I’ve been a bad, lazy blogger recently, which has put my concert review on the backburner. I originally watched this concert on April 15th, and I’m just posting this review today, May 1st. -_-; As with my usual concert reviews, I’ve gone over every song – some with more detailed thoughts than others. Also, as per usual, some songs were commented on during my first watch through, while others which I couldn’t quite articulate what I was thinking at the time (seeing as I originally watched this concert until 2 am, and I was dead tired by the end – I just refused to sleep before finishing the concert) were commented on in subsequent watches.

And so without further ado, here is my review of the Hello! Project 2009 Winter Hello! Pro Award ‘09 Concert, AKA Elder Club’s graduation concert. T__T <3

01. Ame no Furanai Hoshi dewa Aisenaidarou? (Morning Musume, Berryz Koubou, C-ute and Mano Erina -> All)
At the start of this performance, I started getting all upset… “WTF?! It’s the EC grad concert!! GIVE ME MY EC!!!!!” and then, we get to the second verse, and Wonderful Hearts parts like the Red Sea to make way for Elder Club, and I was like “THAT’S RIGHT!!!! YOU BEST BE MOVING!!!” And I was sitting there laughing at myself on how into the concert I was with the first song. Also, Aya getting the solo line along with Nacchi for the Elder Club’s verse was awesome and put me into a great mood for this first song.

I have to say that I was absolutely surprised to see that at the end of this first song, Maimi was already brought to tears, as was Yuko. I wonder how many of the other girls were that moved by just the opening song.

02. Manopiano (Mano Erina)
In the past few months, I have quickly become obsessed with Angela Aki (thank you MorningBerryz! ) and I have since bought 2 of her albums and her 2 concerts on blu-ray… After watching loads of Angela playing piano and singing, I just cannot get into Manoeri and her piano bit. I’ve talked with a few people about this on wotachat, but Manoeri looks so awkward playing the piano. It also doesn’t help that I’m not too into Mano’s voice either.

3. Minna no Tamago (Shugo Chara Egg)
I haven’t really gotten into Shugo Chara Egg, but I have recently gotten back into watching Shugo Chara, and thus I’ve been hearing this song at the start of every episode for the span of 13 episodes. It’s so catchy, I can’t help but sing along every time. I do love Yuuka – she definitely caught my interest being in High-King, and I love Kanon Fukuda (the green girl, aka Amulet Clover). The girls put on a great performance.

4. Come Together (Ongaku Gatas)
I have both Rika and Hitomi in my top 10 for H!P, but I never got into Ongaku Gatas. It was a nice performance though, and I do love Rika, Hitomi and Asami! <3 4th and 5th generations are my favourite Morning Musume generations. ^_^ I like Satoda Mai enough... I can't say much for the rest of the Gatas girls though... I don't know anything about them.

5. Kenchana ~Daijoubu~ (Maeda Yuuki)
I’ve never really listened to Maeda Yuuki through my years as a Hello! Project fan, but I will not deny that she has a lovely voice. The song is very pretty, but the style just isn’t my cup of tea.

06. Uwaki na Honey Pie (Satoda Mai with Korenaga Miki, Noto Arisa, Sengoku Minami and Sawada Yuri)
Lookie! It’s Mai again. You know, I don’t get why they couldn’t put Miki and Konno in with Mai for this performance. I mean, this was the time of Country Musume ni Fujimoto Miki to Konno Asami. However, it was still a nice performance by Mai. This song has funny dance, but I’ve always enjoyed its quirkyness.

07. Kuyashi Namida Porori (Nakazawa Yuko)
Like Maeda Yuuki, I haven’t really followed Yuuko’s career. However, I DO know this song of hers. XD I’ve always loved Yuuko’s character within Hello! Project, and it funny how her character is completely unlike the kind of songs that she sings. But that’s okay Yuuko’s awesome, and she has a beautiful voice as well.

08. Happy☆Happy Sunday (Tskishima Kirari feat. Kusumi Koharu with Frances and Aiko)
…. SAVE ME!! Well, unlike in the Wonderful Heart concert, where there was debate over where Koharu was lip syncing or not, there’s no question that Koha was definitely lip syncing here. You know, it’s sad that I can’t take Koharu’s voice ’cause she has some really catchy songs. Also, Frances and Aiko are cute…. And tiny. XD The taller girl (sorry, I don’t know which one is which) definitely has the “keep your eyes wide open 8D” bit down.

