How many Shugo! Chara groups do we need? First we had Buono!, which was already an awesome start, and then we had pretty much useless Shugo! Chara Eggs, and now the ever so called Guardians 4. It’s Risako Sugaya, Yurina Kumai, Aika Mitsui, and Saki Nakajima.
First of all, I am not impressed with this bad clash. Four terrible singers, with the exception of okay Yurina, one of who only has the talent to sustain an audience for two seconds (Aika), an earbreaking singer who shouts for her life (Risako), a squeaky mouse (Saki), and a singer who’s at least a foot taller than the rest (Yurina). I may be criticizing and exaggerating quite a bit here, but it’s all true for me. How can Tsunku think this way? Then again, it might make some sense.
Saki and Aika have had experience, in that other group thing… that did Seishun Love Lunch… what was it? Something about a frog? Athena and Robikerottsu, that’s it. That’s two experienced extra group members. Then, there’s Yurina, who’s never been in a side group before, leaving Chinami to be the last one chosen to be in an extra group (why not? She’s perfect for anime! Bubbly, cheerful, loud, noisy, and everything possible). There’s also Risako, the most pointless decision ever. Although Risako has been in 4KIDS with Mai Hagiwara, Airi Suzuki, and Maasa Sudou, Risako and Yurina are the worst choices ever, both as fun to be with as pet rocks. Saki is somewhat playful with her friends, but in front of the camera, she’s somewhat shy. Aika manages a cute smile but nothing else.
What’s going to happen with this group? I have no idea.
It’s not your regular Hello! Project dubbing, cover group. Even though it’s exactly like every other Hello! Project cover group out there, including mine, there’s a warm, kind feel to it. It’s like the project’s really going to be a great group, and a wonderful team. I don’t know why I’m getting this brain wave that I absolutely have to keep auditioning until I get in, but it sure seems like I have to. Is it the curry? Or the morning? You know what? I really don’t know.
The project seems a bit demanding at first, though. The auditions require a clip of you singing a Japanese song solo of your choice, with no background music, but that’s not all. It requires you not to rush and to record your tune, power, and control correctly, as well as record two harmonies of the song… what’s it called again?
Then again, the leaders are very nice and fun. There’s games to play in the forums, and the group, in fact, has already started. I’m guessing Generation One is the leaders. So have fun auditioning and stuff!
OMG! Okay, since I wan’t to play the flute or maybe the clarinet when I find some free time to do so, I’m nosy enough to search up “flute” on YouTube whenever I’m on. I mean, hey! It’s one of my favorite instruments. What can I say? But when I found the amazing Hello! Project flutist…
Isn’t that amazing?! But wait, there’s more.What’s even more amazing than the fact that this time it’s a piano, is that it’s the really professional kind. Okay, like, it sounds REAL. Like, what Tsunku REALLY made, but just a little more classical. Ready? Here’s a go.
So I’ve done °C-ute rankings, right? It’s time for me to do Berryz Koubou rankings now, and then Morning Musume rankings. I must admit, it’s kind of fun in a way. Then again, criticizing other people is a hobby of mine. That’s a bad hobby, right?
I wanted to explain how I got into Berryz, so here it goes. You see, before finding out about Hello! Project of any kind, I was a manga and anime freak. Cardcaptor Sakura was the groove at the time, so I was kind of looking around to find some Cardcaptor Sakura interesting videos. By a very lucky chance, I saw an icon of around six girls dancing around in a box! Thinking it was a parody to Catch You, Catch Me, I clicked on it with a lot of interest. Then again, the title was Sakura Chirari. The song made me feel really happy, but I realized the girls singing and dancing were all around ten years old. They had to be! I searched the people up, °C-ute (without the degrees symbol).
My next video was Koi No Jubaku by Berryz Koubou. Now, this was around the time the American fan base had started to rise quickly, and I was one of those captured fan people. Hello! Project became my study and my muscial chart, and my interest didn’t revolve sparkling stars around °C-ute, but Berryz! Indeed, I never found much interest in Morning Musume. Why? Because the Hello! Project Kids, at that time, were mostly around my age. Weird reasons, yes?
Okay, so let’s get to the rankings. Anyways, like before, I’m not going to compare the rankings from last year. I’ll do that with this post (and my other rankings) next year, but for now, just, no. Yes? I’ll also only be doing only put downs about members I don’t really like that much, and my top four. Get ready to see some amazing pictures, too.
