Morning Musume '14 - "Toki wo Koe Sora wo Koe" (MV)

Well it's been quite a fun week for my J-pop girl groups. Many new music videos have been released, one of which was the MV for Morning Musume's newest song. I was pleasantly surprised by this and have much to say about the song and video and more.

I absolutely adore the way this song was written. It's beautifully bittersweet, and the first time I heard it I felt like crying. The song, as I interpret it, is about a loved one who has passed away, or even a love that has just ended. It kind of reminds me of Selena Gomez's "Love Will Remember". Even when the love you have on earth is gone, somewhere deep down, beyond time and space, you still have that strong bond and a love that will never truly pass away. It's rather deep when you think about it, and it's something I don't normally see idols singing about; at least not in this way.

But... (why does there always have to be a "but"?) Tsunku is really the only one who gets any credit for making this single amazing. First of all, the arrangement; that dang repeating broken chord drives me nuts. If you're going to use piano in your song, make it sound pretty and not all disjointed and... unoriginal like that. I did hear a little bit more piano going on at the beginning but it was hard to hear because of the STUPID LOOPING CHORDS!

(Okay so I'm the only person on earth who's enraged by that but for real... it annoys me.)

The entire arrangement to me is just too staccato and broken. It's like someone just took a bunch of sounds that they think sound cool and threw them all in a pot with no though about how they would flow together, and this is what we got.

Oh yeah but throw in some violin and people will say it's beautiful.

It is definitely possible to make a song that sounds pretty and sad but still using electronic elements. I'm going to use another Selena Gomez example here and say "Forget Forever", which did have a different tone from "Toki wo Koe..." but still managed to make me rather sad during the main instrumental part by using only electronically created sounds.

I mean I'm honestly no musical expert or anything so maybe I'm just crazy, but in my opinion the arrangement for this could have and should have been much better.

The girls' voices could have also been a bit stronger, but they sound all right and I've ranted enough about this song already so I'll just leave it at that.

Going back to positives, I also love that they're mixing it up a little more with Morning Musume's singles. I think when "Ai no Gundan" was released was when I realized that their sound was starting to get a little stale. Immediately after that, though, they put a little twist on it by releasing the happier, more idol-like song "Egao no Kimi wa Taiyou sa", still keeping the EDM elements but making it stand out from the rest of their singles. Even beyond just the style they experimented with a unique rhythm for the vocals which took some getting used to but ultimately was awesome. (Because H!P is obsessed with multiple A-side singles they also included two other songs which are good but forgettable and I don't even want to talk about them.)

With this single they're doing their first ballad in a while, and I think many people are responding well not only because of the music but because of the variety. In the golden era, I believe Morning Musume was famous partially because of their variety. Their fluctuating line-up was the most obvious example, but they also were able to experiment with different styles of songs while still keeping the same energetic image that made them popular.

I think the key to keeping Momusu relevant is to grow with their new sound, instead of letting it hold them back as if they feel they have to do the same type of single every time in order to keep sales up. From what I've seen so far this year, I believe they are taking steps in the right direction.

(Now if only we can get rid of the double A-sides, because "Password is 0" is boring.)

The song is really the main focus for me, so I can't really say too much about the video. The outfits are pretty, and I like seeing the girls barefoot. The special effects are average. I did like the set for the dance shot, as it truly felt as though they were in space. To me, the whole setting and colors artistically reflected the beauty of the song, even if it was fairly simple.

The dance wasn't their best but it's not really a dance song so who really cares.

The first minute or so of the video did bother me at first because it seemed as if the girls were more focused on looking pretty instead of feeling the emotion of the song. But as the video went on I felt it a lot more from them.

Overall, the song and video give me mixed feelings, but the positive outweighs the negative. It's a beautiful song that can be interpreted in different ways, and I love that. Definitely worth purchasing for any Morning Musume fan.

Things that have happened in the past two months

You know that new Juice=Juice song about how "I want to do lots of things but I don't have enough time"? Yeah that song perfectly describes my life.

Now that I'm not sick, not lazy, AND not busy with school (most of this post was written on a Sunday), I think there are a few things that happened within the past couple of months that I need to catch up on. So here are my thoughts on news no one cares about anymore:

Country Musume Revival

Probably my favorites "news" of the moment is the announcement of auditions for new Country Musume members. A fun fact about me is that I'm actually a really big fan of 90s Hello! Project. Seeing one of my favorite groups from that era is now being revived makes me incredibly happy!

I only wish that Satoda Mai could still be a part of it, as she is one of my favorite H!P members, but her moving to the U.S. makes that impossible. However, I am definitely looking forward to seeing more fresh faces in Hello! Project.

I hope that they keep the line-up as being mostly members from Hokkaido, as that was part of their original concept. If that were a requirement, Inaba Manaka would be the only Kenshuusei eligible, leaving room for plenty of new members. Of course auditions are open to girls from all around Japan, so other Kenshuusei could join. But my dream line-up for this group is Inaba plus about three new girls. 

