All Morning Musume singles ranking - Part 3 of 3

Well, this took longer than I thought (so much going on this week), but it's finally done!! And so without further ado, my top 14 Morning Musume singles!! :D

14. Sakura Manaki - Sakura Gumi
The longest song of all H!P releases (excluding remixes). This song is so pretty, vocally, instrumentally and PV-ally. XD I adore Sakura Gumi beacuse most of my favourite MM members of all time are within this group, and definitely my favourite members vocally (Takahashi, Hitomi, Risa and Kago - I love her voice when she sings seriously over cutesy). Although I'm not normally a fan of pink, I can accept it for this PV. I mean, Sakura blossoms are pink, so it's fitting. Their kimonos are beautiful and I love the fan dance. :)

13. Osaka Koi no Uta
Rika (official) and Mari's (unofficial) final single. The one thing that really stands out for me regarding this single is the PV. I love the effect during the dance shot of their bows (I call them wings) fading in and out as the red lights come in and out. It's a very dramatic sounding song, and I find the PV matches it very well. I like the vocals here, as most members get a line (though Takahashi gets most). I can deal with all the Rika lines even though her vocal quality isn't the greatest, simply because this is her final single. Not surprising she'd be showcased more. However, it's sad thar Mari only got one line in her final song. Then again, her leaving the group wasn't planned, so who would have guessed that this single was going to be her last?

12. Ai no Sono ~Touch My Heart!~ - Otome Gumi
I just love the drum line in this single. It's crisp and the transitions between the sections of the song are really brought together through the drums. The vocals are strong from all involved in this single as well. You really get to hear Mako-chan's
voice here and she does a splended job. Even Rika and Sayu, whose voices aren't very strong, fit in well with the parts that. And I must mention that I love watching Kaori do this dance (well, really, I love watching Kaori do any dance... She always looks so awkward, it just really gives me the giggles).

11. Ai Araba It's All Right
This is such a happy-go-lucky song. It never fails to put a smile on my face. It's so catchy. Every time I hear it, no matter what I'm doing, I always have to tilt my head right before the chorus (like my head's a bell). I also get the urge to point and sway my hips. LOL :)

10. Souda! We're Alive
This is one of Morning's more rocking songs. I love the guitar riffs in this song. This was the second single with the gokkies, and all of them got solo lines except Konkon. It was with this song that I fell in love with Takahashi's voice. I didn't notice it so much in the recorded version, but during one of their Music Station live performances, I was absolutely wowed by how she sang her "hontou no kimochi wa kitto tsutawaru hazu" line. Risa on the other hand... Her performance in this back in the day was kind of painful. However, I am glad to say that Risa has improved over 100-fold in the 6 years (interesting... It's almost 6 years to the day that Souda! We're ALIVE released [02.20.2002]. Has it really been that long?) since this single. This song is very high energy. Similarly to Ai Araba, Souda! always has me pumping my fist. Doesn't matter if I'm at home, at the mall, or in the car. My fist starts pumping during "Doryoku mirai A BEAUTIFUL STAR".

9. Go Girl ~Koi no Victory~
This song always puts a smile on my face, just like Ai Araba. It always makes me want to dance as well. I love the dance in this song. I just adore this PV so much. Vocally, there's nothing spectacular (not that I'm saying the vocals are bad). No solo lines here, it's all group work. Basically, the energy (and dance) in this song is what ranks this one so high. It never fails to brighten my mood when I hear it.

8. The Manpower!
This song has so much going for it. First off, can you say Takahashi and Yossy for the win?! Their tag team solo lines are absolultely fabulous. The beat in this song is perfect. It always gets my head bobbing. I love the dance in this song. The hip
thrusts are fabulous, and the costumes are one of my favourites (quite possibly my favourite) from any Morning Musume PVs.

7. Shabondama
The rokkies (well, Reina at least) had a very nice welcome into Morning Musume with this single. 4th gen were in the background with their debut single Happy Summer Wedding. Same with the gokkies and Mr. Moonlight. It was 6th gen that started the trend of actually putting new members to use with their debut single. This single had a very different sound compared to the singles which had been released to it, and I found it very refreshing. I remember reading an interview with the members saying they were surprised at the anger in the song, and they were worried at how the new members would cope with the song. This song is so intense, particularly with the hard, rolled "R"s. This is one of my favourite Morning songs to sing along with because of its intensity.

6. Kanashimi Twilight
Yossy (official) and Miki's (unofficial) final Morning single. I thought this was a great way for Yossy to bow out of Morning. This song is another one of those distinctive Morning songs, due to the edgier sound (much like Shabondama). The vocals were solid in this single (seeing as it's mainly Miki, Yossy and Takahashi, who at that point were the strongest vocalists in the group - some of the strongest vocalists [arguably the strongest overall] in the entirety of Morning Musume's history). The guitar in this single is just so sexy. It gives the song such attitude, and add that in with emotion you hear in the girls voices and then hotness that is
the PV for this single, and it just stands out as a great release for Morning.

