2006. New year, new start, new challenges for the now 7 member group.
The 10th single Jiriri Kiteru was released on March 29, 2006 followed by Waracchaou yo BOYFRIEND on August 2, 2006. The otherwise sleepy year was rounded out by Munasawagi Scarlet which was released on December 6, 2006. From this point on, Berryz Kobo's singles will have over-all sales of not lower than 20,000 (I have yet to find accurate sales figures of Ai no Dangan).
As for Maasa, this was the year she was included in the H!P concert unit Wonderful Hearts. Unlike other H!P groups, Wonderful Hearts is composed of H!P members from H!P Kids onwards as opposed to 'Elder Club' composed of H!P's older members. This includes Morning Musume (which still has members that are technically part of Elder Club), Berryz Kobo, C-ute, H!P Eggs, and eventually Mano Erina.
Also, if my sources are correct, this will be the last "boring" year for Maasa. All subsequent years will have at least one or two events worth noting. 2006 is also the year I started seeing changes to Maasa. From little girl to young woman.
Here are the covers of the Berryz Kobo singles for 2006:
As I mentioned earlier, Maasa grew a lot on this year. But she wasn't the only one. These photos show how much the girls have grown.
If you have read Tokunaga Chinami's letter which she read in their Alo-Hello FC Tour in Hawaii in 2009, you know that she was concerned, after Maiha's graduation, about their respective futures. No, Maiha wasn't even a front girl, but if you are a Berryz Kobo fan, you'd start to wonder why the heck are they not hitting it off like Morning Musume. Turns out that those fears were unfounded as we will see in 2007 when Berryz Kobo will make headlines in a big way. For Maasa and the Berryz, there was no way to go but up....
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