Petit Best 14

With the increased storage space on a Blu-ray--and the fact that they weren't even offering this collection on DVD--one would hope that they'd include a lot of extra goodies on this. But they didn't. There are only 16 tracks, plus two bonus tracks. (Petit Best 8 had 19 tracks on the DVD!) Given all the good dancing in the Morning Musume, Berryz and C-ute PVs, especially MM's "Wagamama Ki no Mama Ai no Joke," I would like to have seen the Dance Shot versions of those videos. These PVs are okay, but not spectacular, and the inclusion of the Dance Shots would have gone a long way toward increasing the value of this Blu-ray. Granted, these PVs are a lot more tolerable than the Satoyama/Satoumi movement videos in this collection. I'm sorry, but I'm tired of seeing the girls out in the woods or on the beach for some vague back-to-nature message. Bring them back to the studio for some decent songs. I'll confess to liking the Mellowquad video because of the talent involved (Maimi, Miyabi, Chinami and Chisato) and because it has a festival theme like some of the great shuffle unit videos of old ("Dancing Natsumatsuri," anyone?). And I like the song that Peaberry (Riho and Ayaka) sing, although the video is dull. Of the other videos, I'll give points to S/mileage's video for "Yattaruchan" because the girls have nice costumes and they seem to be having fun. Overall, the best song and video in this collection is Erina Mano's "Next My Self." They put some effort into the video, adding a troupe of dancers and a crowd of Wotas as unpaid extras. And it happens to be a very nice song, very capably delivered by Ms. Mano. Too bad it's her last for Hello! Project. But, aside from the exceptions cited above, it's a pretty lackluster bunch of songs and videos from Hello! Project. Petit Best 13 was much better. Remember "Chou Happy Song" and "Cat's Eye"? I do. I wish the geniuses running H!P did.