So, here's Fankora! First off the bat I'm a bit disappointed that they only had ONE concert to review, especially since it's the one I was possibly LEAST excited about. Oh dear God I have to review Zoku. So it's a bit disappointing I can't see the Tanpopo# performance I wanted to see, however I still like the idea that they took fan contributions and did a lot of older numbers (
All For One and One For All
What a way to start out a concert; this IS the quintessential H!P as a whole song, excluding Hello! no Theme (HELLO HELLO HELLO DANCING...). However, I realized when watching this that it was the first time that we saw All For One without the Elder Club involved (if I recall correctly), and so...
We start with Takahashi and Niigaki. And then I realize. Oh my goodness. This is the Mobekimasu version of All For One. Why do I have to endure this?
This isn't to say I dislike Mobekimasu; not at all. I like them. However, the fact that it's not Yuko, Nacchi and Kaorin singing the first line just makes a little bit die inside.
I did like that the beginning started out with all of Morning Musume's generations; it's as if H!P's saying "Yeah, MM>>the rest of them, woo!" I mean, I do miss the old distribution of lines, I really do. But that's not super feasible without having a few Country Musume members to throw in, good soloists to throw in (why hello there, Yukidon; how's enka-town?) etc. After a while, this song just gets to be really long. The one thing that made this song so good originally was that it WAS all of H!P; all 45-46 members of Hello!Project, with a bunch of different generations, showing just how vast H!P was but having all of them sing a song. It's showing H!P's history and the importance of each generation within the collective whole.
However, after MM's generations, it just shuffles through the Mobekimasu order; MM, Berryz, C-ute, ManoEri and S/Mileage a few times. It's slightly repetitive.
(And goodness, whyyy did the unit I've been least impressed with lately have to sing the 4th gen lines? *sigh*)
The performance itself was OK. It was really nothing special, and honestly I got kind of bored part way through it. I mean, a few of them looked like they were into it (C-ute in particular, S/Mileage too) but about half way through there's really not that much energy left and it's kind of a let down. This is a song to perform with an abundance of energy, not holding it back. At one point I was looking through the Eggs to try and find my favorite, Sekine Azusa.
C'mon, Sekkii, I know you're in there somewhere....
All in all (haha, see what I did there?) this is another performance to remind me yet again how much I miss the Elder Club. I don't care how legit a decision it was, Tsunku, the Mobekimasu groups haven't gotten better songs or PVs since they left; bring back the Elders.
VTR
It's a VTR. What do I have to say. Well. A couple of odds and ends.
1. Best MC roster. Ever.
Makoto's a pimp. Yossy's the pimp. We all win. Makoto, please never stop being the one male member of Hello!Project. You make everything more epic and more amazing. I hope to study abroad in Japan when the 2012 H!P summer concert will take place. I will cheer hard for Makoto. I was surprised this screen didn't get more cheers; there's obviously a deficiency in the Ishiyoshi wota in the audience. Wait, is that picture of Yossy from Tokyo Alice? If so, then that's over a year older than the concert. Maybe I'm wrong, but I could have SWORN that was a picture from her stage play. Or maybe I'm totally off.
2. That took a LONG time to get through ManoEri. I get she's 1/5th of Mobekimasu. But really?
MC1
Yossy's funny. The first MC should be funny, yes? aaaand no. It's sadness. Graduations. I've already blogged about Eririn/JunJun/LinLin graduating, but it is actually pretty sad to watch happen. JunJun and LinLin look pretty upset; like they haven't actually accepted it. Because anyone who thinks it was 100% their choice to go back to China needs to get their brain straightened out.
Aannd to the first main group song, which is....
OO Ganbaranakute mo Ee Nende!
Yay, I like S/Mileage. I've actually had a reaally big thing for this song ever since previews came out, and so seeing a live performance of it really warms the heart. I'm seriously really excited for whenever the DVD of S/Mileage's solo concert comes out; I can see S/Mileage without sitting through ManoEri. It's perfect!
The girls here are really fantastic; they have some really nice live vocals. Even the admittedly weak link Wada Ayaka (it's OK, Ayacho, I still love you!) sounds really nice and never sounds too terribly out of place throughout this relatively vocally strong performance. It's times like this that I'm still amazed at how little they've been around so far; they all sound great for debuting not that long ago. I mean, they were all Eggs, but even still; many Eggs still suck.
You don't suck! Cute Kanyon is cute!
Energy wise I love these girls. They're all very energetic and are all very much into it, unless they're somehow amazing actors. The dance is silly, but they do it well.
Oh, you girls be silly
I seriously have nothing but high hopes for the future of the group; they are all very solid at dancing (or at least the dances choreographed for them), solid at singing, and they jive really well together as a group, which is really important. They all look like they're having fun with the silliness of this song. I maintain that this is one of the best single songs H!P has had in years, and while I'm not super into the Bijin Mama song.
More later!
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