[A Week with Sayu] Emote! NOW - Morning Musume's Best Shot Vol. 1 'Do it! NOW' PV Review

All thoughts and opinions within this post are completely my own. You do not have to agree with me, I do not expect that of anyone, so disagree with me if you please, just don't be a snarky arse in the comments and act self-righteous. Ta.

It has been a while, and I apologise. I won't go into full explanation mode because 1) that would be boring and 2) this is not the time or place for that, so for now just accept the apology given if you wish, and we shall begin~

*The Overview/Review that you will read is a post created with Michishige Sayumi in mind, as opposed to other members featured in the video that I will be looking at. Whilst I will try to point out other small factors of what has been watched, please do keep in mind that main focus is Sayumi and Sayumi alone. Thank you.

*About this Series: I originally debuted this series in 2013, with the impending graduation of Tanaka Reina at the time as my inspiration. My intention with this serious is very much written in the same vein, with Sayumi as a focus in various PV's so that I can take a closer look at how she has grown as an Idol from way back when up until this point in time. With this in mind, I will be looking at past and present works featuring Sayumi that I may have ignored, never known about or loved before now. I do hope that for this series, there will be a mixture that will allow me to see the progress of Sayumi as an Idol.

The End of the World as we know it is drawing near, dears, or at least for a good chunk of the fandom that we are a part of. Why is that, you ask? Well, because a certain someone, a leader of a group I rather enjoy, is graduating, and given her popularity within said fandom, it does somewhat feel like the world is ending, though that won't be the case.

Well, I hope it won't. The most I expect is a lot of crying (even on my part) and some posts on Facebook. Oh and praise for her. Lots and lots of praise, all from her h8rs... praising that she's left, that is. The latter, I know will happen. DON'T DENY IT!!!

Anyway, when I realised that Dooms Day was pretty much smacking itself in my face, I knew what I had to do - in fact, I planned to do this about two months ago, but never got around to writing any of it due to the issues of settling into University and then assignments throwing themselves at me, so alas I waited until days before - and so, I have returned to write for Chayu/Sayu, whatever you may call her, with a week of Appreciation. I am excited, it has to be said! What else can you expect from a blogger who has not blogged for so long?

So yes, I'm back to doing [A Week with...], much like I did for Winky last year (holy cow, it's been that long!?) but this time, it's SAYU!!! And seriously, why not do this? I enjoyed it thoroughly with Winky last year, it allowed me to appreciate her a lot more actually, so I'm going to do it with Sayu as well! I have a few things in mind review-wise, but honestly, it was hard to find a starting point for this series, because I've done Shabondama already, right? Seriously, what can I do?

And then I remembered that Best Shot vol. 1 existed. Thank you, UFP!!!

In all seriousness though, when I told myself that I couldn't re-use Shabondama for this week of Sayu loveliness, this was actually the first PV I thought of to use because I had, at some point, seen it somewhere back in the days when I absolutely binged on the song Do it! NOW. At that time this was my favourite song from Morning Musume, and I still rather love it actually, but I remembered seeing some god-awful costumes and a few very very young looking 6th generation members dancing and singing to this song, so went in search of it.

Well, I found it, and it's just as I remember it, 'cept now I'm going to pretty much screencap the hell out of it for my own personal enjoyment, and to also celebrate the cuteness of Sayu in her early days as an Idol! Seriously, I bet she's adorable! I mean, it was only shot like, what, 10 years ago, back in 2004?

She's gonna be fucking adorbs, like always! So, sit back and relax everyone, because it's time to watch our little Sayu, back in the days of what had been, in all of her sweet little glory.

Enjoy~

Dat fashion...
Dat Font!

UFP back in the day, ladies and gentleman!

ARRRGH, SATAN!!!

... Wait... THAT'S SAYU!!!! THE FUCK HAPPENED, GURL?

Oooh, look, A TURTLE!!! Can I adopt her?

Granny Sayu: "Urrrgh, me back, me back is killin' me..."

God DAMN, what sexy moves they be pul

Okay, this is looking a little too Japanese-Horror-Movie-esque for me right now... o-O

Sayu: "I will rip your fuckin' throats out and feed 'em to the future Kyuukies..."

Oooh look, its Reina back when she was cute!

Sayu: "Finally, camera time!!!"

Er, Sayu? Camera's over here, sweety...

Well, someone looks emotional...

Dude, even our friendly neighbourhood turtle has captured the art that is EMOTION!!! Learn from this, Sayu!

Can we just take in how lovely our little Turtle looks!? Damn, she's adorable!

Sayu: "... Why is life so... bleak...?"

