°C-ute’s ‘Jump!,’ Part 2: The Chisato Whoop

No. 4, Sept. 10, 2007: 'Wow!" Chisato lets fly the 'Whoop' on the 'Cutie Circuit.'

悲しみなら時間(とき)に消えるから

There’s nothing quite like the moment we are dubbing the “Chisato Whoop.” It’s a prime example of the kind of well-choreographed vocal punches Tsunku sneaks into many of his songs – often doing the punch-voices and background vocals himself. In “Jump,” tiny power-pack known as Chisato does the job for °C-ute near the end of this explosive song.

The Chisato Whoop is comparable to, say, the “Miyabi Wail” on Berryz Kobo’s staggering hit, “Special Generation.” It is a well-placed exclamation point, and “Jump” has a bundle of them: The Chisato Whoop, Saki’s “Oh-yeah!” at the very end, Umeda’s “Twirl” and Hagiwara’s thundering “Last-ah Num-bah!” exhortation at the start of this classic song.

But we digress. On to the “Whoop.” It’s really quite simple. Chisato just shouts out the word “Wow!” and does it quite demonstrably, in the same spot in “Jump” every time. It is Chisato’s trademark moment, her signature blast. It goes right through you, a vocal dagger straight into your inner ear.

On the original CD, which hopefully can be heard on this site, the Chisato Whoop is somewhat downplayed, just a slight “yelp” near the end, just before the final chorus.

Feb. 25, 2007: Chisato, right of Hagiwara, just before unleashing her 'whoop' at the end of 'Jump!'

And in °C-ute’s debut concert in February 2007, the videographer and editor dropped the ball – not even showing Chisato as she belted out the first Whoop. And, again, it didn’t appear to that big a deal, anyway.

No. 3, April 22, 2007: The Chisato Whoop in all its glory is executed, as Susuki, rear, approves.

No. 2, April 22, 2007: The same Whoop as above, captured wide-angle by expert videography.

But, somehow, the video directors at Hello! Project and UFA decided to give the Chisato Whoop a much higher profile in the April 2007 tour. Not only did they show Chisato as she loaded up and finally jump-delivered the Whoop, videographers captured that moment both close-up and at a wide angle. As a courtesy we show them both here.

Moving on to the spectacular Saitama Super Arena concert of July 2007, Chisato was again isolated on camera and delivered one of the best Whoops of the bunch to that point.

No. 3, July 29, 2007: All eyes and ears are on Chisato as she belts out the Whoop at Saitama.

August and September were big for the Chisato Whoop. The “Cutie Circuit” tour saw the Whoop get blasted out in style on Sept. 10 (the ultra-intense image of this titanic rip in the space-time continuum leads off this post), and it was in our view the best Whoop of them all, an epic peal echoing throughout the performance hall. The Whoop also occurred during the Sept. 30 concert at the Yokohama Blitz, but it didn’t quite have the unearthly shriek-effect the Sept. 10 Whoop had.

No. 5, Sept. 30, 2007: The air in the Blitz needs cooling as Chisato whoops it up again.

All in all, Chisato has gotten a lot of mileage out of the Whoop, and she deserves many more moments like that as long as she is with the hit group °C-ute, by far the best singing-dancing troupe of its kind in the world today. All hail to °C-ute and the unforgettable Chisato Whoop.

*** Part 3: The start of “Jump” in all five DVD shows is due in the next installment. In the meantime, this series deals with the following DVD-preserved °C-ute performances of “Jump” last year, and has a voting component for those readers wishing to participate:

*** 1. Feb. 25, 2007, Nenkin Kaikan, Tokyo: “Hatimata yo! Cutie Show,” °C-ute’s inaugural tour. “Jump” was the lede number.

*** 2. April 22, 2007, Nenkin Kaikan, Tokyo: “Golden Hatsu Date,” another °C-ute tour. “Jump” ended it – with a bang.

*** 3.  July 29, 2007, Saitama Super Arena, Saitama: “Hello! Project 2007 Summer” concert, in which “Jump” was convert into a massive, 70-singer extravaganza at the.

*** 4. Sept. 10, 2007, Final stop on °C-ute’s “Cutie Circuit” tour, possibly at the Yokohama Blitz. This is the best “Jump” performance, in my view.

*** 5. Sept. 30, 2007, Yokohama Blitz, part of “Houkago no Essence” tour. “Jump” was a big part.

Voting options: Anyone wanting to cast a vote can best do it by sending an e-mail to radicalpatriot@yahoo.com. In the “subject” line, just write “Jump Vote” followed by the order of preference. Or you can simply write comments on these “Jump” posts, any time during the series.

This is Rad signing off – for now.