Best and Worst of H!P: 2010
It’s become a Sora to Kujira tradition to go over everything that’s happened in H!P for the year. Similar to how I did last year for 2009, I’ll go over the best and worst of each group, from sales to graduations to how much a certain member has improved(or the contrary).
2010 has been a bumpy road for some groups. C-ute was in a bit of a slump, but are back to their former self, and even better! Berryz has had a safe year, while S/mileage has been successful in general.
Berryz Kobo have been everywhere this year with one terrific album, three singles and six(!) concert DVDs. Unfortunately, their sales aren’t as high as they used to be, but this is happened to each group in H!P, so it comes as no surprise.
The Good~
- All of their music released this year was great
- Their turning into beautiful, young women
- Center switch from Risako to Yurina
The Bad~
- Lower sales
- Not much improvement in vocals
- Still no attention for the “back row” girls
The Future~
New single “Heroine ni Narou ka!” to be released in March 2nd! A long ways off, and the previews don’t sound too good.
Member of the Year~
Kumai Yurina was definitely the stand out member of the year for Berryz Kobo. This is all thanks to her sudden center spot in the “Shining Power” single. It was such a big deal, that it actually made me like her. Sure, she still can’t sing, but their was something about her confidence and how natural she looked int he center position that converted me into a Yurina fan. She looks absolutely stunning now and I hope that Tsunku decides to keep her in the middle.
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Not gonna lie, C-ute was up for the title of worst group in H!P earlier this year. It wasn’t until the release of Dance de Bakoon that the girls were finally able to bounce back into their former glory. With four singles, one album and six DVD’s, C-ute have also been pretty busy!
The Good~
- Dance de Bakoon and Aitai Lonely Christmas were probably the best a-sides released in H!P this year
- Line distribution gets better and better
- Similar to Berryz, their becoming beautiful ladies! Especially Airi and Saki~
The Bad~
- Their Shocking 5 album was one of the worst albums in H!P history
- Airi-hax in SHOCK! and genericness in Campus Life killed both songs for me
The Future~
- New single “kiss me Aishiteru” set to be released February 23.
Member of the Year~
Who else but the lovely Okai Chisato for best C-ute member of the year? She’s constantly showing us that she’s the groups best vocalist(especially in Dance de Bakoon) and it looks like Tsunku is finally making use of it by giving her more and more lines with each release. Let’s not forget to mention that she, among with other member in H!P, is FINALLY getting her photo book release! She also released her first solo digital single, further confirming her as a power house vocal in H!P. Congrats Chisato!
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If 2010 was the year for any group, it would have to be S/mileage. From making their major debut, to winning the Best New Artist award at the 52nd Japan Record Awards, S/mileage have proven themselves to be the real deal. This year they released one album, five singles(six if you count My School March) and six DVDs! Talk about busy.
The Good~
- Their music quality is still pretty solid
- Surprisingly strong sales
- Their everywhere!
The Bad~
- They still sing pretty much the same, vocal lessons please!
- Wada Ayaka still hasn’t stepped up as leader
- The haircuts -_-
The Future~
- New single “Shortcut” for February 9.
Member of the Year~
It was tough choosing who would get this award, but in the end the group’s strongest vocalist, Ogawa Saki took the prize. It was tough deciding whether to choose Saki or Kanon since both of them have the funniest, most entertaining personalities in the group(and in H!P now that JunLin are gone) but Saki got the lead because of her vocals. Dawa is very far from getting this type of credit due to her disgusting vocals, her lack of personality and her terrible job as a leader. Yea, I’m not a big Wada Ayaka fan.
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I feel like I’m one of the few people who actually likes Mano Erina. I don’t see a reason why you couldn’t like her(minus vocals, but that’s never been a deciding factor for me). 2010 has been a pretty safe year for Mano with one album(that everyone seems to look over) and three great singles. She’s still the only soloist(but that might change with Kikkawa Yuu in January!) and I think she’s doing a great job at standing out.
The Good~
- All of her singles were great
- Her second album had some very good new tracks
- Her vocals are finally showing some kind of improvement!
The Bad~
- Nobody still cares about her
- VOCALS D=
The Future~
- Seishun no Serenade for January 26!
Worst artist of the year? Morning Musume of course! :D 2010 was just not their year. Surprisingly, they released two albums and three singles. As awesome as it is that they release two albums in one year, it sucks that Fantasy! Juuichi was a hot mess. I’d much rather have quality over quantity Tsunku!
The Good~
- Onna to Otoko no Lullaby Game
- 9th gen auditions!
