Together with Morning Musume's songwriter and producer, Tsunku, she selected two new members, Ai Kago and Nozomi Tsuji and the trio began performing in concerts as Mini-Moni. Mika Todd from Coconuts Musume was later added to the group. They made their official CD debut with "Mini-Moni Jankenpyon! / Haru Natsu Aki Fuyu Daisukki!" in 2001,

Members

  • Mari Yaguchi (2000-2003)
  • Nozomi Tsuji (2000-2004)
  • Ai Kago (2000-2004)
  • Mika Todd (2000-2004)
  • Ai Takahashi (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) of a prairie dog suddenly turning his head became the basis for the Internet phenomenon the Dramatic Chipmunk. A parody of the Dramatic Chipmunk clip, including lookalikes of Mini-Moni, appears in Weezer's music video for their 2008 single "Pork and Beans".

Shin Mini-Moni

On 26 May 2009, Yaguchi posted on her blog discussing how the head producer of Hello! Project, Tsunku, 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 Hello! Project Shuffle Unit with an entirely new line-up, announcing then-Smileage member Kanon Fukuda as the first member. He later announced then-Morning Musume member Linlin as the group's leader, with then-Hello Pro Egg trainees Akari Takeuchi and Karin Miyamoto 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

{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;"

|-

! scope="col" rowspan="2" style="width:12em;" | Title

! scope="col" rowspan="2" | Year

! scope="col" rowspan="2" | Album details

! scope="col" colspan="1" | Peak chart positions

! scope="col" rowspan="2" | Sales

! scope="col" rowspan="2" | Certifications

|-

!width="30"|JPN

|-

! scope="row"|

| 2002

|

  • Released: 26 June 2002
  • Label: Zetima
  • Formats: CD

| 4

|

  • JPN: 200,000+

| RIAJ: Gold

|-

! scope="row"|

| 2004

|

  • Released: 11 February 2004
  • Label: Zetima
  • Formats: CD

| 11

| —

|

|-

| colspan="6" style="font-size:90%;"| "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that region.

|-

|}

Singles

{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;"

|-

!rowspan="2" style="width:12em;"| Title

!rowspan="2"| Year

!colspan="1"| Peak chart positions

!rowspan="2" style="width:10em;"| Sales

!rowspan="2"| Album

!scope="col" rowspan="2" | Certifications

|-

!width="30"|JPN

|-

! scope="row"| /

| rowspan="3" | 2001

| 1

|

  • JPN: 800,000+

| rowspan="5" | Mini-Moni Song Daihyakka Ikkan

|

  • RIAJ: Double Platinum

|-

| 2003

| Mini-Moni the TV

| Themselves

| TV Tokyo

| Voice in anime