My votes are for...
Gaki's grad announcement - I was completely convinced that she was gonna run H!P for the long term due to her promoted fangirl status, but as it turned out her bond with Aichan was too strong. Still, gotta give her respect for passing on a double graduation for the sake of helping the group transition into the current era.
Manoeri's grad announcement - Another one I should've seen coming but didn't...possibly due to my own wishful thinking perhaps? Her presence has always meant something personal for me, as seeing her in person, as quick and unprepared as that was, may have very well been the true start of me becoming a Hello Project fan rather than simply dwelling on their history.
11th generation audition results - H!P management pulling a fast one on us here! Rather than build up tension and intrigue like they've always done with audition finals, they did things in reverse this time by announcing the winner right away before showing us anything substantial!
I still haven't watched any videos of the process yet because of this, but I suppose I'll get to them eventually. Congrats Sakura!
Kaori's second pregnancy - So many former members getting knocked up lately, but this one is definitely the most heartwarming of all. It takes a lot of courage and strength for her to make this happen after what she's been through the first time around. Hell, I'm getting choked up just from typing this!
Momusu's 50th single sales success - Kinda hard to pick a 5th one to vote for, but I decided on this one. I'm actually not that surprised by the sales numbers considering the song's quality and insane amount of promotion, but I just had to pick this for being a very useful middle finger to all those who still to this day insist that Morning Musume and Hello Project are "dead". Suck on that.
Maki's appearance at Budokan was definitely noteworthy, but with the selection of Budokan as a venue and the prior announcement of Ishiguro showing up you just knew something else had to go down. Nono's third pregnancy was a bit of a shock too, but I guess she really is the big family/motherly type. Hello Pro Time's cancellation was definitely a WTF decision, since I thought it was the perfect show for H!P to have for today's era. Aika's graduation was sadly not a surprise. And yes, the 11th gen announcement was memorable just by Riho's reaction alone.
What kind of crazy shenanigans will we see in 2013?