[1/23] Morning Musume's 52nd Single "Help me!!"

[Echidna]

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The second half is really nice! The beginning is a bit more boring, but I get that they wrre using it to build to the exciting end bits~

it's really awesome and I absolutely love it!
one big minus: not enough Zukki

[RpgN]

Seing this PV, it jus reminds me and makes me sad that Reina is going to leave MM soon. She was pretty much perfect here, and probably the best one. But they were all very good for the most part. Mizuki did well, Masaki's solo parts really surprised me. She actually managed to look all serious and cool this time. Riho, Ishida, Sayumi and Kudo are always in top form. Haruna looked gorgeous, probably my favourite look of her.

I'm only a bit disappointed in Sakura and Erina. Sakura didn't have a lot of different shots and she lacked emotion in certain shots, they were mostly similar. She obviously needs more time to get used to this, but she held her own pretty well. I expected more from Erina, usually she's pretty good with her shots. They didn't show much of Kanon, wich made her look a bit worse.

[randompasserby]

The second half is really nice! The beginning is a bit more boring, but I get that they were using it to build to the exciting end bits~

My thoughts exactly. It's a lot closer to the first previews we got from Satoyama instead of the latter CMs that has those cool flickering close ups during Sakura's solo part. All in all it's a pretty good pv for h!P/MM standard and pretty much what I had expected since the dance shot and the previews come out. Nothing outstanding but by no means a cheap or unwatchable one

[danzarely]

There is something about this lineup... that lacks the MoMusu sparkle...

There is no Miki, no Nacchi, no Maki, no Mari - once Reina is gone...honestly the girls vocally are all throw aways. At least Konno, Mako, Risa, Koha, they all made GREAT characters and entertainment... these girls are just... girls? ya know?

Mizuki can hold a note, but she isn't anything amazing. She vocally is with Mako I think. Presence and personality wise? She's...bland
Riho's voice is no Maki. Kanon and Erina are throw aways - Kanon at least makes up with personality. Out of 10th gen Haruka can actually sing, Ayumi is stunning but vocally has no real talent, Haruna is beautiful but again, vocally lacking. Masaki I think is the little bit of sparkle potential these girls have now.

Sayu is sayu. We all know.

Sakura I think has MASSIVE potential - but one 13 year old girl does not an idol group make. Unless that girl is Maki lol

I dunno... Yay berryz?

[danzarely]

The reason why Riho sounds so good in the Riho/Sakura song is because she never goes out of her range, which is actually pretty low. So she doesn't sound strained or screechy because she's singing in a comfortable vocal range.

I wish Tsunku would write more songs in Riho's range if he's going to insist on using her as the main singer

THIS.
Everything about this.

[Rm88]

It's okay that there's no Miki, Nacchi, Mari and especially no Maki in current Morning Musume. Maybe because I've never been a big Morning Musume fan, but the group feels fresh and interesting for me at the moment. The girls are actually pretty likeable, but I'll agree about the singing being weak right now.

[resop2]

There is something about this lineup... that lacks the MoMusu sparkle...

There is no Miki, no Nacchi, no Maki, no Mari - once Reina is gone...honestly the girls vocally are all throw aways.

Morning Musume is an idol group. If they are substandard in something you're supposed to root for them to get better.
(And, considering that six of them are in Junior High, they have time to get better.)

I dunno... Yay berryz?

Or, switch affiliation.

[wotakubrandon]

I'm put in the mind of Zanarkand during those more exciting bits.

[randompasserby]

There is something about this lineup... that lacks the MoMusu sparkle...

There is no Miki, no Nacchi, no Maki, no Mari - once Reina is gone...honestly the girls vocally are all throw aways. At least Konno, Mako, Risa, Koha, they all made GREAT characters and entertainment... these girls are just... girls? ya know?

Mizuki can hold a note, but she isn't anything amazing. She vocally is with Mako I think. Presence and personality wise? She's...bland
. Kanon and Erina are throw aways - Kanon at least makes up with personality.

I disagree with everything above . Presence/personality wise, imho this is the best lineup MM has had in years. Zukki is ... ah well that's been discussed back and forth so much so I'll just leave it at that but I can say with conviction that all the other girls each have their own distinctive charm and personalities, personal preferences aside. I like to think people are starting to take notice of that too over in their home country, their agency surely does at least. Notice the increase of promotional work they're entrusted with now?
Times like these makes me really wish we had more regular shows to showcase those though. All we have right now are scatterings of short backstage clips, radio shows, magazine interviews, dvd magazines, their blogs, and the occasional variety invite ... which is all good for me but sadly it's easy to understand how that's not nearly persuasive enough to convince some people of the charms and great character these girls have.

As for vocal and singing abilities, no one will deny that there are some past members/lineups that was better at it than current gens (Miki and Aichan set high standards to follow). I do give the current gens some credit at least for the fact that somehow I loved their last two singles and album the most since Nanchatte Renai back in 2009, despite the absence of a vocal powerhouse and being relatively new/inexperienced.

Their momentum since 123 hasn't seemed to slow down at all, and while I'm usually not one to get all excited on the sales number and rankings. just this time I'll take my chances and dare to hope a little bit that this single will do even better than 123 and be their first oricon #1st in a while. What can I say... just the general air of optimism surrounding MM right now is infectious lol

[Starra]

I like it.

I feel like it needed more flashy lights, though .