Koha, Risa & Sayu on Star Digio Radio Nov 15 2009

STAR Digio Presents Morning Musume Aki no Monthly Special ~Watashitachi no Deban ga Yattekita! - Gaki, Sayumi, Koharu 11/15/09

(thanks, nayok)

Intros
Risa (Gaki): This is Morning Musume's "Got my finger caught in the dresser drawer" Niigaki Risa and . . .
Sayumi (Sayu): . . Yes, this is Morning Musume's "OK, I'm cute today, too" Michishige Sayumi and . . .
Koharu (KK): Morning Musume's "Yoroshiku Chuusu!" Kusumi Koharu!

A First for this Trio
After Gaki reads off the schedule by which the other sets of three Musumes will be broadcast on the radio series, KK asks whether this current group are the leftovers. Gaki notes that it’s rare to have this trio together and Sayu believes it may be the first time, noting that Gaki and Sayu are rarely together, though Gaki and KK have been paired frequently.

9nin Human Relationships
Gaki explains that as often done in magazines and on TV, this segment will have the girls characterize interpersonal relationships between pairs of people. She asks the girls to speak their minds since the other 6 are not there. Gaki asks Koharu to go first, but KK strongly objects and says she’d rather be last or at least be second. KK pleads not be first, but finally you can hear their manager tell her to go first.

Koharu’s MM Connection Characterizations
KK: Um first, whom I respect: Aichan, because she’s the oldest.
Gaki: I see.
KK: Then, Michishige-san and Jun Jun’s connection is that if there’s trouble between them, they won’t defer.
Gaki & Sayu: Ohhh. [Gaki agrees]
KK: After that Kamei & Mittsi somehow overlap. The reason is that they both have short hair.
Sayu: Huh? Their appearance?! . . . .Do your job properly.
KK: I am doing it properly!
Gaki: The 9 of us have been together for over 2 years and all you can mention is their similarity in appearance? Now give us your innermost thoughts! Your innermost thoughts!
Sayu: Really!!
Gaki: All right, what else?
KK: There’s nothing else.
Sayu: EHHH! FOR REAL?!!
KK: I wanted to hear what everyone else had to say first.
Gaki complains that KK has said nothing about Gaki though she’s sitting right there. [laughter from all]

KK: Respect! I respect you!
Sayu: You don’t have that written down!
Gaki: You could have written that you respected two of us. It’s not written down. [Gaki must be peering over at KK’s notes.] I can’t see it. It’s blank, isn’t it? . . . Eh? So is that it? Nothing with Tanakachi? Or even Lin Lin?
KK: Um, Tanaka-san? She’s my partner for talking about going out to get a foot massage.
Gaki: Then please go ahead and go.
KK: Since last year we’ve been talking about going.
Gaki: Then why haven’t you gone since last year?
Sayu: Does this mean you’re not really friends?
KK: We’re always saying “Let’s go for a foot massage, let’s go for a foot massage.”
Sayu: Then take me along too.
Gaki observes that wouldn’t be much conversation there, adding that that kind of talk is for old ladies. Gaki concludes by noting KK’s responses weren’t very entertaining.

Gaki’s MM Connection Characterizations
Gaki and Ai’s view of Reina: A junior who must be handled carefully. [laughter] Gaki explains that if KK or Sayu, for example, needed to have a problem pointed out to them, they would just come out and say it straight. With Reina, however, they have to be tactful in making constructive comments.
Gaki: . . . but in Tanakacchi’s case instead of saying “That’s wrong!” it’s “Um, Tanaka-chan, I believe it’s this way . . .” So it’s a junior you have to handle carefully.
Sayu: [mimicking Reina] “You’re wrong!” [in Hakata dialect].
KK: Oooh. Quick, tell us more.
Gaki: You! You were supposed to think of some.
Mittsi & LL & JJ: Kind of rivals. When JJ or LL do something cute, Mittsi seems to get jealous.
Sayu: [imitating Mittsi’s deep voice:] “What about Aika, Aika?”
Reina & Mittsi: Teacher-Student relationship.
Sayu: [mimicking Mittsi] “Tanaka-san!”
Gaki: [mimicking Mittsi] “I’m right with you!”
Gaki & Kamei: She’s Gaki’s junior but is the same age and seen as a peer with whom she can speak freely.
Kamei & Sayu: Friends who are always together.

