⑩ MY ME vs. Fantasy! Juuichi
I’m a sucker for J-Pop. I’m even more of a spazzing stan whenever it comes to H!P releases. Recently we’ve been given three releases by Tsunku within a short time of each other: Mano Erina’s MORE FRIENDS album which suffers from an ironic title since she has even less “friends” this time around, ℃-ute’s Aitai Lonely Christmas which is one of the better H!P singles this year and finally Morning Musume.’s floppy 11th album Fantasy! Juuichi.
Let me just say it now. I think Fantasy! Juuichi SUCKS.
Seriously, I have never been more disappointed with an H!P release since Seishun Collection. Oh look, that was only two singles ago~ And it’s featured on the album! What a treat~
Now before I go off just ranting on about how much I hate it, let me tell you guys exactly why. First, the things that I DO like/love about it.
♦First reason why Jin loves Fantasy! Juuichi: Onna to Otoko no Lullaby Game (AL Ver.). ‘Nuff said. This song is EPIC. The original single version was already hardcore and sounded like an 8-nin, not as catchy, Balalaika-like version of Kimagure Princess. Now with an orchestra opening for added epicness, longer pauses for more awkwardness and electric guitar during the dance break for that distinct H!P sound, the song is even better! Seriously, I love it and is the best song on the album, unfortunately.
♦Second reason why Jin loves Fantasy! Juuichi: Itoshiku Kurushii Kono Yoru ni. Talk about a brilliant song. This sounds good enough to even be an a-side(though that’s not saying much[thank you Seishun Correction])! It’s an Eri+Reina led song, but Eri has WAY MORE priority than Miss Wonky and totally makes the song her own. The instrumental and arrangement is different from what we usually get. It’s sort of ethereal at times, synthy and with nice acoustic guitar. It’s a wonderful combination and the vocals are perfect(minus Reina’s screeching, eck).
Third reas- Oh look, their aren’t anymore reasons. :(
Honestly speaking, I’ve only gone sat through the entire album once. I can’t be bothered to do it again. I already know what’s good and what sounds like generic H!P crap. You’ve got the two good tracks I stated above, plus Fantasy ga Hajimaru which gets points for finally not being Reina or Ai lead(Sayu gets this one and it sounds so refreshing to the ears) and being electronic and fierce.
Bravo! and I’m Lucky girl are the only other “possibly” good tracks, but even so their crappy compared to anything else MM has released recently. Any other track on the album sounds generic, cheap, rushed and forgettable, which totally explains the production of this album.
Morning Musume. sounds like how they would be if each member were 7 years younger. The songs are childish, loud and uninteresting, which is a surprise since the group has been going for that “mature” sound in their singles lately.
What’s even worse is the total lack of Junjun and Linlin. We hoped that in their 4 years as Morning Musume. members, THIS would be the time for them to shine, if even a little bit. But once again, our pandas have been neglected and ignored and left with almost zero importance in this album(not counting solo lines, but even then their the same amount or even less than members like Aika).
Now let me get started on those solo tracks. Reina’s track is Ai no Honoo. What a sad, sad decision by Tsunku. The instrumental is mature and almost R&B like(Hello! Project R&B, remember) and is actually very good but Reina absolutely KILLS this song for me. Mind you she doesn’t hurt my ears until the end of the verses and when the chorus arrives in which she starts screeching all over the place. Their is seriously no worse pain in my ears than when Reina tries to hold a note. If Ai had gotten this song instead of Denwa de ne(which sucks so much that not even Ai’s godly vocals can make it bearable) then I could have at least had another song to listen to in the album while completely ignoring Reina with Denwa da ne. Unfortunately, I have to ignore both songs.
Yea, it’s come to this. I’ve actually had a few people defending Fantasy! Juuichi, stating it even better than ⑩ MY ME! Call me crazy, but we know Fantasy sucks, but MY ME does too? I’ve spammed that album harder than Suzuki Ami, and that’s saying a lot!
