Ongaku Gatas 2010 Spring live Concert Review Part 4

If anyone actually likes this review, sorry for taking forever. ... I love you (to my readers :))

Seishun no Custard
First off, I have to say that this song is already kind of old to me, going into this review. It might not seem like it now, but back a while ago I used to be a pretty devoted fangirl to Yoshizawa Hitomi; I loved everything she did, and that included their songs. I listened to Seishun no Custard WAY too many times, and now when I listen to it it sounds like one of the oldest songs to me. I don't know why I listened to this more than other Yossy solos, Sono Deai no Tame ni and Yoshite, Yoshite, but I just did. So, let me just get that out of the way. It's a great song, don't get me wrong, I just have heard it way too many times.

When I first saw the setlist I was slightly confused. Korenaga Miki was going to be singing instead of Satoda Mai? When Satoda's the one who recorded the song and is honestly a better singer than Koretty? However, I'm actually pretty happy about this. I've said this once and I'll say it again, but I love each and every member of Ongaku Gatas, and so this is obviously part of their effort to make the Egg members actually do more. Korenaga only got one non-group song on the Ongaku Gatas album and that was the Egg song, Koi Uranai Doori ni wa Naranai wa, whereas every member except Mutou Mika and Korenaga Miki got one more small group song (and KonKon and Rika got two). So having these small groups right away that really bring out the Egg members I think is a great ida, and I'm very happy about it.

You're still amazing, Koretty~

That being said, I really do think that Seishun no Custard is a good song; actually, listening to it again, I like it a lot more than I did the first time I watched this concert. Like I said earlier, Satoda is really a better singer than Korenaga. However, Koretty obviously was doing her best, even if her performance was slightly stiff. Yossy's performance was looser, but that's come from her 10 years of experience in the music business. Both of the girls looked like they were having a lot of fun, but Yossy looked like she was enjoying it a bit more. I can't remember right now if Korenaga has had a song in this small of a group in either the 1st Goodsal or Come Together tours, but she's generally the least noticed of the egg members, so there was probably a bit of nervousness involved.

It's times like these that I remember how much I loved Yossy..

I really did like this performance. I mean, Koretty wasn't as enjoyable to watch as Yossy who was really fantastic in this performance. However, seeing the two of them together, one of them a seasoned performer and one of them someone who barely sings in her performances just made me really happy.

Aisaretai Aisaretai


Confession time; before I listened to this concert I had not heard this song. I do like every thing Gatas puts out... but the song Come Together is kind of Gatas's weak link. I love it (even though I love the PV more for a very very specific reason), but it's no where near as much of a good song as Gatas's first two singles, Narihajimeta Koi no Bell and Yattarouze; it sounds more like a generic pop song than the disco sound of its first two songs, the sound I love (that kind of inspired the name of Happy Disco).

However. Man oh man, was I missing out on Aisaretai Aisaretai! This is an upbeat, fun song that after I first heard it I had to keep listening to it over and over; I just loved it that much. This is exactly what I love about Ongaku Gatas as a group; they do great pop-disco tracks. And this performance didn't disappoint at all; the dancing was some of the best of the concert, great singing all around, and all the girls looked like htey were having fun again.

Nocchi looking cool~

Like I said, the dancing's pretty cool; it's not choreographed as much as other H!P concerts can be, but it feels looser and really fun. One part of the choreography I personally like is when all the members surround Yossy for her big solo and it just looks TOO cool.

As we see later, Yossy IS the pimp of Ongaku Gatas

They changed costumes in between! I didn't comment on those yet. These are actually some of my favorite H!P concert costumes; they're cool looking with the black and white, the black jackets/faux corsets, the ties.. It's cool and special enough to be a costume, yet it doesn't look ridiculous, goofy or just plain strange (I'm looking at you, 1st Goodsal costumes near the beginning). All the girls look great in them and these are really what idol concert costumes SHOULD be.

Seriously, these costumes are fantastic. I want Rika's hat.

