11 comments on “Morning Musume 20th Anniversary Official Book Interviews: Sayashi Riho

  1. Thank you Henkka, the best post to end the year. So much going on in this post,I almost felt like tearing up a bit lol. So humble for an idol with such monstrous ability

    I remember the 1st time I noticed Riho it was the 2011 Morning Musume Spring Concert and there was this little girl singing her ass off in between Takahashi Ai and Nigaki Risa during the Moonlight Night unit performance. I remember thinking who the hell is this girl with this crazy ass lung power and confidence to just stand between two legends like that. I just knew instantly that she was the real deal and destined for greatness. 9 years later and I would legit put Sayashi Riho in my top 5 centers ever ranking, that’s just how dominant her career has been

  2. Riho had way too much pressure on her. Imagine having to follow up on Ai-Reina lead MM as center and just being in elementary school and middle school. That’s insane.

    “We were just occupied with trying to somehow keep up. Our seniors had honed their skills and created something perfect, and it was just not going to be okay for the four of us new members to lower the quality of the group. But we didn’t know that. We couldn’t even begin to realize how we might’ve been causing trouble for the group. We were just frantically doing our best every single day.”

    It seems like MM is going down that road again by not adding any younger members to the current lineup as they keep becoming more polished and stronger in their performance skills. I’m kind of worried that future gens are also going to have this huge pressure on them. It’s odd to me that UFA *knows* about the pressure 9th gen had on them but doesn’t think about it with current MM. Remember, even Riho was still an elementary school student trying to keep up with seniors that were 20+ years old, not too different from the current lineup when they finally add a new gen.

  3. No one could really tell how insecure she was. I remember so many people back then complaining that she came off that she was too cool for everyone else and was a lone wolf. This was really an eye opener, honestly.
    I was never a Riho Wota, but when the interviewer said “I find myself wishing you had figured this out sooner…” I had the same exact feeling. There was a hole in Momusu when she left, that can’t be denied. Some say it still hasn’t really filled back up.

  4. I really didn’t know that Riho thought she had a plain face. She wasn’t my favorite MM member during then, but she was what I considered to be the cutest, looks wise, during her tenure. Maybe it’s the difference in culture…I don’t know.

  5. She was gone too soon.

    Thanks again for all the great translations Henkka! May you be blessed with a most prosperous 2019 and enjoy great enrichment both in family and friends!!

  6. Riho is an interesting individual. Mainly how she perceived things during her idol years and how she does now that she’s 20. I admire her. Learning how she has lot of pride makes me believe she can move forward with her head held high. I’ll wait her return on stage. The Matenrou Show is a wonderful song.

  7. Thanks for this! Riho definitely had a presence and she really drew me in. Her absence was very much felt, and I wished she had stayed in Morning Musume but it sounds like leaving was the right move for her at the time. I pray she achieves whatever she is aiming for in the future.

  8. I thought that Aichan’s graduation would be a watershed moment for the group, one that would find them struggling to carry on. Surprisingly, the day after she graduated wasn’t much different than the day before and Momusu kept chugging on. Riho’s graduation, however, created a hole in the group that only began to be filled when Maa-chan’s performance capabilities started explode.

  9. Imagine unironically actually thinking Riho had a bigger influence and importance than Ai-chan. Yikes.

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