5 posts tagged “milky way”

This year sure seemed to fly past so quickly and yet I'm already a year older...unfortunately not any brighter I'm afraid! lol :P The end of the year means time to reflect on important life stuff such as family, friendships, ♥ relationships, career opportunities, hairstyles, clothes, and of course all of the great new music you were able to experience over the past 12 months!!! Okay not all of those are quite qualified to be titled as "important" but....hm you do get a gist of just what goes on in my mind come this time of year (*´∀｀*) ♪♪.

And while I'm sure there may be a hint of intrigue into knowing just what one will wear for tonight's final farewell to 2008, I'm sure most are busy already celebrating, preparing to celebrate or perhaps are already in the next day recovery stages......kidding about that first part of course! :P But living here has me really wondering something that I never considered seriously before, that being are we the last to ring in the new year each year?!!

I was trying to think of something additional to add to this year's year end post in addition to the song list and while a few ideas did pop into my head...I thought it better to keep things simple as surely you have something better to be doing than listen to me ramble on endlessly which I seemed to have done plenty of already this year. :P So.....I thought how about choosing the post in which I had the most fun writing over this past year....not necessarily one of importance in any way but rather one that was a joy to type and put together as when it comes to blogging in general I think you have to find enough happiness and fun in order to continue on. That's what a blog should be ne~...something fun and enjoyable where you can escape the pressures of life for just a bit and be giddy! ^o^ So when was I happiest while at my laptop this year? I think it would have to be while writing "Berikyuu! Idol the second week: Idol goes bowling with the stars" ...I just had such a wonderful time being silly there even if it was just for a portion of the day. =)

Okay enough of my senseless rambling and this is the last time you'll have to listen to it for the rest of this year I promise!!! :P Before I get to my H!P favorite song list, I would like to wish everyone a happy and safe celebration for bringing in the New Year and with that...best wishes for a wonderful and prosperous upcoming 2009 and beyond! ^o^♥

Creating lists of all sorts has been a longtime favorite activity of mine whether it be songs, artists, movies, dramas or just about anything else so before posting 2008's H!P favorites here are links to two previous favorite Momusu song lists which were done in 2002 & 2005. I used to create a much more involved song list back then at least once a year as I would add to the original list each year keeping the previous entries in their relative spots for the most part...well unless an older song suddenly caught my fancy so much more that it merited a move up higher in the listing. Also note a few simple rules that I used in creating these past song lists as although they are being titled as "Momusu best" there is an allowance for any other artist in H!P as long as they were at one time a member of Momusu past or present.

Kyaaa~! this is getting much longer than I originally anticipated...seems it's true as someone recently told me..."you talk too much!" >_<

Here are my top 10 favorite H!P songs for 2008 and it really was difficult narrowing it down to just 10 as you know I'd probably otherwise end up with a top 14, top 27, top 39 or something equally wacky and strange! :P So many songs could have made this top ten and surely a lot of your favorites won't be included here but I really did try and try to find those most beloved songs of 2008................I could write another paragraph just to cover all of the songs that I wanted to include in this top 10 but..........that would be so not good as this post is running longer and longer as I continue to ramble here....okay...here's my top 10 favorite H!P songs of 2008:



10. "BE"


9. "Manopiano"


8. "Tan Tan Taan!"


7. "Hitori" (single version)


Technically "Hitori" was originally released in November of 2006 on Ayaya's outstanding album "Naked Songs" but as it was included as the coupling with song to 2008's "Kizuna" single as a "single version", I sort of sneaked it in here! :P

6. "Johnny e no dengon"


5. "Janakyamottainai!"


4. "Wasuretakunai natsu"


3. "San San  GOGO"


2. "FOREVER LOVE"


1. ..............And for a second year in a row Berryz Koubou released my favorite song for the year with "Maji Good Chance Summer!" ^ ^
This song just makes me so incredibly happy...it's difficult to explain, well just imagine Kohachan after 1 Red Bull and some green tea~!....lol well that's....um sort of an exaggeration so let's just say this song is ♥♥♥!!! And "Maji Good Chance Summer" definitely receives the.......