Though Inaba hasn't been in the trainee program for a full year yet, she does have some more experience under her belt as she was a member of the Hokkaido group PEACEFUL from 2011-2012. (This group was fantastic by the way.) Her voice is not the best, but her dancing is fantastic, and she has an adorable face. I, personally, think she'd be great for the group. But of course the exciting thing about these auditions is the thought of new members joining, and I'm super excited to see who will audition!

Most of all I am glad that Up-Front has started taking an interest in remembering and even reviving its OG acts. First there was the amazing New Years concert with the Taiyou to Ciscomoon and Melon Kinenbi reunions and the return of Heike Michiyo, and now they're reviving one of H!P's oldest groups. I hope that through all this fans of today will be interested in 90s H!P, and that that era will never be forgotten.

Shin Country Musume (Country Musume '14?), I will support you through everything! がんばれ！

Morning Musume 12th Gen Auditions

And speaking of auditions, Morning Musume is once again holding auditions for their 12th generation.

I can't say I'm extremely excited about this. Last year's audition with no results was a huge bummer, and I've grown used to their current lineup; but if my hopes for a spring 2015 graduation for Sayumi come true, then I realize Morning Musume is going to need more members to keep both the talent and variety of their rotational lineup alive.

I've been cheering for Cuca to make it into Momusu since the 11th generation auditions, and my cheering for her won't stop until she's either in the group or over 17. Aside from her, I don't have many people that I think should definitely be in Morning Musume. Danbara Ruru is an amazing singer, and for that I'm hoping and waiting for a solo debut for her. Some of my favorite Kenshuusei are Tanabe Nanami, Kaga Kaede, and Sasaki Rikako, and while I would love to see them all debut soon, I'm not sure if Morning Musume is the right fit for any of them.

I think I'll just wait to pick my favorites from the finalists. Until then, I probably won't comment on the auditions at all. I'm far more interested in Country Musume and Kago Ai's group at the moment.

Sailor Moon Crystal

Toei is finally giving us some info about the Sailor Moon reboot, with a teaser image for "Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Crystal", a plot summary, and a July 2014 release.

Admittedly I don't know much about Sailor Moon. I've seen about fifteen episodes of the English dub, six episodes of the Japanese version, and I own and have read the first volume of Codename: Sailor V. I know some of the basics of the characters but besides that, Sailor Moon is kind of a mystery to me.

With the announcement a while ago of a reboot, I wasn't sure if it would continue the story or start over. If it was the latter, I didn't want to know the whole story and then have no suspense or surprises or anything while watching the new version. If it ended up being the former, I would have very little time to rush my way through five seasons of the show before the premier. Thank GOODNESS it seems to be the latter (Usagi is still in her second year of middle school and Queen Beryl is the villain), and I was wise enough to wait it out and not watch the original. Now I can be really excited for the premier and be able to watch the series just as the original fans did back in 1992.

Moral of the story today, kids: the 90s actually weren't that bad.

Nickelodeon "Cancels" Winx Club

Many fans have erupted at Romi Dames' announcement that Nickelodeon has "cancelled" Winx Club; though it's really not a cancellation in the usual sense. Nickelodeon has simply decided not to renew their dubbing/co-producing deal after season 6 ends.

However, many many MANY people still can't seem to get the story straight, so let me give you the whole thing very clearly in a nutshell: Season 6 will continue airing as planned. Rainbow has already started preparation on season 7. Season 7 will be produced, but will not be dubbed in English by Nickelodeon. This means, as of now, no English-speaking country will get the show after this season, but Italy and others will. At the moment no other company has announced plans to dub the series after season 6. We do not know what will happen in the future; all we know is that once season 6 ends, the Nickelodeon dub will be dead.

Make sense now? Good, now show all your friends so people online will quit asking the same questions and potentially spreading misinformation. :P

My thoughts on this are mixed. There are petitions on the net to "save Winx Club" but I've refrained from signing any because I'm not sure what I want. On one hand, I love the current cast; particularly Romi Dames as Musa. I knew from the moment she was casted and every moment after that she was absolutely perfect for Musa. Morgan Decker and Amy Gross were other favorites of mine. On the other hand, I hate the way Nickelodeon has managed the series, and I'm partly relieved that their reign has ended.

I'm also really stumped on where to go from here. The series has already had three different English dubs and a fourth would just be overload. They could always go back to Cinélume but that likely wouldn't air in the States. And 4Kids Entertainment doesn't exist anymore (not that I'd want them back anyway, ew). 

So... what do we do now? Do we just accept that it has been a failure in the US compared to in Europe? That's a sad thing to have to say after ten years of effort...

If I could make everything go my way, I would have all the cast from Nick move to another dubbing company and have the series air on Cartoon Network (the channel it aired on when I first found the series). No co-production deals this time; just straight dubbing from the Italian. But alas, my goal of keeping the whole cast I think is probably unrealistic. And I don't see any "move Winx Club to Cartoon Network!" petitions anywhere.

