Hello! Project's logo.
Hello! Project is an umbrella term to refer to the female idols managed by Up-Front Agency and Tsunku. Major groups in the Project are Morning Musume (the flagship and longest running group), ANGERME (formerly S/mileage), Juice=Juice, Tsubaki Factory, BEYOOOOONDS, and OCHA NORMA. There are also numerous sub-units and Hello! Pro Kenshuusei (formerly Hello! Pro Egg), a training program for young girls looking to become full-fledged idols under the Project. Each group has their own unique sound and members, with no two songs sounding the same.
The current line up's ages range from 10 to 24, with every kind of girl you could think of. A lot of them also do things outside of singing, such as acting, hosting TV shows, etc.
See That Other Wiki
for more information.
Hello! Project provides examples of:
- AcCENT upon the Wrong SylLABle: Linlin, although she's Chinese.
- Adults Dressed as Children: One of the old Hello! Morning segments, although in most cases it was more teenagers dressed as nursery school kids.
- Animal Reaction Shot: The "Dramatic Chipmunk" clip was taken from a TV segment of Mini Moni and a prairie dog.
- Album Filler.
- All Just a Dream: The videos for "Kono Chikyuu no Heiwa wo Honki de Negatterun da yo!" and "Kare to Issho ni Omise ga Shitai!"
- Always Female: They are a female idol group after all.
- All of the Other Reindeer: Morning Musume member Aika Mitsui stated that at first, she felt rather lonely as nobody talked to her.
- An Aesop: Mini Moni were put together to show "small people can do big things".
- Anti-Love Song: Many. "Kanashimi Twilight" is probably the best known example.
- Animated Music Video: Some of Mini Moni's PVs, and Morning Musume's "Yah! Ashitai" (under the pseudonym Lili Moni.)
- Attack of the 50-Foot Idol: The PV for "Love Machine" by Morning Musume; hilariously, one of the people who is shown this size is Mari Yaguchi, who is sometimes referred to as "the short one".
- The video for "Kare to Issho ni Omise ga Shitai!" also had this with Risa Niigaki fighting a Godzilla expy, apparently with The Power of Love.
- Audience Participation Song: Morning Musume's "Aozora ga Itsumademo Tsuzuku You na Mirai de Are!" amongst others.
- Authority in Name Only: The Leaders and especially Sub-Leaders of groups sometimes act as peacekeepers if there's a falling out between members of their group and on game show appearances they may pick who competes if appropriate. However they are just The
Face of the Band, if that, in regards to the actual music. - Awesome, but Impractical: Became an Enforced Trope a few times when Ayaka had her "Chinese cafe" gimmick for her English lessons segment on Hello Morning; she wore a tight Chinese style dress which looked great, but she couldn't dance properly in it when asked by Ai Takahashi or Nozomi Tsuji. Her attempts to do so anyway when bullied into it by the latter are Funny Moments.
- Awesome Moment of Crowning: When the Elder Club graduated Yuko Nakazawa, the very first leader of Morning Musume, passed on Leadership of Hello!Project to Ai Takahashi.
- Morning Musume winning the Japanese Record Award for Best New Artist.
- Badass Adorable: Asami Konno is a black belt in Karate.
- Rika Ishikawa once broke 12 concrete tiles with a single blow from her bare hands! Sure, it turned out they were especially designed to break, but when Ai Takahashi tried to do the same thing on another show she failed miserably until she resorted to stamping on the stack instead.
- Bad Boss: When ever a favourite member graduates suddenly or a unpopular girl is hired a certain section of the fans usually accuses Tsunku since he is the person directly responsible for Hello Project (though he still answers to the company president).
- Bavarian Fire Drill: Used as a prank on Morning Musume during an episode of Utaban (they faked an actual fire with smoke and alarms going off). This leads in to what is effectively a Public Service Announcement to make sure they and the viewer know what to do in the event of an earthquake or other disaster.
- Beach Episode: The making of DVDs for the girls' photobooks.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Again, Asami Konno has a black belt in Karate.