1. Miyabi Natsuyaki – Well, what did you expect? This is really predictable, as if I put Airi Suzuki as my top in °C-ute, I would probably relate to Miyabi Natsuyaki, as well. I think I like Airi Suzuki better, but Miyabi is unexpected and surprising. She has these mature vibes around her, and yet, in backstage videos, she’s the craziest, bubbliest girl out of them all. Yet, she has a calm, smooth voice on her and looks really beautiful and mature, not cute in any way, like Mai Hagiwara or Momoko Tsugunaga. Anyways, her voice, as I said, is soothing, as well, as long as it’s in the right songs. Like Very Beauty, or in a louder song, maybe Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!.
Notes: I constantly compare Miyabi to Airi because I think they’re at the same level. I also think Miyabi has improved more since her childhood than Airi, who’s probably worsened a bit from her childhood in some weird ways.
2. Maiha Ishimura – Yes, she’s long gone by now, but I still remember her quite vividly. Isn’t she the one who barely got a solo line, and had about two lines to sing in Fighting Pose Wa Date Ja Nai? Yes, I remember our little dimples girl.
Notes: I like Maiha better than Megumi, but I’m better off not saying that.
3. Risako Sugaya – I’m talking about the young Risako here. Like, the one who audtioned, not the super model diva one. Come on, you can’t say she was really pretty when she was young. She looked normal and average. But now that she’s grown up quite a bit, it seems like she’s forced to act mature out of the side of her will. It doesn’t look right, making Risako act all mature and stuff. I’m guessing old men wota and maybe aspiring young ones might like her that way, but I know most of the American fan base hates all of this diva acting. I don’t know about the Japanese fan base, though. Sometimes, Risako is very cute, though.
Notes: Her voice has worsened quite a bit since her audition. I’m not saying it’s horrible, but compared to Maiha, yes, it’s quite bad. Okay, let me stop being so critical here, and I’ll tell the truth. Risako used to have a lighter, happier voice, and now that’s she’s all grown up, her voice is rather high and squeaky. Not like Momoko’s, who’s voice is improving probably the most, but still very nasally and wrong toned. It might be because her teeth were fixed, but I don’t think it’s very likely.
4. Chinami Tokunaga – Moving on to smiley face, I love Chinami. She’s so cute and bubbly! Chinami even admits herself that she’s loud and noisy. Aw, she’s so cute.
Notes: Oh, I didn’t mention anything about her voice? It’s okay, but her dancing is pretty nice, too. I loved her in Yuke Yuke Monkey Dance, because she looked pretty happy about wearing monkey suits. Did I mention she’s crazy in a good way, too? Her Dschingas Khan dance was really nice.
-Miyabi does have a big chin. I mean, it’s not her fault or anything, and I probably shouldn’t judge her that way, but i kind of feel like I have to point it out.
-Saki has a strong, good voice, and I do think she might be better off having more lines. But I also think that she looks really bad in those fancy, glittering costumes. They don’t fit her mature style. But she is an awesome dancer, so, what can I say?
After my intense dessert of double chocolate pie that expires tomorrow, I decided I would check up on International Wota to see what’s up. Finding out Kanna was out due to Bunion problems was terrifying, because I like Kanna a lot, and then, much to my interest, I found rankings! I guess since these are so popular now I’ll do my blogger share.
I’m sorry to say I can’t compare my last rankings, but the next time I rank, I’ll be very happy to compare these rankings. Here comes the °C-ute stuff!
I’m only cranking up four tops because it takes forever to do them all. Also, be prepared to hear some put downs at the end of the rankings.
1. Airi Suzuki – DUH! Like, what did you expect? Yeah, sure, she hogs all the lines, but is that her fault? NO! So her teeth are all bucked up? Like I care. Her personality is too funky to even let her teeth bother me. If you think she even has a weak voice, heck, you’re deaf. The only base of haters there are add up to one thing – jealous.
Notes: I also like Airi because she seems to be a friendly person. This is rather like the way Demi Lovato impresses me – although she’s not much of a looker (even though Airi Suzuki is sometimes very pretty), she looks open and unique. That’s how I somehow feel like Airi would make a wonderful friend.
2. Mai Hagiwara – I used to think the only reason she got in was because of her chubby, cute little cheeks, but I guess I was just young and crazy at the time. I watched her audition video once again and noticed she was somehow… really… focused on singing. Like, she wasn’t smiling, but I got the vibes that she was enjoying singing. Plus, tiny Mai was really cute. Therefore, that explains why my YouTube username (SweetMaiHagiwara) is named after her.
Notes: At first, I was jealous of her because she got to start idoling at a very young age. But watching a video (I looked all over YouTube for it, but I think it’s gone) made it a downer for me, because I realized that small Mai had to go through a lot of a work and a lot of tension for such a young kid. The video was a dance lesson where both Hello! Project kids groups studied a dance together.
