Rankings

First, we have the obligatory ranking that Hello!Blog has set up. He’s a genius and if I could figure out how to do that, dag, I don’t know what I’d do, but it still probably wouldn’t be as great as to what he’s done. :O So here we go. We’ll stick with Morning Musume because I’m sure my write-up for the bottom of Berryz and C-ute’s lists would upset a great deal of people.

1. 久住小春 (Kusumi Koharu) – Kusumi will always be my #1 because she is utter proof that what you may lack in vocal talent, you can definitely make up in personality and natural charisma. She’s dorky and a little awkward, she isn’t always the funny one, but Kusumi is all smiles and does her best. She loves to be in the group, you can see it any time and she does her best to show her love for everyone in the group. Sometimes I wonder if the other girls feel threatened by the girl in the second lonely generation (the first being Maki who was the only girl for third gen), but Kusumi keeps being herself and watches others because she admires them. She wants to emulate her group members but in the end, she is thankfully uniquely her. Unlike other girls who may fall into the background, love or hate, Kusumi is someone you will remember.
2. 亀井絵里 (Kamei Eri) – The “Turtle”, Kamei is a girl who has won over many with her kooky personality and I confess, it was precisely that which did me in. It was only after watching her more carefully that I realized she has a great deal of vocal ability and she’s stunning. She is one of the few girls in Momusu that can pull off a short hairstyle and she’s known to be one of the most beloved. There’s a reason. She’s quirky, she’s cute, and she’ll make you laugh. Kamei is positively one of the most charming Musume to ever come out of the group. I’ll speak more on the current “scandal” she is supposedly involved in below under “Rantings”.
3. ジュンジュン (Junjun) – It was only after watching recent episodes of Haromoni@ that I realized how much I truly love Junjun. She is so…weird. So what’s not to love? I tend to enjoy the members that have unique or weird personalities, and Junjun is by far no exception to that. Her strange little videos and surprisingly witty (or incoherent) retorts make me laugh pretty hard. She’s also got this great voice that I remember people bashing on severely when she first joined. Junjun, if anything, is a breathe of fresh air and personality to a group. XD!
4. 高橋愛 (Takahashi Ai) -Interestingly enough, while most people found a waning interest in Ai once she became Momusu leader, I instead was intrigued. Ai is a girl who is quiet and only within the last year or so has truly started to crack through her shell. She went through most of the Momusu Makeover Miracle, turning from a scrawny little thing to being one of the hottest girls in the label (trumped only by Rika it seems according to fans). But personality? She’s quiet, keeps to herself and always came off as shy. I think leadership has been good to her in regards to opening her up and I can see once she really allows herself to fully blossom, she’ll make for an incredible solo artist.
5. リンリン (Linlin) – Linlin is a dork. ’nuff said. No, she isn’t the ‘prettiest’ girl in the group and she doesn’t have the same vocal style as the rest, but who cares? She’s got a bit of nerd and she has a trait that I greatly admire. She can laugh at herself. On Haromoni@ the other girls have teased her, and instead of being offended, she cracks up along with them. She also does this seriously weird things and makes me laugh, so therefore, some love for the girl.
6. 光井愛佳 (Mitsui Aika) – Aika was a girl that it took me awhile to warm up to. It was probably all the Koharu haters singing her praises that may have caused me to have an indifference to her. You don’t force feed fandom to me, I need to discover it on my own sometimes. With her haircut, I think she’s become a lot prettier and I prefer her with short hair rather than the long hair she had before. She’s still a bit shaky vocally, but I can see her improving. Oh, and I don’t care for her in the Athena group. For some reason, I like the groups’ music, but I can’t really care for the group itself. Except Chisato.
7. 道重さゆみ (Michishige Sayumi) – Anyone who knows me knows that for a long time, pretty much since I’ve started liking Momusu, I’ve never liked Sayumi. So seeing her in this position probably is a shock. Sayumi won me over…through her photo books. That and she has toned down the narcissistic big time, which I’ve always disliked. So congrats Sayumi, I actually like you.
8. 田中れいな (Tanaka Reina) – I used to love Reina, now I’m becoming slowly indifferent to her. I still think she has a fun personality, but something just isn’t the same anymore. I just can’t figure out what it is.
9. 新垣里沙 (Niigaki Risa) – Another girl I used to love but more recently have found myself losing interest. I always get this awkward feeling of fakeness from her now that I can’t seem to shake off. I’m sure she’ll find her way towards the top again, but until then, she’s here. At the bottom. I do like her still. Just not nearly as much as I used to.

Rantings

I happened to be reading through journals when I saw a person’s comment stating they saw some 2ch pictures of Kamei. I freaked out. Kamei is my #2, not only in Momusu, but also in H!P. So I went searching over at Hello!Online and JPH!P and found nothing there. Yet. I figured that the people at H!O would have something if it was relevent. My thoughts immediately fell upon the recreation that the current lineup had done of the infamous Love Machine cover. Sure it was for the best singles collection and it made sense to recreate it since it was the greatest single that the group ever put out (sales wise), and the discussion of another curse rose up but died quickly. However when I happened upon the full article at Hello!Online, I could scarcely believe my eyes. Could this actually be happening? Apparently Kamei’s ex-boyfriend has stepped out of the woodworks and sold his story to a tabloid. Words cannot describe the fury and how…how…cheap, that is. It’s almost like something you’d read in an American tabloid. If you admire her still, why sell your story? Why put her on the spot like that and do something that you know will lead to her leaving Momusu possibly shamed? If you support her still, why would you do that? You don’t support her in the least, if anything, it shows that you’re bitter that she chose her career over you and now you’re out to get her. Despicable.

Second part of the rant stems from Mikitty’s return. I’m not angry that Mikitty is back, in fact, I am glad she is finally doing something other than Gatas at last. But here are the problems I have. First, the song is going to be a duet but also released as a solo with some other dude releasing the same single at the same time. Does anyone else see a big stinker coming or are we too deluded by the fact that Mikitty is coming back at all? I’ve seen the words “chason” and H!O’s article said that it was supposedly something akin to a children’s song and this is making all my alarms go off. Allow me to be the pessimist here. Second part of my irritation. Does Yaguchi have anything to say about this? Does she care that a girl who got in trouble for the SAME THING she did is coming back into activity less than a year after she got caught, while Mari is still MCing and participating only a little bit in concerts? Maybe Yagu doesn’t care, maybe she does. But if I was here, I’d be angry at the principle of it alone.

Musings

Morning Musume’s new single is due out in April yet the buzz for it is already astounding. We haven’t even gotten to March so we’re all wound up. Watching…waiting…for “Resonant Blue.” On Kamei Eri & Niigaki Risa’s radio show they said it was a very cool song they were excited about and it was along the lines of “Egao YES Nude”, even Tsunku said that he thinks this song will be heralding in a new Morning Musume.  I don’t know what to expect, only that I hope it’s good and that they give them a bigger budget for the video.  The budget they obviously cut from C-ute’s latest video.  If you want a new Momusu, it’s about time you start treating their videos and songs as if they are a new Momusu.

In other news, Goto Maki’s fans refuse to let her be forgotten.  Me being one of them included.  So when I saw that she was nominated for Yahoo!Japan’s Music Awards for Most Photogenic, I acted. I voted, I checked to see how she was doing and promoted the site to other H!P fans.  And you know what?  She won.  Interestingly enough, her only real competition was from ERIKA (whom she thankfully defeated).  Other important things to note.  Person with the least amount of votes? Koda Kumi.  Koda Kumi got less votes than DJ OZMA.  That is all.