There’s literally ONE song in ⑩ MY ME that I can’t sit through, and that’s Osaka Umainen(sorry 8th gen!) because it just sucks all over the place. So that’s… 11/12 listenable songs, 6/12 of them being spammable. How about Fanatasy! Juuichi? 3/11 listenable+spammable tracks. That’s 8/11 un-listenable tracks(6/11 if you like Bravo! and I’m Lucky girl).
The biggest advantage that ⑩ MY ME had was it’s variety. Not everything is a childish, loud, generic pop song. You’ve got your electro with Moonlight night and Ooki Hitomi(<3), R&B with Ano Hi ni Modoritai, typical pop with Genki Pikappika! and Namidacchi, a ballad with Loving you forever, and about three amazing synth+violin tracks.
Good fight stans, but Fantasy! Juuichi is trash compared to ⑩ MY ME’s quality and is one of the worst MM albums ever next to COVER YOU and First Time.
It’s unfortunate this album had to sucked but looking at it now, I should have never gotten my hopes up. The entire process from the announcement to the release only happened in about two or so months time, which probably means that it was a rushed job. Honestly, I love it whenever MM releases ANYTHING, but if it’s going to suck this big, I’d rather wait longer to have something that I’ll actually listen to.
So tell me readers, what’s your opinion on Fantasy! Juuichi and do you prefer it over ⑩ MY ME?
I am unimpressed. The good tracks are good, but nothing there was impressive. I knew I wasn’t going to care for this album because of the rush and the singles included. I bought 10 My Me, but not this one. I also think that the 8th gen song sucks from 10 My Me.
Hahaha, Morning Musume compared to Suzuki Ami, that makes my night. What a load of shit this is. Morning Musume especially of the last four years doesn’t even come close. Honestly I only enjoyed four songs on this album. Fantasy ga Hajimaru, Bravo, Otome Gokoro to Nanto Yara, and Itoshiku Kurushii Kono Yoru Ni but unfortunately all the songs are all forgettable.
Even so Bravo would be fun for concerts, and Otome Gokoro to Nanto Yara would be good for the second to last song in concerts. They can wind the energy down slightly and then pull out something Renai Revolution 21 or Love Machine to finish up. I will say I hope this album sells more than Juu-mai-me because it has more songs I could enjoy. For Juu-mai-me all I could enjoy was Moonlight Night Tsukiyo no Ban Da-yo.
I’m getting annoyed by the solo songs on albums at this point. I want a full length original album with all group songs no more generation songs or solos especially for girls we hear sing to the point where its hard to believe they haven’t lost their voices all together. Me thinks Ai no Honoo and Denwa De Ne should’ve been JunJun and LinLin solos. They’re the ones that needed the solo time for the last concert. Neither of those better be in the set-list for the 15th and if they are they had best be cut from the DVD.
I wasn’t comparing MM to Suzuki Ami, I was just saying how I spammed 10 MY ME as hard as I’ve spammed Ami’s Supreme Show album, even though SS is the superior album.
Why do you think First Time is one of Morning Musume’s worst albums. It has some really nice tracks on it. Good Morning, Yume no Naka, Mirai no Tobira, Samishii Hi all very nice. Plus it has the songs that started it all on it Ai no Tane and Morning Coffee, and it has Summer Night Town. Maybe its just because I’m an ancient Morning Musume fan not a newbie who got into them say in 2005 or 2006 but I really think that judgment is unfair.
As for Cover You. Honestly I haven’t been able to say I enjoyed an album since then. Dou Ni Mou Tomaranai, Pepper Keibu, Shiroi Chou no Samba, Seishun Jidai, Ringo Satsujin Jiken, and Koi no Dial 6700 were all very nice. Also Watashi no Aoi Tori should’ve pleased any fan of Eri another plus for the album.
