Is anyone else disturbed how her solo career was allowed to just dry up and be discarded?
I remember in early 2002... I told myself I would NOT buy into anything unless it had a Certified member of MM in it. I just couldn't afford it and it was getting to be a pain to remember all these damn names. So I ignored Matsuura, Melon girls, stopped buying Minimoni stuff...
And here comes another Tsunku find with another song. First reaction: shoulder shrug. Second reaction: hey, she's kinda pretty. I was on dialup in those days and my friends used to burn disc after disc of downloaded stuff, including TV performances by this Fujimoto girl.
Well, I wasn't about to start buying all her CDs but I certainly didn't ignore her either. In time, I bought all her videos cause she was just a dynamo on screen. Tsunku was smart enough to give her decent material and marketing.
I also liked how she was linked with Ayaya: the two solo forces of H!P conspiring to make you keel over due to an overload of cuteness/babeness/whatever... Those Moero Manner DVDs... man, they were such a good team; made more special by their status as budding solo artists. And capped by a kick-ass show opener at the NHK Kohaku that year (with Gen 4/5 in tow).
Now I don't even see Mikitty hanging out with Ayaya anymore.
I think it's one of the reasons I'm compelled to go out and FINALLY buy all the Mikitty stuff I didn't get in 2002 cause I was too poor or too cheap, especially her videos. It harkens back to a time that I guess we'll never see the likes of again.