really do not have a choice at this point.

So how was the SPECIAL LOVE MIX? Well, pretty boring. Not only boring but terribly put together. There were problems from the start. C-ute’s introduction was cut-off by a bunch of people who didn’t have time to get off the stage (and some who didn’t care to).

Get off the stage!

They did Love Machine. Honestly, if they could have found a worse way to do it, they found it. Not only is Morning Musume not worthy of performing songs they release in the present, they aren’t even worth of performing Love Machine on their own. This was not a total loss since I like more H!P kids than MM members right now, but that’s the vibe I get.

Sayumi Michishige is still very cute, even if her hair isn’t.

It was your standard Love Performance machine. The costumes were pretty much all the same so there’s not much discussion there.

Sayumi got a solo line while standing right next to Miyabi Natsuyaki. This actually happened.

Chinami Tokunaga snuck to the front of everybody at one point, which made me happy.

Actions speak louder than words.

A mix of The Peace and Renai Revolution 21 came with a costume change. You’d think this would be more interesting.

Berryz Koubou did Kataomoi. This was thankfully short.

C-ute did Junjou. This was atrociously short.

Maimi is my favorite member of C-ute, but I am so glad that she takes a backseat to Airi. She would definitely have too many flaws as a main lead, at least at this point in her career. Her taking a backseat to Nacchi is unacceptable though.

Another mix. This isn’t over yet.

And it is finally over.

I have no desire to really dig further into any of this. The whole deal would have been better if Berryz and C-ute were separated from MM and each other. It would have been better if they didn’t include the old songs. Definitely a thumb down performance.

Posted on January 9th, 2008 by broomhead. Filed under Reviews, TV.
Tags: Ai Takahashi, Aika Mitsui, Airi Suzuki, Berryz Koubou, C-ute, Chinami Tokunaga, Chisato Okai, Eri Kamei, Erika Umeda, Hello!Project, Junjun, Kanna Arihara, Koharu Kusumi, Linlin, Maasa Sudou, Mai Hagiwara, Maimi Yajima, Miyabi Natsuyaki, Momoko Tsugunaga, Morning Musume, Reina Tanaka, Risa Niigaki, Risako Sugaya, Saki Nakajima, Saki Shimizu, Sayumi Michishige, Yurina Kumai