Ren'ai Hunter (恋愛ハンター; Love Hunter) is Morning Musume's 49th single. It was released on April 11, 2012 in six editions: one regular and five limited editions. The Limited Edition E Niigaki Risa Sotsugyou Kinen Edition includes a Matsuura Aya cover song, titled "Egao ni Namida ~THANK YOU! DEAR MY FRIENDS~", sung by Niigaki Risa.
This is the last single to feature 5th generation member and leader Niigaki Risa, as well as 8th generation member Mitsui Aika, who announced her own graduation a month after its release.
Tracklist[]
Regular Edition, Limited A-D[]
- Ren'ai Hunter
- Watashi ga Ite, Kimi ga Iru (私がいて 君がいる; I Am Here, You Are Here)
- Ren'ai Hunter (Instrumental)
Limited Edition E Niigaki Risa Sotsugyou Kinen Edition[]
- Ren'ai Hunter
- Watashi ga Ite, Kimi ga Iru
- Egao ni Namida ~THANK YOU! DEAR MY FRIENDS~ (笑顔に涙～THANK YOU! DEAR MY FRIENDS～; Tears to Smile ~THANK YOU! DEAR MY FRIENDS~) - Niigaki Risa (Matsuura Aya cover)
- Ren'ai Hunter (Instrumental)
Limited Edition A DVD[]
- Ren'ai Hunter (Close-Up Ver.)
Limited Edition B DVD[]
- Ren'ai Hunter (Dance Shot Ver.)
Limited Edition C DVD[]
- Ren'ai Hunter (Dance Shot Ver.2)
Single V[]
- Ren'ai Hunter (MV)
- Ren'ai Hunter Making Eizou (恋愛ハンター メイキング映像; Making Footage)
- Suki da na Kimi ga (LIVE Ver.) - Michishige Sayumi, Fukumura Mizuki from Morning Musume Concert Tour 2011 Aki Ai Believe ~Takahashi Ai Graduation Memory Special~ (好きだな君が（LIVE Ver.）／道重さゆみ・譜久村聖 モーニング娘。コンサートツアー2011秋 愛BELIEVE～高橋愛卒業記念スペシャル～より)
Event V "Ren'ai Hunter"[]
- Ren'ai Hunter (Niigaki Risa Solo Ver.)
- Ren'ai Hunter (Michishige Sayumi Solo Ver.)
- Ren'ai Hunter (Tanaka Reina Solo Ver.)
- Ren'ai Hunter (Mitsui Aika Solo Ver.)
- Ren'ai Hunter (Fukumura Mizuki Solo Ver.)
- Ren'ai Hunter (Ikuta Erina Solo Ver.)
- Ren'ai Hunter (Sayashi Riho Solo Ver.)
- Ren'ai Hunter (Suzuki Kanon Solo Ver.)
- Ren'ai Hunter (Iikubo Haruna Solo Ver.)
- Ren'ai Hunter (Ishida Ayumi Solo Ver.)
- Ren'ai Hunter (Sato Masaki Solo Ver.)
- Ren'ai Hunter (Kudo Haruka Solo Ver.)
Event V "Egao ni Namida ~THANK YOU! DEAR MY FRIENDS~"[]
- Egao ni Namida ~THANK YOU! DEAR MY FRIENDS~ (MV)
- Egao ni Namida ~THANK YOU! DEAR MY FRIENDS~ (Close-Up Ver.)
- Making Eizou
Featured Members[]
Morning Musume promoting the single
- 5th Gen: Niigaki Risa (last)
- 6th Gen: Michishige Sayumi, Tanaka Reina
- 8th Gen: Mitsui Aika (last)
- 9th Gen: Fukumura Mizuki, Ikuta Erina, Sayashi Riho, Suzuki Kanon
- 10th Gen: Iikubo Haruna, Ishida Ayumi, Sato Masaki, Kudo Haruka
Single Information[]
- Ren'ai Hunter
- Lyrics and Composition: Tsunku
- Arrangement and Programming: Hirata Shoichiro
- Chorus: Michishige Sayumi, Fukumura Mizuki, Sayashi Riho, Takeuchi Hiroaki
- Music Video: Hasegawa Makoto
- Watashi ga Ite Kimi ga Iru
- Lyrics and Composition: Tsunku
- Arrangement, Programming, and Guitar: Itagaki Yusuke
- Chorus: Fukumura Mizuki, CHINO
- Guitar: Kamada Kouji
- Egao ni Namida ~THANK YOU! DEAR MY FRIENDS~
- Lyrics and Composition: Tsunku
- Arrangement, Programming, and Keyboards: Okubo Kaoru
- Chorus: Niigaki Risa
Performances[]
TV Performances[]
- [2012.04.08] Music Japan
- [2012.04.13] Happy Music
- [2012.04.22] J-MELO Spring Fest 2012
- [2012.04.29] Nakai Masahiro no Black Variety
- [2012.05.04] Hirunan Desu Golden Week Special Live
- [2012.08.02] Odaiba Gasshuukoku Mezamashi Live 2012
Concert Performances[]
- Ren'ai Hunter
- Dream Morning Musume Special LIVE 2012 Nippon Budokan ~Dai Isshou Shuumaku "Yuusha Tachi, Shuugou Seyo"~
- Morning Musume Concert Tour 2012 Haru ~Ultra Smart~ Niigaki Risa Mitsui Aika Sotsugyou Special
- Morning Musume Tanjou 15 Shuunen Kinen Concert Tour 2012 Aki ~Colorful Character~
- Hello! Project Tanjou 15 Shuunen Kinen Live 2013 Fuyu ~Viva!~ (part of a medley)
- Morning Musume Concert Tour 2013 Haru Michishige☆Eleven SOUL ~Tanaka Reina Sotsugyou Kinen Special~ (part of a medley)
- Hello! Pro Kenshuusei Happyoukai 2013 ~3gatsu no Nama Tamago Show!~ - Kaneko Rie, Miyamoto Karin, Takagi Sayuki, Tanabe Nanami, Yoshihashi Kurumi, Taguchi Natsumi, Otsuka Aina, Ogawa Rena, Murota Mizuki, Yamagishi Riko, Kaga Kaede
- Hello! Project 2013 SUMMER COOL HELLO! ~Mazekooze!~ - Okai Chisato, Nakanishi Kana, Takeuchi Akari, Katsuta Rina, Tamura Meimi, Takagi Sayuki, Miyamoto Karin
- Tanaka Reina Tandoku Kouen ~ Reina 100%! vol.4 Acro Diva♡ - Tanaka Reina
- Hello! Project Kenshuusei Happyoukai 2019 ~Haru no Koukai Jitsuryoku Shindan Test~ - Kubota Nanami
- SAYUMINGLANDOLL ~GIVE ME MORE SAYU~ - Michishige Sayumi (part of a medley)
- Watashi ga Ite Kimi ga Iru
- Hello! Project Tanjou 15 Shuunen Kinen Live 2012 Natsu ~Ktkr Natsu no FAN Matsuri!~
- Morning Musume '14 Concert Tour Haru ~Evolution~
- Morning Musume '22 25th ANNIVERSARY CONCERT TOUR ~SINGIN' TO THE BEAT~
- For concert performances of "Egao ni Namida ~THANK YOU! DEAR MY FRIENDS", please go to the page for Matsuura Aya's album First KISS.
