Bikkuri Project

Last month, I asked Hello Project fans to send me ten votes, to be distributed however they chose among H!p’s considerable song catalog.

Nowvoting has come to an end, and I’m very pleased to show you Part 1 of the results. Don’t get too excited though. I’m saving the best for Part 2.

First, some info on the voters.

Total Number of Participants: 124 (and 1,240 votes)

Countries Represented: USA, Australia, Canada, Philippines, Switzerland, Malaysia, United Kingdom, Finland, Poland, Norway, Netherlands, Brazil, China, Peru, Denmark, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, Lithuania, Mexico, Sweden, and Japan.

If you participated and you don’t see your country listed, it’s probably because you didn’t tell me what country you are from, but if you let me know, I’ll add it to the list.

Gender Breakdown: 55 Females, 31 Males, 38 Not Reported

% of Votes By Category: I tried to make a graph, but it looked too messy with so many categories.

• Morning Musume 45.9%
• Berryz Kobo 10.7%
• Buono 7.4%
• C-ute 6.9%
• Other (one-shot units, etc.) 3.3%
• Summer Shuffles 3.1%
• Matsuura Aya 3.0%
• Gumis (Sakura and Otome) 2.6%
• New Shuffles (revived groups and High King) 2.5%
• W 1.9%
• MiniMoni 1.7%
• Melon Kinenbi 1.4%
• Tanpopo 1.2%
• S/Mileage 1.2%
• Goto Maki 1.0%
• Guardians 4/Shugo Chara Egg 1.0%
• Kirari (and Milky Way) 0.8%
• Fujimoto Miki 0.7%
• VUDen 0.6%
• PucchiMoni 0.6%
• Mano Erina 0.6%
• GAM 0.5%
• Country Musume 0.5%
• Nakazawa Yuko 0.2%
• T&C Bomber 0.2%
• Coconuts Musume 0.2%
• Abe Natsumi 0.1%
• Iida Kaori 0.1%

As you can see, Morning Musume wins it by a large margin. However, keep in mind that those votes are spread out over a lot more songs than the other artists have.

For the song ranking, I have decided to make two videos showcasing the Top 40 songs. Where there were ties in pure number of votes, the song with more people voting for it (as opposed to less people using multiple votes) was ranked ahead. For a couple cases in the Top 40, two songs still had the same score, so I just left it as a tie.

So here is part 1 of the results! Numbers 40-21. I used different clips than I did in my own countdown. I’ll have the video for 20-1 as well as the full results in my next post. Enjoy!

What do you think?

~Celestia~

EDIT: Ack! I can’t believe it, but I made a small mistake in the numbering. Very Beauty and Yume to Genjitsu should be tied for #32.

I haven’t been writing much about the recent happenings in the h!p world lately. Starting with the disappointing and working up to the fantastic.

CUTE-

Oh Cute. I used to like them so much. I still do, but lately I don’t like a single thing they’re putting out. “Bye Bye Bye” was okay for me. Not their best, and the PV sucked, but I enjoyed the early 90’s sound because it reminded me of the music I listened to growing up. Then came a cover song. Bleh. Then “Everyday Zekkouchou”, a total snooze fest. And then, “Shock” which officially surpasses “Lalala Shiawase no Uta” as my least favorite  C-ute song ever. It’s not the fact that it’s pretty much an Airi solo. It’s the weird and disjointed melodic lines. Not pleasing to the ear at all. And from the album previews so far, I’m hearing a bunch of boring mid tempo ballads. There’s nothing I like much except maybe Maimi’s solo.

If Cute keeps up with crappy song after crappy song, it’s going to be hard for me to like them anymore, no matter how adorable Airi is. And by the way, I hate Maimi’s haircut. Sorry, but it makes her look like she belongs in Johnny’s.

MORNING MUSUME-

Okay, first of all, I think “Onna ga Nande Mezatte Ikenai” is total fail on all levels. It’s not catchy, it’s not special, it’s not interesting. The costumes are dated, the PV involves my least favorite idol PV cliche (putting on makeup), and the B-side is totally forgettable. I kind of like the meaning of the lyrics, but that’s it. Frankly, I am not surprised that sales look weak so far. Morning Musume was on such a high with “Shougani” getting number 1 and “Nanchatte” achieving their best sales in years. Then there was “Kimagure”, which I personally liked, but I can understand why it wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea. At least it was different. At this point they could either hold off on a new single until Tsunku could come up with something fantastic, or they could quickly release a sub-par single and totally kill what was left of their momentum. Guess which they did? I just hope that the new album is good.

