A Beginners Song Guide To Houkago Princess (According to Kelly)

With 15 years of history and almost 70 songs under their belt, it begs the question where someone might start when it comes to HouPri's music...

Getting into an already-established group can seem a little daunting at first, especially when there is already a vast catalogue of songs that older fans know and love. Which song gets performed most at live events? What is their signature song? Is there a track that sends the fans into a frenzy the moment it begins? Most of all, where does one even start when it comes to a group with more than a decades worth of history?

That's where a post like this comes in. Inspired by a mutuals post on social media (as well as lists made in past), I have created for you all a Beginners Song Guide to Houkago Princess, all in a bid to introduce you to some of their most popular and recognisable songs that they have released in their 15 year history.

Listed in no particular order, this post is here to simply introduce you to some of Houkago Princesses music so that you can see just how incredible they are. Whether it is cool or cute, energetic or mesmerising, there is something for everyone to enjoy when it comes to HouPri's incredible discography!

The question is, which song will be crowned your favourite? It's time to fall into Houkago Princesses world of music and find out...

Flying Toward The Flame of First Love: 'Tonde Hi ni Iru Natsu no Koi' Single Review

After turning back the clock to review Houkago Princesses debut single, it only feels right to fly back to the present and see how far they have come...

Summer during our youth is a time filled with joy and precious memories that we cling to even as we grow in age. Time spent on the beach as you run from the waves and write your name in the sand springs to mind, or perhaps a summer fair where the sky is filled with stars as the sticky smell of candyfloss and sizzling burgers fills the air. Recollections of moonlit walks through the village on a warm night and, of course, those fleeting glances shared between you and your first love.

It is this very image that is conjured in Houkago Princesses latest release. An upbeat summer tune, Tonde Hi ni Iru Natsu no Koi marks the first summer release for the current line-up, as well as the single debut for both Takada Momo and Suzuki Rin.

Now it is time to fly into the first release 2026 as we continue to celebrate my beloved HouPri's 15th Anniversary. Whether it's in the past or the present, let's continue to appreciate the music Houkago Princess have given us.

Are you ready to fly into the flame and fall in love with them all over again?

Turning Back The Clock: Houkago Princess ~Oshiete Kudasai~ Single Review (15th Anniversary Rewind Review)

And so the return to blogging begins...

Debuting back in August of 2011, Houkago Princess began as a small-time dress-up idol group who regularly performed at Ikebukuro WHITEBASE before eventually transforming into the seasoned princesses we see today. With a rich history and an ever-growing discography of songs, 2026 marks the groups 15th anniversary since their stage debut all those years ago, as well as the beginning of my love for one of my favourite idol groups of all time.

So, in a bid to celebrate my beloved HouPri for the 15 years they have been a part of the idol world, I will be returning to Okay! Musume Time to dedicate my time and words to all things Houkago Princess for their 15th anniversary. It is here where my love for Houkago Princess began, after all.

With 15 years' worth of history to share, I want to show you all the love I hold for this incredible group. My only hope is that you will join me in this celebration. Whether you are new to their music or have heard it all before, I hope you can all enjoy this series of dedicated posts I share my love and adoration for Houkago Princess and their legacy.

Are you ready to be enchanted? If so, it's time to turn back the clock and go back to the where it all began....

Hello!

It has been over 5 and a half years since I closed this blog. At the time, I truly thought that I would never come back, hence my "final" post. And that was honestly the case for a few years, especially while I was still trying to figure out my path in life and rediscover myself.

Yet in the past year or so I started to think more about Okay! Musume Time. I visited it a lot more, looked back at some old posts and reminisced about how I basically grew up as a fan here. Then I started to think about Houkago Princess and their 15th Anniversary and how it was through this blog I was able to discover them. It was also around this time that I realised I wanted to write here again despite closing the blog, if only to celebrate Houkago Princess in the very space where I first started talking about them.

I do not know if this will be a one-off for Okay! Musume Time, nor do I know if I will continue writing here, but for HouPri's 15th Anniversary, it only feels right to come back to where my love for them began.

Maybe this is the wrong choice; after all, I considered my chapter with this blog closed at the beginning of 2021. However, at this moment in time, re-opening Okay! Musume Time feels like the right thing to do, even if it is for only a little bit. My only hope is that you enjoy the posts that come your way and learn about Houkago Princess, their music and their legacy as I celebrate their 15th Anniversary.

And before I end this post... long time no see!

