Bolded songs were the ones I liked this year. Everything else is as I say.
Morning Musume '24 - Their theme this year for me was, relisten to find the gems. Nothing jumped out as being amazing. It was all buried and I needed to find the good stuff.
- Nandaka Sentimental na Toki no Uta
- SaiKIYOU - This single grew on me. I REALLY love the instrumental to Nandaka and that in turn sort of got me to like the lyrics too, eventually. The instrumental break is where it really won me over. SaiKIYOU was pretty good too.
- Yuukan na Dance - MEH. MEH. It's very generic. But it's listenable now.
- Occhokochoi na Fantasia Romance - This is such a generic album song. It's been played before, but the singers are different? You get me?
- "Koibito" - Mei ruins this song for me. Why they had her do the Ahh Ahh Ahh parts. Did you need to overdo them? No. It's also a very genric Musume song to boot.
- Muka-saki! - This just screamed concert song when I first heard it. It also gave me shades of early colorful era as well when I heard it.
- Naishou da yo - I love Sakura so you give me anything with her and I'll adore it. Even when she pulls out her baby voice. Akane does well. I haven't seen this live yet. :x It gives off a very lo-fi quality too. It's a very peaceful song.
- Aete Yokatta - I had low hopes for this song going in. Yokoyama isn't the best singer, but she puts a lot of energy into it. Inoue really surprised me. I gave it a pass. Overall it was okay but fell into the generic musume hole I built around this album.
- Shiawase Shisuu Happyosaretai - This song had the funk I expect from Morning Musume so it was my standout song of the whole album. It really builds and builds and just never seems to end. It also falls into a few of the generic Musume traps but overall I liked it.
- Oozora ni Mukatte - This song is the Be Alive for a new generation. It's a good cool down song for concerts and I look forward to it making the rounds.
Final thoughts - Morning Musume had a slow year considering I thought they were going to pull two graduations out but only surprised me with one. The only single they did do wasn't bad and it really grew on me. The album is starting to grow on me. Morning Musume is my fungus group. :D
ANGERME - Theme - Graduations and redefinition of the group post Take.
- Bibitaru Ichigeki - I liked it.
- Uwasa no Narushii - This was Angerme's Kpop song offering. It kinda doesn't really fit them, but it was a good shot.
- THANK YOU, HELLO GOOD BYE - For a graduation song, it gave me AKB48 vibes for some reason. It might have had to do with the MV.
- Hatsukoi, Hanabie - I totally slept on this single. It was okay.
- Yuuyuukankan gonna be alright!! - Of the three songs, this was my favorite. I love the funk.
- Ureshii no ni ne, Nakechau wa - If you said this was ANGERME I wouldn't believe you. It such an IDOL song. I'm not sure how to describe it.
Final thoughts - Starting to come around to the NEW ANGERME.
Juice=Juice - Theme - Suffering Juice, everyone is broken! Especially this group. They need to do a name change.
- Tokyo Blur - I really enjoyed this song. It's a very Juice song. And I enjoy all their vocals.
- Naimono Love - It was an interesting song. I enjoyed it, but it really didn't wow me.
- Oaiko - This felt like it was meant for Morning Musume, but Juice got it. It was an overall interesting song.
- Brilliance of memories - Akari's song. It fits her, but I was never and Akari fan so it sort of flew off from my playlist pretty quick.
Tsubaki Factory - Theme - Tsubaki loss, powerup and then fizzled.
- Power Flower ~Ima Koso Ichigan to Nare~ - The opening was so, interesting? It hits different in a concert setting for sure. And if I view it that way, it's a pass.
- Stay free & Stay tuned - This is a very '00 era H!P song and I love it. I could see a H!P group getting this back in the day and getting a cute MV heavy on the green screen.
- Shichibu-zaki no Tsuzuki - I'm glad they released this to get a little of Yumeno before she left. I am wondering if this was supposed to be in their last single before graduation but due to Yumeno's issues it got scrapped because Yumeno couldn't do the recordings in time so they held on to it. That's just me in H!P fantasy land.
- EZPZ!! - I didn't care for this song very much after a few listens it really just fell off my playlist rotation.
- Summer Challenger - It's a great concert song and that's about it.
- Amayadori no Epilogue - I enjoyed the opening, it was very anime style in its execution.
- Atashi Rhythm - It's a Hoshibe Sho so of course it's got the funk going on. I liked it. It was pretty great.
