Mini Moni

Infobox musical artist
Name = Mini Moni
ミニモニ。


Img_size = 197
Img_capt = Mini Moni, 2003.
Background = group_or_band
Alias = Minihams, Minimoni to Takahashi Ai
Origin = Tokyo, Japan
Genre = Japanese pop
Years_active = 2000–2004
Label = Zetima
Associated_acts = Morning Musume, Tanpopo, Coconuts Musume, W (Double You), Baka Tono-sama to Mini Moni Hime
URL = [http://www.helloproject.com/ Hello! Project.com]
Past_members = Ai Kago
Mika Todd
Nozomi Tsuji
Mari Yaguchi
Ai Takahashi

nihongo|Mini Moni|ミニモニ。|extra=also known as Minimoni., mini-moni., etc. was a subgroup of J-pop girl group Morning Musume. They were one of Morning Musume's most popular subgroups for their entire existence, because of the combination of their outrageous music videos and live performances, their vocal harmonies, and their widely varied musical styles.

Information and history

The group was founded in late 2000 by Morning Musume member Mari Yaguchi, who had an idea for a subgroup whose members were height|m=1.5 in height or shorter. Yaguchi, and Morning Musume's songwriter and producer Tsunku, selected two of Morning Musume's newest members, Ai Kago and Nozomi Tsuji, for the new subgroup, and the trio began performing in concerts as Mini Moni. American-born Mika Todd of Coconuts Musume was later added into the group to give the group "an international flavor", and Tsunku made them official. Their debut single, "Minimoni Jankenpyon!", was a #1 hit.

While Mini Moni was initially directed towards younger listeners (in spite of the fact two of the members, Yaguchi and Todd, were in their late teens), they also had an older fan base consisting of older Morning Musume fans (especially of Yaguchi, Kago and Tsuji) and the parents of the younger Mini Moni fans.

The quartet released several singles in 2001 and 2002, and most of these tracks were compiled into their first album "Minimoni Song Daihyakka Ichimaki". The album's musical styles spanned wildly from track to track, defiantly incorporating such diverse styles as blues, electronica, march music, jazz, reggae, and horn-driven 60's soul music.

The group's almost anarchic presentation would also carry into some of the group's television appearances, many of which are circulated online, especially amongst the band's non-Japanese cult audience; these antics have included: Kago playfully saying "big doo-doo" (in English) in response to a Japanese TV interviewer's question (a bleeped version of the clip has been misidentified as "Kago says fuck you"); band members collectively grabbing the buttocks of a female assistant backstage at a concert (dubbed by some Western fans as the "Mini Moni Ass Grab", in parody of the song title "Mini Moni Bus Guide"); and an Utaban appearance where Kago slugged Yaguchi in the crotch while Yaguchi was in the middle of a sentence (which was actually a Morning Musume appearance for the song "Souda! We're Alive").

Simultaneously with their single releases, the band became the subject of a series of short cartoons of their own, "Yarunoda Pyon!", in which they supplied their own voices. They also contributed their voices to the "Hamtaro" cartoon series, in which hamster versions of Mini Moni are featured. The group recorded two songs especially for "Hamtaro" under the group pseudonym MiniHams.

In 2002, Mari Yaguchi graduated from Mini Moni to take on leading the subgroup ZYX, one of the first Hello! Project groups to incorporate the Hello! Project Kids (including a couple of then-future members of Berryz Kobo and °C-ute). Another Morning Musume member, Ai Takahashi took Yaguchi's place, while Mika Todd, as the oldest member of the current lineup, took over as the band's leader. That same year, all five members of Mini Moni filmed the movie "" ("Mini Moni The Movie: The Great Cake Adventure"), part of the storyline of which, in the context of the movie's fantasy setting, "explains" how Yaguchi ended up leaving Mini Moni to begin leading ZYX and how Takahashi ended up in the band.