S/Mileage-

I’m totally behind this new group and their upcoming official debut. Recently I’ve been listening to “Suki-chan” all the time. If I hadn’t finished my countdown list before it came out, you can bet it’d be on there.

Berryz-

How is it that C-ute keeps getting such poor songs while Berryz is getting enough good material to put out a slew of double A sides? Not only that, but all of them have at least one really good song. ‘Rival’, ‘Watashi no Mirai no Danma-sama’, and now ‘Otakebi Boy WAO” all make my frequently played list, and the other songs aren’t bad either. No surprise that their sales are on the rise, while certain other groups are showing the opposite trend.

Also, I loved watching them do Special Generation dressed as fish, complete with flaily fish-like dancing.

Buono-

I am totally IN LOVE with Buono’s new album. There’s hardly a bad track on it. You know, I’ve heard people say that about their other albums, but somehow they never really clicked with me. This one though, I could listen to “Blue-sky-Blue” and “Koucha no Oishii mise” all day.

And that’s all for recent happenings.

!!!!!!!!!PLEASE SEND ME YOUR TOP 10 SONGS IF YOU HAVEN’T YET!!!!!!!

~Celestia~

We’re almost to the end! Here are the “runners up” for being in the top 10. Lots of great stuff here, I promise.

#20- Pineapple skin! Nom nom nom.

#18- It’s a really good song, but it might have ranked higher if I weren’t so sick of hearing it in concert.

#14- I admit it. I’m a sucker for sappy feel-good idol songs.

#13- One of these voices is not like the others. One of these voices just doesn’t belong….(sesame street ref. FTW)

#12- Their best single is paired with their ugliest PV. Oh the irony.

~Celestia~

Have I really made 8 of these already? Looks like it.

#30- Oh Gaki. Everyone is like “Angst!” and she’s all, “I’m so thrilled to be here!”

#29- Surprise pick maybe? Hey, I even timed the pictures to the music.

#28-27- Nice transition right?

#27- I’ve always wondered: why do the “other” girls pretend to sing the background vocals? It sounds nothing like them and it just looks silly. Adults did those vocals, not a bunch of little girls.

#23- Why is this so small? Sorry about that.

#22- Yes! I got in both moments of Momo “specialness”.

#21- Moved up quite a few spots on the list since MM’s latest concert tour. So fun!

~Celestia~

Oh boy. This is getting difficult now. The list is undergoing constant revision, because I keep changing my mind about where certain songs should rank. We’ve gotten high up enough now that I start to feel like every single song ought to be ranked higher, but of course, that’s impossible. It just goes to show how much I love h!p that songs really like are getting pushed down to the 50’s because there are too many songs I like even more!

Now with more bonus snark commentary.

#60- Hey Miya. Merlin called. He wants his shirt back.

#59- Got to include the one non-Airi or Maimi solo line in the song. And I quote, “Aaah!”. Seriously, why did they even bother?

#58- Still don’t understand what’s so sexy about being covered in sand. Not just this PV either. Every photobook has at least one picture where the girl has sand all over her. Oh, ah, yes, it’s so abrasive and grainy.

#57- Gosh. There’s so darn many of them. Also, I demand Nakky does her hair like that again.

#55- Yep, a song that’s not even out yet. Clearly, I’m quite taken with it already.

#54- OMG! I only just now realized that they have takoyaki in their hair.

#53- I wish I could use a recording from the current concert tour, because they both sound ten times better singing this now than they did back then. Also, hey, remember when Mittsi had long hair and bangs? Good times, right?

#52- I like how they made this look like they’re having a conversation

#51- Squeeee! So young and tiny! And of course I had to end with the single most likely to get stuck in my head song in all h!p land.

~Celestia~

Fore!

Part 4 has a lot of the h!p kids, including a couple of Berryz songs that I didn’t even like much when they first came out. And as for number 69: first, no video footage so I used pictures, and second, I think that for once, the poor singing quality sort of adds to the charm.

