Bikkuri Project

Don doka don doka don doka don YAY!!! Minimoni post desuuuuuuuuu~~~

Today’s edition of Top 5 Song ranking is all about that plaid-loving, cake eating, ever-pyoning group of shorties known as Minimoni.

5. Mini Strawberry Pie- One of Minimoni’s many “gets stuck in your head” forever songs. I’m not sure how good strawberry pie tastes, but I am comforted by the inclusion of apple later on. The song’s as sickly sweet as it sounds, but it is 100% completely Minimoni, and I love the little “junjunjunjun” sections (JunJun should totally sing this song!). The PV features lots of the girls’ cute animated alter egos. My favorite animated mini is Tsuji with her little fangs. It’s also interesting to consider that, technically, a lot of the lyrics are in English, even if it is only 3 words of English: strawberry, apple, and pie.

4. Okashi Tsukutte Okasuii- Is this post making you crave sweets yet? This unusual song from the Minimoni movie explores the deeper reasons behind the phenomenon of cake possessing qualities of shyness. The results are inconclusive: okasuii (it’s strange), but surprisingly, the song does have some attitude to it, especially the verses. Every single section is catchy and memorable, so its hard for me to pick a favorite part. I do know my favorite part of the PV though: the very very end when Tsuji pops up and whispers “okashi” with such relish. The expression on her face is priceless.

3. Minimoni Jankenpyon!- It would be a crime to leave Janken off of this list, but you probably know all about this song, so instead of a review, a story may it please you. I was at work (I tutor Japanese exchange students), and a girl came in who was planning to visit a local elementary school and teach some Japanese games to the kids. I was helping her put the instructions into English, and one of the games involved handing the kids a red flag and a white flag and playing a bit of a game of “simon says” telling them to raise or lower a certain color. Do you know where I’m going with this yet? If you didn’t know, Japanese for ‘raise white’ is ‘shiro agete’. Similarly, ‘raise red’ is ‘aka agete’. I begun subconsciously humming Jankenpyon without really knowing why, when suddenly light bulbs flashed, trumpets sounded, and fireworks were launched! The verses of the song and the strange accompanying dance! It’s referring to this game, one that every kid in Japan would probably have played! It isn’t as purely random as I thought it was!!! (Please don’t tell me that I am the only living h!p fan who didn’t already know this. That might make me sad).

2. Genki Jirushi no Oomori- I swear I’m not obsessed with the Minimoni movie. I just happen to really enjoy the songs from it is all. This song nearly topped my “songs that get stuck in my head” list, but my strong affection for it is really hard to explain. Sure it’s extremely catchy, but it has something that goes beyond that. Something that makes me find myself singing it all the time for no apparent reason. Something that puts a big goofy smile on my face whenever my mp3 player decides to play it. Maybe if I listen to it a few thousand times more I will understand what it is about this song. It’s the Momoko Tsunaga of songs for me since I find myself equally inexplicably fascinated with her. I do wish we got concert renditions of this song. Is it because the monologues are related to the movie?, because you could modify those you know!

1. Crazy About You- I know that it compl
etely betrays the spirit of Minimoni (Seriousness? Mika wearing an outfit that matches everybody else!?! Unthinkable!), but I can’t help it. I really like the song. Please don’t hate me. Were it sung by any group other than Minimoni, I think that more other people would love it too. If you demand humor in your Minimoni songs, look no further than Takitty trying to pronounce, “No no can’t hurry love. You’re the love of my life”. I will never understand why they didn’t just give that line to Mika, because Ai mangles those words. Going back to the positives, this song has the strongest vocal performances out of all the Minimoni songs, reminding us that although they often sing in cutesy high-pitched voices, all of four of those girls really are talented singers. Since I’m always interested in dances, I should mention that I’m a big fan of this one. The moves for the chorus are just perfect, and the “for you” lines accompanied by the heart beam move ismy favorite part of the song both vocally and dance-wise. So yeah. You now know my secret shame. My favorite Minimoni song is the least Minimoni of them all.

Unrelated note time! I was thinking, we should have h!p “blog of the year” awards. There could be catergories like most creative, best eyecandy, most informative, most thought provoking, funniest, and best overall. Everyone could vote! Wouldn’t that be fun? No, I’m not suggesting that I deserve to win any of these awards (because I really don’t think I do), but it would be a nice way for people who are putting a lot of effort into their blogs to get some formal recognition. There are some problems though. Someone would have to pick the nominees, and I don’t know if anyone is objective enough, I don’t know if people would actually vote, and it would take some work to set it up. Ah well. It’s an interesting thought though, isn’t it?