- Played closer to the trope description with Mari Yaguchi and Takashi Okamura, with the latter repeatedly pushing the former's Berserk Button and getting a Bitch Slap for it.
- Bifauxnen: Hitomi Yoshizawa (she was at one point, at least) and Haruka Kudo.
- Big Eater: Nozomi Tsuji and Ai Kago were pretty notorious examples when they were younger.Nozomi: It's our role to eat the food, isn't it?
- Three-time wanko soba champion Riho Sayashi.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Rika Ishikawa's Charmy character would quite often act like this.
- Blatant Lies: In "Joshi Kashimashi Monogatari", Ai Takahashi denies still having her Fukui accent... in Fukui-ben.
- Book Dumb: Several of them; most notably, Nozomi Tsuji came dead last in one of the school test segments.
- Break the Cutie: Poor, poor Ai Kago...
- Brutal Honesty: Reina Tanaka has her moments.
- JunJun was pretty well known as being a straight talker, especially compared to Japanese norms of etiquette.
- Sayumi Michishige's "poison-tongue" character shows shades of this sometimes.
- But We Used a Condom!: Nozomi Tsuji announced her pregnancy in May 2007. In one of the interviews, she said "we used a condom, but it broke."
- Call-Back: In the original "Joshi Kashimashi Monogatari" and one of the Elder Club versions, Mari Yaguchi's part refers to the lyrics of "Koi no Dance Site".
- Casting Gag: In 2016, Juice=Juice starred as the fictional idol group NEXT YOU in the TV drama adaptation of the novel Budokan. The novel was written by Hello! Project fanboy Ryo Asai, who based the story elements on UP-FRONT PROMOTION (renamed "GREEN-UP PROMOTION" in-universe) and real Hello! Project idols (Sayuki's character was inspired by Kanon Suzuki).
- Catchphrase: So, SO many.
- "USO!" (Koharu Kusumi, Risa Niigaki)
- "Usa-chan peace~!"/"Yoshi! Kyou mo kawaii!" (Sayumi Michishige)
- "Bacchiri desu~", "W desu!" (W)
- "SEXY BEEEEEAAAAAM!" (Mari Yaguchi)
- "Mayuge BEEEEAAAAAM!" (Risa Niigaki)
- "HAAAAPPPYYYYY~"/"Gucha~"(Rika Ishikawa)
- "Yurushite nyan!" (Momoko Tsugunaga)
- "Matsuuuuura Aya deeeesu!" (Aya Matsuura - it's the delivery more than the actual words that are notable in this case)
- "Ganbatte Ikuta!" (Erina Ikuta)
- Riho Sayashi had "Hyahho~i!" for a while (to the point where it was the name of one of her DVDs!) until she got tired of it.
- Can't Hold Her Liquor: Kaori Iida, according to a parody version of "Love Machine" she did alongside Kei Yasuda.
- Characters as Device: Chinese members Junjun and Linlin who only joined to break into the Chinese market.
- Before them, Coconuts Musume was an attempt to do the same thing for the US.
- Color-Coded Characters: Within each group, members are assigned image colors to represent them in merchandise, costumes, and glowsticks.
- Cool Big Sis: Most of the old-school Morning Musume members.
- Cool Old Lady: Yuko Nakazawa. Okay, so she's not that old but there is a significant age difference compared to some other former members: for instance, she is about 13 years older than Ai Kago. Even more so 2014-onwards, now that some members of the current lineup were born after Yuko had already graduated. To reiterate, most of the girls in the current lineup are young enough to be Yuko's daughters!
- Cover Version: Morning Musume's Chokkan 2 single was originally an album track with a slightly different name. Producer Tsunku has covered various H!P songs. A lot of cover versions also appear as b-sides and album tracks. Not to mention the FOLK SONGS and Douyou Pops series...
- "Joshi Kashimashi Monogatari" has had about 7 covers using the same music and chorus, but entirely rewritten verses in each version.
- Eri Kamei and Risa Niigaki both released solo albums comprised entirely of them covering HP songs.
