lol I fell like the cliques thing is really only a problem we have to worry about during transitional periods. Like Gens 1-4 were great, Gens 5-8 were all buddy buddy too, and now 9-11 (plus Sayu lol) are a cohesive unit where all of the girls seem to get along.
Watching the old Edokko Chuushingura backstage footage, everyone got along with eachother quite well. Or maybe it was just that Twotops brought everyone together, because no one was beyond being messed with by them lol. Or even things prior to that, like MM's world-quest to make a calendar, each of the groups seemed to fair greatly. Or the Hawaii competition trip!
Transitioning between the two though? Thats when I feel like you had cliques. Twotops and 5th gen seemed to clique up, then it was Yossi Rika Miki, and then Gens 1-2 stuck together. But once Yossi/Miki graduated, we attained that really nice group cohesion that makes you want to be there with them. All of the Platinum Musume's seemed to get along with eachother and hang out together. lol Aichan even hung out with and tried to include Koharu too.
But when 9th came in, while I am certain Aichan was quite kind to them, there did still seem to be a division between old and new, until we arrived at the line-up that we have now. Where it seems that once again, we've captured really well a line-up that all likes to hangout together. And I love it when H!P manages to capture that, and re-create again a group that you wish you could be a part of too. MM has always had this, though it comes in phases.
To make this relevant though and about the album: The Manpower updated is amazing, because the structure (of video-game type beats) wasn't really messed with much. Just polished and updated. Also, I really love Wolfboy. It reminds me of Take off is now! with a touch of the prehistoric music from Chrono Trigger lol.
The rest of the album was a decent listen through as well, there were no tracks that I wanted to skip, and I'm gonna be that person, but the new Renai Rebo has grown on me.