10. Sekine Azusa
Sekkii! She's not very well known, but she's a Hello!Project Egg (trainee) that basically hasn't done anything but be a background dancer in two Mano Erina PVs (Hajimete no Keiken and the recent Haru no Arashi). However, I've seen her in a few of the H!P Newcomers (Egg) concerts and she's impressed me. She has GREAT vocals (one of the best Eggs; she's really fantastic), great stage presence and she's only 13. In addition, she always looks like she's having the time of her life. Even dancing in the background to an Egg who has become a soloist she looks so happy and excited to be doing that. I can't wait to see more from Sekkii in the future! I see a bright future ahead for her!9. Fujimoto Miki
Oh, Mikitty. The main reason she's on this list isn't because of her singing or her personality (though both are quite excellent); it's how she interacts with others. I always adore seeing anything with both Aya and Mikitty in it, and her straightforward personality is always really fun to watch from her times in Morning Musume. Then there's her solo career which I really like. Part of me, despite loving her in MM, really wishes that her solo career had kept going. Hell, I really think that Genshoku Gal Hade ni Yukube, Maki's song, was really meant for Mikitty. She's fun, sounds great, and is someone I always enjoy seeing on Utaban, Hello!Morning or anything else.
8. Murata Megumi
Murata is one of the most unappreciated members of one of the most unappreciated H!P groups of all time. But I love her. She has a really unconventional sounding voice that's really appealing (I love her solo song 'Lunch') and she definitely contributed to Melon Kinenbi when it was Shibata providing most of the vocals. She has a really funny personality, bringing humor to her work. It's primarily Murata that makes the news of Melon Kinenbi breaking up so much more sad to me. Like I said, they were definitely under appreciated whilst in Hello!Project, and I can only hope she has a great future. 7. Yajima Maimi
I admit, I struggled HARD with where I should place seven and six on my list. If not exactly tied, they're REALLY close; my two favorite H!P Kids. Maimi is a recent favorite, but I really think she adds a lot to C-ute and Hello!Project as a whole. She has a sweet personality that lends well to being the leader of C-ute. She's a great dancer, and I really do love her voice, despite not being as technically proficient as, say, Airi; her tone is just gorgeous. Maimi's fantastic, and while I'm a new fan I really hope to see more and more of her.
I admit, I struggled HARD with where I should place seven and six on my list. If not exactly tied, they're REALLY close; my two favorite H!P Kids. Maimi is a recent favorite, but I really think she adds a lot to C-ute and Hello!Project as a whole. She has a sweet personality that lends well to being the leader of C-ute. She's a great dancer, and I really do love her voice, despite not being as technically proficient as, say, Airi; her tone is just gorgeous. Maimi's fantastic, and while I'm a new fan I really hope to see more and more of her.
6. Tokunaga Chinami
Ohhhh Chinami. I lurve you. She is my favorite H!P Kid of all time, and 'Chinami' was the first Photobook I actually broke down and spent a large portion of my money buying from Japan. But oh so worth it. The one trademark thing that makes me such a fan is her trademark smile; looking at her photobook and watching things like her solo PV of Dschinghis Khan. She has a sweet, genki, happy personality that's funny and dorky and VERY likeable. I adore her smile and her personality. She's not the technical best singer of H!P Kids, but she definitely puts in effort into what she does.
Ohhhh Chinami. I lurve you. She is my favorite H!P Kid of all time, and 'Chinami' was the first Photobook I actually broke down and spent a large portion of my money buying from Japan. But oh so worth it. The one trademark thing that makes me such a fan is her trademark smile; looking at her photobook and watching things like her solo PV of Dschinghis Khan. She has a sweet, genki, happy personality that's funny and dorky and VERY likeable. I adore her smile and her personality. She's not the technical best singer of H!P Kids, but she definitely puts in effort into what she does.5. JunJun
Ahh, 8th gen. I have a deep love for 8th gen, including LinLin who didn't make the list. JunJun is just a character; on the latest Utaban, she seemed to be getting a lot of spotlight and they tend to give spotlight to H!P members with a lot of personality. JunJun is silly, funny and just a joy to watch in any clip. She contributes a lot of humor to Morning Musume and a lot of personality. She seems genuinely fun and I have to imagine that she's put a lot of work into H!P (considering she didn't speak much if any Japanese when she joined), which I really admire. So the mixture of admiring her hardwork, enjoying her humor, and also loving her voice (I REALLY like the sound of it; it's deep and gorgous) make her one of my favorites.4. Mitsui Aika
Aika.. she should be higher on the list, but I love too many idols, haha. Just because she's not in the top 3 doesn't mean that I don't love her. In fact, she's my favorite current H!P member, favorite current member of Morning Musume, and she's well-deserving of this place on the list. Even though I got into H!P after Aika already joined (I know, I'm so new to H!P), one of the things that caught my eye was seeing a few clips from the 8th generation auditions, that they got Mittsi from. Her initial audition wasn't TOO impressive, mind you, but I love that when she comes in and sees MM and realizes that she's gotten in (they hadn't told her previously) she just has this gorgeous smile on her face; she looks ecstatic. Mittsi is one of the most under appreciated Musume, and I don't understand why. She's a sweetheart, she's fun, and while she's no Ayaya, her voice isn't TOO bad. Everyone I've talked to that went to see Morning Musume at Anime Expo last year said that Aika was REALLY nice, and really grateful to all her American fans, even remembering many of them from the different events. Another thing I love is just watching her; on stage she always looks so happy (unless it's a sad song, of course). One quality that I always want in an idol is that the idol always should look like they're having the time of their life on that stage, and I see that with Aika all the time.