- On the other end of the spectrum, Koharu Kusumi's "Koi kana" becomes Laura Vanamo's "Se tunne". That's not Japanese, that's Finnish!
- Singles that have been covers include:
- Natsumi Abe: "The Stress", "Too Far Away ~Onna no Kokoro~".
- Berryz Koubou: "Dschinghis Khan". Yes, that "Dschinghis Khan" and "cha cha SING" (originally a song by thai singer Bird Thongchai McIntyre).
- C-ute: "Shochuu Omimai Moushiagemasu"; "Kono Machi".
- Aya Matsuura: "Watarasebashi", the Naked Songs album.
- Melon Kinenbi: "Namida no Taiyou".
- Morning Musume: "Morning Musume no Hyokkori Hyoutanjima", "Pepper Keibu", the Cover You album.
- W: Actually, most of their discography.
- Kobushi Factory: "Ramen Daisuki Koizumi-san no Uta" (originally a Sharam Q song which had a slightly different name); "Sakura Night Fever" (originally a song by KAN).
- S/mileage: Between "Shortcut" and "Samui ne", they have released a cover of an old H!P song as a b-side.
- Viyuden: "Nanni mo Iwazu ni I LOVE YOU".
- Tsubaki Factory: They've covered Chisato Moritaka's "17sai" and "Watashi ga Obasan ni Natte mo".
- During Aya Matsuura's 2 Alo-Hello DVDs she does an "Aloha" acoustic version (with a ukulele accompaniment) of one of her songs, though neither song was ever actually released as a CD.
- In the drama Brementown Musicians, Mika Todd and Nozomi Tsuji both sing versions of a song called "Kasa ga Nai".
- Crazy Cultural Comparison: Coconuts Musume was formed and marketed as the group from Hawaii. Jun Jun and Lin Lin joined Morning Musume for much the same reason, except they were aimed at the mainland Asian market.
- Crosscast Role: Happened a lot during Hello Morning Theatre skits due to the fact the cast was made entirely of girls, particularly to Yossey.
- Also happened in several PVs.
- The Cutie: They're idols, so all of them are either cute or beautiful, but Michishige Sayumi probably fits the actual description of the trope the best.
- Rika Ishikawa also played this trope too on and off — mainly on — especially when she was younger. It may be argued that Ishikawa (as Charmy) and Michishige are actually Kawaiiko and just think they're The Cutie.
- Ai Takahashi, particularly in the segments of Haro Pro News where she dressed up in cute costumes like as a Cat Girl, which caused either a Cuteness Proximity or, in for masculine costumes such as a biker, a Ho Yay reaction in co-host Yuko Nakazawa that sometime led to her seeming to be Distracted by the Sexy, and jealousy from Supercaster Charmy Ishikawa.
- Ai Kago, especially as she went on to suffer a Break the Cutie that took her a few years to come back from.
- Saki Nakajima
- Ai Takahashi, particularly in the segments of Haro Pro News where she dressed up in cute costumes like as a Cat Girl, which caused either a Cuteness Proximity or, in for masculine costumes such as a biker, a
- Rika Ishikawa also played this trope too on and off — mainly on — especially when she was younger. It may be argued that Ishikawa (as Charmy) and Michishige are actually Kawaiiko and just think they're The Cutie.
- Darker and Edgier: One of Hitomi Yoshizawa and Rika Ishikawa's post-Musume projects was a Punk Lolita styled J Rock group called Hangry & Angry, which was VERY dark compared to their work in Morning Musume. However, it wasn't actually a part of Hello Project, but they were still under the Up Front Works banner.
- A Day in the Limelight: Asami Konno and Sayumi Michishige were only leads for one single, "Namida ga Tomaranai Houkago". This has happened with other members, too.
- "Oh my wish!" is this for Kanon Suzuki and Haruka Kudo. Suzuki's case in this is notable, as it came after the controversy from her not appearing in the MVs for the previous single (due to an injured foot — she was replaced by Karin Miyamoto of Juice=Juice, who got more screentime than any other member.)
