Saturday, May 28, 2016

Top 48G Members [First Half 2016 Edition]

December's Ranking: Click Here

It really pains me to say this, but in contrast to H!P this year, 48G's music has been utterly fantastic. Not so much AKB, but the sister/"rival" groups. They've had a lot of impressive songs come out this year so far. They've also seemed actually interesting this year. I find myself checking up on news about them more often than usual. I think it's because the big older members are finally starting to leave (like how Takamina FINALLY got the heck out of the group. That was the single most pointless graduation drag out I've ever seen) and new members are beginning to fill the ranks. It's a fun transition time.

AKB48

-It's actually kind of sad how AKB manages to be so mediocre compared to their sister groups. Kimi wa Melody was an ok song, and had some fantastic B-sides, but the B-sides weren't even by AKB except for La La La (which was boring as crap). And Tsubasa wa Iranai & it's B-sides is AKB's management really phoning it in. I applaud them for resisting going back to bikini singles, but gosh can we at least have something with some energy? And if that preview for that new song is actually the Sousenkyou single then I'm giving up on any A-side being good this year from AKB.

#1: Minami Minegishi

#2: Mayu Watanabe

#3: Nana Okada

#4: Hijiri Tanikawa

#5: Mion Mukaichi

#6: Nana Owada

#7: Kira Takahashi

#8: Yuki Kashiwagi

#9: Moe Aigasa

#10: Kiara Sato

SKE48

-I honestly expected SKE to not catch my attention as much after Rena graduated, but really they've been more interesting than most groups. Rara is totally adorable and I'm glad that she's getting the push she's getting. Musically, SKE has released one of their best songs ever this year with Chicken Line. While most of the B-sides to the single were pretty standard pop fare, Is That Your Secret was really great too. I hope they get an album/original stage this year. It's been too long since both.

#1: Rara Goto

#2: Aya Shibata

#3: Nao Furuhata

#4: Jurina Matsui

#5: Kaori Matsumura

#6: Ruka Kitano

#7: Akari Suda

#8: Natsuki Takatsuka

#9: Oka Suenaga

#10: Marika Tani

NMB48

-NMB had some great title tracks last year, but this year's Amagami Hime wasn't really up to par with songs like Must Be Now & Don't Look Back. It's good, but not that good. The B-sides were also rather disappointing. I'm hoping that their next singles this year are better. With NMB, I feel like they're really beginning that major transition phase that SKE seems to be starting to come out of. The phase where older members & popular members are wanting to move on & pass the baton to younger girls. With Miyuki leaving (and in my opinion I believe Sayaka will be gone by the end of next year too), they will have to make the transition to new gen sooner rather than later. They are doing better on that front than SKE did when they began the transition though.

#1: Sayaka Yamamoto

#2: Rina Yamao

#3: Ririka Suto

#4: Shu Yabushita

#5: Fuuko Yagura

#6: Miru Shiroma

#7: Konomi Kusaka

#8: Kanae Iso

#9: Rurina Nishizawa

#10: Ayaka Morita

HKT48

-I've all but given up hope that HKT will ever release good A-sides ever again. Or B-sides for that matter really. However, their B-side on Kimi wa Melody was incredible. Make Noise is the best thing they've ever done. They should totally do that style on an A-side just to shake stuff up because of how boring they usually are.

#1: Meru Tashima

#2: Nako Yabuki

#3: Chihiro Anai

#4: Sakura Miyawaki

#5: Emiri Yamashita

#6: Haruka Ueno

#7: Yui Kojina

#8: Nao Ueki

#9: Haruka Kodama

#10: Aoi Motomura

NGT48

-Well, they haven't really done anything yet so I don't have a whole lot of thoughts on them. Their B-side releases for AKB are pretty boring though. And I really really don't like Moeka. She feels like such a poor choice for center over the amount of girls they have who could pull it off much better. I still can't really rank them with any certainty because they haven't released a single yet.

#1: Yuka Ogino

#2: Minami Kato

#3: Rika Nakai

#4: Reina Seiji

#5: Nanako Nishimura

#6: Yuria Otaki

#7: Mau Takahashi

#8: Marina Nishigata

#9: Rie Kitahara

#10: Hinata Honma

Nogizaka46

-Honestly, Nogi releases music more boring than HKT. They really do. However, as a group they seem to have much more personality. Although Nogi's music borders from bland to blander, they have managed to release one of the best Japanese songs of all time this year. No I'm not kidding when I say that. Harukanaru Bhutan is probably my favorite song to ever come out of the 48Gs, and at this point it's very very close to becoming my favorite Japanese song of all time. The composition and production of that song is just absolutely gorgeous. The alternating between the guitar & the traditional instruments before that last chorus is just a beautiful piece of music. So powerful. When they have songs as good as that in their arsenal, why the heck are they constantly releasing snoozefests? I can't remember how any of their A-sides go as far back as Natsu no Free & Easy because they're all the same flavor of boring.

