Top 48G Members Mid Year 2017

I haven't really been following 48G this year. Me following 48G was always contingent on me buying their singles and albums for my collection, but because I just haven't had the money recently to do so, I've been paying less and less attention to the groups. It also doesn't help that releases have been few and far between for all of the groups.

AKB48

Neither of their singles this year have done anything for me. The B-sides have been meh (minus that SakamichiAKB song). The group has been kind of meh in graduation announcements. I'm semi-excited for Sousenkyou, but if Sasshi wins again I'm going to be disappointed. From my list in December, I lost Kira Takahashi. She should've been promoted and maybe she would've stuck around. AKB has a lot of KKS that really need to be promoted already. Surprised that Miichan hasn't announced yet. She really should (as should Mayuyu and Yukirin). It's time for the original members to leave.

#1: Minami Minegishi (-)

#2: Mayu Watanabe (+1)

#3: Mion Mukaichi (+1)

#4: Nana Okada (-2)

#5: Hijiri Tanikawa (-)

#6: Yuki Kashiwagi (-)

#7: Riona Hamamatsu (NEW)

#8: Nao Nomura (NEW)

#9: Saho Iwatate (NEW)

#10: Hinana Shimoguchi (NEW)

SKE48

SKE has been a non event this year. Sure they released an album, but that was way back in February and still no single yet this year. They were also a non event last year (though I loved Chicken Line). I actually completely forgot that SKE recruited an 8th generation. That's how little I've been paying attention recently. I'm actually surprised I haven't lost anyone from my list last year. I thought for certain I'd lose at least one or two. I guess the graduation torrent from SKE has slowed this year and they're starting to stabilize with the younger gens.

#1: Rara Goto (-)

#2: Oka Suenaga (+3)

#3: Jurina Matsui (-1)

#4: Ryoha Kitagawa (NEW)

#5: Akari Suda (+1)

#6: Marika Tani (+3)

#7: Haruka Futamura (NEW)

#8: Ayaka Ota (NEW)

#9: Natsuki Takatsuka (-2)

#10: Sarina Souda (NEW)

NMB48

Still thinking Sayaka will graduate this year or at least announce. Especially because she didn't participate in Sousenkyou. Has NMB released any singles this year? I can't remember if Boku ga Igai was this year or last year. Shows how much I've been paying attention haha.

#1: Sayaka Yamamoto (-)

#2: Rina Yamao (+2)

#3: Ririka Suto (-1)

#4: Narumi Koga (+6)

#5: Kanae Iso (+4)

#6: Fuuko Yagura (-3)

#7: Rurina Nishizawa (+1)

#8: Mizuki Uno (NEW)

#9: Azusa Uemura (NEW)

#10: Ayaka Yamamoto (NEW)

HKT48

Sasshi can leave now. I'd be good with that. Especially because they're making her be part of HKT, STU, AND AKB songs. Just leave already and leave spaces for girls who need it gosh. HKT released a single this year right? It was that bug song I believe. I don't think I've listened to it yet. Oh well. I'm slightly surprised I lost Haruka from December. Wasn't expecting that. I think Meru's going to be gone by year end. Don't know why, just a feeling. Anna will certainly be gone too. I can't imagine she'll hold out much longer with all the drama surrounding her.

#1: Meru Tashima (-)

#2: Nako Yabuki (-)

#3: Nao Ueki (+4)

#4: Mio Tomonaga (NEW)

#5: Miku Tanaka (NEW)

#6: Haruka Kodama (-1)

#7: Emiri Yamashita (-1)

#8: Maria Imamura (NEW)

#9: Anna Murashige (NEW)

#10: Sakura Miyawaki (-7)

NGT48

I still haven't listened to their debut song. From what I've heard about it, it seems like it will just be meh anyway. We'll probably see one more grad this year, after Sousenkyou. Still surprised that Mizusawa left so soon.

