To lead into this snippet, you must first watch this clip from the Okajo Dumbest Member test to refresh your memory on our loveable subleader’s wonderful geography skills:

With that, here’s a bit of background on this episode of Hello! Morning. The theme is “Morning Musume vs. Hello! Morning”. For this part of the episode, Tanaka Reina was chosen as Momusu’s team captain. The girls are trying to get points in order to qualify for prizes. Each round, a category is given and the number of people that Reina has to choose for that category. She can choose any of the girls from the group, but each girls has to answer the question/complete the challenge for that category in order to receive points.

For this clip, the category is Geography: 4 people… Who does Reina choose?

This clip is just full of so much win. First, the look of shock on the other members sitting around Risa when her name is called… Then Kei’s look of utter dread when the camera angle switches to her and Reina… Then Risa’s panic at knowing she’ll never get the right answer. Then her relief at not being the one to screw it up for the team… And then Mari’s interpretation of Gaki’s feeling through it all. You can’t really blame Reina, as she wasn’t part of Momusu during the Bakajo test. I guess she didn’t catch the special on tv… XD This clip is just pure awesome. Who wouldn’t enjoy this clip? XD

I didn’t really have an “appropriate” photo for this post, but I guess any 10-nin Momusu photo should work, right? ^_^

If you don’t know the premise, and didn’t feel like clicking on that link above, here’s the general gist of it:

[These are] old [clips], I’m not even quite sure what year. Morning Musume had this segment called “Musix Fight!” where two members would go up against each other trying to create a sound on a musical instrument. I’m also not exactly sure where this aired, but this little series of clips was gold.

Basically, these are all the clips of these Musix Fights that I have, so I’ll get right into it and share them with you guys! Hope you enjoy.

Yasuda Kei vs. Natsumi Abe – Ushibue
[See post to watch Flash video]Though this isn’t one of the more interesting battles, I love how the sound just cuts off for Kei. Props to Nacchi for figuring it out, though.

Yoshizawa Hitomi vs. Iida Kaori – Bass Clarinet
[See post to watch Flash video]Hitomi’s shifty eyes after her failure are so amusing, but I have to give props to Kaori for getting sound out of the clarient. The air obviously wasn’t concentrated enough when she started, but I’m impressed she figured it out in one breath.

Iida Kaori vs. Ishikawa Rika – Didgeridoo
[See post to watch Flash video]Totally random instrument name. I like it! Kaori definitely seems to be on a roll with getting these instruments to make a sound.

Iida Kaori vs. Nakazawa Yuko – Flute
[See post to watch Flash video]The flute is a very finicky instrument when it comes to getting a sound out of it, and Yuko getting that light sound out of the flute on her first try was pretty impressive. Kaori seems to do better with the “blow hard and you’ll eventually get some sound out of it” (… don’t be preverted people! XD) instruments, and the flute definitely isn’t one of those.

Goto Maki vs. Natsumi Abe – Bawu
[See post to watch Flash video]Nacchi’s look of total confusion was absolutely adorable and she was able to get a tiny sound out of the instrument. However, the sound the Maki got from it was completely not what I was expecting. XD

Tsuji Nozomi vs. Goto Maki – Tuba
[See post to watch Flash video]I love how Maki struggles with the instrument. She looks like she’s having the hardest time just holding the tuba up.

Yoshizawai Hitomi vs. Goto Maki – (French) Horn
[See post to watch Flash video]I love watching Maki trying to figure out how to hold the horn. While not quite as amusing as the tuba, it’s cute that she’s trying to figure out the “proper” way to hold the instrument. Yossy was so close to getting a sound out of the horn… You could feel the sound soooo ready to come out. Did everyone notice the referee? Seriously, how did he get so confused on who won? That always makes me laugh.

And of course, there’s Memorable Snippets: Part 4, which has Rika vs. Kago Ai, if you haven’t watched it yet. That one’s adorable because of then 12-year-old Aibon’s little giggle. I don’t have one with Mari for some reason, which means I don’t have all the Musix! Fights because I’ve seen a clip (not full) of Mari vs. Nacchi on the sousaphone (click here).