#1: Rina Ikoma

#2: Minami Hoshino

#3: Maaya Wada

#4: Mai Shiraishi

#5: Manatsu Akimoto

#6: Karin Ito

#7: Marika Ito

#8: Nanase Nishino

#9: Erika Ikuta

#10: Himeka Nakamoto

Keyakizaka46

-I was so incredibly surprised by their debut single. It was so different for the usual 48G stuff! This is what they need desperately. Curveballs. It seems like the Japanese public loved the Silent Majority concept too so that should provide incentive for them to comeback with another great song. I'm still not 100% on my ranking, but my top girls are more or less decided.

#1: Yui Imaizumi

#2: Miyu Suzumoto

#3: Manaka Shida

#4: Aoi Harada

#5: Yurina Hirate

#6: Yui Kobayashi

#7: Nijika Ishimori

#8: Mizuho Haba

#9: Neru Nagahama

#10: Nanami Yonetani

So here's my thoughts, agree, disagree?

Friday, May 27, 2016

Top H!P Members [First Half 2016 Edition]

So I've done two of these in the past, with this being the latest one: December 2015 Ranking. I think that this time it's been the hardest for me to rank members. Because of being busy, I haven't really been paying attention to groups as much as I used to. Also, H!P in general is just so boring right now. Most of the group releases so far this year are very boring to me. The only real highlights in my opinion were Juice=Juice's single and Koi wa Magnet. Everything this else ranges from meh to bad. It also doesn't help that releases in general seem to be really spread out this year so it seems like nothing is going on. Although I think the biggest reason in my apathy towards groups is that I simply haven't been buying the CDs like usual because I haven't had the extra money to pay full price for them and it's getting harder to find them cheap on ebay. On that note, I really need to learn how to use YAJ and forwarding services. But, here's my current H!P members ranking. Remember that no member who has announced her graduation/has graduated is listed.

Morning Musume

-I love them to death, I really do, but gosh they have been so boring this year. One release and not even until May?! And then that release is pretty poor? For as high energy as Utakata seems, it feels like there's really no life to it (unless you watch the music video with it, where they're actually looking interested in an MV for once), I haven't even been able to make it through The Vision because it's so bland, and Tokyo, although a great song, just doesn't pack enough punch to save the single. I think they really need a couple new "ace" material girls in the 13th gen to shake things up a bit. They seem too stagnant right now to me. Also, please PLEASE stop the formation dances they have looked terrible for a long time and keep getting worse. I'd love to see them do an EDM track with an update contemporary hip hop dance kind of thing. It'd be so interesting & the kind of *POP* they need right now. An attention getter really. But anyway, onto the girls.

#1: Miki Nonaka

-This surprises me. It really does. I don't know why I like her I just do.

#2: Masaki Sato

-There is something about her this year that just annoys me. Like last year she was really impressing me to the point where I was seriously considering her my favorite member in MM, but this year everything kind of came crashing down for some reason. The only reason she hasn't fallen further is because no one else has grabbed my interest even a little.

#3: Sakura Oda

#4: Akane Haga

#5: Haruka Kudo

#6: Ayumi Ishida

#7: Maria Makino

#8: Mizuki Fukumura

#9: Erina Ikuta

#10: Haruna Iikubo

#11: Haruna Ogata

C-ute

-At this point with C-ute, I wish that H!P would move them under UpFront to become "mature artists" instead of idols if they still want to continue. I just feel like they've done all they can within the constraints of H!P. Honestly, I'm hoping for a disbandment/hiatus/moving to UpFront out of H!P announcement at the year end H!P thing. Not because I necessarily dislike them, but because I feel like they've hit a wall and can't go up any further. Also, I think they all need a break. Mai's voice is just deteriorating more every time I hear some live performance by them. Even Airi and Chisato don't sound as good as they usually do. Their only single this year was on par with the disappointments from last year. Naze Hito was terrible. Just a bad bad song. Their voices/image doesn't work with the "gospel choir" thing. Summer Wind was ok, and Jinsei wa Step, while the best of the three, is still just meh. I need something exciting from them.

#1: Airi Suzuki

#2: Chisato Okai

#3: Saki Nakajima

#4: Mai Hagiwara

#5: Maimi Yajima

Angerme

-A moment of silence for Meimi's graduation please. I miss her already and she hasn't even left yet. H!P did her SOOO wrong. She deserved solos. She deserved spotlight. She could've been marketed as an idol with real true singing talent. She should've been head of a group like Osaka Shunkashuto. Maybe someday I'll get my wish and she'll come back as a solo singer. As for Angerme themselves, again, meh. Moe seems like she'll be pretty talented, but she's too new to really tell. This "only one release in the first half of a year" thing is really bad for my interest because it seems like nothing is happening. I can't even really comment on the single either because I haven't even taken the time to listen to the other songs besides Tsugitsugi in full because the single came out around finals week and I haven't gotten to it since.

#1: Ayaka Wada

#2: Mizuki Murota

#3: Rikako Sasaki

#4: Maho Aikawa

#5: Akari Takeuchi

#6: Rina Katsuta

#7: Kana Nakanishi

#8: Moe Kamikokuryou

-The only reason Moe is at the bottom is because of how new she is. She will likely surpass at least Rina & Kana.