The Bad~
- Seishun Correction was utter crap
- Fantasy! Juuichi
- Eri, JunLin graduation
- Even lower sales! :’D
- Even Alo Hello! 4 sucked. D=
The Future~
- No releases announced, but the 9th gen audition winner(s) will be announced in January! Here’s hoping that it’s at least three new members. D=
Member of the Year~
It was hard choosing a member that stood out in Morning Musume this year since none of them did anything noteworthy. Aika was actually the runner-up for this because of her improved vocals but it wasn’t enough to put her over Ai. So what exactly has Takahashi Ai done this year that’s noteworthy? Only the same thing she’s done the past four years as leader: being responsible, talented and beautiful. It’s hard to imagine Momusu without their center girl, thus why her efforts granted her this award.
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On my post from last year, I had stated the most anticipated events to happen in 2010. Did they come true? Let’s see~
Morning Musume auditions: Yup! Even though it’s kind of late, and the winners will be announced in 2011, the entire process took place this year.
C-ute’s future releases: I was looking forward to seeing how C-ute would cope with the loss of two of their members. While they struggled at first, C-ute is back and better than ever!
Buono!’s album: As usual, Buono! didn’t disappoint with We are Buono! I’m so anxious for thier upcoming single. LONG LIVE BUONO!
Mano Erina developing as a vocalist: Sorta kinda. She sounds better than she did in her debut, definitely, but Mano still has a lot of room for improvement.
New groups!: Nope! We still have the same groups from last year, except with fewer members now. :c
S/mlieage’s major debut: Yup and it went super well for them!
2011′s Most Anticipated
- At least three members added to Morning Musume.
- Kumai Yurina keeping her center spot
- Buono! back to constant releases
- A Morning Musume graduation(anyone but Aika)
- S/mileage vocals improving
What did you think about Hello! Project in 2010? Better or worse than last year?
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Japan Bump – 日本バンプ, Jin. Jin said: Finally finished. -o- http://www.soratokujira.tk/best-and-worst-of-hp-2010/ Best and Worst of Hello! Project in 2010! [...]
2010 was a WAY better year than 2009! especially for c-ute and s/mileage, MM mmm not so much. XD
i’m totally anticipating all the new changes for 2011. especially MM 9th gen! i’m going to camp online and watch out for the announcement tomorrow evening. i really hope it gives MM a little boost, especially after losing 3 members.
oh and there’s one more good thing about s/mileage this year…the japan record best newcomer award! and they beat SNSD like they said they would. :)
check out my 2010 rankings too! :D
It’s amazing when you look at the now Berryz Kobo to how they looked 7 years ago, they look so grown up and beautiful. I’m just glad Yurina isn’t growing anymore, she sticks out enough as it is.
I won’t be impressed with C-ute until they come back with a better song this year. Something just as good as Tokkaiko Junjou or Namida no Iro, I know it’s unlikely but I’m hoping. I love Chisato, she will always be my favourite but Saki is growing on me bit by bit and is it me or is Mai growing in height?
I can’t wait to see who the 9th generation members are. Hopefully two or three like you say and I honestly don’t want Niigaki Risa to leave but I feel that it’s either her or Sayumi to go next. :/
From last year to this year I see this:
Berryz Kobo held it together as usual and recovered from a drop in sales from Maji Bomber with Shining Power.
Morning Musume got worse but overall the releases of the year that I enjoyed were even. Last year it was Shouganai Yume Oibito and Nanchatte Renai and this year Fantasy! Juuichi (First album that didn’t completely lack since Ai no Dai 6 Khan as an overall whole), and Onna to Otoko no Lullaby Game (still going with the shitty line distribution of the 2008-2010 period but epic sound and best PV in years). New members, I want all 5 finalists to pass so MM can be different on some level again. 8-nin and 9-nin I’m really sick of because it means we’ll go back to Ai, Reina, and Risa and just go with a fourth lead vocal who can replace Eri’s (all seems to point at Sayashi Riho or w/e her name is joining and doing this). 10nin been great to MM before they should take this chance to train some kohai for the inevitable losses MM will face between 2011 and 2013.
I hope they go in order from Ai, Risa, Reina, and Sayumi because Ai has exceeded her possible growth in the group and has nothing left to offer except raising a good kohai to take her place, Risa needs a small amount of time in the group to shine as herself instead of Ai’s shadow and likewise about the raising of a good kohai to take her place, Reina needs to stick around longer so as to not give up the old fanbase of MM so quickly that the group drops too far in sales once she has along with a need to raise a kohai to take her place, and Sayumi needs as long as she can get to grow as much as she can in the group and raise a kohai. She did a nice job with Koharu if they give her someone who has a good voice already she can help build that girl’s other departments (confidence, character, etc). Aika needs to be put through more intensive training so she can be a main/lead vocal in the future because it will just be strange if MM becomes a group where at least one senpai isn’t leading the vocal to an extent.