Other than that I really don't know what else I can say about almost every performance in this concert. All the girls are really into it all, singing great, performing well. The choreography, costumes and great performances really make this one stand out, though.

Ongaku Gatas 2010 Spring live Concert Review Part 3

First off, I just saw that I got a post on International Wota, a really big idol blogroll that I often go to when bored and go "let's read THIS Person's opinions on.... C-ute" and I go from there. Yeah, I do need a job/life. Well, I was VERY VERY flattered by the kind words about my blog; haha, and yes, I do have my issues with Zoku. Don't flame me, though. I think the only thing I especially don't like is the comparison and their Koisuru Angel Heart performance. Little things.

^How I felt when I saw that post on International Wota. Trufax. This picture was also not made by me, but by Allie of Hyperbole and a Half, a blog I enjoy reading quite a bit. Go visit it HERE. But when I read this post today, I realized that this picture fully encapsulated how I felt.

Seriously, it made me happy to get that post, though. I really enjoy writing this blog for myself, but if I'm going to be perfectly honest I'd prefer that people read it too. So yay!

I need to keep working on this Ongaku Gatas concert review! I enjoy it a lot, but writing these long posts gets... tiring. But I love doing it! This is exactly the right concert to review. When I get down to reviewing an H!P concert I care less about, that's when I'll get testy. But Ongaku Gatas are, to me, the perfect Hello!Project unit.

Kara Genki

When I first saw the setlist to Gatas Ryuu back months ago, this performance CONFUSED me. Kara Genki, for anyone not too familiar with the Ongaku Gatas discography, is an album song, originally by Ishikawa Rika, Yoshizawa Hitomi, Satoda Mai and Konno Asami, yet here it's only performed by Rika and Mai.

However, the more I see this song performed by Mai and Rika, I actually prefer it as a duet. I'm no songwriting expert, that's to be sure. But the four person version of the song seems really cluttered as each section has each member sing one line in a row and it feels slightly awkward, especially since there are VERY few parts sung as a group. However, when you have this duet version, the piece moves nicely back and forth between the duet, in a way that works really nice with the two of them. And because of that, while I never really listened to this song as much as my other favorites on the album, this is one of my favorite performances so far. If a performance can make me like a song better, and if I like the performance better than the actual song, I think that makes it a very successful performance.

Satoda Mai putting soul into Kara Genki

For individual performances, both girls were at their top game. Satoda Mai seemed to be really enjoying it, singing the song beautifully and just had a whole lot of fun doing it. There's a little bit of bias here, but I did prefer Rika singing it because of the way she tends to perform things; she performs with so much emotion, digging deep and getting into the song and feeling the lyrics. This is one of the things that initially made me pay attention to Rika and she brings it here, making her a joy to watch.

Oh Jeeesuuuuuuuussss... ;)

All in all, while I did personally prefer the treatment that Rika gave the song, both of them did a wonderful job. I don't have all that much to say on the next MC; I don't speak Japanese too well and it's not something I can use to understand Japanese spoken quickly. It's basically Mai and Rika telling stories to each other and the audience. I'm sure both of them were entertaining, I just don't have much to say about them since I don't understand them.

Shall We Love

The next of the three shuffles is the old Gomattou song "Shall We Love" (that is, the only song they did as the soloist collective). While I personally liked Kara Genki better than the original, the same can't be said for this performance. Now, I like all the members of Ongaku Gatas, and that includes the members who performed this, Konno Asami, Noto Arisa and Sengoku Minami. They're not my absolute favorites, but I like them. They're not the best of vocalists, but all of them are pretty OK. However, Goto Maki, Matsuura Aya and Fujimoto Miki are three of the best H!P vocalists, and it's hard not to compare this version with the original.

