HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, SELF!
That’s right. It’s now been ELEVEN years, here at Itsumo Genki, the least prolific O.G of the blogging world ever.
In honour of my own work, I took some time to read through ALL of my eleven years old posts (well, more like ten, but today, technically it’s been ELEVEN years). It was sometimes hilarious, some times traumatizing, and definitely more embarrassing than I could have ever anticipated.
BUT!
It was also a lot of fun. I hope those of you who have stumbled in here for the first time, or the millionth time, enjoy at least a few of these.
For the sake of the anniversaries I’ve neglected over the years, here are some recommendations from my eleven years of blogging about H!P.
(This is gonna be long and more about the blog than H!P – you’ve been warned.)
Series (that actually happened)
When Tsunku Gets it Right
I was thinking about what a great idea it was to have a ‘riida’ in Momusu. This was the first time I really tried to delve into the members. I don’t know how successful I was with my (at the time) limited knowledge, but it was fun to read again. Ugh…so young.
Momusu Dancing
This is exactly what it sounds like. Gifs weren’t a thing for me back then, so it’s a lot of screencaps and some commentary. A nice look into their choreography before formation was the norm.
The Only You pv Posts
For some reason, even though this song and pv weren’t the greatest, nor my favourites, I ended up with three separate posts. First is about Riho’s blossoming Ace-dom. Then a straight pv review. Then the pic spam of fail, because capping this revealed so much fail it stopped being funny (until it was again).
Alo-Hello Week!!!
I managed to post about Alo-Hellos for a whole week!!
Intro and Day 1: Berryz Go Shoppin’
Final Day: Yossy Tortures Kouhai (and doesn’t even know it)
Isilie in New York
I got to see Morning Musume 14 in New York. I got to shake their hands!! *dies* It was exhausting and insane and very much worth it.
Platinum Gen Series
I was thinking about who the new ace would be after Riho. I was going to do a post about
the past ‘aces’ of Momusu, but I found it harder to pin down after Goto Maki graduated. Then somehow it got me thinking about how Platinum Generation changed the dynamics of the group so much. They overcame the slump and changed everything. I loved this era and lived through it. It annoyed me to see how people had complained so much during and then missed it so much after. We were spoiled; accept it.
Part Two: The Stagnation Situation
Part Three: Paving the Way for Colourful Era
The Strange Cases
I think this series might be an ongoing one. I was trying to write something about Eri-pon and how she’s just not like any other idol I’ve encountered. Then after Masaki-kins wrote a strange blog post following Kuudo Haruka’s graduation, I wrote a post analyzing that a little bit. There’s bound to be more interesting cases in the years to come, ne?
Stand-Alones
Platinum 9 Disco Concert: Gaki Made me Do This
I think this is one of my only concert reviews. They are quite an undertaking, but Gaki was so amazing in this one, I felt I had to.
This was a thought piece on Goto Maki’s return to music. I wrote about her a few times after she returned from hiatus. Her leaving H!P was very sudden (if I remember correctly) and then she went off for a bit to America. Her return was a really interesting mix of Koda Kumi-esque fashion and random bits of sincerity. I still love her SWEET BLACK album.
THE most controversial post I’ve ever written, or will probably ever write. Got accused repeatedly of “losing my fandom” because I hated that Shin Mini Moni performed a very adult T&C Bomber song. I wasn’t losing my fandom; I just didn’t understand the song choice. Anyway, it was interesting to read responses, whether I agreed or not. We all may have to agree to disagree. (Can we agree that shin mini moni with little-baby-pre-JJ-Miyamoto Karin is damn cutest thing ever!?? She was singing that song SO MUCH!)
I tried to imagine Ai-chan as a solo artist and while she certainly has the chops, I couldn’t picture it at all.
In Which the Title is as Long as the PV Itself
A pv review of Takahashi Ai’s graduation song. Well, one of them. The caps are pretty bad quality, but I just really enjoy this post. *shrugs* And hey, it’s good to revisit the shiny, golden glory of our last single before Robo-Musume took off.
I don’t think this was a competition exactly. If it was, Nakai didn’t much care about the outcome. I just had to write about it because not only were the newest members of Momusu in the same room as one half of our beloved Utaban duo, but because they demolished Fairies by being more interesting, more vocal, and more ridiculous. Honestly, Fairies could sing and dance no problem, but Momusu made the show.
In Which Itsumo is 5 Years Old
Huh. Apparently I did celebrate at least one anniversary here. I even made a cute little graphic. Half a decade ain’t half bad!
As I recall, this is what started my whole Alo Hello week idea. I enjoyed the first Alo Hello to feature our 9th and 10th gen members (except for Winky). Plus the weather was awful and watching the girls frolic really cheered me up.
In Which Nostalgia is the Problem 
Momusu’s great legacy has some times been a liability. It’s interesting that the graduation/audition cycle ensures new fans, but can also alienate the old ones. There is also the fact that due to internet, one can theoretically become a fan of ANY era, even if it ended ten years ago! I think nostalgia isn’t always a good thing though. Just because you remember it fondly, doesn’t mean everything new and different is bad. And hey, sometimes it wasn’t as fantastic as you remember.
Why did I call her ‘the Zuk’?? Anyway, this is exactly what the title says. Because we all love and miss Suzuki Kanon and are sick of reading about her pocchari-ness. She rocked.