All I can do right now, as a fan of what-used-to-be, is sit back and wait for something amazing (I guess....). I think I'm ready to move on if this is really the end of Winx Club in my country. If I have to watch all the episodes in Italian with subs from now on, so be it; I've always wanted to do that anyway.

Morning Musume - "Wagamama Ki no Mama Ai no Joke / Ai no Gundan" Single Review

Gosh I hate typing those stupidly long single names. Darn double A-sides.

For some reason I'm actually not super thrilled about reviewing this single. I have no idea why, but I kinda felt it was my duty to review it since I have consistently reviewed at least part of Morning Musume's singles since "Wakuteka Take a chance".

Let's talk real quick about how impressed I am with the success of this single. It was released August 28, and in just the first two days, it managed to sell a reported 105,414 copies. I absolutely cannot wait to see the week's sales. It's good to see that they're building their success back up with almost every single. Though of course double A-sides almost always sell more than normal singles, but whatever.

This is the group's first single without my favorite member Tanaka Reina. The group has proven with this single that they can carry on without her, even now that all the members, except the leader Michishige Sayumi, have only joined within the past two years. Also, this is the first single with Fukumura Mizuki (16) and Iikubo Haruna (18) as joint sub-leaders.

The single was released in two regular editions and five limited editions, which means two A-sides and three B-sides. Limited Editions A - C also come with bonus DVDs.

TRACK BY TRACK TIME!

1. Wagamama Ki no Mama Ai no Joke

So for this song I did something that I haven't done in a while with Morning Musume: I listened to the song for the first time and watched the music video at the same time. Something about hearing it on top of a brand new music video makes it that much cooler for me, so that may or may not have affected my opinion of this song.

Put quite simply: I love it. The combination of electronic sounds with those drums. I absolutely love the way it came out. The vocals are also great, and the "Aisaretai" line was just... whoa. I would really love to say something intelligent here about how great it sounds but I'm just too in awe of it, really. Not only the power behind that line, but the echo and just... the sound of it. Argh, I can't describe it, but I love every second of it. 

Also, when the other members chant "aisaretai", and it's layered over those drums, it's just like the sound of heaven. Something about the chanting makes me feel the unity among those members. Like they're now a team cheering each other on through the song. That really fits, since they cheer right before Riho or Mizuki or Masaki does her big line.

I never really realized it until a comment discussion I had with Chiima (of Okay! Musume Time) that the members really have great chemistry now. Back when the 9th Generation first joined, the chemistry was absolutely awful to me. It's like the group was split, and the new generation just seemed like the annoying little sisters. Now that they've almost all got the same amount of experience, there's really no superiority thing going on here. It's just ten awesome girls doing what they love and doing it as a team. Sure, some members end up hogging the spotlight more than others, but they really blend well like this. I completely love it.

Now for the music video of this song: OMG, it has a real setting! It may not be anything extravagant, but it's not like some boxed in fantasy world that only our idols live in. It's a real place, where they just have fun singing and dancing on stage. That panning thing they do with like three members at a time is so cool.

My first reaction when watching this video was me just sitting there, mouth hanging open, and occasionally squealing "Oh my gosh, this is so cool!" It's likely the lighting that really did it for me. The darkness in the beginning set the mood of coolness for the song,

The dance, while a little weird, is super energetic and cool. Of course Momusu has been known recently for their unique formations, and it really shows in this dance. The moves really go with the sound of the music, especially in the parts in the chorus where it's like a battle between the two halves of the group.

Personally, as far as both song and video, this A-side is my favorite of the two. It's not perfect, nor my favorite ever, but I will never forget that first reaction. That feeling that I get when I realize that I'm a fan of one of the coolest girl groups in the world. That feeling I've been getting for every single since "Renai Hunter". It just makes me happy that the world has group like this. (Okay that was cheesy but whatever!)

2. Ai no Gundan

This song gave me less of an excited reaction than Wagamama Ki no Mama. I heard this one while watching the dance shot, and the song really didn't impress me that much. This single is really kind of parallel to my feelings toward "Brainstorming / Kimi Sae Ireba Nani mo Iranai". I fangirled and replayed Brainstorming over and over, but Kimi Sae kind of bored me when I first heard. But there is a difference here: I eventually grew to like Kimi Sae, even better than Brainstorming. But I'm still not that impressed with Ai no Gundan.

I'm not a fan of the vocals. The only parts of it that sound good to me are "bonnou honnou" (especially by Sakura!) and that autotune bridge part before the last chorus. Those sounded really powerful and pretty to me, but something about the melody for the rest of the song just bores, and occasionally annoys, me.

And that main sound in between singing. Gosh I suck at describing it, but it's almost like a saxophone-like sound. Gosh I hate the way it sounds sometimes. (Which makes no sense when I compare it to the sax because I adore saxophones).

Okay, enough negativity, there are some things in this that I really do like, like the little Chinese sound in the background of the verses. And the "ao!" right before the chorus is so fun to do.