They started to have a more mature, modern R&B-heavy sound to their music with the single Crazy About You, a style the group explored more heavily on their second album "Minimoni Songs 2". However, their silly side was also well represented on the album with two more songs they contributed to "Hamtaro" as MiniHams. Former member Yaguchi also appears on three cuts, two of which previously appeared on the "Okashina Daibouken" soundtrack. They also starred in a mini-series called Mini Moni's The Brementown Musicians starring Takahashi, Tsuji, and Kago; Mika made brief appearances in two episodes.

The group disbanded in May 2004 after the graduation of Mika Todd and the release of one final single, "Lucky Cha Cha Cha!".

Post-Mini Moni Careers

* continued as sub-leader of Morning Musume after she left Mini Moni, and she also formed the short-lived unit ZYX with four members of the Hello! Project Kids. In April 2005, she resigned from Morning Musume and embarked on a solo career under the Hello! Project banner.
* is currently living and studying music in Los Angeles, and she occasionally travels to perform with her father, jazz pianist Johnny Todd. She released a self-titled solo EP in 2005 that has been available only at her rare live performances.
* and nihongo|Ai Kago|加護亜依| graduated together from Morning Musume in August 2004 to form a new unit, W (Double You), under the Hello! Project banner. Kago was suspended in February 2006 and then terminated in March 2007 after a series of tabloid scandals, she came back on April 6 but no longer under the Hello! Project banner. She is currently shooting a movie in Hong Kong. Following Kago's suspension, Tsuji continued as a soloist in Hello! Project until May 10 2007 when she announced that she was engaged to actor Taiyou Sugiura and already two months pregnant with his child. She is currently on personal leave from Hello! Project, but she may resume her career after having her baby. On November 26, 2007, Tsuji gave birth to a girl named nihongo|Noa Sugiura|杉浦希空|Sugiura Noa.
* continued as a member of Morning Musume, and she is the current leader of the group. Her distinctive vocals have been more prominent on their last several singles and on their albums "Ai no Dai 6 Kan", "Rainbow 7" and "Sexy 8 Beat".

Mini Moni in American media

In February 2006 Mini Moni's name was invoked on American television (NBC's "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno") during a skit claiming that one of Leno's house band members had started out as a member of Mini Moni; a manipulated picture of the Leno band member with Mini Moni (in their outfits from the cover of "MiniMoni Songs 2") was aired as part of the sketch. [ [http://www.cultofpop.com/?p=225 Cult of Pop - Leno and Minimoni] ]

In June 2007, an excerpt from an early 2001 appearance by Mini Moni on "Hello! Morning" of a prairie dog turning his head suddenly, became the basis for the Internet phenomenon The Dramatic Chipmunk. [cite web |url=http://youropiniondoesntcount.blogspot.com/2007/06/origin-of-chipmunk-clip.html |title= Origin of the "Chipmunk" clip|accessdate=2007-07-04 |author=Langdon Alger |authorlink= |coauthors= |date=2007-06-24] [cite web |url=http://tvinjapan.com/blog/2007/06/23/breaking-dramatic-chipmunk-from-japanese-tv-show-hello-morning/ |title=BREAKING: Dramatic Chipmunk - From Japanese TV Show Hello! Morning |accessdate=2007-07-04 |date=2007-06-23] A parody of the Dramatic Chipmunk clip, including lookalikes of Mini Moni, appears in Weezer's music video for their 2008 single "Pork and Beans". The real Mini Moni did not appear because of licensing issues and their lack of recognition in America. [cite web|url=http://minimonimania.wordpress.com/2008/05/23/mini-moni-meets-weezer/|title= Mini Moni meets Weezer|accessdate=2008-05-25|author=Kawaiirrhea |authorlink= |coauthors= |date=2008-05-23]

Discography

Albums

Singles

References

External links

* Hello! Project.com: [http://www.helloproject.com/artist/23/ Official profile] , [http://www.helloproject.com/disco/23/index.html Official discography]
*