09. This is Unmei (Melon Kinenbi)
I don’t quite know what my favourite Melon Kinenbi song is, for I haven’t listened to enough of their music. However, I have a top 3 that I could not put in order for the life of me. This is Unmei is one of those three. This is such an awesome song, and the girls had a lot of energy. Just as in the Elder Club winter concert, Megumi’s pant/shorts combination really weirds me out. XD

10. Forever Love (C-ute)
It seems there were quite a few people who weren’t too impressed with this release of C-ute’s, but I absolutely love it. The beat is awesome, the girls look amazing (I love these outfits – ties are one of my weaknesses, along with hats) and Maimi and Airi are two of my favourite C-ute members, so I have no problem with them being front and centre. XD Airi and Maimi were totally solid here.

11. Dakishimete Dakishimete (Berryz Koubou)
Ties in the last song, Miya in a fedora in this one… <3 I love this single of Berryz Koubou, and I actually have a review that it pretty much all written up for this song but I haven't posted yet because I haven't taken any screencaps yet. I have to say that in both the Wonderful Hearts winter concert and this one, Risako has sounded quite good... Particularly in comparison to how she sounded in Berryz's fall concert.

12. Tanpopo (Kaori Iida, Yaguchi Mari, Ishikawa Rika, Konno Asami, Niigaki Risa and Shibata Ayumi)
AWW!!!!! Mari and Kaori walking onto the stage with tears in their eyes!!! T__T I teared up, myself, but no tears actually fell.. However…. YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO CUT THIS SONG SHORT!!!!! That was so upsetting!!!! Also, I would have been a lot happier having just Mari, Kaori and Rika for this song. 3rd gen Tanpopo was just blah in my opinion, and they only released one song. They had nothing to do with the awesomeness of Tanpopo (both the song and the group). Buuuh.

13. Baby Koi ni Knockout (Yasuda Kei, Yoshizawa Hitomi and Ogawa Makoto)
I used to be obsessed with this song. I knew the dance through most of it (I won’t remember most of it any more). I actually sang and danced to it before music class in high school. My teacher walked in and gave me the most surprised looked as she saw me dancing. Let’s just say I was one of the quiet ones in class. XD

Anyway, good performance by the girls, and while Makoto never released a single with Pucchi Moni, I actually really liked “Wow Wow Wow” which was on one of the Pucchi Best albums, I think. Thus, I have come to accept her within Pucchi Moni more readily than I have accepted 3rd generation Tanpopo as a “true” part of Tanpopo even though they released “Be Happy Koi no Yajirobee”.

14. Chocolate Damashii (Matsuura Aya)
LOL.. Aya looks like a cat of some sort with her print outfit and the fluffy tail. XD Aya was still injured at this time, right? It’s too bad that she wasn’t at full strength for Elder Club’s final concert. However, she rocked out as she always does with a wonderfully solid performance. I love the flow and melody of this song. Aya is just too awesome for words.

15. Yeah Meccha Holiday (Matsuura Aya)
Again, so sad that Aya couldn’t run around and dance full out for this song. It was awesome watching the crowd dance along with her. You can see the wota in the background so clearly, and you could totally feed off their energy even just watching the DVD.

16. Egao ni Namida ~THANK YOU! MY DEAR FRIENDS~ (Matsuura Aya with Melon Kinenbi, Ongaku Gatas Eggs, Berryz Koubou, C-ute, Mitsui Aika, JunJun, LinLin, Mano Erina, Miyoshi Erika, Okada Yui, Hello! Project Eggs)
Three Aya songs in a row… She definitely was one of H!P’s best and brightest (well, in my opinion, THE best and brightest). I wonder if anyone else will have most of H!P as their background singers and dancers in this concert (*makes a mental note to pay attention when Nacchi does her solo stuff*). For some reason, I don’t think anyone else will have quite the same spotlight shone on them… This really goes to show the success Aya had as H!P’s best selling soloist. I’m so glad that I’ve been able to follow along with her career since as early as LOVE Namidairo. <3

Aya’s so awesome, she gets half of Hello! Project as her backup singers/dancers. <3

17. Hare Ame Nochi Suki (Morning Musume Sakura Gumi – Minus Kago Ai)
OMG!!!! MY FAVOURITE MORNING MUSUME SONG EVAR!!! <3333333
Only Kago's missing, but whatcha gonna do? Also, I know this isn't a full Morning Musume song, but this beats all Morning Musume songs for me... Please refer to my Momusu singles ranking posts (up until Mikan, I think). Hitomi was a little bit out of breath for this song... But OMG Sakura Gumi reunion!! <3 I love these outfits (though, why are they wearing the Sakura Mankai, and seriously this song is just soooo beautiful. I was about to go ballistic for there not being enough Risa in this song (I know she didn't sing much in it originally, but with Kago lines being distributed around, I was waiting for Risa to get her turn), but then she got the last 3 "Suki"s, which made me happy. ^_^