Event Performances[]
- Ren'ai Hunter
- [2012.07.24] Odaiba Shintairiku Mezamashi Live 2012
- [2020.08.03] Morning Musume '20 Haga Akane・Kitagawa Rio Birthday Event - Kitagawa Rio
- [2023.05.28] RIHO SAYASHI BIRTHDAY Fan Meeting -PLAYGROUND!- vol.2 - Sayashi Riho
- [2023.09.28] Juice=Juice Kudo Yume Birthday Event 2023 - Kudo Yume
- [2023.10.31] OCHA NORMA Saito Madoka Birthday Event 2023 - Saito Madoka
- Watashi ga Ite Kimi ga Iru
- [2017.03.28] Morning Musume '17 Ogata Haruna & Haga Akane Birthday Event - Haga Akane
- [2018.09.03] Tsubaki Factory Asakura Kiki Birthday Event 2018 - Asakura Kiki
Oricon Chart Positions[]
- Daily & Weekly Ranking
| Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat | Sun | Week Rank | Sales |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| - | 3 14,613 |
3 5,769 |
3 6,443 |
1 6,178 |
4 | 4 | 3 | 41,036 |
| 2 1,908 |
19 | 19 | 28 | 24 | 29 | 21 | 20 | 5,927 |
| 27 | - | - | - | - | - | - | 92 | 968 |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 103 | 717 |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 163 | 331 |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 189 | 253 |
- Yearly Ranking
| Year | Year Rank | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 155 | 49,232 |
Total Reported Sales: 49,232
Trivia[]
- This is the second and last single in which Niigaki Risa was leader of Morning Musume.
- Risa Niigaki is the center for this single.
- This is the second single to release a Sotsugyou Kinen Edition, the first being Takahashi Ai's for "Kono Chikyuu no Heiwa wo Honki de Negatterun da yo!".
- This is the last single to feature a 5th and 8th generation member.
- This is first Morning Musume single to release 2 Event Vs.
- The Sotsugyou Kinen Edition contained a special solo song of a past Hello! Project single, sung by Niigaki herself, because of her position of being the "longest enrolled member of Morning Musume".
- Tsunku commented "Ren'ai Hunter" on Twitter himself, saying: "MM's new song is too cool. Will they be able to sing it? It'll be a fight with/for their skills. I wonder if 9th and 10th gen will be able to keep up with the dance for MM's new song."
- This song is believed to be influenced by Dubstep, a European/American genre of music/dance.
- At the end of the MV, Niigaki Risa mouths "Morning Musume, daisuki", which translates to "Morning Musume, I love you".
- This is the third single in which Mitsui Aika is not present in the dance shot due to an injury.
- It ranked #3 in the weekly Oricon Charts and sold a total of 49,232 estimated copies.
- It was the first song in nearly two years to reach #1 on the Oricon Daily Chart. It is also the first daily #1 featuring the 9th and 10th generations.
- The Single V was released on April 18, 2012. It reached #8 on the Oricon charts and sold 2,874 copies.
- For Morning Musume's 15th anniversary, Niigaki Risa commented on the single for a YouTube video.[1]
- As of February 2016, it is the second highest viewed official music video (not counting dance shot music videos) on Morning Musume's YouTube channel with over 5,000,000 views, surpassed only by "Wagamama Ki no Mama Ai no Joke" in January 2014. Overall, it is 1 of 46 music videos for a single that has reached over 1,000,000 views.
- Only Niigaki Risa, Michishige Sayumi, Tanaka Reina and Sayashi Riho receive solo lines in Ren'ai Hunter
Videos[]
Gallery[]
References[]
External Links[]
- Discography:
- Single: Hello! Project, UP-FRONT WORKS, Tsunku.net
- Single V: Hello! Project, UP-FRONT WORKS
- Event V: Hello! Project
- Wikipedia: Japanese, English
- Lyrics: Ren'ai Hunter, Watashi ga Ite Kimi ga Iru, Egao ni Namida ~THANK YOU! DEAR MY FRIENDS~