This blog will surely be posted on if there’s some survey I want to share. This survey comes from J-Pop blog Merry Go Round, who wants to see various bloggers’ opinions of what were the best and worst within Hello! Project. Here’s mine.

Bests

Best Group Single
Morning Musume’s 36th single, “Resonant Blue”. When “Mikan” became their lowest selling single back in 2007, you would have any reason to be worried. The release of “Resonant Blue” showed much improvement for Momusu; it sold impressively well, it had quite a lot of promotion (for an H!P release), and for being a song that prominently featured three members, it must have been pretty popular all right. Truly a very important single for the “new” Morning Musume.

Best Soloist Single
Erina Mano’s 2nd indie single, “Lucky Aura”. Very futuristic and very modern. Wonderful.

Best Group Album
Berryz Koubou’s 5th studio album, 5 (FIVE). Again, I adored this album because it showed Berryz was heading to a more mature image. What can beat the great wonders that are “Ah Merry-go-round”, “Yume wo Hitotsubu ~Berryz Kamen Ending Theme~”, and “BE”?

Best Soloist Album
Koharu Kusumi’s 3rd studio album, Kirari to Fuyu. Again, the wonders that are “Koi Sign”, “Mass Colorful”, and “Puppy Love”. Never underestimate Koharu.

Best PV
Buono!’s 2nd single, “Renai♥Rider”. Momo’s comedic act with her small tricycle, Miya’s amazing appearance at the center, and Airi’s awesome vocal skills. What else?

Group with Best Overall Releases
I have no real answer to pick, I like all the groups! H!P is very awesome.

Best New Group (debuted in 2008)
MilkyWay!! Koharu for being awesome all around, Sayaka for her amazing appearance, and Yuu for her beautiful voice.

Best New Soloist (debuted in 2008)
Erina Mano. I already took a liking to her when she was with Ongaku Gatas, and I am glad that she is slowly becoming a major part of H!P.

Best Established Group (did not debut in 2008)
I have to say it must be C-ute. They haven’t had any major downfalls and their popularity isn’t going incredibly high or low.

Best Established Soloist (did not debut in 2008)
Kirari Tsukishima starring Koharu Kusumi. The name says all.

Best Photobook
A tie between Koharu Kusumi’s 3rd photobook, Koharu Nikki, Eri Kamei’s 8th photobook, 20 (Hatachi), and Airi Suzuki’s 3rd photobook, 6gatsu no Kajitsu. Koharu’s PB because it features so many different personas of the girl. Kamei’s PB because she just looks her greatest. And because the cover is eyecandy. Airi’s PB because the ballet shots are win. And the last photos are pretty symbolic.

Hottest Idol of 2008 (this doesn’t have to mean “hot”. It can be cute, sexy, gorgeous, whatever your idea of attractive is)
Koharu Kusumi. Always and will forever be.

Worsts

Worst Group Single
C-ute’s 4th single, “LALALA Shiawase no Uta”. Making it a follow-up to the absolutely wonderful “Tokaikko Junjou” was not a smart decision.

Worst Soloist Single
I haven’t taken a listen to the Elder Club soloists, and I pretty much adore the Wonderful Hearts soloists, so no definite answer here.

Worst PV
Honestly, Morning Musume’s 37th single, “Pepper Keibu”. Makes Koharu look awkward all over, from doing those crazy jigs to hunching over to having to stand next to Takahashi.

Worst Vocalist of 2008 (this can be a soloist or group member, as long as they sound worse than cats in bags being rubbed against chalkboards. Wait, what?)
Berryz Koubou’s Risako Sugaya. Okay, “REAL LOVE” was definitely sung well, but Risako is seriously losing her cool. For all reasons.

Least Attractive Girl of 2008 (people who don’t qualify for this category: Sayumi Michishige, Airi Suzuki. Anyone else can qualify, really.)
Morning Musume’s Aika Mitsui. She is suffering the Samson effect here; now that Aika bears the short cut, she has practically become worse, but she is still making it out okay.

Vote on my Koharu poll if you haven’t done so yet.

–Mierna