Winter 2006, Part 2: The real ‘Battle Concert’

独りの日も良いんだよ
ありがたさに気付くさ
「仲間」と言う

 

hitori no hi mo ii-n da yo
arigatasa ni kizuku sa
"nakama" to iu

 

Days by yourself are OK too

You'll realize your gratefulness

towards your "comrades"

 

– From “Friendship: I Won’t Become Ugly on the Inside,” a.k.a. "U Can Do!," translation courtesy Projecthello.com. This is Sayu’s solo part performed in both Wonderfvul Hearts Winter 2006 and Hello! Project Winter Awards Show, January 2008.

 ***

Berryz Kobo and °C-ute might have had their “Battle Concert” between themselves in April 2008, but the real battle took place on Jan. 4, 2006, when those junior units destroyed old-liners V-u-den, Morning Musume and even “W” in a concert Tsunku tried to keep the world from watching.

 

Yes, the forbidden DVD, the Hello! Project Winter 2006 Wonderful Hearts tour, is revealing its secrets – a copy having found its way across the Pacific from the Land of the Rising Sun to Central California, where its viewing has revealed some shock waves of change that slam-dunked the all-female music company 30 months ago. To recap, this DVD never made it out of Hello! Project club members’ hands, it is not listed anywhere for sale, it was blocked from global distribution. Now it’s becoming evident why.

 

All this manifests itself in a single song, “Friendship: I Won’t Become Ugly on the Inside,” known more simply by fans as "U Can Do!" It was originally done by Morning Musume Otomegumi when Tsunku split up Morning Musume into a pair of seven-member units for a time in 2003 (now where did he ever get that idea?). What a hellacious song, the opening lines of which °C-ute and Berryz Kobo tore asunder in 2006 – but in which Morning Musume actually exited the stage, leaving V-u-den and “W” to fend for themselves against the amped-up °°C-ute and Berryz Kobo septets.

 

It was a mismatch.

 

Since that song and concert, consider the aftermath: Aibon’s smoking scandal and tortuous year-long tug-of-war with the company, Konno and Mako graduating from Morning Musume that summer, Megumi getting booted from °C-ute, Yossie graduating from Morning Musume, Miki Fujimoto getting the ax because of a boyfriend scandal, Goto Maki ditching H!P for Avex, new group Buono! getting started, and other new units sprouting up all over the place: High King, Milky Way, you name it. And Tsunku is increasingly occupied with his TNX units, THE Possible, Canary Club and more.

 

Whew.

 

 

The song “U Can Do!" is Sayu’s claim to fame, having won an H!P award in January for that solo on which she keeps drifting sharp every time, it seems, she tries it. She screwed it up in the otherwise fabulous Morning Musume “Best of Japan” tour DVD in 2004, was again pitchy in the “lost concert” of Winter 2006 – but she got it right in January 2008 when, finally, she just lip-synched the track.

 

But in the 2008 version – of which I had the privilege of witnessing first-hand during its three perfs on Jan. 26-27 at Yokohama Arena – Morning Musume  at least stuck around to keep °C-ute and Berryz honest. In the 2006 version, Morning Musume slipped out because they had sung and stomped three straight numbers and were due a breather and costume change.

 

In any event, that song is a killer every time it’s done, its motto “U Can Do!” ringing out throughout every venue in which it is performed. It was especially brutal in the Winter 2006 Wonderful Hearts concert when, after Morning Musume exits as Sayu’s shaky intro comes to a merciful end, °C-ute and Berryz tear the stage apart and wipe it clean with the remains of V-u-den and “W.”

 

It’s almost as if Aibon and Nono knew this was the end; it was, indeed, “W’s” last tour. As for V-u-den, ther opening set of the Winter 2006 concert looked pathetic in comparison to the pink and orange storms named °C-ute and Berryz Kobo, respectively.

 

It changed everything, that one song, or at least it seems that way. A DVD, one that has finally escaped two years of censorship, doesn’t lie.

 

This is Rad signing off – for now.