was a sub-unit of the

Japanese idol An is a type of entertainer marketed for image, attractiveness, and personality in Japanese popular culture, Japanese pop culture. Idols are primarily singers with training in other performance skills such as acting, dancing, and modeling. Idol ...

girl group A girl group is a music act featuring two or more women in music, female singers who generally vocal harmony, harmonize together. The term "girl group" is also used in a narrower sense in the United States to denote the wave of American female p ...

Morning Musume , formerly and commonly known as and colloquially referred to as , is a Japanese girl group, holding the second highest overall single sales (of a female group) on the Oricon, Oricon charts as of February 2012, with the Oricon record of most to ...

and

Coconuts Musume was a Japanese idol girl group formed by Up-Front Promotion in 1999 and associated with Hello! Project. It was promoted as the "girls from Hawaii". After nine years, the group officially disbanded when Ayaka Kimura graduated from Hello! Project ...

. It was formed by

Up-Front Promotion is a Japanese holding company for various entertainment companies. Its subsidiaries include the talent agency Up-Front Promotion and Up-Front Works, a music production and sales company that manages such record labels as Zetima, Piccolo Town, ...

in 2000 and associated with

Hello! Project is a Japanese musical collective consisting of all female recording artists and groups under Up-Front Promotion, a subsidiary of Up-Front Group. The name was initially used as Michiyo Heike and Morning Musume's fan club name in 1999, but ...

. The group was founded by

members

Mari Yaguchi is a Japanese singer, actress, and television personality. She joined the girl group Morning Musume in 1998 as a second generation member and was the leader of subgroups within Hello! Project, such as Mini-Moni, Morning Musume Sakuragumi, and ZY ...

Nozomi Tsuji , known professionally by her birth name (born June 17, 1987) is a Japanese media personality, singer, and blogger. In 2000, she began her career as a singer for Japanese girl band Morning Musume. Tsuji later found success with related groups ...

, and

Ai Kago is a Japanese actress and singer. In 2000, Kago debuted as a 4th generation member of the idol girl group Morning Musume. During her time in the group, she was also part of Mini-Moni and other Hello! Project sub-groups. In 2004, Kago depart ...

, with

member Mika later added as a member. After Yaguchi's departure in 2002, Morning Musume member

Ai Takahashi (born September 14, 1986) is a Japanese singer and actress formerly associated with the Hello! Project and is best known as the leader of Morning Musume and Hello! Project until 2011. She is also a former member of its popular subgroup Mini Mon ...

was added into the group. Throughout their career, Mini-Moni appeared in media aimed at children, having two animated series from 2001 to 2002, variety shows, as well as a 2002 film based on their stage personas titled ''Mini-Moni the Movie: Okashi na Daibōken!''. In addition to that, they also appeared in several ''

Hamtaro ''Hamtaro'', known in Japan as , is a Japanese manga and storybook series created and illustrated by Ritsuko Kawai about a hamster. The manga was serialized in Shogakukan's ''Shōgaku Ninensei'' (''Second Grade'') magazine in April ...

'' movies, performing the theme songs under the name . The group later disbanded in 2004, after Todd left Hello! Project and Tsuji and Kago left Morning Musume to debut in W. In 2009, Mini-Moni was revived as a

Hello! Project Shuffle Unit was a Japanese idol project group formed by Up-Front Promotion in 2000 and associated with Hello! Project. Beginning in 2000, the Shuffle Unit project was a yearly collaboration among existing Hello! Project acts, where members were recombined ...

and concert-only unit under the name Shin Mini-Moni; the group had new members and remained active until 2011.

History

2000–2004: Formation

The group was founded in late 2000 by Morning Musume member

, with the concept of having members and shorter. Together with Morning Musume's songwriter and producer,

Tsunku , known professionally as , is a Japanese singer, record producer, and songwriter. He was the lead singer of the rock band Sharam Q. As a songwriter, Tsunku is the primary producer for Morning Musume and other Hello! Project acts, such as Co ...

, she selected two new members,

and

and the trio began performing in concerts as Mini-Moni.