- Deadpan Snarker: Kaori Iida, though sometimes she doesn't get the deadpan part right. She's also rather tall and well qualified as a Pungeon Master.
- Yuko Nakazawa could also be very snarky.
- Distracted by My Own Sexy: According to Miki Fujimoto, among others, her best friend Aya Matsuura would quite often be distracted during conversations if she saw herself in a mirror or on a monitor. Aya admitted to it at least once.Natsumi Abe: You seem like the type of person that likes looking in mirrors.Aya: Yes, I love it.
- Eccentric Mentor: Producer Tsunku, arguably. He's either that, a
Trolling Creator, or just simply crazy. - End of an Age:
- 2009, when the Elder Club members graduated from Hello! Project, leaving only the younger artists in Morning Musume, Berryz Kobo, °C-ute, Erina Mano, and the trainees. Yuko Nakazawa passed leadership to Ai Takahashi.
- Evolving Music: The many MANY versions of "Joshi Kashimashi Monogatari".
- Fade Out: Juice=Juice's "Dream Road ~Kokoro ga Odoridashiteru~" is the first Hello! Project music video to fade out at the end, which took a lot of fans by surprise.
- Fanservice: Photobooks which consist mainly of bikini shots.
- Also the cafe versions of Ayaka's English lessons.
- "Love Machine" probably sets some kind of record for sheer density of fetishes.
- Fantasy-Forbidding Father: Apparently some parents didn't want their daughters to become idols.
- Fetish: Mentioned by Kaori Iida when she sees Ayaka Kimura wearing her Chinese dress for the first time.Kaori: (after Ayaka has explained why she's wearing the dress) "I see, that's Okazumi's (the producer) fetish, right?"
- Football Fight Song: Morning Musume's "Ganbare Nippon Soccer Fight!"
- Baseball Fight Song: C-ute's "Koero! Rakuten Eagles", DEF DIVA's "LET'S GO Rakuten Eagles" and GAM's "Daisuki Rakuten Eagles".
- Four-Girl Ensemble: 4KIDS, Akagumi 4, Athena & Robbikerottsu, Country Musume ni Ishikawa Rika, DEF DIVA, Elegies, Melon Kinenbi, Mini Moni, Puripuri Pink, Sheki Dol, Shugo Chara! Egg!, Taiyou & Ciscomoon and Tanpopo 2nd gen, S/mileage before the addition of the submembers.
- Foreign Cuss Word: On an episode of Hello! Morning, Morning Musume member Ai Takahashi said "oh sh** ", followed by "I want a kitty".
- Fun with Acronyms:
- GAM ('G'reat 'A'ya 'M'iki)
- Gomattou ('Go'to Maki 'Mat'suura Aya and Fuji'moto' Miki (moto can also be read as tou.))
- SI☆NA ('S'uma, 'I'washima, 'N'akayama, 'A'be)
- Nochiura Natsumi ('Go'to Maki (go can be read as nochi), Matsu'ura' Aya, Abe 'Natsumi')
- HI-FIN (Mai Hagiwara, Erina Ikuta, Kanon Fukuda, Ayumi Ishida, Saki Nakajima)
- Fun with Foreign Languages: Engrish galore! There are others as well.
- Explored thoroughly with Coconuts Musume, as well as its two bilingual members Mika and Ayaka teaching random English phrases to other H!P singers. If the member in question was Ai Kago, Mari Yaguchi or Nozomi Tsuji, then Hilarity Ensues.
- An episode of Sanma No Manma featuring Morning Musume turned into a discussion of what animals are called in Chinese.
Sanma What do you call cows in China?Jun Jun Niu.Sanma And horses?Jun Jun and Lin Lin MA! - Explored thoroughly with Coconuts Musume, as well as its two bilingual members Mika and Ayaka teaching random English phrases to other H!P singers. If the member in question was Ai Kago, Mari Yaguchi or Nozomi Tsuji, then Hilarity Ensues.