Hm, well I haven’t really ever figured out which albums I like more but let me just list all the songs I like by album, the one with the most tracks I’ll listen to (original tracks not ones off singles and group tracks only), will be the better album.
First Time:
Good Morning
Yume no Naka
Mirai no Tobira
Samishii Hi
Second Morning:
Night of Tokyo City
Suki de x5
Third Love Paradise:
Aisha Loan de
Kuchizuke no Sono Ato
Omoide
Harajuku 6:00 Shuugou
WHY
4th Ikimasshoi:
Ii Koto Aru Kinen no Shunkan
Ikimasshoi
Honki de Atsui Theme Song
Nan ni mo Iwazu ni I LOVE YOU
No. 5:
TOP!
Tomodachi ga Ki ni Itteru Otoko Kara no Dengon
Suggoi Nakama
HEY! Mirai
Ganbacchae
Ai no Dai 6kan:
Sukiyaki
Dokusenyoku
Chokkan Toki to Shite Ai wa
Koe
Ship to the Future
Joshi Kashimashi Monogatari 2 (I don’t feel like I should really count this song, but if I don’t this results in a three way tie between Third Love Paradise, No. 5, and Ai no Dai 6kan)
Rainbow 7:
How Do You Like Japan? Nihon wa Donna Kanji Dekka?
Aozora ga Itsumade mo Tsuzuku You na Mirai de Are!
Sayonara See You Again Adios Bye Bye Chaccha!
Joshi Kashimashi Monogatari 3
Sexy 8 Beat:
Genki+
Mirai no Taiyou
BE Positive
Platinum 9 Disc:
SONGS
Ame no Furanai Hoshii de wa Aisenai Darou? (and this isn’t even an original song it had been in concerts long before it made it to an album but w/e. Not like this album offered much to work with since the only true original group song on it was SONGS)
10 My Me:
Moonlight Night Tsukiyo no Ban Da-yo (One song, maybe I should count the Chinese version of Ame no Furanai Hoshii de wa Aisenai Darou? too, but wow…what a waste of a release)
Fantasy! Juuichi:
Bravo!
Fantasy ga Hajimaru
Onna Gokoro to Nanto Yara
Itoshiku Kurushii Kono Yoru Ni
From this breakdown I can say Fantasy! Juuichi has the most to offer of an album by the group since Rainbow 7, but overall it’s nothing particularly special. That said they have done songs like the ones I liked off this album in a long time, and unfortunately they don’t do fun-pop or weird-pop as good as they used to.
I’m curious as to how many 9th generation memebrs will come because I like the gradual turn back to fun and childish Morning Musume they’ve gone for with Onna to Otoko no Lullaby Game and the four songs I liked off this album.
Of the two albums you’ve stuck in the vs, Fantasy! Juuichi definitely takes it. If not because of fact I like four songs off it rather than just one of 10 My Me then because it has 7 group songs on it rather than a bunch of generation songs or solo songs.
I do think they should’ve waited to give Ai and Reina solo songs on albums though and I’m surprised that Eri didn’t get one at least. If it was planned not to give Eri one the least they could’ve done was give JunJun and LinLin each a song to sing at their last concert instead of more solo time for Ai and Reina.
I don’t hate Ai or Reina I’m just getting tired of Ai and becoming fearful that Reina will be come the next Ai. I like Reina in her Abe Natsumi role, please don’t turn her into the Goto Maki of the group Tsunku. Then again can I even call Ai the Goto Maki of the group, she takes all priority but she’s still around while Goto Maki graduated with under four years under her belt as a musume. Then again this system of Ai as the Goto Maki of the group only really started in mid 2008. I’ve only liked four singles since it started, while I liked just about everything the group did when Got Maki was actually in the group, but wait wait…
Morning Musume was much bigger then and the songs didn’t bore me to death as well as featuring the same four girls singing while the others danced and sang a small amount of Chorus. I’ve noticed that ever since The Manpower!!! what would be a Chorus part in a song has been terribly torn to shreds. Not only do the girls ignored not get solos, they don’t get more than four to six lines in songs on a regular basis chorus included. That’s bullshit, Morning Musume turned into Berryz Kobo and C-ute damn it. I was hoping this wouldn’t happen.
