Watarirouka Hashiritai 7 announces new single

Ogi Pro strikes again. Just when we thought we'd have seen the last of Watarirouka Hashiritai as a 7-member group.

A 2nd single under the name Watarirouka Hashiritai 7 has been announced, and it is called Mamma, Grazie!. It's in Italian and means "Thank you, Mother". Yes, you read that right. Once again, it is a song for another special day. Previously there was Valentine Kiss for...(what else?) Valentine's Day. Now, this new song is to be a theme for Mother's Day. A fairly interesting song title to say the least, probably to distinguish itself from the other Mother's Day songs out there.

This new song will be a tie-in with a CM for Seven & I (aka the company that owns Seven Eleven in Japan)'s Mother Day campaign, in which only Watanabe Mayu will star in. The song is meant to express emotions, in a "I want to tell mom" kind of way. Seven & I said that they want to let people who usually cannot express their feelings towards their mothers, use the song to say 'Thank you".

For the most part, the song and current info are not what surprises me. It was the fact that it will still be Watarirouka Hashiritai 7 instead of returning to the usual 5 members. During the time when Valentine Kiss was announced, many of the WH members said on their blogs that it would be a temporary arrangement for that single only. Those posts were later deleted(obviously Ogi Pro knew it wouldn't be a smart move to keep those posts if they changed their minds later). It seems the success of Valentine Kiss' sales prompted Ogi Pro to make use of this 7-member formation again.

However, this will likely be the very last time we see WH as 7 members. Iwasa Misaki has already moved agency to Nagara Production, and as such is unlikely to continue any involvement with Ogi Pro. Although the announcement of this single is after she has moved agency, the single and its contents were probably produced prior to the move. This would mean the content is still owned by Ogi Pro and they can still release it as planned.

In any case, why is Watarirouka Hashiritai 7 doing yet another event song? Do themed songs sell better? Maybe, since it will get more airtime on radio closer to the event date. Valentine Kiss did indeed sell well but we don't know what was the bigger cause: The extra two members, or the fact that is was an event song. Keeping with this strategy, perhaps we might see a single in the near future about Labour Day or Father's Day.