25 Days Of Christmas Countdown Day #15: Top Hello! Project Members

You know what I really want in H!P next year? Albums. Albums for everyone! Well, not Kobushi since they just had one, but more albums please! Angerme is so overdue for a third, Country Girls is sitting on a bazillion unreleased tracks, Musume has a bunch of A-sides that need a home, & C-ute should get a farewell album along with a single (and best single/b-side collection hint hint). I don't believe we'll see any new groups formed this year. 2018 with a C-ute replacement group? Yeah, but this year I don't see it. I do see a bunch of Kenshuusei being added to current groups though. As with my other ones, no members (or full groups for that matter) who have announced their graduations are included.

This is the first year I can say with 100% certainty that I have an overall H!P favorite since Reina left. It's weird because I never thought I'd have that one girl that I liked above the rest after Reina's grad but now I do. Musubu! I'm hoping for great things from her. She's so incredibly talented. Maybe a solo song on CG's first album? Please?

Morning Musume

-I feel like there is going to be a lot of graduations next year. Well, a lot for Musume. I'm thinking 3. Six years is an incredibly long time to be in a group & I'm sure some members are thinking of their futures. We'll definitely see the first 10th gen go next year. Anyone who thinks 10th is going to go together is just plain delusional. Not only is there a large age difference/popularity gap between them, there's NO WAY that H!P would allow FOUR members to leave at the same time. It'd be group killing. I'd also be shocked if both Mizuki & Erina stick around. I'm also feeling like one of the newer girls will leave too. It's been awhile since someone left early on in their Musume career and I think that it's going to happen again. I do believe that we're also getting 14th gen next year, probably a surprise addition. Adding two high school aged girls was a little left field for 13th gen, so I'm thinking that they were added for talent/faces for the group & we'll see number boosters next year.

#1: Masaki Sato (+1)

-Look who's back at number one lol. She's so polarizing even for me personally. I dislike her sometimes and then love her others.

#2: Miki Nonaka (-1)

#3: Akane Haga (+1)

#4: Sakura Oda (-1)

#5: Haruka Kudo (-)

#6: Maria Makino (+1)

#7: Ayumi Ishida (-1)

#8: Erina Ikuta (+1)

#9: Haruna Ogata (+2)

#10: Haruna Iikubo (-)

#11: Reina Yokoyama (NEW)

-She's too new to place anywhere else, although I can see her passing a few of the current girls if she really stands out in their first single.

#12: Mizuki Fukumura (-4)

#13: Kaede Kaga (NEW)

Angerme

-Angerme is second in line in seniority now. Wow that's almost unbelievable. If Ayaka doesn't get the H!P leader position, there should be a riot. She objectively has the most seniority & she's also better than Mizuki. As for graduations next year, I think Ayaka will announce at the end of the year & graduate in 2018 with a second gen member leaving in 2017. Hard to believe they've been around as long as MM's 9th & 10th gens.

#1: Ayaka Wada (-)

#2: Mizuki Murota (-)

#3: Maho Aikawa (+1)

#4: Rikako Sasaki (-1)

#5: Moe Kamikokuryou (+3)

#6: Akari Takeuchi (-1)

#7: Kana Nakanishi (-)

#8: Rina Katsuta (-2)

#9: Momona Kasahara (NEW)

Juice=Juice

-I really don't know if Juice will see a graduation next year. I think they're definitely coming up to it, but I don't know if it'll be next year or not. I don't think they'll go all together though. Likely we'll see one girl leave, they'll carry on for a couple of years after that, and then disband as a group. I don't foresee new members at all.

#1: Karin Miyamoto (-)

#2: Sayuki Takagi (+1)

#3: Akari Uemura (-1)

#4: Yuka Miyazaki (-)

#5: Tomoko Kanazawa (-)

Country Girls

-Yay no more Momoko! I don't hate her, in fact I rather like her, but I did not like her in Country Girls. She should've left with the rest of Berryz or stayed in the background. She really didn't fit in with the kids. Manaka's sudden grad was surprising. I feel bad for her that she finally got to live her dream and then health problems got in the way. I guess it's good that she was put into CG instead of someone dance heavy like MM or Anju because her issues probably would've gotten to her sooner. I don't think we'll see any more grads next year (outside of Momoko), but I think we'll get new members. I'm actually wondering if we'll see their reveal at the New Year's Countdown because I imagine that they'll want the successors for Momo to be added while she's still there for guidance.

