A look back at Airiindeshou's 2011 Hopes and Predictions

At the beginning of this year, I made a post containing what I hoped would happen and what I thought would happen. Now that 2011 is almost over, lets take a look at what I got right, what I came close on, and what I was horribly, horribly wrong on.

Things I wanted to happen

• Shuffle groups used more

At the time, there was a glimmer of hope that the shuffle groups would return (for good) and actually do something (like release a single). In summer 2009, the shuffle groups had been revived to perform at the summer concerts and released new material for Pucchi Best 10 which released later in the year. I had hoped that they would release more new songs and maybe even compete for sales like in the olden days, but that didn't happen. However, what did happen was the Berikyuu joint single as well as the company wide Mobekimasu single, so I'll consider this one to be close.

Verdict: I came close; it wasn't exactly how I planned it, but I have no complaints.

• Return of H!M

This time last year, Bijou Houdan had ended months before and a new show, Bijo Gaku aired. It was a huge step up from Bijou Houdan, but Bijo Gaku still left a lot to be desired. So, I wished for a return of one of the greatest creations ever thought up by UFA - Hello! Morning. That didn't happen. But, what did happen was something equally as good - we got HelloPro! TIME. It's near impossible to topple the awesomeness that was Hello! Morning, but HelloPro! TIME comes pretty close. The idea of getting the girls to film themselves is pure genius (and probably cheaper too).

Verdict: Again I came close and this wasn't how I planned it, but I still love the end result.

• C-ute's 2nd Alo-Hello won't suck

Morning Musume and Berryz's latest Alo-Hello incarnations were Alo-Hellos only by name - they didn't have any of the Alo-Hello magic that any of Morning Musume's past Alo-Hellos did. Had they called them something else I wouldn't really have had a problem (similar to most the e-Hello series; you know what you're going to get when you watch one). By giving them the title of Alo-Hello, expectations were raised (and quickly shattered). So, I didn't want C-ute's 2nd to go that direction. But, disaster struck Japan March 11 and C-ute's trip to Hawaii was canceled (or as we now know, postponed until 2012).

Verdict: It didn't happen, so no verdict on this one.

• One more new group

I mentioned a bunch of former Eggs and wished they'd get a shot in H!P as a new group. Well, a new group with those Eggs was formed (UFZS and Up Up Girls as well), just not in H!P. I wish UFZS luck with their K-pop plans, but I would have been much happier if they stayed in H!P as a traditional idol group.

Verdict: I was mostly right, but ironically enough, I'm not thrilled with the result.

• Second Miyabi PB

It didn't happen. Though we did get some gravure Miya in the form of her solo e-Hello DVD.

Verdict: It didn't come true, though we got a consolation prize.

• Berryz or C-ute weekly #1

Both are still looking for their first weekly #1, but Berryz did get their first ever daily #1 with Heroine ni Narou ka!

Verdict: Didn't happen. Maybe next year.

• H!P x some other J-pop group collab

I wanted H!P and another non-H!P group to do a joint single. It didn't happen exactly as I wanted, but as said previously we did get H!P x H!P (Mobekimasu, Berikyuu) and we also got H!P x UFA (the Ai wa Katsu charity single).

Verdict: Didn't happen but we got some awesome alternatives.

• Return of H!P Sports Festival

I knew this one had the lowest chance of happening and sure enough, it didn't. The sports fan in me would still love to see it return, but I'll probably have to settle for the random sports themed DVD Magazines, Mooks, etc.

Verdict: Completely wrong on this one, though I wasn't expecting it to come true anyway.

Things I predicted would happen

• Ogawa Saki and Fukuda Kanon PBs

Nope, didn't come true. Obviously it's too late for Saki, but I'm still waiting for my Nyon-sama PB.

Verdict: I was completely wrong. We did get a S/mileage group photobook though.

• Morning Musume sells 50,000 again

The last time they did it was in 2009. I was afraid we wouldn't make it, but Aichan's graduation single sold quite a bit past 50k.

Verdict: Oh hey I was actually completely right on something.

• No graduations

I don't think anything needs to be said here. I'm never going to predict this again. So many graduations this year ;__;

Verdict: So horribly wrong.

• Promotion for Kikkawa Yuu

She's been on Music Japan, Happy Music, Melodix, Coming Soon!!, as well as many other shows. She got a photobook within 3 months of debuting and even had a movie about her journey.

Verdict: Could've been a little stronger, but still solid promotion for a brand new artist. I'd say I was right.

• More use of technology

Nothing really groundbreaking this year (that I can think of at least), but we did get a steady amount of things like Blu-ray releases, live shows (USTREAM and concerts), pay-per-view streams, more use of iTunes (pre-ordering singles and the occasional early digital release like DEEP MIND), etc.

Verdict: I was right, more or less.

And while I was on this nostalgic trip, I went and checked some of my posts when 9th gen first joined and I'm quite happy to see that a lot of my observations were accurate.

Stay tuned next week to see what I think will happen in 2012! And feel free to play along in the comments! It will be fun a year from now to see what you got right and what you got wrong.