AX 2009 really stepped up with Momusu

Morning Musume, 'Resonant Blue,' January 2009, Yokohama Arena.

Congratulations to Anime Expo 2009 and their courageous gamble to invite Morning Musume, one of the world’s most famous bands, but one with few direct connections to anime.

Sure, Kusumi and Reina both have done anime voice-overs and music for animes, but for the most part, Morning Musume has always been a standalone act, albeit accompanied on occasion by the rest of the Hello! Project family of all-female singing and dancing troupes.

Morning Musume, also doing 'Resonant Blue,' Wonderful Hearts tour, January 2009, Tokyo.

They’re all great. Morning Musume showed its stuff last Friday in its U.S. debut at the Los Angeles Convention Center’s main performing hall, smashing out 15 songs and destroying forever the idea that such a dazzling ensemble would not be successful on American soil.

But no doubt many of the 50,000 attendees at this year’s event had no real clue who Morning Musume was. They certainly found out Friday afternoon in what will likely go down as one of the pivitol moments in pop-music history.

Next up could be C-ute, in blue, as the American invasion of Hello! Project is almost certain to continue.

UFA, parent company of Hello! Project, and JapanFiles.com. which is now distributing Morning Musume singles and albums online, almost outsmarted themselves, saving a couple rows of VIP seats at the concert. But, clearly, many of these VIPs, many of them Japanese or Japanese Americans, were unfamiliar with Morning Musume.

Boy, were they ever in for the shock of their lives. Hopefully, it was a good shock.

And it happened in the shadow of the Staples Center, where preparations were underway for the Michael Jackson memorial which is taking lace as this post is being put together.

Hopefully, the Anime Expo franchise will get the mileage it deserves out of bringing Morning Musume to America. It was a great experience and something never to be forgotten.

Now, it’s Berryz Kobo’s and °C-ute’s turn. Let’s keep this momentum moving forward.

This is Rad signing off – for now.