Whatever Happened To The H!P Shuffle Units?

One of the things I would love to see Hello! Project bring back is the Summer Shuffles.  It gave everyone something new and surprising to look forward to each year, which could break up any monotony.  And some of my favorite Hello! Project songs come from these units.  It's sad to me that they stopped happening after 2005, which was a pretty good year for the shuffles.  I'm not sure why they decided to make that change at that point.  The sales for the shuffle groups always seemed to be good.  Maybe it was a creative issue.  Nowadays we see the occasional "one shot" unit, like Milky Way, High King, Athena & Robikerottsu, etc.  I like these groups a lot, but it just isn't the same thing.

These are my favorite shuffles of each year, sorted by preference.  You'll notice that often I mention the PV in my critique of the songs.  Personally, I find J-pop to be just as important visually as it is musically, so the video will have a great deal of influence on how much I like the song itself...

6) Odoru 11 (2002) ~  This is my least favorite year, as I don't love any of the songs.  Usually I like the shuffles Kago is in, but I just don't like Happy 7's "Shiawase Beam!" much at all.  The video is kind of cute, but it doesn't make up for the song sounding simple and stupid.  "Shiawase Desu Ka" is certainly a sexy PV, thanks to some great closeups of Gocchin and Michiyo Heike.  But Sexy 8's entry is a cookie cutter R&B song, and I just don't find anything special about it.  "Shiawase Kyouryuu Ondo" wins by default.  It might be one of the quirkiest songs H!P has ever put out.  Tsuji steals the PV with her "famous" dance move from Ayaka's English lessons.  The wigs are cute.  And I giggle every time I think I hear them singing "Vagina"!!!

5) Elegies (2005) ~  The final shuffle year wasn't a bad one by any means.  "Hitoshirezu Mune Wo Kanaderu Yoru no Aki" is a sweet ballad.  Puripuri Pink was the "old guard" unit, and Yuko, Kei, Atsuko and Kaori all look beautiful on the PV.  By contrast, Sexy Otonojan featured two H!P kids.  "Onna, Kanashii, Otona" reminds me of Sergio Mendes' "The Look of Love"  Megumi Murakami looks absolutely gorgeous on the PV!  She and Miyabi look about 23 years old.  Miki mixes well with the H!P Kids, as I also enjoy "Samui kara Fuyu da mon!" from Momusu's 7.5 CD.  But Elegies is my favorite of 2005.  I fell in love with "Inshouha Renoir no You ni" after seeing the Elder Club perform it live.  It's a sexy song, and Tanaka is in it, 'nuff said...

4) Aoiro 7 (2000) ~  The first year of the shuffle units was quite possibly the best.  "Kiiroi Osora de Boom Boom Boom" has the catchiest tune, and has had a pretty long shelf life in the H!P catalog.  It still sounds contemporary when performed live even to this day. "Akai Nikkichou" is very sexy!  I love Delaunay's monolog at the beginning.  Gocchin is again very cute in the PV.  Yuko looks great too.  I especially love the way the song builds momentum into the first chorus.  But ironically, the least successful single of the "contest" is my favorite.  "Aoi Sportscar no Otoko" would've been the perfect theme for Speed Racer.  As I've mentioned before, I love any PV that includes "chicks with guitars", whether they know how to play them or not.  And was that a Makoto cameo?  I personally feel Team Blue came in third saleswise only because they didn't have the star power of the Red and Yellow teams...

3) 11 Water (2003) ~  One of two years I really liked all three songs.  7 Air is similar to Sexy 8 from the previous year.  But "Kowarenai Ai Ga Hoshii No" is a much better song to me.  I enjoyed seeing Sotoda Mai and especially Ohtani Masae getting major singing roles, and Mika managed not to screw up the mood of the PV either.  If you had asked me a few months ago, I would've said Salt 5's "Get Up! Rapper" was my favorite song of that year.  I love Ayaya and Kago's "tough girl" voices, and Nacchi flashing gang signs is totally hot!  Their photos are the cutest of the three groups in the Limited Edition CD/Photobook.  "Be All Right!" is my favorite of the three, and is the most fun too!  It is also great when H!P does it live!  Yaguchi and Miki are the standouts in the PV.  And I love that Konno Asami, Kimura Asami and Kimura Ayaka are all in this unit!

2) H!P All-Stars (2004) ~ C'mon, "All For One & One For All!" is their signature song!  Well...one of them.  They seem to have a few signature tunes.  This is a great PV to introduce any newbie to the "hugeness" of Hello! Project.  It's extremely uplifting, but at the same time very sentimental.  I don't believe that was the original intention, but I think many people look back nostalgically at members of the past when they watch this PV.  I know I get choked up on the 4th generations' line, especially now when I see Yossie and Charmy singing it by themselves...

1) 3nin Matsuri (2001) ~  This wasn't my favorite year, but it has my favorite song/PV.   10nin's "Dancing! Natsu Matsuri" is similar in theme to Odoru 11 from the following year.  It's a weird song, but it is saved with a pretty cute PV.  7nin's "Summer Reggae! Rainbow" is just the opposite.  I like the song, but the PV is strange.  Maybe my monitor needs a color adjustment, but I swear it looks like some of them are wearing dark blush.  What is up with that?  It changes the PV from a Bob Marley tribute to an Al Jolson tribute!  Or it could be that they look jaundiced from the bright colors they are wearing?  Or I might just be going blind, I don't know.  What I do know is "Chu! Natsu Party" is one of my all-time favorite songs and PV's.  Do I really need to explain why?  I'll give you a hint...(3 3 3 * 3 3 3)  The PV to this song is absolutely incredible.  And on a side note, Berryz Koubou's version of this song from their 3rd CD is very good too!

Summer Shuffles with Berryz, C-ute, Momusu and the occasional Egg would be pretty cool, don't you think?

CK in California