Morning Musume Concert Tour 2009 Aki -Nine Smile-

This is a good Morning Musume concert with all nine girls in peak form and a tracklist filled with many of their best recent songs, plus a few that we don't hear often enough (e.g. "Genki+"). I especially liked their rousing renditon of "Kimagure Princess," my favorite MM song from the last two years. The main concert portion lasts 95 min. and includes such highlights as recreations of Sakura Gumi doing "Sakura Mankai" (with three of the original performers included--Ai, Risa and Eri) and Otome Gumi doing "Yuujou~Kokoro no Busu ni wa Naranee!~" (with two of the original performers included--Reina and Sayumi); an Eri solo (backed by Aika); an Ai and Reina duet; a Risa and Koharu duet; a Chinese-language version of "Ame no Furanai Hoshi de wa Aisenai Darou?" led by JunJun and LinLin; a four-song "Coupling Medley"; and a new version of "Joshi Kashimashi Monogatari." The emphasis is on the graduating Koharu Kusumi, the sole 7th Gen member, and, thankfully, she doesn't do any of her "Kirari" anime songs. At the 96-min. mark (19 min. on the second disc), out comes Koharu in her red-and-black graduation dress to address the crowd, followed by all eight of the rest of MM forming a farewell line. Each girl speaks to her individually and it's quite unusual for its intimacy. It's like we're witnessing private moments between the two, esp. when Koharu and Sayumi embrace for a long time and whisper to each other off-mike. (The "privacy" is also amplified by the lack of subtitles. For the first time in one of these graduations, I feel I'm missing a significant backstory by not knowing what they're saying.) There's a different vibe to this than any other graduation I've seen, partly because Koharu is younger than all but one of the others and newer to the group than all but three. So they're not saying goodbye to their "sempai." Also, Koharu laughs and smiles a lot and doesn't shed nearly as many tears as the others. She cries a couple of times, but never for very long nor with much intensity. It's moving, but not quite the emotional spectacle we saw at other famous graduations (Maki, Nacchi, Aibon and Nono). The whole graduation portion, from start of ceremony to Koharu's final, post-credits appearance before the crowd, lasts 56 min., making it one of the longest graduations in Hello! Project history. (The whole concert is 152 min. and is contained on two discs.)