The birth of the national idol group "Morning Musume。 The Birth of "Morning Musume" and "THE iDOLM@STER" [Kiri Nakazato's "2.5D" Idol Historia - Vol. 3

Nowadays, numerous "idol works" have been created for anime, video games, and other genres, and CD releases and real events are held every month by the casts who play the idols.

How were these "2.5-dimensional" idols, who freely move between two and three dimensions, born and how did they shape the scene? Writer Kiri Nakazato, who has been observing 2.5-dimensional idols of the Showa, Heisei, and 2025 eras, has started the third installment of her popular series summarizing their history!

As I wrote in Part 1, which discussed the situation in the 1980s, before the concept of 2.5 dimensional idols was born, contents depicting idols were created to follow the existence and trends of idols in the real world. So what was the foundation for the creation of "THE iDOLM@STER" and other content groups that emerged in the 2000s?

The biggest event in the real idol world in the 1990s and early 2000s was the birth and big breakthrough of the national idol group "Morning Musume。 The biggest event in the real idol world in the 1990s and early 2000s was the birth and big break of the national idol group Morning Musume。

Around 1992 to 1995, there was a program called "Asakusabashi Young Toyoten" that aired on TV Tokyo. As the name suggests, the program had a strong fashion and subculture color immediately after its broadcast, but after it moved to the Sunday 21:00 slot, it developed a unique variety color under the direction of Terry Ito. The program featured the presence of the young Ninety-Nine, Egashira 2:50, Lou Oshiba, and Asakusa Kid.

In October 1995, "Asakusabashi Young Yokoshiten" was relaunched as "ASAYAN. The initial structure of the program was an extension of "Asakusabashi Young Toy Store" with Asakusa Kid in the first half and an audition program "Comulo Garçon" with Ninety-Nine as the main MC in the second half, but eventually the entire program was transformed into a "dream audition variety show "ASAYAN," and the structure of the program changed to "ASAYAN. Leading creators such as Tetsuya Komuro and Tsunku (now Tsunku♂) of Sharan Q held auditions and produced them as units and artists. The concept is to broadcast the entire process as a variety show. ASAYAN" was the first to pioneer the "reality show" genre that is now flourishing in Japan.

In April 1997, the "Sharan Q Female Rock Vocalist Audition" was held as part of the "ASAYAN" program. Nearly 10,000 people applied to make their debut as female rock vocalists produced by Sharan Q members. The audition variety show was a test not only of skill and star power, but also of humanity and teamwork in a harsh environment, where the contestants lived together in a training camp at a temple and underwent rigorous singing and dancing lessons.

The winner of the fierce audition was Michiyo Heike, a self-proclaimed "ordinary person" with a sparkling singing voice. However, this audition had another purpose. At about the same time that Michiyo Hiraie was announced as the winner, a project was launched to revive the five losers who had been selected from the finalists. This was the "Morning Musume。 The project was later known as "Morning Musume。 However, the temple training camp to see the participants' cooperation and character, and the group dance lessons led by choreographer Mayumi Natsu were not suitable for the selection of a solo rock vocalist. From a very early stage, the idol unit Morning Musume。 The sub-project "Morning Musume。

From among the 11 finalists in the "Sharan Q Female Rock Vocalist Audition," Natsumi Abe, Keori Iida, Aya Ishiguro, Yuko Nakazawa, and Asuka Fukuda formed the idol unit "Morning Musume。 The five members then made their debut as independent singers. The five members then made their major label debut by fulfilling an ASAYAN-like quota of selling 50,000 copies of their indie debut single, "Ai no Tane" in five days. After that, Morning Musume。 The group grew into a national idol group through the addition of new members such as Mari Yaguchi, Maki Goto, and Nozomi Tsuji, as well as the untimely graduation of Asuka Fukuda.

Now that we have briefly discussed the origins of Morning Musume。 However, what is important here is not so much the story of Morning Musume。 What is actually more important here is the role played by the program "ASAYAN" in the process of its birth and growth.

The program discovered the rough stones of idols that no one had ever seen before in a nationwide audition, gave them rigorous lessons at a training camp, and then the candidates went to the final selection live, a fateful event that would determine their lives. The drama of those who were defeated in the process tours the country in an attempt to rekindle their lives. The entire process is packaged as a variety show, and the efforts and tears on the other side of the stage are also broadcast on the airwaves as products. The sublimation of the "producing" part that forms the stage into entertainment is what makes Morning Musume。 and "ASAYAN" were unique in that they sublimated the "production" that forms the stage into entertainment.

