Best of 2014: 48group and Nogizaka46

This is my last post of the year and it is of course about the 48 group and since I became a really big fan of Nogizaka46 at the beginning of the year too, I will include them in this post now! :D

First of all, let's take a look at my single ranking of the year. Remember, it's pretty hard for me to rank these songs, since it's not only about the song itself, but also about the video and the participating members. Adding to that, my mind changes pretty often, so I don't think this list will be accurate in a few months.^^


15. NMB48 - Ibiza Girl

Starting of with the last place isn't actually a single, but I will just count it, since it should have been one. It was easy to say that this is my least favourite song out of this ranking. I don't hate this song, but I think it's pretty annoying. It was okay at first, but hearing it all over again I began to dislike it a bit. ._.

14. AKB48 - Maeshika Mukanee

Oh no, now I feel bad for placing this so low. -.- It is Yuko's graduation song... It IS a good song, no doubt! But I just don't really care for this song that much anymore. I still listen to it from time to time, but there are just songs that I like more..

13. NMB48 - Takane no Ringo

Next up is another NMB48 song. Actually, this song even grew on me and I think it is a nice song (at first I didn't care for it at all). So I feel like it deserved to be higher, but I just listened to the other songs more often..

12. HKT48 - Sakura Minna de Tabeta

Here we have HKT48's first single of the year. I think this is a fun song, especially at concerts, which is probably why I like it. :D

11. Nogizaka46 - Natsu no Free and Easy

And here Nogizaka46 enters the ranking. Even though this song isn't as good as ''Girls Rule'' (which would have placed pretty high last year if I would included them there), I really like the summer feeling of this song.

10. AKB48 - Kokoro no Placard

Coming now is Mayu's song. I know, many people hate it and would place it a lot lower, but I somehow like it. I know, it's nothing special, but I just really like to listen to it.

09. HKT48 - Hikaeme I love you

This is HKT48's second single of 2014. I'm listeing to it quite often lately and I think it is a very catchy song.

08. SKE48 - Mirai to ha?

Then we have SKE48's first single of the year, which is a very nice song.

07. NMB48 - Rashikunai

This is such a fun song and I just love the up-beat style of it.

06. SKE48 - 12 gatsu no Kangaroo

This song was just sooo typical SKE48 and I really love how cute and catchy it is!

05. AKB48 - Labrador Retriever

I love the style of this song. It sounds like these older French songs, and that's so interesting. Okay, it is a pretty slow song, but I like it.

04. SKE48 - Bukiyou Taiyou

SKE shows how to make a ballad sound perfect. I really like this song!

03. Nogizaka46 - Nandome no Aozora ka?

This song is lead by Ikuta Erika and she's such a great singer. I love this song, it's so beautiful.

02. AKB48 - Kibouteki Refrain

Coming at Number two is my favourite 48group song of the year. Kibouteki Refrain is just so freaking catchy, and I love the echo thing. *-*

01. Nogizaka46 - Kidzuitara Kataomoi

And at the first place is the rival group's song. Nogizaka46 had a fantastic year, and this song is definetely a masterpiece. Adding to that, it has the most beautiful video of the year and that is a really great factor. Having Nishino Nanase as the center also felt so nice and this type of song fits perfectly to her.

Next up are some awesome coupling songs that definetely deserve to be mentioned:

AKB:

Ambulance (c/w Kibouteki Refrain)

The song is really cool and I love the sexy video with a big Yuri. :3

Itoshiki Rival (c/w Labrador Retriever)

Nice song and the video is badass!!

Konjo (c/w Mae Shika Mukanee)

A cool dance song and the video is freaking awesome!

Seifuku no Hane (c/w Kibouteki refrain)

And adorable Team 8 song. The video is also really, really interesting and cute. I will write about this soon!

Dareka ga nageta Ball (c/w Kokoro no Placard)

This is just a very beautiful song. The video is also nice, and I love how they included Annin in this.


Utaitai (c/w Kibouteki Refrain)

An epic song. This really reminds me on a musical and I love the members' voices.

Oshiete Mommy (c/w Kokoro no Placard)

This is just a really cute song!

Juujun na Slave (c/w Kibouteki Refrain)

This song is really cool and I'm happy that teh video will be released in the upcoming album!

47 suteki na Machi he (c/w Kokoro no Placard)

Team 8 got pretty good songs until now. This one is really, really catchy and cute. I love, how everyone is screaming their prefecture's name. And this is awesome to see at a concert.

SKE

Galaxy of Dreams (c/w Mirai to ha?)

Such cool song and I love to dance to it. The video is a big Samsung commercial, but I like the styling.

Sayonara kinou no Jibun (c/w Bukiyou Taiyou)

Such a beautiful and emotional song. The video is pretty artistic and a bit strange.

Houkago Race (c/w Bukiyou Taiyou)

This is a nice fast-paced song.

Neko no Shippo ga Pin to tatteru you ni (c/w Mirai to ha?)

