I now have finally finished and made a decision when it came to Asuka’s drawing. I will upload it on Friday and for now I will see what else I will be working on.

Now as for something else I wanted to talk about is the graduation of Sayumi Michishige. If I’m correct she has already graduated as of yesterday. This marks the last of the members of my ever favorite Platinum Era. I don’t really know how I feel right now. I feel kind of, off. Though I seriously can’t get myself to look at any of the new stuff that Morning Musume has made (mainly because I get nothing but nostalgia to about how it was almost 5 years ago now, and sadness because it is now all over). I’m sure all the new members are good, but the current Morning Musume. 14 is not for me. It’s for the new generation of fans and all the hardcore Momusu fans that have been there all along.

It actually wasn’t until recently that I found out that I wasn’t really a fan of Morning Musume, no, I was a fan of the members from the Platinum Era that ran from the end of 2007 till the very end of 2010. They were, just different from any other idol groups. In fact, Idol groups never really caught my attention. It was Morning Musume that changed my mind about what an idol group could do, and that they could and maybe even should be taken seriously (more on this later). And although I can’t do that for every idol group, I did gain some respect and even got to like a couple of other idol groups like Berryz Koubou and Cute (yeah I’m an H.P. fan almost exclusively). Though I liked and still like to look at the videos that were in the Golden Era and the Eras before the Platinum Era, I finally realized that the reason I liked looking at this videos is because I got to look at most of the Platinum Era members in their first years in the Idol world growing up before it was them taking the reigns of the group. It’s amazing how things turned out. I just get really warm and fuzzy looking at those videos and the ones during the Platinum Era.

What’s sad is that I can’t really get to enjoy much of the videos and content after 2010. All that comes to mind are the words; “it is not the same anymore”, “They are all separated now”, “Why couldn’t they have stayed together?” and “They were the best line-up”. Most of the members in the Platinum Era were good at singing and dancing, and those that weren’t like Sayu had other strengths that made the whole group even stronger. And that is what I liked about this line up. They all had weaknesses but they made up for it by working as a group, and that made them strong. And in my opinion it made them the strongest line-up that there ever was and ever will be. But it seems like the fans aren’t really into that. They tend to prefer the more electronic and autotuned songs more (funny, I remember when many people made a big deal of “Kimagure Princess” because they used a bit of autotune). What am I doing? I’m getting off topic.

It’s strange seeing how things turned out and my feelings that come out because of it. Ai, Gaki and even JunJun didn’t pursue singing, instead they went into acting. Ai got married (this was a big blow for me, specially because she married this questionable older guy). Aika stayed behind in H.P. but is now gone to study English in New Zealand (I’m actually quite happy she decided to further her education). Sayu was still in Morning Musume and has created this great bond with the new members (this makes me sad, somehow I feel jealous that she may like them more than the Platinum Era Members – minus Eri). And speaking of Eri, she hasn’t made a return after leaving Morning Musume after the 2010 graduation (man how I miss her). Luckily there were at least two member who are still singing. LinLin decided to go solo in China. She went with a more “children’s style” songs. Although I like that she is still singing I didn’t really like it much (well to be fair I am not a child so… yeah). I did really like her third song that was in her single. It was more her style I think and it was beautiful, I really hope she sings more songs like that. And another person who has been keeping my attention even after graduation more than anyone is Reina Tanaka. All her decisions I have really liked up to now. She decided to continue singing. So she had a rock band get together. I actually think she goes well with the members (strangely enough I have nothing against them, in fact I think I actually like them). She had a rough start since they were doing just covers for the old guys in Up-Front but after a couple of events they finally got to sing some of their own material. And most of the recent material is really good. I like the path they have taken. What I like most of Reina is that she actually said what I and many other Platinum Era fans have been saying all this time, The Platinum Era was the greatest there ever was. And she even questioned just how far they would have gotten had they been more popular. This… this just made me so happy. To have one of the the members of that time, and even a member that many thought really wasn’t enjoying her time with those members say these words. And have it be one of my favorite members second only to Ai (though they did fight that position many times). I just felt this warm feeling that it wasn’t just an illusion what I was witnessing. That was a magical time.

This is getting long, but I will just end it with this. Thank you Platinum Era Morning Musume. With Sayu graduated, now there are no ties to you which is sad. But, I have hope that someday all these members will get together and form something special that will take the world by storm. (wishful thinking I know, but I will continue to hope)

Here’s to hope in the future,

-XERO