Why shouldn’t (should) Morning Musume keep doing the same thing over and over?

“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” – some famous dude

The last year-and-a-bit* has seen Morning Musume shift into the “Electro Musume” [nobody actually uses this nickname] era, with their latest songs being defined by heavy synthesizer riffs, dance-club beats, and more vocal manipulation than the Tuvan throat singers of Siberia. People love it. People hate it. Lasped fans and newcomers are showing up. Longtime fans (definition of LONGTIME: “I remember the beginning of the Platinum era!”) are turning away. Still, the fact that Morning Musume’s new sound is sparking controversy is more important than whether it’s “good” or not. I mean, what is “good” anyway? Everyone has different criteria by which they judge what kind of music they like. But people are talking about it! And talk, positive or negative, is good. Better than being ignored and irrelevant.

*Observant listeners will realize that the seeds of this were actually planted even before that, with random acts of dubstep in “Only You” and “Renai Hunter” that foreshadowed the changes to come.

5-and-a-half Storylines From AKB48 Request Hour Day 1

The votes are in, and the lineup is set. Fans have submitted their ballots for their favorite 48-group songs of 2012, and now the 4-day celebration known as AKB48 Request Hour: Setlist Best 100 is under way. It’s only been one day of action, but already several events have set the fandom abuzz. Here are some things to think about while us English-speakers try to re-configure our sleep schedules:

When all else fails: TROLLFACE YUI. (click for source)

Did °C-ute record a song from the future?

°C-ute’s 2nd best-of album, ②℃-ute神聖なるベストアルバム (“2°C-ute Shinsei Naru Best Album”), takes a trip down memory lane with re-recordings of old songs from the 8/7/6-member era re-tooled to fit the current lineup of 5. The results, however, are mixed, coming out anywhere from “pretty decent” to “why would they re-do the arrangement it was already perfect THE WAY IT WAS.” (I’m looking at you, “Tokaikko Junjou.”) But among these re-voiced and re-arranged songs, one stands out from the rest … which is weird because it was a pretty ordinary, repetitive song when it first came out.

Who knew that “Ookina Ai de Motenashite” was meant to be a song from the future?

The re-arranged version of “Ookina Ai” is a stroke of genius—a super bubbly, prototypically cute idol song layered over with bleeps and bloops from the chiptune/electropop scene. It may be little more than a stylistic affectation—like how applying a swing rhythm to a song suddenly makes it “jazz”—but consider this. It would not have been possible when the song was first recorded. Well, technologically YES it was possible, but stylistically no one would have thought of doing it.

Kikka Quest Day 3 & Epilogue: Sayonara Namida

THE GOODS.

In my rush to catch the p.m. flight out of Atlanta, I didn’t have time to recap the You Kikkawa wrap-up panel on Day 3, which may be also be known as “Awkward Answers to Poorly Translated Questions.” I mean, all due respect to Yaz (a.k.a. The Nice Lady) who has to put up with so much from H!P fandom, but she definitely “approximates” her answers when she’s trying to field Q&A sessions and translate on the fly. Nonetheless we all tried our best to have fun, especially considering it was the last day of con and only the super hardcore fans were still sticking around at 1 p.m. This was more of a “Kikka freetalk and goofing-off” panel, where she started off with this adorable sketchboard-story describing her career path from MM auditions to the present. There were also other light entertainments like fans quizzing her on Japanese history & general knowledge (she’s horrible lol), and demonstrating her flexibility. Holy CRAP what she does with her legs is unreal, and actually she couldn’t do her best move (leg wrapped around the head) because her jeans were too tight.

Kikka Quest Day 2: The Most Unexpected Setlist

After a late start to the day, I figured I’d do a little citizen journalism and check out how You Kikkawa’s 2nd autograph session was faring on Saturday of AWA. Let’s just say this … it was 1 pm on the busiest day of the con. Weeaboos were running on full energy, the kids who couldn’t make it on Friday were at con today, and, well …

An encouraging sight. (Pardon my Instagram filter)

There was definitely no “thin crowd” to worry about this time—the SERIOUSE fans had arrived half an hour early, of course, while others were trickling into the dealers’ room, and by 1 p.m. proper the autograph line was already three times as long as it had been all of Friday. So yes, there were the crazy ass wotas having multiple go-arounds, BUT there were also lots of newcomers, casually interesteds, and the fans who couldn’t make it the day before who were all in attendance because IT’S KIKKA’S BIG DAY MAN.