Watching through these, can you pick a favourite battle? Or at least a favourite moment out of these battles? For me, I’d probably lean toward Kago’s giggle, or the old guy getting confused on naming the winner. XD Hope you enjoyed these clips!

I chose this clip because I had a subbed file and it’s hilarious. In addition, you have most of H!P from that time there. The people missing from this special are members who aren’t graduating and the majority if people Taka and Nakai spoke with are graduating.

The MIA list: Suzuki Airi, Okai Chisato, Hagiwara Mai, Murakami Megumi, Tokunaga Chinami – all C-ute and Berryz Koubou members, who probably had school commitments. Keep in mind this was pre-Kanna, seeing as C-ute hadn’t formed yet. *EDIT: seems I missed that Kago was also not there… XD whoops*

The interviewees: Yasuda Kei, Biyuuden (though really mainly Ishikawa Rika), Nochiura Natsumi, Takahashi Ai, Ogawa Makoto (with a smidge of Yaguchi Mari), Nakajima Saki, Kei (again), Fujimoto Miki and finally Saito Hitomi. That’s a pretty rounded out list, if you ask me. Only two interviewees are not part of Elder Club. And so, without further ado, here’s the snippet (though actually, it’s not quite a snippet, seeing as this interview + performance is ~18 minutes long. But it’s too enjoyable to cut down).

Right from the opening bit with Kei dancing, you already see great interaction between the hosts and all of H!P, particularly the current and former members of Morning Musume as Taka makes fun of Kei’s dancing. I know this isn’t about the Kids, but Miya and Maiha look so cute in the background as Kei dances.

I love how Taka refers to the H!P Kids as “Kids”, rather than their names. Also, when they stop of Biyuuden… “Who are you?” This is Erika and Yui’s first visit to Utaban, and they seem overwhelmed with the all of the funny. It’s so cute. And Rika’s funny little story is absolute win! Reina looks so amused with Rika, as does Maimi in the background.

This whole interview is just full of laughs as Taka and Nakai try and pit Nacchi, Ayaya and Gocchin against each other – I mean, even all their blood types are different. XD I don’t think I should go through the whole thing, since you can all watch it… Actually, I’d be interested to hear what everyone’s favourite parts are within this interview. Though, it realize it would be hard to pick one part… ‘Cause I don’t think that I can.

I feel like this clip really brings to light the awesomeness that Elder Club was (or is, seeing as they don’t officially graduate from H!P until March 31st). It lets people who weren’t H!P fans from back in the day to see what H!P members outside of the current Momusu, Berryz Koubou and C-ute line ups were/are like and the great dynamic that existed between these energetic girls!

You know, I actually just got around to checking out Hello! Online’s article on Elder Club’s graduation, and looking through those photos really gave me this warm feeling inside, particularly the photos of the flowers that Maki sent over and the photo of Mari and Kei with 1st gen member Ishiguro Aya. I didn’t get into H!P until just around the time 5th gen joined, so I wasn’t around when Aya was still part of Morning Musume, but Love Machine was one of the first Morning Musume PV’s I saw, and ever since my brother pointed out her “Nice body body body”, she’s always held a special (albeit small) place in my Morning Musume fandom.

Maki’s congratulatory flowers.

1st gen Momusu member Ishiguro Aya hanging out with 2nd gen’s Mari and Kei

If just these photos made me feel all warm and fuzzy, I can only imagine how I’ll get when I finally watch this concert. I can’t wait, but it will be such a bittersweet thing to watch as well. My thought is that the concert should be released on March 31, the day that Elder Club officially graduates. I don’t know if a release date has been scheduled yet, but it seems like that would be the most fitting day to set it to.

