Best & Worst of 2011: End of Year Review

Are you all enjoying your last days of 2011? We have reached of another year 2011 has been in my opinion, a better year than 2010. However, there weren’t a lot of things to talk about 2011 that were good or bad, only a few.

Best things of J-Pop:

    • Koda Kumi on marriage and baby – Congrats to the wonderful and gorgeous Koda Kumi on her marriage and pregnancy. I’m not sure about this being a shotgun wedding but I’m glad she’s met someone that can make her happy. I’m hoping Utada is next in the K.U.N.A line.
    • Kago Ai -  Loads of people have mixed feelings about the fact she is pregnant and getting married. Personally, I hope Tsuji is allowed to see Kago and help her out since Kago’s boyfriend (or fiancé) was arrested and she’s tried committing suicide twice. Then what I found out recently is that her family had no money to help her after her H!P scandal.
    • Dream Morning Musume disband -  Personally, they were like the Spice Girls – coming back to a reniuon tour and do the old songs we once loved from them. They can do something better now after they disband, I just can’t wait for Shining Butterfly.

Worst things of J-Pop:

  • Maki Goto on Hiatus - It’s not a bad thing but I’m going to miss her promoting. Her music ever since she left H!P has been better than what she did in the company. I hope she has a nice break and comes back stronger than ever.
  • H!P need to be fierce again - It’s the honest truth, H!P nowadays is so bland and cutesy most of all. Ever since Elder Club left, the rest of H!P (excluding a select few singles by H!P idols in the past 2 years) have been your regular J-Pop music but I wish most of the girls were in subgroups such as Gomattou, GAM, Romans or did a H!P Shuffle again.

Personally, J-Pop was covered with AKB48 in 2011 and I didn’t care. In a recent Oricon video, 30/100 are AKB related. 21/100 are JE related. 14/10 are hallyu related. So, 65 out of 100 were idol related in the top music of the year in 2011.

Best things of K-Pop:

  • WonderBang comeback -  Let’s be honest that they were the most anticipated comebacks this year and they did bring it. It was honestly what Wonderfuls, VIPs and other Kpop fans who love the two who needed from their favourites. I hope Gayo Daejun will have something special planned for these two. ;)
  • K-Pop Invasion (Why I think it’s good) – For reasons being, they have managed to meet fans in other countries especially I have had the opportunity to see some of these artists myself and fans in Europe.
  • Openly Dating - Most of the fans seemed to be upset but to be honest, I think it’s good for them to be open. Apparently 10 years ago, if idols looked at each other, it would be considered suspicious. I just don’t know how JunHara fits together but that goes to show what kind of unusual relationships may be going behind the scenes.

Worst things of K-Pop:

  • Rain, Heechul, Wheesung going to the army - It’s not a bad thing but just sad to see them go now. I’ll be waiting in 2013…
  • More groups - The usual. 30 girl groups debuted this year and my attention was on none of them, I do know some of the new rookie groups that have made their debut this year but very few.
  • K-Pop Invasion (Why I think it’s bad):
  • I guess because the media makes K-Pop seem like it’s a big invasion around the world. K-Pop is a still a growing music genre and personally, I still want K-Pop to be niche and not expanded.

J-Dramas watched:

  • 1 Litre of Tears

K-Dramas watched:

  • Dream High
  • Miss Ripley
  • Paradise Ranch

Games completed this year:

  • Dark Chronicle
  • Fable 2
  • Fable 3

Animes watched:

  • Kimi ni Todoke
  • Okusama wa Joshikouei
  • NANA
  • Bokura Ga Ita
  • Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt
  • Kanajo x Kanajo x Kanajo
  • Persona 4 (currently)
Overall, I think I might do a seperate post on these advancements especially to Europe. They make me happy considering how many artists I’ve seen but there are some disappointing points to this too.

In my own rankings, this was the best for me:

  • J-Pop Solo Artist: Koda Kumi
  • J-Pop Group: S/mileage (even if I didn’t like them at first, I love them now!)
  • Best Album in J-Pop: FIVE/Checkmate
  • K-Pop Group: T-ara (honestly for their song Roly Poly’s popularity)
  • K-Pop Solo Artist: IU
  • Best Album in K-Pop: Wonder World

2011 was definitely better than 2010 but music wise, it’s getting worse. J-Pop was boring to be honest, I only found excitement from Namie Amuro’s album and S/mileage’s songs. K-Pop just had 1389248 groups and even 2PM is getting bad songs and I love them so. I’m hoping 2012 will be much better especially with the anticipation of SM, YG and Cube’s new groups. I am definitely not one of the most fangirls who is only excited for boy groups but I’m hoping they bring something “different” to the usual dance music crap that is currently popular in K-Pop.

NyNyOnline is going to go back to a writing style back in 2009 so I’ll be posting as often as I can with a new and interesting post every week in 2012. I will also be posting more YouTube, Fanfiction, cultural things in Korea, Japan and the UK with my view more into it. I honestly want to get this blog noticed more.

Happy New Year in advance everyone! See you in 2012!

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2 thoughts on “Best & Worst of 2011: End of Year Review

  1. fan of Kumi Koda eh? Since I got into Jpop, while I first liked Namie Amuro, it’s Kumi Koda and her songs that made me hooked on her since 2011, and even backtracking her past songs and most of them are awesome.

  2. Pingback: Best & Worst of 2012: End of Year Review | NyNyOnline

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