What really redeems this song is the dance. If you haven't seen it yet, you have to watch the dance shot for the full experience. The formations with the "hand salute" theme look incredible. It really shows another way that this group is like a team. This dance only looks good when all the members are doing it, because that's when you get the full effect, and the way they layer their moves to create the great formations. I truly love it and wish I had some Jpop-loving friends who would learn it with me. I also love the four-member dance break in the bridge; those girls are so talented!

The music video is good. It has some flaws and some beautiful points. Flaw: RETURN OF THE GLITTER! Why...? I have nothing else to say on that matter. But Riho and Sakura's beauty really makes up for it. Especially Sakura. I swear she looks exactly like a mini Ai-chan. And she sings like her, too! She wasn't impressing me much with her first two singles, but now she's really learning how to work the camera and she looks and sounds gorgeous. Speaking of working the camera: Riho. Rihoriho. She never. looks. bad. I dare you to find a shot in either of these music videos where she doesn't look her absolute best. Every angle. Every shot. How are you doing it, Riho? Tell me your secrets! I want to be as pretty as yoooouuuu!!!

The outfits in the music video are much better than the ones in Wagamama Ki no Mama. The red and black army-like outfits on top of the checkerboard -- holy chiz I just realized that they look like checkers! Really chess would be a better fit when you think about it, cuz of the whole army thing. But still I totally love the outfits. I really want those skirts, and if I could wear a hat (darn this curly hair), I would steal them too. They look really pretty in white, too, and the glitter in that scene actually works, like a beautiful fantasy world.

So in summary: not a fan of the song, love the dance, like the video.

3-1. Bouya

This is one of the two split-group songs of the single. The featured members are Michishige Sayumi, Fukumura Mizuki, Iikubo Haruna, Kudo Haruka, and Sato Masaki. This song is only on the Regular Edition A and Limited Edition D.

I like this song. The beat is nice and danceable, and it actually reminds me a bit of "Kanashiki Koi no Melody", one of my favorite Morning Musume's B-sides (from "Pyocopyoco Ultra"). I always enjoy video-game-like sounds in songs, and this song has a bit of that during the chorus.

The vocals are decent. Sayu's voice definitely isn't the best here. Of course she's never been the strongest singer, but normally they can disguise that with autotune or a cute song, but here it's very clear that, despite being the leader, she's still one of the weakest vocalists. I do like the melody of the song in the chorus, up until that last line ("bouya"). It's so... short and anticlimactic.

The song is nice, but it's missing something. I think it's actually doing better at showing the members' flaws instead of their talents. Still, it's easy and fun to listen to, so it wouldn't be a total waste of your time to play.

3-2. Funwari Koibito Ichinensei

This is the second split-group song. The featured members are Ishida Ayumi, Ikuta Erina, Sayashi Riho, Suzuki Kanon, and Oda Sakura. The song is only on Regular Edition B and Limited Edition E.

Okay, first of all: that "Yeah! C'mon" stuff at the beginning of the song -- I swear I have heard it before, but I cannot remember what song it was in. Does anyone else know?

So anyway, this song is kind of... boring. I really don't have that much to say about it. The vocals are very good, there are some parts of the music that I kind of like, and the rapping is cute. But the song is just so sleepy! So forgettable.

Maybe I'm just used to these upbeat dance numbers by now, but I really don't like this song. Moving on to the next!

3-3. Makeru Ki Shinai Konya no Shoubu

Finally, the group B-side! I really don't like split group B-sides. It's really not the same unless you have the whole group together, like I said -- acting as a team. This version is only on Limited Editions A - C, which of course are the versions with the DVD, so if you want this song (and don't use iTunes) then you'll have to pay extra for it. Boo.

I knew from the first five seconds of listening to this song that it would be my favorite of the B-sides. The intro sounds remind me a bit of C-ute's "Adam to Eve no Dilemma". Then the vocals start out with harmony. The melody is great for most of the song, and there are some really pretty intervals in there. There's a bit too much autotune in it for my taste, but some members still sang really well. Whoever did the last lines of the first and last chorus sounded amazing.

This song is a little slower than I expected, but I like it. It doesn't have to be super fast and all over the place to be a good song. Occasionally the vocals were a little whiny, but I really enjoyed the song as a whole.

Final thoughts on the single: This is not Morning Musume's best or most fun single they have released recently. I'm impressed with some songs, and I dislike others. I'm actually not that interested in buying it. But on a positive note, they are selling well, and even without Reina, they are doing very, very well, and I'm proud of them even if every single release isn't exactly perfect like I want it to be.

Morning Musume - "Brainstorming/Kimi Sae Ireba Nani mo Iranai"

I'm still writing about what I love, no matter how old the song is. This single is a little over a month old, which is pretty long in terms of blogging. Do I care? Heck no!

