2017 MARCH BBS MADNESS ROUND 4 - EAST & WEST REGIONS

[JPope]

<div>It's Round 4 of the 2017 MARCH BBS MADNESS, the Final 8! The East & west Region match-ups are again combined to a single post.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Both 1-seeds fell to 4s on the C-ute side in Round 3, with 1 seed "Dance de Bakoon" getting blown out by "I miss you/THE FUTURE". To move on, though, "I miss you" will have to take down "Mugen Climax". In a less surprising upset, "Naze Hito..." won handily over "Kiss me Aishiteru", setting up a very interesting match against 2-seed "Massara Blue Jeans".</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Vote for the single you like best in each match-up. Information about the tournament can be found in the <a class="bbc_url" href="http://mm-bbs.org/index.php?showtopic=7181" title="">main tournament thread</a>, including the full tournament bracket and links to all of the songs. The <a class="bbc_url" href="http://helloproject.wikia.com/wiki/C-ute" title="External link">C-ute page</a> at the Hello! Project Wiki is also useful for comparing cover art and costumes. Remember, you're judging the single as a whole, not just the lead songs. Use whatever criteria you wish to determine your vote. You must vote in each match-up.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Voting closes April 1 at 9:45 AM PDT.</div>

[DonJuan]

Alright, I'm back on my computer so I can finally write down my thoughts about this.
Eh, we're here. All four of them are really good. If I had to rank the songs individually...
 
Mugen Climax > Massara > I miss you > Ai wa Maru > Naze Hito > THE FUTURE > Jinsei wa STEP > Summer Wind > Singing
 
Massara Blue Jeans was my favourite °C-ute song for a very long time so I sure as heck voted for it. It's currently losing rather obviously but I will go down with this ship, no problem. Blasphemy, I know, but Summer Wind was never that much of a thing for me. In fact, I haven't even listened to the full version of it. I do think the arrangement is good but it's just not my style. Naze Hito is cheesy but I like it. Interestingly Jinsei wa Step has become the song of that single that I listen to the most. But none of these songs could beat Massara Blue Jeans for me. 
 
The other one, hard. I miss you is a masterpiece on its own, I'd rank it higher than Summer Wind for sure. THE FUTURE is okay, a bit messy, but of all the messy songs H!P had in the last few years it was still one of the better ones (and there were a lot of messy ones, some of them were really bad.). Ai wa Maru has been my jam for weeks now, same with Mugen Climax, while Singing falls flat completely, but Mugen Climax is just so... good. In the end I voted for the triple a side because while I miss you is the better song Ai wa Maru isn't that far off for me - I like the feel of it. Some rounds ago I said that I like idol-ish songs better than mature songs, and maybe this is one example for it. In the end Ai wa Maru won that battle for its crew. Mugen Climax itself could have done that too but I think that one's in a different league.

[Purin-chama]

I miss you is the sole reason I keep voting for that single Loved the video and song like crazy. Sad to see it not winning...

[Farrah]

I love I miss you AND The Future whereas I'm kind of ambivalent to Singing and Ai wa Maru BUT my love for Mugen Climax is SO STRONG that I had to pick it anyway LOL.  it's seriously C-ute's magnum opus for me.

[JPope]

"I miss you" was probably gonna have a rough go against any of the other three remaining C-ute singles. It's really damn good, but Mugan and Naze Hito are C-ute at their peak, and Blue Jeans has an almost cult-classic feel to it by now. 

[aine]

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="JPope" data-cid="206747" data-time="1490938154">"I miss you" was probably gonna have a rough go against any of the other three remaining C-ute singles. It's really damn good, but Mugan and Naze Hito are C-ute at their peak, and Blue Jeans has an almost cult-classic feel to it by now.</blockquote>
I felt heartbroken voting against "I miss you", but you just can't with with the Mugen. I wonder if in a few years in retrospect we'll revise putting Mugen so high on the pedestal - or rather not putting a few other singles much higher relative to it.

Massara v Naze Hito is interesting too, a clash of an early classic earbug that I didn't get bored of in 11 years and a late release, not nearly as catchy, but very mature and with a good though not always obvious effort put into it.