First, are the Musume’s:
9.) LinLin- From the very first moment I saw her, I wasn’t the least bit interested in her. Although she does resemble Ayaka Totsugeki Ekaiwa (: SOMETIMES, most of the time her face has a goblin or witch-like appearance to me. She’s small, energetic, and cute in a way, and she certainly does have a personality, but unfortunately, it’s a rather generic one. She also seems to only have one expression, and her voice (whether the one I’m judging is her “real” voice or not) is horrid. People say she was made for the business, while others even say she is meant for things greater than H!P or Morning Musume, because of her experience. I guess you would be right, but she reminds me of a 6-year old beauty pageant girl. Maybe she was raised in captivity for the idol business, but she is last on my list.
8.) Aika- Contrary to my first impressions of Linlin, I thought Aika was cuter than a button when I watched the auditions, and I was excited for her and pretty much satisfied when she was chosen to join Morning Musume. Watching her try her best in the MM training, I was drawn to her unusual voice and looks. Back then, she had a strange aura to her that made me want to pay attention to her. I feel her unique personality has fallen away from her as time has progressed. As she became more comfortable with Morning Musume and being an idol in general, she seems to have lost her initial charming quirkiness. Aika is attractive, but in the same way as Chinami (Berryz) or Chisato (C-ute), simply because they all have shiny black beetle eyes, and shiny black hair. All of these girls have yet to grab my attention in pictures, performances, or otherwise. I also think her voice has gotten more and more nasally, considerably so in Robocarrots’ 2nd single. Bad Aika, your voice is supposed to improve over time!
7.) JunJun- With all of the webcam photos being passed around on the internet, I quickly became interested in JunJun when the news of the 2 Chinese girls first broke out. I check Hello! Online for pictures every few days a week, and when I stumbled upon her pictures I thought, “Wow, the Chinese girls are going to be cute!” Although this was not the case entirely, JunJun has made a positive addition to Morning Musume so far. She’s Morning Musume Cute in only about 50% of her photos, but absolutely stunning in about 20% of them. She stands out from the other girls, not only because she is Chinese, but because she seems to have a completely different attitude. I appreciate her as an addition to MM, but she hasn’t really grabbed my attention aside from the occasional stunning photo. We haven’t heard much of her voice either, but what I have heard was amazing. She has a deep voice which is not very similar to, but can be compared to Iida’s or Yoshizawa’s. Morning Musume hasn’t had a deep voice like that in a while, so JunJun’s voice is fine with me (:. JunJun is at the bottom end of the list only because I don’t know much about her, and her charm level is low.
6.) Kusumi Koharu- Koharu…I am not sure what to say about Koharu…She is obviously successful. As you may have picked up above, I do think a lot about a person’s “charm” level. But while other people would say the the tag sticking out of Koharu’s backside is labeled “Charm”, I would say it is labeled “Irritating.” As you also might have picked up above, I judge a lot by a member’s photos and photobooks. This may be shallow, but H!P is all about looks in the first place, and I choose the girls I follow (not that kind of follow either) carefully by voice, personality, charm, and APPEARANCE. Koharu is a pretty girl, and it’s becoming quite noticeable that she’s growing into a more mature young lady, so she has been getting even prettier recently. Although her teeth bother me a little, and she looks like Miyabi of Berryz AND Miyavi a.k.a. Miyabi of Obnoxious J-rock Land, she is really quite trendy and cute. She is higher on the list than JunLin and Aika because she grabs my attention in almost every group picture and performance I see, even if I might not always like it. She is a good idol, and seems like a nice, sweet girl. It is just when she opens her mouth that makes me want to punch her lights out. She is at her place on the list precisely because of this.
5.) Niigaki Risa- Finally, I’m down to these girls! I really like the 5th and 6th generation girls in MM right now genuinely. Niigaki is my least favorite out of my favorites, but at least she is in that kind of list at all! From the time I learned about H!P, I did not like Niigaki. It took me years to appreciate her. She was always the “ugly” girl to me, with weird little braids on the side of her head, a round, too small face, puffy lips. Her voice was expressive to me, and funny at times, but I always though of it as a manly, deep voice, especially when she was speaking, not singing. But in the past few years she has become a beautiful young woman, and her last 2 photobooks were amazing. Her personality is so entertaining and funny, and she seems to always be cheerful. Her voice is not one of my favorites, as it is on the deep side, and sounds as if she has a sticky liquid in her throat or nasal passage, similar to Ogawa Makoto’s voice (which I also didn’t like.) But I am starting to like her voice, and although it happens rarely, sometimes she sounds like Matsuura Aya (Try MM 10nen’s 2nd single, A-side.) Risa’s charm level is a 9 or higher on a scale of 10. She is my least favorite favorite only because of her voice.
