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

H!P MV Reviews...

OH MY GOODNESS, IT'S BEEN FOREVER!!

Alright, so, I'm sure you've noticed that I never made a part 3 to my Hello! Project Mini-Reviews series, and I'm finally telling you the reason why.

If you have read my reviews, you likely came here from idolminded.com, as Ray was kind enough to add my posts to the Recommended Reading. I actually didn't even notice it until after I posted part 2 (ironically, I actually read some of the posts from that day, but I was too distracted by the announcement of Girls' Generation-TTS to even notice my name XD).

When I first saw my post I was ecstatic! I was so happy it had been chosen. But almost immediately I started freaking out; I'm not really sure why, but I think the pressure of knowing that people (though it was not really a large amount) were reading such a big project stressed me out; I had originally started it thinking that no one would read it. So I panicked. I set my blog as private and hid.

I've been delaying having to do this for a while, but I can now tell you that this project is cancelled, or at least on hiatus. It's not that I got bored, or just didn't feel like doing it; I'd actually love to finish it! But honestly it's just too much pressure and it's not something I feel comfortable doing right now.

I'll still continue to blog here a little bit, and I'll actually use this blog for just blogging about media (video, music, books, etc.).

Hope you understand and continue to read my blog! I'll try to not do any series for a little while, and when I do start them again I'll do little ones.

Baby steps, Shayna, baby steps.

<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!

S/mileage Rank

S/MILEAGE RANKER

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.

Shugo Chara! Review: Part 1

I would just like to make it known that I have finally finished watching... the first half of Shugo Chara. XD Ep. 1-26. It's pretty good so far! I used to hate the Amuto pairing, but now I think they're a better match than Tadamu. Normally I hate when people pair up the main character with the bad boy simply BECAUSE he's a bad boy, as if there's something wrong with being a good kid (hello, I freaking love the goody-goody dudes!). Buuutttt Ikuto looks like a good guy, really, he's just perverted. I hate perverts, so I could really do without that aspect but whatevs.

Aside from couples, I was really sad when Kukai graduated... :'( I hope he comes back later because I love him!!! I actually like him better than Tadase now. To be honest, I now only like Tadase when he starts raving about ruling the world (because I'm always falling out of my chair laughing). And then I almost cried when "Nadeshiko" (so awkward...) flew to Europe. Amu was so sad I was like "NOOOOO, AMU, COME HERE!!! I WANT TO HUG YOU!!!!!"

I really liked how the plot started thickening between episodes 21-23, but I didn't like that just an episode  later all we got was a re-cap episode and it's basically like the whole series started over again. Of course, I'm sure that's what they were going for: re-capping and evolving for an easy transition to the next stage in the series. However, it's just very anti-climactic and I feel like I didn't learn anything. I still have no idea what the embryo is, or what the Humpty Lock is for, or why Utau and Ikuto are being used by Easter (heck, I really am not sure what Easter is after, anyway). Explain things to me, please! Fillers are good sometimes, but I need to know these things now!

When I first started watching Shugo Chara a long time ago, I expected it to be a lot like Tokyo Mew Mew. What I found was completely different, yet still enjoyable. Though there are things that tick me off about this show, I always end up coming back for more (the openings and endings being by Hello! Project groups helps, too). I hope the series continues to improve, and I can't wait to watch more!

On a side note, I just figured out that there is a Shugo Chara musical starring... Maeda Yuuka!!!! I need to see this, but I need to finish the anime first! That's another reason why I'm rushing to finish the anime, because I want to see Yuuka-chan act! (P.S., we miss you, Yuuka!)

From here on out I plan to review the past Shugo Chara episodes after every 3 episodes (to correspond with the DVDs) so look forward to more frequent, in-depth reviews!

If there is another anime you want me to review, feel free to request it! Also I'll be trying even harder to keep up with Hello! Project so you may see some posts about them from here-to-there.

"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?