Momoki

Well if you are Japanese and theres a fight for number 1 between Korean and Japanese acts who would you support?? And vice versa.
Its not about foreign stuff being more interesting, its about supporting your nation's pride...

I'm gonna have to disagree with you on this one. I don't think national pride is really that big of a deal in regards to the music industry. If it was, how would Michael Jackson and the Beatles be topping the Japanese charts? People buy music based on their personal taste or whatever catches their eye.

For example, I live in America, but I would buy an Ellie Goulding and Adele album before I would buy an album from an American act, simply because I like their music better.

Thing is that MM just aren't relevant any more. I work in elementary and junior high schools in western Japan, and my kids have no idea who MoMusu are, outside of 2000-2002 era. They all know AKB, Girls Generation, Kara and KisMyFt2(seriously don't ask), but MoMusu are seen as "old" and "dated," and Japanese people often go with what's trendy. I guess it's down to poor branding; AKB is cool, Kpop is cool, MoMusu is old, are they still around, wow... Pepsi vs. Coke thing, they have conceptions about the group before they even listen, and in Japan, if the general consensus is against MoMusu, it's really hard to change that.

I've thought for years that they needed to rebrand with a whole new name, a new image, and a huge grass roots relaunching campaign, but what do I know?

Having said that, I am pleased with the numbers so far. My copy hasn't arrived yet (small city so my CD store sometimes doesn't have new MM releases), but I hope things will pick up. Do they have more events this week that could boost sales?

How come that ANDROID single is no.4? I heard and saw the performance on Music Japan and it was dull and boring as heck

Because fangirls. They're scarier than male wota.

Nice to see them doing well in monthly rankings too I'm not basing anything off this song, though, gonna wait for 51st sales to judge how things are going.

Gaki's lines in Renai Hunter should have gone to Haruka and Zukki. Haruka has a glorious voice, and Suzuki is sorely underused and therefore almost always out of practice. Give the girl some vocal lessons and be done with the monopolies in songs. Genuinely can't stand watching lives because I'm sick of Riho's voice, which sounds terrible lately, and these poor management decisions are going to lead to her having a serious burn out. I genuinely dislike Riho, but I love MM and I don't want to see her out of action because management put just that little bit of extra strain on her. She's a kid ffs, you just can't expect her to handle that stuff with relatively little experience behind her.

I don't want boring from them, but I do want some more polish on the lives. Microphone issues were disappointing, and I can't wait for 51st single, because OH GOD get them out of those costumes yesterday! I feel so pervy like I'm watching them perform in their underwear ><

Thoroughly enjoyed Love Machine, couldn't help but wonder what passers by were thinking "the hell? this song? how old is it again?"

I loved some of the Fantasy songs, but thought that it was a bit rushed and some of the songs weren't great. Bravo/Fantasy ga hajimaru/I'm Lucky Girl and Itoshiku were great, but the rest of the songs didn't do anything for me. I felt they were poorly arranged, and didn't let the girls shine.

Hoping for a Zukki/Haruka duet. I think those two voices would complement each other well. Not sure what I want for Eripon. She's become my new oshimen, so I really want something that will show just how much she can do, but Tsunku rarely writes songs that would suit her. Maybe not a solo song for her, but a song with a decent part to play in it. A nice mix between gens would be nice; as it's been said, it wouldn't be interesting to do 6th, 9th and 10th gen songs.

WARNING: Opinion. Riho is my least favourite Musume and I neither want nor need to hear more from her. She has dominated the past few singles; they don't need to push her more. She deserves some attention; I appreciate her dancing talent and how she's developed her singing skills, but saturation is a problem for me.

Looking forward to hearing what they come up with

I don't think I've posted here at all before now, but I'm thrilled that Eripon will be going Gaki-green! One Gaki-san left, I didn't know who I was going to support - toss up between Kanon and Eripon, but my love for all things Fukuoka and her ridiculous KY antics have secured her a place in my heart, and I'll be glad to keep wearing GakiPon Green.