- Game Show Appearance: Satoda Mai and Yaguchi Mari. Frequently.
- Gamer Chick: Ai Takahashi (who has been seen with a pink - natch - Nintendo DS in at least one episode of Hello! Morning), Sayumi Michishige (whose proficiency at Tetris is listed among her special skills), and Chisato Okai (who has made blog posts about playing video games).
- Mari Yaguchi has done an advertising campaign for Nintendo's Wii and DS, and also had a regular column in Famitsu magazine.
- When they were having a tournament on DanceDanceRevolution most of the girls were scoring in the tens of thousands, except for the famously unathletic Ai Kago who won her round with a score in the millions.
- Haruna Iikubo enjoys Nintendo games.
- Mari Yaguchi has done an advertising campaign for Nintendo's Wii and DS, and also had a regular column in Famitsu magazine.
- Genki Girl: Quite a few. Makoto Ogawa 's status as one is even lampshaded in the first version of "Joshi Kashimashi Monogatari".
- Genre-Busting: Although lyrically there is a tendency towards ballads, Silly Love Songs or breakup songs, the styles of music have been as diverse as big band ("Mr. Moonlight ~ Ai No Big Band" by Morning Musume), rap ("Get Up! Rapper" by Salt 5)note and pop punk ("Aoi Sports Car no Otoko" by Aoiro 7)
- Girl Group
- Girlish Pigtails: Several members have sported them over the years, particularly when they were younger, but Sayumi Michshige has had them consistently through her run in Morning Musume.
- Greatest Hits Album: Morning Musume has four. Berryz Koubou had three, C-ute has one, then there are the Mega Bests and yearly Pucchi Bests...
- Gratuitous English: Lin Lin's "HI! BYE!" t-shirt in the video for "3,2,1 Breaking Out" is just the tip of the Asian Speekee Engrish-filled iceberg.
- Groin Attack: On an episode of Utaban featuring Mini Moni, Ai Kago suddenly used one against Mari Yaguchi while simultaneously punching her in the backside.
- Hard-Drinking Party Girl: There have been several instances where Kei Yasuda and especially Yuko Nakazawa are accused of being like this, usually met with an angry protest from Yuko.Yuko: You've never seen me like that!
- Hidden Depths: (though not well): Kaori Iida is a published poet and has had paintings exhibited.
- Natsumi Abe is interested in politics.
- Asami Konno is a black belt in Karate.
- LinLin plays guitar.
- Hilarious Outtakes: GakiKame's (Risa Niigaki and Eri Kamei) outtakes of their skits on Haromoni@.
- Hotter and Sexier: Morning Musume's "Egao YES Nude", and then there is the PV for "Melodies" by GAM.
- The lyrics for "Kimagure Princess".
- Berryz Koubou's "Ai no Dangan", "Aa, Yo ga Akeru" and "ROCK Erotic".
- S/mileage's "Mystery Night!"
- Hurricane of Puns: Where to begin...
- Hypocritical Humour: In the original version of "Joshi Kashimashi Monogatari}, Ai Takahashi denies still having a Fukui accent... in Fukui dialect.
- Identical Stranger: RuRu of T&C Bomber and Ai Kago of Morning Musume look very alike, though usually the former is said to look like an older version of the latter, and more recent pictures of Kago really show that claim to be quite accurate.
- Idol Singer: Well...
- Idols Are Innocent: ...is what the management would LIKE you to think.
- Averted by several songs such as "Kimagure Princess" and "Egao Yes Nude".
- Improbable Hairstyle: Masae Ohtani.
- Innocent Innuendo: The fans twist everything.
- Innocent Fanservice Girl: Sayumi can act like this, but she knows what she's doing.
- Intentionally Awkward Title: 99% of the names of EVERYTHING. Barely avoided with "Brainstorming", which very nearly saw release under the abbreviated name "Buresuto" (say it out loud.)
- Intergenerational Friendship: Some of the older members are friends with the younger ones. Sayumi Michishige is the most prime example, especially when she became the sole 6th gen member amongst the rest of the younger girls.
