Maji Desu ka Ska PV/Song Review!

I liked writing my Onna to Otoko no Lullaby Game Review so I'm doing the same here.



Song: The song itself is good; REALLY good. I was deeply afraid that they'd be shoving the new girls into the sexy type and be like "Here, 12-year-old Zukkini! Sing about how tough being an adult is and how love sucks." But they didn't! They did an upbeat song that's all happy and cute!
Though, is it just me or is this not THAT much like ska? I'm no expert on ska, but I've listened to some in the past and it didn't sound that much like this. This is like, ska thrown in a blender with idol music to produce an upbeat idol song with a bit of ska style in there. But I'm not gonna complain because it's way  better than a lot of the recent MM stuff. MM, please come back to being good. We like you good.

Costumes: Oh my goodness YES. Like Otoko to Onna, there are two costumes but both are good! There's the colorful ones and then the black and white ones, and both look perfectly cute but not cheap looking! Yay!

And then there's grandpa!Aika, who I'm obligated to adore because I adore Aika.

Dance: It's cute and jumpy! There's no full dance shot out yet so I can't judge, but it looks very very cute so far. I'm amazed at how good 9th gen got at dancing this! The dance, while not the toughest one H!P's ever had, it's still a lot of work. And 9th gen did a really great job at being at the other girls' level.

Art Direction: I really like this! It's a simple PV, but it really shows that a simple PV does NOT have to look cheaply made. The giant Maji Desu ka Suka! hiragana/katakana were actually a fun feature, with the way that the members interacted with them. It was like a character itself. I actually really liked the relatively simple black and white background for the dance shot, because the girls really stood out with their colors.
The one thing about the close ups that annoyed me was that they gave Risa a brown jacket and a yellow background, which clashes like CRAZY to my eyes.

What were they thinking??

Consensus: Maji desu ka Ska! is a fun song with a cute PV. It's not the best H!P's ever done by far, but it's a nice introduction to the 9th generation of Morning Musume as well as a bit of a throwback to the glory days of Morning Musume.

Hello! Project Fankora Concert Review- pt 6

Momoiro Kataomoi


Now we're at the Mano Erina section. Oh ff. She's doing Ayaya.
Don't get me wrong, I don't mind ManoEri. I kind of like her, and she seems like a fine girl. However, why do they do this to us? I get that the whole point of the Fankora concert is that fans get to help pick songs that they want to hear again, but Mano Erina is no Matsuura Aya and whenever they have her perform these songs it's a HUGE reminder.

Now this doesn't make ManoEri bad, persay, that just makes her NOT Ayaya, who was one of the highest selling and most beloved H!P acts of all time. Ayaya was also one of the best singers and performers of H!P history, which is not something that we can say about Mano Erina. The difference is huge, and is seen like crazy in this performance.

ManoEri gets REALLY pitchy here. Like, not a little; it was pretty easy for me to discern how off pitch she was. Her energy level was also not as strong as it could be, even though that's the type of song this is. To me, I can tell she's trying her best, but it's just not there.

Basically, my final verdict is that if you are unfamiliar with the original version or ADORE ManoEri, you'll probably like this; it's a good song and ManoEri's pretty cute. However, as a fan of the original and a fan of Ayaya's, this just sounds like a poorly done knock-off; having a weak voice sing a song by the best voice of H!P's history is not really the best idea ever.

On a separate note, this concert's really making me dislike Momoko a lot. I know she has a ton of fans, but man, the way that she keeps dancing on the sidelines is just annoying as hell to me. There's a difference between dancing/jumping along on the sidelines and doing what Momoko is doing, which is holding a fake microphone and going out of her way to draw attention to herself. Drawing attention to yourself is fine, but this is not the time/place for Momoko to do so, during a ManoEri performance.

Haru no Arashi


This isn't one of my favorite ManoEri songs ever, but I like it better than Onegai Dakara, so that's good.

ManoEri's voice is really not the best this concert, is it? It's all over the place in this performance, even clashing with the background; are those just supporting vocals or are they doing the thing where they play the actual song in the back? All I know is that there's some really iffy clashing of vocals here, and it's not very pretty. Mano Erina's not the worst vocalist H!P has to offer; far from it. However, it's times like these where I have to wonder about her legitimacy as a soloist.

I mean, ManoEri's not as bad a vocalist as H!P's had, and she seems like a sweet girl. But I honestly don't know what Tsunku/UFA found so compelling in her that they decided to make her the one soloist in H!P. Her vocals here are iffy at best and she never seems too energetic. Her performances thus far aren't too compelling. She was fine back when she was in Gatas, but I don't know how strong she is without a group to support her.

To her credit, she does get pretty fierce here and I can tell she's getting into it, which is usually the thing I like most in idols. I don't know; I guess if you're her fan, you'll like it, and if you don't particularly care about ManoEri, like me, you'll probably wonder why she's a soloist, like me.