Yeah I’m totally ranting now so I’m gonna stop myself now but go look on project hello at line distribution and you’ll see it too. Morning Musume might not even deserve to be called a group at this point. There’s not enough group vocal to call them such a thing.
Although it’s true that Fantasy! Juuichi has more “group” tracks, I think the quality of the tracks comes as more important. It’s nice that it’s sung by everyone, but if it sucks in general, than there’s no excuse for that.
And as for Momusu turning into Berryz and C-ute, it’s kind of become the opposite now hasn’t it? All members in Berryz and C-ute have solo lines now(at least with the most decent singles).
I don’t really think most of the songs done solo or by generation of just a few girls are any better than the group songs for and if only comparing the albums with the girls now then Fantasy Juuichi would come out on top for me in the end aside from It’s You I hated everything except SONGS and Ame no Furanai Hoshii de wa Aisenai Darou? on Platinum 9 Disc that wasn’t a from a single, then for 10 My Me I hated everything except Moonlight Night Tsukiyo no Ban Da-yo and the Chinese version of Ame no Furanai Hoshii de wa Aisenai Darou?, the only saving grace being Ooki Hitomi and I didn’t like how large a role Reina and Eri had compared to Sayumi in it.
But yeah Morning Musume turned into Berryz and C-ute and they turned into Morning Musume. Really, really, really not liking this change. 9th gen can’t make things any worse unless they all turn out unable to sing and personality-less so here’s hoping for a single in February and some kind of change from what they’ve done since Mikan.
Otome Gokoro to Nanto Yara is the bomb! Can’t wait to see Gaki do this live. It rocks. Love album version of the new single, and I like Seishun Collection. I like the Eri Song and the Reina Song.
Too bad about the Pandas but I kinda liker this album. I think what’s maybe over shadowing your criticism is that the bad tracks on here are REALLY bad. Bad in that they are lazy, H!P cookie cutter songs. But here are only 3 or 4. Well, that’s a lot, but the majority of it I like quite a bit.
C-ute on the other hand are killing it again! Their new single is great and the coupling song is even better!!
Um… Fantasy Juuichi sucks. Even when the songs were leaking, I listened to about 30 seconds of them before turning them off. Like you, I’ve been a H!P fan for awhile (since 2003) and it’s painfully obvious Tsunku just threw them together at the last minute.
I don’t see the point in having an album if he can’t create good tracks, but I think this signifies a much bigger problem; I think this song style is intentional. I believe he’s going to add a bunch of kids in 9th gen and he needs more “genki” songs for them to sing. Sad, but probably true. He’s tried the “cool” style for awhile and it’s not getting the sales that they need (sales to beat AKB48, probably) so I’d be willing to bet they’re switching directions to “genki” again.
Which means I’ll have to stop paying attention to MM again :(
That’s an interesting theory. o: And since AKB48 is such a big thing now(and most of their songs are the “genki” type), it’d be natural for Tsunku to go the same direction that they are.
LOL, you’re gonna stop paying attention to Morning Musume just because they return to what they were actually famous for. Wow. And truth be told AKB48 has a very nice mix of genki and mature songs thanks to their theater songs.
In any case going back to what Morning Musume was famous for isn’t going to help the group, he needs to promote the hell out of them to get people interested again if anything is going to change and at best the group might reach 100k again they will never hit the numbers AKB48 does though Morning Musume has already reached their peak. Also 2003 was the year Morning Musume started to decline but at least back then they could hold on to the 100k sales mark by 2005 that was no longer a possibility.
