Who are the busiest members of Morning Musume?

[Madara]

In watching lots of older H!P concerts and Petit Best DVDs and such, I marvel at how much work the girls did when MM was in its prime. What with solo careers for some and participation in all the shuffle units and special units like Tanpopo, Pucchimoni, and Minimoni, and the use of MM girls in Country Musume at different times, and the weekly appearances on “Hello Morning,” plus other TV shows, these girls don’t seem to ever have had a day off.



Who does that kind of work today? To me, it seems that Koharu is the busiest, given her work with MM, her solo career and her anime voice acting. And I know Ai-chan has acted in dramas, which can be a strenuous side activity. Some of the others have done voice acting in anime as well, but that doesn’t strike me as anywhere near as strenuous as rehearsing and performing whole new choreographed numbers and producing videos in completely separate groups the way the girls did in Minimoni, Pucchimoni and Tanpopo.



So are Koharu and Ai-chan the busiest, or am I missing whole levels of activity on the part of the other girls?



And are the Berryz/C-ute girls busier than MM?

[Ap2000]

JunJun, being a Panda 24/7.

[freezingkiss]

^

^

I would think Koharu was the busiest as well, although thats probably changed now Kirarin is over. I would think Berryz and Cute would be busier then MM because they are more popular these days, what with having Buono and now Guardians 4, they are more likely to have sub-groups as well (yes, I know Mittsi is in G4).



I don't really follow MM so I wouldn't really know who is the busiest, but I definately think they were busier back in the day of Rika pumping out ten million photobooks a year, Hello! Morning, Musicals, H!P and MM concerts, etc.

[kitaoji]

Awesome photo of Junjun. <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... umbsup.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':D' />



Anyway, to answer your question, Madara - I'm not even entirely sure myself. True, Koharu has an entirely different identity as Kirari, but now that that anime's coming to an end I think she might be out of work for some time.



Actually, none of the groups (MM/Berryz/C-ute) do many live performances; it seems to average twice per single (usually Music Fighter and Music Japan, and some others sprinkled in). Certainly there haven't been too many long-time groups, with the exception of Buono, as far as I know.



I usually take a glimpse at the schedule index on the official page to see who's doing what.



You could argue that Sayumi is the busiest, since she has her own hour-long radio program, and then shares 90 minutes with Ai-chan and comedian Akashiya Sanma on their Saturday radio show each week. She's also appeared in a number of variety shows since the year started, sometimes with Mari, once with Miki, and a couple of times on her own.



Given MM's popularity these days, it looks like UFA has been pushing them towards the variety shows for more exposure. Sayu's got both the TV and the radio covered. Reina follows because she's got her regular radio program, but rarely does TV appearances. Risa's got a few appearances here and there, and Eri pops up now and then (but she has her own anime voice acting come April). Eighth gen haven't done anything much as far as I know - I remember Junjun being pulled on some shows with Risa, and the other two are simply invisible. :/



Ai-chan had Q.E.D last year, but other than that and Young Town, I can't really think of any other recent exposure for her.



Probably the most worked members of MM/Berryz/C-ute are probably Buono, really. They've had the H!P concerts in January, the Buono concerts in February, the co-no-michi fan events, and now the Berryz concerts up until May, interspersed with the tour to Hawaii this weekend. The C-ute concerts start in a couple of weeks, I think. Throw in all of their preparation for all of these events, the occasional appearance on Berryz' radio show, and schoolwork (even if it's the absolute minimum), and I'm amazed at how much energy they have to muster for this.

[Shoujo Q]

^ Don't forget Buono's upcoming trip to Sweden. Which sorta seals the whole Buono is the most overworked group in H!P right now. <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... iggrin.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':D' />

[Vikitty]

Maybe I'm far off here, but it seems the busiest members are sometimes not even in MoMusu -- the graduated members. I know Yaguchi has her own TV show, and she's on a lot of variety shows. Same with Yossi. Rika also does a lot of promotional work for various campaigns.



Within MM though, I think it's Sayumi lately. She's been on a TV show lately, she's got 2 radio shows. Koharu was def. busy when she had her anime and that Oha-Star TV show.

[tsukinobyouin]

[quote name='Valerie' post='63064' date='Mar 29 2009, 12:53 PM']Maybe I'm far off here, but it seems the busiest members are sometimes not even in MoMusu -- the graduated members. I know Yaguchi has her own TV show, and she's on a lot of variety shows. Same with Yossi. Rika also does a lot of promotional work for various campaigns.[/quote]



On that same note, Satoda Mai is probably the busiest person in all of H!P, with her crazy variety schedule, her (former) involvement in Elder Club concerts, and her occational music releases. That kind of stuff makes it hard to tell who's really busy in MM, unless you really stalk the Hello! Online tracker (which we all know Madara does not). I think they keep up pretty well with random H!P girl appearances on variety shows, but I'm not sure. There's a lot of little stuff that goes into group promotion that only the most devoted members of (any) fandom bother to upload - mini appearances on news/talk shows, being one of those people sitting in the celebrity audience of a quiz/variety show, etc. When you actually download one of them and watch it, you only end up seeing the member for about a minute total, but they do have to get there, go through hair/make-up, probably some mini-rehearsal or review of what they'll have to talk about, etc. Those kind of appearances can fill up a schedule fast, and they don't always get noted on official schedules or even in the TV guide. That recent US interview with Ai-Risa-LinLin-Manager mentioned that they get about a handfull of days off each year - so I'd imagine despite declining popularity, every girl has something going on most days.

[Vikitty]

Yeah, Maichin! I forgot about her. She had Hexagon pretty much full-time, too.

[Storm121693]

I'd say Takahashi Ai! I don't know but she had a drama to film and she's busy being the awesome leader of Morning Musume! Then they had a tour.

[Special Needs Tricycle]

Thanks for bumping an 8 month old topic to post shit no one cares about.

[EmEl]

[quote name='Stormy' post='72206' date='Nov 26 2009, 02:44 PM']Then they had a tour.[/quote]

It's like a trailer to the worst horror movie ever.



Then

they had a tour

[Special Needs Tricycle]

Reading Stormy's posts is like watching a bad horror movie. <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... /devil.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':dammit:' />