I've recently been wandering around on other blogs and forums, and have seen many lists of favourite H!P members or rankings for favourite members within the various groups, so I thought I'd get my say in.
Let's start with Berryz Koubou...
1. If you can't tell from my layout, the #1 spot goes to Natsuyaki Miyabi! I have just gotten into Berryz fairly recently (not that I haven't listen to their stuff before. I was a huge fan of "Piriri to Yukou!", "Special Generation", "Nanchuu Koi wo Yatteruu YOU KNOW?" and "Munasawagi Scarlet", but I didn't take the time to get to learn who the girls were until maybe 2 months ago). However, Miyabi was the first girl I had noticed from a concert that I watched a long time ago. I asked my brother back then who she was, and I haven't forgotten the name or face of Miyabi since. She caught my eye because I found that she was the most consistent during the live performance that I was watching. Since then, I find that she is still the most consistent of Berryz, and I'd say one of the most consistent in H!P overall. The quality of her voice doesn't vary from performance to performance. You can always count on Miyabi to produce! I also find her to be a pretty good and energetic dancer. Judging from the behind the scenes stuff I've watched, she's funny and easy going, and a good friend to the other members in the group. You can particularly see how she looks out for the others in the Hello Days FC extra DVD at the amusement park, first with riding alone on the rollercoaster since Momoko was obiously having a heart attack just at the thought of riding it, and then comforting Risako when they went up on the Ferris wheel (though I totally can totally relate to Risako in that scenario 'cause I hate heights and ferris wheels). And she has the coolest ability to produce a spark between her fingers just by spinning her hands around each other, as seen on their Music Fighter interview promoting the release of Munasawagi Scarlet.
2. Up next would be Sugaya Risako. She was the second Berryz member that I remembered the name of simply because she's so gosh darn cute! I don't find that she has the strongest vocals in the group. She's fine in the singles, but come live performances, she definitely a hit or miss kind of person. I like her voice better when she's not trying to belt it out. The quality sounds nicer when it's softer (unlike Miyabi who could be whispering or at full volume and she always sounds fabulous). A good example of her quieter voice would be from the song she sings with Momoko in the 4th album, "Watashi ga Suru Koto nai Hodo Zenbu Shite Kureru Kare". I also find that she's not the strongest dancer. It's not that she's bad, but definitely has her lazy dancing moments when she doesn't fully extend her arms and just looks kind of sluggish. But she's my #2 because she's such an amusing/cute character. I loved Berryz first live performance on Music Station for their first album. All the members introduced themselves. Risako was last, and she lost the rhythm of the intros, darting her eyes around for a few seconds trying to figure out if she should start talking. She was so adorably uncertain. Unfortunately, she also had a crazy out of tune line at the end of the performance, but tied in with her funny intro and her mike bouncing all over the place as she moved around, it wasn't too disconcerting. And she's a beast at PuyoPuyo. :D
3/4. I have a tie for 3rd and 4th between Kumai Yurina and Tokunaga Chinami. My reasoning behind this is not quite defined. Yurina's fairly constant in live performances, and she's just so freaking tall, I find that so cool. (Seeing as she was the tallest member of H!P from the age of like 13, I think...) Chinami's so cute, always so energetic and bubbly. Although I have to say I much prefer her hair shorter. When I go back and watch old PVs and performances, I can never recognize her, always wondering "Who was that?" when she flashes on screen. One particular note: I thought Chinami should have gotten lines in "Kokuhaku no Funsui Hiroba" simply because everyone else got a line. To balance the song out, I feel she should have gotten Momoko's lines from the 2nd verse.
5/6. Tied for 5th and 6th are Shimizu Saki and Sudou Maasa. I really enjoy how the audience calls Saki "Captain" at the concerts... I can't call to mind a recent one where I've heard a chant of "SAKI!" I should go back and check old concerts. When I first saw Saki, I thought she was the youngest, simply because she was the smallest. Imagine my surprise when I found out she was the oldest Berryz. However, I wasn't a big fan of Saki when she was in ZYX. As for Maasa, I enjoyed her funny character in their stage play "Geki Haro "Edo kara Chakushin!? ~Timeslip to Kengai!~". These two are futher down in my list because I don't find anything particularly outstanding in the qualities of their voices and they also don't get much coverage in general since they're not lead singers.
7. My least favourite Berryz, by process of elimination if you've been keeping count, is Tsugunaga Momoko. This is purely my personal preference. Her voice is really not my cup of tea. That's basically the main jist of it. I find her amusing to watch when she's not singing, but singing wise, it's just far too cutesy for me. It's a very different kind of cutesy in comparison to someone like Ishikawa Rika, who I have always found to be very endearing when she sings, even though the quality of her voice isn't the best. I would lump Momoko's voice more into the same category of Michishige Sayumi's voice, which I also do not enjoy. However, I will give Momoko credit in that she is another fairly consistent singer in live performances.
In general, I enjoy the group of Berryz immensely. They're currently my favourite H!P group. I started paying attention to H!P back in the summer of 2001, around the time of Nakazawa Yuuko's graduation, just before the addition of the 5th gen. But with almost all of my favourite Morning members gone, and not being particularly WOWed by the 8th gen (and definitely not Koharu) my MM enthusiasm has diminished somewhat.
My next post will go over my MM thoughts, and my overall favourite H!P performer. :)
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