Also in New York she said she loved me. And I DIED…
Not only was this Zukki and BOSS’s big moment in the spotlight, this was the first time Momusu split into a dance-
group and a singing group. The usual aces were silent and it made for a really cool and different dynamic. I still love this song, even without those two. I got really emotional when I saw Kaedi perform this one for the first time.
When Berryz annouced their ‘hiatus’ it was a shock in one way, but mostly I was relieved. They were just DONE by the end. Much as you loved Berryz Koubou, you can’t deny how done they were. C-ute on the other hand were pretty much at their peak and still looking like they could go on for another ten years. I think their decision to stop was the right one, but it was still sad.
Dancing, Singing, Exciting C-uuuuuuute!
C-ute’s graduation pv spam. I couldn’t do a top ten for them because their songs fall into different categories in my head. So I did this really odd list, with my own bizarre categories. It’s a nice look back into their pv history. It commemorates a group of gorgeous divas who were done, but not in the same way Berryz had been.
And now for something completely different…
Observations I made, compiling these posts:
– Apparently, I hot-linked pics a lot at first; as a result a bunch of my pics aren’t there anymore. No idea why I did it that way.
-Yossy keyboard mashing was a thing (just smashing my hand on the keyboard because words wouldn’t do it); I also used the term
‘nef’ once when pic-spamming her; this is something I invented meaning ‘not even fair’; I never used it again; perhaps it was too incoherent, even for me
-near constant Koharu-crack/sugar jokes
-more weeabo kinda moments, like calling things romanji Japanese adjectives (kakkoii!) when I could have just keyboard mashed or used real English
-Kamei was like my Oda (without the same level of singing talent)! It was more for her dancing, but it was the same slow realization that she’s kinda perfect.
– I was VERY resistant to liking Berryz and C-ute! Oh and I’d forgotten about the Momoko is a cannibal jokes
– I committed to the idea that Mano Erina was boring as an idol, but gorgeous as a human, and that she had to have been the love-child of Michishige Sayumi and Goto
Maki
– the most popular search term for like five years that brought people to the site was ‘jailbait’; the entry was saying it was wrong!! You people are sick!
– I had this theory that the reason idols don’t really talk much about the bad things is so they can have a semblance of privacy; I still think that’s part of it but nowadays I know that it’s fundamentally about the fans being comfortable – they don’t want the girls to think about anything more serious than cake because it would ruin the ‘perfect, simple,
pretty girl’ fantasy; you’re agreeing to be fooled, ne?
– 2009 is where the Winky bashing really took off; They kept pairing her with AiGaki and it was just sad.
– I was way more self-conscious about descriptions not being as good as I wanted them to be. I also kept expecting “flames”, but it really never happened.
– Swore randomly a lot more
– I always wanted Platinum Musume to dance more aggressively, but I had to wait until Robo-Musume for that.
– I always like the parts of a song everyone complains about (eg. Mitsui’s solo line in Kanashimi Twilight, or Takahashi’s “wailing” at the end of Fantasy ga Hajimaru)
-Running Jokes/Comments: Winky’s side-fro; Takahashi’s face-touching; Miserable-self-satified-diamond-sucking Risako; Miyabi-Oat-Bag (a meaner way to say ‘horse-face’ – like at the end of the concert she gets a bag of oats?…I’ll see myself out); Momo Cannibal; Koharu-Nut-job; Masaki-kins adorable scrunched-up-nose smile; Chisato is judging you and you love it
– I originally loved the ‘chocolate’ Harunan and I said that I thought bright yellow wouldn’t work on her- LOL
-I didn’t start using the term ‘derp’ until 11th gen, but it started with Masaki-kins, not Mega-Derp Iikubo Haruna
– I said this is 2013: “Unless Takarazuka is involved, NO ONE is to ever touch Mr Moonlight again…maybe Eri-pon and BOSS in a few years…”; CALLED IT!
-In 2014, when I shook Michshige Sayumi’s hand, my exact words were: “Iro iro arigatou NE” (Thanks for many things eh!?). I sounded like a desperate moron. I am humiliated about it to this day. Not only was it incoherent, but NE?? Like, could I BE more casual and rude!? Like not a word about how she’s cute, or congratulations on graduating. UGH! I was just so overwhelmed. Honestly, her cuteness is dangerous.
– When they first joined, I kept calling Makino Maria Nonaka Miki; I have no idea why I kept mixing them up; then a bit later I thought Nonaka was Haga – the poor 12th gen!
-I was thinking that I didn’t really remember 2015 until I went through the posts again: Kabe-don became Kuudo’s thing in 2015 and firmly established that Ikemen-ish character she started getting itchy about later on; Zukki got skinny for a brief period and then got her solo moment in ‘Oh my Wish’; DUH TSUNKU STOPPED PRODUCING/COULD NO LONGER SING AND RIHO GRADUATED – Geez Isilie!
– Nonaka Miki became ‘Derp-chan’ in 2016; shortly after, I dubbed Iikubo ‘Mega-Derp’
-I refuse(d) to write ‘Kenkyuusei’ every damn time; I know it isn’t H!P Eggs anymore, but I liked that name much better
– Nowadays, I don’t think I’m quite as funny
…Ok.
Thank you for indulging me.
There will be a bit more celebrating my ELEVENTH YEAR anniversary…and then I’ll resume talking about H!P.
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!
~Isilie
Itsumo Genki 
Wow, all the milestones. I myself have realized that M3 2.0 will turn 10 this year. (Sure, activity picked up in 2014, but the blog and its first two posts DID exist in 2009.)
Either way, congrats to Itsumo Genki and here’s to the future!