Petit (Pucchi) Best 3 DVD

The Petit Best 3 DVD is one of the better Petit Best collections. For one thing, it's got four of my favorite H!P videos. For another, five out of the 14 videos feature Rika Ishikawa. Other favorite performers featured in multiple videos include Maki, Ai-chan, Risa, Aibon, Nono and Ayumi Shibata, all of whom are in four each. What's not to love? It starts out with the three "Shiawase"-themed Shuffle Unit videos from 2002. One of those is "Shiawase Desu ka?," the darkly romantic song that was later sung by Maki as a solo and remains one of my favorite H!P songs. Here it's sung by Sexy 8, which consists of Maki, Rika, Mari, Yossi, Ayaka Kimura, Masae Ohtani, and Mai Satoda. Another is "Shiawase Kyouryuu Ondo," by Odoru 11, the one where some of H!P's most attractive performers (including Nacchi, Aya, Miki, Kaori, Ayumi, and Rinne Toda) put on blond or amber wigs and mini-dresses and boots and dance around "ondo"-style on a stage set built to resemble a traditional Japanese fairground. The 2 other favorites: "Do It! Now," one of Morning Musume's all-time best videos, from when Maki was still in the group, and "Be Happy," by Tanpopo, a sub-group which, by this point, consisted of Rika, Risa, Asami Konno and Ayumi. "Be Happy" is a sprightly, fun song and it has great dancing by the four, plus the loveliest red spring costumes. There are solo videos by Yuko, Maki, Aya, Miki, and Michiyo Heike. They're all well-done, with a lot more production value and costume changes than we'd get in later solo videos. Check out Miki's metallic silver mini-dress ("Romantic Ukare Mode"). Maki is backed by Melon Kinenbi in the dance parts of her video ("Yaruki! It's Easy"). Group acts seen in videos include Minimoni (with Ai Takahashi and four of the H!P Kids), Country Musume (with Rika), and Melon Kinenbi. The Minimoni one includes animated versions of the girls, while the Country Musume one features great dance costumes for Rika, Asami Kimura and Mai Satoda. The MK song is basically a solo by Ayumi, with backup by her three groupmates--all in great outfits. Finally, there's the Hawaiian Medley with MM and Coconuts Musume, plus Miki and Rika Ishii, all in performance with Boo Takagi, an older guy who strums a ukelele and gets a lot of affection from the girls as they go through a Hawaiian-inflected medley of MM favorites. All in all, a great way to spend an hour.