Minorikawa Otome Dan Season 1: (top,l-r) Miwa-chan, Mackey, Teddy (bottom,l-r) Su-san, Satou-buchou, Amore Season 2: (top,l-r) Cherry, Shaggy (bottom,l-r) Obachan, Stay Season 3: (top,l-r) Teddy, Mackey, Satou-buchou, Su-san (middle,l-r) Shaggy, Konno-kun, Cherry, Miwa-chan (bottom,l-r) Oiden, Leo, Izabu The Minorikawa Otome Dan ran for just over a year on Gakkou e Ikou, and is probably still my favorite segment. The title of the segment roughly means "Minorikawa Girl's Troupe" (Minorikawa being the real name of Gakkou e Ikou host Mino Monta), and refers to a group of, well, "girly" middle school and high school boys gathered by V6 to perform dramas of various sorts. It all started on one segment of Miseinen no Shuchou when V6 met two girly middle school boys. One of them, later known as Teddy, delivered a somewhat odd and rather feminine kokuhaku that involved jumping merrily and a whole lot of flailing. The second, later known as Mackey, actually went along with a plot from the girls in his class, who dressed him up in a schoolgirl's uniform. Mackey fooled everyone, as he was not only a very believable schoolgirl, but a very cute schoolgirl. He's simply very very pretty. From Mackey and Teddy, V6 added four other favorites from Miseinen no Shuchou to create the first season of the Minorikawa Otome Dan. Over its run, the Minorikawa Otome Dan performed scenes from TV shows and movies, a stage production of Cinderella, an action movie based on Charlie's Angels, and even a national commercial for strawberries. While most of the laughs came from their truly odd performances, their too-cute cross-dressing, and their general unmanly behavior, this segment was actually very heartwarming. Even though their acting was usually hysterical and sometimes horrible, the members of the Otome Dan always took their performances seriously, working very hard to do their best job possible. Likewise, although V6 often laughed a the over-the-top results, they treated the projects like one of their own, offering encouragement to the members and getting nervous for them before performances. It's the very serious way that V6 and the Otome Dan members treated a slightly silly segment that made it truly priceless, and made you want to cheer for them. Member Profiles | Otome Dan Gallery Season Summaries Season 1: From the initial duo of Mackey and Teddy, V6 added Miwa-chan, Amore, Su-san, and Satou-buchou, all favorites from the Miseinen no Shuchou segment. The group elected Satou-buchou to be their odd little leader, and set out to create a musical troupe to perform a musical. But as Satou-buchou couldn't dance to save his life, they changed into an acting troupe and were dubbed the "Minorikawa Otome Dan". During the first season, as V6 held hysterical auditions for more members to be added, the Otome Dan polished their acting abilities by performing scenes from famous Japanese dramas from the '80s. Their rendition of the schoolroom drama 3-nen B-gumi Kinpatchi-sensei was... memorable to say the least. During these days, the Otome Dan discovered that Satou-buchou could be relied upon to scream even the most slightly dramatic lines, that Mackey was absolutely PERFECT for any role originally played by a cute young woman, and that Su-san was the only one of the entire group who could pull off truckers and gang members. Season 2: After the final auditions with ex-Morning Musume leader Nakazawa Yuko, four new members were added to the Otome Dan: Cherry, Shaggy, Obachan, and Stay. After a retreat where they got to know each other, the group decided on Cinderella as their play to perform at the end of the summer. First the Otome Dan was allowed to request roles. Although most of the members were divided between wanting to play Cinderella or the Prince, Teddy won the coveted role of Stepsister B, while Amore (for reasons still unknown) was thrilled to become the Horse. After auditions, the rest of the characters were cast very predictably as follows: Mackey as Cinderella, Satou-buchou as the Prince, Obachan as the Stepmother, Miwa-chan as Stepsister A, Su-san as the Fairy Godmother, Shaggy and Stay as the Royal Retainers, and Cherry as the Mouse. After much practice, the Otome Dan performed to a full house. Although Mackey looked ready to faint from nervousness and Teddy had to save the day when Obachan forgot his lines, it went off with no major problems. Mackey's Cinderella was shockingly pretty in the ballgown, Cherry was the world's cutest mouse, and Su-san provided us with the gruffest, most unamused rendition of "Bibbity-bobbity-boo" the world has ever seen. Shaggy and Stay surprised V6 with an EE Jump dance number, followed by Satou-buchou's surprise 