#1: Yuka Ogino (-)

#2: Tsugumi Oguma (NEW)

#3: Rena Hasegawa (NEW)

#4: Reina Seiji (-1)

#5: Mau Takahashi (NEW)

#6: Minami Kato (-)

#7: Miharu Nara (+2)

#8: Ayaka Tano (NEW)

#9: Riko Sugahara (NEW)

#10: Anju Sato (-5)

STU48

Cuca joined a group! I'm so happy for her! Too bad she wasn't included in their debut song, although the song was incredibly boring so meh. Hopefully they do a dance number soon and she gets to shine! I'm predicting one grad this year before a team is formed. They're all new so no positions.

#1: Miyu Sakaki

#2: Akari Fukuda

#3: Miyuna Kadowaki

#4: Yuri Torobu

#5: Aoi Hyodo

#6: Saki Sugahara

#7: Yumiko Takino

#8: Chiho Ishida

#9: Ayumi Ichioka

#10: Nonoka Shintani

Nogizaka46

If not the end of this year, next year there's going to be a mass grad of a lot of first gen. They've been in the group for, what, six years now? A lot are probably thinking about the future at this point. Influencer was ok as a single, haven't heard the B-sides. Then they released an album, which I also haven't heard anything from. Hopefully once things settle down for me I'll be able to catch back up.

#1: Rina Ikoma (-)

#2: Minami Hoshino (-)

#3: Maaya Wada (-)

#4: Miria Watanabe (NEW)

#5: Manatsu Akimoto (+1)

#6: Erika Ikuta (+2)

#7: Sayuri Matsumura (NEW)

#8: Asuka Saito (-1)

#9: Sayuri Inoue (NEW)

#10: Reina Sakurai (-1)

Keyakizaka46

It's the only group that I semi-payed attention to the music of this year! Fukyouwaon was AMAZING. More like that for 48G please. I do predict more Keyaki grads by the end of the year. Maybe from the weird Hiragana system. I wasn't a huge fan of Techi when the group first started but gosh she's a perfect center.

#1: Yurina Hirate (+1)

#2: Yui Imaizumi (-1)

#3: Mizuho Habu (NEW)

#4: Mana Takase (NEW)

#5: Memi Kakizaki (NEW)

#6: Kyoko Saito (NEW)

#7: Nanako Nagasawa (-4)

#8: Rina Uemura (+1)

#9: Yuuka Kageyama (NEW)

#10: Nijika Ishimori (-4)

SNH48

I'm still not sure what to think on all the China48 groups. I haven't heard any of their new music this year. I'll get around to it eventually. I'm actually surprised that more of my positions didn't change from December.

#1: Mengying Lv (NEW)

#2: Beiting Qian (+6)

#3: Yi Zhang (NEW)

#4: Xinwen Sun (NEW)

#5: Jiaying Chen (+1)

#6: Jiongran Liu (NEW)

#7: Rui Sun (-3)

#8: Xiaoyin Kong (-1)

#9: Zhilin Shen (NEW)

#10: Wanqing Hao (NEW)

BEJ48

#1: Xinyi Ren (+5)

#2: Xian Liu (NEW)

#3: Xiang Li (NEW)

#4: Congcong Niu (NEW)

#5: Shuli Tian (NEW)

#6: Shan Sun (-2)

#7: Xiaohui Hu (NEW)

#8: Shuxian Liu (NEW)

#9: Hongyao Li (NEW)

#10: Yixuan Duan (NEW)

GNZ48

#1: Lirong Huang (NEW)

#2: Yirui Long (NEW)

#3: Siyue Wang (NEW)

#4: Cuifei Wang (NEW)

#5: Yuanjing Gao (NEW)

#6: Yuqi Chen (-1)

#7: Lifei Liu (-3)

#8: Qiulin Du (NEW)

#9: Qianqian Liu (-6)

#10: Yihong Li (NEW)

SHY48

#1: Xiao Yang

#2: Feiyan Wang

#3: Siyu Guan

#4: Jiarui Zhao

#5: Yunhan Yang

#6: Shihan Feng

#7: Jiale Han

#8: Zixi Lai

#9: Zhixian Gao

#10: Mengting Gong

25 Days Of Christmas Countdown Day #21: Top 48G 2016

I've already talked about both the music & the members from this year, so let's just jump right into the countdown!