Only problem with the promote them to hell thing, majority of the magazines now just want the idols to wear as little clothing as possible and H!P have that wholesome, only wear a bikini when by a pool or at the beach thing going on which is one of the reasons why i love them so much. I bet if H!P started going down that route, they night start getting the sales that they deserved but to me that will lower the amount of respect that i have for them for keeping clother outside od a PB.
Photobooks and magazines aren’t the only way they can promote themselves. They could do a t.v show for all of H!P like AKB48 has AKBingo or w/e the show’s called. That would help a great deal considering they can’t even get on music shows without a hassle. If you can’t get on someone else’s show why not make one yourself. It’s time to fight back, Tsunku and UFA need to understand that. Now is the time to invest the money they’ve so cruelly exploited out of the girls of H!P and turn the empire around.
And heck it can’t be that hard to get the girls advertised through trucks and buses like other idols. I have a friend who told me she rode a bus with an ad for KARA’s Jumping and another for their Girl’s Talk album when her car was in the repair shop for a week. If Korean groups can get proper promotion UFA and Tsunku are clearly not trying hard enough for H!P.
Yeah because, you know, God forbid I stop following a group when they stop producing music I’m interested in, amirite?
I should also add that I have no problem with golden era Musume songs. It just seems like he’s not producing “genki” songs of that quality anymore.
I find it hard to believe anyone can like the stuff the group has put out since Yossie’s graduation and Mikitty’s resignation. Only three singles have actually been good since then. Mikan, Shouganai Yume Oibito and Nanchatte Renai.
Pepper Keibu was cute but forgettable, Resonant Blue is not even worth being called a single, Kimagure Princess and Onna ga Medatte Naze Ikenai followed the same stupid format for line distribution, Seishun Collection followed that format AND was BORING as FUCK! Onna to Otoko no Lullaby Game has an interesting tune and every girl gets a solo but it lacks the kind of line distribution one would want in a song by a group. The song is 98 percent Takahashi and Tanaka like everything since Resonant Blue besides Shouganai Yume Oibito and Nanchatte Renai.
For albums we’ve had four albums by the latest lineups including Cover You and there are barely 20 good songs by Morning Musume since Yossie and Mikitty bid the group goodbye even counting the songs on those albums.
There’s no substance in this “group” anymore. If you want to give on them don’t say them change to a more childish image is the reason why because even you don’t honestly believe that to be true.
No-one who knows anything about idols or Morning Musume in general will believe such a thing. You’re willing to give up on them because you’re tired of them plain and simple. Their music has driven you to giving up because it no longer appeals to you. Unless there is a grand scale change nothing will keep you from ending your fandom.
Well, what releases have been good or bad is totally a matter of opinion. I mean, Mikan was a weak a-side for me, but not as bad as Seishun Collection(and Onna ga Medatte being in between those two). I abslutely love Kimagure Princess to death and is one of my favorite MM songs ever(and it didn’t follow the same line distribution in that Kamei gets more lines than Reina and only 2 less than Ai).
I liked Mikan more than its b-side but what really stuck Mikan to me was the PV and the message of the song. It’s the last song they had that could truly lift someone’s mood. Seishun Collection can do it to an extent but it really gets boring after a while. This isn’t rocket science.
Onna ga Medatte Naze Ikenai, I like the tune but the song itself made me think of Morning Musume as a shallow bunch of bitches. The PV did not help that mentality.
In Kimagure Princess it’s still the same four singing that we usually get stuck listening to. I was hoping for a Koharu solo that never came in that song and Eri’s voice was the best on the song so I really don’t want to see that song in a set list again. I only liked the second half of the song because of how much Ai killed it for me. Her voice sounded too bland on that song for me.
If I had to rate the voices on Kimagure Princess hers would be at the bottom. Eri, Risa, Reina, Sayumi, Koharu, JunJun, LinLin, Aika, Ai. I don’t think I’ll ever put Aika above Ai again, but then again I hope the group never does such a stupid song in their existence again.
