Day 12: Favorite ℃-ute member?

I'll be unsurprising and go for the frontliner: Suzuki Airi.

My personal order in C-ute is
Airi >Chissa & Maimi >>>>>>>Nakky & Mai

To be frank, I find C-ute pretty boring.
In general, their songs are generic idol fare or dance style. Thankfully, their recent ones have been slightly more exciting generic idol fare.

Personality wise, Airi's your basic girl next door, and so is Maimi with a bit more genki. Chissa's more my way or the highway tomboyish. Nakky's the emo type. I have no idea what Mai's personality is ever since she and Chissa stopped playing pranks. Erika was another one I didn't get.
At least Kanna was interesting. A charming lack of confidence, yet happy to get her hands on any of the other girls. Sad that she had to leave.

As a plus, C-ute always appealed to me as the professional group in H!P. Overall, they're the best dancers as a group. Individually, they don't have the best dancers in H!P, but their worst dancers far outdo the worst in the other groups. I wasn't surprised that one of their recent concerts was a Dance Special.
Of H!P's flagship groups, I enjoy watching their concert performances the most. Their concert MCs generally are made up of sketches, which are hit-and-miss. But their song performances - yeah, it's good stuff.

Tsunku also seems to be pushing their presence online - what with Chissa's Odotte Mita series, their live streaming concerts, the activeness of their YouTube channel.

Day 11: Your favorite soloist (including ex-H!P)?

Mano, you're hawt and I'd let you finish, but Gocchin is my favourite soloist by far.

I like this picture just because your eyes are drawn to the direction her tie is pointing in

Most of the older generation were technically before I got into idols, though I'm sure I happened onto some of Ayaya's hits.
I entered into the world of H!P slightly before Mano debuted. At the moment, it's Mano, Kikka, and Kitahara who are the H!P soloists.
I'm not a great fan of Sayaka. Kikka has a pretty good voice, but I haven't warmed to her as an idol.
That leaves Mano. I found her slightly boring, but I've warmed up to her. Most of her songs definitely are boring, but as I've followed her she's always been a pretty face.
Mano would've won by a landslide if I'd never happened on this video:

Like, wow. That's pulling off sexy pretty well.
Gocchin was actually the first name from MoMusu that stuck in my mind. I had probably heard of Ayaya and Nacchi, but Goto Maki remains fresh in my mind. Not that there was that much info at the time - this was during the age of dialup and 56k modems.

I did like Garasu no Pumps, and I was familiar with Some Boys Touch. But having seen her in action makes me appreciate those even more.
Pity she's taking a sabbatical in order to fill her time with Monster Hunter from being an idol.

C'mon Mano, don't be mad, you're still my favourite active idol. Here, have a drink!

See, everything's alright now innit?

Day 10: Your favorite Egg (including graduated)?

Now, I don't know a lot of Eggs. Kanna, Lin Lin, JunJun I think of as members of their respective groups.
Arai Manami was the first to come to mind, the lone meganekko of H!P. She's now in UKFZ, skinnier and sans megane. Do not really want.

Who else? Kikka, Mano, Kitahara Sayaka I know more as soloists (or Milky Way).
Sekine Azusa acted in a play with Berryz, Berrys vs Berrys.
Mori Saki's a big Momoko wota.
Miyamoto Karin's the token loli.
There's S/mileage - as well as the new girls, Meimi, Akari, and someone else?
Okai Asuna was just Chisato's sister.
Saho Akari was in Shugo Chara Egg, which is basically S/mileage minus.
Checking Generasia for any names I missed, it's Sengoku Minami who starred in the Berryz play. As a robot who joined Berryz, and sarted cloning them.

But yeah, that's a quick list of who I remember.
Excepting this one - Noto Arisa.

Nocchi (or Ari, as she calls herself) first came into my attention when she appeared alongside Momoko and Ishikawa Rika in DougaDouga7, which was supposed to be this Japanese otaku digest. Last I checked, it had degenerated into a series featuring Nocchi. Tbh, the series didn't seem to be that successful anyway, and the other two probably drifted away, being able to procure more money working other things.

But I digress. Nocchi seemed at least a true otaku rather than acting as one. There was an interview with some people involved in producing Gundam anime, and she seemed pretty knowledgeable. She's also produced her own doujinshi, though non-hentai I believe.

She's basically ended up as an Akiba, anime-type idol, selling mini albums with her own written lyrics. I've heard them, and they're alright for the most part.

Day 9: The voice you dislike?

Unlike idol you dislike, this didn't take that much time. The voice I dislike from H!P is Kumai Yurina.

Tbh, her voice isn't horrible. But I've always had the feeling that she doesn't care to put it the test, unlike the other screechers in H!P.

