10 MY ME [Regular Edition]

This album was a pleasant surprise for me. Upon first listening I wasn't too impressed, but after subsequent plays it began to grow on me. It takes a little while to digest the songs. The singles on the album are all strong songs in their own right, and all feel in place, both in their positions on the track list and within the album itself. Each generation has its own song, split between the members of the generation, which is nice to see, especially since the individual generations get a chance to shine on their own. "Moonlight Night ~Tsukiyo no Ban da yo~" is a good opener. It sets up the energy well. I'm glad the opening song was changed at the last minute (according to Tsunku he originally wanted "Genki Pika Pika!" as the first song) as it's a much better introduction. It also sets up "Kimagure Princess" well, continuing the energy, and "Genki Pika Pika!" adds that last little bump to the speed. While it's my least favourite from the album it does work well here. This leads into "Namidacchi", a very cute and upbeat song that's really enjoyable. "Onna ga Medatte Naze Ikenai" begins the gradual slide towards slowing things down heading for the middle point of the album, followed by the first "generation groups" song, "Ooki Hitomi", a more dance-oriented song by Sayumi, Eri and Reina, the 6th generation. Next up is "Ano Hi ni Modoritai", a lovely ballad by Ai and Risa, the fifth generation. There's a break for "Nanchatte Ren'ai", continuing the slow pace. Another "generation" song, rather suddenly upbeat and rather cute, follows in the form of "Oosaka Umainen" by 8th gen members Aika, Junjun and Linlin. The rest of the songs slow it down again rather abruptly, with "Loving You Forever" and "Shouganai Yume Oibito", finishing up with the slightly edited Chinese version of "Ame no Furanai Hoshi de wa Aisenai Darou?" - designed to give the Chinese girls the spotlight, and to challenge the other members, although it's getting rather overused it works well and sounds very nice. The girls do a pretty good job with their pronunciation. The album is definitely heavy on slower songs and perhaps has a much softer tone than usual. The weakest songs are "Genki Pika Pika!", "Oosaka Umainen" and "Loving You Forever", but I certainly can't say they're bad. They just aren't quite as good as the other songs are. While the album may still divide opinion with regards to its overall quality, there is no doubt that it has some very strong songs on there and is worth at least trying.