And I just realized I totally forgot to address Naichau Kamo when responding to Nathaniel. Naichau Kamo’s PV was a poor excuse for a second take at As for One Day, the song itself isn’t bad, but it’s definitely forgettable.
Hey I just realized what’s really missing on this album. A 12th track, a duet between the pandas. They got nothing on this album but chorus and group vocal. A duet would’ve been perfect because their fans would buy the album. I can only wonder how many 8th gen fans actually thought when they listened to this album’s radio previews “I’m not buying this there’s no pandas or Aika.” Giving everyone something on albums really helps when it comes time to decide if you’re gonna buy it. I bought First Time – Ai no Dai 6 Khan, Best Morning Musume 1 and 2, and Cover You since there’s a song featuring all the members in some spotlight however small it is. Rainbow 7 wasn’t too bad but I never got around to buying it, Sexy 8 Beat, Platinum 9 Disc, 10 My Me, and Fantasy! Juuichi can kiss my ass, there are serious flaws in all 4 of them. I just hope MM can put out an album I want to buy again in the future b/c I hate seeing less than 20k in total album sales when I look at Oricon. It’s awful! My apologies for all this ranting and happy holidays.
No offense but genki is kind of the norm for idol groups. No-one wants to hear songs about serious life issues man, we go to idol groups to have our mood lifted 80 percent of the time. If you wanna give up on Morning Musume because they go back to such a thing you weren’t really a fan to begin with.
I love 10 MY ME. I haven’t got a chance to listen to Fantasy! Juuichi (just came in yesterday!) yet so I can’t give any comments for that. But I’m very biased when it comes to Momusu so chances are I’ll still like it despite the sea of “it sucks” comments out there. XD
I guess the reason behind the lack of JunLin in Fantasy! Juuichi could be that they see no point in “promoting” them since they’re already leaving. Plus it’d only serve to emphasize what a sucky decision they are making to graduate the pandas. XD But I think they could at least have given them a duet song in the album which can be covered by the new members next year during concerts etc. so it won’t be wasted.
Look on the bright side. Even without a feature on the new album, they still have Ame no Furanai Hoshi de wa Aisenai Darou (how do you shorten this anyway) and Guru Guru JUMP as “their” song! *purposely left out Osaka Umainen because she doesn’t really like it lol*
Let me see here.
Good tracks on Juu-mai-me:
Moonlight Night Tsukiyo no Ban Da-yo
Ooki Hitomi
Loving You Forever
Namidacchi
Genki Pikappika
Good tracks on Fantasy! Juuichi:
Bravo
Fantasy ga Hajimaru
Onna Gokoro to Nanto Yara
I’m Lucky Girl
Sungoi My Birthday
Itoshiku Kurushii Kono Yoru Ni
Fantasy! Juuichi comes out about the same. I think there’s equal flaws on the albums though. The other generation songs on Juu-mai-me were really bad and the solo songs on Fantasy! Juuichi weren’t made to impress. 10th album doesn’t look as appealing. If I walked into a store without knowing who the group was I’d pick Fantasy! Juuichi over Juu-mai-me from the album covers alone.
I would pick which sucks more but the only way I could decide is by the album covers. I haven’t paid the group any mind since 2005 when Iida Kaori graduated. Mind you Kaorin’s musume sucked big time 5th and 6th gens were/are all as bad as each other. Anyway making the judgment from the covers, 10 My Me is definitely worse. Someone should call the fashion police on them, seriously!
I’m afraid I rarely listen to songs on albums. I decided not to listen to this album. The one previously the only song I liked was the one that Ai and Risa did together. What was it called?
Ai and Risa’s duet was called Ano Hi ni Modoritai.
I love 10 my me. The only songs i can’t quite get into are the 8th gen one and kimagure princess. However what i’ve listened to of fantasy juuichi hasn’t really set me alight.