Kouda Mariko - My Best Friend
*Best 5 tracks = 3, 8, 9, 12, 14

1.  Watashi ga Tenshidattara Iinoni
    -  A nice catchy song, although Mariko-san's voice really doesn't sound like she was at her best when she recorded it.  There are some points when she's obviously off key.  The verses are really nice and fast and sound great - the long notes at the chorus are where Mariko has trouble.

2.  Amenochi Special
    - I really like the harmonica opening!  The actual song is kind of medium-paced and laid back.  It's an Ok song, except Mariko-san's voice sounds higher than usual.  Maybe it's just me?  There are points in this song where I swear I'm hearing Chibi Usa. 0_o;

*3.  Kaze ga Tomaranai - Tv edit -
    - This is a really great song.  Mariko sounds great, and the song itself is very much her style - medium-paced with lots of accoustic intruments.  The verses, where most of the back-up disappears, are great.  And the melody is original and catchy.  The chorus gets a little repetitive, but that barely detracts from the rest of the song at all.

4.  Mimi Kaki wo Shiteru to -
    - I like the way it opens; slow, laid back, almost in a happy-bluesy kind of way. ^_^  Mariko was quieter here, and it sounds nicer.  Her voice is clear with out being annoyingly high.  This is a nice, laid-back track, and certainly one of the better ones.  Again, accoustic with a nice melody.

5.  Yume wa Hitori Miru Mono Ja Nai
    -   It's nice at the beginning, until it hits that weird drum part.  Then I always move on to the next track. -_-;;

6.  Egao de Aishiteru
    - Catchy and easy to sing along to because of the La-la-la parts. ^_^  I like the way the background music almost disappears, and then crescendos, decrescendos... you get the idea.  It adds a lot of flavor to the song, and makes it very interesting.  Which helps, because the melody basically repeats itself in the verses.  The orchestra covers it though, and the choruses are great.

7.  Machibuse
    -  Weird synthetic opening. 0_o;;  Then it sounds like elevator music, and then Mariko-san starts singing and the song kind of saves itself.  The actual melody, after you get through the horrible opening, is nice and certainly different than the other songs listed here.

*8.  Moment
    -  You'll recognize this from Marmalade Boy immediately.  It's such a great song; Mariko sounds better when she's singing as Miki.  The melody is great, and the chorus is *so* catchy.  "Yume ja nai..."

*9.  Saigo no Yakusoku
    - I think that this is my favorite song on the Cd.  Its also from Marmalade Boy, by the way, and it's really the best that I've ever heard Mariko-san sing.  She puts so much emotion into her voice!  The song itself is beautiful, slow, and sad.  The piano sounds lovely...

10.  Love Story
    - Is it just me, or is this song really loud compared to the others?  I had it on my headphones, and it really freaked me out when it came on.  Anyway, It's more generic than most of Mariko's songs; the melody isn't as interesting or unique.  It's catchy enough, but not great.  The chorus is annoying.  Rachel said that the lyrics are nice.  I thought I got something about a movie or something, but my Japanese is horrible...

11.  Kiss
    - I'm not too fond of this song either, it's also kind of generic.  The melody in the super long verses is boring, and I usually move on to the next track in the first couple of seconds.  If you decide to wait for the chorus, though, it's kind of catchy.

*12.  Pure - Live Version -
    - Live versions of songs are in general, a lot of fun.  Mariko's voice is deeper and not as... well.. annoying.  The song is really catchy too, and the audience screams in the background, and it's just fun. ^_^

13.  Bokura no Suteki
    - Another weird opening... Not too bad when she starts singing, but the background music and vocals kind of spoil it for me.  Nice chorus.

*14.  Happy! Happy! Happy!
     - I like this song a lot!  It's really catchy and happy.   Plus, it's back in the accoustic style that I feel suits Mariko-san's voice the best.

15.  Horizon - Radio Edit -
    -  A nice slow song.  Surprisingly, Mariko-san sounds great here.  The choruses, where the background voices join in, are kind of annoying because the voices blend horribly.  But the verses are quite nice.

16.  Twin Memories - Live Version -
    -  Not as fun as Pure was.  The audience still screams and stuff, but this time it messes up the song instead of adding to it because they did it off the beat.  The song is kind of nice, but at times sounds repetitive.