#1: Musubu Funaki (-)

#2: Risa Yamaki (-)

#3: Chisaki Morito (-)

#4: Nanami Yanagawa (+1)

#5: Mai Ozeki (-1)

Kobushi Factory

-I'm cautiously optimistic that they won't have any graduations and will carry on for a few years as a full group, but seeing as this is the real world, I wouldn't be shocked if someone left next year. I don't think they'll be adding any members to Kobushi either. I think they're the new non-generational group in H!P like Juice.

#1: Rei Inoue (-)

#2: Minami Nomura (-)

#3: Sakurako Wada (+1)

#4: Ayaka Hirose (-1)

#5: Ayano Hamaura (-)

#6: Natsumi Taguchi (-)

#7: Rena Ogawa (+1)

#8: Rio Fujii (-1)

Tsubaki Factory

-Although they've already received a second gen, I also think that Tsubaki will be non-generational. I think it's pretty clear that second gen was added to bolster the group for their debut because of their lukewarm reception. I think that H!P just made the mistake of making them too soon after Kobushi and if they had been introduced this year instead of last that they would have been better received. I do see someone leaving Tsubaki next year. Likely someone from first gen.

#1: Kisora Niinuma (-)

#2: Mao Akiyama (NEW)

#3: Yumeno Kishimoto (-1)

#4: Mizuho Ono (NEW)

#5: Kiki Asakura (-1)

#6: Risa Ogata (-3)

#7: Saori Onoda (NEW)

#8: Ami Tanimoto (-3)

#9: Riko Yamagishi (-3)

Kenshuusei

-I think we'll see a couple girls leaving due to 13th gen being chosen. I also think that we'll see some of the older ones go into UUG gen 2/that little sister group thing. Or whatever the heck is going on with UUG. I hope we get a HUGE Kenshuusei generation next year. I feel like they need more numbers and girls to stick around for a couple years since they've all but gutted the Kenshuusei with all the group additions. I'm not going to bother posting the position change because the ranking of the Kenshuusei is too unpredictable.

#1: Ruru Danbara

#2: Momohime Kiyono

#3: Reina Ichioka

#4: Kizuki Horie

#5: Hikaru Inoue

#6: Kokoro Maede

#7: Ayano Kawamura

#8: Kurumi Takase

#9: Sakiko Kodama

#10: Shiori Nishida

#11: Mizuki Kanatsu

#12: Rin Hashisako

#13: Kurumi Noguchi

#14: Yuhane Yamazaki

#15: Marie Yoshida

#16: Kotomi Ono

#17: Kirara Yonemura

Kenshuusei Hokkaido

-I have no idea what to think about these girls. They've practically done a grand total of nothing.

#1: Ryo Kitagawa

#2: Mai Yamazaki

#3: Haruka Ota

#4: Hikari Sato

#5: Kanami Ishiguri

#6: Minori Kawano

#7: Yume Kudo

25 Days Of Christmas Countdown Day #14: Top 48G Members (Year End Edition 2016)

Graduation announcements have gotten crazy the past couple of days! Shu, Naanya, AND Nishino?! What the heck 48G?! They're not even the semi-popular members that you'd be expecting to announce either. But I admit I do really like graduations. I love the unexpectedness of some of them like Nishino's today & I love seeing the changes in the groups after certain members leave. It's just a super fun system to me because I don't get attached to the girls.

Unlike my first half of the year edition, I'm going to *attempt* to do SNH, BEJ, & GNZ too but I'm pretty much just going to be ranking faces as I don't know the girls too well. Keyaki I have a slightly better idea of my ranking since they've released more material & NGT I'm still unsure about because they won't release their first single. Just like my past lists, no members who graduated in 2016 or who have announced their graduations are included in my lists. I also have taken up using the nicknames I know for certain girls when I'm just talking about them. It's just easier than writing their full names so I'm sorry if people have no clue who I'm talking about lol. I keep full names in the list itself though.

AKB48

-From my list just in May two of the girls [Naanya & Aigasa] have announced their grads. That's been very recent too so I had a bit of trouble coming up with two new girls because I haven't had a lot of time to think about it. It's also too bad that Paruru is graduating at the end of the year because she's really grown on me this year. As for the girls on my list, I think Miichan will definitely be announcing after Kojiharu's grad. I also think Mayuyu will announce next year as well. Yukirin is a maybe, but I don't think it'll be next year. I'm hoping Kira gets promoted early this year & I'm genuinely surprised that Kiara has stuck around as long as she has. I don't really have a clue if she'll stick around next year or graduate.