~Baby Baby Baby Shall We Love~

I'm sure these girls did their best and I can tell they've worked on it. However, when you inevitably compare the original to this, the original has much stronger vocals and fire in it. Noto Arisa and Sengoku Minami were especially good, but Konno seems to be audibly struggling with the difficult part of Goto Maki. Perhaps another trio would have been better? I'd maybe suggest Renai Sentai Shitsu Ranger, because it's not as vocally challenging and the amount of energy would be really good for Ongaku Gatas.

~Nocchi singing Miki's part~

Granted, my expectations weren't that high to begin with. I often insist that Ayaya is the best vocalist of H!P (well, maybe Inaba Atsuko and Ruru as well), but Goto Maki isn't far behind, and Mikitty isn't bad by a loooong shot. So, when three girls who have never been notable vocalists sing a slower/more difficult song by three of the best, I don't know if anyone really expected too much. So therefore, while I don't rewatch this too much, I attribute it mainly to poor song choice, more than anything else.

Ongaku Gatas 2010 Spring live Concert Review Part 2

Took me too long, but here's part two to my review of the Ongaku Gatas concert, Gatas Ryuu!

Also, Joshi Kashimashi was super annoying to type up. I'm doing a karaoke groupdub of the whole concert right now, and I had to type up the entirety of Joshi Kashimashi's different lyrics; pain in the ass.

MC/Osaki Sunzurei

The first MC is really long, but pretty fun to listen to. I don't speak much Japanese, but I do understand a little bit, so I did understand a little bit. This is the MC that happens at pretty much every concert where each member introduces themselves, and cheers about the concert. Most of it was pretty standard, but as I love all of Gatas, it was pretty interesting. The KonKon fans were really in full force, finding every excuse to shout "KON KONNN." The Rika fans, were present, too, and everyone seemed to enjoy her presence, doing the standard "HAPPY" with her. This is also where Rika introduces herself as being sixteen, which people seem to eat up.

Rika is 16??

Osaki is a pretty standard song off the Ongaku Gatas album, that they've performed at every tour they've done. It's a fun, high energy song, that is hard to get old. I don't have that much to say on it other than that they all look like they're having a great time jumping around stage singing and dancing to this.

Jajaga Jaga

Nocchi and Rika, in particular looked like they were having the most fun dancing around to this, though they all looked happy. These two were very high-energy, and are fun to watch. All the extra lines from the ex-members seemed to go to Nocchi and Sengoku, which is a great change of pace. Often it seemed as if Korenaga didn't get enough to do, but she really did seem to be giving it her all, which is very admirable.

Nocchi and Rika rock out together~

All in all, while this is a really fun performance and it's a joy to watch, especially Nocchi and Rika, it's not one of my personal favorite performances in that nothing really stuck out at me and grabbed me as being extraordinary about it, since they've done this song multiple times before.

Still, it's really fun and enjoyable.

Ai no Sono ~Touch My Heart~

When I saw this song on the setlist back when this concert aired, I was immediately really excited. Morning Musume's Otomegumi is one of my favorite H!P groupings, because I love 4th Gen Musume (Rika and Tsuji), Mikitty's one of my favorite H!P girls, Ogawa's my favorite 5th gen member, I have a newfound love for Sayumi, etc. This song fits Ongaku Gatas PERFECTLY; Otomegumi was really the energy/active subgroup of Morning Musume, and Ongaku Gatas is, to me, an energy group as well. So this is a really great song choice.

In case anyone's interested, the lyrics are almost by their original coding, with:

Ishikawa Rika-herself

Yoshizawa Hitomi-Tanaka Reina

Konno Asami- Ogawa Makoto

Satoda Mai- Fujimoto Miki

Sengoku Minami- Tsuji Nozomi

Korenaga Miki- Michishige Sayumi

Noto Arisa - Iida Kaori

So, they cut it in a way that while all the "Main" OG members get most of the lines, the Eggs all get to sing together and each have one line (Korenaga, again, having the least to sing).