...Maochan music knockout!! seal of approval! ^o^♪♪

And lastly, no doubt there will be lots of fireworks wherever you happen to be on this final day of 2008....so I thought it would be appropriate to include just a few of my favorite "hanabi" songs including Mr.Children's "Hanabi", Kohachan's "Koi Hanabi" along with Sayu's version of "Senkou Hanabi.". ^ ^



Hmm...this song would be a perfect choice for Mr.Children's very first performance at this year's Kouhaku. ^-^

I thought that MilkyWay's "Anataboshi" was a fun song but "Tan Tan Taan! I find so much better and the more I listen to it the better it gets!! Right from the start this song just sounds so appropriate for an anime with it's glittery opening which really has a fantasy aura to it and vocally the arrangement is just so much more complimentary to this cute trio...the chorus in particular is so catchy! Most notable is how the vocal distribution in MilkyWay is truly an equal affair and although no doubt it's Kohachan as the star here her presence in no way overshadows her fellow members which is really great as Kikkawa Yuu and Kitahara Sayaka in no way are relegated to back up standards."Tan Tan Taan!" also really showcases each member's unique vocals and they sound really sweet harmonizing together during those ensemble parts.

One thing is for sure though...you have to ♥ how Kohachan always sings with reckless abandon no matter what the occasion! That's part of why she's so awesome! ^o^

And how can you not adore their outifts! Each a perfect splitting image of their animated counterparts and those star tambourines are the best! I wonder if they sell these at concerts...just trying to imagine a sea of wota with illuminated star tambourines filling the audience! =D Their tambourines also play a major role in the really playful dance choreography and thank goodness for headsets as an abbreviated dance in live performaces would do this song no justice at all. Like how "The Manpower!!!" was performed with mics...just not the same at all without the freedom of both hands at all times. They're just soooooooooo adorable together! The little stage which has become a trademark look for "Kirarin Revolution" pvs is as cute here as in past releases and even the blue screen scenes added a nice varied look the the pv overall with its mesmerizing backgrounds. Interestingly MilkyWay's pv DVD singles have been substantially shorter than other H!P releases with neither having a running time over 20 minutes but the inclusion of those little "One point dance lesson" clips more than makes up for that! It's really short but it's so fun that they include these dance lesson clips. Kohachan is funny and hyper all the time, even during dance instruction it seems! I'm really beginning to believe that she is an anime character...and I mean that in the best sense. ^-^ I love when dance shot versions are shot all the way through without all of the editing and piecing of parts together and I'm so glad that its a "dance" version rather than a "close up version." Fun and imaginative dance choreography deserves to be showcased and seen in entirety! The limited editon CD single includes a Kirarin super collaboration card with one side showing images of the actual H!P members and its reverse side displaying their anime characters. The card includes a separate clear plastic overlay which when layed over the original card enhances Kohachan's outfit as well as the outer borders of the card. I scanned the card with the overlay in place above.
The coupling with track "Gamusharara" does grow on you but I think it fairs by far in comparison to the ending theme song from their earlier single "Anataboshi"..... ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥
...as I find "Sansan GOGO" to be a much much much much much superior song, especially in the catchy category. This song is just so amazingly addictive and I'm thinking that it's one of my top 10 H!P faves for this year so far, maybe top 5. It's got such an inspirational driving melody and the bassline and guitar just make this song so perfect! And the verses build up so well heading into the chorus which is just pure ♥!!! I can listen to this song over and over on repeat which I'm doing right now as I type. ^ ^ LOL this is my favorite MilkyWay song and it's a b-side?

MilkyWay's "Tan Tan Taan!" LE CD single can be ordered here at Cdjapan.


MilkyWay's "Tan Tan Taan!" pv DVD single can be ordered here at Cdjapan.

Just a few shots from the making of...

My Arashi "Complete Otakara Photo File" book set is finally complete with both Shokun and Aiba's arriving today. There's also Reinachan's latest shashinshuu "Very Reina" which has a most sparkling cover along with her new solo DVD..."Real Challenge Tanaka Reina." I'm beginning to really love these sort of random H!P DVD releases which started with Airiin's golf and next up will be something with a lot of Momo which is can't miss material! Milky Way's and Berryz Koubou's latest single offerings also arrived today although I'm a bit disappointed that BK's LE version doesn't include some sort of version of their pv which means the wait will continue for any visuals. >_< Nacchi's "Birthday Special Concert" DVD though has quite a surprise performance on it!!! I'll have to get to that soon! But for now as you can see...Arashi's "Beatiful days" LE & RE singles have already been unwrapped........listening/watching now.....