This has turned into the longest Memorable Snippets article yet, but I think the girls, some of whom have put nearly 12 years into Hello! Project deserve a warm and appreciative send off! I wish them all the best of luck as they move out of the comfort zone of H!P and I just want to thank them for all these years of wonderful moments and memories! <3

To celebrate the new year, I thought I’d post the 2004 Hello! Morning New Years skit. I actually hadn’t watched this one in quite some time, and I’m glad I did. The laughs are non-stop in this skit, what with the Yuko sake and age jokes, Mako-chan’s rich lady laugh (I LOVE that laugh… I often mimic is, much to the annoyance of my brother XD), and of course, the Ganko family! (Hey! I just realized that 4th gen makes up that family. XD How did I not realize that before? o_O)

Here’s part 1:

And part 2:

LOL! Gotta love the Nique and Andes. XD Oh, Hello! Morning how I miss you. <3

And to close this post off (sorry it's a bit rushed, I have to get to a family new years party, and I'm front-loading this post), here are the new years greetings and wishes of the girls from 2004! (This is where Aya and Maki come in to play from the title. ^_^)

I’ve mentioned before that I got into H!P just around when 5th gen joined, but the first things I watched were a lot of 4th gen things, since 5th gen videos weren’t available in high quantities. When I first got into H!P, Rika and Kago Ai were my favourites – I’ve already mentioned how I loved 2nd gen Tanpopo in a previous snippet. But what caught my attention in regards to Rika, other than her being so pretty, was watching a Country Musume ni Ishikawa Rika appearance on Utaban promoting the single Hajimete no Happy Birthday, and I found out there that Rika had an insane fear of chickens. XD And the Utaban hosts torture Rika with a … baby chick. XD

I wanted to share that clip here, because that was what bolstered my Rika love… Unfortunately, I can’t find it anywhere!! I know I had it at one point. Either my brother and I lost the CD we saved it on, we didn’t actually ever back it up… Or we threw out the CD we saved it on (yes, this was so far back that I backed up my H!P media on CDs… -_-;).

Anyway, I found another clip of Rika, chickens and Utaban. In my mind, it’s not quite as epic as the first Rika vs. Chickens clip that I saw, but it’s awesome in it’s own right. Basically, the Country girls are making ice cream… And eggs are required. Guess who gets to go hunting… XD

Rika is so adorable!! And hilarious! XD … And I just have to say, that as cruel as that entire thing was, I can’t get enough of it… It’s kinda like the balloon game, I guess. Classic H!P on Utaban is classic! <3 There’s not much more to say after that. XD

PS. Sorry for the lack of photo… XD I was actually surprised to find there was no Country Musume ni Ishikawa Rika photos on the H!O picboard, and google image search results were pretty useless… T__T

However, I did not realize that they played this game again… And the clip I’m sharing here is from the second time they played it.

This episode of Utaban aired on Dec 26, 2002, and the subs are by xMorfis, or that’s what’s within sqaure brackets in the file name, so I’ll assume that’s who subbed it.

Anyway, here’s the clip before I get into my love of this snippet.

I seriously cannot stop from laughing when I watch this, and since downloading it I’ve watched it over ten times. Basically, the has a topic, and each person needs to add to the list, after saying what those before them have said, in order.

I just love Aibon’s answers and the fear you hear in her voice and see on her face… And I simply could not stop cracking up at her 4 kanji idiom. And the sidenote of “Please enjoy Kago’s world for a while” simply killed me… And it showed up twice. XD

As for Gaki-san having a special mention, I just love her reaction in the first few seconds of the clip when Taka-san turns her air on for a second, and her facial expression when her balloon finally pops. XD

This game was so fun to watch, and it makes me miss the days of Morning Musume on Utaban. You know, those girls were continuously tortured on that show… It always amazed me that they kept returning for more torture. XD Masochists….

This interview is obviously from around the time when ‘Souda! We’re Alive’ was released. I don’t have the exact date of this appearance, but it’s a highly amusing interview of Morning Musume with Westlife on PopJam.

