H!P Profiles: 2005 Shuffle Units: Elegies, Sexy Otonajan, Puripuri Pink

It seemed so soon to have done shuffle units a short time after H.P. All Stars because well…it was way too soon lmao.  Though unlike the past shuffles, 2005 marked a pretty big change where not all of the members were going to be involved!

Elegies – Inshouha Renoir no You ni

L to R: Ayumi Shibata, Ai Takahashi, Reina Tanaka, Mai Satoda

It’s pretty interesting that Tsunku actually only made Elegies by the only shuffle unit to get a dance track, but for that…Inshouha Renoir no You ni is probably one of my favorite songs from H!P!  The best thing is that the line distribution is pretty equal (but then again these 4 were the faces of active H!P so it really made sense to just give everyone lines.

The PV we got for it though we quite a cool take on the typical H!P shot.  I mean I love the fact they used picture frames as like a motif for the PV and really the ladies’ choreography really had a certain posing flair about it that would work in such a setting.  Plus, wow Shibata looked AMAZING in the PV.

Sexy Otonajan – Onna, Kanashii, Otona

L to R: Megumi Murakami, Miki Fujimoto, Miyabi Natsuyaki

When I first saw Sexy Otonajan, I was shocked that they chose Megumi and Miyabi (as they were pretty young for such a song) but was quite alright with Mikitty.  Their song, Onna, Kanashii, Otona was a pretty slick and VERY smooth of a song for such content.  To be honest, Miki really stood out in the song with her deeper vocals and overall tone.  Though I will say that Megumi was a close second because she was showing TONS of potential in this track.  Very subtle and pretty song.

The video itself is quite fancy and a bit sexy so it makes it slightly uncomfortable, but the song is still quite soothing and Miki and Megumi just look perfect for the PV.  Miyabi today would look amazing in this PV, but she herself at that time…meh.  It’s just a really vanity-heavy PV hahaha

Puripuri Pink – Hitoshirezu Mune wo Kanaderu Yoru no Aki

L to R: Kei Yasuda, Kaori Iida, Yuko Nakazawa, Atsuko Inaba

The last shuffle unit, Puripuri Pink was an interesting selection because it has members of the early years (surprised to see Kei, Yuko, and Atsuko together) LOL.  Their song Hitoshirezu Mune wo Kanaderu Yoru no Aki stood out amongst the shuffles because it’s sung entirely in unison and is a straight-up ballad.  I mean it was really a song to show how close the four are and I thought they blended nicely together!

The PV just seem to add more of a reason to show how close these four are.  They are all dressed in kimonos and lighting sparklers and just having a nice time together.  It’s a simple PV and while it’s not as engaging as the other two, it was a pretty nice PV and song overall

Ranking: Inshouha Renoir no You ni ——–> Onna, Kanashii, Otona ——–> Hitoshirezu Mune wo Kanaderu Yoru no Aki

Who’s New?: No one xD

Who Didn’t Participate: Way too many to name off xD

Overall: I feel like that since this was the last Shuffle Unit (well sort of), I felt that 2005’s did have great songs but the fact that SO many members of H!P weren’t involved was just a tad unusual.  Elegies looked perfect with its members for sure, Sexy Otonajan while MAJORLY jailbait…had a pretty good song (plus it seemed recently The Wolverine used the song in the movie) lol and Puripuri Pink had a nice unified track.  I mean this might have been the most solid set of shuffles lol.

H!P Profiles: 2004 Shuffle Unit: H.P. All Stars

Top Row L to R: Maimi Yajima, Erika Umeda, Saki Nakajima, Airi Suzuki, Maki Goto, Yuko Nakazawa
Row 2: Mai Hagiwara, Chisato Okai, Megumi Murakami, Natsumi Abe, Ai Kago, Nozomi Tsuji
Row 3: Hitomi Saito, Masae Ohtani, Ayaka Kimura, Ai Takahashi, Hitomi Yoshizawa, Yuki Maeda, Kei Yasuda, Kaori Iida, Erika Miyoshi, Yui Okada, Megumi Murata, Ayumi Shibata
Row 4: Atsuko Inaba, Chinami Tokunaga, Yurina Kumai, Asami Konno, Miki Fujimoto, Aya Matsuura, Reina Tanaka, Risako Sugaya, Saki Shimizu, Asami Kimura, Mai Satoda, Miuna Saito
Bottom Row: Makoto Ogawa, Mari Yaguchi, Maasa Sudo, Rika Ishikawa, Sayumi Michishige, Momoko Tsugunaga, Eri Kamei, Risa Niigaki, Miyabi Natsuyaki, Maiha Ishimura

Tsunku in 2004 really wanted to try something different for Shuffle Units this year and why not by make every H!P member join together for a song (because “Natsu LOVE Romance” wasn’t enough!  I think Tsunku felt like he could really get away with having a super-group and releasing a single instead of 3 themed sub-groups.