#10

Keyakizaka46 - Futari Saison

#9

HKT48 - Make Noise

#8

AKB48 - High Tension

#7

NGT48 - Kimi wa Doko ni Iru?

#6

NogizakaAKB - Mazariau Mono

#5

Keyakizaka46 - Silent Majority

#4

Tentoumu Chu! - Seijun Tired

#3

AKB48 - Love Trip

#2

SKE48 - Chicken Line

#1

Nogizaka46 - Harukanaru Bhutan

25 Days Of Christmas Coundown Day #5: Top HKT48 & NGT48

Didn't NGT have a single announced for this year? What happened to that or was that just an internet rumor? AKS seriously needs to get on the ball and have them release something. Keyaki has been around for almost the same amount of time and they've already had three singles. It's almost like AKS wants everyone to forget about NGT and watch them fail. They have I think only 2 songs (or was it three? I don't remember) so far that were just AKB B-sides. Their B-side on Tsubasa wa Iranai was awesome though. I hope they take that direction instead of HKT cutesy. It was also the only good song on the entire Tsubasa single too. I really don't have many thoughts about the group itself. They need to debut because I'm just uninterested in them otherwise.

HKT is so boring. There I said it. Out of all the 48s, 46s, eleventyfours & whatever else, they're the most boring musically. They absolutely have good songs, but why do all of their A-sides tend to sound EXACTLY THE SAME. Saikou ka yo was an ok change from Okubuns & 12 Byous, but it still felt so blah. For a supposedly high energy song where was the energy? The girls sound like they sing on auto pilot & the recording people don't care. I also really miss Meru has center. Haruppi is bland in my opinion. I liked that they switched it up & made Hana center for Saikou but I don't really see anything much more interesting in her to be honest. Their B-sides this year were all rather bland too. Taboo no Iro attempted to be edgy & cool, but it came off really forced. Team H's song on Saikou was alright, but beyond that I can't think of any other B-side this year that caught my attention. The weird thing is, their best song this year was on an AKB single! Make Noise is awesome. Why not do that on your own singles?!

#10

HKT48 - Kidoku Through (2014; Sakura Minna de Tabeta (Type A) (-2)

#9

HKT48 - Suki! Suki! Skip! (2013) (-2)

#8

HKT48 - Shekarashika! (2015) (NEW)

#7

HKT48 - Tasogare no Tandem (2015; Shekarashika all versions) (NEW)

#6

NGT48 - Kimi wa Doko ni Iru? (2016; Tsubasa wa Iranai - AKB48 (Theater)) (NEW)

#5

HKT48 - Melon Juice (2013) (-)

#4

HKT48 - Hikaeme no I Love You (2014) (-1)

#3

HKT48 - Make Noise (2016; Kimi wa Melody - AKB48 (Type C) (NEW)

#2

HKT48 - Mukashi no Kareshi no Oniichan to Tsukiau to Iu Koto (2014; Sakura Minna de Tabeta (Type B) (-)

#1

HKT48 - Tenmonbu no Jijou (2013; Melon Juice (Theater) (-)

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?

25 Days Of Christmas Countdown Day #4: Top HKT48 Songs

Whereas Nogizaka46 is the group I'm least familiar with in 48G, HKT is the group that I like the least. It was incredibly difficult to come up with a top 10 because I find most of their songs incredibly bland. This year being the worst of their blandness. At least in past years there was a couple B-sides that were interesting, but this year everything sounded so samey. I hope that next year they bring something new, especially with NGT coming up. As with the Nogizaka list, some may not have embedded videos and may not even have a link at all (it's surprising to me that it is more difficult to locate HKT songs on YouTube than Nogizaka).