Mika Todd was a Japanese idol girl group formed by Up-Front Promotion in 1999 and associated with Hello! Project. It was promoted as the "girls from Hawaii". After nine years, the group officially disbanded when Ayaka Kimura graduated from Hello! Project ...

from

was later added to the group. They made their official CD debut with "

Mini-Moni Jankenpyon! / Haru Natsu Aki Fuyu Daisukki! is the first single by Morning Musume subgroup Minimoni. It was released on January 17, 2001 and sold 763,380 copies. It peaked at number one in Japan on the weekly Oricon chart, charting for seventeen weeks. Track listing Members at time o ...

" in 2001, which became a #1 hit. The quartet released several singles in 2001 and 2002, with most of these tracks compiled on their first album ''

Mini-Moni Song Daihyakka Ikkan is the first album of the Morning Musume subgroup Minimoni. It was released on June 26, 2002 and sold 187,470 copies. Track listing All songs are written and composed by Tsunku, with the exception of "Aiin Taishō", which was written by Hiroyuki ...

.'' Simultaneous to their single releases, the band became the subject of a series of short cartoons, ''Mini-Moni Yaru no da Pyon!'', voicing their own characters. They also contributed their voices to a string of movies based on the ''

'' cartoon series, which featured a hamster version of Mini-Moni known as Mini-Hamus. In 2002, Yaguchi graduated from Mini-Moni to take on the leadership of the subgroup

ZYX The Zygii (, ''Zygoí'') or Zygians were described by Strabo as a nation to the north of Colchis. He wrote: ''And on the sea lies the Asiatic side of the Bosporus, or the Syndic territory. After this latter, one comes to the Achaei and the Zyg ...

was added as a member, while Mika Todd, took over Yaguchi's place as the band's leader. That same year, all members of Mini-Moni starred in the film '' Mini-Moni the Movie: Okashi na Daibōken!'', a fictional account explaining the change in members. Afterwards, Mini-Moni released " Crazy About You" and later the album ''

Mini-Moni Songs 2 is the second album (excluding soundtrack albums) of the Morning Musume subgroup Minimoni. It was released February 11, 2004 under the Zetima label with the catalog number EPCE-5265, and peaked at number 11 on the Oricon sales charts. Track list ...

.'' They also starred in a mini-series called ''Mini-Moni de Bremen no Ongakutai'' starring Takahashi, Tsuji, and Kago; Mika Todd made brief appearances in two episodes. The group disbanded in May 2004 at

's graduation concert, following the release of a final single, "

Lucky Cha Cha Cha! is the twelfth and last single of the Morning Musume subgroup Minimoni. It was released on April 21, 2004 and sold 34,398 copies. It peaked at number six on the Oricon Charts. Its title track was used as the theme song to the miniseries ''Minim ...

2018: 20th anniversary reunion

On 12 February 2018,

TV Tokyo JOTX-DTV (channel 7), branded as is a Japanese television station that serves as the flagship of the TX Network.Morning Musume '18 members Ayumi Ishida and Reina Yokoyama.

Members

(2000-2003) *

(2000-2004) *

(2000-2004) * Mika Todd (2000-2004) *

(2003-2004)

Legacy

In June 2007, an excerpt from a November 2000 episode of ''Mini-Moni Chiccha'' (their segment on Hello! Project's variety show ''

Hello! Morning was a weekly Japanese TV show featuring members of Morning Musume, and sometimes other Hello! Project members on TV Tokyo. It was also known by the shorter name of . On April 1, 2007, the show ended after seven years of broadcast. A new show fe ...

'') of a

prairie dog Prairie dogs (genus ''Cynomys'') are herbivorous burrowing Marmotini, ground squirrels native to the grasslands of North America. There are five recognized species of prairie dog: black-tailed prairie dog, black-tailed, white-tailed prairie dog ...

suddenly turning his head became the basis for the Internet phenomenon the

Dramatic Chipmunk Dramatic Chipmunk is a viral Internet video. The video is a five-second clip of a prairie dog (erroneously referred to as a chipmunk) turning its head while the camera zooms in and dramatic music is played. Origins The clip became widely kno ...

. A parody of the Dramatic Chipmunk clip, including lookalikes of Mini-Moni, appears in

Weezer Weezer is an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1992. Since 2001, the band has consisted of Rivers Cuomo (lead vocals, guitar, keyboards), Patrick Wilson (drums, backing vocals), Brian Bell (guitar, keyboards, backing ...

