Review: Petit Best 10

Track Listing

1. Shouganai Yume Oibito / Morning Musume
2. Seishun Bus Guide / Berryz Koubou
3. EVERYDAY Zekkouchou!! / °C-ute
4. Pira! Otome no Negai / Petitmoni V
5. Umbrella / Tanpopo#
6. MY BOY / Buono!
7. Otome no Inori / Erina Mano
8. Yume no Genjitsu / Aa!
9. Pen Pen Kyoudai / Shin Minimoni
10. DESTINY LOVE / High-King
11. Omakase♪Guardian / Guardians 4
12. Shugo Shugo! / Shugo Chara Egg!
13. Hapi☆Hapi Sunday! / Kirari Tsukishima starring Koharu Kusumi
14. aMa no Jaku / S/mileage
15. Screen / Natsumi Abe
16. Chocolate Damashii / Aya Matsuura
17. Seishun Boku / Mari Yaguchi
18. Bye Bye / Mai Satoda with Goda Kyodai

1. Shouganai Yume Oibito

Momusu opens up the next Petit Best with what would be coined the beginning of the emo-musume stretch of singles.  At the time this single released, I was starting to finally get the names down of the girls during this period and this song was a great song to really figure things out.  I really do like the serious tone of the song and all the members sound lovely here (even Sayumi!).  Though big props for Eri, Ai-chan, and Gaki for making this song sooo damn good.  Definitely one of the brighter moments for the group!

2. Seishun Bus Guide

I was happy Berryz chose this song over “Rival” since I wasn’t (and still not too into the song today).  Seishun Bus Guide did have to grow on me because it was a bit more forward and energetic song (with an odd PV to boot).  Of course most of the time it’s Risako, Miyabi, and Momoko leading the track and while that’s pretty normal of Berryz at the point of time, it was a little on the meh side, mostly because some of those vocals sounded rough (lookin’ at you Risako!!!)…It is one of those songs that will have to grow on you.

3. EVERYDAY Zekkouchou!!

°C-ute brought EVERYDAY Zekkouchou!! to the Petit Best and the group was going through some changes.  Since the last PB, the group had lost Kanna to some random bunion (though I’m sure that was just a cover up) and this single was also the final single for Erika who would graduate to focus on fashion.  For °C-ute, this song passed up some of their edgier stuff they had, but was probably the best they could do (plus it did kind of send-off Erika well).  It’s a poppy track with a lot of synths and bright lyrics.  Not a bad song overall.

4. Pira! Otome no Negai

So during the year, Tsunku decided to bring back a lot of former groups for a short while.  All but two of these ‘revived’ groups do appear here starting with Petitmoni V which was Nakky, Maimai, and ManoEri.  Their song, Pira! Otome no Negai was rather annoying to me lol.  I mean at that time, they were three of the weakest vocalists in H!P (that could be argued, I know) but this song didn’t work for me.  The whole ~pira-pop~ overdose annoyed me to no end and Tsunku’s voice in the song also kind of bothered me lol.  I don’t know, it just didn’t do anything for me.

5. Umbrella

Next up is the revived Tanpopo# (which was Kame, Aika, Chisato, and Yurina) and I was hoping they’d get a good song.  Umbrella to me sounds like a Momosu album song with the kind of cutesy lyrics/vocals but with a different kind of arrangement.  I do like the voices here at least and they’re so seperate from one another that it’s REAL easy to tell who’s who.  It’s not bad, but kind of run-of-the-mill.  Not much else to really say.

6. MY BOY

I definitely remembered getting into Buono! fully round this time and MY BOY was the best reason.  Unlike their various other singles, MY BOY was (and I think still) is the edgiest Buono! song out there!  The arrangement is explosive and the trio is pretty damn strong and bringing it all in an awesome way.  Even Momoko was just all kinds of badass….ugh this song might be one of my favorite H!P songs out there!

7. Otome no Inori

Then we move onto ManoEri’s first major single, Otome no Inori and it took me a while to remember this one because I wasn’t the big Erina fan back then (still kind of not, but she did get better as time went on).  Also fitting that this song kind of shines the light on Erina’s piano skills right from the intro.  I will also say, early Mano was not very apt at singing and many people were still kind of baffled why she was given a solo career within the company.  To me, the song is definitely not among her bests and her kind of flat and sort of toneless voice made the song a bit of a chore to get through.

8. Yume to Genjitsu

Back to the rest of the Revival Units we get Aa! which in this song was Miyabi, Airi, and H!P Egg member Akari Saho who took over Reina’s position (because the latter was with High-King who was also revived…well not really XD).  I was surprised with this song because I came in from the whole Revival Unit experience mostly disappointed, but Aa! knocked this song out of the park and remains the BEST song from that short time.  It’s great to hear Airi and Miyabi owning the song (as they should as they were rising on my fav voices).  Akari also held her own here and actually suited the group (if only they had let her join Buono!).  The song itself is energetic and has a really cool sound to it, plus the ~WAHOO~ is just too perfect lol.  Like I said, it’s a must listen!

9. Pen Pen Kyoudai

Then we move to the revival of Minimoni which included Linlin, Kanon (S/mileage) and two Eggs: Akari Takeuchi and Karin Miyamoto and they were given Pen Pen Kyoudai which is kind of a callback to their cuter image (ala before “CRAZY ABOUT YOU” Minimoni lol).  The song is very cute and true to form, but like “Pira! Otome no Negai”, it has a lot of repetition and Tsunku is all over the place here.  The vocals here are sort of fitting (except Linlin whose appearance here makes sense but her voice isn’t as at the level here like Kanon, Akari, and Karin’s….could you imagine the four singing this today?  Weiiird…This song just didn’t connect with me lol.