ALL FOR ONE & ONE FOR ALL

For the PV we got, it is a tad bit cheap, but it does showcase every member in H!P.  Even better is how the line distribution worked for the song.  They were split up by their history and when they joined (like the song begins with Yuko, Nacchi, and Kaori and the next lines go to Kei-chan and Marippe and so on and so forth ending with Erika Miyoshi, Yui Okada, and Miuna Saito.  After that it’s a whole lot of different parirings.  The video even shows the members off one by one during music breaks which is amazing!

So who’s new?

• Hello! Project Kids & Berryz Koubou – Yeah the kids actually made the cut this time around.  Though at the time, Berryz was just formed and the other 7 members were still in incubation basically so they had technically no name yet.
• Miuna Saito – The recent Country Musume addition makes her first appearance here which is pretty awesome (if shortlived overall)
• v-u-den (Yui and Erika) – These two also begin their shuffleness here lol
• 6th Generation (Reina, Eri, Sayumi) – They’ve been in H!P for a while, but haven’t done the shuffles til now as well.

Who left?

• Mika Todd – Graduated

Who was missing?

• Hello! Pro Egg – I think they were too inexperienced to join in (especially with Tsunku’s lack of interest of them fully)

There were also two B-sides that came with the single. The first one was Sankaku Kankei sung by Masae Ohtani, Ayumi Shibata, Atsuko Inaba, and Aya Matsuura.  It was a pretty chilled out song and really suited their very sultry and smooth vocals. The other song was Suki ni Naccha Ikenai Hito sung by new members, Reina Tanaka, Megumi Murakami, and Miyabi Natsuyaki (though this really looks like Aa!) and it shows because their song was in the same vein as “FIRST KISS”.  Both songs were nice additions to H!P’s catalog…shame they aren’t performed much though.

NEXT TIME, PETIT BEST 5!!!

H!P Profiles: 2003 Shuffle Units: SALT5, 7AIR, 11WATER

SALT5 – GET UP! Rapper

Top Row L to R: Makoto Ogawa and Yuki Maeda
Bottom Row L to R: Aya Matsuura, Ai Kago, and Natsumi Abe

Starting with the smallest of the groupings, SALT5 had a very interesting lineup for sure!  I mean Aibon and Nacchi were the popular ones with Makoto tagging along here.  Then we have the awesome Ayaya and Yuki Maeda’s first appearance in a shuffle.  They were given something totally off the wall from Tsunku, but it definitely had such impact for them.  GET UP! Rapper isn’t totally rap, but more hip-hop and urban as well.  It was really strange because maybe besides Aibon and Ayaya, no one has worked in this style (ESPECIALLY Yuki who was the companies Enka gal)…it was strange…but they looked really into it and all of them fit!  Though some of the vocals were a bit strange…mostly Aya’s because she was kind putting up this strange tone in her voice (I wonder why?)

As for the video, I’m happy they stopped doing half of the song for the PVs!  The video itself is pretty much a lot of close-up shots and scenes with the ladies training for a battle and doing the choreography (which Yuki again surprised me with how good of a dancer she was here) and at the end the girls pose and look they’re ready xD.  Not the most driven, but the energy of the girls’ perfomances and the awesomeness of the song just seemed to fit!

7AIR – Kowarenai Ai ga Hoshii no

L to R: Mika Todd, Masae Ohtani, Risa Niigaki, Ai Takahashi, Rika Ishikawa, Mai Satoda, Atsuko Inaba

Our next group seemed to be like the vocal-greats group (sans Rika tbh).  I mean this is a great vocal line-up and what’s this Atsuko Inaba returns to singing in a shuffle?  Where have you been?!?  However, this grouping got such ill treatment it seems.  Even though they were a group of 7 members, it seriously felt like it was segmented even further!  What I mean is that Masae, Ai, Rika, and Mai really go to do the singing in the song while Mika, Gaki, and Atsuko got the pseudo rap parts…it was just a bit saddening to see that and this R&B track holds no candle to “Shiawase Desu ka?”.

