AMomonofu said:

^^^^ Chiyuhoko and I really want to say something but we just can't...... No flame war pls?

What do you mean by flame war?

The only Western group nowadays even comparable to Momoclo would be something like One Direction, and that's saying a lot.
A part of why we love them is because they're different!

Chiyuhoko said:

What we (AMomonofu and I) mean by flame war is that we don't want people to go all nuts, in which I don't want to point fingers at anyone. I mean anyone could get angry and start some sort of argument that would take up 3 pages. I have a "nice" friend who is a hardcore momoclo fan who threw my chair across the room when she saw your comment. Which makes me think some people might get offended :I
I should have taken this somewhere else. sorry ;-; I probably started the argument huh......

You didn't start it. Mm305 has been beyond annoying for a while now. He's the one starting all this nonsense. If I could throw my chair across the room, I would've done it too...but it's too god damn heavy. What can I say, I like to browse the Internet in a confy antique armchair that weighs more than me, so I found myself limited to a factual response that doesn't even come close to conveying my level of annoyance :)

TBH I listen to Momoclo because they are different from whatever pop groups you have in the West. To me, instead of boring and predictable like many other groups, their music is erratic and exciting. They also have much more of an all-out (全力) or give-it-all-you've-got (一所懸命) image than any Western act that I know of. In that sense, they are inspiring as well as fun to listen to or watch on DVD. Prior to listening to Momoclo, I had not encountered any other group that could do that. So no, I would not say they are extremely similar to Western pop groups.

Of course, in the end, you'll have to figure out for yourself what you like about them.

Their songs, their original performances, their charismatic characters and images, their energy

May be they are not great singers, but they are interesting singers with different intonations in their vocals that each member use

Mattthecat said:

I remember an instance when they made fun of kwkm Kanako said "Hey don't complain - you made us the way we are" :)
Granted no one knows how much of that is real and what scripted (at least to an extent)

This is interesting...how much is scripted and what is real? I think that maybe in the beginning that they were given more of a stage persona, but over the years they have become who they have. How their initial assigned role made them what they are today and how much it is just them growing up - we will never know. But they seem genuine and that's a big part.

For me, there were a few reasons for becoming a fan. First and foremost it was the non-specific genre, there were different styles and sounds to each song - not just the house beat, chanty, chorusey sound of certain other groups. Again, this is really a management/production decision though. So is it really the management/production that makes the group? (PLEASE don't throw any chairs)

The other part is the that they are just trying their best with what they have - from humble beginnings in the park, right. It is that underdog story that people enjoy seeing. How the underdog succeeds against all odds - has the highs and lows, but ends up on top and deservedly so through hard work and dedication

I also appreciated the fact that this wasn't a constantly rotating group with graduations every year. And the non-gravure part of course (dang I put it in there, chairs are flying again and we're gonna start bickering again!!)
:O

Mattthecat said:

In Momoclo's case it's a perfect combination of music and entertainment.
And maybe most importantly a feeling of not being marionettes - cute little girls who do what the (male) producers tell them to.

I've been thinking about this for a while, and I realized that this is one thing where Momoclo really seems to stand out compared to almost everyone else (except the other Stardust groups maybe). Even with groups that are often considered more "artist-like", such as Perfume or Babymetal, I get the feeling that the personality shown by the group is essentially that of the producer. The members could really have been anyone and the show would essentially be the same. H!P was similar too before, with everything basically being an expression of Tsunku. In Momoclo though, I think the creative vision is a lot more influenced by the members' identities; the best songs seem specifically designed for these girls, and they work a lot of things that the girls say into random parts of their videos or concerts. I think this is why no one really seems to be able to do a very satisfactory cover of songs like Kaitou Shoujo - the spirit of that song just can't be conveyed properly by most other people. Because of this Momoclo are actually a lot closer to artists than almost any other idol group imo; they might not actually create the product, but they seem to influence it all more than other groups do.

As for why I like Momoclo, the core reason is that I like the compositions; they are every bit as good imo as what those categorized as "artists" produce, and are in fact probably better than most (then again, they are made by artists, so I guess it makes sense). I've always objected to the idea that artists are somehow on a higher level of quality than idols, as the difference to me is mainly in the creative process and business model. From what I've heard, there seem to be lots of uninspired and boring artists, and there are also idols who have excellent, creative music. I think that before, largely thanks to the 48G, idols basically got no respect for their music because everyone thought the only way to success was to just focus on getting people to obsess over one of the girls, and no one bothered to try to make interesting music from an idol group. Momoclo was one of the groups that led the charge in a different direction, and (EDIT: oops, I somehow lost the end of this sentence) they're quite special to me for that.

Finally, I wanted to mention that while I never really considered Momoclo to be good singers before, I'm really impressed by how much better they've gotten. They actually have some really expressive lines on the new albums, and they also seem to be way more consistent live than many other idol groups that are often considered to be better performers (looking at H!P here :P). I'd actually consider them some of the better singers in the popular idol realm now.

Chiyuhoko said:

I swear if this becomes another discussion.

Could someone please get the priceless antique chair out of this room?
Just to be on the safe side :)

Chiyuhoko said:

MM305 said:

What I'm trying to ask here is that if singing/dancing talent does not factor into your love for Momoclo, then why are you a fan? What factors made you become a fan of MCZ if singing is not one of it?

I swear if this becomes another discussion.

What do you mean by "another discussion?" Like another thread asking the question "Why are you a MCZ fan"?

What I'm asking right now is based on what the fans who answered the question titled on this thread said about how it doesn't matter to them if Momoclo are excellent singers or not. And this question is me wondering if singing skills doesnt factor in your love fo MCZ< then what does?

MM305 said:

What I'm trying to ask here is that if singing/dancing talent does not factor into your love for Momoclo, then why are you a fan? What factors made you become a fan of MCZ if singing is not one of it?

personality