by Parhelion69 » Tue Oct 23, 2012 5:42 am
I think the Platinum Era was at its highest with Nanchatte Renai, a truly great song and the second best in that era IMHO (the best being Resonant Blue)
Resonant Blue was a truly important song. Mikan practically put MM on the edge of a cliff, the next single would have to be great, or it was over... for good. I'm not saying that I consider Mikan a terrible song. I like it, specially on concerts, but it was weak as a single and it wasn't well received.
Thanks to RB, MM still exists. It was not only a great song, but had a more complex dance than usual, and I believe that was the time when Tsunku told Aichan that they had to step up their game. (dancing and vocal wise)
After Nanchatte, the decline of the platinum era came, and with it, a string of unremarkable songs:
"Kimagure Princess". At first I didn't quite like it, now I love it (on concerts), but it had several flaws. It had to be a sexy, a not have a cowboy theme.
"Onna ga Medatte Naze Ikenai". Horrible outfits as catwalk models? really? The song was ok, but nothing special, really repetitive.
"Seishun Collection". Worst-single-in-the-era. And in the bottom 10 overall. The outfits were horrible. Overly generic and uninspired song. This wasn't MM.
"Onna to Otoko no Lullaby Game". Now this was the first good song in a while, not as good as RB, NR, SYO (which were all truly excellent) but decent enough. Much better than the previous 3, but a far cry from the mentioned songs.
I'd label that as the Dark Era, when MM was in danger again, sales were stable, but getting slowly lower. I hate to admit it, but MM was stale, it seemed like Tsunku didn't care and wasn't even trying, changes had to be made or fans would just leave (in the microcosmos that is the fandom in my country, this is the time where many fans left, and I was starting to lose attention as well)
Adding new members and getting rid of the unpopular ones was the best decision UFA could have made. Don't get me wrong, I liked the chinese girls, I really did, but they just weren't cut out for MM. Fans didn't care, and they were too unpopular. (Eri would have stayed ofc, she was awesome, it was a health reason sadly)
9th gen brought something fresh, brought talent (to a degree), cuteness, genkiness, potential and hope. 10th gen brought some of that, and complemented them with what they were missing, stronger personalities. 11th brings vocal talent.
Now we're with a much more balanced unit than the platinum one, and with lots of potential. It doesn't have the vocal talent of the mentioned era, but has better dancing ability, it has stronger personalities, and is more fun to watch on TV. Also, they're better looking (cuteness-wise, they still aren't as hot as Aichan or Eri for instance, but that could change)
And it's just the beginning. It can only get better.