Gaki: Then, um, I don’t want to say it here, even though I’ve written it down. The relationship between Niigaki Risa and Kusumi Koharu: I like her a lot.
Sayu: How nice!!! How nice!!!
KK: That’s it! That’s it! Doron! Doron! [the sound of sneaking out]
Gaki: Don’t sneak off. Actually, though she’s definitely a terror, somehow it’s good that Koharu is this way, surprisingly. So I like her a lot.
KK: Thank you.
Gaki: I really didn’t want to say this in front of you.
KK: I won’t fall asleep anymore [referring to a time she fell asleep watching rehearsal videos]
Sayu & JJ: Overlap. Sayu is admired by JJ. KK says that JJ denies that she’s imitating Sayu, who points out that JJ has gotten the same bag, clothing, and copied other things about her.

Sayu commends Gaki on revealing her innermost thoughts and asks KK to do the same next time. KK says next time she will proceed like this but Gaki points out there isn’t a next time.

Sayumi’s MM Connection Characterizations
Both Aichan & LL and KK & LL have the same connections: Laugh “tsubo” – In the presence of Lin Lin, Koharu reveals a smile that Sayu has never seen when KK’s with anyone else. KK agrees she finds LL really funny.
Reina & Kamei: Sayu believes that Reina finds Kamei has a natural cuteness and would have her as a boyfriend if Eri were a male.
Sayu & Reina: Work really well and easily together. She says that they’re the only ones in H!P of their age.
Sayu & Kamei: Best friends.
Sayu & JJ: Adored and imitated by JJ.
Sayu & LL: Lin Lin finds Sayu cute, including her singing. “Michishige-san, you singing is really cute!”
Gaki: Huh? [uncomprehending, then insight] Oh, not that she finds your voice good but that your voice is cute.

Sayu: KK & Sayu: She treats me like a fool.
Gaki: That’s a good one!
KK protests vociferously.
Gaki: She’s your senior, now. Don’t treat her like a fool.
KK: I don’t!! I don’t treat her like a fool!!!!
Sayu believes KK doesn’t think of her as a senior as she won’t always do things she asks of her.
KK: That’s true of everyone—not just Michishige-san.
Sayu says that on the current tour KK sings a duet with Gaki every show. At the end of rehearsals Sayu suddenly heard KK yell into her microphone “Ta dahh!” and hold a wad of chewing gum near the mic [KK chuckles]. KK doing something unacceptable like that in front of her leads Sayu to think that KK doesn’t regard her as a senior. KK says that not true—she just wanted to show her “Sukiyaki” (the name of song she and Gaki duet on).
Gaki: Really, don’t blow bubblegum during a rehearsal.
Sayu: What if you had slipped?
KK: I was taking a gamble. [laughter all around]
Gaki: Gamble!? What are you gambling?
Sayu: Lastly, Gaki & Koha: Their hearts are close.
Gaki: Ohh.
Sayu: Just as Gaki said about actually liking Koharu, somehow the two are able to speak most freely in front of each other.
KK: Look look look! Are you going somewhere? [laughter all around]
Gaki: I’m not going anywhere.
Sayu: Morning Musume is pretty serious [about their work]. When an instructor or Tsunku makes a criticism they’ll quickly get disappointed and say “I’m no good” and get dejected. But Koharu will say “That’s OK! Things will work out!” like our talent will emerge. That’s why while Gaki-san is trying to get everyone get serious and do their best, because Koharu with good intentions and positive thinking . . .
KK: Huh? But I do take it very seriously.
Sayu: I know you take it seriously, but I mean you have this well-intentioned genkiness that I believe helps Gaki-san.
Gaki and Koha are impressed by this insight on their relationship.
Gaki: Isn’t this awesome?
KK: Amazing, amazing.
Gaki says that feeling is definitely there and explains that when the Morning Musume 10th Anniversary unit—with Abe Natsumi-san, Iida Kaori-san, Goto Maki, Gaki, and Koharu—Natsu sensei was the choreographer. In preparing the dances for the concert, things were becoming really tense, but in the midst of it Koharu was innocently acting lightheartedly and the atmosphere she created was a help, definitely.

KK: But it was fun, wasn’t it?
Gaki: Ho ho ho. It was fun.
Gaki asks the girls for their thoughts on this segment.
KK: It was fun to hear everyone talk about this.
Sayu: But I really wanted to hear Koharu’s thoughts!!
KK: Ehhh?