#10: Wink wa Sankai (2013)

#9: Sakura, Minna de Tabeta (2014)

#8: Kidoku Through (2014)

#7: Suki! Suki! Skip! (2013)

#6: Doro no Metronome (2013)

#5: Melon Juice (2013)

#4: Onegai Valentine (2013)

#3: Hikaeme no I Love You (2014)

#2: Mukashi no Kareshi no Oniichan to Tsukiau to Iu Koto (2014)

#1: Tenmonbu no Jijou (2013)

It's unfortunate that I can't find my number one on any video sites to link it. It's the theater edition song on their Melon Juice single and the best thing they've ever done.

Enjoy! What's your favorite HKT48 tracks?

HKT48 - Sakura, Minna de Tabeta

HKT is my least liked of the 48s. It seems like they release the same song over and over on their singles. I hope NGT takes a different direction and doesn't go cutesy at first. I am excited to see HKT next release though. I keep hoping it will be something a little different even though that hasn't happened yet.

The title track for the single is Sakura, Minna de Tabeta. Out of their five current singles, this is my least favorite title track. To me, it's the most generic one. It's a typical idol pop track and it's not energetic at all like Melon Juice or Suki Suki Skip. The music video is adorable though. It reminds me a lot of Perfume's Sweet Refrain video (can't remember which came first). I actually miss Meru as center. I like her as center more than Sakura and Haruka. 3/5.

The first B-side is Kimi wa Doushite? found on all versions of the single. Really this just feels like a more upbeat version of the title song. The vocals are also a little too high pitched for my taste. 3/5.

The next B-side is Kidoku Through by Team H found on the Type A version of the single. Even though this single has my least favorite title song, it's B-sides are among my favorites from HKT. Even though this song is still over-hyper idol pop, it has song electronic pieces and is very energetic. This type of song would make a nice title track for HKT. It would still be energetic idol pop like their image, but it would be different enough to distinguish it from their other A-sides. The music video is just as energetic as the song. It also serves to show just how out of place Rino Sashihara looks in HKT. I'm glad that she doesn't want to be center in HKT because I don't think this style suits her much at all. Meru again does a wonderful job as center. I hope she gets to center something again in the future. 5/5.

Kidoku Through MV

The next B-side is Mukashi no Kareshi no Oniichan to Tsukiau to Iu Koto by Team KIV found on the Type B version of the single. First of all, yikes that song title is long. Second of all, this is my all time favorite HKT song. The instrumental reminds me so much of A*Teens cover of Gimme Gimme Gimme and that makes me so happy. I would love it if one of the 48 Groups would go all the way with a crazy Europop track like was popular in the early 2000s. The music video's pretty standard for 48G...just done in reverse. 5/5.

Mukashi no Kareshi MV

The next B-side is Oboete Kudasai by the Kenkyuusei found on the Type C version of the single. Even with this being a Kenkyuusei track (which I generally dislike from all groups), it's pretty catchy. It actually sounds like a mix between J=J's Ca va & the H!P Kenshuusei album. It's definitely an enjoyable song. 4/5.

The final B-side is Kimi no Koto ga Suki yaken found on the Theater edition. This is actually a cover of AKB's Kimi no Koto ga Suki Dakara except it's sung in the dialect of HKT's area. I personally can't see the difference besides the change from dakara to yaken. I'm sure to the trained ear/for natives speakers it sounds a lot different. It's like MM's Osaka Koi no Uta where they're supposed to be singing in the Kansai dialect. I've listened to that song over 100 times and I still can't figure out what they're pronouncing differently. AKB's version is better though.

If it weren't for the title track, this single would be incredibly solid for a 48G single. I'm sure fans of the cutesy idol pop stuff will love the title track along with the rest of the release though. 4/5.

48G Ranking May 2015

Since I just did one on Hello! Project I think it's only fair to do one on the 48s as well. I won't do this as detailed as the H!P one. To be honest I couldn't even tell you why I like certain girls from 48G except for my top ones. I'm only going to list my top ten of each group...if I ranked everyone this post would be 3 pages long xD. I'm not counting kennins during the group rankings. If a kennin ranks it would would be with her main group. The list also will not include any girls who have announced their graduations.

