Best of 2010: PVs

I started off talking about my favorite albums of 2010, then my favorite A and B-sides of this year and now I'm writing about great PVs.

I took into account every single type of PV - normal, dance shots, close ups, and even those kinda creepy lets-stare-at-a-girl-for-four-minutes solo versions. For this ranking, I did not pick PVs because of the quality of the song itself; instead I simply ranked them in order of which I enjoyed watching. So if I really like a particular song's dance, then its dance shot may make the list. Or if I had fun staring at C-ute for four minutes, then a close up could make the list.

Top 5 PVs

5.  Genkimono de Ikou! (Director's Cut Ver. 1) - Mano Erina



One of my very first blog posts talked about this very PV so I won't go into too much detail here, but four months later, this PV is still one of the greatest of 2010. UFA actually got outside help (from a Japanese movie director) to direct Genkimono de Ikou, and his genius showed. Something about it screams star quality. The complete randomness and the fact that I still have no idea what's going on most of the time contributes to its greatness. Also Sahoooooooooooo

4. Our Songs (Close up ver. Air) - Buono!



And the winner for most original PV of the year goes to the Air ver. of Our Songs. If you never watched the making of, they were sitting on the end of this camera crane thing (which terrified Momoko) that lifted them into the air. Even though it was probably scary for the girls to make, I enjoyed it as a nice change-up from the normal close up PVs that we usually get.


3. Onegai Dakara (Dance Shot Ver.) - Mano Erina



I say this every time, but Manoeri is just so darn cool. I think this dance embodies that notion perfectly. She spends half of her time at a piano, which almost makes me forget just how good of a dancer she is. After all, she was an Egg for a while and dancing is pretty much all she did back then. This dance shot PV is one of the single reasons why I love Onegai Dakara so much. I watched this dance so many times, the song was stuck in my head for a long time.

2. Otakebi Boy WAO (Normal ver.) - Berryz Koubou



WAO is right. This PV is great for so many reasons. The main reason being the semi-realistic CGI used. I had no idea that UFA - a company that struggles with basic photoshopping - could pull something so epic off. From burning trees to lightning punches, it's all perfect. Risako's Spirit Bomb was just the cherry on top. I consider both this PV and the song to be the best thing Berryz has ever made, so it took a very amazing effort on the part of the next video to drop Otakebi down a notch.

1. Dance de Bakoon! (Dance Shot Ver.) - C-ute



I knew this was going to be number 1 as soon as I started this list because Dance de Bakoon! instantly became my favorite dance of all time shortly after I saw the whole thing. This dance shot also gets bonus points for not zooming in randomly, letting us see the whole dance unobstructed. Also the outfits are mega awesome.

Making this list was definitely the hardest so far. I really wanted to get a S/mileage PV on here because Ganabaranakutemo was silly fun and Bijin Mama was awesome just because of Tsuji, but ultimately I am happy with this list. H!P PVs are usually pretty bland and boring, but 2010 was overall a great year. I can only hope the PVs of 2011 will be just as great.

I can't make the next post (ranking my favorite live performances) yet because two concerts have yet to release and I want to give them a fair chance, so it will have to wait a week for S/mileage's first concert tour to come out. So instead, I'll take a quick break from H!P and rank my favorite non-H!P J-pop songs of 2010.