Year in Review Thread

[Jessi]

What are your hopes for 2014?
Morning Musume goes to New York City.

Great hope you got there. xD

OH MY GOD! MY DREAM CAME TRUE

I can't believe i called it

^

Oh with that I'll add

What are your hopes for 2014?
Morning Musume goes to New York City.

Its real! I really did say this!!!

[sukibeam]

What was the most surprising thing?
Honestly, probably how well Berryz did this year. Who would have predicted a 61k first day? After that, probably Country Girls becoming a thing after the "failed" audition.

What was the most disappointing thing?
Tsunku being out of action for so long. His presence really brings a whole different dimension to announcements, and I feel like there was a lot less content for H!P overall due to his recovering.

Out of the new members, who's your favourite?
I'm really looking forward to watching Oharu (Ogata Haruna)

Whose graduation are/were you most sad about?
Sayu is sort of a given, since she is my all time fav. I was also pretty bummed about Oura Hirona leaving KSS too.

Which releases of 2014 were your favourites?
Egao no Kimi wa Taiyou sa from MM
Kokoro no Sakebi wo Uta ni Shitemita / Love take it all from C-ute
Aa, Susukino from S/mileage

Which releases of 2014 were your least favorites?
I really didn't like anything J=J put out ... nope, nothing

Overall, which group had the best releases?
I liked pretty much everything MM and C-ute put out

Overall, which group had the worst releases?
J=J and Berryz (apart from Ai wa Itsumo) didn't put out anything I particularly cared for

What would you like to see more of in 2015?
MM consistently on more big variety shows
outdoor concerts (not in the flipping middle of summer either)
general H!P fandom growth
PV/costuming creativity and experimentation

What would you like to see less of in 2015?
Difficult dances in heels
Lesser H!P groups not getting the "weak release competition" treatment that MM had
Lesser groups not getting equal promotion treatment
Background girls in MM not getting more singing time during concerts/singles

What are your hopes for 2015?
Ruru to debut (I'd also like a soloist, so maybe Ruru as a soloist?)
An all-H!P shuffle release
Tsunku to return to top form and give us something awesome for MM's 60th single
A H!P variety show like Hello!Morning
Either a new Mechaike special for MM, or a return to the big sports festivals of ole

What are your fears for 2015?
Country Girls flop
C-ute graduation announcement
Sayu's grad actually does create a noticeable drop in fan base and sales
Tsunku remains out of action Q.Q (I adore the man, what can I say)

[Nayoko-Kihara]

What was the most surprising thing?
• No winners from the first 12th generation audition.
• Berryz Kobo "indefinite hiatus" announcement.
• The number of promoted Kenshuusei into main-H!P (Seven this year), and which members were promoted.
• Country Girls existing.

What was the most disappointing thing?
• Michishige Sayumi graduating.
• Berryz Kobo "indefinite hiatus" announcement.
• Yoshihashi Kurumi leaving the Kenshuusei.
• Lack of Hello! Project in general on "important" television.
• Morning Musume bumping it up to 13 members. (I got over it, but at the time..)
• I will never get a Berryz Kobo x Kanjani8 goof performance. Boo.

Out of the new members, who's your favourite?
Very loosely for most, since we haven't seen much of them;
• Morning Musume: Nonaka Miki/Ogata Haruna
• S/mileage: Murota Mizuki
• Country Girls: Yamaki Risa/Shimamura Uta
• Kenshuusei: All the 2014 newbies are still too new. I like the looks of Hirose Ayaka and Inoue Rei.

Whose graduation are/were you most sad about?
• Michishige Sayumi
• Yoshihashi Kurumi
(I know it's early)Berryz Kobo as a group, but especially;
• Shimizu Saki
• Sugaya Risako
• Natsuyaki Miyabi

Which releases of 2014 were your favourites?
• Egao no Kimi wa Taiyou sa / What is LOVE?
• Kokoro no Sakebi wo Uta ni Shite Mita / Love take it all
• Are Kore Shitai!
• Kodachi wo Nukeru no You ni
• Mystery Night
• Eighteen Emotion
• Toki wo Koe Sora wo Koe
• Ai wa Itsumo Kimi no Naka ni / Futsuu, Idol 10nen Yatterannai Desho!?
• Kaze ni Fukarete
• Kanashiki Heaven (Single Ver.)
• Aa, Susukino
• Mikaeri Bijin
• Shabadabadoo
• Waraenai Hanashi
• Senobi / Date ja nai yo Uchi no Jinsei wa
• I miss you / THE FUTURE
• Romance wo Katatte
• Seishun Beat wa 16 (I haven't heard most of the other new KSS songs.)