Hello! Project Fankora Concert Review- pt 5

I've been a bad reviewer. Now where was I.

MC3
Featuring S/Mileage! I hear a surprising amount of shouts for "AYACHO" when she's one of the least popular members of S/Mileage. They introduce their next single, which I affectionately refer to as "Onaji something something Bijin Mama". Or "something something pretty mom."  Yuukarin has an interesting button on:

To tell us that she's apparently a Pink Secret Agent. Saki talks about the concept of the song, which is that their friend's mom is their rival in love. I swear, I get a weird vibe from this song, but it's catchy and cute so I ignore it.

The girls also seem kind of intimidated by Yossy, who's not as funny as she normally is. Especially in that weird/ugly dress. 

The one that I think stood out the most was Saki; she got a big laugh from the audience, and did a lot of talking. Yuuka was super cute, so she's fun. I was a bit disappointed, because I like all of them, but Kanon didn't talk all that much, and my favorite, Wada, didn't speak all that much. But when Ayacho DID say one thing near the end that made the audience AND other H!P members laugh and cheer. Man, this is when I wish my Japanese was better, because Ayaka's pretty hilarious from what I do understand. Otherwise, it wasn't that interesting.

Chu! Natsu Party

Another favorite of mine! Despite my complaints about the covers of songs earlier, this is probably the best cover song so far. S/Mileage performs it with a lot of really nice energy, using mic stands.

In my opinion this is one of the better performances of the concert thus far. All the girls give the song appropriate energy, and while the vocals aren't their best (for some reason, I keep thinking that Yuuka isn't doing as well as she should..?), the performance aspects of the performance more than make up for it. 

Occasionally the energy level dropped a little, but that was during things like when they were singing and I don't think it could have gotten much better. All four of them look excited and happy to be singing this classic H!P song, so all in all I really enjoy this performance. 

Oh, I forgot to mention; this is the Fankora section of the concert now, so it's the rotating songs that the "fans chose." Now I put that in quotations because while IIRC the last song performed by each group/ManoEri was their most requested, we don't know how often the other songs were requested. So while it's really nice that these groups are doing older songs, how were the not-most popular songs chosen? Just curious. (BTW, they never performed my choice, I&YOU&I&YOU&I, a 2nd gen Tanpopo song. S/Mileage DID perform 2nd gen Tanpopo, but it wasn't recorded).
That reminds me again; why WEREN'T there multiple DVD releases? This just doesn't make sense to me. Instead of just releasing one concert, why not release them all, or find a way to make it so people can see everything. H!P's not super popular anymore, but concert tickets aren't cheap and you don't know the setlist until you get in. What if you REALLY want to see a certain performance? I was sure that they'd monetize on the multiple setlist aspect of Fankora. H!P, I don't get you sometimes.

Anyways. Chu! Natsu Party was adorable, good energy, and I REALLY like the dynamic that S/Mileage has going on. They're one of the two H!P groups that has the best group dynamic, IMO. 

aMa no Jaku

OK. So basically, even though Chu! Natsu Party is a better song, this was a better performance. Take the C!NP performance, and add better/more in-time dancing, better vocals and even more energy. 

S/Mileage really seems like they're in their element; they've practiced this song/dance like crazy since their Indies debut, and it really shows. They work together well, and I think this is the point where they totally deserve this group of theirs. 

For being H!P's newest act, I'd say that they brought their A-game. So far, S/Mileage's performances have been some of the most fun and enjoyable, and they really show how they fully deserved being moved up to a major label. None of the members in particular stand out as being particularly good at singing (though, even though I'm a fan, I'll be the first to admit that Ayaka's the worst singer), or particularly good at dancing, but this works. They feel like equals, and you can really tell that they've bonded as a group, which is a bit surprising considering how new they are. 

Consensus: S/Mileage can improve, but they're being really great right now! Keep up the good work, S/Mileage!!

Review: Onna to Otoko no Lullaby Game's PV

A quick break from normally scheduled programming (AKA the three series' that I'm currently working on) to review, that's right, Morning Musume's latest PV, Onna to Otoko no Lullaby Game. Now, most of this review is going to focus on the PV itself and not the song.



The song itself... I actually like it a lot. It's much better than the previous few singles, and I think that since the only singles to be released in 2010 were Onna ga Medatte Naze Ikanai and Seishun Collection, Onna to Otoko no Lullaby Game automatically wins best song by default. Yay? I like the fact that 8th gen actually gets solos. I know it wasn't what everyone wanted (that is, a song dominated by Eri, JunJun and LinLin) but hey, let's be honest. The ONLY H!P girl to get the special treatment for their graduation single song was Yossy in Kanashimi Twilight. I mean, that's not counting B-Sides (since Fukuda Asuka and Yasuda Kei each got a version of Never Forget for a B-side of their single). So I'm not going to get into that. This song isn't the best thing ever, but it's certainly not a drag, and feels a bit refreshing. I haven't gotten bored of it yet, which is nice (and what happened with Seishun and Onna ga Medatte).

