[5/11] Morning Musume。'16 61st single (Utakata Saturday Night! / The Vision / Tokyo to iu Katasumi) [Kanon's last]

[CaptainBerryzGiraffe]

It was A3, Celedam, when I wrote that I did an eye comparison of the sizes and it seemed that big.. but it's definitely not. ^^" It's whatever the ratio of A4 to A3 is.

[CaptainBerryzGiraffe]

https://youtu.be/K2MVR45WO5E?t=21m1s
From Upcoming #20:
Utakata Saturday Night Ayumi and Maachan recordings.

Maachan destroys this. She's definitely a new ace!

[Amped]

Utakata Saturday Night! recording (Ishida Ayumi ver.)


Utakata Saturday Night! recording (Sato Masaki ver.)


Utakata Saturday Night! recording (Kudo Haruka ver.)

[Kravius Pila]

Maachan destroys this. She's definitely a new ace!

Not necessarily an ace, but she has definitely the best vocal level in MM'16.

[fwapacha]

honestly, ayumi surprised me most of the three. i know that her singing had improved significantly, but as i haven't really watched any of her recent birthday events, i didn't realize how consistent she can be in certain settings.

it's clear they are having some hesitation in assigning a new "ace," and it makes me wonder why they are not pushing her. mizuki, ayumi, masaski, haruka, and sakura have been consistently utilized at the front of the singles, and i think that it can be argued that ayumi, masaki, and haruka have the most prominent characters* of that bunch. thinning the heard further, ayumi has the most pronounced dance skills. boom, boom, and boom.

it'd be interesting to see which direction the group would take if she could gain a little more control of her vocals during lives.

*to the general public

[Sarah Palin]

Yea, I think it definitely comes down to their live performances. I have to admit that Ayumi sounded better than normal in that video, but she's downright terrible singing live. It usually comes out shaky and weak. Even with Masaki, her voice is all over the place in a live setting. She ends up growling, yelling or whining her lines and rarely sound like the recording.

Sakura and Mizuki on the other hand are amazingly consistent and stable and closely match the way the sound in studio recordings - and therefore, better suited to have more lines than Ayumi. I actually really enjoy the way MM is set up now with the 2 leads/2 sub-leads similar to Ai, Reina, Gaki, Eri. It feels so much more cohesive and vocally pleasant than one girl dominating all the lines.

[Chibs]

Maachan puts her ever evolving flavor to the singing. I'm all for Maachan to be ace.

[Amped]

sorry, but an ace is the complete package : singing, dancing, stage presence. dancing is not Maa-chan's strength. *she appears a bit lazy at times*. Sometimes Maa-chan walks away from cameras at times. Shes got to do better than that to be an ace. She cannot carry the group on her shoulders.

people throwing the word "ace" around

[Amped]

Morning Musume. '16's 61st single is now certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of Japan. This is their 12th consecutive Gold Disc in a row. 12 Gold singles (50th single ~ 61st single, 100k+ sales each, Wakuteka Take a Chance is an exception). Fukumura Mizuki's Fourth Gold as leader.
http://www.riaj.or.jp/f/data/cert/gd.html#read-list-1

[forgetmenots]

^^People said similar things about Riho in the past (singing being her non-strength) Ace has been stage presence for me more than anything else, it's drawing the attention of people whether they're your fans or not when you're performing, it's having that 'it' factor. It's being able to carry most of the concert by yourself vocally and visually.

Maachan however, dance-wise has been improving. She's been given center or almost center-dance positions a few times already, and she tends to have some of the best improv moments when it comes to movement on stage. If management wishes to go that way as well in the future there's also a chance they might change how big MM's dance focus is, that focus mainly came about because of wanting to utilize Riho and later Ayumi anyway.

That being said, it's hard for us to see ANYONE as an ace right now, because we've known these girls too long while they were in the group with Riho. They will always seem sub-par compared to her when it comes to ace potential cause we can only see them like we saw them when she was around.

Maachan is the closest to being able to fill those shoes and though her personality may lead people to believe she can't cut it, I've always felt it would be the opposite. She's the type to take constructive criticism very seriously and work hard until she is the best at what she's supposed to be doing. If Management came to her and told her she was going to be given this new responsibility, she'd run with it I think. She might burn out and it may cause her to graduate sooner than she planned to, but she'd fill that role and be the best she could.