H!P Funny of the Week - Manly Voice

New Morning Musume member Haruka Kudo is possibly the most boyish member H!P has ever had (even Yossie, fangirl favorite that she is, could still act the part of a classy lady.) Haruka also has a low, husky voice. H!P's first Brooklyn member? Nah, just Saitama, where Yossie's from. If Saitama females are this manly, I wonder what their men are like...

Anyway, I was really surprised and delighted when Zukki began impersonating the 10th generation with mock introductions (at about the 1:05 mark.) She really caught me off guard when she roared, "KUDO HARUKA DESU."

And then later, Kanon Fukuda of S/mileage (the Kanons of H!P are amazing) did the same thing while impersonating Haruka. Except it was even more epic, because she sounded like Bill Cosby's Fat Albert. I wish she would do a follow-up with a "Hey, hey, hey, I'm Haruka Kudo!"

HEY HEY HEY

I hope the posts on the forums are wrong about Kudo getting her revenge, because the Kanons are two of my favorites! They really liven up H!P, haha.

H!P Funny of the Week - Buggy

THE BUTTERFLY

Zukki is a complete nut. When she was first introduced in the auditions, superficially I didn't like her as much as Riho, Mogi, and Eripon. As I saw her happiness and energy, she moved into the top three that I definitely wanted into the group (along with Mogi and Riho.) But once she was in, I was totally unprepared for her randomness and mimicry. She amazes with each new impersonation or strange thing that she brings up (like her teddy with an afro, aww!)

Originally she got attention from her bug impressions: "the butterfly coming out of a chrysalis" and "the mantis." The Butterfly (flapping one's arms front to back) has become so popular, eventually other H!P girls began doing it, especially to mimic Zukki. It's become a regular meme, done at concerts or randomly inserted in other activities, like when Zukki did The Butterfly instead of the hula.

Zukki's Butterfly

Rihoriho's Version

Hidden Mantis Crouching Zukki

H!P Funny of the Week - Mari Abuse

This was supposed to be posted the first Friday of January. I am horribly behind.. perhaps this should be "Funny of the Month" instead.

Demonstrating how a certain girl uses her talents.

One of the things that got me into idols in the first place was the silly things they did on their television appearances. Yes, my first interest was sparked by a catchy, cute song (W's "Ai no Imi wo Oshiete!"), but staying up to the wee hours of the morning watching hilarious subtitled clips made them unforgettable. I was hooked, in love with their silly personalities, an H!P fan forever. I don't think that would have happened just by watching their music videos. I might have just moved on to the next catchy song.

One such show that I enjoyed finding clips of was Utaban. Two hosts making fun of their guests equals pure awesome. I especially liked when they made fun of Mari Yaguchi. She's so cute when she's embarrassed. Like when the hosts got a hold of her photobook shot in Vietnam...

Yaguchi's such a pervert! Her photobook even made a baby Momo cry!

Another awesome clip, but now missing from YouTube, was when Morning Musume took questions from an audience of children:

[Kid's question: Do idols fart?]


Ishibashi: That's from Ayaka, in grade 2.


Masahiro Nakai: Ayaka-chan?


Ayaka: Yes?


Nakai: Ayaka-chan, what did your mother tell you?


Ayaka: She said that idols never fart.

Source

Mari, unsure of destroying the kid's fantasy, eventually admits to letting out silent ones...

Masahiro Nakai: Yaguchi, don't go half-way! Those silent ones stink even worse!

Source

When Mari says that everyone farts, Charmy doesn't look too happy, heheh. Poor Mari~ I make silent farts, too, and my family teases me just like those hosts did to her! I have a lot of respect for her admitting it on TV, though, and I think the kids respected her for it, too. Maybe that's why kids seem to like her a lot. She's both silly and honest. And cute!

Click here for more hilarious quotes from Utaban!

Retro Corner - Wink's Ai ga Tomaranai

Wink has a couple things in common with the former H!P unit W. Besides being a duo, they've also done quite a bit of covers, some overlapping with W's covers, and W even did a cover of one of Wink's original songs. I like covers. They introduce me to songs that I may otherwise never have listened to, through the comfort of groups I'm already fond of.

Wink didn't just do a few covers of Japanese songs, but some Western songs as well. They sang them in Japanese, though, so it was fun to be like "this sounds familiar" and figure out what the original was. But I had never listened to Kylie Minogue's "Turn It Into Love" before I heard Wink's "Ai ga Tomaranai." (1988) Afterward, I actually thought I should give Kylie's work (at least her older stuff) more of a chance, haha. It's a very catchy song, and very 80's. It's awesome.

The original for comparison:

Retro Corner - Coco's Omoide ga Ippai

The first idol songs I was ever exposed to were from Ranma 1/2, though I did not realize they were idol songs at first. In fact, I originally thought that Coco's "Omoide ga Ippai" (1990) was sung by the Ranma 1/2 cast (because I found the lyrics to DoCo's version online.)

This song only continued the high esteem that I felt for Ranma 1/2's theme music. It's catchy, sweet, and I loved the variety of voices. I especially loved the adorable high-pitched voice (which I later learned from MorningBerryz's blog entry was Rieko Miura.)

Ranma 1/2 was also my first experience of anime in actual Japanese, with actual Japanese theme songs (before it was just Pokemon, Digimon, and Toonami for me.) I had no idea how abundant those high voices were in anime and idol music, especially now in our moe-filled era. It was new and cool.

Recently, Ranma 1/2 got a cheesy live-action drama. I haven't seen it, I'm actually not sure if I want to. But it made me smile that even after two decades, they still decided to use an idol group, 9nine, for the theme song. I need to listen to the theme song just to check if it matches the high standard I've set for Ranma 1/2 theme songs, thanks in part to CoCo.

Retro Corner - Seiko Matsuda's Nagisa no Balcony

My favorite Seiko Matsuda song is "Nagisa no Balcony." (1982) It's a varied song, with four distinct parts to the melody, and I find all of them pleasing and interesting. Every time I listen to the song, I anticipate each part. Even though it's a gentle song, I could never call it boring. I find the tune full of magic, relaxation, and freshness. Yes, it's the sweet freshness that really makes me admire Matsuda's voice. It's so different from the pop voices of today, which tend to have a sexy edge.

Momo wants to be an idol like Matsuda! My favorite H!P member has good taste, hehe.