Costumes:
How do I even start to deal with how torn I am with this single? I'm VERY torn. On the one hand, you have THESE outfits.

Which are VERY unflattering at pretty much every angle and look cheaply made at many angles. It feels like they went over budget with the other costumes and just scrounged these together from the leftover things they had lying around. Have the costumes been THIS cheap since something like Summer Night Town? I don't know. 

So yeah, those costumes, while not bright, florescent green, are pretty bad. However, you THEN have something like this.

Or this

Or the costume I want more than anything, Reina's:

DO WANT DO WANT DO WANT. I WANT PUFFY AND GIANT BOW'D.

And I immediately get MORE faith  in the costumers. Seriously. This is a GIANT gap in the PV; costumes I adore (probably my favorite H!P costumes of recent years) and what's essentially a giant mess. Did two different people make these? If so, hire the ones who made the recent ones and immediately fire the ones who made the dance shot costumes. They probably made the Seishun Collection messes too.

Oh, and one other thing; these costumes are GORGEOUS and I love them. So. Why are the other costumes in the PV at least 2-3 times more than the pretty ones? UFA, sometimes I just do NOT get you at all.

Dance:

Blerrrrrrrrrg. I'm sorry, but. Where have the good choreographers gone? To Momoiro Clover? To AKB48? That's where they've gone. There are too many WEIRD parts in this dance. UFA, do you realize how many gifs have been made of MM rubbing their breasts? The one part that I very much approve of is the hair flip, especially when it relates to Takahashi. Seriously. Takahashi, keep flipping that ponytail. It makes me interested in you. 

The dance is just... it's just so strange. I'm not a dance person, but I just keep feeling like it has the potential to be better, with a lot of the parts like the spin/hair flips. And then they bring out the weird breast rubbing moves and ones that look like I choreographed them. Why.

Art Direction

I don't claim to be an expert in art direction in any way, shape or form. However, again, this is a mixed bag. I think that a lot of the scenes are pretty boring, such as the dance shot backgrounds (kudos, H!P; there's multiple backgrounds again!) and, to an extent, the close up background. But then again, I find the backgrounds when they're wearing their pretty dresses to be GORGEOUS. Seriously. Beauuutiful. Probably my favorite H!P backgrounds for the last... while. But then they're used sparingly. Why???

Editing:

Oh my goodness. I could edit this mess better. I honestly don't understand who they got to edit this, and why it feels that lazy. The thing is, the PV itself is made up of decent elements. The settings are mostly decent, and then we have the gorgeous shots that I loved. However, the whole thing feels very sloppily edited. First we have the white background dance shot, a couple of pretty backgrounds, and then to the black background dance shot, pretty close-ups for about 15 seconds, going through all the members. Back to the black background dance shot. It's so easy to summarize, especially when it comes to the close-ups with the leather backgrounds and the ugly dresses. Those shots just keep going on. and on. And it just does NOT feel very creatively edited. The impression I get is that they take a few interesting shots that could work very well, but then slapped it together in a day and called it a PV.

Overall

Maybe I'm being over-critical. This IS one of my favorite MM PVs since... goodness, I can't remember the last time I thought a MM PV was actually GOOD. Don't get me wrong, I love MM. They're the reason I'm being so critical; I just want the best for these girls and I don't think they're given enough good songs or PVs, and I've just been very frustrated with H!P/UFA as a whole lately. I do think that Onna to Otoko no Lullaby Game IS a step in the right direction, in terms of song and PV. It looks like some aspects of the PV got some effort, which is pretty good in H!P right now (see: Berryz Koubou's Shining Power). However, I just don't see how anyone could think that MM could catch up to other idol groups going right now. Not just AKB48, either. SKE48, AKB48's sister group, put out a PV recently to their 4th single "1! 2! 3! 4! Yoroshiku!" that I can only describe as being one of my favorite idol PVs in recent years. It's energetic, entertaining and just a joy to watch, which is honestly more than I can say about recent H!P PVs. Same with Momoiro Clover; unless MM/H!P ups its game, I could see MomoClo outselling Morning Musume in about.. a year or so, given more exposure. 

That being said, Onna to Otoko no Lullaby Game IS a step in the right direction, and I can only hope that Morning Musume keeps moving in that direction.

And fires whoever edited this PV. 

Hello! Project Fankora Concert Review- pt 4

MC2

O hai thar, Yossy. I keep forgetting you're in this concert as the sole shining representative of the amazingness that was the Elder Club. Next time bring Rika with you. We can jam.

This whole MC was basically Momoko going "LOOK AT ME I'M A LEADER OF MULTIPLE GROUPS OOOOOOOOH" and everyone else not caring. She's being a little too attention-whorish for my tastes here. 