#1: Minami Minegishi (-)

#2: Nana Okada (+1)

#3: Mayu Watanabe (-1)

#4: Mion Mukaichi (+1)

#5: Hijiri Tanikawa (-1)

#6: Yuki Kashiwagi (+2)

#7: Kira Takahashi (-)

#8: Kiara Sato (+2)

#9: Juri Takahashi (NEW)

#10: Saya Kawamoto (NEW)

SKE48

-My SKE list fared better than AKB lol. I only lost Aya from May. Her graduation shocked me. I wasn't expecting it this soon & I also expected Suda to go before Shibata. There's a part of me that wants Jurina to announce next year just because of the shock factor, but I don't believe that will happen at all. She's way too eager to hit #1 on the Sousenkyo and if Sasshi, Mayuyu, & Yukirin choose to not enter, she's got an incredible chance at making it. I don't think my list will fare as well come next May. I fully expect Nao, Kaori, Akari, & Natsuki to annouce their graduations. With Natsuki.....does anyone else think she looks like Musubu Funaki? Looking at her profile pic with her haircut makes her look like they could be sisters it's so weird.

#1: Rara Goto (-)

#2: Jurina Matsui (+2)

#3: Kaori Matsumura (+2)

#4: Nao Furuhata (-1)

#5: Oka Suenaga (+4)

#6: Akari Suda (+1)

#7: Natsuki Takatsuka (+1)

#8: Ruka Kitano (-2)

#9: Marika Tani (+1)

#10: Airi Mizuno (NEW)

NMB48

-I'm still a little shocked about Shu's announcement. That was very unexpected. Out of my list, I don't really know who may announce next year. I do think that Sayaka will, but I don't think she'll leave until 2018. We might lose Ayaka, Rurina, & Narumi next year, but I can't even guess.

#1: Sayaka Yamamoto (-)

#2: Ririka Suto (+1)

#3: Fuuko Yagura (+2)

#4: Rina Yamao (-2)

#5: Konomi Kusaka (+2)

#6: Miru Shiroma (-)

#7: Ayaka Morita (+3)

#8: Rurina Nishizawa (+1)

#9: Kanae Iso (-1)

#10: Narumi Koga (NEW)

HKT48

-Chihiro's graduation was another surprising one. I hadn't expected any of the HKT captains to leave for a few more years. I don't really see anyone on my list who's at risk of leaving next year. Unless Meru gets tired of being shafted and quits but I really hope that doesn't happen.

#1: Meru Tashima (-)

#2: Nako Yabuki (-)

#3: Sakura Miyawaki (+1)

#4: Haruka Ueno (+2)

#5: Haruka Kodama (+4)

#6: Emiri Yamashita (-1)

#7: Nao Ueki (+1)

#8: Yui Kojina (-1)

#9: Aoi Motomura (+1)

#10: Haruka Wakatabe (NEW)

NGT48

-I still feel like I know nothing about the girls. They really need to release a first single so I can see how they fit into the group because I just have no clue outside of what they look like. It's not like I'm going to waste the time to watch stages with songs I've heard a bazillion times and my Japanese isn't anywhere near good enough to understand MCs. As for graduations next year, I doubt there will be any. The only way I see someone leaving NGT is if they get a second gen too soon or if a scandal happens. But hey, I've been surprised so far this month with crazy out there announcements so who knows.

#1: Yuka Ogino (-)

#2: Rika Nakai (+1)

#3: Reina Seiji (+1)

#4: Ayaka Mizusawa (NEW)

#5: Anju Sato (NEW)

#6: Minami Kato (-4)

#7: Marina Nishigata (+1)

#8: Yuria Otaki (-2)

#9: Miharu Nara (NEW)

#10: Hinata Honma (-)

Nogizaka46

-I feel like there's going to be a mass grad from Nogi this upcoming year. They haven't really lost too many in their existence and they're coming up on 6(!) years in the group. No one from my May list left this year and the lack of graduations for so many years has made my list pretty stable compared to the rest of the groups. I think from my list, Maaya is definite to graduate. Poor girl is so unpopular. We might be in for a surprise and Minami or Mai might leave. I think both Rina & Erika will be sticking around for a while.

#1: Rina Ikoma (-)

#2: Minami Hoshino (-)

#3: Maaya Wada (-)

#4: Mai Shiraishi (-)

#5: Karin Ito (+1)

#6: Manatsu Akimoto (-1)

#7: Asuka Saito (NEW)

#8: Erika Ikuta (+1)

#9: Reika Sakurai (NEW)

#10: Rena Yamakazi (NEW)

Keyakizaka46

-I think I've been able to establish that Imaizumi is definitely my favorite. Techi is super cool too though and does make a great center. I predict that there will be exactly one grad next year. I don't know from whom, but still. I imagine they'll be much like Nogi and have very sparse graduations for a few years.

