Best of 2010: Live Performances

With all of the Hello! Project concert DVDs finally released (I was just waiting on S/mileage's DVD release two days ago), I can finally make my top five live performances of 2010. I wanted to make sure that every single concert had a chance to make the list.

Speaking of this list, I had so much trouble making it. I went through all of the setlists of the concerts released this year, picked out all of the memorable performances and came up with about 15 performances that I felt worthy. Then I re-watched each performance so that I could narrow the list down more. That was the easy part. I was able to get it down to nine before I got stuck. There were about six performances that I really wanted to include no matter what, but the other three were so amazing that I didn't want to leave them off the list either. Eventually I decided to go with the original six and I managed to drop one to make the final product.

5. Cinderella\Complex (C\C) - by C-ute (Welcome to Cutie Gakuen Vol. 1)



Cinderella\Complex is one of my favorite shuffle songs of all time. Naturally, I was extremely excited when I saw C-ute performing this song. A little background info: the songs of this FC event's setlist were picked by C-ute via a lottery system (blindly picking a numbered ball from a box). Because they literally had no idea what they were about to sing (besides a list of a couple dozen songs), there are mistakes. Despite this being a rare imperfect performance, I enjoyed it so much that I had to put it on the list.

4. Love Like Crazy - by Takahashi Ai, Kamei Eri, and Shimizu Saki (H!P 2010 Winter: Shuffle Date)



I actually own the CD that this song appears on, but this was my first time listening to it and seeing it performed live. One of my many mistakes. This song is so awesome on so many levels. Its style is totally different from most of the H!P songs of today. Captain's last "kisu ni shite" line makes the whole thing worth watching over and over again. I love it when current H!P members breath new life into old H!P songs.

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H!P videos you may have missed, 2010 edition

Staying with this end of the year theme I'm currently on, this post will list some of my favorite videos that have made their way onto the Hello! Online tracker, but either weren't too popular or were released so long ago you may have forgotten about them. This post is going to be really long because, well, tons of great stuff happened in 2010.

• Maimi + Airi Up to Boy Magazine making of

Up to Boy is a pretty neat Idol magazine that various H!P members have appeared on in the past. For issue 195, Maimi and Airi shared the stage to make a memorable issue. If you are a fan of photobook making ofs, this is pretty much the same thing. There are some really awesome moments throughout this DVD, like this:

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Best of 2010: Other J-pop

Since there are still two concerts that have not hit the internet yet (C-ute's and S/mileage's), I do not want to work on my top five best live performances of 2010 so I'm making a list of my favorite non-Hello! Project Japanese songs of this year.

5. Say I Love You (Takenaka Rina)



If the name Takenaka Rina is familiar to you, it's probably because you remember her from being in the Eurobeat J-pop group HINOI team from 2005 - 2007. Say I Love You is Rina's soloist debut, which released in March. This song caught me by surprise because I wasn't keeping up with any of the HINOI team members, then suddenly I found out about this song by accident. What's even more surprising is the style. HINOI team had a disco-y, synthesized sound to their music. This song is straight up J-R&B. I don't believe Rina has released anything since then, so I'm pulling for her music label to let her continue to release music.

4. L.I.P.S. (JASMINE)



Jasmine is someone that I had one song of previously, but never really payed attention to her until I found out about her first album, GOLD. If I had to rank it, it would be above some of my top five H!P albums of the year and I don't say that about a non-H!P artist very often. Jasmine is pretty good with English and uses it often throughout most of her songs. L.I.P.S. is no exception. After hearing most of her singles and her album, Jasmine is by far my favorite J-R&B artist right now.

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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.

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Best of 2010: Songs (B-sides)

Yesterday I talked about my top five A-sides of 2010, and three days ago I ranked my favorite album songs. Today I'm moving on to B-sides.

Because they almost never gets a PV, B-sides are often forgotten, or simply ignored by far too many people. That is a huge mistake. A lot of the time B-sides are pretty awesome and occasionally I will enjoy it more than the featured single. So anyway, here we go.

Top 5 B-sides

5. Hello! Esper! Hello! (B-side to Mano Erina's Haru no Arashi)



This was also the theme song to her awesome drama Hanbun Esper, which you can watch subbed by Hyakupa. Since I watched the drama, I got a little more exposure to this song that I normally would have alone and I am thankful for that. It's a pretty cool song by Manoeri. Her pronunciation of hello is so cute~

4. Aisare Sugiru Koto wa Nai no yo (B-side to Morning Musume's Onna to Otoko no Lullaby Game)



For me, Morning Musume really dominates with their B-sides. Expect another Musume B-side on the list because of that.

Aisare is a really nice upbeat song that compliments Lullaby Game well. It's one of those B-sides that is borderline as good as the feature song. Actually, in light of the graduations, I would have loved to have a double A-side here to maximize the Eri/Jun/Lin exposure with a second PV.

This song isn't quite as catchy as Lullaby Game, which is why I am mostly fine with it being a B-side, but it's still a song you can have fun with.

3. Nakidasu Kamo Shirenai yo (B-side to Morning Musume's Onna ga Medatte Naze Ikenai)



See, I told you there would be another Musume B-side on the list. This one gets the edge over Aisare because I like the change in style. It's kind of a Japanese take on R&B which is pretty cool. This is a song that I would let my non Japanese obsessed friends listen to and expect them to not make fun of it.

2. MIRACLE HAPPY LOVE SONG (B-side to Buono!'s Our Songs)



SO AWESOME IT MUST BE TYPED IN ALL CAPS.