18. Ai no Sono ~Touch My Heart~ (Morning Musume Otome Gumi)
Otome Gumi reunion! I definitely like Sakura Gumi a lot more than Otome Gumi, but that’s because I’m a ballad freak. XD I love this song by Otome Gumi as well. It’s nice to see the full original ensemble back together here. No extra line distribution required for this song. It’s songs like these two that are what I was waiting for with this concert… I know I could go back and watch old concerts from when these groups first came out, but it’s different seeing how they are now, 5? years later… And oh, so nostalgic… <3

19. co.no.mi.chi (Buono!)
I love Buono! to death… But hearing the intro to this after Sakura and Otome Gumi was kind of a let down… I was so getting into the old school stuff.. I mean, come on, Ayaya followed by my favourite Morning Musume song, and just a general blast from the past… And it also didn’t help that the girls were a little bit off key in this song… How sad. Momoko sounded really weak in her solo line for the last bridge. I don’t know. I think it’s not good for me to be commenting on Buono! right after the performances that I just saw… -_-;

20. Debut! Koisuru Kado ni wa Fuku Kitaru (Ice-cream Musume)
LOL.. So, I don’t listen to Ice Cream Musume… And when they started singing in Japanese, i was so shocked. I went straight into wotachat and asked Mars and Juju about it, and got some funny internet looks from them. XD Whoops. My bad.

21. Hitoshirezu Mune wo Kanaderu Yoru no Aki (Puripuri Pink)
Poor Atsuko standing out in her purple coat, standing in the middle of 1st and 2nd gen Momusu members. XD This was my least favourite 2005 shuffle group, but it’s a very pretty song.

22. Magic of Love (Inaba Atsuko and Maeda Yuki)
I don’t listen to these two very much, seeing as neither have been all that active in H!P, but I can’t deny that they both have beautiful voices. At least Atsuko has a matching outfit buddy in this song.

23. Screen (Abe Natsumi)
I never really followed Nacchi’s solo career, but after seeing her perform this song here and at the Elder Club concert, I’m really liking this song. … Wow, only 1 Nacchi solo song… Even being the sweetheart of Morning Musume doesn’t give her more than 1 solo song at the Elder Club graduation… But then again, she’s going to be performing in other subgroup things (ex. Sakura Gumi, and Morning Musume OG later), so I guess it evens out.

MC.
Tsuji looks so different. Did she get a nose job? Her face just looks so different. I noticed this a little while ago from photos on her blog…

23. Suki na Sempai (Morning Musume’s 5th Generation)
5th gen!!! My 2nd favourite generation!! It was so sad when they performed this at Konkon and Mako-chan’s grad concert … And it’s their graduation concert AGAIN… Poor Aichan and Risa. XD At leaswt the girls aren’t ready to bawl their eyes out in this performance. It’s definitely got a happier feelt than the last time they performed this together… And, uh, are they trying to take us back to when the gokkies first joined by putting Risa’s hair like that? <3

I was originally thinking of just putting a photo here to show off Risa’s flashback hair, but after finding this video, I couldn’t help but stick it in this review. It’s a great mix of the 3 defining moments of Morning Musume’s 5th generation (which just happens to be my 2nd favourite Momusu generation). The girls were so cute, and such newbs back in 2002. In 2006, well it’s hard to tell how much they’ve improved ’cause they’re so overcome with emotion as they’re singing. And we don’t get to hear much singing from the 2009 concert here, but it’s amazing to see how much the girls have grown from when they first joined Morning Musume 7.5 years ago.

25. Romantic Ukare Mode (Fujimoto Miki with Hello! Project Eggs)
As I said in my top 10 H!P ranking, I never followed Miki’s solo career, but I definitely know this song and I do love Miki’s voice.

26. Kacchoii ze! JAPAN (Biyuuden with Berryz Koubou, C-ute and Hello! Project Eggs)
Okay, Erika’s opening yell was kind of weak compared to Rika and Yui’s. Dude… like every outfit Yui’s worn this concer has been eye popping… O_O Yui also looked a little unstable standing on one leg. This is a fun song, but not one of my favourite Biyuuden songs.

27. Naichau Kamo (Morning Musume)
This is the first Morning Musume song that I have absolutely loved since Kanashimi Twilight. That’s a long Morning Musume drought for me. I’ve listen to every one of their singles in between, but none of them have stood out to me…

28. Resonant Blue (Morning Musume)
… Well, at least they didn’t turn this into a full H!P song like they did in the Wonderful Hearts winter concert. I thought this song as the opening for the Wonderful Heart concert was absolutely HORRIBLE. I do love how Risa gets so into the dance for this song…

29. Namida no Iro (C-ute)
So, the girls wearing the cover outfits for Edo kind of threw me off… Also, I found that after the intro dance bit, they energy really went down during their walk around the stage. There was absolutely no energy being given off by the girls. I love this song to death, but this particular performance of it didn’t do anything for me.

