When we last left our heroes, Sugaya Risako had just made a deal with the devil, sucking the Berryz through a wormhole. The mass of Tsugunaga Momoko and Natsuyaki Miyabi was duplicated and went zooming down a separate tunnel (presumably to Buono!).

Strange things happen in this wormhole. Yurina sees a vision, in which she’s suddenly Momoko-sized, and being chased by a 6-foot peach.

But the Berryz’ journey has finally ended…

They now find themselves upon a stage. The Con-Fettis’ cousins, the Feathery Fluffballs, are attached all over their clothes, making sure they cannot escape.

But give the Berryz a stage, and they shall perform!

“I can’t explain it,” says Momoko. “I am feeling the sudden urge to perform a 1970s Eurovision song!”

“I’m feeling it too!” cheers Miyabi.

“But that still doesn’t solve our problem!” insists Momoko.

“Well,” Captain muses, “maybe all these nice kids can help us!”

The Berryz engage in some very silly antics, in the hope that the children will be amused enough to help them.

“I love you!” Yurina pleads. “And if you don’t accept that, I’ll crush you like a bug!”

“I’m cuuuute,” Momoko offers. “And EVIL. Why don’t I play you a charming folk song? And if that doesn’t work, I’ll rip out your spine and beat you with it! Now, what would you like me to play?”

“Watch me play my keyboard, guitar-style! Bet you can’t do that!” Captain says, hoping to wow the children. After all, Captain is awesome.

Risako offers…well, I think we all know what Risako’s offering.

“Like my guitar?” Maasa says. “I’ll give it to you if you get us out of here!”

“You can make jokes about my chin if you get me out of here!” Miyabi says. (That’s a pretty sweet deal, if you ask me.)

“See my awesome?” Chinami says. “I can’t stay here! Look! It’s flying around the room behind you!”

When that doesn’t work, Chinami tries to entice them with her maracas.

(…Dear God, don’t ever let me write a sentence like that again.)

HELP MEEEE - wait, wrong song.

By the end of the song, the children are jumping and clapping. They are willing to help, and call down their Minimoni spaceship left over from their Tsujikago days.

Lights flash as the spaceship descends. The Berryz are saved! But the spaceship is very old - will they get where they need to go? Up next: How fare C-ute in Risako’s evil scheme? Tune in next time to find out! Same Bat-time, same Bat-channel!

Seriously, though, Dschingis Khan is very catchy - almost unbelievably so, considering how strange it is - and fun the PV is wonderfully silly, lame as the whole idea was. The girls goofed off and fooled around, and to be honest, it was so much more endearing than Momusu’s emo stares or C-ute’s recent bout of maturity.

Don’t get me wrong: I’ll never love the Kids more than I love Momusu, and C-ute’s recent growth spurt has produced some great songs, but the Dschingis Khan PV is a bit like the “Chokkan 2″ close-up: they’re being themselves, goofy and quirky though they may be.

Though Maasa is my favorite member, I really haven’t given her much love as of late. Most of my adoration is going to Captain, who is probably my second-favorite member. But this PV reminded me why Captain, even with her dancing skillz and Reinasprouts, will never be able to eclipse Maasa.

It’s true that Saki’s quite entertaining, with her keyboardtar, and she does give a great performance, but she doesn’t exude the coolness that Maasa does here. Maa doesn’t just dance, she makes faces and tosses her head, whips it around and widens her eyes. She’s not striving for just being cute, she’s reaching more for being truly entertaining, and it works so much better than Risako and her pink megaphone do.

Also being better than the frontgirls is Chinami. Chinami’s always been funny, but she really shines here. Comedy is her strong point, and the recent string of sillier releases suits her better than it suits Miya or Risako. (Much as I love them. Really, I do. I’m just mean to them because it’s so easy.)

And really, she’s just so cute.

Squeeing over the members aside, I’m not thrilled about Dschingis Khan. Or Yuke Yuke Monkey Dance. The Berryz are growing up, dammit. Quit putting them in monkey suits. Strangely, despite the fact that they’re older than C-ute, and have been around longer, the Berryz have yet to have a single like “Tokaikko” or “Namida no Iro” - the closest they’ve gotten is probably “Kokuhaku” or “Munasawagi,” maybe “Very Beauty” if you squint and tilt your head to the left. “Jiriri Kiteru” could be grouped in there, I guess, but they were so young when they came out, and those ruffly dresses kind of dampened the effect. Just because Miyabi and Momoko are rocking out with Buono!, doesn’t mean you can forget the rest of the group. The Berryz went from being the favored children to the underdogs of the Kids, and that’s pretty unfortunate. =/ Won’t you think of Maasa, UFA?