AKB48

#1. Minami Minegishi [Team K]

#2. Nana Okada [Team 4]

#3. Misaki Iwasa [Team B]

#4. Hijiri Tanikawa [Team 8]

#5. Yuki Kashiwagi [Team B]

#6. Mitsuki Maeda [Team 4]

#7. Anna Iriyama [Team A]

#8. Mariya Nagao [Team K]

#9. Nana Fujita [Team K]

#10. Moe Aigasa [Team K]

SKE48

#1. Rena Matsui [Team E]

#2. Aya Shibata [Team E]

#3. Jurina Matsui [Team S]

#4. Ruka Kitano [Team KII]

#5. Nao Furuhata [Team KII]

#6. Madoka Umemoto [Team E]

#7. Akari Suda [Team E]

#8. Marika Tani [Team E]

#9. Rika Tsuzuki [Team S]

#10. Ami Miyamae [Team S]

NMB48

#1. Sayaka Yamamoto [Team N]

#2. Rina Yamao [Team N]

#3. Shu Yabushita [Team BII]

#4. Fuuko Yagura [Team M]

#5. Konomi Kusaka [Team BII]

#6. Yuuka Kato [Team N]

#7. Narumi Koga [Team N]

#8. Kanako Kadowaki [Team BII]

#9. Miyuki Watanabe [Team BII]

#10. Rurina Nishizawa [Team N]

HKT48

#1. Nako Yabuki [Team H]

#2. Chihiro Anai [Team H]

#3. Haruka Ueno [Team H]

#4. Haruka Wakatabe [Team H]

#5. Anna Murashige [Team KIV]

#6. Meru Tashima [Team H]

#7. Miku Tanaka [Team H]

#8. Mao Yamamoto [Team H]

#9. Emili Yamashita [Kenkyuusei]

#10. Aoi Motomura [Team KIV]

Nogizaka46

#1. Minami Hoshino

#2. Rina Ikoma

#3. Maaya Wada

#4. Iori Sagara

#5. Marika Ito

#6. Kazumi Takayama

#7. Nanase Nishino

#8. Misa Eto

#9. Mai Shiraishi

#10. Sayuri Inoue

And that's it! I don't follow JKT or SNH at all so I didn't include them. Post your own rankings if you'd like!

AKB48 - Green Flash

I'm very surprised that I'm able to do a review on this already. Usually my newest CDs get buried under the older ones and that's why I review older singles and albums more often. This is AKB's first single of 2015. The "Sakura single" as it has been called. Usually these are my least favorites of the AKB singles. They tend to be slower and uninteresting to me.

The title track of the single is Green Flash. I love the title of this single. It's so unique. From what I know of it, it's some type of weather phenomenon that is fairly rare. My first thoughts on this single was that it was nothing special at all. From the low quality concert rip all I could think of was how slow it was and how the "rap" sounded hilarious. After listening to it again when the video came out, I really began to like it. Even though it's slow, it's not your typical ballad. I won't call the fast talking parts "rapping" because it's really not, but I like how it adds some variety to the song. The violins also really add a nice feeling to the song. For the video, I'll echo the sentiments of everyone else in wondering where the screen time is for Yuki & Haruna. I don't care what the concept is, your centers should be given a nice spotlight in the video. Oh, and running girls for the 10949834857389475x time in a 48G video? I'll pass. 4.5/5.

Green Flash MV

The first B-side from the Type A version is Majisuka Fight. I'm pretty sure there's more B-sides on this single than Kibouteki...it's really starting to get ridiculous. I'm not sure how much longer Oricon's going to let them get away with releasing practically an album full of songs for each single. They've been tightening up restrictions for their charts this year and I'm wondering which will die next: the bazillion versions or the handshake tickets. As for this song, it certainly has nothing on Majisuka Rock N Roll. In fact, I don't think this song sounds like it fits the Majisuka theme at all. It sounds like your typical J-pop song. I assume that the lyrics are more what you'd expect it should be, but I don't know. The music video has the same issue that the video for Majisuka Rock N Roll has. The girls do not suit the concept AT ALL. Almost all of them besides maybe Minami Takahashi & Sayaka Yamamoto look ridiculous and Sakura absolutely does not fit the concept. 3/5.