This partly stems from me listening to mic hacks at one point. The usual suspects - Sayu, Risako - at least make the effort to sing their hearts out. While Yurina... just seems to give up halfway through her lines.

I'd accept it if she was a member of MomoClo, what with their acrobatics and stunts and whatnot. This is Berryz Kobo, the H!P group with the lasiest dances, no thanks to the front girl being a lousy dancer.

Yeah, so in a nutshell, Yurina gets this more for lack of effort than her voice being horrible. Her voice needs songs made to accomodate it, or you end up with messes like CLAP. But most of the recent Berryz singles highlight her voice, as well as Yurina herself. Shining Power is 'her' single after all.

For the record, Yurina's always struck me as having a very elegant, pretty appearance. I like how they highlight her closeups in Watashi no Mirai no Danna-sama, after the 'Hey!' shout.

Day 8: Your favorite voice?

"Everything you need to know the voice

Kyun tto suruisshun no koi ga

Kagayaku houseki mitai ni tsuzuku nara"

- Perfume's Voice, one of my favourite PVs. But we're here to talk about H!P, aren't we.

And my favourite voice award goes to:

Suzuki Airi!

No doubts in my mind about this one. She floored me with her performace of 'Aa Koi' from Shocking Live:

She's always been excellent in my book, but that performance knocked my socks off. Her recent performance of 'Memory Seishun no Hikari' is another excellent performance from Airi.

Doesn't help that Airi's solos before that tend to be pretty unmemorable - Tsuugaku Vector is merely decent, Yes All My Family is boring, and I actually had to look up her Buono! lead, You're My Friend. Given that I remember I Need You and can actually spell Shoushitsuten Vanishing Point, it shows you how weak Airi's solos get. Oh, I guess Shock's memorable, if only for being a single.

But I've yet to be disappointed with any of Airi's performances in the past two years.

Momo's pretty high up in the list. I had to bring her up somehow, eh?

But she seems to be given songs that don't necessarily take full advantage of her vocal ability. Her recent performance of 'Momoiro Kataomoi' showcases this. I agree that if anyone can pull it off, it'd be Momo. But to see her talent limited to Momoiro Kataomoi, a fairly easy song vocally. The main strength of the song, which is engaging the audience, she pulled off admirably. But I'd have loved to see her do a ballad.

Day 7: Favorite Couple/Duo?

My pair of choice? The delectable MomoChissa pairing:

It's not a common pairing, given that they're in different groups. It was difficult looking for photos of them together, that's for sure.
Given that their primary interaction would be in the Hello Project concerts, they've still got quite a lot of interactions between them. Chissa's also a massive Buono! fan, so she supports them indirectly.

There was the time when they were looking to form a new unit with the Elder Club after Nacchi and Maimi performed together:

Well, Momo's idea, but Chissa let herself be dragged along.

Momo also popped up in an episode of Okai-chan Neru, which had both of them outdoors. There was a mini live session with both of them singing Buono! songs. And Momo attempting to persuade Chissa to change her favourite Buono! song from Shousitsuten Vanishing Point to I Need You.

In one of the H!P questionnaires, Chissa also mentioned that if she could form a unit, it would include Momo (specifically, Momo, Yuuka, and Takahashi Ai). Momo's own entry had 'recruiting members'.

I guess it seems a bit one-sided since Chissa mentions Momo more than Momo herself reciprocates. Come to think of it, Momo doesn't really talk too much about her interactions with the others - she tends to talk about her family instead. I don't think she's mentioned Mano much wither, although they seem to be good friends - before one of Mano's lives, she and Momo started drawing Pokemon on the whiteboard.

On a tangent, during the Nico Nico Sakura-con interview with Berryz, Momo mentioned that her favourite Pokemon was Pikachu. I would've guessed Jigglypuff, but I guess I was wrong. Either that, or she wasn't sure  that most people wouldn't know Jigglypuff's Japanese name, Purin. Which is where the name of this blog comes from, incidentally.

Day 6: Favorite Unit?

B-U-O-N-O Let's GO!

Oh wait, done that already.
Not much to choose from. There's Aa!, which is basically Buono! minus. Yume to Genjitsu is a favourite of mine, especially since Airi and Miya trolled Momo in a Buono! concert. One of the extras were other outtakes of that scene, my favourite being Momo going along and the other two having to stop her XD.

Quality-wise though, I must bow down to High King.

A unit made up of some of the best dancers in H!P. I'm not the best judge for dancers, but the quality of their songs have been pretty high. Cinderella Complex was my alarm ringtone for a while, while the rest of their discography are solid hits. Even Disney Love.

And they get good costumes as well. Those purple dresses in the Shuffle Date concert - classy, eh?

Would like to shoutout to my favourite non-H!P unit: Watarirouka Hashiritai 7.

Cutest unit ever! Solid song lineup. Well, unique at least.