A very cute song that served as Manatsu's graduation song (somehow). The video is adorable.

Kesenai Honoo (c/w 12 gatsu no Kangaroo)

I LOVE this song. It's really catchy and reviewing this will be so much fun.

NMB48

Kyusen Kyotei (c/w Rashikunai)

Just love the song and the retro feeling of it. And the video is awesome.

Prom no koiboto (c/w Takane no Ringo)

Mizukiri (c/w Takane no Ringo)

This is a very nice and soothing song. I love it. *-*

Tomodachi (c/w Rashikunai)

This is a very beautiful song and I love how Sayanee and Nana are singing this together. *-*

HKT48

Mukashi no kareshi no Oniichan to tsuikiau to iu koto (c/w Sakura minna de Tabeta)

Such a cool song, though it's still odd that the chorus and the verses sound so different..

Natsu no Mae (c/w Hikaeme I love you)

The song is good, but the best thing is the video. I just really, really love it. *-*

Namaiki lips (c/w Hikaeme I love you)

Just because... NakoMiku!!!

Nogizaka46

Mukuchi na Lion (c/w Natsu no Free & Easy)

The song is so beautiful and thaaaaat video is so beautiful and sad. *-* (and I love my Yuri couples)

Ano hi Boku wa tossa ni Uso wa Tsuita (c/w Nandome no Aozora ka?)

Another beautiful song and the video is really interesting.

Toomawari no Aijou (c/w Nandome no Aozora ka?)

This is a beautiful, yet somehow sad song. I really like it.

Dankeschön (c/w Kidzuitara Kataomoi)

This song is so much fun and I love how it has a German title. :3

Nani mo dekizu ni Soba ni Iru (c/w Natsu no Free & Easy)

One of my favourite songs of all time. Not only the song is suberb, the lyrics are incredeble. I again have to applause Aki-p for his awesome song writing. Definetely check this one out, it's such an honest song!



I will also take a look at my Kami7 members now. I have a lot of other favourites, but those are the top for me


07. Tano Yuka

This little girl is really talented. She can dance, she can sing and she's really entertaining (seriously, she's rocking AKBingo). I really like how hard working she is and you should check out her documentary!

06. Shimazaki Haruka

Coming at number 7 is Paruru. She has slowly become one of my favourite members. I love salty Paru, but she is also very cute. I especially love her hairstyles. *-*

05. Sashihara Rino

Sasshi has just a really awesome personality. She is so good an variety and endures anything, which is something I respect her for. I like how she is handling her anti's, though it must be really hard for her.

04. Yamamoto Sayaka

Sayanee perhaps isn't an orthodox Idol, but she is a 'perfect Idol' to me. She has one of the best voices of the whole 48group, she's a really good dancer, she's really beautiful, she's funny and she has a nice body.
Adding to that she is a great leader and someone I really respect.

03. Matsui Rena

Rena is often shown as a typical Idol. She isn't the best singer or dancer, but I really like her performances,Of course she's very beautiful, but she often looks a bit creepy/ funny in videos. Rena's personality is also really interesting and she is a very good actress. I feel like she can take a lot of responsability, but then she is also a perverted dork backstage.

02. Miyazawa Sae

I feel like I'm writing about my Top2 members all the time. xD
Sae-chan is definetely someone special to me. She has a very energetic personality, dances really well and I personally like her voice. This year she was appointed as the captain of Team S, and I think she is a nice leader and she has so much fun in SKE!! And I'm happy to see Ikemen Sae from time to time. ;)

01. Matsui Jurina

No surprise here, forever my Kami-oshi it seems. Oh dear, I really love Jurina so much. :D She's beautiful, she dances very well, she is not funny, she's so good at danso and is so dedicated to SKE48. She is just a very adorable and interesting girl!! *-*

And now have some JuriSae:

Well, so how has 2014 been for the 48groups in general?

I think it was an okay year. There were a lot of fun things, but also some bad things.
The worst was the Iwate Incident. That was a shock for everyone, not only for AKB48 fans. The two victims Iriyama Annin and Kawaei Rina are still not joining handshake events and I can fully understand that. Annin is always wearing something on her right hand and we could see Ricchan's scar a few times already. It's really sad that one person could do something like this so I really hope it will never happen again!
We also had quite a few graduations this year, the biggest being Oshima Yukos. That was pretty sad, but now I feel somehow relieved that she is able to do things without the group. :)
Takahashi Minami also announced her graduation at the end of the year, but she will be around at least until the 10th anniversary (if not longer).
SKE48 again had too many graduations. There are lots of awesome girls and to see them graduating one after another is just a shame. ._.
At the beginning of the year there was a really big shuffle, that mixed up all the groups and was a big shock for the fans. This led to a lot of kennins and transfers, the bigegst surprise being the kennins between Nogizaka46 and AKB48/ SKE48!