Majisuka Fight MV

The second B-side of Type A is Haru no Hikari Chikazuita Natsu sung by AKB48. I bought the Type A version specifically for this song. It's really catchy. It kind of reminds me of idol pop mixed with 90s dance music. It's so bright and happy. The video really suits the song. It's so happy and the random people that dance behind them in some scenes are so funny. One thing I've noticed with the past couple of releases is how much screen time Haruka Shimazaki is getting now. Especially with her being summer center single, they must be really pushing for the newer gen girls to lead the group. 5/5.

Haru no Hikari Chikazuita Natsu MV

The third B-side is Yankee Rock found on Type S. Now this song fits the Majisuka theme much better than Majisuka Fight. It's a lot like Majisuka Rock N Roll which is great because I love that song. I still think the girls look absolutely ridiculous in the video though. And I'm pretty sure that there's no school in the world that would be allowed to look like that unless it was in a warzone or something. There's one girl in the video that looks like Meimi Tamura and she's not in enough clips for me to get a good look at her to see who she is. 4/5.

Yankee Rock MV

The fourth B-side is Sekai ga Naiteru Nara by SKE48 and is found on Type B of the single. This song could be so much more than it is. The intro is stunning. On par with the instrumental of Kataomoi Finally....but then going into the sung part of the verse, it just falls flat. The chorus is more like what I was expecting from the song but it's still falls flat. Then again, I couldn't see what all the fuss was about for Kataomoi Finally (the song, not the video...I get why it made an impact with that xD) until I listened to it more, then I fell in love with the song. This has the potential to do that. The video I don't fully understand. Did she murder someone and was placed in a mental institution? Is this like Sucker Punch where she's in the institution the whole time & is imagining everything else? Not sure. Very cool concept though. 4/5.

Sekai ga Naiteru Nara MV

The fifth B-side is Hakimono to Kasa no Monogatari and is on the Type N & Theater editions of the single. The song is incredibly boring to me. I may have mentioned before that I rarely like ballads from idol groups and the reason is that I never feel any type of emotion with them. It's like the song is just there. Even with a language barrier you should expect to feel some emotion from the singer. The video on the other hand is just beautiful. I admit I cried. Whoever thought of the concept needs a pay raise. Absolutely beautiful. I don't ever give ratings to videos but this is a special case. 3/5 (for the song) 5/5 (for the video).

Hakimono to Kasa no Monogatari MV

The sixth B-side is Punkish by NMB48 and is on the Type N version of the single. Does the song sounds like a punk song? Sure. Is it possible to take it seriously? No. No it's not. I guess that's a little unfair....Sayaka can pull off practically anything. She is one of the most talented of the current 48G girls and sounds/looks incredible in this song. I would love it if it was a Sayaka solo song. The 16 girls singing in unison doesn't work for the song because their vocals mixed together sound too idol for this kind of song. The video has the same problem as the Majisuka videos. Very few of the girls can pull off the concept well enough to make them not look silly. Props to them trying something like this though I guess. 4/5.

Punkish MV

The seventh (!) B-side is Aisatsu Kara Hajimeyou sung by Team 8 and found on the Type H edition of the single. I still find it interesting that they've Kennin'd girls from Team 8 into the main teams. I can't imagine that they're going to keep Team 8 together as a sort of pseudo-sister group. I believe this is more the start of their integration into the normal teams for after they lose the Toyota contract and are forced to back Team 8 smaller. So far Team 8 hasn't interested me with any of their songs. They're the extremely generic idol pop team. This song is no different. It's happy & sugary sweet. Not really my type of song. I really enjoy the video though. I like the concept of using YouTube videos and showcasing little pieces of each prefecture the girls are from. 3.5/5.