Aisu Kuriimu to My Purin

Can I just skip this? Please? PLEASE. No? Gah. 

Zoku. I just don't like them. It's nothing against the members; I just think that they are honestly the antithesis of what v-u-den WAS; in fact, no one in current H!P is fit. H!P is about youngness, youth. v-u-den was about women starting adulthood and that's part of why I find them interesting and that they're tied with Gatas for my favorite H!P group. I've ranted about this before, it shouldn't be tough to find on the Disco.

Anyways, this performance keeps confirming what I originally thought about Zoku in my Zoku rant (in which I stated I would NEVER call them Zoku v-u-den. OK, yeah. don't want to get into this. I like the members, but they don't represent v-u-den's v-u-denness. 

This was actually less offensive to me than Koisuru Angel Heart, but JUST BARELY. This song is not something to be taken seriously, but at the same time is actually supposed to be sexy. Playfully sexy, sexy in a "look at how silly fanservice can be!" kind of way, but nonetheless sexy. The impression I've always gotten from the Aisu PV is "haha, fanservice is ridiculous" but it's still pretty hot. 

The dancing was not TOO bad, but it had some iffy bits; the kickline was uber fail, and no one was really a good dancer. It felt slightly unrehearsed, and, my main complaint about the group as a whole, like they really didn't try. 

JunJun, you're doing it wrong. 

Speaking of not trying too hard; I understand that Zoku's only doing one song and that they all have other things to do. But seriously. The costumes? What are they supposed to be? I mean, even if they had to use them for the main groups. Why are the main groups using those costumes? 

Vocals weren't too bad; Risako was really the best one there and I was happy that she got Rika's long solo near the end. I wasn't expecting amazingness from them, so. 

I don't mean to sound mean; a LOT of this is my bias speaking. But say what you want about the original v-u-den, but their performance skills (not vocal, performance) were out of this world, and Zoku doesn't come close to representing the original group I love so much. They honestly feel a tiny bit like a REALLY good cover group of the original, but certainly NOT the revival. So really, it's my bias as a v-u-den enthusiast, but in my opinion the revival groups are that; trying to be the original group as best as they can. And this really wasn't that bad of a cover, but when it comes down to representing what v-u-den was I can't give Zoku the thumbs up. 

Oh, and Momoko attention whores. I know a lot of people found Momoko getting up and dancing cute, but I honestly thought it was pretty disrespectful (my GOD this review is going to get me flames). I liked her a lot before, but man I don't know now. I just really thought it was rude, no matter how I felt about the actual performance going on. I mean, I don't mind people going for attention, but IMO this was not the place to do it. 

Also, I was hoping to see Yossy rocking out in the back (she's notorious for LOVING this song), but that didn't happen. Perhaps she needed Rika to be there. 

Daite Yo! Please Go On!

Am I the only one that finds it awkward when solo songs become group ones? I don't know, maybe I am. But the one thing that I keep focusing on here is just how it is of a group song. It MIGHT have been done another time, but the one memorable time that Daite yo! was used as a group song was for Goto Maki's Captain Kouen concert, which was Gocchin, Tsuji Nozomi and v-u-den. It was really more of a solo song for Maki, but with the other four sang with the chorus. 

Also, there was a dance solo section before the rap. Speaking of, that would have been REALLY cool for High King. If High-King is excellent at one thing it's dancing; in fact, I think that was the main theory for the group? I could be wrong. Anyways, while the girls ARE rather fierce here, I only wish that there had been a better arrangement of some kind to better feature their dancing.

However, despite preferring a more imaginative arrangement other than just the song sung by five people, I really like this performance. I can really tell why it was that these five girls were chosen; their dancing was all spot on and excellent to watch, and all of them seemed to be giving it their all. The singing, to be perfectly honest, was nothing special. To be frank, Goto Maki was much better than Aichan was here, and the others never wowed me. 

Though she IS fierce here

However, it was the dancing and the energy of this performance that made it really entertaining to watch. The five performers were all really excellent at performing, and it was so high energy that it made me forget the low energy-ness of Aisu Kuriimu. High-King's never been my favorite unit ever (I love Maimi but I don't really care that much about the others), but they really impressed me here. 

Hello! Project Fankora Concert Review- pt 3

Maji Bomber!!


Sorry to all you Berryz Koubou fans out there: Berryz may have gotten me into H!P, but as of recent times I just don't follow them all that much. At all. They have lost a lot of spark that they might have had with me. In fact, when watching concert performances of Berryz for something like a review I have a little game I play, but I'll explain that later.

Maji Bomber is a pretty good song; I wouldn't consider it that interesting, but it's pretty catchy and is a good song for a lot of the people involved. It's a song where pretty much every Berryz memeber gets a solo and sounds great. Vocally, this performance isn't bad at all. Some members sound better than others, but otherwise they all sound nice when singing it.