In June, Watanabe Mayu won the election and fullfilled her dream to stand on the top. That was a really happy moment and she now seems to be the real new ace of the group. In summer was an event called Natsu Matsuri where the members had little performances of shows for the fans and they were even selling things. In August were the Tokyo Dome Concerts. Since I already watched them, I can tell you that those are some awesome concerts!

This has been 2014 with the 48group!!!
It was a year with a lot of changes and hardships, but there were still some nice things and I'm really looking forward to 2015 with the groups!

Best of 2014: H!P

2014 has been a very interesting and busy year for Hello Project. There were still lots of double A-sides and even triple A-sides. Adding to that, there have been quite a few big changes for a lot of groups under the Project. I will now take a look at every group:

Morning Musume '14

This was the first year with the change of the group name. Actually, I got used to it and I do think it's cool now. I can talk about Morning Musume '14 now, and everyone knows I only mean the line-up from this year. Well, Momosu released 3 singles this year. Two of them were triple-A-sides but we didn't get any B-sides. Out of these singles I have to say ''Toki wo Koe sora wo koe'' was the song that amazed me the most. But as a whole single, I have to say I liked the last one the most, since all three songs Tiki Bun, Shaba Daba Doo and Mikaeri Bijin were so different. Sadly, the Number 1 streak just ended with this single, but since it still sold a lot, I'm happy.
The group also released a Coupling Song Collection which has all the B-sides from Kimagure Princess until Wagamama ki no mama Ai no Joke. That's pretty cool and kind of makes up for them not having any B-sides lately. The last thing they released was their 14th album. I really like this release, especially Sakura & Riho's song ''Kirari to Hikaru Hoshi''. This has been my most replayed song since I got the album. I just love it so much!
Aside from the music releases, there have been some interesting concerts and photobooks. But the most important event was probably Michishige Sayumi's graduation. She had been a member for 11 years, so it was a very hard goodbye and the end of an era. After a graduation always follows a new generation, so we now have four new girls as the 12th generation. I still don't know that much about them, but we will see more about them next year! The group has a new leader now and that is Fukumuara Mizuki. Adding to Iikubo Haruna, there will also be Ikuta Erina as a sub-leader.

Morning Musume '14 has been an awesome group and I'm so happy I could follow them this year, too. I'm already looking forward to Morning Musume '15!


Berryz Koubou

This group faced a very important anniversary this year: it was their 10th year as a group. But shortly after that it was announced that they will go on an indefinite hiatus in the beginning of 2015, which means they will more or less disband. I'm still so sad about this, and it's really starting to hit me right now, even though they aren't my favourite group.
Singles-wise it has been an pretty good year for Berryz. I especially liked Ai wa itsumo Kimi no naka de, but 1 Oku 3 zen man was also a good song and Romance wo katatte is really growing on me now. It's clear that the group is coming to an end soon, so it was a nice present from the fans that their last single became their highest selling single ever.


C-ute

The year for C-ute wasn't as exciting as it was for the other two groups. No member changes or announcements, but I think that's great. The singles of this year were hit or miss. I didn't really care for the first one that much, and the second one was okay. At least their latest single was really, really good. I miss you is my second most played song after Momosu's mentioned song and I also really like The Future. I hope the group keeps up like this in 2015!

S/mileage (Angerme)

S/mileage released only two singles this year. Their first single was okay, Mystery Night was pretty shocking for the group, but I kind of liked it. The second single was better in my opinion, both songs are pretty good. But the group had a big change: a 3rd generation was added and they have a new name now. It was surprising to see Sakaki Rikako as a 3rd generation member, since everyone expected her in Momosu. S/mileages new name is ANGERME and honestly, I'm not the biggest fan of this name yet. I liked their old name and don't really see why they chose the new one (yeah, I know they thaught of french words, but still). Well, I'm already looking forward to their new single in February to see this new group in action!

Juice=Juice

There weren't any big changes for this group in 2014. But they released three singles in a really fast tempo I would say. My favourite song is still Hadaka no Hadaka no Hadaka no Kiss. Kaze ni fukarete is also a nice song and I found their latest single to be pretty interesting, too.
All in all it was an okay year for the group, but I guess they got a bit overshadowed by the other groups' drama.

Country Girls

This year a new group was created! Or rather, it was first decided that Country Musume would be revived, but than they were renamed as Country Girls and 5 new members were added to that group. Adding to that, Tsugunaga Momoka from Berryz will be the Playing Manager of the group. I was very surprised to see Momochi with this line-up. And I don't really know what to think about the whole group, since didn't know Counrty Musume. Let's see, what they will do in 2015!

So this have been all the current H!P groups in 2014!

There is still one more thing I have to talk about:
It's the LILIUM stage play. I sadly still haven't watched it, but what I heard was really, REALLY outstanding. Momosu and S/mileage has been praised a lot for this stage play and I have to agree.


 I would say it was a succesful year with a lot of surprises, so I look forward to the changes in 2015 now! :)