- Japanese Pop Music
- Jerkass: Miki Fujimoto and Yuko Nakazawa.
- Takashi Okamura probably deserves a mention here too. Though obviously not a member, much of the comedy from segments he did alongside H!P members comes from his acting like a Jerkass, espcially towards Mari Yaguchi but she didn't always let him get away with it.
- Kansai Regional Accent: Yuko Nakazawa, Aika Mitsui and Ai Kago amongst others.
- Kimono Fanservice: In the New Year shows, the girls all wear kimonos.
- Long-Runners: Morning Musume and Hello! Project are 20 years old!
- Notable members include Sayumi Michishige, the longest-serving Morning Musume member at 11 years, and the members of Hello! Project Kids who joined in 2002 and stayed for at least ten years before they graduated. Berryz Kobo was active for 11 years and °C-ute, 12 years.
- Long Title:
- The first A-side for Ai's last single: "Kono Chikyuu no Heiwa no Honki de Negatterun da yo!" (I'm Really Hoping for Peace on Earth!) Which was then paired with the slightly shorter, though no less unwieldy, "Kare to Issho ni Omise ga Shitai!" (I Want to Open a Shop With My Boyfriend!)
- S/mileage's "Onaji Jikyuu de Hataraku Tomodachi no Bijin Mama".
- Minor Major Character: Some of the leaders weren't front girls, but they were the ones who held the groups together.
- Ms. Fanservice: Once Aya Matsuura and Miki Fujimoto formed GAM, every costume they wore was designed to show off their legs.
- In one of Ayaka's English lessons, Kaori Iida (jokingly) says she'd like to go to the beach wearing a see through bikini. In another, Mari Yaguchi suggests she wouldn't bother with a bikini at all.
- Sayumi Michishige likes to portray herself as an Innocent Fanservice Girl, but she's not fooling anyone.
- Never Got to Say Goodbye: Country Musume member Hiromi Yanagihara died in a car crash. Several members also left unexpectedly.
- New Sound Album:
- Morning Musume tends to swing back and forth from bubblegum pop to more mature music depending on how old the members of the group are. (Currently their style is more heavily influenced by electronic dance music.)
- Several former members have made albums outside the bubblegum J Pop that Hello! Project is famous for. Ai Kago and Mika Todd both made solo jazz albums, Rika Ishikawa and Hitomi Yoshizawa fronted a Darker and Edgier pop punk group called Hangry & Angry, and Maki Goto's solo albums, though still pop, are much Hotter and Sexier than her work in Hello Project groups.
- S/mileage/ANGERME's songs have evolved over the years from being cutesy and childlike, to genki and upbeat, to more mature and cooler.
- For their newest single in November 2015, two of the A-sides have a hardcore rock style.
- No Sense of Personal Space: Yuko Nakazawa was well known for embarrassing the other members of Morning Musume by kissing them unexpectedly (especially Natsumi Abe), though it's not so much that she doesn't have a sense of personal space, it's more that she doesn't care. Sayumi Michishige also had a habit of doing this to Ai Takahashi and Riho Sayashi during concerts.
- Older Than They Look: Don't remind Yuko Nakazawa that she's getting close to 40!
- One Head Taller: A few members, notably Hitomi Yoshizawa and Kaori Iida, tend to stand out amongst the short statures of the rest of the group, especially compared to the likes of Mari Yaguchi. Junjun also had more than 16 centimetres (roughly 6 inches) on Reina Tanaka.
- Yurina Kumai of Berryz Koubou towered over the majority of Hello! Project with a height of 176cm. Or is it 178? She's freakishly tall for a teenage Japanese girl, let's just leave it at that.
- Volleyball player and Olympian Motoko Obayashi, who is 182cm, released a single under the name "Deka Moni" (Huge Moni). While not officially under Hello Project, the single was produced by Tsunku and included a cover of Mini Moni's "Jankenpyon".
