BIJP exclusive: Lost concert of Winter 2006, Part 1

Well, here it is. After two years of searching, a flawless DVD of Hello! Project’s Winter 2006 Wonderful Hearts concert has been obtained by BJIP and readers of this blog will be the beneficiares.

 

Yes, grainy low-def clips of this fabled concert proliferate on the various YouTube and Veoh sites – but this might be one of the first opportunities in the US to gain not only sharper screencaps, but deeper insights into why this DVD was offered only to Hello! Project club members in Japan and never sold anywhere else in that country or overseas. This is one concert that just cries out for a DVD re-release, perhaps as part of a box set that would include the finale at Yokohama Arena that year.  

 

That arena version of this concert was never produced as a DVD. “Production problems” were cited, but speculation has always swirled that the Friday magazine smoking scandal surrounding Ai Kago, or Aibon, was the reason why Tsunku and UFA pulled the plug. However, upon first look at this sensational DVD of the Wonderful Hearts theater show of that year, other factors were likely involved to help explain why Tsunku and UFA chose to keep this DVD off the open market and lose millions of yen in the process. It was Aibon's last hurrah. The DVD would have sold thousands and thousands of copies globally. As a business decision, it sucked.

 

Aibon ended up being suspended right after this concert for smoking, and the drama dragged on for more than a year before she and Hello! Project parted aways for good in 2007. Speculation of a comeback has percolated since – even to the point where Aibon  is scheduled to make “personal appearances” during the current summer H!P concert season. Hmm.

 

But other reasons might well have been in play. Indications are that January-February 2006 was the closest that Hello! Project has ever come to a complete meltdown. To wit:

 

*** Megumi’s position with °C-ute had already started to deteriorate. Kanna (Megumi's ultimate replacement) was introduced to °C-ute at this concert. You could cut the tension with a knife. Kanna, though in the opening number with the rest of the Hello! Project Eggs, did not participate in the °C-ute group numbers. In the meantime, Megumi was mesmerizing, easily the star of this concert and of the H!P summer extravaganza at the Yoyogi Hippodrome before crashing and burning in a boyfriend scandal in the fall of 2006.

 

***

 

ララバイ
憧れの　相思相愛
あの頃が　夢みたい

 

RARABAI
akogare no  soushisouai
ano koro ga  yume mitai

 

Lullaby
The mutual love I admired
Those days seem like a dream

 

– From “Love You So Much I’m Like a Fool,” translation courtesy Projecthello.com (this was °C-ute’s opening line in the Hello! Project Winter 2006 Wonderful Hearts theatrical concert, January 2006).

 

*** °C-ute’s first major concert debut (they did participate in summer 2005’s “Selection Collection” but strictly in a support role) was, in a word, breathtaking – starting with “Suki Sugite Baka Mitai,” (“Love You So Much I’m Like a Fool”), a stunning selection for such a young ensemble. Hagiwara, still only 9, stole the show, especially during an MC break spot with co-°C-ute member Chisato. Spectators were slack-jawed at just how talented °C-ute was, even at this early stage, and the ensemble has grown even longer performing teeth since. Kusumi had also just broken into Morning Musume from the anime side. These new acts were encroaching upon territory of the more established names in H!P. Friction was inevitable.

 

***

 

泣いてないわ
バカみたい　バカみたい
触らないでよ

naitenai wa

BAKA mitai  BAKA mitai

sawaranaida yo

 

I'm not crying
I'm like a fool, like a fool
Don't touch me

 

– From “Love You So Much I’m Like a Fool,” translation courtesy Projecthello.com (these were among Berryz Kobo's opening lines in the Hello! Project Winter 2006 Wonderful Hearts theatrical concert, January 2006).

*** Berryz Kobo had already climbed the ladder of stardom the previous year by touring with “W” (made up of Aibon and Nono), and hit another grand slam in this concert. It was curious, though, that they were the second group out to °C-ute in the electrifying opening sequence of “Love You So Much I’m Like a Fool,” a DEF DIVA single that was briefly rated No. 1 on the Oricon charts in 2005.

 

*** Though the concert was exceptional in its performance by all the Hello! Project units, both lighting and videography just flat-ass sucked. And if the videographers couldn’t get it right in the theatrical show, how could they expect to succeed in Yokohama Arena? They obviously didn’t, lending credence to the idea that Tsunku’s primary motivation behind quashing that DVD completely – and barring this DVD from overseas distribution – was not Aibon’s smoking problem, but a lousy DVD shoot. Since this concert, every H!P concert DVD has been superb.

 

Even though Morning Musume, V-u-den and the Eggs were profoundly entertaining, °C-ute and Berryz upstaged them all. V-u-den, then at their zenith but now graduated, were simply dull in comparison to the explosive junior units. There will be more to tell later on this subject. But in the end nothing could stop the rampaging Aibon and Megumi, the runaway individual stars of this extraordinary concert. A few months later, both would be gone for good. That's probably why most fans, and probably Tsunku himself, draw so many painful memories from this show.

 

In any event, this post presents the opening. Much more analysis of this rare, precious and even sacrosanct DVD will be forthcoming in the days ahead.

 

This is Rad signing off – for now.