30. Madayade (Berryz Koubou)
… Why? T__T There isn’t enough Miya in this song for my liking. The girls definiely had more energy than C-ute did at least… And Miya’s line was lovely. <3 (Yes, I'm biased and going to comment on the wonderfulness of Miya in her one line in this song. XD) Also, Miya running past the camera near the end of the song and flashing the peace sign was so cute. ^_^

31. Morning Coffee (Morning Musume 1st Generation Members)
The Woo goes and Yuko looks overcome with emotion already. XD And the camera stays away from her right after that… XD I love these old school Morning songs. The utilization of harmonizing makes me so happy. They need more live harmonies in H!P songs.

31. Koko ni Iruzee (Morning Musume up to 5th Generation Members)
And here comes Morning Musume up to 5th gen. ^_^ <3 This is seriously making my day.. (my birthday just ended, but it's still the 15th in other time zones, so that's okay... Lovely birthday present from H!P XD) Nothing beats the original members singing their own song.. Yuko definitely had to do a lot of running for this number. XD Wasn't that why she graduated from Morning? She couldn't keep up with the young ones, right? XD

33. Love Machine (Morning Musume and OG Morning Musume -> All)
Okay… fine, bring out the rest of Morning Musume. I would have gladly continued on with a few more OG songs. So, Aichan got Maki’s solo line with Nacchi and Mair. Awesome. Lol, I looked down for a minute to type, and when I looked up, Miya was on screen. <3

34. Michi Naru Mirai he (All)
I don’t know this song… XD But I like the energy of it, and the distribution of lines. I like the generations singing their lines together. It was a short moment, but seeing 4th gen singing together (*cough*minusKago*cough*) gave me a lovely warm feeling… Too bad there wasn’t a 4th gen song equivalent to the gokkies’ “Suki na Sempai”.

The Graduation
I thought I would cry at some point during this concert, but I didn’t… I think the fact that the girls weren’t individually saying goodbye to the graduating members made it less emotional for me. I know that previous Morning Musume graduation concerts have brought tears to my eyes… Maimi was really close to breaking down while reading her letter, while Captain was surprisingly strong through her speech (meaning she didn’t waver much). She had a bit too much mascara, though, and it was so sad to watch that lone tear streak down her face at the end of her speech. Aichan… Poor girl. I was amazed she held it together the whole way though. Her voice definitely cracked – I mean, her and Risa have been around the longest from what is left of Hello! Project. She’s been with these girls for 7.5 years. However, considering how she’s broken down at previous graduations, I think her holding it together here gives us a glance at how she’ll keep herself together as she moves forward to lead Hello! Project.

35. ALL FOR ONE & ONE FOR ALL! (All)
This is such a happy song that you can’t help but smile as you watch them perform it… Even knowing this is the last time you’ll see the Elder Club as members of Hello! Project.

I’ve always loved how this song goes by groups as they joined Hello! Project. The flow is as it was in the original PV up until we hit the former H!P Kids. In this performance, Berryz Koubou and C-ute switch order, for back when H!P All Stars came out, C-ute wasn’t C-ute yet, and the H!P Kids (who were made up of the future members of C-ute) were formed before Berryz Koubou. But now, the H!P Kids are no more, and Berryz came before C-ute… XD Isn’t that all so confusing? Then, the last group that comes out has increased by quite a few members. Yui and Erika (Biyuuden) have added on Koharu, Aika, Junjun, Linlin, and Mano Erina. It’s kind of sad that the none of the eggs who’ve been featured, ex. Shugo Chara Egg, or even the Ongaku Gatas Eggs, were special enough to get something in this song.

As for the solo lines, Hitomi got Kago’s line and Aichan got Maki’s line. From the first time I heard this song, I had wanted Aichan to have a solo line in it, and I’m so happy that she did in this performance. Though, watching it, I find it’s really lop-sided on the solo line distribution, seeing as Ayaya is the only person to get a solo line who was never in Morning Musume. Favourtism much? XD

And that ends my Elder Club graduation concert review… Could it have been any longer? XD Well, I’m sure it could have, for I’m quite an accomplished rambler. However, to sum it all up, I thought this was a lovely send off for the girls who have given so many years of their lives to giving us, the fans, some wonderful and memorable moments. I could have done with a full length version of Tanpopo, and it’s too bad that Mini Moni didn’t have a reunion here (though there are only half of the original group was here). But, the song selection was fabulous overall, and it really brought me back to the good old days.

These girls who graduated have been a part of my life for about 7.5 years, and it’s sad to see them go. I look forward to seeing them progress in the entertainment world, if that is the path they choose (I’m particularly waiting to see/hear more of Aya), and if they decide to drop off the celebrity radar and go back to a normal life, I wish them the best of luck in all that they do! *Hugs Elder Club*