Glad to see you're trying with this whole 'emotion' thing here, Sayu.

Sayu: "Ah, sexy shoulder~ This is a sexy shoulder~"

Welp, that's a start on the emotional front. Keep working on it, kid.

... You're a lost cause to me right now -head, meet desk-

Winky: "Oh, ouch, groan, all this emotion... it's KILLING me..."
Sayu: "Tanaka, I swear to Lord Satan himself, I will CUT YOU if you speak during my solo time again, you hear me!?"
Turtle: "Whooo, swing my arm back and forth!"

Winky: "Psssh, Bitch, you ain't got nuthin' on me!"

Let's just take in how fabulous the Wink-meister was, back in the day.

Emotion: Do it!

NOW!!!

Sayu: "I'm a starfish!"

Okay, did the cameraman just suddenly get really fucking drunk or was this intentional?

I like Turtle in this, but damn... her close-ups sometimes scare me o-O

Wave hello to the dead-eyed lady, Timmy! Who the fuck is Timmy!?

Jeebus Cripes, I prefer you as you are right now -__________-

ALL THE PREFERENCE!!!

Sayu: "... I give up."

Yeah, I gathered as much.

Winky: "Damn, I look good!"

I see Turtle's going to a concert and Sayu is practicing her bashing some skulls into rocks technique already. Nice.

Turtle: "ROCK ON, JAPAN, WHOO!"

Y'know, for someone with the emotional range of a teaspoon, at least you have pretty cute ears.

Welp, at least I have the Winking Yankee to keep me entertained!

Winky: "BOOYA, YO!!!"

And holy fuck, isn't she cute! Why did she grow up?

Okay, freaky fucking still here, but in a creepy way, doesn't Young Sayu look a little like Iikubo Haruna or Sayashi Riho here? Yeah, I thought so.

Still... CREEPY AS FUCK! -gets out crucifix and proceeds to hiss-

ARGH, WHAT THE FUCK, TURTLE!?

Why are there 3 of you!? Not that I mind but... gah!

This actually looks like a set-up for some yankee's ready to kick Turtle's ass... I already see Sayu walking over there, fists at the ready!

Turtle: "Come at me, bro!"

MEGA-AWESOME-TURTLE-CLOSE-UP-POWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEER!!!

... But yeah, I legit believe that Kamei's the prettiest one of them all at this point.

Actually, she was the prettiest at all points to me.

Winky: "Emotion..."

I'm only using this still cos it's cute.

Turtle: "Do it..."

This ones for consistency, plus, TURTLE!!!

... And this one because, ffs, it's Sayu, even if she looks the same as she does in every fucking close-up we've seen so far.

For fucks sake, SAYU!

That said, I finally found the single most adorable shot of Sayu in this entire PV. Aside from dancing Sayu, that is.

Still, finally!!!

... Okay, this is a tad fucking creepy.

Turtle and Winky are totes over your shit emotional range, Sayu. In fact I think Turtle's ready to kick your ass.

... Holy shit, I think this beats out Creepy Sayu!!!

That is going to fuck with my dreams tonight, y'all o-O

And yet, Sayu still gives no fucks, to either the threatened beating or the Grudge-esque horror sequence that was Winky.

YANKEE'S ON TOUR, PEOPLE!!!

Sayu: "... Everyone is beneath me..."

Well, aren't you a positive one!

Still, she has managed to once again managed a cute look, though once again, it is a rare glimpse...

I seem to think of her as Pokémon, or at least her expression is that of a Shiny Charizard card...

Sayu: "I still give no fucks."

Oh, we know.

Winky: "One day, I will rule of Morning Musume, and I shall be the star..."

Sadly, we also know this, too.

Oh good lord, those hairstyles...

Watching these old music videos, it does make me wonder why their stylist thought the pineapple/palm tree style was... well, stylish...

Good thing Turtle got away with having a good hairstyle.

Aaaaaaand I legitimately think she is going to kill me! Great!

Death glare a la Sayu, everyone.

Quick! Have some sweet Turtle Face to cleanse your souls!!!

How about some Yankee Spirit to clear your thoughts of Sayu's evil!?

That said, I do believe she is at her cutest here when she's dancing. Mini-Sayu's concentration face is adorable!

Yankee's, UNITE!!!

... Well now, that was certainly... surprising. Yeah.

The fuck?

I think we're going in role-reversal here; where I preferred Winky back in her early years, you know, back when she was a great singer (barely scraping decent in her later MoMusu years, if you ask me) I seem to be a tad more scared or even wary of Sayu in her early days as an Idol. Honestly, judging from this video, I would not have pegged her to become one of the popular ones in her later days; I actually would have thought that of Kamei, who is freakin' beautiful here and so heavily promoted (which is quite surprising, actually), whilst Sayu would be the one I ignored completely.