~Now Touch My Heart~

This was a great performance! Everyone brought a good deal of energy to the song, and like I said earlier it really fit them as a group. The only casting thing I'd really complain about would be Konno singing as Ogawa; now I know this is probably because of the 5th generation connection thing, but Ogawa sings some high notes and Konno has some real trouble hitting them. These are notes I'm pretty sure others could have made, so it's just kind of confusing.

The dancing in the dance break is really good! I honestly wish this concert had a LITTLE bit more choreography. I appreciate how free and open the whole thing really is, in that each of the members can really interact with each other and the audience; I love watching my favorites whe they can be themselves without having to stick to some kind of choreography. I also appreciate that at this point the members all have careers past being idols and don't necessarily have as much free time to practice as before. However, it just struck me while watching Ai no Sono that they all are really solid dancers, so a little more of that would have been nice.

However, this was a REALLY great performance that I enjoyed a lot. The energy was there, the vocals were there, the singing was there.

Man, I haven't disliked a performance yet! I'm going to stop there, but I can say with confidence that this concert is reaffirming that Ongaku Gatas are my favorite H!P unit, even after they were in H!P.

Ongaku Gatas 2010 Spring live Concert Review Part 1

So recently the DVD for Ongaku Gatas's first live event in quite a while came out, but only yesterday was I able to find a download for it. I've seen some of the performances on YouTube, but now I can see and review the whole thing, piece by piece.

1. Ready Kick Off
First thoughts; in the intro before the song two things stand out to me:
1. Konno Asami fans are REALLY REALLY REALLY loud. Seriously. In the later MC and from what I can tell from the fan reports I've read, KonKon was probably about second in popularity to Rika fans there, but was still really popular. Yossy is the most popular with women by a long shot, followed by Satoda and Rika, but Konno is popular with men. But I swear, there's some LOUD "KON KONNNN" shouts in the beginning XD.
2. They got the giant flags out! I wanted the giant Gatas Brilhantes H.P flags, and was worried they wouldn't show up, because there's no Sakaero Habatake Gatas Brilhantes H.P performance in this concert. They're being waved (waved? right word) by actual non-OG members. idk, this is impressive somehow.

Now, I LOVE this song. Ready! Kick Off, for those who might not be in the know, is the new OG single that was sold at this concert and was made pretty much JUST for this concert. Ever since I heard radio previews for this song, I've loved it. In my opinion, it's one of the most exciting things to come from the UFA groups of artists related to H!P. EVERYONE sounds great, it's a high energy song, and this performance is not disappointing me in the least since I heard the single. All the members of Ongaku Gatas perform this song well and with high energy, and no one stands out as being too terrible. If I were to single anyone out it'd be JUST BARELY Konno, but even then she doesn't ruin it.

Ongaku Gatas at the start of Ready Kick Off

Here you can also see some of the outfits, and I have to say I think they're fantastic. They're not just regular clothes, but at the same time they're not stupid and not ridiculous like a lot of H!P costumes can be. This is, IMO, a perfect balance, and what concert costumes SHOULD be.

This was a GREAT performance, a wonderful way to get people pumped up (I can imagine being there and just being SO pumped up by the excitement and energy of this performance). The choreography's simple at best, but I don't even care; it doesn't even really need it.

2. Joshi Kashimashi Monogatari

When I first saw the setlist for this concert I was SO excited about a new Joshi Kashimashi. New lyrics for all the OG girls, all right!

The thing is, it's SLIGHTLY too few people to make a really impressionable Joshi Kashimashi. I mean, it's not TOO few, but it's half of the people who were originally in the Joshi Kashimashi Monogatari single, so when it ends it's basically "wait... that's it?"

That's not to say it was bad, but that was just something I noticed.

~Wow Wow Wow Seishun~

While I'm not anywhere near fluent or good enough in Japanese to be able to translate all of this, hearing the gist of this was pretty fun. Yossy sings about going to run a marathon (which she did), Rika sings something about being sexy rather than boyish (a jab at Yossy, maybe? ;)), Satoda I SWEAR combines "baka" and "country musume" to be Bakantori Musume (referencing her appearances on Quiz Hexagon, a game show, maybe?), I think Konno sings about studying or reports (I couldn't translate most of it), Noto Arisa OF COURSE goes into manga and anime (one of her favorite things), Korenaga Miki... I couldn't get most of hers but it's something about a futsal rehearsal, and Sengoku Minami I THINK sings something about becoming the number one member in Gatas.

