Buono! -- Shugo Chara ED hits #3 on the Charts

"Honto no Jibun" ("True Self"), the ED for the new anime Shugo Chara, has entered the music charts at #3, with sales of almost 9000 units. I've been captivated by the song since I first heard it, and it now appears that a lot of people in Japan feel the same way. I think it's the best idol-pop I've heard.

The song is performed by Buono!, a new three-person group made up of members from the young-teen idol groups °C-ute and Berryz Koubou. Shugo Chara itself is a highly entertaining Saturday-morning shoujo magical girl anime that has some character depth.

Buono! is made up of (l-r) Suzuki Airi 鈴木愛理 (13) from °C-ute and Natsuyaki Miyabi 夏焼雅 and Tsugunaga Momoko 嗣永桃子 (both from Berryz Koubou and both 15). From the PV, they seem to have been chosen for their singing rather than their dancing, but they are competent dancers, anyway. And their voices work extremely well together, in my opinion.

Here are the Honto no Jibun PV, a live performance (to show they can sing without technical assistance), and the animated Shugo Chara ED on YouTube.

Buono!, Berryz Koubou and °C-ute are all from Hello! Project, the organization that produces the continuing series of older-teen idol groups called Morning Musume. This is the heart of the Japanese teen idol machine. This time, they seem to me to have produced some good music.

Here are Buono's home page and Wikipedia page. Here are the Wikipedia pages for Hello! Project, Berryz Koubou and °C-ute.

UPDATE: On Wednesday, the song was at #3, Thursday #5, Friday #8. Next Wednesday, we'll see where it ended up for the week. The daily rankings are from a small group of stores, the weekly rankings from a larger group.

UPDATE 2: There are some high-quality streamed versions of Buono! videos on stage6.divx.com, including: (1) the first public performance, in what looks like an open-air shopping mall; (2) the PV; (3) a closed-studio performance for Hello Morning; (4) a closed-studio dance version; and now (5) a TV live performance, with a big audience. They basically do the same dance routine in every one, gradually getting better at the whole performance as they go along. The audience at the TV live went wild, with some reason.

Here is a YouTube video of the Hello Morning performance. The other versions are there, too.