Lately, I've been getting back into my wota boots. Hello! Project has some things going on these days that are getting me excited. Let me explain myself. To me, decline happened a long time ago. Back in 04 when Rubi and me were first getting into Momusu, things were going great. Then things started going downhill. The songs weren't that good, Rika left, scandals left and right with Yaguchi and whatnot. W disbanding. Maki not singing as much. Aya Matsuura being her usual Aya self. BerryZ sucking. What really hit the nail in the coffin for me was the 8th Generation auditions. Now, I was really pissed with 7th auditions too. Hello! Morning was doing great, and then they made us wait like 3 weeks to tell us the results, which was Tsunku basically telling us he's made of fail and couldn't pick someone, which was good cause if he felt forced he could've picked that I Love Africa girl. Anyway, it pissed me off more that in the second part of the audition, not only does Tsunku have the audacity to let I Love Africa comeback, but he picks this Koharu Kusumi girl over the girl me and rubi were cheering for. Well, I guess it worked out cause now I LOVE KOHARU. I'll tell you what I don't love though. Mitsui Aika. Miss 8th Gen. I couldn't have been more disappointed. With so many good girls in those auditions, Tsunku picked Aika. This was the single biggest disappointment in anything I've ever been a fan of. She's even pretty wasted imo. Koharu was labled the "Miracle Girl" while not being that good, just they're milking her for all she's worth(and it's working great!). Aika's pretty much just there... Then after that, a really good single came out, Kanashimi Twilight, which featured the Momusu girls dressed all rocker like. Sexay, especially Mikitty and Ai. Mmm...anyway, GAM was also born. Things were looking up. RIGHT after that, Miki had to quit cause she got a bf(double ouch), GAM died, and Ai cut her hair. H!P was now dead to me. Then, all hope came back. I saw the Meguru Koi no Kisetsu PV. I loved C-ute, I got used to Ai's new hair cut, and Maimi is my new lurve.
Meguru koi no Kisetsu, what saved H!P for me.
C-ute to me has been, in some ways, what's now keeping H!P afloat. Don't get me wrong, the other groups aren't without merit. Onna ni Sachi Are debuted at #2 in the oricon charts if I'm not mistaken, and BerryZ along with ViYuDen have been selling moderately well. And if we talk about the girls individually, the Morning Musume girls and Rika are popular enough to sell PBs extremely well. Where it counts to me, though, is in performance ability, songs being good, and song sales. In their first week, C-ute scored a #5 in the Oricon charts, and a #3 with Tokaikko Junjou. Staying power in the charts wouldn't be fair to compare them since no other group in H!P has real staying power in the charts.
Performances count, and perform they can!
What I think is best about C-ute is that the girls seem to all have a good future in the business. The Meguru Koi no Kisetsu PV to me was refresing, because it wasn't general usual H!P PV. It had layers, the song was good, and in general it felt fun. The C-ute girls are also good at performing, from the few live performances I've seen from them, they really shine. It seems to me their popularity is also really growing with the fans, and people in general. This post is meant to be about praises, but they have their defects. Front girls are Airi and Maimi, and while I totally agree with Maimi(lol), they need to make them talk a little more. In the interviews and videos I've seen, Maimi seems to be pretty quiet and shy-ish, which to me is not good. On the last music station I saw, they had Mai speaking, and she did great. Anyway, I see a really bright future ahead for these girls, so people, pay attention!