Part 5 probably won’t be out until the end of the week, so look forward to that.

~Celestia~

If you can’t tell from the title, I’ve decided to start a new project! See, I finally bought some good video editing software for my computer. I was sick of “Movie Maker” which seems to crash and freeze at the slightest provocation, not to mention that it won’t accept any but the crappiest quality of video.

And with my new software I plan to make a 10 part video series. That’s right, 10! My top 100 favorite H!p songs to be precise. And considering that each video takes roughly 5 hours to complete between getting the files, editing them, and uploading the video, this is no small undertaking.

The actual top 100 list itself is done though. Today I was supposed to teach 5th graders, but 3/4 of their classes were given the day off due to the high number of students who have the flu, so I was pretty much free all day. I started by writing down all the songs I wanted to include, in no particular order. Then I realized that there were 130 songs and only 100 spots, so I had to spend the next hour pulling out my hair and deciding which I could bear to leave out. Then I cut up apart all the titles and set about arranging them in order, one by one. “Hmm? Do I like this song better than this one? No? How about this one? The next one?” and so on. Then I recopied the complete and ordered list, praying that a strong breeze didn’t come up before I finished.

All in all, a productive afternoon.

So here’s the first video, numbers 100-91! Enjoy.

Note: For this and future videos, I tend to like group songs more than solo artists, so don’t be surprised that there aren’t very many solos in here.

~Celestia~

Tonight I attended the 5:30 Hello Project Champaloo show with fellow blogger Tsukiki. It was a great show! Much better than last winter’s h!p concert, in my opinion. I think that the new subgroups have really done something to revitalize Hello Project. Based on what I saw tonight, I have high expectations for many of them. I also appreciate that they’ve largely been faithful to the style and feel of the original groups.

The bad news was that I couldn’t find very good tickets at the last minute, so we ended up in the family section. The 2nd row of the family section, so we had a pretty good view, but these concerts really are less fun when you can’t stand up. Also, one of the hall employees was always standing almost right next to us, frowning and surveying the crowd for people in the family section standing up or raising their arms too high, I guess. I was scared that if I cheered too enthusiastically he would yell at me. And if I’m getting all my complaints out of the way at once, please add that Mai was not there tonight for some reason and there were way too many GIANT hair bows of doom sitting on the girl’s heads. Koharu’s during the last costume set was the worst, but Gaki’s during the ZYX song and Sayu’s during the VUDen song were pretty bad too, and I know there were others.

But other than that, it was a lot of fun. Here’s my track by track run down.

Guru Guru Jump- A very fun way to start things out. Bummer that I couldn’t actually jump though. Momoko was very into her “guru guru” ing. Lol.

Piriri to Yukou- Not my favorite Berryz song, but I like it better in concert. Pretty surprising choice, but I guess it worked.

Ama no Jaku- S/Mileage is sooo cute! They sang live too. I really hope they do well when they make their official debut.

Omakase Gaurdian- Meh. I just don’t like the song.

Minimoni Jankenpyon!- These girls will do the original Minimoni proud, you just watch. I was worried about Miyamoto Karin because she’s so young, but actually, she did an excellent job and she seems really comfortable on stage already.

Sekai wa Summer Party- Mano with no piano. I think I watched S/mileage (the backdancers) more… Her voice may be improving a tiny bit, slowly but surely.

Shochuu Omimai- I would have preferred “Bye Bye Bye”.

Seishun Bus Guide- I would have preferred “Rival”. It was pretty good I guess.

Nanchatte Renai- Yaaay Momusu! I love everything about this song, but Sayumi’s solo part tonight was kind of painful to listen to.

Shouganai Yumeoibito- Hearing these two songs back to back, SYO really is Nanchatte-lite, isn’t it?

Yume to Genjitsu- Aa!.. sort of. I know a lot of people are bemoaning that Saho Akari has taken Reina’s place, but I’ve got to hand it to the girl. She really holds her own in a group with Miyabi and Airi, and that says a lot about her talent. I didn’t know she could sing like that! The new song is great too. It’s plenty good enough to be a single, so I hope they do something with it.