But seriously, Sayu freaked me out in this because there is such a lack of emotional range that I have never really seen in any Idol, not even Maeda Atsuko or even Brick-Wall Paruru, and yeah... that's honestly fucking weird to me. That said though, there were moments of cuteness, mostly when she seemed to be concentrating on choreography as opposed to concentrating on staring down the viewers via death-by-stare. So many times I thought I would die, yet luckily, I have survived. STILL!!!

Okay, so aside from how freaked out I am by Sayu (it is weird to be freaked out by her because, damnit, she's so cute!!!) I do actually enjoy this PV, despite how stark and bad parts of it are to me. Firstly, I do actually enjoy the choreography itself for this, mostly because you can see how hard the girls are working here, especially Sayumi; she isn't as fluid or experienced as either Kamei or Reina, and you can see that, but when she's working on her dance moves you just see how much effort she's putting in to get it all correct and to basically keep up with her fellow generation mates, and yes, that's completely and utterly sweet of her if you ask me, and one of the saving graces of this PV for her. You can see how much of a hard worker she is in it, and despite her being the weakest of the bunch, she definitely stands out for her moves by sheer effort and, weirdly enough, the clunkiness of it all. Simply put, it's bloody endearing and I like it. Moving on.

Actually, I like them all in this video, mostly because I think it shows that pre-debut kind of look that is so raw and unpolished, but still pretty fun to look at... aside from scary emotionless death-glares, that is. I mean with Kamei, you get glimpses of her own emotion, but then shots of a dead-eyed Kamei too (which is also freaky) but you also see the glimmer of talent there that she has, and how much she enjoys what she's doing. And then there is Yankee Reina, who is an absolute joy in this, and yes, I'm being honest here. I love her level of professionalism compared to the others here, she just fits the song completely and immerses herself in it - she's the best of the bunch in terms of talent if you ask me. If Kamei's the beauty, Sayu the project, then you can bet your bell's that Reina is the talent! Also, she's cute here. I miss Pre-Glitter Winky so badly, it kinda hurts. Sigh...

All of the girls have their own little piece of charm in this, but given the focus is on Sayu here, I will go back to her - it's undeniable how weak she is in this video, and honestly if I had been a fan at the time she came in, with the mindset I have now yet no knowledge of her, I would actually wonder why she was there. Okay, I would not doubt Tsunku's ability to pick good members, but seeing her here as she was, pretty talentless and equally emotionless, I would have wondered what purpose she would serve in the future; would she become a killer singer, a wonderful dancer? Would she be a personality? Actually, the personality part I would have doubted greatly, because of how bored and stiff she looks here: No personality shines through, so that's ruled out. I would have wondered a great deal probably, but considering I know of the Sayu we have and love (and hate) today, I already have the knowledge that she is a great personality with a poison tongue, vanity and a bit of superiority complex. Back then though I would have been curious, possibly even overlooked her in favour of Kamei, because let's be brutally honest here; Kamei is the prettiest of the bunch, and based on her emotional range of a teaspoon, Sayumi would have ranked my least favourite.

Yet now, she is one of the most expressive members of MoMusu, and it's quite startling how much of a change has happened since this video and her final PV.

 Then again, it has kind of been 10 years. But still, that's quite the change.

I suppose looking back at this video, it's great to see that change; Sayu has essentially evolved over the years, she's become an expressive and characteristic Idol, one who has a rather enlightening smile that really accentuates the cuteness and beauty she is so very proud of, something that was not evident during her early years as an Idol. That's a pretty amazing change if you ask me, and to be able to see that evolution of her emotional range is quite fascinating, and it begs the question of: When did it start? I am curious now, and when I look back at a few other PV's it will be interesting to see the rise of Michishige Sayumi through the years, just to see when she did become this adorable bundle of vanity and the point where she shed that emotionless cloak to take on a character/persona we all know today.

Seeing Sayumi as she is here, emotionless but intent on improving herself (mostly in the choreography that is), I find myself intrigued by when she started to find herself as an Idol... much like I was intrigued by Reina's up-rise and eventual downfall in performance level, I am interested in Sayumi's improvement as a personality in PV's. Her portrayal fascinates me, simply put.

Still, I thank my lucky stars that she gained a personality, otherwise I'd be turned to stone from that icy gaze.

Michishige Sayumi, Ice Queen Idol. Forget the poison tongue, it's that stare you need to watch out for!

Chiima~