10 minute adlibbed monologue. How he managed to turn Cinderella into a detective story, I just don't know... Season 3: After Cinderella, the members were given a choice to attend the next meeting or leave the Otome Dan. Teddy, Mackey, Miwa-chan, Su-san, Cherry, and Shaggy showed up right on time. V6 was happy with the turnout, but even more relieved when Satou-buchou stumbled in late. (He had shown up early, so stopped for a shaved ice... but then ate it too fast, got a major brain freeze, and ended up late after all.) V6 added Konno-kun, an extremely strange young man they met during a Miseinen no Shuchou segment, and went on another round of auditions for the group. Meanwhile, it was announced that the Minorikawa Otome Dan would star in their very own action movie. Therefore, the members began rehearsing and performing short scenes from action movies, including a Jackie Chan film and "Mission: Impossible". M:I had me absolutely rolling on the floor, it was so well done. Satou-buchou and Mackey pulled off an amazing scene from the end of the movie as Tom Cruise and a stewardess, made better by the fact that A) they did it entirely in English, and B) Mackey made the cutest stewardess EVER. Eventually Oiden, Leo, and Izabu joined the troupe, and after another short retreat, the movie was on. The action movie was an original script called "Chalie's Angels", based loosely on "Charlie's Angels." The basic plot was that three young high school girls had secret identities saving the world while riding their bicycles (as a "chalie" refers to a bicycle). V6 set up some auditions for the main roles by pairing the Otome Dan up and giving them a short scene to rehearse between the Angels' leader and the Student Council Vice-President (who she likes)... only after the Angel's line of "Close your eyes, and I'll give you something", they blacked out the script for improv time. Mackey shocked everyone, including partner Cherry, by kissing him on the cheek. And Izabu proved that he could hold his own against Satou-buchou by slapping him, hard, and repeating the slaps every time Buchou looked like he was going to go off on a random, adlibbed monologue again. In the end, the casting and movie were somewhat predictable, but REALLY hysterical. Leo and Miwa-chan were cast as the Angels with leader Mackey, fighting against the mysterious Mr. Ho (Konno-kun; named after his strange trademark call of "Hoooo~") and Mr. Ho's love interest, sexy teacher Naomi (played by Su-san, based on Konno-kun's sudden and shocking declaration that he was in love with her). Satou-buchou was the Student Council President, who was in love with Mackey, who was in love with the Student Council Vice-President Cherry. Filling out the cast were Teddy (the Student Council Secretary), Shaggy (the Student Council Treasurer), Izabu (schoolgirl from the class), and Oiden (the strange guy with a crush on Satou-buchou). The basic plot went as follows: sexy teacher Naomi comes to school and, as per Mr. Ho's orders, begins turning all of the students into mindless zombies. The Angels figure things out and go to confront Mr. Ho. After a performance of "Mr. Ho" (based on Morning Musume's "Mr. Moonlight") by zombified Teddy, Shaggy, Izabu, and Oiden, Satou-buchou had an impressive fight with Mr. Ho, thanks to some amazing special effects and wire work. Following that, the Angels saved the day, fighting off Naomi, and climaxing in a showdown between Mackey and Mr. Ho. At the end of the day, everyone was saved, Cherry and Mackey got together, and Satou-buchou was left with Oiden. Everyone's happy. ^_^ The filming was hysterical with an all 20th Century staff, including producer Nagano Hiroshi and directors Marsa Sakamoto & Ino Ryumon. It included many precious moments, such as Satou-buchou being flung around in wires, Konno-kun getting a hard elbow for his attempts to hit on Su-san, and the Angels showing off their PVC battle outfits. In the end, the film was shown for a massive crowd of Otome Dan fans. But the day was not entirely bright. Satou-buchou announced the breakup of the Minorikawa Otome Dan, due in large part to Mackey's and Teddy's need to concentrate on their high school entrance exams. Many of the members started crying, including heart-breaking tears from tough Su-san. And so, the Minorikawa Otome Dan became just a happy memory. Bonus: ...almost. V6 asked the Otome Dan to consider one last project, as they were contacted to do a national commercial spot for strawberries. The Otome Dan agreed, and went on to shoot a rather cute commerical that involved the Otome Dan on a field, chasing a giant bouncing strawberry. An appropriate way to end things, I feel... Back | TV Index