So today we're going to talk about my second favorite Japanese idol group (after Buono!, of course), Morning Musume. Regardless of whether or not you like their new style or members, you have to have respect for this group. They've been around for almost sixteen years, have released fifty-three singles (thirteen of which were #1 on the Oricon charts), have had a nice rotation of members, and despite their later dip in popularity have now risen back up to be one of Japan's favorite idol groups. Not to mention how many tours they've had. I would really love it if Morning Musume would just be around for the rest of my life. They'd be the oldest band ever! How cool would that be?

Anyway, today I'm talking about their most recent single, "Brainstorming/Kimi Sae Ireba Nani mo Iranai". It's Tanaka Reina's graduation single (my favorite Momusu member of all time; I miss you already!), and it is awesome! It keeps with the electronic dance pop that they've been doing since "Renai Hunter", but every single they release seems to change it up just a little bit in the details, which to me is very noticeable and makes every single special.

This single contains six total songs: three by the full group, one by Tanaka Reina, one by the five oldest members of the group, and one by the five youngest members. And every song is special in it's own way.

Let's start with the first title track, "Brainstorming."

I first heard this song when the "Loose Shot Ver." was released on YouTube back in February, and I was in awe at how cool it was! The mechanical sound effects combined with the electronic music, with simple but totally cool vocals just made me like it. It's actually pretty hard to explain, but listening to it just gives me this feeling. And hello, is that Iikubo Haruna actually getting a real solo line? Heck yes!!!

The background in the dance shot makes it cool, too. The stage is huge and allows the members to spread out into their unique formations that they've been known for recently. And of course the best thing is the arm wave move in the dance that looks like brainwaves. How cool is that?

The full video didn't really add much to the dance shot, so I was quite disappointed with it. But the addition of subtitles made up for it just a little bit (though I wish they had just used the captions feature!).



Next up is the second A-side, "Kimi Sae Ireba Nani mo Iranai"!

When I first heard this song, I honestly wasn't that impressed. I thought it couldn't possibly compare to "Brainstorming". But next thing I know, this is actually my favorite between the two!

The vocals are much stronger in this one, with an actual melody that really helps you to feel what they're singing about, even if it's not much more than your typical teenage love song. The music is also incredibly fun, and after watching the dance, you will most definitely want to be one of those two thousand people on the dance floor.

Like "Brainstorming", the dance shot for this came out first. It was obviously much cheaper due to the background simply being curtains. However, because I knew it was cheap, I actually expected less from the full music video than I did for "Brainstorming", and therefore I was not as disappointed. So in a way, I actually like this music video better because it was exactly what I expected. (Well, maybe not exactly; they did cut out the close-up shots.)

The best thing about the video though is their outfits! I wasn't sure what I thought about them at first, but I've grown to like the flapper dress with the cool hair accessories and gloves. Reina looks the best of all of them. They only thing that bothers me is Haruka wearing a cap. It just doesn't fit the dress at all. But Reina's and Riho's bows are sooo cute!

So while the dance isn't really anything special, it's so much fun to dance along to while singing at the top of your lungs. Seriously, if you haven't done this yet, I think something is wrong with you.



Now we have Tanaka Reina's graduation song, "Rock no Teigi".

The name of this song means "the definition of rock," and I'm honestly not sure why it is named that because I barely hear any rock in this song at all. At the same time, I think this might have been the goal: combine Reina's idol history with just a touch of rock and let her jump into her new career as the lead singer of LoVendoR, but still have one last pop song. At least, that's how I interpret it.

The song can be very interesting if you pay close attention. The melody does a great job of showing off her vocal ability and range. I love hearing just a little bit of her lower voice, while also hearing her flawlessly hit the high notes. She seems to have put all her focus into this song and delivered what I think is a very nice performance. (Then again, I could be biased.)

I've only seen the full video once, so I can't say much about it, but all that is officially uploaded is her close-up shot. Still, I don't mind this, since I get to see her lovely face for her last music video. Visually, it's not her best performance, as I think she has a tendency to lose focus in her close-ups. But I love seeing her look pretty in pink, wearing a leopard-print bow, and just being a pop idol for one last time.

Oh my gosh, guys, I think I'm about to cry now…

So it's no "Egao ni Namida", but it's still a nice graduation song. Congrats, Reina!



Now for the group B-side, "A B C D E-cha E-cha Shitai".

I can't read that title without singing it. This song is definitely the catchiest on the single. It's a little messy, with sounds and autotune going in all different directions, and not the best vocal performance from the members. Still, with the easy to pick up lyrics, and totally danceable music, it was not long until I started to love it. Next thing I know I'm singing the "uh-oh" parts (the best part to me), "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 *kiss*", and "L-O-V-E, love love love me do." I have a feeling this would be a blast to see in concert!

Also, the line distribution on this song is crazy. I have no idea who the lead vocals even are. But this just makes it more fun because everyone gets to participate and have fun. It's like one big party with all the Momusu girls! Yay!



This is my favorite song on the single, "Tokimeku Tokimeke".

The song features the five oldest members of Morning Musume: Sayumi, Haruna, Ayumi, Mizuki, and Erina.