- Inverted by Mini Moni (Mari Yaguchi, Ai Kago, Nozomi Tsuji and Mika Todd, then Ai Takahashi replaced Yaguchi when she left.) Their gimmick was that they were all no more than 150cm (about 4ft 11 inches) tall when the group first came together.
- Similarly inverted by the 4'11" Ayumi Ishida.
- One-Letter Name: W. Also known (fortunately) as Double You.
- Otaku: Hardcore Fanboys, called wota, collect special edition CDs and merchandising (photobooks, calendars, etc.), and try to go to as many concerts and "handshake events" as possible. At concerts they wave glowsticks or perform elaborate cheering and dancing routines called wotagei.
- Overly Long Name: One of the subgroups is Morning Musume Tanjou 10nen Kinentai (lit. Morning Musume 10 year Celebration Group). There's also Athena & Robikerottsu and Taiyou to Ciscomoon (later changed to T&C BOMBER.)
- Pimped-Out Dress: Common in concerts (especially graduation concerts, where the departing girl's dress is more pimped out than any of the others') and music videos.
- Pretty in Mink: Kaori Iida plays it very straight in the PV for "I WISH" where she wears a fur coat. Some of the costumes in the PV for "Renai Revolution 21" are also fur lined — Kei Yasuda's includes a furry stetson.
- Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Although she's short, Takahashi Ai has shown in several ways that she can be an awesome girl.
- Tamura Meimi can also count as this. While she normally acts cute, whenever she's performing/singing/acting, her voice will noticeably change and she can belt out really strong notes, and often (depending on her role/the feel of the song) gains a badass attitude.
- Playboy Bunny: Viyuden's Aisucream to My Purin.
- Precious Puppies: The video for "Hey Mirai" by Morning Musume.
- Pungeon Master: Iida Kaori, Maeda Yuuka.
- In Kaori's case at least, they're usually pretty bad.
- Pyrrhic Victory: A personal one for Tsunku. After his laryngeal cancer came back, he had his vocal cords surgically removed. To reiterate, he had to sacrifice his voice in order to fight his cancer. As a result, he can never speak again.
- Revolving Door Band: The staple of how the group keeps going, through auditions and graduations.
- Rock Me, Amadeus!:
- Rubber Face: Niigaki Risa.
- The Runner-Up Takes It All: In 1997 Tsunku ran a competition to find a new rock vocalist that was won by Heike Michiyo, he later decided to create an all girl group made up of the five runners up and challenged them to sell 50000 copies of their first single with only five promotional events, they managed it in four and Morning Musume went on to be incredibly successful.
- Sailor Fuku: Matsuura Aya wears one in the video for LOVE Namida Iro.
- Morning Musume '15 wear blazer-style uniforms in the "Seishun Kozou ga Naiteiru (Another Ver.)" PV.
- Screams Like a Little Girl: Granted, half of them ARE little girls, but still...
- Subverted by Takahashi Ai- when surprised, she screams in a low voice.
- Subverted by Takahashi Ai- when surprised, she screams in a low voice
- Screw Politeness, I'm a Senior!!: Used comically by Yasuda Kei's Granny character in the "Until the Bus Comes" part of Hello Morning Theatre
- Season Finale: Hello! Morning. Also, most members and some units get graduation concerts.
- Ship Sinking: Shippers for Matsuura Aya and Fujimoto Miki got sunk when Miki got married.
- Shrinking Violet: Yasuda Kei used to be a frequent victim of this. After she graduated, Ogawa Makoto took her place.
- Singer Namedrop: Morning Musume do it near the end of "Love Machine".
- Smoking Is Cool: Kago thought it was.
- Softer and Slower Cover: For S/mileage's musical "SMILE FANTASY", Wada Ayaka sang a solo rendition of the group's song "Ama no Jaku". The original is very upbeat and cutesy, and considered a Tsundere song given the lyrics, but in the musical, it's slowed down, accompanied with soft piano and strings, and Ayaka's tone and expressions make the meaning of the song much sadder.
- Spelling Song: Mini Moni's Kazoue Uta is about counting in the bath in Japanese and English.