's music video for their 2008 single "

Pork and Beans Pork and beans is a culinary dish that uses pork and beans as its main ingredients. Numerous variations exist, usually with more specific names, such as '' fabada asturiana'', '' olla podrida'', or American canned pork and beans. American can ...

Shin Mini-Moni

On 26 May 2009, Yaguchi posted on her blog discussing how the head producer of Hello! Project,

, had contacted her asking for permission to bring the group out of hiatus. Tsunku confirmed on his own blog that Mini-Moni would be revived as a

with an entirely new line-up, announcing then-

Smileage , formerly , is a Japanese idol girl group from the musical collective Hello! Project, which originally consisted of four former Hello! Pro Egg (''Hello! Project'' trainees) members that left Egg in 2010 and became full-time members of ''Hello! P ...

member

Kanon Fukuda , known professionally as , is a Japanese singer. She is a former member of ZOC, Hello! Project idol group Angerme and Shugo Chara Egg!. Career Early years with Hello! Project On April 4, 2009, Tsunku announced a new girl group consisting of ...

as the first member. He later announced then-

member

Linlin Qian Lin (born March 11, 1991), better known in Japan as , is a Chinese singer. She is a former Morning Musume member and leader of the Hello! Project sub-group Shin Minimoni. She was announced to be joining as the eighth generation of Morning ...

as the group's leader, with then-

Hello Pro Egg (formerly known as until January 2012) is a pre-debut training group established by Japanese entertainment agency Up-Front Group within Hello! Project is a Japanese musical collective consisting of all female recording artists and gro ...

trainees

Akari Takeuchi is a Japanese singer. She is a former second-generation member and the leader of the Japanese idol pop group Angerme. Biography Akari Takeuchi was on November 23, 1997, in Saitama, Japan. In 2008, Takeuchi joined Hello! Project as a Hello! Pr ...

and

Karin Miyamoto is a Japanese singer. She is a former member of Juice=Juice, an all-female pop group within Hello! Project is a Japanese musical collective consisting of all female recording artists and groups under Up-Front Promotion, a subsidiary ...

as the final two members. The group, rebranded as , released songs for Hello! Project's compilation albums ''Champloo 1: Happy Marriage Song Cover Shū'' and ''Petit Best 10''. The group was also active as a concert-only unit until 2011.

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

Soundtrack appearances

Filmography

Television

Films

Video games

*''Mini-Moni: Dice de Pyon!'' (

Konami , commonly known as Konami, , is a Japanese multinational entertainment company and video game developer and video game publisher, publisher headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, Chūō, Tokyo. The company also produces and distributes trading card ...

, 20 March 2002,

PlayStation is a video gaming brand owned and produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), a division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. Its flagship products consists of a series of home video game consoles produced under the brand; it also consists ...

) *''Mini-Moni ni Naru no da Pyon!'' (

Bandai is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational toy manufacturer and distributor headquartered in Taitō, Taitō, Tokyo. Its international branches, Bandai Namco Toys & Collectables America and Bandai UK, are respectively headquartered ...

, 26 September 2002, PlayStation) *''Mini-Moni: Shaka tto Tambourine! Dapyon!'' (

Sega is a Japanese video game company and subsidiary of Sega Sammy Holdings headquartered in Tokyo. It produces several List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises for arcade game, arcades and video game cons ...

, 19 September 2002, PlayStation) *''Mini-Moni: Step Up Pyon Pyon Pyon'' (Konami, 12 December 2002, PlayStation) *''Mini-Moni HapiMoni: Mika no Happy Morning chatty'' (

Shogakukan is a Japanese publisher of comics, magazines, light novels, dictionaries, literature, non-fiction, home media, and other media in Japan. Shogakukan founded Shueisha, which also founded Hakusensha. These are three separate companies, but ...

Game Boy Advance The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console, manufactured by Nintendo, which was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, and to international markets that June. It was later released in mainland China in 2004, under the name iQue Game Boy Advanc ...

) *''Mini-Moni: Onegai Ohoshi-sama'' (Game Boy Advance)

Notes

References

External links

Official discography on the Up-Front Works site
{{Authority control Japanese pop music groups Japanese girl groups Musical groups established in 2000 Japanese idol groups Hello! Project groups Minimoni Musical groups from Tokyo Video games based on musicians Band-centric video games Video games based on real people