#1: Yui Imaizumi (-)

#2: Yurina Hirate (+3)

#3: Nanako Nagasawa (NEW)

#4: Risa Watanabe (NEW)

#5: Neru Nagahama (+4)

#6: Nijika Ishimori (+1)

#7: Manaka Shida (-4)

#8: Yui Kobayashi (-2)

#9: Rina Uemura (NEW)

#10: Yuuka Sugai (NEW)

SNH48

-And here's where the members don't matter and pictures tell a 1000 words lol. As I've just begun to have any interest in SNH & their sister groups, I have no clue really who each girl is. So my rankings are going to be changing drastically at least for the next year while I learn more about them.

#1: Jingyi Ju

#2: Guanhui Chen

#3: Yuge Zhang

#4: Rui Sun

#5: Qingyang Li

#6: Jiaying Chen

#7: Xiaoyin Kong

#8: Beiting Qian

#9: Yanwen Wu

#10: Han Mo

BEJ48

#1: Shiyan Li

#2: Yan Wen

#3: Bowen Hu

#4: Shan Sun

#5: Yifan Yang

#6: Xinyi Ren

#7: Zi Li

#8: Shanshan Su

#9: Mingjun Yan

#10: Lei Fang

GNZ48

#1: Jingyuan Zuo

#2: Hanyue Luo

#3: Qianqian Liu

#4: Lifei Liu

#5: Yuqi Chen

#6: Yanping Nong

#7: Leilei Xie

#8: Huijing Chen

#9: Qiongyu Zhang

#10: Nanxi Chen

All I want for Christmas is for 48G & China48 to stop making new groups lol. I can't keep up & I'm only really interested in the music. I can't imagine how difficult it is for people who actually try and follow the girls. It's insanity.

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?

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?

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!

Hello! Project Ranking May 2015 [Warning: Long Post]

So I'm currently avoiding doing a paper and I thought this would be fun. I've seen a lot of people do their rankings on their favorite members and they're always so interesting to me so I figured I'll do one too. I'll be doing a 48G one too but that will take FOREVER for me and I don't have the time to do it at the moment. I can't rank the whole project together so I'll rank the groups only. This post will be super long cause H!P has really boomed recently. Just a warning.

Morning Musume

#1. Kanon Suzuki

--I don't really know what I like about Kanon. Something about her caught my eye a few years ago and I've really loved her ever since.

#2. Masaki Sato

--There was a time when Masaki would be among my lower ranked girls, but over the past year she just seems to be getting more and more talented. I've been very impressed.

#3. Sakura Oda

--Her voice is stellar and she just gets prettier and prettier each single.

#4. Riho Sayashi

--I remember when I couldn't stand Riho. When I saw the Only You video, I was so angry that she was getting all of these lines and I saw her as a threat to Reina (who I was a HUGE fan of xD). Now, she really stands out and I can see why she's the ace. Her vocals have been improving too.

#5. Ayumi Ishida

--Another girl that has really been standing out to me lately. The H!P version of Seishun really put a nice spotlight on her.

#6. Haruka Kudo

--This girl is truly gorgeous and I don't know why she's not a front girl. Her voice is good too.

#7. Akane Haga

--She was my least favorite 12th gen but then the new single happened. She really shines and I'm looking forward to her future in the group.

#8. Miki Nonoka

--She can speak English! Haha, that's not why I like her though. Her vocals seem pretty good for a newbie.

#9. Maria Makino

--Maria used to be my favorite KSS but she doesn't seem to stand out in MM that much. It'll be interesting to see how she is in future releases.

#10. Haruna Iikubo

--I don't dislike Haruna, I just very indifferent to her. She's improved a lot since debut though.

#11. Mizuki Fukumura

--Much like Haruna, I'm just indifferent to her.

#12. Haruna Ogata

--She's very pretty, but can't sing at all (yet, she could improve). I think she's the least stand out of the 12th gen to me.

#12. Erina Ikuta

--I don't hate her. I don't dislike her. I just can't see anything special about her. She's just there to me.

C-ute

#1. Airi Suzuki

--The best voice in all of H!P. Absolutely a stellar performer. And she joined when she was 8. It's just incredible.

#2. Chisato Okai

--Another incredible talent.