Sorry it's taken me awhile to post the results for the "so you wake up one morning and you're Tsunku for a day....." poll results as I wanted to get them up by the weekend. First I want to give a big thank you to everyone who participated in the voting for the Shuffle and "dream" units! This was the largest turnout yet as 1448 fans participated in the polls. I want to send a special thank you to Paul Thomas at Hello!Blog for linking the original post at his website as it was responsible for the majority of the voter traffic received for both polls I strongly believe. ^-^ Thanks so much Paul!!

First here are top 7 members voted in for the Shuffle group:
From top to bottom, left to right the members are in order from highest vote getter. Gakisan and Kamei dominated the polls but the race for the top spot was extremely close here in particular as amazingly they ended up being only separated by a single vote. Junjun also received lots of votes as the top 3 vote getters here really were in a league of their own when viewing the voting numbers as a whole. This truly would be an amazing shuffle group as you have a strong vocal presence combined with cute. But also just the thought of Momo and Mikitty working together = XD! Helium meets brute force! :) And members Junjun and Chisatochan so deserving of more attention. The dynamics in personality would be most welcome as well and the one member that I personally would have added to this party would have been in incomparable Yukosan. :D Ah a reunion of Yukosan and Kyamei...what could be better and once Yuko gets a load of Momo...all bets are off for good behavior! XD

I also wanted to include what would be the next two shuffle groups following the next highest vote getters. The second tier shuffle group would include these members as voted by you: This second unit looks like a nice blend of Momusu, Berryz Koubou and C-ute and it's nice to see Erikachan and Chiichan getting some fan support. Vocally this group would be quite interesting as well with such vocal variety including Maimichan, Miya, Aichan, and Reinachan in particular as theirs are notably distinct. The strongest personality here would have to be Reinachan's so I'd appoint her leader by default...no offense to Aichan of course whom I adore very much!

The third tier of vote getters would round out our final shuffle group for 2008: Surprisingly Ayaya makes a quite late entrance as I really thought she'd rank much higher alongside Mikitty if for nothing else her top vocals in H!P....and beauty of course! But better late than never and this unit may be the most interesting or strangest of them all. Ayaya will bring the vocals, Sayu the cute, Sakichan...solid vocals and leadership, Nacchi...distinct vocals...warm mentoring and pure joy, Maimai will do battle with Sayu in a cute-off of gigantic proportions..watch out! :P, Maasa will help glue it all together with her unique brand of warmth and humor, and Konkon strong vocals...adorableness..and an amazing mind!

Happily every member in the shuffle group poll received multiple votes and here are the remaining members in order: Sugaya Risako, Linlin, Mitsui Aika, Arihara Kanna, Ishikawa Rika, Kusumi Koharu, Nakjima Saki, and Kumai Yurina.


And now here are the results from the "dream" group poll: Gakisan once again dominated the voting and not even Kamei could keep up towards the end of voting. What's interesting about this super dream group cumulatively voted on by fans is that with the one exception of Ayaya, every member past or present is a member of Momusu which perhaps indicates their dominance in fan affection when the whole of Hello! Project is looked at. After all the goal with this poll was to determine which ten members out of the whole of H!P would fans see as the best members to include in a "dream" unit of their own...cumulatively though. The poll included all 52 H!P members who have been active in music releases (including Eggs) so the results here really show the 10 members who hold substantial fan bases within the whole of H!P. Again Junjun shows up very impressively in the top 5 deeply beloved members Marippe and Nono make high appearances as well. I'm so happy to see Ayaya make the top group here as well as her showing in the "shuffle group" results were a bit low in my opinion. When it comes to H!P I think that any "super"group should by default include Ayaya...my personal opinion though. :) Mikitty may be on a pretty low key level right now...but most of that I suspect is UFA holding her back though for her past defiance of them which was done so publicly....I do applaud her for standing up for herself though.... XD but here it really shows how her low visibilty hasn't hurt her fan base at all as she received a high number of votes making the top group as well. :) So happy to see Kamei in the second spot in both polls as only Gakisan could keep her out of the top spot...twice! Gakisan = ♥

