The Three Faces Of 久住小春

A couple of weeks ago, Paul from Hello!Blog posted excerpts from an article in the June issue of Kindai magazine.  It featured an interview with the girls of H!P's Milky Way.  I found one particular exchange quite interesting... 

Were you nervous at the time the unit was first formed?
Kitahara: I was, but then Kusumi-san is just so nice...
Kusumi: No, no, no.
Kitahara: Yes, really.
Kikkawa: We have learnt a lot of things from what she's shown to us.

*** 

That was unexpected!  After reading that, I must conclude that Koharu Kusumi is either 1) a consummate professional with a wealth of experience to be "senpai" to up and coming idols, or 2) she is leading poor Yuu and Sayaka down the "primrose path".

Koharu Kusumi

Koha-chan is one of the most interesting "characters" in all of Hello! Project.  There aren't too many idols like her who have the ability to polarize the J-pop audience the way she does.  Most everyone thinks she is either a great personality and performer, or a cruel practical joke by Tsunku.  I recently did a post about Haromoni@ where I spoke about Tanaka Reina and the flawless marketing of her character.  Kago Ai also mentioned this marketing practice by UFA in her first return interview.  If the people at Up Front Works are controling the personal lives of the idols, then it stands to reason they are contriving their performers' public personas as well.  And if one chooses to buy into this theory, and I absolutely do, then you have to believe that Koha-chan's persona is being orchestrated too.  So much of Koharu's antics on stage and television are very much part of her character...

And that girl sure is a "character"!

She shows us that character in every solo PV.  Balalaika and Koi Kana are two of the funniest PV's H!P have ever put out.  She shows us this character on stage.  Who could forget that strange "mating call" she pulled in the middle of Odore! Morning Curry during this Winter's "Wonderful Hearts" concert?  I love her new "What's Up Tiger Lily?" bit on Haromoni@ (egg salad, anyone?).  And obviously she has enough talent to be the starring voice of Kirarin Revolution.  Yes, she's a great character.  But what kind of performer is she?

I recently purchased both of Koharu's full length CD's "Mitsuboshi" and "Kirarin Land"  Each CD gives a very different impression of the kind of "act" Koha-chan is...  

Is she a professional singer?  If this is how you see her you will prefer "Mitsuboshi"

Is she a "novelty act"?  If this is how you see her you will most likely enjoy "Kirarin Land"

Now the answer to the above question is pretty obvious to me.  I see her as an hysterical novelty act, not unlike a cute "Wierd Al" Yankovic.  I'm sure many people will disagree with me on this, but this is the girl who never sings live at the concerts.  So I can't figure it any other way.  That being said, I love "Kirarin Land", and don't like "Mitsuboshi" much at all!

I am not going to do a track by track review of "Mitsuboshi", as it doesn't interest me enough as an album to do so.  My first issue is with the two singles.  I mentioned above that Koi Kana and Balalaika are two very funny PV's.  But it's the videos that make them so good, the songs lose their luster without the visual goofiness.  Don't get me wrong, I still like the songs, just not as much without the PV's.  Aside from that, the one song I really like on the entire CD is "Love da yo Darling", it is the silliest song on it...

Next!!!

Kirarin Land

I really like "Kirarin Land" a lot!  In my opinion, it truly exemplifies what Koharu is all about.  It is full of songs that can best be described as hellaciously funny.  I swear I smile like an idiot while I'm listening to this CD in the car, and I'm sure my fellow commuters are puzzled by my expression coupled with Koharu's musical stylings blaring out of my window!  If you've heard Koharu, you know the first two tracks, Happy☆彡 and Chance!.  Happy is good because it has a great upbeat rock sound to it.  It's funny because the producers obviously abandoned any desire to have her sound on "key" throughout the song.  It is so out of her range!

Olala is funny because Koharu is doing some kind of "sing-song" rap throughout the verse.  It actually sounds pretty cute.  The song is good because it's catchy, and it has a 60's British sound to the chorus.  I could picture Georgie Fame singing over this music!

Himawari is my favorite "straight" song on the CD.  Musically it sounds like it could've been included on Cafe Buono!  And the same can be said for very! berry! Strawberry!

Konnichi Pa can't possibly be classified as anything other than a novelty song!  The producers had to have been laughing their asses off while mixing it.  Koha is at her wackiest, and is so off key...it's great!  And if that isn't enough, midway through the song Koha turns into Regan from The Exorcist!  Now she is also starting to remind me of Crispin "Hellion" Glover and his first album, "Big Problem Does Not Equal the Solution. The Solution = Let It Be"  Which might be the funniest bunch of songs ever to be recorded!

Crispin Glover

This song is crazy/great!  Kudos to the YouTuber who made this Fan Vid for it.  Whatever on your opinion of Koharu, here she is in all of her spastic glory...

Hana wo Pu~n, Mai Mai totally saves this song, she totally outsings Koha (not too difficult) and sounds so cute!  I love the way both of them exclaim "Pu~n" on their respective verses.  A very sweet "standard H!P song", although that weird "runny nose" in the background of the PV gives me the creeps!

Finally, Ramutara has the best of both worlds.  A great sounding song with Koha mostly mumblish gibberish over the music.  Actually the song is not unlike Milky Way's first single "Anataboshi"

When I went to the H!P Saturday matinee I was sitting next to a young mom and her daughter, who was probably 5 or 6 years old.  She stayed pretty quiet throughout the show, but got so excited first when C-ute performed and second when Koharu came out and sang "Chance".  It was adorable.  One of her big demographics is obviously the younger fans.

This entire CD just brings a smile to my face!  It is obvious that it was recorded with a "tongue in cheek" attitude, and I am sure that Koharu was at least somewhat in on the joke.  All of the idols in H!P are a lot smarter than many people give them credit for, and Koha-chan is no exception!  By the way, she's pretty hot too!

Hot Koha

CK in California