It's good to be back~

Much Love,
Kelly~ (Also known as Chiima)

The Last Appreciation Post: Thank You

How do I begin a post like this?

Dearest Readers, fellow Idol fans, friends from across the screen and those who have read this blog and visited this page for whatever reason, thank you for everything up until this point in time and for becoming a part of this blogs foundation. Since the first time I posted a review up until today, I want to shower you with the endless gratitude for both the silent and vocal support you have given to a fan that simply wanted to express her enthusiasm for the Idols she loved in a way that fit her best.

This will be my final post on Okay! Musume Time. As of today - January 29th, 2021 - I will no longer be posting on or updating this blog. Thank you for reading and being a part of this blog until the very end.

My decision to close Okay! Musume Time is one that I have been contemplating for a while now, and even before reaching a milestone such as the 10th Anniversary, I began to think about all of the things that I have written and had the ability to do thanks to the creation of this blog, as well as the things I would like to accomplish in the future. What began as a passion project for my fandom eventually became something a little bigger, and whilst there are many things that I would like to continue doing as both a writer and content creator, I have come to an understanding within myself that as of the year 2020, I have done all that I can and more with Okay! Musume Time.

Of course there will be many aspects of Okay! Musume Time that I will miss as time moves forward, but I know that I can continue certain series and themes elsewhere in the future. At this moment in time, I will continue writing for Selective Hearing as well, however I do plan to step down from my role as a staff writer on the website come the end of the year.

With that said, I have no desire to stop writing about Idols or Japanese music any time soon despite the end of the blog, but it would be stupid of me to deny that my focus on music and reviews has shifted greatly over the past ten years since I began Okay! Musume Time. With this in mind, my desire is to work towards becoming a better editor both for myself and other writers, as well as to become a better writer who can be both informative and expressive with her words.

Please know that becoming a blogger is one of my most treasured experiences, and despite the obstacles I placed in front of myself during these past ten years of writing, I can safely say that this has been one of the best decisions that I have made in my life. I am more than thankful that I could reach this point where I can close this blog with a content and positive mindset.

Of course the desire to blog is still there, but I am aware that if I choose to revisit this path in the near future, then I can create a new blog which suits my current personality and love of Idols more. When it comes to Okay! Musume Time however, I simply believe that it is time to move forward and take a break from Idol blogging for now, and to focus on other aspects of my writing, as well as myself.

In November of 2010 I began Okay! Musume Time to talk about idols and share my love of Hello! Project in the only way that I could, and now ten years and 2 months on I have become the blogger I had always aspired to be, and I think that the reason I could make it this far is because of everyone who became a part of Okay! Musume Time, regardless of whether they supported me or not.

So, my Dear Readers, this is for you:

To all who have read my posts, to those that have commented and those who criticised or chastised, aided and encouraged me, thank you from the bottom of my heart. You are all a reason for my desire to continue, and without the words of others I would not have become the writer that I am today. You are now - and always have been - a part of this blogs history. Thank you for being a part of this journey.

Now it is time to start a new chapter of my life and move forward as a writer and content creator. Thank you for reading and being a part of this wonderful Idol fandom my dear friends, and thank you for supporting me as Chiima of Okay! Musume Time for 10 wonderful years. I can only hope that I will see you again soon.

Sincerely yours,

Kelly, the blogger formerly known as Chiima.

Okay! Musume Time:

18.11.2010 ~ 29.01.2021

2020 Music Edit: The Final Digest

In the final digest for the year of 2020 that comes in the form of a very long list of tracks, it's time to listen to the songs that created a world of colour and escape when we needed it the most.

It's time to leave 2020 behind us and look towards the future, but take the songs into the future. Are you ready to endure the beautiful music of yester-year?

After listening to a whopping 600+ songs last year alone, with about 500 of them being in my playlist of songs I enjoyed, it's no wonder I had a hard time figuring out this list. It will also come as no surprise that it took so long because I - the Queen of No Taste and Idiocy - decided it would be a great idea to, oh I don't know, rank 100 songs for the year of 2020.

The last time I did something like this was back in 2016, and there is a damn good reason why I didn't do it again after that; it takes too much time, I get stressed out, and I eventually figure out what a dumb idea it was. Yeah, it's satisfying to know I ranked 100 songs at the end of it all, but during the time of making the list? Er, I'm dead. I am also fairly sure that I don't want to listen to some of these songs for a few weeks now, but that's by the by.

