2008 H!P Review

Okay, so it’s a bit of a bandwagon jump but it helps me get half of my 2008 general review out of the way and means that my own catagories won’t be monopolised by H!P.

Anyway, Amy of Merry Go Round put up a little poll and I gave myself some time to think about it and here are my responses.

BEST

Best Group Single - 
I thought for most of this year that I wasn’t really getting much from my new found fandom, but now that I look back single-wise, this is really hard. It’s a toss up between C\C (Cinderella\Complex), MADAYADE, Pepper Keibu, Edo no Temari Uta II and Renai Rider. I think my vote eventually goes to Edo no Temari Uta II because it’s the song that really made me pay attention to C-ute and C\C (Cinderella\Complex) because that was the smartest special group ever… and I love Yuukarin.
(and if it counts it actually draws with THE Possible’s Ijiwaru Crazy Love because that reminded me of my good old J-pop beginnings.)

Best Soloist Single -
I love Nacchi, but Screen didn’t excite me at all and I haven’t even listened to Aya or Miki’s recent releases. The only soloist I really pay attention to is Koharu (because I’m suicidal… or possibly on drugs) but I don’t vote for Papancake because it took forever for me to actually like it… I abstain from this category as I have no answer.

Best Group Album -
5(FIVE) or COVER YOU. 5(FIVE) made me like Berryz a LOT again, and COVER YOU surpassed all of my expectations… and Johnnie e no Dengon cemented my love for Risa.

Best Solo Album -
Well, there was only one. And that gets my vote because I do love Koharu’s Kirarin stuff for the most part. Plus it had Anataboshi and Tan Tan Taan! on it. Kirari to Fuyu

Best PV -
I wonder how many, if any, will vote for Resonant Blue. Yuke Yuke Monkey Dance… monkey suits, what more could you want?

Best New Group -
MilkyWay hands down. Both of their releases are golden, a-side and b-side, and I can’t help but love them. Kikka’s voice owns, how did she not get into Morning Musume? Oh and F.Y.I - if MilkyWay didn’t exist, Shugo Chara Egg would have won this category.

Best Established Group -
C-ute because I genuinely love them now. Morning Musume need a new original album before I come to a judgement on whether they’re better than their juniors. Berryz Koubou need to… I don’t know  – be better than C-ute?

Best Established Soloist -
This is probably an answer no-one wants to hear. Kusumi Koharu. I like her albums and single and I don’t really pay much attention to the others. Honestly I only really like Ayaya’s earlier songs.

Best Photobook -
Because Amy will cry if I don’t and I don’t really buy/download PBs, I choose 6gatsu no Kajitsu. :D

Hottest Idol of 2008 -
… I don’t know…
Umeda Erika’s getting more attractive, Airi is Airi – as always. Gaki is…
Niigaki Risa.

WORST

Worst Group Single -
Kiss!Kiss!Kiss! because in the end it just wound up boring me. I listen to it rarely and I just don’t really care. Buono! still rock though, and Gachinko and Rottara totally made up for it.

Worst Soloist Single -
Anything by ManoEri!!! Out of the three (though I haven’t heard the third one yet) I vote for Mano Piano - it was a great song… until she started singing! I can’t believe I still have it on my computer!

Worst PV -
FOREVER LOVE. The dance was brilliant, the suits ruled, the set was quite groovy but all it was was bit of dance/random shot of C-ute/bit more dance/another shot of C-ute. It bored me. I still haven’t watched it all the way through.

Worst Vocalist -
Kusumi Koharu. She’s my favourite but even I can admit that she gets a bit much. I absolutely abhored Papancake when it came out because of her voice, I don’t kow quite what happened to make me like it… This is all relative anyway. She’s the worst out of the people I can think of and listen to (therefore excluding ManoEri) but that doesn’t mean she’s the worst and I still love her new album. Did I just backpedal completely or what?
Or that egg from Shugo Chara Egg!!! Her voice is kinda sucky. I don’t know her name. It’s the one in yellow (I think)

Least Attractive Idol of 2008 -
LinLin. I love the girl, she has a kick ass voice and a sunny personality but she’s still a little funny lookin’.

Well that’s my two cents, and I hope my explaination was satisfactory even though I’m still confused about the Worst Vocalist category. Here you go Amy, add this to your results.

1 comment December 29, 2008

ANOTHER Koharu Post!?!

I just can’t help myself now! XD
But it’s an important piece of news!

She’s got herself a third album!

Her, currently untitled, album will be released on the 17th of December at the perfect time for little girls all over Japan to start their Christmas wishlists. And mine.

As usual there’s a regular and a limited edition, I believe the limited comes with a DVD. Limited? me want. I am actually quite amazed by how much I want this – I knew that Koha was my favourite Momusu and that I really enjoyed her solo work, but somehow it turned out that she really really is my favourite. More so than I anticipated.

I think this happened in the space of a day.

Anyway… to pad this post out, here are a few hopes.

• It’s pretty guaranteed/likely that the MilkyWay singles will be on this album. Much like the KiraPika single was on Kirarin Land. Which will increase the awesome by quite a lot
• If the quality is a mix between Mitsuboshi and Kirarin Land I will be epileptic with happiness. Kirarin Land was a very cutesy album which had about two ballads on it and the rest was just hyper-pop weird stuff (In the good H!P type way) whereas Mitsuboshi had a lot more substance. Still had things like Koi Kana and Spaghetti but it had a lot more slow songs in comparison. If this third project has a balance of songs that is somewhere in between the first two albums it will probably be her best yet.
• I hope that I’ll love the whole album… and that maybe it’ll give some people a reason to respect Koha a bit more.

Add a comment October 5, 2008