10. DESTINY LOVE

Finally, we get into the last quote on quote revived group in High-King (what I mean is that High-King didn’t have any member changes and the last thing they released was only a couple months before the revival happened XD).  DESTINY LOVE suited the group in a way that it gave them a more sexier song to tackle and for the most part it worked and seeing a Captain/Maimi rap section was nice.  The only thing that didn’t work is of course Yuuka who’s squirrely vocals felt so out of place (like it does in all of the other High-King songs).  Cool song though!

11. Omakase♪Guardian

Moving on, we get into the Shugo Chara! groups starting with Guardians 4 and their first single!  I almost had thought that it would’ve been a group that would’ve survived after the anime but guess it didn’t.  Being Aika, Risako, Yurina, and Nakky, thinking about it today…this pairing is so weird to me.  Yurina and Risako has deeper vocals while Aika and Nakky had the cuter tones so it was a mish-mash of strange proportions.  As expected, Omakase♪Guardian is definitely one of the more cutesy shoujo fairy-esque track and initially I wasn’t too fond of it but going back, I could appreciate it more and Risako and Yurina didn’t sound as strange as I would’ve thought (doing it today would probably sound weird…although the group did perform on New Years of ’14).  Not a bad track ^_^

12. Shugo Shugo!

Then we get to Shugo Chara Egg!’s 2nd single (and the last for members Yuuka, Kanon, and Ayaka as they transferred to S/mileage mode during the year).  Now I loved “Minna no Tamago” but I was feeling lukewarm towards this one.  Like with the previous track, it’s cutesy as well but moreso because of the voices.  I just wasn’t a fan of anyone here and the song wasn’t all that memorable to me either.  It’s just one of those songs that just kind of flew over my head on this album.

13. Hapi☆Hapi Sunday!

Then we come into Koharu’s track….and luckily it’s her last contribution to a Petit Best (so happy) and that’s saying something because this is my least favorite song on the compilation.  Boy did she up the ante on this super sugary sound here and adding on her very bad vocals…made this REAL impossible to deal with lol.  Hapi☆Hapi Sunday! is kind of the pinnacle of Koharu’s movement towards such a bad vocalist…but I don’t know, some of the arrangement kind of works, but I still can’t really stomach the tune.

14. aMa no Jaku

Then we move into H!P’s newest group (as of this release), S/mileage and their indies debut, aMa no Jaku.  Funny how of their A-side as a 4-nin this one comes off the most sentimental and it was just their start.  It is kind of weird to say that I can handle this song but not “Shugo Shugo!” when talking about their vocals…then again, this tune wasn’t sugarcoated.  Back then, I didn’t know the voices to the girls, but nowadays it’s rather easy and even though I rag on Yuukarin and Ayacho….they weren’t too bad….though I think Saki Ogawa (the unique member) had a much better voice than the 3 presented here.  Today, the song is good in doses, but still a lil high-pitched for my tastes.

15. Screen

Then we get into our soloists section for the final stretch starting with two of our older members and their singles (as both of their songs are also the final songs they have for Petit Bests).  There’s something about Nacchi’s song, Screen that just sounds so cool and different than what we’ve got from her in the past.  It’s upbeat but has a rather interesting arrangement with that kind of oriental feel.  It’s nice and Nacchi sounds really pleasant in the tune.

16. Chocolate Damashii

We move into Ayaya’s last single she released (she’s released albums after this) with Chocolate Damashii and with the amount of mid-tempos and ballads she’s had, it’s nice to get a track that has a little more oomph to it!  The song is cute and fun to listen to occasionally, it still isn’t among her bests, but this was something many Ayaya fans wanted to hear ever since “Kiseki no Kaori Dance.”.

17. Seishun Boku

The last two tracks were kind of random inclusions but made sense as they’re ex-H!P.  First off is a song from Marippe who here collaborated with Air Band (which is a band made exclusively for Quiz! Hexagon II).  For Seishun Boku, this song has a more rockin’ feel and being it’s Mari’s first single I was curious to how she’d handle it…and well her voice was a little too over the top here.  Very throaty and pinchy.  Meh…

18. Bye Bye

Back then, I had no clue who Mai Satoda was and why she was brought up when she started her Hexagon unit with Goda Kyoudai (who are misono and Toshifumi Fujimoto) and this was the 2nd single released by them.  Bye Bye does sound like an anime theme and I was surprised how well Satoda and misono sounded together.  The third member….I don’t think he was in the song (unless he’s the saxophonist) but otherwise…it was just the two ladies.  The tune is a good enough track and wasn’t as chaotic as Mari’s track.

Tracks Recommended

• MY BOY
• Shouganai Yume Oibito
• Yume to Genjitsu
• Screen
• Omakase♪Guardian

So Petit Best 10…getting into the double digits now huh?  After the last couple PBs having problems, I found myself kind of pleased with this one.  I mean we get 5 exclusive tracks on the album (even though to me, only 3 were pretty good) and we got some of the more recent hits.  I was surprised they had included Mari and Mai’s songs as they weren’t guessed beforehand.  Overall it was a solid release with a couple bad choices (lookin at you Petitmoni V and Koharu >.>). 7/10

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