Morning Musume – Maji Desu ka Suka!

(I’ve given up on trying to figure out whether it should be “ska” or “suka”)

I feel like people should make giant ads in huge flashing colours for this song, for some reason. With a TV announcer reading every word.

“HATE EMOMUSUME? MISS HAPPY MUSUME? THEN THIS SONG IS FOR YOU!”

And for this PV.

“LIKE CACTI? THEN THIS PV IS FOR YOU!”

Well, okay, maybe not the cacti angle…

The PV is not terrible, but not exciting either. There’s one point of randomness with Aika in a gnome-like or elf-like costume throwing sparkles (which I assume are supposed to be seeds) around. I’m leaning towards garden gnome, though she’s probably supposed to be something/someone else.

Of course, there’s other random things, like the giant characters in the background, Ai jumping in front of an exclamation point, etc. The song and PV most easily comparable to this one, Koko ni Iruzee!, was more random though. And generally more likable. Though Maji Desu ka Suka! is fun too. And very very catchy. I got the song stuck in my head with just two listens.

Going with comparing songs/PVs, the line dance/cancan at the chorus reminded me of 11 Water’s Be All Right!

(Though that may just be because I was going through old PVs recently. I wouldn’t have connected the two PVs otherwise.)

The most intriguing part of this song is the line distribution. Everyone gets a solo. And everyone gets more than one solo.

Do you notice something off here?

Right now, there are nine members.

In the two years before Koharu’s graduation, there were nine members.

Why is it that, in those two years (or even the year after Koharu left), the line distribution never improved? Why is it now that the group has even line distribution? Now, after the most consistently ignored members for lines, Junjun and Linlin, have graduated? :(

(granted, Momusu’s line distribution has never been the best, even when there were less than 9 members)

Not that I don’t mind 9th gen getting solo lines now, I just wish the line distribution was better earlier :/ oh well, what’s done is done…

Another interesting thing related to this single is the number of times some people have commented that the song is “OMG RIPPING OFF AKB48!”

Which confused me at first, because I thought the complainers were talking about Morning Musume’s music sounding almost exactly like AKB48′s music – which was an impossible conclusion at the time, since the complaints came before the song previews were released.

Then, as it turns out, the complaints had to do with the title. And the title of AKB48′s drama, “Majisuka Gakuen.” Which isn’t exactly the first thing I think of when it comes to the phrase “maji desu ka,” but I guess other people would think of it, especially if they’ve seen the show (which I have not).

Honestly, I doubt the name title had anything to do with AKB48′s drama. Could you imagine a conversation like this actually happening?

UFA management: Okay, so albums and singles aren’t selling very well these days. We need a new idea. A better idea.

Marketing: I’ve got an idea! Why don’t we take inspiration from AKB48? They sell millions these days. We should tap into their market somehow.

UFA: Great idea! How would we do that?

Marketing: Hm, well, AKB48 has a drama called “Majisuka Gakuen.” Let’s base a song title off the drama. Everyone will see “maji desu ka” in the title and think “AKB48 RELATED! I HAVE TO GET IT!”

UFA (completely serious) : Fantastic! We’ll take a commonly used phrase and use it as a song title! Got it, Tsunku? You have to use the phrase “maji desu ka” in the song title. Everyone will think of AKB48 and their drama immediately when they hear the phrase, and will go buy the single!

Tsunku (rolls eyes) : Yeah, sure, I’m running out of ideas anyway.

If that was the intended plan, UFA’s management fails more than I thought it did -_-;

I doubt the single process even works like that. It probably went something more like this:

Tsunku: Hm, Morning Musume should do a fun song for their next single. What about ska? That could work. Now, how can I make this interesting? Oh, I know! I’ll put “ska” in the title of the song, so people will know it’s a ska song. And then I’ll make it a play on words. Ska… ska… maji desu ka! Oh, how about “Maji Desuka Ska!” People will look at the title, listen to the song, and think, ‘wow, the title fits! It’s really ska!’ It’ll be great! And there’ll be pages of people theorizing over the type of song it’ll be based on the song title, which will create buzz for the single! (laughs maniacally) I’m a genius!

(everyone else in the room stares weirdly at him)

Why do I feel like I’m sitting here writing fanfiction…

While I doubt the validity of my completely made up speech, I do think that the title was derived from a decision to compose a ska-like song. I don’t think it was AKB48 inspired. It’s kind of a stretch to claim that a common phrase is inspired by someone else’s property.

(Now if the song title was “Majisuka Gakuen,” that would be another story. But it’s not, so there’s no point in thinking about it.)

Anyway, I think this song is average – not amazing, but not completely awful. If you like happy catchy songs, you’ll probably like this one.

This single was supposed to be released on the 23rd of March, but was pushed back so resources could be better utilized (i.e. used to contribute to the earthquake recovery efforts). The new release date is April 6th. I wonder how well it will do?

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~ by dreamtiny on March 31, 2011.