There's something about this song that I just love. The vocals are just so cute yet are sung with feeling, too. There's nothing fake about it.

And of course, it has so much energy! Even now, as I'm listening to it and typing this, I can't stop dancing!

Man, it bothers me that even though this is my favorite song, I don't have much to say about it. I guess that just shows how I feel about songs. I hardly ever think, I just know when they're good when I feel it. Wow, that sounds really stupid.

Anyway, listen to it and maybe you'll see what I mean.


And finally we're at the end of this thing with "Itsumo to Onnaji Seifuku de".

This song is by the youngest members of Morning Musume: Haruka, Masaki, Sakura, Kanon, and Riho.

I suppose this is the song for those who aren't into the electronic sound, because this is as good as it's gonna get. Still, I can't recommend it because to me it's just a bit sleepy. I expected a more youthful, happy song, but instead it's just like a boring album filler song. Still, I love Masaki's cute voice and it definitely shines in this song.

I think there's a reason why this song was last, because to me it's the worst. I suppose there's nothing wrong with it, I just expected more. Where's the energy? Where's the fun? It's cute yes, but not what I expected.

I feel almost bad giving a negative review of this song, since the rest was praised so highly. I still encourage you to listen to it and form your own opinion on it.



Overall, it's a nice, well-rounded single that I really recommend buying, though you will have to buy several different versions if you want all the songs. Remember that it's on iTunes if you just want to buy the songs cheap.

And please tell me you enjoyed this review or found it helpful because it took me forever to write. :P

Morning Musume Needs Your Help!! - "Help me!!" Dance Shot

Morning Musume has released the dance shot for their upcoming single "Help me!!", the debut of the 11th Generation.

This song combines the new electronic dance sound of Morning Musume with the more familiar sound that Hello! Project fans might recognize from album songs. Similar to their previous two singles, they have decided to release the dance shot before the regular music video. Personally I don't think this is a good idea as it tends to lower the views that the regular MV gets, but I'm sure many fans are happy to have a sneak peek. With Morning Musume having a stronger focus on choreography lately, releasing the dance shot is a good way to get fans excited.

While the choreography isn't as strong as something you'd see from a group like Fairies, it is pretty impressive as it's very eye-catching and makes you want to pay close attention to every move. The fast movements in the intro invite you to dance along, and the unique formations allow you to focus on all the members. Following the intro, the girls move low to the ground, which combined with the quiet vocals gives a bit of a sneaky and mysterious feel. Near the chorus, we get to see our new member, Oda Sakura, shine with great vocals and all the members dancing around her.

What really makes this dance shot is the backgrounds in the city. Though it starts out dark, with only the enormous moon lighting the area, the lights all burst out in neon colors to give an energetic start to the chorus.

The outfits are quite interesting as well. Leopard print on top of hot pink tutus, and every member has a unique hair piece, with Kudo Haruka's sideways cap probably being the most memorable.

The only thing I don't like about this dance shot is that it's clearly edited, and the random "jump" in footage can get pretty annoying. Of course, this is a minor complaint when you're enjoying everything the video has to offer.

Fans can only hope that this will not be another let-down like the overly-sparkly "One Two Three" or the finished "Wakuteka Take a chance" that was worse than the temporary version (which is exactly why I didn't review it). But if my observations are correct, I think we'll be getting a more fair line distribution and screen time in the future. 2013 will definitely be an interesting year for Morning Musume!

Wakuteka Take a chance (Temporary ver.) Review

To start off this post, I would just like to make it clear how ugly blogger's new layout is. I'm sure I'll get used to it, but it sucks when they don't give you a choice...

So, now it's time for my first full review (on this blog)! Huzzah!

WAKUTEKA TAKE A CHAAAAAANCE! (temporary ver.)



I've been watching the dance practice for this video almost every day lately, and have been anxiously awaiting the video. You have no idea how happy I was to see it! But then I was a little ticked off to see the word "仮" (temporary) on there (I only know what it means because of Up Up Girls, lol). But I suppose it's better than nothing, so I'll take it. (and then I was irritated that I couldn't get it to load on YouTube, and still can't, so I have to watch it embedded on H!P Wiki...)

I'm going to try to do this piece by piece so I don't lose what I'm about to say, because I have a lot to say about this!



I gasped when I saw these electric bed thingies. They're so epic looking!



Oh crud, it's return of the sparklies! They're so bright... so beautiful... so distracting.... oh, wait, I'm supposed to be watching a music video? I thought that was just a background for the cheap effects...

Seriously, though, whoever edited these -- cut it out. It's annoying. It's fake and distracts from the video itself.



I really love these light bars. For some reason I thought there was a name for them, and then I just ended up calling them fluorescent light bulbs. XD

The effect on these scenes are cool, too. It makes it darker so it contrasts from the light, and it gives off this cool, haunting, out-of-this-world kind of look.