Griping out of the way, I've done it guys. This is the end of the road for my Year End lists, and whilst it was definitely a time consuming struggle, I have to say that I am happy with the end result and that yes, it was worth it. In fact, despite spitting feathers about it and the mental toll that this Master List has put me through, I am sad to see it come to an end and deliver the final product to you, bad writing and all. I am also nervous because, like anything I put all of my worth into, I care about it and feel scared to share it with the world.

But sharing is caring, right?

So, before heading into this list I have my final list of criteria for you to read through, and then we can dive into the list itself and bore you all with my words and placements. Let's take a look, shall we:

⮞ The songs that I remember enjoying the most
⮞ My fondness towards the song, and the emotions it makes me feel
⮞ How incredibly catchy it is, to the point of singing and dancing along like a div
⮞ The happiness factor of course
⮞ That strong desire to never, ever skip it
⮞ The Loop-the-fuck-outta-it factor
⮞ It can be as recent as December 2020
⮞ All releases from 2020 are subject to this list; Singles, Albums and Digital releases, it doesn't matter. Anything can be included, at this point.

As always, the ranking of these songs are not determined by the ranks of the previous lists. A song that appeared elsewhere may not even get a look in the Master List, and songs that probably didn't appear in the other lists can make their way into this one. It's all about my preference at the end of the day, and how attached I am to a certain song.

Also: some songs that had certain placements in the previous lists might lose to or beat out other songs from that list, so... yeah. Consistency who? We don't know her here.

I hope that you enjoy this list my dearest readers, and I hope that you find something new to enjoy as you read through it. Thank you for sticking with me throughout 2020, and thank you for coming to this list to find something new. Now, go forth my friends, and I will see you on the other side.

Let's experience the sound of the 2020 Music Edit together in the this final digest, everyone. What will you find today?

2020 Music Edit: The Top 10 Albums

During a time where falling into the sound of music was one of our greatest escapes, I make a bid to continue yet another stupidly long Year End list in order to throw you into a world of music courtesy of some wonderful albums in all of their glory.

It is time to embrace the albums and truly immerse ourselves in the sound of 2020.

Though I question why I create these lists at times thanks to the stress they cause me, I am happy to finally deliver my third and penultimate list for the music of 2020, yet again filled with nonsense and words that you will likely skip over in favour of finding out how poor my taste is in my #1 choice.

Now, before I get into the nitty-gritty of this list, I do want to point out that this is my first dedicated album year end list, mostly because I had an inability to acknowledge albums in the past. Now, after the ass-kicking of a year we've had, I finally took the time to fully understand and appreciate the merits that an album has, and thanks to finally listening to quite a few of them - maybe around 30? - from beginning to end, I was able to come up with Top 10 Albums of the year, thus allowing its own dedicated list, finally.

Granted, I still think some albums are pointless - I mean, look at Houkago Princess My Princess II, an album that serves no other purpose than to just exist for the sake of sales. Yeah, I bought it just because, but I'm a sucker for anything HouPri at this point, and despite some albums serving the purpose of only making ¥¥¥, a lot of the albums I listened to served the purpose of either introducing me to the singer, group or act in question, as well as entertaining me with new, album-exclusive songs alongside those familiar tunes from previous releases.

In one way or another, these albums have offered all who listen to them a sense of escapism and happiness, and in the year of 2020 that has been sorely needed, and with that all said and done, I am here to talk about the Top 10 album releases of the year gone by that allowed me to enter a new world and escape the reality we are experiencing for a little while.

Before we get into the list however, let's check my annoyingly present criteria that you can easily ignore:

⮞ Albums that I enjoy either in their entirety, or most of

⮞ Replay it til the CD breaks-factor

⮞ The time and emotional investment I throw into that album

⮞ How memorable the release is as a whole

⮞ Nostalgia, mate

⮞ Mini-Albums included. We don't discriminate here, loves.

⮞ It can be as recent as December 2020

⮞ It can be a physical or digital album release.

Criteria~

As per, just because an album ranks high on this list or not at all, does not mean the albums songs will be featured higher up or lower on my final Master List of songs. How I feel about the individual tracks is a whole different kettle of fish, to put it simply. Whether they appear on the final list or not though, it does not matter; in one way or another, these albums and the songs featured within them have brought me some form of joy throughout the year.

Of course I hope that you find a new album or something interested to delve into from this list, or perhaps a rediscovery that you will happily fall into once again. I also implore you to think of your own favourite album from 2020, and hope that you enjoy this list of album releases that I enjoyed from yester-year.

Turn up the volume for the 2020 Music Edit: Albums Edition. Where will the music take you today?