Up Front:
• Bukiyou (Album)
• Zenryoku! Pump UP!!
• Ikujinashi (Album)
• Amai Melody / ｢Suki｣ no Kazoegata
• Beautiful Dreamer

Other:
• "LILIUM -Lilium Shoujo Junketsu Kageki-" DVD (Though I haven't been able to see it yet, the music is great.)
• Wada Ayaka's art book.

Which releases of 2014 were your least favourites?
• Karen na Gasshoudan
• Towa no Uta

Up Front:
• Most other Up Up Girls 2014 singles (that I listened to).
• Kikkawa Yuu's other 2014 single.
• Team Makenki single.

Overall, which group had the best releases?
Morning Musume.

Overall, which group had the worst releases?
S/mileage.

What would you like to see (new/more of) in 2015?
Interesting singles in general, but especially a really memorable, fun S/mileage single.
Kenshuusei performance videos.
More unusual stage plays and musicals.
Movie and TV Drama acting roles.
Photobooks for girls that aren't regulars.
Juice=Juice and S/mileage albums.
More interesting (well thought out) projects (dance club, acting, band).
Hello! Project and anime together again. (Theme songs, voice acting, etc.)
More performances on television (outside of "The Girls Live") for single releases.
A performance on television for an album release.
Some kind of YouTube show for the Kenshuusei.

What would you like to see less of in 2015?
Graduations.
Boring episodes of "Hello! Station".

What are your hopes for 2015?
Tsunku is healthy and back in full force.
Tsunku contributes something to the production of Country Girls.
Morning Musume doesn't fall in sales or attention now that Sayumi is gone.
New, interesting Satoyama/Satoumi units.
Some Berryz Kobo members stay with Up Front; continue on in some way.
I find S/mileage's new name cute/fun/nice.

What are your fears for 2015?
Tsunku's health stays the same or gets worse.
Morning Musume's sales drop a decent amount after Sayumi's departure.
Someone I like will announce their graduation/Kenshuusei I like will leave.
No Berryz Kobo members, aside from Momoko, stay on with UF.
I find S/mileage's new name to be dumb.

[Sohee]

What was the most surprising thing?
"Surprising" doesn't quite cover it. Tsunku's cancer tops all and any lists.
But merely H!P related... Country Girls came out of nowhere, since the audition ended with 0.
S/mileage 3th gen wasn't as surprising as the name change was, but in general S/mileage.
Berryz hiatus.

What was the most disappointing thing?
Ogawa Rena didn't get to debut. Tanabe quit. I missed MM in NY by half a year or so.

Out of the new members, who's your favourite?
Out of the newbies: Ogata Haruna.
Out of the promoted KSS: Sasaki Rikako, Murota Mizuki, Makino Maria is growing on me already.

Whose graduation are/were you most sad about?
Sayumi. Not only because she was the only one who graduated this year, but... Man. Sayumi. ):

Which releases of 2014 were your favourites?
Morning Musume's 14th album.
Morning Musume: Toki wo koe, sora wo koe.
S/mileage: Aa, susukino.
Everything C-ute.
Berryz - Ai wa itsumo kimi no naka ni.
Juice=Juice - Senobi.

Which releases of 2014 were your least favorites?
Berryz' Otona na no yo.

Overall, which group had the best releases?
Morning Musume. '14 and C-ute. (And Lovendor :3)

Overall, which group had the worst releases?
Berryz, but they were surprisingly okay this year except for that one song.

What would you like to see more of in 2015?
Success. Prime-TV appearance. CMs.
Tsunku.

What would you like to see less of in 2015?
Black hair. (Hi, MM. x: )

What are your hopes for 2015?
More Tsunku. More success.
Photobook for Eripon.
Country Girls going the variety and Satoyama route.
C-ute weekly #1.

What are your fears for 2015?
Country Girls ends up being pointless.
Tsunku retiring.
Someone I like leaves.


edit: Forgot that single existed. Figures Berryz' last full year couldn't end without at least one bad song.

[bisuketto]

What was the most surprising thing?
Berryz "indefinite hiatus". I didn't see that coming!
Ikuta becoming a sub-leader.

What was the most disappointing thing?
Rikako becoming a member of S/mileage and not MM. On the bright side, Smileage will be even more awesome now!
Sayumi graduating.

Out of the new members, who's your favourite?
S/mileage: RIKAKO!
MM: Miki, I think.

Whose graduation are/were you most sad about?
Berryz, especially Chinami (!), Captain and Momoko.

