True Life Seek

It’s been a week of negativity here at TLS. Looking over the history of the Japanese music industry, I realized that there are many, many ugly endings. American Idol disappointed by sending off one Colton Berry. We’ve also seen lots of blinking and death by snakebites.

And as amazing as it sounds, the negativity ends with this week’s episode of Haromoni.

After hitting rock bottom, the only direction one can go is up. Well, I guess you could linger around rock bottom, but most people will elevate, even if only a tiny bit. This is the situation we find Haromoni in this week. Last week’s episode was so bad that I think it’ll be impossible for me not to enjoy this week’s episode more.

Plus, I have a new theory on why this show doesn’t work, but more on that later.

Another music performance to start us off? Cool, I guess. My thoughts on La La La Shiawase no Uta have been stated. I think it is a cruel joke on me that 2008 has had two songs where Maimi Yajima is arguably the main feature, and they are 16sai no Koi Nante and La La La Shiawase no Uta. And finally, I have to add is to say, one more time, damn these outfits are ugly!!

Moutube again, oh lucky us!

They have new outfits after forever. Variety is the spice of life and I hope that the producers realize this. Aika shook her ass when she showed off her tail. Bless that girl.

These kids think Tokyo is cool. So they do some flips to Prodigy - Smack My Bitch Up. Ai is shown in the top right hand corner when the “Smack my bitch up” line comes on. Hooray.

Brush your mouth with Colgate. Again, how does this translate to Morning Musume album/single sales, concert tickets and merchandise? It doesn’t, NO BUYS.

It is less than 400g! This guy is a liar!! Ever watch Nathan’s International July Fourth Hot Dog Eating Contest on ESPN? Me neither.

AIKA! She got tired of watching these stupid videos and left the set. Maybe I should do the same.

I laughed at the idea that Eri Kamei walks around Japan in her Haromoni outfit. That was the only thing I laughed at.

I’ve seen this dog before, on Japanese TV no less. I liked the video that I saw first because they played the Superman theme when it balanced on the table. I love that theme so much. I truly believe that every situation in life could be enhanced by playing that theme. Finishing a book. Finding a penny on the sidewalk. Above all else, this montage from Seinfeld is my absolute favorite usage of the theme. I love this dog and I love stupid animal tricks. It isn’t as good as the Superman theme but they play MACHO MAN.

Yay, let’s go to the zoo. I remember when Musume used to go to the zoo. The poor bear is having a seizure and Morning Musume is sitting there saying it is cute. I’m calling PETA.

I sat through this trying to figure out whether it was filmed at 8:15am or 8:15pm.

Oh screw this. Nevermind, this animal tried to eat Ai. Unfortunately, someone stopped it.

Risa impersonates something.

Like I said, not wanting to watch the videos, Aika went to go play with some toys. She was able to name off all the characters. What a nerd. I love her. She should have staged an all out war with the toys like I used to do.

Aika wins this week, you bet she does.

Next week: Mika Mutou returns.

There is the usual crap that exists in every episode of Haromoni, but this week saw some fine moments. Aika ditching the set because she had enough made me smile from ear to ear. Unfortunately, I had to sit through some uninspired stuff from Reina and Ai. Takahashi got smacked up and eaten alive to go along with yesterday’s snakebite. Perhaps, dare I say, I am growing a fondness for Ai? Sure that fondness only occurs when she is getting hurt, but it is better than nothing! We had MANY animals being themselves, thus hilarious. Aika showed off her nerd side. And last but not least, the episode reminded me of the dog eating off of the table to the Superman theme, which has led to me playing that theme with everything that I do right now.

Let’s look back upon Onyanko Club in my Foreidols of Japan entry:

Like Momoe Yamaguchi, the girls in Onyanko Club were packaged as “average.” The “girls sand, danced, chated with the emcee and otherwise did normal TV variety-show things. But what impressed viewers- and made the show (Yuyake Nyan Nyan) a hit - was the girls’ averageness” (Schilling 167). They were all amateurs. They didn’t have the professional training that other pop stars would get. If anything, the girls of Onyanko Club were more similar to their viewers than their peers.

I don’t see Morning Musume being advertised as “average girls.” When terms like “miracle” are thrown around at Maki Goto and Koharu Kusumi, it is impossible to label them as average. We see videos of the girls get dance and vocal lessons, to make them not average. This is a good thing. If you were average, once your face wasn’t fresh, you’d be simply boring.

But what Haromoni is advertised as is different from what Morning Musume is advertised as. In Haromoni, we see the girls doing an “average things,” watching youtube. However, watching the Moutube segments, I have never once thought to myself: “This is what it must be like for typical Japanese girls watching youtube.” A few changes to the format would solve this. First, the selection process of the videos would have to change. Namely, no more baby puppet. Second, if a video sucks, they need to stop watching it immediately. Who sits around and watched a 2 minute video when they are bored after 10 seconds? Then again, I watch 22 minutes of Haromoni after being bored 5 seconds in… And last, the outfits (even though I liked this week’s change of outfits) have got to go. I’ll never think that I am watching averaging Japanese girls watching youtube videos when I see one of them wearing a fox tail.

Or better yet, they could stop the Moutube segments.

Posted on February 24th, 2008 by broomhead. Filed under Reviews, TV.
Tags: Ai Takahashi, Aika Mitsui, Airi Suzuki, C-ute, Chisato Okai, Eri Kamei, Erika Umeda, Haromoni, Hello!Project, Junjun, Kanna Arihara, Koharu Kusumi, Linlin, Mai Hagiwara, Maimi Yajima, Morning Musume, Reina Tanaka, Risa Niigaki, Saki Nakajima, Sayumi Michishige