(2024-05-27) Morning Musume。'24 ~Bokura no Kako · Genzai · Mirai~

For the Morning Musume。'24 2024 spring tour, the Hulu streaming service offered a range of content about this tour and members. The final concert at Nippon Budokan was available on their streaming service, and those who bought the ticket received two documentaries as a purchase bonus. Here's the second documentary, entitled "Morning Musume。'24 ~Bokura no Kako · Genzai · Mirai~" (which means "our past, present, future") which was available to watch from May 27. 

Members are divided into 3 different teams of talk.

Group 1 : Ikuta Erina, Ishida Ayumi, Oda Sakura 

Group 2 : Nonaka Miki, Makino Maria, Haga Akane (Yokoyama Reina)

Group 3 : Kitagawa Rio, Okamura Homare, Yamazaki Mei, Sakurai Rio, Inoue Haruka, Yumigeta Ako

Unfortunately, Reina was absent from that documentary because she felt unwell at the time of recording.

Part 1 : The past

Q. Why did you want to be a Morning Musume。?

Sakurai Rio : I went to ROCK IN JAPAN FESTIVAL 2019 and saw a group performing with passion. They also succeeded to make the whole audience having fun. I wanted to be that kind of idol.

Yumigeta Ako : It's thanks to "Help me!!" MV, and especially Fukumura-san's intro which was amazing.

Nonaka Miki : The first time I've ever heard about idol, it was Morning Musume and all those beautiful women who filled it. I was in America back then, my grand mother offered me one of their DVD. At my 14 years old, I've done the audition.

Ikuta Erina : Morning Musume。was my favorite group. And there was that time in my youth in which I thought a lot about my future dreams. That timing was during one of the group audition, so I choose to take part to see if I could make it.

Oda Sakura :  I first heard about S/Mileage audition at the time, I tried but failed. I joined Kenshuusei but wanted to debut major so I tried another audition, Morning Musume。's Suppin Utahime audition.

Q. What was your first image of Morning Musume。?

Ishida Ayumi : They were so cool. When I was a child, all I wanted to be was "cute". But then, I discovered Morning Musume。, a group of cool idols. And that's how I didn't want to be cute anymore, but a cool girl.

Ikuta : The first MV I saw was "Go Girl ~Koi no Victory~" so I found them cute and trying to spread happiness. I also watched the drama "Gal Circle" with Yaguchi Mari, and thought she was amazing... I wanted to be like her.

Haga Akane : They were perfect, like flawless people. They were not idols that I liked, but admired.

Makino Maria : Well that's not focused on Morning Musume。but... I first heard about Minimoni。which was really funny. I had the same image for Morning Musume。

Q. What was your first image of Morning Musume。?

Okamura Homare : Scary. I thought members still considered each others as rivals. I was scared to be part of it.

Kitagawa Rio : I agree, but I also thought they were professionals.
Inoue Haruka : Scary too. I was very anxious for the first meetings with members. But then I was surprised because everyone was kind.


Part 2 : The present

Q. What are the current Morning Musume。good at?

Ikuta : I honestly don't think people say it enough, but younger members are improved fast and really good.

Oda : I think group's image depends a lot on the leader. Current leader is you, and you always congrats them for their work. Current members are great for rock songs. Lots of members have that "cute" image, but also there's also a cool side. During ROCK IN festivals, when we're performing "I surrender Aisaredo Ai", the whole audience changes.

Sakurai : There are incredible contrasts between MCs and the performances, both about members and audiences.

Yumigeta : We know how to gather people around only one song.

Nonaka : To renew. I think the current era of the group is good at changing faces and doing lots of different genres of songs.

Q. Have you ever had any setbacks after becoming a member?

Kitagawa : I had difficulty to deal with preasure of teachers and senpai when they watch you individually during rehearsals.

Yamazaki Mei : During Kenshuusei Hokkaido, I felt lonely because I was the only one in my class to do that kind of activity, so it was kind of hard to make some friends.

Sakurai : Keeping up with last summer's pace was complicated. We had Hello! Project 25th Anniversary at Yoyogi, we did another huge concert at Yoyogi for Fukumura-san's sotsugyou... I cried during a lot of rehearsals.

Ikuta : I wanted to give up 2 months after joining. But I did the debut even with members part of the FC and saw many people who were supporting me... I thought it was too late to leave and decided to stay.

Ishida : Somehow, I felt very alone. I cried a lot when I was alone, never in front of everyone.

Oda : I had a lot of trouble expressing my emotions when I was younger, so in my early days as a member, I didn't dare say when I didn't understand or didn't agree.

Q. The songs that I have fond memories of are?

Kitagawa : I love the songs we had as our debut... I've got good memories from "LOVEpedia" especially the dance introduction, when everyone is down and three of us are behind doing a cute dance.

Makino : "The☆Peace~!" I really love the early era of the group, and Ishikawa Rika-san is one of my favorite members. She has that talk part during that song, and for today's performances, I've inherited of this part.

Nonaka : If I have to choose among the song after my debut, I would say Jinsei Blues. I think lyrics are very cool. It shows that life isn't always good, but you have to keep doing your best. It helps me sometimes.

Oda : "Kaiketsu Positive A, espcially the lyrics of chorus' second part: "Sugu ni iiwake shite sugu ni koudou dekinai. Sonna mama ja HIIROO nya narenai ze" (You're always putting excuses instead of acting right away. You'll never become a hero that way!) and "Sugu yowane haite dare ka no sei ni shichau. Sonna yatsa futsuu ni mo narenai ze" (You're always complaining and blaming other people. You won't even reach "normal person" status like that!) It made me realized that it's lame to blame others.
Ishida : "Jealousy Jealousy". It shows one of the deapest emotion, the "jealousy", and make us understand it isn't always a negative feeling. I like that vision of this feeling. In a most recent way, Wake up Call, I love my "nikurashii".

Q.  Something you're satisfied with current Morning Musume。?

Okamura : There's always something to perfectionnate.

Yumigeta : I'm never satisfied enough and always want to do better.

Haga : I don't want to feel satisfied otherwise I would no longer do my best. I can always do better.

Makino : The day I'm feeling satisfied, I'm simply getting my sotsugyou.

Oda :  I really can't...answer to this...

Part 3 : The future

Q. What kind of group do you want to form in the future?

Yamazaki : I want to be in a group that creates admiration from everyone.

Sakurai : I want to grow up and keep cherish the group's roots.

Yumigeta : I want to bring back the rivality with senpai.

Haga : I want people to say that Morning Musume。are the best.

Makino : I want to make Morning Musume。memorable, just as our senpai have done before.

Ikuta : I want to represent Japanese culture overseas. We couldn't go overseas because of corona, but now... I really want to go meet our overseas fans.

Oda :  It would be nice to go to Europe.

Ishida : I also want to go to France!

Q. Feelings about May 27 Nippon Budokan concert

Kitagawa : I really love the setlist so I will do my best!

Inoue : It will be my first concert on Nippon Budokan, I can't wait.

Haga : It's the first Nippon Budokan concert since Fukumura-san's sotsugyou, so I will do my best.

Ikuta : It's a tour in which you can discover everyone's charm. Please enjoy!