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?
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