Rika's Best Songs

In case this blog's existence and my previous posts in various places hasn't explained it enough, I love everything involving Rika. Rika is, to me, the perfect idol and I am never EVER ashamed to be a fan of hers. This goes by extension to one aspect of Rika that a lot of people criticize, and that's her singing. Now, I'm not going to pretend that Rika has the perfect vocal skills, because she doesn't. I WOULD go so far as to say that her voice is severely underrated, but  she's not a perfect vocalist. However, she has a unique voice that I find pleasing, and so I'm writing this post as a post of the top songs that I think Rika sounds excellent in. Now, I find her voice nice in most contexts. However, these are the songs that I think fit her unique voice really well. (I'll also post videos for some of them)

As For One Day

In my opinion this is one of Rika's best single songs within H!P. Rika's vocals in the beginning and ending of "ahh ame ga yanda" are almost haunting. Her voice gives it this fleeting, fragile-type of quality that really fits the melancholy tone of the song. While some people kind of complain about her being a lead, I really can't imagine any other member being able to sing Rika's opening/closing lines in a way that fits the song as well as Rika did. Maybe Aibon? But Rika's vocals are REALLY nice here, and really add a great deal to make this song work and be as good of a single as it was.

Dekiru Onna

This is one of the underrated/unappreciated B-Sides that really doesn't get the love it deserves, with other B-sides like Love&Peace getting the love from other members. Dekiru Onna is the B-Side to Ai Araba It's All Right and it's a really unique sounding, unusual song, which Rika does perfectly.

Rika's vocals in this minor (musically) song sound just gorgeous and haunting and she just gives it this lilt to make it amazing. Her first line gives me chills.

Omoide wa Kanata
In case you don't know (which is OK, considering this is a pretty Rika/v-u-den-enthusiast type of track), this is Rika's solo song from the last v-u-den single, where all of v-u-den got a solo as kind of a farewell thing. And, as expected from a song written for Rika, it is really tailor made for her, though not in the way that people might expect. It's probably as far from Rikaishite> Onna no Ko that you can get (in H!P, anyways), and it fits her surprisingly well. While Rika has a higher sounding voice, I actually think she's REALLY great with a rock sound, which is why I think Hangry&Angry has worked so well. Omoide wa Kanata and H&A aren't necessarily typical H!P, but it fits her well




^And goodness, I love this performance. Rika is a PIMP.


Anata ni Aitai
This is being sort of a cheat, but. It's Rika's solo song from the Ribbon no Kishi musical. I'm cheating mainly because I'm not just going from her voice, but her performance as well, which I feel is justified because of the fact it's a musical performance.
Rika's vocals are really surprisingly good, because she has to sing low and try to be a convincing male character (which she does, again, surprisingly well, considering she's the feminine member). However, her performance is really what makes her shine. See those tears in her eyes? The emotion she shows in her voice and in her song? Rika's REALLY amazing at performing with emotion, which is why I think she does so well in Anata ni Aitai and Ribbon no Kishi.


(Song starts at around 1:30)

This post will be continued shortly; I have a few more songs I want to cover :)

Miki Said What Now?

Earlier today I saw a link in the Rika thread on Hello!Online to a TokyoHive page.

Miki Apparently Didn't Like Rika in MM

Now everyone knows of the Charmikitty tension; how Miki never really seemed to like Rika, or so it seemed. However, I thought that despite the two of them having a rivalry that it didn't really come down to a real dislike.

How could Miki POSSIBLY not like this?

Actually, it didn't surprise me all that much. According to TokyoHive, Miki said it like a funny story and that they're friends now. Still, I never got a feeling of dislike from Rika or even Miki; maybe Miki kept it secret? Doesn't seem likely. Or maybe Rika's THAT sweet/friendly of a person (which I don't doubt one bit).

                                   

I just like this picture.

What Miki said she didn't like about Rika was a tiny bit surprising; she said mainly it was because that Rika was fastidious and acted like the group's mother. But I thought that was pretty commonly accepted; Rika was passionate about things, and liked to help out her juniors and do everything in her power to make MoMusu the best it can be. That isn't new information. However, I thought the only people who got annoyed at that were people like Aibon (who made Rika cry when Rika was trying to help) and Konno (who said so on Utaban and scarred my impression of her). I guess Miki got annoyed, too?

I don't know. I think Rika's motherliness that Miki is criticizing is one of Rika's most endearing traits and one of the things that makes me a fan of hers; she's a real sweetheart who cares about everyone, including her juniors, and wants to make the best show she can. There's nothing wrong with that.