- Chack

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Best PV: HALCALI - It's Party Time!

- The video really demonstrated HALCALI at their finest; having fun and good time. Frolicking in a supermarket doesn't seem very interesting on paper, but HALCALI just makes it work so well with their enthusiasm and energy. I especially like the one moment towards the end where there's a break for a few seconds and then everything resumes. You have to watch it to appreciate it. Great song and great PV.

Honerable Mention: AAA - Get Chu!

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Best Pop Song: Utada Hikaru - Beautiful World

- This song just came out at the exact right time for me. The instant I heard it I knew it was going to be something special, and I was right. The theme song for the theatrical release of the Rebuild of Evangelion movie, it’s upbeat, yet somehow kind of sad at the same time. It perfectly fits the atmosphere of Evangelion and is a real masterpiece. I listened to it so much that it now sits at the top of my ipod play count with 140 listens. And it did so in only 6 months! Hands down best pop song of the year.

Honorable Mention: AAA - Get Chu!

(there was never a real PV for the song for some reason)

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Best Rock Song: Plastic Tree - Makkana Ito

- I had forgotten about Plastic Tree for the most part after junior year in college. They still put out stuff, but none of it managed catch my attention. That was until they released Makkana Ito. A really great song; heavy and melodic. This one climbed to number 2 on my ipod with 120 listens.

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Best Jpop Album: L'Arc~en~Ciel - Kiss

- L'arc came back in a huge way this year. I had little to no memory of any songs that weren't singles off their past two albums. This album though was chock full of good songs, some of which were even better than the singles. A+ album no doubt; easily their best in a long time, and top of the year.

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Best Emo Rock Song: Last Winter - The Violent Things

- This is almost too difficult. There are so many uber awesome songs that came out this year so I have to kind of narrow the genre down to "fast hard rock song" which means this one comes out on top. The guitars are hard, and the chorus is awesome. Actually, everything in the song is awesome. Hidden In Plain View gets the nod also, and I actually love Bendy almost as much as Hear Me Out. Both super good songs.

Honorable Mention: Hidden In Plain View - Hear Me Out

(there's no real PV for the song, best I could find was some video with lyrics)

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Best Emo Rock Album: Rookie of the Year - The Goodnight Moon

- These guys have a ton of good songs. Every song on the album was good if not great. Especially the last song Having To Let Go. That might be rock song of the year, but it's not a fast song, so I didn't include it (otherwise it would be waaay too hard). ATFEH also had a solid album. Both really great.

Honorable Mention: A Thorn For Every Heart - It's Hard To Move You

(they're not good looking, but they make awesome music)

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Best Spring Song: YUI - CHE.R.RY

- YUI's best song of the year. It's really sweet and always puts a smile on my face when I listen to it. Matches the lovely atmosphere of Spring perfectly. Oh, and she's adorable in the PV :D

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Best Summer Song: AAA - Sunshine

- Fun, energetic, AAA at their best. The summer was fun and hot, and this song fit the season best. Nice PV too, beach dancing lol.

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Best Autumn Song: L'Arc~en~Ciel - My Heart Draws A Dream

- The song that brought me back to L'arc fandom and gave me hope for their next singles. I was not to be disappointed. Anyway, this is probably their best song since...Love Flies lol. It sounds a lot like old L'arc, the guitars and stuff. Great, powerful song and Hyde sings super good.

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Best Winter Song: L'Arc~en~Ciel - Hurry Xmas

- This one was pretty easy. I didn't think much of the song at first, but it grew on me really fast. I have some good memories of singing this song in karaoke lol. Super cheerful wintery song. Sleigh bells and the works.

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Best Coupling Song: HALCALI - Clutch

- People rant about singing HALCALI, but I love it. They are great singers and harmonize very well. Clutch is exactly the kind of song that I like. Sure it's not a super rap song, but it has a crystal clear sound and a great melody. Some people just can't accept songs for what they are. Definitely best coupling song of the year. UVERworld also had an awesome song, which they promptly ripped off themselves later on their album. Shameless guys, shameless.

Honorable Mention: UVERworld - Unknown Orchestra

(couldn't find HALCALI, so here's UVERworld)

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Best Album-Only Song: AAA - Body Talker

- Both great songs that could easily have been singles.

Honorable Mention: L'arc~en~Ciel - ALONE EN LA VIDA

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Best Live Performance: AAA - That's Right

- I went to see AAA at the Budokan for their 5th Attack concert, and this was probably the highlight of it all. The crowd gets super into the song and it's really intense. The dance moves are great and really revs up everybody. Can't find the live version unfortunately where they actually do the real dance :-(

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Best Karaoke Song: L'Arc~en~Ciel - Daybreak's Bell

- My best karaoke song :D I sing this one pretty well I have to say. There are some songs that I think I can sing well, but this is the one that I feel best after singing. Weeeek is a great group song and everybody gets into it, jumping up and down.

Honorable Mention: NEWS - weeeek

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Best Overall Song: AAA - Get Chu!

- This song was so good in so many ways I had to create a special award to give to it. It was not pop song of the year, and didn't have the best PV, but those points are even debatable. What isn't debatable is that it had the best combination of the two hands down. Get Chu! is probably my favorite AAA song and PV. That alone says a lot.

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Biggest Surprise: Abingdon Boys School

- I didn't expect them to be so rocking! They had a bunch of lukewarm singles, but then blew me away with their album. Great stuff all around.

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Biggest Comeback: Utada Hikaru

- Hikki finally completed her comeback with Beautiful World, and it's been well worth the wait. She's now on a steady release schedule, and has another album completed waiting to be released. 2008 is gonna be good :D

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Biggest Bore: Mai Kuraki (3 time champ)

- Umm. Her songs are still crap and even her PVs have hit an all time low (imagine that). The latest craptacular effort was a PV of her dancing in a dark room, interspliced with random stock scenery shots of New York. Not only is she still trying to push her "street cred" look (which no one buys), she doesn't even have the budget to go film a proper video over there. The best they can do is try to trick you with magical editing. God save us all.

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Most Promising: X-Japan

- Who would have thought that x-Japan would be getting back together again after all these years? I.V. is an awesome song, and provides much hope for future releases. Also looking forward to the return of Oblivion Dust.

Honorable Mention: Oblivion Dust

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Most Disappointing: YUI

- Kinda pains me to give this award to her but I can't lie to myself. I really expected more from her this year. CHE.R.RY was great, and came out early in the year. All her stuff after that though was slightly lacking in inspiration. Even her album was not that memorable. I hope she takes a step back from the releases to find a new direction before she takes the step down the road of hackdom (plz noooo).

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Top Male Idol: Takahiro Nishijima (AAA) (3 time champ)

- He's still the coolest guy out there.

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Top Female Idol: Kashiyuka (Perfume)

- Hamster girl! All of the Perfume girls are cute, but I like her the best.

(on the left)