However, this is another issue of energy; they perform it well but not great. I don't watch the performance and go "man that was better than in the PV!" or "oh man, that was epic;" it just feels standard. It was a solid performance, but nothing memorable.

Like, looking back I'd remember S/Mileage and C-ute's performances as being particularly energetic and thus I'd feel positively towards the group. Conversely, nothing about this performance was particularly memorable; it was just. Good. Except...

When I watch a performance of Berryz I ALWAYS watch for Miyabi. Now you might be wondering why. Miya's not my favorite Berryz member (that's Chinami), but ever since I saw the performance of Nigiyaka na Fuyu with the fish costumes I realized that Miyabi never really looks super enthusiastic on stage. I have nothing against her as a person, but I just observed her lack of interest. So therefore, I have dubbed her face of "why am I doing thiiis?" to be "Miyabi Face" and now looking for evidence of Miyabi Face is my game.

Like here, sort of. Not my best. 

If there's any point I want to make here is that I don't find Berryz that interesting anymore. There weren't any glaring things wrong with this performance, but it really didn't hold interest for me.

Seishun Collection

Now here's professionalism! Performing a fairly dull song with fairly dull choreography with ugly costumes, all of them look at least somewhat happy to be there. No Miyabi faces to be found!

Seriously, I really am not the biggest fan of this single to begin with. Now, I DO think it's a move in a better direction. It's upbeat and happy, which I honestly think is what the Japanese music market is looking for at the moment with AKB48. Unfortunately. This happened. Well, Onna to Otoko no Lullaby Game looks to be better. 

Other than that I don't have too much to say. It's a nice performance, with all of them doing a good job, but no one doing particularly well. They all seem to be enjoying themselves and giving it their all; granted this isn't saying THAT much, considering there's not much to give when it comes to this song, but hey, I'll take what I can get. 

Hello! Project Fankora Concert Review- pt 2

Genkimono de Ikou!


((on a side note, I just learned the grammatical reasons for Ikou. Yeah. Be jealous of my Japanese knowledge))

Speaking of Japanese knowledge, what does Genkimono de Ikou! mean? Why, I'll tell you! It's "Let's go with Energetic Things!" Basically, it's "yay energy." Which is why it baffles me that they got Mano Erina of all people to do this song in particular and to get the budget her PV must have gotten, considering they hired a legitimate director and everything.

The vocals are fine for this performance. She has a few pitch issues, but she's not horrendous, and never sounds too out of breath. However, man, the energy level was low. That's why I made the point about the title. The song is LITERALLY about energy; the title is rather energetic. So why are you performing this like it's "let's go with slightly unenthusiastic things!"?

I've never been a huge proponent of H!P needing super strong vocalists. Hell, plenty of my favorites aren't that great of vocalists, I know that. I think that as a soloist Mano Erina should be stronger than she is now, but she's not super terrible or anything and that in itself is good. However, if there's one thing that should not be missing from a lot of H!P songs it's energy. They don't always require amazing vocals (though some do; I'm looking at you, Ayaya), but they do require their performer to have the right level of energy and ManoEri just did NOT deliver the genki for this performance.

They also need to start training her on stage presence; I like her well enough as an idol, but man if you ALWAYS need four background dancers to fill the stage and you're a soloist, then that's a problem.

I don't need THAT much from an idol. But come on. It's the title of the song; energy should be a given.

Dance de Bakoon!


I've got it! C-ute stole Mano Erina's energy!

In all seriousness, THIS is what I'm talking about when I'm talking about energy and what I need from idols. None of the girls here have perfect vocals; not even Airi or Chisato. I'd say that no one here is bad and that they're all very good in their own right, but it's not the greatest vocals ever. Why? Because they're giving it all they've got into the dancing and the energy of the song, and so their singing skills suffer just a little.

The dancing here is INTENSE; I swear, these girls gave it their all and I'm beyond impressed. Lately I've been really into C-ute, mostly in thanks to my friend Dani who adores Nakky. This is the type of performance that confirms the reasoning behind liking them so much as of late. The energy here is intense.

Maimiiiii <333 and fierce!Airirin

I even like this performance better than in the PV; all the girls are performing their best, they all look very much into it. This is one of those performances that is super fun to watch and that I just have to love. At this point in the concert, only four songs in, I'm just thinking that this is the song and group to live up to. 

Hello! Project Fankora Concert Review- pt 1

I haven't forgotten about my other review in the works; not at all. I'm still working on finishing my Gatas review. However, I decided I wanted to review Fankora while it was still relevant, whereas Gatas might not have another concert TO review.

