ZYX and the perfection of 2003

'Fly High,' July 2003: From left, Umeda, Momoko (hidden), Yaguchi, Risako, Saki and Maimi.

Ever wonder how the core performing groups of Hello Project – Morning Musume, Berryz Kobo and °C-ute – have remained together and prospered over the years? It’s no accident. There’s a plan, and in the beginning, there were artistic incubators like ZYX.

'Shiroi Tokyo,' January 2004: Saki fronts the other five, with Megumi instead of Risako.

Now fellow blog Radreview tried to put this into words a while back, but it just didn’t come out right and the whole attempt to explain this concept was half-baked. But this time around, the tale will be much more thorough – and a lot more fascinating, as it turns out.

Maimi (?) in 'Fly High,' age 11: Holy moly, it doesn't even look like what she does today.

Once upon a time, there was a perfect group, called ZYX. This perfect group put out two perfect singles, “Fly High” and “Shiroi Tokyo,” both in 2003. The first single was performed before its official August 2003 release in the Hello Project Summer 2003 concert in July 2003, and was an attempt to capture the “hip-hop” flavor of pop music that was starting to infect Japan at the time.

Maimi in 'Shiroi Tokyo,' still only 11: A complete transformation (or different person?).

Mari Yaguchi, the 4-foot-9, 86-pound firecracker who was still a member of Morning Musume at the time, was the 20-year-old leader of the sextet – and she had to babysit four 11-year-olds: Erika Umeda, Saki Shimuzu, Maimi Yajima, and Momoko Tsugunaga, along with a precocious 9-year-old upstart named Risako Sugaya.

Saki in 'Fly High,' age 11: Already a front girl with staggering dance ability.

What was produced from this unlikely experiment was an explosive song and dance. Saki, later to become leader of what would eventually be the supergroup Berryz Kobo, displayed unearthly dancing ability – as did the tiny, skinny kid with mini-sixpack abs, Maimi, who as everyone now realizes is probably the top pop-music dancer in the world today with exploding megagroup °C-ute.

Saki in 'Shiroi Tokyo,' age 12: Confident and capable, even before Berryz Kobo came together.

Risako held her own, though it was clear as she shuffled through the “dance” moves that her forte would prove to be vocals, and that holds true even through today. Even being a little stiff at dancing, Risako has grown into near-legendary proportions as a wota goddess and is a big part of what Berryz Kobo has become, along with Saki.

Umeda of ZYX in 'Fly High,' age 11, 2003: Future greatness was obvious from the start.

Umeda hit paydirt with °C-ute, and Momoko is rising to stratospheric stardom in her career as an integral part of Berryz Kobo and last year was named to super-trio Buono! But it was ZYX that gave Momoko and all these singers their first breaks, and they sure made the most of them.

Umeda, a ZYX snow angel in 'Shiroi Tokyo,' January 2004, Saitama Super Arena.

ZYX changed radically after “Fly High” and it was evident that the concentration of talent might be a little too much for a single group. In December 2003 came a second single, a charmer about winter teen romance during a Tokyo snowfall called “Shiroi Tokyo.” The video was a heart-melter, and the song went on to be the best single number in Abe’s graduation concert, the Hello Project Winter 2004 concert at Yokohama Arena.

Risako in 'Fly High,' age 9: Power voice for such a young kid, but a slow dance step.

But there was trouble brewing.

First, the kid wonder Risako had apparently been just a fill-in for Megumi Murakami, who performed “Shiroi Tokyo” with Yaguchi, Momoko, Saki, Maimi and Umeda in the winter concert. Maybe someone else out there has an explanation for that switch, because I’ve never found one.

Megumi in 'Shiroi Tokyo,' age 11: Risako's replacement broke hearts with the 'suki' line.

In any event, we all know what happened to Megumi. She burned out like a Roman candle with °C-ute and ended up stumbling out of Hello Project because of a boyfriend scandal late in 2006.

Momoko in 'Fly High,' age 11: Cocky, self-assured, but with a bad set of teeth.

Despite the Risako-Megumi strangeness, ZYX remains the perfect idea. The songs were flawless, and it was inevitable all the singers had to be broken off into other units. There were simply too many solid performers in this single unit.

Momoko, left, in 'Shiroi Tokyo,' still only 11: Meshed well with Megumi, center, and Maimi.

But for a few brilliant months, there was perfection. All the singers developed rapidly between those two singles, and as can be seen here, patterns of excellence quickly developed.

Yaguchi, left, in 'Fly High,' age 20: Excellent coach for Saki, right, and the others.

The example of ZYX is how greatness in music and dance can be sustained – get a nucleus of talent working together, get them a good coach, in this case Yaguchi, inject two amazing songs, and the rest, as they say, has been history.

Yaguchi in 'Shiroi Tokyo,' age 21: She hopped, skipped and twirled all over that launch pad.

It normally doesn’t happen overnight, but it was pretty close with ZYX. And we now have two supergroups, Berryz Kobo and °C-ute, to enjoy. If they were to shut down tomorrow, both junior groups of Hello Project have made their mark in music history, and they have ZYX and six brilliant months in late 2003 to thank for that.

This is Radicalipton signing off – for now.