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Pleasure Principled
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Art and creation existed before the muses, but they were instrumental in aiding its creation by mankind. Such is the way of Morning Musume. If we treat Tsunku as Zeus and Heike Michiyo as Mnemosyne, the offspring of their shared time would be Morning Musume.
Vee indulges in some striking comparative mythology.
I was more shocked by the fact that men the same age as my own father went to concerts and screamed for tiny little Mai Hagiwara. That put horrible mental images of my dad in a too-tight bright pink t-shirt waving around a fan with Mai’s face on it.
Misa provides some thoughts as a fan who’s actually under the legal age.
I think living in a Western society which has a huge responsibility to protect a child’s innocence has something to do with my resistance of liking junior idols. I see women pose in bikinis for men’s magazines at the bookshop but never will I see Irie Saaya or any other U15 idol on the cover of a men’s magazine because it just simply isn’t right. Imagine conservatives complaining about how they are exploiting the innocence of a young girl just because of her “assets”.
Second Blossoming examines his descent into the world of junior idols, and why he fought it every step of the way.
Much like the H!P girls, Perfume’s members don’t write lyrics or work on composition, simply sing what they are told and perform dance routines for PVs or concerts. But their singing is processed in such a way that any flaws can go unnoticed, and furthermore, they don’t often sing live at their concerts. So instead of reaching the level of authenticity that H!P has, in that their members will get on stage for a concert and perform every song live, both singing and dancing, Perfume just dances and lipsynchs.
pengie explores her longstanding ambivalence to pop idols and how she came to terms with enjoying what they do.
I only knew a handful of anime songs back then, and she gave me another CD with a special song on it that made me listen up: Gackt’s “Mizérable” with its catchy violin and rousing groove, plus those suprisingly falsetto vocals from this guy who looked like a spoiled feminist vampire.
Cliff recounts his own introduction to visual kei while sharing the genre’s complex joys to a friend.
If you take “Taiyou no Namida” by NEWS, and “Naichau Kamo” by Morning Musume, the mood of each song is pretty similar, and so are the PV’s. They both have a dance shot, and they both have two different kind of close ups, and one shot from each PV involves getting wet somehow.
Misa considers how being a JE fan deepens her appreciation of H!P… and vice-versa.
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