So, here's Fankora! First off the bat I'm a bit disappointed that they only had ONE concert to review, especially since it's the one I was possibly LEAST excited about. Oh dear God I have to review Zoku. So it's a bit disappointing I can't see the Tanpopo# performance I wanted to see, however I still like the idea that they took fan contributions and did a lot of older numbers (even if they didn't use my super epic suggestion of doing I&YOU&I&YOU&I *grumble*)


All For One and One For All


What a way to start out a concert; this IS the quintessential H!P as a whole song, excluding Hello! no Theme (HELLO HELLO HELLO DANCING...). However, I realized when watching this that it was the first time that we saw All For One without the Elder Club involved (if I recall correctly), and so...

We start with Takahashi and Niigaki. And then I realize. Oh my goodness. This is the Mobekimasu version of All For One. Why do I have to endure this?

This isn't to say I dislike Mobekimasu; not at all. I like them. However, the fact that it's not Yuko, Nacchi and Kaorin singing the first line just makes a little bit die inside.

I did like that the beginning started out with all of Morning Musume's generations; it's as if H!P's saying "Yeah, MM>>the rest of them, woo!" I mean, I do miss the old distribution of lines, I really do. But that's not super feasible without having a few Country Musume members to throw in, good soloists to throw in (why hello there, Yukidon; how's enka-town?) etc. After a while, this song just gets to be really long. The one thing that made this song so good originally was that it WAS all of H!P; all 45-46 members of Hello!Project, with a bunch of different generations, showing just how vast H!P was but having all of them sing a song. It's showing H!P's history and the importance of each generation within the collective whole.

However, after MM's generations, it just shuffles through the Mobekimasu order; MM, Berryz, C-ute, ManoEri and S/Mileage a few times. It's slightly repetitive. 

(And goodness, whyyy did the unit I've been least impressed with lately have to sing the 4th gen lines? *sigh*)

The performance itself was OK. It was really nothing special, and honestly I got kind of bored part way through it. I mean, a few of them looked like they were into it (C-ute in particular, S/Mileage too) but about half way through there's really not that much energy left and it's kind of a let down. This is a song to perform with an abundance of energy, not holding it back. At one point I was looking through the Eggs to try and find my favorite, Sekine Azusa.

C'mon, Sekkii, I know you're in there somewhere....

All in all (haha, see what I did there?) this is another performance to remind me yet again how much I miss the Elder Club. I don't care how legit a decision it was, Tsunku, the Mobekimasu groups haven't gotten better songs or PVs since they left; bring back the Elders. 

VTR

It's a VTR. What do I have to say. Well. A couple of odds and ends.

1. Best MC roster. Ever.

Makoto's a pimp. Yossy's the pimp. We all win. Makoto, please never stop being the one male member of Hello!Project. You make everything more epic and more amazing. I hope to study abroad in Japan when the 2012 H!P summer concert will take place. I will cheer hard for Makoto. I was surprised this screen didn't get more cheers; there's obviously a deficiency in the Ishiyoshi wota in the audience. Wait, is that picture of Yossy from Tokyo Alice? If so, then that's over a year older than the concert. Maybe I'm wrong, but I could have SWORN that was a picture from her stage play. Or maybe I'm totally off. 

2. That took a LONG time to get through ManoEri. I get she's 1/5th of Mobekimasu. But really? 

MC1

Yossy's funny. The first MC should be funny, yes? aaaand no. It's sadness. Graduations. I've already blogged about Eririn/JunJun/LinLin graduating, but it is actually pretty sad to watch happen. JunJun and LinLin look pretty upset; like they haven't actually accepted it. Because anyone who thinks it was 100% their choice to go back to China needs to get their brain straightened out. 

Aannd to the first main group song, which is....

OO Ganbaranakute mo Ee Nende!

Yay, I like S/Mileage. I've actually had a reaally big thing for this song ever since previews came out, and so seeing a live performance of it really warms the heart. I'm seriously really excited for whenever the DVD of S/Mileage's solo concert comes out; I can see S/Mileage without sitting through ManoEri. It's perfect!

The girls here are really fantastic; they have some really nice live vocals. Even the admittedly weak link Wada Ayaka (it's OK, Ayacho, I still love you!) sounds really nice and never sounds too terribly out of place throughout this relatively vocally strong performance. It's times like this that I'm still amazed at how little they've been around so far; they all sound great for debuting not that long ago. I mean, they were all Eggs, but even still; many Eggs still suck. 

You don't suck! Cute Kanyon is cute!

Energy wise I love these girls. They're all very energetic and are all very much into it, unless they're somehow amazing actors. The dance is silly, but they do it well.

Oh, you girls be silly

I seriously have nothing but high hopes for the future of the group; they are all very solid at dancing (or at least the dances choreographed for them), solid at singing, and they jive really well together as a group, which is really important. They all look like they're having fun with the silliness of this song. I maintain that this is one of the best single songs H!P has had in years, and while I'm not super into the Bijin Mama song.

More later!

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.

C-ute PV- Dance de Bakoon!