The Idol Game."

After the addition of a dominant idol, Maki Goto, Morning Musume。 reached its peak around 1999-2000. As a follower of this new wave of idol games, a prototype game was quietly introduced to the world: "Idol Game (tentative name)," which was displayed as a reference exhibit at the Namco booth during the 40th Amusement Machine Show, an exhibition centered on arcade games, held in September 2002. was it.

The centerpiece of the arcade section at Namco's booth at the 40th AM Show was the "Rewritable Stage," a large arcade cabinet, and its first title, "Dragon Chronicle. Yes, the main attraction was Dragon Chronicle. As the name suggests, Rewritable Stage features the ability to overwrite (rewrite) magnetic cards, allowing players' character data and play history to be saved on the magnetic card. This was an advanced system in which units consisting of a main monitor and a satellite cabinet were installed in each store nationwide and connected online for real-time competition. Another major feature of the Rewritable Stage was the ability to change the game titles in the same way that home video game hardware and software are interchangeable. It was a business style in which the entire system was sold as a package, including not only a specific game title, but also a chassis that could be rewritten with magnetic cards, an online connection for competitive games, the ability to develop subsequent title changes, and i-mode for cell phones.

As an example of this type of expandability, the title exhibited as a reference was "Idol Game (tentative name)," a title that could be used not only for Dragon Chronicle but also for a variety of other titles. The title was "Idol Game (tentative name). The content of the game is to produce a new idol, Haruka Amami. The AM Show version featured the voice of a newcomer, Eriko Nakamura, but according to the manager in charge of the game at the time, there was a long period of time between the recording of the voice and the release of the game.

The most historically interesting part of the show is the decoration of the exhibitor's cabinet. The "idol game" (tentative name) and the "idol game" (tentative name). The use of "(tentative name)" and ". and the font, and above all, "You're going to be in it. You can become a producer and train idol units! was clearly based on the tone of Jihide KAWAHIRA, the main narrator of "ASAYAN". The staff at the time also commented that the project had been planned with Morning Musume。 The staff at the time also made it clear that the project was designed with Morning Musume。

The "Idol Game (tentative name)," which was exhibited for reference was accompanied by images of 11 idols in total: AMI, YAYOI, TAKANE, YUKIHO, AZUSA, HIBIKI, IORI, MAKOTO, RITSUKO, and CHIHAYA, in addition to Haruka Amami. Next to AMI in the illustration is also a mysterious twin girl (not to mention the later Mami Futami = MAMI). All illustrations were done by character designer Toshiyuki Kuboka.

However, TAKANE and HIBIKI were missing from the arcade version of "THE iDOLM@STER," which was released as a location test, and the number of idols that could be produced was 9 (10, to be precise; the original "THE iDOLM@STER" had only 2). In the initial version of "THE iDOLM@STER", the twins Ami and Mami were interchangeable as idols. Mainly due to capacity reasons, we will have to wait until the 2008 PSP version of "THE iDOLM@STER SP" to see HIBIKI and TAKANE again.

I'll leave the details of the game "iM@S" and its music for the next article, but I would like to mention that the official release of the arcade version of "THE iDOLM@STER" was postponed until July 2005. There are many theories about the peak of Morning Musume。 There are various theories about Morning Musume。ヌs peak period, but I think there is little disagreement that the three years from August 1999 to September 2002, when Maki Goto was a member of the group, was its golden age. Then, at the end of March 2002, "ASAYAN" ended its broadcast. A milestone of an era had been reached.

It was in 2003 that production of the voice and music for the arcade version of "THE iDOLM@STER" began, and full-scale promotion did not start until 2004. During the time it took to officially launch the service, the idol movement that started with Morning Musume。 s idol movement had settled down for a while before the official launch. In the short term, this may seem like a missed selling opportunity, but in the long term, it can be said that "iM@S" was able to take its time and cultivate its own culture without being consumed in the heat of the explosive boom.

In my next entry, I would like to write about the dawn of "THE iDOLM@STER" setting sail in the midst of a storm.

(Text by Kiri Nakazato)