Morning Musume.

The flagship of Hello! Project and Tsunku’s baby. They’re entering their 15th year in the business in 2012 and for that I hope that UFA (the management of Hello! Project) has something special in store for them just like they did for their 10th anniversary when they had their Asia tour etc.

If I was the one in charge of things over at UFA, I would have done a lot of things differently over the years. But let’s say I was given the opportunity to work with someone from today and I got a lot to say, then I would go about things like this.

First off I would definitely keep up with putting the girls in dramas. For the spring season (Apr-Jun) I would try to get Riho put in a drama on a major channel/time slot. She has had training in acting and she’s one of the aces from Morning Musume. She is also a new member and having her in a drama with someone from SMAP/Arashi would be great. The ideal would be to have her in a drama with Kimura Takuya but even I know that would be too much to ask.

Secondly, I would push Haruna for modelling. The girl has done modelling in the past so she clearly has experience and she is absolutely gorgeous. In addition to that, she doesn’t only look like a model but seems to have the values of one too. With her “slim theory” and such, I would say that trying to get her for Seventeen or whatever other girl magazines there are, would be great. Girls would look up to her if she would  be exposed well. They would follow her advice, want to read what she says about diets and make-up as well as watching what outfits she has so they can copy her.

I would push Reina towards a similar field. I would want Reina to get some kind of attachment to 109 or even just with one of the stores in it. As she goes there a lot (which we find out at least once/month from her updates in her blog), to me it has been an obvious move for ages but who knows maybe they’re trying. Making her the model for one of the shops in the store would be a great way to promote her as a fashion icon of sorts. And if needed be, if “Tanaka Reina” isn’t big enough as a name, I would bring in Natsuyaki Miyabi from Berryz Kobo on this as well.

Erina is already being pushed as she’s on the children’s show Oha!Sta a few days/week. It’s very possible that UFA are already thinking/working on this and if they are I’m definitely all for it, but as it is we know nothing about what’s going to happen on there. If I was in charge I would do my damn hardest to find an anime for Erina to be the main voice actress in. I would however find one that has a second lead, or at least a character that’s close to being main without being so and for that I would cast Masaki as the second voice actress. This because she’s inexperienced, but has shown to grow quick. Getting a job like this would add to that growth, and along with her young age (12 years old) she would get many fans among the kids as well. Especially if it would follow the typical pattern that brings big characters to the show every now and then. Masaki wouldn’t become a regular on the show (aka. Oha Girl) but she would get a lot of exposure.

Kanon would get her own radio show. As it is right now only Risa, Sayumi and Riho has radio shows but I would love for Kanon to get one as well. This girl has shown ever since her audition that she has a big personality and isn’t very shy. This comes through easily when you see any footage, but having to show it all just through her voice would be a challenge, I think. One that she would manage of course, but it would probably help her grow a little and teach her when to be calm. Even now just after a year we can see a notable change between Kanon then and now, she definitely isn’t all over the place anymore as she was when she joined. But I think it would be good for her to have to deal with the responsibility that comes with having a solo radio show.

As for Haruka I would try to push her towards TV. As it is, she is way too young to go for the same kind of variety shows that Sayumi are going to, but I would definitely want to push her towards something, what I am not quite sure of just yet though. However I wouldn’t have her go alone, but actually send Kanon with her. Together they would be hilarious in the  sense that Kanon is the more outgoing and hyper of the two and Haruka could definitely take on a indifferent or maybe even annoyed attitude towards it. They would be the typical manzai.

Risa and Sayumi I would continue to push towards stage plays/variety/drama. They do really well with what they do right now so not too much adjustment is needed, especially not in Sayumi’s case. Risa I hope gets more roles in stage plays and dramas from now on as she is the leader and has started off as one really well. Sayumi I hope start getting more drama roles in the next year, to me she comes off as an acceptable actress. The only demand I have is that they give her roles that are different from how her TV-personality, if she only get roles as the cutesy girl she won’t be able to make much of an impression.

As for Aika and Mizuki, I would like for them to grow more as idols. Aika has been an idol since 2007, but even so she still needs to grow a bit more as I would say she’s a late bloomer. I would give both of them, but especially Aika more singing lessons, and have her work more on her expression when singing. I would push for photobooks and DVDs for both of them – maybe somewhat of an essay/photobook for Mizuki, I don’t know why I just think she has that aura. And then I would love for the two of them and Ayumi to go on a bus tour. Aika needs to grow as a performer and bus tours are the perfect weapon for this. Mizuki needs to come out of her shell more, which is also something that is bound to happen when on a bus tour. And for the new member Ayumi, a bus tour would be perfect for her to show off her abilities and to get more fans and more acceptance among fans – even though it seems that she is quite popular.

Of course, outside of all these solo activities, I would love for Morning Musume to do more handshake events much like the ones they did for Mobekimasu. Double A-sides should become a standard for the group and they should start doing what S/mileage does, and do multiple b-sides, even if one is just a cover of an old song with an updated arrangement.

And lastly, I would give it my all to manage to get a second time-slot for a new TV show. An hour would be wanted, but even if just half an hour that would be great, and this would be Morning Musume’s TV show. The girls would still do their things for their current show Hello!Pro Time, but would do more of a variety show for the new time-slot. If it would be like Hello! Morning or not, I don’t know. But it should definitely be more variety-inspired. Have a few guests, possibly, have them do interesting stuff. With Korean music being popular, I would suggest some Korean-inspired day and have them try make-up, do dances, maybe have guests (TENSI LOVE would be great?) and so on.

Aside from these long-time things, I do have a few things I would want to happen in the near future, that really wouldn’t help their popularity nor exposure too much, but I would want for it to happen:
– Morning Musume x S/mileage concert tour
– Niigaki Risa, Michishige Sayumi, Ikuta Erina appearing on Shiawake Eito (Sayumi has appeared on this show once before when it had a different time slot)
– Michishige Sayumi x Tanaka Reina concert @ a Live house
– 10th gen bus tour
– 9th gen gets separate blogs & 10th gen gets one blog for all of them
– Niigaki Risa x Ikuta Erina segment of sorts
– Morning Musume related UStream show

Anyone has Tsunku’s number? 😦 He’s slow at twitter.