3. Megumi Murakami – It used to be me blabbing to everyone that Maiha Ishimura is THE one, THE best ex-member of any Hello! Project group. But, have a heart, She was, indeed, a great singer, and I think she purely was chosen because of her voice. Because she wasn’t cute or anything in her audition. Heck, I didn’t even like her clothes. For a kid, her voice is incredible. I also give her credit for singing Wakkanai (Z) while bouncing up and down like an insane maniac.
Notes: I’m not a big Megumi fan, but I still do think Maiha deserved a lot more attention than Megumi. It seemed like she worked harder and better, even though good results still didn’t come out nice enough.
4. Erika Umeda – Yes, it’s finally time to view in camel nose. I’m sorry if that offended anyone, but even though Erika is fairly pretty and I’m the one saying that nobody should be based on their looks no matter what, her nose really bugs me. It’s… very… long. But anyways, her voice is okay. I didn’t think it was such a big thing, but it was okay. Now, it’s kind of scratchy instead of smooth. But oh well, what can I do about that? Further more, I plainly disgust her personality. It might be because Erika is a little bit camera shy, but she’s dull and simple around the camera. Only when she’s being normal is when she seems genuinely happy. That brings her down a lot for me.
Notes: I take that back. Erika is prettier than ever before, and now that I take the time to actually stare at her, her camel nose has long gone started to disappear. I’m glad I searched and uploaded pictures. Or else, I would have insulted half the fan base.Legs, anyone? Hair, anyone?
Put downs:
-Maimi has really bony cheek bones. I’m being really critical to everyone here, but she looks like one of the people who’s ribs show through. I mean, I’m one of them, but even my cheeks aren’t so skin-deprived.
-Kanna seems to be having quite a bit of trouble lately. First, she’s accused of being lesbian, at least b the American fan base. But Tsunku’s lately been extremely interested in traveling to America. Could this be the reason Kanna isn’t getting the linea and attention she really deserves? Anyways, there’s also the scandal with a Johnny boy and now this bunion on the foot thing. What could this mean? Anyways, I hope Kanna will be back soon. Bye Bye Bye is nothing without her.
-Chisato, even though people say that she has a great, strong voice, and I agree, isn’t much to talk about. She’s not worthy of °C-ute. This group, °C-ute, is meant for bouncy, soprano voices, like Airi’s and Mai’s voices. It’s not for deep, low, alto, whatever (I’m not good at describing these kinds of things) voices. Even if there’s some variety required, Maimi’s the deepest it can go. Chisato should have never been put into °C-ute, even if her childish voice when she auditioned was very nice. She might have gone into the right group, Berryz Koubou.
-I always forget poor, little Saki. I don’t like her very much, but she’s cute enough to fit in correctly.
I’m not Japanese, I have never been to Japan, and I don’t even have any interest in it, unless you’re talking about the fact that Shugo! Chara is addicting and I like Buono!. Yet, I still am greatly annoyed and sometimes interested in… weeaboos. Why? Because their only passion, their only hobby, is Japan. In what way do they love it matters, too. Perhaps music, fashion, artwork (meaning the paintings and all), history (although it’s weird), and culture are not bad things. In fact, manga, anime, ninjas, and food aren’t necessarily bad things, either. But have you ever seen a sixteen year old person just kind of waver around and gasp at anyone, anything, that Japanese? Or from Japan? It’s plain annoying. When you’re trying to tell them that Hello Kitty is way last year, all they say is, “But it’s Japanese.”
For all I know, the only real time I’ve been Japanese is when I was around eight years old. Anything Japanese was incredible to me, and anime and manga were the two highlights of my life. Even though I didn’t completely wreck those two things, because I was interested in art even before I started anime/manga/cartoons drawings when I was about six years old, I completely butchered the Japanese language. I would go around saying, “Hai!” or “HOEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!”, imitating Sakura Kinomoto from Cardcaptor Sakura. Gradually, I lost interest and moved on to my home country, India. It was a longer lasting interest to explore my origin, although I was born in America. Indeed, it’s scary and creepy to know that a sixteen year old would act as strange as an eight year old. I remember uttering my first word of Japanese to a real Japanese person, and it was quite embarrassing.
Doesn’t it creep you out to know that you, without even knowing it, might be doing these things? Check this out.
-You say Japanese words all the time, mixing it with English.
-You pronounce “hello” as “herro”, or any “r” with “l”.
-You try to get rid of your American accent.
-You wear striped clothing and humongous black boots with silver chains all over.
-Whatever. Just check the article on Encyclopedia Dramatica or Uncyclopedia on Weeaboos and Wapanese for more excellent information.
Maiha Ishimura (left), Maasa Sudou (right)