Am I the only one who thinks Momusu is supposed to be aliens in this video? There's a picture in the background of earth (from space), and there's another one on the side that I think looks like a galaxy, and maybe on that looks like a UFO. So maybe they're aliens and that's where they abduct the humans and do those weird experiments or whatever those crazy people say they do. :D Or maybe it's the other way around and some humans found them and that's why they're behind those bars. Hmm...

No, no, wait... the other girls all trapped Ayumi in the cell because they're jealous of her dancing skills and won't let her in the dance shot. XD (jk, she's injured...)

Or maybe this video just has no plot whatsoever and just looks cool.



What the... SHE'S ON FIRE! How the heck did that happen?



Mizuki is considerably less boring in this video. Just look at that smile!



I really love the angles they do in this scene. It's so epic!

Other thoughts:

Sayu looked really pretty in this video. I couldn't get a good screenshot, but if you just watch the video you'll see.

I kind of hate and love Haruna's hairstyle at the same time. It looks a lot better than what she had in One Two Three, but her hair is just so much prettier when it's down...

I looooove the feathery black things they have on their costumes; it's so cute!

I love how the video kind of has a more mature feel to it, but some members (especially Masaki) keep it youthful as well. That's the variety I love about Morning Musume!

Obviously I love the song and the dance; pretty much every day I'll start doing the dance in the middle of the house, but of course I look ridiculous doing it. :D But they do it perfectly, and I love the "shake it up" move.

I liked that during the part where the members all get solo lines, they showed close-ups of all of them, instead of switching to a random scene during the least-liked members' parts. Though I wished they could have shown the dance shot at that part, too, but there would be a gap without Ayumi so it wouldn't work.

The last part of the dance where they turn their heads quickly... I feel like that's a key part of the dance, and I feel like the MV didn't show that. If I was editing it, I would have quickly cut to a close-up of Riho as they turned, then switched to black. Maybe I'm just being picky, but I always think of how I would've done it when I'm reviewing videos.

I think that's most of what I have to say. Overall I'd say I like the video, but if this is just the temporary version, then I cannot wait to see the real one!

Peace! <3

Music Video Mini-Reviews: Hello! Project [part 2]

I'm finally back with part 2 of my mini-reviews! Today we're doing 5 different videos -- two groups', and two soloists'!


Morning Musume - Morning Coffee

It's Morning Musume's official debut single!

I'm sure nobody knows this, but I love this song! It's actually one of my top Morning Musume songs. From a composition standpoint, this song is much, much, much better than "Ai no Tane"! The layering of harmonies is just beautiful, and the music is lovely as well! All of them have beautiful voices, but Abe Natsumi stands out far above the others in both vocal ability and stage presence (or... camera presence?).

The video continues the singing-in-the-town theme like Ai no Tane had, but it also has some lovely scenes in a dimly lit room, which I feel focus more on the members themselves and show us their beauty.

You can see that the members have gotten slightly more comfortable for their video this time! They are all smiling when needed and remaining serious when needed, and I feel like they conveyed the emotions of the song very well. There were some slightly awkward parts where they were just standing there like statues with nothing moving but their lips, but these moments were brief so I'm not even going to count that.

All together, I give this lovely song and video a 7/10. As you can see, I'm not being very lenient with my scores yet. :D


Heike Michiyo - Sotsugyou ~TOP OF THE WORLD~

Heike Michiyo follows up with her second single, a Japanese version of The Carpenters' song "Top of the World".

This is by far my favorite Michiyo song. The vocals are absolutely stunning, even with a fairly simple melody. The guitar in the background also adds a nice touch.

Okay, so Momusu gets a great PV, and then they give Heike Michiyo this? Sitting on a chair is hardly entertaining. "Okay, so let's switch it up; we'll have her sit on the stairs during this scene!" *facepalm* Alright, I'm slightly exaggerating, but really, there's hardly anything special about this. The only thing I liked was the random balloon thing (for some reason I find balloons to be fascinating).

One thing I have to point out is that despite having a lovely voice, I actually don't think she was ever fit to be a soloist. She entered a competition to be in a band; she won the competition to be in a band; she has the stage presence of a lead singer of a band, and suddenly she's made a soloist. To me she just has the kind of voice and presence that would better fit a band. Oh well, guess it's way to late to complain.

Overall, I give this PV a 4/10. The only reason it even got that high of a score is because the song is awesome.


Morning Musume - Summer Night Town

Double dosage of Momusu today, and now we have the 2nd generation's debut song!

Remember how I said how much I loved Morning Coffee? Well, I love this song 10x more! I can't tell you how many times I've blown out my voice jamming to this song. The first generation once again completely owns the vocals. All the second generation got to do was sing the background vocals on the pre-chorus bridge. I feel kinda bad for them, especially since they were in the back during the whole video. They're definitely the most unappreciated generation; in fact, they're the only generation in which I can't remember a single person's name (family or given).

Back to the video: this isn't their best video. The cool thing is that it's the first video in which they get to dance, but of course the dancing is mostly just side-stepping and arm-swinging. I loved the scenery of the city at night. I wish we would've gotten to see more of that in the video. The costumes were nothing special at all. The lighting in the video was so odd; I felt as if I could barely see anything.