The PV is also quite boring, even though there’s some extras floating about in the song.  There’s also some dancing and quite a bit of moping going around in the PV as seen on the faces of all of them lol (especially Atsuko’s scene xD).  I don’t know, this didn’t do much for me XD

11WATER – BE ALL RIGHT!

L to R: Ayaka Kimura, Hitomi Saito, Asami Konno, Nozomi Tsuji, Miki Fujimoto, Mari Yaguchi, Ayumi Shibata, Hitomi Yoshizawa, Kaori Iida, Asami Kimura, and Megumi Murata

As the kind of throwaway group, this had a lot of interesting vocals here and luckily this biggroup didn’t get a weird track, but a lot more straightforward pop track!  Now being the big group they are, it was no surprise that most of the lines were given to the Morning Musume (and to a slightly lesser extent, Ayumi as she was one of the bigger faces of H!P).  which left the other 4 with like small lines here and there.  It wasn’t bad as wasn’t as tragic as 7AIR’s song.

The PV actually looked like a lot of the budget went here (somewhat) with the space theme, flying about in a spaceship and some of those camera angles and greenscreening of those nature-places xD.  We got to see everyone quite a bit so it wasn’t terrible…it looked like it was a fun PV right?  It definitely looked like it was XD.

Ranking by me: GET UP! Rapper ——> BE ALL RIGHT! ——> Kowarenai Ai ga Hoshii no

So who’s new?

There wasn’t a lot this year to be honest…truly only one new person joined XD

• Yuki Maeda – Yeah, I definitely feel like she made a name for herself when she joined SALT5 (even if it’s WAAAY out of her comfort zone…she still worked it.
• Atsuko Inaba – Even though she was involved in the first shuffle units, she hasn’t been seen since until now…I thought it was pretty awesome she returned even if her role wasn’t terribly big.

Who left from the last shuffle units

• Kei Yasuda – She had graduated at this point
• Maki Goto – I’m not entirely sure why she didn’t participate in the 2003 units considering she was still in H!P at the time >.>
• Rinne Toda – Had graduated/left
• Michiyo Heike – Had left prior
• Rika Ishii – Had left prior

Who was missing?

• Yuko Nakazawa – Really?  Still H!P and not doing this what is up?
• Maki Goto – Like I said, kind of wondering why she skipped it this time around
• H!P Kids – Still too young for this I bet

Wow…short, but since the format of releasing changed there really isn’t much else to talk about…to me this is kind of the weakest the units have been sounding but who knows when 2004 comes up!

H!P Profiles: 2002 Shuffle Units: Happy♡7, Sexy 8, Odoru♡11

Another year passes by and we end up with another round of Shuffle Units for 2002.  The theme of the year was happiness (why, I have no idea) but of course it’s there.  This also has the most members involved (not counting H.P. All Stars).  Now let’s get to know the groups!

Happy♡7 – Shiawase Beam! Suki Suki Beam!

Top Row L to R: Mika Todd, Asami Kimura, Risa Niigaki, Hitomi Saito
Bottom Row L to R: Ai Takahashi, Ai Kago, and Makoto Ogawa

The first group is of course always the one with the least amount of members.  We see Mika, Asami, Aibon, and Hitomi return but including the 3/4 of the 5th Generation of Morning Musume here which is great.  As the name of the group is concerned they were the happiest of the three groups (though it could be easily argued from Odoru♡11).  It shows with their track, Shiawase Beam! Suki Suki Beam! which oddly enough doesn’t make a mention of Marippe’s SEXY BEAAAAAMU!  As the for the song’s feel, it’s really cute and sparkly and a lot of ~chu chu chu~ and ~suki suki suki~ so lyrically it’s a bit trite, but it’s charming.  Though the song is sung mostly by the Morning Musume members….of course why is that not a new idea lmao.