When I first heard the title to C-ute's newest single "Dance de Bakoon!" I immediately thought of a silly song akin to Yuke Yuke Monkey Dance or S/Mileage's recent "OO Ganbaranakute mo Ee Nende". Maybe it was just me, but I pronounced Bakoon like "buhkoooon" with an 'u' sound and it sounded really silly to me. So, keeping that in mind, the first concert/radio rips I heard of the song were disappointing to me. According to JPopStop "Dance de Bakoon" translates to "Dance with a Smash!", so the rock feel to the song really fits the title, but I initially couldn't get into the song.

However, the more that I listen to Dance de Bakoon the more I like it. Right now the one issue that I have with the song itself is that it feels disjointed. The verses all have this rock feel, which is cool, but then the choruses have a more dance/pop feel that I actually kind of like better. So every time I get to the chorus I think something like "OH YES, YAAAY" though the verses (especially the "jajajaja" bits) are endearing themselves to me. I admit I wasn't really wowed by this song when I first heard the concert audio and the radio rip, but it's really grown on me and I definitely like it a lot better than SHOCK or Campus Life.

An issue a lot of C-ute fans have is the line distribution, so I think I'll take a few sentences to address that. I'm going to have to get it out of the way that I am very very much biased towards Yajima Maimi. I think she's a fantastic leader, idol, dancer and I really like the sound of her voice. That being said, I actually like the line distribution here. I think that the Airi/Maimi lead dynamic has worked in the past and has proven to be a solid combination. All the members get at least three solos (Chisato gets four) so the song isn't completely Airi/Maimi, but Nakky, Chisato and Mai all get some solos. I'd personally want more of Nakajima Saki because I think she's adorable and she's my second favorite member of C-ute to Maimi, but all in all this is a better song for line distribution than SHOCK and Campus Life.



This is a fairly simple H!P PV and definitely does not have the budget alloted for Mano Erina's Genkimono de Ikou that I covered in my last post. It's dance shot, close-ups, a few variations on the dance shot and some model walking in different outfits. The whole thing is obviously green screened with no real location other than two main green screen backgrounds (one with lights and one without as many) and a runway screen.

However, the more I watched Dance de Bakoon the less I minded the obvious green-screening. In the far off dance shots where you see more of the floor and they aren't backed by lights I really don't like the background (it looks too fake) but when it comes closer it looks pretty nice.

So fake looking I can hardly stand it....

However, the more I've seen this PV, I really get past the cheesy background and watch more of the girls, and how fun it is. I normally really want originality in an H!P PV so after I saw it for the first time I thought that I would hate it but, surprisingly enough, I love this PV. I really think it's shot well and that itself makes it commendable, but more than that the PV is FUN. From the beginning, when the girls all do poses until the end, the PV is all about the girls having fun, dancing and singing. I think part of the reason that I like this PV so much is because of the girls themselves. They look like they're legitimately enjoying themselves and that's a big reason that I like the girls I do. If they're having fun, I am as well.

It was after I was thinking about this that I realized that, at least to my sensibilities, I thought that Dance de Bakoon's PV was better than Genkimono de Ikou's PV. Now, before I get attacked, let me explain. Genkimono's PV was good, it had a story, it had a budget (*gasp*, an H!P PV with a budget?), all things that I want H!P PVs to have. However, the one thing that continues to bug me about Genkimono's PV is how NOT-ManoEri it is. It has stories that are professionally directed with Mano Erina, the girl who's supposed to be the star of the show, acting like an afterthought. It's almost as if the director/UFA is saying "Yes, we know that Mano Erina isn't selling anything; let's try to sell...professionalism?" However, despite Dance de Bakoon being potentially budget challenged and unoriginal, it at least centers around the most important things for an idol PV; the idols. C-ute really shines in this PV, having fun and lighting up the camera. I keep writing about them "having fun" but it's true; I'd much rather watch idols having fun, being themselves and rocking it for the camera than a professionally done PV with barely any idol in it.

Honestly, it's a matter of preference, but I do know that when it comes to watching the PVs, I know which PV I'll come back to and which one I'll just listen to the song instead.

Mano Erina- Genkimono de Ikou!

Recently, on the Upfrontchannel (the YouTube for Hello!Project related videos) the PV to Mano Erina's newest single (or at least one of the PVs...?), Genkimono de Ikou!, came out.



I actually really like the song. In my opinion, Mano Erina's two last singles (Haru no Arashi and Onegai Dakara) were actually pretty boring songs. The only reason I really watched the Haru no Arashi PV was to see my favorite H!P Egg (Sekine Azusa) get SOME semblance of spotlight. In Onegai Dakara I really didn't like ManoEri's voice (when she sings the high notes of "Onegai dakara" I can barely stand to listen). However, this is a really fun, catchy song that doesn't even sound like some of ManoEri's slower (and quite frankly a bit more boring) music. I saw a review of this call it just typical idol music, and I kind of agree. But unlike that reviewer, to me it's a positive thing. I LOVE positive/happy idol music. It's why I'm blogging about idols and not about other artists. This is probably one of my favorite ManoEri songs to date.