Which releases of 2014 were your favourites?
Otona na no yo! / 1oku 3zenman Sou Diet Oukoku from Berryz
Romance wo Katatte / Towa no Uta from Berryz
Hadaka no Hadaka no Hadaka no KISS / Are Kore Shitai! from Juice=Juice

Which releases of 2014 were your least favorites?
Ai wa Itsumo Kimi no Naka ni / Futsuu, Idol 10nen Yatterannai Desho!? from Berryz.

Overall, which group had the best releases?
Juice=Juice and Morning Musume.

Overall, which group had the worst releases?
S/mileage.

What would you like to see more of in 2015?
MM tv shows. Like the ones they did in the past with karaoke battles, tests and stuff.
Better and more interesting costumes.
Photobooks (a photobook of Sakura would be nice).
A Juice=Juice album.

What would you like to see less of in 2015?
Like sukibeam said: Background girls in MM not getting more singing time during singles. I'd like to see less Riho lines.

What are your hopes for 2015?
Kaga Kaede to debut.
Hope that Tsunku will be fully recovered.
That some of the Berryz girls stay with Up Front.
More lines for Haruka and Ayumi, and Akari in Juice=Juice.

What are your fears for 2015?
That none of the members from Berryz will stay with Up Front.
My favorite members will graduate.
Tsunku's health will get worse.

[Shabranikuduu]

What was the most surprising thing?
Country Girls, seeing as the audition didn't have any winners and everyone involved was super sneaky until the announcement.
S/mileage's announcement that they were adding new members from the KSS. I didn't see it coming right on the heels of 12th gen.

What was the most disappointing thing?
Kishimoto Yumeno didn't debut and that's about it, I think. 2014 has been a good year.

Out of the new members, who's your favourite?
Ogata Haruna, Murota Mizuki, Ozeki Mai.

Whose graduation are/were you most sad about?
Sayu's. But I didn't find it all that sad, I was genuinely happy to see just how many people had come to like her which isn't something I thought would happen even 5 years ago.

Which releases of 2014 were your favourites?
Morning Musume. '14: Password is 0
Berryz Koubou: Ai wa Itsumo Kimi no Naka ni and Towa no Uta
°C-ute: Kokoro no Sakebi wo Uta ni Shitemita
S/mileage: Chikyuu wa Kyou mo Ai wo Hagukumu
Juice=Juice: Date ja nai yo Uchi no Jinsei wa

Which releases of 2014 were your least favourites?
Otona na no yo / 1oku 3zen man Sou Diet Oukoku and Black Butterfly / Kaze ni Fukarete

Overall, which group had the best releases?
°C-ute

Overall, which group had the worst releases?
Not sure, probably S/mileage

What would you like to see more of in 2015?
More special projects like the band on Girls Live
Singles that sound different (like I miss you)
More KSS on H!S

What would you like to see less of in 2015?
People focusing on Zukki's weight.

What are your hopes for 2015?
Tsunku's cancer goes into full remission
A new KSS unit (bonus points if Kishimon is added)

What are your fears for 2015?
Tsunku's cancer not going into remission
Members getting serious illnesses/injuries

[forgetmenots]

What was the most surprising thing?
-S/mileage 3ki
-Country Girls being announced after abandoning all hope for it.

What was the most disappointing thing?
-Tsunku's health regressing.
-MM'14 not being on TV as much as I hoped they'd be. The beginning of the year and 2013 summer just felt so much bigger for them than now.

Out of the new members, who's your favourite?
-Mai (CG)
-Ogata (MM)
-Rikako (S/M).
-Uta has also caught my eye a bit.

Whose graduation are/were you most sad about?
-Sayu, obviously. My first grad concert I was able to attend in person. I cried a lot. Since one of the first videos I watched of MM was the 6ki audition/first practice subbed footage, even though I actually came in around Koharu's entrance, I felt like I had come in with 6ki, so it was the end of the Morning Musume I started out with.

