Haromoni@...Why I Love That Stupid Show!

AND...Why Tanaka Reina Is A Friggin' Genius!!!

Reina 9

Before I went to Japan, I was a casual watcher of the various Hello! Project television programs.  I've always found the old episodes of Hello Morning to be at best "hit or miss".  Granted, there have been some golden moments in the history of the program.  But I have seen as many weak segments as good ones.  And to be honest, I never found it worth my time to sift through all of the material to find the good stuff.  I have relied on other people like Maize to isolate the classic moments for me to watch.

Since the debut of Haromoni@, the reviews around the blogosphere have been mediocre at best.  I immediately wrote the show off as lame and never bothered to give it a good look.  However, when I was in Japan I happened to accidentally run across the show in my hotel room shortly before the Sunday matinee of H!P Haru Pro Award 2008.  I remember enjoying watching it, but it just may have been the fascination of seeing it on Japanese TV.  In fact, the only segment I remember from that episode was GakiKame "building" the clay bust of....Julius Caesar???  But I enjoyed it enough to resolve to watch the show more regularly when I returned to the U.S.

That resolve, and the hilariously snarky reviews of the program from True Life Seek made me an immediate fan of the show!  And it isn't because the show is all that funny.  In fact, much of the time quite a bit of it is really dumb!  I jumped on the bandwagon just in time for the four month Mou Tube marathon.  But for some strange reason, every Sunday morning I look forward to waking up and downloading the latest episode from Veoh.com.  Like Hello Morning, it is a mix of lame moments and the occasional "golden" moment.  But it's those great bits which come around once in a while that keep me coming back.  And I will also give the producers some credit for their continuous retooling of the show.  It seems as if they at least occasionally listen to feedback.  Here are five virtues of Haromoni@...

Haromoni@

5)  The Outfits ~  I still wonder if the producers of Haromoni@ pay attention to what we are saying in the West, as Broomhead has constantly suggested the girls vary their outfits from week to week.  This makes perfect sense to me as a huge part of their appeal is the cute/sexy factor.  If they aren't being sexy or cute, then why am I watching the show?  Morning Musume is not Second City.  Lo and behold, now they have new outfits every week!  And they feature these outfits at the end of each episode too!  The business suits and cheerleader costumes have been my favorites so far.  And I absolutely love that no matter what they wear, they still have the ears and tails.  Totally Hot!!!

4)  Princess YY ~ Sayumi was my least favorite member when I ranked Momusu on Paul's Hello!Blog.  But Princess YY, coupled with Sayu's sensational MC segment during the Bon Kyu Bomb concert have completely changed my opinion of her.  It's not that her parlor tricks are all that fascinating.  It's that stupid "Y Balance"!!!  It gets me every time.

3) The Jun Jun/Lin Lin Game ~  This segment has always been pretty decent.  That was until their reenactment of Super Mario made it great!  Jun Jun stole the show with that silly expression on her face throughout the bit.  And Gaki, Sayu, and Eri's reactions during the segment were totally hysterical.  To me, an all time classic!!!  Nani? Ting???

2) GakiKame ~  This is the most consistently funny bit on Haromoni@, hands down!  First of all, Risa and Eri are adorable every time.  Second, the music in the background is GREAT!!!  I would love to know what it is.  Every week I hope for a GakiKame segment.  The best ever had to be the one from the march 30th episode, Eri should play for the New York Knicks...

And the number one virtue of Haromoni@...

1) Tanaka=Genius ~  Who is the one who always gets the answer right when the "King" quizzes the girls in the beginning?  Tanaka.  Who is the the one who figured out the Pandas Super Mario bit?  Tanaka.  Who figured out Mittsi's "snail maki"?  Tanaka.  Reina is constantly giving us snippets of her brain power on this show!  I have always felt that she is amazingly smart and is extremely shrewd when it comes to marketing herself.  My observations of this go all the way back to her debut with Morning Musume.

As far as I am aware, Reina is the only person to get into H!P after a second audition.  And it is widely known that one of her big motivations was a desire to meet Izaki Hisato of FLAME.  Like Ogori Shun, her reasons for getting into show business in the first place were pretty cool, like she wasn't primarily interested in even being an idol.  Although when you watch the old 6th generation auditions with the "mean" trainer.  It is obvious that she was the most naturally talented of the three Rokkies.

Then there was their first appearance on Utaban.  What struck me was the vanity of Eri and Sayu and the "apparent" lack of vanity from Reina.  "Did you become cute?"  Now I'm sure Reina has always known that she is cute.  But she acted so sweet and unassuming during that entire episode and completely separated herself from the other two.

Next is the Mechaike Okajo Sports Special.  Okamura Takashi of "Ninety-Nine" is the funniest comedian to cross the path of Morning Musume.  His humor could be described as "dry", not dissimilar to a Japanese Dennis Miller.  If you watch the special, Reina is one of the few who consistently laughed at Takashi's jokes.  And she seemed to be the only one who understood his "bit" about Devi Sukarno, Kobuhei, and Beat Kiyoshi.  I love Reina's "laugh-clap".

Sometime around 2005, Reina seemed to alter her image to ultra lolita-sexy.  It was around the time of "Chokkan 2".  Her clothes became mega-stylish, and she began "seducing" the camera every chance she got.  This is the image that she has consistently portrayed to this day.  It is also evident in every sensational photobook she has released.  One of my favorite things Reina has done is her AloHello! DVD.  There is something about the way she speaks and carries herself that is very cool.  Just watch the scene where she is picking out prizes for the buyers of the DVD.  

Now while it seems that some have seen this as a betrayal to her original "Yankii" image, fanboys (like myself) have just lapped up every moment.  I personally don't get the "backlash" to her current image, and believe her detractors are absolutely crazy!  Make no mistake, Reina is no less "Yankii" than the first day she debuted with the group.  She is merely marketing herself perfectly to her biggest fans.

So if you have a problem with all of the winking/pouting/posing for the camera, don't worry...

She isn't winking at YOU!

CK in California