4.) Michishige Sayumi- Stunning. Michishige gets more and more beautiful every month. She has a pure Japanese girl look, and always looks sweet and innocent. She is my 3rd favorite, because she is 100% girly! I really love this about her, probably because I love girly things as well. Her personality can be somewhat obnoxious at times, but she is sometimes softspoken, and her charm level is beyond 10. Her voice is horrible…but she doesn’t get many lines, so it’s hard to let that get to me anyway. Her voice is also very nasally :l which too bad. When I think of Sayumi, I think of nekos, pink, flowers, lace, fruit, and rabbits…and really, in her case that is all I expect, and it is all I could ask for in an idol (: . That’s actually not true, but I love Sayumi.
3.) Takahashi Ai- These last 3 are the ones that change around the most. A couple of months ago, Takahashi would have been in the #1 spot. Her change of hairstyle really threw me off, as she doesn’t seem as feminine as before at all. Her last PB had some good short-hair pictures, but the most beautiful ones were all long-hair-extension pictures. She has, in many MANY of our opinions, the most amazing voice of Morning Musume. She gets the most lines in every song these days, and I have to admit it’s for a reason. She has loads of talent, and great stage presence. She is a true performer, and my eye is always gravitating towards her when I watch performances. Her presence and attitude in ONSA were phenomenal. She pulled off an attitude I doubt even Miki could portray in a video or performance. She’s beautiful, talented, and has amazing stage presence…but the “real” ai-chan is super-boring. One of the reasons I can’t pay attention to talk shows or hardly even HaroMoni, is because most of the girls are so boring (see 6-9), and Takahashi is one of them. Being the leader, and the most talented, this is unacceptable. Takahashi Ai is number 3 because of her hair trim and her inability to hold my attention when she’s not onstage.
2.) Kamei Eri- Kamei and Tanaka are often interchangeable, and my 2 top favorites switch places often. Kamei is admirable because she is STRANGE. It seemed almost like a little act or gimmick when she first joined the group. Everyone knew Eri was the girl who was quiet, couldn’t speak to anyone correctly, spaced out, and liked to hide in corners and stick her face into plastic bags. How cute, how weird. As we move on over the years, this little act died down. Kamei Eri is now a young woman, reaching adult-hood very soon, and she has blossomed into a beautiful one at that (See MAPLE). But even after her style, her personality, her singing and dancing abilities, and her hair have changed and morphed over the years into the mature Kamei we know today…she is still weird, and she is still quite different from the rest. She has an unchartable charm, without seeming like she is actually trying. She has a huge stage presence, and an extremely versatile voice. I am always watching her first when I watch an MM pv for the first time. I am always looking for her when I watch a new performance, or any performance for that matter. Her dancing is perfect and precise, almost as much as Takahashi’s, only Kamei looks BETTER doing it. She has a sweet, soft voice that is so easy on the ears I could listen to the Mitsui/Kamei song from S8Beat on repeat for days. But I’ve also heard her voice powerful, and loud, and it’s good just the same. She has very unique looks, and is a bit uhmm…bigger than the others leg-wise, but she is well-proportioned and looks amazing doing anything. The only thing bad about her is that she usually looks rather dull in UFA Official photos. ): And I really love those.
1.) (As of FEB 2008) TANAKA REINA-
Reina, the “Yankee”, has always been one of my favorites. She is extremely cute! Her hairstyles fit her personality and the rest of her style very well. Her eyes are a very odd, but big shape and her nose looks like a little pig nose. She is very thin, but it suits her well. Reina is on the young-looking side, so even though she is in the same age group as the rest of 6th gen and Ai, she looks to be around Aika and Koharu’s age. She’s pretty, she’s cute, but most of all she is UNIQUE looking. I can’t quite find the right words or put my finger on it…I guess the only way to explain how she looks is to say she just looks “cool”…She has a very cool look, even if she resembles Mr. Nozomi. Her voice is the main thing I love about her. Her voice is one of those that I want to hear, song after song, because again, the only way to describe her voice is “cool.” It’s very different…not Sweet like Kamei’s or Michishige’s, not Deep like Maasa Sudou’s or JunJun’s, not squeaky and bad like certain members of Berryz, but COOL, unique, and clear and crisp. I would compare Suzuki Airi’s to Tanaka’s, but they are very different. They’re similar in that they’re both crisp, clear, and unique, and I want to hear more and more of their voices and what they can do. Reina’s stage presence and personality are very powerful. Along with Kamei, I am always watching Reina when a new video comes out. Watch her closely in ONSA, and you’ll see how much of an impact she can have on the feel of the song and video just by moving and dancing the way she does. I have lots more to say about her, but my attention span is waning out. All I need to say, is that Tanaka Reina is my favorite member in every aspect and way that there is to be thought of in terms of the Morning Musume girls.
Next………Berryz!