Aisatsu Kara Hajimeyou MV

The eighth B-side is Otona Ressha by HKT48 found on the Type H version of the single. The song is a pretty typical HKT48 song. Nothing special, just another generic idol pop track. I admit that I didn't make it through all of the music video. Ten minutes for a music video is just too much. It's supposed to a promotion for your song, not a glorified mini-drama. Honestly, they should just do mini dramas for their DVDs instead of having the music videos so freaking long. It'd probably sell more with both a mini drama and a music video anyway. 3/5.

Otona Ressha MV

The ninth and final B-side of this single is Hatsukoi no Oshibe which is on the theater edition. This single seriously has almost enough songs to make a full album. Ten songs is pretty average for a full length album. The amount of B-sides they have is ridiculous. I love that we get so much music, but it really is cheating the system and I can't afford all of the CD editions so it just has gotten to be a real pain within the past two years. Much like with most of the theater edition tracks, I don't much care for this one. In my experience, theater edition songs tend to be either generic idol pop or ballads. At least it's not completely boring. 3/5.

Hatsukoi no Oshibe (Audio)

All together I'd say this single is a mixed bag of pretty good songs and generic idol pop. Like I've said before, generic idol pop can be great, but most of these sound like the 100th iteration of everything you've heard before. 3.5/5.

HKT48 - Hikaeme I Love You!

I call this post "Only done because I'm avoiding doing a project and studying for a test." LOL xD

I'm guessing HKT48 doesn't need too much of an introduction, but since I did one for C-ute I'll do one for HKT too, just in case no one knows them. HKT48 is the Hakata, Fukuoka based sister group of AKB48. They are the newest Japan-based sister group and formed in 2011. Their first single was released in 2013. To date they have released four singles. If anyone wants more information on the group, please check out this link; as the 48 groups just have way too much information to really talk about in a music recommendation/review blog.

The title track of this single, Hikaeme I Love You! is sung by the Senbatsu members chosen for this single. This is the first single that member Haruka Kodama has centered. Their past three singles were centered by Meru Tashima with Mio Tomonaga becoming co-center in their second and third singles. Even though HKT experienced a change in the center girl for this single, they did not have any different of a title track. To be honest, Hikaeme is even less memorable than Sakura Minna de Tabeta was. No matter how many times I listen to this song I cannot remember how it goes. I was hoping that with the change to Haruka we would see something a little different. I wasn't expecting them to all of a sudden pull off a Beginner or an UZA because that would be an incredibly dramatic shift, but seeing something more along the lines Love Shugyou or even a Namida Surprise type song would have been cool. A song with some character, yet still fitting of the cute image that HKT has. Maybe next year they'll release something a little different. I can only hope. I mean, neither this nor Sakura Minna are bad songs. They're just kind of....there. The extremely generic idol pop stuff that every single group puts out that can only be interesting so many times. At least if you go that route, do it like Kokoro no Placard where it at least has that super catchy "Palalalalalala" part that gets stuck in your head lol. The music video for this song was ok. Certainly my least favorite video of their main tracks. The outfits are adorable though. It's too bad they look like they're made out of plastic with the shine in some parts.....I cannot think of what they are made out of (I can't remember the word I'm looking for....this happens a lot xD), but it makes them look cheap which is sad because they're so cute.

Hikaeme I Love You! MV Sorry about it not being embedded....for some reason I cannot get Jpopsuki videos to embed, even though I remember being able to do it on the old blog.

Hikaeme I Love You! is performed by Senbatsu members: Chihiro Anai, Haruka Kodama [center], Yui Kojina, Rino Sashihara, Meru Tashima, Miku Tanaka, Natsumi Matsuoka, Nako Yabuki, Mao Yamamoto, Aika Ota, Mio Tomonaga, Kanon Kimoto, Sakura Miyawaki, Aoi Motomura, Madoka Moriyasu, and Sae Kurihara.