Everything about this is awesome! I love Yossy’s hilarious English skills, the classic “Kago-chan desu! Tsuji-chan desu!” (and the guys calling themselves “-chan” is hilarious too XD)… And you just have to wonder what they guys were thinking as they did Mari’s Sexy Beam!!! … Watching this again, I see that Kei is on Nacchi’s team, and we know Kei’s pretty good at English. And upon closer inspection, I see KonKon was also helping Nacchi out… Poor Hitomi. XD

I never listened to Westlife myself, but they’re pretty good sports. XD

I also can’t help but LOL at the awkwardness of the hug that the Westlife guy and Kaori share… XD Don’t they know that you don’t hug people you’ve just met in Japan… o_O

I actually don’t have any idea where I downloaded this performance from. I just saw it sitting on my desktop, and since Aichan and Risa’s TV drama on Pink Lady aired (it’s first episode? Is this going to be multiple episodes..? I’m not sure..) recently, I though this collaboration would be appropriate to post. I don’t know which television program this is, but I’m loving the live band.

So, I’m giving this memorable snippet to Mari because the problems her shortness cause with the mic just amuse me to no end. Just watch at around the 1:21 mark. Even after her mic is lowered, it still looks like she’s straining her neck to sing into it. XD

Seeing as it was Yurina’s birthday yesterday (HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY YURINA!! ), it makes me wonder if she resents a girl 10 years younger being over a foot taller than her… XD Mari’s listed as 4′9″ on theppn while Yurina’s down as 5′10″. If anything, Mari hasn’t grown, and Yurina just turned 15… She’s still got time to add a few more inches. XD

Anyway, here’s the clip. Enjoy!

On that note, I was browsing through the H!O torrents today and I noticed an Utaban clip from 2000 with Tanpopo. That got me curious so I checked it out, and all of a sudden, a wondeful memory came to me as I recalled this amazing interview and performance.

Here, 2nd generation Tanpopo makes their first appearance on Utaban and it’s quite a memorable one.

A really quick bit of background for those who haven’t seen the entire interview. Nakai and Taka have new special effects that they are torturing the girls with. The girls then have to perform the latest single “Otome Pasta ni Kandou” with all the special effects that were showcased during the interview. XD Hilarity ensues…

No matter how much time has passed, and no matter how many times I watch this performance, it never fails to amuse me. I could watch it mutliple times in a row, and each time I will be laughing so hard… It just never gets old for me.

Seeing this clip on H!O totally made my day, and I hope that for those of you who have never seen this clip (and those of you who have) enjoyed it as well. I love it during the intro, after the first two explosions that the girls flinch, expecting something else to be incoming. XD This is just all sorts of win, you really just need to watch it. <3

Oh, and to explain that topless guy on the scary chair... Just before introducin the song, Kaori had been on the chair as well. There's no real logic behind the chair. It was just there to freak the girls out...

And at the end, they do the proper version of the song, with special effects kept to a minimum. If you really want to watch that version (the special effects version is way cooler), here you go! The very end of this clip is adorable!

For those of you who want to see the entire interview, you the torent is here at the Hello!Online tracker.

This is a clip from the making of Sukeban Deka. It’s subbed, so it’s quite fun to follow along with. The bit I’m showing here is covers the girls and their yo-yo-ing abilities. Aya’s part is quite amusing. She’s quite the enthusiastic yo-yo-ist (what DO you call a yo-yo person? ‘-ist’ sounded better that yo-yo-er).

Rika’s bit, on the other hand, is a little more impressive. She worked with a yo-yo 2 hours a day for 3 months to prepare for this. It’s very apparent that she worked hard to improve upon her yo-yo skills.

I love this movie… Aya and Rika are so far from their normal personalities that it makes this movie a really enjoyable watch for me. What’s enjoyable about the making of is that you get to see how the girls struggled with their roles, particularly in keeping to their characters during filming. It’s not shown here, but both Rika and Aya had quite a few giggle moments as they constantly had to act pissed off at one another.

Really, this clip is here for Aya’s yo-yo mishap, but I figured it would be nice to show what Rika can do with a yo-yo as well. Hope you guys enjoyed this one!