The video is kind of different for me actually.  I mean it’s a little strange that it’s a summer tune but most of the PV is making nods to video games because at the beginning of the PV, an arcade cabinet just RANDOMLY lands in front of the beach house the 7 ladies are housing.  Some of the games that they are representing is Yoshi’s Island, Mario Kart, and Super Mario Bros.  It’s a really funky video and the dance is silly but it works and I see a lot of Makoto here (one of my favorite MM members).

Sexy 8 – Shiawase Desu ka?

Top L to R: Michiyo Heike, Mari Yaguchi, Ayaka Kimura, Masae Ootani
Bottom L to R: Hitomi Yoshizawa, Rika Ishikawa, Maki Goto, Mai Satoda

Our second group, Sexy 8 (the only group with no “♡” symbol, are the group that has the least new members.  All of them are returning except for Mai Satoda who joined shortly before!  With this group they have a sexy theme even though the shuffle theme is Happyness…which is a little strange right?  The song is definitely sultry and as an added bonus all 8 members have equal lines!  Well except Gocchin who had the opening lines.  It’s a smooth song and I really loved it for what it is…one of the best shuffle songs out there ^_^

The video is the most simplest and probably the cheapest of the three but it suits the whole sexy feel of the song.  All of the members are drenched in rain and the camera angles have a sexier tone as well.  Add in that like the of PVs (too damn shoooort).  It’s a really plain but effective PV for the song and I recognized all the girls (including newbie Satoda) very well.

Odoru♡11 – Shiawase Kyouryuu Ondo

Top L to R: Rinne Toda, Kei Yasuda, Kaori Iida, Nozomi Tsuji, Rika Ishii
Bottom L to R: Asami Konno, Ayumi Shibata, Miki Fujimoto, Natsumi Abe, Aya Matsuura, Megumi Murata

The last group, Odoru♡11 is the “rest of the girls thrown into one ordeal” which makes sense since they are the biggest group as well.  All but 3 members have been involved with shuffle units before.  The new ones Konkon, Mikitty, and Rika are interesting additions but they get lost with the outfits which are supremely random. I mean without the faces you probably wouldn’t recognize any of them…and btw…why do Rika, Ayaya, and Ayumin have brown wigs whereas everyone else are blondes 0.o  that’s super strange to me.  Their song, Shiawase Kyouryuu Ondo is about as random and WTF as “Dancing! Natsu Matsuri”.  HOWEVER, the song is styled in Ondo so it’s even MORE traditional.  It’s just a strange track and probably one of the oddest H!P songs in its collection…maybe next to “Edo no Temari Uta II”.

If the song being weird wasn’t enough, the PV is just as if not moreso.  It starts off like it’s some kind of schoolplay or something.  Like the aforementioned song from the Matsuri unit…the same kind of jokes are applied and so many things that you see in Ondo/Matsuri situations so it’s like a treat.  I still can’t tell the girls apart (unless I know them by face which is everyone cept Megumi, Ayumi, Rika, and Rinne.  I especially loved the ending where Nacchi is throwing confetti and everyone gathers around and then does this really silly move and everyone does an anime fall….keeping it classy!

Well… after all that randomness, it’s no surprise that Happy♡7 won the sales this time around but then again they were such a lovable group with Aibon and Ai-chan and pretty much all kinds of win.  Once again I’m surprised that Gocchin’s team didn’t win since I personally think they got the best song of the 3 while Shiawase Kyouryuu Ondo was a pretty bad song IMHO.

Ranking by me: Shiawase Desu ka? —–> Shiawase Beam! Suki Suki Beam! ——> Shiawase Kyouryuu Ondo

So who’s new?

Not as many as last year but there’s new ones nonetheless!

• Miki Fujimoto – As a new soloist, I was happy to see her brought in for her first unit, even though she was in Odoru♡11.
• Morning Musume’s 5th Generation (Ai Takahashi, Makoto Ogawa, Risa Niigaki, and Asami Konno) – Wouldn’t be H!P to not put them in so it was an obvious choice.
• Mai Satoda – The newest addition to Country Musume is found here first and one of two times we see Country Musume as a 4-nin
• Rika Ishii – Probably the random and out-of-place addition but awesome nonetheless

Who left from the last shuffle units

• Lehua Sandbo – She had left H!P prior, the only member that had actually not participated in both the 2001 & 2002 units unfortunately.

