was the sequel to the long-running
Japanese
variety show
Variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is entertainment made up of a variety of acts including musical performances, sketch comedy, magic, acrobatics, juggling, and ventriloquism. It is normally introduced by a com ...
''
Hello! Morning
was a weekly Japanese TV show featuring members of Morning Musume, and sometimes other Hello! Project members on TV Tokyo. It was also known by the shorter name of . On April 1, 2007, the show ended after seven years of broadcast. A new show f ...
'', which first aired on April 8, 2007, on
TV Tokyo
JOTX-DTV (channel 7), branded as and known colloquially as , is a television station headquartered in the Sumitomo Fudosan Roppongi Grand Tower in Roppongi, Minato, Tokyo, Japan, owned and operated by the subsidiary of listed certif ...
and later throughout the country. The show was recorded in
HD and starred
Morning Musume
, formerly simply and colloquially referred to as , are a Japanese girl group, holding the second highest overall single sales (of a female group) on the Oricon charts as of February 2012, with the Oricon record of most top ten singles with an ...
members. Each member represented different animals living under the young and mildly despotic ruler of the fictional Kingdom of Haromoni, , whose name derives from the Japanese word for .
The final episode aired on September 28, 2008.
Concept
Haromoni marked a departure from its predecessor and related
Hello! Project
is a Japanese musical collective consisting of all female recording artists and groups under Up-Front Promotion, a subsidiary of Up-Front Group. The name was initially used as Michiyo Heike and Morning Musume's fan club name in 1999, but ...
productions in that it was shot exclusively outdoors and was composed of a series of connected segments. In the first ten episodes, the show followed the form of a relatively cohesive narrative, detailing the weekly accomplishment of a specific task. The tasks generally consisted of delivering a given piece of hardware used in commerce and industry on behalf of King Akachin.
Thereafter, the show focused primarily on several distinct characters, including , , and . Morning Musume members were usually split into two groups who then challenged other
Japanese celebrities to compete in a series of one or more games for each character.
In the episode 'Lying Queen', for example, four Musume members faced off against a celebrity artist in a game to determine which of them was lying about a given subject (past gastronomic experiences, among others). At one point, a third group, consisting of
Koharu Kusumi
is a Japanese actress, model, television personality, singer, and voice actress. In 2005, she became the only seventh generation member of the Japanese girl group Morning Musume, a part of Hello! Project.
While Kusumi was in Morning Musume, ...
and
Aika Mitsui, visited Chinese restaurants and events related to
China in order to learn more about Eighth Generation members
Junjun
Junjun may refer to:
* JunJun, a character from the ''Sailor Moon'' franchise
*Junjun (singer) (born 1988), former member of the all-girl J-pop group Morning Musume
*Hilario Davide III (born 1964), Filipino politician
*Jejomar Binay Jr. (born 1977 ...
and
Linlin
Qian Lin (born March 11, 1991), better known in Japan as , is a Chinese singer. She is a former Morning Musume member and leader of the Hello! Project sub-group Shin Minimoni. She was announced to be joining as the eighth generation of Mornin ...
's home country.
Other challenges included creating an exclusive character design for the
Kirarin Revolution anime series. Members were asked to draw the design for Tsukishima Kirari's pet cat Nā-san's antagonist.
Sayumi Michishige
is a Japanese singer, actress and model. She is a former sixth-generation member and former leader of the J-pop group Morning Musume. Following the departure of fifth-generation member Risa Niigaki on October 12, 2013, Michishige has the longe ...
's
youma-inspired design was chosen from the submitted works.
Segments
From the January 27, 2008 episode until the April 27, 2008 episode, Haromoni@ had consisted of only a "MouTube" segment and occasionally a studio performance.
* Lying Queen (2007-07-29 – 2007-11-25)
* Little King (2007-07-29 – 2007-12-09): This segment features a young child or young children who have special talents. The children show their talents and often challenge Morning Musume in the talent, with Morning Musume being required to complete much simpler tasks. The winner of the challenge is rewarded with a gourmet dessert.
* Hit Jack (2007-08-05 – 2007-09-02)
* Child Gourmet Joker (2007-09-30 – 2007-10-28)
* Collab Musume (2007-10-07 – 2007-12-09)
* Equal Viking (2007-11-18 – 2008-01-20): Morning Musume members and several guests are seated around a circular table upon which certain dishes are placed. The girls and guests must each take a certain amount of food, until it is all gone. Each person's plate is then weighted to meet a certain quota. If the weight does not land within the required amount, the food is taken from them.
* MouTube (2008-01-13 – 2008-09-28): This segment features videos from fans around the world that submitted their videos to Morning Musume. It also features Memory Battles, GakiKame Theater and the Morning Musume members portraying different roles doing different things. The list of portrayals and performances are as follows:
: - Takahashi Ai - Known for portraying
Doi Takako
was a prominent Japanese politician from 1980 until her retirement in 2005. She was the first female Lower House Speaker in Japan, the highest position a female politician has ever held in the country's modern history, as well as the country ...
(a prominent Japanese politician from 1980 until 2005). She mimics her voice and tries to promote things and places.
: - Niigaki Risa - GakiKame Segment, performing hard and impossible tasks, usually requiring multiple attempts to complete. Her most notable task was trying to throw a golf ball into a hole with 302 attempts. Also known for her Korean performances, where she portrays other comedians doing parodies.
: - Michishige Sayumi - As Princess WaiWai, a magician performing Magic Tricks
: - Kamei Eri - GakiKame Segment, performing hard and impossible tasks, usually requiring multiple attempts to complete. Her most notable task was trying to throw a book to fit exactly into the slot with 297 attempts.
: - Tanaka Reina - As Detective Tanaka, a detective that makes people confess their crimes using weird methods.
: - Kusumi Koharu - Atereko Musume (Voice-Over Musume), performing voice over for old videos of Morning Musume members, making it as funny as possible.
: - Mitsui Aika - Known for her incredible memory and challenging Nandemo Kioku Show. No matter how difficult it is, she is able to remember everything thrown to her.
: - JunJun - AirOO (Air Maru Maru) segment. Making the other members guess what she is portraying without any props and only hand actions.
: - LinLin - Chuugoku Fushigi News (China Unbelievable News). As a Chinese News Reporter, she would report weird and unbelievable news from China.
External links
Official website
Official Social Network Service website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Haromonia
Japanese variety television shows
2007 Japanese television series debuts
2008 Japanese television series endings
Hello! Project
TV Tokyo original programming