Which releases of 2014 were your favourites?
-TokiSora, EgaoKimi, Love take it all, I miss you, The Future

Which releases of 2014 were your least favourites?
-Eighteen Emotion (I don't think I ever mentioned it, but I just never got this song, I thought it was boring and hated it )
-Futsuu10 (the horse noise and dance move kills this song for me)
-Tiki Bun (I like the song, just lackluster when I was hoping for another Wagamama level song or at least Egao/TokiSora level)

Overall, which group had the best releases?
-C-ute

Overall, which group had the worst releases?
-S/mileage (I loved Mystery Night, disliked Eighteen Emotion, and then the other two felt like they were missing something or the damn repeated lines killed it for me)

What would you like to see more of in 2015?
-MM in the public notice
-Songs with more OOMPH

What would you like to see less of in 2015?
-Excessively repeated lines i.e. Kimi no Kawari, Chikyuu Hagakumu, Password is 0. They ruin songs for me.
-Sick Tsunku

What are your hopes for 2015?
-To make it to the Osaka H!P Winter concert to see Berryz at least once before they disband. (A goal for myself)
-H!P to have a variety show again (I know, this will probably never happen again even with all our amusing MM members)
-Miki's Surprise English Lessons
-A new Kenshuusei unit with Hamachan (she's the last Kenshuusei left that I was rooting for, with Makino, Rikako and Murotan debuted I want her to follow!)
-Improved Music Videos (another distant dream)

What are your fears for 2015?
-Sales decreasing
-MM appearing on TV less now that Sayu has graduated.
-Public notice dying down in general due to the last Hello Morning girl being gone.
-Tsunku retiring due to health, or things just going bad in general that way (Please feel better Tsunku!)

[Panic Nancy]

What was the most surprising thing?
S/mileage's new members and name change announcement.

What was the most disappointing thing?
Hirona leaving KSS. It wasn't the end of the world, but it was annoying. She was cute and could sing and seemed like she had a really interesting personality. I guess I should be grateful that she left before I got too attached.

Out of the new members, who's your favourite?
Rikako.

Whose graduation are/were you most sad about?
Sayumi, of course.

Which releases of 2014 were your favourites?
- Toki wo Koe Sora wo Koe
- Chikyuu wa Kyou mo Ai wo Hagukumu
- TIKI BUN
- Mikaeri Bijin
- 1-Oku 3-Senman Sou Diet Oukoku
- Watashi wa Watashi Nanda
- Kirari to Hikaru Hoshi
- I miss you
- Senobi
- Black Butterfly

Which releases of 2014 were your least favorites?
- Towa no Uta
- Futsuu, Idol 10nen Yatterannai Desho!?
- Otona na no yo
- Kokoro no Sakebi wo Uta ni Shitemita

Overall, which group had the best releases?
MM.

Overall, which group had the worst releases?
Berryz.

What would you like to see more of in 2015?
Albums.

What would you like to see less of in 2015?
Boring stuff (songs, MVs, photoshoots, etc, etc).

What are your hopes for 2015?
A new KSS group with Ruru, Musubu, Kaede, Hamachan, and some new people.

What are your fears for 2015?
Juice=Juice not doing well. S/mileage's new name being awful. A new KSS group being created that has too many people that I'm not overly fond of.

[sukibeam]

Ermagherd can I second that Miki's Totsugeki Eikaiwa? Also H!P girls in dramas. Those were both fabulous ideas haha.

[Amped]

What was the most surprising thing?
Sayashi Riho's graduation announcement, scheduled in two months after she announced it.

Suzuki Kanon's weight loss.

Kobushi Factory and Tsubaki Factory.

Hello! Project groups' increased TV appearances on big name shows.

new Hello! Project lyricists, composers and arrangers stepping up like TAKUI

What was the most disappointing thing?
Morning Musume. '15 slightly losing their momentum due to Suzuki Kanon's injury which really hurt Seishun kozou ga naiteiru and Yuugure wa amaegari, 12th gen's debut release. Poor choice by staff to choose Karin as Kanon's replacement in both MVs.

Shimamura Uta couldn't commit to Hello! Project.

Tsunku stepping down as producer.

Youtube Red.

Out of the new members, who's your favorite?
- Inoue Rei
- Aikawa Maho
- Ozeki Mai

Whose graduation are/were you most sad about?
probably Sayashi's really soon

Which releases of 2015 were your favourites?
Sukatto My Heart
Taiki Bansei
Gashin Shoutan
Wonderful World

Which releases of 2015 were your least favorites?
Tsubaki Factory's Seishun Manmannaka!, C-ute's Arigatou ~Mugen no Yell~

Overall, which group had the best releases?
Angerme

Overall, which group had the worst releases?
C-ute

What would you like to see more of in 2016?
Hello! Project even more committed to their globalization. Go to new places overseas.

What would you like to see less of in 2016?
poor decisions like putting Karin in Seishun kozou ga naiteiru. c'mon!

What are your hopes for 2016?
Morning Musume. '16 releasing the best songs ever written and composed by TAKUI.

What are your fears for 2016?
injuries and health.

2015 was supposed to be Morning Musume. '15's year but that got derailed. Angerme just exploded into the scene this year. This was Angerme's year even if they didn't win any awards.