Who was missing?

• Yuko Nakazawa – Once again, not seeing as to why she wasn’t involved
• Atsuko Inaba – Like Yuko, I have no idea why…I mean they both could’ve been in Sexy 8 (would’ve been Sexy 10 but you know XD)
• Yuki Maeda – Y’know I don’t know either about Yuki as well…
• H!P Kids – WAY TOO YOUNG to be participating in anything

So like with the previous shuffles they all had their own version of a B-side.  This time around they all sung group versions of Yoku Aru Oyako no Serenade.  This song is a bit different since it’s R&B and kind of light.  The better thing is that all the members have solo lines which adds to the awesomeness…and then to see that there is no 26-nin version of it is sad, but that would be meh.

 

Couple more profiles and then it’s to Petit Best 3~~~~!!!!!

H!P Profiles: 2001 Shuffle Units: 3-nin Matsuri, 7-nin Matsuri, and 10-nin Matsuri

So a year later, we enter the second set of Shuffle Units!  There were still going by three groups with the idea of seeing who could sell the most!  However, unlike the last set of three the idea of 2001 was summer and festivals (hence Matsuri) and it obviously shows through all of three of the groups we’ll talk about today!

3-nin Matsuri – Chu! Natsu Pa~rty

L to R: Aya Matsuura, Ai Kago, Rika Ishikawa

The first and smallest groupigns was 3-nin Matsuri which featured the newest members of the bunch with 4th Generation Morning Musume members, Aibon and Charmy (Rika) and soloist Ayaya.  They were given the cute and very bubblegum pop song Chu! Natsu Pa~rty.  The song itself has charm and all that and it was pretty popular of a song (enough to be a staple at lives and later covered in studio form by both Berryz Koubou and S/mileage).  I honestly think S/mileage’s version is the best of em (even better than the original!).

As for the PV, it was fitting to the group and made sense with the trio in their pink wigs and summer attire.  I don’t think the video was too great but it works.  I kind of like the storybook kind of look and the paper cut-outs shindig of the members (which returns in Momusu’s “3, 2, 1 BREAKIN’ OUT” PV) but it’s alright nothing too special.  Though I don’t think it was appropriate to be showing off panties like they did here…too much Tsunku/PV Director dude.  I don’t know…It’s just a little bit too much on the sugar but the song isn’t bad either.

7-nin Matsuri – Summer Reggae! Rainbow

L to R: Ayaka Kimura, Michiyo Heike, Ayumi Shibata, Mari Yaguchi, Maki Goto, Asami Kimura, and Lehua Sandbo

7-nin Matsuri was kind of the oddball group in this trio because they were given something that hasn;t really been done quite yet (though DON’T STOP Ren’aichuu by T&C Bomber is close if not it).  The group also to me stood out because they had the least amount of new members to the whole process of “shuffle groups” with only Ayumi and Asami being the newbies lol.  The song itself is really pleasant and a lot easier to my ears than 3-nin Matsuri’s tune.  It’s not reggae in the full state but it’s cute reggae/pop.  All of the members got lines in the way it was spread like Aoiro 7’s (the more popular members got the longer lines than the backgrounds (which was Ayumi, Ayaka, Asami, and Lehua. They did get a lot of time on the video though.

Which to be honest isn’t good.  I noticed there was a lot of colors in the video (of course it’s called Summer Reggae! RAINBOW for a reason).  Second thing I noticed was how ugly these outfits actually were!  I mean the purple outfits were nice but the individuals were godawful!  Some did work like Ayumi’s, Asami’s. and Mari’s but when it got to Lehua and Maki and the rest…it was downright a travesty to my eyes.  Add in the rather green-screened PV and it was just too much for me. I will say that they did look like they were having fun and some of the choreography was cute in a dorky way.  Though I can’t explain the whole sliding down a rainbow and at the end they walk away and disappear….what?  Cute but that video is probably one of their worst PVs ever made.

