Tanpopo, formed in November 1998, was the first official subgroup of Japanese pop idolgirl groupMorning Musume. While the main group Morning Musume features predominately upbeat songs with a fast tempo, Tanpopo featured slower tempo, sentimental and retro-style songs. As of 2009, Tanpopo has been revived as Tanpopo#, their latest activity being in 2011 as a three-member unit following Eri Kamei's graduation in 2010. Despite all of the members currently still being in Hello! Project, it is unknown of Tanpopo# will have further activities.
History
The group was founded in November 1998, consisting of three Morning Musume members: Aya Ishiguro, Kaori Iida, and Mari Yaguchi. After the formation, the group immediately released their first single, "Last Kiss," which was used on the anime Sorcerous Stabber Orphen. The single has a "sexy" vibe that they used on their second single and first album. However, they created a fresh image when they released "Tanpopo". This new image did not become as popular as the first image they had created. After the release of the group's fourth single, Aya Ishiguro graduated from Morning Musume and left the group. The remaining members continued performing their songs in concerts as Generation 1.5 Tanpopo. In June 2000, Morning Musume 4th Generation members Rika Ishikawa and Ai Kago joined Tanpopo, making the two-member group a four-member group. The style of their songs changed also when the four released "Otome Pasta ni Kandō." The style of this song became analogous to the songs Morning Musume had released. They also used this style on their next singles, which became popular and reached the number one spot on Oricon, and their second album. On July 31, 2002, it was announced that Tanpopo was going to be completely reformed. Kaori Iida, Mari Yaguchi, and Ai Kago graduated from the group and were replaced by Morning Musume 5th Generation members Asami Konno and Risa Niigaki, with Ayumi Shibata of Melon Kinenbi. This newly formed group only released one single before they went on indefinite hiatus. All members except Niigaki graduated from Hello! Project as part of the Elder Club graduation concert in early 2009, rendering the group completely inactive. In 2009, the Tanpopo name was revived as Tanpopo#, with the new group consisting of Eri Kamei and Aika Mitsui of Morning Musume, Yurina Kumai of Berryz Kobo, and Chisato Okai of Cute. The sharp symbol was chosen to represent the kanji "井", read "i", which is the second character in each of the new members' surnames. Their first song was a cover of Seiko Matsuda's "Akai Sweet Pea", released on the Champloo 1: Happy Marriage Song Cover Shū album. Their next song, "Umbrella", was released on the Petit Best 10 album.
