was a sub-group of the Japanese idol

girl group A girl group is a music act featuring two or more women in music, female singers who generally vocal harmony, harmonize together. The term "girl group" is also used in a narrower sense in the United States to denote the wave of American female p ...

Morning Musume , formerly and commonly known as and colloquially referred to as , is a Japanese girl group, holding the second highest overall single sales (of a female group) on the Oricon, Oricon charts as of February 2012, with the Oricon record of most to ...

and associated with

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 ...

. It was formed by Up-Front Promotion in November 1998 as Morning Musume's first sub-group. While the main group Morning Musume features predominantly upbeat songs with a fast tempo, Tanpopo featured slower tempo, sentimental and

retro Retro style is imitative or consciously derivative of lifestyles, trends, or art forms from the past, including in music, modes, fashions, or attitudes. It has been argued that there is a nostalgia cycle in popular culture. Definition The term ...

-style songs.

History

The group was founded in November 1998, consisting of three Morning Musume members: Aya Ishiguro, Kaori Iida, and Mari Yaguchi. After the formation, the group immediately released their first single, " Last Kiss," which was used on the anime ''

Sorcerous Stabber Orphen is a Japanese light novel series written by Yoshinobu Akita. It was adapted into manga, two anime television series and a Orphen: Scion of Sorcery, video game. As of December 2019, the novels had over 14 million copies in ...

''. The single has a "sexy" vibe that they used on their second single and first album. However, they created a fresh image when they released " Tanpopo". This new image did not become as popular as the first image they had created. After the release of the group's fourth single, Aya Ishiguro graduated from Morning Musume and left the group. The remaining members continued performing their songs in concerts as ''Generation 1.5'' Tanpopo. In June 2000, Morning Musume 4th Generation members

Rika Ishikawa , is a Japanese actress and model associated with Hello! Project and best known as a former member of the pop group Morning Musume. She was the leader of the Japanese pop idol trio V-u-den until June 2008. She has performed as a solo singer, a ...

and

Ai Kago is a Japanese actress and singer. In 2000, Kago debuted as a 4th generation member of the idol girl group Morning Musume. During her time in the group, she was also part of Mini-Moni and other Hello! Project sub-groups. In 2004, Kago depart ...

joined Tanpopo, making the two-member group a four-member group. The style of their songs changed also when the four released "

Otome Pasta ni Kandō is the 5th single by the Hello! Project girl group Tanpopo. It was released on July 5, 2000 under the Zetima label with the catalog number EPCE-5060. "Otome Pasta ni Kandō" is also featured on the album '' All of Tanpopo'' as the opening track ...

." The style of this song became analogous to the songs Morning Musume had released. They also used this style on their next singles, which became popular and reached the number one spot on

Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics Statistics (from German language, German: ', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that ...

, and their second (and last) album. On July 31, 2002, it was announced that Tanpopo was going to be completely reformed. Kaori Iida, Mari Yaguchi, and Ai Kago graduated from the group and were replaced by Morning Musume 5th Generation members Asami Konno and

Risa Niigaki is a Japanese actress and singer. She was a fifth-generation member of the Japanese pop group Morning Musume. She joined Morning Musume in 2001 along with 3 others- Ai Takahashi, Asami Konno and Makoto Ogawa. She grew up in Yokohama after mo ...

, with Ayumi Shibata of

Melon Kinenbi are an all-girl Japanese Pop music, pop group within Hello! Project. They were formed after they successfully passed the 2nd Morning Musume & Michiyo Heike Imotobun Audition. Melon Kinenbi is the oldest group in the history of Hello! Project not ...

. This newly formed group only released one single before they went on indefinite hiatus. All members except Niigaki graduated from Hello! Project as part of the Elder Club graduation concert in early 2009, rendering the group completely inactive.

Members

First generation

* * *

Second generation

* * * *

Third generation

* * * *

Shuffle

* * * *

Legacy

In 2009, Tanpopo was revived as a

Hello! Project Shuffle Unit was a Japanese idol project group formed by Up-Front Promotion in 2000 and associated with Hello! Project. Beginning in 2000, the Shuffle Unit project was a yearly collaboration among existing Hello! Project acts, where members were recombined ...

under the name , with the new group consisting of

Eri Kamei is a Japanese pop singer and model. She is a former member of the Japanese pop group Morning Musume. She joined in late 2003 as a sixth generation member along with Miki Fujimoto, Sayumi Michishige, and Reina Tanaka. She graduated on Decemb ...

and

Aika Mitsui is a Japanese singer. She is a member of Hello! Project and a former member of the J-pop group Morning Musume, joining as a member of the eighth generation from the audition in Japan during December 2006. Mitsui's audition process was documente ...

of Morning Musume,

Yurina Kumai is a Japanese model and former singer. Kumai began her career as a member of Hello! Project Kids in 2002. In 2004, she debuted as a member of Berryz Kobo, a girl group associated with the musical collective Hello! Project. During her time with ...

Berryz Kobo was a Japanese idol girl group formed by Up-Front Promotion in 2004 and associated with Hello! Project. The group's members consisted of Hello! Project Kids members Saki Shimizu, Momoko Tsugunaga, Miyabi Natsuyaki, Chinami Tokunaga, Maa ...

, and

Chisato Okai (born June 21, 1994, in Saitama, Japan) is a former Japanese pop singer, actress, model, and television personality. She first gained recognition when she joined Hello! Project Kids and later became one of the main vocalists of the Japane ...

of Cute. The sharp symbol was chosen to represent the kanji "井", which is the second character in each of the new members' surnames. The group released songs for Hello! Project's compilation albums ''Champloo 1: Happy Marriage Song Cover Shū'' and ''Petit Best 10''.

Discography

Albums

Singles

DVD

*2004-06-16 –

Appearances

Photobooks

Radio

References

External links

* {{Authority control Japanese girl groups Japanese idol groups Hello! Project groups Japanese pop music groups