So I guess this is yet another case of "amazing song, sucky music video". Go figure. I give it a 6/10, simply because the song is amazing.


Nakazawa Yuko - Karasu no Nyoubou

It's Nakazawa Yuko's solo debut single!

Okay, before I talk about the actual song, can someone tell me what genre this falls in? I don't know what to call it. Also, was the piano at the beginning and end supposed to sound like The Turtles' "Happy Together"? That's all I can think of whenever I hear this song. Anyway, other than that, I love Yuko's voice in this song! It's hauntingly beautiful.

I love seeing PVs that are outside (especially since it looks like Momusu will never go outside again...) and the scenery here is just too pretty! I especially love it when PVs have water in them (weird thing about me) so the little stream in the background just made me happy! Another thing I loved about this PV was Yuko's kimono! She looks absolutely lovely!

Overall, I really like this music video, although there doesn't seem to be much of a plot to it. I'll give it an 7/10. It might have gotten more if it wasn't so forgettable.


Tanpopo - Last Kiss

It's Morning Musume's first sub-group, Tanpopo!

Oh...Em...Gee! It's been forever since I've heard this song; I forgot how much I love it! The keyboard part gives me chills every time. The instrumental, melody, and harmonies are just so haunting and sad. It makes me feel like I'm a part of this song (or whatever, I don't know how to explain it). I mean... GOSH!

Okay, back to the PV. To be honest, I can barely even pay attention to it because I'm thinking about the song the whole time, but the music video was beautiful as well! Everything felt dark and cold, which helped project the feelings of the lyrics. I loved the parts where they kept fading in and out. It reminded me of the past, slowly fading away. You can remember it, but you can never go back.

Yeah, I'm making no sense. Whatever! This song is amazing, the music video is good, so I give it an 8/10.


FYI, I started writing this post a week ago and never finished it until now. Can you say "lazy"? I'm really sorry it took soooo long, but I hope it was worth it! Until next time! PEACE!

Music Video Mini-Reviews: Hello! Project

I'm starting a new series. I'm going to review every music video Hello! Project has ever released! Ambitious,  I know. But I'm going to start from the beginning and work my way towards the current stuff. Most of these videos I have seen, but some of them I have not. Some of them I've seen but haven't paid close attention to, but either way you'll get a new perspective from me, and I may find out things that I never even knew!

I plan on doing several a day. Remember that I have a life, so I can't promise a steady schedule or anything. Anyway, enough talk, let's get started!


Morning Musume - Ai no Tane


Oh gosh, we're starting all the way back in the 90's! Morning Musume -- the girls who couldn't pass the audition to be the lead singer of Sharam Q, and were given a small opportunity to make their own group. Next thing you know, it's the greatest idol group in Japan of all time, and after 15 years, it's still around!

Granted, Momusu is not as popular nowadays as they were in their earlier days. The goal for this demo single was to sell 50,000 copies. They could have sold more if they had more copies available, I'm sure. These days, they sell around 40,000 on average. Sad, but at least their still around.

I love listening to this song. It gives me a happy, calming feeling. A feeling of new beginnings and peace or something cheesy like that.

The lyrics are a little hard to explain. It's basically about getting rid of all your worries, and looking toward your future with a positive attitude.

"I want to scatter the seeds of love"


The video basically consists of three things: 1.) Their singing in a field of flowers, 2.) singing at various places throughout the town, and 3.) blowing bubbles in an empty field.

The thing I didn't really like about this video is that even though the vocals and lyrics were so happy, the singers in the video just seemed... dull. There's pretty much no emotion coming from them whatsoever. This is a bit disappointing, but I'll cut them some slack since it was their first single.

Overall, it's a decent video for a 90's debut. I rate it 6/10.

Heike Michiyo - GET

This is the girl who actually won the previously mentioned contest. However, do to the fact that Tsunku (the mastermind behind H!P) focused more on Morning Musume, she never actually became the lead singer of Sharam Q. Instead, she became a soloist under Hello! Project. Sadly, despite her exceptional voice, she never became as famous as Momusu. However, there are still people like me that appreciate her voice and the songs she put out during her career.

This is one of my favorites of hers. Apparently, this was the song that all the finalists at to sing at the last round of the competition. It made a nice little single that showed off her talent.

There's not a lot to say about this video. She sings the song in different locations, the most prominent to me being 1.) she sings behind some weird wire fence, and 2.) in a white/blue room with a fuzzy boa around her neck.

This video to me is just meh. It's quality isn't very good so you can't really see what's going on, but even then there's not much to see. Great song, but very crappy video. I give it a 4/10.

That's all for today. Goodbye.

"Pyocopyoco Ultra" Cover!

I would just like to make it clear that I still hate the chicken costumes. XD But this song is so fun and catchy, I decided to record it. I only had like 20 minutes to record so I had to go really quick, but I think I did pretty good for only doing one run-through. What do you think?