- The same song had a Date version.
- Mini Moni also had a song that listed all the Japanese Prefectures and their respective Capitals- in fact Mini Moni's songs were aimed at young children, so many had an educational message of some kind. This was more important during their stage shows.
- The same song had a Date version.
- Spell My Name with an S: Most of the Coconuts Musume members were from Hawaii, therefore they had English names (April, Danielle, Lehua). There's also Viyuden (or Biyuden, Viyuuden, Biyuuden, v-u-den, etc). Junjun and Linlin are nicknamed as such because the management thought it would be too hard for fans to pronounce. Li Chun became Junjun and Qian Lin became Linlin.
- Stage Names: Tsunku's real name is Terada Mitsuo. Li Chun and Qian Lin are Junjun and Linlin respectively, Honda Ruru was RuRu, and Miyoshi Chinatsu's real name is Tani Rumiko. Tsuji Nozomi changed her surname to Sugiura upon marriage, but she has stated that she will continue to use Tsuji. Similarly, Iida Kaori has continued to use her maiden name professionally. Ice CreaMusume's names are all nicknames.
- Stalker with a Crush: Tenshin Mukai appears as this on variety shows acting like this towards Yaguchi Mari, which in one case culminated in a prank where Mari found herself Alone with the Psycho while trapped in a Stalker Shrine.
- Strictly Formula: While each group's songs are very diverse in sound and vocals they usually all follow the Verse/Chorus/Verse/Chorus/Interlude Of Music/Repetition Of Last Chorus formula
- Third-Person Person and Verbal Tic: 20-year-old Tanaka Reina usually refers to herself in third person (actually a common practice in Japanese culture), and occasionally splices her given name into everyday phrases, with results like "Ganbareina!", "Otsukareina!" and "Shitsureina!".
- Token Mini-Moe: Not so token, most members of the major groups début at around 13 years old, some of the Eggs started at 10.
- Token Minority: The Chinese (and half-Chinese) members, the Koreans (Jang Dayon and Shimmin) and Coconuts Musume (all American, save for Ayaka).
- Tomboy: A few. Most notable is Yoshizawa Hitomi, who really played this up- in some Okajo segments she was even referred to as 'top boy' (Rika was top girl, see Shipping).
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: Any shipping with Yossi tends to pair her with a very feminine girl like her best friend Rika.
- Took a Level in Badass: Michishige Sayumi of Morning Musume on an episode of Music Fighter.
- Too Many Belts: A recurring part in Morning Musume's costumes.
- Translated Cover Version: Morning Musume's "Summer Night Town" was covered by Coconuts Musume in English.
- Ice Creamusume redid a few Morning Musume songs in Chinese.
- Kusumi Koharu's Koi Kana was covered in Finnish.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: Fujimoto Miki towards Matsuura Aya: observe. However it really went both ways and they are actually best friends. Similarly Yoshizawa Hitomi and Ogawa Makoto and Yaguchi Mari and Ishikawa Rika teased one another quite harshly at times.
- Except for the first version the lyrics of Joshi Kashimashi Monogatari sometimes have an element of this as each verse from version 2 on is sung by the person it's about with other members of the group chiming in at the end.
- Vocal Tag Team: "Joshi Kashimashi Monogatari," and many more. Special mention should be made of the track "Why" on 3rd -LOVE Paradise-, in which the lead vocal changes every syllable.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?
- Snakes?: Yoshizawa Hitomi.
- Reptiles?: Yaguchi Mari is not a fan.
- Birds?: Ishikawa Rika is afraid of birds and feathers.
- Bananas?: Nakazawa Yuko hates them.
- Balloons?: Iida Kaori really doesn't like them, especially when they pop.
- Widget Series: As far as the majority of people outside Japan are concerned.
- Would Hit a Girl: As noted above, Iida Kaori found herself on the receiving end of this trope, especially when Morning Musume appeared on Utaban.
- Okamura Takashi also invoked this against Yaguchi Mari, but unlike Iida she was willing to hit back.
