There are a few things to be said about 2007- It’s been a wild ride. More H!P scandals than probably any year prior, including Maki leaving H!P, Miki being virtually blacklisted, Tsuji getting preggers and giving birth to a baby that’s ‘cuter than an egg’, Kago getting fired once and for all, Kaori following Tsuji and getting preggers herself, Ongaku Gatas, Buono, More KiraRevo craziness… Too much to list. (And that’s just H!P.)
‘ll begin by jotting down a few things- Best groups, best song, most improved group, best PV, worst group, biggest disappointment… Etc.
Starting with Best group of 2007.
AKB48
This group rocked 2007, and while they debuted- Even majorly in 2006, the nature of their work has explored and taken on several genres within simple jpop, touching upon subjects many other groups- Especially in jpop- won’t dare touch, or won’t bother to touch, considered too controvertial or dark, or deep for idols in a llicon market. Not to mention these girls work HARD- Theater productions everyday, TWICE on some days, commercials, a photobook in the past year, and a whopping five singles as a group in 2007, not mentioning subgroups. With a heaping ~48 girls, it’s amazing they all fit and get a good part of the limelight. Some are ignored, but the ones with the most talent seem to shine, that’s how it SHOULD be. The ones who deserve to shine, do. I like that.
Runner Up: C-ute
Best PV of 2007.
Tokaikko Junjou
Wow. These little girls can shake it, especially in their Dance Shot. H!P hasn’t seen such good dancers since Gomaki, these kids can outdance quite a majority of the current H!P members (not mentioning names, of course.) That, and the PV is OUTSIDE. Holy Crap. It really is great, actually running in THE STREET, throwing Chisato’s ball into the REAL WIND, gorgeous. Good quality, refreshing in comparison to their previous PVs. Good to see them selling well! (Oh yeah, and the song rocked.) I also liked seeing each member get a good amount of screentime for themselves. Airi’s still up front with Maimi at her back, but everyone seems to get their own shot of attention, instead of Airi and the musume. You know?
Tie- Keibetsu Shiteita Aijou- AKB48
Most Improved Group of 2007.
I hate to say it. I really do.
Morning Musume. ::avoids gunfire::
But it’s true, really. There were many groups I could have listed- C-ute, THE Possible, SO many. But Momusu takes the cake, eve through the push and pull of scandals and changes this year. Mitsui Aika debuted in February of this year with Egao YES Nude, a disco/jazz tune, the first of the 4 singles released this year. Her voice, as well as her presence, especially for such a little kid, shone through and really added to the group. Kanashimi Twilight, the next single (And Yoshizawa Hitomi’s last) was a rock-based song, a genre we hadn’t seen in Momusu in a long, long time (Like, what, Souda! ? Maybe Roman, but that’s more Jazz than anything. I was getting pretty sick of poptechno like Ambitious and Sexy Boy, myself.) Yoshizawa Hitomi, the last of the Golden Era Members, graduation concert was one of the best since Yasuda’s, Pretty much EVERYONE cried and it was performed extraordinarily. Since then (skipping over Miki’s unfortunate removal from the group, making Takahashi leader) the two Chinese girls, ‘Junjun’ and ‘Linlin’ joined up as part of Momusu, shaking up much controvery among Japanese fans. both of them, Jun in particular, rose above this and grew exponentially in the group, improving as singers (and just Japanese citizens,) and they are both talented and gorgeous and have interesting personalities, both of them. Their debut, Onna ni Sachi Are, was back to the pop/techno pattern of typical modern-day Momusu, but considering it had been a while (Aruiteru, Egao YES Nude, Kanashimi Twilight), I myself excuse this- It was well pulled-off, anyway. Following this, Mikan was released, most unfortunately Momusu’s worst selling single in history. This is only so unfortunate because this single while technopop (minimally, I think,) is just what Momusu has been missing for the past few years, happy, uplifting pop music reminiscent of their earlier work. The PV was gorgeous (though while relevant, the baby pictures seemed somehow out of place,) and the lines were split well and fairly amongst the members. What sucks is, based on the sales, we probably won’t be seeing a single like this for quite a while. T.T
Runner Up: C-ute (Again.), THE Possible.
But what good work we got out of Momusu!2007 was a shakey, but in the end, very good year.
And now some fun. =]
Strangest PV of 2007.
WHITE CHOCO- LOVE (Ootsuka Ai)
The song’s cute and energetic, sure. Suki desu~ Suki desu~ Suki desu~ But to see some cute bunnies manufactured in a creepy factory, brought to life by machines, sent upon the world (that poor, poor house that had to neighbor such a factory,) their limbs stretched out from the mold they were born from… Yeek. Then they all melt into the giant bunny, who is then shortly after destoryed– This video was crazy. I was expecting something cuter, but I can CHU wasn’t much less creepy. (Bring back Kataomoi DIAL! ;o;)
Runner Up: Tsukiatteru no ni Kataomoi- Berryz Koubou
Worst artist of 2007.