10-nin Matsuri – Dancing! Natsu Matsuri

Back Row L to R: Hitomi Saito, Kei Yasuda, Kaori Iida, Masae Ootani, and Megumi Murata
Front Row L to R: Mika Todd, Nozomi Tsuji, Natsumi Abe, Hitomi Yoshizawa, Rinne Toda

Last but not least, we have 10-nin Matsuri who went towards a more traditional look for their song, Dancing! Natsu Matsuri.  This song is definitely something traditional…almost Ondo-like in a way but still pretty cool.  There’s so much going on in this song and the members doing different vocal tones is also quite something.  It’s definitely my favorite of the three just from the sheer randomness of the song.  As for line distribution, a lot of Nacchi and Nono involved but everyone sung together and had duo lines and all of the members did get at least one solo line.

The PV is just as random than the song itself if not more so.  There’s so much stuff that us Westerners will kind of have trouble grasping or  the other side of the coin and say it’s SOOOO Japanese!  I mean Taiko drums, Ramune, paper fans, the headbands, it’s just what a real Matsuri would be like.  Then again DJ Tsuji is an interesting twist to the already awesome action.  The only thing I’d question is the song when Kaori tries to wave her voice (and there’s a clear bout of auto-tune but Kei does it and it’s perfect without it?).  A lot of Nacchi and Tsuji though in the video though haha.  It’s a solid video filled with tradition!

Well…when it all came down to it, I was actually surprised that Chu! Natsu Pa~rty won the contest since I didn’t think it was too good of a song but I guess it shows when you have three rather popular members, you can tackle this stuff.  Though I’m suprised Gocchin’s team didn’t win because they had her and Marippe in the same group….I knind of knew 10-nin Matsuri wouldn’t win because that song would be a little tough to get into its groove but honestly I thought that was the best song

Ranking by me – Dancing! Natsu Matsuri -> Summer Reggae! Rainbow -> Chu! Natsu Pa~rty

So who’s new?

Well, we have quite of interesting new members but hmmm not surprised

• Rinne Toda (Even though she was active in the previous units, her producer wasn’t Tsunku so she was omitted and placed in when Asami/Rika joined up)
• Melon Kinenbi (Ayumi Shibata, Masae Ootani, Megumi Murata, Hitomi Saito) (since they were too brand new to make it in the first shuffle units, they were saved for the second units)
• Aya Matsuura
• 4th Generation of Morning Musume (Ai Kago, Rika Ishikawa, Nozomi Tsuji, Hitomi Yoshizawa)
• Asami Kimura

Who left from the last shuffle units

• Danielle Delauney – She had left H!P prior to the announcement
• T&C Bomber (Miwa Kominato, RuRu Honda, Miho Shinoda) (The group had disbanded and went their own ways though Inaba had stayed as an H!P member…why she wasn’t involved with these units left me with no idea)
• Sayaka Ichii – She had graduated out of H!P

Who was missing?

• Atsuko Inaba – Like I said above, she stayed within H!P but didn’t participate here which left me confused.
• Yuko Nakazawa – Same with Yuko, it’s not like she graduated from H!P or anything so I wonder if they didn’t like any of the groups or what…
• Sheki-dol (Ami Kitagami, Ibuki Oki, Mami Suenaga) – I can’t say for sure why they were never a part of the groups but my only conclusion is that they were an indies group whereas everyone was a major group/artist…
• Yuki Maeda – I’m not sure about Yuki either, I guess she wasn’t a big enough artist to join quite yet?

Of course like the last units, the singles all came with a B-side sung by the respective unit.  It was called “HELLO! Mata Aou ne” and of course Petit Best 2 would have a 20-nin version of it.  I thought the song was a LOT better than that garbage of Hello! no Theme.  This song really had a campfire feel to it and it was simple and very nice and complimented well with the wild and cute side of the leading tracks.  Definitely cool!

I have one more profile to do! Before reviewing Petit Best 2!  I’m excited!

H!P Profiles: 2000 Shuffle Units: Akagumi 4, Kiiro 5, Aoiro 7

Ahhh the shuffle units.  Tsunku started doing yearly units made of different members of the current H!P line (at that time of course) and in the new millenium was the beginning of said things.  The groups were made by the primary colors: Red, Yellow, and Blue.  They were then told to release a single and compete to who would sell the most of the three.  Let’s talk about the groups shall we?