C-ute started 2010 on a bad note with SHOCK! a song that had great music but was given completely biased line distribution, but they recovered through the year and the lineup shows possibilities of working well for a few years. No more graduations please!
S/mileage – Don’t care for them much but they worked very hard this year and their sales added up quite nicely. They’ve got a lot of growing left to do but they made me think at least to some degree that H!P would survive another 8yrs, they may very well be the oldest group in the project one day if anything were to happen to MM, BK, and C-ute and knowing they may be able to hold it together in such a time of crisis is a relief. They deserve to win the award they got.
Mano Erina – Another failure of a year IMO and she just gets worse and worse. How the hell is it possible to do that? I really wonder.
Hopes for 2011:
10nin MM + Ai’s graduation in December
BK Keeps holding it together.
5-nin C-ute continues to function as nicely as they have since Dance de Bakoon
S/mileage’s voices mature enough for them to really be considered an idol group.
Mano Erina gets vocal training and is taken in a different musical direction by those running her solo career.
Kikkawa Yuu becomes a soloist and not a crappy one like Mano Erina.
A variety show for H!P that airs at a decent time of day and runs Mon-Fri so they can stick MM, BK, C-ute, and S/mileage on once a week (in MM’s case twice a week) with Mano Erina and or Kikkawa Yuu. This would be great for following the growth of 9th gen MM, seeing the personalities of all girls in H!P and boosting sales. If not this they could at least start posting videos on YouTube channels about what its like each day for the girls. Like an inside scoop. So many people watch YouTube why not use it for promotion/exposure to the general public.
MM didn’t really do good this year. Seishun Collection kinda sucked. Onna ga Medatte was okay. Onna to Otoko no Lullaby Game was epic. 2 albums? Okay I guess. Their sales did get lower than before. 3 graduations made everything worse, but we’re just gonna have to wait for the 9th gen!
Member of the Year: Ai. I’m not really into MM but I think she stood out last year. I mean like, did you hear her live in OtOnLG ?
Berryz? Good singles. 1 double-a side. I haven’t really listened to the album. (I don’t really listen to albums). Sales weren’t so good, though. The group was pretty safe, last year.
Member of the Year: Yurina. Her vocals aren’t that good, but she can sing. We’ll never know, maybe she’ll improve this year.
C-ute? SHOCK! was an okay song, if it weren’t all Airi’s. Campus Life was a bit boring… Dance de Bakoon! showed us what C-ute it really is! Aitai Lonely Christmas had better sales than the other 3, I have to admit, the song was really good. Shocking 5 wasn’t that bad, too. Kimi no Senpou and Lonely Girl’s Night were good.
Members of the Year: Mai and Chisato. I couldn’t pick! >< Don't call me biased, but Mai did improve this year, and she actually didn't cut her hair shorter after ALC! Chisato is awesome. She released a digital single (which was epic), she's releasing her 1st PB, and her vocals are AWESOME, I honestly think she's better than Airi.
2010 is S/mileage year. Major debut, 3 singles were really good. 1 album which isn't bad.
Everyone is the member of the year. They all did their best to make it this far, so I think they all deserve this place.
Let's just wait and see, H!P is always full of surprises!
Lol about vocal, you cant jugde them….sometimes you hear their voice form the beginning untill know is STILL THE SAME BUT ACTUALLY NOT.
Sometimes you hear their voice and said ” their voice still not improve..”But actually THAT THE WAY THEIR VOICE ARE AND YOU CANT CHANGE IT.
I think H!P have their own “TRADEMARK” own their voice. Like Risako voice, you can find any singer like her voice, her voice one in the million.
Yea, maybe some people said ” Uuu..her voice so UGLY..” but for me that her
“TRADEMARK”.
Just like ” Chester” for Linkin Park, He didnt learn the ” Scremo” form other people, he learn BY HIS WON BUT STILL MANY PEOPLE ACCEPT HIS ” SCREAMO”.
Sometimes YOU MUST IGNORE other people thinking about your voice because people ALWAYS LIKE TO CRITICIZE YOU AND THEY ALWAYS ASKING YOU TO BE ” 100 % PERFECT” LIKE THEY DEMAND ALTHOUGH YOU ALREADY STRUGGLE TO MAKE ” A PERFECT VOICE” TILL DIE.
Is MORE EASIER TO “CRITICIZE” THEN ” STRUGGLE” TO GET ” A PERFECT VOICE”.