I just really like this shot for some reason

All in all, I really liked it, for a variety of reasons. First, it's a really fun song, and it's a good look into the personalities of all the members. Second, this song is really the start of the H!P Eggs (or ex-H!P Eggs, as is the case with all of them except Sengoku) to start being there for a purpose that isn't JUST background dancers for the more popular, more experienced members. When I express my love for Ongaku Gatas, most people I talk to think it's mainly because I'm a huge fan of Ishikawa Rika. This is certainly part of it, but I really do love Ongaku Gatas as a group, including the eggs. SO, this concert really seemed to feature them more than I've seen in the past, which is really positive for me.

More to come soon~

Correction/addendum

In the Ongaku Gatas concert, they perform Come Together after Narihajimeta Koi no Bell. Just a heads up.

I was confused, because I thought they WOULD perform all their singles. So. Yay?

Ongaku Gatas' Concert Tour/Single!

So, being a huge fan of Ishikawa Rika and Yoshizawa Hitomi, I was absolutely THRILLED when I found out that there was a new concert tour for the amazing group, Ongaku Gatas. This group hasn't gotten too much recognition since its start, but it has an amazing lineup. Three MM OG (even though KonKon's not on my top list of idols, she's still fun), the great Satoda Mai, and some of the best H!P Eggs (even though they're not all in H!P anymore), especially Nocchi and Sengoku Minami.

And then I found out about their latest single, "READY! KICK OFF!". Oh. My. Goodness. I love this song. It's upbeat, fun, and what I love about Gatas. It's like Come Together never happened (though I do like that song) and we're back to Yattarouze and 1st Goodsal.

Then I found this:
(stolen from ggliff from Musume-Central, who is awesome)

01. READY! KICK OFF!!
02. Joshi Kashimashi Monogatari (new/original lyrics)
03. MC 1
04. Osaki Ni Sunzurei
05. Ai no Sono ~Touch My Heart~
06. Kara Genki (Ishikawa, Satoda)
07. MC 2 Ishikawa, Satoda
08. SHALL WE LOVE? (Konno, Noto, Sengoku)
09. Seishun no Custard (Yoshizawa, Koranaga)
10. Aisaretai Aisaretai
11. Dakishimete Namida
12. MC 3
13. Kiss Shiyou (Ishikawa, Konno)
14. Chikyu To Tsuki Kare To Watashi (Ishikawa, Konno, Sengoku)
15. MC 4 Yoshizawa, Satoda, Korenaga, Noto
16. Saa Kobito ni Narou (Yoshizawa, Satoda, Korenaga, Noto)
17. Special Generation
18. Resonant Blue ("Help me" by Rika)
19. MC 5 Yoshizawa, Ishikawa, Sengoku
20. Kokoro no Tanima (Konno, Noto)
21. Koi Uranai Doori ni wa Naranai wa (Korenaga, Noto, Sengoku)
22. Koisuru Angel Heart (Ishikawa, Yoshizawa, Satoda)
23. Sexy Boy (Yoshizawa, Satoda, Ishikawa, Noto, Sengoku)
24. Yattarouze!
25. Narihajimeta Koi no Bell

ENCORE
26. MC
27. DREAMIN' ~GATAS BRILHANTES H.P. NO OUENKA~

Oh. My. Gah.

Best. Setlist. Ever.

First of all, yay Ready Kick Off. Next. ONGAKU GATAS JOSHI KASHIMASHI. YEEESSS. There are some cool small groups, Resonant Blue (with Charmy "HELP ME" oh man), Koisuru Angel Heart (yessss).

I can't wait to see this!