Akagumi 4 – Akai Nikkichou

Clockwise starting from top right: Danielle Delauney, Maki Goto, Miho Shinoda, and Yuko Nakazawa

Akagumi 4 (representing red obviously) is quite an interesting group of the three IMO.  They were the group to only do a ballad (mid-tempo at best) but featured quite strong vocalists!  However, it was known that Gocchin had problems because she was young at the time and couldn’t grasp the topic at hand (yet, Tsunku/UFA still made it sing lead…stupid).  Danielle and Miho really sounded more appropriate and together as well as Yuko (who actually cried during the PV).  Akai Nikkichou is still considered the most popular today since it’s still performed and moreso by just one person like Yuko, Gocchin, and Takitty.  Maki’s is still the most impressive because she definitely understood the song once she rerecorded it again ^_^

The PV for Akai Nikkichou is kind of green-screen non-sense but at the same time kind of cute seeing Maki so naive all that.  Of course the PV has a shortened version of the song (missing the second verse and chorus entirely) but I think all of the songs suffered that.  Miho and Yuko (when she’s not crying) looked good as well but Danielle got a bad looking dress IMO…makes look too poofy in shots.  Still a pretty great song

Though when Danielle and Miho left H!P, Yossie and Yuki Maeda took over for their roles.

Kiiro 5 – Kiiroi Osora de BOOM BOOM BOOM

Back Row L to R: Ayaka Kimura, Michiyo Heike, Kei Yasuda
Front Row L to R: Natsumi Abe, RuRu Honda

Kiiro 5 represented yellow and they were kind of the nearest sounding to Momusu because the track Kiiroi Osora de BOOM BOOM BOOM was a little more disco-vibed and fun to listen to.  I did notice that all the great singers under H!P were in this group which is weird that they weren’t utilized to their full potential in this song.  I mean all of them (sans perhaps Nacchi) could power vocal…but it really felt like they held back A LOT in this song.  Nacchi and Michiyo did self-covers by themselves…but this isn’t as popular as Akagumi’s was.

The PV is quite something because unlike “Akai Nikkichou’s” light choreography, this one has a lot more of that going on…plus they utilized feathers…which is SWEET!  Still that awkward boom boom boom move they do is quite awkward looking especially when their pushed up the screen like this….yeesh.

After RuRu left, Aibon took over her role…..yeah an amazing singer replaced by Aibon….AWKWARD.

Aoiro 7 – Aoi Sports Car no Otoko

Back Row L to R: Mika Todd, Lehua Sandbo
Middle Row L to R: Atsuko Inaba, Sayaka Ichii, Miwa Kominato
Front Row L to R: Mari Yaguchi, Kaori Iida

The biggest of the shuffle groups, Aoiro 7 was all blue but their energy was high for their release, Aoi Sports Car no Otoko.  It seemed like this group had pretty much the leftovers from the other groups.  Might not be so bad because they also had some good singers as well ^_^.  Their sound was more rockin’ and just wild which is a far cry from like the serious Akai Nikkichou and kind of mature but not Kiiroi Osora de BOOM BOOM BOOM

I think most of the money went into this PV since it had other things going on like guys in a car driving and the girls all doing choreography with guitars and the like.  It’s a pretty brazen video and each member is being wild and frenetic…it’s awesome!

When Miwa and Atsuko left, Rika-chan and Nono took over.

ANYWAYS, after all that happened it turns out that Akagumi 4 won for the year…simply because Maki was a part of it (she was really that huge back then).  Personally, I would’ve chosen Aoiro 7, Akagumi 4, and Kiiro 5 in that order for some reason.  I think I just love wild songs and it worked for me.  Though it brought up some questions for me

Who was missing?:

• Rinne Toda – She’s someone I was actually really curious to why she wasn’t a part of the 2000 Units because she was active as the lone member of Country Musume…maybe it was because the producer wasn’t Tsunku?
• Miyoshi Chinatsu – Probably the same reason as Rinne to be honest but a different producer from the one that did Country.
• Melon Kinenbi – Despite being formed before the Units, I’m pretty sure Tsunku didn’t feel they were ready for it yet so they let them pass the first Units.  Though it’d be interesting to see what he could’ve done with them….

Also, the single’s also came with a B-side in Hello! no Theme which is H!P’s theme song of course and has been covered a couple other times which is cool but the song isn’t that special…Each unit sings their own version of it and yes there’s a complete one as well…

 

SINCE 2000 IS DONE, I’M GOING TO REVIEW Petit Best ~Ki Ao Aka~ soon ^_^