And to show how the rest of the voting went here are the next two 10 member "dream" groups as voted for here starting with vote getters 11-20: Yuko and Rika together again...Charmy & the tirades just about to begin! XD Just like old times!! :) Lets see Konkon and Makochan too...almost the entire classic newscast is here! Talk about personality dynamics!!! The tier two "dream" group is overflowing with diverse personality goodness. Fiesty Reinachan, wacky Makochan, fiery Yukosan...add in Charmy and stir in "helium"...I mean Momo adorableness...slowly! XD But seriously all ten members would be a dream to see them work together...the only change I'd make? Add in an Egg for good measure so that Yukosan can mold (scare)...no I mean mentor them! :P

And lastly here's the fan voted tier 3 "dream" group (top votes received, members 21-30): At last Nacchi, Nocchi, Koharu, Kanna, and Manoeri make an appearance. I'm also a bit surprised to see Maimichan appear so far down just making the cut for the third level group. And no offense to Keisan but....Keisan > Nacchi?! O__o Nice to see Kannachan sneak in there too in the last spot and Kikkawa Yuu also received a decent number of votes as well. :) Now is this hypothetical group strange or interesting or what?!! I don't know what to say. It's such an unusual combination of members. Hey it could work! And at least we know there would be a lot of excitement with Kohachan present...thank goodness she made at least one unit!! XD Nocchi + Nacchi + Maimichan = 幸せ。

A great stat for the "dream" group poll is that 51 out of the 52 H!P members on the ballot received multiple votes with Korenaga Miki being the only exception here. I would have loved to have seen her receive votes as well but with so many members to choose from I think it's a great showing to have nearly everyone included. Here's the rest of the members who received votes from high to low following the 3 "dream" groups listed above: Mitsui Aika, Shimizu Saki, Kumai Yurina, Okada Yui, Iida Kaori, Miyoshi Erika, Nakajima Saki, Sugaya Risako, Hagiwara Mai, Linlin, Inaba Atsuko, Kitahara Sayaka, Maeda Yuuka, Satoda Mai, Murata Megumi, Saito Hitomi, Maeda Yuki, Ohtani Masae, Shibata Ayumi, Sawada Yuri, Sengoku Minami, and someone even added Aibon to the ballot! :)

This is the first time that I've tried to gather a consensus of which members in the whole of Hello! Project hold substantial fan bases and along with that just which combinations of members would fans find most attractive and fruitful. Hopefully these results will shine some light upon those topics...well at least in this little corner of the blogosphere. Thank you again to everyone who helped to make these "dream" group polls a success! ^-^

The Berryz Koubou vs. C-ute concerts also have a feature article in this month's UTB...only about a couple of weeks until both DVD versions are released! The live event for Buono!'s latest single "Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!" is covered in a two page article here....can Buono! do any wrong?...I don't think so! ^-^ J-Pop utopia! 3 perfect members + great "true" J-Pop songwriting = Buono! Milky way also has a two page article this month and the Eggs are really on a roll here as every "new" Egg presented in a group recently has been impressive beyond any expectations or words. Word is that Amp Energy drink, Monster, and Red Bull are currently in a bidding war over whom gets to sponsor Kohachan's lively and always adorable personality! :P I actually don't believe that she needs any energy drinks....^-^ I thought this was an interesting analysis of the connection of idol singers through the recent decades and the evolution of it all which is covered in the accompanying article. I got a kick out of seeing Moritaka Chisato's direct connection to H!P in this chart. I admit to keeping some distance from "The Possible" but only for the sole reason that I'm just now sure if I can handle falling for another idol group right now...there's just so many I already collect and listen to! :P But through UTB I at least know what their names are now! I have to admit though that Canaria Club pulled me in before I knew what was happening....and I now own a mini album, 2 singles, and a pv DVD single of theirs which was all that I could find commercially available when I checked. :P And being that Wani Books will be publishing Kohachan's upcoming shashinshuu which will be out on July 25th, here's an advertisement which can also be found in this issue. The shashinshuu merry-go-round never ends! :O And what can I say about Airiin!! It doesn't seem like that long ago that I was looking at her first pb and it seemed perhaps too early for such a release...but now I think these off shots from her latest pb tell quite a different story in terms of her maturity looks wise. I mean doesn't she look so much more mature and in her own element here? Wait...I think her new shashinshuu just arrived along with a few other friends. (goes to check...)