Juice=Juice

-Ah, the ONLY group with a perfect single this year! Both Karada & Next Is You were so awesome. I'm glad that the release was great because I was pretty disappointed in the stuff they put out last year. I'm cautious about their next single though. I just hope that it comes out soon.

#1: Karin Miyamoto

#2: Akari Uemura

#3: Sayuki Takagi

#4: Yuka Miyazaki

#5: Tomoko Kanazawa

Country Girls

-Can you say 180 turn around? It's honestly shocking to me how good they became this year. I personally thought they would be mediocre forever following Tameranai, but then they release Koi wa Magnet?? What?? Boogie Woogie Love was so catchy too! I was honestly in shock when I heard them. I didn't care for Anata ni Muchuu cause it was way too cutesy for my taste, but 2 out of 3 ain't bad. And Musubu! Her voice in Boogie & Koi! I'm so so thankful she got to debut and although I was really uncertain about it being with Country Girls, I'm glad she did because she added a vocal tone that was needed in the group. Something deeper and strong. I hope that good things are ahead of them

#1: Musubu Funaki

#2: Risa Yamaki

#3: Manaka Inaba

#4: Chisaki Morito

#5: Mai Ozeki

#6: Nanami Yanagawa

#7: Momoko Tsugunaga

-Can she leave this year? Please? I like the idea of a long time member leading a younger group but she looks so out of place with them.

Kobushi Factory

-They actually surprised this year too. I didn't like any of their new single at first, but after I bought it, I fell absolutely in love with Sakura Night Fever. The carefree pop/rock sound is just perfect for them. They need to stop with the growling though. Not only does it sound bad, but I'm worried they're going to hurt their vocal chords because of how young they are.

#1: Rei Inoue

-Her hair is so gorgeous! No, I don't only like her because of her hair, she's arguably the most talented vocally in KF, but HOW does she have such long straight hair like that?! What is your secret? I want to know! - Sincerely, a girl who can't have long hair because it turns into a poofy tangled mess no matter what she does to it. xD

#2: Minami Nomura

#3: Ayaka Hirose

#4: Sakurako Wada

#5: Ayano Hamaura

#6: Natsumi Taguchi

#7: Rio Fujii

#8: Rena Ogawa

Tsubaki Factory

-When are they gonna get a new original song D: I need more EDM awesomeness from them! And a major debut! Please H!P? Please?

#1: Kisora Niinuma

#2: Yumeno Kishimoto

#3: Risa Ogata

#4: Kiki Asakura

#5: Ami Tanimoto

#6: Riko Yamagishi

Kenshuusei

-I have to say I was pretty disappointed in the Kenshuusei test thingy this year. In past years I ended up pleasantly surprised with some girls, but this year almost all of them sounded bad. I don't know if it was poor choice in songs or what, but most did worse than what they're capable of. This time, I'm going to attempt to rank all of the girls, even though some ranks will be practically interchangeable.

#1: Mao Akiyama

-I'd LOVE to see her in 13 gen Musume.

#2: Ruru Danbara

#3: Kizuki Horie

#4: Momohime Kiyono

-So I was very skeptical about her when she came into the program. I tend to find myself disliking girls who get all the initial fawning over because the hype is usually blown so out of proportion it's ridiculous. But, I have to say that I was very surprised with her performance on the Kenshuusei test. This girl is what, 11? And she can sing like THAT?! Honestly, I don't believe she'll be added to Musume at all. I think she's the next Karin/Ayano. A girl who will be in the program for a while & everyone will complain about, but gets to be center in her very own group.

#5: Hikaru Inoue

#6: Reina Ichioka

#7: Kurumi Takase

#8: Kokoro Maeda

#9: Momona Kasahara

#10: Sakiko Kodama

#11: Kaede Kaga

#12: Saori Onoda

#13: Mizuki Kanatsu

#14: Kurumi Noguchi

#15: Mizuho Ono

#16: Kotomi Ono

#17: Nagisa Hashimoto

#18: Momoko Shimano

#19: Rion Nakano

#20: Kirara Yonemura

#21: Yumei Yokogawa

-I really hate saying this because it's totally dream crushing to a young girl, but please don't debut her H!P. She's quite honestly the worst singer I've ever heard in H!P. I know that singing really doesn't matter in idol groups, but she's a whole other level of bad. She could totally be a model though because of how pretty she is.

So that's my bi-yearly ranking. Not many members changed spots. Not sure if that's because of apathy or because I actually have a solidified list.

Do you agree with my rankings/comments? Or do you have a different ranking?

Thursday, May 26, 2016

Update

It's been SO LONG oh my gosh. I've just been way too busy to think about posting anything. I recently graduated from university and I'm also in the process of moving so it's just been a extremely busy couple of months. I want to post stuff again though! I do have one post I want to do (plus an update to the H!P/48G favorite members lists), but beyond that I'm not certain when I'll have time to post regularly again. Hopefully a few months from now after the move and everything gets settled down I can start posting again :D