The next track of the single is Ima Kimi wo Omou. Admittedly, there is very few ballads that I can enjoy sitting through to listen to. This is not one of them. It's just boring. Sorry to all the ballad fans out there. I am slightly confused about who sings this song. I know that it's kind of a send off song for Marika Tani and Chiyori Nakanishi as they were transferred to different 48 groups, but the liner notes just state the singers as "HKT48, Marika Tani, and Chiyori Nakanishi" I'm taking this to mean that it's the entirety of HKT & those two girls singing it. Even though I'm not a fan of the song, I think it's really nice how the two girls got a sendoff from their original group.

Ima, Kimi wo Omou (Audio only) [Note: I know that 48 group songs tend to get taken down, and I did upload the song unlisted, but if I get a copyright strike on my account I'll be taking down all my songs and not putting them back up, sorry. Not a big fan of the system, but I don't want to lose my YT account either just so some people can check out songs. Another note: If you enjoy the songs, please buy the CD! If not from actual stores/online vendors, as they are very expensive I understand, please buy used/second hand like off of eBay. You can can 48 Group singles, especially theater editions, REALLY cheap off of ebay for the CD only.]

The next song is a Type A exclusive and is called Idol no Oujya. Just as another note (I know, I'm being annoying xD), I'm going to try to avoid the word "idol" as much as possible when I talk about J-Pop/K-pop groups because of personal feelings toward that categorization, so please don't correct me or say anything about that because I won't use it unless I have to like when talking about "idol" pop (As a music genre, not the groups). As a song, it's better than Hikaeme easily and probably would have made a better title track. It still fits the HKT image, but has a much more memorable feeling to it. It's also my favorite song of the single. The music video is fantastic too. This song is sung by Team H.

Idol no Oujya MV

The next song is a Type B exclusive and is called Natsu no Mae. This is another of those generic songs like Hikaeme. I'm actually extremely disappointed with this song. It's not a bad song, but I had a really high expectation for Team KIV's song. Their coupling song for Sakura Minna was SO GOOD.....and we get THIS as a follow up?! It's just incredibly disappointing. The music video is very beautiful though. One thing about this single is that the outfits for the videos are so pretty. The stylists did such a great job with this single.

Natsu no Mae MV

The next song is a Type C exclusive track and is called Namaiki Lips. I remember hearing this song being sung by Nako and Miku on some TV? show, I think. I remember hating it because they didn't sound too great lol. Fast forward to the studio release and music video and......it's still not great, but it's certainly better than the performance that I remember. Probably my second favorite song of the single. It's too bad that it suffers from the vocals of Nako and Miku. They don't sound terrible, but their voices seem too young to fit the instrumental. Maybe in a few years they'll sound better with it. The music video also suffers from the girls' young ages as well. It's not inappropriate or anything, but the girls and the song just do not fit the video. The video reminds me of like dark back alley gambling places from movies or something. It also feels like American Pickers. The two don't really go together, but that's what it feels like to me lol. Such a random location for the song. The clothes are adorable though. Congratulations HKT48 stylists, you did everything right this single haha.

Namaiki Lips MV

The final song of the single is featured on the Theater edition and is titled Watashi wa Blueberry Pie, sung by the single subgroup Blueberry Pie (Yui Kojima, Hiroka Komada, Riko Sakaguchi, Misaki Aramaki, and Sae Kurihara). It's another meh song. Not bad, not good, just there. It's too bad the majority of the single is like that.

Watashi wa Blueberry Pie (Audio only)

For the title track only, I give the song a 3/5. It's just another typical release from the 48s which is sad considering they could do so much better. For the release as a whole, it's still only a 3/5. Even the slightly more interesting songs do not do enough for the release to make it any more enjoyable. Hopefully HKT's next release will be better than this one. Sorry this post is so incredibly long.....the 48s just put too many songs on each single.....not looking forward to writing about Kibouteki Refrain in the future haha xD. Please enjoy listening to the songs and comment with your thoughts!