5. Iroppoi Jirettai
I love the Spanish feel to this song. The trumpets are amazing (not that trumpets are particularly Spanish) and I just adore the castanets. This was Koha's debut single, and she was alright. She wasn't too in your face at this point (and other than the
whispering at the start, only got one line, so nothing was butchered too badly... I don't mind Koha getting camera time, 'cause I don't argue with the fact that she's quite attractive. Just please, don't make me listen to her sing too much >_<)... So maybe I should say that she wasn't too in your ear at this point.

4. Roman! ~My Dear Boy~
Another song with great guitars. Anyone noticing a trend with the guitars? I love the guitar solo in the middle of this song. The vocals are strong in this single (again, mainly Miki and Takahashi). I remember watching this PV the first time and thinking "what the heck is up with the non-Japanese people here?" Again, it's all part of my amazement anytime a non-H!P related person is seen within an H!P PV (like Memory Seishun no Hikari). This is another song where I just love the dance. I learned the dance during the chorus for this one, but I find that listening to it again, I need to brush up on the movements.

3. Do It! Now
Another one of the edgier Morning songs. I mean, it's got a rap in the middle! :) This single followed the release of Souda! We're Alive, and this song further confirmed my love of Takahashi's voice. Another song in which I loved the dance. Another song which I love to sing along with. I loved most of the outfits in this PV (though I know, and will never forget, that I abhor - notice the present tense, for it hasn't stopped - Aibon's outfit here. It makes her look so frumpy. I don't know why, but I feel like their stylists hated Aibon. She almost always seemed to get the ugly clothes).

2. I Wish
Another feel good Morning song. This is the one and only song in my top 10 that doesn't feature Takahashi Ai. I don't know what it is about this song, but it blows all the other happy and joyful Morning songs out of the water for me. It's hard to explain this in words. The tempo stays consistent throughout the song, but the intro and outro are "slower" than the body of the song. I guess the best way to describe it would be that the intro and outro are more focused on the vocals. There isn't much in terms of background instruments or sounds. Just a little bit of keyboards, followed by organ, slowly building up into the more energetic part of the song. There's also a part after the instrumental that doesn't have much background sound, but it has a slightly different effect due to more than one person singing. It's the contrast of intensity in this song that really catches my attention. It's hopeful and dream-like, as well as energetic and genki. I find it quite fitting, since if I'm remembering correctly, it was out during the 2000 Olympics and was kind of Japan's theme song. Aibon and Maki were great in this single, and this single is best with the original
line-up. It really was a toss up between this song and the #1 song on my list. But by far, this song is my favourite Morning Musume song of all time (with all members together - excluding the subgroups).

1.Hare Ame Nochi Suki - Sakura Gumi
Like I said, it was nearly impossible for me to choose between this song and I Wish for my number one song. This is such a beautiful song, and the PV is fits perfectly with it. Takahashi and Aibon absolutely pwn this song!! Takahashi's last line, the
high note "SUKI" is fabulous. I love all the vocals in this one. Looking at the lyrics on PROJECThello, I just realized that every line in this song is a solo line. This song is so soothing yet powerful, I could listen to it forever with no complaints (much like Aya's Zutto Suki De Ii Desu Ka). I'd say that this song will always be best sung by Takahashi and Aibon (much like I Wish with Aibon and Maki), but I do have to mention that I was highly impressed with Miyabi's performance of this song at the Winter 2007 Wonderful Hearts Otome Gokoro concert. I thought she sang it beautifully, and this was actually the performance that really brought Miya to my attention. Maimi was impressive here as well.


Well, there you have it! My top 14 Morning Musume singles, thus finishing off my ranking of all Morning singles released from 1997 to the end of 2007. It's amazing that it's been 10 years since MM came into existence (and almost 7 years since I was first introduced into the world of Morning Musume, and thus Hello! Project).

An explanation of my rankings: basically, my what places a song higher on my list is how often I can listen to it without getting tired of it. I have fully memorized 6 out of my top 7 songs. I don't understand much Japanese (though I'm trying to remedy that situation). When I work on memorizing a song, I listen to it constantly. The fact that I'm not few up with it by the end of learning the song is testament to my love for the song. This is why amazing songs such as Mr. Moonlight and Renai Revolution are further down my list. I simply cannot have those songs on endless repeat without getting bored. Obviously, it's all a matter of personal taste. :)

What I've learned from my rankings:
- This isn't quite new information, but rather it just consolidates my previous mention of Takahashi being my favourite Morning Musume member in terms of vocal quality. From this top 14, she is heavily featured in every song except for I Wish (she wasn't part of MM yet), Go Girl (there are no solo lines in that song), and Touch My Heart! (she wasn't in Otome Gumi).
- Singles leaning towards the rock genre (or rather, the edgier songs) rank highly on my list. These are the songs with prominent guitar and drums, where you could picture a band (as in a rock band) standing behind the girls playing live, and not having half the sound of the song gone (ie. less synth and cutesy sounds, and filled with strong, classic instruments).
- Vocals are my number 1 criteria for song favourites. The instrumentals are next. I was surprised to find that the dance for a single really helps keep my interest in a song. And funnily enough, costumes in a PV can raise my interest in a song (probably because I like to picture the PV as I listen to the song, simply because the costumes are pretty).

There we go! All done! Hope you all enjoyed my reasonings, and congratulations for surviving all my rambling! :)