According to a Sanspo article a new Morning Musume promotion unit called Muten Musume will release a single titled Appare! Kaiten Zushi.
According to Tsunku the unit was made to spread the sushi culture around the world. The unit consists of Morning Musume members using the following characters and names for promotion of a sushi chain in Kansai:
Aiai (Takahashi Ai), Risarisa (Niigaki Risa), Erieri (Kamei Eri)
Sayusayu (Michishige Sayumi), Reirei (Tanaka Reina), Ikaika (Mitsui Aika)
JJ (Jun Jun), Lili (Lin Lin)
As you may remember it was thought that the song Appare! Kaiten Zushi was the 44th single, but surprisingly it turns out that it was an entirely different single for promotion of a sushi chain (as suggested by some fans when a preview for it was released).
I am very surprised (to say the least) about this news since I didn’t really think that the song preview we heard from a sushi bar could be a different release by a new promotional unit, but I’m really glad to see that they are doing this unit since I would have never guessed that UFA would release a Momusu song at sushi bars without any announcement and allow it to basically promote itself (like Berryz or C-ute) before announcing the news of a new “unit”.
It seems like a great move from UFA since it gives Momusu some extra promotion before the release of their single, and even though we now have almost no information at all about the 44th single it was a nice surprise apart as well as a clever marketing move.
Hopefully this signals the beginning of an entirely different promotion plan from UFA since this announcement of a promotional unit along with S/mileage and Mano’s unique promotion strategies (PV with a movie director and an OG in the PV) seem to suggest that UFA are finally trying out new tactics, but like always we will have to wait and see if they work when the singles are released.
That being said the outfits that Muten Momusu are wearing all look interesting since half of them are wearing military styled green suits (Jun Jun, Sayu, Mitsui and Kamei) while the other half are wearing polka dotted dresses (Risa, Ai, Reina, and Lin Lin) which give them an interesting balance and look for the song.
The chibi anime characters that were also released in the article were apparently designed based on each members favorite food (I would say sushi related but Lili’s watermelon outfit or JJ’s banana outfit don’t make sense), and for the most part it’s a cute way to add to the “completely different group” concept that Tsunku chose for the “unit”.
As we found out a while ago the song is somewhat upbeat and now that we can see the outfits and the concept of the group I have to agree that it combines well with the idea, and since we have only heard the song from recordings at the sushi bar I do hope we can hear a radio rip eventually along with any other possible promotion releases sometime soon (a PV would be great).
Overall this was a nice surprise since we are getting two different Musume releases in the following months and while we now have no idea what to expect for the 44th release it is great to find out a possibility as to why the 44th single was pushed back to November.
The release date is set for 10/27.
Sanspo Article About Muten Musume
EDIT: Here is a translation from the Sanspo article announcing the new unit (translation by Nouciel):
On the 28th it was announced that a new song that has been playing in the sushi chain based in Osaka “Kura Corpo”, has become a hot topic in the internet, and will appear on a CD. Music producer Tsunku (41) was in charge of “Appare Kaiten Sushi!”, which will go on sale on October 27th. To spread the sushi culture around the world a new female idol unite will be born, called “Muten Musume”. (You can expect them, but) who could be the members!?
Japan wants to tell the world about one of their prides, food culture, with a song! This big concept was known since the 13th, where the song “Appare Kaiten Sushi” started to be played in the Kura Corpo stores.
♪ osushi ga naze suki ka, otona ni wakarukai? zarya sugu taberarete, sugu ni manpuku…
An up-tempo song, with friendly lyrics/phrases, is featured for the chain based in Osaka. It’s a friendly song for people from adults to children.
On every Kura Corpo store, people were asking things like “What is that song?”, “Who is singing it?”. And it became a hot talk on internet as well. The name of the mysterious unit has been revealed and it’s “Muten Musume”.
With the “pressure” (in a good sense) of the voices that talked about the song so much, and the girls wearing veil, it’s been decided that a CD will be released. There’s still 2 months to go until it goes on sale, but the members/reality of the unit has been revealed. Wherever you listen to the singing voices (of that song), since the group’s name has “Musume” in the end of it, it means it’s produced by Tsunku, and that it’s related to the popular idol group Morning Musume.
This project came to life since the very beginning of this year. The sushi chain shop is related to/depends on producer Tsunku. His “treasured child” Momusu is excluded from this promotion, and it’s been decided that it will “Muten Musume” who does all the (promotional) activities (related to this song).
Featuring the favourite food of the 8 members of Morning Musume, new characters have been created/designed, they’re attached on this article [see below]. Each of them has been designed in anime style A karaoke clip of the song has been uploaded in the website of the sushi chain shop. Leader AiAi, Takahashi Ai (23) said enthusiastically “As Muten Musume, we’ll be helping to spread around the world the culture of Japan’s own sushi”.
Since the release of Shibugakitai’s hit song “Sushi kui nee!”, it’s been a long time since a “sushi song” has been created. Momusu will build up a new boom.
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