Aika.. she should be higher on the list, but I love too many idols, haha. Just because she's not in the top 3 doesn't mean that I don't love her. In fact, she's my favorite current H!P member, favorite current member of Morning Musume, and she's well-deserving of this place on the list. Even though I got into H!P after Aika already joined (I know, I'm so new to H!P), one of the things that caught my eye was seeing a few clips from the 8th generation auditions, that they got Mittsi from. Her initial audition wasn't TOO impressive, mind you, but I love that when she comes in and sees MM and realizes that she's gotten in (they hadn't told her previously) she just has this gorgeous smile on her face; she looks ecstatic. Mittsi is one of the most under appreciated Musume, and I don't understand why. She's a sweetheart, she's fun, and while she's no Ayaya, her voice isn't TOO bad. Everyone I've talked to that went to see Morning Musume at Anime Expo last year said that Aika was REALLY nice, and really grateful to all her American fans, even remembering many of them from the different events. Another thing I love is just watching her; on stage she always looks so happy (unless it's a sad song, of course). One quality that I always want in an idol is that the idol always should look like they're having the time of their life on that stage, and I see that with Aika all the time.
3. Yoshizawa Hitomi
Ah, my first H!P favorite ((haha). My tastes have changed, but I'm still very much a fan of Yoshizawa Hitomi, especially seeing clips of younger Yossy on Utaban. She is VERY much a comedian, always doing really funny things on whiatever she does. My personal favorite is when she imitates Aya Matsuura singing 'Love Namida Iro' on a New Year's Special for Utaban. Yossy, while not my number one favorite, always seems to lighten the mood and makes everything a little bit more fun. Not to mention she has a gorgeous voice. While not always in the spotlight, she does shine in her group, Ongaku Gatas, that I'm a huge fan of. In addition, anything with Yossy and my number one favorite idol is always very fun. She has one hell of a personality that I always enjoy seeing. So, despite tastes changing, I always enjoy seeing a new clip from Yossy or news about her future.
Ah, my first H!P favorite ((haha). My tastes have changed, but I'm still very much a fan of Yoshizawa Hitomi, especially seeing clips of younger Yossy on Utaban. She is VERY much a comedian, always doing really funny things on whiatever she does. My personal favorite is when she imitates Aya Matsuura singing 'Love Namida Iro' on a New Year's Special for Utaban. Yossy, while not my number one favorite, always seems to lighten the mood and makes everything a little bit more fun. Not to mention she has a gorgeous voice. While not always in the spotlight, she does shine in her group, Ongaku Gatas, that I'm a huge fan of. In addition, anything with Yossy and my number one favorite idol is always very fun. She has one hell of a personality that I always enjoy seeing. So, despite tastes changing, I always enjoy seeing a new clip from Yossy or news about her future.
2. Matsuura Aya
Oh, I'm such a fan of Ayaya. She's such a great singer (which is not normally a reason I like idols, but an exception has been made in Aya's case, haha) whose voice always impresses me more and more. I also really love her personality, even though she's known to be slightly egotistical, it's fine with Aya. She's fun, quirky, and just a joy to watch, though I not love her as much as...
Honorable Mentions (from AKB land): Miyazawa Sae, Kojima Haruna, Shinoda Mariko
Oh, I'm such a fan of Ayaya. She's such a great singer (which is not normally a reason I like idols, but an exception has been made in Aya's case, haha) whose voice always impresses me more and more. I also really love her personality, even though she's known to be slightly egotistical, it's fine with Aya. She's fun, quirky, and just a joy to watch, though I not love her as much as...1. Ishikawa Rika
...my number one pick, a no-brainer on this list, is the ever-lovely Ishikawa Rika. Rika is.. it's so hard to describe. She's just an amazing person, always entertaining, always lovely. She definitely lives up to the name "Charmy" (as in Charmy Ishikawa, a character of hers on the show Hello!Morning). She is a hard-worker, as evidenced in a variety of interviews. She acknowledges that she wasn't the best singer ever, but she's worked hard and now sounds great. She has incredible stage presence that I always enjoy watching. More than that, she has a beautiful personality that shines every time I see her. She is hilarious, often poking fun at herself for some great humor. In addition, she's such a sweetheart, lately doing a lot of programs where she visited impoverished places around the world, treating the people there with respect and kindness (even going so far as to helping a certain group in Kenya, I think, gather water), alerting people to other people's hardships. She's such a sweet, cute, wonderful person that I really love, and I'm very proud to have as my number one favorite idol.
...my number one pick, a no-brainer on this list, is the ever-lovely Ishikawa Rika. Rika is.. it's so hard to describe. She's just an amazing person, always entertaining, always lovely. She definitely lives up to the name "Charmy" (as in Charmy Ishikawa, a character of hers on the show Hello!Morning). She is a hard-worker, as evidenced in a variety of interviews. She acknowledges that she wasn't the best singer ever, but she's worked hard and now sounds great. She has incredible stage presence that I always enjoy watching. More than that, she has a beautiful personality that shines every time I see her. She is hilarious, often poking fun at herself for some great humor. In addition, she's such a sweetheart, lately doing a lot of programs where she visited impoverished places around the world, treating the people there with respect and kindness (even going so far as to helping a certain group in Kenya, I think, gather water), alerting people to other people's hardships. She's such a sweet, cute, wonderful person that I really love, and I'm very proud to have as my number one favorite idol.
Honorable mention (from Perfume): A~chan.
Note: the reason that these AKB members and A~chan didn't make my list is merely because I don't know them well enough, and haven't followed AKB48 and Perfume as long as I've been following Hello!Project.