Kimagure Dance and PV
KK notes that the choreography was similar instead of varied for everyone. KK found it embarrassing to do the solo dance. Gaki thought that KK’s dancing seems slightly fast during the group shots but is perfect on the solo shots for some reason and that KK looked cool in the solo segment. Sayu noted that they had to sing the song was an operatic voice, so the atmosphere during the recording was different. KK says that though the song was serious, she sang it in sort of a campy way.

Listener Letters
Some of the listeners sent in responses to some word game questions like “If Tsunku decided to assign the Musumes with middle names, what might some of them be?” Responses from listeners for KK: Kusumi “Insolent” Koharu. Kusumi “Raku” Koharu. [a pun on miRaku] KK had made up some of her own: “Dandy” Koharu. Koharu “Kakeru” Koharu [not clear of which meaning of this term is meant—perhaps “flying”?] Sayu says it sounds like a PB title, while Gaki observes that KK only thinks about her own name.

New Impersonation
Gaki asks the girls what they thought of the program today. Both KK and Sayu thought it was a lot of fun. Gaki asks KK to deliver the keyword (necessary for listeners to enter a drawing for a signed poster prize) with her first performance of a great new impersonation. It turns out that she’s doing an impersonation of talento Britney and as she announces that the keyword is “Kimapuri” she plays on it and gets carried away for a bit. Everyone is cracking up and Sayu remarks that KK’s expression looks like the real thing.

Return Appearance?
Gaki reads the schedule for the next set of these radio shows and notes that the other girls will appear twice in this series but the three of them appear only once.
Sayu: Why!? That’s mean. I mean, Gaki-san and I may be able to come back and do the program later but this is Koharu’s last chance.
KK: That’s right.
Gaki: Well, even after Koharu graduates, the three of us can come back here and do the show if invited.

Genki Graduation
Gaki asks Koharu to say a few words to everyone about her graduation.
Sayu: Look at the huge smile.
Gaki: A super smile.
KK: Um . . . for my graduation . . . I’d like to have a graduation different from prior ones.
Gaki: Like how?
KK: Like brightly! “BYE BYE!” “SEE YA LATER!” With everyone smiling.
Sayu: With a smile you want to yell “YAY YAY” and graduate, right?
KK: Right, right! I want everyone to jump up and yell “Yay! Yay!”
Gaki: It doesn’t feel like it will be a sentimental graduation.
Sayu: It doesn’t.
Gaki: You’re like this now but at the actual graduation you’ll be [teary voice] “Really. . . thank you for everything. . .” [Sayu cracks up]
KK: No, no, no! I’m going out genki.
Sayu: You’ll put your helmet on and ride away on your bike. “Bye Bye! I’m headed back to my hometown!” [a reference to the first time MM ever saw KK in 2005, which was via a VTR clip that included a shot of 12-year old Koharu riding her bike to school].
Gaki wishes for a cheery graduation before wrapping up.

Komments

• This trio was indeed a rare combination, which had actually sort of “appeared” during the latest Music Fighter episode. It was very nice to hear KK interacting with the two members with whom she’s had a complex and interesting relationship. More importantly, they were able to exorcise some concerns that fans have had about that relationship.
  

  

• The segment with the interpersonal connections had reminded me of Koharu’s hilarious description of a “family tree” (e.g., Aichan as Stepmom, Reina as Stepsister, etc.) during her solo appearance on the Ameba radio broadcast to promote “Nanchatte Renai.” Consequently, it was a little surprising that she, of all members, didn’t go all out in characterizing the other MM relationships. That she wanted to go last suggests she would have had ideas but was tentative about how serious to get about it—perhaps she thought some of her descriptions (e.g., Risa as her Father) might have been taken the wrong way?—until after hearing from the other two first.
  

  

• We’ve known from their radio appearances together that Gaki/Koha had this Tsukkomi/Boke relationship going on like the GakiKame one, so it’s not surprising that they have this sisterly bond. With Sayu, the status of their relationship wasn’t so clear: Initially, the two almost seemed to have this Mother/Daughter connection, but after KiraRevo started up they rarely appeared together outside of Rainbow Pink (though as Sayu pointed out, Gaki and Sayu were never paired up much either); based on Sayu’s radio programs, we know that KK would often talk to Sayu but we didn’t get to hear much about their relationship until very recently. Listening to the two recently on the Ameba Graduation special, Music Fighter, and now this program makes me wish that we could have heard a lot more discussions.
• Now that I’ve heard Koharu’s “Britney” impersonation, I’m going to have to actually watch London Hearts to find out whether this woman actually speaks Japanese with a Brooklyn accent.