- Kimi to Boku no Kizuna - I REALLY love Yumeno and I'm so sad she's gone. I loved her voice. This is a good song to relax to. Also it's a Nakajima Takui song and I do love him. 
- Baby Spider - This was so out of left field for Tsubaki. I understand reinventing yourself but, really? Need to lean into the Kpop style? But at the end of the day, it was a guilty pleasure song. So it ranked high for me.
- Seishun Exabyte - It was okay, but Tsubaki doing the whole Kpop thing seems like you're losing the spirit of H!P.
- Kodou OK? - This song on the other hand, this was the Tsubaki I like.
BEYOOOOONDS - Theme - Graduations, loss and I didn't actually think they were ever going to release something for this group.
- Hai to Diamond - I love when they lean into the girls talents. Momohime! I also love funk as you know. so I enjoyed this song. It was worth the wait.
- Go City Go - I call this Reina's love letter. Until she went and stabbed them all in the back and came back into another group.
- Hooke no Housoku - It wasn't as great as Hai to Diamond but I liked it.
- Koisuru Ginga - I'll be honest with you. I handle it very well. But I'm not a really big fan of the musical number songs. But it's Beyooooonds and I let it pass.
- WORKER Sanka - It was kind of forgettable for me.
- Oh! Cantare - This is a concert song and it's a good one at that. Honoka and her piano.
OCHA NORMA - Theme - OCHA's Year of establishment.
- Uchuu Kibou de Daisuki Sengen! - I liked it.
- Lovey Dovey - Also enjoyed it.
- Hello! Umareta Imi ga Kitto Aru (OCHA NORMA Ver.) - What I wouldn't give for a full H!P version of this song. Not just OCHA.
- Mistake (OCHA NORMA Ver.) - I am SO glad they made an Ocha version of this. It actually grew on me and it sounds better now compared to their KSS version.
- cha cha SING (2024 OCHA NORMA Ver.) - I didn't like the new instrumental as much, but they did well with this song. Though nothing beats Berryz.
- Good Luck no Munasawagi - This is their concert song, I can just see all the wota waving their king blades around.
- Nandakanda Everyday! - Another concert song. It wasn't bad. I liked it.
- Easy Easy - Not sure why I thought of Tsubaki when I first heard this song. But it wasn't my favorite. I think it has to do with the fact that I'm not a great fan of Madoka, Ruli, and Nanami singing.
- 1/2 - So this song was very 90s for me. It leaned into the city pop and I liked it for that.
- Peek a Boo - This was such a guilty pleasure song. I loved it so much. It also had all my favorite Ocha members in it. I have no shame.
- Ima Janakya, Kimi Janakya -It was the last song and yeah, I skipped it a few times and replayed Peek a Boo. I'm not
- Chihayaburu - I saw the outfits and I thought, oh I'm gonna like this song. and then I heard it. Talk about a let down. 
- Tomodachi Tentaizu - I enjoyed this song a lot more then the Title song, but not by much. I liked the MV, it helped.
- Super Duper Sugar Power - I heard this, and it reminded me of Peek a Boo and it made me go back to listening to Peek a Boo because I forgot how much I liked that song. And I also thought, hey Seasonings should sing this song. I kind of hope they do at some point. I think it would work.
- Uttoushi! - Why is it that I liked their b-sides more than the a-sides. What sort of backwards H!P world is this?
Other
- Come on Mix! / GOODM!X - I kind of wished this group released more than just one song. But I was just happy to have a sub-group in my new age H!P.
I wont say anything about the graduation songs. Just order them from favorite to least favorite
- Kimi Dake ja nai sa...friends (Himawari Ver.) / Sasaki Rikako
- Watashi ga Obasan ni Nattemo / Niinuma Kisora
- Ai wa Maru de Seidenki / Yamazaki Yuhane
- Watashi no Dekkai Hana - Ishida Ayumi
- Yumemita 15nen ☆KIRAKIRA☆ ver. / Kawamura Ayano
Overall a crap year. BUT they did release digital versions of the concerts on Apple Music and some other Japanese services so I was excited about that.
Overall Tsubaki won because if was Riko and Yumeno's graduation concert and I loved the setlist. Morning Musume was good too. But Juice suffered because half the setlist had songs not available in the US side so only half the concert could be listened too. I hope they continue the trend. It's nice hearing old songs with new lineups.
