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Morning Musume Sakura Gumi
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Morning Musume Otome Gumi
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In late 2003, the current 15 members of Morning Musume was split up into two groups: Sakura Gumi and Otome Gumi. This was done as a way to fit them on smaller venues (the groups had a tour separately), give more time to shine to members that didn’t usually get a chance to, and release more singles. Tsunku noted that the size of the groups were close to the same size as when Morning Musume got its start. When it was announced, fans all over were shocked, including myself. It was thought that Morning Musume would be forever gone and that it would only be these two new groups. (Fortunately, 15 member Morning Musume released a single soon after, and many more followed).
Morning Musume Sakura Gumi consisted of Natsumi Abe (the leader), Mari Yaguchi (the leader when Natsumi graduated Morning Musume in 2004), Ai Kago, Hitomi Yoshizawa, Ai Takahashi, Asami Konno, Risa Niigaki, and Eri Kamei. This group was cherry blossom themed (sakura means “cherry blossom”) and accordingly they wore a lot of pink. Their singles were low-paced ballads.
Morning Musume Otome Gumi consisted of Kaori Iida (the leader), Rika Ishikawa, Nozomi Tsuji, Makoto Ogawa, Reina Tanaka, Miki Fujimoto, and Sayumi Michishige. Otome somewhat translates to meaning “young girl”, and that made perfect sense, as three of the four newly added 6th generation members were in Otome Gumi. The songs also showed youth – they were fast-paced and exciting, but yet they were not songs that the H!P had encountered before.
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Biyuuden has released a new single on May 10th, after several months of no releases, titled Issai Gassai Anata ni A-GE-RU. This is definitely not your ordinary Biyuuden single: It’s an upbeat, cutesy pop song, not one of their usual mid-tempo mature songs. Will this style work for them? Will they do well on the charts? Will I finally find out what happened to my Aunt Martha?* Let’s see!!
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Sexy Otona Jan
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Elegies
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Puri Puri Pink
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Yes, it’s time for my last (until summer this year!) installment in my Hello! Project Summer Shuffles. Year 2005 brought another big change in the shuffles, mediocre songs, and sexy adults.
The three groups last year were Sexy Otona Jan, Elegies, and Puri Puri Pink. The themes for the groups were basically being sexy, elegant, or pretty. Unlike other years, the whole Hello! Project did not participate. In fact, only 11 members of the H!P participated. Holy fishsticks, right? :o They all released their song on the same joint single CD thing though, on June 22nd.
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*click this to see image noted with members names*
The shuffles for 2004 were different in all ways possible. First of all, as an anniversary of H!P’s 7 years in existence (since when is 7 a big thing?), the WHOLE Hello! Project, even the Hello! Project kids, formed one mega unit called the H.P. All Stars. They released a single together called ALL FOR ONE & ONE FOR ALL! Although the previous shuffles were considered summer shuffles and had singles released in the summer, this was released in December of 2004. (H!P fans like me were wondering where the shuffles were in summer 2004..) Yes, they all worked on it together, which meant they all had to fit on one stage for TV appearances. How they managed to do that, with 46 members at the time, you ask? No idea. But anything is possible with the Hello! Project.
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7AIR
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SALT5
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11WATER
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Ok, I’ve made up my mind. The 2003 shuffle units are my favorite shuffles by faaar. Each and every song + group are awesome, but still with their added specialness. Unlike other years, starting from this year, all 3 shuffles were combined onto one CD single, rather than 3 separate singles to buy. Perhaps this switch was because of a decline of sales and fanbase.
The groups in 2003 were 7AIR, SALT5, and 11WATER. The theme for all of them was the elements, air, salt, and water. Both 7AIR and SALT5 took a more rap/r&b feel, while 11WATER turned the other way and gave us a nice, poppy, upbeat, H!P-like happy song.
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