Pira! Otome no Onegai- Out of all the songs tonight, this is the one that’s still stuck in my head. I LOVE this song! Please oh please make it a real single! Please? It’s better than a lot of what h!p has released in the last few years. Mai not being there tonight was too bad though, since she’s the best singer in Pucchimoni V. Pirapaparaparapipopa….

Heya to Y shirts- Cute, but solo ballads don’t tend to hold my interest very well.

Umbrella- What a very Tanpopo-like song. It’s my least favorite of the 3 brand new songs, but it’s still not bad.

My Boy- I was so wanting to head bang during this. I compromised by waving my glowstick like a maniac. One of the best performances of the night.

Jump- Aaaarg! I couldn’t jump during “jump”! Oh the irony. Awesome song that’s even better live.

Cosmos- Ai-chan had a lovely dress. Other than that, just another beautifully sung yet boring solo ballad for Ai-chan.

Only You- One of my personal favorite performances of the night. I know, I was surprised too. Lots of audience participation helped. All three girls sang very well… for being those particular three girls. About Risako’s voice. I can’t stand her in ballads, but in songs like this where the lyrics are belted out at maximum volume, she really shines. And JunJun rocking out of the air guitar while on her knees was 100% certified awesome.  Oh and by the way, Sayumi was center, so I guess she’s officially Rika.

Iku ZYX- ZYX alpha feels like it has too many girls to really be a subunit. I guess there will be one less soon though… Gaki was great as usual, but I wish she was in a subunit where she had less competition for the spotlight.

Diamonds- Was okay, but nothing compared to…

Cinderella Complex- Do you have any idea how excited I was when I saw this on the set list?!? I never thought we’d be hearing this one in concert again, but BAM here it is, and it is FIERCE. This subunit beats all the other new ones in terms of pure on-stage charisma. Also, Maimi dancing in skin tight glittery black pants. Two words: Smokin’ Hot. I couldn’t stop watching her. My other favorite performance of the night.

Special Generation- And my dream of yelling, “Su-pe- su-pe-sha-ru-generation!” in a concert has come true! You know, there’s a reason that certain songs like “Mikan”, “Jump”, and yes, “Special Generation” keep popping up again and again in concert set-lists. It’s because they are a ton of fun live! People watching the DVD at home can’t really appreciate that, but you might want to think about it the next time you groan “(song that gets done a lot) again?”

Tokaikko Junjou- Someone, I don’t know who, forgot to sing Mai’s line for her. Now that was an awkward pause. They recovered well though. I’m happy I got to see my favorite C-ute song, even if it was only being performed by 5 people.

Resonant Blue- This however, is one that I can join in on the groans of “again?!” It’s not that it’s bad in concert, but it’s not sufficiently great to merit being in every single concert set list since it has come out. Enough already! Give it a rest and then bring it back.

Sono Bamen de Bibbachi Ikenai Jan- Prime example of a song that is “meh” on CD but awesome live. Fun to see the mass rendition of the “omg she touched my ass” move.

Koko ni Iruze- The big problem here is that there is so much going on on stage that I don’t know where to look! This song is always a blast. Ai-chan absolutely killed her line at the end (in a good way).

Aozora ga blah blah blah- Okay I guess. I don’t know what all the fuss is about this song, but I suppose it’s a nice enough way to end a concert.

Gaki-san was the last one off the stage at the end. Love you Risa!!!

I noticed that they did more with the lighting and staging than usual, kind of like they did with Platinum 9 Disco. Maybe h!p has a new stage manager? If so, keep up the good work!

And now I’m going to bed. Night night everyone!

~Celestia~

EDIT: I almost forgot. Ice Cream musume sang their song (well, some of them), and Jang Dayun showed up to introduce herself. She looked cute, and the ices have gotten better at Japanese. Rei Rei sat down during their performance. I guess she’s injured or something, though she didn’t seem to be having any trouble walking, so hopefully it’s not that bad.

Might as well announce it here first… my new laptop arrived today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Super duper thanks to my wonderful father.

That means that I can finally get back to regular updates here. Expect something soon, probably in the next couple days.

In the meantime, a few ultra-brief comments on recent happenings.

H!p has a redone their website- Have you noticed this? It’s quite spiffy.