#3. Saki Nakajima

--Indifferent

#4. Mai Hagiwara

--Indifferent

#5. Maimi Yajima

--Probably the only girl in all of H!P I actively dislike. I don't hate her and I'm glad that she's had this opportunity, but I can't stand her voice. It's just absolutely awful in my opinion and I don't understand how she gets praise for it.

Angerme

#1. Meimi Tamura

--The second best voice in all of H!P. In fact, give her a year or so and she'll probably surpass Airi for me.

#2. Mizuki Murota

--Great vocals and she immediately caught my eye when Taiki Bansei was released. Love her.

#3. Ayaka Wada

--I may have mentioned before that I used to dislike her and grew to like her but I can't remember. She really has that spark that people look for in performers.

#4. Kanon Fukuda

--She's got really great vocals

#5. Akari Takeuchi

--Used to be my favorite 2nd gen. Personally, I've felt that her vocals keep getting worse, but I still keep my eye on her.

#6. Rikako Sasaki

--I understand the hype from some people, but I'm still unsure on how I feel about her at the moment.

#7. Kana Nakanishi

Indifferent

#8. Rina Katsuta

Indifferent

#9. Maho Aikawa

--She was so awkward in their new single (more so than MM's newbies...and she was a KSS). I'm interested to see how she grows but I'm not sure if she was ready to debut.

Juice=Juice

#1. Karin Miyamoto

--Used to really dislike her, but over this year she's really stood out to me.

#2. Akari Uemura

--Has really blown me away with her improvement.

#3. Sayuki Takagi

--Used to be my favorite, but like with Akari Takeuchi I feel like instead of improving she's getting worse.

#4. Yuka Miyazaki

--She was so adorably awkward at first, but now she's so confident. I love how she's grown.

#5. Tomoko Kanazawa

--Kind of another Maimi situation. Her vocals just don't do it for me. I recognize that she can actually sing though.

Country Girls

#1. Risa Yamaki

--I liked her in KSS and still really like her here.

#2. Manaka Inaba

--I don't totally understand why she was added to such a cutesy group, but she still stands out.

#3. Uta Shimamura

--She seems to be everyone's favorite. She's adorable, but she hasn't been around long enough for me to have a full opinion.

#4. Mai Ozeki

--Indifferent

#5. Chisaki Morito

--Indifferent

#6. Momoko Tsugunaga

--Didn't like Momoko in Berryz, really don't like her here. She'd be better off doing solo variety stuff.

Kobushi Factory

#1. Minami Nomura

--I was really indifferent to her during her whole time in KSS, but after seeing the Nen ni wa Nen performance on The Girls Live she just outshined everyone else.

#2. Rei Inoue

--Never had a strong opinion since she was very new, but wow her voice. She could be really amazing in the future.

#3. Ayaka Hirose

--Seems to have a really strong voice. Will keep my eye on her.

#4. Rio Fujii

--Indifferent

#5. Natsumi Taguchi

--Indifferent

#6. Sakurako Wada

--Indifferent

#7. Ayano Hamaura

--Indifferent

#8. Rena Ogawa

--Never really liked her in the KSS. I personally think she's the weakest link in Kobushi, but who knows where she'll be in a couple years.

Tsubaki Factory

#1. Kisora Niinuma

--Tsubaki is still SUPER new, so it's difficult to rank them, but I've liked Kisora since KSS and I ADORE her name. Like, I want to name my first daughter 'Kisora' type of adore her name.

#2. Yumeno Kishimoto

--Again, really liked her in KSS. Super excited she gets to debut.

#3. Kiki Asakura

--Girl's got a heck of a stage presence. Really interested to see her growth.

#4-6. Riko Yamagishi, Risa Ogata, Ami Tanimoto

--I don't even have enough of an opinion of these three to rank them in any sort of order. In the future I'll know more.

Kenshuusei

--I won't rank them all, but I'll rank my top 5.

#1. Musubu Funaki

--I know she's still young, but DEBUT HER ALREADY AKLSJADKJHKAJSDHASKDH. I think she might be my favorite H!P member ever. She's got everything.

#2. Ruru Danbara

--Phenomenal voice. Absolutely phenomenal.

#3. Kizuki Horie

--Was indifferent to her, but her Recital test performance blew me away. Excited to see her progress in the future.

#4. Hikaru Inoue

--Everyone else heard her performance from the Recital right? I was stunned.

#5. Kurumi Takase

--Really starting to take a liking to her.

Everyone else

--Either too new or I'm just indifferent to them.

So that's my ranking! Sorry for the ridiculously long post. So who's everyones' favorites? I'd love to know! Post a comment if you'd like :)