Kusumi Koharu
Yeah. Her vocals have never been top notch, not nearly. Looking back at her Momusu debut in 2005 and then her Koi Kana debut as a soloist not much later, she was an insecure but hard working new girl who tried her best to catch up to the rest of the group. In 2007, something in her head clicked- Maybe it’s all that Rainbow Pink shit, or just praise from her fans, or realizing she’s becoming popular- Who knows. But the girl who originally started by watching the other members to decide what is and isn’t acceptable, claming to like ‘Cool’ idols like Yossi and Fujimoto, rather than cute, has suddenly become a fake, cam-whoring loudmouth with a giant ego- Makes me wonder if in her mind, she really does think she’s as fantastic as she acts like she does. Maybe she’s just pushing the cute thing too much, trying to outshine Aika, whom she was obviously not thrilled about when she joined. (Koharu was the new member, and was previously the youngest.) Somehow this girl has become a frontgirl in Momusu, in spite of her awful voice. This probably adds fuel to her fire. Thing is, I used to like this girl- she seemed like she was trying her best and the KiraRevo crap was a great opportunity to improve herself as an idol- Not become THIS.
And, if none of this adds up for you…
Behold, an eclipse of the sun.
Biggest Disappointment
Kago Ai’s firing from Hello!Project
There were so many of these. Goto Maki leaving H!P. GAM falling apart and getting Pucchimoni’d, Miki getting kicked out of pretty much everything to do with H!P, Harenchi Punch changing over to a meaningless name and losing Oozora Saya, but I’d leave it at this- I’m sure you were expecting it.
Sure, the idol work and lifestyle is notorious for being stressful and demanding on these young girls, but it was very unexpected when Kago Ai was reported to be caught smoking at a restaurant in 2006. Since then, she’d been on an unfairly long hiatus from W and other various Hello!Project duties, and had started living at home in Nara during her suspension. A whopping year later, Friday, the magazine which originally fleshed her out for smoking in the first place, holds an interview with her in which she claims she’s repented and sincerely wants to return to the idol scene and sing. Not much later, she was seen with a man in his thirties, almost 20 years older than Kago, and again, caught smoking. This really makes you wonder if Kago was ever intent on returning to the pop scene. If she’d truly repented, wouldn’t she have taken her work, suspension and comeback more seriously? And if not, why would she have led fans on like that, speaking of a return? It wasn’t fair to the people working so hard for her to be able to return, it wasn’t fair to Tsuji, struggling to find ANY work during Kago’s suspension, it wasn’t fair to fans. (Then again, what idol really cares about their fans.)
Diss~a~point~ment.
Most overplayed H!P girl of 2007.
Sugaya Risako
How annoying this girl is. During Berryz’ earlier days, none of them had much strength as far as vocals, but Berryz was pulled off as simply cute and fun, talent and judgments aside. They didn’t really have ‘frontgirls’, it was just a bunch of kids singing and dancing and having a good time. Nowadays, it’s not quite the same. Slowly but surely lines started favoring Miyabi, then Risako, then Momoko, and more and more, Yurina. In my opinion, Momoko is cute and has a fair amount of idol personality and charm, I like that. Her voice might not be the best, but it’s certainly unique. Miyabi has probably the best vocals out of most of them, and while not spectacular, something makes her popular- I have never been too find of her. Risako, in her earlier days, was the shy one with a cute, soft-looking face who ran off with the most panicked expression H!P had let slip to the public, whispering to her bandmate what was most likely how scared she was after the group’s first live performance. Time’s gone by, and Risako’s grown up into more of an adult image in a young teen’s body, With 2 revealing photobooks (for a girl so young) and the air that she’s been ‘around’ more than once. She’s been getting more and more lines in Berryz songs lately despite the fact that her voice really isn’t that fantastic, she hogged most of the spotlight in Berryz’ most recent PV for Tsukiatteru no ni Kataomoi (which while the song was alright, the PV was SO out of place,) and it has been made very evident that UFA holds a bias for her as well, sweeping incidents under the rug to save their favorite little Berry from getting plucked from the patch. Unfair? Oh yes. Not to mention her voice, it’s almost as bad as Koharu’s. So nasally, she can barely hit the notes in her songs. Guh.
If I think of anything else, I’ll add it. 2007 isn’t over for a couple of days. =]
Tags: 2007, AKB48, Hello!Project, Japan, jpop, LOVE, new years, Ootsuka Ai
