Kue Chans Journey of Discovery - 1/2 of the Go's

I've now decided that it may be easier for me to group members in to two or three. The set up for the rest of the momusu articles will be: Ai takahashi with Risa Nigaki, Makoto Ogawa with Asami Konno, Miki Fujimoto with Sayumi Michishige, Eri Kamei with Reina Tanaka, and then Koharu Kusumi with the new Mitsui Aika.

Lets hope i can keep to it!

AI TAKAHASHI or ai-chan

We all know Ai for her fantastic voice and reasonable acting skills. Tsunku is constantly putting her in the spotlight of concerts and other H!P activities (that is apart from the recent 10th anniversary group "Morning Musume Tanjo 10-nen Kinentai" - a mystery?).

In 2001 along with Risa, Makoto and Asami, Ai became a member of Morning Musume. This generation, although less publicised, released some of the most loved songs by fans in Momusu's history with songs like koko ni iruzee and Shabondama. This generation leveled MM up to 16 members until Kei Yasuda graduated a short while after leaving them with 15. With so many buzzing personalities you were always guarenteed for a great performance when seeing this group.

Ai's career really sky-rocketed in 2003 when she replaced Mari Yaguchi in Mini Moni one of the most popular MM sub-groups. Unfortunatly it wasn't quite as great a group as it had been with Mari but maintained its popularity amoung fans for a while until Mika Todd of Coconuts Musume left to persue music studies in America. The group is still on Hiatus.

She was placed in Sakura Gumi along with such members as Ai kago and Abe Natsumi and in 2004 she recorded a duet with tsunku himself. But, it was in 2005 with the release of The Manpower! that Ai really got a main part in Momusu. She took the co-lead vocals and was from here on destined for a great career with plenty of attension.

Reasonably recently (2006 ^-^) she found her way into the main part of the Musical Ribbon no Kishi, based on the Manga by Tezuka Osamu. Tsunku then decided to make H!P a part of the production giving Morning Musume and V-u-den all parts with Aya Matsuura, Tsuji Nozomi and Abe Natsumi all taking guest appearances. This Stage show was highly advertised and has now been subbed for your pleasure (the gaijins out there!) and can be found on both veoh.com and youtube.com. You can also download it from Hello-online.org.

Following Hitomi Yoshizawa's graduation Ai will take the position of deputy leader in Miki Fujimoto.




RISA NIIGAKI or gaki-san

Risa's quirky personality and subtle looks give her an advantage over the other momusu members (or atleast i think so), she seems more geniune and you tend never to get angry at her - although she doesnt have the same high density fan base as some of the other girls (no idea why!).

Risa actually has a great voice which has only recently been publicly shown off when Tsunku placed her in the new Morning Musume Tanjo 10-nen Kinentai.

Risa was also placed in a sub-group, Tanpopo (which unfortunatly couldn't stand in H!P for much longer after she joined) and along with Ai could be found in Sakura Gumi.

She has had several Photobooks (1 group and 2 solos) and participated in Ribbon no Kishi as a minor part.

Like the other members she has been seen on many television shows and heard on plenty of radio shows as well as having her own segments but it seems as if her movements have been small, BUT have all been noticable ones.

I have no prediction for her future only to hope she will always remain as great as she is and hope that as the years go on Tsunku provides her with more and more opportunities to shine!

My videos for this article:
Bokura My Asia by Morning Musume Tanjo 10-nen Kinentai

Risa's Best of Japan Interview
http://www.veoh.com/videos/e130261ESGJ3Q2Y?searchId=2658440730896645130&rank=6

Ai Takahashi Doing Osaka Koi No Uta live
http://www.veoh.com/videos/e1412823rAyXYmQ?searchId=1739425005352921856&rank=3

Ai Takahashi - Yume Kara Samete