Look guys, I think we can all agree that this year was only slightly better than 2020. After 2 and a half years of deadly plagues, climate change panic, and more political discourse than a Facebook Mum’s Group, I’m exhausted. So, I’m just going to copy-paste last year’s announcement and you’re going to nod along wistfully, okay?

Oh thank goodness, the ongoing agony that has been 2020 2021 is almost over. Just over a month to go now, I can almost feel the collective weight that has been this hell year being lifted from my shoulders as 2021 2022, free from possibly the second-worst and most confusing year most of us have had to face in our lifetimes; at least, until three days into 2021 2022 when we’ll probably all get drafted into a war against a vengeful alien species from another planet perish in the impending heat death of the universe at the same time another much-loved Homicidols figure announces her retirement (just like our dear Maniac -sob-)

Oh yes, as you all guessed just from this title alone, and no doubt from the weekender, this year’s Best Of is incoming. 

After doing this mess for five(!) years now, I’ve tried various ways of arranging nominations, from picking out nominations posted in the long-defunct Homicidols forums (remember when that was a thing that existed?), to an all-reader’s choice (chaotic and hard to organize), to a more writers’-leaning nomination system (you thought it was unfair). For the past couple of years, we’ve been using a system that’s a blend of writers and readers choices. It’s a process that’s way too boring to write about, but for the past year we keep a spreadsheet of anything notable in the idol world and debate amongst ourselves what we personally liked. Then you come in, and either unknowingly agree with us, or we realize that we’re the ones with bad taste  after getting 20 nominations for Ayuni D Sings The Greatest Hits Of Jamiroquai.

Anyway, onto this year’s categories. Many returning favourites you all know and love, and a couple new ones too!

• Letdown of the Year: Coronavirus won the golden dustbin last year, can it disappoint wota a second year in a row? Or has the vaccine given -Insert WACK/ZOC/Other controversy here- a dirty advantage? (Last Year’s Winner: Coronavirus)
• Surprise of the Year: For a year as chaotic as 2021 perhaps it’s actually unsurprising that with it came a lot of shock and awe in idoldom. Some good, some bad. Tell us what rustled your jimmies this year. (Last Year’s Winner: Necromageddon)
• Debut of the Year (Groups): Self-explanatory, but you may find some of these nominees crossing over in a new, later category further down. (Last Year’s Winner: PIGGS)
• Debut of the Year (New Members and Soloists): Also self-explanatory, unlikely to feature on the aforementioned new category. (Last Year’s Winner: Nana, Shiki, Roa – NECRONOMIDOL)
• Saddest Disbandment: That bath of wota tears that shows up each year? Well, thanks to all the shock implosions of 2021, it’s now expanded into a seaside resort. The beach is so overcrowded that I feel I should pre-emptively warn you that your most-missed group might not even make the final list. It’s okay, I think I just saw Bucho running that ice cream stand over there. (Last Year’s Winner: LADYBABY)
• Saddest Graduation: Look who’s surfing the sea of tears! It’s every idol who broke our hearts! (Last Year’s Winner: Mashiro, Yotsu, Akebono – Zenbu Kimi No Sei Da)
• Performance of the Year: As live houses are slowly starting to reopen (while others remain closed for good), there was a slight increase in options for shows this year. We’re still counting livestreams too! (Last Year’s Winner: Metal Galaxy European Tour – BABYMETAL)
• Single of the Year: This includes digital singles! (Last Year’s Winner: DEAD or A LiME – BiS)
• B-Side of the Year: (Last Year’s Winner: suicide borderless – meme tokyo.)
• EP of the Year: The way we determined an EP last year was “at least 4 non-instrumental tracks but fewer than 7 overall ” and I think that was a pretty good call. (Last Year’s Winner: ANTi CONFORMiST SUPERSTAR – BiS)
• Album of the Year: (Last Year’s Winner: ALICE – MIGMA SHELTER)
• Music Video of the Year: (Last Year’s Winner: santa sangre – NECRONOMIDOL)
• Promotional and Cover Art of the Year: Last year’s new entry proved to be a visual feast worthy of Tate Britain. Tell us the prettiest-looking album art and event posters. Or the ugliest, if it’s interesting enough, I guess. (Last Year’s Winner: Persona_ – KAQRIYOTERROR)
• Collaboration of the Year: (Last Year’s Winner: BABYMETAL/Bring Me The Horizon)
• Funniest Moment: (Last Year’s Winner: THE BANANA MONKEY’s livestreamed porn-viewing marathon)
• Friends of Homicidols: Artists who otherwise would not receive normal coverage but are loved by us and our readers regardless; Non-idols, ex-idols, those who work with idols, idols who don’t exactly fit into the Homicidols Cinematic Universe and musicians who you like in general. (Last Year’s Winner: Knuckle Chiwawa)
• Most Expected to Breakthrough in 2021: Let’s be honest, most of the time the eventual winner of this category crashes and burns 6 months into the following year, but hey, we were right last year!! We can do it again! Right? (Last Year’s Winner: ATARASHII GAKKO!!)
• Song of the Year: (Last Year’s Winner: Wish/ – Yukueshirezutsurezure)
• Idol of the Year: Which group or soloist made the biggest impact on your 2021? (Last Year’s Winner: MIGMA SHELTER, Yukueshirezutsurezure)
• [NEW CATEGORY] Overseas Act of the Year: When Homicidols started in 2015, our goal was to spread our love for all things alt-idol worldwide. And maybe we did? Or maybe some non-Japanese artists just have very good taste. Nonetheless, this year we saw many wonderful idols and idol-inspired artists cropping up everywhere from Korea to Thailand and this category is to celebrate their contributions to the globalization of alt-idol.
• [NEW CATEGORY] Best???? Worst???? Name of the Year: Initially started as an in-joke amongst the writers following the gargantuan amount of interestingly-named group debuts, we had an ongoing list of the worst group names. Then someone added a “Best group name” category. Then we couldn’t decide which name belonged on which list. So we merged them. NAMES!

Some additional notes:

• Anything from December 2020 to November 2021 is eligible to be nominated.
• Multiple nominations are allowed!
• Appropriate non-Japanese acts are permitted!
• To avoid confusion, graduations and disbandments that were announced in 2021 but will occur after November will not be permitted (but will be eligible next year!).

Is that a lot to take in? Well, if you want to jog your memory (or simply want some music recommendations), check out our aforementioned spreadsheet of notable idol occurrences. Don’t worry if you wanted to nominate something that’s not listed here, that just means I was a dumbass who forgot or didn’t notice, so I highly encourage you to nominate it anyway. If anything, it’s even more reason to nominate!

To submit your nominations, please fill in the below form between now and December 10th. Alternatively, you can tweet your nominations either to @homicidols, or me, @weeaboo_woman. 

Thank you so much to everyone, and stay tuned for the final nominations and vote!