The PV is... I'm conflicted. On the one hand, I can tell a great deal of work, effort and money went into this. The PV has been talked about for some time because a fairly well-known film director actually directed it and it shows. The PV has an actual story and it's shot well. My main issue is that it doesn't really read like a normal PV, I guess. I mean, ManoEri's in it and has a fairly large-ish role (as the "Genkimono trainer"), but in both of the stories of the "Genkimono" (watching the PV it's the guy in red) ManoEri doesn't have the main focus and is kind of an after thought; like the story's about these people getting slapped around by the Genkimono.....but oh yeah, he needs a trainer... right? The PV isn't really ABOUT ManoEri or focusing on or featuring her, which is odd considering it's HER PV for HER song.

Honestly, though, I'm confused with UFA right now. Mano Erina's sales have been tanking hard from Otome no Inori, despite all kinds of exposure, press and publicity. Yet they give her an interesting song and a PV that obviously has a decent budget behind it, whereas Morning Musume gets a PV with pretty much zero budget like Seishun Collection to a fairly uninteresting song. My theory is that this is pretty much the last ditch effort to make ManoEri mainstream and interesting. They're throwing everything they have into it. The song would appeal to wota, I think, and the PV should appeal to more mainstream audiences. If this one sells worse than Onegai Dakara and continues her downwards trend, I have a feeling that UFA is going to put ManoEri on the back burner and put much less effort in promoting her.

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.

Fanservice Galore~ Heavy Rotation PV's been released.

This single, now known by me as "Holy crap Maeda Atsuko's not the center and a member I like a lot more is? WOAHOAHOAHOAH" by AKB48 has had PV previews circling the net, and I don't know if I've seen this much buzz (both positive and negative) about a PV in quite some time. I think it was pretty much a given from the start that this single would have a lot of buzz surrounding it because it's NOT a Maeda Atsuko center and Oshima Yuko's centering/being the focus for the first time. Buuuut.

I have no idea how long this PV is going to last on YouTube given AKB getting taken down left and right. So enjoy while it lasts!!!

No, the real issue is the fanservice involved. A lot of people thought AKB's latest PV to Ponytail to Shushu was a lot of fanservice; before the actual song, the girls were supposedly "naked" while being covered by objects (like a surfboard, locker, etc.), and then they danced in mostly bikinis. But now in the PV to Heavy Rotation they spend half the time in their lingerie, lounging around, having pillow fights, and the other half is in cat type outfits, eating food and kissing around.

I've seen articles in blogs and on websites (Tokyo Hive, mainly) that have addressed this, and there are a LOT of surprising misconceptions. The main one I'd like to address is:

1. UNDERAGE GIRLS IN LINGERIE WHAT?

No. This PV really only focuses on 12 girls who made media senbatsu (the upper level) whereas the other 10 or so are just in the background (which makes me happy that my favorite, Oota Aika, is the center of the Undergirls PV as opposed to just dancing in the back of the main PV). Of these twelve girls, only TWO are underage. Watanabe Mayu, who is 16, and Matsui Jurina, who is 13.

Now, you might go "But Serenyty. 13 is VERY young to be in these types of PVs"; actually, I've been happily surprised to find out that Matsui Jurina is actually NOT sexualized. In this PV, there really aren't that many shots of her (and Mayu, really) that aren't either close-ups or very specific non-sexualized shots. I was looking for a picture of her in the lingerie scenes and I'm sure if I looked VERY hard I'd be able to find one; however, the underage girls are really NOT the focus, and the main fanservicey bits are centered around the legal adults.

This is Jurina; the girls who's front and center. I see a lot of people get uppity about both Ponytail to ShuShu AND Heavy Rotation, for the "underage" girls. However, if you look at Jurina's swimsuit for Ponytail to Shushu, that is one of the least revealing swimsuits. It'd only be barely less revealing if it was a one-piece, but even then her shorts here are cut much less revealingly than that. Would you have Jurina wear a parka?

Honestly, while a few scenes in Heavy Rotation made me go "Really? they went there?" (the kissing that went on, the "whipped cream" face of Itano Tomomi who is very much over 18), I don't really get the big fuss. The girls are running around playing sleepover in lingerie that often covers more than their bikinis for Ponytail and the other parts are in cat-type outfits. They're not even really trying to act alluring; it's fun and cute, with the main "issue" being the costume choice.

BTW I really like the PV/song. I used to be very "meh" towards the song, but it's grown on me and is now a VERY addicting song. I much prefer the style of the Undergirls B-side "Namida no Seesaw Game", but this is a pretty solid A-Side.