Buono’s New PV- OMG plot! I love that Momoko is still “the special one”. Love the twist ending.

MM’s New PV- Only low quality, but loving it already. Much better song than Naichau Kamo, IMHO. Probably not as good as Resonant Blue, but with one major improvement, multiple solo lines for everyone 6th gen and above.

Cute’s Bye Bye Bye PV- The song is… okay. The PV? The suckiest piece of suck that every sucked. Seriously, what happened there? Was Kanna the one funding C-ute’s PVs or something?

New Egg Unit- Shugo Chara Egg-Akari+ Sakkity huh? Well, Sakkity and Kanon are two of the best singing eggs, and Yuuka and Dawa are two of the cutest. It makes sense. I guess Akari had her chance in Shugo Chara Egg, but she didn’t prove charismatic enough. Still sad for her though. Personally, I’m really hoping for a major H!p debut for these girls (not TNX). The last egg to do that was who? Kanna? LinLin doesn’t count.

Tsuji Nozomi- Saw her on TV the other day, along with a really cheesy dramatization of her life. Poor little angel Nono was just admiring the other Morning Musume’s costumes when big bad Yuko came and yelled at her!! Lol. We all know she was a little terror back then, and it did not go down quite like that. Even Tsuji herself admits it later in the interview.

Big Ol’ Graduation Concert- I plan to do something with the DVD later, so we’ll save commentary on that.

Apostraphe Key- Is in a totally different place on Japanese keyboards, which I’ve been using for some while now. I’m so confused!

Morning Musume Concerts- Going at least twice, probably three times. Nya nya.

Got to get to bed now. So glad to be back.

Tadaima!

~Celestia~

Is it too late for a “Favorite of 2008″ type post? It is? Well, I’m doing it anyway. I decided to follow Raid’s example and keep it simple and categoryless. So, here are my 10 favorite h!p songs of 2008.

10. Wasuretakunai Natsu- C-ute: A surprisingly good B-side. Bonus points for the long Chisato solo part.

9. Koi no Dial 6700- Momusu: Won me over with LinLin on the Rinrin’s.

8. Yuke Yuke Monkey Dance- Berryz: Kind of a guilty pleasure. I might like more because I tend to associate it with my amazing visit to the monkey part in Kyoto (I couldn’t stop singing it the entire time I was hiking up there). What? There were lots of baby monkeys!!

7. Gachinko de Ikou- Buono: Was my favorite Buono song until Rottara dethroned it. Still good though.

6. Ah! Merry go Round- Berryz (Momoko/Captain): My favorite song from the only h!p album that I really liked this year.

5. Pepper Keibu- Momusu: I don’t love the fact that it’s a cover, but I do love the musical interlude, and the song has a way of sticking with you.

4. Namida no Iro- C-ute: It’s been steadily growing on me since it came out. I seem to like it more every time I hear it.

3. Rottara Rottata- Buono: The very bestest Buono song with the very worstest Buono PV.

2. Cinderella Complex- High King: Best 1-shot unit in recent memory. I love the unusual beat, I love the Yuuka, and I really really love the dance.

1. Resonant Blue- Momusu: Yeah, I now that only 3 girls actually sing, but when it comes down to it, this is the song of 2008 that I most often want to listen to.

Lastly, a small personal dilemma I’m having. Should, or shouldn’t I try to get tickets to the first concert of Morning Musume’s 2009 Spring concert tour?? I was thinking that it’d be really cool to be at the first one when no one has any idea yet what songs, costumes, etc. to expect. Not to mention that I’d get to see the concert a month earlier than I would otherwise. The main problem with this is that it’s in Chiba, a good two hours away by train. Four hours really, because I’ll need to get back home afterwords too. It’s not like this is my only chance to catch the concert…just my only chance to be among the first to catch the concert.

At any rate, I will definitely definitely be going to a couple of the Tokyo concerts (May 2nd/3rd) . I’m an expert at finding the Nakano Sun Plaza now! Anyway, it’s a bit early to be thinking about this, but if anyone is positive that they will be in Tokyo then, well, it’s pretty easy for me to get a pair of tickets, and I always appreciate having someone who speaks English to talk to! *nudge nudge*

Happy New Year!

~Celestia~