But seriously this song is Buono! at their best. Just like the title says, it's quite happy. Makes me want to get up and dance while smiling or something. Also it has like the longest held note I've ever heard a H!P girl sing (@ like 2:55 in the video). And to think I once thought Momoko had no range.


1. Smile Bijin (B-side to S/mileage's Ganbaranakutemo ee nende)



Surprise surprise. Another S/mileage song tops one of my lists. I was guilty of not listening to this song right away, but when I did I was in awe. Ganbara blahblah is a really, really awesome song and so is Smile Bijin.

Next I will rank my top five PVs of 2010.

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Best of 2010: Songs (A-sides)

Two days ago I ranked my top five albums of 2010 and today I'm writing about my favorite five A-sides of 2010. Tomorrow will be the top five B-sides.

Top 5 A-sides

5. Akuma de Kyuuto na Seishun Graffiti (C-ute)



I stated before that I'm not a fan of plays or musicals (even if a Hello! Project member is present), but this one is a bit different. It's been a good two years or so since I've watched a play/musical, but I'm sure I'll be watching this one when it releases. As for the song, it really came out of nowhere. Like I said, I don't care much for plays or musicals so I didn't pay much attention to it while they were performing, but I was hooked on this song literally after my first listen so much that I had to impulsively buy it.

4. Onegai Dakara... (Mano Erina)



With most of the focus being on the other artists in Hello! Project, Mano Erina very quietly had a really solid year with her singles. Haru no Arashi, Genkimono de Ikou!, and of course Onegai Dakara are three of my favorite Manoeri singles. I like Onegai Dakara above the rest because it has something extra special that the other two don't. It's just a really cool song. It's also my #3 most played song in iTunes.

3. Otakebi Boy WAO! (Berryz Koubou)



Being the last of Berryz's double A-sides, Otakebi Boy is definitely my favorite. It's another one of those songs where I was instantly hooked the first time I listened to it. I love how it has multiple leads and virtually everyone has a chance to shine. Out of all of the Berryz members, Risako really shines here with a very strong lead. She, along with Miyabi, Momoko (and really the rest of Berryz Koubou) have this kind of angry grit to their voice when they sing Otakebi Boy, which is perfect for a song like this. It brings out the power in their voices and makes for an overall strong vocal performance by the girls.

2. Dance de Bakoon! (C-ute)



Because I am making this list judging only the songs and not the PV, I can't talk about how awesome the dance is (yet), which is why Dance de Bakoon! is number two. But still, even without talking about the dance, Dance de Bakoon! is a great example of C-ute at their best. Lines are shared fairly and the song has multiple memorable moments that are quite catchy and stick in your head far longer than they should. I absolutely love this song to death and hope to see more awesome songs like this from C-ute in 2011 moving forward.

1. Yume Miru 15 (S/mileage)



If you told me last year at this time that a S/mileage song would be my favorite A-side of the year, I probably would have called you crazy, but it's true. In the seven months since it's release, it has become my most played single of all time. I remember listening to this song like crazy in the summertime (probably something to do with the fact that I edited, QC'ed, and encoded the PV like half a dozen times for a couple of friends) as well as in my car in the mornings. I'm not so gaga over it at the moment, but it is still a really solid song from S/mileage and is officially my favorite A-side of 2010.

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Best of 2010: Albums

Well, it's the end of the year so I'm going to look back on nearly everything H!P released in 2010 and rank them. I will re-listen to every song and re-watch every concert and PV to make sure I haven't forgotten anything.

Since there are no more albums releasing this year, I'll start with them.

Top 5 Album Songs

I tried to pick songs from a variety of albums, but a few of the albums had a bunch of really awesome songs so that didn't work out too well.

5.  Grand Demo Rouka Demo Medatsu Kimi (from Berryz Koubou's 6th Otakebi album)



I would not have predicted this when the album first released. I didn't really like any of the songs on it. But slowly and surely, this Yurina/Maasa duet grew on me. Oddly enough, it's the two of them that make the song and not the other way around. If, say Momoko and Miyabi were singing it, I don't think it would have the same impact despite those two being better singers.

4. Aa Koi (from C-ute's Shocking 5 album)



This song is nothing short of amazing. Again this was a song that I didn't really like after hearing it for the first time (surprised?), but now it's one of my favorite C-ute songs. Airi really owns this live (see above). It's songs and performances like this that make me into the Airi fan that I am today.

3. Kataomoi (from Buono!'s We Are Buono! album)



I almost forgot this album was released this year. It seems like forever since Buono! has released new songs. Not only is this one of my favorite album songs of 2010, it's one of my favorite songs period. It is #6 on my iTunes most played song list. It takes a very special song for me to listen to over and over again without tiring, and Kataomoi is exactly that type of song.


2. Namidacchi (from Morning Musume's 10 MY ME album)



And here we have a third song that I didn't like at first. Actually this was the only song from Morning Musume's 10th album that I didn't like. Ironically enough it's now the one that I like the most. You will almost definitely see the performance above in my favorite performances of 2010. It gave new life to the song after I had played it to death on my iPod.

1. Independent Girl ~ Dokuritsu Joshi de Aru Tame ni (from Buono!'s We Are Buono! album)



I don't have much to say about this besides the fact that I absolutely love this song. It's my #1 most played song on iTunes of all time with no competitor in sight. This is Buono! at their best. I'm so glad we will get more Buono! songs in 2011. Hopefully they will be as epic as this one is.

And that's it for this post. When I finish ranking my top 5 songs, performances and PVs, I will make one more post where I reveal my overall #1 album, single, performance, and PV of 2010.

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